MediaTek bringing LTE and Cortex-A15 big.LITTLE to CES

MediaTek is quickly establishing itself as one of the most popular chipset vendors but it has only been associated with value-for-money devices. What it's bringing to CES will help it break away from that image and even jump on the wearables bandwagon.

One of the key components is the MT6290 modem. Built on a 28nm process, the modem supports LTE Cat. 4, meaning it can achieve downlink speeds of up to 150Mbps. This chipset is compatible with MediaTek's current application processors, so integrating it into new products should be easy.

The MT8135 will also be at the trade show – a big.LITTLE processor with two Cortex-A7s and two Cortex-A15s and a PowerVR Series 6 GPU (same generation as the iPhone 5s GPU). This chipset was announced back in July, so we hope to see actual devices with it at CES. The octa-core MediaTek MT6592 will be at the stands too.

Then there's the smallest chipset in the world (according to MediaTek), which will be used for wearables (a market set to explode in 2014). Smart TVs, another market gaining popularity, will be catered to by a chipset capable of decoding UHD HEVC-encoded video at 60fps. There will be products for home automation, indoor positioning an Qi wireless charging too.

With demand for NVIDIA Tegra chipsets waning, Samsung's 5th gen Exynos struggling and TI out of the game, MediaTek has a golden opportunity to become the other big player on the market (other than Qualcomm that is, which is making big promises too)

HTC M8 rumored to be called One+

Although it may not bethe most original of names, HTC's newest flagship phone is rumored to be called the One+.

Evleaks released details about HTC's M8 yesterday: namely that it will have a 4.9 inch Full HD display and a Snapdragon 800 processor under the hood. However, popular XDA member, Mike1986, indicates that the M8 is indeed the One+, and has a list of rumored specs that go into greater detail and suggest that the One+ will be a much better spec'd device than previously thought.

The One+, according to Mike1986, will have a 5-inch Full HD Gorilla Glass 3 display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 2GB LPDDR3 RAM, a 6MP or 8MP camera with double lens (rumored to be exchangeable), a 2.1MP front camera, 2,900 mAh battery, a microSD card slot and NFC.

On the software side, we can expect the One+ to have Android 4.4 Kit-Kat out of the box, overlaid with HTC Sense 6. Another interesting fact is that the One+ is rumored to not have any physical buttons, with all of the Android interaction taking place on screen, a la the Nexus 4 & 5.

As always, these are just rumors, so don't take them as gospel just yet. The One+ is speculated to make its debut at Mobile World Congress, from February 24-27 in Barcelona.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) pictures

Available as:
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 SM-P600 Wi-Fi
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 SM-P601 3G
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 SM-P605 3G+LTE
SM-P600 model has no support for GSM voice communication, SMS, and MMS.

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - all versions
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - all versions
	4G Network	LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 - SM-P605
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2013, September
	Status	Available. Released 2013, October

Body	Dimensions	243.1 x 171.4 x 7.9 mm (9.57 x 6.75 x 0.31 in)
	Weight	540g (WIFI)/ 535 g (3G)/ 547g (LTE) (1.18 lb)
		- S Pen stylus

Display	Type	Super clear LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	2560 x 1600 pixels, 10.1 inches (~299 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes, up to 10 fingers
		- Samsung TouchWiz UI

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		- Dolby mobile sound enhancement

Memory	Card slot	microSD, up to 64 GB
	Internal	16/32/64 GB storage, 3 GB RAM

Data	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 42 Mbps (LTE model), 21 Mbps (3G model); HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB Host

Camera	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, face and smile detection
	Video	Yes, 1080p@60fps (LTE model), check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 2 MP, 1080p@30fps

Features	OS	Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean)
	Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
	CPU	Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 (LTE model)/ Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 (3G model)
	GPU	Adreno 330 (LTE model)
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	TBD
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document viewer - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input (Swype)

Battery		Non-removable Li-Po 8220 mAh battery
	Stand-by	Up to 2230 h
	Talk time	Up to 10 h (multimedia) (2G) / Up to 49 h (3G)
	Music play	Up to 98 h

