The Edge is believed to be at the pinnacle of HTC’s new “Hero Device” strategy, as the company attempts to break away from the quantity-over-quality strategy that saw it lose market share in 2011. HTC has also formed a new “HTC Studio” division, bringing together key engineering, design, software and other expertise to focus on polished phones and tablets, along with the flexibility to look beyond current bosom-buddy Qualcomm for its chip supplies.

Companies opting for Tegra 2 last year saw their dual-core Android phones hit the market well in advance of HTC’s Qualcomm-based dual-cores, leaving the firm on the back foot in marketing terms at least. NVIDIA’s graphics expertise is also cited by the sources as of key interest to HTC.

HTC is expected to launch a new tablet early in 2012, in addition to phones, though it remains to be seen if the company will use Tegra 3 for that as well as the Edge. Meanwhile LG and others are already believed to have committed to NVIDIA’s chip.

“From the design point of view, from the choice of components, having a lot more open mind as to what components we use, and using the most appropriate components for the phone. By having a more focused approach to our product strategy, and having the organization behind the product strategy to support it. I think I have told some people when talked about the creation of this Studio, which is a department within HTC that reports directly to Peter [Chou, HTC CEO]. And this group of people comprise the team from design, the team from engineering and etc; working on a cross disciplinary approach, and reporting directly to Peter. It has a lot of focus, is spending a lot of time on the key products that we are going to launch this year” Winston Yung, CFO, HTC

Meanwhile, many of HTC’s other 2011 handsets fell into the “me too” category, failing to distinguish themselves from rival phones from Samsung and Apple. The company was late to the market with dual-core processors, and though the effectiveness of the chips depends greatly on software optimization, on a marketing level it put HTC behind the game when rivals were driving ahead with Tegra 2 and other platforms.

“I think from these various perspectives, organization more focused on strategy and having a more open mind on components, choosing the best components, will allow us to regain the edge in products … for most components there are multiple sources. And we actually want to and make sure that we do have multiple sources for a single component. So we have, I think, a very good range of suppliers to choose from on CPU, for example, or memory, for example. And I don’t think we are constrained in any way from a component point of view” Winston Yung, CFO, HTC

That delay was, in part, down to HTC’s commitment to using Qualcomm chipsets, something Yung implies is not necessarily a given for 2012 and beyond. There are multiple options for CPU and the company is not “constrained in any way” the CFO said, seemingly prioritizing timeliness ahead of lasting relationships to turn the next set of devices around.

It’s an approach that’s long overdue. We’ve written before about HTC’s shortcomings in component access and apparent reluctance to capitalize on the areas it has had advantages in, such as cloud services; in the meantime, Samsung has cornered the market in high-end Android devices, and Apple’s tightly-constructed ecosystem has continued to gather pace. We should see the first fruits of HTC’s new thinking at MWC 2012 later this month.

[via Android Community]

“As LTE networks are deployed alongside 3G networks,” Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm said in a statement, ”the ability for multimode 3G/LTE mobile devices to connect to different network technologies will be an important part of providing the best possible mobile voice and data experience to consumers.”

The demo used Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC), allowing a single radio to shift a call between 3G and 4G networks. Existing LTE devices have used CSFB (circuit-switched fallback technology) which automatically step a radio down from 4G to 3G when a voice call is to be made. Paired together, manufacturers can use a single 3G/4G chip rather than two separate radios.

Verizon is tipped to be trialling VoLTE in two US cities currently, with a full rollout believed to be intended for 2013. The carrier demonstrated the technology in early 2011, though not with transition to a 3G network, and has since committed to including LTE support in all its future smartphones.

Qualcomm’s revenues are up 14% over the last quarter of 2011 and up a whopping 40% over this same period last year, sitting them in cool and pretty at $4.68 billion. This puts them up to $1.55 billion in operating income, an amount which puts them 24% and 25% higher than they were last year and last quarter, respectively. Their net income is right up around the O.I. with 1.40 billion, this up 20% from Q1 2011 and 33% from Q4 2011. Things are looking up all around!

In the estimates chart for 3G/4G device shipments you’re seeing here, growth is apparent of course, but what’s more interesting is how tiny growth has been in Japan and Korea compared to every other region. You’ll find North America to be growing at a healthy rate with China and India essentially exploding year over year, and estimates for 2012 hitting a slightly less fabulous percentage growth over 2011, but certainly looking pretty impressive compared to 2010.

In this quarterly total reported device sales chart, you’ll find that it’s been an ever-so-slightly bumpy road since December of 2008, but that December of 2011 is likely to reach nearly double what it was 3 years ago. Compared to the last four quarters, Qualcomm has been growing each quarter by a significant amount, with this first quarter always being the biggest of the year. If this chart holds true, we can expect a bit of a dip in Q2′s total reported device sales, with a continued upward swing until sometime next year.

In other words, Qualcomm is doing quite well right now as chips are up, mobile is up, and everything’s turning up Milhouse for the company that’s made a big showing at CES 2012 and is set to make another big bang at MWC 2012 – seeya there!

The mirasol appeal, of course, is the combination of E-Ink style low power consumption but with video-capable refresh rates, as well as outdoor visibility. mirasol builds on the same light-bouncing principles that make a butterfly’s wings shimmer, only Qualcomm uses it to produce a color display that gets brighter and more color-saturated the more light is directed at it.

Design-wise, we’re guessing all of the four mirasol ereaders we’ve seen so far – the Kyobo model, the Bamboo Sunflower, the Hanvon C18 and this new Koobe version – are all based on Qualcomm’s own reference design. That would explain the lack of pure tablets using mirasol; Qualcomm had always said it intended to target ereaders first, though larger mirasol panels for iPad-rivals are also in the pipeline.

Koobe says the Jin Yong eReader will include WiFi and come preloaded with content by the Chinese author it’s named after. No word on pricing, nor when we might see a version arrive in North America or Europe.

