Tag Archives: Qualcomm Snapdragon

Computers

Yahoo Uneils New Noise-Free Email Template for Tablets

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Yahoo is revamping their image with a brand new email app for your mobile device.  The latest update to Yahoo! Mail, available today on Android and iOS, gives users a vastly improved email experience.

The most striking sight in the new Yahoo Mail may be the full-screen email viewing option.  It sounds simple, but it may be innovative enough to help Yahoo gain some steam in the mobile market.  The new version allows you to bring an email out to fill the entire screen, after which you can flip through emails just like turning pages on a magazine.  Yahoo hopes that this, along with a reorganized, split-screen home base and improved sorting options, will help get “rid of the noise.”

“Tablets have changed the way we experience books, photos, movies, and more,” said Lee Parry, Senior Director of Yahoo Mobile.  Parry also noted that “email, something we do every day, has remained pretty much the same.”The new, more streamlined Yahoo Mail is intended improve the entire email experience, and sports a sharper, cleaner look than previous versions.  Yahoo decluttered the interface and streamlined the operation in an effort to make it easier for users to find, read, and organize their emails.

The outstanding capabilities of our mobile devices, particularly those powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, have augmented the demand for more capable, and more sophisticated applications.  It makes perfect sense that programs we use every day, like an email client, should embrace every new possibility.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2035679/yahoo-uneils-new-noise-free-email-template-for-tablets.html#tk.rss_all

Computers

Windows Blue Rumored to be the Return of the Start Button

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Microsoft’s next update to its flagship operating system is codenamed “Windows Blue,” or “Windows 8.1,” and is anticipated for release later this year. Rumors began circulating today that Windows Blue will reintroduce the classic Start Button that every version of the OS prior to Windows 8 featured.

With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft gambled on a drastically altered interface. The tiled start screen of Windows 8 is optimized for touchscreens, a response to the proliferation of mobile devices and the decline in desktop PC sales. Since the release of Windows 8, dozens of smartphones and tablets carrying the OS have been launched, including models from HTC, Samsung, and Nokia. Backed by cutting-edge hardware including Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, these Windows 8 mobile devices have gained market share over the past months, particularly in some international markets.Supposedly, Windows Blue will offer a dual-boot-up option, where one can bypass the Windows 8 tiled interface and go directly to the Start Button homescreen that legacy Windows users are more familiar with. If this ends up being the case, this update may be particularly attractive to enterprise users or others who aren’t typically using Windows on touchscreen devices.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034761/windows-blue-rumored-to-be-the-return-of-the-start-button.html#tk.rss_all

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Third Time's a Charm for Qualcomm

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Mobile chip giant Qualcomm  has now received three bullish research notes from Street analysts. Qualcomm is set to capture more content in Samsung’s Galaxy S4, with its chips in more variants. Last year, Qualcomm faced competition from NVIDIA‘s  Tegra, but this year, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 seems to be holding its own quite well in current Android devices. Later in the year, Apple  will give Qualcomm a baseband boost in the new iPhone.

In the video below, Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, explains why investors should be bullish on Qualcomm.

NVIDIA was ahead of the curve launching its mobile Tegra processor, but investing gains haven’t followed as expected, with the company struggling to gain momentum in the smartphone market. The Motley Fool’s brand-new premium report examines NVIDIA‘s stumbling blocks, but also homes in on opportunities that many investors are overlooking. We’ll help you sort fact from fiction to determine whether NVIDIA is a buy at today’s prices. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this comprehensive report.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/third-times-a-charm-for-qualcomm/

Computers

'HTC First' Facebook Phone Launches Friday

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If you’ve been eager to replace your start screen with a scrolling Facebook feed, your day has finally come.  The HTC First is the first smartphone with deep enough Facebook integration to be dubbed the “Facebook phone.”  It uses an Android OS primed with Facebook’s baby-blue interface, sending you directly to the familiar news feed, photo service, and messaging system that used to hide in a dedicated app.

