Showing posts with label and. Show all posts
Showing posts with label and. Show all posts
Friday, May 24, 2013
Are Windows Phone and Windows RT Dead in the Water
In an interview with Bloomberg Germany, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said Microsoft’s Windows Phone and tablet operating systems will gain “enough critical mass to keep going with their tablets and phones.” By this time, I had expect Windows Phone to have a larger market share, and I am having a hard time sharing Mr. Wozniaks optimism.
Windows Phone. Data from IDC shows that in Quarter 4 of 2012, Windows Phone accounted for just 2.6% of the mobile phones shipped worldwide. Thus is up from 1.5% in the Quarter 4 of 2011. The numbers are not all that encouraging.
The 2.6% figure for the 4th quarter of 2012 represents 6 million smartphones. Another problematic figure is connect to this modest number. Of the 6 million Windows Phone smartphones shipped in Quarter 4 of 2012, 4.4 million were apparently Nokia Lumia phones.
With Samsung and HTC having to share in the remaining 1.6 million phones shipped, there seems to be little incentive for them to continue. Still HTC has had a long history as a Microsoft partner, and Samsung is getting bigger in the PC business.
If Windows Phone is going to gain traction, it would have to do so in Quarter 1 of 2013. The current Windows Phone devices are four or five month old designs, which I do not expect to see update for another seven or eight months. By Quarter 2 of this year, you can expect the new Android phones to cause a surge in Android phone sales. Later in the third or fourth quarter of the year, a new iPhone will see a increase in iPhone sales.
Should Quarter 1, 2013 sales of Windows Phones be lackluster, developers will have to decide if Windows Phone is worth it, given that the last quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 are likely the peak period for Windows sales.
Windows RT. Windows RT would appear to be in worse shape. Few of Microsoft OEM partners came out with RT devices. Total Windows RT device sales for 2012 appear to be less than 1 million units.
Worse, Windows RT seems now to be a superflous operating system. Windows RT was designed to run on ARM processors. But Windows RT plus ARM processors do not seem to offer any advantages over full Windows 8 tablets running on Intel Atom processors.
So, rather than trying to rake on iOS and Android in the tablet market, it would seem that Windows RTs number one competition is actually Windows 8.
So where does it go from here? Between Microsoft and Nokia Windows Phone will continue to exist for foreseeable future. Nokia is actually making money on selling phones again. What would kill Windows Phone quickly, is if Nokia decided to release Android devices. In the longer term, it will be developer support which will keep this platform alive, or end its life.
As for Windows RT, I would not be surprised if we do not see another Windows RT device released ever again.
Samsung Unveils Enhanced Series 7 Chronos and New Ultrabooks ahead of CES 2013 FULL SPECS
Samsung seem to be getting their CES announcements in before CES actually happens, they have announced two devices in its Series 7 line of notebook. Both have 1920×1080 full HD displays with the option of full screen 10 finger multi-touch, which I am coming to the conclusion is an essential feature for Windows 8. The Ultra has an 8 hour battery life and the Chronos has 11 hours battery. Both look like very nice devices but there are no price details yet, I will get more details about them next week during the show, but for now heres what we know:
New Series 7 Chronos – Professional, Powerful Performer
Delivering professional performance in a thinner and lighter form factor, the new Series 7 Chronos provides enhanced processing power for professional users and a new software solution RAMaccelerator**** that provides up to a 150 percent increase in speed for browsing and running apps by taking advantage of the existing memory. Ten-finger multi-touch capabilities enhance the overall experience, allowing the user to interact directly with the screen, as well as the touchpad and keyboard. With a full aluminum body, the new Series 7 Chronos follows the design DNA of its predecessor while packing a powerful Intel® quad-core processor with up to 16GB* of memory, up to 1TB*** of storage and dedicated 2GB external graphics into a slim chassis that measures just 20.9mm (0.82 inches).