With AllJoyn, most of the work is done by developers before you, the user, ever gets it in your hands – this is part of what makes AllJoyn so excellent – you barely even need to know it’s there! The next thing that makes AllJoyn so enticing is its ability to connect devices together without a middle-man – you’ll see several different examples of ways this is happening in the videos below. Then there’s the support developers get from Qualcomm when developing with AllJoyn – there’s nothing like having an ultra-pro group of technical specialists there to help you when you’re working with a new technology, especially when you’re a developer on the rise.

Namco’s Pacman Kart

First peek at a presentation of Pacman Kart from Namco working on a pair of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play smartphones. Here you’ll hear how when both devices are connected to one another directly with AllJoyn – pay special attention to the end of the video where we speak on how these devices could be connected with their Wi-fi radios or their built-in bluetooth, AllJoyn not needing you to choose between them – it just works!

Phunware on a tablet connected to smart TV

Next take a look at a set of apps created by Phunware to work on a Qualcomm-powered tablet (an HTC Jetstream for those of you wondering) communicating with a Qualcomm-powered smart tv (powered by an S3 chip). You’ll find that the connection between the tablet and the television is in-sync because AllJoyn is communicating between the two devices with the radios built-in to either. The first example has an interactive trivia game controlled by the tablet. The next example has video playing on the television while related links and images appear on the tablet. The final example has a karaoke game that uses the tablet as a microphone, able then to play the song back with the voice you recorded the song in on the television immediately after you sang it.

JamJoyn music

JamJoyn is shown next, this an application custom-made for AllJoyn in which music is able to be controlled by several different devices all working with the same stereo. The devices used here are the HTC Thunderbolt and the HTC Nexus One (both running Snapdragon processors, of course) working with a Jawbone JAMBOX, each of them able to control the music by switching tracks, adding to a single playlist, and more. In this use case you’ll find the list of songs sitting below a control panel on both devices – the JAMBOX is connected to the Thunderbolt with an audio output cord, but both devices can control the jams.

Whiteboard

AllJoyn shows its power again with an app by the name of Whiteboard in which regardless of how many devices you’ve got open with the same canvas, anyone can draw and the canvas will be modified accordingly. Imagine the use of such a tool in an educational setting – especially in an art class! You could have a set of tablets all showing off the same piece of artwork with each one able to modify the rest – brilliant!

Fight Game: Heroes

We also got the chance to play the brand new mobile game Fight Game Heroes connected with AllJoyn on Qualcomm MSM8960 developer platform tablets. It was your humble narrator versus Cory Gunther and, believe it or not, I get knocked out in no time flat. Have a peek and see how versatile this system is on a couple of tablets made for developers only!

We’ll certainly continue to keep you updated on Qualcomm’s work with AllJoyn and will continue to bring you use-case scenarios as they appear on the mass market. Exciting stuff coming from a group that brings you not just the processor, but a network of finely tuned hardware in every device they work with. Developers get your thinking caps out!

We got our very own hands-on look at the current (second-generation) Qualcomm Mirasol display a few weeks ago at CES 2012. What we saw was a fabulous bit of hope for the future but, for a production model, not quite ready for the mass market. That said, the brightness and the butterfly effect (in more ways than one) will have a massive impact on the market in the near future:

What you’re seeing is the Kyobo Mirasol eReader in its current lovely form. Note that Qualcomm’s purchase of Pixtronix is sure to take effect on future products rather than this current model e-reader. Pixtronix is a business established in 2005 by a fellow named Nesbitt Hagood with one 5-inch prototype display currently associated with Chimei Innolux. What this and future Pixtronix displays are set to do is correct color accuracy in Mirasol-based displays for the Qualcomm group – perfection coming up!

[via Electronista]

This smartphone is both light and powerful, it rolling out with the most high-clocked dual-core processor on the market and a collection of applications right out of the box that will have your head spinning. There’s ESPN ScoreCenter for your sports needs, it connected to the NFL, the MLB, and NASCAR to name a few. You’ll notice that this and other apps are collected cleanly in the apps drawer which has a unique face, it being part of LG’s own custom user interface over Android.

While you’re watching the hands-on video for this device, please feel free to write down any and all questions you’ve got on its technology or its build. We’ll be giving this smartphone a full review by the end of the week, and we want you to have all the information you need on what’s going on here! Wouldn’t want to buy a phone unless you had the full story, yes? Have a peek at the sharpness for now!

The processor in this unit is the lovely Qualcomm MSM8260 1.5GHz dual-core SoC, the device also containing 1GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM. On the front we’ve got a 2-megapixel camera, on the back there’s a cool 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and the whole camera setup is “claimed” by the official speaking with MicGadget to be made by Sony, this making it as good as the camera on the iPhone 4S – we’re not sure what to make of a “claim” like that, as it were.

Take a peek at a few press images as well as images of slightly lower quality from the original source for the news break, CNMO – notice the sharpness differences between this and the last OPPO device, as well as the user interface changes making this smartphone much more “today.” This device is set to be priced similarly to its competitors somewhere around $450 USD, and will be coming soon! The OPPO Find 3 is likely to only be released inside China – but we’ll see!

[via MIC Gadget]

There’s also an 8-megapixel camera with flash on the back, capable of recording Full HD video, while a front-facing camera serves for video calls. Unlike many Android slates, there’s a memory card slot for a microSD card, allowing you to upgrade the storage.

Connectivity includes HDMI, USB and the usual bevy of WiFi, Bluetooth and sensors. You also get DLNA streaming support, and LG is talking up its interactivity features between the Optimus Pad LTE and its other hardware, such as smartphones and TVs.

Battery life from the 479g tablet is up to 10hrs, and there are various apps preloaded including a video editor to allow you to whip your 1080p footage into shape. The LG Optimus Pad LTE will go on sale in South Korea first, though we’d hardly be surprised if LG then expanded its reach to LTE networks in North America.

