Specs leak for the Sony Xperia Z2, code named Avatar
The Sony Xperia Z caused quite a ruckus at CES early this year, with its ability to be submerged in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. The device is even available from a U.S. carrier, T-Mobile. Since then, we've seen the humungous Sony Xperia Z Ultra launched and the introduction of the Sony Xperia Z1,
the first in a new line of "One Sony" camera-centric smartphones. That
would mean that the Sony Xperia Z is getting a little long in the tooth
and is due to be replaced in Sony's line up.That's where our
story begins. A source claiming to be close to the situation (no, not
the Jersey Shore cast member) revealed what he says are the specs to the
Sony Xperia Z2 (C770X). The phone is code named Avatar and is equipped
with a 5.2 inch IGZO Triluminuous Display with a 500ppi pixel density.
If true, this would top the current industry leader, which is the 468ppi
on the 4.7 inch HTC One.
The silicon inside the phone would be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
MSM8974 Chipset and a multitasker's wet dream, 3GB of RAM, would be on
board.The 20.7MP rear-facing camera would support 4K video
capture and a 3200mAh cell would keep the lights on. And the Sony Xperia
Z2 would give you a break as it said to run on Android 4.4 Kit Kat.
Expect the new model to be on display at CES 2014 where it will have
some pretty big shoes to fill.
Nokia was testing Android on its Lumias before the Microsoft acquisition, could it have worked out?
This has been blowing up on the Internet for the past few hours. New
York Times reporter Nick Wingfield initially had this scoop that Nokia
was testing Android on its Lumia range of devices as a “Plan B” if
Windows Phone completely fails to take off. Yes, Nokia was indeed
testing Android on its Lumias and it is speculated that it might have
been a possibility in light of growing tensions between the two
companies, with Microsoft failing to deliver features at a pace Nokia
wanted it to. It is believed that this would have played a role in
pushing Microsoft to acquire Nokia, but not a huge one, as insiders say
that Microsoft was aware of this early on in the partnership.In a nutshell, Nokia was testing Android on its Lumia phones as plan B. That said, today morning Tom Warren from the Verge brings us new information that Nokia was also looking at options to switch to Android in the low end, with the Asha range. Apparently, there was a team of people tasked with testing Android on its low end devices, running a project codenamed “MView” a short form for Mountain View, a place where Google HQ is located. Sources seemed to have told that this was actually in plans to launch around 2014. Not only that, Nokia also apparently tried forking Android, just like Amazon did with their Kindle Fire devices.
The most surprising aspect of these bits of information is that all the Android plans had been going on ever since Nokia jumped ship to Windows Phone on the 11th of February, 2011. If the Microsoft deal had not gone through, could Nokia have eventually gone Android? On both the high end as well as the low end? But the most important question is, could it have worked out for Nokia?
Spoiler alert: 90% it would not have worked out, and I can tell you why. There are two possibilities to be dealt with here -
What if Nokia had gone Android instead of Windows Phone in 2011
Nokia was in a terrible state in 2010, let alone 2011. Of course people were still buying their device in droves, but that was not due to ground breaking technology or something. The best seller was the Nokia 5230, a S60V5 based device. Let that sink in for a moment.
Not only that, lets take a look at how Nokia was, in the hardware situation. It had 680 MHz ARM11 chips as the new specification when other OEMs had already moved to 1 GHz Cortex A8 processors(N900 was a rebel with a 800 MHz A8). The display resolution was 640×360 when most of the OEMs had already moved to 800×480 six months back. Nokia and Qualcomm had a huge patent battle going on, so Nokia had stuck with TI and Broadcom, one is almost non-existent now and the other gets through in really less number of Android devices.
In February 2011, had Nokia gone Android, the hardware would have still sucked, assuming it was the same good old Nokia that did Symbian. The software situation was even worse. Symbian was failing hard, as it took over an year(after September 2010) just to implement a home screen that moved with the finger. It took the same full year for a portrait keyboard which eventually was bad even after release. These are just tiny bits but a huge deal for user experience, that too in 2011. So, simply said, Nokia sucked at rapidly innovating in hardware as well as software. What would have happened if Nokia had gone Android then? Pretty much a failure, UNLESS Nokia had something vastly different in execution, in partnerships, in work culture and above everything, software. Android at that time required OEMs to add features and make skins to introduce their own differentiations. Could Nokia have afforded to take that software risk again? Nope.
