You may have noticed a trend recently — pairing slightly less powerful cores that sip power, with more robust ones that can chug through demanding applications. NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 will be packing an underclocked fifth core, while ARM’s big.LITTLE initiative matches a highly efficient 28nm A7 with the beefy A15. Now Freescale is planning to use the same trick, but you won’t find its asymmetrical CPUs in your next tablet or smartphone. Its platform, which marries a Cortex M4 to a Cortex A5, isn’t meant to compete with the latest Snapdragon. These chips will find homes in factories and in-dash infotainment systems which have increasingly sophisticated UIs, but don’t need to push thousands of polygons. Software development tools will land before this quarter is out and the first batch of silicon will be announced in Q1 of 2012. Looks like the era of “dual-core” meaning two identical cores has officially come to an end.

Continue reading Freescale joins ARM A5 and M4 cores at the hip for performance and power savings

Freescale joins ARM A5 and M4 cores at the hip for performance and power savings originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do you do when you’ve already created a Sensation? If you’re HTC, you repackage that lightning in a slightly different chassis, turn the volume (read: speed) up to 11 and borrow a bit of optical wizardry to add that new smartphone smell. All key elements that can be found in the DNA of the company’s latest imperatively named product offering — the Amaze 4G. Clearly, HTC’s throwing caution to the fickle consumer winds here, raising the bar for Android users’ expectations and mixing in just enough razzle dazzle to win over those hard earned geek dollars. So, what’s the hook this time ’round? No, not Beats — that’s for its Euro stepcousin, the Sensation XE. Here, the main attraction is this handset’s ability to surf along T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42Mbps network. That’s right, Magenta’s tiptoeing into LTE speed territory and you’ve got Sense 3.0 to help pilot that wireless ride. Join us after the break as we peel back the layers of this unibodied mobile onion.

Continue reading HTC Amaze 4G review

HTC Amaze 4G review originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This just in: Microsoft is ready to take the plunge into mobile modernity… at its own pace. During a recent interview with All Things D, Windows Phone President Andy Lees revealed a few details about Redmond’s future crop of handsets, which will apparently include both LTE capabilities and dual-core processors. The exec confirmed that LTE-equipped devices are indeed in the pipeline, but declined to specify whether they’d hit the market this year or next. Turns out, Microsoft wants to wait until current LTE networks prove capable of supporting more power-efficient smartphones. “The first LTE phones were big and big [users] of the battery,” Lees said. “I think it’s possible to do it in a way that is far more efficient, and that’s what we will be doing.”

Lees was similarly opaque about Microsoft’s plans to incorporate dual-core CPUs into its mobile lineup, saying only that they’re on the way. According to him, however, even single-core Windows Phones can hold their own against the dual-core competition: “They’re all single core, but I suspect that they will be faster in usage than any dual-core phone that you put against it, and that’s the point.” Lees went on to wax Panglossian about Microsoft’s strategy, claiming that the absence of LTE and dual-core processing doesn’t necessarily mean that his company is behind the times. “I think that what our strategy is is to put things in place that allow us to leapfrog, and I think that’s how we’ve gone from worse [sic] browser to the best browser,” he explained, “and I think the same is true with hardware.” Check out the full interview for yourself, at the source link below.

Shocker! Microsoft to produce dual-core, LTE Windows Phones, other modern things originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still awaiting the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II on T-Mobile this week, and yet it’s already starting to look like yesterday’s half-eaten breakfast. That’s because some fuzzy details are now leaking out about its inevitable successor, the mystical Galaxy S III. The leaked presentation slide above, uncovered by Phandroid, shows a phone that’s packing a 1.8GHz dual-core Exynos 4212 CPU with 2GB of RAM and a 12 megapixel rear-facing camera. Oh, and a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus HD display isn’t too shabby either. If this ends up being true, we’re a bit puzzled by the inclusion of four buttons on the bottom — a departure from the first two Galaxy S devices — and why the slide refers to the original Galaxy S as running on an Exynos processor, rather than Hummingbird. Color us a shade of skeptic since we’re still a few months out from CES and MWC, but it’s never too early to start getting excited over an upcoming device, right?

