Taiwan based chip giant MediaTek plans to enter US markets

Taiwan based chip maker MediaTek needs no introduction as the company’s baked chipsets are found in most of the affordable smartphones sold by handset manufacturers across the globe. MediTek has a wide gain popularity in many affordable Chinese handset and has a strong foothold in the Asian market. Now the company seems to be planning to move a step further and venture into the US markets by opening up its first office in San Diego. This means MediaTek is also set to raise the competition further with its arch rival Qualcomm which too is established player in US market and across globe. However, for now it’s only T-Mobile carrier that is selling MediTek powered devices from Alcatel in the US markets.

However, Qualcomm is currently much ahead of the race hen it comes to market share globally, but it seems that the entry into US markets would surely help MediaTek bridge the gap. Making their business strategy clear, at CES 2015, company president Ching-Jiang Hsieh was heard saying “If you intend to be the most global [player] in the mobile business you should be selling a chip in North America.”

US carriers are often seeing pushin up their plans for new handsets and it could turn out to be a good opportunity for MediaTek to enter the affordable ranged handsets market in the country. However, this is certainly not going to be a cake walk as Qualcomm has already gained popularity here as well as its chips have made home to Lumia 535 and Moto G like handsets. Moreover, within the user community, MediaTek is much less popular compared to Qualcomm.

Jon Erensen, Gartner research director looks it as a good opportunity for MediTek in US market, but like Intel, MediaTek too will have tought fight with Qualcomm.

source: CNET

Taiwan based chip giant MediaTek plans to enter US markets

Blocks, a Modular Smartwatch that you can customize according to your needs

After introducing a modular phone concept, Phonebloks is now entering the wearables market with the creation of a modular smartwatch “Blocks” in which you can mix and match features to create your own unique personal smartwatch.

“Wearable devices are very personal devices, so naturally being able to customise yours would be amazing, as you could make it unique to your own lifestyle!” writes designer Hakeem Javaid in his Phonebloks blog. He says that after “months of research” they finally managed to build a “simple display, processor, motion sensor and temperature sensor blocks, and we could connect them in any combination we liked!”

Blocks was originally supposed to use a special version of Android Wear like the Project Ara smartphone that uses a customized version of Android. However, the company now plans to use Samsung and Intel’s Tizen OS that will support iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The Blocks team was one of the 10 finalists in Intel’s “Make It Wearable” contest that has won them funding of $50,000 as well as access to Intel’s latest processors.

Modules of Blocks will have circular and rectangular touchscreen and E Ink faces, microphone, gesture control, motion sensor, heart monitor, blood oxygen monitor, environment sensor, GPS, NFC, fingerprint scanner, audio jack, camera, sim card and many other features. Each module will feature removable covers that will allow you to customize the look and functionality of your smartwatch.

Have a look at the Blocks video:

 

Source Phonebloks

 

Blocks, a Modular Smartwatch that you can customize according to your needs

Intel introduces 5th Gen 14nm ‘Broadwell’ Core Processors offering improved graphics and battery life

Intel has been developing the 5th Gen ’Broadwell’ Core processors for a while now and the world’s largest chip maker has finally launched the 14nm Core processors at CES 2015. These processors will be used in Next Gen computing devices including Notebooks, Ultrabooks, 2-in-1s, Chromebooks, mini PCs and all-in-one desktop PCs.

The 5th Gen core processors offer improvements in battery life by 20% to 30% compared to the existing 22nm Haswell chips. For instance, while playing a video, the 15W Broadwell CPU will last about an hour and a half longer that the older 4th Gen version.

Under the 14nm process, the die size has reduced making the chips 37% smaller but they still pack 35% more transistors taking their total up to 1.3 billion. Intel claims that there is a 22% improvement in 3D graphics rendering and 50% improvement in strength of video encoding.

First Broadwell chips were announced under the ‘Core M’ brand last year, which were specifically meant for 2-in-1 devices, a unique combination of tablet and laptop. Now Intel has added 14 new processors to its Core i3, i5 and i7 series as well as new models to its Pentium and Celeron line ups. This is the first time that Intel is upgrading every category of its consumer CPU lineup all at once. 10 of Intel’s new Core chips run at 15W and the remaining 4 at 28W. The 28W processors use Graphics 6100 GPU while the 15W chips will have HD Graphics 5500 or 6000 GPU.

