Hasta La Gadget!

CES isn’t even over yet, but Samsung’s already looking forward to its next big event: Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That show gets started on February 14th, but Sammy plans to get things going early with an announcement of dual-core smartphones and new tablets on February 13th. Such is the word straight from the company’s mobile biz president, JK Shin, who says Samsung is “in a position to supply 4G smartphones and tablets to all the carriers in the US.” Naturally, this 4G strategy will include both LTE and WiMAX, while another major prong of the company’s future roadmap is to curtail its featurephone offering in favor of low-cost smartphone devices. Interesting times certainly lie ahead.

Samsung promises dual-core smartphones, new tablets for MWC 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, CES 2011 will be graced by the presence of Samsung’s new 4-inch Galaxy Player, but our pockets, it would seem, might have to wait for it quite a bit longer. The Wall Street Journal today reports that, while Samsung intends to roll out the new Android PMP in its home market of Korea shortly after CES next week, the rest of the world is unlikely to be able to buy it until “the April to June period.” Aside from its lack of phone functionality and a Super AMOLED panel, the new Galaxy Player is an almost identical replica of the company’s wildly successful Galaxy S smartphone, which apparently has been no accident. The WSJ also lets us in on the knowledge that Samsung’s phone division has taken over responsibility for building and selling its portable media player range, hence why we’re now seeing such major overlaps between the two categories — something that might very well continue into the future.

Samsung’s phone division now also in charge of PMPs, Galaxy Player coming in Q2 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s NVIDIA got up its sleeve for CES, you ask? A whole host of Sandy Bridge laptop and desktop machines, by the sound of its latest press release. The green giant of graphics has proudly announced a new record of 200 OEM design wins for Intel’s incoming CPUs. The big draw of Sandy Bridge is that it’s the first processor to include an integrated GPU embedded directly within its die, which is projected to improve power efficiency and overall performance — though clearly it hasn’t been impressive enough to get PC vendors to abandon discrete graphics chips. If anything, they seem to be going in the other direction and insisting on a discrete GPU as well.

In other news, whether with or without NVIDIA’s help, the first Sandy Bridge laptops will feature quad-core parts. Such is the word directly from Intel, with one insider adding that the dual-core debutants will get their chance a month after CES, around the middle of February. Skip past the break for NVIDIA’s boastful PR or hit the source for more on Intel’s plans.

Continue reading 2011 to bring 200 PCs combining GeForce GPUs and Sandy Bridge, first laptops to be quad-core

2011 to bring 200 PCs combining GeForce GPUs and Sandy Bridge, first laptops to be quad-core originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple will use Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPUs in its future laptops, no surprises there, but what’s interesting about these forthcoming machines is that some of them might rely solely on Intel’s chip for both general and graphical processing tasks. That’s the word from the usual “sources familiar with Apple’s plans,” who expect “MacBook models with screen sizes of 13 inches and below” to eschew the inclusion of a discrete GPU and ride their luck on the improved graphical performance of Intel’s upcoming do-it-all chip. There are currently no sub-13.3-inch MacBooks, so the suggestion of one is surely intriguing, but the major point here seems to be that NVIDIA’s being left out of the Apple party, because MacBook Pros are also predicted to switch up to AMD-provided graphics hardware. All these changes should be taking place with Apple’s next refresh, which is naturally expected at some point in the new year. Although, as CNET points out, this could all be just a massive negotiating ploy to get NVIDIA to play nicer with its pricing, we’re inclined to believe Intel has finally gotten its integrated graphics up to a level where it pleases the discerning tastemakers at Apple.

Apple to rely on Intel’s Sandy Bridge graphics in future MacBooks, AMD GPUs in MacBook Pros? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As if we didn’t already know that video on demand was the hot new ticket, the Wall Street Journal is today reporting that a couple more companies are ready to throw their hats into the ring. OnLive, the cloud gaming upstart, has confirmed its intention to offer up a subscription-based movie streaming service at some point next year, while HDTV vendor Vizio is said to also be looking at its options. What makes these new guys intriguing (aside from the fact that Vizio sells a lot of TVs in the US) is the general feeling among media companies that Netflix is growing uncomfortably big and should be diversified away from. Well, whatever happens, neither we nor content distributors should be strapped for VOD choice come 2011. Hit the source link for a more expansive look at the current situation.

Vizio and OnLive mulling subscription-based video services for next year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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