Mobile Devices - Page 180

Samsung has confirmed with TechRadar, that the successor to the super-awesome Galaxy S II, the Galaxy S III won't be seen at Mobile World Congress this year. The Galaxy S II was announced at last year's MWC, but the successor will miss the show. Boo.

It was revealed that the Galaxy S III will receive its own separate event to show off the new phone:

A RumorTT post about an Apple product that isn't the iPhone or iPad? What's going on! The latest news from Apple.pro claims that the seventh-generation iPod Nano is set to sport a camera. Not only a camera, but it will bring sexy the camera back.

The picture above is just a leak, so the usual salt application and over-the-shoulder-throwing is required. The next-gen iPod Nano pictured is a prototype, so things could change. This prototype is said to have a paltry 1.3-megapixel camera, but is a non-final version.

Rumor has it that the next-gen iPod Nano is just two months away from release, so if you're after a new iPod Nano in the coming weeks, months, we would suggest waiting so you can grab one of these ultra-small, camera-equipped, clip-equipped iPod Nano's.

Lenovo have unveiled plans to upgrade its ThinkPad Tablet to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in Q2 of this year. Lenovo will release the ICS-based upgrade over-the-air (OTA) but has not giving specific timing on when this will happen.

The Ice Cream Sandwich update won't enable some hardware-specific features such as Android Beam, which uses NFC (near-field communications) technology to share Web content, maps and directions between devices simply by tapping them together. The ThinkPad doesn't have NFC capabilities.

The update will give Lenovo an edge over the competition, that is, until the competition unleash the power of Ice Cream Sandwich on their respective tablets.

Samsung have added another candidate to their Galaxy line up of smartphones, with the announcement and release of the Galaxy S Advance. Galaxy S Advance sports a 1GHz dual-core CPU, 4-inch, 480x800 Super AMOLED display, up to 16GB of memory, as well as 768MB of RAM.

Galaxy S Advance also supports HSPA connections for speeds of up to 14.4Mbps, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facer, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the usual bunch of Samsung apps available through Hubs and ChatON services.

Pricing is currently unknown, but we should see a rollout to begin in Russia next month, followed by Europe, Africa, Middle East, Southeast and Southwest Asia, Latin America, and China. Currently, the U.S. is left out of its release schedule.

In a strange turn of events, AMD have shown off the MSI WindPad 110W tablet, where it was running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) at CES just recently. The WindPad 110W sports a Z-01 APU (two x86 cores at 1.0GHz, Radeon HD 6250 graphics).

2GB of RAM is also featured. Things didn't go too smoothly with the MSI WindPad 110W and Android 4.0, where occasional freezes were experienced, but considering its a work in progress, things should get better over time. For people that want to try this out on their MSI WindPad 110W, you can download the Android 4.0 for Brazos ISO, here.

If you do, let us know how you go with your MSI/AMD and Android 4.0 ventures, it will be most interesting. Remember that downloading an experimental update is just that, experimental. We cannot be blamed for any damage to your device, no matter how fun it seems to do.

Apple SVP Paul Schiller took the stage to unveil something Apple has been cooking up for a while, and a long-rumored "education-centric announcement", which has morphed into iBook 2, where Schiller calls it a "new textbook experience for the iPad".

Roger Rosner, Apple's VP of productivity software has explained how it will work. Textbooks appear on the shelf, you then tap to launch. The books occupy the full screen and can be paired with embedded video content and introductory movies. Multi-touch rears its head and can be used to navigate through the textbook pages and can manipulate integrated 3D models for biology books, for example.

Rotating books allows users to focus on text, and there are built-in, linked glossaries and tablets of content to make navigation simple and accessible, as well as everything is searchable. iBooks 2 also includes highlighting, note-taking and interactive Q&A sections at the end of each chapter, which also provide immediate feedback: no more hunting for a key in a separate book or appendix to see how you did it.

In September 2011, IDC and Gartner predicted that Windows Phone would take second position, knocking Apple from their place by 2015. Windows Phone head of marketing Achim Berg called that prediction "conservative". iSuppli have chimed in, predicting that Windows Phone will have a 16.7-percent market share by 2015, while Apple's market share will decline from the current 18-percent to 16.6-percent by 2015.

