Texas Instrument’s OMAP4 mobile chipset is quite good. In fact, you’ll be seeing it in the Kindle Fire HD. But despite the technical proficiency of that piece of silicon, the company has bigger plans for its technology than just tablets and smartphones: it wants to be in cars. More »
Texas Instruments has made the startling announcement that it’s going to wind down its wildly successful smartphone and tablet business in favor of embedded systems. VP Greg Delagi told investors that the switch would create a more “stable” and “long-term business” than the cutthroat battles it’s faced in mobile. While, currently the world’s third biggest semiconductor company, it’s concerned about losing ground to players like Qualcomm, Samsung and Apple — despite its latest OMAP CPUs powering tablets like the Nook HD and Kindle Fire. We’re scratching our heads as to why a major player would drop such a strong position like this, but perhaps they know something that we don’t.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Transportation, Mobile
Texas Instruments wants to ditch smartphones, switch focus to embedded processors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 – that being the 7-inch display toting version of the tablet experience – has received its first official teardown, straight from the folks at iFixit. This teardown shows a rather clean looking construction complete with the Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 dual-core processor powering the whole beast – the first big note here is the fact that the machine has a 1.2Ghz processor though TI claims it’ll operate at up to 1.5Ghz. Also under the hood you’ll find a Texas Instruments TWL6032 Fully Integrated Power Management IC and Samsung KLMAG2GE4A eMMC 16 GB Flash Memory and Flash Memory Controller as well.
This Kindle Fire HD 7 machine works with Elpida B8164B3PF-1D-F 8 Gb (1 GB) DDR2 RAM for your high-power needs and does indeed bring Bluetooth 4.0 and an PF radio as well- tune in! It’s discovered in this teardown that the display is made by LG and that the LCD and front glass panel are fused together. This means that replacing one means replacing the other – not an easy thing to deal with even if you’re a regular repairer.
The good news for repairers out there is that the back panel is relatively easy to remove, the battery isn’t held with adhesive, and the simplicity of the entire machine means you’ll be able to take it apart with ease. Most of the screws inside the machine are the same and only a bit of copper tape over the processor was difficult for the iFixit team to work with. The headphone jack is separate from the rest of the motherboard, this allowing easy replacement, and the screws only range between Philips #00 screws and a single T5 Torx screw.
Have a peek at our hands-on and featured posts from the past week in the timeline below, and stay tuned for our full review of the Kindle Fire HD 7 soon. Don’t scrimp on the questions, also – let us know what else you want to know!
Kindle Fire HD 7 gets teardown and components detail is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Interested in what makes your new Kindle Fire HD 7-inch tick? The crew at iFixit certainly is. As is the repair shop’s custom, it just tore down Amazon’s new reader tablet to gauge its repairability as well as look for any surprises. In the case of the revamped Kindle Fire, the fixable design is the main surprise — despite being skinnier than its ancestor, the tablet is easy to open and its components (usually) easy to replace. We’re not as shocked by the choice of hardware makers, which include an LG Display LCD, the expected 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 processor and Samsung flash memory. Head on over to the source if you’d like to see the nitty gritty of Amazon’s Android slab and possibly save the trouble of a replacement unit down the road.
Filed under: Tablets
Amazon Kindle Fire HD torn down, proves an easy fix originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You might remember ViewSonic’s slightly strange VCD22 Smart Display from our journey to Computex. If the sight of that 22-inch, Android-based all-in-one desktop set your heart aflutter, you’ll be glad to know the finished version is coming to the US as the VSD220 by mid-to-late October. It’s decidedly less portable what we saw in Taipei this June and strips out the battery we suspect most buyers wouldn’t have used. For better or worse, though, most everything else is the same: while we didn’t expect a change to the TI OMAP 4 processor, the VSD220 will be clinging to Android 4.0 instead of upgrading to Android 4.1 for its trip across the Pacific. The micro-HDMI video input, 1.2-megapixel front camera, microSD slot, three USB ports and Ethernet (yes, Ethernet) do help justify a space on the desk, especially for those who want a secondary display for another mobile device or PC. The VSD220 faces a stiff fight from traditional all-in-ones that don’t always cost much more — but we’ll at least get a price drop to a more palatable $399 in return for our patience.