Reviews for the HTC First “Facebook phone” started appearing on the web today, with largely positive reactions.  Its specs are on par with what smartphone users expect, and some have expressed an appreciation for the way it puts Facebook front-and-center without making it difficult to use other Android programs.

Early comparisons to the Samsung Galaxy S4 are pitting the HTC First against stiff competition, and showing serious promise for the fledgling smartphone.  Although not full 1080 HD like the S4, it does run at 720p on a 4.3-inch screen.  A 5 MP primary camera and 1.6 MP secondary camera, 16 GB of storage, and Jelly Bean 4.1 OS run on a cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, with an Adreno 305 GPU and 1 GB of RAM.

Since a Facebook app has been available for a long time, the HTC First doesn’t have an entirely unique selling point, except that Facebook comes preloaded and dominates the interface.  The appeal may lie mostly with extremely active Facebook fans, but with Facebook reporting more than 1 billion active users, that may be more than enough. 

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2033841/htc-first-facebook-phone-launches-friday.html#tk.rss_all

Computers

Google Launches Brand New Play Store

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The Google Play store’s dramatic redesign was unveiled today after much anticipation.  The new design attempts to brighten up the app store experience, improving usability, capability, and appearance all at once.

The Google Play store is the built-in hub for downloading content to mobile devices that run on the Android operating system.  It gives access to apps, games, movies, TV shows, music, and more.  The new interface distinguishes those major categories with distinct, color-coded icons that greet you right at the top of the screen.   It’s also been brightened up and reorganized, with cleaner lines, stronger colors, and more straightforward segregation between sections.  This would appear to make it simpler and more intuitive to navigate.  Google has also reportedly improved the purchasing process, which received some criticism in the previous version.

As we engage with more and more media through our mobile devices, including HD content and immersive 3D games, tablets and smartphones have their work cut out for them.  The new Play store has adapted to increasing demands for graphic-heavy content, providing visual content recommendations with large, colorful cards.  Android users can now process huge amounts of that content on tablets like the Lenovo IdeaTab S2110 and the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, which run seamless HD media off of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.

The new Play store is rolling out with Android 2.2 devices as of today.  Android users have anticipated it for a while, but since it has just been unveiled, a consensus from the notoriously opinionated crowd of Android enthusiasts has yet to form.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

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Another Analyst Gets Even More Bullish on Qualcomm

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Following a bullish note on Qualcomm from Susquehanna analyst Chris Caso, the mobile chip giant is getting another analyst vote of approval today. This time, we’re talking about Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley boosting his estimates on Qualcomm’s prospects.

The analyst is reiterating a “buy” rating on the company while adding a couple bucks to his price target, bringing it to $85. Walkley believes that Qualcomm’s core businesses are holding up admirably to recent assaults from Broadcom , Intel, and NVIDIA . In fact, he’s even raising his market share estimates.

In February, Broadcom announced a new LTE baseband chip to target the discrete modem market, supporting next-generation technologies like LTE Advanced carrier aggregation. There is even speculation that Broadcom is looking to expand its relationship with Apple beyond Wi-Fi combo chips, and that the company was hoping to score another iPhone spot.

That same month, NVIDIA reached a major competitive milestone with its Tegra 4i. Previously code-named “Grey,” the Tegra 4i is NVIDIA‘s first applications processor with an integrated LTE modem. Qualcomm’s focus on integration has been a key driver of its smartphone market share gains, and NVIDIA wants a piece of that success.

Even though rivals are sampling competing chips this year, Canaccord believes that Qualcomm’s third-generation chipsets still boast considerable advantages to the first-generation silicon of other companies, particularly in areas like global and support and TD inclusion. LTE frequency fragmentation is also a tough nut to crack for newer entrants.

Like Caso, Walkley also sees Qualcomm benefiting greatly from Samsung’s new Galaxy S4. While only about a third of Galaxy S III variants were LTE enabled, the analyst estimates that two-thirds of Galaxy S4 variants will feature LTE connectivity. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors also seem to be in more Galaxy S4 variants this year instead of Samsung’s own Exynos. Add in the fact that Galaxy S4 units should come in at about 100 million over the next year, up from approximately 65 million Galaxy S III units to date, and you get a recipe for some healthy revenue upside.

