Intel 4th gen Core processors launch date announced–quite some nanoseconds that is

Source : Intel Twitter Official

Well Intel has announced the time left for the launch of the 4th generation member of the uber successful Core series of processors, named Haswell , and as you can see in the pic, that is the value in terms of nanoseconds. For your convenience, I calculated it down, and it ends up being 38 days from now. Frankly, its really hard to keep excitement down for me, because you can safely expect your personal computer and lappy to break some power limiters with the 4th gen monster inside.

If you remember from earlier, Intel  4th gen processors are to get a voice and gesture control option in them . The Haswell has the same 22 nm microarchitecture as the 3rd gen Ivy Bridge, but it has better energy efficiency, more power (double the CPU and GPU as Ivy Bridge), and many expected security advancements. It will be upto a quad core version only, inspite of many wanting octa core PC’s after Exynos 5 Octa core in Samsung Galaxy S4, but that will be the case for the Intel 5th generation Broadwell , which will be made in 14nm microarchitecture. Though I am wishing for things to reach to 16 cores by then. Intel 4th gen Haswell has , by the way, new cache design, and more excitingly, possible support for the 20GB/s Thunderbolt !!!

Overall, the reason I postponed buying a laptop has at last arrived, and maybe we will see some great devices with ‘Intel inside’. Stay tuned for the latest updates on this new family of processors, as well as devices powered by them.

Get ready for a flexible LG smartphone this year

LG is set to launch a smartphone with flexible OLED display by the end of this year, as told by LG VP Yoon Bu hyun . This is sure to complement the fact that LG is to launch curved televisions, which seems a stupid idea at first, but closer inspection reveals that curved TV can be interesting enough to wait for at least. But talking about the smartphone, this surely marks the start of the flexible devices era, with earlier reports coming on Samsung using ‘flexible’ plastic OLED display in the Note 3.But hey stop your fantasies again, though I admit the image does inspire some really wild ones, but though we know the LG device will have  a flexible screen, we don’t know HOW flexible it will be…. and that , along with our knowledge of the fact that we don’t have flexible internal components, tells us that we need to reign our dream horses , as we may end up just seeing a slightly curved, laterally or out of plane, device. Well we will keep you updated on this, and everything latest in the ‘flexitech’ domain.

 

Source : Techradar

Samsung Galaxy S4 for $168!!!!

 

Samsung Galaxy S4, yeah the latest one, and yeah I am not bonkers here, is being offered up for an ultra humble $168, by Walmart. Now when I heard this, the first thing that went off at 140 dB in my brain was – WHAT IS THE CATCH??? Well the catch is a 2 year contract that is bundled up with the device, with AT&T , apart from a few pre booking steps to learn and conquer.
 The method is -

1. Purchase a $25 pre order card
2. Wait with your heart thumping at high rates and suffer the torments  of high norepinephrine in your blood till a Walmart rep contacts you upon the phone arriving at the store
3. Orders then get filled on first come first serve basis
4. Purchase the phone, and then use the $25 card on something else ( that’s not funny I know)

The device will be available with Sprint at $249, though if you switch from another carrier, you get a $100 instant credit, T-Mobile at $149, Verizon, US cellular , Spire and Cricket as well, whose pricing is not yet known. It is to be understood that buying directly from AT&T will cost $199 , a tad costlier (look at me saying that word here! xD) than walmart one. For small kiddies with less pocket money , or maybe for some people who for some unfathomable reasons don’t want the S4 , you can get S3 at $39.88 with 2 year contract with AT7T or Verizon.

I sooooooooo wish I lived in US !!!! *sigh*

Nvidia Tegra 4 gets ready to rock the specs chart, powering the ZTE N988

ZTE is set to launch the first Nvidia Tegra 4 powered smartphone, named the ZTE N988 , which according to GSM Insider, has got the necessary approvals from Chinese approval authorities. The device is set to make some shivers run through the smartphone giants' camps, of the likes of Samsung, Apple, HTC with the 5.7 inch 1280 x 720 resolution sceened device , powered by 1.5 quad core GHz Tegra 4 processor, which as we know is WAY ahead of the Tegra 3, 2 gigs of RAM, has a 13 MP shooter with LED flash, and comes with Android 4.1.2. What's more, it is even lighter than the Apple IPhone 5, at 110 g.
No word on the price or date of release, but it is expected to set out in July this year.
So clearly one to watch out for, due to the fact that ZTE is known for its reasonable price devices.

Toshiba's answer to Retina display Macbook - KIRAbook

A super premium 2560 X 1440 resolution 13 inch touch screen display is what the Toshiba KIRAbook sports, clearly ready for a head on collision with the Apple Macbook Pro with retina display. And that's quite a change of temperament for the brand, which is known better for its low to mid range devices, and they surely intend to give quite a tough fight in the high end market with the KIRAbook now.

Windows 8 inside, powered by 3rd gen Intel core i5 or i7 processors, with a 256 GB of SSD storage , along with 8 GB of DDR3 1600 MHz RAM is what this high end laptop shows off. With a 52 Wh Li polymer non replaceable battery , claimed to last 6 hours surely looks impressive, especially when we take into consideration the energy hungry screen, which incidentally is made of Corning Gorilla Glass.Though 221 ppi as compared to 227 of Macbook Pro, and 239 or Cromebook Pixel is what KIRAbook has, it doesn't make much of a difference in viewing experience.

