Category Archives: Android

HTC Ville C leaked specs show up, peculiarly similar to HTC One S

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 2:44 pm | HTC
Leave a comment

Cheer up, Desire C, it looks like you won’t be the only C device in HTC’s growing list of smartphones, despite the manufacturer’s pledge to release fewer devices this year.

A leaked screenshot of the HTC Ville C has been unearthed by the folks at BriefMobile, but not of the phone – just the specs. According to their source, the HTC Ville C will be offered as a more affordable alternative to the HTC One S. Let’s check out what the HTC Ville C supposedly has under its casing.

Starting from the exterior, the HTC Ville C is expected to be another ultra slim phone, but at this point, we can’t tell if it’s going to be as gorgeously thin as the HTC One S. From the picture, it appears the phone will be powered by a dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 S3 processor. But don’t get too excited just yet, because this was apparently a mistype and the actual speed is clocked at 1.2GHz. As for other specs, the HTC Ville C will come with a 4.3-inch qHD AMOLED screen, 16GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, 8MP rear camera, VGA front camera, and 1,650mAh battery.

Unsurprisingly, the HTC Ville C will get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The surprising part is seeing HTC Sense 4.5 being listed there. If it’s right on the money, we may see HTC rolling out the 4.5 UI overlay to its trio of flagship models before we see the HTC Ville C being released. Except for the S3 processor, the specs we’re seeing of the HTC Ville C now are very similar to HTC One S. Hopefully some pictures of the HTC Ville C will leak in the coming days to see how much resemblance it’ll have to the One S.

Are you digging the specs of the HTC Ville C so far, especially if it’ll be offered cheaper than the HTC One S?


NEXT: HTC Ville to launch on T-Mobile
HTC Ville HTC Ville Info Leaks; Sense 4.0, ICS, Qualcomm S4 Onboard htc HTC One X and HTC One S Specs Leaked Before Big Announcement

This article, HTC Ville C leaked specs show up, peculiarly similar to HTC One S , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


Good girl gone bad Carly promotes T-Mobile’s One S in new ad

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 2:35 pm | HTC
Leave a comment

If you’re familiar with Carly Foulkes, T-Mobile’s spokeswoman that has appeared in the carrier’s ads since 2010, but you haven’t watched the news lately, you might be in for a real shocker today.

“The cute girl in the pink dress” is now Bad Girl Carly and two recent ads promoting T-Mobile’s HTC One S are set to raise your blood pressure significantly in a matter of seconds. While the One S should have been the star of the new TV commercials, T-Mobile has risked a bit, attracting all male eyes on Carly, who is rocking a leather suit on an even sexier Ducati motorcycle.

We have a smoking hot young woman in a leather suit, a fantastic black-and-pink Ducati, and these ads are part of a campaign promoting a phone? I know, it might sound weird, but if you think about it, it’s quite smart. Both videos have the potential to become viral and to attract very large audiences, which should be the number one target of any advertising campaign. And even though not everyone will remember the ads as promoting T-Mobile and HTC’s One S, at least for some that might stick.

The first of the two ads, called “See It Again” (released a while ago), uses an advertising technique that I for one usually find cheap. T-Mobile’s HTC One S is compared with AT&T’s iPhone 4S, which is uncool from two reasons. First of all, I think that if you have a good enough product that you really trust, you should be able to promote it without attacking your competitors. Secondly and more importantly, I feel that T-Mo is taking a cheap shot at the iPhone 4S, which overall is a much better phone than the HTC One S, but that has some issues with connectivity speeds.

That being said, the actual commercial is not at all bad and you can see that it has cost T-Mobile some dough. I like the idea of the replay, showing exactly how faster is T-Mo’s One S in comparison with AT&T’s iPhone, and I loooove Carly’s cheeky smile and the way she “peaces out” the dude on the blue motorcycle.

The second ad, called “Fast Songs”, is not as controversial as “See It Again”, and only concentrates on a couple of the One S’s strong points, but then again it’s clearly less creative than the first commercial. Sexy Carly is showing off the phone’s Google Play Music capabilities before running off into the night on her snazzy bike.

