We've read about the upcoming Android-based Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 too many times to count. There was a video of its interface, images published by Expansys, even leaked specifications. Well, those speculations may soon come to an end if the latest teaser from the Japanese-Swedish company is anything to go by. If you visit www.sonyericsson.com/whatsnext, the November 3 date is prominently displayed with a few lines of text under it.
Sometimes there's a thin line between extraordinary and the magical. Did we cross it?
With a bold statement like that, it'd better be something worthy of the hype. We'll be monitoring this like a hawk, so check back for the full story come November 3.
(Source: Crave Asia via Unwired View)
STUTTGART, Germany--Earlier Wednesday, we told you about the X3 and the X6, two high-end music phones announced by Nokia at the Nokia World Conference here.
The non-3G slider, the X3, is the first S40 device with Ovi Store enabled and comes bundled with the portable MD-9 mini speaker in selected markets. The higher-end X6 phone has a 3.2-inch capacitive touch-screen glass display and will be available only with the Comes With Music service. Watch a video introduction to the X6 below.
(Source: Crave Asia)
The X6 has a large touch screen.
(Credit: Nokia)Nokia announced two high-end music phones at the Nokia World Conference in Stuttgart, Germany. The Nokia X3 and X6 handsets build on the company's established Xpress Music line, but offer revamped designs and upgraded features. Both models support Nokia's Ovi service and access to Facebook.
With a trim design and a 3.2-inch touch screen, the Nokia X6 is a looker by all regards (you can watch a video of it here). You can get it in red or blue. Music, of course, is front and center on the handset. Besides the music player, which should resemble that on the Nokia 5800, it also supports Nokia's Comes with Music service and the Nokia Music Store. Music playback time is rated at 35 hours.
The X6 runs a Series 60, fifth-edition interface and is a full world phone with quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support. Features include a 5-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and dual-LED flash, voice commands, a full Web browser with Flash Lite, Bluetooth, a personal organizer, messaging, a speakerphone, TV-out capability, a video and image editor, Assisted GPS, and 32GB of internal memory. And from what we hear, it will have a capacitive touch-screen.
The X3 sports a slider design.
(Credit: Nokia)The X3 is a slider phone with a 2.2-inch display. It also comes in red or blue color schemes. Features include a music player, Bluetooth 2.1, stereo speakers, a microSD card slot, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, voice commands, lighted effects, dedicated music keys, messaging, a speakerphone, and a personal organizer. Music transfer should be easy through a USB cable, the Ovi Player PC client, and Windows Media Player 11. The X3 runs Series 40.
Both phones should ship in the fourth quarter of this year. The X3 will fetch 115 euros, or about $163 US, and the X6 is priced at 459 euros, or about $652. At Nokia World, the company also introduced the Nokia N97 Mini.
SideWinder X3 Mouse
(Credit: Microsoft)Microsoft just announced a new addition to its SideWinder line of performance peripherals, introducing the SideWinder X3 mouse, a gaming powerhouse that should give the older SideWinder X5 a run for its money. We weren't very thrilled with the X5's $60 price tag or its flimsy build, but the X3 comes with a cheaper price tag ($40) and offers new features including new button placement and a smaller, ambidextrous shape.
Like its sibling, the new X3 features a 2,000 dpi laser sensor with variable sensitivity, five programmable main buttons, and USB connectivity, but this new version is a bit smaller and adds a single button on each side of the mouse for added gameplay versatility. As an added bonus, Microsoft also made the X3 ambidextrous for all the left-handed gamers.
The Microsoft SideWinder X3 Mouse will hit stores in May for $40, but pre-sale orders are available now on Amazon.com if you can't wait. One more pic after the jump.
(Source: Microsoft via Gizmodo)
... Read moreUpdated on February 9 at 12:10 a.m. PST with corrected Intel pricing.
Advanced Micro Devices added new Phenom II desktop models on Monday, including triple-core processors, in its continued attempt to outdo Intel desktop price-performance.
The Phenom II "Dragon" line of desktop processors uses AMD's new 45-nanometer technology and comprises both quad-core (X4) and triple-core (X3) parts.
The triple-core Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition processor is priced at $145, which AMD compares with Intel's Core 2 Duo (dual-core) E8400 processor, priced at $163. The quad-core X4 810 processor (2.6GHz) is priced at $175 versus the Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor (2.33GHz), priced at $163.
