Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 in New Commercial Video

Samsung’s long awaited tablet is still not on the stores’ shelves and there’s no official shipping date in sight, but the company has just unveiled a new commercial for the un-cool gadget. In our opinion, Samsung’s new 10.1” tablet looks cool enough in the new commercial spot, but the pricing is going to be the most important fact.

Samsung’s new tablet will be using Google’s Android 4.0 operating system and will feature a Super PLS 10.1” screen with a 1280 by 800 pixel resolution. The touchscreen matrix will be a dual-digitizer and it will come complete with multi-touch support.

The operating system will come overlaid with Samsung’s own TouchWiz interface and will have support for the included stylus pen. The CPU powering the gadget is rumored to be a dual-core ARM clocked at 1400 MHz, but there’s a chance that the quad-core inside Samsung Galaxy III will make an appearance.

Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 CMC Business 30 Sec
Model: Tomas & Eugene
Video credits to STEPMGMT

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Xiaomi Phone with Support for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Windows Phone 8

The first Xiaomi Phone was launched back in December, but only 200,000 units were available for general public. The handset manufacturer inked a partnership with China Unicom in order to deliver as many Xiaomi Phone units as possible.

In fact, the both companies planned to deliver around 1 million Xiaomi Phone devices to customers who were willing to commit to a long-term contract. The phone’s main selling point is the very low price and the impressive specs sheet. The Xiaomi Phone was offered for half the price of a device with almost similar features. Furthermore, the device was a strong competitor for Apple’s iPhone, but also for other Android handset makers. The original Xiaomi Phone features a powerful 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon S3 processor, an Adreno 220 GPU, and packs 1GB of RAM. Although the smartphone comes with only 4GB of internal memory, users can further expand storage up to 32GB via microSD memory card.

Another strong point of the phone is the fact that it supports multiple third-party ROMs, in addition to Android ROMs and the MIUI pre-loaded on the smartphone. Last but not least, the Xiaomi Phone sports a 4.0-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 854 pixels resolution, as well as an impressive 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording. Rumor has it that the company plans to launch a Xiaomi Phone follow-up, which is expected to be more powerful than the original model.

According to the folks over at MicGadget, the second-generation Xiaomi Phone will arrive with an improved 720p capacitive touchscreen display and a quad-core processor. Moreover, the rear camera will feature dual-LED flash, autofocus and full HD (1080p) video recording. A front-facing camera for video calls will be available as well. However, the most important thing is that fact that the device will support both Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Windows Phone 8 operating systems. There are no details on the phone availability, but word is that it will be priced at around 2,000 yuan ($315 USD). Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Xiaomi Phone 2
Images credits to XiaomiFans.com

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Windows Phone 8 Benchmarks Show Impressive Performance Gains

Windows Phone 8, the next flavor of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, is only a few months away, promising increased performance and a host of new features on all devices.

Among them, there is this Juggernaut Alpha handset that keeps appearing in benchmarking applications, and which shows an impressively high performance level. The latest such benchmark results come from the WP Bench benchmarking site, showing the handset at 151.14 points. The next handset on the list is HTC Titan, with 97.32 points, almost 50 percent less than the new, yet unannounced device.

The performance gain is most probably the result of a dual-core application processor packed inside the new phone, along with the enhancements that Windows Phone 8 is bound to land on shelves with. The WP Bench was designed for Windows Phone 7, which means that it could deliver better performance on higher-end hardware. The apps are available for download through the Marketplace.

Windows Phone 8
Images credits to Microsoft

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LG Optimus S with Jelly Bean CyanogenMod 10 Port

One of the oldest Android smartphones that might still be available in some regions, the LG Optimus S survives the onslaught of dual-core and quad-core handsets thanks to the generous community.

AndroidCentral forum user drewwalton19216801 has just released a Jelly Bean ROM based on CyanogenMod 10. Yes, it may seem surprising for such a low-end device, but it looks like the guys working on this project managed to boot the ROM on an Optimus S device. Rest assure that there are still some things that need to be ironed out, such as the camera, MMS and Google Now, but this project is a work in progress, so expect more updates in the future.

