At some point in the year 2012, Apple is getting set to release a brand new iPhone, or that’s what the rumor mill would have you believe, this time packed with a massive quad-core A6 chip. This time of year is always going to see its fair share of iPhone rumors, or it certainly will if DigiTimes, the source for this current tip, has anything to say about it. With leaks of information that are sometimes right on the money as far as Apple factory parts news goes, it’s always interesting to hear what this often China-based news source has to say.
What this particular update includes is a new bit of processor architecture which would represent a next generation of chips for the Apple smartphone (and perhaps iPad) device line. The iPhone 4S was the last smartphone to get a big chip upgrade with the Apple A5, that being a dual-core 800Mhz processor with immense power for games, graphics, and photo and video processing. The iPad 3rd generation release had a slightly upgraded chip as well, the dual-core A5X with improvements for the Retina quality display the newest iPad came with standard.
It’s not out of the question that Apple would amp up the power of their architecture under the hood to four cores, but there is a question of necessity. While the quad-core craze was started by NVIDIA with their Tegra 3 processor for mobile devices, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core chip has been more than just a sideline competitor for the game-ready Tegra gear.
As far as brand power goes, Apple has been more than ready to turn a dual-core processor into a quad-core with a simple twisting of words – you’ll find the advertising for the A5X chip to be focusing on the graphics processing units instead of the CPU components, while the Tegra 3′s quad-core refers to the fact that there are four CPU cores, not GPUs.
So stay tuned, folks, as the next iPhone – perhaps the iPhone 5 – gets closer and closer to reality. Check the timeline below for further leaks, tips, and rumors galore!
There’s an argument to be made that Samsung’s Galaxy S III is the best Android phone on the market today, but that doesn’t mean that its formula can’t be improved upon.
Case in point: now the Galaxy S III has wormed its way around the globe, Samsung is preparing to launch a version of its flagship handset that outshines the both the international and U.S. models, thanks to some craftily combined hardware.
The new version of Samsung’s LTE-friendly Galaxy S III — which is expected to land in Korea on July 9 — sports both a quad-core Exynos processor and support for LTE service from carriers SK Telecom, LG U+, and KT. To round out the package, Samsung has also thrown in 2GB of RAM to match the “future-proof” U.S. model. The remainder of the new S III’s spec sheet is the same as that of the original, so I won’t rehash those little details here.
In short, this version of the Galaxy S III is the one to covet — just don’t expect it to make an appearance in our neck of the woods for a little while.
Combining quad-core processors and high-speed LTE radios may seem like the next logical step in the way for smartphone spec supremacy (and you’d be right to think so), but making it happen is a process that’s easier said than done. You see, quad-core devices like the HTC One X and the Galaxy S III tend to get futzed with as they jump from market to market. One of the major concessions that HTC and Samsung had to make when they brought their respective phones to the U.S. is that they couldn’t have both a quad-core chipset and an LTE radio onboard because of compatibility issues.
Both companies ended up swapping into dual-core chipsets instead of sacrificing high-speed data support, and their choice has paid off — neither dual-core device is significantly slower than its quad-core counterpart, and we consumers get to watch cat videos on YouTube that much faster. That said though, companies like Samsung and NVIDIA (purveyors of the popular Tegra series chipsets) aren’t going to stop pushing their quad-core offerings, and now that they’re figuring out how to make them jibe with LTE, the competition among top-tier handsets is poised to heat up even more.
This week we’ve gotten the chance to take a peek at the next in a line of rather popular conservatively sized powerhouses from HTC, this time called the DROID Incredible 4G LTE. We’ve had a look at the Incredible 2 as well as the original DROID Incredible, now it’s time to decide if this HTC One-era device is up to the task of bringing the DROID brand name back up to snuff. As Verizon has no other HTC One device, with T-Mobile and AT&T getting the prizes this time around from that manufacturer, it might be high time Big Red gets its own taste of the Sense (4.0, as seen in this hands-on with the HTC One S) we’ve been using for weeks.
Hardware
Though this device is being released at the same time as the HTC One series is on the market and does indeed use essentially the same software as those devices do, it’s the HTC Rezound that matches this device’s hardware best. Have a peek at our full review of the HTC Rezound to see what I mean. Compared to the HTC One series, you’ll think these devices were born of different mothers:
The Incredible 4G LTE has a 4-inch super LCD qHD display which gets brighter than you could possibly need it to be, that also being 275ppi dense – not quite as good as the Galaxy S III at 306ppi or the One X at 312ppi, but beating out the 256ppi of the One S by just a tiny notch.
