Canonical Shows Ubuntu for Android and Ubuntu OS Running on Nexus 4

Canonical is promoting the concept of phone and PC convergence for Ubuntu Edge, but until now there wasn’t a proper demo of this technology.

Ubuntu for Android has been announced over a year ago, but the development hasn't been advertised seriously until the appearance of Ubuntu Edge. “For over two months I’ve been running Ubuntu for Android on a Nexus 4 phone, and even with its much slower processor and smaller storage than the Edge will have, it’s still made my working life so much simpler. With just a phone I can do pretty much anything that I could do before on my laptop,” stated Canonical’s Victor Palau on his blog.

You have to keep in mind that the software is still in its beta phase and it’s not the finally quality of the product. Ubuntu for Android is demoed on a Nexus 4 which is inferior to the proposed specs of Ubuntu Edge. Ubuntu Edge is a phone developed by Canonical and the company has asked for the help of the community for the necessary funds. You can also check the only Ubuntu Edge hands-on from Canonical.

Victor Palau of Canonical shows how the Ubuntu Edge's convergence will work, using a Nexus 4 as a demo unit. To help make the Ubuntu Edge a reality, visit http://igg.me/at/ubuntuedge
Video credits to celebrateubuntu

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Moto X to Pack Laminated Aluminum Structure, Moto Magic Glass

Moto X, the upcoming new Android-based smartphone from mobile phone maker Motorola, is expected to become official on August 1 with some appealing design features packed inside, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest.

Apparently, the company is set to include a certain Moto Magic Glass with the new handset, which is nothing else than a single layer of Gorilla Glass molded to a special polymer and wrapped around the screen and edges of the phone. Furthermore, the handset is said to sport a laminated aluminum structure, which would offer a lightweight but durable design, info coming from Taylor Wimberly unveils.

Another interesting feature of the smartphone is said to be the addition of Dual LTE MIMO Smart Antennas, presumably set to deliver a fast 4G LTE connectivity experience to all users. Overall, the Moto X will feature five antennas: 4G main, 4G diversity, 2G/3G main, GPS, and Bluetooth and WiFi, as droid-life notes.

Moto X
Image credits to @evleaks

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ASUS ROG Maximus VI Formula ATX Gaming Motherboard

Eager to take a hold of an Intel fourth-generation Haswell Core-series central processing unit, the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus VI Formula high-end motherboard has arrived.

ASUS was bound to launch a new Maximus Formula motherboard sooner or later, since it basically does it every time Intel unveils a new high-end processor series. The Maximus VI Formula is powered by the Z87 chipset, which means it doesn't fall under the causes of annoyance that Intel made a move against recently. Which is to say, CPUs can be overclocked on this platform, aided by the dual-channel DDR3-3100 memory (up to 32 GB via 4 slots). Speaking of slots, the newcomer has three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (in single x16 mode or x8/x8) and three-way CrossFireX support, or NVIDIA SLI. Three PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots are available as well. They are of the shorter variety.

Moving on, the ASUS ROG Maximus VI Formula boasts 10 SATA 6.0 Gbps ports, for a lot of storage, via HDDs, HHDs, SSHDs or SSDs. Eight USB 3.0 ports are available as well, along with eight USB 2.0 connectors, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 (Intel Ethernet with ROG GameFirst II technology mPCIe). Other specifications include SupremeFX Formula AUDIO, DTS Connect, Sonic Radar V, and ASUS OC Panel (optional). All in all, it's definitely a heavyweight feature set for a full ATX motherboard, and it's a good thing that ASUS implemented the Extreme Engine DIGI+ III technology. Without the 8+1 phase VRM (voltage regulation module), the NexFET MOSFETs, 60A BlackWing chokes, 10K black metallic solid-state capacitors, the motherboard, and the hardware installed on it wouldn't run at full efficiency or stably, especially when overclocking is involved.

Speaking of which, clock tweaking should be easy enough to accomplish thanks to the upgraded UEFI BIOS. Finally, the ROG RAMDisk utility allows up to 80% of a computer's available RAM to be turned into a high-speed virtual drive “that accelerates game loading times and extends SSD lifespan by reducing the number of write operations.” Sadly, the press release didn't have pricing and availability details.

ASUS ROG Maximus VI Formula
Image credits to ASUS

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Samsung Tests Galaxy Note III in Three Screen Sizes

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics has been long rumored to plan the launch of a new handset in the popular Galaxy Note series before the end of this year, and it seems that it still hasn’t decided what screen size the phone will pack.

In fact, rumor has it that the handset vendor would be currently testing three different flavors of the upcoming Android device, with 5.5-inch, 5.7-inch and 6-inch screens, respectively. Recently, the smartphone was said to have been confirmed with a 5.7-inch touchscreen display, but it appears that this is not yet final. According to a recent article on UnwiredView, which cites info coming from Indian logistics website Zauba, all the rumors on Galaxy Note III’s screen could be considered true, mainly due to the fact that the company is set to launch the device in more than one flavor this fall. To be more precise, the news site claims that the company might be set to launch a Galaxy Note III mini variant that would pack a 5.5-inch touchscreen display, and which could also sport an 8-megapixel photo snapper inside.

Furthermore, the company might be set to launch a more durable version of the device, some sort of a Galaxy Note III Active model, which might sport the flexible display that previous rumors suggested to have been packed inside the smartphone. A total of 8 different variants of the Galaxy Note III are said to be under testing, though it’s uncertain whether all of them will make it to shelves. This also means that Samsung could include both an Exynos Octa CPU and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset, as well as a 13-megapixel photo snapper on its back, as previously rumored.

Some of these could be only specific to some carriers around the world, yet more info on the matter has yet to emerge. One thing that is certain, however, is the fact that all the necessary details on Samsung’s plans for this large handset will be unveiled officially only in September at IFA 2013 in Berlin, so stay tuned to learn more on the matter.

Samsung logo
Image credits to Samsung

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