Last week, after a year of luring big media organizations onto the iPad, Apple sent out a press release, but they would have done just as well sending copies of the old board game Mouse Trap. The release said that publishers, like all app developers, would have to pay what amounts to a 30% tax on every purchase inside their apps -- including for content subscriptions, both print and digital. This, for publishers, was less than ideal.
Media companies want to be able send users to their own subscription systems, where they can collect valuable data about them, not to mention their credit card number and the full purchase price of whatever they subscribe to. The Vanity Fair app, for example, would like to send users to vanityfair.com to buy a digital subscription. But for Apple (AAPL), that's verboten. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission think Apple's strategy may not be entirely legal, but that's another story, for now.
Meanwhile! Halfway across the world in Barcelona, Apple's rivals assembled at the Mobile World Congress. Motorola's (MMI) Xoom, HTC's Flyer, LG's Optimus, and other tablets powered by Google's (GOOG) Android OS were on display. They're alternatives to the iPad, unproven and largely unknown. But if they—and Android tablets in general—take root the way Android phones have, they will be a huge platform on which publishers can sell their content. Yet Android might not be the panacea publishers are hoping for: Google, too, just cracked down on app that tried to circumvent its in-app purchase mechanism.
Amidst all of this, two guys in New York, Jason Baptiste and Andres Barreto, have raised $1 million from firms backed by super angel Ron Conway and ex-Yahooligans' (YHOO) firm Morado Ventures, and also from VC firm Spark Capital, known for its stakes in Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee and other new media darlings. Their startup, OnSwipe, exists to slay the app-store model when it comes to media. It circumvents app stores entirely. A publisher won't have to tell readers to download a special app and buy a special tablet subscription. They'll just tell them to go to their website. Because according to Baptiste and Barreto, the future of publishing looks far more like the last decade of publishing than anyone wants to believe.
If OnSwipe does its job, media websites will have tablet versions just as they now have mobile versions; rich, beautiful, tablet versions, as good as any app out there. Right now, if you load, say, CNNMoney, on a phone (or click here in your desktop browser), you'll be brought to a mobile listing of headlines. Images are sparse; layout is nonexistent. It's a site built for a time when cell networks and phones didn't have the speed or power to load all those fancy CSS, JavaScript, and HTML5 elements quickly. It's an aesthetic that follows its form.
Similarly, OnSwipe's tablet website templates are designed for today's touch screens—and all the robust capabilities they have, compared to yesterday's devices. (They'll work on touch screen phones too, but tablets are the focus.) At their cluttered desk—MacBook Airs, iPads, and Galaxy Tabs abound—in the back corner of a New York tech incubator workspace, Baptiste and Barreto showed me some early design mockups that look intuitively familiar. You can swipe from page to page and touch different stories on a larger home screen. Images are paramount, video pops off the screen, and commenting and sharing are hidden until the user taps a button. It feels like a website optimized for a tablet. Which is exactly the point.
Most importantly, a publication's editorial team won't have to do extra planning to make content swipeable. All of the existing content on the website will logically slot into the various templates. No matter the tablet. All of this, by the way, will be free.
Which is what makes OnSwipe's vision so alluring. It's an equal-opportunity platform, preparing for a heterogeneous future where the iPad is just one (major) voice in a larger constituency. That's a reasonable assumption, considering Android's market share is already at 22 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. And according to a different analyst, the tablet market will be worth $46 billion by 2014. HP (HPQ), for what it's worth, more or less agrees. One of its executive vice presidents says it'll create a $40 billion tablet market in the next few years.
But OnSwipe is nothing without publishers. Baptiste and Barreto promise to launch sometime this spring, with an estimated 20,000 partners. That's an impressive sounding but easy number to hit because OnSwipe will be integrated with blogging platforms like WordPress and Tumblr. (The whole idea eveolved out of a WordPress plugin the two developed.) For a site to use OnSwipe, it will just need its webmaster plug the service into its code. This is OnSwipe's greatest advantage: it brings publishers who don't have enough money to develop an app—let alone multiple apps for several different platforms—into the future.
OnSwipe also plans to bring publishers into money. Baptiste hates web ads, calling them "parasites on the content." So OnSwipe—like so many tech utopians—wants to make ads fun again. With earnestness, Baptiste says, "Kids growing up would rip out ads and put them on the wall." He wants to return to that magical—maybe apocryphal—time, when "advertising and editorial would work together."
OnSwipe will handle ads without all the whiz-bang of apps like The Daily. They'll essentially be print advertisements, with maybe a little GPS optimization and social networking built in. (Yes, social networking tools will work in OnSwipe's tablet templates, unlike in most current media apps.) The ads will pop up after a certain number of articles are read, a number that each publisher will self-determine. The ads will get into the system either through a publisher's own ad sales, or—and this is where OnSwipe's business model emerges—by using the ads OnSwipe sells.
The only problem: As of now, it doesn't have an ad staff. Nor will it launch with one. In a classic startup case of Deferred Monetization Disorder, OnSwipe doesn't yet know how it's going to sell all these ads that will be its—and its publishers'—salvation. And yet Baptiste and Barreto aren't worried. Former execs from AdMob and Quattro, two leading Web advertising technologies, sit on OnSwipe's board, and OnSwipe plans to lean on them heavily to figure out how to move forward.
That OnSwipe doesn't have an ad team won't be a problem for big national publishers. Periodicals like the the New York Times, Popular Science, and Wired have their own ads (and their own apps), and they'll want to keep using them if they sign up. OnSwipe, knowing these are the publishers who will legitimize its service, is more than happy to let them—it will take a smaller revenue cut out of the ads that originate outside its (still-nonexistent) network.
Signing these companies up, however, will be more difficult. They are the ones, after all, that have the resources to build an app of their own, or a web-enabled tablet template, if that's the way the marketplace starts to move. Middlemen need not apply. Nevertheless, Baptiste and Barreto say they'll launch with at least one or two marquee partners, who are under wraps for now.
But OnSwipe also thinks it can get by without the big guys. Baptiste and Barreto are convinced that enough mid-sized sites—from the size of, say, The Business Insider on down—need tablet strategies, but don't want to pay to develop their own. It's these sites, after all, that have brought us to this moment in the first place. They, along with Craigslist classifieds and a financial crash, have caused the media industry's existential crisis. OnSwipe wants to make sure the whole ecosystem—itself included—exists just a little bit longer.