All in all, this ad might actually do its job better than the first one, even though it won’t be as debated, as it shows off the HTC One S more. There’s also more Carly for us, so what’s there not to like?

What do you guys think of T-Mobile’s new ad campaign? Do you like the commercials? Do you like Carly better as a bad girl than as a cute girl in a pink dress?


NEXT: T-Mobile tries to save sinking ship. Image re-branding on the way [Updated]
tmobile girl T-Mobile Android 4.0 update schedule leaked, finally some good news for T-Mo users Our HTC Desire review – as good as it gets today

This article, Good girl gone bad Carly promotes T-Mobile’s One S in new ad , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


Mysterious Samsung “T699″ phone heading to T-Mobile, could it be the Galaxy Nexus?

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 2:25 pm | Samsung
Leave a comment

Aside from launching a controversial but exciting advertising campaign for the HTC One S, T-Mobile is reportedly making efforts to strengthen its smartphone line-up, in an attempt to get back in contention with the “big guys”.

T-Mo hasn’t done a very good job at picking up “hero” devices lately, the Galaxy S2 being pretty much the most noteworthy exception to that rule. A freshly leaked User Agent Profile hints at a new device coming to T-Mobile in the near future, and, while it might not be a “super phone”, it could actually turn things around a bit for the carrier.

Codenamed SGH-T699, the future Samsung handheld is shrouded in mystery, with the only technical detail known about it being the display it will sport. Yes, it will come with a 1280 x 720 pix res screen, which is on-par with what all of today’s high-end phones feature, including the Galaxy S3.

Before getting overly excited and start assuming that this will in fact be the Galaxy S3, we should tell you that we are almost certain it won’t be Sammy’s new flagship. That’s because the Galaxy Note is codenamed T879, according to TmoNews sources, and a T699 code means that the phone will be more modestly equipped than the “phablet”.

We can also assume from the leaked document that the future Samsung phone will be powered by an ARM11 CPU, which unfortunately doesn’t tell us a whole lot. However, we already have a pretty good idea of what this T699 might be. Considering its display and the fact that it will probably be a device that fits into the space between mid-rangers and high-tech, it’s most likely that T-Mobile will finally receive its own Galaxy Nexus.

Whether that’s good or bad news it’s pretty difficult to tell right now, considering that the Nexus is still a very popular device in the Android world, but also that it was released way back in November 2011 in Europe, and in December in the US via Verizon.

There’s also a possibility that the T699 is not the Galaxy Nexus, so, for the time being, you should not put all your eggs in this one basket and wait to hear more on the subject. We should find out exactly what the T699 is in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on our website!


NEXT: Samsung Galaxy W Shown in New Press Shots; Heading to T-Mobile as Samsung Exhibit II 4G
Samsung ‘Bigfoot’ still heading to T-Mobile primecanada-600x375 Galaxy Nexus (Prime) Heading to Canada Soon – Global Launch Imminent

This article, Mysterious Samsung “T699″ phone heading to T-Mobile, could it be the Galaxy Nexus? , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


HTC will not solve One X’s multitasking “issue”, regards it as a feature and not a glitch

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 12:13 pm | HTC
Leave a comment

“What in the world did HTC do to Android ICS multitasking?” That was the opening question on an xda-developers thread from last week, which talked about what many users consider a serious software glitch on the One X, HTC’s current flagship device.

According to the thread’s OP, but also to a lot of other One X users, memory management on HTC’s new device is too aggressive, with background apps closing too fast. While great for freeing up memory, this behavior threatens to significantly cripple the user experience of multitasking on Android.

Most of us are used to open a bunch of apps on our Android devices and keep them open, even though we aren’t using them all at the same time, to be able to quickly access some of them later. The One X reportedly doesn’t allow this, closing pretty much any app in stand-by after a short while.

That wouldn’t be very serious if it only happened when memory started to run out, or if you got any sort of warning before an app was “killed”, would it? Well, unfortunately, there isn’t any kind of notification and apps are being shut down as soon as others are opened, making browsing, IM-ing, or listening to music on the One X a real hassle.

