A couple of days back, ASUS published a very unusual “trailer” video, of sorts, for a tablet called Fonepad, which had voice call capabilities not unlike smartphones. Now we are told that the slate will be launched sooner rather than later.
Intel has mentioned that a tablet will be released later today (February 25, 2013). While we were not given a name for the device itself, ASUS was specified as the developer, so it is all but certain that the Fonepad is the one. The tablet will rely on the Atom Processor Z2420, codenamed Lexington, which has up to 1.2 GHz frequency and all the video playback and I/O capabilities that SoCs (system-on-chip devices) are expected to possess.
Fonepad will have a metallic silver finish, 1 GB of RAM, a 3-megapixel camera at the back, a 1.2 MP camera at the front, a microSD card slot and a 7-inch display. A 4270 mAh battery will keep everything running for hours at a time (exact number not available yet).
Intel Fonepad with Atom SoC Image credits to AndroidOS.in
Today at the MWC 2013 trade show in Barcelona, chip maker Intel announced a new dual-core Atom SoC (“Clover Trail+”) platform designed for use inside smartphones and tablet PCs running under Google’s Android operating system, with support for LTE connectivity packed inside.
The new Atom processor platform (“Clover Trail+”) and smartphone reference design is meant to provide low power and long battery life, as well as increased performance capabilities to Android devices, the company says. Furthermore, Intel claims that the new SoC will offer support for smooth Web browsing, viewing of full HD movies while on the go, as well as a great Android applications experience. Three 32nm dual-core Intel Atom processors were announced in the lineup, namely the Z2580, Z2560 and Z2520, with clock speeds of 2.0 GHz, 1.6 GHz and 1.2GHz, respectively. All three chips come to the market with support for the Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, which translates into up to four simultaneous application threads, thus delivering increased efficiency.
The platform also comes with an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator engine capable of delivering great graphics performance for rich 3-D visuals, mobile gaming and full 1080p hardware-accelerated video encode and decode at 30fps. “Today’s announcements build on Intel’s growing device portfolio across a range of mobile market segments,” said Hermann Eul, Intel vice president and co-general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. “Our second-generation product delivers double the compute performance and up to three times the graphics capabilities, all while maintaining competitive low power.”
The platform comes with support for screens of up to 1900x1200 pixels in resolution, as well as for the new Android 4.2 Jelly Bean platform, and for Intel Wireless Display Technology, HSPA+ at 42Mbps with the Intel XMM 6360 slim modem solution. The new Clover Trail+ processors will arrive on shelves inside smartphones and tablet PCs coming from ASUS, Lenovo, and ZTE. Some of these have already been announced at CES last month, including the Lenovo IdeaPhone K900, the first to land on shelves with the Intel Atom Z2580 CPU inside.
Intel intros Atom Clover Trail+ CPUs at MWC 2013 Image credits to Intel
Mozilla’s Firefox OS is moving closer to making an official appearance on the market, and the platform has been previewed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona over the weekend (a video demo can be seen at the bottom of this article).
The platform is set to become available on devices in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela in the beginning, with more markets set to arrive soon. 17 wireless carriers around the world have committed to Firefox OS devices, Mozilla also announced: America Movil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telefonica, Telenor, TMN and VimpelCom. The handsets will be manufactured by Alcatel (TCL), LG and ZTE, with Huawei also expected to join the party before the end of this year. All smartphones running under the Firefox OS will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processors, Mozilla also announced.
“Firefox OS brings the freedom and unbounded innovation of the open Web to mobile users everywhere,” said Gary Kovacs, CEO, Mozilla. “With the support of our vibrant community and dedicated partners, our goal is to level the playing field and usher in an explosion of content and services that will meet the diverse needs of the next two billion people online.” For those out of the loop, we should note that the Firefox OS was built using open Web standards, with features developed for it as HTML5 applications. These apps will be provided with access to every underlying capability of the device, which should translate into great performance capabilities.
