Mobile Devices - Page 154

Today, NVIDIA released its highly anticipated Tegra Note, a seven-inch tablet that was built from the ground up by the graphics chip giant. Priced at $199 and running Android, the Tegra Note will unfortunately not be sold by NVIDIA but will rather serve as a reference design for the company's partners to produce their own.

The new Tegra Note features NVIDIA's Tegra 4 SoC alongside a seven-inch 1280x800 display and 16GB of onboard storage. A 5-megapixel rear camera handles imaging duties while a front facing VGA camera helps out with videoconferencing and self portraits. The tablet also features front-facing stereo speakers, which look quite similar to the design used on HTC's One smartphone. USB, micro HDMI, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi handle the connectivity duties while a high mAh battery provides up to 10 hours of HD video playback. NVIDIA says the tablet will run the "latest version of Android" and it will push out updates over the air.

NVIDIA says that there will be several accessories for the Tegra Note, including a magnetized "intelligent slide cover," as well as a stylus with interchangeable tips such as "chisel" and "brush." With a price tag of $199, the new Tegra Note is a direct competitor to Google's 2014 Nexus 7, which many consider to be the best small tablet ever made. I can not wait to see what companies like EVGA, Zotac, and PNY do with this reference design!

Slowly waiting in the darkness with a dagger is Google's Nexus 5 smartphone, which will be manufactured by LG. But now it seems that two LG Nexus 5 versions have received Wi-Fi certification.

The two models in question are the LG-D820_C and LG-D820_S. I'm hoping the choice of model numbers is deliberate, as we have two models with "S" and "C", just like the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. Nice work there, LG/Google. We should see the new Nexus 5 smartphones featuring dual-band Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac as well as Wi-Fi Direct support. We are hoping to see the Nexus 5 unveiled on October 14 with Android 4.4 KitKat.

Today, Sprint announced that it would be following in the footsteps of its competition by launching its new "One Up" program that will allow its customers to upgrade their phone on a yearly basis with little upfront cost. The new program works much in the same way that T-Mobile's "Jump," AT&T's "Next," and Verizon's "Edge" initiatives work.

Sprint's new One Up program allows customers to pick up a phone with no money down and pay for the device over 24 monthly installments. An average smartphone costing around $650 will cost customers about $27 a month and the remaining balance paid in full on the 24th month. Sprint will allow existing customers still on contract to participate in the service, but they must trade in their existing phones unless they have a two-year upgrade available on their account.

The new One Up program is very similar to T-Mobile's Jump plan in that it allows customers a discount on their service plan if they opt for the monthly hardware payment. AT&T and Verizon were criticized for their versions as they require customers to pay full price for their handset but did not offer any discounts on service. With the new iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, I think this Sprint waited until just the right time to launch this new program. With thousands of customers wanting to upgrade to the latest iPhone, the new One Up program should see lots of use in the coming weeks.

We've already seen Google launch its Chromecast device, but now it looks like Sony wants to rub shoulders in the Google TV space with its new NSZ-HU1 Google TV device. This is known in the retail world as the Sony BRAVIA Smart Stick.

The BRAVIA Smart Stick is an MHL dongle that runs both Google TV and Sony's BRAVIA apps. It has a remote with a QWERTY keyboard and voice search support. The picture-in-picture feature lets you see a browser in one window, and the TV in another. The BRAVIA Smart Stick can run Android apps from the Google Play Store, but we should know more details when it is released properly. Hopefully this means we see Sony shipping non-Smart TVs, and then throw in the BRAVIA Smart Stick as an optional, but cool accessory.

In and recent interview with Reuters, Motorola CEO, Dennis Woodside, confirmed that the company is now shipping 100,000 units of its new Moto X Android-based smartphone every week. This is quite a challenge as the company took a unique approach with the Moto X by allowing customers to configure customized color combinations, pre-installed wallpapers, and even a custom welcome message that is seen when you first wake up the phone.

"When you set up to ramp a factory you need a plan, and we have shipment targets we need to make with our carrier partners, and where we need to be right now is 100,000 units and that's where we are," Woodside said. What makes this number even more special is that Motorola produces the Moto X right here in America in a factory near Dallas Texas.