Details on the Samsung Galaxy S III leak out: 1.8GHz dual-core CPU and 12MP camera? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Softbank’s on a roll — doling out the updated mobile kit to lucky denizens of Japan. After treating us to news of Dell’s dual-core beastie and Sharp’s comparatively lower end Aquos 102SH, comes word of this true wireless brute — the Aquos 104SH. Rocking a dual-core 1.5GHz TI OMAP4460 processor beneath a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 HD LCD display, this handset’s certainly no forward-looking specced slouch. Prospective owners can mark their calendars for a spring 2012 debut, at which point you’ll get to enjoy speeds of up to 21Mbps down, useful for recording and uploading HD video on its 12.1 megapixel rear camera. Oh, and did we mention the device’s loaded with tri-band GSM / WCDMA radios for that global roaming trip around the continents you’ve been putting off? We haven’t yet seen pricing for Sharp’s orange and blue (a Syracuse fan, we presume) wonder, so sit tight and wait for a future announcement.

Sharp’s Aquos 104SH monster phone hits Softbank next spring, colors it blue like an orange originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Telstra’s 4G LTE network goes live in Australia, new HTC handset coming next year

Telstra’s 4G LTE network goes live in Australia, new HTC handset coming next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the tidal wave of Bionic hype has crashed upon Verizon’s shore, it’s time to focus our anticipation on Moto’s other beast phone — the Atrix 2. Leaked shots of the AT&T-branded update came to light this past July, giving us a glimpse of its Blur-ified UI and some tentative specs. Well, we still don’t have any official confirmation that these new images over on BGR are the real sequel, but the details are lining up with what we know. Purportedly, this handset refresh will not be a member of AT&T’s new LTE brigade, although that could very well change. Expect a dual-core setup, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video capture and Gingerbread 2.3.5 baked-in. Rumor has it the orange-colored carrier intends to ship this before year’s end, but will it be enough to sway you from this?

Motorola Atrix 2 peeks out (again) from the wild, destined for AT&T’s faux-G? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just can’t wait to get your Epic 4G Touch order in? You’re in luck, as the Sprint version of Samsung’s powerhouse Galaxy S II is finally available on its website. It’ll cost you a cool $199 with a new two-year contract (and after $300 instant savings), but we’re sure the long wait for this dual core beauty to cross the ocean has left plenty of time to get one’s financials in order. If you’re somehow still not sure if this is for you there’s always our review for an extra bit of convincing. Otherwise, just punch the source link, sit back, and wait for all the 4G WiMAX goodness Sprint can stuff into that 4.5-inch plastic shell.

Samsung Epic 4G Touch now available to all on Sprint.com originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a few weeks after the LG Optimus 3D got placed in the hot seat at our European offices, we’re ready to give its American counterpart its fair share of warmth. Better known in the states as the Thrill 4G, this AT&T device is the latest smartphone to follow in the footsteps of the HTC EVO 3D by tossing an extra dimension into the mix. As it so happens, two rear cameras and some fancy special effects are just enough to change a person’s judgement of the device in a split-second.

We get it. Few people want to spend their hard-earned cash on a gimmick. But like any other phone with a defining feature, there’s more to this glasses-free 3D handset than meets the eye (pun intended). And after peering under the hood and seeing what the Thrill is capable of, there’s a possibility this phone can hold its own against the competition in the same price range ($100 on AT&T). How does it differ from its European counterpart? Does the phone’s 3D match up against Sprint’s contribution? And how does this handset perform apart from that extra D? Join us as we dig through all three dimensions to get to the root of the Thrill 4G.

Continue reading LG Thrill 4G review

LG Thrill 4G review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a very, very long time since Verizon and Motorola together announced the Droid Bionic — the better part of a year, in fact. Since then the phone’s gone into hiding, perhaps hitting the gym and training for this moment, it’s final and formal unveiling. The frequently-spied device finally ships tomorrow, and we have the full details plus early impressions right here, after the break.

Continue reading Droid Bionic arrives at Verizon tomorrow, we go hands-on today (video)

Droid Bionic arrives at Verizon tomorrow, we go hands-on today (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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