Category: MWC

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.

Live from the Huawei Event at MWC Barcelona

Posted by – February 26, 2012
Category: HiSilicon, MWC, Android

Check back for close up HD videos of the latest Huawei news.

Huawei K3V2 Quad-core 40nm ARM Cortex-A9, with 64bit memory bandwidth. they claim it has the worlds fastest ARM performance.

Web Browsing on OMAP5 vs Tegra3

Posted by – February 22, 2012

Texas Instruments posted this video showing the web browsing speed on the upcoming TI Dual-core OMAP5 ARM Cortex-A15 processor running at “only” 800Mhz compared to a 1.3Ghz ARM Cortex-A9 Quad-core processor (sounds like Tegra3, but TI does not specify if that processor is the Tegra3, I think it probably is). The OMAP5 ARM Cortex-A15 finishes the 20 complex HTML5 full page loads (while playing an Mp3 file and downloading a video file) in 95 seconds and on Tegra3 it takes 201 seconds. Check back here on http://ARMdevices.net next week as I will film much more on the TI OMAP5 ARM Cortex-A15 processor as Texas Instruments is going to showcase it at their booth. Let me know here in the comments which questions you would like me to ask the TI representatives about the preformance of the OMAP5! I can think of asking them about memory bandwidth vs OMAP4460/OMAP4470 and vs Tegra3, what frequencies it can run at, how many cores, what GPU performance vs OMAP4460/OMAP4470 and vs Tegra3.

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

Some of my expectations for Mobile World Congress

Posted by – February 17, 2012
Category: Opinions, MWC, Android, Windows

The MWC is the ARM conference, all the latest fastest newest ARM Processors are unveiled, all the biggest Smartphones of the year are demonstrated, the Smartphone and Carrier industry generating Trillions of dollars of yearly economic activity converges in Barcelona between February 26th and March 1st, expect the best video coverage to be posted right here on ARMdevices.net!

Please help me in getting well prepared for this event, send me an email with any tips for awesome things to be shown at MWC that you think that I should video-blog. You can also post here in the comments what your expectations are for MWC, interesting leaks and prediction articles to check out, please let me know what you think I should film in priority.

Here are some of the topics which I am looking forward to see:

– ARM Cortex-A15 demonstrated by Texas Instruments, Samsung. Maybe Nvidia shows Project Denver for the first time. ST-Ericsson may show it also. Does Qualcomm have an equivalent Mega-Krait on demo?

– Single-core ARM Cortex-A9 becomes a huge deal. I expect sub-$100 Cortex-A9 smartphones based on MediaTek MT6575 and ST-Ericsson U4500. It’s a big deal it brings performance to the sub-$100 unlocked smartphones market which can be hundreds of millions of phones per year.

– Samsung upgrades Galaxy Nexus up to OMAP4470 1.8Ghz. Samsung upgrades Galaxy S2 to Plus with latest Exynos4 at 32nm (Dual 1.5-1.8Ghz or Quad 1.2-1.5Ghz?). Samsung upgrades tablets with 1200p screens, newest Exynos, TI OMAP4470 and/or Nvidia Tegra3?

– Sony goes crazy on Android. Expect powerful and good looking Sony Xperia phones with latest screen and processor technology. Sony needs Android for its economic recovery. Expect a new range of Sony branded phones.

Panasonic launches its ARM Cortex-A9 processor for other than Set-top-box/HDTV use? Maybe they use their dual-core for a Lumix phone. For people who care about the smartphone camera this is going to be good. Real point-and-shoot optics with a full Android smartphone integrated.

– Google acquires Motorola. Motorola announces new OMAP4460 1.5Ghz and OMAP4470 1.8Ghz phones and tablets with ICS. Makes Lapdock hardware system an open standard. Lapdock devices are now more powerful at Laptop productivity use than the Intel Atom netbook. Does Google use MWC to launch its Google Entertainment System for cheap Android@Home Hubbing, ARM Powered Google TV platform upgrade, new level of support for ARM Powered Native Code video-games and advanced ARM Powered Google Desktop software.