What if Nokia had gone Android in 2014
This is a far more plausible scenario if Nokia had considered forking Android just for its low end devices. It could have done wonders for Nokia as a company, with a lot of devices sold, but it creates another problem. How the low end effect works is, the buyer always aspires to own a device from the same brand at a higher price later on, that’s how the business works and that’s why Nokia still make a LOT of low end devices. This is a major problem with the Asha 501 too, they just can’t convert *all* those users to a massively different OS that is Windows Phone. It just feels alien compared to the Asha 501.
So, the pressure will be back on Nokia to produce Lumias based on Android, which again, would have introduced massive headaches in Nokia scrambling to change their whole branding, the company’s overall image, which is a very distrusting thing to do, like they had done with Windows Phone. It turned out bad for them once, it would have turned out bad for them again. And not just that, they now had to make their own software too, because.. take an example – Here Maps was a big asset Nokia couldn’t give up, which is a direct competitor to Google, and that indirectly means – forking.
Forking means Nokia doing their own additions, and since they would obviously want to create differentiation, they would want to add more features, making it look a lot like what I had described in the earlier scenario(What they did with Symbian). For all we know, Nokia could have been one of those Android OEMs which never releases updates to its older devices or launches devices based on older version when the Nexus’s of this world were three versions ahead. It just wouldn’t have worked out. Again, this is under assumption that Nokia was still the same company we knew, when it ran Symbian and made the time consuming Meego.
Overall, both the above possibilities point to the fact that whatever Nokia tried, it could have gone spectacularly bad. And all this while I have totally discounted the overarching dominance of the vertically integrated Samsung, which Nokia says that they already predicted that the dominance would be unbeatable due to the single most important – “vertical integration” factor. Am not saying Windows Phone worked out for Nokia, I am just saying that even Android wouldn’t have worked out. But then, I might be totally wrong too, so I leave a generous 10% of my opinions’ accuracy to the benefit of doubt.
That said, What do YOU think? Could Android have worked out for Nokia? Why and how? Let us know in the comments section below.
Google announced that ASUS and Toshiba have jumped on the Chrome OS bandwagon
Google has announced that ASUS and Toshiba have jumped on the Chrome
OS bandwagon. The two companies join Samsung, Acer, HP and Lenovo to
make a total of six manufacturers who have turned their attention to
Google’s infant computer OS.
Additionally, new laptops boasting Haswell CPUs are out as well. ASUS has debuted on the Chrome OS scene with its own Chromebox, while Toshiba has a Chromebook. Acer and HP have updated their Chromebook and Chromebook14 laptops with Haswell chips as well.
Sadly, any further specifications on all devices aren’t available at the moment. On the upshot, Google has hinted what each of the products will feature. Acer’s latest generation Chromebook will be all about lightness and mobility, while Toshiba’s Chromebook will bring “versatility and portability”. The ASUS Chromebox shapes up to pack the hardware of the third-generation Samsung Chromebox, but in a much smaller form factor.
You can see that HP’s Chromebook14 is in white, but the company says the notebook will flaunt a number of color options when it becomes available. It’s going to cost $299.99 and pack a 16GB solid-state hard drive for local storage and 100GB of free Google Drive cloud storage for two years. There’s also an HDMI port, one USB 2.0 as well as one USB 3.0 port.
We suspect Google will release more information regarding pricing, availability and specifications of all those products once they’re ready for prime time.
Samsung to add 64-bit CPUs to its 2014 flagships
Samsung's CEO JK Shin announced the company will start using 64-bit processors on its "next smartphones". This most probably means the 2014 flagships, such as the Galaxy S5, will be getting the new processors.