For the time being, the following features currently work: calls (including microphone), SMS, 3G data, Wi-Fi connectivity, Graphics Acceleration (for the UI), Sensors (accelerometer, proximity sensor) and GPS. For more details on the first CyanogenMod 10 ROM for LG Optimus S, check out the original thread.

CyanogenMod 10 for LG Optimus S screenshots
Image credits to AndroidCentral forums

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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Confirmed for August 15 brings 5.5-Inch Display

We already know for sure that Samsung will launch its “newest Galaxy device” on August 15, but there were no additional details on the device that the South Korean company plans to launch in mid-August.

However, BGR has just learned from a source close to Samsung, that the handset maker will be launching the follow-up to the Galaxy Note “phablet,” the Galaxy Note 2. The only other things that's been confirmed is the large 5.5-inch that will be packed with the Galaxy Note 2, though we're not yet sure if this will be of the same quality as Galaxy S III's. We also believe the smartphone will be shipped with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, so Samsung will probably be wanting to upgrade this one to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update as soon as possible. Still, this information has yet to be confirmed, so the Galaxy Note 2 might be delivered with Jelly Bean out of the box.

According to the latest rumors, the smartphone will be equipped with an Exynos 5250 CPU built on ARM Cortex-A15 processor architecture. For the time being, it's unclear if Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will boast an 8-megapixel rear photo snapper, or anything between 12 and 13-megapixels. We do know that the device will sport a secondary front-facing camera for self-portraits and video calls. We can also assume that Galaxy Note 2 will feature LTE support, though we're only expecting this to be available in regions with 4G network coverage.

Last but not least, the high-end device is said to pack 1.5GB of RAM, but it may be possible that Samsung decided to bump the amount of RAM to 2GB. Software-wise, we expect the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to come pre-installed with some of the apps and services, which are now available in the Galaxy S III, including Music Hub, NFC (Near Field Communications), S Beam, AllShare Play and others. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Samsung Galaxy Note
Image credits to Samsung

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ZTE First Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Smartphone, N880E

Today, Chinese mobile phone maker ZTE announced the availability of their first smartphone powered by Google’s new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, the ZTE N880E.

The new device was designed to fit the needs of mobile phone users in China, and arrives on shelves with the Google Experience version of Jelly Bean, the handset vendor announced. This is the third Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphone in the world, the phone manufacturer notes, adding that it will soon be followed by other ZTE devices powered by the new platform release. “Our aim is to provide the best quality customer experience for the best value, and the N880E is a great example of this,” said Mr. Kan Yulun, vice president and CTO of the Handset Division, ZTE.

“ZTE has an excellent relationship with Google and this, combined with our extensive R&D capabilities and our experience of customizing devices for partners around the world, means we are able to bring new technologies to market very quickly.” The mobile phone arrives on shelves with a 4.0-inch touchscreen display, capable of delivering a WVGA resolution, and is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm 7627A application processor. The smartphone comes with 512MB of RAM, along with 4GB of internal memory, and a microSD memory card slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage space.

The handset also packs a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper on the back, capable of video recording, as well as CDMA2000 1x, EVDO Rev.A, 800MHz connectivity, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, GMS, FM, and A-GPS. Measuring 119mm x 61mm x 10.4mm, the mobile phone packs a Li-ion 1650mAh battery inside. “The ZTE N880E was originally launched in May 2012 running Android 2.3 and has already sold more than one million units,” ZTE also notes. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was made official late last month, with a great deal of enhancements and new features when compared to the previous platform releases.

ZTE N880E
Image credits to ZTE

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Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition with 4 GHz Turbo

World’s biggest processor manufacturer, multinational company Intel is getting ready to launch a new top-of-the-line LGA 2011 processor. The novelty will be called Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition and will feature a default 3500 MHz clock with a 4 GHz Turbo option.

This is still a 6-core Sandy Bridge chip just like Core i7-3960X and will feature 15 MB of level 3 cache, hyper threading and an unlocked frequency multiplier, as DonanimHaber reports. Intel will probably wait until AMD launches their new FX 8350 Piledriver-based Vishera processor and only then will the CPU giant release the Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition to trample over AMD’s launch.

