HP Pavilion G6 with AMD Trinity Selling for $570 USD

World’s biggest computer manufacturer, American company HP is reportedly selling the HP Pavilion G6 notebook powered by AMD Trinity in Taiwan for just 570 USD.

In European currency that’s just 446 EUR, and the laptop is indeed delivered all around the world so, if any European Trinity fans want one, they can grab it from the Taiwan retailer PC Home. At this price, the HP Pavilion G6 is clearly not a high-end model, so we shouldn’t be too disappointed with its 2.5 Kg weight. That’s 5.51 pounds in imperial and it’s acceptable for a 15.6” notebook. HP Pavilion G6 is not trying to compete with any UltraBook, but when performance is concerned, especially in 3D graphics applications, it will most likely trounce most of Intel’s cheaper UltraBooks.

The reason for this is the fact that the A6-4400 APU is paired with a discrete graphics card, also from AMD, that comes with 1 GB of dedicated DDR3 video memory. The card in question is the Radeon HD 7520G, which will be able to work with the APU’s own iGPU for some powerful CrossFire action. Connectivity wise, the HP Pavilion G6 is well set up with a HDMI 1.4 port, a VGA connector, two USB 3.0 slots and a USB 2.0 one, Ethernet and Wireless N, Bluetooth 4.0 and a card reader, along with the two standard audio jacks.

Unfortunately, AMD’s A6-4400M APU is practically half of Trinity, as it comes with two cores and one FPU. The working frequency is 2700 MHz that can turbo up to 3200 MHz. The level2 cache is just 1 MB, and the Radeon HD 7520G iGPU has only 192 shader units. Why HP chose to include a discrete GPU with only 192 shaders instead of delivering a full A10-4600M APU is beyond us, but feel free to comment on this.

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NVIDIA Kai: $199 Quad-Core Android Tablet

NVIDIA's Tegra mobile platform has become quite famous on the tablet market, so it is natural for the Santa Clara, California-based company to want to build on that prestige.

NVIDIA held its annual meeting with stockholders just a short time ago and, during it, it revealed a new tablet project called Kai. If one wishes to listen to the entire event, this link leads right to the recording. It isn't perfectly clear if Kai is a commercial product or just a reference design that NVIDIA's OEMs are going to base their own products on. There is also no law stating that it can't be both. Basically, Kai is NVIDIA's plan to create tablets that are better than the Amazon Kindle Fire, while costing just as much: $199 / 157 Euro.

We're pretty certain NVIDIA is thinking of the upcoming 10-inch Fire, not the 7-inch model that is about to get a price cut to $150 / 117 Euro. Either way, compared to $499 / 479 Euro, the price is a steal. “Our strategy on Android is simply to enable quad-core tablets running Android Ice Cream Sandwich to be developed and brought out to market at the $199 price point, and the way we do that is a platform we've developed called Kai,” VP Rob Csonger said. “So this uses a lot of the secret sauce that's inside Tegra 3 to allow you to develop a tablet at a much lower cost, by using a lot of innovation that we've developed to reduce the power that's used by the display and use lower cost components within the tablet.”

Kindle Fire can already play videos and music, in addition to performing all the duties of an e-reader. To outdo it, NVIDIA and company could settle for just a performance increase, but we're pretty sure video output options will be in the bag too, HDMI especially. On a related note, we guess that Kai will also spawn a Windows 8 version whenever Microsoft's OS makes its debut.

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Nokia N8 Getting Belle FP1 and FP2 Updates Soon, Includes Minor CPU Overclock

It looks like Belle FP1 and FP2 major updates will come to Nokia N8 as well. For the time being, Nokia 808 PureView is the only smartphone that comes with Belle FP1 out of the box.

However, the update is expected to be pushed to all Nokia N8 units pretty soon. During the official launch of Nokia 808 PureView and Lumia 900 in Italy, the company’s Product Manager Mattia Fiorin told Nokialino that FP1 would soon be available for the N8. According to Nokia’s official, FP1 will bring the latest Nokia Browser 8.2, along with a new version of Social app. Moreover, it is said that the update will be specially tailored to match Nokia N8’s requirements, which means it will be smaller than the standard FP1. That’s because Nokia N8’s 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU’s processing power has already been stretched out to its limits and would not cope well with the full version of FP1.