NVIDIA was ahead of the curve launching its mobile Tegra processor, but investing gains haven’t followed as expected, with the company struggling to gain momentum in the smartphone market. The Motley Fool’s brand-new premium report examines NVIDIA‘s stumbling blocks, but also homes in on opportunities that many investors are overlooking. We’ll help you sort fact from fiction to determine whether NVIDIA is a buy at today’s prices. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this comprehensive report.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

NVIDIA Stock Is Undervalued, Despite Rumored Nexus 7 Loss

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By Adam Levine-Weinberg, The Motley Fool

Shell Eco-marathon: 1959 Fiat 600

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NVIDIA shareholders have had their patience tested as the company has missed the recent stock market rally. In the last six months, NVIDIA stock has for the most part stayed between $12 and $13, underperforming the S&P 500 by more than 10%.

Data by YCharts.

Most recently, the stock has come under pressure due to rumors that Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon chip has been selected to power Google‘s next-generation Nexus 7 tablet. The first-generation Nexus 7 was the best-selling device to date running on NVIDIA‘s Tegra mobile processors, helping fuel 50% growth in Tegra revenue last year. Moreover, the Nexus 7’s strong sales performance generated excitement about the company’s opportunity in the rapidly growing tablet market, driving NVIDIA stock to nearly $15 last summer. If Qualcomm has indeed won that design slot for 2013, NVIDIA will suffer a significant revenue headwind this year.

Nevertheless, from a long-term investing perspective, NVIDIA looks like an attractive opportunity. At the end of its most recent fiscal year, the company had over $3.7 billion in cash and investments on its balance sheet. This works out to approximately $6 per share, or nearly half of its market cap. This large cash stockpile provides a good safety net for investors. Meanwhile, the company introduced two promising new products earlier this year — GeForce GRID and Tegra 4i — which should begin to ramp up later this year. Based on these factors, NVIDIA stock seems significantly undervalued at Friday’s closing price of $12.46.

New products on the way
Heavy investments in the development of new products led to a drop in NVIDIA‘s EPS last year, and analysts currently expect another drop this year. The decline of the traditional PC industry, combined with the advance of integrated graphics solutions from Intel and AMD, is reducing the addressable market for NVIDIA‘s legacy GPU business. Clearly, this business will not provide the growth necessary to reverse NVIDIA‘s fortunes. However, I think Mr. Market is underestimating the company’s long-term growth opportunities, which could eventually drive NVIDIA‘s stock price much higher.

The “problem” is that many of these growth opportunities will not be fully realized until next year. That’s why I previously called 2013 “a year of waiting” for NVIDIA shareholders. However, for a long-term investor, that’s not actually a problem; it’s an opportunity! For example, GRID will be NVIDIA‘s first foray into the “cloud” and consists of professional-quality GPUs built into a server. Different variants of GRID will accelerate virtual desktops (NVIDIA is partnering with major software vendors like Citrix, VMWare, and Microsoft for this purpose), replace individual workstations for small and medium-sized businesses, and run graphics for Internet-based gaming services. However, the workstation replacement and gaming versions of GRID will not be ramping up until mid-late 2013.

Similarly, Tegra 4i, NVIDIA‘s first integrated mobile processor, will finally allow the company to gain a foothold in the mid-range smartphone market (which is larger than the tablet …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Computers

Tablet Sales Skyrocketing as the PC Approaches Extinction

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According to a report released today by Gartner Research, PC sales will continue to decline steadily over the next five years, and sales of mobile devices will continue to see incredible growth.  The report suggests that tablet and mobile phone sales will eclipse 2.6 billion units by 2017, rising nearly 30 percent from 1.85 billion units in 2012.

Alongside the proliferation of mobile devices is the decline of desktop-based and notebook PCs.  Gartner estimates 341 million PC units were sold in 2012.  That number is expected to drop to 271 million by 2017.

