Samsung Series 9 Premium Ultrabook Finally on Sale

Samsung formally introduced the Series 9 Premium ultrabook back in March, but the product didn't start selling right away. Only now have shipments begun to be carried out, as revealed by a press release.

Series 9 Premium is closer to the core concept of an ultrabook than, say, the VivoBook S500, which has a large screen (for such laptops) and even a full numpad. That is to say, Series 9 Premium measures 13.3 inches in diagonal (versus 15.6) and is a lot more expensive: $1,399.99 / 1,067 – 1,399.99 Euro versus $750 / 571 – 750 Euro. We would call it an overpriced model, if it weren't for the entire bunch of other ultrabooks that cost the same, or close to that sum. The money will earn buyers, in addition to the Full HD display (1920 x 1080 pixels) with Samsung SuperBright technology (300 nit brightness), an Intel Core i7-3537U central processing unit (CPU). The chip has a clock speed of 2 GHz and is assisted by 4 GB of DDR3 RAM (random access memory). Storage (128 GB) is provided by a solid-state drive, while the rest of the feature set is no different from that of all other notebooks: Wi-Fi, speakers (two 1.5W) a 1.3 megapixel webcam, LAN, USB, etc.

All the hardware runs on the energy provided by a battery that can last for up to 5.8 hours. Given all this, we can only assume that the large price is caused by the CPU, the solid-state drive and, since Samsung had a special section in its press release for it, the display. Speaking of which, the SuperBright matte LCD can reproduce up to 16 million colors and has a wide viewing angle. As for the case, the laptop is half an inch thin (12.7 mm) and, together with everything inside, weighs 2.5 pounds (1.13 kilos). “Key components such as the display panel, keyboard, motherboard, cables, fans and battery have been customized with precision to fit into the Series 9's ultra-thin body,” Samsung writes.

Samsung Series 9 Premium
Image credits to Samsung

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Motorola X Phone Official Announcement Postponed Until “August or Later”

Bad news for Motorola and Android fans, as Google seems to have delayed the official reveal of the X Phone until late summer.

Last time reported that Motorola X Phone, the device was scheduled for a May/June unveil, probably at Google I/O or a few weeks later. Apparently Google is not happy with the development of the X Phone and decided to postpone the official announcement until “August or later.” As PhoneArena reports citing sources close to the matter, Motorola X Phone is still in the early phases of development, which means that, by the time it goes official, everything that we know about the phone might be changed. So far, Motorola seems to be aiming at a 4.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display with full HD (1080p) support and a very thin bezel.  There already are a few prototypes available, but each seems to have slightly different specs. For example, one of the prototypes spotted several weeks ago did not have microSD card slot for memory expansion.

The device was powered by Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system with few customizations, though the final product is expected to be fully customizable. Rumor has it that Motorola X Phone will be the first in a series of customizable smartphones, a concept that Google and Motorola wish to introduce in the next couple of months. Future models in the X series will be different depending on the owner, who will be able to choose the phone’s hardware and the material it will made of (metal, carbon fiber, or plastic). There will be lots of color options to choose from as well. The new timeframe for the Motorola X Phone reveal comes in line with initial rumors that suggested Google plans to put it on sale in Q4 2013, but this can change if the search giant is not happy with how the things are going with the development of the device. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

Motorola Mobility logo
Image credits to Motorola Mobility

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Nokia’s Double Tap to Awake Showcased [Video]

One of the features that Nokia’s Lumia phones have been rumored to receive in the not too distant future is the ability to wake up the device through double tapping on its screen when in sleep mode.

The feature was previously said to arrive in a future software update for Windows Phone 8 Lumia handsets, and it has already been spotted out there, WPCentral reports. In fact, the news site also shot a video to showcase the feature, and you can have a look at it above. According to them, the update will arrive on devices as firmware PR2.0 and will bring some other enhancements as well, including an optional always-on clock.

A “Smart Camera” feature is also expected to arrive on Lumia smartphones as part of the update, some sort of a Lens app, similar with Smart Shoot, but with more options packed inside.

Double tap to awake and an on-screen clock are just 2 of the new features coming to the Nokia's Lumia devices. Here's a sneak peek. http://www.wpcentral.com/exclusive-look-nokia-double-tap-awake-clock-lumia-920
Video credits to WMExperts

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