Lenovo Group, the largest supplier of personal computers in the world that wants to become a top smartphone maker, said that it had bought a portfolio of mobile patents from NEC Corp. The move should help Lenovo to avoid legal conflicts with other makers of smartphones and boost its own …
Read More »Google is planning an Android TV
Google is reportedly planning to release an Android TV, the new service will go head to head against Amazon's recently launched Fire TV as well as the rumoured revamped Apple TV. However, this isn't Google's first time releasing a TV service, previously the company released Google TV but it failed …
Read More »Company offers Apple iPhone 5 dock made of concrete
There are plenty of various docs for Apple’s iPhones and iPods, which have different capabilities and look. Apparently, the guys from Hannover, Germany-based Hardwrk company decided to make a dock that would also feel differently and created an iPhone 5 dock made of pure concrete. The hardwrk Massive Dock dock …
Read More »Microsoft Office apps for iPad hit 12 million downloads
Microsoft Corp. has announced that its Office applications for Apple iPad were downloaded more than 12 million times in just one week. At present, the Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint applications are top free apps in Apple’s AppStore. But is 12 million really a lot? “More than 12 million downloads …
Read More »iOS 8 could feature a revamped Siri
The dates for this year's WWDC were just announced and we've already got an idea of what we could expect to see at the event. Apple recently acquired Novauris, a research firm previously owned by Dragon Systems, which is well known for for its voice dictation technology. Apple did comment on …
Read More »Dell XPS 15 9530 Review
Today we take a look at a 2014 model laptop from Dell. The DELL XPS 15 9530 is a pretty standard looking 15″ laptop, but it incorporates an ultra high QHD+ resolution touch-screen (3200 x 1800 pixels), a quad core i7-4702HQ CPU with 16GB of DDR3 and a Nvidia GT 750m. …
Read More »Survival of the fittest: Galaxy S5 vs. Galaxy S4 drop/crash test
One of the most important features of modern smartphones is, without any doubts, their ability to survive during drops, falls and other incidents. The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is clearly better than the Samsung Galaxy S4 from 2013 when it comes to performance and design. But which one is more …
Read More »ImgTec MIPS-based platform for wearable electronics announced
With the introduction of Google Android Wear operating system, hardware makers developing ultra-low-power chipsets started to unveil their platforms for wearable devices, such as smart-watches or smart-eyewear. Imagination Technologies, a leading designer of general purpose processing cores as well as multimedia and graphics processing engines, said this week that it …
Read More »Intel reveals code-named ‘Braswell’ microprocessors for low-cost PCs
Intel Corp. this week revealed the name of its new-generation code-named Braswell system-on-chip that will power upcoming value notebooks and desktops. The new chip will be made using a leading-edge process technology and will combine relatively high performance, small footprint, low power consumption and low cost. Intel did not reveal …
Read More »Microsoft officially announces its answer to Siri- Cortana
It has been rumoured for a while but Microsoft has finally officially revealed Cortana, the Windows Phone version of Siri or Google Now. The Halo AI inspired voice assistant will be available in the next Windows Phone 8.1 update which is due to arrive in the US in beta form …
Read More »Microsoft to drop Windows license fees for select devices
Microsoft Corp. announced at the Build 2014 conference on Wednesday that it would waive licensing fees for special versions of Windows operating systems for select devices. Microsoft wants to enable partners to offer lower-cost systems in the highly competitive smartphone, tablet and PC categories. Microsoft Windows will be available for …
Read More »Chromebook shipments totaled just around 2.1 million units in 2013
Although a number of PC makers are pretty vocal about the success of notebooks based on ChromeOS operating system, actual sales of such computers are pretty low, according to market analysts. Apparently, the global market share of Chromebooks in 2013 was about 0.6 per cent. ABI Research estimates that 2.1 …
Read More »Apple Mac Pro shipments estimates stretched to 5-6 weeks
Apple has quietly delayed mass availability of its premium desktop again. At present the company offers to pre-order the new Mac Pro and get it in five or six weeks from now, sometimes in May. It looks like more than four months after the official launch date, Apple still cannot …
Read More »Microsoft may launch Windows Phone 8.1 later this month
Although the code-named “Blue” updates were supposed to modernize virtually all products and services offered by Microsoft Corp., the Windows Phone still has not received its updates nearly half a year after the launch of Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1. However, the wait seems to be nearly over as, …
Read More »Qualcomm confirms plans to support Microsoft DirectX 12
Although Qualcomm took part in the announcement of Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface, the company’s plans regarding support of the new API were not completely clear. Last week an executive of Qualcomm confirmed that the future Adreno graphics cores will fully support DirectX 12. The current Snapdragon 800 …
Read More »Toshiba launches application processor for wearable devices