Meanwhile, Samsung has filed a request with the US District Court in California to gain access to documentation detailing the nature of Apple’s agreement with Qualcomm, the company that provides several of the chipsets and radios in a number of iOS devices. “We need all agreements pursuant to which Qualcomm supplies or supplied ‘Qualcomm MDM6610’ chipsets to any person of entity and all documents that evidence, reflect or refer to the use by Apple of Qualcomm chipsets in iPhones or iPads” Samsung’s court documentation acquired by The Korea Times says.

The company is hoping to identify any contractual flaw that might invalidate Apple’s argument that it is covered by Qualcomm’s licensing of Samsung patented tech. Samsung claims that Apple should pay-up on the technology it uses, while Apple says it has coverage automatically as a Qualcomm customer. “One of Apple’s primary defenses is that it is entitled to use the chipsets at issue” the Korean firm’s legal team points out.

If Samsung succeeds, it plans to submit the contracts to ongoing cases in Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Australia, France and Korea.

As for Apple’s attempt to block Samsung sales in Europe, the suit apparently covers the Galaxy S Plus and the Galaxy S II, as well as the modified Galaxy Tab 10.1N Samsung produced explicitly to work around a previous injunction. Apple’s initial attempt to claim the 10.1N was insufficiently changed was rejected.

Smartphones

We certainly saw our fair share of smartphones on the floor this time around, the major bulk of them running either Windows Phone Mango or a modified version of Android Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich. One of the more interesting devices was Huawei’s Ascend P1 S, it being the new thinnest phone on earth, and its slightly fatter brother the P1, both of them strikingly thin. Next there were a couple of excellent value propositions, it would seem, from Pantech, they showing off two of the six new devices running on AT&T’s LTE network that’ll be up to speed by late this year – the Pantech Element is a waterproof tablet that, when you buy it, you basically get the Pantech Burst smartphone for free. Sony Experia came correct with their new set of Xperia devices with big specs and gigantic cameras: the Xperia ion having a 12 megapixel camera and the Xperia S being the one teased for so long. For Android phones the winner would have to be the Lenovo Racer-A, aka the first device to be running Intel’s Medfield chip – winning not just because it looks like a quality phone, but because it does indeed hold that record. Intel’s entry into the mobile market is likely going to have the longest lasting effect on the mobile industry while all these other phones get replaced – that’s for sure.

As for Windows Phones I’ll have to call a tie until we can review these devices extensively because they’re both so lovely: the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II. Both of these devices are bringing Windows Phone into the future, fighting head to head with the top guns at last.

BONUS: Since Samsung is insistent on saying this device is neither a smartphone or a tablet, here it is in the middle: the AT&T version of the Samsung Galaxy Note. All of its awesome features remain in-tact, it having a Snapdragon processor instead of an Exynos, and it comes in white as well as black, your choice!

- contributed by Chris “Burnsy” Burns

Tablets

As with smartphones, we’ve got a lot to be excited about in the hardware side of things, not least of all with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2 for strength and touchability. As for future-looking devices, the newest iteration of the ASUS Padfone looked oddly enticing. There were also some lovely reader refreshes like the Kyobo Mirasol eReader with its unique form of lighting, it replicating the light bouncing off a butterfly. Windows 8 made a bit of a showing with groups like Qualcomm and their S4 chip showing the possibilities of a Windows 8 mobile world. Acer came back with a new iteration of the Acer Iconia Tab complete with a Tegra 3 quad-core chip. Toshiba made a showing with two devices you might find rather familiar, the smaller version of the Thrive in the Toshiba Thrive 7 and the Toshiba Excite x10, the latter being the one to keep an eye on through 2012.

Then there’s the big guns, both of them winners, both of them coming from no less than Asus and toting, again, the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. First there was the undeniably inexpensively priced $249 7-inch quad-core Ice Cream Sandwich toting Asus MeMO 370t, a value we’re sure one whole heck of a lot of people will not be able to resist. Then there was the big showing of not only the Transformer Prime, but the Transformer Prime 700 series with its upgraded display and hardware. We saw the Prime running Skyrim via Splashtop, playing the first multiplayer mobile shooter in a new version of Shadowgun for Tegra, and all of it on Ice Cream Sandwich as the Transformer is now the world’s first Google-licensed Ice Cream Sandwich tablet.

- contributed by Chris “Burnsy” Burns

Headphones / Earbuds

As always, there was a surplus of new headphones this year. Of them, our top three were InSound by Cygnett, the 5-minute Eeers Sonofit earbuds, and the HD700 from Sennheiser. The InSound had very decent ‘active’ noise cancellation and are extremely comfortable. Though easily portable, they are still not built as well as the Sennheisers. The HD 700 instead implements ‘passive’ noise cancellation, and offers a much cleaner, crisper sound. But at CES, people look for innovation – and that’s why Eers by Sonofit were the best headphones. With Eers, anyone can create a pair of custom-fit earbuds within minutes, all of it for a cool $300 USD.

BONUS: don’t forget the conceptual Parrot Zik by Starck and the wild contributions by Skullcandy in the Mix Master headphones.

- contributed by Sam Koutroulakis

Speakers

Though there were certainly one whole heck of a lot of speakers out there, we’ve decided to concentrate on the smaller world of portable speakers for all you mobile people out there. For that, there are a few gems that stick out. First there’s the SuperTooth Disco 2, an upgrade from the already great Disco 1 model, now with plenty of color and a vertical form factor. As for green representations, we had a talk with the makers of Eink who now bring us the Eton Rukus Solar powered boombox, so green it’s accented with the color green, imagine that! As for the tiniest speaker worth a peek at outside a smartphone, that was clearly the Harman JBL on-tour Micro, complete with Iron Man color scheme! The winner of our hearts in this category would have to be the high-blasting Altec Lansing 5000 series all-in-one speakers, these certainly commanding the hoards when it comes to all-in-one power.