Source : http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/25/can-onswipe-steal-magazines-back-from-apple/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+fortunebrainstormtech+(Fortune+Brainstorm+Tech)
LG unveils premium line-up at MWC 2011
LG Electronics (LG) returns to Barcelona this year to introduce two new flagship devices at Mobile World Congress: the LG Optimus 3D, a stunning super-smartphone with unparalleled 3D performance, and the LG Optimus Pad, a true Android tablet optimized with Honeycomb OS designed to offer the full viewing experience of a tablet while still being easy to hold with one hand.
“I`m confident that this year, LG will emerge as a leader in the next generation of smartphone and tablet devices,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “What you see here today is just the beginning — we will continue to innovate with products that address consumer needs and deliver benefits that live up to our `Life`s Good` commitment.”
Aiming to aggressively take a leadership position in the smartphone market in 2011, LG has been earnestly bolstering its premium smartphone line-up, evident by its strong showing at CES last month. There, the company introduced the world`s first dual-core smartphone (LG Optimus 2X), one of the world`s slimmest and brightest smartphones (LG Optimus Black) and the company`s first phone compatible with 4G LTE networks (LG Revolution(TM)). LG products debuting at MWC 2011 build upon this spirit of innovation. Key devices include:
LG Optimus 3D
The LG Optimus 3D packs exceptional features with performance in mind, including an advanced dual-core, dual-channel and dual-memory architecture. Equipped with a 1GHz OMAP4 dual-core processor and four times more video decoders than competing designs, the LG Optimus 3D doubles the graphics performance of its nearest competitor allowing users to enjoy superb performance while web surfing, running applications and enjoying multimedia content. In addition, the LG Optimus 3D provides the world`s first full 3D experience covering the full spectrum from recording to viewing and sharing 3D content. It features a dual-lens camera that enables users to capture any moment in true 3D which can then be viewed immediately on the 4.3-inch WVGA glasses-free display. Multiple connectivity options including HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) and DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) also make it easy for users to transfer their recorded content to other devices.
LG Optimus Pad
The LG Optimus Pad sets a new standard for tablets by utilizing an 8.9-inch display in a form factor that`s comfortable to use one-handed. With a 15:9 aspect ratio and Full HD 1080p decoding, the LG Optimus Pad offers users an immersive multimedia environment on a 1280 x 768 WXGA resolution widescreen display. The new device sports Honeycomb, Google`s latest platform optimized for tablet devices with an optimized and intuitive PC-like interface for running tablet software. LG`s tablet runs on a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor for unmatched performance and power management. In addition, the LG Optimus Pad is the world`s first tablet with a built-in 3D camera, enabling users to capture vivid image and video content to be viewed on a high definition 3D TV or shared on the web via YouTube 3D.
LG Optimus 2X
The world`s first smartphone with a dual-core processor, the LG Optimus 2X was developed in partnership with graphics processor powerhouse, NVIDIA. The dual-core Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip found in the LG Optimus 2X runs at a clock speed of 1GHz and boasts low power consumption and high performance for playing video and audio. Not only does the LG Optimus 2X mean more powerful multimedia features, the Tegra 2 processor makes for faster, smoother web browsing and multitasks with virtually no screen lag. The LG Optimus 2X offers 1080p HD video playback and recording with HDMI mirroring that expands content on external displays to Full HD quality. The LG Optimus 2X can connect wirelessly to any DLNA-compatible digital device such as HD TVs for a console-like gaming experience, taking full advantage of the phone?s HDMI mirroring, accelerometer and gyro sensor.
LG Optimus Black
One of the world`s slimmest and lightest Android smartphones, LG Optimus Black is already a hit, having recorded more than two million pre-orders in 20 countries since its introduction at CES. At MWC, a range of special-edition LG Optimus Black handsets will be unveiled featuring designs courtesy of the Keith Haring Foundation. Besides its incredibly slim body, the LG Optimus Black features a 4-inch NOVA display for optimal brightness and readability under any lighting conditions. The crystal-clear display also provides a more natural web browsing experience by displaying truer whites while simultaneously cutting energy consumption by 50 percent compared to conventional LCDs. In addition, the LG Optimus Black includes a collection of smart features designed to improve the user experience, such as Gesture UI, Wi-Fi Direct and a 2MP front-facing camera.
Source :http://www.ttkn.com/technology/lg-unveils-premium-line-up-at-mwc-2011-2-8715.html
LG Optimus 2X review
Will the world's first dual-core smartphone prove to be a power house?
This review is of an LG Optimus 2X unit supplied with pre-release software. In accordance with TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee, we have not included a final score for this review. This is our in-depth experience with the version of the phone supplied to us, tested as thoroughly as usual.
We knew it as the LG Star originally, and we waited impatiently for a chance to really put it through its paces. Now, the world's first Tegra 2 smartphone, the LG Optimus 2X, has arrived for our delectation, sporting Android 2.2.
Mobile World Congress has brought us news of more dual-core smartphones to come, including the Samsung Galaxy S2, but it's not the same as having one in your pocket.
So what's a dual-core processor good for? Why video, of course! That'll be why LG has outfitted the Optimus 2X with 1080p video recording on the eight-megapixel camera, 1080p playback over a mini-HDMI port (cable included) and DLNA media streaming.
Of course, we're also looking for it to make Android sing, showing what Google's OS is capable of on the Optimus 2X's four-inch WVGA touchscreen.
There's also a 1.3MP front-facing camera, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, microSD card slot to compliment the 8GB of built-in memory.
The LG Optimus 2X should be on sale for around £500 SIM-free.
Read more: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/lg-optimus-2x-929388/review#ixzz1EzHQDZXm
Mobile Chips: The 'Core Wars' Come to Mobile
When it comes to the CPUs in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, the biggest change we're about to see is the same change that happened to PCs a few years ago: the move to multi-core chips.
Over the past couple of years, we've seen mobile chips gain in speed dramatically. Last year we saw the entrance of new chips running at 1 GHz or so from almost all the major mobile chip makers, including Apple, Qualcomm's Snapdragon, Samsung's Hummingbird, and TI's OMAP 4. These chips run the high-end smart phones today: almost every manufacturer from Apple to HTC to Motorola has a model with a 1 GHz processor - and more are coming. In the year to come, we'll see more of this - and even some increases in clock speed from multiple vendors.
