Category: Smartphones

HTC One V

Posted by – February 27, 2012

3.7″ WVGA Unibody HTC phone with the Qualcomm 1Ghz processor.

HTC design chief Scott Croyle talks about the HTC One Design

Posted by – February 27, 2012

HTC is doing some quite advanced metal and plastics designs on their latest series.

Sony Xperia P

Posted by – February 27, 2012

New 4″ WhiteBright qHD screen, ST-Ericsson U9500 Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9.

Sony Xperia S

Posted by – February 26, 2012

Here’s the new flagship Sony Android phone. With a 4.3″ 720p screen, a Dual-core Qualcomm S3 MSM8260 1.5Ghz processor.

Sony Xperia NXT Series launched at Mobile World Congress 2012

Posted by – February 26, 2012

Sony presents their new range of Xperia NXT Android Smartphones, S with 4.3″ 720p screen Qualcomm MSM8260 processor, P with 4″ QHD BrightWhite screen ST-Ericsson U9500 Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9, and U with a 3.5″ FWVGA screen interactive LED lights and ST-Ericsson U9500.

ZMS inZair, free messaging on WiFi and Data networks

Posted by – February 23, 2012

inZair ZMS is being demonstrated at Lift12 in Geneva, can be used for free instant messaging and also provides social networking, localization layers are more.

Anandtech tests Qualcomm Krait S4 MSM8960, it’s super fast!

Posted by – February 22, 2012

Anandtech got their hands on the 28nm Qualcomm S4 Krait MSM8960 Dual-core 1.5Ghz reference development platform running Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich and they put it through some benchmark tests posted here. It looks to be extremely fast! Consider benchmarks aren’t always relevant nor reliable to measure performance, some setups can be more optimized to look better on benchmark. Actual in-app and in-use performance is what counts and can be hard to measure. This new Qualcomm 28nm processor looks awesome though, look forward to lots more Qualcomm S4 Krait MSM8960 video-coverage here on ARMdevices.net this coming week as plenty of new phones and tablets are likely to be shown using this processor at Mobile World Congress!

You can see a couple of my MSM8960 videos filmed last month at CES:
Lenovo IdeaTab S2110, Android ICS Qualcomm Krait MSM8960 Tablet with Keyboard Dock
Qualcomm S4 MSM8960 Tablet Gaming performance

Source: anandtech.com

Huawei D1 Q Diamond Series teased

Posted by – February 18, 2012

This one uses the new Huawei HiSilicon 1.5Ghz Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 and is also of only 6.68mm of thickness! Huawei seems to claim that their 1.5Ghz Quad-core processor is 2x faster than a Tegra3! Huawei has been manufacturing ARM Processors for a while, but I had only seen some slower Single-core HiSilicon 3716 ARM Cortex-A9 versions used for Set-top-boxes (such as in the Coupoint at $65 and Blue Times at $50), this is the first Huawei HiSilicon processor for Android Smartphones as far as I know! The Tegra3 runs at 1.3Ghz so if this one really runs at 1.5Ghz in Quad-core mode, it really might be the fastest processor yet! The question is how soon Huawei is going to be ready to release this one. It’s really awesome to see Huawei be so aggressive and innovative with their designs, it’s going to be very interesting to follow what types of price segments Huawei plans to aim this device at.

Check back for much more on this High-end Quad-core Huawei phone and on plenty moire Huawei Android devices to be shown at Mobile World Congress next week!

Source: xataka.com

Renesas MP5232 1.5Ghz Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 released!

Posted by – February 17, 2012

Here’s the press release:

TOKYO, Japan, February 15, 2012 — Renesas Electronics Corporation and its subsidiary, Renesas Mobile Corporation, a leading supplier of advanced cellular semiconductor solutions and platforms, today announced the availability of the MP5232, the first single-chip, high-performance, scalable smartphone platform optimised to address the US$150-300 range device market. The MP5232 platform is designed to enable OEMs to accelerate the creation and delivery of high volume LTE/HSPA+ capable smartphones, tablets and mobile Internet devices the industry requires to deliver the full potential of LTE.

The MP5232 platform sets a new benchmark in terms of levels of integration and performance for fully featured high-volume LTE devices. At its heart, the Renesas Mobile modem, deployed in over two billion devices to date, delivers the industry’s highest throughput and low power multi-mode FDD and TDD-LTE Category 4 capabilities. Combined with a state-of-the-art application processor the platform delivers a no-compromise user experience with multi-core computing power, industry-leading graphics, video and imaging capabilities. The platform also includes advanced RF transceivers, power management and audio solutions. This highly integrated smartphone platform is delivered fully tested and certified to enable customers to bring new generations of fully-featured LTE/HSPA+ smartphones to market in as little as six to nine months.

