iPad Ships on April 3 in US, Pre-order Starts on March 12

Apple today announced iPad will be available in US on Saturday, April 3 for WiFi models and in late April for WiFi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK in late April.
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NVIDIA Ion 2 Now Official, Offers 1080p Blu-ray Playback

NVIDIA today introduced next generation NVIDIA Ion graphics processor that delivers 10x faster graphics and up to 10 hours of battery life for Intel Atom netbooks. NVIDIA achieves combination of longer battery life and higher performance by using their new Optimus technology, which automatically selects the best graphics processor for running any given application – seamlessly routing the workload to either an NVIDIA discrete GPU or Intel integrated graphics.
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Sony Publishes Details About New Exmor R CMOS Sensors

Sony released cameras based on their new Exmor R back-illuminated CMOS sensor last month. According to Sony, the new sensor will allow better low-light photography, high-speed image processing, decreased power consumption and better HD video recording. The company has now published a paper highlighting the technological advancements made in designing the new image sensor.
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Apple’s A4 Chip Based on ARM Cortex-A8 and not Cortex-A9

Ars Technica speculates that Apple has kept mum about their A4 processor, as there isn’t anything to write home about. Jon Stokes of Ars Technica believes that the A4 processor is based on ARM Cortex-A8 design and not the latest ARM Cortex-A9. He wrote:
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Analyst: Lower Cost iPhone Models Coming in June

In a research note by Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty predicted that Apple would introduce lower cost iPhone models with cheaper service plans to decrease total cost of iPhone ownership. According to Katy, the biggest barriers to higher iPhone adoption are cost of the device and service plan cost. And in June Apple will introduce iPhone models that will be more pocket friendly.
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No Front Facing Camera for Video Calls on Next Generation iPhone

Rumors about next generation iPhone featuring front facing camera have been going around the blogosphere for past few days. These rumors were ignited by the news that iPhone SDK 3.2 beta has code supporting Zoom, Flash and Front Camera. Also a patent application by Apple showing handheld device with a forward facing camera added fuel to the fire.
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Apple Files Patent Application for iPhone Control via Finger Gestures Over Camera

MacRumors has discovered a patent application filed by Apple that highlights use of finger gesture over camera on iPhone to control features like voicemail playback, pause and rewind, while holding the phone near your ear. Apple also describes use of accelerometer to detect finger tapping for controlling iPhone functions. In the patent application Apple explains:
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PC World: AT&T Delivers Significantly Faster Download and Upload Speeds

Last year, PC World tested 3G services in 13 major cities in US. They concluded that Verizon 3G service was fast and reliable, whereas AT&T 3G service was fast in some cities but reliability was an issue. PC World has again done the same test in 13 cities and now they say that AT&T’s 3G network is now the top performer in 13-city test, with download speeds 67 percent faster than its competitors.
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Will MacBook Pro Update Bring Enhanced Dual Graphics?

It has been rumored since December that Apple will update their MacBook Pro lineup and bring Intel’s new Core i5 and Core i7 processors to the lineup. However, as we reported in January, Apple is not very happy with the integrated graphics chip included in the new processor package, as Apple wants to offer better graphics performance to MacBook Pro customers than Intel’s integrated graphics. Apple has been using NVIDIA 9400M chipset to achieve this in current MacBooks, but Intel Core i5 and i7 processors wouldn’t work with NVIDIA chipsets.
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PMA 2010: Samsung Introduces Four new Cameras and Two New Ultra-Compact Camcorders

At PMA 2010, Samsung added two new cameras to their TL-series, two durable cameras in SL and AQ-series and two ultra-compact high-definition budget camcorders to HMX-series. The two TL-series cameras are TL500 and TL350. The top-of-the-line TL500 comes with 10-megapixel high sensitivity CCD sensor, 3x optical zoom, F/1.8 ultra-wide lens, 3-inch swiveling AMOLED screen, 640 x 480 movie mode, dual image stabilization, manual controls A/S/M and RAW support.
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Wired Magazine and Safari on Apple iPad

Wired has been developing a digital version of their magazine called Wired Reader (video above) and demoed it at TED conference. The digital version is designed for use on tablet devices like the recently announced Apple iPad. Content for Wired Reader is created in Adobe InDesign, as is normally done for print magazine, but Wired added interactive elements like photo galleries, slideshows, animations and videos.
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ARM and Globalfoundries Develop 28nm System-on-a-Chip

ARM and Globalfoundries have released details about their upcoming system-on-a-chip (SoC) platform based on 28nm process technology. The new SoC will combine ARM’s top-of-the-line Cortex-A9 processor with Globalfoundries’ 28nm manufacturing process for improved performance and power efficiency. The new chip will target the smartphones, tablets and smartbooks.
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HTC Introduces HD Mini, Legend and Desire Smartphones

HTC has announced three new smartphones at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2010. The first phone HD Mini is based on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and is a cheaper and smaller version of HD2. It comes with 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, 600MHz processor, WiFi, Bluetooth and microSD card slot. The phone features HTC’s Sense user interface and focuses on Outlook, Twitter and Facebook integration. HD Mini will be available across Europe and Asia in April 2010.
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Symbian^3 Officially Announced