Companies like Samsung, HTC, and Apple may balk at shipments of less than 500,000 units a month, but with Motorola posting a $300 million loss last quarter, and the decision to manufacture the phones here in America, I feel that Motorola is off to a heck of a comeback. Hopefully we will see some truly innovative phones coming out Motorola now the Google appears to be fully steering the ship on its course.

PayPal has just announced Beacon, a USB dongle that paves the way for a new generation of hands-free payments. The tiny USB dongle works with Point-of-Sale systems such as Booker, Erply, Leaf, Leapset, Micros, NCR, PayPal Here, Revel, ShopKeep, TouchBistro and Vend. All you need to do is plug into a power source and your brick-and-mortar store is ready for hands-free payments.

PayPal's Beacon uses Bluetooth LE to detect when a shopper enters the store and if they have the PayPal app installed on their device. The company ssays that Beacon won't be able to track customers' locations as they shop, but it will display an image of the shopper on the PoS system. When the customer is ready for the purchase, a verbal confirmation is all that is required to complete the transaction.

I don't like the security on Beacon, as it requires just your voice for authorization but the company has said that it is using multiple levels of trust in the application. This gives the customer the control of which retail stores can acknowledge their presence in the store, and which stores are capable of using automatic payments. PayPal also gives the option of providing the consumer with a pending payment notification, where they have to confirm it on-screen before it is authorized.

Today is the day, where Apple has just unveiled its latest iPhone 5S smartphone which features A7 processor and Touch ID fingerprint scanner. The iPhone 5S is available in three colors: silver, gold and a "new space gray." They are all made from high-grade aluminum and chamfered edges.

We have the much-talked about A7 processor, which is a 64-bit processor - a first for smartphones. iOS 7 also runs in 64-bit, which is something we should have expected maybe. We have over 1 billion transistors working inside of the A7 processor, with the new chip and iOS 7 capable of running 32- and 64-bit apps, with all built-in apps being re-engineered to take support of the new 64-bit architecture.

Apple says the iPhone 5S is much faster when it comes to CPU performance, showing a chart stating it's 'up to 56x faster'. It also runs OpenGL|ES 3.0, like the refreshed Nexus 7 does.

The emerging markets have so far not been able to push the iPhone, but this is all set to change thanks to Apple's announcement today of the iPhone 5C smartphone. The iPhone 5C is a plastic-built smartphone, which takes a walk down the same lane as the Galaxy range of smartphones from Samsung. Apple says "it's made with all the incredible technology of the iPhone 5, more fun, more colorful."

The iPhone 5C arrives in five colors - green, white, blue, pink and yellow. The entire back of the iPhone 5C is made from a single part, as you can see in the shot above. The iPhone 5C features the same 4-inch Retina display, the same A6 processor that is found in the iPhone 5 and "console-level graphics."

On the back, we have an 8-megapixel iSight camera with backside illumination, and on the front we have a new FaceTime HD camera. We have the iPhone 5C supporting more LTE bands with "up to 100 Mbps download" and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n support. On a two-year contract the new iPhone 5C will cost you $99 for the 16GB model and $199 for the 32GB model.

The new iPhone should be unveiled today, with Apple unleashing the iPhone 5S to the world, but what should we expect? Between the iPhone 5 being released and today, we've seen some truly amazing smartphones released, with pretty much all of them being based from Google's mobile OS, Android.

What can Apple do to get customers back? They can't just unleash the iPhone 5S with the same 4-inch screen and not-even-HD 1136x640 display, can they? Well, I think they can. We should expect Apple to not shift from the 4-inch 1136x640 display from the iPhone 5... which is a disappointment. What will we see? I think we'll see an evolution of the iPhone, not a revolution, which is something we should be used to from the 'S' release of an iPhone, and from Apple as a company.

We should see the iPhone 5S feature the A7 processor, which should provide some more performance and hopefully improved battery life, which is something most people complain about on the iPhone 5. The fingerprint sensor is something I don't think we'll see - but is something we've heard quite a bit on lately. iOS 7 will most likely be the second biggest change to the iPhone 5S from the iPhone 5, but is that worth your money? Probably not.

We've been hearing a lot of rumors and seeing a lot of leaks about NVIDIA's upcoming Tegra TAB Android-based tablet, but this morning it appears that we're finally getting some solid info on the upcoming device. During a recent visit to the FCC, some interesting information popped up.

