It seems one of the main short comings of the Nexus 4 has finally been solved, partially, at least. A recent tear down by iFixit had already shown the presence of a LTE chip, but the necessary power amplifiers needed for a proper reception and the antennas for each LTE band weren't there. But a a few determined developers from xda were able to get it to work all through the debugging menu.
So why hadn't Google enable it in the first place? One reason is that it isn't as simple as implementing a GSM radio in a phone as it is LTE. LTE has many 8 bands opposed to the 4 basic GSM bands. This means implementing a world capable phone is much more expensive and takes a huge toll and battery life. But since its based of the Optimus G, that means it still has some of the hardware to do so. Only Band 4 works as of now. And since AT&T is licensed to use Band 4 that means Nexus 4 users in the future may finally be able to get some LTE goodness.
According to a recent report from Bloomberg, it seems Apple is working on a version of the Mac that will be compatible with the ARM architecture instead of the regular Intel chips that they currently use. As the gap between mobile devices and mobile computing starts to close, it only makes sense that the ARM architecture be adopted. Just like how Microsoft is rolling out Windows RT (Windows 8 on ARM), Apple may follow their footsteps. And it seems history may repeat itself, since in the good old days of PowerPC Apple was using chips manufactured by Motorola, but switched to Intel because Intel chips generated less heat and ran faster. And now with the recent acquisition of chip producing companies it seems even more likely. Since ARM chips run much cooler, and with the help of the ARM A-50 architecture, it may seem x86's days are over (at least they will still have homes in server racks). Of course this won't be starting immediately, around 2017 is the estimated date. As Apple approaches creating more and more components in house the probability of this happening increases. And with the success of Apple's A6 chip its no secret that Apple can make a pretty good chip. Its no longer an if, it's more of a when.
While HP only got it to work on a desktop system, some talented developers were able to put out Open Web OS 1.0 on actual mobile hardware, aka the Galaxy Nexus. But of course just like any new software it has its bugs (ahem iOS Maps). Though it has reached basic functionality such as Wi-Fi capability, it hasn't reached the ability to use any cellular capabilities. Another major challenge is getting hardware acceleration working (which is a common issue in porting ICS to Gingerbread devices), which means there will still be lag. So for now this can't be considered usable, but it goes to show that WebOS isn't dead.
WOAH. From $699.99 to $99?! That's a bit intense there, Samsung. Apparently Amazon is giving out a major deal for customers out there. Their newest offer, a $99 S3 with a contract. The price drop is only going to be very limited so for the ones who want this deal, go out for this grab NOW. Obviously no one is going to give you such an amazing phone for $99 only. You'll have to get a contract with Sprint, AT&T, or Verizon it's your pick. At one point, you will pay more than the original price, but it's better than buying the phone at full price, right? You can go to this link (click here) and get whatever you want, but be sure to get the right plan that really fits you!
Source Amazon
Via Engadget
C-3P0 from www.pyrito.com covering for The Tech Li0n
It's about time that Amazon has cleared all the rumors that have followed about the Kindle Fire "2". Apparently this would not be the case as Amazon has released their newest e-readers, the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Fire HD. (Amazon always releases more than 1 product!)
The inevitable end has occurred. To the trial that got on the Judge's nerves and confused the jury, after a 21hr and 37min discussion, the jury has decided that Samsung should be the one to pay. 1 billion dollars. Still less than what Apple had asked for, but still in the end Samsung has lost. No devices have been banned yet, but the injunction still is to be determined. Now there are two sides to the tale. Samsung lost over the pinch to zoom patent that Apple owns. In Samsung's defense you can't copy what has already been stolen. Saying that Mitsubishi already had developed the technology a while back, but never patented it. Yet Apple was first to implement and patent it on a mobile device making it a totally new type of patent.
We may not know what's going on in the Jury's mind in California, but we might see something along the lines of what's happening here. Recently a Seoul court has ruled that both companies have infringed on each others patents and both get a small financial slap, plus with some of their toys take away as well. Most of the products lost were previous gen products and don't apply too their latest handsets. For Apple, the lost $35,000 and the iPhone 4, plus the iPad 2. On Samsung's side they lost a smaller $22,000, losing the Galaxy Nexus, S, and SII. The patents Apple infringed were some based off of communications, and Samsung infringed Apple's patents on an animation where a user scrolls past a webpage. The money lost isn't the large factor. In fact the banning of the devices will hurt the companies the most. This won't affect us here in the U.S, but it may be a warning to what might happen in the future, and what might happen here as well. My advice: Go out and buy a Nexus or iPhone which ever you prefer, because you may not see it at your local store ever again.
