Hasta La Gadget!

We knew way back at CES that Qualcomm had a few lower-end chips up its sleeve, but now it’s official: the Snapdragon 400 and 200 have been formally detailed in a company blog post thrown up today. Following in the footsteps of the high-end Snapdragon 800 and 600, these units are being aimed at “the mid-tier and entry level smartphone segments.” The 400 options include dual Krait CPUs running at up to 1.7GHz per core, quad ARM Cortex-A7 CPUs humming along at up to 1.4GHz per core, and an Adreno 305 GPU. You’ll also find support for TDSCDMA, DC-HSPA+ (42Mbps), 1x Advanced, W+G CDMA, and multi-SIM capabilities of Dual SIM, Dual Standby (DSDS) and Dual SIM, Dual Active (DSDA), as well as support for up 13.5 megapixel camera sensors, 1080p video capture / playback and Miracast wireless display tech. For the number nerds, Snapdragon 400 processors now include the following part numbers: 8226, 8626, 8230, 8630, 8930, 8030AB, 8230AB, 8630AB and 8930AB.

As for the 200, you’ll get quad ARM Cortex-A5 CPUs at up to 1.4GHz per core, an Adreno 203 GPU, HD video playback, GPS, LPDDR2 RAM, multi-SIM support and the ability to handle up to 8 megapixel camera sensors. Snapdragon 200 processors now include the following part numbers: 8225Q, 8625Q. Unfortunately, pricing is being kept under wraps, and it seems that Qually is going to leave it to its wondrous partners to actually announce new hardware that’ll be powered by its latest duo. With Mobile World Congress kicking off in a matter of days, something tells us you won’t have to wait much longer for the nitty-gritty.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets

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Source: Qualcomm

Marvell made waves last year with its 802.11ac wireless chips, but the company’s looking to make a splash in 2013 with a new quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 SoC. Called the PXA1088, the new silicon’s calling card — other than those four CPU cores — is its ability to beam 3G data to mobile devices anywhere in the world thanks to auto-roaming and compatibility with 21Mbps HSPA+, TD-HSPA+, EDGE, and WCDMA networks. In addition to those cellular radios, it also has an Avastar 88W8777 chip that brings WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and FM radio, plus it has a GPS and GLONASS location processor on board.

Worldwide connectivity isn’t the PXA1088’s only trick, either. It’s got some serious video chops thanks to a hardware 1080p encoder and decoder, and a GPU from Vivante compliant with OpenGL ES 2.0 and 1.1 as well as OpenVG 1.1. Can’t wait to get your grubby mitts on a phone packing Marvell’s latest? The company tells us that several well-known OEMs will be rolling out devices with the PXA1088 in the first half of the year. Of course, we’re hoping to see a few of them ourselves next week at Mobile World Congress, so stay tuned.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

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LG finally showed off the XL 5.5-inch version of its upcoming Optimus G Pro at the end of a Facebook promo last week, and now it’s revealed a launch date in Korea, more specs and a window for its arrival in North America. Also of note? Its CPU is the just-announced quad-core Snapdragon 600 that’s supposed to be a milder upgrade (compared to the potentially 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800) to its predecessor, the powerful S4 Pro. New software tweaks include a dual record that uses both cameras simultaneously and VR Panorama that appears to be similar to Google’s Photo Sphere stitching.

Besides the extra screen space and updated internals, the larger version also sports a slightly larger battery than the Japanese version announced previously by NTT Docomo, with 3,140mAh compared to 3,000, but keeps the 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera, microSDXC slot and LTE. The phone will be released on local carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus on Wednesday for 968,000 won ($897), while a North American launch is mentioned for Q2 along with the Japanese release. We’ll find out more about this phone — and likely a few others — at MWC 2013 later this week, for now check out the press release after the break for more specs.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Source: LG Korea

Clearly, a lot of us wanted LG to reveal the design of the 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro as quickly as possible: just a day after a teaser, we’re looking at the complete picture. And it’s quite a looker, by all counts. While it has the familiar digital cube pattern on the back, it’s also using curved glass in black or white, which LG says produces a “2.5D” effect. Those other details that LG is willing to divulge are largely what we expected based on the Japanese edition, including a full HD (1080p) display and a quad-core processor that’s likely the Snapdragon S4 Pro. LG expects the larger G Pro to launch in late February, although it didn’t say whether or not this is limited to South Korea; based on the timing, though, we might get a peek at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Source: LG Electronics (Facebook), Korea Newswire (translated)

As usual, LG can’t wait for the show to start to display its latest phones and is previewing the Optimus L Series II line ahead of MWC 2013. Just like its predecessors, the L Series II will come in a variety of sizes, with a 3.2-inch L3II, 4.0-inch L5II and 4.3-inch L7II on the way. According to LG, the second coming of the L Style adds Seamless Layout, Laser Cut Contour, Radiant Rear Design and Smart LED Lighting (the button at the bottom has a lighted edge) design elements to the beauty of the original phones. Other than screen size, the different versions will also feature different batteries, ranging from 2,460mAh in the largest to 1,540mAh in the smallest.

The L7II will be first to launch and has the most details, with specs listing a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8225 CPU, up to 4GB internal storage, 768MB RAM and a microSD slot, plus WVGA IPS screen and 8MP rear / VGA front camera setup. The dual-SIM version seen in earlier leaks will debut in Russia this week with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on board, availability for the other new phones will be announced later. The full rundown of new features and a pair of pictures are after the break, while you check those we’ll keep an eye out for any more surprises from LG before the show floor opens in Barcelona.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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