It appears that the Tegra TAB name has been confirmed and that the device will in fact feature a Tegra 4 processor. The exact model of the processor is still unknown, but we do know that the Tegra TAB will feature a 7-inch, 1280x800-pixel IPS display. A front "HD" camera of unknown pixel density will be featured alongside a five-megapixel rear-shooter.

Battery capacity is said to be as large as 4,100mAh. The manual included in the filing reveals what appears to be a stock-looking version of Android Jelly Bean. One of the most interesting new features to pop up, however, is the inclusion of a stylus that appears to function much like Samsung's S-Pen. There are still no details of pricing or availability, and we're still not sure if NVIDIA will retail the device themselves or if they will license the design to OEMs such as ASUS, ACER, or Toshiba. Head over to the FCC source below for all of the manuals, images, and other information that is available in the recent filing.

One thing that bothers most of us, is the battery life on our smart devices, but if a revolutionary new technology has anything to do with it, we won't be recharging our mobile devices... ever again.

Wysips (What You See Is Photovoltaic Surface) is the new technology, which converts energy from both sunlight and artificial light into electricity, that could perpetually power your smartphone. Wysips uses light-collecting crystals that can be installed either both underneath, or on top of the screens for smartphones, tablets, and even smartwatches.

Early prototypes have seen decent success so far, where 10 minutes of light exposure resulted in four more minutes of battery life. The crystal component of Wysips is 90% transparent, which is said to be invisible to the naked eye.

Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet is arguably one of the best on the market, and as our own Johannes Knapp reports, the 2014 edition is even better. Sporting the same faux stitched leather rear housing as its little brother--the Galaxy Note 3--the Galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition can be described as nothing less than a very elegant and highly refined tablet.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition features two different processors based on which region of the world you are in. For those of us in the US, the tablet features a quad-core 2.3GHz QUALCOMM Snapdragon 800 SoC. For those in the Asia Pacific region and most of the rest of the world, the Note 10.1 2014 edition will feature Samsung's eight-core Exynos Octa SoC clocked at 1.9GHZ.

The tablet also features a massively impressive 2,560x1,600-pixel display alongside 3GB of RAM. Combine those specs with an 8220mAh battery, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 and you have what is arguably the best Android tablet ever made, if not the best tablet ever made. Additionally, the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.

IFA 2013 - Samsung has just outed its Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition slate, along with the Galaxy Note III smartphone and Galaxy Gear smartwatch. The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition has been upgraded in virtually all areas, which is great.

The 10.1-inch panel now squeezes in a resolution of 2560x1600, which makes it the highest resolution display on a Samsung tablet that runs Android. Inside of the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition we find Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa SoC, which is an 1.9GHz eight-core processor. 3GB of RAM is also seen inside of the slate, which is the same amount of RAM we find in the Galaxy Note III smartphone.

Samsung has learnt its lesson with the previous Note tablets, ditching the plastic backing and replacing it with a faux-leather backing. On the back of the Note 10.1 2014 Edition we have an 8-megapixel camera, and a 2-megapixel snapper on the front. The Note 10.1 2014 Edition will come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions with expandable storage through its microSD card slot.

IFA 2013 - ASUS has really let loose at this year's IFA, unleashing so many great products and it is continuing to do so with its Transformer Pad TF701T tablet. The Transformer Pad TF701T is powered by NVIDIA's more than capable Tegra 4 SOC (T40X), which is a quad-core chip.

ASUS didn't just decide to put a great SoC inside of the TF701T, as it also features a 10.1-inch 2560x1600 WQXGA panel, this gives us a very nice 300 pixels per inch (ppi). We also have 2GB of DDR3L RAM, 32GB or 64GB of on-board storage which is expandable through both a microSDXC card slot, and an SDXC slot in the dock.

There's a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, backed up by a 1.2-megapixel shooter up front. The usual 802.11a Wi-Fi is here, joined by Miracast and Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR. One of the things that sets the ASUS' tablets apart is the dock. This dock provides more battery life, with its 16Wh battery providing up to 4 more hours of battery. The TF701T itself has a 31Wh battery that provides up to 13 hours of battery life.

There was a point in the cellular device timeline where pretty much everyone owned a Nokia phone, and to this day, there are many hard-core and very loyal Nokia fans. Unfortunately, with Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia, we have seen the end of the Nokia-branded phone.