Seems like the Windows 8 logo takes another victim, this time the Windows Logo. Bringing a simplistic look which is sure to represent Widows 8. And this logo change has been long overdue, 25 years to be exact. Of course there is going to be some resistance before everyone jumps on to the bandwagon. But this is a change that's more dear to our hearts. Some of us aren't even as old as the original logo. But here's what we can expect. A whole knew look for the next wave of Microsoft products. Conspiracy thoughts aside, this is a new step for Microsoft, and it seems freakish Microsoft might as well win some customers over from Mac.
Following in the footsteps of Sprint (and hopefully away from the limited data era) T-Mobile has released their own unlimited no throttling data service. All for the low cost of $20 per month, that is, with you paying for a non subsidized phone. But if you don't want to pay full for the phone the total cost would be $30 a month. Stil with no hotspot capability, which means you'll have to go back to the regular 5GB and 10GB plans T-Mobile offers. T-Mobile hasn't commented on whether it will offer the service on LTE. But you do save $20 compared to the other carriers, but you still will be paying for the device. If it does make its way to prepaid it will be a surefire hit, but we can dream.
According to a report from WSJ, the rumor of Google releasing 5 new Nexus devices may finally come true. This time coming from LG and Sony. Dubbed the Optimus Nexus and Xperia Nexus. Bringing the manufacturers names along as well. No specs or any other information was provided in the report. But looking at the past of both companies you can probably expect a budget model from LG, and a mid-end to high end device from Sony. It seems very believable due to the fact that Google added AOSP support for the Xperia S so we could see a re-branding in the near future. Now how these OEMs differentiate them selves from each other is unknown, but then again these are all rumors and we'll just have to wait till the expected November release.
It seems the folks at Harvard are at it again. This time looking to more widespread areas. One that you never though would work as a storage device, yet nature almost uses it like one. And what they've done here is a "port". Treating each DNA base (A, C, T, and G) as a binary. By using this method and a microfludic chip that help write to the DNA. Using this they were able to fit 704TB of data on to 1 cubic millimeter. Imagine how much data you could put on a hard drive filled with DNA. Still this a new technology meaning there are a few issues. The first one being the processing time being incredibly slow, and living cells would quickly destroy the data. This still has a long way to go before you can plug in your organic drive and have endless data. But with endless storage there also needs to be endless bandwidth. Tell us what you think in the comments below!
The year old popular game of avoiding lasers and rockets has finally made its way to Android. At least on the Amazon App Store. All for the low price of nothing. The one downside being that it will only work while you still have the Amazon App Store. There's no word on when it will be released on the Play Store. Be advised this is still new, meaning there are a load of optimizations to be done on the app before it becomes playable an all devices. Still there is no tablet optimized version, but it still runs with "blocky" graphics.
This is the first step for Halfbrick, since it still has to port the app on to the Playbook and other BB10 devices. Now we wait for Infinity Blade.
According to Engadget's sources we may see this cheap super phone make its way to more democratic lands. Other than making it more accessible, this marks a large step for the company. Bringing stock MIUI and great hardware at an affordable price. By moving out of China developer support is sure to increase, plus adoption of MIUI as well. Using MIUI is a pleasure, taking the best of iOS and Android to the table and presenting it in a clean format. Plus more custom ROMs will be developed and may push other manufacturers to follow in their foot steps as well. Xiaomi is going to start testing in Taiwan. If all goes well, we can say good bye to the $500 prices that other e-commerce sites are selling the phone for. Expect it to come at the first half of 2013.
The iPhone from China or the Xiaomi Phone was a phone that brought power, build quality, and MIUI at an affordable price. It was so popular it almost beat the sales record of the iPhone it self! This time bringing specs no Android enthusiast could ever resist. A quad core snapdragon S4, the same one that scored well above 7,000 in Quadrant. Plus 2GB of RAM and a 28mm 2 Megapixel camera on the front with a 27mm F2.0 eight-megapixel BSI camera on the back. And an incredibly high ppi panel, a 720p 4.3" IPS screen that has a ppi of 341, that beats any other display on the market today. Plus with great power comes horrible battery life, so the phone is packed with 2,000MAh of power, and you can opt for 3,000MAh at the cost of 2mm. Plus shipping with Jelly Bean, something other manufacturers have struggled to do. Plus featuring all the features of the previous Xiaomi. Such as dual partition, which allows you to have 2 versions of MIUI on the device. Plus security enhancements, and a Siri alternative, except it's in Chinese. All for the low price of $310, that's cheaper than the Nexus it self. But the company loses $60 producing each one. And for people on an incredibly low budget, there's the 1.7GHz Xiaomi Phone 1S which has all of these features except a dual core CPU and a lower resolution screen. Source: Engadget
It seems Jobs was right, at least from now on. The once main marketing feature of Android and another non Apple devices was Flash. But now that its been killed off, many of us will look towards HTML 5. And that's the reason Adobe killed Flash off. No worries though, they're just killing development, meaning if you have flash on your Android you will still be able to use it, just don't expect any updates. Though many of that have used Flash on mobile it is a pain due to the lack of mouse input. But it did make web browsing sluggish on older hardware, yet made the web complete. But on the bright side it will push development for HTML 5 and make the web a better place (just check out our site). Still its long before Adobe kills of Flash for desktop, but Apple still doesn't like it, even on Mac. So it brings up a final question. When will Flash for desktop be killed off? Leave your answers down in the comments below, now if you'll excuse me I have to go to a mourning.
