smartphone News - Page 44 of 73 - CNX Software

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

$7 Magnetic Charging micro USB Adapter and Cable Work Like ZNAPS

ZNAPS is a cheap magnetic adapter and connector combo for smartphones with micro USB or lightning ports that had a massively successfully Kickstarter campaign this summer, having raised over 3 millions dollar from around 70,000 backers who should receive their $9 adapter and connector in November. But in case you’ve missed the campaign and own a smartphone with a micro USB port, there’s a magnetic charging USB cable selling for $9.95 AUD (~$7.2) on eBay including shipping. There’s no much to it, as you just insert a micro USB adapter into your device, and it magnetically connects with the USB cable to charge easily. I don’t personally find that gadget very useful, but based on the buzz generated by ZNAPS, many people do, as they probably like to convenience to connect your phone with the charger even when busy while driving a car, cooking, and so on. It also makes […]

October 16, 2015October 17, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Samsung Z3 Tizen Smartphone Launched in Russia and India

After Samzung Z1 based on Spreadtrum SC7727S processor and running Tizen 2.3, Samsung skipped the Z2, and launched Samsung Z3 Tizen 2.4 smartphone powered by Spreadtrum SC7730S quad core processor in both India and Russia, with the Russian model allegedly adding LTE connectivity. Samsung Z3 specifications: SoC – Spreadtrum SC7730S Quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.3 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8GB flash + microSD slot (up to 128GB) Display – 5.0” HD Super AMOLED (1280×720) Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE, GPS,GLONASS Cellular 2x Micro-SIM slots “Indian model” (SM-300H) – WCDMA: B1(2100),B8(900); GSM: GSM850,GSM900,DCS1800,PCS1900; 3G: HSPA+ “Russian model” (SM-300F?) – Includes LTE Camera – 8.0MP rear camera with LED Flash (F2.2), 5.0MP front facing camera Video – MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV USB – micro USB 2.0 port Sensors – Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor Battery – […]

October 7, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center Review

Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center is a tiny box with WiFi connectivity and IR transmitters that is used to control infrared enabled devices such as TVs, medai players, air conditioners and more with your Android smartphone. The good thing is that it only costs $20, so I asked GearBest to send a sample to check it out, which they did. I’ll start this review by checking out the hardware, before running MiHome app to control a television and air conditioner. Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center Unboxing and Teardown The package is just a cardboard box with Mi logo. Once you open the page there’s a sticker with the QR core redirecting to MiHome app. You can peel it off, and take the box out of the package, where you’ll also find a USB to micro USB cable for power, and a user’s manual in Chinese only. To open the device […]

September 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Google Officially Unveils Nexus 5X & 6P Android 6.0 Smartphones

Google released Android 6.0 “Marshmallow” SDK and final preview last month, and the first stable Android 6.0 release is expected on the first week of October on recent Nexus devices, including the latest Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P just announced by Google. Here are the specs of the two phones: LG Nexus 5X Specifications SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (MSM8992) dual core Cortex-A57 @ 1.82 GHz and quad core Cortex-A53 @ 1.44 GHz with Adreno 418 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16 or 32GB storage, no micro SD slot Display – 5.2″ capacitive touchscreen (1920×1080 resolution), Gorilla Glass 3 with fingerprint and smudge-resistant oleophobic coating Audio – Front facing speaker, 3 microphones with noise cancellation, 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, NFC Cellular Connectivity All versions – GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900MHz; single nano SIM card North America – […]

September 24, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Linux Kernel Mainline Status of Mobile SoCs Presentation at Linaro Connect SF015

Linaro Connect San Francisco 2015 is taking place this week, and several 96Boards have been presented including LeMaker Hikey and Qualcomm DragonBoard 410c, both of which will finally be available by the end of the year. But there are also many technical presentation and discussions that are uploaded to LinaroOnAir Youtube account, and they’ve greatly improved video and audio quality compared to the past, with presentation slides also available on Slideshare. I’ve just watched one of the session entitled “Kernel Mainline Status of Mobile Chipsets” by Tim Bird, Sony Mobile. Also the talk focus on mobile SoC, it’s also relevant to other consumer electronics products, and some embedded systems. The presentation states the extend of the issues, shares comparisons between the vendor device tree and mainline, and explains how developers can participate, with the talk ending with a discussion within the group of attendees. Here’s a summary of some of […]

September 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

RePhone Kit Create is a DIY Phone and Cellular Development Kit (Crowdfunding)

Seeed Studio has design a modular and open source phone it calls RePhone Kit Create. The kit allows you, or/and your kid(s), to assemble their own phone based on building blocks including a 2G or 3G core module, a touchscreen display module, an audio module, and pre-cut, seawable, washable, and easily drawable Kraft paper to make the case. The kit can also be used for IoT applications using cellular and Bluetooth connectivity, and extra Xadow modules GPS, NFC, motion sensors, camera and more.. Two cellular “core” module can be used: RePhone GSM + BLE module with the “world’s smallest System-on-Chip (SOC) for Wearables and Internet Of Things”, GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth 2.1 and 4.0 support. RePhone Core Module 3G with a “powerful microcontroller”,a standard Xadow interface (USB, GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART, EINT), support for speaker, two microphones and a headset, a Nano SIM, and support for HSPA/WCDMA:850/1900 and GPRS/EDGE:850/1900. Voltage: […]

September 21, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Qualcomm Unveils Octa-core Cortex A53 Snapdragon 430 and 617 Processors

Qualcomm has unveiled two new octacore 64-bit ARM processors for mid-range smartphones with Snapdragon 430 and Snapdragon 617 Cortex A53 SoCs, both of which support the recently announced Quick Charge 3.0 standard and embed LTE connectivity. Snapdragon 430 Snapdragon 430 key features and specifications: CPU – 8x ARM Cortex A53 up to 1.2 GHz GPU – Qualcomm Adreno 505 GPU supporting up to OpenGL ES 3.1+ DSP – Qualcomm Hexagon 536 DSP Memory – LPDDR3 800MHz Storage – eMMC 5.1, SD 3.0 (UHS-I) Modem – Snapdragon X6 LTE – LTE Cat 4 (up to 150 Mbps DL/75 Mbps UL) Wireless Connectivity – WiFi 802.11n/ac (Qualcomm VIVE 2-stream with MU-MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1 + BLE, GPS (Qualcomm IZat Gen8C) Display – Up to 1080p on device and output Video – Up to 1080p at 30 FPS; Codecs: H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC) Audio – Fluence HD noise cancellation technology Camera – Up to […]

September 1, 2015September 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Study Shows Octa Core Processors Bring Little Over Quad Core Processors in Mobile Devices

Silicon vendor are now launching 8-core and even 12-core processors for mobile devices, and I can see some advantages in terms of power consumption in processors leveraging big.LITTLE processing with low power ‘LITTLE’ cores running light tasks such as audio or video playback, while performance ‘big’ cores running much demanding tasks. However, some processors, such as RK3368, feature the same eight cores, and in real-use don’t bring that extra bit of performance or lower power consumption, except in very specific cases. So the only “advantage” of this type of processor is a marketing one, with keyword like “Octa-core”, “64-bit”, etc… Last year, I found out, that more powerful cores may be more important than many cores, when I tested Allwinner A80 processor with PVRMonitor to check CPU usage per core in real-time, and in Antutu, while Browsing the web or playing games, only a few cores were used most of […]