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Google Nexus Prime possibly a 1.5GHz Ice Cream Sandwich smothered in Super AMOLED HD sweetness

Michael Kwan — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:01:55 +0000

Don’t these Google devices make you hungry? First, we had the Google Nexus One by HTC. Then, we had the Google Nexus S by Samsung running delectable Gingerbread. And now, we are already on the cusp of the next Google flagship phone, the Google Nexus Prime. No, there’s no relation to Optimus… possibly because Google sounds like it’s sticking with Samsung rather than switching to LG or back to HTC.

The official successor to the Nexus S is coming with all sorts of rumored specs and features, perhaps the most notable of which is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. After all, it is through the Nexus family of phones that we’ve seen most of the major upgrades to Android, aside from the tablet stuff with Honeycomb. Naturally, the rest of the specs are pretty darn impressive too.

One of my gripes about the Nexus S was a lack of a dual core processor. That’s not a problem with the Nexus Prime, as it’s said to rock a 1.5GHz dual core courtesy of Texas Instruments (OMAP4460). That gets backed up by a hefty 1GB of RAM, 4G LTE connectivity, “Super AMOLED HD” display with 720p, and a PowerVR SGX540 graphics accelerator. OMAP4 chips are said to support up to 1080p HD recording and playback, in addition to up to 20MP stills. On a bloody phone.

That said, if Samsung is indeed the manufacturer, they could stick with their in-house dual-core Exynos chip instead, the same processor used in the Galaxy S2. You’ll also notice the lack of physical buttons, as those are integrated into the mobile OS instead.

All of these features sound awfully sweet, but there’s going to be at least one spec that’ll likely have you weeping: battery life. With Super AMOLED HD and a 1.5GHz dual core, I’d imagine you’ll be reaching for a wall outlet every 20 minutes. In any case, the current rumor mill points toward a Thanksgiving 2011 launch for the Nexus Prime, if that is indeed its name. Roll out.

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Archos G9 Honeycomb tablets get dual-core 1.5GHz cpu, 250GB HDDs, 3G stick

Michael Kwan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:25:32 +0000

Even though Archos was already well established in tablets before Apple came around and popularized the format, the company has fallen a little bit behind the competition lately. That has now changed with announcement of the Archos G9 tablet range, because they are said to be the fastest.

The Archos 80 G9 and Archos 101 G9 come equipped with 8-inch and 10-inch displays, respectively, but both get their juice via an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core chip running at 1.5GHz. That’s some serious performance, considering that it’s the same kind of power running your full laptop not that long ago. They say this offers 50% more raw computational power than Tegra2 at 1GHz. They’re backing it up with a 250GB HDD from Seagate to boot.

The other knock I had against Archos? Their Android tablets were still only running blown-up smartphone operating systems. The G9 changes that too, as they’ve bumped their way up to Android 3.1 Honeycomb. This includes full access to Android Market, as well as Flash support. Also, the G9 will work with a standard PC 3G stick for wireless connectivity and the $49 Archos G9 3G Stick “has been specially designed to fit perfectly into the back of any G9 tablet.”

With real Honeycomb, real Android Market access, and some real performance, you’d think that Archos would price the G9 tablets in line with the Xooms and Eee Pads of the world. Well, they’ve gone cheaper. The Archos 80 G9 starts at $279 and the Archos 101 G9 starts at $349. Look for them this September.

ARCHOS Unveils Fastest Tablets with G9 Tablet Range

The G9 range features the industry’s fastest dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, the largest storage capacity with a Seagate 250GB Hard Drive, Honeycomb 3.1, Android MarketTM, 1080p HD video and 3G capability

DENVER, CO – June 23, 2011 – Today, ARCHOS, an award winning technology innovator and pioneer in the tablet market, introduces an unrivaled combination of speed and storage with its latest tablets featuring an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM® Cortex™ dual-core A9 running at 1.5 GHz and Seagate’s 250GB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) capacity.

The 8” ARCHOS 80 G9 and 10” ARCHOS 101 G9 are powered by AndroidTM 3.1 “Honeycomb,’’* the latest Android version. ARCHOS G9 tablets come with Google’s full suite of mobile applications and Android MarketTM, giving users access to over 200,000 applications such as games, books, social media and news. With the latest version of Honeycomb, G9 tablets also offer a full web experience complete with Adobe® Flash® support for on-the-go web browsing, communication and applications.

Additionally, the G9 tablets feature a unique 3G ready solution where customers no longer need to choose between WiFi and 3G models at purchase. ARCHOS 3G Stick is a standard 3G stick for laptops which has been designed to be compatible with all ARCHOS G9 tablets. All G9 tablets come with a concealed USB port on the back of the device that when paired with the ARCHOS 3G USB Stick will enable 3G connectivity.

The G9 tablet range continues to push technological boundaries and features the following innovations.

Fastest Tablet Experience Ever

ARCHOS have decided to push their G9 tablets even further by loading them out with a 1.5 GHz dual-core OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments™. With 50% more raw computational power, ARCHOS G9 tablets have the power needed for a great Android experience.

For example, with the 1.5 GHz OMAP 4 processor the ARCHOS G9 tablet enhance a user’s web browsing experience with page load time reduced by up to 50% over tablets running the Nvidia Tegra 2TM processor at 1 GHz.

All your HD multimedia in your hands or on TV

With the best multimedia experience, ARCHOS G9 tablets are the only tablets able to decode 1080p H264 High Profile videos whilst current standard tablets are not even able to play 720p H264 High Profile smoothly.

ARCHOS have replaced the standard multimedia apps with ARCHOS boosted apps for video and music to give to users more format compatibility and a unique user interface.