It seems almost everyone is getting in to the pre-paid business. After hosting all the other carriers, the Shack has decided to get in on the game as well. This time going with Cricket Wireless. No SIMs here meaning its all CDMA, not the best way to go if you're traveling abroad. Plus with Cricket's spotty coverage it doesn't seem they'll be getting many customers. Though with Muve Music (Cricket's music service) being standard it does seem compelling. Devices that are to be released are the Huawei Mercury, the Huawei Pillar, and a device from Alcatel. Still no word on the iPhone even though Cricket does have the device. Of course by going with a carrier that isn't that is clogged up speeds should be better, unlike Sprint who has an astounding 20 MVNOs operating on their network. But we'll see what happens, but again this could just be another "Test" that Gamestop also did with their own supposed MVNO that never was.
Just like siblings, there are times for the parent to come in. There are different stories on each side and who believe them, but sometimes its good to make up and be friends again. But just like an awkward couple, both companies would reply "it's complicated". Since Samsung has been providing parts for a lot of Apple products, yet are taking each other down in court. And just like a responsible parent they would be disappointed. That's what Judge Koh says at least. Since both companies have been accused for impending the jury process and both have blamed each other on many accounts. Apple says that it " has tried diligently to advance the process, Samsung has stymied those efforts". Where as Samsung "agreed to more than twenty revised instructions proposed by Apple and is continuing to review Apple's remaining disputed instructions for any common ground,". For now the jury hasn't been told about Steve Jobs' comments on Android and the destroyed evidence, and Apple went as far as preventing the Samsung logo being shown on equipment so it wouldn't seem the court has a favor on Samsung. As far as I can tell this looks like a forced settlement to me, since this argument could go on for decades (ahem, fanboys), now if we could just get them to hug it out.
That makes a total of 3 colors (4 if you're on AT&T) of delightful nature inspired colors. According to a Carphone Warehouse insider. The image above may as well be the black Galaxy SIII. Though the last time there was a leak, it appeared to be a photo shopped pebble blue Galaxy SIII. But the overall execution of the image does look legitimate, did you really think Samsung would stay with blue? But I feel like I'm the only one getting a Nintendo vibe of this. Remember how they use to release new colors almost every 6 months? They say history repeats it self so expect Charcoal Black coming to a store near you.
After rumor after rumor of the iPhone 5, a new dock connector has appeared. Sporting the Apple color scheme that we all know and love. This time bringing both form and function to the table. Solving the width and the hassle of plugging in the dock correctly, Apple may have finally found the answer, a dual sided connector. Featuring 16 pins (8 on each side) a downgrade from the previous 30. This new design seems very likely due to the way it is built and looks. And it also seems like there is no locking mechanism meaning they could have moved to magnets just like they did with MagSafe on their line of Macbooks. But the dual sided pins may be more for function rather than convenience due to the fact that the utilization of two sides creates more surface area for the pins while still leaving it relatively small. If this is true we can expect a huge wave of angry customers who poured hundreds in to accessories, but don't worry, Apple is sure to release an adapter (eventually).
The one advantage that many stock ROMs had was the ability to update over the air with no need of getting your hands dirty with the recovery. Some apps such as ROM Manager managed some functionality along the lines of OTA yet costed Money and didn't detect if you were using a ported version of CWM. No longer shall you fret (or see CWM). The generically named OTA Update Center is here. Bringing all that a Flash Happy dev would need. Unlike the low database of ROMs that CWM provided OTA lets any developer come and add their ROM to OTA's database, creating large compatibility. Plus allowing the user to wipe all their caches before hand so no work will be done by the user. Of course this is still new, meaning there are a few bugs, but are to be caught in a while. So soon enough we can download our ROMs without ever flashing them. Now we wait for the day we can do this without root (which is of course impossible, yet developers have found a way to do many things that were thought impossible), so now we wait...
