G.Skill Launches 16 GB, 2133 MHz SO-DIMM Memory Kit

A decade or two ago, small form factor PCs were seldom bought by consumers, because they were pretty weak, but now there are some really strong ones, and it's possible to even build your own to really great specifications, hence why companies like G.Skill launch products like the new Ripjaws SO-DIMM kit.

Designed as a set of two, in dual-channel configuration, the newest addition to the Ripjaws series has a total capacity of 16 GB. Also, the clock speed is of 2133 MHz, which isn't even close to the highest I've ever seen (the 3200 MHz Avexir Blitz Red Dragon comes to mind) but is still pretty high. In fact, it is very high for a set of RAM that is to be used in small form factor PCs, like HTPCs and nettops.

Granted, chances are better for it to land in LAN party gaming systems or the like, but the size and shape make it perfect for the other things as well, even if the performance/capacity and price do not fit the criteria. The G.Skill Ripjaws F3-2133C11D-16GRSL DDR3L SO-DIMM memory kit, latency 11-11-11-31, pairs best with Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs (Haswell) and will do well in overclocking. Sadly, the price wasn't specified.

G.Skill Ripjaws F3-2133C11D-16GRSL DDR3L SO-DIMM (click for larger image)
Images credits to G.Skill

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Pipo T9 is a True Octa-Core Tablet with Full HD Display

Over the last year, we have witnessed a deluge of tablet models coming out of China. They arrive in all form factors, sporting mid-range and even high-end capabilities, but they all have something in common. They are friendly on the wallet. And sometimes they bundle really cool features, as the new Pipo T9 will show us.

The Pipo T9 is certainly not your usual, common Chinese tablet, but actually one of the first slates on the market to come equipped with a MediaTek MT6592 octa-core processor. On top of that, the tablet bundles an atypical 8.9-inch display with a full HD resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels), so it’s definitely a better than average product. The slate has just been launched in China and will probably prove to be very popular with consumers (we think). Earlier this year, another true octa-core processor tablet was unveiled. We’re talking about the CoolPad Halo and according to information coming out of Asia, the slate received a whopping 50,00 units order in 18s. Anyway, going back to the Pipo tablet, its processor the MediaTek MT6592 launched back in December and is composed of four ARM Cortex A7 cores made with 28nm manufacturing HPM process and clocked at 2GHz.

The technology uses a particular solution that is constantly on the watch-out, monitoring power consumption and keeping everything within optimal limits. The Mali-450 MP4 GPU has four cores and its video system support 4K playback and a huge resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. As mentioned, the Pipo T9 has an 8.9-inch IPS display with a full HD resolution and 254ppi. Its frame is made of polycarbonate bronze with stylish silver inserts on the edges. Sadly, we don’t have the full set of specifications, just yet, but judging by the official photos detailing the device, we can speculate the slate runs Android (it would be nice to see KitKat by default). There’s probably going to be dual cameras on board, the one in the real probably having LED flash.

In the meanwhile, we can provide you with the specifications of the other true octa core tablet, because we believe specs for the Pipo will be in the same vein. The Coolpad Halo came sporting a 7-inch HD IPS OGS display with full HD resolution and drew power from the same 1.7GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6592 paired with 2GB of RAM and 700 MHz Mali 450-MP4 GPU. In the photo department, we have a 13MP auto focus main snapper with dual LED Flash, f/2 aperture, 5 lens optics capable of recording 1080p full HD video. In the front, we have a 5MP camera. Furthermore, the Coolpad has 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, aGPS and FM Radio. So take a good look at this specs if you want to make an idea of what you're going to get with the new Pipo.

Pipo T9 tablet was just launched in China
Image credits to Pipo

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BBM for Android, iOS Getting Groups Notification Settings in Future Version

The following is aimed at BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) users who are active in BBM Groups and do not use a BlackBerry smartphone.

Since BlackBerry launched BBM on Android and iOS platforms, the Canadian company has been adding new features and tweaks, but there are still lots of functions and capabilities that these apps do not have as opposed to the BlackBerry version of BBM. BBM Video is one of these features that have yet to be included in BBM for Android and iOS, but BlackBerry promised it would bring it at some point this year. Another useful feature that's been missing from BBM for Android and iOS since the beginning is the ability to control your Groups notifications. For the time being, there are no settings that would allow a BBM for Android, iOS user to customize the way they are receiving Groups notifications. Unlike Android and iOS, the BlackBerry version of BBM features a separate Settings option that allows Groups users to customize notifications as they wish. They can, for example, mute all notifications received via BBM Groups or disable the LED, vibration or sound for each message received.