In fact, it appears that the Finnish company plans to make a minor overclock to the smartphone’s processor in order to successfully enable all the FP1 features without losing on the performance and stability side. We’re not sure what this “minimal overclock” would mean for N8’s CPU, but if it does make the smartphone run faster with FP1 on-board, then that’s good news for Nokia N8 owners. Obviously, this is not the first time that Nokia does this overclocking trick. Nokia 701 and 700 received a bump in speed when their CPUs where overclocked from 1GHz to 1.3 GHz.

There’s more to it as Nokia’s Mattia Fiorin also confirmed that the N8 will also receive the upcoming FP2 update, which has yet to be officially announced. On a side note, a new firmware update for Nokia N8 has just been spotted in Spain at Navifrim. Software version 111.30.610 will soon be pushed to N8 units, though we don’t have any changelog available for the moment.

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RIM Updating the BlackBerry App World Ahead of BlackBerry 10

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion is gearing up for the release of a new major flavor of its mobile operating system, namely the BlackBerry 10 platform, and it is also making changes to some of the services that will be available for it.

The BlackBerry App World, the one place where those who use RIM’s smartphones can find and download apps and games, is suffering some modifications as well. According to the latest reports on the matter, RIM has already sent out notice to developers to inform them on these changes, yet an official public announcement hasn’t been made yet. Some of the main changes that the app portal will suffer include the addition of a new Music Creation category, along with some new categories for children, and the removal of the Beta section. Apparently, the News cat in the BlackBerry App World has been expanded to include magazines and Blogs as well, and it has been rebranded to News and Magazines. 

The Reference and eBooks & Education was split into two sections, one being Education & Reference, while the other is Books. The Shopping section is now called Lifestyle, while Maps & Navigation has become Navigation and Travel and, obviously, includes the Travel category as well. The Music Creation section was added to Music and Audio as a subcategory, and there are also two Children’s Categories, namely Children’s Games in the Games Channel, and Children’s Books in the Books category. 

As mentioned above, another major change involves the Beta category, which is being discontinued. All apps in this category will be moved to relevant sections. What RIM hasn’t explained is how it will handle the beta testing of applications. The vendor already announced that it planned on removing sideloading of applications from its PlayBook tablet, and it might apply the same approach to the BlackBerry 10 OS as well. Only developers will be able to install applications from unofficial sources, which means that the Beta Zone might soon be shut down. Hopefully, the company will provide clarification on the matter soon, so stay tuned for more on this.

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Samsung Officially Confirms Blocking Leaked S-Voice App, Says It’s a Test Version

The S-Voice saga continues with a new episode. This time it’s Samsung that comes forward with an official statement admitting it has blocked leaked S-Voice app due to the fact that this was just a “test version.”

S-Voice is part of Galaxy S III’s software and has been leaked last weekend, along with the first official Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM, which is supposed to run on Samsung’s Android flagship smartphone. However, Samsung claims that the Galaxy S III ROM leaked several days ago contains an earlier build of S-Voice app and not the final version. The folks at The Verge have reached out to Samsung for an explanation and the South Korean company issued the following reply:

 “An initial test version of S Voice which was found online has been blocked as Samsung Electronics does not want consumers to judge the quality of the voice feature based on a test version. When the product is launched, users of GALAXY S III will be able to fully experience S Voice.”

As you may notice, Samsung does not say anything regarding the compatibility of the S-Voice app with other Android devices, so until Galaxy S III goes live we won’t have any official statements. Although S-Voice access to Samsung and Vlingo servers was limited to Galaxy S III devices, the Android community found a way to trick these servers into thinking that any non-Galaxy S III smartphone is in fact a Samsung Galaxy S III. This means that most Android phones can take advantage of S-Voice, though the applications can only be installed on devices powered by Ice Cream Sandwich platform.

Still, until Samsung Galaxy S III hits shelves, most users who installed the leaked S-Voice won’t be able to tell if the personal assistant application is working as intended, or it’s just an early version.

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Intel Core i5-3365M Mobile CPU Set for Q3 Launch

Intel may have decided to hold off on the launch of some of its CPUs, but that doesn't mean it has succeeded in completely hiding the information regarding them. 

Whether through controlled or unintentional information leaks, data about both desktop and laptop Ivy Bridge CPUs has been trickling to the net. The chip now falling under the magnifying glass, so to speak, is the Core i5-3365M. It will be a successor, of sorts, to the Core i5-3360M, which has not been released yet either, having been slapped with a June launch (2012). The Core i5-3365M will come forward in the third quarter and, like the one above, will have two cores and the HD 4000 integrated graphics. The clock speed is of 2.8 GHz, but can go all the way to 3.5 GHz when the Turbo Boost dynamic overclocking technology comes into play. Also, the TDP (thermal design power) is of 35W.

