Earlier today NVIDIA announced that it would begin licensing its Kepler GPU architecture to 3rd parties. This is a sensible next step for NVIDIA, but an unprecedented one among the two remaining discrete PC GPU suppliers. Note that what NVIDIA is announcing today is contrary to AMD’s semi-custom approach to SoC production. AMD is offering to build (semi) custom tailored silicon to customer needs, while NVIDIA is taking a more ARM-like approach and offering its GPU IP to 3rd parties for integration on their own. In other words, NVIDIA is looking to compete with ARM and Imagination Technologies rather than AMD or Qualcomm. In addition to its GPU architecture, NVIDIA is now also open to licensing its visual computing patents to 3rd parties. The visual computing...
Motorola Droid RAZR, RAZR MAXX Update Enables CDRX for Better LTE Battery Life
While we don't usually cover every software update on every platform, I thought it worth noting something special about the new update which will begin going out shortly to...
7 by Brian Klug on 2/3/2012
Qualcomm and Ericsson Demonstrate SR-VCC Voice Handover from LTE to WCDMA on MSM8960
Until now, the way voice has worked on handsets with a 4G LTE air interface has been, well, interesting. That is to say, thus far all voice calls haven't...
9 by Brian Klug on 2/2/2012
US Cellular Announces Initial 4G LTE Markets, Devices
Not to be left in the dust by their big national counterparts, regional carriers are also moving onward to 4G LTE, and US Cellular today announced its initial 4G...
4 by Brian Klug on 2/1/2012
Motorola Announces RAZR XT910 Developer Edition with Unlocked Bootloader
A while ago, Motorola announced plans to start unlocking bootloaders on devices "where operator and channel partners will allow it" sometime in 2011. While it's clear now (with that...
14 by Brian Klug on 1/30/2012_carousel.jpg)
Samsung Announces Galaxy S Advance
Reports about a new Samsung Galaxy series smart phone have been floating around for a few days now, and today Samsung has finally made it official by announcing the...
14 by Kristian Vättö on 1/30/2012
AT&T to Launch New Data Plans For Smartphones, Tablets
Beginning this Sunday, January 22, AT&T will begin offering new data plans to its US smartphone and tablet customers, its first change to the plans since June 2010. The new...
32 by Andrew Cunningham & Manveer Wasson on 1/18/2012
Samsung Galaxy Nexus & Ice Cream Sandwich Review
The evolution of Google’s Nexus line is an interesting one. Each year, Google chooses both a silicon partner and an OEM to make a unique hardware archetype which it...
187 by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/18/2012
Why Thunderbolt Won't Come to the iPhone Anytime Soon
Before CES there was a bunch of silliness floating around about how Apple might bring Thunderbolt to the iPhone based on a creative interpretation of an Apple patent. Some...
14 by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on 1/14/2012
TI Wireless Charging - New Chipsets and 10W charging for Tablets
This morning we stopped by TI's power management group to check out what all they had in store, and got to check out some demos of their new second...
18 by Brian Klug on 1/12/2012
More Shots of the HTC Titan II & Nokia Lumia 900
We covered the launch of HTC's Titan II and Nokia's Lumia 900, the first two AT&T LTE devices running Windows Phone 7.5. We're meeting with Nokia later today but...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi, Brian Klug & Manveer Wasson on 1/12/2012
TI Shows Off OMAP 5 & ARM Cortex A15 at CES
We weren't allowed to take photos but we've just seen TI's OMAP 5 reference platform up and running Ice Cream Sandwich with full GPU acceleration enabled. The 28nm chip...
13 by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on 1/12/2012
Intel's Medfield & Atom Z2460 Arrive for Smartphones: It's Finally Here
It's here. Intel's first smartphone SoC that you'll actually be able to buy in a device before the end of the year. The platform is called Medfield and Paul...
163 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/10/2012
Intel Announces its First Medfield Smartphone Partner at CES 2012 - Lenovo K800
We're at the Intel keynote here at CES 2012 where Intel has announced one of its first Medfield design wins. Lenovo will be launching a phone based around Medfield...
7 by Brian Klug on 1/10/2012
Apple releases iOS 5.1 Beta 3 - Updates Baseband Again, 3G Toggle is Back
We've been tracking and updating our iPhone 4S' to each beta of iOS 5.1, and today Apple has pushed out an OTA version of iOS 5.1 Beta 3 (build...
13 by Brian Klug on 1/9/2012
Huawei Announces Ascend P1 S with 6.68mm thickness
We're at Huawei's press event where we just got to go hands on with the company's two new phones, both running Android Ice Cream Sandwich: the Huawei Ascend P1...
2 by Brian Klug, Sarah Trainor on 1/9/2012AT&T Flips the LTE Switch in 11 Markets, Sprint Announces its First 4 LTE Markets
Today has been a busy day for wireless carriers in the USA, with both AT&T and Sprint making 4G LTE related announcements. AT&T today enabled LTE service in 11...
5 by Brian Klug on 1/5/2012
Sprint Ad Announces Galaxy Nexus with 1.5 GHz SoC
Sprint seems to be busy with its announcements today, and the latest comes in the form of an unassuming-looking advert on CNet. Ordinarily, a US carrier announcing yet another...
14 by Brian Klug on 1/5/2012
Broadcom Announces Family of 802.11ac Chipsets & 5G WiFi Brand
If you've read our 802.11ac primer you already know that the fifth generation of WiFi is something to be excited about. At 433Mbps of bandwidth per stream with expected...
7 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/5/2012
5th Generation WiFi: 802.11ac, "Gigabit" WiFi Primer
Five years have passed since the first 802.11n devices implementing a draft of the now-finalized specification hit the market. Over the years 802.11n support has become ubiquitous in the...
39 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/5/2012
Scaling to 802.11ac Speeds in Smartphones and Tablets
I promise this is the last thing I'll write about 802.11ac today, but it is very relevant to our smartphone and tablet coverage. If you've followed any of our...
15 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/5/2012