Mobile Devices - Page 172

Some Android developers have tinkered with the Jelly Bean-powered Nexus 7, where they've overclocked its NVIDIA Tegra 3-based processor to an astonishing 1.64GHz, where it promptly smashes all other smart devices on the market in benchmarks.

The Nexus 7 was rooted, with a kernel installed named Trinity Seven and as you can see from the above screenshot, it scores 7130 in Quadrant, with the closest devices the HTC One X with just over 4500, and the other ASUS-made Transformer Prime TF201 with a little over 4000. These are some truly remarkable results for such a cheap tablet.

But, how does an overclocked device like that keep battery life when its spitting out 1.64GHz on all four cores? Well, the Trinity Kernel Toolbox lets you control this, where you can overclock when you're gaming and want the best results, and underclock for everything else. That's not the only benefit, either, as standby usage has been improved, big time. Deep sleep mode offers huge results, where even after a 12 hour stint at being awake, there's still plenty of battery left on the Nexus 7, as the screenshot below shows.

Apple.pro have posted scans from Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily showing off the new "iPhone 5" enclosures that have been available for the past couple of weeks, and even went as far as taking measurements of them.

The thickness of the next-gen iPhone enclosure measures in at 7.6mm, with the rest of the dimensions appear to be equivalent to the specifications that are making the rounds of sites across the world, and the same as the leaked specs by case manufacturers in June:

The one thing that is probably going to keep me from buying another Android phone for my next phone is the lack of upgrades to Android over the life of my contract. If you live in the United States, and you likely do since you're reading this on a US publication, you know that two-year contracts are the norm for cell phones. Pre-paid and pay-as-you-go products are catching on here, but they are still way behind the big 4: Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

To encourage customers to buy or renew a two-year contract, the companies offer subsidies on the phones, usually $150 or so, if you sign a two-year contract. In essence, this enables the customer to buy a nicer phone and amortize the cost over two years. The issue then becomes you can't get a new phone for two years unless you want to pay the full price which can be upwards of $400.

This is why Google should require all Android manufacturers to provide Android updates for a minimum of two years. Three years or more would be the most ideal as most phones aren't on the market for more than a year. This way if you purchased a phone right at the end-of-life, you would still be covered with updates until you could purchase another subsidized phone.

I have yet to of had the pleasure of using Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but I hope to soon when I get my paws on ASUS' Nexus 7. What disappoints me is the news of Samsung's Galaxy Note II might be shipping with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

The news is unconfirmed, but its far from being a rumor, so for now it stays as a normal news post. The news came off the back of Sam Mobile's report that Samsung's Galaxy S III would receive Jelly Bean, and that the initial firmware on the Galaxy S III that had passed testing, this enabled developers to focus on the public release. But, the S III should receive Jelly Bean sometime in Q3, pending final approval and if it's all smooth sailing from here on out.

The Galaxy Note II, according to the report, might only ship with ICS. Current testing software is said to be ICS, which could allow Samsung to fast track the 5.5-inch 'phablet', instead of waiting for more testing with Jelly Bean. If the Note II ships without Jelly Bean, it'll be a saggy point of the phone, I think any flagship smart devices shipped from now on should be driven by Jelly Bean, with devices not pegged to be flagship with ICS, with updates the Jelly Bean in the near future.

Rumors have been heating up regarding a possible iPad mini that sports a 7-inch screen. As of late, the rumors have been identifying a launch next to the upcoming iPhone 5. Publicly, Steve Jobs was completely against an iPad mini: "The reason we [won't] make a 7-inch tablet isn't because we don't want to hit that price point, it's because we think the screen is too small to express the software."

It turns out that it could all have been clever misdirection. As part of the on-going litigation between Samsung and Apple, new e-mails have been released which show that Mr. Jobs was actually receptive to the idea. The e-mail, sent January 24, 2011 by Eddy Cue, was received by Steve Jobs, Scott Forstall, and Tim Cook.

