Smartphone

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Gear smart-watch has not become popular due to many reasons, but the main one was its price of $299. With the Gear 2 series of watches as well as Gear Fit smart-band the company risks to repeat its central mistake: price the devices higher than customers are …

Huawei, a top maker of smartphones, has denied plans to release a handset with two operating systems, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone. Instead, the China-based manufacturer intends to keep offering phones with Android and Windows Phone, but separately. Last week it turned out that Huawei was going to release …

Wireless hard disk drives are extremely convenient and easy to use. But their major problem is a rather high price which prevents many people from buying large wireless storage devices. Fortunately, it looks like Toshiba Corp. has found a solution for the problem. A U.S. division of Toshiba on Wednesday …

Imagination Technologies, a leading-designer of graphics processing technologies for mobile devices, has introduced its brand-new family of graphics IP cores that are designed to render graphics using real-time ray-tracing method. The latter allows to significantly increase realism of graphics on all types of devices. Moreover, Imagination claims that despite of …

Samsung Electronics is reportedly facing more issues with production of its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5. In addition to a fire on a fab that produces printed-circuit boards for the device, there are problems with production of lenses for the Galaxy S5 cameras. Samsung is seemingly having trouble manufacturing …

Samsung Electronics’ Gear smart-watches seem to be rather promising solutions for those who want to have an additional mobile companion device that monitors things like heart-rate. Unfortunately, they only work with Samsung’s own Galaxy smartphones at present. However, that might change in the future. The Samsung Gear 2 and Gear …

In a bid to get a share of one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets, Microsoft Corp. plans to waive the license fee for Windows Phone operating systems for two Indian smartphone manufacturers. The move is a rather unprecedented one, but it was necessary to ink contracts with the Indian …

Huawei, a leading maker of smartphones from China, has been primarily known for its excessively big or inexpensive smartphones in Europe and the U.S. However, Huawei is a rather innovative telecom company which can make state-of-the-art products. One of such devices – a smartphone with two operating systems – will …

ZiiLabs, the company which was earlier known as 3Dlabs and developed professional graphics solutions and which now designs multimedia system-on-chips, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States against Apple and Samsung. The plaintiff alleges that products from Apple and Samsung infringe its patents related to graphics processing …

The fire at a factory which produces printed circuit boards in Anseon, South Korea, could affect availability of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S5 smartphone. The PCBs for the new flagship smartphones were damaged by the fire, just like manufacturing equipment, according to a media report. The fire was first reported at …

John Sculley, the former chief executive officer of Apple who ousted Steve Jobs from the company back in the eighties, plans to launch a new firm that will sell smartphones. The company will start to operate in India as early as next month. The first device from the yet-unnamed brand …

A Chinese web-site has published what it claims to be the first benchmarks of Nvidia Tegra K1 system-on-chips based on 32-bit and 64-bit cores as well as Kepler-class graphics engine. In case the results are correct, then the Tegra K1 is considerably faster than all the other mobile application processors …

It is not a secret that Microsoft Corp. is preparing to finally roll-out a voice assistant called Cortana along with the upcoming update for Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. While the assistant is supposed to compete with Apple’s Siri as well as Google’s Google Now services, the newly released information …

Microsoft Corp.’s acquisition of Nokia Corp.’s devices and services division is indisputably one of the most important deals in the history of the two companies. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the decision was initially supported by everyone at Microsoft. Apparently, Bill Gates, a co-founder of the software giant, and …

It was a bit disappointing that Samsung Electronics did not reveal its 64-bit application processors for mobile devices at the Mobile World Congress 2014 under its Exynos Infinity initiative. Nonetheless, the company vows that it will introduce its first ARMv8-compatible chips later this year. Samsung’s arch-rival Apple has been selling …

Nokia has been one of the most recognized brands in the last 15 – 20 years and it will not disappear from the market of phones after Microsoft Corp. acquires devices and services division of Nokia Corp. later this quarter. The software giant claims that it will continue to use …

MediaTek has announced its first system-on-chip for smartphones that features ARMv8-compatible 64-bit general-purpose cores, advanced graphics engine as well as 4G/LTE connectivity. The MT6752 is pin compatible with the previously announced quad-core MT6732 and can be installed into already developed devices. MediaTek MT6752 integrates eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores with up to …

Although Samsung Electronics was expected to unveil its first 64-bit ARMv8-compatible application processors at the Mobile World Congress 2014, so far the firm has only introduced two new Exynos 5-series system-on-chips. The processors offer increased performance amid optimized power consumption and up-to-date feature-set. The new high-end Exynos Octa 5422 is …

Qualcomm this week introduced its new performance-mainstream Snapdragon 600-series system-on-chips for smartphones and tablets. The new SoCs feature ARMv8 64-bit processing technology, 4G/LTE connectivity as well as new-generation Adreno graphics. The new chips will be used inside devices due late this year. Qualcomm Snapdragon 610, 615 application processors integrate four …

At the launch event dedicated to the Galaxy S5 smartphone, Samsung Electronics announced that cumulative sales of its premium Galaxy S family of devices had exceeded 200 million units since the introduction in 2010. The number clearly shows very high popularity of the Galaxy S line among end-users, nonetheless, sales …

At the Mobile World Congress 2014, Spreadtrum Communications, a chip developer from China, and Mozilla, the designer of Firefox browser and operating system, announced initiative to develop smartphones that cost only $25/£15 in retail. The smartphones are expected to offer HTML5 and web applications amid full Internet connectivity and will …

Nokia Corp. on Monday introduced its first smartphones based on highly-modified Google Android operating system. Designed for customers in budget, Nokia X-series handsets feature Windows Phone-like user interface, Microsoft services, Nokia maps, navigation and so on. The family of Nokia smartphones based on Google Android OS consists of three models …

Google Android operating system will officially become a 64-bit OS in the third quarter of 2014, according to a high-ranking executive from MediaTek. The new version of the mobile platform will take advantage of the latest application processor and will be able to demonstrate significantly better performance in multimedia applications …

Intel Corp. on Monday introduced its new Atom Z3400-series system-on-chip code-named “Merrifield” designed for smartphones and tablets. The new application processor is powered by the latest low-power Silvermont micro-architecture, features Imagination Technologies PowerVR 6-series “Rogue” graphics and integrates a host of promising technologies. Intel Atom Z3400-series “Merrifield” SoC features two …

Dell this week joined the alliance for wireless power (A4WP), a wireless power standards setting organization that currently has over 80 members. Dell is the world’s first major PC maker to join the association. The company has already announced plans to integrate wireless charging capabilities into its future products, which …

Chief executive officer of Canonical, the maker of Ubuntu operating system, confirmed at a meeting that Apple had acquired boat load of sapphire glass made by GT Advanced. He complained that last year Canonical intended to use sapphire glass for one of the first premium Ubuntu-based smartphones called Edge, but …