But just as in the PC industry, the mobile chip makers are facing the problems increased frequency brings - more heat, and thus more power consumption. PC chips pretty much ran into their frequency limits several years ago - prompting a move to dual-core and in some cases, multi-core chips. The same thing is happening in the mobile world. In fact, since power consumption generally increases as a square of the frequency, the mobile chip makers are all pretty convinced that a move to dual-core chips could actually increase battery life if each core can run most of the time at a lower clock speed.
Nvidia has used this transition as a way to get a lot of attention and a lot of design wins with its dual-core Tegra 2 chip. This chip is being used in the Motorola Xoom tablet, and the combination has been the reference design for Google's Android 3.0 operating system, known as Honeycomb. Since the OS is designed to be running multiple applications simultaneously, multi-core chips make a lot of sense. And since Tegra 2 will be the first supported chip, it is being used in the bulk of the first generation of Honeycomb Tablets, including the Xoom, LG G-Slate, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. These three were on display at Mobile World Congress, and the chip is also in others that seem to be coming not far behind, such as those from Toshiba. And it's already in the 7-inch Dell Streak, although that runs an earlier version of Android.
But other dual-core tablets are not far behind. HP's TouchPad, based on its webOS, will use a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor; while Acer plans to use a 1 GHz Snapdragon in its upcoming Iconia Smart, based on Android. Research in Motion's BlackBerry Playbook, running its QNX-based tablet OS, uses a 1GHz dual -core Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor. And while Apple hasn't announced its plans, it's likely the next version of the iPad will have a new chip as well.
Dual-core chips are coming to phones as well, with such phones as the Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2X based on the Tegra 2; and the Samsung Galaxy S II based on an upcoming Samsung processor expected soon.
But the big news in recent weeks - and at the Mobile World Congress show in particular - was the announcement and positioning of a variety of chips with 3 or 4 cores, with most of the major chip vendors showing their entrants. If two cores are good, would three or four be better? That's a question we really can't answer until we see the final chips, and that may take a while. Although the chips have been announced, none are shipping, and we don't expect to see them in new devices for months, or, in most cases, until next year. In part, that's because the chip vendors need time for their products to be included in phone and tablet designs. But the differences are certainly interesting.
Most mobile chips are based on cores that are compatible with the ARM architecture, though they often have varying graphics cores. After the jump, check out a wrapup of some of the recent announcements and their varying points of view.
Chip Announcements
Back in September, Marvell was the first of the ARM vendors to announce a chip with more than two cores with its Armada 628, designed to have three ARM compliant cores running up to 1.5 GHz. The company says it can provide more than10 hours of full 1080p HD video or 140 hours of music on a single charge. Marvell followed this a couple of months later with the Armada XP, designed to have up to four 1.6 GHz ARM compliant cores, up to 2MB of Level 2 cache; and a 64-bit memory interface, but aimed mostly at servers and similar markets. Marvell's processors are used in a lot of devices, including many hard drives, but are perhaps best known for being used in RIM BlackBerry devices.
Freescale was next, announcing its i.MX53 family with up to four cores running up to 1.2 GHz, and graphics from AMD (which have since been acquired by Qualcomm). The company says the chip supports 1080p video with up to 33 million triangles per second. Single, dual and quad-core versions should be available in summer 2012, though samples are due in the second quarter of this year.
Freescale says that with dual core and quad core versions running Windows 8 and Honeycomb, ARM chips could be a potential laptop replacement (although Microsoft's Windows announcement only mentioned Nvidia, Qualcomm, and TI). But Freescale's Rajeev Kumar says the company's focus is power consumption, trying to get 1080p video playback using less than 200 milliwatts of power. He said the company is more about providing a total solution, includes sensors, codecs, and power management. Kumar said the company wants to produce reference designs -- not a "bag of chips."
Qualcomm, which normally sells platforms that integrate wireless communications as well as applications processors, announced a new line of chips at the showing, including its next-generation line of Snapdragon processors, including the quad-core APQ8064 running at up to 2.5GHz and using the company's Adreno 320 graphics with up to four 3D cores. The company says its new core, known as Krait, will deliver 150 percent higher overall performance, as well as 65 percent lower power than "currently available ARM-based CPU cores." If true, that should put it more in competition with the ARM A15 cores than the current A9 ones.
At a press conference, Qualcomm's Steve Mollenkoff said "Integration wins in mobile" and talked about how designing its own cores helps the company speed products to market as well as ensuring better integration with communications. He said the company was first with a 1 GHz processor, and its chips account for the majority of the Android devices out today. The company also really pushed "augmented reality" as a major new feature the new chips would release. It's an interesting idea; but the software seems very early. These processors will also be manufactured on a more advanced 28nm process, but aren't expected to be available until sometime next year. The company also showed a dual-core chip known as the APQ8060 with Adreno 220 graphics that will power the HP TouchPad, due in a few months.
But the big surprise came from Nvidia. On the first couple of days of the show, it was content to show off its dual-core Tegra 2. But on Wednesday, it unveiled its quad-core chip, code-named Kal-El (though many people seem to be thinking of it as Tegra 3). What makes this stand out is that rather than just talking about the chip, Nvidia actually showed the chip running in its booth, saying it would be out in tablets by August and in smartphones by the end of the year.
Nvidia says the new chip has twice the CPU cores and 12 graphics engines, compared to 8 in the existing Tegra 2. It will support up to 2560-by-600 display, and 1440 video; more importantly, it will support 1080p high-bit rate video - four times the 720p video supported on the Tegra 2. The company wouldn't officially specify the CPU core in the chip, although it's highly likely to be the Cortex-A9 since that's in the Tegra 2 and the A15 isn't ready yet. It says the new chip can provide up "up to 5X" the performance of Tegra 2, although as with all performance numbers here, I'd take that with a grain of salt.
Specifically, Nvidia says doubling the number of cores should nearly double CPU performance in some cases, and the new graphics can triple graphics performance, It showed a game called Great Battles running at 30 frames per second on Kal-El as opposed to 5 fps to 10 fps on Tegra 2. Nvidia also showed some demos of applications that it said ran faster on the new chip than on an older Core 2 Duo used in laptops. This could be even more important when we see the next version of Windows running on ARM.
