NVIDIA Shield Tablet Getting Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18

Keeping true to its word, NVIDIA comes back to put an exact date on its earlier announcement in which it said that Android 5.0 Lollipop would arrive on the Shield Tablet.

So those of you that have a Shield Tablet at home, you should expect the Android 5.0 Lollipop OTA to arrive on November 18. The new software update will bring about Material Design to the Tegra K1-enhanced tablet, but also a new version of NVIDIA’s own Dabbler art app. There’s also a new bundle offer which includes a bunch of new games like Half-Life 2: Episode One. NVIDIA says one of the most commonly-requested features by Shield Tablet owners is for Dabbler to support layers. And the GPU maker has listened to your pleas, so you can expect to be able to take advantage of the sort of multi-layered editing you’d find in Photoshop and other related apps.

The update will also bring templates, which can be resized and rotated before being sketched in. Last but not least, artists are given the option to share their drawings via Twich. It should be mentioned that existing users will be getting access to Half Life via a download, but new users will get the game plus Portal as part of the Green Box bundle awarded with the purchase of a 32GB/LTE Shield Tablet.

NVIDIA Shield Tablet will get Material Design soon

NVIDIA Shield Tablet can be paired up with gaming controller

Half-Life 2 has been optimized for the Tegra K1

Android 5.0 Lollipop is ready to come to the Shield Tablet

NVIDIA announced the availability of Lollipop on the tablet earlier this month
Images credits to email

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Meizu MX4 Is the Most Powerful Smartphone for Q3, 2014, Benchmarks Shows

If you happen to be a tech-savvy exclusively interested in specs over all other important aspects of a smartphone, then you might want to check out the top performing smartphones for Q3, 2014.

With so many powerful smartphones launched this year, it’s interesting to see which one performs better and which one disappoints. First of all, the top 10 performing smartphones takes into consideration all devices launched this year, including those launched by Chinese OEMs like Xiaomi, Oppo and Meizu. Speaking of which, those disregarding the Chinese handset makers would make a terrible mistake and here is why. According to AnTuTu benchmark, the most powerful smartphone for Q3 is Meizu’s MX4. That may sound surprising for those who don’t know too much about Meizu, but suffice it to say that the MX4 is one of the most popular smartphones in China, world’s largest mobile market. The MX4 scored 48,792 points in AnTuTu and is closely followed by Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with 48,622 points. More surprisingly is that Samsung Galaxy Alpha is third with 48,385 far ahead of Motorola Moto X, HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z3, supposedly better equipped for benchmarks.

As AndroidCommunity points out, AnTuTu developers state that the top 10 performing smartphones is based on the performance of the handsets from users in 160 countries. Only benchmarks made between July and September have been taken into consideration for the top 10.

Four more Chinese OEMs are included in the top as well

Besides the devices mentioned earlier, the top 10 performing smartphones for Q3 also contains the OnePlus One (fourth place), Oppo Find7 (seventh place), Huawei Mate7 (ninth place) and Xiaomi Mi4 (tenth place). Meizu’s achievement is not only important for the Chinese OEM, as the smartphone is powered by a MediaTek chipset, which is considered weaker than Qualcomm’s chipsets, performance-wise. Well, it looks like the 2.2GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6595 processor managed to beat Galaxy Note 4’s 2.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU by a small margin. It would have been interesting to see how the Exynos-based Galaxy Note 4 would fare against the Meizu MX4.

The results highlighted by the top 10 performing smartphones for Q3 also proves that Chinese OEMs have recently become very competitive on the market and they are capable of eating large amounts of market share from well-established handset makers like Samsung, HTC, LG and Motorola. The only thing that prevents these Chinese OEMs from conquering the entire world could be the fact that they only have been successfully in the last few years and their budget did not allow for growth in other countries, but that will most certainly change in the not so distant future.

AnTuTu Top 10 performing smartphones for Q3, 2014
Image credits to AnTuTu

Meizu MX4
Images credits to Meizu

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Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Premium Edition Officially Introduced, Only Available Until December 31

Samsung has just introduced the premium version of the Galaxy Note Edge, although this smartphone is premium anyway. This particular Galaxy Note Edge Premium Edition will only be available for purchase in Germany beginning November 14.

In recognition to the fact that more than 120,000 customers voted for Samsung Galaxy Note Edge last week, the South Korean company decided to offer fans in Germany a nice surprise, a premium version of the phablet which won’t cost more than the standard mode. This means that starting tomorrow, November 14, those who want to purchase the Galaxy Note Edge will have to come up with no less than €900 ($1,120) upfront. The catch is that all customers who order the handset will receive the premium version without having to pay extra. Potential customers should know that the offer will only be available until December 31, 2014, or as stocks last. Beginning January 1, 2015, customers who order the Galaxy Note Edge smartphone in Germany will receive the regular version of the device.

But what sets the premium edition apart from the standard Galaxy Note Edge? Well, it looks like Samsung will add a few accessories into the mix, which are meant to make the phablet even more appealing despite its very high price.

The Premium Edition comes with free wallet flip cover, microSD card, more

The first thing that customers may want to know is that by ordering the Galaxy Note Edge in Germany, you will also receive a Wallet Flip cover and a 64GB Samsung EVO class 10 microSD card. More free goodies include a display cleaner and 3-year warranty for the phablet. But there’s more, as Samsung promised that the first 500 customers who order the Galaxy Note Edge in Germany will have the chance to win an exclusive tour of the company’s headquarters in the country, along with a dinner. Samsung will choose 20 winners for the Samsung Experience Day from the first 500 customers who purchase the Galaxy Note Edge, so if you want to see what the company’s HQ in Germany looks like, be sure to order the phablet as soon as it goes on sale tomorrow.

Speaking of which, Samsung announced that the Galaxy Note Edge will only be available for purchase through Samsung Online Store, so make sure you check the company’s webstore if you want to grab it later this week. It’s nice that Samsung shows its appreciation for all the fans who voted that the Galaxy Note Edge should be launched in Germany, and a few free accessories in the sales package seems like a very good deal.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
Images credits to Samsung

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