We should of course mention that Turbo Boost is limited to 3.3 GHz when it has to drive both cores up. Anyway, the Core i5-3360M and Core i5 3365M are pretty much identical, except for the speed at which their graphics work. The former will boast an HD 4000 with 650MHz to 1200MHz speed, while the latter has the same lower limit but a top frequency of 1,350 MHz. Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs are all based on the 22nm manufacturing process technology. We've followed the progress of the line very closely, upturning even the occasional rock (figuratively speaking of course) in our quest to keep up to date on what is and what will or may be.

Our conclusion is that the chips are unrivaled on the high-end market, but don't really offer enough to qualify as a better option than AMD's Trinity APUs on the mainstream segment, regardless of what certain, possibly biased, reviewers say.

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ASUS Offers a Bootloader Unlock for the Transformer Pad 300

Giant motherboard manufacturer, Taiwanese company ASUS has just released a bootloader unlock for the new Transformer Pad 300, on its official website. This will most certainly void your warranty, but that’s better for ASUS, as it practically reduces their warranty costs overall.

When ASUS released the first Transformer tablet, we were amazed by its quality and performance. Many reviewers were asking for “perfect” features with a combined quality and economy to rival the Apple iPad. That kind of quality was only to come with the second generation, called the Transformer Prime.

Not only did the Transformer Prime bring a considerable performance improvement, but it also brought the much-desired quality. Take the metallic case away, along with other budget-oriented modifications and you have the Transformer Pad 300 that actually offers the same performance as the Transformer Prime, but for a lower cost.

The unlock software will allow you to install any custom mod you desire, but it will unfortunately void the warranty of your device. You can download the ASUS Tranformer Pad 300 unlocker (bootloader unlocker) here.

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Windows 8’s Fast Boot Experience and Boot Options Menu

The fast boot is one of the main features that the new Windows 8 platform arrives with, but it can also be seen as one of its greatest weaknesses from a certain point of view. 

Windows 8 can boot faster than any previous versions of the platform, that’s a fact. With help from devices that have been designed specifically for it, Windows 8 can boot up in about 7 seconds, as the video embedded at the bottom of this article shows. Microsoft designed Windows 8 to be that fast, but it appears that it actually made it too fast to allow for any actions to interrupt the boot sequence. On new hardware, the first 2-3 seconds are those when the various individual portions that comprise the boot sequence are loaded, while the next seconds are destined to get users to Windows as fast as possible. Since the boot time is so short, users won’t have time to notice what’s being loaded, nor will they be able to react if they want to perform a different action than simply getting into Windows. 

To access the boot menu, for example, one would have to press the F8 key, but the new SSD-based UEFI systems have shortened the windows during which this can be done to only 200 milliseconds, which is not enough to be successful when hitting the key. This could be seen as a problem, especially when users would like to perform actions such as booting from a different device, troubleshoot issues, fix an error, or take advantage of startup options that are used by developers. 

A single Boot Options Menu

Windows 8 will come with all these options in a single menu, the boot options menu, which includes troubleshooting tools, developer options for startup, methods for accessing the firmware’s BIOS setup, and ways to boot to alternate devices such as USB drives. Moreover, the platform includes failover behaviors that will automatically bring up the boot options menu, as well as a set of methods to reach the boot options menu from the OS, even at times when nothing is wrong. To access the boot options menu, users no longer need to interrupt the boot sequence with key strokes. To boot from another device, for example, they will simply have to click on the “Use a device” button in the boot options menu.

Also there, users will find the option to reboot directly into the UEFI firmware’s BIOS setup, via a button available under the “Troubleshooting” node, within the “Advanced options” group. On older hardware, the UEFI-provided menu features are not available, but users will be able to enter the boot menu with key strokes, since the boot time will be a bit longer. On all devices, a Windows Startup Settings is available in the boot options menu, enabling users to take advantage of features such as disabling driver signing or entering a debugging mode. A Safe Mode is also accessible from there. 