The transition from PCs to mobile devices shouldn’t come as a surprise to consumers.  Our demand for mobility has sparked increased production of smaller, lighter, sleeker mobile devices.  The advanced engineering of new mobile processors, with integrated components for high-quality graphics and consistent data connections, has enabled amazing performance in a portable package.  The all-in-one Qualcomm Snapdragon processor design gives outstanding energy efficiency while handling the heaviest of workloads, making tablets a fully capable computing option that we can carry anywhere.

Some also credit the shift from desktop to mobile devices to the increasing availability of lower-priced tablets.  Indeed, advancements in technology have allowed for more competition and cost-effective production along with the incredible leaps in functionality.  Widespread use of services like cloud storage and video streaming have also reduced our dependence on bulky hard drives, turning heavy laptops and PC towers into unappealing, antiquated relics, much like CRT monitors.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

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Can NVIDIA Fight Off Goliath in the Mobile Market?

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By Travis Hoium, The Motley Fool

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In the technology business, it’s always a challenge staying ahead of the competition. Products and competitors change so quickly that if you’re not ahead of the game, you’re playing catch-up. That’s why I look at the market position of NVIDIA as a case of David versus Goliath as it tries to move from a graphics-chip maker to a mobile-chip powerhouse.

The decline of PCs
Microsoft and Intel aren’t the only two companies hurt by the decline of the PC. NVIDIA has been hit doubly hard because it provided graphics chips for many PCs, and it’s also losing sales to integrated chips such as Intel’s Ivy Bridge and AMD‘s Liano processors.

The hardcore gaming market isn’t holding NVIDIA together, either. Gaming companies are grappling with the move gamers are making from consoles to smartphones and tablets, which doesn’t bode well for NVIDIA‘s demand in either consoles or high powered PCs. These businesses aren’t going to die, but they’ll slowly decline just as the overall PC market is doing.

Mobile here to save the day
If NVIDIA is going to emerge from its funk, it will be on the back of mobile chips, particularly in the Tegra family. Microsoft Surface RT and Google’s Nexus 7 both use the Tegra 3, and the company has high hopes for Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i, which integrates 4G LTE with the mobile processor.

The challenge in mobile is that Qualcomm is the dominant player the market and appears to still have a lead when it comes to power consumption. Analysts think Tegra 4 will beat Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 series on a speed basis, but it’s still behind in power consumption, a huge selling point for mobile manufacturers that could stunt NVIDIA‘s growth.

All of this also looks past Intel, which has set its sights on mobile and has the resources to become a major player in the future. Can NVIDIA really fight off Qualcomm’s established presence and Intel’s shadow in mobile? That’s the risk bullish investors are taking.

Too many questions
For now, my money is with the power on Intel and the better value investors are getting for the stock. NVIDIA may very well will significant share in mobile and more than offset losses in its traditional PC market. But I’m not ready to take that risk, because I haven’t seen traction on the income statement, which is what will tell me when NVIDIA has really fought off Goliath.

NVIDIA was ahead of the curve launching its mobile Tegra processor, but investing gains haven’t followed as expected, with the company struggling to gain momentum in the smartphone market. The Motley Fool’s brand-new premium report examines NVIDIA‘s stumbling blocks, but also homes in on opportunities that many investors are overlooking. We’ll help you sort fact from fiction to determine whether NVIDIA is a buy at today’s prices. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this comprehensive report.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Google's Next Nexus 7 Is Coming

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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If there was any doubt that Google was gearing up to launch a second-generation model of its popular Nexus 7 tablet, Reuters is now chiming in with a fresh report that the search giant is targeting a July launch for the next iteration. That would put the Nexus 7 in a one-year product cycle, since the first one was unveiled to the world last July.

First-generation Nexus 7. Source: Google.

The company is reportedly sticking with Asus as the manufacturer of choice, although Big G may be ditching NVIDIA‘s Tegra for the applications processor in favor of a Qualcomm Snapdragon. That’s in line with what Pacific Crest analyst Michael McConnell predicted in February, believing that Google was planning to use a Snapdragon APQ8064.

