It looks like the price war on the market of mobile system-on-chips is in full swing. Just a day after Allwinner announced a quad-core application processor that will be sold for $4, it transpired that Intel Corp. already sells its quad-core Atom products for $5. Without making any announcements, Intel has …
Read More »First mobile devices with LPDDR4 memory to emerge in 2015
Although Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have been sampling LPDDR4 memory for mobile devices for well over half of a year now, actual devices featuring the new type of low-power dynamic random access memory will not hit the market until the second half of next year. According to market analysts, …
Read More »Microsoft commands 94.5% of Windows Phone 8 smartphones market
It is not a secret that Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone platform is far from being truly popular. Even though formally it is supported by a dozen of vendors, many have not released anything based on the operating system. As a result, it is not surprising that the most popular Windows …
Read More »Allwinner introduces quad-core processor for $4
Allwinner, a Chinese maker of application processors for mobile devices, said this week that its A33 system-on-chip is now in mass production. The A33 is the world’s first quad-core application processor that costs only $4 and thus can enable very affordable smartphones or tablets. Moreover, the developer claims that the …
Read More »BlackBerry to encrypt voice calls thanks to acquisition of Secusmart
Less than two weeks after Apple and IBM agreed to offer enterprise-tailored services with sophisticated security, BlackBerry, whose main customers are enterprises, governments and other organizations requiring advanced security, announced a plan to acquire Secusmart GmbH. The take-over enriches BlackBerry’s extensive security technologies with high-security voice and data encryption and …
Read More »Intel wants its ‘SoFIA’ chips to power $50 smartphones
It is not a secret that Intel Corp. pins a lot of hopes on its code-named SoFIA system-on-chips for affordable smartphones and tablets. The company needs to drive its x86 architecture to these markets so to ensure that it can sell chips for mobile devices going forward. While SoFIA promises …
Read More »Samsung delays launch of Tizen smartphone due to lack of programs
Samsung Electronics has once again decided to delay commercial launch of its Galaxy Z smartphone based on the Tizen operating system. The new postponement was conditioned by the lack of programs for the smartphone. “To further enhance the Tizen ecosystem, Samsung plans to postpone the launch of Samsung Z in …
Read More »Apple quietly refreshes Retina Macbook Pro lineup
Earlier today the Apple Store went down for a few minutes, which is usually a telltale sign that the company is about to update a product lineup. Once the Apple Store came back online we were greeted with upgraded Retina Macbook Pro's featuring updated Intel CPU's and more RAM. The …
Read More »LG readies Windows Phone 8.1-based smartphone
Although Microsoft Corp. and LG Electronics announced intention to bring Windows Phone-based smartphones to the market earlier this year, LG has not yet introduced any actual products. According to unofficial information, the South Korean maker of smartphones is working on a mid-range Windows Phone-based handset, which is projected to emerge …
Read More »Microsoft may cease using Lumia brand – report
Although Microsoft Corp. can use Nokia’s trademark and brand-name for ten years, it looks like the company plans to cease using the Nokia name rather shortly from now. Moreover, the company even plans to phase out the Lumia brand as well. DigiTimes reports that Microsoft wants to completely get rid …
Read More »Apple has completed 30 acquisitions this fiscal year so far
With over $40 billion (£23.54 billion, €29.7 billion) on its bank account, Apple can make a lot of acquisitions without even noticing them. Moreover, sticking to its tradition of secrecy, Apple rarely makes announcements regarding its acquisitions. But the consumer electronics giant is more than active when it comes to …
Read More »Microsoft Surface sales are down 18% quarter-over-quarter
Sales of Surface tablets in the second quarter of calendar 2014 (Q4 FY2014) were significantly lower compared to the previous quarter, according to Microsoft. At the same time, sales of the company’s professional and media tablets in the fiscal 2014 were considerably higher compared to the Surface revenues a year …
Read More »PCSpecialist Optimus V X13 Review
UK system builder PCSpecialist have earned an excellent reputation in recent years by delivering cost effective rigs, using high grade components. Today we look at one of their new mobile systems, the Optimus V X13. This diminutive 13.3 inch laptop is loaded to the gills with high end hardware, including …
Read More »Dell gives free tablet with PC or electronics purchase
For a limited amount of time the Dell Venue 7 media tablet will cease to be a product and will become a competitive advantage of Dell. The PC maker on Wednesday kicked off a campaign that grants every U.S. student who purchases a personal computer, a large display, or a …
Read More »PQI debuts world’s first storage drive with Apple Lightning, USB connectors
Power Quotient International (PQI), a well-known maker of NAND flash and DRAM memory solutions, on Wednesday released the industry’s first flash storage drive with USB 2.0 and Apple Lightning interfaces. The device is designed to backup data from various Apple devices with the Lightning connector in order to free up …
Read More »ARM develops new-generation 64-bit ARMv8 microprocessors