The Symbian Foundation today unveiled the Symbian^3 (S^3) platform, the first entirely open source Symbian release. S^3 is expected to be “feature complete” by the end of Q1 and the release will include: significant usability and interface advances, faster networking, acceleration for 2D and 3D graphics in games and applications, HDMI support (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), music store integration, an improved user interface with easier navigation and multi-touch gesture support, a feature-rich homescreen, and the ability to run even more applications simultaneously.
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Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series with Very Positive Initial Impressions

Microsoft today unveiled the next generation Windows Phone 7 Series that offers completely new approach to smartphone software. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has started from scratch to bring truly integrated experiences by combining Xbox Live, Zune platform, social networking and productivity applications. Microsoft calls this approach “Designed for Life in Motion”.
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Samsung launches Bada Powered Wave S8500 Handset

Samsung today officially launched the much rumored first Bada OS powered handset Wave S8500 at MWC 2010. Samsung Wave is also the first handset to feature new Super AMOLED 3.3-inch touchscreen and Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 user interface. The phone comes with 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, 2GB/8GB memory, 720p video recording, quad band GSM/EDGE, dual band HSPA, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS and microSD card slot. It measures 4.6” x 2.2” x 0.42” and packs 1,500mAh battery.
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What did Apple Miss on the iPad?

Apple’s much-touted iPad was launched on January 27th. Most of the must-have features we listed in the blog entry titled “5 Must-have Features For Upcoming Apple Tablet” are now part of the actual iPad feature list. But it’s not without limitations though. Below we compared which of the five features Apple has implemented in iPad and to what extend.

1. Operating System: We wrote in the older post “It will have elements from both the operating systems (Mac and iPhone) like App Store support from iPhone and run multiple applications like Mac OS X, but it will be very different from both operating systems.” Well now that we have seen the OS on the iPad, we can certainly say it’s more like iPhone than Mac OS X. However, even though iPad’s home screen looks exactly like the iPhone the difference in UI of the two devices is very imminent in applications that Apple showed on stage. There is no multitasking support for third party applications. It is likely Apple did this to offer longer battery life, which was the next feature we wrote about.
2. Longer Battery Life: We wrote “The tablet is a device that is designed to be used on the move, so if it could offer whole day use on a single charge it would make the device more useful.” We thought 8 hours battery life will be sufficient and iPad offers 10 hours, which is great. And from what we have seen in past, Apple devices normally offer quoted battery life in real world also.
3. iTunes Integration: Apple has not only brought iTunes integration on the iPad, but has also added new iBookstore for eBooks. The iPad also supports current iPhone applications and Apple has updated iPhone SDK to bring native support for applications designed specifically for iPad. As we wrote in last post “iTunes has played a big hand in success of the two devices (iPod and iPhone) and it will again play a very important role in success of Apple tablet.”
4. Wireless Sync: This is one area where we were very disappointed by Apple’s approach. We were hoping that Apple would use WiFi pairing that will allow wireless syncing between two devices via a router or directly whenever the two devices are near each other, which will keep the data up to date and offer hassle free syncing. To sync and backup data on iPad with iTunes, you will have to connect it via USB, which as we said before can be a problem for a device that is as big as iPad, if your primary computer is a small laptop like a MacBook.
5. Price: Like battery life and iTunes integration, price is one feature where Apple was right on the dot. There were rumors that Apple will price the iPad around $1,000, but just two days before the event we posted that our sources say, we will be surprised to see the price tag, which would be about half, around $500-$600. In the 5 must-have article also we wrote “Apple will need to price the tablet in $500-$600 range to gain traction in the market.” The starting price of the iPad is $499 and we believe it’s perfect for a product like iPad.

No one can predict how successful Apple iPad will be, but it looks like Apple is aiming in the right direction with the new iPad.

[Via TechzTalk]

Asus Introduces First Laptops with ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 GPU

Asus has introduced two laptops G73JH-X1 and G73JH-A2 featuring ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 graphics card. Both laptops are world’s first laptops to offer the new high-end card from AMD. According to AMD, Mobility Radeon HD 5870 out performs NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line GTX 280M by a margin of over 25 percent. The HD 5870 graphics card on both the laptop comes with 1GB GDDR5 RAM, 700MHz core clock speed with 800 GPU pipelines, and 1000MHz memory clock speed.
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Marvell Launches ARMADA 618 1GHz Application Processor and $99 Pantheon Smartphone Platform

Marvell has announced the newest addition to the ARMADA family of application processors – the Marvell ARMADA 618 that offers a 1GHz CPU core with PC class performance, integrated 1080p full HD encode and decode and exceptional 3D graphics. Along with the new application processor, Marvel also introduced $99 Pantheon smartphone platform that includes powerful application processors, cellular modems, radio frequency device, intelligent power management and power-efficient WiFi/Bluetooth/FM connectivity.
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Microsoft Unveils Office 2011 for Mac

Microsoft today unveiled its Office 2011 for Mac at Macworld 2010 in San Francisco. Microsoft says that the new productivity suite will focus on anywhere, anytime and across platform sharing.
“Together with your team - officemates, family and classmates – you are part of the community that helps shape each version of Office for Mac,” said Eric Wilfrid, MacBU general manager at Microsoft Corp.
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