Snapdragon

54 'Snapdragon' stories June 2011 - August 2012

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LG announces the stylish Optimus L9

Seth Weintraub Aug 28 2012 - 10:04 pm PT

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Not a bad looking phone, but the specs are middle of the road. Although LG has not hit home runs in last two years, its latest models show it is not giving up.

LG EXTENDS L-SERIES WITH GLOBAL DEBUT OF OPTIMUS L9
Premium Optimus L9 to Offer Best of L-Style with Innovative UX

SEOUL, Aug. 29, 2012 – The LG Optimus L9 will continue the stylish L-Series lineup of smartphones with its global debut. Following the successful launches of the Optimus L3, Optimus L5, and Optimus L7 earlier this year, the Optimus L9 is anticipated to continue in the success of the L-Series emphasizing premium design heritage developed from LG’s design leadership.

Inheriting LG’s premium L-Style design philosophy, the Optimus L9 has a 9.1mm thin body with a slimming metallic streak and modern square style that offers a comfortable grip from its slim and stylish design.

The largest-in-class 4.7-inch IPS display of the Optimus L9 offers clear and true-to-life images with incredible detail for comfortable viewing experience. The high-density 2,150mAh SiO+ battery allows users to enjoy the various new UX features all day long with maximized performance while retaining its incredibly sleek design.

The Optimus L9 was also developed to be a smarter smartphone through LG’s differentiated UX features, such as the QTranslator and My Style Keypad function along with the ever-popular QMemoTM.

The QTranslator function instantly translates not only words, but also entire sentences and phrases with a simple scan from nearly 44 foreign languages to 64 user languages. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, it recognizes letters upon scanning with the camera and utilizes electronic dictionary or online translation engine to translate words, sentences or phrases.

The My Style Keypad function comfortably adjusts the key formation of the keypad according to whether the user is texting with one hand (right or left-handed) or two hands. Lastly, the Optimus L9 will also include the QMemoTM, allowing users to capture, memo and share their ideas with others using their fingertip or handwriting.

“The Optimus L9 is a great smartphone that appeals to every consumer,” said Dr. Jongseok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. “LG will continue to offer differentiated value through the Optimus L9 and strengthen our position in the smartphone market.”

Key Specifications:
OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Chipset: 1GHz Dual-Core
Main Display: 4.7-inch IPS Display
Memory: 1GB DDR2 (RAM) / 4GB e-MMC
Camera: 5MP rear / VGA front
Battery: 2,150mAh SiO+
Size: 131.9 x 68.2 x 9.1mm / 125g
Others: DLNA, QMemo™, QTranslator function, My Style Keyboard function

Sprint’s $100 ZTE Optik 7-inch Android tablet launches Feb. 5

Jordan Kahn Feb 2 2012 - 12:37 pm PT

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Sprint announced today it will make the budget-friendly 7-inch ZTE Optik 3G tablet available starting Feb. 5 from Sprint Stores and online for $99.99 with the usual two-year agreement. You will also be able to grab the Android 3.2-powered tablet without a contract for $350.

If you are not familiar with the ZTE Optik, expect a 7-inch capacitive WXGA 1280-by-800 resolution display, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), and 16 GB of onboard storage. It also packs in Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, a microSD slot, a 5-megapixel main camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and a 4000 mAh Lithium-ion battery. The full press release from Sprint is available after the break:

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Qualcomm’s 4G LTE Gobi 4000 chips shipping to Android OEMs likely to land in next-gen tablets

Jordan Kahn Nov 16 2011 - 12:28 am PT

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Qualcomm has just issued a press release announcing the commercial availability of their Gobi 4000 chips for 4G LTE and HSPA+ capable devices, variants of which could very well land in any number of forthcoming dual and quad-core LTE Android devices. Qualcomm is already working with OEMs to include the Gobi 4000 platform, which comes in both LTE/HSPA+ and LTE/EV-DO designs, in devices including Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops, and Dell’s Latitude E6420 laptops, in addition to other Android and Windows powered mobile devices. Qualcomm explains:

Qualcomm’s latest Gobi-enabled 4G platform features the Gobi Application Programming Interface (API) with LTE extensions and is compatible with leading connectivity standards, including CDMA2000® 1xEV-DO Rev. A and B, HSPA+, dual-carrier HSPA+, and LTE with integrated backwards compatibility to HSPA and EV-DO. The Gobi 4000 platform also includes software enhancements for select MDM™ chipsets that enable a common software interface to help connect, locate and manage 3G/4G devices regardless of wireless interface and operating system.

