Motorola Details the RAZR i, Its First Phone With Intel Inside

Motorola is using a London event today to show off its first phone powered with an Intel processor.

The RAZR i packs a 2GHz Intel processor and a 4.3-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen — the fastest such chip ever included in a Motorola phone. The added processing power is particularly useful when taking pictures. Among its photo abilities is the ability to take 10 pictures per second.

“I think we all know that everybody is using these devices to replace their camera,” said Motorola’s Jim Wicks. “People are really wanting the power of the processing that Intel provides.”

Along with the Intel chip, the RAZR i features an aluminum case with a Kevlar-coated back, Near Field Communications abilities and the Ice Cream Sandwich flavor of Android.

The device is the first fruit of a multi-year partnership announced at January’s Consumer Electronics Show — ahead of Motorola’s deal to be acquired by Google. Although neither company indicated any changes to the deal, Wicks declined to comment on any future plans for Intel-based phones.

Motorola is the best known cellphone maker to adopt Intel chips. China’s ZTE and Lenovo are using Intel chips in a small number of products, while France’s Orange, India’s Lava and Russia’s Megafon have also introduced phones based on an Intel-created reference design.

The RAZR i bears a strong resemblance to the Droid RAZR M phone announced earlier this month for Verizon. The two devices look nearly identical, though Intel’s model doesn’t support high-speed LTE networks, such as Verizon’s.

Motorola said it will ship the RAZR i in various European and South American markets starting in October.

Wicks said that both the RAZR i and RAZR M get similar battery life — about 20 hours when performing a Motorola-crafted variety of tasks including a mix of Web use and calling.

Source : allthingsd

Samsung Galaxy S4 May Tout 13MP Camera That RAZR HD Passed On

With mobile tech getting better the entire time, cameras on phones also improve. Today we don’t have to worry about poor photos from our phones as now many of them provide photos the same quality as digital cameras. Now the folks over at PhoneReviews point out that upcoming Samsung devices like the Galaxy S3 may come with a camera of 13 megapixels.

This year alone, we had rumors that the Motorola DROID RAZR HD would feature a 13-megapixel camera. In fact, EXIF data also leaked of such a device in existence. Unfortunately when the DROID RAZR HD was announced, it still remained on 8MP like its predecessors.

Now Samsung have already said that they have started work on a next gen 13 megapixel back illuminated sensor, which they are calling S5K33L2. It is thought that this is destined to be in smartphones along with tablets in 2013 and therefore could be ready for putting into their next flagship phone – the Samsung Galaxy S4.

This new sensor would come with the 1/3.2” format with pixels of 1.1µ and this means in English that photos would have a resolution of 4208 x 3120 and capture of video at 30 FPS. The images would, according to Samsung have high contrast despite the fact that they would be shot at high frame rates.

The sensors on the cameras of Samsung are the most efficient energy wise in the smartphone market and ensure great battery life. More phone makers are going into point and shoot territory with their handsets and before long they will move into the lower end of DSLR too.

There is more to a great camera than just megapixels of course; the pixels also need to be smaller. generally this results in them not capturing as much light and the result is images of low quality.

The Nokia PureView 808 came with a 41 megapixel camera sensor; however it wasn’t a very pleasing design thanks to it running Symbian. The need for purchasing digital cameras has dropped thanks to phone technology. Do you use your phone as your main camera?

Source : autoomobile

Samsung planning Galaxy S4 for March, report says

As we prepare for the iPhone 5 to start flying off store shelves, Samsung is reportedly already planning for the Galaxy S4.

The Korea Times reported Sunday that an unnamed Samsung official confirmed the company would be unveiling a new Galaxy smartphone at next year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and will have the new phone to market by March.

That would make it a very short product cycle for the Galaxy S III, which the company released in May.

According to the report, the S4 will be, in all ways, bigger and better than its predecessor. It will reportedly have a 5-inch screen, quad-core processors and, the report said, Samsung is considering integrating its flexible display technology, which would allow the phone to be very, very thin.

A March release would likely put Samsung’s new flagship model at least six months ahead of what appears to be Apple’s new iPhone fall release schedule. Samsung has been the Cupertino, Calif. firm’s fiercest competitor, and has been touting the strength of its flagship phone against the iPhone’s.

