Intel plans to fend off ARM with a Clover Trail chipset ready in time for Windows 8 tablets

Intel leaked a bit of its future plans to battle the ARM-based mobile chipsets onslaught. It knows that it has mostly lost the battle, when it comes to iOS or Android, despite the Honeycomb tablets with Oak Trail chipsets it demoed recently, so the hopes are now pinned on its current stronghold - Windows.

Bill Kircos, Intel's director of product and technology media relations, revealed that an upcoming Atom Cloverview processor platform, called Clover Trail, will be introduced around the time Windows 8 is ready for the mass market, which should be in the Spring of next year.

Windows 8 tablets will thus be able to take advantage of a faster and more power-efficient chipset from Intel than the current crop, since Clover Trail will be produced with the 32nm technology. As a comparison, the current ARM-based Tegra 2 chipset, that is in most Android Honeycomb tablets, is done with the 40nm process, and Apple's A5 with the 45nm.

The die shrink means more transistors can be fit in the same place, or the same oomph derived from a much smaller footprint, resulting in better performance and battery life. A true system-on-a-chip, like those above based on ARM's designs, has much more to it than the manufacturing process, though, so we'll see what Intel has in store for Windows 8 tablets, and if it will be better than the ARM-based designs at the time, like the quad-core NVIDIA Kal-El chipset.

One advantage is certain for Intel, though - its chipsets are x86-based, which means that you will be able to run legacy Windows programs on the Win 8 tablets with Intel inside, unlike on those with ARM-based silicon, and that might make all the difference in the world, especially for enterprise customers. Next year it might turn out that the WinTel era is far from over, despite the claims that we live in a post-PC world.

source: Thisismynext

Nokia brags with best-in-industry HTML5 performance on the N9 browser, downplays Flash support

The MeeGo-powered Nokia N9 comes with an all-new HTML5-enabled browser – a crucial piece of software for the Finns, who failed to deliver a contemporary browser in Symbian^3, at least before the Anna update. Maybe that's the reason why Nokia picked “the browser that doesn’t annoy me” motto for the browser in the N9 and to a certain extent it seems that the company has succeeded with meeting this goal. 

There are three ways of using the browser: you can just type in addresses, pick them from your bookmarks or tap a shortcut from the launcher. It supports pinch-to-zoom and double-tap to zoom, as well as increasing the font without affecting other elements.

But it's HTML5 where the N9 browser truly shines. With a score of 283 at one HTML5 test, it outranks all other mobile browsers and takes on some desktop ones. Luckily, it supports HTML5 videos and CSS 3D, but also other mobile elements of the specifications for HTML5 like motion and location awareness. CSS 3, Javascript 1.8, XHTML and XML are all supported as well.

But the biggest downer is the lack of Adobe Flash support. You'd have to completely rely on HTML5, which might be good in the future when the standard gets widely adopted, but currently a big part of the web is in Flash. Luckily, though, YouTube already delivers content via HTML5 and the N9 browser makes use of that. Check out the screenshots below and don't hesitate to share your feelings towards Nokia's decision to go Flash-less!

source: Nokia Conversations

Review of Nokia E6

This is a global GSM phone. It can be used with T-Mobile USA and AT&T.

Introduction:

When we open our Nokia E6 package and gaze upon the high grade industrial design, we feel bittersweet. The device looks great, feels great in the hand and seems to check all the boxes, but leaves us with a waning trepidation when it comes to the operating system. We already know that the combination of Symbian Anna and the X7 is lacking, so why should the experience be any better on the E6?

Well, the E6 actually represents a totally different idea. With its QWERTY keyboard, smaller, but sharper screen, as well as classical Nokia business series form-factor, the handset might just provoke some nostalgic feelings amongst its targeted audience, and ultimately, end up in the pockets of a good number of people. The question is, does it offer enough to make us recommend it over the slew of other QWERTYs on the market?

Apple's retail stores can release AT&T iPhones if the unlocked pile runs low

It seems that Apple is advising staff at its retail locations to just grab an iPhone 4 from the AT&T pile, and release it from the carrier shackles, if it runs low on stock with unlocked iPhones.

Of course, this will still run you $649 for the 16GB version, and the healthy $749 for a 32GB version, but it's nice to have options. These prices are fairly indicative of how much carriers are paying to subsidize an iPhone so you can grab it at $199 with a two-year contract, resulting in Apple's fat operating margins, but that's a whole different topic.

The note in Apple's Retail Project Manager actually says to sell any of the AT&T iPhone 4's SKUs, and mark it as "Device Only" upon checkout, which it seems automagically unlocks the device for use with any SIM card you throw at it.

via 9to5Mac

'Apple is in big trouble,' tech expert holding an iPhone says

Apple might be the second-largest company in the world with a market cap of over $300 billion, but if you take the words of NBC's Today Show Gear and Technology editor, Paul Hochman, it's in serious trouble. 

Hochman, holding an iPhone, spoke at the Forward with Ford Futuring and Trends Conference:

"Apple’s in big trouble. They’re sitting on piles of cash, but they are sitting on a closed system. In biology, in history, a closed system never survives."

At the same time, he lavished praise on Ford for picking an open system, one which allows an external device like both an iOS or Android one for communication and even apps. Conversely, General Motors which opted for a closed system doesn't allow upgrade of the hardware locking you down into using the same device even when it fades out of relevance after a couple of years. This argument certainly holds ground as the lifespan of a car is usually much longer than the one of a phone, but do you agree with Hochman's comments on Apple? Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments below.

source: Pocket-lint

Nokia Maps APIs will be open to 3rd party Windows Phone developers

It's been confirmed that Nokia Maps will be used on all Windows Phone devices down the road, including ones from Samsung or LG. According to Nokia's Marko Lumivuori, however, also the “current Ovi Maps API will be supported in the oncoming devices” with the Windows Phone Mango update.

On one hand, this is great news for third party developers, who can use the APIs to port their Symbian apps to Nokia Windows Phones, if so inclined. On the other, it's another confirmation that other phone makers like HTC, Samsung, LG, Acer, ZTE and Fujitsu can also use Nokia Maps, which will seemingly become an integral part of the Windows Phone platform, providing free offline voice-guided navigation in more than 90 countries worldwide, definitely a selling point before the competition.

The first batch of Nokia Windows Phones, like the Nokia Sea Ray that leaked last week, is unlikely to see Nokia Maps integrated in Mango, as it became clear not long ago, since merging it as a backend for the current Bing Maps solution will take some more time, but hopefully they'll get it with an update upon full integration. It will be interesting to know if the resulting service will still be called Bing Maps, and very telling about the role Nokia plays in the partnership.

via WMPU

LG Optimus One gets updated to Android 2.3 Gingerbread... in Romania

The update to the latest Android is starting to roll out for the popular LG Optimus One, which was one of LG's best-sellers last year, with innovative promotional campaigns and celebrity endorsements to boot. Promised to arrive in May before, the first batch of the Gingerbread updates appears to have hit in Romania, of all places, as is confirmed from the comments on LG's Facebook page.

People who have installed it report it is working fine, with the only issue being the proximity sensor now turns the screen back on at a larger distance when you finish the conversation.

The LG Optimus One has its versions on major US carriers, and turned out to be quite a popular budget Android handset, so hopefully the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update will be rolling to the New World sooner rather than later. Knowing the US carriers policies and restrictions when it comes to updating, though, LG will have more red tape to overcome on this side of the pond.

source: LG via AndroidCentral