Filed under: Desktops, Displays
ViewSonic VSD220 Smart Display with Android 4.0 comes to US in October, dips to $399 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This week the folks at Amazon introduced a set of new Kindle tablets including a refresh of the Kindle Fire, two new Kindle Fire HD tablets, and a reader called Paperwhite. This last entry in the list of new items might be the most overlooked to the biggest news seekers, but it’s set to overtake a still massive ereader market with technology that’s set to dash standard E-Ink’s brains out – and it’s relatively inexpensive, too! The original Kindle Fire was refreshed with a lower price, and both the Kindle Fire HD 7 and 8.9 were introduced with pre-orders starting today.
Start your journey with a look at how the original Kindle Fire has been updated with a select number of features right alongside a price drop to $159 – that’s madness! The new set of Kindle Fire devices come in both 7 and 8.9-inch display sizes, the latter also having a 4G LTE iteration coming with a new data plan that will run you just $50 USD a year – that’s 250MB of 4G LTE data a month for a total of $50 USD a year! Don’t get too pumped up though, there’s a catch: you still gotta pay overage costs.
There’s also a catch for those of you that aren’t fans of advertisements in your devices – the device you payed for and supposedly own. Amazon’s entire Kindle Fire lineup now also has Special Offers showing up on their lock-screens – with no option (other than hacking, of course) to get rid of them. Per Amazon’s press release:
“Special Offers
The new Kindle Fire family comes with special offers that appear on the lock screen. Examples of special money-saving offers that customers will enjoy include a $5 credit in the Amazon MP3 Store and a $5 credit for select titles in the Amazon Instant Video Store. Customers will also receive special offers and screensavers from brands like AT&T, Discover and Intel, such as a special offer of a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card when a customer uses their Discover card to purchase a digital product on Amazon.”
You’ll be glad to know, however, that we’ve got no reason to believe that this line of tablets is immune to hacking – as it was with the original Kindle Fire. Also, it does appear (according to several sources, but not yet confirmed by Amazon directly) that the Kindle Fire HD lineup is coming with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich behind their own customized user interface. That’s good news for you future-looking developers out there with diamond software modification in your eyes.
Kindle Fire HD 7 hands on:
The Kindle Fire HD lineup comes with a collection of software innovations like X-Ray and Whispersync. Have a peek at the timeline here to see our hands-on with the Kindle Fire HD duo as well as notes on the software features at hand:
Prices for the Kindle Fire HD lineup are as follows (followed by the refreshed Kindle Fire and the Paperwhite as well):
Kindle Fire (Refresh): US $159 / UK £ 129
Kindle Fire HD 7: US $199 for 16GB and $249 for 32GB / UK £159 for 16GB and £199 for 32GB
Kindle Fire HD 8.9: US $299 for 16GB and $369 for 32GB / UK N/A thus far
Kindle Fire HD 8.9 4G LTE: US $499 for 32GB and $599 for 64GB
Kindle Paperwhite: $119
Kindle Paperwhite 3G: $179
Kindle (Refresh): $69
Most if not all of these devices are now up for pre-order on Amazon with ship dates either in mid-September, early October, or November – it’s a spread!
Have a peek at the information we’ve got on the Paperwhite – including its 3G iteration with free – yes free – 3G. The smallest and lightest Kindle has also been updated with a few new software updates like improved fonts and 15% faster page turns as well. We’ve got hands-on with the three biggest beasts here, and of course more details than you can shake a stick at from throughout the day today. Stick around our Amazon tag portal for more information as it pops up between here and release time!
UPDATE: The full event video is now up via Amazon – enjoy!
Amazon Kindle Fire full event video and wrap-up is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
This week we’ve had the opportunity to take a peek at the next generation of media tablets by the name of Amazon Kindle Fire HD. There are two new devices, one of them being a 7-inch tablet, the other a 8.9-inch tablet, and both of them will be released alongside a slight upgrade to the original Kindle Fire which has also had a price cut to compete with the Google Nexus 7. The Kindle Fire HD in its 8.9-inch display edition has a 1920 x 1200 display (or 254 ppi) display while the smaller device has not yet had its entire set of specifications released – rest assured though, they’ll be a bit of a bump over the refreshed standard edition.
The Kindle Fire HD lineup has a OMAP 4470 processor from Texas Instruments, Bluetooth connectivity on the inside as well, and an HD webcam on the front. The smaller edition of both the 7 and 8.9-inch devices have 16GB of internal storage while the larger edition of the 8.9 tablet has 32GB of internal storage as well as 4G LTE connectivity. The 7-inch version of the tablet you see here will be shipping on September 14th and for $199 while the original Kindle Fire (refreshed) will be popping up for just $159 – the 4G LTE version comes in November.