The Phenom II processors fit in either AM2+ or AM3 sockets and support DDR2 or next generation DDR3 memory technology.
Models include:
- AMD Phenom II X4 910 - (2.6GHz)
- AMD Phenom II X4 810 - (2.6GHz)
- AMD Phenom II X4 805 - (2.5GHz)
- AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition - (2.8GHz)
- AMD Phenom II X3 710 - (2.6GHz)
The processors are available immediately, AMD said.
(Credit:
Sony)
So it looks like the PlayStation 3 is about a couple years away from becoming self-aware, taking over the world, and making us all its human slaves--if a few of us aren't already.
Sony announced that the v2.60 firmware update for the PS3, released Wednesday, will include many enhancements to the system's media capabilities.
The key feature, according to Sony, is the new photo gallery app, which allows your digital pictures to be organized by criteria including the camera used; event date and time; colors in the photos; and the number, ages, or facial expressions of the people pictured.
Yep, that's right. According to the video, the PS3 will be able to determine the relative age of the people in the photo and whether or not they are smiling.
Also included in the release is guest access to the PlayStation store for non-PlayStation Network members. With this access, they'll be able to check out demos, video, and so on. Sony will also be adding DivX 3.11 support to the system.
I guess in a few more releases we'll be seeing an update that reads our minds, fulfills our deepest desires, and then, when it's gained our trust completely, drops the other shoe, takes over the world, and we're done. Until that inevitable day, we might as well enjoy what we have now.
Check out the video for a walkthrough of the new features.
You will be missed.
My friends often show concern about being obsolete when I tell them to stay with Windows XP and skip Windows Vista entirely. Little do they know, a lot of people are still actually using Windows 3.x. And for those, I have some bad news.
According to BBC, Microsoft finally decided to stop selling licenses of Windows 3.x, starting this month.
The third major release of Windows first came out in May 1990 with a few minor releases in the early 1990s. It was Microsoft's first big success with operating systems that have graphical user interfaces.
Windows 3.x is actually just a software application that runs in MS-DOS environment. However, thanks to its rich graphics and the ability to multitask, it completely changed the way people interact with computers.
Microsoft stopped its support for Windows 3.x at the end of 2001 but left it as an embedded operating system until now.
I personally have a lot of good memories of Windows 3.11 on my 386 computer and really enjoyed its ability to display 256 colors on a 1,024x768 screen resolution.
While this is rather sad news, considering that it is a 16-bit operating system that can address just a little more than 640KB of RAM and is definitely not secure enough for the Internet, it's probably time for you to upgrade.
Update: Circuit board makers using Advanced Micro Devices' high-end quad-core Phenom chips claim that there are compatibility issues with select boards. This comes as the chipmaker struggles to churn out processors that are competitive with Intel's offerings.
AMD quad-core Phenom X4
(Credit: AMD)This issue was reported Monday at the Web site HKEPC.
AMD confirmed Monday that some motherboard suppliers are mismatching high-end quad-core Phenom processors with a lower-end chipset. (The motherboard is the main circuit board in a PC. The chipset allows the processor to interact with other components, among other functions.)
"What people have done, mistakenly, is paired a 780G (chipset-based) motherboard with the higher frequency Phenom--the 125-watt Phenom," said Jake Whitman, an AMD spokesperson.
Whitman is referring to the fact that the high-end 9750 and 9850 Phenom processors have a Thermal Design Power (TDP or thermal envelope) of 125 watts versus the lower-end 9600 and 9550 models that have a TDP of 95 watts. The higher-watt parts will not work with motherboards that contain the 780G chipset. The lower-end models do not have these TDP issues.
"They've taken an enthusiast-class quad-core part and paired it with a mainstream motherboard," Whitman said. "And not all motherboard manufacturers have tweaked their boards to support a 125-watt TDP." Whitman says that AMD's 790 chipset--not the 780--should be paired with the 9750 and 9850 processors and that a number of motherboard makers are already doing this.
"We've never made claims that 780G motherboards are enthusiast-class motherboards," Whitman said.
The inability to use high-end quad-core AMD processors on some motherboards may be symptomatic of a larger challenge. AMD is finding it difficult to compete head-on with Intel quad-core offerings in the consumer segment. Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, for instance, offer desktops with only the lower-performance Phenom chips, such as the 9100e (1.8GHz) and 9600 (2.3GHz). Neither HP nor Gateway offer desktops with higher-performance 9750 (2.4GHz) or 9850 (2.5GHz) Phenoms.