Reuter’s anonymous sources say that Google gave both chip makers a fair shot, but ended up choosing Qualcomm due to better power efficiency. The Nexus 7 was one of NVIDIA‘s two biggest tablet wins last year, with the other being Microsoft Surface, and Qualcomm may be muscling in on its tablet turf.

Pricing is still up in the air, and Google is reportedly contemplating keeping the same $199 price point or dropping down to $149. The search giant may be hoping to sell upwards of 6 million to 8 million units of the second-generation model during the latter half of the year.

Some analysts believe that Google shipped 4.6 million of the first-generation Nexus 7 during the second half of 2012. IDC pegs Asus total tablet shipments at 5.5 million during that time frame, showing just how much the OEM has benefited from the Nexus 7 partnership, since those figures imply that the Nexus 7 comprises 84% of its tablet volumes. Asus is targeting 12 million in total tablet units in 2013.

Amazon.com is Google’s primary competition in the $199 price segment for 7-inch tablets, and the e-tailer has also set precedent for an annual product cycle with refreshes every September. Amazon’s third-generation Kindle Fire should be due out just a couple months after the second-generation Nexus 7 hits, and maybe Amazon will finally take the wraps off its Kindle Phone at the same time.

Apple‘s iPad Mini has also become a viable threat in the smaller tablet segment, even though it carries premium pricing. There’s been no shortage of speculation on when the iPad maker will launch a second-generation model with a Retina display. Some have thought an iPad event is in store for later this month, but other analysts think Apple’s moving the iPad cycle farther back.

Google’s next Nexus 7 is coming.

Is Apple still a buy? The Motley Fool’s senior technology analyst and managing bureau chief, Eric Bleeker, is prepared to fill you in on both reasons to buy and reasons to sell Apple, and what opportunities are left for the company (and your portfolio) going forward. To get instant access to his latest thinking on Apple, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

What to Expect From Facebook's Android Announcement on Thursday

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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We’re now just two days away from a media event that social networker Facebook is hosting. Despite intense competition with Google on the ad front, the main topic will be something related to Android. The event’s tag line makes it clear: “Come see our new home on Android.”

Source: 9to5Google.

While speculation has persisted for years that Facebook has been exploring a bona fide first-party Facebook Phone, that strategy has simply never made sense for the company. Even Mark Zuckerberg knows it, so investors can promptly rule out that possibility.

There’s also been talk that Facebook could fork Android in much the same way that Amazon has with its Kindle Fire family of tablets, although the problem there is that Facebook doesn’t have the necessary content pieces to launch a full-blown smartphone platform of its own.

Both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have pitched in with rumors of what Facebook has up its sleeve.

The only remaining possibility, then, is for Facebook to pursue a new level of integration with an existing platform in an effort to expand its reach and bolster user engagement. For example, Facebook inked an important deal with Apple to get the social network integrated directly into both iOS and OS X. Nokia also unveiled the Asha 205 last year, which features a dedicated Facebook button, a device similar to the HTC ChaCha that was launched a couple years ago.

Chances are that Facebook is hooking up with HTC again for a new smartphone dubbed “Myst.” Android Police was able to procure a system software dump of the unreleased device, and it appears that “Facebook Home” will be a launcher replacement for Android that taps directly into numerous Facebook apps and social services. Facebook Home will be built on top of HTC’s Sense 4.5, an older version of the OEM’s custom software layer.

The mid-range device looks like it will sport a previous generation Qualcomm Snapdragon and run on AT&T‘s network. There is also indication that Facebook Home is being built to support other Android layers, such as Samsung’s TouchWiz, which hints at a broader Google Play release.

By the looks of it, Facebook Home is exactly the strategy that Facebook should be pursuing: partnering with as many OEMs as possible to expand its reach and strengthen its network effects while leaving hardware to the OEMs.

After the world’s most hyped IPO turned out to be a dunce, most investors probably don’t even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We’ve outlined them in our newest premium research report. There’s a lot more to Facebook than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to “like” about it today, and we’ll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Is NVIDIA Pulling Away in the Tablet Market?

