Items tagged with Snapdragon
Samsung is reportedly pulling a switcheroo with the processor that powers its flagship devices. Or more specifically, Samsung has decided to use its own System-on-Chip (SoC) design on its next top tier Galaxy handset instead of sticking with Qualcomm's Snapdragon line, the latter of which is said to have overheated during testing. Citing "people with direct knowledge of the matter," Bloomberg says that Samsung tested Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 810 chip, and the results of those tests gave the South Korean handset maker cause for concern, or at least that's the story Samsung is running with. Could there be more to it? Samsung finds itself scrambling to turn around its operations after being left...
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The trickle-down effect has applied to technology for some time, but this feels more rapid than usual. Just a few years after LTE was introduced, and reserved only for flagship phones, Qualcomm has introduced a new SoC that could bring LTE access to millions of new users. The new Snapdragon 200 tier (namely the Snapdragon 210), will offer integrated multimode 3G/4G LTE and LTE Dual SIM for entry-level smartphones. QTI also today unveiled the company’s first LTE-equipped tablet reference design, enabling OEMs and ODMs to create and introduce a new class of multimode 3G/4G LTE connected tablets. Initial versions of the tablet reference design will be available with the Snapdragon 410 and...
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If there was one word to describe Amazon, it would be “disruptive”. The company has been dominant in the online retail market, but it has also pushed into other services such as video streaming with Amazon Prime, tablets, and even drones. Amazon’s recently-announced Fire smartphone is an intriguing a product within a given market that the company has ever produced. Its hardware is high-end enough, with a quad-core Snapdragon chip and a 4.7-inch (1280x720) display with a 13MP camera around back, but it’s the four front cameras, Firefly button, and services such as Mayday, ASAP, X-Ray, and more that set the smartphone apart from the field. We’ve already discussed these...
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If you want to snag an LG G3 from a carrier such as AT&T, you should be prepared to drop $199.99 with a two-year contract, but it looks as though you can pick one up from Amazon for just $99. The monster etailer has the LG G3 available for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint in Metallic Black or Silk White with 32GB of onboard storage. There’s also a Shine Gold version available for Sprint. If you feel like spending the money, you can also spring for an unlocked version for about $590 (and up). The LG G3 runs on a Snapdragon 801 processor and sports a 5.5-inch (2560x1440) display with 3GB of DDR3 RAM and a 13MP camera. Check out our full review here....
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When the Nokia Lumia 1020 debuted, it cost a whopping $299 on contract; that price subsequently dropped to $199, and now there’s an unlocked version available for $549 in the Microsoft Store. That’s not a bad price for a smartphone that boasts the specs the 1020 offers. As we’ve detailed in our full review, the phone runs on a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, and this model has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 4.5-inch 1280x768 display. It also has a 1.2MP HD front-facing camera and that tasty 41MP rear-facing camera, which we’ve had some fun playing with. You can bring the unlocked Nokia Lumia 1020 to AT&T or T-Mobile’s GSM networks....
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If there was any doubt that Chinese smartphone and tablet maker Xiaomi was the real deal, have a look at the company’s sales numbers for the first half of the year. Hugo Barra, who left Google and his position on the Android team last year to become Xiaomi Global’s Vice President, posted on Google+ that sales have exploded. “In H1 2014, we shipped about 26 Million phones globally, with revenues of about USD 5.3 billion,” he wrote. Those 26 million handsets represent a 271% jump of the company’s shipments over the same time period in 2013 as well as a 149% blast in revenue. Xiaomi Mi3 Those are serious numbers. Obviously that sort of growth isn’t sustainable,...
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When we last checked in with Republic Wireless, we found that the service itself was as advertised (inexpensive and very good), but the asterisk was the handset--the Motorola Defy XT, a decidedly midrange smartphone that was the only handset you could use with the service. Worse, the price tag was a mite steep at $249. Subsequently, however, Republic Wireless added two handsets to the lineup that changed the game with the Motorola Moto X and Moto G. Although neither are considered particularly high-end smartphones, we found the Moto X to be a well-made device with substantial performance capabilities. The question we’re asking today is whether or not the Moto G’s performance can equal...
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When we last checked in with Republic Wireless, we found that the service itself was as advertised (inexpensive and very good), but the asterisk was the handset--the Motorola Defy XT, a decidedly midrange smartphone that was the only handset you could use with the service. Worse, the price tag was a mite steep at $249. Subsequently, however, Republic Wireless added two handsets to the lineup that changed the game with the Motorola Moto X and Moto G. Although neither are considered particularly high-end smartphones, we found the Moto X to be a well-made device with substantial performance capabilities, and when it landed at Republic Wireless for $299, the MVNO started looking more legitimate....