A dumbed down version of Google Now has finally arrived on iOS, an alternative to getting Siri illegally or if your device just doesn't support it. Bringing accurate voice to text and a more realistic AI to the table. Plus giving the exact look of Google Now. Plus giving access to Google's new Knowledge Graph. And the release date is pretty near, or at least "in a few days" according to Google. And it's just an update, meaning no new app required, just get Google application for your iDevice. Of course it won't be tracking your everyday movements like Google Now does, but expect it to do something like Siri.
The very popular Mali 400MP has finally got a long needed upgrade. The Mali 400MP was used on the Galaxy SII and SIII. Providing amazing visuals and smoothness. Though the one downside of the old GPU was that it couldn't do full 1080p. Which is one of the reasons why the Note 10.1 doesn't have at 1920 x 1200 resolution, unlike some other Tegra tablets. But no longer shall you media freaks fret, the new Mali- T604 has more than 1080 to satisfy your needs. Featuring the long awaited A15 architecture which is sure to dwarf any quad core A9 out at the moment. Now lets get to the GPU it self, featuring a quad core GPU set up (nothing compared to the 12 Tegra 3 has). Also throwing in support for Open GL ES 3.0 and 5x the performance over previous Mali GPUs. For now all that we know is that the transistor size will be around 28-40nm, meaning it could be Samsung (28,32nm), Quallcomm (28nm), nVidia (40nm) , or possibly the OMAP 5, though TI has a history of going with PowerVR GPUs instead. Plus Qualcomm goes with their own Adreno GPUs instead. My bet is that this is the Exynos 5 powering the demo tablet. For now Samsung has been relatively quiet about the Exynos 5, though we may see this waddle its way in to the high end Nexus phone out of the five that are to be released in November, now one question remains, battery life.
That little blotch of light has a lot more than meets the eye. No this isn't some flash trickery, or Photoshop instead this is light in motion. Enter the world of Femtophotography. Life at a trillion frames per second. Your usual movie or TV show is a measly 24 frames per second where as a slow motion scene is around 60. And those fancy slow motion cameras that the Mythbusters use? Around 1000 and maxing out at 10,000 frames per second. This camera however is is so fast it can actually capture light moving, the benefits are also pretty amazing. But just to show you how slow this camera really is, picture this. The amount of time it takes for the light to reach the end of the bottle lasts only a nanosecond, but watching it in real time will last a whole year! So slowing it down by a factor of 10 billion gives you this amazing 10 second clip.
How it works
So how does this work? As they kill fire with fire, instead capture light with light. Essentially meaning a laser constantly flashes on and off a trillion times per second gives you a "bullet" of light as seen in the image above. Of course by taking a image this fast the amount of light that gets through is extremely small. So instead they send billions of "bullets" and weave together the data to get that clip.
Applications
Now there not be that many applications for this technology in the first place due to the enormous size of the camera, but as it progressively gets smaller and smaller the possibilities are seemingly endless. First off we can use this technology to image our bodies without the use of x-rays. Since when these "bullets" of light are fired some of it goes in your body. And continues to bounce of inside. Using that data the camera can effectively map your body. Or a variation of that technique is using it to tell if a fruit is ripe. It could also be used to look around corners. By sending "bullets" of light at an angle, the photons will bounce of the angle and reach the object, then the photons bounce back. Then by timing when each individual photon bounces back they are able to weave together an image.
For now we are limited to what we can do with this technology due to the size of the camera, but in a while it may finally be small enough to use in our every day lives. But it is still a very promising technology. Interested? Watch the video below.
Ultrabooks and Ivy Bridge have taken the spotlight from Intel's latest CPU revision. Following Intel's "Tick- Tock" strategy meaning a "Tick" represents a minor revision where as a "Tock" represents a major revision. Currently we're still on the tick phase, but what's coming up next will totally revamp the entire experience for any laptop. For now Intel has been quiet about their new architecture (which is why you won't here about it anytime soon), but what we do know is that Intel is really bringing a lot to the table. First off lets start with the confirmed features.
Confirmed Only a few have been named, but are still enough to impress. Bringing support to a new instruction set, meaning future compatibility for programs and for enterprise customers. Plus a new socket will be used, meaning no backwards compatibility, instead it will use LGA 1150 instead of 1155 that Sandy and Ivy Bridge both used. Plus support for DirectX 11 and Open GL 3.2, meaning that it may finally be up to par with AMD's inetrgrated GPU solution. Plus DDR4 support for enterprise systems, or PC enthusiasts. Plus the release will be around 2013.