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By Adam Levine-Weinberg, The Motley Fool

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For the past couple of years, Qualcomm has dominated the market for smartphone processors, boosted by its leadership in integrated mobile processors. However, new rival NVIDIA has had much more success in tablets. With NVIDIA looking to encroach on Qualcomm’s territory with its first integrated mobile processor — Tegra 4i — Qualcomm would like to reciprocate by gaining share in the non-Apple tablet market. However, from a performance standard, NVIDIA may be pulling away.

Tegra 4: the fastest processor
At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, NVIDIA released a new top-of-the-line mobile application processor: Tegra 4. While NVIDIA touted the chip as the “world’s fastest mobile processor,” industry observers were understandably cautious, given the fast-moving pace of mobile processor development. For example, Qualcomm also announced a new high-end chip at CES: the Snapdragon 800, which it touted as 75% faster than the previous-generation S4 chip.

However, a recent analysis from Microprocessor Report suggests that the Snapdragon 800 will not measure up to Tegra 4 in terms of pure performance. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors are designed with power-efficiency in mind, whereas NVIDIA was willing to use more power to generate extra performance. The Microprocessor Report analysts rightly conclude that this differentiation makes Tegra 4 more appealing for tablets, which usually have larger batteries and fewer power constraints as a result.

If Tegra 4 does have a significant performance advantage compared to Snapdragon 800, it suggests that NVIDIA has actually widened its performance lead in the current generation of chips. Last year’s dual-core Snapdragon S4 managed to perform nearly as well as the quad-core Tegra 3, presumably because of its more advanced Krait architecture. NVIDIA upped its game this year by moving from the older A9 architecture to the faster A15 architecture, while also going from just 12 GPU cores in Tegra 3 to 72 in Tegra 4.  This has more than offset the improvements that Qualcomm has made.

Attacking the smartphone segment
NVIDIA was able to maximize Tegra 4’s performance by compromising on power efficiency. This would ordinarily take the company out of the running for smartphone design wins. However, NVIDIA returned to the A9 architecture for its new Tegra 4i integrated mobile processor, in order to be more battery-friendly. The company believes that this will be “good enough”; Tegra 4i still packs 60 GPU cores (five times more than Tegra 3) to complement its quad-core processor. Performance will probably be comparable to or slightly behind the Snapdragon 800, but that should be enough to gain vendor consideration, particularly for mid-range phones.

Foolish conclusion
NVIDIA‘s decision to split its processor line in two was a wise choice. With Tegra 4, it was able to produce a high-performance processor that should bolster its advantage vis-a-vis Qualcomm in the Android/Windows RT tablet market. However, rather than trying to market a power-hungry chip to smartphone designers, NVIDIA designed a much more power-efficient integrated mobile processor in Tegra 4i. This strategy should pay off for investors …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Samsung's Galaxy S IV Arrives Next Week: Here's What to Expect

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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South Korean giant Samsung is set to unveil its latest and greatest smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, on Tuesday at an “Unpacked” event in New York. One of the ways Samsung has successfully replicated Apple‘s success in recent times is that there’s quite a buzz going around about what Samsung may have up its sleeve to follow up its successful Galaxy S III.

The company isn’t mincing words here, either. Make no mistake: the Galaxy S IV is being unveiled.

Source: Samsung.

Samsung has had incredible success with its Galaxy S series of smartphones, announcing in January that it had reached 100 million in unit channel sales. The company was the largest smartphone vendor in the world in 2012 ,and the Galaxy S III was ranked the No. 3 smartphone worldwide in the fourth quarter behind the iPhone.

Galaxy S III. Source: Samsung.

What can we expect on March 14?

Keep on biggering
Samsung has continued to push the envelope with device size and is one of the leaders of the phablet movement. Each generation of the Galaxy S has gotten successively bigger, and the S IV isn’t expected to break this trend.

Model

Display Size

Display Resolution

Galaxy S

4 inches

800 x 480

Galaxy S II

4.3 inches

800 x 480

Galaxy S III

4.8 inches

1280 x 720

Galaxy S IV

5 inches*

1920 x 1080*

Sources: Samsung and SamMobile.
*Rumored.

