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Showing posts with label apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apple. Show all posts

Monday, November 19, 2012

PowerVR G6630 Announced by ImaginationTechnologies – To Be the Most Powerful GPU to Date

Imagination Technologies are behind the PowerVR series of GPU’s available in most Android and Apple devices. Direct competitors are ARM and their Mali series of GPU’s, NVIDIA and their Tegra devices and Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU’s. PowerVR has been the hardware of choice for Apple to integrate in their devices, with a new one available for every new iPad device.

PowerVRSeries5_5XT_Series6_roadmap

The Apple tablets offer extreme performance when it comes to GPU capabilities. We should think so, especially given the large number of pixels the component has to push, because of Apple’s Retina displays. The PowerVR series has been available on the market for a long time, since integrating GPU’s into mobile devices was considered a thing of the future.

Imagination Technologies announced their newest addition to the PowerVR series of GPU’s. The PowerVR G6630 features a new manufacturing technology, including one core and six clusters and is the fifth member of the Series6 ‘Rogue’ graphics IP family. The rethought manufacturing process makes it capable of offering over 60 times the performance of the current series 5 components, while this is made possible with only one GPU. The six clusters inside the core can be used depending on the complexity of the task, to preserve energy. The new series will also be compatible with the latest Microsoft DirectX 11.1, available only in Windows 8.

PowerVRG6630

Related posts:

  1. The New 4th Gen iPad Features a PowerVR SGX 554 GPU
  2. BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Gets Priced, Launch Date Announced
  3. iPad 2 Dominates GPUs in Benchmark Tests, Galaxy S II Left In the Dust



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

iPad Minis Worth $1.9 Million Stolen from New York Airport, FBI Makes Arrests

The iPad Mini may have not generated queues in front of Apple stores, but it did generate a passion big enough to make people steal it… in huge quantities. Just days ago we found out that $1.9 million worth of iPad Minis were stolen from the JFK airport in New York and the FBI announced today that they’ve made an arrest.

Airport worker Renel Rene Richardson supposedly assisted during the heist, serving as a lookout with two other accomplices. They loaded pallets of iPad Minis using forklifts and Richardson was arrested after other employees claimed he asked questions about the iPad Mini shipment and forklifts ahead of the robbery. The FBI is searching Long Island for the truck containing the stolen iPad Mini units. The problem here is that the iPads haven’t been registered with Find My iPad just yet, so they’re hard to track down.

The funny thing is that this morning dozens of new iPad Minis suddenly showed up for sale in Long Island. Expect further arrests to go down and the iPad Mini heist to get a popularity boost. Frankly speaking, thieves would have been better off stealing iPhone 5 units, since they’re pricier, more compact and… more wanted by the public.

Related posts:

  1. BlackBerry PlayBook Tablets Stolen from Indiana Truck Stop, Worth $1.7 Million
  2. 7,000 iPad 3 Units Used at Airport Restaurant Operators for Guests
  3. iPad 2 Adorned With Diamonds and Dinosaur Fragments is Worth 5 Million Quid



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Apple Finally Did It: They Got the Patent for the Rectangle with Rounded Corners…

At some point during the huge Apple versus Samsung lawsuit scandal someone said as a joke that Apple should patent the rectangle. Well, they’re close to it, since they’ve just received the patent for rectangle with rounded corners basically. The US Patent and Trademark Office issued patent number D670,286 to Apple yesterday, regarding the outer shape of a device.

I have to say that if we follow the sketch above as the landmark for tablet designs, there are hundreds of models breaching this patent. The previous design patens regarding the iPad and iPhone included at least one extra feature in solid lines, like Home Button or the bezel shape or the back surface contour. This one doesn’t even include such features and simply refers to the shape of the slate. This is a hugely broad patent, very broad actually and I can already smell some new trials coming.