The Kindle Fire 7 has a body that’s had its predecessor’s square-edges taken out, so to speak, with a bit more flare on the back to boot. You’ve got a stripe of shine across the back while the majority of the device’s backing is made of a slightly grippier bit of rubbery plastic. The software we’re seeing here is an upgraded user interface compared to the original Kindle Fire, but for the most part you’re working through the same set of media in a very similar way. That said, a lovely collection of software updates that you can find in our Amazon tag portal today – as well as in the timeline of today’s events below.
Note also that the 7-inch version of the device appears to be closer to final form than the 8.9-inch version of the device, the latter being held to the side by none other than Amazon’s own Peter Larsen a this week’s event. Don’t worry though, the biggest difference between the 7 and the 8.9 is the display size – stay tuned to SlashGear for more on the development of these tablets as it occurs!
Kindle Fire HD 7 hands-on is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
This week the folks at Amazon have revealed a set of Kindle Fire devices that take their original hit and make it high definition. There are two sizes here, one with an 8.9-inch display and another with a 7-inch display, the 8.9-inch display having a lovely 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. This new larger device has IPS LCD display technology and works with 254 PPI – and it’s more expensive than the Kindle Fire’s regular refresh, of course.
This new set of Kindle Fire units works with no air gap between the display and the glass up front – this means clearer images and a lot less glare than otherwise possible. Inside you’ll find an OMAP4 4470 processor from Texas Instruments, this being shown by Amazon as better than the Tegra 3 in some of the tests they’ve done: specifically in Memory Bandwidth and Floating Point – we’ll see about that when we get this device in hand, of course.
This new set of tablets works with dual stereo speakers rather than the single-speaker setup that most tablets have. Amazon isn’t shy about showing the iPad here, as it does indeed have just one spot on its back with a speaker. With the Kindle Fire HD line you’ll be working with Dolby Digital Plus sound – here an exclusive audio engine made just for this Kindle Fire HD lineup.
Also included inside is a set of antennas, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz for faster wi-fi action, and MIMO – MIMO being a technology that only a small number of high-end devices incorporate at the moment. The iPad 3 has just one antenna, as does the Nexus 7, noted Amazon, and only the Kindle Fire HD has MIMO inside of the three. With this technology, Amazon notes that they’ve got the fastest Wi-fi connectivity in the west – so to speak.
Stay tuned for more Kindle Fire HD action as we follow Amazon into the future with their brand new tablet lineup. Stick to the Amazon tag portal to see the rest of our updates as they happen throughout the week and especially here on launch-day!
Kindle Fire HD introduced with new 8.9-inch size is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
RIM’s attempts to get a cellular-equipped version of the BlackBerry PlayBook have been troubled, to say the least. The company signalled its intentions around Mobile World Congress last February, only to watch as carriers backed off — partly as RIM focused its attention on LTE, and partly after carriers grew skittish over sales of the WiFi version. A year and a half later, we finally have an LTE version, and with a faster 1.5GHz processor to boot. But do 4G data and a processor bump make all the difference? And does the upgrade stand a realistic shot in a competitive field that has moved on since the original PlayBook? We’ll find out in our hands-on.
Gallery: BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE
Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE hands-on
Filed under: Tablet PCs, Wireless
BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re wondering if Kouziro saw the ASUS Transformer AIO and developed a little Freudian envy. That would certainly help explain the company’s FT103 tablet, which at 21.5 inches is one of the biggest devices running Android 4.0 without veering into full-size TV territory. If you’re having sudden flashbacks to the Toshiba Excite 13 and dreading the thought of lugging around all 11 pounds of this slab, you’ll breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Kouziro doesn’t make any pretenses surrounding portability: there’s no battery, and a kickstand keeps it upright on a desk rather than crushing your lap. The lackluster 1GHz TI OMAP 4428 processor and 8GB of storage certainly won’t do much to draw attention, though. All the same, the HDMI input and 1080p screen resolution could make it a very clever secondary display for another device, and the extra-extra-extra-large size lets it stuff in two full USB ports and Ethernet along with the usual front camera and mobile expansion. The late July release in Japan and the ¥34,800 ($437) price aren’t outlandish for what’s in the box — just brace yourself for psychoanalysis from friends and family after taking the FT103 home.
Filed under: Peripherals, Tablet PCs
Kouziro crafts wired-only, 21.5-inch Android 4.0 mega tablet, makes us think it’s compensating for something originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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