- contributed by Chris “Burnsy” Burns

Laptops

Ultrabooks were the hot ticket for the computer side of CES this year, with every major brand introducing new models at or just before the show. While Toshiba’s Windows 8 prototype wowed us with software and the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga showed off some amazing innovation in form factor, the top prize goes to Dell’s more humble XPS 13. Far from Dell’s usual utilitarian design, the XPS 13 Ultrabook is downright stunning, with a combination aluminum-carbon fiber frame that’s 15% smaller than the MacBook Air. It manages to cram a 13-inch screen into a 12-inch body, and with 300 nits of brightness it should be a joy to use. With a Core i5 or i7 processor, an SSD drive, 4GB of RAM and eight hours of rated battery life, the XPS 13 will be a major contender when it becomes available.

- contributed by Michael Crider

Cameras

There were a few cameras at CES that caught our eye. Canon’s revived PowerShot Digital ELPH 520HS crams some amazingly powerful glass into its tiny body, and Liquid Image’s Xtreme Sports Cams brings some great new features into a growing market. But the obvious winner for the show wasn’t even announced at CES: Nikon’s new flagship, the D4. This monster DSLR sets the standard for its line going forward, with insane ISO capabilities and forward-looking support for QXD. But the real innovation is a major upgrade in video capabilities, with dynamic cropping on the sensor for “zoomed” shots even on prime lenses, and the ability to actively monitor audio and stream video over HDMI. The D4 may well be the benchmark when it comes to DSLR video recording, a segment that has nowhere to go but up. At $6,000 it’s a little on the pricey side, but pro photographers will pay any price for the best – and when it comes to high-definition video in a comfortable DSLR format, the Nikon D4 will give it to them.

- contributed by Michael Crider

Televisions

Televisions were one of the hottest categories at CES this year, but not because of size. Previous shows were all about who can get the biggest panel out, but this year image quality ruled. LG and Samsung both introduced 55-inch OLED TVs with incredibly thin, light bodies, stunning black levels and color reproduction that’s the best we’ve ever seen. The best television of CES is Samsung’s Super OLED HDTV – we’re giving it the top spot because the image displayed was just slightly more vivid than LG’s. It’s a close match, however, and LG has the edge (ba-dum TISH) on style thanks to its 4mm, 16-pound body. Sharp’s battery powered AQUOS Freestyle gets a third place nod, because it’s a handy idea that the market is ready for.

- contributed by Michael Crider

Automotive Concept

There were two stand-out contenders at CES 2012 for automotive concepts, Audi and Mercedes. While our main hands-on write-ups of these two titans are going to be published early next week, I can tell you this now: Audi brought some heavy fire with a setup called Audi connect that included all of their innovations of 2011 including voice commands and Google Earth integration and made it explode with a touch-sensitive dial and a setup newly powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core chipset. Mercedes, on the other hand, had several concepts including a very similar in-car screen setup, this time connected to an iPhone, a couple of gesture-activated door demonstrations, and a box inside which a completely gesture-intensive console was shown. Both companies will have massively impressive vehicles in the very near future, that’s for certain.

- contributed by Chris “Burnsy” Burns

Accessories

Here at CES a large focus is also on accessories for all the electronics announced, and while we saw plenty of impressive designs like the new Wrapsol anti-slip pads we’ve decided on one. Cygnett is known for constructing well built, quality cases for phones and tablets, not to mention their durable tablet stands. Since the mobile phone market has exploded everyone has a few cases to offer but Cygnett’s offerings were one of the most memorable. With simple designs that are actually easy to both get on AND off while still protecting the product they were our clear winner.

For a video rundown on a few cases from Cygnett including their new Icon Art series by artist Nathan Jurevicius be sure to check out our Insider Talk with Cygnett Creative Director Sophie Swann.

- Contributed by Cory Gunther

Mobile Carrier

When caught up in the mass of tech news here at CES, we often forget that a team’s mobile collaboration is only as good as the signal they’re running on. There isn’t one, but more like two obstacles a team requires of its carrier to perform at maximum efficiency. The first is consistency; a reliable data signal that will always be there when needed. The second is actual data strength. Processing videos and uploading images over a fast connection is essential if you plan on delivering the best CES coverage. And for both requirements, Verizon 4G LTE was unbeatable for CES 2012. With speeds of up to 14Mbps on the showroom floor and a consistent signal throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center, other carriers couldn’t come close.

- contributed by Sam Koutroulakis

Our most used gear

When the topic of most used gear comes up it could mean anything based on what you did at CES. Some might just answer — my shoes. Obviously we used cameras just about every possible minute. Here at SlashGear we were busy looking for wall power outlets and churning out stories to share with our readers and have as a team came up with a final conclusion. When it comes to outright sheer production MacBook’s rule. When it comes to mobile production it’s actually the complete opposite and Android rules, with only one iPhone on our team with a whole hoard of Galaxy Nexus for the rest.

Apple’s Macbook Pro and Air gave our team most of the tools needed (not counting a few heavy cameras) and our Macs outnumbers PC laptops 6-to-1. When we change over to the mobile aspect it was completely the opposite and we had 2 iPhones compared to about 10 Android smartphones, and 4 LTE Android tablets. With large screens, big batteries and awesome wired/wireless tethering options with Verizon 4G LTE our Android phones were the clear choice — and winner.

- Contributed by Cory Gunther

CES 2012′s Top Innovation: No One

While there certainly have been some interesting bits here and there at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, nothing made us absolutely drop our collective jaws. You could take the winners from the categories above and choose your favorite, sure, but nothing blew us away to the point of saying it absolutely won the show. It seemed as though most companies came to the show as a matter of requirement rather than because they wanted to show off their biggest and best. Instead we’re hoping for quite a few individual showings throughout the year from manufacturers as it continues to be the thing to do when you want the most individual attention.

When Vincent Nguyen, SlashGear’s Editor in Chief, was asked what he thought represented CES this year, his response was simple “nothing.”

The fact that this isn’t the only time we’ve heard this response from not just our own staff, but many of the people we spoke with throughout the convention may well be the first indication that bigger shows like CES are on their way out – what do you think?

This application has several sections: one called My Games, this being the place where your applications are stored, it working as a sort of alternate apps drawer for you for all the GameCommand games you love so well. Next there’s Featured, this section having the Snapdragon logo because here is where you find all the most fantastic games you’ll want to download through the app. What the application does is tell you all the info you need to see if you want the app, then there’s a link that leads you into the Android Market. You then download your app in the same way you would normally from the market as you always do.