– LG aims very high, showing stuff even better looking than their LG Spectrum phone. Using fastest processors and latest IPS LCD HD screen technology. There is talk of Optimus 3D2 and X3.

– Huawei positions themselves as potential top challenger for smartphone volume of sales throughout the world. Launches the awesome OMAP4460 super slim P1S at (I guess sub-$300 unlocked) and shows their new Diamond series with even faster processor and even larger screen (I guess at sub-$400 unlocked). Also, launches range of low-cost sub-$100 Android phones with up to approx 4″ screen sizes and single-core ARM Cortex-A9 processing, thus near Galaxy S2 performance at sub-$100 unlocked pricing. Huawei wants to be one of the best value for price makers worldwide.

– ZTE does it like Huawei, cheap, good value, innondates the market with mid-range sub-$200 unlocked and sub-$100 low-cost.

– Microsoft shows off Windows 8 on ARM Tablets/Laptops convertibles, for the first time, journalists are allowed to actually play with it. They probably are going to give a thousand Windows 8 on ARM Tablets to developers at the conference. Expect Samsung, HTC, ZTE, Nokia to show Windows 8 on ARM Tablets/Laptops Convertibles. Microsoft announces plan to acquire Nokia.

Toshiba ramps up their tablets. Toshiba shows a successor to the AC100 ARM Powered Laptop, this time OMAP4470 1.8Ghz or Tegra3, ICS with an awesome Chrome for Android support.

– HTC shows Tegra3 and Qualcomm Krait stuff. May expand Wildfire to approx 4″ screen sizes and Single-core ARM Cortex-A9 level of performance for the sub-$200 unlocked smartphones market.

– Fujitsu joins the Android market with a new slim Tegra3 smartphone.

– For expensive high-end, 720p is the new standard for smartphones and 1200p is the new standard for tablets.

What do you expect from MWC?

MWC 2011 Highlights: My best MWC11 videos and the most important topics!

Posted by – February 22, 2011

I filmed and posted 75 videos from this years Mobile World Congress, I hope you enjoy watching some of those! Here are the highlights, the best topics of this show, making this possibly the most awesome trade show ever for ARM devices!

1. The Cheap Android Smartphone revolution
Yuhua Teltech sub-$200 4.3″ Touchstone
ZTE Sub-$200 4.3″ Skate, ZTE showed all the way down to $99 for 3.5″ ZTE Blade
– Huawei showed Sub-$150 Android
– Samsung showed sub-$200 phones such as the Sub-$200 3.5″ HVGA Galaxy Ace, Sub-$175 3.31″ QVGA Galaxy Fit and Sub-$150 3.14″ QVGA Galaxy Mini.
– MediaTek powers Sub-$80 Android Smartphones, that price is boxed in store! (excluding reseller margins): For example the Sub-$80 3.2″ QVGA 2G AnyData ASP320-Q
– ST-Ericsson showed their ARM Cortex-A9 Single Core U4500 platform to power Sub-$100 Smartphones within a year from now! The goal is Nexus One performance, longer battery runtime for Sub-$100 within a year from now!
– ST-Ericsson showed their current Sub-$100 U6715 ARM9 468Mhz range of phones, such as K-Touch W606, Acer beTouch E130, Coolpad W711 and the GHT Maestro, these are selling downwards $100 unsubsidized right now on the worldwide market.
– Alcatel One Touch

These are some of the cheap unsubsidized prices (boxed in store, no contracts needed, excluding reseller margins) for the cheapest Android Smartphone ARM SoC platforms that were shown last week at this Mobile World Congress:
Taiwan based:
MediaTek at less than $100
– Infomax Communication at $80-90
China based:
– Leadcore Technology at $80-105
– Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics at $90-105 (I filmed Rockchip at CES)
US based:
– Qualcomm MSM7227 ARM11 ships in the largest amount of cheap 3G Android phones that are about to sell for as low as $100-120
– Broadcom is planning such solutions also to be priced at $100-120