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The LG G3 smartphone is here, and LG is touting the high-end G2 successor as smart and simple, harnessing the best that technology has to offer while keeping the user experience as straightforward as possible. First off, there’s a lot happening under the hood. The G3 rocks a quad core Snapdragon 801 (up to 2.5GHz) processor with up to 3GB of DDR3 RAM, 32GB of onboard storage with up to 128GB more via a microSD card slot, and a rear 13MP camera with OIS+ Laser Autofocus (for super-quick focusing) and dual flash and a front-facing 2.1MP camera. The handset runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat and sports a large 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS display with a resolution of 2560x1440. There’s a removable 3000...
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HTC’s new flagship smartphone is the HTC One M8 (review here), but it’s not the only One in the company’s refreshed lineup. There’s also an HTC One M8 mini 2, and there have been rumors of a plastic-shelled HTC One M8 Ace. The latter has apparently broken cover with a pretty press render and full specs. HTC One M8 Ace (Credit: iFanr via AndroidOS.in) AndroidOS.in grabbed the details from Chinese site Ifanr.com, and the device looks just as curvy as its metal brother and has front-facing Boomsound speakers and can handle the funky DotView case (a $50 flipcover that shows items such as the date and time and little designs in a dotted display). DotView case (Credit: AndroidOS.in)...
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LG was kind enough to not pretend that its May 27th press event was anything other than the LG G3 superphone reveal, and now there’s a teaser video out that shows off--just for a couple of seconds--the device’s beautiful chassis. We mean “seconds” literally, but you can see that the G3 will sport a gorgeous brushed-metal back, with the brushed part horizontally-oriented, which is an interesting look. The back also seems to have almost a glassy finish, and there’s a sweet little curve to it, too. LG hasn’t confirmed any specs yet, but previous leaks suggest that the LG G3 will have a 5.5-inch (2560x1440) display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon (2.3GHz) processor,...
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There’s a new member of this generation of Motorola phones: the Moto E, an entry-level handset that will join the Moto X and Moto G, has been spotted in leaked photos, and the device’s specs are available, too. The Moto E will run on a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (with microSD card support), and a 5MP rear camera. The camera has no flash, and there’s no front-facing camera. The 4.3-inch display is presumed to have a resolution of 1280x720. The Moto E will have Android 4.4 KitKat and offer 3G and WiFi connectivity. It also has the colorful shells that the Moto G offers. Images via Phone Arena The biggest selling point...
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Details of the OnePlus One smartphone are here. The phone boasts terrific specifications and features while keeping the cost in check--there are two handsets, actually, a 16GB white one for $299 and a 64GB black model for $349--and they’ll be available in Q2 2014. There’s no compromise on hardware here. The One runs on a quad-core Snapdragon 801 (2.5GHz) chip with an Adreno 330 (578MHz) GPU, 3GB of LP-DDR3-1866MHz RAM, and the aforementioned 16GB or 64GB of storage. The 5.5-inch display is 1080p Full HD, and the rear camera is a 13MP Sony Exmor IMX 214 affair with 6 lenses and dual LED flash that can capture 4K video while the front-facing camera is a not-too-shabby 5MP. The 3100...
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The curious OnePlus One smartphone is set to debut in a few days, but a host of images have already leaked out showing the phone’s look and design as well as a peak of the UI. You can see that the design is minimalist in nature, with graceful, subtle curves and a white back. The phone will also apparently employ StyleSwap covers so you can trick out your own handset with a denim look, various wood grains, and more. Accessories are colored in a bright cherry red, which brings a refreshing splash of color to the understated black and white design. The UI shots only show so much, but you can see that the home screen is straightforward, with a Google voice search bar at the top...
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Samsung Galaxy S5 Arrives With Beastly Snapdragon 801 Processor, 16MP Camera, And A Heartbeat Sensor
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has arrived. While the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 was a blockbuster event, the successor to the role of Samsung’s flagship phone hasn’t made nearly such an impact despite sporting strong features and specifications. The LTE-equipped Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch (1920x1080) display and rocks a quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC (2.5GHz), 2GB of RAM, 16 GB or 32GB of onboard storage (with a microSD slot that allows for another 128GB), and 16MP/2MP rear/front cameras. The 16MP on the back had autofocus, HDR, selective focus, and shoots in UHD at 30fps, while the wide-angle front camera can capture selfies at a resolution of 1920x1080. There are multiple sensors, including...