Meanwhile, Intel-based systems from these companies--though usually more expensive--come with quad-core chips ranging up to a 2.83GHz Q9550.
Whitman says there's a reason for this. First-tier PC makers "are not necessarily interested in building the fastest AMD-based quad-core systems, but are more interested in price." He expects wider adoption of the high-end Phenom chips with system builders and game-enthusiast PC makers.
In related news reported by CNET News.com on Monday, supercomputer maker Cray said it would adopt Intel quad-core processor designs for its supercomputers. Though Cray says it will continue to offer configurations with AMD chips too, the move by Cray is seen as an endorsement of Intel multicore designs. Before this announcement, Cray had been using AMD processors only.
Advanced Micro Devices officially announced on Wednesday an updated Phenom chip line amid severe price pressure from Intel.
As expected, AMD has updated its triple-core Phenom X3 processors with the "50" series. The 8450, 8650, and 8750 models will replace and supplement the current 8400 and 8600. The newer models contain a fix for an extremely rare "TLB" bug.
The Phenom X3 8750 (2.4GHz) processor is priced at $195, the 8650 (2.3GHz) at $165, and the 8450 (2.1GHz) at $145.
AMD also announced a low-power quad-core Phenom X4 9100e processor that has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) or thermal envelope of 65 watts, compared with the 95 watts of standard X4 processors.
AMD Phenom processors with the new X3 models in bold.
(Credit: AMD)
AMD is looking to bundle the Phenom X3 chips with its 780 graphics silicon in low-cost gaming PCs. Hewlett-Packard and Gateway are currently using Nvidia graphics in their consumer boxes that use Phenom X3 chips.
According to AMD, the X3 platform offers the best balance of processor and graphics: "On one side, we have Nvidia saying that the only thing that matters is graphics. On the other side, Intel is saying that the only thing that matters is the processor. (AMD offers) a balanced platform that doesn't overemphasize one really expensive component over another really expensive component," said Brent Berry, product marketing manager for AMD.
But things may have just gotten a lot tougher for the No. 2 processor maker in the higher-end quad-core segment. Intel on Sunday cut prices on quad-core processors by up to 50 percent, undermining--or in some cases eliminating--AMD's price advantage.
"This product cycle is already discounted," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at CRT Capital Group. "This puts additional pressure on AMD."
Intel's price cuts brought its quad-core Q6700 (2.66GHz) down from $530 to $266 and its Q6600 (2.4GHz) from $266 to $224. The latter is now priced below AMD's top-line quad-core Phenom 9850 (2.5GHz), which is listed at $235.
"With a 16 percent price cut, the Q6600 is now undoubtedly the processor of preference for a budget quad-core system," review site Hexus said.
On Monday, Hewlett-Packard's Japan arm introduced a raft of consumer PCs with plenty of offerings using processors from Advanced Micro Devices in addition to Intel chips.
In the v7000 small-form-factor tower series, HP deployed both the AMD triple-core Phenom X3 processor and quad-core Phenom X4 processors. Models are available with the X3 8400 (2.1GHz), low-power X4 9100e (1.8GHz, 65 watts), and X4 9500 (2.2GHz).
HP tx2105 ultraportable notebook (top) and HP s3000 and v7000 series desktops (bottom)
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)Interestingly, AMD-based models in the v7000 series come with Nvidia graphics, not AMD-ATI graphics, a synergy that AMD has had trouble realizing in some segments. Configurations are offered with either the NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE, GeForce 8400HD, or GeForce 8500GT graphics chips.
Phenom X3-based systems start at around 69,930 yen or just under $700.
The 4.3-pound TX 2105/CT ultraportable notebook uses a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 processor. Another model comes with the AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 processor. All models pack NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 graphics. Pricing starts at just over $900.
Intel-based HP notebooks were introduced with an array of processors including new 45-nanometer Core 2 Duo T8100 and T9300 processors as well as Celeron 540/560 series chips. But no AMD-ATI graphics here either. Systems come with one of the following: Intel X3100, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS, or NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS graphics.
Intel-based desktop systems come with dual-core Core 2 Duo E8400 and quad-core Core 2 Quad Q9300 processors, among other configurations. Graphics chips offered are the NVIDIA GeForce 8400HD and NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT.