KIRAbook has an LED backlit keyboard, and supports Bluetooth 4.0 , has 3 USB 3.0 ports, wireless N Wifi connectivity, has Harman Kordon stereo speakers. The notebook is made up of AZ91 Mg Alloy body, which is jst 1.18 Kg in weight, and 0.7 inches thick, which is claimed to be 100% stronger than standard aluminium bodies.

On the software side, KIRAbook comes with factory installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11, along with Apple care comparable Toshiba  Platinum service. Apart from this, they provide 25 gigs of cloud storage by Norton Online backup.

Pricing of the KIRAbook series is tad higher than Macbook, and that surely deflates a bit of the enthusiasm. Set to be up for pre order from 2nd May,and commercial launch by 13th May, the KIRAbook prices are

Non Touch , i5 - $1,599
Touch, i5 - $1,799
touch, i7 - $1,999

Twice as fast as the previous best, Intel upgrades Thunderbolt tech

 

Thunderbolt, was the reigning champion since it was launched by Intel in competition with the USB 3.0 , which was then offering transfer rates of 5 GB/s, while thunderbolt offered a 10 GB/s transfer rate, which it took USB guys quite some time to reach to, though now are to see Thunderbolt’s back again, as Intel has upgraded it to race way ahead of the new USB 3.0 , offering a mind blowing 20 GB/s transfer rate. Moreover, it also supports 4K monitors, as well as 4K video transfer, when it becomes publicly available of course. And as we know, Apple, which is a major supporter of Thunderbolt, is surely forecasted to get this technology in its future devices, including the AIO iMac’s , and the Macbooks, along with speculation that we may at last see 4K resolution screens in these devices as well…… That would be kicking some competition hungry hormones in Samsung and Asus’s backyard as well I guess. And of course, that would mean that USB 4.0 is something that USB Promoter group needs to work on quick, if they havn’t been already.  
What’s really nice about this new Thunderbolt is that it will be compatible with pervious cables and all, so that would save some clutter. Intel says that it will be up with the production in 2014 , quite a long way to go, so that gives some breathing space for USB guys there. Also, Intel says that by 2015 , Thunderbolt will be supporting 50 GB/s data transfer rates. Anyway, good for consumers, with the advent of high resolution videos, large sized games and files, transfer rates surely need to be upgraded, along with storage space, to keep up with the pace of the products.

Samsung goes 'Mega', the new line aiming to tear down your pockets

Like the usual trend that follows each future Samsung release, leaks are surfacing online regarding the latest phablet series by Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy Mega , which is to come in 2 eye tearing size models - 5.8 and 6.3 inches. But unlike what we saw in case of the Galaxy Note 2 or the Galaxy S4,  this time Samsung will not offer any new hardware than what they already have released. According to SamMobile, who say to have received a spec sheet for the 5.8 inch device ( GT I9152) , the device comes with a 5.8 inch 960 X 540 display , far from the best resolution for sure, dual sim feature, 1.5 GB RAM, 2 MP front and 8 MP rear camera , and powered by a 1,4 GHz processor. It is supposed to have Android 4.1 or 4.2 Jelly Bean..

Now the main culprit for our sweet fantasies of a 6.3 inch Galaxy Note 3 , the 6.3 inched Galaxy Mega gets its share of leaks from Daum, which doesn't tell much though, except the size, and that it has the same camera as the 5.8 inch model , and a dual core Exynos Processor. It though enters some hot territory, as 6.3 inches is closer to a 7 inch tab than a 5 inch smartphone, and that will make things hard for the Mega for sure, competing with, at the same time, the Asus Fonepad, which is even monstrous at  7 inches.
Now call it crossing the size expansion limits, or maybe a conspiracy to tear consumer's pants down at the sides, the 'Fonepads' are in , though not so impressive currently, but surely marking the creation of a new line.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 for a mid summer release

Source : Techradar

Samsung seems intent on creating 8 inch tablets , first the Galaxy Note 8.0 , and now the Galaxy Tab 3 , which is going to be an 8 inch device as well. This is what a insider source told SamMobile , also stating that the Tab 3 won't be supporting 4G LTE and would be seen in Wifi (SM T3110) and 3G + Wifi (SM T31000) models only. Set to release in June, it is supposed to be a direct competitor of the IPad mini  and perhaps the Acer iconia A1 -810 . Price is something that we hope will be competitive as well , as we really got one big shock seeing a $520 price tag on the Wifi only model of the Note 8.0!!! That is FAR from an IPad mini competitor for sure, but thats how things are. Lets hope for the best, that includes some gr8 specs as well. ;)

HTC to enter the tablet war.....again?

HTC is rethinking to re-enter the tablet market again, as far as NPD DisplaySearch, a consulting firm says, with a 10.1 inch full HD screen , windows 8 powered tablet in the pipeline, though no official confirmation from HTC or Microsoft has been made as yet. Clearly, HTC is on a high with the rave reviews of its latest smartphone, the HTC One , and though they had a dismal start in 2011 with the Flyer and Jetstream tablets (never heard of 'em?) which failed to do anything impressive, HTC knows it can get some share of the market pie that has been snatched off the goliath Apple in the tablet scene.And with HTC's innovative camera and design, plus the safe expectation of something as superb as the One really promises some action from HTC this year for sure. So HTC is one more name to look out for in tablet domains now. Stay with us for more updates about this and more upcoming devices