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NEC LaVie Y brings Lenovo’s 360-degree IdeaPad Yoga hybrid tablet to Japan
Don’t think that Lenovo is keeping the IdeaPad Yoga’s bendy secrets all to itself: its Japanese partner NEC is bringing a variant of the ARM-based Yoga 11 to the land of the rising sun as the LaVie Y. The 11.6-inch blend of laptop and tablet keeps the signature 360-degree display, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as its more internationally-minded counterpart, and confirms that there’s a quad-core Tegra 3 powering either of the Windows RT systems. What differences exist will stem from the software: there’s hints of a custom NEC app on an otherwise vanilla interpretation of Microsoft’s platform. The LaVie Y should precede its IdeaPad sibling by days, arriving in stores around November 22nd, although any local buyers will pay dearly for the privilege with an estimated $1,136 price. We’d suggest that patience ought to be a virtue for everyone else.
NEC
Acer Iconia Tab A110 reaches North America on October 30th for $230, faces a tough fight
Acer hasn’t had an easy mid-year: it trotted out the Iconia Tab A110 at Computex as a budget Android tablet that could still claim Tegra 3 speeds, only to watch the Nexus 7 arrive and leave virtually every other comparable tablet in a tight spot. It’s North America’s turn at the A110 this month, and the side-by-side looks aren’t getting much easier. When the 7-inch Jelly Bean slate ships to the continent on October 30th, it will cost $230 in both the US and Canada for the lone 8GB version — a better value than we see in Europe, but still a slightly awkward middle ground between an 8GB Nexus 7 at $199 and its $249, 16GB edition. We’re guessing that Acer is counting on the microSD and micro-HDMI expansion to tempt would-be North American buyers away from a less flexible (if Google-blessed) rival.
Google Nexus 7 overclocked to 2GHz, punches well above its weight
The stock Nexus 7 peaks at a 1.3GHz clock speed when it’s at full burn. That’s certainly good enough for the $199 price tag, but eager adopters have just hit a new record in trying to wring out even more of a bang for the buck. Courtesy of a custom Elite kernel from XDA-Developers‘ Clemsyn, the Tegra 3 in the mini tablet will scale all the way to a heady 2GHz. You’d be right in suspecting that it leads to some dramatic speed boosts: the Nexus 7 at this pace can put a Transformer Prime to shame in common benchmarks, let alone most smartphones. Reaching the loftier heights of performance does require nerves of steel, however. The Elite kernel is very much a rough build that the creator doesn’t yet trust with the public, and NVIDIA’s processor is already known to get toasty under significantly added stress. There’s hope a refined kernel will make for a safer venture into unknown territory. If you can’t wait to throw at least some caution (and the warranty) to the wind, though, hit the second source link for code that will reach a slightly less melt-prone 1.8GHz.
Toshiba announces Excite 10, 7.7 and 13 tablets, Thrive slates on their way out
You complained, Toshiba listened. After its Thrive tablets were widely panned for their short battery life and chunky, cheap-feeling design, the outfit decided to put those models out to pasture and start anew. So bid goodbye to the Thrives, then, and say hello to the Excite 7.7, 10 and 13 (yes, 13). If you’ve been paying attention, these are the same tablets we first saw in prototype form at CES (and again at Mobile World Congress), complete with their slim builds and textured aluminum backs. Now, though we know that all three will pack NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 SoC, and ship with unskinned Ice Cream Sandwich. The 7.7, in particular, sports the same AMOLED display inside the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, while the 13-incher steps up to 1600 x 900 resolution (as opposed to 1280 x 800). Oh, and for those of you who think you’ll miss the 10-inch Thrive’s full-sized SD slot, that feature carries over to the Excite 10 and 13. (As you can imagine, there was no room for the full-sized USB and HDMI ports on tablets this thin.)
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Acer Iconia Tab A510 Goes Up For Pre-order
Acer showed off their new NVIDIA Tegra 3 powered Iconia Tab A510 at this years CES and now the device is available to pre-order direct from Acer, and it comes with the latest version of Google’s mobile OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The Acer Inconia Tab A510 is powered by a quad core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and it features a 10.1 inch multi-touch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.
Other specifications on the Iconia Tab A510 include 1GB of RAM and 32GB of built in storage, it will also feature a microSD card slot, a mini-HDMI port and a mini-USB port, and it is available to pre-order for $450.