With film and TV series metadata automatically downloaded, even video files are automatically organized by title, actor, director, year, season and episode; ARCHOS have redefined the tablet device category by providing consumers more ways to experience HD entertainment.

ARCHOS G9 tablets also feature an HDMI output, giving users full access to their Android experience on TV including movies in 1080p resolution.

WiFi or 3G, no need to choose, it’s up to you whenever you want

This patented solution lets the consumer add a standard PC 3G stick to his tablet whenever and wherever. The ARCHOS G9 3G Stick has been specially designed to fit perfectly into the back of any G9 tablet. Just remove the cover and slide in the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick to unleash the full portability of your ARCHOS G9 tablet.

With this innovative USB 3G stick, consumers will no longer have to choose between a WiFi and a 3G tablet at purchase. For just a $49 upgrade, the users can purchase the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick and start enjoying 3G connectivity on his ARCHOS tablet or PCs compared to other tablets where 3G modules add over $100 to the cost and there’s no option to add it later.

This cutting edge 3G stick offers one 3G solution for both a tablet and a laptop and uses just one data plan1. Offered as a Pay-As-You-Go Plan, there is no subscription required and the consumer need only pay for what they need when they need it.
Top performance, best value

While the competitors’ tablets are priced starting at $499, ARCHOS is offering an 8’’ tablet starting at $279 and 10.1’’ tablet starting $349.

ARCHOS is offering cutting-edge performance such as a more powerful and faster processor, unique 3G solution, enhanced multimedia experience and more storage capacity with the built-in 250GB HDD from Seagate.

ARCHOS are the first in the industry to offer a tablet with a hard drive, bringing 8 times more storage at the same cost of a standard 32GB tablet.

ARCHOS are also the first to offer such high performance at such affordable price, making ARCHOS G9 tablets the best cost-performance value.

The ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9 will be available at the end of September and will be shown beginning of September at IFA.
Two tablets to fit your lifestyle: ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9

The ARCHOS 80 G9 is the portable tablet with perfect size for web browsing, ebook and newspaper reading with its 8” 4:3 screen and a resolution of 1024 x 768.

The ARCHOS 101 G9 is the perfect entertainment tablet to share the Android Honeycomb experience. With 250GB of storage space, users will be able to carry over 50 hours of full 1080p HD to watch on their 10.1” wide 1280 x 800 16:10 screen.
About ARCHOS

Archos, pioneer in the portable audio and video player market, and now specialized in Android powered Internet Tablets, has repeatedly revolutionized the market for consumer electronics since 1988. Today, ARCHOS offers Internet Tablets, Tablet PCs and MP3/MP4 players. In 2000, ARCHOS launched the Jukebox 6000, the first MP3 player combined with a hard disk. Then in 2003 ARCHOS introduced the first portable multimedia players with TV recording. In 2006 Wi-Fi is implemented and then touch screens in 2007. In 2008, Archos launched the first generation Internet Tablets, and then the first ever Android powered tablets in 2009. ARCHOS has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. ARCHOS is quoted on Compartment C of Eurolist, Euronext Paris, ISIN CodeFR0000182479. Website: www.archos.com.

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Official: LG Optimus 3D Dual Camera Smartphone Revealed

Michael Kwan — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:06:05 +0000

LG wasn’t very good at keeping this phone a secret, so they’ve finally let the last bit of the cat out of the bag. The LG Optimus 3D may look like any other Android smartphone but it does 3D in more ways than one.

There’s the 4.3-inch WVGA display that happens to provide for a glasses-free 3D experience not unlike the one you’d get on the soon to be released Nintendo 3DS. And there are twin 5MP lenses in the back for shooting both pictures and videos in 3D. The 3D thing still has quite the novelty factor, so we’ll have to see how pervasive this fad will become in the next couple of years.

Other specs confirmed at MWC include the 1GHz OMAP4 dual-core processor (I wonder how this compares to Tegra2), 4GB DDR2, 8GB storage, HDMI-out, DLNA support, and Android 2.2 Froyo. The Gingerbread update should be on its way too.

In case you’re frightened about a shortage of 3D content, there’s a new 3D section on YouTube that might be worth checking out. Just wait until we see 3D Chocolate Rain, 3D Bed Intruder, and 3D Freddie Wong…

[Giz]

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TI goes crazy, announces OMAP5 quad-core 2GHz mobile processors

Michael Kwan — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:04:47 +0000

I can hear Tim Taylor grunting already. If you’re looking for more power on your smartphone, it looks like Texas Instruments is about to crank the volume up to eleven.

Remember when the first 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chips hit the scene and we amazed by having a “G” in the mobile CPU’s clock speed? And now NVIDIA Tegra2 is winning many hearts with its dual core wonders? Not to be outdone, the upcoming TI OMAP5 chips are going to boast four cores of processing.

“But the NVIDIA Tegra3 beat them to the punch!

True. The Tegra3 will do the quad-core thing, but “only” at up to 1.5GHz. The new OMAP5 platform will offer four cores going nutso at up to 2GHz. That’s supposed to offer up to 3x the processing power of the OMAP4 (which will power the BlackBerry PlayBook) while improving power consumption by 60%.

What’s interesting is that the four cores aren’t the same. You get two ARM Cortex-A15 cores (up to 2GHz) and two ARM Cortex-M4 cores. Combined, OMAP5 is said to support up to three QSXGA (2560×2048) displays at the same time.

Sure, that all sounds good on paper, but will it work in practice? That’s the bad news. Samples aren’t going to get shipped out to manufacturers until late 2011 with actual OMAP5-powered devices following in mid-2012. By then, Tim might have already Franken-welded four Tegra2 chips together for more power. (Grunts notwithstanding.)

[PhoneScoop]

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