Furthermore, the platform will provide carriers with increased flexibility to come up with their own interfaces and to deliver localized services for their users. A range of services will also become available for the platform, Mozilla announced. “Consumers will get a dynamic, rich and open smartphone experience that provides easy access to everything they love on the Web, including Facebook and Twitter integration, with a simple, fast interface and built-in cost controls,” the company said.
Firefox OS gets previewed at MWC
Image credits to Youtube
Find out more at www.mozilla.org/firefoxos
Video credits to firefoxchannel
South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has been long said to plan the launch of its 2013 flagship Android-based smartphone on March 14 in New York, and confirmation on the matter has already emerged.
No details on the smartphone itself have been provided, but a recent article on AllThingsD notes that a Samsung spokesperson has confirmed that the smartphone will be made official on that day. Last year, the company announced the Galaxy S III in London, but it will unveil the new device in Apple’s homeland market, in an attempt to hurt sales of the iPhone even more.
Galaxy S IV is expected to be capable of delivering superior performance when compared to last year’s flagship device, courtesy of a Snapdragon processor. It is also expected to pack a 5-inch full HD screen.
As expected, Chinese company Huawei announced the upcoming availability of it next Android flagship smartphone, the Ascend P2.
According to Huawei, the Ascend P2 is “world's fastest smartphone” when it comes to connectivity as the phone supports LTE Cat 4, providing an ultrafast web experience with download speeds of up to 150 Mbps. In comparison, Samsung Galaxy S III LTE offers download speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Furthermore, the smartphone comes equipped with a powerful 1.5 GHz quad-core Huawei K3V2 processor, which is complemented by 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. Although the smartphone is “only” 8.4mm thin, Huawei’s CEO Richard Yu claims the company made it a slim as it can be in order to fit all the components inside. Another selling point of the Huawei Ascend P2 would be the “infinity edge” 4.7-inch IPS HD in-cell touchscreen display that supports 1280 x 720 pixels resolution, and features second-generation Corning Gorilla Glass coating.
Software-wise, the Ascend P2 will ship with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box, integrated with Emotion UI. There are quite a lot of innovative apps and services pre-loaded on Huawei Ascend P2, such as Phone Manager, UniHome, Cloud+ and Smart Reading. On the back, Ascend P2 boasts an incredible 13-megapixel photo snapper with BSI and HDR, while in the front there’s a secondary 1.3-megpixel camera to support self-portrait and video shooting. The phone is powered by a high-capacity 2420 mAh battery, which has yet to be rated by the manufacturer. However, Huawei claims the battery integrates a new technology that reduces power consumption up to 30% in comparison with Galaxy S III’s 2100 mAh battery. Huawei Ascend P2 will be available in black and white for only 400 EUR / 525 USD outright. The phone is said to go on sale in Europe in Q2 2013, but Orange France will get it first at some point in June.
Even though it was initially rumored that Microsoft won’t release a testing version of the upcoming Windows Blue, sources familiar with the matter now hint that a public beta is very likely to see daylight in the coming months.
According to reports published by Win8China, Microsoft is working on a preview build of the Blue update that would be offered to all users as a free download. Since the first major Windows 8 makeover is expected to hit the shelves this summer, the preview version is very likely to be unveiled in just a couple of months, as Microsoft needs time to collect and analyze the feedback it receives.
Windows Blue won’t come as a standalone operating system, but only as a major update for Windows 8, with many people calling it “the first service pack” for Microsoft’s new Windows contraption.
The Blue update is expected this summer Image credits to hdwallpapers.in
Only several days ago, yet unannounced Nokia Lumia smartphones were spotted in AdDuplex’s database, and it seems that more devices from the company have appeared there.
According to a recent tweet from Alan Mendelevich from AdDuplex, a certain Nokia RX-108 has emerged in the company’s logs, with Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform loaded on top. While there’s no specific info available on the device, chances are that it would prove to be nothing else than the long-rumored Nokia tablet PC. “As for Windows 8, I see something called Nokia RX-108. Don't know what that is,” Alan Mendelevich said in a tweet.