The Series 7 Chronos enables creation of heavy content for professional use with increased efficiency and productivity, anywhere and anytime. Catering to the needs of professionals, the new Series 7 Chronos features a high resolution, Full HD display (1920x1080), with 300nit brightness, as well as rich sound with JBL® optimized speakers, enhanced graphics to run hardcore tasks, and an extended battery life of 11 hours**. The laptop wakes up in as little as two seconds and boots in under twelve seconds, making it ready at a moment’s notice to access virtually anything the user needs for serious work.
Series 7 Ultra – A New Ultrabook Experience
As the first Ultra in the Series 7 family, the Series 7 Ultra embodies superior mobility and performance in an ultra-slim and light, full aluminum body. Designed as the ultimate Ultrabook for multimedia, the Series 7 Ultra offers crisp visuals as well as powerful sound features. Enjoy videos and images on a Full HD display (1920x1080) featuring 350nit brightness, while JBL optimized speakers and AMD® graphics complete the experience. The laptop’s display is brighter and wider than previous models and features a 178-degree viewing angle, making it great for sharing multimedia with friends and family, or work content with colleagues.
Up to eight hours of battery life** keeps users connected all day, while the latest Intel® Core™ i5 or i7 processors and up to 256GB SSD*** of storage provide the computing power required by even the most demanding users. The laptop’s ten-finger intuitive touch capabilities and six second boot-up time maximize on-the-go productivity. The device will also be available with 4G LTE connectivity, further enhancing accessibility from anywhere (touch model based). Connecting to other devices is almost never an issue with three USB ports, as well as a LAN port and a slim security slot to help ensure the device is securely tethered when necessary.
Full specifications:
Category | Details | New Series 7 Chronos (770Z5E) | Series 7 Ultra (730U3E) |
Display | Size | 15.6” | 13.3” |
Resolution | Full HD (1920X1080) | Full HD 1920x1080 | |
Touch Screen | 10-point multi touch* | 10-finger multi-touch (factory option) | |
Battery Life | Battery Life | Up to 11 hours** | 8 hours** |
Dimensions | Dimensions | 376 x 249.9 x 20.9mm (14.80” x 9.84” x 0.82”) | 324 x 224 x 17.5mm 324 x 224 x 18.9mm (Touch model) |
Weight | 2.35kg (5.18lbs) | 1.46kg 1.65kg (touch model) | |
Color | Bare Metal | Bare Metal | |
Performance | Operating System | Windows 8 | Windows 8 |
Processor | Intel® Core™ i7 3635QM (2.40 GHz, 6 MB L3 Cache) | Intel® Core™ i7/i5 ULV | |
Graphics Processor | AMD Radeon™ HD 8870M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 Graphic Memory (PowerExpress) | AMD HD8570M (w/ 1G gDDR3)* | |
System Memory* | Up to 16GB* (On Board 4 or 8GB) | Up to 16GB* | |
Hard Disk Drive* | 1TB HDD (max) | 256GB SSD (max) | |
Multimedia | Sound Effect | SoundAlive™ | SoundAlive™ |
Speaker | JBL Stereo Speakers 4W x 2 (w/Virtual Woofer) | JBL Stereo Speakers 2W x 2 | |
Integrated Camera | HD 720p. | HD 720p | |
Others | I/O Ports | 2xUSB3.0, 2xUSB2.0, HDMI, HP/MIC, VGA | 1xUSB3.0, 2xUSB2.0, HDMI, mini VGA, HP/MIC |
RJ 45, 3-in-1 | RJ 45, 3-in-1 | ||
Input Device | Backlit Keyboard, Clickpad | Backlit Keyboard, Clickpad | |
Lock | Security Slot | Slim Security Slot |
** n.b. All are based on factory specifications. Product design specifications and colors are subject to change without notice and may vary from those shown. Errors and omissions excepted. Battery life based on MobileMark test scores that will vary based on configuration. Warranty service availability and response times may vary from country to country and may also be subject to registration requirements in the country of purchase.
***Accessible capacity varies; MB = 1 million bytes, GB = 1 billion bytes, TB = 1 trillion bytes. Please note that a portion of the hard drive is reserved for system recovery, operating system and preloaded content software.
