Mobile Devices - Page 367

In the race for OpenCL/Cuda performance it looks like ATi is not doing so hot. In a good read over at Anandtech we are told that ATi's stream processor is just not there in terms of GP-GPU computing.

To test this Anandtech used ATi's new CyberLink's Espresso and ran it on an ATi GPU, an Nvidia GPU and a CPU.

The results were interesting. The ATi card was not only slower than the nVidia GPU (and in a couple of cases slower than CPU only) it also produced very poor quality video compared to the CPU and nVidia GPU.

It seems that ATi is just not there yet in terms of utilizing GPU computing, this will affect them as nVidia moves farther and farther ahead in the GP-GPU world.

Read more here

The new iPhone OS has made its way to many a happy iPhone user. This is a good thing as it means that iPhone users can now finally join the ranks of other smart phone owners with such exciting features as Copy and Paste, Tethering and Voice control.

But with these come some interesting extras. Aparrently hidden in the new update are 45 patches that cover vulnerabilities in the old iPhone OS. This would seem to fly in the face of Apple's normal stance of "our hardware and software is completely secure".

Do not get me wrong, I think the inclusion of fixes and security patches is great and Apple is doing the right thing by making sure they get out to iPhone owners. I just wish they would knock off the BS that OSX and iPhone OS are more secure than other operating systems out.

Read more here

There is very good news for some people that pre-ordered the new iPhone 3G S (S is for silly). It looks like there are a few that will actually get delivered tomorrow on the 17th as opposed to the 19th when the rest of the world will fight for the new Apple toy.

Tomorrow is iPhone OS 3.0 day and will (if I am not wrong) be another day of down AT&T servers, iTunes activation servers and other fun for those wanting the new OS on the first day out. For those that are getting the phone tomorrow, I have a feeling that you won't be able to use it before the 19th anyway.

Read more here.

AT&T and Apple have detailed how the launch of the iPhone 3G S will work come June 19, and it looks like those who don't preorder the phone will be getting the shaft.

Apple will be opening their stores a little early at 8AM. This will all those who preorder the phone to come in early and grab their new overpriced paperweight.

In the world of hardware it is often hard to keep track of changing standards and practices. Usually this happens across different platforms and hardware. However when it happens to Apple on their own products it is sort of funny.

According to a very detailed breakdown of features between the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3G S one stands out. OpenGL ES support. In the iPhone 3G you have OpenGL ES 1.1 only. In the new iPhone 3G S you have OpenGL ES 2.0 and 1.1, this is thanks to the new PowerVR SGX graphics chip in the cover.

Application developers are now faced with the problem of designing applications that can take advantage of the newer standard or making them available to more iPhone users.

Read more here.

Of course the big news that everyone has been waiting for is the new iPhone. But is not being called the iPhone 3.0 but the iPhone 3G S (maybe the S is for Speed).

They have taken the base iPhone and thrown something new under the hood. Almost everything is faster, roughly twice as fast. Of course not all applications will enjoy this. Maybe there is some truth to the rumors that Apple is using OpenCL and a more powerful GPU to accelerate the iPhone.

Apple has dropped in a new camera 3MP to be exact with auto focus and tap to focus as well as macro. 7.2Mbps HSDPA, video recording (complete with built in editing), voice control (not only for dialing but for iTunes control, a compass application (should be great for hikers),hardware encryption and of course all of the new features of the iPhone OS 3.0.

Apple has worked on the batter quite a bit too; they have improved the 3G Talk time to 5 hours and the WiFi Internet time to 9 hours.

Granted most of this should have been on the 3G, but hey it is finally here. If you are just getting an iPhone (or are eligible for an upgrade) you can pick up the 3GS for $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB. If you are like me and are outside this you are looking at about $500 for the 16GB and 600-700 for the 32GB.

Availability should be in a little over a week and a half from today in the USA. And after that even more countries, over 80 countries will have it by August.

Get ready it is going to be a busy summer. Read more here.

Nokia opened its very own App store on Tuesday and already it is feeling the same pinch that got Apple at the launch of the iPhone. According to an article at usatoday.com the Ovi store is having some technical difficulties and is not being accepted as well as would be hoped.

Users are complaining that to access the store they have to login on their phones browser as there is no direct application to allow them access just yet.

But the worst issue came as the servers were overloaded and could not fill all the requests that were coming in from Nokia owners. At the time of this writing Nokia has added additional serves to handle the extra load but the damage may already have been done.

Read more here.

Apple is warning users of the iPhone and iPod that they might get a shocking experience when they go to use their earbuds.

It has been a little while since we have heard new iPhone rumors so I was not shocked when a couple popped up today.

The one that caught my attention was this little bit over at Wired. It seems that the rumor mill went into overtime churning out this one.

The rumor says that the next Gen iPhone will hit the streets on July 17th. But there is more than that, if the "source" is correct the new iPhone will have an OLED,a 3.2 MP camera (and can capture video), 1.5 times the battery life, and will have a 32GB version.

Of course it will have all the goodies from iPhone OS 3.0 as well.

Read more here.

The iPhone OS 3.0 has entered the BETA 4 stage. But according to people that have the new OS there is not much new to see.

One thing they do talk about is that the formerly empty store settings pane now has some information in it. The problem is there is nothing exciting there and only seems to link you to a bland web page that allows you to edit your account information.

To get OS 3.0 working you will also need to upgrade to the new iTunes, 8.2 (which is not out just yet.)

Read more here