Users may find the performance of Samsung’s Exynos processors exhilarating, but it seems the developers who work on custom ROMs for these devices don’t share the same enthusiasm.

Responding to a query on xda-developers forum, CyanogenMod developer who goes by the forum ID ‘codeworkx’ explained why he and other developers think that Exynos processors are bad for developers. It essentially boils down to lack of proper support from Samsung in terms of providing sources or documentation for their processors and when they do it’s either outdated or incompatible. Read more »

Looks like someone managed to get their hands on an iPhone 5 ahead of the launch date and as any normal person would do with a brand new super expensive device, chose to open it up and expose its insides to the Internet.

Now this is not the usual iFixit teardowns that we are used to seeing, with their surgical precision and quirky humor. Instead we get a completely silent teardown from iPhone-Garage with just pictures to tell us what’s going on. (Update: iFixit teardown is now online. Link inside.) Read more »

Microsoft evangelist Ben Rudolf took to the Windows Phone Blog to talk about the new HTC 8X and 8S that were announced yesterday.

Ben talks about the slim shape and the curved glass body of the two devices and how they manage to fit perfectly in your hands. He also makes a note of the ridiculously vibrant colors that the two phones come in. Going through the spec sheet, he mentions the new wide angle cameras on the front and you’ll find a sample image in his post that shows just how much area these new cameras capture. Read more »

Microsoft has decided to make hay of the Google – Safari fiasco that took place a few months ago, for which Google got fined a cool $22.5 million by the FTC.

This message, seen when you open the Bing privacy protection page, is primarily targeted at Safari users who were wronged by Google. It tells you step by step what Google did, how they got fined and finally urges you to stop using Google and switch to Bing. Read more »

Along with the iOS 6 update, Apple also released an important update for its newest desktop operating system, OS X Mountain Lion.

The 10.8.2 update brings with it some major new features. The first one is Facebook integration. Although this feature was announced as one of the key new additions in OS X, it was not available to users until now. Read more »

Acer has finally announced the 7-inch Iconia Tab A110 that we have seen multiple times in the past. There is not much new here that we don’t already know about. It has a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 resolution display, NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.

The display resolution seems like a letdown compared to the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD but the Iconia Tab A110 does come with a microSD card slot as well as micro HDMI out that the other two lack. Read more »

Twitter has released a brand new application for the iPad, which does away completely with the sliding pane design of the previous application, designed by Loren Brichter, creator of the original Tweetie app (now Twitter for iPhone).

The new application now places a single list of tweets on the screen, regardless of whether you hold the iPad in landscape or portrait. It does come across as a terrible waste of screen space, especially in landscape mode and the developers could definitely have put more effort in utilizing all that display area. Read more »

Sony has announced yet another redesign to their popular PlayStation 3 console. Just like the last one that came out three years ago, this one cuts down on the size and weight by being 20% smaller and 25% lighter than the previous model.

Internally, the new console seems to be pretty much identical to the old one, with no new announced changes. Only difference is that you now have 250GB and 500GB models, selling for $269.99 and $299.99 respectively. Read more »

By now a lot of companies have showcased their Windows 8 and RT based tablets. We especially saw a ton of them back at IFA in Berlin. But there was one thing that was always missing from the spec sheets and that was the pricing.

Now, thanks to this alleged leaked ASUS roadmap, we know the pricing details of at least one manufacturer’s Windows based tablets. Read more »

We reported earlier this month on Rovio’s plans of releasing a game based on the Pigs from the Angry Birds series of games. Known as Bad Piggies, the game lets you play as the Pigs for the first time, although not much was known at that time as to what you’d be actually doing in the game.

Rovio has now released a gameplay video that gives a glimpse of some of the activities you’ll be doing in this game. If you were hoping to be able to fling pigs back at the birds then you’re going to be disappointed, as this a completely different game altogether.
Read more »

It’s raining full-frame cameras this month and everyone and their dog is releasing a model with a full-frame sensor inside. So how can Leica stay away from all the fun? So they have announced not one but two cameras in their classic rangefinder style with full-frame sensors inside.

The Leica M features a full-frame 35mm 24 megapixel CMOS sensor. More importantly, the Leica M is the first Leica rangefinder to feature a Live View mode as well as 1080p video recording. You also get Live View Zoom and Live View Focus Peaking for precise focusing on the subject. The Leica M also has a 3-inch, 920k dot LCD with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Read more »

Few days ago we saw Nikon announce their smallest and lightest entry level full-frame camera, the D600, at the $2100 price point. Now, Canon has announced a rival in the form of the EOS 6D, their own smallest and lightest entry-level full-frame DSLR selling for the exact same price.

The Canon 6D uses a 36 x 24mm CMOS sensor with a resolution of 20.2 megapixels. It’s lower than the 24.3 megapixels on the D600 sensor but since the sensors are of the same size, it should theoretically give the Canon an advantage in low light situations, as the individual pixels are larger and thus will collect more light. Read more »

Fujifilm has announced the new XF1 point and shoot camera with a stunning retro design built to fit in your pocket. The XF1 is built from aluminum and synthetic leather that Fujifilm says reproduces the feel of genuine leather.

On the front you have a 25-100mm, f/1.8 FUJINON lens with a zoom ring. The camera is activated by turning the zoom ring and when not in use you can push the ring inside the camera to make it even smaller. Read more »

If there’s one thing Gameloft’s good at, it’s consistently bringing console quality games to the small screen. Some of these are perhaps too close to some of the console titles out there, close enough to be labelled as clones, but for those who want to experience some of the audio visual glory that they are used to seeing on the big screen in the palm of their hands, these games have rarely disappointed.

The newest title to fit this description is Wild Blood. The first Gameloft game to feature the exceptional Unreal Engine, Wild Blood promises gory hack and slash action with stunning visuals that the engine is known for. Let’s see how well it manages to do that. Read more »

A situation arose yesterday where Acer’s plans to announce a smartphone in China based on Alibaba’s Aliyun operating systems were brought to a screeching halt when Google threatened to basically kick Acer out of the Open Handset Alliance if it chose to go ahead with the Aliyun phone. There seems to be a lot misinformation about this situation so let’s go through it and see what really happened.

First of all, the Open Handset Alliance is a consortium of 84 companies and was started by Google. Together these companies build and develop what we know as Android. Members get to have access to the full Android experience and use it to their liking as long as the final product is still compatible with the Android ecosystem. You don’t need to be a part of this alliance to use Android, it’s open source after all, but if you’re part of the alliance you have to play by its rules. Read more »