Therefore, enthusiasts will likely have to wait until Q4 to see Intel’s new flagship. The only thing Intel is definitely not going to do is offer the Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition at a reasonable $300 price point, like AMD’s FX 8350 will likely have.

Intel Core i7 Extreme Edititon Box
Image credits to DonanimHaber

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Sony Xperia GX LT29i Photos Now Available

Sony is reportedly gearing up for the release of its Android-based Xperia GX smartphone on the international market, and a series of photos with the mobile phone have just made an appearance online.

The device will land with model number Sony LT29i attached to it (codename ‘Hayabusa’), with looks similar to the Japanese sibling (the SO-04D), which should hit shelves at NTT DoCoMo soon. However, it appears that the leaked photos actually show an early production model of the device, since it still has the Sony Ericsson logo on it. The Sony LT29i ‘Hayabusa’ will land on shelves with the Sony logo at the top, and with the Xperia logo placed at the bottom. Unlike it, the Xperia GX model for NTT DoCoMo has the carrier’s logo at the top, while the Sony logo has been placed at the bottom.

XperiaBlog, which brought the aforementioned photos to the web, reports that the international flavor of the device does not sport the FeliCa logo under the LED flash, the same as the Japanese model. Another difference from the already made official variant of the device is the fact that the About screen shows the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system loaded on it, and firmware version 7.0.A.1.155. The rest of the phone’s specifications are expected to remain unchanged, including the 4.55-inch HD display on the front, or the 1.5GHz dual-core processor packed inside it (the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 chipset with Adreno 225 GPU).

Xperia GX was also announced with a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, with full HD video recording capabilities, and with a front camera for making video calls. There’s no telling on when the new mobile phone might arrive on shelves, but the emergence of more leaks on it suggests that Sony might actually be getting closer to the unveiling day.

Sony Xperia GX LT29i
Images credits to XperiaBlog

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Intel Ivy Bridge-EP and -EN Xeon CPUs Detailed

The folks at CPU World have compiled previous information releases, leaks and educated guesses in order to put together a sort of list of specs for the next generation of Ivy Bridge-EP and -EN CPUs.

The next family of Xeon E processors will replace the existing E5-1600, E5-2400, E5-2600 and E5-4600 lines. They will retain the names, but with a ''v2'' suffix, which leads to E5-1600 v2, E5-2400 v2, E5-2600 v2 and E5-4600 v2. These CPUs will be of the Sandy Bridge-EP and/or -EN type. The latter differ from the former in that they have a single QPI link and a triple-channel memory controller (instead of quad-channel).

The 10-core Xeons will have TDPs of 70 Watts or 95W, while the 8-core will manage to attain as low as 60W. The only ones who succeed in using even less energy are the 6-core CPUs, with 45W TDPs. Intel will release the Ivy Bridge-EP and -EN Xeon processors in the first half of 2013, or early Q3.

Intel Xeon logo
Image credits to Intel

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Nokia N9 Runs Firefox OS

It seems that Nokia N9 is an all-rounder when it comes to functionality. Although the smartphone was originally launched with MeeGo platform onboard, it looks like the N9 can run almost any other mobile operating system out there.

We’ve already reported that developers and coders already managed to make the N9 booth Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, after the smartphone was spotted running Ice Cream Sandwich a while back.

Starting today, Nokia N9 unofficially supports Mozilla’s Firefox operating system for mobile devices. The company has just announced that Firefox OS is now available for testing on desktops, the more reasons for devs to put it on new mobile devices. Check out the video above and express your opinion on Mozilla’s upcoming Firefox OS and Nokia N9’s surprising versatility. via UnleashThePhones.

Very nice result of merging Mozilla Firefox OS project and Nitdroid N9.
Nitdroid provides Android HAL for N9, and B2G/FF OS actually ported already to android HAL.
As result we have N9 running B2G, wlan support, hdspa, data connection, SMS, and simple phone calls without sound. WebGL, HW acceleration works not super fast but acceptable
Here is the howto for building it manually:
https://github.com/romaxa/B2G/blob/master/README.n9
Thanks to Alexey Roslyakov for great nitdroid project and android HAL for N9.
Video credits to Oleg Romashin

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AMD Trinity is Best Mobile Solution for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The question of “good enough” performance has been on Intel and AMD’s mind for quite a while. Testing Intel’s reference UltraBook against AMD’s Trinity A10-4600M notebook shows that Intel’s solution is simply not good enough.