What's Expected
This list is much longer, but seems to be correct. First of all when you look at this list you'll notice that many improvements are directed toward mobile devices. Using a 22nm process is sure to improve power efficiency meaning battery will improve. Plus according to AnandTech three versions of the GPU intergrated. GT1, GT2, and GT3. GT3 having 40 execution units and an accompanying 64MB cache meaning that graphics memory won't be shared with the RAM. These specs are similar to a low end graphics card. Just don't expect it to replace a discrete graphics card anytime. A new power saving system is also in the works (possibly Turbo Boost 3.0?). A fully integrated voltage regulator removing a component from the mother board which also improves battery life as well. Plus a 15W TDP which is a huge drop from the 35W ULV found on current gen CPUs. Of course transistors are getting smaller and smaller soon we will have 14nm and then 10nm (that's 10 atoms wide). But we can dream right?
The extremely popular news website was just hacked today, the result? A very sensitive article about Syria was posted. Reuters had first posted through Twitter about the hack. No major damage was done to the website overall. The only damage done was a fake post about an interview with leader of the Free Syrian Army, Riad al-Assad. Reuters claims no such interview had been done, and for now the blogging platform on Reuters has been taken down to address the problem. No word on when it will come back online, but this may be a warning to all the other news sites as well. Possibly CNN may be next or another news source but we doubt it will occur due to the fact that this hack only occurred on the blogging platform, which is more user accessible and hackable.
The popular android phone has finally got a refresh, this time a little bit early. 2 days to be exact. Just 2 days before IFA at Samsung's own Unpacked event. Much like the Galaxy SIII launch, for now we have no confirmations on the specs, but we do have a list of supposed specs. A 5.5" screen and of course ICS, plus Samsung's latest Exynos. No word yet on if the display is to be PenTile or a full RGB matrix. But I'm leaning more towards a matrix because it won't be as hard to produce due to a larger screen size. Now we just have to wait for the Galaxy Note 10.1
But I wan't to know what you guys think, should Samsung continue in increasing the screen size, or will it just become to big? I currently own a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 which is already big enough for me, but 5.5 may just be the perfect pocketable size for on the go entertainment. But in no means is this an iPod Shuffle, trust me.
Just after a day of completing the development cycle of Windows 8, an Enterprise version of this operating system has been leaked (could give you an idea where this came from). Though this isn't the full version, instead this is the "N" version meaning it doesn't have Windows Media Player pre-installed. Already this OS is available on certain torrent sites. As far as we know this is a legitimate leak. Still we wouldn't want to replace Windows 7 anytime soon. And really the Metro interface isn't worth it. But if you ever do download it, please use it in Virtual Box.
Going public may have been they're biggest mistake, just after realizing the the popular social network had 83 million fake users their stock has dipped nearly half their offering price of $38. They hit an all time low of $19.91, but they closed at $20.84. This of course isn't good news at all for stock holders or Mark. The stock has been declining since their second quarter loss.
After waiting nearly a year, Republic Wireless has finally opened up for everyone. The "WiFi People" service ingeniously used Wi-Fi for using calls, texts, and of course data over Wi-Fi whenever available. Essentially switching from VOIP and back. Now the extremely low price per month is achieved through Sprints 3G network unlike the WiMax network every other carrier is getting. Using Sprint's 3G is extremely slow, but the utilization of Wi-Fi is sure to combat that. The only phone that is currently available is the Motorola Defy XT which is definitively a step up from the previously available Optimus One, or the Optimus S. This phone is CDMA meaning you can't swap out SIM cards. But it still is a step up from the previous Optimus. The first time fee is a hefty $278, that includes the phone, start up fee, and the first month of service. After that it's a low fee of $19 per month. Hopefully more and more devices make their way to Republic's line up, but for now you're stuck with a relatively budget smartphone.
Since the Raspberry Pi is a Linux board it would only make sense that the most popular version would make its way to the board. ICS has finally been ported to the popular developer device. Of course now this can be used as a media device since a case has been made and is fully capable of streaming. Of course there are a few issues remaining, Audio Flinger, which is Android audio manager doesn't work, and with a few other issues with the kernel as well, so it won't be in the hands of consumers anytime soon.
Cheap Smartphone buyers rejoice! Not necessarily, for those of you that are new to Freedom Pop, here's a quick run down. First of they give you free 500MB of data and every extra gigabyte costing $10. This is all data only so you'll be doing your calls through Skype or another VOIP app. For now the case is up for pre-order for $99 which is cheap compared to buying a comparable iPhone 4 unlocked. The case does add some considerable weight to your device, but it is worth the trade off of free internet. Freedom Pop has said there are plans of this case for Android device, but it will take some time.