Source Gizmodo
Splashtop THD lands on ICS Tegra 3 tabs, ready to stream full-screen Skyrim
Splashtop is one of the premier remote desktop apps out there and, at CES, we got a pretty sweet demo of it pushing full screen games and HD video from a Windows 7 PC to a Tegra 3 tablet. Now that version (THD) is available for download in the Android Market for $6.99. Of course, you’ll need a Tegra 3 slate running Ice Cream Sandwich to take advantage, while playing Skyrimin full screen has the added requirement of PC sporting a GeForce GPU. Once you’ve gotten those basic requirements out of the way you’ll still want to make sure you’ve got a solid and quick wireless connection — all the processing power in the world won’t be able to compensate for a lack of bandwidth. Check out the video after the break to see it in action and hit up the source link to buy it yourself.
HTC One X Hits The UK April The 5th
Yesterday we were told by a couple of UK retailers that the HTC One X would be available in the UK in April, and now it would appear that we may have a possible release date.
Amazon has listed the HTC One X one their UK website with a release date of the 5th of April, although they have the device up for pre-order for £530, which is about £30 more than other retailers in the UK.
As a reminder the HTC one X features quad core 1.5GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and it features a 4.6 inch HD Super LCD 2 touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels.
The device also comes with a a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera which is capable of 720p video and a rear facing 8 megapixel camera which is capable of full high definition video in 1080p, plus Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The HTC One X has 32GB of built in storage and 1GB of RAM, we don’t as yet have any pricing details for the UK mobile carriers as yet as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.
Source Android and Me, Amazon
NVIDIA Says Tegra 3 “Superphones” Will Ship This Quarter
We have already heard about a number of quad core smartphones that will be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor, many of which are expected to be announced at MWC 2012 later this month.
During their recent earnings call NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced that they expect the first Tegra 3 powered smartphones to be announced at MWC and they will start shipping before the end of the quarter.
This means that we will see the first quad core smartphones will hit the store by the end of March at the latest, and we are expecting to see the devices launched my manufacturers like HTC, LG and more.
As soon as we get some more information on which companies will be launching quad core Tegra 3 powered smartphones at MWC 2012 we will let you guys know.
Source Droid Life
Exclusive: Fujitsu’s Arrows prototype, new quad-core Tegra 3 smartphone eyes-on (video)
We’ve been hitting Fujitsu phones for a while, looking in awe at the super-thin gear that remained firmly in the hands of the Japanese. Fortunately the Consumer Electronics Show is the perfect time for the company to further tease us with a product that might just make a trip to the west. Yesterday we got our mitts onto the Arrows Mu and today we’ve got a really special exclusive: a first look at the prototype of the quad-core packing Arrows super-phone. So, what delights are tucked inside and is this going to be the phone of 2012? Head on past the break to find out.
Nvidia mostra la video anteprima di Shadowgun su Tegra 3
Dopo aver visto qualche breve anteprima e alcuni screenshots dimostrativi riguardo le potenzialità di Tegra 3 e i miglioramenti grafici che questa SoC porterà in ambito gaming, Nvidia ha pubblicato un nuovo video più corposo dove vengono enfatizzate le nuove caratteristiche grafiche di Shadowgun nella versione Tegra 3 optimized. Polemiche a parte sulla politica di Nvidia e sul futuro della precedente piattaforma Tegra 2 che pare avviarsi inesorabilmente ad un troppo rapido declino, il nuovo trailer risulta interessante e mostra in maniera chiara cosa aspettarsi nel 2012 e quali saranno le potenzialità.
Il dettaglio generale appare leggermente migliorato e tutta la fisica pare trarre beneficio dal nuovo Hardware. Gestione delle luci migliorata ulteriormente, Texture e shader ottimizzati, effetti particellari all’ennesima potenza. La fisica realistica dell’acqua risalta, ma ancor più l’interazione di proiettili e di movimenti all’interno di essa. Miglioramenti palpabili che sembrano non intaccare il Framerate e che rendono meglio l’idea delle potenzialità in ambito Gaming dei devices Android nel prossimo 2012.
