General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Samsung's Love Affair with Styli Continues with Series 5 and Series 7 Windows 8 Slates

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:26 PM PDT

With the amount of buzz that surrounded the Galaxy Note 2 in the lead up to IFA 2012, Samsung was assured of a lion's share of the IFA spotlight. Now that the event is finally underway, the company is making sure it makes hay while that spotlight shines by using the event to showcase a large number of upcoming devices besides the gigantism-stricken smartphone.

Among the many new Samsung products unveiled at IFA are a couple of x86-powered Windows 8 slates: the Series 5 and Series 7 (aka the ATIV Smart PC and ATIV Smart PC Pro, respectively). Both slates sport 11.6-inch displays and look virtually identical. In fact, the similarities don't end there, as both come with a stylus (S-Pen) and a detachable QWERTY keyboard dock.

But that's about as far as their similarities go. The former, with its 1366×768 display, Intel Atom Z2760 chip, 2GB RAM and 64GB solid-state storage, is no match for the Series 7, which packs a 1080p display, Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD. According to Sammy, the Series 5 and Series 7 Slates will be available starting October 26 for $749 ($649 without the keyboard dock) and $1,199, respectively.

"With the introduction of our new Slate PCs, we are providing customers with greater choice while maintaining the power of a traditional PC," said Todd Bouman, vice president of marketing at Samsung's Enterprise Business Division, in a press release. "We created our Slate PCs with a focus on beautiful design, powerful performance and ease of use, attributes that our customers have come to expect in their Samsung computing experience. Our mobile PC business has grown significantly over the past year, which is a testament to our ability to meet customer needs in this space, and we expect strong growth to continue with our new Slate PCs."

Toshiba Trots Out U925t Convertible Tablet with Intel Core i5 CPU

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 02:33 PM PDT

IFA Berlin is in full swing and we're starting to see a number of Windows 8 product announcements emerge. One of them is Toshiba's Satellite U925t convertible tablet, or "tablet meets Ultrabook," as the company describes it. Sleek and slim, the Satellite U925t looks every bit a tablet, but a slide out QWERTY keyboard quickly transforms it into a makeshift Ultrabook with some pretty impressive hardware inside.

For starters, the U925t is rocking a 3rd generation Intel Core i5 processor (Ivy Bridge) with Intel HD 4000 graphics. The CPU is flanked by a 128GB solid state drive and an unspecified amount of DDR3-1600 memory, providing a solid foundation for the 12.5-inch display to work with. Speaking of the capacitive touchscreen display, it's of the IPS variety and is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass.

Complimentary features include 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, HDMI output, two USB 3.0 ports (one with Sleep & Charge), front-facing HD webcam, 3MP rear-facing camera with auto-focus, media card reader, and assortment of sensors (ambient light, 3D acceleration, 3-axis gyroscope, and 3-axis magnetometer).

The slide-out keyboard sports an LED backlight and ClickPad with Windows 8 gesture support. There's no numpad, but there are arrow keys and, from what we can tell, media keys.

Toshiba isn't ready to reveal pricing info just yet, but as you might have guessed, the U925t will go on sale October 26, the same day Windows 8 hits the streets.

Image Credit: Toshiba

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Surprise! Samsung Announces First Windows 8 Phone, Ativ S

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 01:04 PM PDT

Samsung isn't letting a little thing like losing a billion dollar verdict to rival Apple disrupt its mojo. Rather than sit around and feel sorry for itself, Samsung today surprised everyone by announcing the Ativ S, the world's first Windows 8 smartphone, edging in front of Nokia and every other Microsoft partner that's planning to launch devices of their own. Ativ S is one of a handful of devices in Samsung's newly branded Ativ Windows 8 product line.

Starting with the phone, Ativ S is a 4.8-inch device with a 1280x720 Super AMOLED display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, 8.7mm frame, brushed aluminum chassis, microSD card slot, 8MP rear-facing camera, 1.9MP front-facing camera, and of course Windows Phone 8 software, according to specs posted on Microsoft's Windows Phone blog.