Luckily, BlackBerry is very much likely to bring this capability to its BBM for Android and iOS in a future version. Although there's no word on when exactly BBM Groups notification settings will be added to BBM for Android, iOS, users will be pleased to know BlackBerry is currently testing this feature. N4BB reports that iPhone users who have been accepted into the BBM beta testing already have the Group notification setting on their application. The BBM beta for iOS now allows users to mute notifications from Groups, as well as group pictures with a click of a toggle that's been included in the Group settings menu. Even though there's no evidence for now, we can safely assume this feature is being tested on the BBM beta for Android as well.

Hopefully, more options will be added to the Groups settings menu, such as the ability to disable the LED or sound, so BBM users can have more control over their notifications. There's a high chance that the BBM Groups notification settings feature will be delivered via update on both Android and iOS platforms at the same time, so stay tuned for more info on when the next version will be available for download. Here is hoping that will happen sooner rather than later.

BBM with Group Notification Settings (screenshot)
Image credits to N4BB

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OPPO Find 7 Emerges in Leaked Photos Before Official Launch

Chinese mobile phone maker OPPO has already confirmed plans to make official a new high-end device on March 19, none other than the Find 7; yet, the company hasn’t provided info on what the phone would look like when announced.

However, this has changed today, when leaked photos with the smartphone made it online, courtesy of red-dot. Press photos with the device are now available for your viewing pleasure, only 11 days before the smartphone gets fully detailed on March 19. One thing that appears certain when looking at these photos is that the upcoming smartphone will sport a very appealing design, which is expected to be accompanied by high-end hardware capabilities, given previous leaks on it. For those out of the loop, we should note that OPPO has already confirmed that the upcoming device will sport a 5.5-inch touchscreen display capable of offering a 2K resolution. Moreover, the handset vendor said that there would be too versions of the phone made official during the launch event, and one of them is expected to pack only a 5-inch screen of full HD resolution. The newly leaked photos with the smartphone show an updated design when compared to what OPPO Find 5 had to offer last year, though some of the main improvements inside the phone are not visible here, as Engadget notes.

This would include the recently rumored 50-megapixel camera on the smartphone’s back, which should be capable of recording 4K videos at ease. The phone in these images shows only a 13-megapixel camera, which suggests that this could be the lower spec’d version, and not the premium flavor. In addition to confirming that Find 7 would feature a 2K screen, OPPO also confirmed that the upcoming mobile phone would land on shelves with 4G LTE connectivity packed inside, though the company has yet to deliver full details on the matter. If flagship smartphones that were made official during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week are to be taken into consideration, we might also expect the new OPPO phone to sport one of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 801 processors inside.

Furthermore, the phone might also sport 2GB or 3GB of RAM, along with a powerful front camera, and an OS based on one of the newest Android flavors out there. Take this with a grain of sale, since it is only speculation from our part for the time being. However, specific info on the device will emerge soon, so keep an eye on this space for updates.

Oppo Find 7 press photo
Image credits to red-dot via Engadget

Oppo Find 7 press photo
Image credits to red-dot via ausdroid

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BlackBerry May Introduce Custom BBM PINs, but You Might Have to Pay for It

Lots of new stuff coming from BlackBerry in the last couple of weeks. Since the company changed its CEO, it has become more obvious that BlackBerry is looking for ways to monetize some of the service it offers.

For the time being, one of the few services that haven't been compromised is BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), so it's safe to assume that the Canadian company would want to monetize on this one as much as possible without hindering the use of the standard features. We've been reporting for about a week or so about BlackBerry's recent statements that it does not take into consideration any ads for the BBM Chats, as well as on the introduction of Stickers, something that only BlackBerry OS users can now take advantage of. Selling packs of stickers for BBM users on Android and iOS users makes sense and this is now being tested by BlackBerry. Another smart move from BlackBerry may be the introduction of custom BBM PINs.

A BBM PIN is an eight-digit code that can be used to add another BlackBerry Messenger user to the list of contact. Each BBM users has his/her unique PIN (personal identification number), which allows them to communicate with other BlackBerry users by sending them their PIN code. Well, it appears that BlackBerry thinks it would be wise to allows BBM users to customize their PINs for easier use. That means that instead of having to memorize an eight digit code that has been randomly issued to you by BlackBerry's systems you will be able to use your own code. The folks over at N4BB have just uncovered evidence that BlackBerry is now doing some research among BBM users to see if people would be interested in customizing their PINs. But that's not all. According to some screenshots taken from a survey BlackBerry has sent to BBM users, those who wish to customize their PINs would have to pay in order to get their own PIN attached to their BBM account.