You’ve also got a microUSB port on this device that’s also MHL, this meaning that if you’ve got the right converter, you’ll be able to watch 1080p video via HDMI. In the past we’ve not had the best luck with MHL from HTC – in regards to the HTC Jetstream specifically (though technically it wasn’t listed as MHL compliant), but this time around the manufacturer has done quite well – the picture and sound quality are fabulous.
Software
Though the software on this device is essentially the same as we’ve seen on the HTC One S and HTC One X, it seems just a bit slower here on the Incredible 4G LTE. Perhaps it’s the smaller physical size of the screen, maybe it’s just the expectation that a slightly less expensive device without the HTC One branding on it will be less impressive, but there’s something about it that doesn’t ring the same bell as the S and the X. Have a peek at the following benchmarks and you’ll see a slightly different story, however.
This device runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.2GHz dual-core processor, not unlike the HTC One S (USA and International), HTC One X (USA version), and Samsung Galaxy S III (USA). The difference between them is the S4 on the latter three devices is clocked at a higher 1.5GHz instead of 1.2 – not much of a difference in everyday use, but for you hackers and testers out there, that factor is in play.
Next you’ll want to take a peek at the device’s inner workings in this hands-on and rapid unboxing we filmed earlier this week. This device has no giant surprises if you’ve had your hands on the HTC One S or X, but if you’re coming up from the Incredible 2, you’re in for a wallop of excellence. HTC presents not just Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich here, but their own Sense 4.0 user interface as well. This is HTC at its best.
This device, again, feels a lot more like the HTC Rezound than it does the HTC One series. The camera is quite a bit better than that device though – almost as if this Incredible has a bit more power behind the scenes in the processor architecture? In fact Qualcomm does have dedicated hardware in this machine inside their Snapdragon S4 chip that’s made specifically to work with photography – this same hardware exists in all S4 processor-toting smartphones on the market thus far as well.
Camera
Though this camera doesn’t have the same ImageSense chip we’ve been loving ever since it was introduced on the HTC One S and X, it does have the same ImageSense software. This means you’ve got to rely on the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor for all your camera action – this being more than enough, of course – and you’ve got all the same effects and shooting modes you had before as well. The hands-on video above should also show you that the shooting speed is as undeniably amazing as it was on the HTC One series as well.
Have a peek at several examples of this camera’s finess below:
Battery and Data Speed
It seems that the brain-sucking madness that ensued with the battery life on the HTC Thunderbolt back when 4G LTE was a brand new baby is now essentially gone entirely. Thank the Snapdragon S4 processor for that, and be sure to note that you’ll just be charging this device once a day almost no matter what – of course if you’re the kind of person who streams video all day every day, you might have a different situation on your hands. If you’re a normal user, you’ll have at least a day’s worth of use with no charges needed.
This device’s connection to Verizon’s 4G LTE network is fabulous. The following example is essentially the average of what we’ve been getting all over Minnesota, with the closest ping point here being Saint Cloud (my home town!) just about an hour away from the Twin Cities where we’re prone to test most often. You’re going to be downloading and uploading as fast or faster than you’ve ever done on a smartphone before – without a doubt. Supposing you’re in a 4g LTE area, of course.
Wrap-Up
It’s a real toss-up right now on Verizon whether you’re going to want to hit up the HTC Rezound or the Incredible 4G LTE if you do indeed want 4G LTE connectivity on an HTC device. They’re both essentially the same in many ways – though for the most advanced vision of an Android device on Verizon as presented by HTC, you’ll probably have to default to the Incredible simply because it’s got Android 4.0 and Sense 4.0 right out of the box while the Rezound still might need an update to Ice Cream Sandwich when you open it up.
This device is not made to be the most powerful smartphone on the market, nor is it made to look the most impressive in the hand. Instead it’s made to attack the market for 4-inch screen lovers with no less than one of the most powerful mobile processors on the market and Verizon’s 4G LTE. This device is not made to be flashy, instead it’s made for people who want long battery life on a 4G LTE smartphone that’s also got HTC’s lovely user interface on a reasonably sized – not to big, not too small – handheld display.