The shocker, however, comes straight from HTC. The company has publicly addressed the “issue” and… well, it doesn’t look at it as a problem, glitch, or bug. On the contrary, the company feels that “multitasking is operating normally according to our custom memory management specifications which balance core ICS features with a consistent HTC Sense experience.”

In other words, the swift closing of dormant apps is an HTC Sense feature, added to make the One X, as well as other phones featuring the new UI, last longer on a single battery charge. That may be a noble cause and everything, but what about us, the users that want an intuitive phone that allows us to do what we want, when we want it, and how we want it?

I mean, is autonomy so important that we can’t even leave a game on stand-by for a couple of minutes and pick things up from where we left them, without saving the session and re-opening the app? And when phones sign out of Google Talk seemingly randomly, is HTC somehow doing us a favor? These are just a couple of the questions that HTC will need to answer soon, before sales begin to suffer.

Do you guys agree with us, that multitasking as HTC sees it right now is against all we love at Android? Or is their approach a good solution to increase battery life?


NEXT: HTC One X issue breaks Android multi-tasking
Rogers stops sale of HTC Dream due to 911 glitch Rogers HTC Magic also plagued by 911 glitch

This article, HTC will not solve One X’s multitasking “issue”, regards it as a feature and not a glitch , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


Tizen OS shown running Android apps on video

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 11:30 am | Samsung
Leave a comment

Tizen Logo genie

With Samsung reportedly planning to pull the plug on Bada OS by next year, the Korean company will be able to allocate more resources to its fledgling Tizen mobile operating system.

Tizen is a new open source mobile platform that Samsung and Intel have been developing under the Tizen Association umbrella. But mind you, it’s not an exclusive association of the two giants — Sprint has also joined the club recently and promised to carry Tizen devices in its future phone lineup. So, what’s new on the Tizen front?

OpenMobile is a company that provides an intermediary layer that allows application designed for one platform to run on another. It seems OpenMobile has worked its magic on Tizen OS, by making Android apps compatible to run on the new platform. The demo video shows various Android apps, such as Facebook, Winamp, and some games, running on Tizen OS. From what we can see, the apps seem to run without any noticeable lag, which corresponds nicely to OpenMobile’s claim of a 100% compatibility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cxY9q_4mmIY

Introducing yet another platform to the masses won’t be an easy task. But from the looks of it, at least Tizen OS won’t have to deal with the problem of not having enough apps when the first Tizen-powered devices finally hit the market. That is provided Samsung can work out a deal with OpenMobile to integrate its “Application Compatibility Layer” technology into Tizen.

Speaking of Tizen-powered devices, in case you missed it the first time around, Samsung recently unveiled a phone prototype running Tizen OS with some not-too-shabby specs,  which include a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor, 1GB RAM, and possibly a Super AMOLED HD Plus display with 1280 x 720 resolution. The latter is something that even the Galaxy S3 doesn’t have.

Are you excited about the possible entrance of Tizen OS-devices into the mobile market? Do you think the mobile OS space is already crowded enough as it is?


NEXT: Super AMOLED HD Plus display seen on Samsung Tizen phone?
img_tizen01 Tizen to Merge with Bada. Is This a Threat to Android or WP7? AA_GoogleTV Google TV Running Honeycomb Shown in Video

This article, Tizen OS shown running Android apps on video , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


Galaxy S3 unboxing videos and hands-on previews hit YouTube, check them all out here

  By admin | May 17, 2012 - 11:04 am | Samsung
Leave a comment

Remember the amount of hype Samsung managed to build around its new Galaxy S3 before its official unveiling? Well, if you thought that the hype machine will tone down, now that the device is official, you thought wrong!

Not a day goes by without finding out something new about the S3, from its official release dates in different parts of the world to benchmark results, pricing details or different models and specifications. Today, we are glad to show you the S3’s first appearances in unboxing and hands-on videos, which have hit YouTube with a bang over the last days.

