Samsung Is Preparing Smartphone with 3GB of RAM

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung is reportedly gearing up for the release of a new smartphone, one that would pack even more raw power than before.

Apparently, the company plans on including 3GB of RAM inside this new device, which would be 50% more RAM than in some of the current high-end smartphones. One of the prototype units of this new smartphone has been already photographed, yet no other details on what it might include have been provided.

According to SamMobile, the company might plan adding some new features to its future devices, and some of these could require a higher amount of RAM than the already sufficient 1GB in most of today’s devices. The 3GB-of-RAM-smartphone from the South Korean vendor might become official in 2013, rumor has it.

Samsung plans new smartphone with 3GB of RAM inside
Image credits to SAMMOBILE

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Android 4.2 Is Already Loaded on Galaxy Nexus, New Motorola Devices

Google is getting ready to celebrate five years of Android, and the company is expected to do so with the launch of a new flavor of the operating system.

Previously believed to be Android 5.0, the new OS version has been recently discovered to be en-route to the market as Android 4.2, and some new info on the devices that it might be loaded on has started to emerge. Apparently, Google is already testing the platform on a number of devices, while getting ready to have it loaded on new Nexus smartphones. One of these has been long rumored to be coming from LG, and is currently said to be a version of the LG Optimus G that arrived on shelves only a few weeks ago.   However, it appears that Galaxy Nexus will also get a taste of the new platform release, and that Google has already loaded the platform on last year’s device. Furthermore, the first tablet PC in the Nexus series, none other than the Nexus 7, is being tested with the OS on board as well, server traffic logs from Android Police unveil.

New devices that are powered by the platform were also spotted, including a smartphone that sports the codename of Occam, and which is said to be a Motorola handset. The phone was seen accessing the website with various builds loaded on it, such as JOO92B, JOP04B and JOP04C, the same as another Motorola device, a tablet PC this time, codenamed Manta. These devices sported different IPs when accessing the site, which suggests not only that they are real, but also that Google and Motorola have various people testing them in the field.

Since these details cannot be verified at the moment, there is a chances that they won’t pan out, but the sure thing is that Android 4.2 is nearing its release. After all, it has been said a few times before to be slated for a November launch on a new Nexus phone, and it shouldn’t be too long before all the necessary info on the matter will be officially unveiled.

Android Logo
Image credits to Android Developers

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Motorola RAZR i Goes Official in Brazil

Unveiled back in September, Motorola RAZR i has just been launched in Brazil. This is the first South American country to get the Intel-based smartphone launched by Motorola Mobility.

Although the smartphone is not yet available for purchase, Motorola confirmed the RAZR i would soon go on sale for R$ 1,299 ($640 USD or €490) off-contract. Following the same design line as the RAZR family, the smartphone is built to last. The back cover of Motorola RAZR i is made of DuPont KEVLAR fiber, while the front side is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass coating for extra protection. The entire frame of the smartphone is made of aircraft-grade aluminum, while the inside of the device features splash-guard coating. Design aside, the phone's main selling point is the Intel Atom processor clocked at 2 GHz. On the back, the phone boasts an impressive 8-megapixel photo snapper, which features autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording.

“An instant launch camera that takes 10 pictures in less than a second and Web pages that load blazingly fast on a device that’s the perfect balance of screen size that fits in the palm of your hand. RAZR i delivers as well the first Intel-fast processor in Latin America in a beautifully designed phone and extra-long battery life,” said Sergio Buniac, vice president, Motorola Mobility Brazil. Motorola RAZR i sports a more than decent 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED Advanced capacitive touchscreen display that supports 540 x 960 pixels resolution and 16 million colors. On the inside, the smartphone packs 1GB of RAM, 8GB storage (only 5GB available for users), and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB). Powered by Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, Motorola RAZR i has been confirmed to receive a Jelly Bean update soon after launch, so stay tuned for more updates on this one.

Motorola RAZR i
Image credits to Motorola

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Club3D Exposes Future Dual-GPU Graphics Card

As far as high-end graphics adapters go, there is one breed that always manages to stay above, performance-wise, even later-generation models, due to their sheer horsepower.

We are, of course, speaking of video boards with two graphics processing units instead of just one, like the one PowerColor released (sort of) a couple of days ago. By “sort of” we mean that the card is officially out, but its price hasn't been provided yet. Nevertheless, the specifications, at least, are clearly enough spelled out, something that Club3D's HD 7990 cannot claim. Though the card has been revealed through Club3D's Facebook page, the performance numbers have yet to be exposed. Fortunately, speculation will avail us where facts cannot, and at least we can, with reasonable accuracy, examine the cooler. It is likely that the clock speed of the two Tahiti XT GPUs is 900 MHz, although an OC boost through the BIOS switch (located at the I/O panel) will push them a bit beyond that.

Meanwhile, the two memory interfaces of 384 bits (one for each GPU) should have 3 GB of GDDR5 VRAM at the other end, for a total of 6 GB. The clock speed is of 5.5 GHz if past dual-Tahiti projects are anything to go by. Furthermore, the triple-slot graphics card gets a 12+2+2 phase VRM and not one or two, but three 8-pin PCI Express power inputs on the PCB. As for the cooler, it has several heatpipes, a large aluminum heatsink and three fans. High-end motherboards should have enough room between the primary and secondary PCI Express x16 slots to allow CrossFireX. Alas, we have no idea when sales will begin or at what price. Buyers will probably need $800 or more (€800), but that's just our guess. It's a shame AMD doesn't have a “reference” 7990 that can act as a price setter.

Club3D Radeon HD 7990
Image credits to Club3D

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WP8 Launcher for Android

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 platform won’t be available on shelves for another month or so, yet owners of Android devices can already get a taste of the looks and feel of the platform on their handsets.

A new WP8 Launcher is now available for download in the Google Play Store, and can be found on this page. While looking and working pretty well, the app comes only with a Chinese user interface at the moment, which is a major drawback, that’s for sure. With the new app, users will get a tile-based interface on their Android devices, and will also provide them with the option to use Windows Phone 8 gestures to move around menus.

Additionally, the WP8 Launcher comes with support for pinning apps to the homescreen, and also features a lockscreen, the same as Microsoft’s mobile platform does.

WP8 Launcher for Android
Images credits to AndroidPipe

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