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Before the Nexus 7 was official announced, NVIDIA hinted that low cost tablets featuring its quad-core Tegra processor were on the horizon thanks to its “Kai” strategy. That would pair the silicon with low-cost internals to drive down the price to an affordable $199. Could the same strategy be applied to smartphones? MyDrivers seems to think so, with the site saying NVIDIA is working with a Chinese OEM to bring a low-cost smartphone with Tegra 3 to the market.

They don’t say which market, however, although we doubt NVIDIA would restrict such a move to just China. The site goes on to say that it could be a ploy to help accelerate its LTE plans in the wake of handsets featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 and integrated LTE modem. As for the manufacturer, candidates could include ZTE or Huawei.

ZTE announced a handful of new phones at MWC 2012, with the ZTE Era among them. That was a 4.3-inch handset with a qHD resolution and NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor. The company said the phone was due to be released in the third quarter of this year, but we haven’t heard anything about the phone since its MWC unveil. When you take that information into account, it’s not hard to imagine ZTE working with NVIDIA on Kai to bring a low-cost quad-core smartphone to market.

[via Unwired View]

NVIDIA reportedly bringing Kai strategy to phones is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Sure it’s not as catchy as “Boot to Gecko,” but Mozilla’s newly-christened Firefox OS has already gained favor with a number of carriers, including Deutsche Telekom, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Telenor — as previously reported, Telefonica-owned Vivo is set to introduce the earliest handsets early next year in Brazil. On the manufacturing side of things, ZTE and TCL Communication Technology (Alcatel One Touch) have signed on to make phones based on the HTML5-powered mobile operating system. Firefox OS will be positioned as a low-priced, entry-level alternative to leading mobile operating systems.

Continue reading Mozilla says a slew of carriers and handset makers set to support Firefox OS

Mozilla says a slew of carriers and handset makers set to support Firefox OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It isn’t hard to get an Android 4.0 phone under $200 if you’re willing to sign your life away with a contract. Getting one that’s worthwhile at that same figure contract-free, however, requires some jumping through hoops. MediaTek must be an acrobat, as it just released the MT6577, a chip design for the most entry level of smartphones. The part’s frugal focus doesn’t keep it from stuffing in a dual-core, 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, a PowerVR SGX series 5 for graphics and an HSPA modem for 3G. Those specifications would only have been cutting-edge in 2011, but they’re very speedy for a starter device in 2012 — fast enough to drive Google’s OS on a 720p screen while supporting 1080p video. The MT6577 is a drop-in replacement for its MT6575 ancestor, and it’s accordingly going to be used very quickly by “leading global customers” this summer. Knowing MediaTek’s most recent clients, that could soon lead to a sea of very affordable phones from Gigabyte, ZTE and others that have no problems eating an Ice Cream Sandwich.

Continue reading MediaTek MT6577 helps push dual-core Android 4.0 smartphones under $200 contract-free

MediaTek MT6577 helps push dual-core Android 4.0 smartphones under $200 contract-free originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 02:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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