Transformer Prime detailed: 10-inch Super IPS+ display, 12-hour battery and quad-core Tegra 3, ships in December for $499
NVIDIA says Tegra 3 is a ‘PC-class CPU,’ has screenshots to prove it
Asus can’t be absorbing all those limelight photons today. Not when its freshly detailed Transformer Prime depends so heavily on NVIDIA’s special sauce. Admittedly, we already know a lot about Tegra 3 from its Kal-El days, but we haven’t seen much in the way of real-world performance claims. Until now, that is. Below you’ll see newly released screenshots of Android games that have been souped-up to capitalize on the imminent Asus Eee Pad as well as other Tegra 3-powered devices — including smartphones — that are expected early next year. NVIDIA has also put out slides containing in-house benchmarks and head-to-head comparisons with the Tegra 2, which you’ll find right after the break.
ARM unveils Cortex-A7 processor, ‘big.LITTLE’ computing
Fancy a glimpse of the future? That little psychedelic beauty on the right is ARM’s brand new Cortex-A7 processor. Its spec sheet might not seem so colorful at first glance, because it doesn’t really do things any faster than existing high-end smartphone processors. However, this UK-based manufacturer isn’t known for bumping its gums, so it pays to look a little deeper. For a start, the Cortex-A7 is built using a 28nm process that makes it five times smaller and more efficient than the current-gen Cortex-A8. It’s also cheap enough to power sub-$100 handsets, so we could be pulling GSII-like tricks on budget phones within a couple of years.
Is that it? Nope, there’s more: perhaps the most important feature of the A7 is that it can be combined with much higher-power cores like the Cortex-A15 side-by-side on the same chip. This allows a super-phone or tablet to switch between two totally different processing units depending on how much power is needed at the time. ARM calls this “Big.LITTLE” computing,” and a similar concept is already in use on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 (aka Kal-El) SoC, which we’ll see imminently in the next Asus Transformer. However, the Tegra 3 uses five identical Cortex-A9 cores, whereas a device that mix-and-matches the A15 and A7 could potentially deliver higher highs and lower lows, giving you speed when you need it and amazing battery life when you don’t. How cute is that? Full PR after the break.
NVIDIA releases Kal-El white papers, announces a fifth ‘Companion’ core for less demanding tasks
We’ve known about Kal-El — the quad-core mobile processor from NVIDIA — for a fair amount of time, but a lot of the finer details have remained a secret as we’ve anxiously awaited its debut in tablets and smartphones. Fortunately, we have some reading material to bide our time as the company published white papers discussing benefits of the new CPU, and for the most part it’s what you’d expect: NVIDIA touts higher performance, better battery life and improved physics-based gaming when more cores are involved and working together.
What came as a surprise to us was the fact that this quad-core CPU actually utilizes five cores: in addition to the standard four main Cortex A9 high-performance cores, Kal-El throws in a fifth Cortex A9 “companion” core specifically designed to handle less demanding tasks in effort to minimize power consumption caused by active standby processes. How is it done? The Companion core’s max operating frequency gets capped at 500MHz, offering higher performance and greater efficiency per watt when running menial tasks such as push email, Twitter / Facebook sync, widgets, background apps and live wallpapers. This leaves the four main cores free to take care of the stuff it does best — games, web browsing, transcoding / editing audio and video, 3D, physics simulations and image processing, to name a few — allowing performance bumps of up to 50 percent when compared to Tegra 2. We can tell that quad-core devices are going to make us very, very happy. If charts and geeky stats brighten up your day like it does ours, head to the source to read the papers in their entirety.
ASUS' next gen Eee Pad Transformer to pack NVIDIA's quad-core Kal-El, launch this October?
Fan of ASUS’ affordable, yet competitively specced Eee Pad Transformer, but still haven’t committed your credit to its 10.1-inches? Well, if this bout of rumor-mongering proves true, you might want to put the wallet down until early fall. Harbinger of supply chain gossip Digitimes is reporting that the electronics maker has just enlisted Wintek to provide touch panels for its next gen tablet, slated to launch this October. The parts supplier is said to be working in tandem with HannStar Display to ramp up production should this iteration be met with its predecessor’s unforeseen popularity. Adding more ambiguity to the speculative fire, ASUS’ Chairman Jonney Shih recently confirmed to Forbes that an updated Transformer is on its way, saying only that it’d be very “impressive,” and would be available before CES. Jonney didn’t comment on the upcoming slate’s supposed use of NVIDIA’s quad-core Kal-El, but with the chip’s promised August launch date, we wouldn’t rule it out. While talks of a Transformer 2 are still just gossamer promise, you can always snag that Eee Pad Sliderwhile you sit and wait.