There are no less than three unboxing clips and hands-on previews online (that we know of, at least) and all three have something in common. The S3 looks beautiful all-around, and it’s generally praised by reviewers.

GSMArena unboxing

The first clip to hit YouTube came courtesy of GSMArena.com and is the only one of the three in English. Unfortunately, it’s also the shortest of the trio, only showing us a glimpse of the new Galaxy phone. The design is described as not the greatest around, but the reviewer doens’t think that the S3 feels cheap, despite it being made entirely out of glossy plastic.

Extremely thin and very light, considering its wide screen, the Galaxy S3 is “solidly built” and “quite pocket friendly”. As far as the display goes, it’s praised for looking “stunning” and offering vivid colors.

In terms of software, you’ll be able to check out some of the new features of Samsung’s TouchWiz “Nature” overlay. You’ll also get to get a feel of how snappy the UI is.

As far as hardware goes, GSMArena’s video doesn’t come with anything that we didn’t already know. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see how that quad-core Exynos chip feels like when used at capacity. We would’ve also liked to see a few photos snapped with the phone, but this is still a very interesting video.

Mobilsiden.dk unboxing

The second hands-on video comes from Danish website mobilsiden.dk and, while it’s the longest of the three and looks like the most thorough and complete, it’s very difficult to understand anything from it. Still, the the S3’s rear-facing camera is taken for a (very quick) spin and you can also see how a short video plays on the new Galaxy phone.

HDBlog.it unboxing

The third and final unboxing video is the most recent one and comes from Italian website HDBlog. The clip insists mostly on displaying the Galaxy S3 against other high-end Android smartphones, like the S2, the Galaxy Nexus, HTC’s One X and S, and the Galaxy Note.

This clip doesn’t provide any insight on the S3’s hardware or software, but if you want to see Samsung’s new flagship phone compared with other devices from every possible angle, you should give this video a spin as well.

Now that you’ve seen the Galaxy S3 in action (well, sort of), what do you guys think of it? Could it actually be the best Android smartphone ever? Are you thinking of getting it as soon as it will be put up for sale?

No related posts.

This article, Galaxy S3 unboxing videos and hands-on previews hit YouTube, check them all out here , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


The rise of the Phablet

  By admin | May 16, 2012 - 3:35 pm | HTC
Leave a comment

galaxy note s pen premium suite

Starting from the brick-style cell phone of the late Eighties, the design of the mobile has progressed towards being smaller and more feature-rich. We saw the introduction of flip-phones, slider phones, and smaller candybar style devices.

That is, until the smartphone burst onto the scene like a crazy man in a theater, which switched and reversed the trend rapidly: faster processors, larger batteries, more storage and high-res displays have changed the way we use our phones. This allows for easier internet browsing, e-mail, video calls, and HD music and videos. While ultra-thin has become the new craze, we’ve seen a continuous increase in the screen size of mobile phone displays,  giving rise to the famed “phablet.” Herein, we present a review of said devices and what purpose they serve in the rapidly growing Android market.

What is a Phablet?

A phablet, as the name suggests, is a device that combines the voice-calling capabilities of a smartphone with the larger display sizes of a tablet. Bigger than a smartphone, but not large enough to be a tablet, the screen size of a phablet falls in the 5″ to 7″ region. Another feature that defines a phablet is the presence and use of a stylus pen. The larger size and the light and thin quality of such devices eliminate the need to carry around the comparatively bulkier tablet.

Just to clear things up, the 5.3″ Samsung Galaxy Note is considered a phablet, whereas the ASUS Padfone, with a phone that docks into a tablet casing to then be used as a tablet, is not a phablet. The idea of a phablet is to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds, without needing additional devices (or device casings in the case of the Padfone).

Let’s take a look at a few such devices available in the market now, as well as some future releases that will likely keep up the phablet trend.