It reads:

According to a tweet from electronics retailer Negri Electronics, it looks as though they'll be selling the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 this week. The 10.1-inch tablet comes with a price of $750, which isn't too bad considering what this tablet is capable of.

The closest competition is the iPad, which can be found for around $250 cheaper, but it's the Nexus 7 that is going to be the strongest competitor, and nearly $500 cheaper than the Note 10.1. Negri Electronics' listing shows that the Note 10.1 will include the 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor, 16GB of internal storage, a 10.1-inch 1,280x800 resolution touchscreen, and as the radio, it looks like it'll sport quadband 21Mbps HSPA 1900/1800/900/850.

The firm is listing it for shipping as of 8/3, which was a few days ago, meaning that people should be getting their hands on these bad boys any day now.

Need to get your kids to stop asking you for an iPad? How about spending a mere $90 on a full Android ICS tablet to get them to leave you alone. Not a bad deal, and the new Matrix One slate is a perfect solution which fits the bill. You aren't going to get much in the way of specs for only $90, but for $90, you get a reasonable amount.

The device features a 7-inch screen which has 5-point multi-touch support. The screen resolution is a pitiful 800x480 and won't be able to compete with most tablets on the market. It also features a 2MP front camera, a Cortex A8 clocked at 1.5GHz, 512 MB or 1 GB RAM, Wi-Fi connectivity, a 3200 mAh battery, and Android 4.0.3 ICS.

The best feature is probably its mini HDMI port which supports full HD. Theoretically, you can use this tablet to stream full HD to your home 50-inch big screen TV. The 4GB base model comes in at $89.99 and the 16GB model will only set you back $129.99. They are also available in black, white, blue, and pink which should match any style your kid might have. Save the money here and buy yourself an iPad or Nexus 7.

iMore is reporting that they've learnt that Apple is planning to announce the new iPhone (I really don't think we're going to see a number-based name, I think we're going to see Apple use the same naming scheme as the 'new iPad') on September 12. This announcement would be followed by a release 9 days later on September 21.

The site also reports that the iPad mini would be announced on the same day, as well as the new iPod nano. There's no release date rumor on the new iPad mini, but it would most likely fall on the same day as the new iPhone. As for the new iPod, that date could be anywhere, but I would place bets that Apple will concentrate on the new iPhone and iPad mini first.

The dates do line up with previous Apple announcements, and releases shortly after. The iPhone 4S was announced on October 4, 2011 and released 10 days later on October 14. This event also included slight updates to the iPod line, including the white iPod touch 4. This year, we saw the third-generation 'new iPad' announced on March 7, and released 9 days later on March 16. This also included the 1080p Apple TV during the same event.

I'm sure you've all been walking down the street texting or playing a game on your phone and walked into someone or something. I know I have and I know I'm not alone. According to the Associated Press, the number of citizens walking into poles, ditches, on-coming cars, and each other while using electronic devices has 'quadrupled.'

The internet has nearly as many bloopers of this as it does cat videos, including the one above of a man walking into a black bear while texting. While it's hilarious to watch, it's most certainly a serious problem and is implicated in the 4.2% rise in pedestrian fatalities in 2010. Some states are even trying to outlaw distracted walking.

A whopping 1,152 people went to the emergency room last year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Some highlights of the sad and hilarious stories:

Microsoft has been keeping some information about Surface secret, namely it's price and launch date. Thanks to a filing with the SEC, we can now report the launch date of the upcoming Surface tablets. According to the filing, the new Surface tablets will go on sale October 26 alongside the launch of Windows 8.

In Microsoft's annual filing, you can find the following: "The next version of our operating system, Windows 8, will be generally available on October 26, 2012. At that time, we will begin selling the Surface, a series of Microsoft-designed and manufactured hardware devices." We still don't have any numbers on the price.

A typically ambitious Microsoft is looking to sell "a few million Surface PCs" in the coming year", but this could prove easier said than done. Apple has a major stronghold on the tablet market and Google is adding to the competition with its newly released Nexus 7. Not knowing the price could cause people to write the tablets off before they even launch so it's important for Microsoft to get that information out.