No amount has been decided yet, but BlackBerry is asking BBM users how much they would be willing to pay for their customized PINs. BlackBerry is considering the introduction of a one-time fee for the customized PINs feature or an annual subscription. The latter would probably mean that you would be willing to change your PIN more than one time in one year, while the former option is likely to offer you the possibility to customize your PIN only one time, after which you will have to pay the same fee if you wish to change it again. Given the fact the new feature is not yet implemented and BlackBerry is only gathering information, we don't expect customizable PINs to be available for BBM for at least a few months, but stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

BlackBerry custom BBM PINs survey
Image credits to N4BB

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Qualcomm Details the Snapdragon 801 CPU Inside Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2

Last week, mobile phone makers around the world gathered in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress to unveil their latest devices, and Samsung and Sony were among them, both launching new flagship smartphones running under Google’s Android operating system.

Sony announced its new Xperia Z2 smartphone at the event, which comes with a 5.2-inch screen and a 20-megapixel camera on the back, while Samsung announced the Galaxy S5, which features a 5.1-inch screen and a 16-megapixel camera. The two handsets are very different, but both have in common some elements, including the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, high-end features, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 processor inside. However, although both smartphones are powered by the same CPU from the leading chip maker, there are some differences between them, and Qualcomm took its time to offer some clarification on the matter. For starters, we should note that Samsung went for the MSM8974AC chip for its new flagship, while Sony chose the MSM8974AB processor for its device. According to Qualcomm, the two variations were initially included in the Snapdragon 800 family of chipsets, which resulted in some confusion when both Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2 were announced.

However, the processors inside these phones actually pack features and capabilities that make them stand above the Snapdragon 800 series, and “Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z2 are among the first smartphones to be able to take advantage of this upgrade,” as Qualcomm notes in a blog post. The new Snapdragon 801 chipset was designed to provide users with “even more compelling mobile user experiences than its predecessor,” the company also notes. Among these enhancements, we can count a 14 percent faster CPU, paired with a 28 percent faster GPU, and a 45 percent faster camera sensor. The memory in Snapdragon 801 is also said to be 17 percent faster compared to the predecessor.

“The Snapdragon 801 processor has already been called ‘2014’s must-have mobile chipset,’ so be sure to stay tuned to see what other great smartphones and tablets will be powered by this new addition to our processor family,” Qualcomm also notes. Starting with this month, users around the world will be able to purchase the new Xperia Z2 smartphone from Sony, and they should get the chance to buy the Samsung Galaxy S5 too starting with the next month. Before the end of this year, we should see some more mobile devices being pushed to the market with the new CPU inside, that’s for sure. After all, other vendors will also want to impress users with the performance capabilities of their new phones.

Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2
Image credits to Qualcomm

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Xiaomi Mi3 Sold Out in 2 Minutes in Singapore

Good news for Xiaomi, as the company announced it managed to sell all Mi3 units put on sale in Singapore on March 7 in only 2 minutes. This is not a first for the Chinese company, which is well-known in the mainland for selling their devices in less than 5 minutes.

However, for the time being, Xiaomi did not offer any details on the amount of units it has sold in Singapore, but we suspect the company had around 200-300,000 Xiaomi Mi3 devices in stock. Lucky customers who managed to secure their Xiaomi Mi3 units are advised to complete their payment within 24 hours so they won’t lose their placed orders. Unfortunately, there’s no word on exactly when the next batch of Xiaomi Mi3 devices will arrive in Singapore, but we can safely assume the Chinese company would want to bring more in the coming weeks to fulfill the increased need for high-end smartphones. For those unaware, Xiaomi Mi3 has been priced in Singapore at $330 (€240) outright, which is quite decent judging by the smartphone’s specs sheet. The only downside of the smartphone might be the fact that Xiaomi rarely offers major software updates for its devices, so Mi3 owners might be stuck on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean operating system while the newest high-end handsets arrive with KitKat platform onboard.

Overall though Xiaomi Mi3 is a more than decent alternative to high-end smartphones launched by well-known brands such as Samsung, LG and HTC. The smartphone comes equipped with a powerful 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor inside, which is complemented by an equally more than decent Adreno 330 graphics processing unit. Xiaomi Mi3 packs 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory, but it does not feature microSD card slot for memory expansion. The only way to take advantage of more storage space is to create an account on Dropbox or other similar service that offers free cloud storage. Aside from that, the Mi3 is worthy of the top-tier category. The smartphone boasts a 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports full HD (1080p) resolution, as well as an enhanced 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus, dual-LED flash and 1080p video recording.