Samsung, Business Insider reported, has even put out a print ad that is meant to show a comparison between the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S III that indicates the new iPhone doesn’t match up. Samsung's list of features extends 14 items beyond the iPhone, though it should be said that there are plenty of things about the iPhone that unsurprisingly don’t make the cut in the Samsung ad.

In fact, all the ad points out is that the iPhone and the Galaxy S III run different software.

Yes, the iPhone doesn’t have, for example, Tilt-to-Zoom, but that obviously doesn’t mean that you can’t zoom in on the iPhone’s display. Samsung does note that it’s made the decision to include an NFC chip in its phone and Apple hasn’t, but most consumers probably aren’t dying to have that technology in their phones in the first place.

If they are, they’ve probably already given the Galaxy S III some serious thought.

Of course, this slight against Apple has already roused its fanbase to come out against the ad.

As CNET reported, Apple fans have already answered the ad point-for-point by bringing up features such as shared photostreams as the answer to Samsung features such as ShareShot.

Source : washingtonpost

iPhone 5 and the nano-SIM - change for the sake of change?

Did we really need a new SIM card format with Apple's new iPhone?

There's a lot to get excited about with the iPhone 5, especially if you're yearning for a little more screen real estate, but there's also a lot to be frustrated about. This latest iPhone is the least-backwards-compatible iPhone yet -- that's an awkward phrase but you know what I mean. The change in screen size means it won't work with tight-fitting accessories such as many cases and car kits. The connector change to "Lightning", while ignoring the micro-USB standard, means that it won't work with older chargers and music docks without the extra expense of cumbersome adaptors. And the change from a micro-SIM card to the smaller nano-SIM will also make life harder for those who tend to mix and match smartphones and SIM cards when they travel.

Both the Lightning connector and nano-SIM format are slightly smaller and thinner than their predecessors, which Apple claims is necessary to cram more into the new phone. But you can't help but feel the nano-SIM change is as much about Apple throwing its weight around and making it harder for iPhone owners to stray from the flock.
Apple tends to lead the way with SIM card changes, making it just that bit harder to swap between phones. Jet-setting businessfolk who swap SIMs to avoid the global roaming sting might want to hold off on upgrading to the iPhone 5 until they're sure they can get their hands on nano-SIMs everywhere they need them.

When Apple first moved to the micro-SIM card format with the iPhone 4, I was concerned that telcos would use it as an excuse to gouge customers -- denying them the best call and data deals simply because they were using an iPhone. Thankfully it seems my fears were misplaced and Australian telcos seem happy to switch your number across to a micro-SIM, perhaps only charging a few dollars to cover the cost of the SIM.

Considering this I think it's unlikely that Australian telcos will pounce on the nano-SIM as a chance to gouge customers, but that might not be the case in other countries. I certainly wouldn't want to turn up in a foreign country and hope for the best when it comes to obtaining a good deal on a nano-SIM. Trimming down a standard or micro-SIM to a nano-SIM seems a much riskier prospect now the margin for error is so thin.

It's easy to pay out on Cupertino for pushing new formats, but the truth is that a new SIM format was coming regardless. It was just a question of which format won the standards battle. There's been a lot of behind-the-scenes wrangling over this new nano-SIM format, with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute finally backing Apple's design over proposals from Motorola, Nokia and RIM.

The competition proposed a notch-based design which would let SIM cards pop in and out without the need for a tray. At one point Nokia even threatened that it wouldn't license its SIM-related patents if Apple won this battle, fearing that Apple's push was related to the mobile patent wars. Nokia backed down and Apple pledged to offer royalty-free licensing for the new micro-SIM format, but you can understand why this makes competitors nervous in this age of legal battles.

The long-term trend is towards embedded SIM cards -- a concept which telcos have fought because they know it will put more control in the hands of Apple. Cupertino backed down this time, but you can be sure embedded SIM cards will be back on the table during the next major iPhone hardware refresh. Apple will claim that it's all about cramming more into the phones, but it's pretty hard to take the control freaks at Cupertino at face value when it comes to these things. The fact that the telcos and other handset makers don't trust Apple's motives speaks volumes.