The good thing here is that the drawing offers a limit to a specific proportion in size, so for example tablets with different aspect ratios are safe. Such a patent is an advantage for Apple, but also a handicap, because it can be called invalid easily by a judge, jury or even the patent office. So, overall it’s a very fragile weapon, so let this go…

Related posts:

  1. Apple Patent Mentions Pen-based Technology, Heading for Tablet?
  2. Apple Receives Patent for Scratch-Proof Coating; Could Lead to More Durable iDevices
  3. Apple Ordered to Pay Up! Samsung Cashes in on Patent-Related Damages



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Amazon is Ready to Win EU E-Book Pricing Battle Against Apple

The European Union regulators are about to deliver the results of their enquiry into the e-book price antitrust affair, related to Apple and four publishers and their restrictions regarding Amazon. This means that Amazon is free from restrictions, that ones that Apple strongarmed publishers to impose to the retailer giant.

Amazon would then be able to sell e-books cheaper than its rivals on the vast and rapidly growing market of publishers. Apparently, the losing parties decided to fold their cards when they realized they’re facing long years of court battle against a company that’s actually helping them sell their content. Meanwhile officially the EU Commission is saying that the investigation is not finished yet, while Apple and Amazon declined to comment. Two months ago, Apple and the publishers proposed to let retailers set their prices of discounts for 2 years and suspend “most favoured nation” contracts for 5 years.

This means that Simon & Schuster, News Corp’s HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Livre and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck (owner of Macmillan) are not allowed to make deals with rival retailers to sell their e-books cheaper than Apple, that sounds like a strange monopoly. This means that Apple’s prices cannot be undercut, which contradicts the laws of free competition. The EU antitrust authorities were fast on the case and now it appears that they’ve reached a decision and they’re waiting for a new offer.

If Apple is found guilty of breaching EU rules, they could be fined up to 10% of their global sales, meaning they could reach $15.6 billion in the case of Apple, based on its fiscal year. Do you think it could happen? I think that Apple could take down the entire e-book industry with it, if it tumbled down…

Related posts:

  1. European Commission to Investigate Strange E-Book Pricing and Relations With Apple
  2. Samsung Wins Legal Battle With Apple, As Galaxy Tab 10.1 Ban on Shipments is Lifted
  3. Amazon Preparing Color E-Book Readers for Second Half of the Year, According to Sources



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Apple goes after Jelly Bean, Galaxy Nexus, Note 10.1, and more in latest patent suit

This image has no alt text

Last week we told you guys about Samsung adding the iPhone 5 to their countersuit claims against Apple and during a hearing with U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal today, it seems Apple is following suit… and then some.

As reported by Bloomberg, the judge was presented with Apple’s argument on why 17 devices (including the Galaxy Note 10.1) should be added to the their second patent infringement case against Samsung. Apple’s problem with these devices? They’re all compatible with a stylus in some way (even though they don’t all ship with one). I’m sorry, what?

The Galaxy Nexus, however, is a different story. Apple was clear that the Galaxy Nexus should also be added to the suit simply because it’s running “the Jelly Bean operating system,” Google’s latest software update. If you think that sounds like a slippery slope, leaving Apple to add more Jelly Bean devices to their suit, Samsung felt the same way and argued that same point to the judge. But, Apple promised it was only targeting the Galaxy Nexus and that no further J-Bean devices would be added to the mix. They pinky swore so, you gotta believe ‘em.

Samsung also tried to ague that Apple waited too long to include the Galaxy Nexus in their claims, but Apple maintains they were only waiting for all carrier variants of the Nexus to receive Jelly Bean, something that took longer than expected thanks to Sprint and Verizon.

You may remember the first time around, Apple’s attempts at going after the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 didn’t end well for them. The tablet was one of few devices cleared from infringing on Apple’s design patents. It only seems logical the Galaxy Note 10.1 will share the same fortune as it’s largely the same device, only with a handy built in stylus. But, it seems Apple has something else in store for the stylus wielding tablet. What, we can’t be sure. What we do know is by going after Jelly Bean, it’s clear Apple’s real problem is, and always has been, with Google and their mobile OS. This could get ugly.

Today’s hearing took place in a federal court in San Jose, the same court where Apple wont their first patent case against Samsung back in August, one that charged Samsung with $1.4 billion in damages. As the internet well knows, you should never feed a troll (same goes for patent trolls).

