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Showing posts with label hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hardware. Show all posts

HTC ChaCha review (Three network)

HTC ChaCha
The persistent rumors of an Android-powered “Facebook phone” culminated in the unveiling of the HTC ChaCha and its larger sibling, the Salsa, at Mobile World Congress back in February. With its full QWERTY keyboard and slightly silly name, the ChaCha drew attention for being the first phone to put the social network at the center of the user experience. Avid Facebookers were promised hardware and software to help them stay in touch with their legions of friends and followers -- a dedicated Facebook button was introduced, along with a specially-customized version of HTC’s Sense UI.
We’ve spent the past couple of weeks getting to grips with the HTC ChaCha on Three UK, which is available on Pay As You Go for £199.99, or for free on contracts starting at £20 per month. Read on to find out if we ‘Like’ the ChaCha, or whether we’d rather unfriend it and go our separate ways.

Read more »
READ MORE - HTC ChaCha review (Three network)

Review � Android 3.1-powered Google TV 2.0 and �Fishtank� developer program detailed



Review � Android 3.1-powered Google TV 2.0 and �Fishtank� developer program detailed 

The original Google TV products were met by lukewarm reviews at best, and according to Geek.com, the search giant is hard at work on its new Google TV 2.0 product. Developers have been joining Google�s new �Fishtank� program to get early access to tools that will allow them to create compelling new content for Google�s next attempt at entering our living rooms. Google TV 2.0 runs a barebones version of Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) and there are reportedly only 50 developers partaking in the initial Fishtank program.

Fishtank includes an Intel CE4100 reference platform with a beta version of Google TV 2.0 preloaded, and a wireless keyboard. Intel�s Sodaville SoC, part of the CE4100 reference platform, also includes support for 3D gaming and Flash. Geek.com noticed a new �dual-view� feature that allows users to watch TV and use the OS at the same time; and the user interface has the same glowing-blue Tron-like effects as the tablet version of Honeycomb.

Developers are said to be up in arms over the �Live TV� application on Google TV 2.0 � many want to interact with the TV interface directly, but Google isn�t allowing that just yet. Will it be enough for Google to tackle Apple TV? We�ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, another shot of the box and a couple of UI images can be seen after the break.

Review � Android 3.1-powered Google TV 2.0 and �Fishtank� developer program detailed


Review � Android 3.1-powered Google TV 2.0 and �Fishtank� developer program detailed 

Review � Android 3.1-powered Google TV 2.0 and �Fishtank� developer program detailed
READ MORE - Review � Android 3.1-powered Google TV 2.0 and �Fishtank� developer program detailed

Review � AMD will release six Llano APU's in third quarter, five more - in fourth

 

In the third quarter of the year, AMD will release six Llano APU's, designed for desktop systems and as competitors of Second Generation Intel Core. In the fourth quarter there is going to be five more products. This is reported by our Taiwanese colleagues, with the usual reference to "industry sources".

AMD will present model Llano APU Series A, issued on 32-nanometer technology at Computex Taipei 2011 in June. Among the new products that will fall on the market in the third quarter, there will be processors A8-A6-3550 and 3450. We also know names of two of the five articles that will appear in the final quarter of the year: A8-A4-3560 and 3360.

In addition, in the third quarter will see three models of E (Zacate) series: E-300, E-450 and E2-3250.
READ MORE - Review � AMD will release six Llano APU's in third quarter, five more - in fourth

Review � Contract prices for flash memory are growing, but observers do not attribute this to the earthquake in Japan

 

According to experts from DRAMeXchange, shipments of flash memory on the global market in the second quarter of 2011 due to an earthquake in Japan will be reduced by less than 4%.

Meanwhile, the average contract prices for major products - MLC NAND chip with density of 16 and 32 Gbps - in the first half of March increased by 5.4%, to $ 3.66 and $ 5.66 respectively. The price for 64 Gbps chips increased even more with price change of 8%, to $ 10.12.

According to observers, the price growth is not associated with events in Japan and concerns regarding possible shortages.