What's your take on the nano-SIM issue? Is it more about hardware design or about maintaining control?

Source : smhcom

Can the iPhone 5 front up to Samsung?

So the presentation is over and now the wait begins. On Friday September 21 Apple fanboys in the US will be able to get their hands on an iPhone 5. Hopefully the Irish market will be served the following week on September 28 - a far cry from the almost 10-month period between the release of the original iPhone and its arrival on these shores thanks to an exclusive deal with O2. A lot has changed in the preceding five years. The company has shifted the focus of smartphones away from hardware to apps Apple created the app economy, has made iOS more profitable than all of Microsoft, and now owns 17% of the market, according to analysts IDC. Once king of the mobile space, Nokia has now been reduced to also-ran status, while handsets running Google's open source mobile OS Android constitute a 68% market share diffused across a range of brands led by Samsung, Sony and HTC. With the iPhone just another part of the consumer landscape what could Apple possibly do to disrupt the status quo, especially after the lukewarm reaction to the hardly groundbreaking iPhone 4S - only an incremental improvement on its predecessor.

On the TechCentral podcast we've been as guilty as anyone of being sucked into iPhone 5 hype vacuum, especially as trends in the mobile space have progressed in tandem with improved broadband networks, more elaborate third party apps and faster chips.

Right now Samsung's flagship Galaxy S III is the iPhone's main competitor. It has a monstrous 4.8" screen; quad-core processor with 1Gb RAM; 8MP and 1.9MP rear- and front - facing cameras; connectivity to long term evolution (LTE) networks; near field communication (NFC); expandable memory; microUSB connection; and a choice of 12-, 32- and 64- Gb models. How would Apple respond?

Despite getting off to a poor start with our predictions - we were sure the '5' would be dropped in favour of the more prosaic 'iPhone - our hit rate was accurate, if lacking in specifics.

We argued that evergreen areas like screen size (4"), resolution (1136x640 at 326ppi), camera (8MP rear- and 1.2 front-facing with full HD recording), processor (a new A6 chip) and battery life (225 hours standby and 8 hours talk on 2G and 3G and 40 hours music playback) would all be improved on and were right. We said LTE connectivity (delivering downloads of up to 75.4Mb/s) was vital and were right again. We trusted in the grapevine and leaked images for information on a smaller 'nano-SIM' card, redesigned 'Lightning' connector (reduced from 30 pins to eight) and the repositioning of the headphone jack from the top to the bottom of the chassis, and were rewarded. We had accepted we would never see Flash, USB or expandable memory so we weren't disappointed when none of them were announced.

Where we missed the mark was on the absence of NFC, a €29 price point on a Lightning adaptor and retention of the same 16/32/64Gb storage options. We were also trumped on price point, which remains the same as the iPhone 4S on release and the decision to go exclusively with an aluminium and glass construction - areas we didn't even speculate on.

So far, so Apple: a series of technological advancements sacrificing spec for features consumers are more likely to use on a daily basis - hence no NFC. Based on the hardware Samsung should have nothing to worry about, but the iPhone 5's advantage is not in spec, but aesthetics.

Samsung's Galaxy S III is a behemoth. At 136.6x70.6x8.6mm and weighing 133g it's longer and lighter than the iPhone 4S, and its 4.8" screen far outstrips the 4S' 3.5". What iPhone 5 gives up in screen size and length, however, it more than makes up for in form factor. At 123.8x58.6x7.6mm and 112g it's shorter and narrower but also much thinner and lighter. Marry that advantage with the iOS user experience and you have a real reason for iPhone 4 or 3GS owners to make the move.

By shifting the focus from spec to build quality with the iPhone 5 Apple has found another way to stay ahead of the competition without delivering bleeding edge tech. It will delight fans and infuriate hardcore techies in equal measure.

By the way, my final prediction was that it would sell like hotcakes regardless. Let's see how that pans out from Friday.

Source : RTE news

Apple's iPhone 5 pre-orders exceed expectations

Apple said on Monday that pre-orders for the new mobile device surpassed 2 million in the first 24 hours. A majority of pre-ordered phones will be delivered as planned by September 21, but many will not be delivered until October, it said.