A but late if you ask me, while others bought an unlocked version and popped in a SIM card, some waited, yet some ended up waiting nearly a year. Featuring the standard US specs, using a Snapdragon S3 instead of an Exynos which doesn't make much sense. Since Exynos is only HSPA+ and so is T-Mobile's "4G". It seems like a good idea since the dual core Exynos outperforms the S3 (But now it's a different story). Plus it now ships with Ice Cream Sandwich standard. At $249.99 it's a hard sell, instead a $199.99 Galaxy SIII sounds better since you get all the latest hardware, plus a S4. But if 5.3" HSPA+ devices are your thing, you can't go wrong with this.
Adding to the pile of iPhone 5 rumors, the final rumor has been whispered. After all the parts have been leaked piece by piece, the entire iPhone 5 assembled has been leaked. According to the website iLab the image above is the supposed to be the new iPhone or iPhone 5 (maybe 4GS?) whatever Apple decides to call it. If this really is the new iPhone then it confirms all the iPhone 5 rumors. Plus you can see the new layout on the bottom featuring the 19 pin dock connector and the headphone jack that has been moved to the bottom. And if you look closely you can see that the display is slightly elevated above the rest of the body, this could be a pointer that its fake, but it may as well be Apple's new design. Almost similar to the Nokia Lumia 900 with its raised glass panel. But for now they are still rumors, and for now you'll just have to wait for the next Keynote. For the full gallery visit 9to5mac.
The popular A-GPS standard may no longer be your choice from now on, University of Luxemborg's Ralf-Phillip Weinnman reported at Black Hat that the often choice for location services, A-GPS, happens over a non-secure link meaning a hacker could easily slip in and track you and even take control of your device.
Weinnmann had demonstrated this on a multitude of Android devices, he explained that whenever a message is sent through A-GPS, and here's where the hacker can get in, the messages are processed through the phone's CPU not the GPS chip. Meaning that a little malicious code could get in and potentially crash your phone. Or use it to gain full control of your device.
Of course this can be prevented, for now there's nothing you could do on your part, instead its in the hands of manufacturers. But why can't we all get along? Then we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.
Finally after almost a year of waiting Google Fiber has finally touched American Soil, specifically Kansas City. And what you get is pretty impressive. Reaching 1GB/s internet speeds. You heard right 1 Gigabit, That's where Ethernet Maxes out. Plus something unexpected from Google as well, TV. You heard right, Google wasn't going to just stop with TV Shows, they've moved on to live TV as well.
Included with $120 per month is a pretty satisfying offer. You get 1 TB of Google Drive storage, Full gigabit upload & download, TV Box, network box, and something interesting which will help Google stand out from the market as well aside from the huge download speeds, a free Nexus 7. Yup, that's your remote from now on. Of course you can opt out of TV and for $70 a month you get Gigabit Internet only, and if you're a cheapskate you can get internet for free with speeds of 5Mb/s download and 1Mb/s download, that's Google's "average". Of course this isn't rolling out to all of America only starting with Kansas City, but I'm pretty sure Google has plans to expand in the future. Your move Apple.
Finally in the hands of tech writers, the long awaited Snapdragon S4 Pro has finally been bench marked, and boy does it impress. The Pro variant is essentially a S4 with two more cores and a new graphics chip. Replacing the old Adreno 225 with the new 320 which beats the Galaxy SIII's Mali 400 which is one of the best GPUs out there. Of course what everyone is waiting for are the benchmarks. And here they are, achieving a mind blowing score of 7,698 in Quadrant, that's around 3,000 more than the quad core Exynos. Of course battery life will be an issue, but thanks to the 28nm transistor size used in the chip it will surely help improve battery life. Hopefully this will make its way in to a Nexus device in the future, which is slated for a November release, except price will be an issue again, so it seems Google will likely go with an OMAP 5 instead, since TI has been the choice for budget devices, or possibly a Tegra 3. But hopefully this will set the benchmark for future CPUs and will push Moore's Law to the limit.
Now you no longer need those proprietary cables, or at least will give a manufacturer a reason to ditch them. The power delivery for USB 3.0 has no been upped to 100 watts that's around 10 times what Thunderbolt can do. Of course you can't just plug in your phone for now due to the fact that it's still micro USB 2.0 and micro USB 3.0 is still years away. Though the cables will get thicker due to the high current. Of course this won't be coming out soon. But there's already is the fast charge feature on the port, but it only outputs 900 mAH which is still pretty impressive, since its almost as high as a wall charger. And of course higher than the 500 mAH output from USB 2.0. Some other applications of having a 100W capability is the possibility of external graphic cards. Sony has already done this using USB 3.0 but with 100 watts to spare they'd definitively have more breathing room, but then comes the issue of battery life...
