Hasta La Gadget!

Folded in between DoCoMo R&D prototypes and One Piece-themed smartphones unlikely to make it across the Pacific, NEC’s new Android tablet caught our eye. The 7-inch NEC Medias Tab UL is one very svelte slab. Measuring in at just 7.9mm (0.3 inches) thick and weighing a mere 250g (0.55 lbs), the tablet still manages to house a 3,100mAh battery, and a Snapdragon MSM8960 1.5GHz dual-core processor. If you’d compare it to the Nexus 7, Google’s own effort look a little weighty and thick against this white-finish tablet. Performance from the dual-core chip is also suitably impressive, despite the curious DoCoMo-decked Android skin coating the Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

In true Japanese style, there’s a TV aerial embedded within the side and while it won’t broadcast the crisp high-definition delights of NOTTV, there’s plenty of terrestrial viewing available — if you stay in the Land of the Rising Sun. We were pleasantly surprised with its crisp WXGA screen, which looks to be TFT. The 1,280 x 800 resolution display meant videos and websites looked sharp, while there was barely any color degradation at wider angles. On DoCoMO’s network, users can expect to see download speeds up to 75Mbs, and upload speeds hitting up to 25Mbps. The tablet is now on sale across Japan, but there’s still no word yet on it launching elsewhere.

Continue reading NEC Medias Tab UL runs Android 4.0, weighs just over half a pound (hands-on)

Filed under: Tablets

NEC Medias Tab UL runs Android 4.0, weighs just over half a pound (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 07:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s curious decision to shun the US and release Medfield-powered smartphones in India, China, Russia and the UK might be because of those countries’ underdeveloped levels of LTE. Marketing chief Sumeet Syal told TechCrunch that its current-generation x86 system-on-chip won’t support the standard, but a modem solution will arrive at the end of the year — with production ramping up in 2013. He also let slip to the site that a replacement dual-core platform will arrive shortly, claiming they’ll benefit from Intel’s hyper threading know-how. Syal said that Santa Clara is “comfortable” with its progress just months after entering the smartphone space but declined to discuss numbers — for which we’ll have to wait for the Q3 earnings call in October to find out how well (or not) Intel’s mobile ambitions are going.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Intel reveals Quad-Core, LTE-capable mobile chips are on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re looking to pick up a smartphone for your family member of choice that’s got the sharing abilities of the newest family line of Samsung products but wont break your bank, the Galaxy Victory 4G LTE may be the item for you. Though we can’t speak to its ability to actually connect to 4G LTE as it’s not being carried by one of the two reliable networks we’ve worked with in the USA, $99.99 on a two-year contract might be a great deal for this Ice Cream Sandwich carrying 4-inch display toting Android smartphone appearing today.

This device works with a powerful 1.2GHz dual-core processor under the hood and will be working with a 5 megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front. This device has NFC integrated to make use of Google Wallet and works with S Voice, Samsung’s own voice recognition system that enables device-user communication for questions, answers, and commands galore.

The Galaxy Victory also works with S Beam, AllShare Play, and AllShare Group Cast. S Bean allows you to connect with Google’s integrated “Android Beam” system of NFC sharing device-to-device with media transfer. You’ll be pushing photos, videos, and documents galore from phone to phone without a hassle. AllShare Play allows you to connect to other devices that also use AllShare Play – like the Galaxy Note or the Galaxy S III, for example, playing media between devices with great ease. AllShare Group Cast works within the AllShare universe to show presentations and photo albums between devices on the same wi-fi network.

Above you’ll see these systems working on the Samsung Galaxy S III. The Galaxy Victory will work essentially the same way but will be doing it with a smaller display and a slightly different phone body. Stay tuned as this device hits the market this Sunday!

Galaxy Victory 4G LTE brings S III features to mid-range phone is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A remix of previously unconscionable smartphone elements has been revealed – officially, this time – as the LG Escape, a dual-core 4G LTE smartphone with a 5-megapixel camera and a massive battery under the hood. This device out-does the Verizon DROID RAZR M‘s battery size with its own 2150mAH pack under the back and also works with NFC right out of the box.

This device has a 5 megapixel camera on the back with a “cheese shutter” – timed capture for your family portraits. This device works with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and AT&T’s 4G LTE network for high-speed data. You’ve got QuickMemo for personalized memos – this will also almost certainly be cross-compatible in some way or another with LG’s current and future line of note-taking smart devices like the aforementioned phablet. You’ve got a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, Bluetooth 4.0, Gorilla Glass over the front of the device, and Android Beam with NFC. This device will be appearing on September 16th for $50 with a 2-year contract attached.

This device had been leaked by EVLeaks earlier today as as several other recent smartphones have been, here showing a device that’s extremely thin and ready for AT&T speedy data action. Any information below this paragraph was written before the official press release was out, and should therefor be taken for what it is. Above this paragraph is nothing but facts.

This device has a 4.3-inch qHD display, works with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and will likely be appearing on the official wire sooner than later. Judging by the leaks from this source over the past few weeks, it’d be a pretty good bet to say that this device will be officially announced within a week from today. It’s almost certainly got a front-facing camera to compliment its 5 megapixel shooter on the back, and it may have new connections to the rest of the LG family including the LG Intuition for Verizon.

The LG Escape has not been confirmed in any way other than the leaked information already presented. That said, it does appear that this device may have a removable battery, but because of the massive size, it would be hard to fathom. LG generally does release devices with a removable back panel, but with a device as thin as this with a battery as large as that, it may just be for a microUSB and/or SIM card port. Have a peek at our LG tag portal to see more information on this device as it appears soon!

[via EVLeaks]

LG Escape leaked with details for AT&T LTE [UPDATE: Official!] is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There have been surprisingly few if any concrete leaks of Amazon’s future Kindle Fire plans, even with the follow-up’s appearance likely just hours away. Thankfully, we may have been given a last-minute peek into the company’s strategy after an Engadget reader tipped us to some unusual activity in an app’s hardware usage logs. At least a pair of hits have come from a new device identifying itself as “AmazonKFTT” instead of the much plainer “AmazonKindleFire” language attached to the original model. There’s also signs that Amazon has upgraded the OS underneath to Android 4.0.3. We wouldn’t anticipate this particular slate carrying a quad-core chip to tackle the Nexus 7 head-on, though — unless the KFTT variant is just a firmware-updated Kindle Fire with a name change, the next generation should still have at least one dual-core tablet in the range. Here’s hoping there are a few more surprises in store by the time Amazon takes the stage on Thursday.

[Thanks, Jared]

Filed under: Tablets

Amazon Kindle Fire sequel may have surfaced in logs, points to Android 4.0 and return to dual-core originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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