The third section in GameCommand is News, this being a feed of several news sources speaking on various bits of news that’ll inform you on the mobile world, hopefully in the Qualcomm environment. You’ve got settings in the upper left, this allowing you to arrange things just a bit different, then the “i” button in the upper right lets you know how to use the app if you can’t figure it out. This is Qualcomm’s current attempt at reinforcing their chips in a way that shows developers that they’re worth working with. This weekend we’re going to have a couple of features on Qualcomm noting how their approach is superior to the competition, built from the ground up.

You can grab the Snapdragon GameCommand from the Android Market today, and it’s completely free for all.

This device will be released very soon as the Lumia 710 has been launched today (today being the 11th of January, 2012,) and will be taking on the mid-tier of devices currently dominating those users new to the smartphone game. Android being versatile enough to work on essentially any quality device, we’re glad to see that such lovely beast as this to take on the market with one of the least expensive dual-core chips on the market.

That said, pricing has not yet been made available, and no details on if this device will be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich have been given. Samsung has dedicated itself to bringing one whole heck of a lot of their devices to the newest version of Android, this certainly not one to miss out on the party come early this spring or summer.

The X1 Hybrid is basically identical to the older version, so we’ll focus on the new Media Mode. This isn’t one of the “pre-boot environments” that was popular a few years ago. This is a completely separate operating system, which Lenovo says is a Linux-based open source system. The Media Mode launches from a Windows shortcut, immediately sending Windows into its sleep state.

Media Mode launches in under two seconds, and runs from the 16GB flash storage in the Qualcomm system-on-a-chip. It has access to all the network connections on the laptop, so built-in web browsing is a go. It can also access photos, videos and documents stored on the 16GB partition. There don’t appear to be any more apps than what are included.

The best part about Media Mode is the that it extends the X1′s battery life by double, according to Lenovo. That turns the standard 5-hour battery life into 10, and the extended slice battery from 10 to 20… assuming that you stay in the low-power mode.

The 13-inch ThinkPad X1 Hybrid will be available in the second quarter, starting at $1599.

We’ve mentioned Qualcomm’s mirasol display technology multiple times here at CES and even received some hands-on with an already available model and those links are all available below. What we have here is the brand new Hanvon that is being touted as the “world’s thinnest and lightest color e-Reader”

The mirasol technology deploys a front-lit LED lighting system rather than the conventional backlights we are familiar with on smartphones, tablets and everything in between. With the mirasol front-lit technology it uses the surrounding and incoming light rather than fight against it.

The Hanvon C18 e-reader features a 5.7″ XGA format (1024 x 768 pixel resolution) mirasol display and of course Qualcomm’s 1.0 GHz Snapdragon™ S2 class processor. No details were given on release dates or pricing but we expect to see and hear more soon.

This device has 1GB of low-power DDR2 memory inside and is 400g weight in total – the entire device is 200 x 118 x 12.95 mm and feels nice to hold with smooth sides all around. Storage inside is also eMMC 16GB and comes with 8GB of lifetime ASUS WebStorage. The battery inside is a massive 4400 mAh which ASUS says will give you 8.5 hours of video playback, and the whole device can be used as a mobile phone if you like.

One of the things sitting aside the tablet that we didn’t really address in the hands-on video is the MeMIC Bluetooth headset that’ll allow you to listen to music, place calls, and make texts when connected to your tablet here with bluetooth. There’s also a pen tool that fits in the silver section of the tablet that slides in and out easily, its tip a capacitive compatible nub which works with whatever capacitive device you happen to have with you — best used with the screenshot art button that sits at the bottom of the display near your other Android buttons – this shown in the video as well.

We’ve got hands-on looks at each of the ASUS tablets revealed and/or re-revealed this week, including but not limited to the two MeMO tablets, Transformer 700 series, and the Padfone – though that’s just an eyes-on, to be fair. Check them all out in the timeline below!

Once you snap a photo with your HTC Jetstream, they show, any characters you’ve got in the display will come to life! Vuforia has made this all possible, the team at Qualcomm pumping up this program as one that doesn’t only work with game developers on Android – not just racing games, etc, but such oddities as a child’s toy, as well.

This expands Qualcomm’s offering today which essentially encapsulated their current and future work with developers. As Qualcomm supports the developer base, the devices they create apps for become much more powerful and amazing, and Qualcomm knows it. Check out there rest of our coverage from this event in the timeline below!

Paul Jacobs spoke on the rest of their partners as well, saying that their S4 chip will be blasting forth with the Snapdragon S4 processor. What Jacobs showed off in brief was a tablet running Windows 8 with full touch sensitivity running ultra swiftly without so much as a hitch on both the S4 chip and LTE speed. Welcome to the future of tablets? We think so.

We’re live at the Qualcomm event here at CES 2012 and you can continue to follow us with the [CES LIVE] portal. Seeya there!

One of the groups working with Qualcomm on the initiative to bring business expansion through mobile is Gramin Foundation, whose CEO spoke to the audience at the event through a video in which he assures the public that business will be good and that mobile will drive it. Qualcomm appears very much to be setting itself into the mobile world solidly here, certainly in the business world, but also in the student and the personal use arenas.

Stick with us here for the rest of the event by following our [CES LIVE] portal all week long.

We’ll be seeing Dr Paul Jacobs presenting in a set of talks about Qualcomm and their partnering OeM partners over the next hour or so. Stick with us via our several CES portals: [CES 2012] for all news related to CES 2012 and [CES LIVE] for all of our in-person news including but not limited to hands-on photos and videos, event announcements, and the like!

Skifta has already proved popular on Android devices, a free app for controlling streaming music around multiple networked devices and your phone or tablet itself. The app works both as the gateway to a Sonos-style multi-room setup based on broadly-adopted DLNA standards, and as the universal remote for that system.