Hate the color blue on top of your house? Well have no fear UCLA is here. They've developed a transparent solar cell. The guys at UCLA have been able to achieve 4% energy conversion at 66% transparency, almost like the tint at the back of your car. The new cell works by using a new type of solar polymer cells. It could be used on huge corporate buildings, or even smart phones in the future. Still it's no where near the 33.7% efficiency current solar panels get, but due to the pace of technology it's sure to improve. Though its still a very long time before any of these technologies get in to your phone or even be completed, so keep those dreams of a self powered cell phone to yourself for now.
Well that's quite ironic. Instead of the sub $200 tablet which was supposed to sell well it seems people are buying the 16GB version instead which is supposed to be the one that Google makes money. And the 8GB version the one where Google breaks even. But it makes sense, due to the lack of MicroSD card slot. Personally I really wouldn't mind paying $20 extra for the 8GB version just so I could add an extra 32 GB. But then again all the content you buy on the Play Store is stored on the cloud, just like the Kindle Fire. But for all the times when you're offline and you need all your media content so you don't get bored it makes sense. But if you're willing to have a USB flash drive or even a hard drive you could get a micro USB to USB and you could do that, that is, if you're willing to see things sticking out from your tablet. So you can wait until "Coming Soon" turns in to "Add to Cart". Or you could shell out $300-$400 on eBay to get one for your self.
With our devices getting smarter and smarter and battery life getting shorter and shorter, many people need something that can keep their devices powered long enough for the day. You could go ahead and get a device such as the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX, or keep on changing the batteries as you go along. But all those methods have their flaws, instead why don't you charge your device more often? Of course there are cases such as the Mophie, but that case only supports the iPhone or any other device, what if you want to charge a different type of device? Well the POP is here to save the day. Featuring 25,000 mAH battery built in its large enough to last you a few days actually. It's enough to charge the new iPad 1 and a half times, that translates to around 25 hours of usage or charge your phone 10 times. of course not all batteries are that large so your millage will vary. Plus this little cylinder of lithium ion is compatible with almost every device out there. Featuring a a 30 pin dock connection for Apple devices, a micro USB for Android devices and 2 full size USB ports on the bottom. Availability hasn't been announced yet due to the fact that it still needs funding. But you can help by donating on Kickstarter. For one pledge of $149 you will get the POP, and with a pledge with $169 you can get custom artwork on it. The retail price is to be set at $199 so save your self 50 bucks and go ahead and pledge $149 instead. Plus the creator hopes to add additional accessories to the POP like a speaker top or even a solar cap. The goal is $50,000 and has already reached 75% of its goal so go ahead and start pledging.
The once useless social media player or known as the Nexus Q has become a little more useful. It seems the custom ROM love has also been given to the Nexus Q. More specifically Cyanogen Mod 9 has been ported to the Nexus Q. But it isn't without its faults. Currently only the base features are working with some support for Bluetooth and WiFi. Plus for now all interfacing will have to be done through a mouse and keyboard. So now you can almost use this as computer. But I don't see why you would waste $300 on one of these. It's better to go out and get a ODROID-X or an Apple TV for a much cheaper price. But if you already have one, you should certainly look in to flashing this, because lets be honest, there really isn't a purpose for this device yet.
A tiny little company from Korea called Hardkernel just released a very powerful ARM board for a price of $139, The ODROID-X. And this small 3.5"x 3.7" slab of PCB packs a large punch, featuring a quad core Exynos running at 1.4GHz, coupled with 6 USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet adapter, headphone and microphone jack, and of course an SDHC slot so you can expand your storage. Plus offering 1GB of RAM. This is essentially a barebones Galaxy SIII, this also contains all the essential pins for those who want to mod or use it in other situations. And this is no Raspberry Pi in terms of specs and price. Where as the Raspberry Pi only sells for $35, it is also substantially slower, running only at 700MHz with only 256MB RAM, not really a beast in specs. Now I see this more as a cheap computer that many can buy and use as their daily driver, or for use as a development board, where as the Raspberry Pi is meant more for modding and for hobbyists. Plus the selection of operating systems for the ODROID-X is very low, featuring Android, Ubuntu, and maybe in the future Windows RT. I personally see this more as a device that you hook up to your TV so you can play games and stream content. Or you could go ahead and buy a Roku 2 and use that to stream movies and play games, or play a game. More specifically Angry Birds. Now if they were to release this with a case, its appeal would certainly increase. Due to the fact that with the case you can take it around with out the worry of damaging the board. Anyways this device looks like it has a lot of potential, but the only draw back is the price tag. So it seems that the Raspberry Pi wins the battle here. But for all the spec enthusiasts, this board may be for you.