Available/Coming Soon

Samsung Galaxy Note

With the 5″ Dell Streak releasing in 2010 (but failing miserably), the Samsung Galaxy Note isn’t the first phablet, but is certainly the device that led to the coining of the term “phablet” and is the first such device to enjoy massive commercial success. The 5.3″ device sold over 5 million units in just 5 months, even before the eventual US release. The specifications of the Note include:

  • 1.4 Ghz dual-core Exynos processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 5.3″ Super AMOLED display, 800×1280 resolution
  • 32GB internal storage
  • 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera

Although the Note currently features the Android 2.3 OS, the ICS update rollout for the device is picking up steam, and is slowly being available to Galaxy Note owners worldwide. The inclusion of a premium suite of apps optimized for use with the S-Pen stylus makes Galaxy Note one of the most sought after devices available. Even with the recent release of the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note appears unstoppable on Samsung’s quest for quick dominance in this new market niche.

LG Optimus Vu

LG hasn’t exactly been a major player in an Android smartphone world dominated by Motorola, Samsung, and HTC, but it has stepped up its game this year with impressive high-end releases like the Optimus 4X HD. LG is also attempting to become a contender in the phablet market, and provide some competition to the hugely popular Samsung Galaxy Note, with the 5″ LG Optimus Vu. The specifications of the device include:

  • 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 32GB internal memory
  • 768×1024 resolution
  • 8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera

The LG Optimus Vu will release with Android 2.3 out of the box, but LG promises an eventual upgrade to ICS. Another odd feature of the LG phablet is the 4:3 display aspect ratio, which is likely to not be well-received. Strong competition for the Samsung Galaxy Note? The public will surely decide.

Panasonic Eluga Power

Panasonic has decided to throw its hat in the phablet ring with the 5″ Eluga Power. The Eluga Power, even with its much larger size, has been designed and streamlined beautifully by Panasonic, allowing it to still fit quite comfortably in the hand, and even allowing for easy one-handed typing. The specifications of this device include:

  • Android 4.0
  • 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB internal storage
  • 720×1280 resolution

Additional features including NFC support, water and dust resistance, and super-fast charging to make this phablet stand out. It might provide some serious competition to the Galaxy Note and the Optimus Vu, once it is released.

Future Devices: Rumor Roundup

So far we’ve seen some of the devices that are already available or soon to be released in the market. It is now time to jump into the world of rumors and speculation, some confirmed, while some are too good to be true, and therefore, probably aren’t.

Photo Credits: PhoneDog

ZTE Phablets

Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei have been known for their low to mid-range Android devices, and are far more popular in their own regional market than on the world stage. Both companies are looking to grab a chunk of the world smartphone marketshare as well, with plans to ship a combined 100 million devices this year.

Huawei has been creating waves with the claims of its two high-end Android devices being “the world’s thinnest smartphone” and “the world’s fastest smartest phone”, respectively. It’s obviously hoping to stand strong in competing against the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S3.

In an effort to stand out from the crowd, ZTE, on the other hand, has announced its intention to release not one, but two,  Samsung Galaxy Note-like phablets by the end of 2012. The Galaxy Note is a tough act to follow, and ZTE is certainly aware of that. It will be quite interesting to see what devices the company will release to compete against the Note, in its fight to be relevant on the world stage.

Google Phablet

A largely forgotten fact about Android 4.0 is its innate support for stylus input including recognizing multi-button pens, taps, tilts, distance, and pressure. This type of usage is perfect for any handwriting or art input device, which is what most phablets aim to be.

Is there a better way to showcase the stylus abilities of Android 4.0 than on a Google Nexus device itself? With the Google I/O event a little more than a month away, the speculation wave surrounding what Google might have in store for us is rising to epic proportions. There have already been suggestions that the Android 5.0 Jellybean OS may be introduced. Further speculation states that Google might launch up to 5 different Nexus devices at this event or by the end of the year. If this is indeed true, it is not unreasonable to imagine that a Nexus Phablet would be a part of this lineup.

HTC Phablet

This is a rumor that should be thrown into the “Not true” bin. But if there is even a minor chance of this being true, I already know what my next device is going to be (and I just now bought the One X).