ARM Holdings, the company whose microprocessor architectures power the vast majority of mobile devices, is working on the second-generation of 64-bit central processing units based on the ARMv8 micro-architecture. Not a lot of details are known about the chips now. What ARM has revealed so far is that they are …
Read More »‘Selfies’ push Sony to invest in image sensors
It's a strange day when a trend like “selfies,” can lead to hundreds of millions worth of investment. It looks like Sony just threw 35 billion yen (£202 million) at its imaging sensor factory in order to increase its production by around 13 per cent, all in a push to …
Read More »Apple delays launch of MacBook Air 12” because of Intel’s ‘Broadwell’
Being a very close partner of Intel Corp., Apple naturally depends on the chipmaker’s ability to supply new central processing units on time. Apparently, the delay of Intel’s next-generation code-named “Broadwell” processor caused Apple to reconsider its own plans and now the highly-anticipated MacBook Air 12” with retina-class display is …
Read More »Microsoft to cease development of Asha, feature-phones
While Microsoft Corp.’s chief executive officer Satya Nadella outlined a lot of details about the future strategy of the company last week, recently some additional details have emerged. As it appears, the strategy of the company when it concerns smartphones in particular and mobile communications in general is very simple and …
Read More »Sales of Nokia Lumia devices improve, but not significantly
Sales of Lumia branded smartphones on the second quarter of calendar 2014 were up sequentially and year-over-year, but remained generally low. Despite of efforts by Nokia Corp. and Microsoft Corp., sales of Windows Phone-based Lumia handsets are below shipments of Nokia's Symbian-based smartphones several years ago. Microsoft on Tuesday said …
Read More »Apple orders 70 million iPhones ahead of launch
Earlier this month, KitGuru got an exclusive image of what we believe to be the iPhone 6 and now we have news that Apple has reportedly ordered 70 million iPhone units to be manufactured ahead of the device's launch in September this year. The iPhone 6 will sport a larger 4.7 Inch …
Read More »Nvidia officially reveals the Shield tablet
Last week, KitGuru was invited to a press event in London, where Nvidia showed off its Shield tablet and controller for the very first time. The Shield tablet has been designed to deliver a console experience through Nvidia's own technologies such as Shadow Play and Game-Stream. The device aims to deliver console …
Read More »Lenovo denies plans to cease selling small Windows tablets
Lenovo Group has issued a special statement denying plans to cease selling Microsoft Windows-based media tablets with displays smaller than 10” in the U.S. and Canada. Apparently, the company is working on new tablets with smaller screens for the aforementioned markets. The slates are projected to become available later this year. …
Read More »Google not happy with Samsung’s wearables based on Tizen OS
Since Samsung Electronics is the largest maker of smartphones based on the Android operating system, it is a strategically important partner of Google. Since the search giant pins a lot of hopes on Samsung, it is naturally very frustrated that the South Korean company invests into Tizen operating system in …
Read More »Cortana will be coming to UK Windows Phones within two weeks
When Microsoft announced the launch of Cortana, its Windows Phone based voice assistant, UK owners were told that they would have to wait until late 2014 to try it out. However, that date seems to have been brought forward as UK Windows Phone users can expect to receive Cortana sometime …
Read More »Apple-IBM deal: good news for Apple and IBM, bad news for BlackBerry and Microsoft
The agreement between Apple and IBM will inevitably have a lot of effects on the industry of personal computers as well as mobile devices. For example, BlackBerry and Microsoft Corp. will clearly lose sales because of the new collaboration. Meanwhile, the partnership essentially brings IBM back to the personal computing …
Read More »Intel may delay next-gen Atom processors made using 14nm tech
Last year Intel announced plans to accelerate its Atom roadmap and produce its low-power/low-cost products at the same nodes as its leading-edge chips for desktops and notebooks. Apparently, the widely-discussed issues with the 14nm general-purpose process technology seem to also affect Intel’s 14nm process for low-power system-on-chips. According to a …
Read More »Lenovo discontinues small-screen Windows tablets in North America
Several months after Microsoft Corp. made its Windows operating system free for devices with displays smaller than 9”, Lenovo Group decided to discontinue its Windows-based tablets with 8” screens in the U.S. because of the lack of interest from the end-users. The same actions can follow in other parts of …
Read More »Microsoft to phase-out Nokia X Android-based smartphones
As part of its major restructuring plan announced on Thursday, Microsoft Corp. will phase out its Google Android-based smartphones and will offer more affordable Lumia devices in order to address customers in budget as well as developing markets. Additionally, Microsoft announced plans to focus on higher-end smartphones and fight against …
Read More »Intel: We will integrate 3G/4G modems into all our platforms
Intel Corp. said this week that its future PC platforms will be equipped with its own 3G/4G modems so to enable wireless Internet connectivity everywhere and on every device. The move will clearly make notebooks and slates with integrated baseband capabilities more affordable eventually, whereas Intel’s chips will get more …
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