With the debut of the Skifta Platform, however, the app will grow into a companion product line, with Qualcomm Atheros wireless chipsets at its heart, or so the company hopes. Qualcomm won’t actually be making the Sonos-rivaling kit, relying on manufacturing partners to do that. Instead, it’s preparing modules for stereos, STBs and other devices that they can pretty much drop straight in. Known specs at this point include WiFi, ethernet and powerline connectivity.

As well as streaming music, the Skifta “channels” also deliver wireless Facebook Photos, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, Soma.fm, ShoutCast, Revision 3, TED Talks and other content. The first modules of the Skifta Platform are expected to be available in the first half of this year.

We’ve been tracking the Mirasol technology for some time and all our coverage is available at the links below. With Mirasol Qualcomm has brought color e-paper technology to eReaders while managing to offer stunning visuals indoors and even better outdoors, while not letting up on battery life.

Qualcomm’s color display technology promises color, video-capable e-paper with battery life akin to monochrome E Ink screens. This particular panel is a 5.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display using Qualcomm’s front-light technology that uses LEDs to make the eReader usable in darkness, and better in direct sunlight. Being front-lit rather than backlit enables the display to not fight with incoming light sources and instead harness the light to enhance and brighten the on screen image. Refresh rate is a big concern with eReaders and from our hands-on video you can clearly see Qualcomm and Mirasol have made some huge strides to their technology.

Kyobo, Korea’s largest bookseller — offers over 100,000 ebooks for the Mirasol eReader, as well as video education content and many other educational options, integration with social networking services and English text-to-speech support. With magazines for the down-time between study classes and possibly 3 weeks of battery life this will be one interesting eReader. The Kyobo eReader is available already starting at $310 USD in South Korea but finally seeing it here in the US means we could be enjoying this technology in markets here soon.

This device is both sleek at .4-inches deep, works with Flash 16 GB eMMC, and has 512 MB DDR2 RAM. What this device represents is the oncoming flow of LTE Windows Phone devices as coming down first from AT&T in a collection of smartphones. With this 5.2-ounce beast, we’re sure Microsoft lovers and new smartphone users alike will be keen to get onboard. But that camera – it’s just fabulously large.

This device’s back-facing camera setup contains a f/2.6 28mm wide angle lens, 720p video capability, dual LED flash, and a dedicated camera button. The front-facing camera is a 1.3-megapixel shooter for video chat. The back facing camera is set to be the topmost powerful smartphone-based shooter on the market here in the USA. Have a ball working with Mango on this beast – coming SOON. Price and release details coming soon.

Also check out our history with the original HTC Titan to see where this device gets its cool roots – any rather popular HTC Windows Phone deserves another.

The Bambook Sunflower is built with Qualcomm all the way down to its 1GHz SnapDragon processor and runs a custom reading app on top of Android 2.3. It may likely support more than ebooks with its Mirasol color e-paper screen since Shanda publishes games, music, TV, and video content as well.

It’s not known yet which formats the Bambook Sunflower will support, be it Epub or PDF. And, we don’t know whether it will be locked down. However, what we do know is that it’s priced absurdly at 2999 yuan or about $475 USD, nearly the price of an iPad. It’s expected to ship in February with pre-orders starting now.

[via The Digital Reader]

The Snapdragon GameCommand app will contain over 100 games right out of the gate, and one game specifically will be shown off at the event next week: “Fight Game Heroes.” Qualcomm executives will be facing off against the UFC monster by the name of Alistair Overeem in a video game battle on the game just mentioned, this putting them both in a strange position where the winner will be the one with the swiftest face-smashing fingers on an Android device. Other games on the platform include such odd titles as “Bunny Maze 3D” and mini-game “Desert Winds.”

While we wait for the big names in future games to launch on this platform, we’ll be keeping our eyes to the grindstone for how well it all adds up agains the already popular Tegra Zone. Unlike the Tegra Zone, not all games launched on GameCommand will be restricted to the chip the manufacturer’s game zone is pushing – but some of them will be. Just like Tegra-restricted games, some games in this Snapdragon game arena will be restricted to Qualcomm chips, but only for a limited time.

Optimization is the key here, folks, and with more chip-makers promoting games by giving them awesome resources like this, we’re set for a fabulous 2012 in mobile gaming!

AT&T’s bid to purchase $1.9 billion worth of airwave licenses from Qualcomm has now been approved as of late Thursday night. This is good news that should make AT&T feel a bit better after the rough few months the company had has. The new spectrum licenses will help AT&T to ease its congested network with the number of smartphone and tablet data users on the rise.

There were conditions imposed on the deal that have to do with data roaming and interference reports The Hill. The FCC approved the deal 3-1 with the sole person not for the plan being Michael Copps. He said that he could be persuaded to agree with the right set of conditions on the deal to make it more pro-consumer. With three needed votes in place, AT&T is set though.

Baidu-Yi was developed especially by Baidu for domestic Chinese smartphones, built on top of Android but replacing much of the original Google software with the network’s own alternatives. There’s Ting music, Baidu Maps instead of Google Maps, the Baidu Yue ereader, and – perhaps most importantly – Google search has been stripped out and replaced with Baidu search.

That adds up to a device that’s far more focused and suited to the sort of use Chinese customers might be intending, even though it’s not – in its current form at least – ready for primetime outside of the country. Still, slapping a regular version of Android onto the smartphone shouldn’t present Dell with too many difficulties.

The Dell Streak Pro will go on sale “soon” on China Unicom, pricing yet to be confirmed.