Nvidia plans to follow Kal-El with chips named Wayne in 2012, Logan in 2013, and Stark in 2014, which the company says could provide 75 times the performance of Tegra 2. Based on the code names, someone there likes comic books. This is different from the project Denver chip the company announced at CES, which is more aimed at servers.
But what really stands out is that rather than waiting for 28nm for quad-core, like most of its competitors, Nvidia is moving now with a 40nm part, in part because they say the CPU portion doesn't really add that much to die size. Again, it should make the company first to market.
While many of the chip makers were pushing quad-core, Texas Instruments is taking a different approach with its OMAP 5 processor, due out in the second half of 2012, instead of focusing on the cores. This should be the first chip to use ARM Cortex-A15 core, which has a number of extra features such as hardware virtualization and support for up to 8GB of RAM (as compared with a maximum of 2 GB on the Cortex A9). TI's Mark Granger said this should "transform mobile devices" by making them more like PCs.
These new chips should run at up to 2 GHz, and the new cores should be 50 percent more efficient per cycle, TI says, making it perfect for docking devices.
TI talked about several new markets for the chip, focusing on how the OMAP 5 will support "natural UI" with things like gesture recognition, body motion tracking, and vision processing, as well as computational photography - through a relationship with Pelican Imaging and an internal image signal processor.
The chip will include 12 processors in total, including a DSP, image accelerator, a multi-core PowerVR SGX 544 GPU, and two Cortex-M4 cores for media/control processing, such as running the sensors. It will be produced on a 28nm process (compared with the 45 nm process used in the OMAP 4). It should be 30 percent more power efficient in total, and 60 percent more efficient if you want the same experience.
TI says its dual A15 cores should be more efficient than four A9s (talking about how it offers 2 MB of Level 2 cache; support for dual-channel memory; and better thermals. It says it offer more fine-grain controls about tuning the cores, etc. And Granger said, while two cores provide more performance per power than one, and three cores add some as well, after that, it doesn't really improve. Other manufacturers would dispute that. Of course, we won't really know until we see final devices.
ST-Ericsson as well has now announced an A15-based processor as the high end in a new line known as NovaThor. Nova is the name of the application processors, and Thor is the name of the modem and communications side of the platform. The first of these processors - the Nova A9500 and A9540 -- are using ARM's Cortex-A9 core and its Mali graphics (produced at 45nm and 32nm respectively).
But the big news is the high-end daul-core version called the Nova A9600 with two Cortex-A15 cores, and the first implementation of Imagination's PowerVR 6 series graphics, known as Rogue. The company says this should be able to get up to 210 gigaflops of performance. This will be manufactured on a 28nm process, and also should be sampling late this year, but not in devices until the second half of 2012.
Among the other well-known ARM application processors, Samsung Semiconductor focused on dual-core processors, renaming its line as "Exynos" (it was previously called Orion). The high-end chip, now called the Exynos 4210, includes two Cortex-A9 cores at up to 1 GHz and the company says it has five times the 3D graphics performance of its previous processors. This chip will be used in Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S II phones, and processes features such as recording and playing 1080p video.
Broadcom, which is better known for its communications products than its applications processors also made a big push into the dual-core market by announcing a 1.1 GHz dual core processor, known as Meryln, which is shipping now. This chip is based on the company's "Neon" core (which is in turn based on ARM Cortex-A9) as well as the company's Video Core IV graphics. Manufactured on a 40nm process, this can run in things such as high speed access points, but it also includes things like an HSPA+ modem, so it could run in phones as well.
Broadcom Vice President Martyn Humphries said the company was basically trying to move towards a "single chip solution." He noted that all the device makers want Android and Linux support, and features such as Bluetooth and Wireless LAN (which Broadcom makes on a popular combination chip). The company is partnering with well-known contract manufacturer Compal to pre-integrate the software drives and the entire stack. Having fewer chips means it uses less power; and having it all integrated means developers can get to market faster, he said. The company thinks in terms of applications per milliwatt and power efficiency, he said, and noted that Broadcom aims to be a "one stop shop" for tablet designers.
Conclusions
What's interesting to me is how much diversity we're seeing in mobile chips -- even just counting those that use the ARM architecture. This year's high-end tablets and smartphones are clearly moving to dual-core and there will clearly be a number of quad-core competitors next year. It also will be interesting to see the impact of new cores like the Cortex-A15 and Qualcomm's Krait. Many of the companies are taking different paths with graphics, and are integrating different components either into the applications processor or the chipset that surrounds it.
The result should be a wide variety of choices for device makers, likely with differences in speed, communications performance, and real battery life. The result may be that even within devices that have the same-sized screen and run the same operating system, there could still be a wide range of difference in performance. It should make 2012's devices quite interesting.
Over the past couple of years, we've seen mobile chips gain in speed dramatically. Last year we saw the entrance of new chips running at 1 GHz or so from almost all the major mobile chip makers, including Apple, Qualcomm's Snapdragon, Samsung's Hummingbird, and TI's OMAP 4. These chips run the high-end smart phones today: almost every manufacturer from Apple to HTC to Motorola has a model with a 1 GHz processor - and more are coming. In the year to come, we'll see more of this - and even some increases in clock speed from multiple vendors.
But just as in the PC industry, the mobile chip makers are facing the problems increased frequency brings - more heat, and thus more power consumption. PC chips pretty much ran into their frequency limits several years ago - prompting a move to dual-core and in some cases, multi-core chips. The same thing is happening in the mobile world. In fact, since power consumption generally increases as a square of the frequency, the mobile chip makers are all pretty convinced that a move to dual-core chips could actually increase battery life if each core can run most of the time at a lower clock speed.
Nvidia has used this transition as a way to get a lot of attention and a lot of design wins with its dual-core Tegra 2 chip. This chip is being used in the Motorola Xoom tablet, and the combination has been the reference design for Google's Android 3.0 operating system, known as Honeycomb. Since the OS is designed to be running multiple applications simultaneously, multi-core chips make a lot of sense. And since Tegra 2 will be the first supported chip, it is being used in the bulk of the first generation of Honeycomb Tablets, including the Xoom, LG G-Slate, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. These three were on display at Mobile World Congress, and the chip is also in others that seem to be coming not far behind, such as those from Toshiba. And it's already in the 7-inch Dell Streak, although that runs an earlier version of Android.