Everybody was surprised by Rory Read’s statement that today we have enough CPU power and that companies should start working on improving their GPU performance in their products. The thing is that Intel is actually doing the same. Sure, the company has the x86 compute performance superiority, but they’re obviously not concentrating on offering their most powerful CPUs in UltraBooks. Intel’s priorities in UltraBooks are low power consumption, good system reaction times (and SSDs are responsible for that), low weight and a slim body. Even future plans don’t relate to CPU processing power at all, as Intel is talking about slimmer HDDs, high-resolution screens and longer battery life.

So, while not stating it openly, Intel acknowledges that CPU power is quite satisfactory nowadays and AMD definitely has to agree, as they have trouble in competing on the x86 side. Once that’s clarified, hardware experts at vr-zone.com, thinking at casual gamers or at gamers that can’t stay away from their favorite titles even when they are on the road, have decided to do a quick session of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive benchmarking session. Valve’s new title is going to hit the stores next month and we just had to know whether Intel’s popular UltraBook is up to the challenge.

While we don’t have some clear average FPS results on hand, we can clearly see that while AMD’s Trinity only dips well below 60 FPS once, Intel’s UltraBook experiences six or seven times FPS levels lower than 40. On the upper side of the graph we can see that AMD’s Trinity is able to reach more than 200 FPS in five instances, while Intel’s UltraBook can only reach 150 FPS twice. So, both platforms can definitely play the game, but AMD’s APU is simply the better choice for Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

HP SleekBook Powered by AMD Trinity APU
Image credits to HP

AMD Trinity perfromance in Valve Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Image credits to VR-Zone

Intel UltraBook perfromance in Valve Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Image credits to VR-Zone

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Canon EOS M, Canon First Mirrorless Camera

Canon has definitely not stayed idle on the photo and video capture device market, but it has never competed on the MILC sector, something that has finally changed.

MILC stands for mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and is a type of photo/video capture device that lies between DSLR and compact cameras. DSLR cameras have interchangeable lenses, large sensors and a through-the-lens (TTL) optical viewfinder: light enters through a lens, reaches a light box and then reflects off a mirror and pentaprism/pentamirror (successively) before exiting through the optical viewfinder. Compact cameras sacrifice quality for size. They lack the TTL viewfinder and interchangeable lenses and rely on smaller sensors, which cannot capture as much light as those employed in DSLR, usually resulting in poor low-light performance. MILC cameras lie somewhere in the middle of that. They are compact or DSLR-like, but all get interchangeable lenses and a small enough frame to fit a pocket. The TTL is replaced by an electronic one or a semi-transparent, fixed mirror.

Canon is finally shipping its first MILC product, called EOS M Digital Camera and featuring the specs of the Rebel T4i in a smaller package. It can use all Canon EF and EF-S lenses through the optional Mount Adapter EF-EOS M, but it ships with the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM kit lens and the optional EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. An 18.0-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 5 Image Processor and an SD/SDXC card slot are part of the spec sheet as well. All in all, shooting everything up to 1080p movies should come naturally to the device. "The EOS M includes a unique feature set making it an ideal movie-making tool, while also offering incredible still image quality on its APS-C-sized CMOS sensor,'' said Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A.

''The camera’s size, image quality, advanced video capabilities and the versatility of Canon’s full lineup of lenses make the EOS M another great option to help our customers record and capture their creative vision."   Canon will ship the product starting in October, for $799.99 / 660.70 Euro. EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens ($299.99 / 247.76 Euro), Mount Adapter EF-EOS M (165 Euro) and Speedlite 90EX (124 Euro) will ship individually too.

Canon EOS M DSLR Camera
Image credits to Canon

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Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X Motherboard Released

Biostar’s Hi-Fi A85X AMD FM2 Trinity motherboard made the news just days ago, and now we get to see an Intel platform part of the same lineup: Hi-Fi Z77X.