The new chips, now shipping to OEMs through Novatel Wireless and Sierra Wireless, are based on Qualcomm’s MDM9600 and MDM 9200 3G/4G wireless modems, and as the company notes, have been specially designed for deployment in Android devices utilizing Snapdragon dual-core and quad-core processors. In addition to HSPA+, dual-carrier HSPA+, and LTE support, the Gobi 4000 platform is also backwards compatible with HSPA and EV-DO. You can expect the chip to land in a number of LTE-capable Android devices in the months to come.

Qualcomm’s senior vice president of produdct management for CDMA Technologies, Cristiano Amon, had this to say about the announcement:

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Qualcomm sheds more light on their 2.5Ghz “S4” processors: single, dual, and quad-core versions

Jake Smith Sep 14 2011 - 3:13 pm PT

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At the Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul, Qualcomm outlined their new line of “S4” mobile processors (following their new naming scheme). The new single, dual, and quad-core processors will be able to pack up to 2.5 GHz’s in speed, almost doubling what’s available on the current market. Spec wise, the new processors will bring the ability for Adreno Graphics, 3D, 1080p HD, and 3G and LTE connectivity as a standard.

Qualcomm’s quad-core processor will compete directly with Nvidia’s “Kal-el” quad-core processor due out around the same time. CES and Mobile World Conference should be about the time we see phones announced with these processors underneath.Expect these phones to be fast! (via Pocket-lint)

Qualcomm overhauls confusing naming scheme

Jake Smith Aug 3 2011 - 2:55 am PT

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Qualcomm, the company who makes the Snapdragon processor seen in many Android devices, has overhauled their naming scheme. Qualcomm’s naming scheme used to be MSM8260, MSM855T, MSM8930, and so on. Today, Qualcomm is moving their naming scheme into a four tier system: S1, S2, S3, S4.

S1 processors will be 1GHz and below and will be for mass market. S2 is for high performance devices, like the Droid Incredible, with speeds up to 1.4 GHz. Devices like the EVO 3 will fall under S3, with up to 1.5 GHz. And finally, S4 will be for everything between 1.6 GHz and 2.5 GHz — which doesn’t actually include anything, yet.

When better processors come around S1 won’t become S2, rather, a S5 tier will be created. Check out the S3 below: (via TechCrunch)

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Review: Sprint’s HTC EVO 3D

Seth Weintraub Jun 24 2011 - 11:26 am PT

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There is a lot on the line with Sprint’s new EVO 3D launch today. The EVO brand has now become the flagship Sprint Android device moniker and for more than a year, the EVO has been just about the most burly Android device you could get on the WiMAX 4G network.

Background:

The original EVO was a milestone in Smartphone development. When it was released, the Nexus One and Droid were the top of the Android heap and Apple was still selling the iPhone 3GS. The EVO was the first Android device with front camera, 8MP back camera, 4.3-inch display, 4G network access and a kickstand! Even the Apple guys’ heads were turning. I got an EVO 4G at Google I/O last year and have used it off and on since. Among other things, it has one of the best GPSes of any phone I’ve used, it is always first or one of the first carrier phones to get an Android OS update and it pioneered (sorry HD2) HTC’s line of 4.3 inch devices which are now on every carrier in the US in multiple forms (Incredible 2 and Thunderbolt on Verizon, Inspire 4G on AT&T, Sensation on T-Mobile).

So how does the EVO 3D stack up to the original as well as the top of the other flagship phones out there? Read on to find out:

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