Toshiba Corp. has introduced its first application processor designed for wearable computing devices. The system-on-chip will be available later this year. The new ApP Lite TZ1001MBG chip will power such devices as activity monitors, smart watches, bracelet- and glasses. Toshiba ApP Lite TZ1001MBG integrates ARM Cortex-M4F processor (with 48MHz clock-rate) …
Read More »HTC admits to One (M8) benchmark cheating
It seems that some phone makers are still cheating in Android benchmarks as HTC has admitted that it optimised the One (M8) to push itself harder than normal in order to get higher benchmark results. People began suspecting that this was the case when the new HTC phone began dominating …
Read More »Lenovo recalls 150 thousand laptop batteries due to fire hazard
Lenovo Group on Friday said it would recall as many as 150 thousand laptop batteries due to fire hazard. The batteries powered over ten different ThinkPad notebook models, which were on sale in the U.S., Canada and China. According to the U.S. consumer product safety commission, Lenovo has received two …
Read More »BlackBerry sales fall 64% due to poor BB10 adoption
BlackBerry sales have taken another dive thanks to poor adoption of the BlackBerry 10 platform. The troubled phone maker posted a fiscal fourth quarter loss of $423 million down from a $98 million profit last year. Revenue also fell 64 per cent to $976 million. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts …
Read More »Dell licenses Android-, Chrome- and Xbox-related patents from Microsoft
Dell and Microsoft this week announced a patent licensing agreement that covers a broad set of intellectual property and also causes a lot of questions. Under the terms of the deal, Dell will obtain licenses to use Microsoft IP that covers Google Android and Chrome platforms. Moreover, Dell may get …
Read More »Microsoft launches free Office for Apple iPad, but there is a catch
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday made several announcements regarding Office suite applications for Apple iOS and Google Android mobile platforms. The company introduced Office for the iPad and free Office Mobile apps for iPhone and Android smartphones. While the applications are free to get, Microsoft requires Office 365 subscription to actually …
Read More »Apple quietly sells its 500 millionth iPhone smartphone
This quarter shipments of Apple iPhone have crossed the psychologically important milestone: 500 million units in life-to-date sales. Despite of the fact that Apple’s share is declining on the market of smartphones, the iPhone remains the most popular handset on the planet in terms of unit shipments. Steve Jobs demonstrated …
Read More »Cut the Rope dev hopes to cancel King’s ‘Candy’ trademark
Cut the Rope developer, ZeptoLab is currently fighting King.com's controversial trademark of the word “Candy” on the grounds that the trademark hinders fair use of the word in the development community. If ZeptoLab's push is successful, then King will lose the trademark in Europe and game developers can freely use …
Read More »Intel completes acquisition of wearable computing devices maker
Intel Corp. this week announced that it had finalised acquisition of Basis Science, a maker of wearable computing devices. The acquisition accelerates Intel's wearable products focus. It also brings access to new technology, and further expands the leadership team with new people who have a proven track record of innovation …
Read More »The new HTC One has been officially revealed
HTC has had a hard time keeping the new HTC One (M8) under wraps, over the last couple of months the device has been leaked in long, in depth videos and pictures but now the company has officially revealed its new flagship device- which is available to buy today. HTC …
Read More »Moto 360 to be customisable like the Moto X and Moto G
Last week Google announced the Android Wear operating system along with two partner devices, one of those devices was the Moto 360 which is arguably the most stylish smartwatch to date. Motorola has become known for its customisation options on the Moto X and Moto G and it looks like …
Read More »First details about the MacBook Air 12” get revealed
While Apple MacBook Air family has probably been the most popular Apple laptops for quite some time now, they were not significantly updated in the last three years. A media report claims that Apple plans to introduce an all-new MacBook Air 12”, which will not only have larger display than …
Read More »Apple mulls iTunes for Android, new music streaming service
Apple is thinking about releasing a version of iTunes music and content store for Google Android operating system, according to a media report. In addition, the consumer electronics giant is mulling to create an on-demand music service like Spotify in a bid to continue earning from selling music and digital …
Read More »Microsoft and Nokia deal won’t close until April
Microsoft's $7.17 billion Nokia buyout deal was announced late last year, the deal was expected to finally close this month however, regulators have delayed the finalisation until April as a few more approvals need to be made. Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Brad Smith, announced the small delay in a blog …
Read More »Sony: we are looking for 4K-capable smartphone hardware
Both analysts as well as developers of application processors for mobile devices are predicting the emergence of smartphones with ultra-high-definition displays in the foreseeable future. Even so, none smartphone makers have so far disclosed plans to launch such gadgets. A Sony executive this week was the first official for a …
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