Samsung first showed off their 10.1-inch Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, and since its unveiling the slate, Samsung have baked in a few changes before release.

Since MWC, the Note 10.1 has received some of the same treatment the flagship Galaxy S III smartphone was treated to, this includes a similar color scheme of white and silver. It also includes the same Exynos 4 Quad processor, giving us a 1.4GHz quad-core CPU rocking along inside, as well as 2GB of RAM and support for HSPA+ 3G internet.

The Brave Post have managed to get their grubby little paws on one, and revealed the above details. Not only that, but they suggest that the inclusion of 3G internet access extends the Note 10.1's phone functionality, where it can act as a speaker phone and message access point. Samsung are still prepped to announce something on August 15, but this could well be their Galaxy Note II.

Qualcomm have shown off their first tablet, which is powered by the companies Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 SoC, backed up by an ADreno 320 GPU. It's a quad-core processor clocked in at 1.5GHz.

It's also very fast, and beats Samsung's Exynos 4 Quad which is found in the Galaxy S III, as well as HTC One X's NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip. Of course, it also beats Qualcomm's own Snapdragon S4 processor in a bunch of synthetic benchmarks. But, what is this beast priced at?

$1,300. Considering that Google's Nexus 7 is just $199, and Apple's iPad is a shave under $500, $1,300 is a huge price to pay for a tablet. But, if you want the best performing tablet on the market, this seems to be it. After the quad-core 1.5GHz chip, we find 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera.

It looks like Research in Motion (RIM) are getting into the news today with something positive, instead of job losses, negative finance reports, or delays on BB10.

Mobile Syrup is reporting that they've been informed that the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook is set to launch via Bell, and most likely on other Canadian carriers, next Tuesday, the 31st of July. According to an internal Bell document, the price of the 4G-capable PlayBook will be $549.95.

Spec-wise, we're looking at the usual 7-inch display with a 1024x600 resolution, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4G LTE (and HSPA+), OS 2.0, 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear-facing cam capable of shooting 1080p video, 3-megapixel front-facer, 4800 mAh battery and only comes in one size: 32GB.

A company that you've probably never heard of has released an infographic that shows the radiation output for five different phones. The higher the output, the worse it is for your health. The FCC has a limit of 1.6W/kg and the iPhone 4S isn't too far away from that number. On the other hand, the Galaxy SIII does considerably better.

The company in question is Tawkon, a company that released an app on iOS and Android which shows how much radiation your phone is emitting. Apple, of course, quickly removed the app since it didn't make the iPhone look very good. The app is still available on the Google Play store if you would like to check out your device.

According to the infographic, the BlackBerry Bold is one of the worst phones you can buy, in terms of radiation, as it is the closest to the legal limit imposed by the FCC. The iPhone 4S comes in second with a SAR rating of 1.11W/kg. The Samsung Galaxy S3, however, comes in with only .34W/kg, more than three times less than the iPhone 4S. If you prefer to keep your brains raw, you might want to rethink your phone choice.

Executives speaking to the Yonhap news agency, it looks as though Samsung have smashed through the 10 million sales milestone. The company talked about hitting the milestone by the end of July, and well, they've done it.

Samsung's head of mobile, J.K. Shin, said "It appears that it (accumulated sales) has exceeded 10 million units". But, and there's always a but, Shin didn't specify whether this 10 million unit count was actual sales to customers, or shipments to retailers. Either way, it's an achievement in itself.

The Samsung Galaxy S III has been available for a little over two months, and can now be purchased in over 140 countries across the world.

We had a another RumorTT post on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note II last month, where we heard it would have Samsung's quad-core Exynos processor inside, but it looks like those rumors are now materializing as we get closer to its impending release.

Some numbers have just shown up in the form of some test results uploaded to GLBenchmark, which let's us report that the Galaxy Note II should sport a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor, clocked 200MHz above its little brother the Galaxy S III. The Galaxy S II was clocked in at just 1.2GHz and was only a dual-core chip, while the original Note was clocked in at 1.4GHz and also just a dual-core chip.