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Last week, we took a trip to San Diego to meet with Qualcomm and discuss the company's cutting edge 20nm radios and upcoming Snapdragon processors. Unlike the already-launched Snapdragon 801 and 805, these are fundamentally new chips with updated CPU cores as well as Qualcomm's new Adreno 400-class GPU. Qualcomm is announcing two new chips today -- the Snapdragon 808 and the Snapdragon 810. The 810 will be the highest-end solution, with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A57 paired alongside four Cortex-53 CPUs. We've discussed ARM's big.Little implementations before -- unlike the designs we saw debut in 2012, these new cores will support the asymmetric operating modes that ARM described in 2013. That means...
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If you want the latest and greatest Nokia-built Windows Phone phone, and you’re an AT&T customer, the Lumia 1520 is a beast of a smartphone, but it’s not available to Verizon customers. Instead, Verizon offers the newer, and arguably more refined, Nokia Lumia Icon, which has nearly all of the same internal specifications as the 1520, but with a few key differences. The most obvious difference is the size; the 5-inch Lumia Icon is a sizeable smartphone whereas at 6 inches, the Lumia 1520 falls squarely into the phablet category. Otherwise, under the hood the two devices are quite similar--they are both powered by the same SoC, have similar amounts of RAM, and feature the same base...
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If you want the latest and greatest Nokia-built Windows Phone phone, and you’re an AT&T customer, the Lumia 1520 is a beast of a smartphone, but it’s not available to Verizon customers. Instead, Verizon offers the newer, and arguably more refined, Nokia Lumia Icon, which has nearly all of the same internal specifications as the 1520, but with a few key differences. The most obvious difference is the size; the 5-inch Lumia Icon is a sizeable smartphone whereas at 6 inches, the Lumia 1520 falls squarely into the phablet category, occupied by devices like the Galaxy Note III. The 1520 also has a larger battery (which makes sense given the larger display),...
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Amazon confirmed today one of the worst-kept secrets in the industry, which is that the company now has its own streaming set top box. It’s called the Amazon Fire TV, and true to the rumors, it offers streaming TV and movies as well as games. “Fire TV is a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV. It's the easiest way to enjoy Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, low-cost video rentals, and more,” reads the announcement. You can also stream music from the likes of Pandora, iHeartRadio, and more. One of the Fire TV’s premier selling points is voice search; instead of doing that awful one-letter-at-a-time pecking that you have to do on most remote controls, you...
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The HTC One (M8) has landed, and HTC’s new flagship phone features a curvy brushed metal unibody frame, dual front-facing speakers, and the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. The 5-inch display is a full HD 1080p affair, and the smartphone comes with HTC Sense and HTC Blinkfeed. The HTC Ultrapixel camera can shoot in 1080p HD and has a unique focus feature that lets you blur the background and focus on aspects in the photo even after you’ve shot the picture, and it’s designed to create beautiful photos even in low light. The 5MP front camera can also capture 1080p HD video and features HDR and a wide-angle lens. The HTC One (M8) has 2GB of RAM with 16GB or 32GB of...
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OnePlus is a company that’s looking to disrupt the smartphone market, and its flagship “One” smartphone is set to debut on April 23rd. Among the details that the company has been offering up little by little over the last few months, perhaps the most intriguing is the fact that OnePlus has partnered with Cyanogen on software. Thus, the smartphone will run on a CyanogenMod OS, which is notable in an Android-dominated mobile market. “What’s coming is one of the most popular mobile operating systems specifically developed for the best hardware, with a unique twist. The smartphone industry is ripe for disruption, and 2014 should prove to be a huge year for the future...
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We’ve already discussed the impending HTC M8 (One), or One M8, or whatever the final official name will be, but Rightware has shared the new handset’s benchmark results from its Basemark and BrowserMark tests. The HTC One M8 beat out the Nokia Lumia 1520 to take the top spot in gaming performance, topping the field in the Basemark OS II and Basemark X tests, making it also the top phone overall according to Rightware. The HTC One M8 wasn’t quite as hot in the BrowserMark web browsing test (finishing 7th), nor the Basemark GUI test. Still, the quad-core Snapdragon 801 (2.3GHz) Krait 400 SoC with Adreno 330 GPU powered the HTC One M8 to a strong showing overall--which reportedly...
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