There’s been some debate over the display. Samsung is one of the biggest proponents of OLED displays, which has been greatly beneficial for OLED specialist Universal Display over the past few years, as Samsung’s unit shipments have soared. The company was reportedly facing some production challenges with manufacturing AMOLED displays at the full HD resolution it wanted, and as such it may have been considering a different display technology.

However, the most recent rumblings from SamMobile suggest that Samsung is going with a new type of AMOLED display that will be 25% more power-efficient. That’s incrementally beneficial for Universal Display, even if the company is still waiting on OLED TVs to ramp up.

All that and a bag of chips
On the processor front, Samsung had also been reportedly running into power issues with its Exynos 5 Octa processor and was thinking about sticking with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. The Exynos 5 Octa combines two different quad-core processors and is among the first implementations of ARM Holdings‘ big.LITTLE architecture, where high-performance cores sit alongside energy-efficient cores. In this case, Samsung is using four Cortex-A7 cores and four Cortex-A15 cores.

The Exynos 5 Octa technically has eight cores and as such will inevitably marketed as an eight-core processor, although this is slightly misleading, since only four cores can be active at any given time, depending on the task at hand. Qualcomm CEO …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Linux

John Baer: Google Teases nVidia Chromebook

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As Mobile World Congress approaches (February 25-28) it is anticipated there will be a number of announcements made in regards to cell phones and other mobile technologies. In the case of SoC manufactures, the major players have already shown their cards as the market awaits further details on how they will execute delivery.

Possible 2013 Chromebook suitors include the following.

  • Intel (Haswell Architecture)
  • nVidia Tegra 4
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 600/800
  • Samsung “big.Little” Exynos 5 (8 cores)

There is much speculation all of the above vendors are preparing Chromebooks and speculation (Chrome OS code hints) Google is currently testing a game changing Tegra 4 nVidia Chromebook. Here is a rundown of the SoC specs as they are known today.

  • 4-core Cortex-A15 processor running at 1.9 GHz
  • Fifth/companion Cortex-A15 core running at 700 or 800 MHz
  • Manufactured as a 28nm HPL (28nm low power with high-k + metal gates)
  • Supports for LP-DDR3 dual-channel memory
  • GeForce GPU with 72 custom cores
  • LTE capability with optional Icera i500 chipset
  • Support for UHD like 2560×1700 screen resolution

From a user experience perspective one can safely say it is a much improved Tegra 3; 2.6 faster web browsing and six times the GPU horsepower.

Get Your Chromebook Game On

Tegra 4 is a good fit for Chromebook as more than anyone nVidia has the talent and experience to bring advanced game play to the table.

Project Shield

As evidence of this, nVidia’s Project SHIELD is a Tegra 4 Android “Jellybean” device with a multi-touch screen which permits gamers to access and play an extensive catalog of Android games. There are many Project SHIELD optimized games already available through Tegrazone with more under development. nVidia is reaching out to the gaming community and offering to assist developers in optimizing their products for this platform. For the Chromebook ecosystem, the next topic is important.

nVidia GRID

Although not specific to Tegra 4, GRID holds the promise of a fantastic cloud gaming experience which fits hand and glove with Chromebook. Add a UHD like user experience to the excitement of game play and that becomes compelling. In addition, the door remains open for the cloud delivery of game optimizations for Tegra 4 much like Riptide GP was optimized for Tegra 3.

Last and certainly not least is the development occurring in the Ouya gaming community which is targeted to Tegra.

Wrap Up

In all likely hood the new Nexus Chromebook(s) will be announced during Google IO which is scheduled for May 15-17. Tegra 4 availability is targeted for Q2 so with any luck we should see products by early to mid summer.

Stay tuned.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu

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John Baer: Waiting for the Nexus Chromebook

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I believe 2013 will be the year of the Google Chromebook. As evidence, in addition to Acer and Samsung, Lenovo has joined the ranks with the exciting introduction of the ThinkPad X131e targeted towards education at a suggested retail price of $429 (US).