As WMPowerUser notes, in addition to this device, the yet unannounced Nokia RM-892 (for India, it seems), RM-860 (with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution), and RM-885 (Lumia 720 – WVGA resolution) have also been spotted.
Nokia Lumia Tablet concept Image credits to PocketNow
The initial Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview was released for Nexus devices, but Canonical has now provided a comprehensive porting tutorial.
Canonical needs its operating system to run on a variety of devices, but they can only concentrate on so many. This is where the community steps in and so far, they’ve done an amazing job, even if the operating system was launched only a couple of days ago. The new Ubuntu for Phones is running nicely on selected Nexus devices, but users have taken upon themselves to port the OS to new phones: Motorola XOOM, Galaxy Nexus (toro), Galaxy Nexus (toroplus), SGS I9000, HTC One XL, HTC One X+, Sony Xperia T, SGS III, Huawei Ascend G300, VZ SGSIII, ATT SGSIII, SGS GT-I9000, Samsung Galaxy Note II, and SGS II.
As you can see, very soon the Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview will be working on a sleuth of new devices. If you are interested in porting the OS to a device that’s not in this list or if you want to contribute, just check the official Touch Developer Preview Porting Guide.
Ubuntu for Phones running on a LG Nexus 4 Image credits to Canocical
Previously said to arrive on the market with a 4.99 full HD AMOLED screen, the Galaxy S IV flagship device is now rumored to be packed with an LCD3 SoLux Display.
No official confirmation has emerged on the matter for the time being, but SamMobile claims that the change might have been determined by various issues that Samsung is experiencing at its AMOLED factory for the production of full HD screens for the device. The handset, expected to be unveiled on March 14 as the company’s next flagship Android-based smartphone, is also said to sport a quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor inside, clocked in at 1.9 GHz. According to a recent analyst report, the South Korean mobile phone maker might experience a series of issues with the power management capabilities of its 8-core Exynos Octa processor, which has determined it to adopt another chip for the device.
Galaxy S IV is also rumored to sport 2GB of RAM, along with 16GB, 31GB and 64GB options when it comes to its internal memory. A microSD memory card slot might also be included in the package. An official confirmation on the matter has yet to emerge, but the new rumor falls in line with previous leaked details for the device, and it might just pan out. When launched, Galaxy S IV is expected to measure 140.1 x 71.8 x 7.7mm and to weigh 138 grams. According to some reports, it will sport touch buttons on the front, complemented by a hardware home button, the hallmark of the entire Galaxy S lineup. Recently leaked photo samples from Galaxy S IV have confirmed that it might sport a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, while images with cases for it have shown a squared design, quite different from that of last year’s Galaxy S III smartphone.
The phone is also rumored to sport aluminum on the sides, while featuring a plastic back. Its battery will be removable, the latest hearsay suggests. The phone’s name appears to have been confirmed as well, at least this is what the alleged bootscreen shot attached to this article suggests. Samsung will make the Galaxy S IV available for purchase in Black and White flavors, though it remains to be seen when exactly it will kick off sales for it (April was previously said to be the best candidate for that).
While Microsoft remains completely tight-lipped on a potential Windows Blue upgrade for Windows 8, sources familiar with the matter confirm that such a project is currently under development.
Now a new screenshot posted by Win8China.com seems to confirm that Windows Blue is in the works, very likely with an important kernel update to version 6.3. Once again, it appears that Windows Blue won’t come as a stand-alone Windows operating system, but only as a major upgrade for the existing Windows 8, so it’s very likely to pack a big number of improvements.
If we are to trust all previous reports, Windows Blue is scheduled to hit the market this summer, with Microsoft planning to offer it either as a freeware update for Windows 8 or with a very low price tag.
Windows Blue is likely to be based on kernel 6.3 Image credits to Win8China.com
2/25/2013 01:33:00 AM
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