Biostar made a point of emphasizing one particular feature that the newcomer possesses, the "Puro Hi-Fi Technology." We'll first summarize the normal specs though, starting with the socket: through the Z77 chipset, Biostar chose LGA 1155, for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPU compatibility. That means both second-generation and third-generation (respectively) Intel Core i-Series processors. The Hi-Fi Z77X is an ATX-sized motherboard with four DDR3 memory slots (up to DDR3-2600 performance), three PCI Express slots, Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi, multiple USB 2.0/3.0 ports (and headers) and video ports (VGA, DVI, HDMI). And now we finally reach the Hi-Fi Technology, and we'll advise people not to mistake it for a wireless connectivity standard. Puro Hi-Fi has nothing to do with Wi-Fi.

Instead, the technology grants the mainboard an integrated, independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier (thus, Hi-Fi would stand for high fidelity). With 7.1-channel surround sound support, it features a sampling rate of 192 kHz/24-bit, which is close to the quality of high-end add-in sound cards. The noise-blocking multi-layer PCB layout helps in that regard, as does the employment of high quality ''Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors'' for each individual audio channel. What's more, Puro Hi-Fi includes resistors made out of metal-oxide films (tin oxide is one example), whose electric characteristics (stability and reliability) are better than those of regular film resistors, especially in a broad working temperature range. Thus, the Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X will make life easy and convenient not just for high-end gamers, HTPC owners or audiophiles, but also for certain applications reliant on high endurance.

Finally, the IT player tossed in THX, Lucid MVP and SmartSpeedLAN. Unfortunately, Biostar didn't provide a price, but it did call the newcomer “a unique gaming masterpiece even with a limited budget.”

Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X
Images credits to Biostar

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CyanogenMod 10 Alpha for SONY Xperia S

Owners of a Sony Xperia S smartphone who are willing to tweak the software on their devices can now get a taste of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean platform release, courtesy of a CyanogenMod 10 Alpha build available for them.

The ROM, coming from Team Free Xperia, comes with all the basic phone functions working, along with Wi-Fi, data and Bluetooth capabilities. However, as any alpha build, the software still has a lot of caveats, including the fact that the camera is not working just yet.

Xperia S was launched earlier this year with Android 2.3.x on board, yet Sony already delivered the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for it. No specific info on when Jelly Bean will officially land on this device has emerged so far, but the CyanogenMod 10 builds, which are unofficial updates, could easily land in users’ hands earlier.

Sony Xperia S
Image credits to Sony

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Samsung Sells Over 10 Million Galaxy S III Units in 2 Months

Galaxy S III, the latest flagship Android-based smartphone from Samsung, has sold over 10 million units all around the world, in only two months of availability.

The info comes from Shin Jong-kyun, the president of Samsung's information technology and mobile communication division, Yonhap News Agency reports. The new mobile phone was unveiled to the world in early May, and became available for purchase before the end of that month. According to Shin Jong-kyun, the device has already become a 10-million seller, though no specific number of sold devices was provided. Apparently, Samsung is currently selling just a bit shy of 200,000 Galaxy S III units each day, which makes it the best-selling handset in the Galaxy S lineup. Galaxy S II, its predecessor, needed around five months to reach 10 million sold units. Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone is expected to continue to register strong sales throughout the third quarter of the year, since Apple won’t have a new iPhone model on the market until September or October. Moreover, the South Korean handset vendor is expected to sell over 40 million Galaxy S III devices by the end of the current year, which would mark a new record for the company.

Despite a series of reports regarding handset’s outer build, users are generally happy with the new smartphone, and many of them even consider it the best Android device until now. Galaxy S III arrives on shelves with a large 4.8-inch touchscreen display and with an Exynos 4 quad-core application processor packed inside, while featuring an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back. Powered by Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at the moment, with Samsung’s own TouchWiz user interface loaded on top of it, the handset is expected to receive an update to the newer Android 4.1 Jelly Bean platform release in the not too distant future.

Samsung Galaxy S III
Image credits to Samsung

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