But other dual-core tablets are not far behind. HP's TouchPad, based on its webOS, will use a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor; while Acer plans to use a 1 GHz Snapdragon in its upcoming Iconia Smart, based on Android. Research in Motion's BlackBerry Playbook, running its QNX-based tablet OS, uses a 1GHz dual -core Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor. And while Apple hasn't announced its plans, it's likely the next version of the iPad will have a new chip as well.
Dual-core chips are coming to phones as well, with such phones as the Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2X based on the Tegra 2; and the Samsung Galaxy S II based on an upcoming Samsung processor expected soon.
But the big news in recent weeks - and at the Mobile World Congress show in particular - was the announcement and positioning of a variety of chips with 3 or 4 cores, with most of the major chip vendors showing their entrants. If two cores are good, would three or four be better? That's a question we really can't answer until we see the final chips, and that may take a while. Although the chips have been announced, none are shipping, and we don't expect to see them in new devices for months, or, in most cases, until next year. In part, that's because the chip vendors need time for their products to be included in phone and tablet designs. But the differences are certainly interesting.
Most mobile chips are based on cores that are compatible with the ARM architecture, though they often have varying graphics cores. After the jump, check out a wrapup of some of the recent announcements and their varying points of view.
Chip Announcements
Back in September, Marvell was the first of the ARM vendors to announce a chip with more than two cores with its Armada 628, designed to have three ARM compliant cores running up to 1.5 GHz. The company says it can provide more than10 hours of full 1080p HD video or 140 hours of music on a single charge. Marvell followed this a couple of months later with the Armada XP, designed to have up to four 1.6 GHz ARM compliant cores, up to 2MB of Level 2 cache; and a 64-bit memory interface, but aimed mostly at servers and similar markets. Marvell's processors are used in a lot of devices, including many hard drives, but are perhaps best known for being used in RIM BlackBerry devices.
Freescale was next, announcing its i.MX53 family with up to four cores running up to 1.2 GHz, and graphics from AMD (which have since been acquired by Qualcomm). The company says the chip supports 1080p video with up to 33 million triangles per second. Single, dual and quad-core versions should be available in summer 2012, though samples are due in the second quarter of this year.
Freescale says that with dual core and quad core versions running Windows 8 and Honeycomb, ARM chips could be a potential laptop replacement (although Microsoft's Windows announcement only mentioned Nvidia, Qualcomm, and TI). But Freescale's Rajeev Kumar says the company's focus is power consumption, trying to get 1080p video playback using less than 200 milliwatts of power. He said the company is more about providing a total solution, includes sensors, codecs, and power management. Kumar said the company wants to produce reference designs -- not a "bag of chips."
Qualcomm, which normally sells platforms that integrate wireless communications as well as applications processors, announced a new line of chips at the showing, including its next-generation line of Snapdragon processors, including the quad-core APQ8064 running at up to 2.5GHz and using the company's Adreno 320 graphics with up to four 3D cores. The company says its new core, known as Krait, will deliver 150 percent higher overall performance, as well as 65 percent lower power than "currently available ARM-based CPU cores." If true, that should put it more in competition with the ARM A15 cores than the current A9 ones.
At a press conference, Qualcomm's Steve Mollenkoff said "Integration wins in mobile" and talked about how designing its own cores helps the company speed products to market as well as ensuring better integration with communications. He said the company was first with a 1 GHz processor, and its chips account for the majority of the Android devices out today. The company also really pushed "augmented reality" as a major new feature the new chips would release. It's an interesting idea; but the software seems very early. These processors will also be manufactured on a more advanced 28nm process, but aren't expected to be available until sometime next year. The company also showed a dual-core chip known as the APQ8060 with Adreno 220 graphics that will power the HP TouchPad, due in a few months.
But the big surprise came from Nvidia. On the first couple of days of the show, it was content to show off its dual-core Tegra 2. But on Wednesday, it unveiled its quad-core chip, code-named Kal-El (though many people seem to be thinking of it as Tegra 3). What makes this stand out is that rather than just talking about the chip, Nvidia actually showed the chip running in its booth, saying it would be out in tablets by August and in smartphones by the end of the year.
Nvidia says the new chip has twice the CPU cores and 12 graphics engines, compared to 8 in the existing Tegra 2. It will support up to 2560-by-600 display, and 1440 video; more importantly, it will support 1080p high-bit rate video - four times the 720p video supported on the Tegra 2. The company wouldn't officially specify the CPU core in the chip, although it's highly likely to be the Cortex-A9 since that's in the Tegra 2 and the A15 isn't ready yet. It says the new chip can provide up "up to 5X" the performance of Tegra 2, although as with all performance numbers here, I'd take that with a grain of salt.
Specifically, Nvidia says doubling the number of cores should nearly double CPU performance in some cases, and the new graphics can triple graphics performance, It showed a game called Great Battles running at 30 frames per second on Kal-El as opposed to 5 fps to 10 fps on Tegra 2. Nvidia also showed some demos of applications that it said ran faster on the new chip than on an older Core 2 Duo used in laptops. This could be even more important when we see the next version of Windows running on ARM.
Nvidia plans to follow Kal-El with chips named Wayne in 2012, Logan in 2013, and Stark in 2014, which the company says could provide 75 times the performance of Tegra 2. Based on the code names, someone there likes comic books. This is different from the project Denver chip the company announced at CES, which is more aimed at servers.
But what really stands out is that rather than waiting for 28nm for quad-core, like most of its competitors, Nvidia is moving now with a 40nm part, in part because they say the CPU portion doesn't really add that much to die size. Again, it should make the company first to market.
While many of the chip makers were pushing quad-core, Texas Instruments is taking a different approach with its OMAP 5 processor, due out in the second half of 2012, instead of focusing on the cores. This should be the first chip to use ARM Cortex-A15 core, which has a number of extra features such as hardware virtualization and support for up to 8GB of RAM (as compared with a maximum of 2 GB on the Cortex A9). TI's Mark Granger said this should "transform mobile devices" by making them more like PCs.
These new chips should run at up to 2 GHz, and the new cores should be 50 percent more efficient per cycle, TI says, making it perfect for docking devices.