In the deal, Microsoft managed to acquire the "Asha" and "Lumia" trademarks, but the Finnish company managed to retain all rights to its Nokia name. Microsoft may only use the Nokia name on future phones if it signs a 10-year license agreement and this most likely means that all future models released will most likely be Microsoft-branded and that the Nokia brand will never again be seen on a mobile phone.

Furthermore, during a call to investors about the acquisition of Nokia, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that he believes that Microsoft "can probably do better" than Nokia at naming new devices. "I will say that I think we can probably do better for consumer names than 'the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 1020,' and yet because of where both companies are and the independent nature of the businesses, we haven't been able to shorten that. Just take that as a proxy for a range of improvements that we feel we can make. We can simplify the way in which we work with operators and the overall consumer branding and messaging gets much simpler. That is an efficiency of being one company."

Google announced the $100 price cut to the Nexus 4 last week, while I sat at home thinking it would sell quickly, but not this quickly. The company has announced that the 8GB version of the Nexus 4 is now sold out on the Google Play Store, and won't be restocked.

The 16GB version is still available for the great price of $249, while the 8GB version is still listed in other countries' Play Store's, for now, so if you want to pick it up, do it now. Those of you based in the US missed out on the superstar $199 smartphone, but for just $50 more you can still pick up the 16GB version. Even to this day, with the lack of LTE connectivity, I think it's one of the best smartphones on the market.

The $199 and $249 pricing for the 8GB and 16GB devices respectively just makes that deal cheaper. Apple, you'd better be pricing your new iPhone 5C at $199-$249, or you're going to be in for a big surprise. Even the iPhone 5S better be priced competitively if Google can dump out its flagship handset for under $250.

Frickin' laser beams, am I right? Yeah, well, Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has just announced the Mini+, a multifunctional device that is pretty much just a flashy-looking laser poniter.

It features a 1.5-inch white color 4 gray OLED display with a 128x128 resolution, and can do quite a few things with its features. It can 'stay connected' with calls, SMS and more, it can take control of what you see on the TV and 'facilitate presentation with remote control and laser pointer' in the words of HTC.

It features NFC technology and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, features PowerPoint controls, and a 320mAh embedded battery. Talk time on the Mini+ is rated at 9 hours while the standby time is a hefty 95 hours. The HTC Mini+ is compatible with HTC's One mini, Butterfly S, Desire 200 and Desire 500 smartphones. It costs just $50, which isn't too bad at all.

This has been a long time coming, but Samsung should be moving away from the plastic chassis found in their smartphones and tablets to a magnesium- or aluminum-based chassis on the upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone.

We heard about this earlier in the year, but now the rumors are getting stronger as we get closer to the Galaxy S5 launch. The news is coming from Korean news site, ET News, who is reporting that the South Korean company has kept with plastic until now in order to keep the price down on its products, on top of it being more durable and lightweight.

But, with HTC and Apple having more premium exteriors, Samsung now needs to play in the same league. We shouldn't expect Samsung to unveil anything that is non-plastic until at least 2014, with the Galaxy Note III to most likely use a plastic exterior. I think we'll see a refresh of the Note next year, with the Note IV, which will use this new chassis.

This is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" devices, which is sitting on Kickstarter right now known as "Pressy." Pressy is a tiny button that sits in the 3.5mm headphone jack of your device, turning it into a multi-function button.

The company who designed Pressy says that the Android-based device can perform pretty much any task you can think of. There's an app required, with the default Pressy settings seeing three pre-set actions: one short click toggles your flashlight on or off, one long click toggles the phone in and out of silent mode, and a double-press will take a photo.

But, thanks to Android, Pressy will see lots of customization. These options will include the ability to use Pressy to record a phone call, toggle Wi-Fi/Bluetooth on or off, capture a screenshot, or close all of the running applications. Pressy requires Android 2.3 and above, which covers nearly all of the devices on the market right now.

We should expect Apple to unveil the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C at its event on September 10, but before that we have some high-quality photos of the next generation iPad's front panel.

The photos in question come from Sonny Dickson, who is known for leaking images of components in upcoming Apple devices. The photos we have today are from the rear panel of Apple's iPad 5, which takes on a redesign that makes it look similar to the iPad mini.