The benchmark scores show that the Note II is a little faster than the Galaxy S III. The screen resolution tested on the device was 1280x720, which is a 16:9 ratio compared to the original Note's 16:10. This goes hand-in-hand with previous rumors of the Note II featuring a slighter bigger screen. I've already taken a stab at the 5.5- to 5.6-inch range. Another good note on the Note II (geddit?) is that it looks to be running that sweet Google OS, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. But, that seems obvious at this point, for Samsung to launch a flagship phone without Jelly Bean.

It looks as though Google didn't expect this much demand for the 16GB version of their Nexus 7 tablet, with the tablet selling out from stockists and other sources, whilst demand for the 8GB variant remains comparatively low.

Google have stopped further orders for the 16GB variant across their US and UK Google Play stores, with orders placed up to the end of last week looking to be fulfilled, but a shortage in stock now means a stop in sales, temporarily. If you're after a Nexus, and don't mind the smaller 8GB version then you can still grab one, with a 3-5 business day wait.

If you still want that 16GB version, you'll have to "sign up to be notified by e-mail" when it becomes available, according to Google's Play Store. Even though the Nexus 7 is sold out in its 16GB flavor, the company haven't released any sales numbers, so its unknown whether this "sold out" number is just 500,000 or a few million.

It's been previously reported that Apple have begun their final production of the upcoming next-gen iPhone, but BGR is reporting that this isn't true. They have reported that Apple go through multiple stages before a product is manufactured, and two of these phases include the "engineering verification test" stage, as well as a "design verification test" phase.

BGR have a source that tells them that the new iPhone is currently in the EVT3 stage, the third revision of the engineering test stage, not yet reaching the DVT stage. Production of previous iPhones, according to BGR's source, is as follows:

Remember, that it's still completely plausible that Apple are producing engineering samples of the new iPhone, as well as messing around with manufacturing device enclosures to ensure any problems with the manufacturing itself is ironed out before the real production starts. But the final retail product has not yet reached this stage, not yet. BGR also reports that the units that Apple are currently testing sport 1GB of RAM.

It looks like increased competition from companies such as HTC, and Samsung are forcing Apple to make changes to the new iPhones design, where "people familiar with the matter" saying that manufacturers of the new iPhone are currently using a new technology that makes the new iPhones screen smaller, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ reports that Japanese LCD makers, Sharp, and Japan Display Inc., who is a new company that combined three Japanese electronics makers' display users, as well as South Korea's LG Display Co. are currently mass producing panels for the upcoming iPhone, which is said to use in-cell technology.

In-cell technology integrates touch sensors directly into the LCD, removing the need of a separate touch-screen layer. Thanks to this layer not being needed, it shaves half a millimeter off the total thickness of the phone, while increasing the quality of the display itself, says DisplaySearch analyst Hiroshi Hayase. The current iPhone is 9.3mm thick, which means we should see the new iPhone somewhere below 9mm in total thickness.

Know Your Mobile has a big scoop on the new iPhone, where according to a "reliable industry source who wishes to remain anonymous" revealed to Know Your Mobile that the iPhone 5 would be launched at a keynote speech given on August 7.

There were reports floating around that the date for the iPhone 5's launch was brought forward from October to August (most likely from increasing competition). Because it is just a rumor, there are no details on specs, design, pricing, or anything else really. According to previous rumors, Apple will break their usual stance of keeping the screen at just 3.5-inch, and increase it to 4-inch.

They need to do this to break the mould, and keep up with the competition. Apple's new iPhone should also sport NFC capabilities, as well as a faster processor. It should also adapt a new look and style, changing from the iPhone 4 and 4S. The new iPhone should also be the debut device for Apple's iOS 6 mobile operating system, which should bring some nice changes to iOS, as there again, is already competition from Google in the form of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and the soon-to-be released Windows Phone 8 from Microsoft.