Nokia Lumia 720T Approved in China with TD-SCDMA Connectivity

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is gearing up for the launch of more handsets in China before the end of this year, and Nokia Lumia 720 appears to be one of them.

Made official at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, the smartphone has received the necessary approvals in China as Lumia 720T, a post on CNMO reads, and is expected to hit shelves at China Mobile. Featuring support for the operator’s TD-SCDMA technology, the mobile phone will pack all the features and capabilities that the international Lumia 720 was announced with, UnwiredView reports.

Thus, the Windows Phone 8-based device will feature a 4.3-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor with Adreno 305 GPU, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory, microSD card slot, and NFC, as well as a 6.7-megapixel camera on the back, and a front camera for making video calls.

Nokia Lumia 720T for China Mobile
Image credits to CNMO

Read more »

Sony Xperia CyberShot is Codenamed Honami, Possible Specs Leak

Japanese mobile phone maker Sony Mobile might be set to revive its CyberShot series of mobile phones soon, with a new device set to be launched in the Xperia lineup with high-end imaging capabilities, and some more info on the matter appears to have emerged.

The handset hasn’t been officially confirmed as of now, but rumor has it that it would be known internally as Honami, and that it would land on shelves with a 5-inch full HD screen. Furthermore, new reports on the matter suggest that it would include a Snapdragon 800 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 3000 mAh battery, and possibly a back camera of around 20 megapixels.

These are only rumored specs for the time being, and we’ll take them with a grain of salt. However, the handset was said before to pack hardware similar with that of Xperia Z, and the above might pan out in the end.

Xperia logo
Image credits to Sony

Read more »

ASUS P9X79-E WS, Motherboard with Seven PCI Express Slots

There are high-end PCs and then there are the truly ludicrous configurations that actually come close to the April Fools’ prank that Eurocom tried to play.

What we have here, though, is a motherboard for desktops, not a laptop. Called P9X79-E WS, it stands apart from most others because it has no fewer than seven PCI Express 3.0 slots. It is more than enough for 4-way NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU hardware setups.

The mainboard also has dual-server grade Ethernet, up to 91% power efficiency, enhanced heat removal and the ASUS Dr. Power technology, which monitors power supply health and notifies users accordingly, thus preventing sudden shutdowns. Onboard LED shows codes for power-related issues too, for when the system fails to boot.

ASUS P9X79-E WS Motherboard
Image credits to ASUS

Read more »

Intel Ivy Bridge-E HEDT CPU Lineup

The LGA 2011 socket, supported by the X79 chipset, was invented by Intel for its high-end collection of central processing units, higher than even the Core i7 line of CPUs. Those top-tier CPUs have now been detailed.

The marketing name of the next HEDT series of central processing units, where HEDT means high-end desktop, is called Ivy Bridge-E. Ivy Bridge-E will be to the Haswell collection of CPUs what Sandy Bridge-E/EP is for the Ivy Bridge collection. The HEDT line is one architecture behind the “normal” desktop chips, but nonetheless much stronger. The Ivy Bridge-E series will power computers based on LGA 2011 motherboards (X79 chipset) and will probably include models priced at $300-400 / 300-400 Euro, $500-600 / 500-600 Euro, and $1,000 / 1,000 Euro. VR-Zone actually has all the details on the processors, from the top-tier Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition to the Core i7-4820K. The Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition is, as one might guess, the strongest of the lot, with six 22nm cores, 15 MB cache, and an unlocked BClk multiplier that will allow enthusiasts to overclock it well beyond the base 3.6 GHz.

Speaking of overclocking, people who don't intend to do any tweaking will be glad to learn that the Turbo Boost technology will automatically do it, when appropriate. The top rate is 4 GHz. In case anyone has forgotten, this is the $1,000 / 1,000 Euro part. The “mid-range” chip, called Core i7-4930K, also has six cores and unlocked BClk multiplier, but speeds of 2.4 / 3.9 GHz and 12 MB L3 cache. Finally, the Core i7-4820K is a quad-core unit with 3.7 / 3.9 GHz speed and 10 MB L3 cache. All three processors will be released in November 2013 and will have TDP (thermal design power) of 130W. That's several months after the Haswell (June).

Intel Ivy Bridge-E HEDT roadmap
Image credits to VR-Zone

Read more »

Samsung to Unveil Galaxy S4 Mini This Week

Following the official launch of Galaxy S4 in mid-March, South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics could announce a smaller flavor of the device before the end of this week, new reports on the matter suggest.

The handset, supposedly called Galaxy S4 Mini, should pack a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, while being expected to arrive in Black Mist and White Frost color flavors, the same as its larger brother. According to SamMobile, the upcoming device will pack a quad-core processor inside, an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, and will be released in both single and dual-SIM flavors.

Additionally, the phone is said to run under Google’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean platform, while also featuring Samsung’s new TouchWiz Nature UX on top. Galaxy S4 Mini should be released in May – June, it seems. With no official confirmation available on any of the above, we’ll take the info with a grain of salt for the time being.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini next to Galaxy S4
Image credits to Sammobile

Read more »

The iOS 7 Jailbreak is Ready Before iOS 7 Even Gets Released

Great news from Joshua Hill today, the internationally-known iOS jailbreaker has issued a couple of tweets informing the masses that we’re in for a new jailbreak. And we’re pretty sure he’s referring to iOS 7.