After the news about earthquake in Japan the prices went up, and then prices started lowering after March the 16th. Prices for MLC NAND chips with density of 16 and 32 Gbit fell by 5,5% and 3,8%, to $ 4.66 and $ 6.01 in just one day.
READ MORE - Review � Contract prices for flash memory are growing, but observers do not attribute this to the earthquake in Japan

Review � NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is yet the fastest graphics card

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Quad SLI

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is here and it is here to step in for the Radeon HD 6990 on a podium of the fastest graphics card in world. It obviously won�t be there for long � either AMD of NVIDIA itself will send some else to take it down. But for now it�s there and doesn�t Quad SLI look beautiful with it. Mind you, Quad SLI requires just two of GTX 590s, not four.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is dual-core. The GPUs primarily belong to its elderly sister GTX 580 but they are underclocked on the way to make cooling a bit less tricky. The GeForce GTX 590 also claims to be the quietest graphics card with a fan. Anyway, specs follow.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 specifications

CUDA cores: 1,024
Processor clock: 1,215 MHz
Graphics clock: 607 MHz

Frame buffer: 3 GB (1,536 MB/GPU)
Memory type: GDDR5
Memory clock: 1,707 MHz
Bus width: 768-bit (384-bit/GPU)
Memory bandwidth: 327.7 Gbps

Connectivity: 3 � DVI, HDMI 1.4a, PCI-E 2.0 �16
Maximum DVI resolution: 2,560 � 1,600

Features: DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1, CUDA, PhysX, SLI, 3D Vision Surround
READ MORE - Review � NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is yet the fastest graphics card

Review � First details on Intel X79 Express chipset


The slides from the presentation of Intel were revealed, which give a first impression on the chipset X79 Express.

The chipset is designed for motherboards with the upper segment LGA2011 CPU socket. Corresponding processors Sandy Bridge - E, according to preliminary data, should appear in the final quarter of this year. They will have built a four DDR3 memory and PCI Express 32 lines.


The chipset generally works as an input-output hub. It includes eight PCI Express lanes, Audio Codec, 14 SATA ports, the same number of USB 2.0 ports and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Ten of the SATA ports support SATA 6 Gb/s specification, and eight of those can be connected to SATA or SAS drives. Thanks to Intel Rapid Storage Technology supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10.

Unlike the P67, associated with an interface DMI (physically - PCI-Express 2.0 x4), X79 can be further linked to a processor with four more PCI-Express 2.0 lines, by selecting the appropriate option in EFI. Given the scope, an important feature of the chipset is support for CPU and memory overclocking.

Unfortunately it does not have any USB 3.0 ports available. And they didn't mention Intel Thunderbolt - their own design.
READ MORE - Review � First details on Intel X79 Express chipset

Review � AMD GPU will make the "scalar coprocessors"

 

Current generation GPU architecture is characterized by an orientation toward the realization of a fixed set of functions defined by the DirectX API. Each new generation API, created with the participation of GPU developers, is an evolutionary improvement over its predecessor. It seems that AMD decided to depart from the accepted model, making the GPU architecture more open and universal.

Instead of models "tied up" to support DirectX, the company offers an increase the role of GPU to process data. And to a greater extent that is provided now via GPGPU mechanisms (using GPUs for general-purpose computing). The new approach has been presented at Fusion Developer Summit.

According to AMD, the future architecture GPU will fully support high level programming languages, including C and C + +. Integrated into the APU Fusion the corresponding blocks will be called "scalar coprocessors."


 
 

The architecture of the scalar coprocessor will combine the following elements: MIMD (multiple-instruction multiple-data: many streams of commands, many streams of data), SIMD (single-instruction multiple data, a stream of instructions, a lot of data streams) and SMT (simultaneous multithreading). Model VLIW (very long instruction word, a very long machine instruction) which had been used in several generations of AMD GPU's will no longer be there. No doubt that there will still be support of such API, as DirectX and OpenGL. Game developers can use familiar interfaces and C++ support for general applications. Of course, game developers will be able to go beyond what API models can do. Next generation Fusion GPU and CPU components will share a "truly common space of memory addresses."
READ MORE - Review � AMD GPU will make the "scalar coprocessors"

REVIEW >> SATADIMM SSD - data transfer speed increased up to 520 MB/sec


Last summer, specialists from Viking Modular Solutions - a unit of Sanmina-SCI Corporation, presented SSD SATADIMM. SATADIMM modules have SATA 3 Gbps interface and look like standard DIMM modules.