TI talked about several new markets for the chip, focusing on how the OMAP 5 will support "natural UI" with things like gesture recognition, body motion tracking, and vision processing, as well as computational photography - through a relationship with Pelican Imaging and an internal image signal processor.
The chip will include 12 processors in total, including a DSP, image accelerator, a multi-core PowerVR SGX 544 GPU, and two Cortex-M4 cores for media/control processing, such as running the sensors. It will be produced on a 28nm process (compared with the 45 nm process used in the OMAP 4). It should be 30 percent more power efficient in total, and 60 percent more efficient if you want the same experience.
TI says its dual A15 cores should be more efficient than four A9s (talking about how it offers 2 MB of Level 2 cache; support for dual-channel memory; and better thermals. It says it offer more fine-grain controls about tuning the cores, etc. And Granger said, while two cores provide more performance per power than one, and three cores add some as well, after that, it doesn't really improve. Other manufacturers would dispute that. Of course, we won't really know until we see final devices.
ST-Ericsson as well has now announced an A15-based processor as the high end in a new line known as NovaThor. Nova is the name of the application processors, and Thor is the name of the modem and communications side of the platform. The first of these processors - the Nova A9500 and A9540 -- are using ARM's Cortex-A9 core and its Mali graphics (produced at 45nm and 32nm respectively).
But the big news is the high-end daul-core version called the Nova A9600 with two Cortex-A15 cores, and the first implementation of Imagination's PowerVR 6 series graphics, known as Rogue. The company says this should be able to get up to 210 gigaflops of performance. This will be manufactured on a 28nm process, and also should be sampling late this year, but not in devices until the second half of 2012.
Among the other well-known ARM application processors, Samsung Semiconductor focused on dual-core processors, renaming its line as "Exynos" (it was previously called Orion). The high-end chip, now called the Exynos 4210, includes two Cortex-A9 cores at up to 1 GHz and the company says it has five times the 3D graphics performance of its previous processors. This chip will be used in Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S II phones, and processes features such as recording and playing 1080p video.
Broadcom, which is better known for its communications products than its applications processors also made a big push into the dual-core market by announcing a 1.1 GHz dual core processor, known as Meryln, which is shipping now. This chip is based on the company's "Neon" core (which is in turn based on ARM Cortex-A9) as well as the company's Video Core IV graphics. Manufactured on a 40nm process, this can run in things such as high speed access points, but it also includes things like an HSPA+ modem, so it could run in phones as well.
Broadcom Vice President Martyn Humphries said the company was basically trying to move towards a "single chip solution." He noted that all the device makers want Android and Linux support, and features such as Bluetooth and Wireless LAN (which Broadcom makes on a popular combination chip). The company is partnering with well-known contract manufacturer Compal to pre-integrate the software drives and the entire stack. Having fewer chips means it uses less power; and having it all integrated means developers can get to market faster, he said. The company thinks in terms of applications per milliwatt and power efficiency, he said, and noted that Broadcom aims to be a "one stop shop" for tablet designers.
Conclusions
What's interesting to me is how much diversity we're seeing in mobile chips -- even just counting those that use the ARM architecture. This year's high-end tablets and smartphones are clearly moving to dual-core and there will clearly be a number of quad-core competitors next year. It also will be interesting to see the impact of new cores like the Cortex-A15 and Qualcomm's Krait. Many of the companies are taking different paths with graphics, and are integrating different components either into the applications processor or the chipset that surrounds it.
The result should be a wide variety of choices for device makers, likely with differences in speed, communications performance, and real battery life. The result may be that even within devices that have the same-sized screen and run the same operating system, there could still be a wide range of difference in performance. It should make 2012's devices quite interesting.
RSupport enters European mobile support market
Tablets and smartphones, or more specifically their operating systems, may seem straightforward to the tech-literate early adopters. However, at present smartphones still make a relatively small segment of total mobile phone sales. If that market is to expand to its full potential, and therefore include less tech-savvy users, such devices are going to need technical support on a par with PCs and laptops.
With this in mind, Korean company RSupport made its first appearance this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company has a 13 year history, primarily in remote support for desktop PCs. It has a strong track record in Asia, supplying services for desktop support to companies including Sony, Fujitsu and Toshiba. Research companies, including IDC and Frost & Sullivan, rate it as being no.1 in Asia for remote PC support software.
Its core RemoteCall support solution for PCs was expanded with its mobile pack as far back as 2008, with clients for the combined solution including Japan's DoCoMo mobile provider, as well as handset manufacturers including Samsung and LG.
It's not just devices that may need mobile support too. Consumers are purchasing large numbers of apps for their devices, and those apps are bound to get more complex and expensive as the devices themselves become more powerful. Such software may require dedicated support from the developer or publisher to keep customers happy. Also, tablets are being touted as possible business devices, possibly using bespoke software for specific needs, which will itself need technical support in the field.
At present RSupport's mobile support solution covers iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android handsets, with Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 support to follow shortly. It sells the support software on a per agent basis, and the basic software can be supplied as is, or reworked to a company's individual needs.
The support agent can work on both PC and mobile support from the same software, which adds flexibility and so improves efficiency. This way, the agent can even then work on problems that arise between the client's mobile device and their PC, such as the syncing of documents or contacts.
We were given a full demo of the product in action. The RSupport software can be preloaded onto a mobile device by the manufacturer, or can be downloaded from the usual app market for the device. The support agent can also send an SMS with a link to the app. Upon receiving the support call from the customer, the support agent gives them a six digit code, this is punched into the RSupport app to set up the remote connection.
The software immediately gives an indication if the customer has altered the phone, so stolen phones that have been reprogrammed or jailbreaked iPhones can be detected straight away and support denied if desired. The tool set for mobile devices is impressive, the agent can see all the processes running and how much system resources they are taking up. They can turn apps on and off and uninstall them. Thre's also full remote control of the device, and the agent can write upon the device's screen, so they can show the customer how to fix the problem for themselves. All of these features are typical of PC support software, but to see them running hassle-free on a mobile device is a novelty.
The agent can connect to the device using 3G, Wi-Fi or via a USB connection to a PC (very handy if it's the wireless connection that needs troubleshooting). There's only a three second delay when the software switches between different connection types.
In addition, there's a screen-lock mode to prevent the agent from seeing the customer type in private passwords for various services, and you can record support sessions for future reference.