“Well, so far it looks like the next jailbreak might be created entirely by me,” Joshua Hill (@p0sixninja) boasted on Twitter. “Evad3rs haven't gone anywhere, I've just discovered all the needed exploits on my own over the past few months,” he added in a subsequent message sent out to his 153K followers. Mr. Hill doesn’t specifically mention iOS 7, but he’s obviously referring to Apple’s next major iOS release. While Apple has closed the evasi0n jailbreak exploits in iOS 6.1.3, it makes no sense for Hill to burn his precious new bugs for a jailbreak that almost nobody needs at the moment.

iOS 7, on the other hand, will be a totally different matter. Considering that some security researchers are more inclined to sell these exploits for hard cash (rather than publicly release them as a jailbreak), Joshua might be in for quite some hype in the coming months.

Joshua Hill tweets
Image credits to Joshua Hill's Twitter stream (@p0sixninja)

Read more »

Texas Instruments Makes Chip That Reduces Battery Recharge Time by 50%

Batteries have been gaining longer and longer charge lifespans, but as odd as it may sound, this didn't bring only joy. It also caused a complication: it takes longer for them to recharge when they do deplete.

Or at least they would have that problem if technology companies didn't routinely look into ways of speeding up recharge time. Texas Instruments has just revealed a series of lithium-ion battery charger integrated circuits (ICs) that reduce recharging time by half in smartphones and tablets. They are called fast-charge units and bear the part numbers of bq24190, bq24192, bq24192i, bq24193, bq24195, bq24195L and bq24196. All of them are 4.5A output, 20V input-rated switch-mode chargers with I2C interface and USB on-the-go (OTG) support. Single-cell lithium battery packs are recharged fast thanks to a unique battery pack impedance compensation.

Overvoltage is prevented, according to JEITA guidelines, and the efficiency is high. The 4.5A switch-mode charger achieves 92% efficiency at 2 A and up to 90% efficiency at 4 A of output current. Energy Star and European Union charging specifications are, of course, met as well, and system-level design benefits from programmable thermal regulation temperature also. That the chips are simple to design is just the icing on the cake. All of them have Power Path management, synchronous FETs, integrated current sensing, internal loop compensation and bootstrap diode. In addition to phones and tablets, the new chips from Texas Instruments will help 4G LTE routers, power banks, Wi-Fi speakers, portable medical equipment, etc.

The TI bq2419x battery chargers for single-cell Li-Ion batteries should be available to product designers for $2.5 / 1.95 Euro in 1000 quantities. No details exist on deals between TI and other companies, but Texas Instruments has been known to branch out. It definitely has contacts thanks to how many power management and analog signal chain products it sold over the years, and the wireless power, audio, health technology, gesture recognition, touch feedback, and energy harvesting hardware.

Texas Instruments bq24190 charger chip
Image credits to Texas Instruments

Read more »

The First Proof That Microsoft Is Working on Office Gemini

Aside from Windows Blue, Microsoft is also working on another major update for its products, this time for the Office productivity suite that’s expected to get several improvements in the next couple of years.

Codenamed Gemini, the upgraded Office package is already in development, according to some online profiles posted by Microsoft’s employees on LinkedIn and spotted by Stephen Chapman of MSFTKitchen.  “Redesigning Office 365 backend architecture and deployment strategy in Office Gemini and beyond (ongoing),” the responsibilities section published in an online profile reads.

Unsurprisingly, this LinkedIn page has already been removed, but fortunately for us, a cached version of the website is still available via Google. As far as Microsoft is concerned, the company doesn’t want to provide any details on the Office refresh, so more information will most likely surface in June at the BUILD developer conference.

The first wave of Gemini updates will come with Windows Blue
Image credits to arstechnica.com

Read more »

WhatsApp+ 3.17 Available for Android

WhatsApp for Android already proved a highly appealing application, the same as it did on devices based on other mobile operating systems out there, but it seems that enhancements could be made to it.

WhatsApp+, a re-worked, custom version of the official WhatsApp Messenger for Android, can easily prove that. The software comes with the same features as WhatsApp, given that it is built based on it, but adds some new options of its own, allowing users to easily customize colors and more. The app enables users to share music with a single click, to add contact profile pictures to their chats, and can also increase the upload media limit to send large files.

Today, WhatsApp+ was released as version 3.17, with fixes over the previous versions, after getting a consistent Holo UI on all devices only two days ago. The new app release also comes with a series of fixes, its developer notes. More on it can be found over at the XDA-Developers.

WhatsApp+
Image credits to XDA-Developers

Read more »

New Alleged Google Babble Screenshot Emerges

Google Babble, the unified messaging service that Google is expected to make official in the not too distant future, will be available for the owners of Android devices as well, and a new screenshot supposedly showing the upcoming mobile client is now available for your viewing pleasure.

The photo emerged over at the Dutch site Skloink, and shows an interface that closely resembles that of the currently available messenger feature in the Google+ application for Android devices. However, it does sport a series of new elements, such as Google Now-styled cards to separate conversations, as Droid-life notes in a recent post.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that the photo is not the real deal, so we’ll take it with a grain of salt for the time being. Stay tuned for more on the matter.

Alleged Google Babble photo
Image credits to Skloink

Read more »