Samsung Galaxy S III is announced: Pretty nice and powerful

After a long going leaking drama Samsung Galaxy S III is announced at last by Samsung itself. Everybody has high expectations from Samsung this time specially after being named as the top mobile phone and smartphone vendor of Q1 2012. Samsung Galaxy S III almost covers all the state of the art features as you expect from a super smartphone now a days. It has a quad-core Exynos 4212 based 1.4 GHz Cortex A9 processor and 1GB of RAM with Mali-400MP GPU. The display is a 4.8" HD 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen covered by Gorilla Glass. There is no PLUS here meaning the display is Pentile.

The phone is only 8.6mm thick at its thickest point. It weighs just 133 grams. 8MP camera module is capable of 1080p video recording at 30fps, and comes with a 1.9MP front-facing camera for video calls. This new camera has voice-activated photo capture and a burst shooting mode which takes 3.3 photos per second. Galaxy S III also sports a zero shutter lag and a less than a second shot-to-shot time. The camera phone will also be capable of snapping stills while recording a video.

Obviously Samsung Galaxy S III runs Android 4.0.4 ICS under the usual TouchWiz 4.0 UI, and there is the usual DivX/Xvid codec support, Swype text input, as well as improved SNS integration.

Connectivity includes Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, TV-out, USB-on-the-go and NFC support. There's a wireless charger gadget, a flip cover, an HDMI adapter, a battery charging stand and the S-Pebble MP3 player, which would plays MP3's from your S III wirelessly. But you have to buy these things at your own cost.

All of these electronics is powered by a 2100 mAh battery. The Samsung Galaxy S III will be sold in 16/32/64GB internal storage variants. And you will also find a MicroSD memory card slot under your S III. So it’s not compulsory to buy a bigger storage S III, because that will cost a lot more.
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HTC One series Android phone is now official - One X is top on the list

To showcase an attention to three distinct areas of detail: top-notch imaging, integrated Beats audio and industrial design; HTC announced ‘One’ brand for all of their Android phones. It’s like Samsung galaxy series I think. And HTC are kind enough to officially announce their MWC line-up of Android smartphones. There are four in the queue- HTC One X and One XL, the mid-range One S, and the starter One V. I will only cover HTC One X in this post. To know more about HTC One XL, HTC One S and HTC One V click the corresponding link.

The HTC One X is a unibody device machined from white polycarbonate that uses Gorilla Glass to protect its 4.7-inch 1280x720 non-pentile Super LCD 2 display. Stunning outside appearances aside, HTC's newest features an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor for the Global edition and a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core for the LTE iteration. The One X is the most powerful Android smartphone HTC have built to date. It's quite slim, too, measuring only 9,29mm.

Memory specs on the box show 1GB DDR2 and 32GB of built-in storage, 26GB of which is available to the user and an additional 25GB free for two years through DropBox.

At the back, the One X sports an 8MP snapper, which packs a special Dual Shutter camera module, which allows you to take photos while shooting 1080p video at the same time. The main camera itself rocks a 22mm wide angle lens. At the heart of its 8MP f/2.0 camera section is HTC's ImageChip silicon for clearer shots even in low light conditions.

Connectivity options abound with quad-band GSM and quad-band 42Mbps HSPA+ - which includes AWS frequencies. NFC, DLNA, Bluetooth 3, Wi-Fi N, 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB with MHL are on board, too. One X also got Beats Audio enhancement, so music through that 3.5mm jack should sound extra nice.

Features of HTC One X at a glance:

• 8MP Camera with HTC ImageSense
• 1.5 GHz quad-core processor
• Beats Audio technology
• 25GB free cloud storage for 2 years
• HTC Media Link HD
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 32GB Internal storage (26GB accessible)
• 4.7" Touch screen, 1280 x 720 resolution
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DLNA, NFC, 3G (quad-band)
• A-GPS with Google Maps
• MHL for video & audio out
• 1.3MP front facing camera
• 134.36 x 69.9 x 9.29 mm (5.29 x 2.75 x 0.36 inches)
• 130g with battery

If you are a US citizen then you are going to have only one network choice, AT&T with One X. HTC One X will globally available in April. Expected contract price in US for HTC One X is $299.99 and globally it will be around $800 unlocked. In the meantime Clove UK is already offering HTC One X unlocked on pre-order. You can book your first quad-core mobile phone for £492 ($781) now. The expected shipping date is April 5.

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LG is preparing to release quad-core ICS running DROID

CES 2012 is just over but the rumor mill isn’t stopped at all. We are already getting much news about some quad-core running mobile phones. After HTC, LG is now the highlights. Their X3 Android phone looks to be one of the early challengers to HTC in the quad-core market. LG X3 has Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU onboard along with4.7-inch 720p HD screen. Obviously latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS is pre-installed inside X3.