The 64-bit CPUs are a must-have for devices with 4GB or more RAM and there is a chance Android 4.4 KitKat brings 64-bit support. There is also a probability Samsung unveils a flagship with 4GB of RAM next year, since the Note 3 already has 3GB.
Asus announces the Transformer Book T100 Windows 8.1 hybrid $349
Where the T300 is a high-end
13.3-inch Windows tablet/laptop, and the Trio is an Android/Windows
hybrid, the T100 is a more simple affair. It is, as the name suggests, a
lower-end version of the T300. The T100 will feature a 10.1-inch 1366 x
768 IPS display, a quad-core Intel Atom Bay Trail processor rated for
about 11 hours of use, 2GB of RAM, and an included keyboard dock.
The
T100 will come in two storage sizes. The 32GB will start at $349, and
the 64GB model will be just $399. And, as we said, these devices do run
full Windows 8.1, and further prove that Windows RT is pointless, with
Windows 8.1 devices at this price point. The Asus Transformer Book T100
is expected in stores on October 18th.
Apple iPhone 5S announced: first 64-bit chip in a phone and fingerprint sensor included
Apple iPhone 5S has just gotten official.
The new iPhone 5S is all about improvements under the hood as it keeps
virtually the same design as the iPhone 5. But boy are those
improvements big - the new iPhone 5S comes with a brand new Apple A7
chip, the first ever 64-bit chip on a phone. with the
new home button having a biometrics finger print sensor, but there are
also other interesting additions. One is the gold colour variant(Gold,
Slate and Silver are the three new colours), which again, was perfectly
accurate from the leaks and the other is the new Apple A7 and M7 chips.
The iPhone 5S also brings an updated camera and revamped internals, read
on to find out what the iPhone 5S is all about.
The Apple A7 is the first 64-bit mobile processor that has 2X the performance of the previous generation. The M7 on the other hand is a co-processor that can detect motion using a trio of sensors – Accelerometer, Compass and Gyroscope. Developers will be able to take advantage of it using their APIs.
Moving onto battery life, Apple stated that the standby time will be better than the iPhone 5 at 250 hours while you can do with 10 hours of browsing on LTE.
The camera also has been updated, says Apple. It now uses a new five element Apple-designed lens with a F2.2 Aperture. It has a 15% larger active area when compared to the older one. The pixels are of 1.5 microns in size, in comparison to the 2.0 microns on the HTC One and 1.1 microns on the several other sensors.
The pixel size bump is pretty huge and should benefit the already impressive performance we have seen from Apple iPhone cameras. In terms of software, the camera software can now do super fast AF with 15 zone metering, all automatically. There is also a new dual LED flash, with one producing the cool light while the other produces a warm light, basically to counteract the weird white balance the LED flash induces on photos.
Interesting implementation from apple here. Apple also introduces Auto image stabilization to the camera, which works by taking a burst of 10 pictures in a second and picks the best one from the lot. Not that new, but Apple’s implementations are always interesting.
Slow motion video is also coming to the iPhone, with 720p 120 fps video capture. Pro Tip – Samsung just announced this for the Note 3 recently. The photo samples Apple showed at the Keynote looked really impressive, as usual.
Biometrics are finally going mainstream with the iPhone 5S. The home button now has a finger print sensor. It’s called Touch ID and resides inside the home button. It is 170 microns thin, senses 500 ppi and even scans your sub-dermial skin layers. The demo established that Touch ID is highly accurate.
The pricing is at 199$ for 16GB and 299$ for 32 GB while at a high 399$ for the 64 GB version. All on a two year contract. There are cases too, the similar silicon case covers that launched with the iPhone 5C, and is available at a higher $39 with different colour variants.