This device is available starting today (July 5th) online with in-store sales starting immediately if not soon across the nation as well. Grab it!
As the next generation of Apple mobile products ramp up for a late 2012 release, it’s not the iPhone 5 that’s getting the most press this week, it’s the iPad Mini. A device that’s not yet been revealed or even confirmed to be real, but is gathering its strength to capture the imaginations of couch-sitters across the nation nonetheless. An iPad Mini, that being a device that sits in-between the iPhone and the iPad for screen space, will be make for everybody to use everywhere, but will tend specifically to the Apple iCloud-connected home.
This next-level device nearly-handheld device very well could be a rule-breaker for Apple in that it’ll have a smaller screen and not quite the same pixel density of the “Retina quality” displays we’ve seen on the iPad 3 and the new MacBook Pro. This model iPad will be made to be so inexpensive that it’ll be much more difficult for people to say no to simply going to an Apple store and picking one up than it’s ever been before!
A smaller iPad will be perfectly sized for kids, will be great for tossing in one’s purse, and might even fit into your back pocket.
But why would Apple break their one rule, the one that says that they make only a few products and make them all well? They’ve already begun to expand beyond that limit with the MacBook Pro line. There’s a new MacBook Pro 2012 model as well as a Retina quality display-having MacBook Pro. There’s also more than one kind of MacBook Air out at the moment, different generations on the market all at the same time, and for a while you were able to purchase the iPad, iPad 2, and iPad 3 in the online Apple store all in the same basket.
So Apple will do the following, and of course this is just my hypothesis: they’ll fulfill their destiny, that being to create a tablet device (the iPad Mini) that’ll be inexpensive enough to produce that they’ll be able to work with not only a much more vast cross-section of users across the world, but with students as well. An iPad Mini inexpensive enough for a classroom to buy for students to use in-room day to day is a next-level winner for Apple across the United States, and possibly across the world.
Have a peek at the timeline below with all of the recent tips, leaks, and rumors surrounding the fabled iPad Mini. See if you can hypothesize your own conclusions on what Apple might be conjuring behind the scenes – and ask yourself if you’d buy a $200 iPad in the very near future!
THis week ARCHOS has busted forth with a new series of Android tablets going by the name ARCHOS Elements, the first of these to be called ARCHOS 97 carbon. This device is one of several ELEMENTS tablets, it using a lovely 9.7-inch IPS LCD display while future tablets in the lineup grab 7 and 8-inch screens. This “97″ tablet is 21.8 ounces, is just 0.45 inches thick, and has a cool aluminum finish all across its back.
This first in the ELEMENTS line ARCHOS 97 carbon unit has a single-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be popping up in near-vanilla flavoring, though from the looks of it we’re going to be getting some odd additions like on-screen volume controls.
This device is Google Play supported, has a front and back-facing set of cameras of unconfirmed size, and the ability to decode 1080p video as well as sent it to an HDTV via HDMI-out port. The 97 carbon comes with the full suite of Google-made apps such as Google Maps, Gmail, and Google+, and also comes pre-loaded with Office Suite Viewer for Office documents as well as News Republic and Brief Me apps as well.
This device will be released in July 2012 for $249.99 SRP – check it out soon!
This week the judge behind the tossing out of a recent patent case between Apple and Motorola has come forth to talk about the patent ecosystem and what it means for the current and future state of technology and software. Richard Posner sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and maintains that it’s not so much that companies want to defend their patents in court, but that, “high profits and volatility” are to blame for these groups “looking to wound competitors,” as Rueters put it. This is certainly music to onlooker’s ears for those who are tired of hearing about lawsuits each and every day of the gadget-filled year.
Posner is a professor at the University of Chicago, and speaking this week from his courthouse chambers near Lake Michigan, he let it be known that pharmaceutical companies will have a much better claim to intellectual property protection as far as he’s concerned, simply because of the giant amount of investment it takes to create a drug that’s market-ready and successful. Posner continued by saying that software and other industries have a lot less cost in their development of products, and that the benefit of getting to the market first with a gadget is one they’d have with or without software patents all the same.