The Cheap Android Smartphone revolution is a HUGE deal, it means a Billion more people might afford to get Internet access and mobile personal Internet features in the next couple of years or so. And this means a potential HUGE disruption of the carrier/manufacturer Smartphone industry, as more and more European and US consumers are going to choose Sub-$100 Android phones without the need for 2-year contracts anymore, those phones can be used on pre-paid and even using unlimited free VOIP over 3G or LTE data-only services pretty soon.

2. Honeycomb, the first real Tablet OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
– Motorola Xoom (Xoom at CES)
LG Optimus Pad
Malata’s upgraded Tegra2 tablets (designs used by ViewSonic, Interpad, Hannspree etc..)
– My Interview with Honeycomb Chief Designer Matias Duarte: He confirms Honeycomb has no minimum hardware requirements, this means, ALL ANDROID TABLETS, even ARM Cortex-A8, even all existing Archos, Samsung, Dell tablets, even 256MB RAM, even the cheaper Rockchip 2808 and 2818, even Telechips, all may be getting Honeycomb firmware upgrades. It’s certainly an important detail to find out how much Google engineers are planning to be involved reaching out to each of these lower cost ARM SoC platform providers in porting the Honeycomb to all these cheaper and already released Android tablets platforms once the Tegra2 devices are out, the source code and the UPGRADED CDD (Android 3.0 Compatibility Definition Document) is instantly released. Honeycomb Holographic UI elements might be disabled on cheaper hardware that have less processor, memory and graphics acceleration. This should happen and get fully explained by Google Engineers within a few days! Honeycomb is not only for $800 tablets.

Froyo for current Android tablets is just as good as iOS on iPad. Since Donut SDK are Android apps supporting medium density screens (= tablets). Honeycomb is simply the first time a high-end ARM Powered tablet OS has really been designed and optimized for tablet use. Playbook and WebOS may look nice and similar, but they have no ecosystem (nobody can compete with open and free), I expect HP and RIM will be forced to simply use and build on Android within months.

3. New ARM Cortex-A9 processors shown for the first time
– Texas Instruments OMAP4430 in LG Optimus 3D, 3D Parallax Barrier is actually awesome for video games! Look for Nintendo 3DS turning this into a big deal in the coming weeks and months
– OMAP4430 in the Blackberry Playbook, watch my video interview with RIM about Android Dalvik Engine support on the Blackberry Playbook
– Samsung Exynos with Mali-400 in Samsung Galaxy S2, it may get all the Atrix 4G features through the Mobile High-Definition Link connector, watch my interview on that
– Qualcomm MSM8660 in HP Touch Pad, watch my video showing 1080p 3D capture and playback on MSM8660
ST-Ericsson launches A9500 ARM Cortex-A9 Dual-core with Mali-400 development board for $200
ST-Ericsson launches U4500 ARM Cortex-A9 Single-core with Mali-400 for Sub-$100 Android Super Phones

4. First talk on Quad-core, Cortex-A15, next gen processors, arriving fast!
Texas Instruments OMAP Product Manager Brian Carlson talks OMAP5
– Qualcomm announced Quad-core 2.5Ghz,
Freescale talks i.MX6 Dual-core and Quad-core
Nvidia talks Quad-core, in products in August
ST-Ericsson talks ARM Cortex-A15 and NovaThor
– Broadcom announced ARM Cortex-A15 project

5. HSPA+ and LTE platforms launched
– ST-Ericsson launched Thor HSPA+ and Thor LTE platforms
Verizon showcased LTE, many of the new phones about to support this.
Novatel Wireless launched LTE Mifi

Google Android pins collectors, slides and a flash mob at Mobile World Congress 2011

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Google’s booth at Mobile World Congress was the most action packed, they generated a craze in people collecting Android pins that were spread all over the trade show, many people tried to get as many of the Android pins as possible, on the last day of the show, many people were going crazy exchanging them.