Overtake generally means to catch up, look over, smile and wave as you go faster, get ahead of them and continue going... but, iSuppli predict by 2015 that Windows Phone will have a 16.7-percent share of the market, and iOS will have 16.6-percent, this is just .1-percentage different. 3 letters, starts with L, ends in L.

What I don't understand from these numbers, is that it doesn't account for the fact that there will be no new entries into the market. Before Apple introduced the iPhone, if you had told me that they'd be where they are today, five years ago, I would've thrown an orange at you and laughed. But now, they are the company to compare to, funnily enough. Right now, I just can't see Windows Phone taking that much market share, but I can see Google dominating the next few years if they continue the path they've taken.

Fujitsu has been pretty quite when it comes to tablets, but it seems they're about to make a rumble with a product they look to be launching in May of this year. Enter the Fujitsu Stylistic M532, which is powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 System-on-a-Chip (SoC).

The Fujitsu Stylistic M532 was shown off to TechFokus, where they said it sports a 1280x800 display, 16GB of onboard storage, a 3-megapixel front-facing cam, 8-megapixel rear-facer and should carry a $630 price tag. It was shown off with Honeycomb, but when it hits retail it will reportedly have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on it.

So far, Fujitsu haven't really been a player in the tablet market. Things could change for the future, but there's nothing I saw on this tablet that really makes my eyes widen and make my hand hover to my wallet ready to GIVE IT MY MONEY. I guess time will tell.

You know what? Over the course of CES, I noticed I'm actually excited for something for once... what is it? Windows 8 tablets. I really think they could change things up this year, with full Windows capabilities, a next-gen, touch-based OS, proper touch-based tablets, it would really change things up against the kinda basic tasks the iPad can do compared to the powerhouse OS X. Anyway, DigiTimes is reporting that we could see Intel-based tablets starting at just $599.

This is due to Microsoft and Intel both willing to drop their related hardware and software quotes, as you can imagine, this will shave down the price considerably. This is of course, according to "sources from notebook vendors". DigiTimes never runs out of sources, up, down, and sideways from the supply chain, so I'm throwing some salt at you, now.

These same sources claim that Intel and Microsoft are struggling since if Microsoft drops its Windows 8, and Intel drops its Clover Trail-W prices, whilst this strategy could help raise Wintel-based tablet PC's market share, it could seriously damage pricing in the PC market and bring down both their margin performance.

CES 2012 - For any respectable company to overlook the potential of the iPad and iPhone market, it's just silly, as there are literally tons of users out there. Cooler Master jumped on board and is offering various stands for both notebooks and tablets. In this image you will see the ARC holding the MAC notebook, the JAS and L Stand behind it, and an un-named simpler design in the back. These aluminum units will only be available in silver to go along with the Apple products and offer grey rubber padding to keep from damaging your devices.

Next in line is the Wave Stand which is geared for iPads. This is a fold able unit that allows for easy stashing in a bag while on the go. Once you are at a table or any flat surface, you pull out the Wave, and unfold the middle of it to allow you to rest the iPad on it for easier use of the device. Again this unit is all aluminum, but has grip with the large black rubber pas that support the iPad on the legs as well as the pad that rests against the back of the device. The nice feature with this device is that it isn't solely intended to the Apple crowd, but will work with any tablet on the market.

Ever wanted a cover for your iPhone that would make it look like a top tier CM chassis? Well now you can with the introduction of a trio of black silicone rubber covers. This one is the HAF X edition that takes styling from the HAF X and molds it into the cover. In the HAF X variant, there is also a place provided to place a stylus.

CES 2012 - There once was a day when phones shipped with a wall charger that was USB with a plug on the end, and car chargers were all sold separately, and were specific for each device. Here CM is offering a single USB and dual USB charging solution that derives it power from the cigarette lighter of any vehicle. Just plug in either of the Car chargers while you are traveling and keep those batteries topped off so you don't kill the battery at the worst time possible.