The handset also features a secondary 2-megapixel camera in the front that will allow users to take as many selfies as they wish or make video calls. Another strong point of the Xiaomi Mi3 would be the high-capacity non-removable 3050 mAh battery. Here is hoping the Chinese company will bring more Mi3 units in Singapore. Stay tuned for more details on when that will happen.

Xiaomi Singapore tweet

Xiaomi Mi3
Images credits to Xiaomi

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Nokia X Gets Disassembled

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia made official its first smartphone to run under the Android operating system, in the form of Nokia X.

The handset is not a high-end and does not come with spectacular hardware specifications, but it was instead designed for the entry level of the market and packs capabilities in line with that. However, given that it is the very first phone from Nokia to run under Android, interest in it is high, and some enthusiasts took their time to disassemble it, so as to have a better look at the hardware packed inside it. Photos with the phone’s internal circuitry are also available for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of windowsmania.pl. There is even a guide than gives more info on where each of the phone’s parts needs to be. As thinkdigit notes, the device appears to have a pretty simple design, with all of its internals and outer cases kept together on the chassis with about 11 screws.

As can be seen in the photo above, Nokia X includes the front panel with the touchscreen, a camera module, the main board, speaker and earpiece modules, a series of ribbon cables, the aforementioned chassis, and the back cover. Overall, it should be pretty simple for anyone to tear the device apart, which should prove a great thing in case the phone needs repairs. For those out of the loop, we should note that Nokia has announced the mobile phone with a 4-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a 480 x 800 pixels resolution, as well as with a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 processor inside. Moreover, the handset arrives on shelves with 512MB of RAM, Adreno 203 graphics, and 4GB of internal memory, along with a microSD memory card slot, which offers support for up to 32GB of additional space.

On the back, the Nokia X smartphone features a 3-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, yet there’s no front camera to take advantage of. The device also comes with 3G (HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps) connectivity inside, as well as with the usual Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. It also includes a built-in GPS receiver for navigation purposes and support for using two SIM cards at the same time. Although Nokia did load the Android OS on top of this smartphone, it stripped it down of Google services and packed its own set of products on top of it. The phone has already started to arrive in various markets and will be available worldwide, though Nokia won’t launch it in the US.

Nokia X disassembled
Images credits to windowsmania.plk

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BlackBerry: To Be or Not to Be, That Is the Question

BlackBerry is trying for the second time to become a major player on the mobile phone market, but for the first time this is also a matter of survival for the Canadian company.

Since Thorsten Heins took leadership of BlackBerry back in January 2012, the company continued to bleed money to the point that even Windows Phone, a brand new mobile platform, managed to surpass it in well-established markets. The legendary BlackBerry security and reliability traits took a huge blow with the major outage from October 2011, which was also one of the reasons Heins was appointed new CEO and President of BlackBerry while the company’s founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down. Unfortunately, the strategy for turning BlackBerry’s financial status around failed during Heins’ reign, which led to another dismissal from the company’s leadership position. The newly appointed CEO John Chen hopes to regain some of the market share lost by BlackBerry in the last couple of years, but unlike his predecessor he seems more realistic about the chances for success.

In a recent interview for Financial Times, he bluntly stated there’s a 50:50 change that he would be able to save the company. Mr. Chen seems rather pragmatic in his statements and has already set certain goals his company needs to achieve in order to survive. One such goal is to turn BlackBerry’s cash flow on the positive side by the end of this fiscal year, which is no small feat for a company that did not know profit for a very long time. This would be the first step for BlackBerry in regaining some of its former glory, but Chen aims a little higher and hopes the Canadian handset maker might one day become a “dominant player” in the smartphone market. BlackBerry’s chances for survival are not intertwined with Chen’s abilities to turnaround the company’s negative status. He proved his skills while leading Sybase, a database software business, which had a similar financial history and managed to survive thanks to Chen.

Will he be able to do it again with BlackBerry? Well, as Chen has put it, there’s a 50:50 chance for him to succeed since, as compared with the Sybase turnaround, BlackBerry’s one is “a bit more challenging.” The first thing Chen did was identify ways to conquer the low-end smartphone market in some countries previously considered BlackBerry’s fiefs. The result is the newly announced BlackBerry Z3, which will be manufactured by Foxconn and will cost under $200 (€145). The smartphone will be launched in April in Indonesia through all major carriers, and if it proves successful, Chen plans to bring it to other emerging markets as well. Another step towards the survival of the company would be to regain the huge number of BlackBerry fans who switched to other platforms when the Canadian company came on the market with the BlackBerry Z10.