The new iPhone 5s will be available for pre-order on the 13th of September in the US and a week later in some other parts of the world
Apple announces the iPhone 5C: 4-inch Retina display
Apple has for the first time announced a
second new iPhone model: the iPhone 5C. As rumored, the device has a
polycarbonate design, which Apple says is made from a single part save
the front panel (the whole of which is a multitouch surface) and
reinforced with a steel structure that Apple says was made using a new
construction method. It's "beautifully, unapologetically plastic,"
according to Apple's Phil Schiller.As for specs, you'll get the same 4-inch Retina display as the iPhone 5 (full sRGB), plus an A6 processor, LTE and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, and an 8-megapixel, backside-illuminated camera with a 5-element lens. A new front-facing camera also promises better performance in low light. Available in blue, white, pink, yellow and green, the 5C will set you back $99 on a two-year contract for the 16GB version, or $199 for the 32GB. Apple has also designed some new cases to match, which will set you back $29 apiece.
Samsung announces true octa-core for its Exynos chips
Samsung has unveiled the latest refresh to its Exynos 5 chipsets.
Bringing what the Koreans call Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP),
the new Exynos 5 Octa big.LITTLE chip (that powers the likes of its
Galaxy S4 flagship) can now run on all of its cores simultaneously. This
comes after criticisms from rival chipmakers that the Exynos 5410 and
5420 can't be considered true octa-core SoCs.HMP will give the chipset the ability to use the cores in any desired combination. Until now you could either have four low-power Cortex-A7 cores for low priority tasks, or the four high-performance Cortex-A15 cores for high priority tasks.
Samsung hopes to deploy the new Exynos 5 Octa big.LITTLE HMP solution in Q4 of this year. The company has remained mum on whether that means existing big.LITTLE chips will get that capability via a software update, though, or if it only applies to upcoming Exynos 5 products.
Motorola DROID 5 with hardware QWERTY, 4.3" 720p screen leaks
QWERTY-packing smartphones may be in for a bit of a revival as photos of the Motorola DROID 5 leaked along with some specs. In the photos, the DROID 5 is next to the Motorola Photon Q and the leaked specs make it out to be a small upgrade over the old phone.The screen of the DROID 5 is clearly the same size as the 4.3" screen of its predecessor, with rumors promising a resolution update to 720p (342ppi). That's the same as the DROID Mini screen.
Leaked photos of the Motorola DROID 5
Then there's the characteristic slide-out QWERTY keyboard with 5 rows of buttons. The phone is reportedly powered by a Snapdragon MSM8960 chipset (dual-core Krait, 1GB RAM, Adreno 225), the same chipset as the Photon Q but a nice upgrade over the DROID 4.
There are a few new features like NFC and wireless charging (the coil for which can be seen in one of the photos). The Motorola DROID 5 will have 16GB of built-in storage and a microSD card slot.
If the rumors pan out, Moto's next phone to be announced might not cause as much excitement as the Moto X. Then again, the return of hardware QWERTY might be just enough to do the trick.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 unveiled, brings premium heavy-duty body for $1,399
Olympus has outed its new Micro Four Thirds camera flagship called E-M1. It brings along a 16.3 MP Live MOS sensor with on-chip phase detection, promising faster focusing. There’s also a new electronic viewfinder, touch-sensitive tilting LCD and rugged body capable of withstanding water, dust and freezing temperatures.
The Olympus E-M1 will become available in October with a body-only price of $1399.99/£1299.99. UK customers that pre-order prior to launch have a chance to get the HLD-7 battery grip for free.
The premium E-M1 ILC by Olympus will also carry Wi-Fi connectivity built into its magnesium alloy body. Its sensor has an ISO range of 100-25600 and sensor-shift stabilization, while the AF system is said to be able to deliver faster focus with legacy lenses using the optional MMF-3 adapter.
Seagate announces 500 GB HDD for mobile devices
Seagate has officially taken the wraps off its new Ultra Mobile HDD
that is designed exclusively for mobile devices. The hard drive is
integrated with Seagate’s Mobile Enablement Kit, which also includes
Seagate’s Dynamic Data Drive software technology. The newest storage solution will deliver up to 7x the storage capacity of the conventional 64GB drives, while matching the power consumption, performance and reliability of a flash device.
Seagate’s new Mobile Enablement Kit is said to bring PC-like storage capacity and help manufacturers to make thinner and lighter tablets. The popular HDD maker has also worked on couple of key areas like shock management, heat, vibration and gyroscopic motion in order to deliver the best experience.