Judge Grewal wasn’t quick to issue a ruling just yet, scheduling the trial for a 2014 date. Apparently, he wanted to deny both sides their requests knew that it would only cause a new round of lawsuits to spring forth. Sounds like he knows Apple’s reputation.


Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Monday, November 5, 2012

Chuwi V99 Tablet Features Retina Display Resolution, Sells for Less Than $300

Now with the Nexus 10 tablet announced, a huge resolution on a 10 inch tablet doesn’t seem that unusual anymore and it’s not even reserved to Apple anymore. There’s now a new Android model with such a resolution, the Chuwi V99, a slate from Asia that packs a dual core CPU and a 2048 x 1536 display.

The screen has a 9.7 inch diagonal and its features include a dual core Rockchip RK3066 processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and possibly 1 GB of RAM. With the Google Nexus 10 weeks away from its debut, at $399, you can pick up the Chuwi V99 for $250 to $290, according to different retail websites. The only problem I have with this model is that it may end up being quite a battery eater, with such a screen.

The tablet seems to be quite similar to the iPad, having the same size, shape and weight. The folks who tested the device says that the text and images look very crisp on the display, compared to lower resolution slates. The 4:3 aspect ratio makes the slate easier to hold in both portrait and landscape mode, compared to tablets with widescreen displays. Frankly speaking, the picture here makes the display look washed up and I hope it’s the fault of the pictures, not the device.

Related posts:

  1. Samsung Preparing High Resolution Tablet for February, Aiming to Surpass the iPad 3 Retina Display?
  2. High Resolution Images in iBooks 2 Point Towards Retina Display New iPad
  3. iPad 3 Display Panel Pictured, Here’s a Bunch of Extra Details on the Retina Display Tablet



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Friday, November 2, 2012

iPad Mini Launch Gets Short Queues: Sign of Times or Sign of Tides?

The iPad Mini debuted officially this morning, with the usual queues in USA, but not the usual number of participants. This could either be the sign of times and Apple’s end of reign of the sign of the tides caused by Sandy, that swept the East Coast. Although in the picture here we can spot a bit of sunshine, the infrastructure is still messed up by the storm…

New York City Apple Stores may get lower traffic, but what about the rest of the country? Apparently Apple Stores all over the country and the world have shorter lines than usual for product lines. People have thus reacted to the $329 price tag, to the debut of the Nexus 10, the cheaper Nexus 7 and the 32 GB 3G Nexus 7…. Even the preorders are slower than expected, so something is amiss here. Reuters is saying that in Australia the lines were hugely shorter than at past iPhone launches.

Some people in line only had to wait for an hour and a half, while people at the front were present there since 4.30 AM. In USA at Apple’s famous 5th Avenue Store in New York City there was only one person in line yesterday afternoon. In Japan and South Korea lines of over 300 people were confirmed and in Amsterdam there was a pretty good turnout. In UK it was a disaster, by Apple standards, with people walking in and buying an iPad Mini with no lines… Should we rush and call this a failure?

Related posts:

  1. Apple iPad Mini to Launch This Year, Being Priced at an Affordable Rate
  2. iPad Mini White Supplies Go Short Due to Massive Demand
  3. Apple Broadcasting iPad Mini Launch Live on Its Website; Starting at 10:00 a.m. PDT



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Thursday, November 1, 2012

UK courts force Apple to rewrite statement regarding Samsung infringement

Samsung and Apple have been at each other’s throats in this legal battle between the two, and some of the most interesting bits have come out of the United Kingdom. Samsung was found to be in the clear on the grounds of infringement with a judge saying Samsung’s products weren’t “cool” enough for people to get them confused with Apple’s products.

As such, Apple was forced to make a statement on its UK website stating that very fact, though we felt the manner in which they did it was a tad distasteful. Apple made the statement, but it spent even more text letting people know that the company has been victorious in other regions. In fact, Apple seemed to welcome the “not cool enough” statement so it took that and ran wild.

Well, it looks like the courts across the pond seem to agree with our initital reaction — the statement isn’t what they had in mind. They’re going as far as forcing Apple to correct the statement on its website.

They want the new statement to be short and sweet, and nothing more. A simple “Samsung didn’t infringe on our products, UK courts have found” or something to that effect might do the trick.