This move is the “first in the area of stadium naming sponsorships” and will be capitalizing on a ten-day span of high-traffic days when the stadium will be playing host to three nationally televised football games for maximum Snapdragon exposure. On the 18th of December the San Diego Chargers will be matching up against the Baltimore Ravens, then on the 21st the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl will be taking place. On the 28th, the final big event of the three will be in the stadium, this the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. Dean Spanos, Chairman of the Board and President of the San Diego Chargers noted the following:

“This is a first-of-its-kind effort to completely rename a stadium without changing naming rights. We look forward to playing in Snapdragon Stadium and helping Qualcomm bring awareness to the technologies Snapdragon processors enable.” - Spanos

This move will be a stadium transformation, made specifically to inform customers and future customers how Snapdragon processors allow them to do MORE on their mobile devices while maintaining a battery life at levels they’ll love. The combined three games will reach 30 million TV viewers and 150,000 fans in attendance they say, this working out well for Qualcomm in the whole audience connection arena. A full change in the stadium’s Qualcomm signage will take place, temporarily replaced with the flashy red of Snapdragon signs and banners, and devices will be given away in accordance with advertisements during and leading up to the game.

Qualcomm is calling the ability to use both networked dual-core navigation. The ability to use both GPS and GLONASS satellites means that the location services are more accurate and the user is more likely to get a fix than using one system alone. This dual connectivity is supported on the Samsung Galaxy S II. The ability may not be activated on all handsets though.

Qualcomm does note that you will need to check with the carrier to see if the GLONASS capability is activated. The Snapdragon processor knows when to turn on the GLONASS capability so battery power isn’t wasted. The accuracy using both networks is increased to 2 meters. Qualcomm also notes that you can get a faster location fix too. Qualcomm had announced GLONASS support was coming in March.

Viewing angles came in for particular criticism, and NetbookNews felt the colors – especially reds – lacked some of the saturation we’ve seen in earlier Qualcomm demos. The glossy fascia of the Kyobo device didn’t help that either, though that’s something other manufacturers could do differently if they pick up mirasol for their own devices.

Ebooks also took their time to load, though again that’s probably more about Kyobo’s software and hardware pairing than a mirasol issue. Considering it’s a 1GHz single-core Snapdragon lurking inside, faster than most ereaders around, a chip we know that can deliver smooth results on Android phones, hopefully some software optimization will take care of that in future.

There’s still no word on when other manufactures might announce mirasol-based products, though last we heard there were a few deals in the pipeline for a CES 2012 reveal. The Kyobo eReader is available in South Korea only, priced at the equivalent of around $310.

[via The Digital Reader]

“Tegra 3 isn’t concerning us” he said, referring to the NVIDIA chipset found inside the ASUS Transformer Prime and other incoming Android slates. “There are lots of smart people in the world but what we’re going to focus on is product roadmaps that help our manufacturing partners not just single use products … I could go away and make something brilliant with Tegra 3, but you’re going to see hundreds of [Snapdragon] S4 devices in the marketplace.”

The ambitious approach isn’t new from Qualcomm, though the company still remains behind when it comes to pure core count. Qualcomm’s quadcore S4 chipsets, like the 28nm MSM8960, will initially drop in dualcore form, with quadcores on the roadmap later.

Qualcomm has previously argued its design strategy by pointing out that – unlike NVIDIA or Texas Instruments, for instance – the company designs its own ARM-based cores. That allows it to choose its own balance between performance and energy efficiency; as Chandhok said, “we have a design point for mobility that we think is different from what others focus upon.” Whether it can convince customers to look beyond pure core-count and dig deep into actual abilities remains to be seen.

Though details aren’t especially numerous or expansive at the moment on this build, Qualcomm themselves have provided the images you’re seeing above and below. Qualcomm is sure to be releasing their S4 processor as well inside 2012, and based on what we’ve seen with the massively popularity and well-working nature of past processors from the group, you can bet this one will be a doozy as well. Qualcomm is currently getting Ice Cream Sandwich fully optimized for Snapdragon S4-toting tablets as well as the rest of their Snapdragon processors.

This means that it’s more likely than ever that, for example, the HTC line of smartphones from 2011 (and beyond) will be able to work with Ice Cream Sandwich in one way or another. All HTC handsets that you’ve likely handled have had Qualcomm processors in them, and until next year when the rumored NVIDIA-powered HTC Zeta is released, that one-processor-love situation will continue to stay strong. Ice Cream Sandwich ahoy for Qualcomm in 2012, that’s for certain!

P.S. Notice how awesome the text size is on the back of this tablet – and also check out how powerful the camera is if you dare. More massive than the most massive camera on any tablet before, much less a smartphone!

The new parts are also using the third generation of the Qualcomm Reference Design or QRD ecosystem program. The new parts add more capability for these device makers to expand smartphone lines and 3G possibilities. The QRD program is intended to let the device makers develop smartphones that can be sold in high volumes at lower costs.

The new parts are to give device makers an upgrade path for taking their snapdragon S1 designs to dual-core S4 mobile processors under the hood. The new chipsets will be available in the first half of 2012 in the QRD platform and will be available as standalone chips too.

Qualcomm is believed to have picked Samsung and Sony, with the Korean company’s strengths in component manufacturing – including displays, memory and other elements – singling it out for attention, along with the fact that it already has a solid presence in the tablet market. Texas Instruments selected Toshiba as well as also opting for Samsung.

Finally, NVIDIA is said to have gone for Lenovo and Acer, with Lenovo selected as major partner for its heft in the Chinese market. Conspicuous by its absence is ASUS, despite the fact that the company is already believed to be working on Windows 8 tablets – albeit likely using x86 processors, not ARM-based chipsets – for release in the second half of 2012.

Exactly how soon we can expect to see ARM-based products from any of these companies remains to be seen, however. According to previous leaks, Windows 8 on ARM tablets aren’t likely to go on sale until mid-2013, a delay analysts are already suggesting will leave Microsoft significantly disadvantaged up against the iPad and Android-based slates.

When consumers predominantly look at a tick-list of specs, generally with the mindset that “more = better”, how do you get past the immediate assumption that four cores in one phone or tablet are automatically better than two cores in another phone or tablet? It’s a question we’ve asked chipset manufacturers like Texas Instruments – another firm that has shifted to A15 rather than increase the number of A9s in its chips – before, and they generally dodge it, arguing that’s something the brands using the chips in devices are are skilled at.