The Ultra Mobile HDD uses Dynamic Data Driver software address and its intelligent caching design reduces power consumption and improves its overall performance. With up to 500GB of memory, one can potentially store up to 100,000 photos, 125,000 songs or 62 hours of high-definition video and movies on their mobile devices.
Dell announces M4800, M6800 Precision laptops built for business pros
Both laptops can be had with up to 32GB of memory, and the 17-inch model comes with four bays that can be stuffed with up to 3.5TB of spinning or solid state storage (M4800 buyers get a mere three bays for a max of 2.5TB). As with the previous models, both laptops get up to a nine-cell 97Wh battery and users can double the juice by adding on a same-sized external slice power pack. Oh, and IT pros can pick which OS they'd like: Windows 7 or 8, and either Red Hat or Ubuntu Linux. You can dig into all the nitty-gritty customization options in the PR below, but we'll tell you here what you really want to know: the M4800 starts at $1,249, while the M6800 can be yours for $1,599.
Newkia: a Nokia on Android
The cheesy name aside, Zilliacus is promising to push (and, hopefully, deliver) on an idea that smartphone fans and watchers alike have been contemplating for a long while now – the solid hardware of Nokia, married to the unmatched success of Android. Of course, the smartphone industry has proved to be a highly contested area, and unfortunately for nascent Newkia and the like, it's mostly the really giant companies that turn a profit. Naturally, therefore, before we even entertain the admittedly compelling idea, one has to ask how on earth will the ex-Nokian make a headway in an industry largely unwelcoming of newcomers. Simple, really – apart from already having a team of senior former Nokian executives on board, the Fin has also unanimously stated that he'll be poaching talent from Nokia, among others. Moreover, Zilliacus claims that the chosen team of execs is mainly comprised of those people he considers were not given enough voice and were sidelined by those, whom he deems culpable of the current predicament the Finnish manufacturer finds itself in:
“Well
I think it's a good deal for Microsoft, but I think it's a disaster, or
rather the result of a disastrous strategic error on Nokia's side in
going for the Windows Operating system 3 years ago. So it is, in a way, a
natural end to a sad story, but it opens up a lot of new opportunities”, Zilliacus said when asked why he's unapproving of the Microsoft deal.
Asked about whether he sees Windows Phone, in particular, as the cause of Nokia's ongoing demise, we're glad to see that the boss of the new company isn't as short-sighted. According to him, Nokia's problems started way before Elop and his team took the reins over at Nokia:
“Nokia's
problems started long before Stephen Elop came on board. Nokia became
simply too arrogant, Nokia's management thought they knew the markets
better than the markets knew themselves, and did not, therefore, change
anything in [the] winning concept – the market changed, and the winning
concept was no longer winning. However, when Stephen Elop became the
CEO, Nokia was still the world's market leader, and I think Nokia's
position today would be a lot stronger had Nokia not decided to go for
Windows [Phone] alone.”
Asked why he sees Windows Phone as such a problem, Zilliacus regurgitated a very familiar tune: the OS is not bad overall, but the surrounding ecosystem of apps continues to lag behind – a compromise that consumers are still unwilling to make.
With the above in mind, and you can see the full interview for yourself below, what should we make of this? Frankly, we wouldn't be at all surprised to see a positive reaction to the news, but one with a lot of reservation – as good as this all sounds, and as well as Zilliacus paints the level of preparedness of Newkia, it'll take an actual, tangible (and quality) device to really capture the attention of consumers and the media as a whole.
Apple iPhone 5S new features of the seventh generation iPhone
First, let’s make it clear that the new iPhone 5S will look just like the current iPhone 5. Traditionally, Apple is changing the design of iPhones once every two years, so a redesign is due only next year. Most changes will thus happen under the hood. We have summarized them all right below, take a look.
- Fingerprint scanner built inside new ‘sapphire’ home key
- New Apple A7 chip with 1GB of RAM
- 12-megapixel camera with dual LED flash
- iPhone 5S in... gold
- Maybe a 128GB version
- NFC
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