Also on the table is a pair of Power Fort chargers for mobile devices. Both the 5600mA and the 6600mA on the go chargers are themselves charge up via USB. Once the unit it at a full change you can simply unplug it and throw it in your backpack, laptop bag, or for the ladies, in your purse. These are designed to be used out and about when you mobile device is losing its charge. If I remember the numbers correctly, with the 6600mA version, when fully charged it will recharge up to three tablets or five phones.

This is a great companion for those constantly on the go, or even offers a few days worth of charges for those who may be in a primitive environment with no available power, such as camping, or at tens of thousands of feet over the earth.

Macotakara, a Japanese blog, reports that Apple's contract manufacturers, Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron Technology, have both been issued orders to start assembly of next-generation iPads, set for an early-March launch. This comes after reports from an iLounge story where editor Jeremy Horwitz said he had hands-on experience with a next-gen iPad prototype.

Horwitz said:

CES 2012: Dell have plans to launch their first consumer tablet late this year, where it will face not only strong competition, but will go head-to-head with releases between now and then, too. With Apple and Samsung playing the David and Goliath battle in the consumer tablet market, how can Dell do something different to make customers not just want, but need their tablet.

Dell have had a successful lead in the boxed PC/notebook build-to-order market, but even now, they face slim profits and a market that doesn't quite want desktops or notebooks, as much, anymore. The enterprise-focused Streak tablet from Dell was just a test, and now they want some of that consumer tablet pie.

Chief Commercial Officer, Steve Felice, said at CES this week:

CES 2012: Intel and mobiles have never really gone together like... peanut butter and jelly (for you Americans) and vegemite on toast (for you Australians), but this year, marks a very big change for the chip developer. During Intel's keynote presentation at CES, Liu Jun, president of Lenovo's mobile Internet division, announced the Lenovo K800 smartphone built on Intel's "Medfield" Atom platform.

The K800 sports a 4.5-inch 720p screen, HSPA+ support, runs Android 4.0 and will be available in China in Q2 of 2012. Inside, the processor is the Intel Atom Z2460 with 21Mbps HSPA+ connectivity on the China Unicom network from Intel's XMM 6260 chipset. Lenovo also showed off its IdeaPad K2110, a 10-inch Android 4.0-based tablet, powered again, by Intel's Medfield.

The Medfield goodness didn't stop though, Motorola Mobility CEO, Sanjay Jha announced that Motorola and Intel had entered into a "multiyear, multidevice strategic partnership," with Motorola's first Atom-powered phones to ship in the second half of this year.

ASUS are rolling out their eagerly-awaited Transformer Prime update, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). This is actually 48 hours earlier than previously known, with a few sites and people already updated to the new OS, the first impressions of it seem to be that the Prime is vastly-improved with ICS, especially with web browsing.

Sites that usually took 10-20 seconds, now reportedly take around 6 seconds. A very nice, and free, improvement. Another nice UI update that comes with ICS is the Roboto font scheme Google have introduced. Swipe-to-dismiss notifications are now baked in, which is much better than trying to squeeze your finger down to a smaller pin size to hit that 'x' next to the notification you want to dismiss.

But, it feels like a bit of a sour update. Considering ASUS teased the super-Transformer yesterday in the form of the TF700T Transformer Prime that sports the 1920x1200 display and is overall, much better - the OTA update feels... stale. But, you can't complain about getting something for free. If you've got a Transformer Prime and haven't updated to ICS, you should really do so. Once you're done, let us know how you go. I'm interested on your thoughts between Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich, which one tastes better?

CES 2012: Razer are a hardware PC gaming orientated company and are constantly living life on the edge by releasing new product after new product. At CES, they unveiled Project Fiona. It is handheld PC gaming, made by Razer. The possibly future of portable PC gaming.

Project Fiona is a proof-of-concept design shown off at CES as part of Razer's strategy to stand out from the crowd of been-there-seen-that smartphones and tablets. Last year they unveiled the Razer Switchblade and now, Project Fiona. Switchblade never really made it to the market, but elements of the technology were baked into Razer's Blade gaming laptop.