Verizon is adding one amazing device after another to its 2012 line-up, in an attempt to cement its place as the No. 1 network carrier in the US. Apart from multiple RAZR Models(including the RAZR HD) and the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Verizon lineup might feature a Galaxy Note competitor from HTC, at least according to Jonathan Gellar, founder of bgr.com.

The HTC phablet is said to feature:

  • 5″ 1080p HD display (non-pentile)
  • quad-core Qualcomm Krait CPU
  • Adreno 320 GPU
  • HTC Sense 5
  • Scribe Pen

Wow! 1080p display? quad-core Krait CPU? HTC SENSE 5?

Phablet-Madness

Photo Credits: PhoneRpt

Conclusion

New releases such as the HTC One X and the  Samsung Galaxy S3 are pushing the lower limit of the “phablet,” but in my experience (with the One X), while big, they still handle exactly like a phone. This was not entirely the case when I was using a Galaxy Note, which had a distinct tablet-like feel. So designating a “phablet” has more to do with just size, and it looks like this type of device might be the answer for a lot of consumers on-the-go. There have been some complaints about how the Galaxy Note is quite difficult to hold, and awkward to hold up to your ear when making a call, but we’ve already seen its huge success, and with a slate of such devices set to arrive in the market, the phablet is most likely here to stay.

The phablet is on the rise, and if this does eventually become the mainstay device, I have just one simple request to make: Can someone please coin a new term to replace “phablet?”

What are your thoughts? Are phablets here to stay or just a passing phase? How good does the HTC phablet sound? Do you want to take a shot at renaming “phablet?” Let us know in the comments section below!

No related posts.

This article, The rise of the Phablet , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


HTC handsets delayed at US customs due to ITC injunction over Apple patent

  By Kelly Hodgkins | May 16, 2012 - 3:00 pm | HTC, iPhone
Leave a comment

HTC confirmed to The Verge that its One X phone for AT&T and EVO 4G LTE handset for Sprint are being held at the border by customs officials. The shipments are being delayed while the government agency reviews the packages in accordance with an ITC ruling that banned the import of HTC's Android smartphones.

In December 2011, the ITC ruled that HTC violated Apple patents, one of which describe a UI feature that lets you tap on an address or phone number as a link and pull down a menu of appropriate actions. HTC said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that its products are no longer infringing, "We believe we have worked around our design and are now in compliance with the ITC ruling. We are cooperating with the U.S. Customs to speed up the review process."

Depending on how long it takes for the review, HTC could face shortages of its One X, which went on sale last month with AT&T. It may also have to delay its May 18 launch of the EVO 4G LTE with Sprint.

HTC handsets delayed at US customs due to ITC injunction over Apple patent originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 16 May 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

With Galaxy S3 rumors over, let the next Nexus rumor party begin

  By admin | May 16, 2012 - 2:32 pm | Samsung
Leave a comment

For more than half a year, we’ve had more than enough Galaxy S3 rumors. Some of them were pretty crazy, like the 1080p screen, while others were predictable (the quad core Exynos 4412 chip). Samsung delivered some of the more predictable ones, while  it failed to hit the target on others (Pentile screen), and also disappointed some people with the design and build quality. These have been some of the major flaws of all Galaxy S devices, and yet Sammy didn’t do much to address them.

So with that in mind, you should always be at least a bit skeptical about all rumors, especially the ones appearing months ahead of the supposed launch of a device. But as the Galaxy S3 launch proved,  it’s well possible that the following early information on the upcoming Nexus devices will be spot on.

The first clues

Some developers found  hints about a certain device that will have an Exynos 5 processor, a 5 MP camera, and a 1280×800 resolution. This is a very strange combination of specs, which is why it’s hard to tell if it refers to the Google tablet we kept hearing about (supposed to come out at Google I/O next month), or about a Nexus phone this fall.