Oh, and the statement mustn’t be tucked away via an obscure, hard to find link — it has to be smack dab on Apple’s homepage, and must remain there until the middle of this month. The ruling even goes as far as forcing Apple how visible the link must be — nothing less than 11 point font, apparently.

This particular correction won’t do much to help Samsung get over the fact that one of its biggest component buyers is suing the pants off of them, but hey — at least the UK courts won’t let Apple stomp all over them. That has to count for something. Apple is said to have 24-48 hours to comply with the request for a correction, and you can bet we’ll be looking for that correction as the week closes. Score one for the good guys!

[via The Guardian]


Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

iPad Mini Confirmed Officially to Have Stereo Speakers, in Spite of Apple Mystery Listing

The iPad Mini has stirred a bit of online controversy when it was supposed to have mono speakers, or at least so said Apple in its official specs listing, that only said “built in speaker”. Then reviews appeared claiming it actually had stereo speakers, but now Apple’s Phil Schiller made matters clear and confirmed that the iPad Mini is a stereo device.

Previously, in a comparison table between the iPad Mini and Kindle Fire HD, an Amazon ad praised the Dolby Digital Plus dual stereo speakers on the Amazon device and criticized the single speaker on the new smaller iPad. So it would appear that the Amazon ad was actually wrong and short after Phil Schiller sent out the email confirming the stereo bit, the Amazon ad was pulled from its homepage.

I guess that the first teardowns could have cleared the matters for us, but they’ve yet to appear, since the tablet is not yet in stores for regular purchase. Frankly speaking, it would have been strange in this day and age for you to only get a single mono speaker on a new generation of tablet…

Related posts:

  1. iPad Nano Supposed Photos Leaked, Show New Dock Connectors, Stereo Speakers
  2. Apple iPad Mini Event Confirmed for October 23rd; It’s Really Happening!
  3. Kindle Fire HD vs iPad Mini – Challenge Started by Amazon



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Monday, October 29, 2012

Kindle Fire HD vs iPad Mini – Challenge Started by Amazon

Apple has finally launched the iPad Mini, 7.9-inch display tablet, along with the iPad (4) at a special event in San Jose. During the presentation of the new Mini tablet, Apple wasn’t afraid to compare their products with other offers on the market, hinting at the Nexus 7 and calling their tablet the best available in the category.

Amazon_vs_iPad_Mini

While the iPad Mini is a great device, it has some shortcomings that can be deal breakers for some. The first is the resolution of the screen, 1024 x 768 pixels, that is less than the competition offers.  Next there is the price, with $429 for the 32GB and $529 for the 64GB variants. The LTE enabled devices cost at least $459, with $100 price bumps as you increase the storage. Given this circumstances, Amazon thought it best to reveal the advantages of purchasing their device over the iPad Mini.

Amazon has started a campaign against the iPad Mini. One of their strongest arguments is the “low” resolution display that the Apple device offers, at only 163 ppi. Another aspect they consider to be relevant, is that the Mini only offers a mono speaker, as opposed to the stereo speakers of the Kindle Fire HD. The last argument is the pricing – with the Fire HD going for $199 while the iPad Mini’s price tag is $329. Whether these argument are enough to change the feelings of the potential costumers is an aspect that remains to be seen.

Related posts:

  1. iPad mini Coming in Early 2012, Could Kill the Kindle Fire
  2. iPad Mini Versus Other 7 Inch Tablets: Kindle Fire HD 7 and Nexus 7
  3. Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9 Inch Version And New 7 Incher Coming in 2012



Source : androidtabletblog[dot]com

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Another Fix For iOS 6 WiFi Problems – Reset SSID in Wireless Router, Wireless Drivers in iOS 6, & The Complete List of iOS 6 WiFi Fixes So Far

The iOS 6 WiFi problem just will not go away.  Perhaps the ultimate fix (above and beyond those listed below) is going to happen when Apple releases a new version of iOS 6 that addresses that ultimately addresses the WiFi connectivity problem once and for all.  For now though, stay tuned to Tablet Crunch as I continue to add to the list of confirmed fixes.