Razer's Project Fiona may just be a proof-of-concept, but Razer CEO and creative director, Min-Liang Tan has said that they plan on shipping an actual project by the end of the year, and what will be sold as an actual product, will differ to just shipping a tablet PC with handlebars. Min-Liang Tan said to Kotaku, "I love my iPad," as he explained Project Fiona to them. He went on to say:

This is something new for me, I've never heard of it before and wow does it sound interesting. Tobii, have introduced eye-tracking technology called "Gaze", where you can control Windows 8 with your... eyes. Yes, the eyes you're reading this text with, can control the next-generation OS from Microsoft. The project is a result of research conducted in 2001 at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology.

Gizmodo tried it out and they seem to have nothing but great words to say about it, and it makes me just as excited to read about it and imagine the possibilities. Gaze's eye control device, which is said to look like a "horizontal rectangle glass obelisk attached to the hinge of a laptop", is incredibly accurate.

Just like smartphones, Gaze requires some personal calibration before you can use it and some unique finger movements. Gaze is said to be very accurate, never missing the target by more than a "few pixels". On top of the eye tracking, swipe gestures are also available through Windows 8 and Gaze. Included at the demo was an Asteroids-like game with Tobii's Gaze and everything that was impressive about Tobii before, was just as impressive in Asteroids, according to Gizmodo.

Samsung in the last few days have launched a new smartphone, touted as an "affordable" handset, the Galaxy M Style. The Samsung Galaxy M Style is a mid-range smartphone featuring a 4-inch Super AMOLED display and a slim form factor of just 9.9mm.

The Galaxy M Style sports Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1GHz single-core processor, 4GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB) and sports dual cameras, with a VGA front-facing camera and a rear-facing 3-megapixel camera. It also supports HD (720p) video recording.

The Galaxy M Style is only going to splash onto South Korean shores and will launch in three colors: Platinum Silver, Blue Black, and Lavender Pink. Samsung haven't confirmed whether Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) will come to the handset. Galaxy M Style is priced at just $500, which is significantly less than their flagship ICS-powered Galaxy Nexus handset.

CES is upon us, and whilst our boss Cameron is over there, one problem: he forgot my ticket. It must've been lost in the mail, and I'll forgive him... this time. Ha. Onto the exciting ASUS News. ASUS were barely able to contain their CES excitement, and at a press event in Taipei, Vice President and General Manager of the Eee Systems Business Unit, Samson Hu, let loose the ASUS tablet road map.

ASUS confirmed they will be launching an ARM-powered, Windows 8-based tablet that will hit at the end of this year, there is a 3G version of the Transformer Prime confirmed for a March release and also includes a more powerful GPS module. Netbook News are expecting ASUS to unveil a 7-inch tablet, which should be the ASUS Memo as well as a high-resolution 10-inch tablet. The excitement doesn't stop there though, two new 10-inch tablets were announced for 2H 2012, but no additional details were provided.

ASUS also gave some projections for 2012, with sales expected to reach the 6 million mark. ASUS are also expanding their Android Tablet division from 300 to 400 employees. Right now, ASUS have 150 developers and engineers working on the new Windows 8 tablets. As you can see from the increase in employees, ASUS are really pumping some energy into the tablet market, which in my opinion, is a very smart move indeed.

ASUS released their Tegra 3-packing Eee Pad Transformer Prime before Christmas last year and they are pretty quick out of the gates in 2012 to deliver Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich on January 12.

ASUS also released an update yesterday which improves focus issues with the Prime's camera and provides better touchscreen response and GPS performance. ASUS used Facebook to announce the update, and to thank customers for their ongoing support and address some of the growing issues that the Transformer Prime is experiencing.

The first issue ASUS address is the GPS problem, claiming the issue stems from the metallic unibody design meaning that the material may affect the performance of the GPS when receiving signals from satellites. ASUS reminds users that the Transformer Prime isn't a professional-grade GPS device and that signal strength can be influenced by a number of additional factors.