Android Native Code SDK for advanced Game Development

Posted by – February 22, 2011

HyperDevBox is a development company based in Tokyo Japan, developing games exclusively for Android. They are presenting Spectral Souls for Android, the first tactical RPG game for Android and explaining how the Android Native SDK is being used to run native C or C++ code, there is no Java code at all in the game.

Mobile Multi Display system by UMIC-RWTH of Aachen University

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Combine many tablets and smartphones into one big touchscreen. In this demo, 3 iPhones and 2 iPads are combined into one big touch screen. Any other Android smartphone or tablet can also be used. You can find more informations here: graphics.rwth-aachen.de

Metrogroup shows app for retail orders, NFC for supermarkets

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Basically, if you have a store, restaurant, hotel, you can use this smartphone app to order more stuff automatically.

Device Anywhere, testing applications

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Device Anywhere provides test center service for app developers, carriers, service providers to test apps and services accross all the devices using some kind of standard for testing. Basically they make it automatic to test stuff across all devices that people use on the market, to test and see what features may work more or less well.

Verizon launches LTE network

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Verizon is ramping up launch of LTE in the USA, they have LTE dongles for laptops out right now, in this video they show prototypes of devices with LTE that are coming out. They are suggesting 1080p video can be streamed using this network technology.

Novatel Wireless 4510 LTE Mifi

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Notavel Wireless is one of the leading makers of Mifi devices for 3G and they are now making LTE based Mifis to be supporting upwards 2-5mbitps upload and 5-12mbitps download speeds or more. The new Mifi has an eink display to show status and comes with more of the built-in applications on the Mifi OS that Novatel Wireless provides an SDK for.

Reuters: ARM CEO Warren East talks about Windows on ARM

Posted by – February 22, 2011
Category: MWC, ARM

At CES last month, Microsoft announced Windows for ARM, recently there has been rumors that Microsoft has over 1000 engineers working on it at full speed to get this released before the end of the year, here’s an interview by Reteurs with ARM CEO Warren East at the Mobile World Congress:

Found via: @ARMMobile on Twitter

Secusmart encrypts voice/sms/data in 2000€ MicroSD

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Secusmart encrypts mobile devices. They encrypt voice calls, sms, email, contacts, the calendar and more by using a special 2000€ MicroSD card with encryption capability on that card and a phone with a modified firmware. They plan to get the price down once they can build cheaper MicroSD cards with built-in NXP cryptocontroller and a hardware accelerator inside.

Tap n Tap Android user interfaces at Mobile World Congress 2011

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Tap ‘n Tap develops applications, user interfaces, to integrate deeply with hardware acceleration, delivering aa complete software stack to provide differentiated Android experiences for companies that want to implement alternative Android based UI on their tablets.

PTPT user interfaces at Mobile World Congress 2011

Posted by – February 22, 2011

ExB Communication Systems GmbH presents the PTPT touch screen interface, a suggested UI to manage “all the information around you”. PTPT stands for people, things, places and time. It’s an Android Home Replacement that will be available in the Google Marketplace next month.

Samsung Galaxy Fit

Posted by – February 22, 2011

An affordable 3.31″ QVGA capacitive Qualcomm MSM7227 ARM11 600Mhz powered Android Smartphone from Samsung. Compact, possibly to be sold below $150 without contracts needed, for example on pre-paid plans.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Posted by – February 22, 2011

This one has Playstation gaming controls that slide out, there will be Playstation Suite support meaning it’ll play all kinds of Playstation games that will be added by Sony to the Android platform. This is not the Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 5″ Sony NGP PSP2, but it may satisfy some gamers until that one comes out later in the year. It includes the Qualcomm MSM8255 with Adreno 205 graphics acceleration.