AnandTech Live - Podcast Recording at 12:30PM ET on April 15
The new HTC One (M8)
Samsung's Galaxy S 5
Windows Phone 8.1
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808/810 (and 64-bit family)
Amazon's Fire TV
Intel's 2014 Enthusiast Announcements (Devil's Canyon, Broadwell Iris Pro)
I'll
update this post with the Google Hangouts live stream once it's ready.
If you can't make the live stream, we'll be republishing it on the
Podcast feed.Samsung's Galaxy S 5
Windows Phone 8.1
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808/810 (and 64-bit family)
Amazon's Fire TV
Intel's 2014 Enthusiast Announcements (Devil's Canyon, Broadwell Iris Pro)
Read More ...
Windows Phone 8.1 Review
I was an early fan of Windows Phone 7. I remember completely switching over to the platform for about a month back in 2010, and being relatively happy. It wasn’t until I needed tethering support (which didn’t exist in the first release of WP7) that I had to move away. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s software and hardware update cadence for Windows Phone couldn’t pull me back.
In its first three years of existence, Windows Phone received roughly the same number of major updates as Android and iOS. From 2010 - 2013, Google took Android from Gingerbread to KitKat, Apple revved iOS from version 4 to 7, and Microsoft gave us Windows Phone 7, 7.5 and 8.0. At best, you can consider the software release cadence competitive. At worst, it’s not enough. Windows Phone started behind both Android and iOS. To come out ahead, Windows Phone updates had to be more substantive, more frequent or both.
The same could be said about hardware. Microsoft lagged behind Apple and Google to dual-core, 28/32nm silicon, higher resolution displays, and LTE support among other things. Although the situation has improved over the past year, if the goal is to take the #1 or #2 spot, the upgrade cadence needs to be more aggressive.
It always felt like the point of Windows Phone was to be a midpoint between the flexibility of Android and iOS’ guarantee of a certain level of user experience. The platform was born during a time when Android was not yet ready for the mainstream (Gingerbread) as an iOS alternative, and when it still looked like the Windows licensing model would work for handset OEMs.
Today the world is a different place. Android is far more mature than it was in 2010, and it’s polished enough where it can easily be a solution for the enthusiast as well as the first time smartphone user. While Microsoft’s strategy in 2010 might have been one of eyeing the crown, in 2014 the strategy is more humble and focused.
Improve the platform, address issues both little and big, and continue to grow. That’s the mantra these days and today we see it put in action with the arrival of Windows Phone 8.1, the fourth major release of the platform since its arrival in 2010.
Read on for our review of Windows Phone 8.1
Read More ...
Quantenna Announces Development of 10G Wi-Fi 802.11ac Chipset
We saw Wave2 chipsets being introduced by Quantenna at CES and, recently, Qualcomm. Recent draft amendments have enabled a few optional (WiFi Alliance certified) features:
1) 8-stream configurations (up from 3-stream previously)While Broadcom made a big splash with the 5G branding, Quantenna is taking the lead this time around with 10G. By taking advantages of MU-MIMO and putting in support for 8 spatial streams, Quantenna hopes to deliver speeds of up to 10 Gbps . Quantenna's massive 8x8 MIMO promises reduced interference while handling multiple devices simultaneously. While the 4x4 solution we covered at CES is expected to go into mass production later this year, the 8x8 chipset is expected to arrive in 2015.
2) up to 160MHz channels (up from 80MHz) (Wave2 only), and
3) Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) (Wave2 only)
Quantenna also took the opportunity of this development announcement to reiterate design wins / partnerships with Asus (consumer router, AC87U), Texas Instruments (enterprise and small cell LTE base stations), STMicro (SoC offerings) and Mimosa (outdoor wireless solutions).
8x8 802.11ac solutions may appear to be an overkill for home usage (few clients and none with more than two spatial streams), but they are definitely a great solution for wireless bridges and enterprise access points. Reliable high-range 10G Wi-Fi also has the ability to open up new applications. Beyond the chip design challenges that Quantenna aims to solve, system builders also have to handle power, antenna placement and other RF issues before 8x8 802.11ac-based products can hit the market.
Read More ...
Trio Charged in Attempt to Steal $32M USD From "Obamaphone" Program
Program receives funding under the USF, marks recent expansion after Bush era Hurricane Katrina giveaway
Read More ...
Netflix Speeds Increase for Comcast Users Following Recent Agreement
It now has speeds of 2.5Mbps
Read More ...
Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview Goes Live
New developers can enroll for free
Read More ...
New IPCC Report Says Climate Change Can be Warded Off Affordably
The report was conducted by 1,250 international experts and approved by 194 governments
Read More ...
EFF: NSA May Have Used IRC Botnets to Exploit Heartbleed for Last Two Years
Bloomberg claims that the NSA actively exploited flaw in OpenSSL, in stunning act of global cyberterrorism
Read More ...
Report: Eight More Nokia Microsoft Phones Waiting in the Wings
It turns out Monarch wasn't the Lumia 1030 some were hoping for, but rather the lowly (but affordable) 635
Read More ...
Facebook Awaiting Approval for New Mobile Payments Service
Users will be able to exchange money on the social network
Read More ...
T-Mobile to Eliminate Overage Charges for All Plans Starting in June
T-Mobile to drop overage charges, throttle data instead
Read More ...
Quick Note: Samsung Galaxy S5 Launch Day Sales Surpass Predecessor
Galaxy S5 sales doubled S4 sales in some countires on launch day
Read More ...
A-10 Warthog May Live to Fight Another Day with Support from Lawmakers
"The Taliban hates the A-10. That’s good enough for me." -- Senator Lindsey Graham
Read More ...
BMW Concept X5 eDrive Uses Plug-In Hybrid Tech
First time eDrive and xDrive tech has been combined in one vehicle
Read More ...
44 Percent of Twitter's Total Users Have Never Sent a Tweet
Only 126 million users have sent any kind of tweet in the past 30 days
Read More ...
Available Tags:AnandTech , Windows Phone , Windows Phone 8 , Windows , Windows Phone , Windows Phone 8 , Nokia , Microsoft , Facebook , Samsung , Galaxy , BMW ,
No comments:
Post a Comment