The reason it’s strange is because Asus is supposed to make the tablet, and Samsung the smartphone (for the 3rd time in a row). So then, if it’s Samsung, then it makes sense for the Exynos 5 Dual processor to be in there. It’s actually something I’ve been hoping for, because I might be interested in buying the next Nexus phone, but only if it has a chip with a dual core Cortex A15 CPU. The fact that Exynos 5 Dual will contain the new Mali T-604 GPU is just an amazing bonus, considering the overclocked Mali 400 in Galaxy S3 is already the most powerful GPU in a phone right now.

Unlikely combination?

But here’s where it doesn’t make much sense. Why a 5 MP camera? Is Google really that short-sighted to let a 5 MP camera in their flagship phone, again? By fall, I’ll be expecting at least a 12 MP camera with better quality pictures, or, at the very least, an 8 MP one with some amazing new technology that takes much higher quality pictures. The 5 MP camera in the Galaxy Nexus was a mistake the last time around, and a lot of people called Google out on that one.

In a way, I understand why they did it. They really wanted to show off that “zero shutter lag” feature – which is great, and I’ve been hoping for a while that phones get much faster cameras. But the quality of the pictures was pretty disappointing, and it didn’t have much to do with the number of pixels, but with the fact that the zero shutter lag was not optimized properly to take pictures without making them a little blurry in many cases. But even so, 5 MP just seems too low for a flagship phone these days.

Another thing that seems strange is the 1280×800 resolution. Google really likes the resolutions to be as close to 16:9 as possible, because of Youtube. This one is 16:10, and they only use such resolutions for tablets because they want them to be used in landscape mode, and in that mode, the bottom bar occupies a bit of that space. So far the only phone that uses the 1280×800 has been the Galaxy Note. All the other new flagship phones have been using the 16:9, 960×540 or 1280×720 resolutions.

Maybe not

Both the resolution and the camera lead me to believe that this really is about an upcoming Google tablet. The only thing that makes less sense in this case is the Exynos 5250 processor. This processor should be ready for shipping this summer (has been in production this quarter), when Google might sell this tablet, but it’s made by Samsung. Will Samsung give Google and Asus the opportunity to be one of the first to use their most powerful chip?

It seems unlikely, but I wouldn’t really bet against it either. We know Google took out the Tegra 3 processor in its rumored tablet, but at the time we thought it was about price. Maybe it wasn’t about price, and Google just wanted a better chip. It was Eric Schmidt who said a few months ago that we will see a tablet “of the highest quality” in the next 6 months, so that could be the explanation. Samsung has also started selling their Super AMOLED displays to other manufacturers last year. We also know that the Meizu MX Quad-core uses the same Exynos 4 Quad chip found in the Galaxy S3, and will launch at the same time with Sammy’s hero device.

Biggest bang for the buck

That means that the Google tablet, supposed to cost somewhere around $150-$200, might actually have this very powerful dual core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 CPU with the Mali T-604 GPU. It would be an amazing value proposition for the price, especially if it uses an 1280×800 resolution for the 7″ display, like this rumor implies. The rest of the specs are pretty much irrelevant, especially if it has a microSD slot, so you can expand the storage if you want. All this tablet would need is a great worldwide marketing campaign, and to be sold through the Play Store, and millions will get it.

[Update] Since Lucian wrote this post, we learned that Google will work with several manufacturers for its future Nexus devices coming this fall. It may well be that Samsung and Asus will get to make a “Nexus tablet”, which complicates the problem. We’ll keep you posted.

No related posts.

This article, With Galaxy S3 rumors over, let the next Nexus rumor party begin , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.


With Galaxy S3 rumors over, let the next Nexus rumor party begin

  By admin | May 16, 2012 - 2:32 pm | Samsung
Leave a comment

For more than half a year, we’ve had more than enough Galaxy S3 rumors. Some of them were pretty crazy, like the 1080p screen, while others were predictable (the quad core Exynos 4412 chip). Samsung delivered some of the more predictable ones, while  it failed to hit the target on others (Pentile screen), and also disappointed some people with the design and build quality. These have been some of the major flaws of all Galaxy S devices, and yet Sammy didn’t do much to address them.

So with that in mind, you should always be at least a bit skeptical about all rumors, especially the ones appearing months ahead of the supposed launch of a device. But as the Galaxy S3 launch proved,  it’s well possible that the following early information on the upcoming Nexus devices will be spot on.