The feature list is impressive then. RSupport also claims that its product is faster and smoother than its best-known competitor - LogMeIn. It says that it has a small footprint, using between just 2-30% of the CPU capacity on a mobile device with a typical 1GHz processor (there's also full support for dual-core chips).
RSupport claim this is due to its own in-house developed VRVD5.0 compression algorithim, which it uses rather than rely upon a third-party or open source product. This, it said allowed it to quickly make changes to be compatible with dual-core LG handsets, something that would not otherwise have been possible.
We haven't had time to do extensive speed and network testing, but it certainly worked smoothly in our demo, and any company looking to support its employees or clients on a mobile platform should definitely give both a thorough test run before purchasing.
We interviewed Hans Seo, the CEO of RSupport, and talked about the European mobile market, language support, and prices. He told us that the Asian market was now very similar to the European one, with most consumers buying phones through mobile service providers, rather than buying them outright. In either case RSupport was happy to work with either handset manufacturers or mobile service providers to provide them with a reliable support service. Surprisingly, he said that in the company's experience, it was handset manufacturers, rather than providers, who were keener to support their devices remotely.
In terms of language support, RSupport has followed Google's lead when it comes to Android, with the software supporting 43 languages. This includes all the major European languages, and so this shouldn't prove a problem for the company's move into the region.
European pricing hasn't been set yet, but in Asia the RSupport RemoteCall +mobile pack costs around $1,500 per support agent. This compares favourably to LogMeIn Rescue (with added support for Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, Android, iPhone and iPad) at nearly $2000. From our first look at RSupport's offerings, then, it seems to be providing considerable competition to the current players in what should be a rapidly expanding market.
Author: Seth Barton at MWC in Barcelona
Source :http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/business-software/1283113/rsupport-enters-european-mobile-support-market
With this in mind, Korean company RSupport made its first appearance this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company has a 13 year history, primarily in remote support for desktop PCs. It has a strong track record in Asia, supplying services for desktop support to companies including Sony, Fujitsu and Toshiba. Research companies, including IDC and Frost & Sullivan, rate it as being no.1 in Asia for remote PC support software.
Its core RemoteCall support solution for PCs was expanded with its mobile pack as far back as 2008, with clients for the combined solution including Japan's DoCoMo mobile provider, as well as handset manufacturers including Samsung and LG.
It's not just devices that may need mobile support too. Consumers are purchasing large numbers of apps for their devices, and those apps are bound to get more complex and expensive as the devices themselves become more powerful. Such software may require dedicated support from the developer or publisher to keep customers happy. Also, tablets are being touted as possible business devices, possibly using bespoke software for specific needs, which will itself need technical support in the field.
At present RSupport's mobile support solution covers iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android handsets, with Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 support to follow shortly. It sells the support software on a per agent basis, and the basic software can be supplied as is, or reworked to a company's individual needs.
The support agent can work on both PC and mobile support from the same software, which adds flexibility and so improves efficiency. This way, the agent can even then work on problems that arise between the client's mobile device and their PC, such as the syncing of documents or contacts.
We were given a full demo of the product in action. The RSupport software can be preloaded onto a mobile device by the manufacturer, or can be downloaded from the usual app market for the device. The support agent can also send an SMS with a link to the app. Upon receiving the support call from the customer, the support agent gives them a six digit code, this is punched into the RSupport app to set up the remote connection.
The software immediately gives an indication if the customer has altered the phone, so stolen phones that have been reprogrammed or jailbreaked iPhones can be detected straight away and support denied if desired. The tool set for mobile devices is impressive, the agent can see all the processes running and how much system resources they are taking up. They can turn apps on and off and uninstall them. Thre's also full remote control of the device, and the agent can write upon the device's screen, so they can show the customer how to fix the problem for themselves. All of these features are typical of PC support software, but to see them running hassle-free on a mobile device is a novelty.
The agent can connect to the device using 3G, Wi-Fi or via a USB connection to a PC (very handy if it's the wireless connection that needs troubleshooting). There's only a three second delay when the software switches between different connection types.
In addition, there's a screen-lock mode to prevent the agent from seeing the customer type in private passwords for various services, and you can record support sessions for future reference.
The feature list is impressive then. RSupport also claims that its product is faster and smoother than its best-known competitor - LogMeIn. It says that it has a small footprint, using between just 2-30% of the CPU capacity on a mobile device with a typical 1GHz processor (there's also full support for dual-core chips).
RSupport claim this is due to its own in-house developed VRVD5.0 compression algorithim, which it uses rather than rely upon a third-party or open source product. This, it said allowed it to quickly make changes to be compatible with dual-core LG handsets, something that would not otherwise have been possible.
We haven't had time to do extensive speed and network testing, but it certainly worked smoothly in our demo, and any company looking to support its employees or clients on a mobile platform should definitely give both a thorough test run before purchasing.
We interviewed Hans Seo, the CEO of RSupport, and talked about the European mobile market, language support, and prices. He told us that the Asian market was now very similar to the European one, with most consumers buying phones through mobile service providers, rather than buying them outright. In either case RSupport was happy to work with either handset manufacturers or mobile service providers to provide them with a reliable support service. Surprisingly, he said that in the company's experience, it was handset manufacturers, rather than providers, who were keener to support their devices remotely.
In terms of language support, RSupport has followed Google's lead when it comes to Android, with the software supporting 43 languages. This includes all the major European languages, and so this shouldn't prove a problem for the company's move into the region.
European pricing hasn't been set yet, but in Asia the RSupport RemoteCall +mobile pack costs around $1,500 per support agent. This compares favourably to LogMeIn Rescue (with added support for Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, Android, iPhone and iPad) at nearly $2000. From our first look at RSupport's offerings, then, it seems to be providing considerable competition to the current players in what should be a rapidly expanding market.
Author: Seth Barton at MWC in Barcelona
Source :http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/business-software/1283113/rsupport-enters-european-mobile-support-market
NTT DoCoMo launches thinnest Android smartphone
Thin continues to be in for new smartphones: the NEC Medias N-04C, launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on Thursday, is about 8 millimeters thick.
Thin continues to be in for new smartphones: the NEC Medias N-04C, launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on Thursday, is about 8 millimeters thick.
The launch follows the introduction of Samsung's Galaxy S II and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc, which both measure about 9 millimeters at their thinnest point.