“It’s a constant struggle for survival. As in any jungle, the animals will use all the means at their disposal, all their teeth and claws that are permitted by the ecosystem. … It’s not clear that we really need patents in most industries. You just have this proliferation of patents. It’s a problem.” – Posner
On the cancellation of the October 2010 cases between Motorola and Apple in which Motorola sued Apple only to have Apple sue Motorola. Posner ruled that any injunction barring the sale of Motorola phones would harm the consumers. He was also up front about the idea that trying to ban a device simply based on patents that cover individual features was something he would always reject.
Have a peek at some recent patent battles in our timeline below and see if you feel the same way – what do you think about software patents in general?
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This week we’ve had a fabulous holiday and are ramping up to see the barrage of updates that will pour out from tech groups across the USA in a glorious return to form. Meanwhile something undeniably important has happened – scientists working at CERN are 99.99997% (that’s not just an estimate) sure that they’ve found the God Particle, aka Higgs boson. This discovery and nearly-proven theory has implications that will bring on a whole new era of scientific discovery, and it’s happened in our lifetime! While everything else sort of pales in comparison to this news, you’ll also want to see some of the more human-sized posts we’ve got up, including our Orange San Diego review.
Samsung has dropped a massive 75-inch television that’ll cost you a pretty penny to own: just $17k! AT&T have announced the Motorola Atrix HD for the future greatness of the big M. Lenovo is reportedly meeting with Microsoft to create a custom-made Windows Phone for the very near future.
The rumor of an Apple-flavored Project Glass has come up again. The Google Nexus Q has had a teardown complete with nearly all USA-made components. Apple is being sued in China over Siri.
And in ultra-strange-and-amazingly-fun news, we’ve got Nokia showing off Gotham City in 3D for those of you waiting for The Dark Knight Rises. It’s going to be amazing!
Rumors and questionable leaks of Motorola’s next Atrix device have been making the rounds for what seems like ages, but Motorola finally put all that speculation to rest last night. The company recently revealed the new Ice Cream Sandwich-powered handset on their website, albeit with a notable lack of fanfare.
With its rounded corners and gently sloping back, the Atrix HD looks an awful lot like a softer version of its Verizon-bound cousin, the Droid RAZR. The similarities don’t end there though — like the Droid RAZR, the new Atrix sports an 8-megapixel main camera, and its rear-end is also clad in Kevlar (though it sports a slightly different weave pattern). Meanwhile, the device’s 4.5-inch 720p Colorboost display is swathed in a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass to help things from betting too hairy when the Atrix takes a spill.
A quick look inside reveals that the Atrix HD is running on an unspecified 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and packs 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, an LTE radio, and an embedded 1780 mAh battery. While it isn’t quite as thin as its Verizon counterpart, the Atrix HD squeezes all of that into a (titanium or “modern white”) frame that comes in at 8.4mm thick.
Though the device’s spec sheet is now available for our prying eyes to pore over, we’re still left without some salient details. Even though its logo is displayed prominently under the Atrix’s screen, AT&T has yet to officially acknowledge the device’s existence. As such, there’s no word on a release date or pricing, but I wouldn’t expect things to stay that way for too much longer.
Watch out for exploding prices! Verizon Wireless just stopped subsidizing tablets, which naturally results in a lot higher advertised prices. Want a 16GB Motorola XYZBoard? That will be $629. A Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7? Hand over $549.
Verizon Wireless quietly made the switch late last month when launching the “Share Everything” family plans. With this new service contract, subscribers have the option of allowing a tablet access to the bucket of data shared among devices. In the past tablets required a separate data plan, and therefore a separate contract, which locked owners into a tablet that will likely be quickly outdated.
This new pricing scheme puts Verizon’s Android tabs on the same level as the iPad which was never offered by any US carrier with subsidized pricing. Previously, Verizon sold Android tablets like phones and offered deep discounts in exchange for a two-year commitment on a data plan. But that strategy doesn’t work as well for tablets as phones. The churn cycle of tablets is much faster than phones. New tablet models almost always leapfrog the capabilities of previous models. Plus, U.S. carriers have never offered stellar subsidized deals on tablets. Aside from initial sticker shock, selling tablets at the full retail cost with month-to-month data plans is the best thing for consumers.
Hopefully other carriers will follow suit. While AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile give the customer the option to buy at full retail or with a discount, they still rely on subsidized pricing to lure in unsuspecting customers. Tablets should be sold like computers, rather than phones. Well done, VZW.
We reached out to Verizon Wireless for comment but they have yet to respond.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