For many of you that bought a HTC Evo 4G LTE (aka the One X), and if you live in Kansas City, you're in luck. You can finally get true 4G or LTE, instead of the WiMAX that was previously advertised as 4G. But Kansas City is the only city with Sprint's LTE, and the full roll out is to occur during 2013. So you get the fast 1GB/s home internet from Google and LTE from Sprint, a true Internet Wonderland. But for now, most users will still have plain old WiMAX. Luckily once Sprint's LTE network is fully rolled out, many carriers that run on Sprint's network like Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, and many others will have full access to the WiMAX network instead of the sluggishly slow 3G.
After following in the path of the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy SII Skyrocket has finally received the ICS Update. For now you'll have to update through Samsung Kies and currently isn't available OTA. But when you try to update through your device it gives a message telling you to check back in a number of hours. So now you can get rid of aging gingerbread and join the 10% of Android users that are on ICS. Plus you'll get all of the features on ICS including Face Unlock and the new multitasking menu. So it seems AT&T did keep its promise, but they took quite a while to do it.
Sure the solar panel is a device that can harvest energy, so what's so special about this one? This chip can harvest energy from other sources simultaneously, meaning no energy goes to waste. The key to this working is that the chip switches from source to source incredibly fast. The chip can receive energy from heat, light, and vibrations. Unlike other chips that get energy from the most plentiful source. Instead it stores energy from less plentiful sources in secondary capacitors and gets the rest from the most plentiful source. And since this device harvests energy the device it self is very power efficient. This chip could be implemented almost everywhere. Already some watches get energy from kinetic movement so implementing this device will make it capable from getting energy from the heat of your body, the sun, and the occasional bumps of everyday life. Plus it could be implemented in smart phones as well, meaning battery life would drastically improve. Already there are cases that have solar panels embedded in them, but are very clunky and aren't very practical instead it would be embedded in to the device keeping it slim. So is this the next battery, seems we'll have to wait a few years to find out.
Let the Custom ROMs roll in. That's right the source code for Jelly Bean was released along with the proprietary binaries for the Nexus 7 and the Galaxy Nexus. So you can get your fix of Jelly Bean on your Android device plus you can expect to be ported to many Android devices in the future. In fact it's already been ported to the One X. Though don't expect manufacturers to start getting it on your device. They'll have to wait for the PDK which is supposed to come out later. Plus the team at Cyanogen Mod have already started development for Jelly Bean, so you should expect alpha builds coming out soon...
After many long months of tireless waiting some looked to custom ROMs to get the Ice Cream Sandwich that was promised yet some people persevered, constantly checking for updates. Luckily for you guys you will have your warranty and ICS starting tomorrow (and for a lucky few today). Of course all it took was some patience. All right, a lot of patience. But a question that concerns many is when ICS will come to the Skyrocket. Both the Skyrocket and Note have identical specs just different screen resolutions. So it shouldn't be too long before it comes out. Plus the ICS ROM for the Skyrocket was leaked months ago so it's bound to happen.
Rumors are already ramping up about the soon to be announced Kindle Fire 2 with reports from Pyrito and this time AllThingsD. Allegedly AllThingsD reports that the new Kindle Fire will feature a 1280x800 display and a camera. Plus featuring a a new thinner chassis. Plus according to Pyrito the device will be shipping with a TI OMAP 5 which features a newer GPU plus dedicated encoding and decoding chips built right in so you should expect performance near a Tegra 3 or even better due to the fact that the transistor size of the OMAP 5 is 28nm compared to Tegra's 45nm so in theory the chip should be more efficient and less power hungry. Basically meaning that you will get better battery life, so that may be another feature. And remember to subscribe to our RSS feed so you can always be updated.
Barely after 2 days Google has been quick to put up the Galaxy Nexus on the Play Store. And it will be shipping in a quick 1-2 weeks. Of course once a week is over, the Galaxy Nexus will be gone forever :( . Hopefully Google will release a new Galaxy Nexus. If they were able to put a quad core in a tablet for under $200 they should be able to do the same for only a little bit more. But the price will be increased due to the fact of the use of an AMOLED screen, and the radios for cellular connectivity.
If Google does decide to retaliate and release a phone it should take a while due to the fact that it will have to go through the whole designing process and that they will have to make sure they don't violate Apple's patents. Plus they may have to make a deal with a new manufacturer, most likely ASUS. If they can make a phone based off the ASUS Padphone which has pretty good specs. Plus if they are able make the phone connect to a tablet or become the tablet it will totally make a dent in Apple's market share. Plus the Padphone isn't doing so well right now so if it is rebranded as a Nexus device it will sell, since it provides direct updates and no extra bloatware. Just like they did with the ASUS Memo aka the Nexus 7.
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