Pre-orders "have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S, and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

It is not unusual for Apple products to sell out the first day. Orders for the previous iPhone, the 4S, the last product the company introduced before the death of co-founder Steve Jobs, surpassed 1 million in the first 24 hours, beating Apple's previous one-day record of 600,000 sales for the iPhone 4.

Apple's U.S. store, at www.apple.com, on Monday morning showed pre-orders for the iPhone 5 would take two to three weeks to ship.

AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, said it set a sales record with the iPhone 5 over the weekend, making it the fastest-selling iPhone the company has ever offered.

AT&T did not disclose how many iPhones it sold but said the iPhone 5 was still available for pre-order and would go on sale September 21 at AT&T retail stores.

The phone's other carriers, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp, also showed similar delays in shipping the phone.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White said demand was well above expectations.

"Given the much stronger-than-expected iPhone 5 pre-order sales, we expect a meaningful jump in the three-day sales results for the iPhone 5 compared to the over 4 million iPhone 4S weekend sales last year," he said.

Although more consumers were opting for the pre-order method, White still expects long lines Friday when the phone goes on sale in stores.

Apple began taking orders for the iPhone 5 at midnight Pacific time September 14 (0700 GMT September 15). Shipping dates for the slimmer, faster smartphone slipped by a week within an hour of the start of pre-orders.

Apple previously said it would start shipping the iPhone 5 by September 21 in the United States and most of the major markets of Europe such as France, Germany and the UK. It goes on sale September 28 in 22 other countries.

Analysts have forecast that more than 30 million iPhones, including older models, will be sold by the end of September. Sales of iPhones account for more than half of Apple's revenue.

Shares of Apple were up less than 1 percent at $694.88 in premarket trading on Monday. They closed at $691.28 on the Nasdaq on Friday.

Source : reuters

Did the Apple iPhone 5 deliver? What we wanted versus what we got

The iPhone 5 has landed. But since it didn’t land on its own jet thrusters, were you disappointed? Although it didn’t turn up in any bars ahead of its release, plenty of details for the iPhone 5 turned up early – so how many of the rumours turned out to be true? And does it measure up to our expectations?

What we wanted: a bigger 4in 16:9 screen
What we got: Exactly that, and while maintaining that high Retina Display resolution at 326ppi. We also got the added bonus of improved colour saturation of a whopping 44 per cent. Thanks Apple.

What we wanted: a faster A6 quad-core processor
What we got: Well Apple got the A6 part right, it just forgot to add the quad-core. But since Apple prefers to avoid specs wars in favour of producing great working software we’re not surprised.

What we wanted: Lightening port connction
What we got: We certainly got a new port, plus the expensive adapter that must be bought separately if you want to use your old dock. Other than it helping Apple and its partners sell more products, it offers little else – a smaller form and an ability to slot it in either way up.

What we wanted: better battery with wireless charging
What we got: In spite of a bigger, more colourful screen the battery still manages a solid eight hours of 4G web surfing and a standby time of 225 hours. It sounds good but we’ll reserve judgement until we’ve done a long-term test. Oh and no signs of wireless charging.

What we wanted: a better camera like the Nokia Lumia 920
What we got: While the main snapper remains an 8MP iSight camera and adds panorama (landscape only), the front-facing camera is now 720p and records at 30fps. Video stabilisation has improved although not at an innovative level like the Nokia Lumia 920.

What we wanted: an improved OS
What we got: iOS 6 offers plenty of improvements including better Facebook and Twitter integration, superior Maps, super Siri, and some great new call features. There’s also Passbook that turns your phone into a wallet, Lost Mode to help you find your device, tab synchronisation across devices in Safari, Photo Stream sharing, and improved Mail. Check out our iOS 6 need to know guide for full details.

What we wanted: fingerprint reading and NFC
What we got: No sign of either sadly – it would seem Apple isn’t willing to share payment systems with Visa via NFC. Not yet anyway.

What we wanted: new headphones
What we got: We got the new EarPods which actually were impressive. These are Apple’s improved in-ear earphones that have been designed to snuggle in comfortably while distributing air perfectly for the best sound. Plus they’re bundled with the iPhone 5 for free.

Source : stuffmideast