For the smartphone makers, producing thinner devices is one way to differentiate their products from the competition, according to Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight. Apple has shown that good design goes a long way, but it has to be combined with a good user interface, applications and content, he said.
The Medias N-04C has a 4-inch screen, is 127 mm tall and 62 mm wide and weighs 105 grams. The smartphone is based on version 2.2 of Android and will get an upgrade to version 2.3 later this year, according to DoCoMo.
Other features include a mobile wallet, the ability to view mobile digital terrestrial television and a quick-shot photo function that allows users to take consecutive shots every 1.1 second with the 5-megapixel camera.
Users can access the Internet using Wi-Fi or HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) at 7.2M bps (bits per second) for downloads and 5.7M bps for data uploads.
Pricing wasn't announced, but shipping will start on March 15. There were no details on if or when NEC would start selling the smartphone outside of Japan.
NTT DoCoMo also said in would start shipping LG's tablet Optimus Pad -- which is based on Android 3.0, the tablet optimized version of Google's operating system -- in late March.
Source : http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=6E9A7349-1A64-6A71-CEFFA0A6E984E91D
Thin continues to be in for new smartphones: the NEC Medias N-04C, launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on Thursday, is about 8 millimeters thick.
The launch follows the introduction of Samsung's Galaxy S II and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc, which both measure about 9 millimeters at their thinnest point.
For the smartphone makers, producing thinner devices is one way to differentiate their products from the competition, according to Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight. Apple has shown that good design goes a long way, but it has to be combined with a good user interface, applications and content, he said.
The Medias N-04C has a 4-inch screen, is 127 mm tall and 62 mm wide and weighs 105 grams. The smartphone is based on version 2.2 of Android and will get an upgrade to version 2.3 later this year, according to DoCoMo.
Other features include a mobile wallet, the ability to view mobile digital terrestrial television and a quick-shot photo function that allows users to take consecutive shots every 1.1 second with the 5-megapixel camera.
Users can access the Internet using Wi-Fi or HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) at 7.2M bps (bits per second) for downloads and 5.7M bps for data uploads.
Pricing wasn't announced, but shipping will start on March 15. There were no details on if or when NEC would start selling the smartphone outside of Japan.
NTT DoCoMo also said in would start shipping LG's tablet Optimus Pad -- which is based on Android 3.0, the tablet optimized version of Google's operating system -- in late March.
Source : http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=6E9A7349-1A64-6A71-CEFFA0A6E984E91D
A Look Around The New LG Optimus 3D
As ever there are numerous new handsets set to be released into the marketplace. Some catch the eye because of great technical specification, whilst other focus more on the design aspect.
The new LG Optimus 3D grabs your attention as it provides something that no other handset does: 3D performance. The satisfying element of this phone is that LG have acknowledged that having a high quality 3D screen is pretty pointless unless you have 3D material that you can view on it, so flip the phone other and on the rear you will find twin 5 mega pixel cameras.
Spaced just 24mm apart, this enables you to snap three dimesnsional photographs, and should you want to actually capture video footage, the unit offers an impressive resolution of 1280 x 720 side by side (left image and right image). Should you only need 2D capture, then the resolution is upped to full HD 1080P. Thanks to an HDMI 1.4 port, your results can be played on back on a compatible television. For anybody concerned about needing to use glasses similar to what you find at the cinema or on a home television, then you need not be. The Optimus 3D uses an parallax barrier screen which enables three dimensional images to be displayed without the need for glasses. The screen itself measures 4.3 inches like the HTC Desire HD, and can display a maximum resolution of 480 x 800 pixels coupled with a massive 16 million colours.
The LG Optimus 3D features a button on the side of the chassis that brings up a 3D menu, which works on a very effective carousel. One of the items found on this menu is the YouTube 3D application, which is present thanks to LG's partnership with the site. Asides from the elements we have already mentioned, the Optimus boasts some impressive specification in other areas. The processor on offer is clocked at 1Ghz, not only ensuring fast performance but thanks to dual core technology allowing for effortless multi tasking facilities.
At 168 grammes, the unit does weigh a little more than some of the featherweight devices available, however anybody purchasing this phone will be doing so for its features, and not for its compactness. The LG Optimus 3D signifies a real step forward for mobile phones by not only offering a great blend of design and specification, but also adding in the new 3D element which will certainly capture both the attention and imagination of fans everywhere.
The LG Optimus 3D and the Motorola Atrix are coming soon.
Source : http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/articles_print.php?CID=59&AID=8436
The new LG Optimus 3D grabs your attention as it provides something that no other handset does: 3D performance. The satisfying element of this phone is that LG have acknowledged that having a high quality 3D screen is pretty pointless unless you have 3D material that you can view on it, so flip the phone other and on the rear you will find twin 5 mega pixel cameras.
Spaced just 24mm apart, this enables you to snap three dimesnsional photographs, and should you want to actually capture video footage, the unit offers an impressive resolution of 1280 x 720 side by side (left image and right image). Should you only need 2D capture, then the resolution is upped to full HD 1080P. Thanks to an HDMI 1.4 port, your results can be played on back on a compatible television. For anybody concerned about needing to use glasses similar to what you find at the cinema or on a home television, then you need not be. The Optimus 3D uses an parallax barrier screen which enables three dimensional images to be displayed without the need for glasses. The screen itself measures 4.3 inches like the HTC Desire HD, and can display a maximum resolution of 480 x 800 pixels coupled with a massive 16 million colours.
The LG Optimus 3D features a button on the side of the chassis that brings up a 3D menu, which works on a very effective carousel. One of the items found on this menu is the YouTube 3D application, which is present thanks to LG's partnership with the site. Asides from the elements we have already mentioned, the Optimus boasts some impressive specification in other areas. The processor on offer is clocked at 1Ghz, not only ensuring fast performance but thanks to dual core technology allowing for effortless multi tasking facilities.
At 168 grammes, the unit does weigh a little more than some of the featherweight devices available, however anybody purchasing this phone will be doing so for its features, and not for its compactness. The LG Optimus 3D signifies a real step forward for mobile phones by not only offering a great blend of design and specification, but also adding in the new 3D element which will certainly capture both the attention and imagination of fans everywhere.
The LG Optimus 3D and the Motorola Atrix are coming soon.
Source : http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/articles_print.php?CID=59&AID=8436
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