Misc	SAR US	1.59 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.63 W/kg (body)
	Price group

Tests	Display	Contrast ratio: 821:1 (nominal)
	Loudspeaker	Voice 75dB / Noise 66dB / Ring 77dB
	Audio quality	Noise -95.5dB / Crosstalk -97.3dB
	Camera	Photo / Video

Pandora's Android app gets an alarm clock function, right on time

 

There's no denying it -- many people will need extra motivation to get up at a reasonable hour after sleeping in during the holidays. It's a good thing, then, that Pandora has just given its Android app the alarm clock and sleep functions that reached iOS nearly a month ago. Most of the functions are the same. You can still tell Pandora to wake you up to your favorite streaming station, and you can hit the snooze button if you're not quite ready to greet the new day. Android users do get a few OS-specific perks, including support for recurring alarms and the luxury of switching apps once the alarm has been set. If you need some tunes to make the early morning a little more bearable, you'll want to swing by Google Play to grab Pandora's update.

Acer Liquid Z5 goes official with a 5-inch display

Acer has unveiled Liquid Z5 - the successor of the very affordable Liquid Z3. The new Z5 model comes with a bigger 5" FWVGA TFT display, though it is powered by the same MediaTek MT6572 platform.

The MT6572 is based on a dual-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Mali-400 graphics and 512MB of RAM. It should be enough to power the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean ticking inside the Liquid Z5.

The rest of the specs include a 5MP rear camera with a LED flash, a VGA front facer, 4GB of expandable storage, and a 2,000mAh battery. The Liquid Z5 also offers dual-SIM support, 3G with HSPA+, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi N, GPS and an FM radio.

The Acer Liquid Z5 will launch in white and gray flavors and will cost as low as €169. The first markets to get the Z5 are Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the UK.

Nokia Lumia 929 Icon appears wearing Incipio case

A purported Nokia smartphone allegedly being developed for US carrier Verizon has been spotted donning an Incipio case on the makers own site. The device is identified as the Nokia Icon, which has been confirmed as the codename for the upcoming Lumia 929.

It's reported that the Lumia 929 was initially slated for a pre-holiday release, but has suffered a delay and got pushed back to January 16 instead.

Another important caveat surrounding the Icon moniker is that sources indicate that it could be released directly under its nickname, which would be a first for Nokia, that has always outed devices with a name and model number. Perhaps this has something to do with the pending Microsoft merger?

HTC Flyer (EVO View 4G)

HTC has always stood out among the raft of Android phone manufacturers. The company's been partnering with Google since the start, but still forges its own style, which has won it a lot of fans.

Now that Android is a major tablet OS, with Android 3.0 appearing on the likes of the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1V, HTC is still staying separate from the crowd.

 

The most notable change from the norm is the 7-inch screen and the touchscreen stylus, known officially as the Magic Pen. It connects wirelessly to the Flyer, and enables you to annotate, highlight and erase in supported apps. It offers a measure of pressure sensitivity (unlike most styluses on capacitive screens), so may pique the interest of artists.

Instead of Android 3.0, the Flyer uses Android 2.3.3, skinned with HTC's familiar Sense UI. In this case, it's Sense 2.1 for Tablet. We'll go into more detail about exactly what that means on the third page, but for now we'll just say it's HTC's way of trying make a version of Android designed for phones work a little better on larger screens

 

Instead of the dual-core processors that have quickly become the standard for new tablets (particularly Nvidia's Tegra 2), HTC has gone for a single-core processor with a higher clock speed. The CPU is paired with 1GB of RAM, so there's great potential for multitasking.

 

There's a five-megapixel rear camera, as well as a 1.3MP front-facing camera. Both are capable of recording 720p HD video footage.

Initially, the HTC Flyer will be available in a Wi-Fi-only version with 16GB of storage, or a 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G version. The 16GB Wi-Fi model will set you back £479.99, while the 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G model is £599.99. In both cases, you get the pen in the box, along with a protective slipcase, a USB cable, a set of headphones and a mains power adapter.