The first clues

Some developers found  hints about a certain device that will have an Exynos 5 processor, a 5 MP camera, and a 1280×800 resolution. This is a very strange combination of specs, which is why it’s hard to tell if it refers to the Google tablet we kept hearing about (supposed to come out at Google I/O next month), or about a Nexus phone this fall.

The reason it’s strange is because Asus is supposed to make the tablet, and Samsung the smartphone (for the 3rd time in a row). So then, if it’s Samsung, then it makes sense for the Exynos 5 Dual processor to be in there. It’s actually something I’ve been hoping for, because I might be interested in buying the next Nexus phone, but only if it has a chip with a dual core Cortex A15 CPU. The fact that Exynos 5 Dual will contain the new Mali T-604 GPU is just an amazing bonus, considering the overclocked Mali 400 in Galaxy S3 is already the most powerful GPU in a phone right now.

Unlikely combination?

But here’s where it doesn’t make much sense. Why a 5 MP camera? Is Google really that short-sighted to let a 5 MP camera in their flagship phone, again? By fall, I’ll be expecting at least a 12 MP camera with better quality pictures, or, at the very least, an 8 MP one with some amazing new technology that takes much higher quality pictures. The 5 MP camera in the Galaxy Nexus was a mistake the last time around, and a lot of people called Google out on that one.

In a way, I understand why they did it. They really wanted to show off that “zero shutter lag” feature – which is great, and I’ve been hoping for a while that phones get much faster cameras. But the quality of the pictures was pretty disappointing, and it didn’t have much to do with the number of pixels, but with the fact that the zero shutter lag was not optimized properly to take pictures without making them a little blurry in many cases. But even so, 5 MP just seems too low for a flagship phone these days.

Another thing that seems strange is the 1280×800 resolution. Google really likes the resolutions to be as close to 16:9 as possible, because of Youtube. This one is 16:10, and they only use such resolutions for tablets because they want them to be used in landscape mode, and in that mode, the bottom bar occupies a bit of that space. So far the only phone that uses the 1280×800 has been the Galaxy Note. All the other new flagship phones have been using the 16:9, 960×540 or 1280×720 resolutions.

Maybe not

Both the resolution and the camera lead me to believe that this really is about an upcoming Google tablet. The only thing that makes less sense in this case is the Exynos 5250 processor. This processor should be ready for shipping this summer (has been in production this quarter), when Google might sell this tablet, but it’s made by Samsung. Will Samsung give Google and Asus the opportunity to be one of the first to use their most powerful chip?

It seems unlikely, but I wouldn’t really bet against it either. We know Google took out the Tegra 3 processor in its rumored tablet, but at the time we thought it was about price. Maybe it wasn’t about price, and Google just wanted a better chip. It was Eric Schmidt who said a few months ago that we will see a tablet “of the highest quality” in the next 6 months, so that could be the explanation. Samsung has also started selling their Super AMOLED displays to other manufacturers last year. We also know that the Meizu MX Quad-core uses the same Exynos 4 Quad chip found in the Galaxy S3, and will launch at the same time with Sammy’s hero device.

Biggest bang for the buck

That means that the Google tablet, supposed to cost somewhere around $150-$200, might actually have this very powerful dual core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 CPU with the Mali T-604 GPU. It would be an amazing value proposition for the price, especially if it uses an 1280×800 resolution for the 7″ display, like this rumor implies. The rest of the specs are pretty much irrelevant, especially if it has a microSD slot, so you can expand the storage if you want. All this tablet would need is a great worldwide marketing campaign, and to be sold through the Play Store, and millions will get it.

[Update] Since Lucian wrote this post, we learned that Google will work with several manufacturers for its future Nexus devices coming this fall. It may well be that Samsung and Asus will get to make a “Nexus tablet”, which complicates the problem. We’ll keep you posted.

No related posts.

This article, With Galaxy S3 rumors over, let the next Nexus rumor party begin , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.