Samsung, though, makes both the chips and much of the hardware that those chips end up in: it can’t avoid the marketing challenge. The company’s press release this morning did make a vague effort to put the spec improvements into context, hitting on the 2560 x 1600 resolution and stereoscopic 3D support though not with any great gusto. That’s perhaps to be expected from the semiconductor department, but unfortunately most product manufacturers aren’t doing much better either. This reluctance, laziness or inability to tell would-be users why they should care is increasingly going to bite those pushing tablets and smartphones.

The chipset world is split in how it sees next-gen mobile processors taking shape. NVIDIA has thrown itself into the more-core approach, doubling up but keeping the same A9 architecture as it shifts from Tegra 2 to Tegra 3. Texas Instruments has taken the opposite approach, sticking with a pair of cores but shifting to ARM Cortex A15 architecture for a complimentary boost in power. Qualcomm, meanwhile, is hovering in-between: it designs its own chips, licensing the core tech from ARM but tweaking as it sees fit. The custom Krait cores in the Snapdragon S4 series, therefore, will have roughly the performance of an A15 but use significantly less power than either it or indeed an A9, or so Qualcomm tells us.

A good rule of thumb is to look at what Apple is doing, though of course the Cupertino crowd has followed a vastly different strategy with its phones and tablets. An oft-highlighted difference is the fact that Apple hardly ever talks about raw specifications, focusing instead on the experience. The iPad 2 has a dual-core chip, Apple points out, but that’s so that “multitasking is smooth, apps load quickly, and anything you touch responds instantly”; similarly, the graphic chip is faster not just because that looks better on the spec sheet, but so that games and menus are “even more fluid and realistic.”

However, Apple in effect has its tablet and smartphone markets to itself: nobody else makes an iOS-based “iPad” or “iPhone”, whereas Samsung, ASUS, Acer, Motorola and the rest all make Android tablets and phones. In their rush to compete, they’ve all set the benchmark for “success” at being faster/more powerful/more-packed-with-cores. Android Tablet A is 0.23% faster than Android Tablet B, so it is A Better Device.

General consumers don’t understand why that might be the case, however, so they’re forced to translate the specs as best they can. Until now, the tablet market outside of the iPad has predominantly revolved around NVIDIA’s Tegra 2, but that’s increasingly going to diverge as the next-gen chipsets arrive. Context is something that will play a huge role as each manufacturer justifies their choice of processor.

Their challenge is arguably the consumers’ gain: instead of being picked on price, or which has the skinniest chassis (but probably the same specs inside as everything else), or a color option that matches your suit, brands will be forced to explain why buyers should care rather than simply throw a long list of specifications at them. It could even result in a net benefit for manufacturers, too, a refinement in positioning opening up new niches for iPad rivals and allowing them greater space to flourish.

Samsung, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and Texas Instruments have convinced us that there’ll be no shortage of power in the next-gen phones and tablets. Now the industry needs to raise its game in how it dresses that power with something even more important to end-users: context. Without that, every mobile device not wearing an Apple logo is likely to struggle to find its feet in an increasingly impatient marketplace.

The E2100 chipset will be inside the Gigabyte G1.Assassin 2 mainboards that use the Intel X79 chipset. The E2100 is a high performance Gigabit Ethernet controller that handles game networking traffic and handles networking for all traffic types, not just gaming traffic. The chipset has advanced stream detect, visual bandwidth control, and application priority.

The stream detect technology is one of the key bits and gives the chipset its ability to identify online gaming and video transmissions and give them network priority. The visual bandwidth control portion allows the user to see what programs are consuming the most bandwidth and end them if needed. This will make for a very nice motherboard for gamers. Qualcomm is also putting the E2100 platform into boards from Asus and VisionTek as well.

In fact, so the notebook players reckon, it won’t be until 2015 until Windows on ARM hardware presents a significant, market-share grabbing challenge to Intel and AMD based hardware. Software support and notebook vendor reluctance are cited as the two main problems: apps written for Windows 8 on regular x86 processors will need to be reworked to run on ARM chipsets.

Nonetheless, producers of ARM chipsets – like NVIDIA and Qualcomm – are believed to be “aggressively cooperating” with firms like Lenovo and ASUS on potential implementations, with both notebooks and tablets on the agenda. The benefit of the ARM chips will be power frugality without sacrificing multimedia power, allowing Windows 8 slates to take on the iPad and Android tablets with lengthy runtimes.

However, Intel isn’t expected to concede the processor market quietly, and will be pushing out Ivy Bridge in early 2012 and then Haswell in 2013. Both platforms are expected to dramatically cut power consumption, making them ideal for ultramobility implementations like tablets and ultrabooks.

The color e-paper is the star of the show here, however, and it looks fantastic with Qualcomm’s front-light LED illumination system. That uses a bezel-mounted light source to mimic direct sunlight on the transflective display: unlike a regular LCD panel, which is washed out in direct lighting, the mirasol screen only gets brighter the more light shining on it.

There’s an interesting point in the video, at around the 1:10 mark, where the front-light goes out and the mirasol screen is left to work solely with ambient lighting. Colors become more muted at that point, though it’s worth remembering even without the LEDs the screen quality can be impressive.

We’re hoping to get our hands on a Kyobo unit soon, and Qualcomm is expected to make more mirasol product announcements at CES 2012 in January.

[via The Digital Reader]

HP has been wedded to the idea of webOS in printers since the early days of its Palm acquisition, though we’re yet to see the platform actually show up in a paper cruncher. The OS would presumable replacing Android in models similar to the HP eStation C510, shown above, which used Google’s open-source platform – along with a reskin from HP’s own software engineers – on a removable control tablet with social networking integration and other multimedia tools.

The guess is that HP has already been working on its webOS printer line-up, and is keen not to scrap those new models in the pipeline while still washing its hands of webOS responsibility. Also up for grabs are Palm’s patents, themselves potentially a money-spinner in this age of high-profile litigation.

Previous potential buyers cited in earlier leaks include Oracle and Samsung, though most companies publicly named have been quick to distance themselves from rumors.