Hasta La Gadget!

What do you do after you’ve bought the most powerful smartphone to yet grace the Android universe? Some timid folks would urge you to just enjoy it, but if you’re like us, you’ll probably want to know just how high that dual-core Exynos 4210 birdie could fly. The processor inside the Galaxy S II started off life at 1GHz, then got sped up by Samsung to 1.2GHz just before release, and has now been taken all the way to 1.5GHz thanks to coolbho3000 over on the xda-developers forum. He’s been nice enough to provide the source code and instructions necessary to reproduce this stable overclock on your Galaxy S II, but don’t rush off just yet — there’s video of the GSII romping through Quadrant and Linpack after the break.

[Thanks, Mike and Sam]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S II overclocked to 1.5GHz, used to obliterate benchmarks (video)

Samsung Galaxy S II overclocked to 1.5GHz, used to obliterate benchmarks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 04:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC couldn’t let Samsung and Motorola have all the dual-core fun in the UK and it’s now let Vodafone detail the earliest known availability of its mighty Sensation. That 1.2GHz, aluminum-clad handset has gone up for pre-order today, with Vodafone aiming to deliver “by the 19th of May.” Not exactly the firmest of promises here, but it’s good to know that in a couple of weeks we’ll have yet another contender in the dual-core Android wars. We suspect other European markets will be joining the UK at about the same time, and T-Mobile in the US shouldn’t be too far behind either.

[Thanks, Tom]

HTC Sensation up for pre-order at Vodafone UK, delivery promised by May 19th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 06:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we approach the expected mid-2011 launch for a few Chrome OS devices, it seems inevitable that some details are bound to slip out ahead of time — here’s looking at you, Acer ZGB and Seaboard. The latest victim outed by a Chromium bug report is the Samsung “Alex,” which sports a 1280 x 800 display (probably at 10 inches as previously rumored; like the mockup above), 1.5GHz dual-core Atom N550, SanDisk SSD P4 of unknown capacity, and 2GB RAM. Also listed are a Qualcomm Gobi 2000 3G card, Bluetooth, WiFi, webcam, and a Synaptics touchpad. Well, not long to go now — perhaps the Alex might even make a cheeky appearance at Google I/O in two weeks’ time? Screenshot of the bug report after the break.

[Thanks, Marco]

Continue reading Details of Samsung’s ‘Alex’ Chrome OS netbook leaked, Atom N550 in tow

Details of Samsung’s ‘Alex’ Chrome OS netbook leaked, Atom N550 in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s big, mostly white, and set for a Korean launch tomorrow? That’s right, the LG Optimus Big! This 4.3-inch whopper, LG’s largest handset to date, touts a 1GHz dual-core processor, a slightly skinned Android 2.2 as its OS, HDMI output, a 5 megapixel camera, and 16GB of built-in storage. That spec sheet sounds mighty close to the elder Optimus 2X that launched earlier in the year, though a couple of items have also been borrowed from the still unreleased Optimus Black. They are the NOVA display, which can crank all the way up to 700 nits of brightness, and WiFi Direct, which allows for wireless inter-device communication without the need for an intermediary WiFi access point. This big, delicious spec sandwich is hitting its home market on April 28th, but there’s sadly no word on when and where else it might show up. Just keep an eye out for it, shouldn’t be that hard to spot.

LG Optimus Big brings a 4.3-inch NOVA display and 1GHz dual-core to the superphone party originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yearning for some diversity in your hunt for a Honeycomb tablet? Acer’s new Iconia Tab A500 doesn’t really stray from the Tegra 2 norm when it comes to internal specs, but it does have that brushed aluminum back, a full-sized USB 2.0 port, and a sane $450 price point going for it. You’ll get 16GB of storage and 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity for your money, though ASUS’ similarly outfitted Eee Pad Transformer should also be prominent on your radar as it’ll ask for an even humbler $399 when it makes its slightly delayed US launch tomorrow. Let’s hope the arrival of these Taiwanese cousins nudges other Android tablets makers into engaging in a bit of price competition, eh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Acer Iconia Tab A500 now on sale, $450 for aluminum-clad WiFi-only model originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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