Many consider launching the BlackBerry Z10 before the Q10 was a major marketing mistake given the fact that the vast majority of fans preferred the traditional QWERTY-like design instead of the full-touch layout of the former. John Chen seems to have acknowledged that, and the result is the upcoming BlackBerry Q20, which will be the company’s new flagship smartphone. The handset will not only reiterate BlackBerry’s attachment to the traditional QWERTY keyboard, but it will also bring the trackpad back, along with the physical Menu, Back, Send and End buttons. The good news is things will not stop here, as Chen mysteriously stated BlackBerry would launch more high-end smartphones by the end of the year, though he did not offer any additional details. In the services area, BlackBerry made consistent improvements with the launch of its popular BBM instant messenger on Android and iOS platforms. The Canadian company has a strong partnership with Nokia and has already confirmed it will launch BBM on Windows Phone operating system.

BlackBerry may have also found ways to monetize on BBM’s use without disrupting the service’s standard features. In this regard, the company announced that it would never introduce ads into BBM chats. Instead, BlackBerry opted for sponsored posts in the Updates area of the application and a few ad-related invitations that a BBM user will receive monthly from various BBM Channel owners. This will be strictly controlled by BlackBerry, and in the end it might prove to bring some money to the ever-lossmaking Canadian company. There’s also the problem of BlackBerry’s enterprise business, which is now being reinforced by Chen with his new management. BlackBerry lost almost all its major enterprise customers in the last couple of years, but Chen is positive and says that, even though winning them back or bringing new ones in may prove difficult, at least they tend to stay with you for a much longer time.

Enterprise customers are usually more loyal than end users, but only as long as they are provided good products and services. Here is hoping BlackBerry will soon become a major player in the smartphone market once again.

BlackBerry logo
Image credits to BlackBerry

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Newly Uncovered Samsung SM-T805 Could Be the AMOLED Tablet We Have Been Waiting For

Samsung's R&D teams never seem to be getting any rest. Even if Samsung barely launched its latest set of tablets, the Galaxy NotePRO and Galaxy TabPRO series, the tech giant has apparently already started work on its next high-end tablet line-up.

The guys over at SamMobile came across a UAProf listing of an unseen before device code-named SM-T805, which they speculate is a new premium offering. How can we tell it is high-end just by looking at the number? Well, compare it to the one of the Galaxy TabPRO 12.2 SM-T900 and you’ll certainly notice the resemblance. It also helps the screen resolution has been listed as 2560 x 1600 (the same we have in the Galaxy TabPRO and Galaxy NotePRO line-up). The tablet is shown to be running Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest version in the bunch. There’s a big possibility this is actually the tablet with curved margins we have seen appear in a patent just yesterday. For those who aren't up to date with the developments, we’re talking about a tablet featuring left and right curved sides that could allow users to grip it more comfortably.

There’s also another important piece missing in the Samsung tablet puzzle. We have repeatedly asked ourselves, where are the promised Samsung AMOLED tablets hiding? Back in December, it was revealed that Samsung kick-started the mass production of AMOLED tablet screens in 8-inch and 10-inch flavors, prompting us to hope we’re going to see some AMOLED tablets into the wild in the first quarter of the year. Samsung is expected to continue using LCD screen in its low-range and middle-range tablets, while upgrading to AMOLED in premium devices. Hopefully, the SM-T805 might be the first high-end device to abide to the standard.

We have been playing hide-and-seek with Sammy’s AMOLED tablets for some time now. The tablets were expected to make a debut at CES 2014, then at MWC 2014, but nothing relevant came out. Could it be possible that all rumors and reports concerning Samsung’s AMOLED tablets are fake? It’s highly unlikely the Korean tech giant isn't tackling the idea one way or another. Anyway, sources familiar with the matter have already confirmed the device-related software for the SM-T805 is a work in progress at Samsung, meaning the manufacturer has already finalized things in terms of hardware. On top of the SM-T805, SM-T800 and SM-T801 have been spotted as well, clearly indicating the tablet will come in different variants, meaning with Wi-Fi, 3G and LTE options.

SM-T805 rekindles hope of new AMOLED tablet
Image credits to GalaxyClub

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