SlashGear Week In Review - Week 8 2011
Welcome to the latest edition of the SlashGear Week in Review. This week was MWC 2011 in Barcelona, Spain so there are hoards of phone announcements from the show. The Smasung Galaxy S II went official last Sunday packing in a 4.27-inch screen with WVGA resolution and a 1GHz processor. On Monday we landed some hands on time with the Galaxy S II and put that time on video for you to check out. We think that the smartphone is hugely impressive.
Pandora is looking to do more than music in preparation for its IPO. Pandora is said to be looking at expansion into talk and sports programming. The LG Optimus 3D smartphone got official Monday. The phone packs in a 1GHz dual-core processor, 5MP dual lens camera for 3D video and a 4.3-inch screen.
RIM announced a pair of new PlayBook 4G tablet models early in the week. The new PlayBook 4G models added versions for LTE and HSPA+ both with WiFi and they are set to land in H2 2011. One of the biggest announcements at MWC 2011 was the Nokia and Microsoft tie up for WinPo 7 on Nokia smartphones. Nokia claimed at the show that the decision was made the night before the show and that Intel knew before the show started.
Another smartphone to debut during MWC was the Acer Iconia Smart running Android. The notable feature is the big 21:9 aspect ratio screen that measures 4.8-inches. The HTC Desire S smartphone got official this week. The device gets a 1GHz processor, a 3.7-inch screen, and will run Android 2.4.
Intel unveiled a new high-end processor Tuesday called the Core i7-990X Extreme Edition. The CPU has six cores, runs at 3.46GHz, and can be overclocked to 3.73GHz using Turbo Boost. One of the big HTC announcements at MWC was the interesting Flyer tablet. We posted up a video of the device being shown by a HTC schlep since the company wouldn't allow us to hold the tablet.
HTC showed off a pair of new Facebook smartphones called the HTC ChaCha and Salsa. The ChaCha has a QWERTY keyboard and a 2.6-inch screen, the Salsa is a touchscreen only device with a 3.4-inch screen, and both have a dedicated Facebook button. That HTC Flyer tablet I mentioned earlier has the ability to play streaming games from OnLive. The tie up came after HTC invested $40 million into OnLive.
Rumors surfaced that Apple plans to give the next iPhone model a larger 4-inch screen. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen. A soldier in Afghanistan has taken to a very cool hobby. He is building action figures out of the stuff he comes across at the base where he is stationed and they look really cool.
NVIDIA unveiled details on the Project Kal-El quad core chip early in the week at MWC. The chip would be the first quad-core chip for tablets and phones that is sampling. HTC made so many announcements at MWC that it was hard to keep up with. If you want to be sure you know all HTC has to offer we put up a recap of all the HTC announcements at MWC.
Nokia apparently won't have Windows Phone OS on its smartphones until at least October. Nokia is waiting for a new version of the OS. Warner Brothers is going to sell movies on the App Store as apps. The two flicks to start with are The Dark Knight and Inception.
LG announced its Cinema 3D LW5700 3D HDTV that has the first certification for being flicker free. That flicker free design means that the TV will be easier on the eyes and some people that have problems with 3D images might find that they can watch without issue. The pricing on the Motorola Xoom tablet was confirmed mid-week at $799. Motorola thinks the speed of 4G makes the price justifiable.
The iPhone 4 won an award at MWC 2011 for Best Mobile Device. The irony is that the iPhone 4 wasn't even at the show. Pioneer unveiled a new DJM-900nexus DJ mixer for club DJs. The mixer has all sorts of effects and features and will sell for about $2400 in March when it lands.
The Motorola Xoom is heading to Europe with hints at the official launch date coming by way of an interest page from Carphone Warehouse. The page hints that April is the expected launch date. Spotify has signed a deal with EMI giving the service two of the four major music labels. Warner Music and Universal are the two remaining major holdouts.
AeroViroment unveiled the prototype of a small UAV that looks like a hummingbird. The UAV has flapping wings, battery, and a video camera inside the small package and is the result of a DARPA project. The price for the LG Optimus 3D has surfaced and the phone is very expensive. The price on the pre-order page at Expansys is listed at about $835.
Google has announced that it will invest millions into celebrity YouTube channels. Apparently, YouTube is offering celebs $5 million each to start a channel to cover payroll for production and more. YouTube wants at least 20 celeb channels. Photos from President Obama's Tech dinner have surface and it looks like the Zuck got to sit at Obama's right hand.
The NYT has debunked the rumors that a smaller iPhone is coming, but some interesting concepts and more rumors keep surfacing. Perhaps a smaller screen device with a keyboard would work. Thanks for reading, see you next time!