"Today at IFA in Berlin, Samsung lifted the curtain on its first Windows Phone 8 device, the Ativ S. This is just the first in a big lineup of new hardware that's coming with Windows Phone 8, but it's a seriously impressive opening salvo," Microsoft said. "Samsung built the Ativ S with the latest and greatest technology, especially for anyone who want a superphone that's equal parts powerhouse and head turner."

Microsoft's blog post gushes with enthusiasm, as one would expect, but looking at the spec sheet and pics, some of it seems warranted.

In addition to the Ativ S, Samsung also announced the Ativ Smart PC Pro (convertible tablet/notebook) with 11.6-inch display, and Ativ Tab, which is Samsung's Windows RT tablet.

Image Credit: Samsung via GSMArena

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Archos Gambles on Dedicated Consoles with 7-inch Android Powered GamePad

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 12:31 PM PDT

Handheld consoles don't seem to be the hot commodities that they used to be back before everyone owned smartphones, but don't tell Archos there isn't a market for such a thing. Not only does Archos believe there is, the company is betting big on it by launching its Android-powered 'GamePad' device with a 7-inch capacitive display and physical gaming control buttons and analog sticks.

The idea is to deliver a full tablet and gaming experience in a single device, Archos says. Underneath the hood is a dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz and a Mali 400 MP quad-core GPU for pixel pushing power. The GamePad has automatic game recognition and mapping tools to ensure control compatibility with every advanced Android game, the company claims.

"When Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, was first released they included game controller support within the framework and that is when we decided to build the GamePad," says Henri Crohas (PDF), Archos founder and CEO. "Thanks to the mapping and automatic game recognition systems included on the GamePad, we already have over a thousand android games compatible with the Archos GamePad's physical controls, including back catalog titles that originally didn't include physical controls."

The GamePad will feature Wi-Fi connectivity and full access to the Google Play store when it launches in October. Pricing hasn't been revealed, other than saying it will cost "less than 150€" (~US$188).

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FBI Nabs Second Suspected LulzSec Hacker on U.S. Soil

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 09:24 AM PDT

Though it's been relatively quiet lately, the high profile hacking organization known as Lulz Security (LulzSec) spent much of last summer stirring up trouble on the Internet, often times at the expense of innocent users who happened to be customers of whichever organization the cyber scoundrels were targeting. The FBI hasn't forgotten about all the illegal activity that took place, and related to the infamous Sony breach, federal authorities arrested a second suspected LulzSec member in the U.S.

Raynaldo Rivera, a 20-year-old out of Tempe, Arizona, turned himself in to authorities just shy of a week after a federal grand jury in Los Angelese indicted him on charges of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer, Reuters reports.

According to the indictment, Rivera took part in the breach by helping to post confidential information onto LulzSec's website, and then drew attention to the hack by announcing it on Twitter. He's the only one named in the indictment, though the FBI says one of his co-conspirators includes Cody Kretsinger, a confessed LulzSec member who previously pleaded guilty in April to charges that arose form the Sony attack.

LulzSec hackers are quickly finding out that when facing heat, their cohorts are apt to turn on them. Reuters says that court documents revealed in March indicate that Hector Monsegur (Sabu), leader of the Anonymous hacking group, provided information to the FBI when pleading guilty to hacking related charges.

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Windows 8 Vivo Tab and Vivo Tab RT Tablets from Asus Surface at IFA

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 08:28 AM PDT

We don't know if Acer is still sulking in the corner over having to compete with Microsoft in the Windows 8 tablet arena, but one company that isn't is Asus. Instead, Asus today unveiled its Viva Tab and Viva Tab RT tablets (formerly known as as Asus Tablet 810 and 600, respectively). Both models are dual-purpose tablets built to run Windows 8/RT with a detachable QWERTY keyboard dock.