And speaking of that growing list of iOS 6 WiFi connectivity fixes, I can’t type another word without first thanking all of the readers and supporters of Tablet Crunch who continue to call me, write to me, and engage me with their problems – and share with me their due diligence that leads them to ultimately fixing their WiFi connectivity problems.  It’s because of you – the readers here at Tablet Crunch – that I’m able to share with the rest of the world these fixes.  And trust me, A LOT of people from all over the world are being helped because of the insight you all continue to pour in here at Tablet Crunch.

Latest Fix for iOS 6 WiFi Connectivity Problems – Resetting Your Wireless Router’s SSID

I was speaking with a reader from Montreal, Canada today who was telling me about his unique set of circumstances and how ultimately he couldn’t resolve his WiFi connectivity problems on his iPad.  Of course, he had upgraded to iOS 6 and he said that the WiFi connection would be fine for around 45 minutes or so, but after that, the connection would be lost.  He said the WiFi connectivity would also get dropped whenever his iPad went to sleep.  So before the iPad going to sleep, WiFi was working great.  But after he woke up his iPad, the WiFi connection would be gone.

Strange, I know!

And perhaps some of you have been experiencing the same thing.

But the reader from Montreal said he had a wireless router that hadn’t issued an update since 2007, so there was no way he was going to be upgrading to the a firmware that supported IPv6.

So after much frustration, he finally just logged into the dashboard of his wireless router > changed the SSID of his router > switched it to auto channel, and now he no longer has WiFi connectivity problems.

Changing / renaming your SSID

In case you are wondering what the SSID is on your wireless router, it’s the name of your wireless router that gets broadcast out to devices.  So if you look at the list of wireless networks that are showing up on your iPhone or iPad and you see one called “Tablet Crunch” or “Bobby’s WiFi”, etc… that network name is what has been set as the SSID on the wireless router your device is picking up.

What is SSID?

From the SSID Wikipedia page:

An extended service set (ESS) is a set of one or more interconnected BSSs and integrated local area networks that appear as a single BSS to the logical link control layer at any station associated with one of those BSSs; the BSSs may work on the same channel, or work on different channels to boost aggregate throughput.

Service set identification (SSID)

Each ESS is identified by a service set identifier (SSID); for an IBSS, the SSID is chosen by the client device that starts the network, and broadcasting of the SSID is performed in a pseudo-random order by all devices that are members of the network. The maximum length of the SSID is currently 32 bytes long.

But the reader did a little bit more than just reset his SSID – he also switched his channel to “auto”.  On most wireless routers this will be called “auto channel”, but it could vary depending on your exact manufacturer.  Basically, you are setting the channel frequency for your wireless broadcast to “auto”.

Once the reader changed the name of his SSID, and switched to “auto channel”, his WiFi connectivity problems were fixed even without upgrading his wireless router to the latest firmware to make sure it is was IPv6 compatible.

iOS 6 Wireless Drivers

With some many problems, and just as many fixes that are being confirmed to fix these wifi connectivity problems on iOS 6, it seems to all point to a driver problem in iOS 6.  This means, the drivers that Apple released in iOS 6 that are designed to handle the wireless connectivity of the device, are simply flawed.  Apple has built its brand and reputation on the fact that it just works.  Well, the “it just works” concept isn’t working this time with iOS 6 and customers are less than pleased as a result.

Surely, the WiFi connectivity problems with iOS 6 are comparatively isolated considering there are now over 200 million devices running iOS 6.  But for the people are upgrade their device to iOS 6 and start experiencing WiFi connectivity problems, their frustration is sometimes high enough to make them eject and go buy a Android smartphone or Android tablet.

So as promised, below is a list of fixes that I’ve written about that are confirmed to have helped a lot of people.  Does every fix work every time?  Of course not.  But having a list of fixes to iOS 6 WiFi connectivity problems can be very helpful as you try to work through troubleshooting the connectivity problem and ultimately working to get your iOS 6 device back online.

Check out the list below (including the SSID fix I discussed above) and let me know your feedback in the comments below:

Again, let me know how the SSID reset works for you in the comments below.

Source : feedproxy[dot]google[dot]com

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