“We are seeing a number of US$600+ LTE super phone devices being launched in the market, but the industry needs a wider penetration of LTE devices for the business case for LTE to pay off,” commented Jean-Marie Rolland, CTO and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Renesas Mobile Corporation. “The MP5232 platform represents a new category of mobile platform optimised to increase the number of fully-featured, LTE high volume smartphones in the market. By integrating high performing, proven technologies the platform offers a low risk path for device manufacturers to create high volume, premium capability LTE multi-mode products for multiple market segments quickly and effectively, without having to make any compromises in terms of features or user experience.”

“The whole mobile industry is undoubtedly committed to LTE as the technology of choice for 4G services. However, it becomes increasingly challenging adding LTE to an already packed mobile devices that are required to support different legacy modes and bands,” said Malik Saadi, Principal Analyst, Informa Telecoms and Media. “In order to achieve global economies, vendors are keen to offer LTE multiband and multimode devices capable of roaming across different networks and regions, without compromising price, user experience, form factor, or power consumption.”

Renesas Mobile has brought its extensive consumer electronics industry expertise to the development of the platform, ensuring that the MP5232 benefits from the latest process technologies, methodologies and multimedia capabilities. The resulting platform is smarter by design with the lowest possible platform cost compared to current generation chipsets and an extremely high level of integration. In addition, the platform benefits from a unique modem architecture designed to consume the lowest possible power. Scalability and flexibility are baked in, allowing OEMs to create devices that address multiple price points and segments with minimal development time and maximum hardware and software reuse. Certified and proven technologies ensure that development, certification and maintenance costs are reduced.

Based on the Renesas Mobile’s state-of-the-art application processor technology, the MP5232 platform delivers a no-compromise user experience with 1.5GHz dual-core computing power, industry-leading graphics, video and imaging capabilities. The platform supports differentiating features including multi-camera and multi-display support, full HD 1080p multi-format video encoding/decoding, stereoscopic 3D (S3D) video and advanced graphics to deliver a console-like gaming experiences and engaging user interfaces.

Renesas Mobile consulting and support services leverage the company’s extensive system and production expertise to provide assistance at all stages of implementation, from design through to production. This support significantly reduces not only development time, but also production tuning and test time.

Availability
Samples of the MP5232 platform are available Q1 2012 to lead OEM’s in the form of reference designs together with supporting documentation, software and hardware. Pricing is available on request.

MediaTek MT6575 single-core ARM Cortex-A9 launched!

Posted by – February 14, 2012

Here’s the third generation MediaTek ARM Processor for low-cost Android phones! This can make the sub-$100 Android phones (no contract, not subsidized) better than the performance of a Nexus One. With support for dual-SIMs, qHD displays, 8MP camera, 720p video playback/recording, 3G/HSPA modem, SGX Series5 GPU (SGX540?). MediaTek claims:

MT6575 offers over 35% improvement for browser applications and over 20% improvement in graphics capabilities for gaming when compared to competitors’ best offerings in these segments.

I don’t know which competitors best offerings MediaTek is comparing with. Are they talking about AmLogic AML8726-M? ST-Ericsson U4500? Freescale i.MX6Solo?

The MT6575, delivered in 40nm CMOS technology, builds on the proven track record of the 2nd generation MT6573 platform – i.e., the platform that powers the Lenovo A60, China Unicom’s top selling handset in the sub‐RMB 1000 (approx. $160 USD) smartphone category.

The MT6575 is currently being incorporated into the latest smartphone offerings by many of MediaTek’s leading customers and the first smartphone models based on this new platform will hit the market in the first quarter of 2012.

Source: mediatek.com

Chrome for Android now released

Posted by – February 7, 2012

This confirms my expectation for Ice Cream Sandwich, that Chrome OS and Google TV are being merged with Android. I’ve been talking about it since my October 5th ICS predictions and way before in May 2011, January 2011 and February 2010.

A full Chrome Browser in Android can be the key to see the huge market for ARM Powered Laptops explode.