The Vivo Tab features a next generation Atom processor (model unspecified), 2GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage (eMMC, or embedded multimedia card), and an 11.6-inch Super IPS+ display with a 1366x768 resolution, which unfortunately falls well short of the Retina Display found on Apple's third generation iPad device. It also has an 8MP rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash, 2MP front-facing camera for video chat, built-in NFC sensor, and 10-point multi-touch support, all packed in a frame that's 8.7mm thin and weighing 675g.

On the Windows RT side, the Vivo Tab RT is slightly smaller (10.1-inch Super IPS+ display, also with a 1366x768 resolution), thinner (8.3mm) and lighter (520g). It's built around Nvidia's ARM-based Tegra 3 quad-core processor and has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (eMMC), and the same cameras and NFC support as the Vivo Tab.

Asus said pricing and availability will vary by country. We suspect these will launch at or around the same time as Windows 8 on October 26.

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AMD Talks Up 3rd Generation Bulldozer Core Called Steamroller, Promises Better Branch Prediction

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 07:15 AM PDT

AMD's newly appointed CTO Mark Papermaster provided the public with its first glimpse of its upcoming Steamroller x86 CPU core. Steamroller represents the third generation of AMD's Bulldozer architecture, succeeding Piledriver (second generation) with improved parallelism, increased performance, and more instruction cache, which will lead to 30 percent fewer cache misses and a 20 percent reduction in mistaken branch predictions.

If you recall, Piledriver was more about power efficiency than it was improving performance. Steamroller, while based on the same architecture, includes several tweaks to address the latter, including larger L1 cache. This time around, AMD is doing away with the shared fetch and decode strategy inherent in Bulldozer, which limited the architecture to being able to decode just four instructions per processor, and introduces a dedicated decode for each integer pipe. This is a big deal, as Bulldozer topped out at 16 decodes in a four module, eight-core CPU, whereas Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge both boast 4 instructions per core, adding up to 32 decodes per eight-core CPU.

The changes Streamroller brings to the CPU scene probably won't be enough to compete with Ivy Bridge, but it's a definite step in the right direction (on paper, anyway). AMD says Steamroller will ship in 2013. In the meantime, HotHardware and Anandtech both have posted in-depth breakdowns of the platform with a handful of AMD slides to digest.

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Motorola Files Patent Suit to Ban Apple Devices in U.S.; Reaches Licensing Deal in Germany

Posted: 29 Aug 2012 06:34 AM PDT

Just because Apple scored a sweeping victory against Samsung in its patent trial in the U.S., which led to the nine panel jury awarding the Cupertino company more than a billion dollars in damages, it doesn't mean the whole matter of Android versus iOS is settled. Far from it, in fact. Days before the verdict was reached, Google's recently acquired Motorola Mobility division filed a patent suit of its own against Apple, one in which it will try to ban Apple imports in the U.S. Interestingly, Apple appears willing to go to trial, especially with the Samsung case under its belt, but in Germany, the company caved and reached a licensing deal with Motorola.

Why the change in strategy? No one outside of Apple's ranks knows for sure, but based on FOSS Patents founder Florian Mueller's analysis of the situation, there are a couple of reasons. First is the fact that it's unclear when the German license agreement came into being. Mueller says German courts don't make documents available, so this could be an older deal that's just now being discovered.

Secondly, Mueller points out that in Germany, "finding of infringement automatically results in an injunction, the only exception being standard-essential patents." It's being reported that Motorola's beef is, in fact, with standard-essential patents, and that the only thing Apple didn't agree on was Motorola's royalty rate.

"Under the agreement, Apple is now licensed to use some if not all of Motorola's standard-essential patents in Germany, though the parties have not yet agreed on a FRAND royalty rate, which will ultimately have to be set by German courts unless they agree on a rate prior to its judicial determination," Mueller explains. "This is a very significant development because it means that Motorola Mobility will have to rely on non-standard-essential patents in its efforts to gain leverage over Apple."

By reaching an agreement with Motorola, Apple ensures that the only thing Motorola can do now (in Germany) is go after a high royalty rate, which is a far better scenario than fighting over non standard-essential patents and risking an immediate injunction.

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