Smartphones
Samsung is announcing today that it has begun mass production of 12 GB and 16 GB LPDDR5X modules in the industry's thinnest package. Samsung's shrunken memory packages measure approximately 0.65 mm in thickness, making them 0.06 mm (~9%) thinner than standard LPDDR5X packages. The company expects the new DRAM devices to be used to make for thinner smartphones, or improve their performance by enabling better airflow inside. According to the company's press release, Samsung achieved this ultra-thin design by employing new packaging methods, such as optimized printed circuit boards (PCBs) and epoxy molding compound (EMC). Additionally, an optimized back-lapping process was used to further reduce the height of the packages. The newly developed DRAM packages are not only thinner by 9% compared to previous models...
Apple Announces the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
Today, Apple announced their refresh of the iPhone 6 lineup, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. For those that are unfamiliar with Apple’s “s” refreshes, these are years...
61 by Joshua Ho on 9/9/2015Apple Announces Release Dates for iOS 9, watchOS 2, and OS X El Capitan
Today Apple made a number of new announcements at their fall 2015 event. There are two new iPhones, two new iPads, and a new Apple TV set top box...
7 by Brandon Chester on 9/9/2015Samsung Announces 12Gb LPDDR4 DRAM For Mobile Devices
Today Samsung Electronics announced that they have begun mass production of the memory industry's first 12Gb LPDDR4 DRAM on their 20nm manufacturing process. These new chips offer 50% greater...
37 by Brandon Chester on 9/8/2015Google Introduces New Street View App
Today Google introduced a new Street View application for iOS and Android. Due to the differences between Google's app offerings on iOS and Android it's a bit confusing to...
15 by Brandon Chester on 9/3/2015Sony Launches The Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium With UHD Display
In April of this year Sony launched the Xperia Z4, their sequel to the 2014 Xperia Z3. Since the Z3 had only launched in September of 2014, it was...
71 by Brandon Chester on 9/2/2015Qualcomm Announces Kryo CPU Details: Quad Core 2.2 GHz, 14nm FinFET
Today, Qualcomm announced a number of details in the Snapdragon 820, specifically about their Kryo CPU. Given that the Snapdragon 810 was a somewhat standard 4x Cortex-A57/4x Cortex-A53, it...
60 by Joshua Ho on 9/2/2015Huawei Launches Mate S - Hands On
Today at Huawei's IFA Berlin 2015 launch event the Chinese handset maker launched it's new fall flagship device, the Mate S. The new 5.5" form-factor places the Mate S...
19 by Andrei Frumusanu on 9/2/2015Lenovo Announces New PHAB and PHAB PLUS Phablets
Today Lenovo has made a number of announcements relating to their mobile device business. We've seen two new low end tablets, and a very strange but also very interesting...
2 by Brandon Chester on 9/2/2015Lenovo Launches Three New VIBE Smartphones
Lenovo has been making quite a number of announcements at IFA this year. We've seen a unique high end Android tablet, low end Android tablets, and really big phablets...
6 by Brandon Chester on 9/2/2015The Mobile CPU Core-Count Debate: Analyzing The Real World
Over the last 5 years the mobile space has seen a dramatic change in terms of performance of smartphone and tablet SoCs. The industry has seen a move from...
157 by Andrei Frumusanu on 9/1/2015Obi Worldphone Launches The Worldphone SF1 and SJ1.5
Today Obi Worldphone, the smartphone company co-founded by former CEO of Apple and former president of Pepsi John Sculley, launched two new smartphones targeted at emerging markets. The first...
10 by Brandon Chester on 8/27/2015Microsoft Makes Cortana For Android Available As A Public Beta
Earlier this year Microsoft announced that their digital assistant Cortana would be making its way to iOS and Android in addition to its launch on Windows Phone and Windows...
12 by Brandon Chester on 8/24/2015The Moto G (2015) Review
Motorola's original Moto G was one of the first Android devices to offer what one could honestly call a good user experience at a price of around $200. It...
90 by Brandon Chester on 8/19/2015Google Releases Final M Preview: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Today Google released the third developer preview for the M release and at the same time also reveals its official codename as well as final version name: Android 6.0...
51 by Andrei Frumusanu on 8/17/2015A Quick Look at LG G4 Leather Back Covers
With the LG G4 review, our design commentary was mostly targeted towards the G4’s standard polycarbonate back cover. But recently we received some leather back covers from LG designed...
24 by Joshua Ho on 8/17/2015Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
Today, Samsung is announcing the next generation of their Galaxy-brand phablets, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+. Samsung’s phablets have been one of their greatest smartphone...
219 by Joshua Ho on 8/13/2015Qualcomm Details the Adreno 530 GPU and ISP inside the Snapdragon 820
Snapdragon 820 is still a mystery as far as official information from Qualcomm goes. However, today Qualcomm has given a bit of insight into their upcoming SoC. While there's...
66 by Brandon Chester on 8/12/2015Google Redesigns Hangouts for Android With Version 4.0
Today Google shipped a major update to their Hangouts application for Android. Ever since Hangouts for iOS was updated to 4.0 a little over a month ago Android users...
37 by Brandon Chester on 8/10/2015Google Commits To Monthly Security Updates For Nexus Devices
Security updates on mobile operating systems have typically been bundled inside larger patches that include other bug fixes and improvements. Unfortunately, the world of security exploits isn't tuned to...
41 by Brandon Chester on 8/5/2015The LG G4 Review
The LG G3 was probably the Android phone that was closest to getting everything right last year, but it ultimately fell short of being the “best Android phone”. The...
85 by Joshua Ho on 7/30/2015