The reports also said that X3 is only 9mm thick though it has a 2000mAh battery to power the beast. Other features of the phone includes 16GB of internal storage, 8 megapixel camera, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, and an NFC transceiver.

We don’t have any exact release date for LG X3 but June-July 2012 will be the time for it.
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Be ready for 1st quad-core droid, HTC Edge

After lots of talking in the last few months about new Android phone-tablet hybrid operating system, i am pretty sure that next couple of months will be the time for hardware issues, specially with processor. With the new Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU opening, the smartphone world is quickly moving on to the quad-core arena soon. After many Chinese quad-core mobile updates we now have the 1st glance of top branded mobile phone having Android on the heart. We just received the first Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU running HTC Edge leaked images.

Each of the four Tegra 3 cores of the HTC Edge will be clocked at 1.5GHz. With this monster you have 1 gigabytes of RAM along with 32GB of built-in memory. The device will offer a 4.7" screen with HD resolution of 1280 X 720 pixels.

An 8MP camera unit with f/2.2 lens (as seen on iPhone 4S), capable of capturing 1080p videos will be present as well. Bluetooth 4.0 is expected on board, along with the rest of the usual connectivity. The HTC Edge only capable of 21Mbps HSDPA network speeds until now. But i am sure that a LTE capable HTC Edge US version will be coming at the same time.

A number of new HTC content services are also expected with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich inside HTC Edge. The HTC Edge is expected to hit the market in late Q1, or early Q2 of next year. But i having nothing on my sources about the price of quad-core HTC Edge. So wait a while friends.
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Dual-core and quad-core mobile CPUs Coming This Year

Mobile processor speed just reach 1 GHz mark last year. And the indications are very good for 2011. It seems that is everything is on track Smartphone and tablet processors will enter the dual-core stages of their evolution and Freescale wants to join the party. Freescale also plan to bring quad-core mobile CPUs as well.

Freescale announced a trio of new mobile processors, suitable for use in Smartphones, Tablets and eReaders. i.MX 6 series of quad-core, dual-core and single-core applications processors designed to deliver outstanding performance and scalability to manufacturers targeting the hottest selling smart mobile, automotive infotainment and embedded device categories. And it also seems that Android community will be benefitted more by this new processor series.

The three versions of the i.MX 6 CPU are called Solo, Dual and Quad and come with one, two and four Cortex A9 cores respectively. Each of the cores can be clocked at up to 1.2 GHz. The level 2 cache isn't quoted for each of the CPUs but Freescale says it reaches 1 MB.

Still each and every of the i.MX 6 processors is said to allow full HD (as in 1080p) video decoding and encoding. There's also support for HDMI v1.4 and multiple USB 2.0 ports. The stereoscopic image sensor support allows for 3D imaging, provided that someone builds the right camera module for the task.

They says that potential applications include mobile devices featuring 3D video playback, desktop-quality gaming, augmented reality applications and content creation capabilities – all delivered in ultra-sleek form factors and with significant battery life advantages over many of today’s most popular mobile devices.

Continuing to build on its advanced low-power design expertise, Freescale’s i.MX 6 series features industry-leading power consumption for demanding applications such as HD 1080p video playback. The i.MX 6 series can deliver up to 24 hours of HD video playback and 30-plus days of device standby time. Integrated power management capabilities reduce the need for external PMICs and help to ensure only those components required for a task are powered.

The product series is comprised of the single-core i.MX 6Solo, dual-core i.MX 6Dual and quad-core i.MX 6Quad processors. Key technical features of the series include:

1. Industry-leading four-core design.
2. Up to four ARM® Cortex™-A9 cores running at up to 1.2 GHz per core.
3. Up to 1 MB system level 2 cache.
4. ARMv7, Neon, VFPv3 and Trustzone support.
5. Multistream-capable HD video engine delivering 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode and 3D video playback in HD.
6. Exceptional 3D graphics performance with quad shaders for up to 200 MTPS.
7. Separate 2D and vertex acceleration engines for uncompromised user interface experiences.
8. Stereoscopic image sensor support for 3D imaging.
9. Interconnect: HDMI v1.4 w/ integrated PHY, SD3.0, multiple USB 2.0 ports w/ integrated PHY, Gb Ethernet w/ integrated PHY, SATA-II w/ integrated PHY, PCI-e w/ integrated PHY, MIPI CSI, MIPI DSI, MIPI HSI, and FlexCAN for automotive applications.
10. Support for the VP8 codec.
11. Support for one of the broadest ranges of major operating system platforms in the industry.
12. Optional integration of an ePaper display controller for eReader and similar applications.

Freescale plans to start sampling the new CPUs later this year, which isn't nearly as specific as we hoped to get. But you don't expect to be seeing one of those babies on an actual tablet or smartphone before the next holiday season.
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