****Powered by CondusivTM Technologies
Samsung Galaxy S4 free LTE Plan 2000 from Smart and LTE Plan 1500 for early birds
Smart Communications has revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available for free, bundled with the Smart Unli Data Plan 2000 with a 30-month contract. This plan comes with unlimited LTE connectivity and 200 SMS and 150 minutes of calls to all networks.
As a special treat for early adopters, those who submit their application for a postpaid plan and get approved from April 27 to May 2 at participating Smart Stores, can get the Samsung Galaxy S4 for free at Unli Data Plan 1500, and receive their unit on May 2, 2013.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt Performance and Benchmarks
Cherry Mobile has shocked the local tech scene by announcing the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt. Php3,999 for a 7-inch tablet with an 1280 x 800 pixel resolution HD display, quad core processor and 1 GB of RAM almost unbelievable. The specifications sheet reads like a Asus Nexus 7 at less than a third of the price.
The biggest question mark in with the new Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt is the chipset and graphics processing unit (GPU). The Fusion Bolt has a 1GHz quad-core Actions Semiconductor ATM7025 processor paired with a Vivante GC1000+ GPU. How well does this combination perform.
Pinoytech Blog has benchmarked the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt an the tablet and the performance is very good for a Php3,999 tablet, but really is better than dual core tablet but not as good as powerful than a quad core tablets.
Antutu Benchmarks
Samsung Galaxy Tab P3110 - 4974
Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt - 5665 points
Google Nexus 7 - 12726 points
The Samsung Galaxy Tab P3110 uses a dual core processor on a TI OMAP chipset with a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU. The Google Nexus 7, has a quad core Nvidia Tegra 3.
Examining a breaking down of three key aspects of the Antutu benchmarks would show they key areas where the ATM7025 processor paired with a Vivante GC1000+ GPU fall short.
Samsung Galaxy Tab P3110
CPU integer - 1358
CPU float point - 1102
3D graphics (1024 x 600) - 1085
Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt
CPU integer - 1313
CPU float point - 901
3D graphics (1280 x 800) - 1513
Google Nexus 7
CPU integer - 3679
CPU float point -2692
3D graphics (1280 x 800) - 2874
The quad core ATM7025 processor really does not perform better than a dual core unit. The dual core 1 GHz TI OMAP on the Samsung Galaxy P3110 is actually one of the slower dual core options on th market.
The Vivante GC1000+ GPU actually fairs pretty well. It does 40% better than the PowerVR SGX540 GPU on the Samsung Galaxy P3110 despite having to push 60% more pixels. Roughly the Vivante GC1000+ GPU is twice as powerful as the PowerVR SGX540 GPU.
My advice, is dont look a gift horse in the mouth. If you compare the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt to a Google Nexus 7 which costs more the than three time more, the Google Nexus 7 is more than twice as fast. But you should not expect the same performance for a third of the price.
If you compare the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt to a Samsung Galaxy P3110 which will cost you more than twice as much, the Fusion Bolt looks to be a much better value for money option.
Update: Apparently, the Cherry Mobile Fusion benchmarks cited above was the result of pre-production firmware. An independent test score the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt at 12042 points.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Young Features Specification and Price Now Available In Retail Market
Samsung Galaxy Young is finally available in the retail market. The Samsung Galaxy Young features 3.27 inch full touch HVGA resolution display and Android Jelly Bean operating system. It is priced at Rs 8,300.
Device Specification:
• Jelly Bean OS
• 3.27 inch full touch HVGA resolution display
• 1 GHz processor
• 768 MB of RAM
• 4 GB of onboard storage
• Expandable upto 64 GB
• 3 megapixel camera at back
• 1300 mAh battery
The Samsung Galaxy Young has access to both Google Play store and Game Hub Lite. It has also right to use Samsung’s S Cloud which will also be offered as a safe and simple syncing option for back-up & storage option information such as contacts, bookmarks, and SMS. Motion user interface is also included in the phone. Its user interface lets user to simply shake the devices to refresh and update widgets and other content, or to just turn over the device to mute the ringer.
The Galaxy Young comes in white, deep blue, wine red and metallic silver colours. Currently only the white color model is available for purchase from a number of online stores.
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