Sharp SH-04E for NTT DoCoMo Receives Wi-Fi Certification

A new Android-based smartphone from Sharp has received the necessary approvals from the Wi-Fi Alliance, namely the Sharp SH-04E, which is expected to land on shelves in Japan via NTT DoCoMo. The device has previously emerged over at the FCC, with a 4.6-inch touchscreen display on the front, a 2000mAh battery packed inside, and GSM / WCDMA / LTE connectivity. The mobile phone is also said to pack wireless charging capabilities, and to be Qi compliant. The Sharp SH-04E handset was approved with Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b / g / n capabilities packed inside, on the 2.4 GHz band, as can be seen in this listing on the Wi-Fi Alliance website. A photo of the device also emerged online a while ago, yet NTT DoCoMo is expected to officially...

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MacBook Air to Have a New Type of CPU in 2013

A report by the hit-and-miss publication DigiTimes has caught the eye of the Apple blogosphere thanks to a claim relating to the processor architecture employed by Apple’s upcoming MacBook Air notebooks. Currently starting at $999 / €1.049,00 with a 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Apple’s MacBook Air is said to be undergoing some changes next year. The refresh will not involve a remodeling of the enclosure, but it will change the CPU architecture inside, according to industry sources. Cited by the aforementioned Taiwanese publication, DigiTimes reports pointed out that “the MacBook Air for 2013 will feature a new processor platform, but its industrial design will not see any major changes.” Apple has been rumored...

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Sony Xperia X (“Odin” C650X) Design Info Leaks

Sony’s long rumored Odin and Yuga handsets have been said for quite some time to be different flavors of the same device, aimed at different markets around the world, yet it seems that they might resemble each other even less than initially thought. A new rumor, coming from Vietnamese website SE-Café, suggests that Odin (expected to be unveiled as Xperia X) would actually be thicker and heavier than Yuga (said to land on shelves as Xperia Z). Furthermore, it will also sport a rough, textured, even striped pattern, back plate (Yuga will sport a sleek, plastic mirror one) and will allow for hot swapping of SIM and microSD cards. Xperia X is also said to sport the front camera at the bottom, aligned to the right, with the light...

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AMD Kabini, 10% Faster Than Bobcat APUs [Video]

AMD has Bobcat APUs based on the 40nm manufacturing process technology, but it also offers some made on the 28nm process. The latter have been compared to the upcoming Kabini units. Long story short, Kabini accelerated processing units will be around 10% faster than Bobcat. Some chips may even perform 15% better. The fastest 40nm Bobcat processor, E2-1800, has a clock speed of 1.7 GHz and no Turbo Core. 28nm Bobcat units are even faster, and a Q&A video involving Jeff Rupley compares them to Kabini, not the others. That would imply that Kabini chips work at more than 1.9 GHz. Add to that support for Turbo Core dynamic overclocking and there is even a chance for 2.4 GHz. Either way, we still have to wait for the frequencies to become public knowledge. Session...

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AMD Kabini X4 5110, The Entry-Level APU

Since we've taken a look at the high-end A10-6800K accelerated processing unit, AMD's top Richland APU, we may as well check out the entry-level chip too, now that we have the data. Fudzilla has provided some information which, it claims, describes the capabilities of a certain Kabini X4 5110 processor. This is actually the strongest of the entry-level chips expected to arrive in 2013, and should be ready for mass production by March 2013. That's the same time frame as the ETA (estimated time of arrival) for the aforementioned high-end quad-core processor. Speaking of core number, the X4 5110 has four (the X4 was a clear enough indicator of that). Somehow, though, it still makes do with a TDP (thermal design power)...

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Intel “Redhookbay” Spotted in Benchmarks with Android 4.2.1, Dual-Core CPU

Chip maker Intel appears set to assault the smartphone market with a new processor, one that was leaked not too long ago as the dual-core Merrifield, a successor to the Medfield Atom processor that failed to impress too much. The new mobile processor is expected to be officially introduced at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, and should deliver far better performance levels than the current chip, rumor has it. While nothing has been officially confirmed on the matter for the time being, the processor has already made an appearance online, courtesy of benchmarking results for a certain Redhookbay device from Intel. Spotted in NenaMark, Redhookbay managed to score 58.30, and unveiled some of the possible...

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AMD A10-6800K, Top 28nm Richland APU

Just like NVIDIA's GeForce 700 series graphics cards and Intel's Haswell CPU collection, AMD's Richland line of upcoming accelerated processing units is turning heads whenever it makes a sound. This time around we are getting acquainted with the mightiest Richland APU, called A10-6800K and set for mass production in late March 2013. The manufacturing ETA (estimated time of arrival) doesn't mean it will ship that soon though. In fact, AMD doesn't expect to officially launch the processor before June. That's no problem though. It will give the existing series of accelerated processing units a decent market lifetime. But we digress. The Richland A10-6800K is based on the 28nm manufacturing process technology, the same...

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Samsung Galaxy S IV is to Unify Samsung Galaxy S and Note Series

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics has been long rumored to plan the launch of a successor of its Galaxy S III smartphone next year, and some more info on the device has emerged. Referred to as Galaxy S IV, the handset is now rumored to be launched with features that will allow it to fit both into Samsung’s Galaxy S series, and into the company’s Galaxy Note family of devices. Basically, the upcoming flagship smartphone is expected to unify the two lineups when launched in April next year. This is not the first time we hear that Samsung might put the phone on shelves in the second quarter of the next year, after having it finalized by March. However, it seems that we won’t be seeing the phone at CES...

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