Look forward to having a full ChromeOS-like Laptop experience on your ARM Powered Android Tablet as soon as you plug a Keyboard dock to it. Look forward to having a full Chromebox-like experience when you connect the HDMI output of your Smartphone to a PC monitor or HDTV and use a Bluetooth or USB Host Keyboard and mouse.

The main question is now to test the performance of the full Chrome browser on Android, I’d like to see its performance on the Galaxy Nexus that has the high memory bandwidth OMAP4460 1.2Ghz and 1.5Ghz processor. I’d like to see its performance on OMAP4470 1.8Ghz, and Tegra3 1.3Ghz. I think the Chrome browser performance on those Android devices can now be faster than on a Netbook.

Obigo Browser on TV, Smartphone, Tablet and more

Posted by – January 24, 2012

Obigo shows their web browser running on a smart TV, on a Smartphone, Tablet and more. Their software solution on Android also enables to customize home replacements for Android based on HTML5.

Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone 7.5 at CES 2012

Posted by – January 21, 2012

The Nokia Lumia 900 has a 4.3″ 800×480 Clearblack AMOLED screen, runs on a single core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and runs on the 4G/LTE network. This is the new big marketing push at CES from Nokia and Microsoft, the Nokia Lumia 900 is already the third Nokia Windows Phone device after the 710 and 800.

MHL at CES 2012

Posted by – January 20, 2012

Judy Chen, Director of Marketing at MHL presents the latest developments at the MHL Consortium, the latest list of devices to support the new standard. It looks like most new high-end phones, HDTVs and new types of devices are using the MHL connector and are part of the MHL Consortium, the reason being having everything go through one Micro-USB connector on the side of devices makes them simpler, thinner, cheaper to manufacture.

Rockchip RK2918 Ice Cream Sandwich Smartphone

Posted by – January 19, 2012

Rockchip is showing Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich running on their 3.5″ 800×480 capacitive sub-$100 Android phone. This phone is on the Chinese market with China Mobile on their CDMA network.

Freescale i.MX6 Lite Series launched at CES 2012

Posted by – January 19, 2012

Freescale launches 2 new i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9 processors at CES 2012, while demonstrating the performance of their quad-core, they are also launching the new i.MX 6SoloLite processor, which is designed specifically for next-generation eReaders and is the follow-on to the company’s i.MX508 processor and the dual-core i.MX 6DualLite, targeting a broad array of smart devices and products including tablets, IPTVs, IP phones, medical patient monitoring systems and home energy management solutions.

Phaeton DVIP $200 Android Watch uses MTK6516 with dual-SIM

Posted by – January 17, 2012

Shenzhen Phaeton Nice Electronic High-Tech Manufacturing Co Ltd is showing this Android Watch shown at CES 2012. It supports 2 SIM GPRS/voice cards on the MTK6516 processor, soon they’ll use the faster 3G-enabled MTK6573 processor. For now it’s Froyo, the MTK6573 may support Ice Cream Sandwich soon, to be confirmed. So this is not just an Android watch, thanks to the Mediatek processor, it can replace your smartphone. It has a built-in camera, MicroSD card slot, speaker, microphone and more. It uses a 2″ 320×240 QVGA capacitive touch screen, standby battery can be about 1 week, 36 hours active use, to be confirmed. The price is just $200 for bulk orders, minimum order quantity of 500. They also show a $70 1.5″ feature phone watch and a

Kente shows $185 Galaxy Note clone and $133 Galaxy S2 clone, mediatek MTK6573 based

Posted by – January 17, 2012

Check out these nice looking cheap Android phones, using the MTK6573 ARM11 650Mhz processor, the performance is decent and it supports HSDPA 3G as well as a second GPRS/voice 2G SIM card. The price is about $185 for the Galaxy Note clone with a 5″ LCD screen, and $133 for the Galaxy S2 clone. The company is soon going to provide the same design based on the Qualcomm MSM7227 HSPA enabled ARM11 processor. Consider those prices are only for bulk orders of 1000 units or more, can be negotiated. The quality of these new Mediatek MTK6573 based Android phones seems great for the price!

VMware shows smartphone virtualization on the LG Revolution

Posted by – January 15, 2012

VMware now supports a secure enterprise version of Android at the same time as you can run your personal “hackable” version of Android, both on the same device in a fully secure virtualized way.

ZTE X501, 3.5″ HVGA cheap Android phone

Posted by – January 14, 2012

ZTE is showing this cheap 800Mhz Android phone. It will definitely sell below $100 unlocked or on pre-paid.