In beginning of the second quarter of this year, the company has announced the second generation SATADIMM. Structurally, the data storage devices are like DDR3memory modules with height of 25 mm and 18.75 mm (VLP). However they feature new SATA 6 Gbps and SAS interfaces for even faster data transmission rates.

New drives demonstrate performance of 60,000 IOPS on random access read/write operations. Data transfer rate is up to 520 MB / sec. For comparison - first generation SATADIMM had speed of 260 MB/sec.

Manufacturer position their knowhow solution for blade-servers, rack servers sizes 1U, storage subsystems and boards AdvancedTCA (ATCA).
READ MORE - REVIEW >> SATADIMM SSD - data transfer speed increased up to 520 MB/sec

REVIEW: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii, what is better


Here are three top consoles nowadays that you can choose from. Sony PlayStation 3 the next generation console that continues a glorious path of PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Xbox 360: the next console from Microsoft is created in continuation of Xbox. Finally Nintendo Wii the least expensive and shows the least performance.

So we are going to review and compare them on several parameters, so that you can decide which is better for yourself.


Hardware

Xbox 360 is on the second place by hardware parameters. First of all there are two models that you can buy. One of them is a regular white Xbox 360 with wired controllers and no hard drive. The upgraded model has wireless controllers and a 20 GB hard drive to save photos, videos and audio files. It also has a standard DVD optical drive that allows the console to show HD videos. The last thing that should you should be notified is that Microsoft will upgrade your Xbox 360 for free for it to support full GD 1080p video output.

Sony PlayStation 3 is in the first place if judged by hardware. It has Blue-ray drive that is not available on basic or premium Xbox 360 (You can buy it for additional $ 200 which makes Xbox 360 cost just like PS3.) Besides, the 20 GB hard drive comes in basic model and 60 GB drive comes in upgrade model. Besides the premium version of PS3 has WiFi built in.


Nintendo being the least expensive has the worst hardware built in therefore it shows the least productivity among Xbox 360 and PS3. It has a DVD drive but there is no ability to play DVD movies on it. However, it has WiFi built in to surf the web.

Games

Xbox 360 and PS3 are somewhat even in this classification because the number and the quality of games that are out there on the market are pretty even. PlayStation 3 is supposed to be better in graphics however there are still no games that would show the full possibility of this console.



Xbox 360 will run most of the games that have been created for Xbox but not all of them. On the other hand PlayStation 3 will run all the games of PS and PS2. However, these possibilities will have only the North American and Japan versions of PS3 but not the European version.

Nintendo supports all the games made for earlier consoles: GameCube, NES, SNES and Nintendo 64. However the graphics quality of the games is not that good as it is in Xbox 360 and PS3 games.




Multimedia

First of all I would like to say that Nintendo does not support big movies playback or storage, so we will leave this console out of this part of comparison. Although you can view photos, MPEG and QuickTime movies, MP3 music files on this console; and all that only from SD storage.

The real battle comes between the two mega consoles: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 here. Fist PS3 was the only console that supported full HD, 1080p, but now Microsoft will upgrade all the Xbox 360 consoles to the same HD. So that evens them out.

Blu-ray drive gives an advantage to Sony PlayStation 3 in storing videos and any files on the disc as they can store much more info and a better game will fit on a bigger Disc.
HD Media Center Extender of Xbox 360 beats PS3 in everything that they can offer. It can show live and recorded HDTV over your network, besides it can download movies and TV shows from the web. The other thing that gives Xbox 360 an advantage is a support of Apple's iPod and Sony PSP. It is the only console that supports video and audio streaming from PC.

Audio support: PS3 has a 5.1 Dolby Surround sound which is not bad until you hear that Xbox 360 has a Multi-channel system that supports up to 256 discrete channels. Wii on the other hand supports Dolby Pro-Logic II.
READ MORE - REVIEW: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii, what is better