“The boot options menu creates a single place for every option that affects the startup behavior of the Windows 8 PC,” Chris Clark, a program manager on Microsoft’s User Experience team, explains. “By bringing these together into a single place, the boot options menu has become a familiar, unified, and highly usable place for these related items. Tasks such as changing Windows Startup settings, entering the UEFI firmware’s BIOS setup, or booting to a USB drive no longer require interrupting boot with a keystroke – assuming you can get to the boot options menu itself.”

Accessing the boot options menu

When in need to get to the boot options menu on a Windows 8 PC to fix an issue preventing the OS from loading, the automatic failover behavior will do that, regardless of whether it’s a faulty driver, or something else. “We now algorithmically detect when this has occurred across multiple boots, and automatically boot directly into the boot options menu inside the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE),” Chris Clark notes. “Since the source image for WinRE contains drivers and files that are kept separate from the main Windows installation, it’s not affected by any software changes and is a reliable environment to begin troubleshooting from the boot options menu.”

Moreover, Windows 8 can suggest specific actions to be taken for resolving issues that prevent it from loading normally. For example, the specialized Startup Repair Tool will be presented in some of these cases. The boot options menu also has a prominent Continue button in the first position, which enables users to enter Windows at times when the PC does not actually have a problem. To access the boot options menu from Windows 8, users will need to go to the Advanced startup section on the General tab of PC settings. Hitting the Restart Now button available there will do the trick. 

Users can do the same through keeping the Shift key pressed while hitting Restart in the normal Shutdown menu. This allows for the boot options menu to be delivered even without signing in to the PC. More info can be found via this video. “There’s one other way to trigger the boot options menu during shutdown, and this way has the added bonus of working from Command Prompt. We’ve added a new flag to shutdown.exe: /o. The /o flag only works in conjunction with /r (for restart), so the full syntax is: Shutdown.exe /r /o,” Clark also notes. 

“We added this new flag to shutdown.exe because we wanted to keep this part of Windows consistent and predictable. Not everyone uses Shutdown.exe, but those who do, depend on it for the full set of shutdown-related tasks.”

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QuadCore-Powered Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Gets a Pen Slot

Korean giant electronics company Samsung has reportedly thoroughly redesigned its up-and-coming Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 device, which now comes with a special S pen slot.

We were caught by surprise when Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 test scores were briefly revealed earlier this month. The main assumption is that, if the results are genuine, they are proof of the manufacturer's upgrade of the Galaxy Note 10.1 main processor.

Another thing that has changed about the Galaxy Note 10.1 is the fact that the producer added an S pen holder to the newest design of the mobile device. It was very strange to see that the Galaxy Note had no pen holder, back at MWC. We’re eager to test Samsung’s new toy when it is finally launched, probably during the next month.

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Brazos 2.0 E1-1200 APU-Based HP Laptop Selling Early

Even though AMD's Brazos 2.0 accelerated processing units have yet to be launched, machines based on them are making their presence felt. 

The product whose specifications surfaced this time around is called pavilion dm1-4210au and is a laptop made by HP. With hardware based around the E1-1200 Brazos 2.0 APU, it is bound to start shipping next month (June 2012), as soon as the Brazos 2.0 line itself is released. Speaking of which, there will be another Brazos 2.0 processor, called E2-1800, which is faster in both processing (1.7 GHz) and graphics, while sticking to the same thermal envelope (18 W). That's neither here nor there though, so we'll go ahead and provide the specs of the Pavilion dm1-4210au now. 

The AMD E1-1200 is a dual-core chip with 1.4 GHz clock, the Radeon HD 7310 graphics (500 MHz) and 1 MB of L2 cache memory. 2 GB of RAM (random access memory) back it up and a hard disk drive provides storage space (500 GB). Moving on, the display measures 11.6 inches in diagonal and probably boasts a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 and LED backlighting. Finally, the chipset paired with Brazos 2.0 guarantees SATA 6.0 Gbps storage speeds (or at least the possibility for such) and USB 3.0 support. 

Other specs include Gigabit Ethernet (Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN), 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, a VGA output, HDMI, audio jacks (headphones/speakers and mic), HP TrueVision HD Webcam (with Integrated Digital Microphone), Beats Audio speakers and Bluetooth. HP's online store in Malaysia has actually put the item up for order, so check out the place for all the info currently available. The price is 1,399 RM, which roughly corresponds to $448 / 353 Euro. We suspect that the rest of the world will get their shot at the computer once AFDS rolls around (AMD Fusion Developer Summit, June 11-14, 2012).

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