Snapdragon 600-Based Galaxy Note II Goes Official at China Mobile

Samsung’s Galaxy Note II smartphone will arrive on shelves at China Mobile in the not too distant future, as it has apparently been made official in the country, and packs a Snapdragon 600 processor inside. The handset sports model number GT-N7108, and will be released in China with support for TD-SCDMA, W-CDMA, TDD-LTE, and FDD-LTE connectivity (thanks to Qualcomm’s processor, it seems). The smartphone also features a 5.5-inch 720p touchscreen display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space, a 3100mAh battery inside, and Google’s Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean platform loaded on top. Furthermore, the Galaxy Note II arrives at China Mobile with an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the...

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2013 Plastic iPhone Confirmed in Pegatron Report, Production Is Yet to Start

A report by the China Labor Watch on investigations carried out inside Pegatron factories reveals that the Taiwan-based Apple supplier is making plastic iPhones. Confirming that Apple indeed has plans to put forth a low-priced version of its iPhone this year (or the next), the watchdog noted in the report, “Its assembled products include iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, and low-priced plastic iPhones.” The same white-paper, which looks at violations incurred by Pegatron in its labor practices assembling electronic products, adds, “Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines.” This method has been used for all iPhones in the past, and it is standard...

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ASRock 990FX Extreme9 Motherboard Ready for 5 GHz CPUs

ASRock has quite gladly revealed that it has a motherboard perfectly suited for the strongest central processing unit that Advanced Micro Devices has to offer. And that says more than some might think. The FX-9590 central processing unit that AMD launched some time ago isn't the sort of chip that can work on just any platform. Or at least, it's not the sort of chip that can work at full throttle, because 5 GHz require a measure of energy and endurance. That is why ASRock is making such a big deal out of getting official support for AMD's processor on the 990FX Extreme9 motherboard. The platform was put through a number of tests that were meant to determine build quality. The BIOS was also updated to work with the unit. To prove its...

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Dell Project Ophelia, An Android PC on a Stick

The Android operating system started out as a smartphone OS, then extended to tablets and, not too long ago, actual laptops and PCs, though not to any great extent. The OS just isn't made for PCs and doesn't have much of a chance to supplant Windows. It can still do a lot though, especially on hardware that is just too weak for Windows. And since Windows RT hasn't seen much success, there's no threat from that end either. That's why some notebooks and smart TVs have been using Android quite a lot lately. That still leaves a lot of people that don't have smart features on their television sets though, and then there are those who want an easy way to carry around their system, not counting the laptop options. So Dell came up with Ophelia....

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“iPhone 5C” Packaging Leaked, Resembles iPod touch Case

Another day, another iPhone leak. A tantalizing picture is making the rounds on China’s WeiPhone forums showing the potential plastic enclosure, or shipping container, of the “iPhone 5C.” You read that right. If this image is to be believed, Apple apparently plans to call its budget smartphone “iPhone 5C.” Which, of course, doesn’t rule out the iPhone 5S, which is expected to look much like the current-selling iPhone 5. The iPhone 5C, on the other hand, is expected to have a plastic (polycarbonate) body, and specs that match those of the iPhone 5. A plastic enclosure would therefore also make sense, though it’s hard to believe Apple will move away from its environmental-friendly packaging just to make the shipping container consistent...

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No 5-Inch Nokia and BlackBerry Devices Until the End of 2013

Nokia and BlackBerry, two of the largest mobile phone makers in the world, are expected to bring to the market smartphones packing 5-inch or larger screens soon, but will do so only towards the end of the year or in early 2014, new reports on the matter claim. Industry sources cited by DigiTimes reportedly confirmed that Nokia is waiting for the Windows Phone 8 GDR3 (General Distribution Release 3) platform release before jumping on the 5-inch or larger screens bandwagon, and that Microsoft will release the OS update only at the end of this year. BlackBerry, on the other hand, is expected to unveil a 5-inch smartphone in the fourth quarter of the year, namely the long rumored BlackBerry A10, which should also become the company’s...

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