Stacked up against other recent introductions, some would argue this is a premium price but a Chromebook should be about value and not price.

In my opinion, the technology is available to assemble a high end Chromebook and its time for Google to flex its innovative muscle, set the bar high, and get into the game. The goal of this product would be to entice folks to engage in the Google cloud experience by offering an Ultrabook like device. The assumption is this device will be used frequently for important purposes and its design and build should reflect this assumption.

The following is how I would put it together.

Case

The design of the case becomes a mix of aesthetics, durability, and function. As for me, I lean toward polycarbonate over metal as I would like the case to be durable with a matte finish to hide fingerprints. The product needs to feel firm to the grip and convey the message it’s strong enough to take a bump or two in everyday use. Weight is important but I can certainly live with a total weight around 1.15 to 1.75 kg (~2.5-4 lbs).

Screen

This is where I would put the money. I would go with a high quality 11.6 inch display with a resolution of 1920×1200 (HD) or greater coated with a matte finish to resist glare. A Nexus 10 resolution of (2560×1600) or a PPI greater than 200 would cinch the deal. The bottom line is Chrome OS is all about the web and the screen must display web content with clarity and great color accuracy.

Although touch screens are the vogue, with a keyboard and trackpad there is really no need to smear a great looking screen with an oily finger.

Keyboard / Trackpad

The Nexus Chromebook should have a full size chiclet-styled keyboard whose keys are responsive and comfortable with the ability to back light as needed. Out of the box, the first time you use it, the trackpad should just work. Finger rejection should be handled extremely well with accidental clicks being rare.

Sound

The web is rich with high quality audio content and the Nexus Chromebook must support it. I would add “Beats”, “THX”, or “Dolby” audio enhancements for high fidelity playback through headphones and install speakers capable delivering clear audio whether it’s in the form of a lecture on YouTube or tunes from Google music.

Performance / Battery

I would go with a high performance low power ARM processor. Nvidia Tegra, Samsung Exynos, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor should deliver a positive user experience. I would ship with 2 GB of RAM standard expandable to 4 GB. I believe expandable RAM is a mitigation to a commonly performed test performed by Chromebook reviewers. The test is how many open/active browser tabs will the hardware support without noticeable delays.

I would power all this with a replaceable Lithium polymer battery capable of 7 hours or more of operation.

Connectivity

The Nexus Chromebook should deliver the very best WI-FI experience. This includes dual-band, dual-antennas supporting WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO+HT40).

In addition to WI-FI, the latest BlueTooth and USB should be supported.

Camera / Camcorder

This is a situation where you need to pick your battles wisely. The question is how much value does a high resolution camera add to a device like this? I suggest the process of taking pictures is better served by a smaller device like a Smart Phone. However, including a HD webcam for video conferencing adds value.

Storage

This is quick sand. The truth is in most cases 16 GB of storage is adequate when you leverage the cloud but it sounds inadequate. Folks rationalize larger amounts of storage by stating there will be times when the cloud is not available and they want to listen to tunes or watch a movie. From a marketing perspective offering 32 or 64 GB of storage is a wise move.

Goodies
  • Accelerometer
  • GPS
  • Gyroscope
  • Barometer
  • Ambient Light
  • Compass
  • Mic
Wrap up

Now here is the conundrum. This is not a new idea as this device already exists in some form or another from manufacturers like Asus, Acer and Lenovo running the Android operating system. In the case of Asus you have the “Transformer” series, Acer the “ICONIA W5”, and the “IdeaTab” from Lenovo. In addition, the market is seeing new products from Microsoft running Windows 8.

Google needs to take a leadership role, assume a calculated risk, and build a high end Nexus Chromebook as waiting too long will be an opportunity missed and a void someone else will fill.

Price

$499.00 – 16 GB + 100 GB of Google Drive Cloud Storage for 2 years
$549.00 – 32 GB + 100 GB of Google Drive Cloud Storage for 2 years

The post Waiting for the Nexus Chromebook appeared first on j-Baer.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu