LG launches their new high-end 4.5″ 1280×720 resolution smartphone with the 1.5Ghz Dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor on the Verizon LTE network. If you’re ready to signup for a 2-year contract on Verizon, this may be a fun choice for a smartphone device.
Category: OS
Freescale Xtrinsic sensors in a Tablet
A tablet demo showing Freescale’s magnetometer and accelerometer.
Optimum CloudAlive Freescale i.MX53 Set-top-box
Posted by – January 11, 2012
Optimum Semiconductor Technologies Inc shows this single-core Freescale i.MX53 ARM Cortex-A8 and single-core AmLogic ARM Cortex-A9 based Android Set-top-box for $100-$120 depending on order quantity.
Huawei Ascend P1 and P1 S, OMAP4460 1.5Ghz with 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus screen
Posted by – January 10, 2012
This may be the thinnest high-end Smartphone in the world, it may also be priced very competitively if Huawei aims at making this phone price competitive. I’m guessing it might be sold between $300 and $400 unlocked. It’s being released in Europe, Asia and the US for the GSM HSPA+ networks, unlocked and on contract. This is basically the Galaxy S2 screen in a device with more than the Galaxy Nexus performance. MHL connector, SIM card slot on top, MicroSD card slot. And an amazing 6-7mm thickness, it’s pretty awesome.
Intel Ultrabook performance explained
Posted by – January 9, 2012
Intel is pushing the Ultrabook concept, thinner, lighter, lower power x86 laptops, yet the performance might stay as high as their maximum. I interview an Intel representative about the performance and power consumption of the Ultrabook platform.
Texas Instruments to showcase OMAP4470 Powered Tablet running Windows 8 at CES 2012
Posted by – January 9, 2012
Check back here for videos comming up of the 1.8Ghz OMAP4470 in a Tablet running a preview version of Windows 8. Here’s the press release:
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) hosts an OMAP4470 processor-based tablet running on a pre-release version of Windows 8 at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, demonstrating how the latest OMAP™ 4 platform distinctly supports Microsoft’s new computing experience, Windows 8, that reimagines Windows. Designed specifically to enable the ultimate tablet experience, the OMAP4470 processor’s rich multimedia, end-to-end security and powerful multitasking capabilities prove the ideal match for Windows 8 key features including a fast & fluid touch-first user interface, a rich user experience with hardware accelerated graphics, an always-on-always-connected experience, and multiple security enhancements.
Secure, visually-immersive computing in HD
The OMAP4470 platform’s smart multicore architecture pairs its main CPUs with several differentiated features including programmable accelerators, hardware composition engines and a dedicated ISP. Imagination Technologies’ super-fast PowerVR SGX544 GPU and enhanced memory architecture add still more functionality while an OMAP-specific distributed composition architecture enables advanced image and video layering for crisp, HD visuals. These elements and more are the force behind the OMAP4470 processor’s ability to enable fast and fluid multitasking in Windows 8 while maintaining ultra-low power consumption.
As tablets become more prominent in household and enterprise environments, the increased need for rich graphics and imaging is mirrored by the increased need for complete security. Tablets used for cloud-based applications, access to work documents or streaming premium content benefit from the TI’s system-level M-Shield™ mobile security technology—providing the highest level of terminal and content security available today. The M-Shield solution also operates a hardware-protected, trusted execution environment (TEE), which does not require a dedicated chip or extra CPU cycles, freeing the CPUs for critical Windows 8 computing functions.
“The always on, always connected experience requires the sophistication of a processing architecture best offered by OMAP technology,” said Deepu Talla, general manager, OMAP mobile computing, wireless business unit, TI. “The OMAP4470 processor makes expert use of its smart multicore architecture to enable enhanced PC and mobile computing experiences. Combining the OMAP 4 platform’s unique capabilities with Microsoft’s seamless interaction of touch, mouse and keyboard via Windows 8 will deliver a streamlined, fast and fluid experience.”
“Reimagined, Windows 8 is a fast and fluid, touch-first OS that brings a new range of capabilities without compromise,” said Aidan Marcuss, senior director of Windows Core Marketing & Ecosystem, Microsoft Corp. “Our partnership with platform leaders such as TI help take full advantage of ARM architecture, with new capabilities that enable compelling new PCs and user scenarios.”
For more information, visit http://www.ti.com/windowsonomap.
OLPC XO-3 unveiled at CES 2012
Posted by – January 9, 2012
The One Laptop Per Child foundation presents the final design for the OLPC sub-$100 Tablet with a 8″ 1024×768 capacitive LCD touch screen, a touch screen optimized version of Sugar Linux. The thin screen protector doubles as a solar charger. Once countries order millions of these, the price can definitely be below $100.
Related articles
- OLPC XO-3 tablet revealed (slashgear.com)
- OLPC outs XO 3.0 tablet at last, will make its debut at CES (engadget.com)
- One Laptop Per Child XO 3.0 tablet to be showcased at CES 2012 (ubergizmo.com)
- OLPC XO-3 Tablet to Debut in CES 2012 (devicemag.com)
- OLPC XO 3.0 tablet to show at CES with Android, Sugar (electronista.com)
- OLPC’s XO-3 Tablet Lands at CES (hothardware.com)
Acer Iconia Tab A700, 1920×1200 10.1″ ICS Tegra3 Tablet
Posted by – January 9, 2012
Acer shows this prototype of the Tegra3 Powered Ice Cream Sandwich tablet with an insane 1920×1200 10.1″ capacitive screen, wow resolutions are increasing fast and the new high-end ARM Processors like Tegra3 can run ICS on it smoothly.
Related articles
- Acer Iconia Tab A700/A701 Full HD Tegra 3 tablet revealed (slashgear.com)
- Quad-core Acer Iconia Tab A700 Android tablet shows up in photos, should debut at CES 2012 (unwiredview.com)
- Acer Iconia Tab A700 leaks boasting a 1920×1200 resolution display (mobigyaan.com)
- Acer Iconia Tab A700 with Ice Cream Sandwich slated for launch at CES 2012 (intomobile.com)
Marvell Armada 1500, ARM Powered Google TV
Posted by – January 9, 2012
This is the new ARM Powered Google TV solution ready to ship in full production early Q2 2012 in set-top-boxes and built-in into HDTVs by all manufacturers wanting to build and sell cheap ARM Powered Google TV solutions. The performance is faster than Intel’s discontinued Google TV solution, this one lowers the cost, lowers the power consumption, makes it more compact all the while including all the HDMI input/output and IR blaster features of a full Google TV.
ST Ericsson U8500 runs Ice Cream Sandwich
Posted by – January 9, 2012
ST Ericsson is showing this development platform for their U8500 ARM Cortex-A9 processor running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
ST Ericsson U8500 in Smartphones shipping in China
Posted by – January 9, 2012
ST Ericsson U8500 1Ghz Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 is shipping in a version of the HTC Sensation selling in China with an integrated CDMA modem. Now also Via Mobile is shipping the U8500 in a 4.3″ capacitive HSPA+ smartphone. The price may be quite a lot lower than other high-end dual-core smartphones, to be confirmed.
Lenovo Hybrid X1 combines ARM and x86 in a $1599 ThinkPad Laptop
The battery life is doubled when instantly switched into the ARM mode that provides basic functionalities in a customized version of Android. With the extended battery it lasts 20 hours in ARM Powered laptop mode.
Acer S5 Ultrabook, thinnest 13.3″ laptop using Intel for $1000 or more
Posted by – January 9, 2012
Here’s Acer’s latest thin Intel Laptop. The price might start below $1000 when they start selling in the first half of the year, to be confirmed.
Related articles
- Acer announces ‘world’s thinnest’ 13.3-inch Aspire S5 Ultrabook at CES 2012 (update: pictures) (engadget.com)
- Acer Aspire S5 ultrabook: 15mm thick plus Thunderbolt (slashgear.com)
- Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra: Doubling down on Ultrabooks (ces.cnet.com)
ARM Powered Google TV launching at CES 2012!
I’ve been posting over 20 blog posts about the ARM Powered Google TV over the past year and a half, and now it’s finally going to be shown for the first time on several ARM Processors at CES 2012! ARM is I think the key to make Google TV seriously revolutionary and a huge worldwide success, revolutionizing TV, the media people spend 5 hours per day watching in average! Look forward to my up to 100 videos coming up next week from CES as I plan to film the top ARM Powered devices to be shown there.
The ARM Processors to be unveiled to support “The New Google TV Experience with Full Live TV Integration” are:
– Marvell 1500 (which I think I might have covered a few months ago nicknamed Project Berlin shown in a Zinwell prototype)
– Mediatek shows an ARM Processor for Google TV
– LG L9 is probably an ARM Cortex-A9 optimized for Google TV
TV makers to show new ARM Powered Google TV boxes at CES 2012 include:
– LG
– Sony
– Vizio
Might not yet be showing Google TV but probably are preparing to launch Google TV a few months later:
– Samsung
– Panasonic
– I expect Philips to replace their Set-top-box functionality with Google TV
– Sharp
– Toshiba
These ARM Powered Google TV boxes thus have the full Live TV integration mode supported. That means the ARM Processors are optimized to playback 1080p in 60fps, evt play 2 1080p video streams at the same time (picture in picture stuff), they support HDMI input and output at the same time, rendering overlay graphics on top of the 1080p video stream, controlling an IR blaster. I expect they also support all video codecs up to 1080p at full bitrates, I expect 1080p USB webcams are supported for HD video conferencing. USB host ports are supported to connect USB NTFS/EXT/FAT32 hard drives and USB sticks. Full Chrome browser web browsing on top of Android with Flash is for sure supported.
That means the ARM Processors used in Set-top-boxes such as Samsung Hummingbird, AmLogic ARM Cortex-A9 Single-core, ZiiLabs, Rockchip RK2918, VIA ARM9, probably those didn’t include the “Full Live TV Integration” support. My guess is some of those may also be working on customizing some ARM Processors to also support the Live TV HDMI pass-through features, while others I think may be waiting to support Google TV without Live TV pass-through. Possibly that those other ARM platforms need to wait for Google to open source this new Google TV source code before they can try to use the basic Google TV functionalities without Live TV pass-through. Perhaps Google will announce a Basic Google TV version to use on basic ARM Processors that aren’t providing the pass-through stuff.
For people who don’t use Cable, Satellite, DVB-T/C/S, for TV, there is no need for the HDMI input features of Google TV. We still want to have a more basic version of Google TV that offers every other feature and may provide it on cheaper hardware.
We’re talking a revolution in YouTube, a revolution in video-on-demand, a revolution in Democracy. Why and how? Simply because things are going to change and improve much faster as more and more people watch web video content directly on the TV in a leanback experience, and don’t watch the content in small embedded players on a laptop or desktop computer. Things change as more and more people will watch web video content instead of regular TV channels when in the living room. Things change when more and more people watch more political videos through the web, such as watching official campaign videos explaining policies instead of only the short sound-bytes on news channels leading up to important elections.
The most important factor that will make ARM Powered Google TV a success is the price. Marvell CEO said in his keynote at ARM TechCon 2010 that it only costs $25 to add this type of Internet connected Set-top-box functionality into a HDTV, and that it thus only makes sense that nearly all new HDTVs will quite simply integrate this right inside of them. It will be expected by consumers buying a new HDTV, that Google TV functionality will always be included for free and that it does not increase the price. I think all HDTVs will include an Ethernet port, some might include WiFi or just support it using any WiFi dongle on one of its several USB host ports on the side. As Eric Schmidt has said, by the middle of 2012, expect that most new HDTVs will include Google TV functionality for free. Expect ARM Powered Google TV set-top-boxes for $99 with Live TV integration and $49 without Live TV integration (no HDMI input, no IR blaster).
Source: googletv.blogspot.com
Related articles
- Marvell Chips to Power Next Wave of Google TV Devices (wired.com)
- Marvell’s ARM chips will power Google TV’s future (gigaom.com)
- New Google TV devices to pack ARM-based chips, not Intel (digitaltrends.com)
- Google TV officially adds LG to the fold, will demo new hardware along with Sony, Vizio (engadget.com)
- Google TV sacks off Intel, jumps to ARM (techradar.com)
- Google TV switches to Marvell’s new dual-core ARM SoC (linuxfordevices.com)
Geniatech shows Ice Cream Sandwich Set-top-box preview
Posted by – December 31, 2011
Geniatech sent me this video demonstrating a preview version of Ice Cream Sandwich running on one of their Set-top-boxes. The processor is not yet confirmed, I don’t know if it is ICS running on the single-core AmLogic ARM Cortex-A9 AML8726-M which I filmed Genitech a few months ago demonstrating here and here. I think ICS is the version of Android to merge (passthrough or non-passthrough) Google TV features over onto ARM Powered devices with HDMI outputs, ICS set-top-box developments are to be confirmed at CES next week.
Read more about the Geniatech ARM Cortex-A9 set-top-box platform at: geniatech.com
TechNexion announces Freescale i.MX 536 System on Module
Posted by – December 31, 2011
TechNexion announces their upcoming Freescale i.MX 53 based TMX-536 System on Module together with Bachata carrier board.
Development kits will become available in the first quarter of 2012 that will come as all previous TechNexion development kits with source code linux, android and windows embedded compact 7 support backed up with unbeatable documentation to give people all the information that they need to successfully implement TechNexion SoM’s in their project.
Variscite’s OMAP4460 SoM now supporting Ubuntu Oneiric
Posted by – December 17, 2011
Variscite just released Ubunto 11.10 Oneiric support for the VAR-SOM-OM44 System on Module. The SoM is based on TI’s OMAP4460, 1.5GHz Dual-core Cortex-A9.
Charbax on Twit
Posted by – December 12, 2011
Category: Tablets, Wearables, Smart Glass, Web, Other, Opinions, Texas Instruments, LeWeb, Android, Windows
Here again, now Twit posted the video on the official http://youtube.com/twit channel, so here it is, when you click the play button below, it should start at the right time-code 35 minutes 17 seconds when I first appear on the show, where I get to talk to Leo Laporte and Sarah Lane on the Twit show at LeWeb 2011!
On Twit, I get to talk with Leo Laporte and Sarah Lane about the legalization of piracy in Switzerland, in France, about the latest Archos G9 and Arnova G2 devices and I get to show off my headmounted Motorola Kopin Golden-i system for augmented video-blogging.
I was on Twit!
Posted by – December 10, 2011
Category: Tablets, Smart Glass, Web, Other, Opinions, Rockchip, Texas Instruments, LeWeb, Archos, Android
You can see me starting at 9 minutes 45 seconds time code in following Twit Live video recorded at LeWeb 2011, I’m interviewed by Leo Laporte and Sarah Lane! This video features some of my talk about Switzerland legalizing piracy, France implementing the global licence to legalize piracy, Archos, my headmounted Kopin Golden-i computer, live stream and augmented video-blogging system.
Source: recorded video on Ustream.tv
I’ll post the YouTube embed if Twit and LeWeb release it separately on YouTube.
Renault’s role in web technology, encouraging Android app ecosystem for the car and more
Posted by – December 8, 2011
Matthieu Tenenbaum talks about some of the things they Renault is doing to encourage more technological integration in the car.
