Category: Mobile hardware
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Samsung Galaxy S6 edge gets a poor repairability score from iFixit

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Only a few days after tearing down HTC One M9, the handy people from iFixit gave Samsung Galaxy S6 edge the same treatment. Just like its Taiwanese rival, the Korean flagship smartphone walked away with a poor repairability score.

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge received a repairability score of 3 out of 10 from iFixit. Read more »

Samsung unveils 850 EVO mSATA and M.2 SSD drives

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The Samsung 850 EVO SSDs came a while back, but they were available only in 2.5″ form-factors. Now Samsung has introduced the mSATA and M.2 versions. M.2 is the successor to mSATA and new super-thin laptops – like the ones these SSDs are targeting – are already switching to the new standard.

The SSDs are available for sale now, replacing the 840 EVO mSATAs. Read more »

AMD might soon become part of the Samsung family

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AMD has definitely lost a lot of its former glory. Once on top of the food chain, the company is now struggling to make ends meet with shrinking CPU and GPU sales. This decline has naturally been felt on the stock market as well, where AMD is now priced at around $2.64 a piece – a number which was as high as $40 in 2006.

This has put the company in a tough spot, but its extensive R&D capacity really makes it a desired target for acquisition. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about such buy-outs, most recently Mediatek was cited as a prospective buyer, but none of the plans has actually stuck. A new rumor now hints that Samsung might have its sight set on the struggling semiconductor company. Read more »

Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 demoed on video, Oppo is unimpressed

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Qualcomm seems to be pretty proud of its Quick Charge 2.0 technology, that is an integral part of some high-end smartphones which use its top of the line chipsets. The Motorola Nexus 6 is in this situation, and Qualcomm has used this particular device in a new promotional video for Quick Charge 2.0.

Three of them, to be precise. They’re said to be identical, except each uses a different charger. The leftmost unit has a 5V 1A charger, the center one gets a 5V 2A charger, while the Nexus 6 on the right works with a Quick Charge 2.0 enabled charger. Read more »

HP will feature Bang & Olufsen audio in its products going forward

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Hewlett-Packard will feature Bang & Olufsen audio in its products going forward. Previously, the PC manufacturer had a partnership with Beats Audio, which was struck before its acquisition by Apple.

The first HP products with audio tech from the Danish company will appear this spring. Read more »

Samsung outs 128GB mobile flash storage for affordable devices

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Samsung took the wraps off a 128GB 3-bit NAND-based eMMC 5.0 mobile flash storage. The newcomer has been developed for mass-market devices.

The Korean giant’s new storage is capable of 260MB/s for sequential data reading – the same performance level as eMMC 5.1 memory. Read more »

MediaTek may soon be powered by AMD graphics

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MWC is a lot more than just a show floor for device announcements, it is the largest venue for mobile world tech and most-importantly – innovation. A lot of things can be learned at the show about the future plans of industry players and a possible cooperation between MediaTek and AMD is definitely among the most interesting.

Industry sources hint at a major cooperation between the two companies that has been under way for quite some time now. So, all things considered, AMD might be returning to the mobile GPU scene as a vendor for tailor-made graphics accelerators for MediaTek SoCs. This is all great news and the partnership could potentially be huge for both parties. Read more »

Huawei to launch a 13000 mAh power bank soon

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Xiaomi introduced the handy Mi power banks in select regions for the enthusiasts to charge their smartphones while on the move. Now Huawei is following its footsteps to introduce a 13000 mAh power bank to charge the smartphones.

Xiaomi had introduced a 10000 mAh power bank for mere $14.5 in India but has been discontinued for a while. Read more »

The rumored 12″ MacBook Air to offer Retina display resolution

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The 12″ MacBook Air has been in the rumorland for quite some time. As the Apple’s latest event is almost upon us, the rumors are once again ignited.

The last time we heard the 12″ MacBook Air is expected to enter mass production in the first quarter of this year and its shipping should happen through April – June. The device supposedly will be a high-end product with limited availability. Read more »

Samsung unveils 8MP ISOCELL selfie camera, new NFC chip

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Samsung is best known for its phones these days, but behind the successful Galaxy line are huge component factories and R&D laboratories. The latest in their creations include a new 8MP ISOCELL selfie camera and a new NFC chip.

Both components tie into two of the biggest fashions in the mobile market – selfies and mobile payments. Read more »

Samsung details the process behind the glass and metal on the Galaxy S6 edge

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Behind the beautiful design of the glass and aluminum body of the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge, there is a lot that goes on to make the phones look and feel the way they are. Both the phones use glass on the front and back, with the S6 edge having a curved glass on the front, and both phones have an aluminum frame that goes around and inside the phones.

The glass on the S6 edge is made using a process called 3D thermoforming, where the glass is pressed between two moulds after heating it to 800 degree Celsius, which gives it the curved edges on either side and it is then polished to give it the desired finish. Read more »

Android TV update will transform your phone into a gamepad

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You will soon be able to use your Android smartphone as an Android TV controller. An update to Google’s TV platform will allow the sweet functionality.

The search giant is about to launch an update to Google Play services, which will bring a Nearby Connections API. Read more »

PowerVR G6020 is a GPU for ultra-affordable smartphones

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Imagination Technologies announced the PowerVR G6020 GPU. The component is developed with ultra-affordable, sub-$100 smartphones in mind.

The 28nm PowerVR G6020 is OpenGL ES 3.0 capable. Read more »

Yezz finally shows off an awesome Ara model, well, sort of

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Most of you surely remember Google’s project ARA – the ingenious modular phone concept, that started out as “Phoneblocks”, way back in 2013. Well, it is pretty much alive today it seems to be coming up quite nicely.

Project Are has drawn so much attention that there have been numerous conferences on the subject, as well as an official Project Ara Module Developers Kit and even a few actual Project Ara prototypes.

While roaming around the MWC yesterday we stumbled upon Yezz Mobile’s take on a Project Ara phone. But before you get overly excited as well, it was not a functioning unit, but rather a model, showcasing what the first Ara devices should look like, once they become a reality, hopefully some time later this year. Read more »

Fujitsu demoes iris recognition tech, thinks it’s better than fingerprint scanners

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Fingerprint readers are old news – Fujitsu says that iris scanning technology is the way forward. Using an IR light emitter and a special sensor, a phone would be able to accurately recognize a user’s iris and unlock the phone as soon as you look at it.

The hardware – which weighs less than 1g – is still in the prototype stage, however Fujistsu says phones with the new ActiveIRIS recognition tech will launch this year. Read more »