Along with this, Intel also unveiled ‘Cherry Trail’ the next gen 14nm processor for tablets. Cherry Trail features a 64-bit chipset offering Intel Generation 8-LP GPU, Intel modem and Cat. 6 LTE (up to 300Mbps), RealSense for 3D imaging, and face and fingerprint unlocking. Cherry Trail chips have started shipping and new products incorporating them will become available in the first half of 2015.

Intel’s new Broadwell chips are also now shipping but the bigger 28W ones with new Iris Graphics 6100 will start shipping by the end of the first quarter.

Source Intel

Via GSMArena

Intel introduces 5th Gen 14nm ‘Broadwell’ Core Processors offering improved graphics and battery life

TAG Heuer going in for Partnerships and Acquisitions to build its own Smartwatch

In view of the growing popularity of smartwatches, traditional watchmakers are also getting into this field. TAG Heuer had recently announced plans to come out with its own smartwatch. The Swiss luxury watchmaker is going ahead with its plans for the smartwatch that will directly take on Apple Watch and other smartwatches.

Earlier, Jean-Claude Biver, interim chief executive of TAG Heuer had made some dismissive remarks about Apple Watch but he later admitted that he might have underestimated the attraction smartwatches had for people. He said that he had now changed his mind about smart gadgets. Biver also said that in the 4 months since the project was started, the company has begun negotiations for several partnerships and was thinking of making some acquisitions too.

Nothing has been finalized yet but according to rumors, TAG Heuer is working with Intel for providing the chipset to power its smartwatch. Rumors also say that the watch’s operating system would be Google’s Android. However, nothing is clear yet.

TAG Heuer wants to retain all the mechanical functions that form an integral part of its wristwatches and will add the necessary sensors and other components that are needed to make the watch ‘smart’ i.e. to monitor distance walked, steps taken, heart rate measurement and other parameters.

TAG Heuer wants to create a unique quality product that will be different from other smartwatches in the market and will refrain from making any announcement unless and until they have a sure shot product on their hands. The TAG Heuer smartwatch is expected to be launched somewhere in late 2015. The Apple Watch with which it wants to compete is launching in early 2015.

 

Via Redmond Pie

TAG Heuer going in for Partnerships and Acquisitions to build its own Smartwatch

Product Review: Dell Venue 8 7000

Dell has previewed its latest product, Dell Venue 8 7000 at Intel Developer Forum. It boasts as one of the thinnest tablet that is currently available in the market with 8.4 inch display and 6mm thickness. The bottom and side bezels are thin but the top panel is thick to house a large, front-facing camera and provide a place to grip the tablet. The back part is a subtle gray colour which we do not know what the material that it was made from yet.

Intel to Power More than 130 Tablets this Year

We all know that Intel has a great desire to be in tablet market. This was evident by Intel’s recent partnership with Chinese chip manufacturer Rockchip. The company is claiming that its Atom Processor is to power over 130 tablets this year. These tablets would be for both Windows as well as Android. This is a huge leap for Intel which is by far a frontrunner in PC processor market. As until now apart from PCs, Intel’s processor have not made its way in to many tablets or smartphones.

This major announcement was made by Intel President Renee James at Computex 2014. She said “Innovation waits for nobody, and stops for nothing”. According to her Intel tech would step up on manufacturing smaller chips and “Internet Things”. The company also announced a variety of other things at Computex, including a quad-core chip with each processing unit running at 4GHz. It also made the first phone call using a phone powered by SoFIA–a design that uses in-house Intel processing but is manufactured by outside foundries.

After the departure of Nvidia from tablet space, Intel’s entry would give a new push to this market. Qualcomm is the leading manufacturer of tablet SoC’s followed by Mediatek. So, Intel launching over 130 tablets would add a major player in tablet market.  The target of Intel this year is having upto 40 million of its chipsets running of various devices. As Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said, “I’m not giving up on the phone and the tablet space”. This goal seems to be realistic as it is rumored that next Nexus tablet is set to run Intel SoC.

Now it is quite interesting to see where this new class of tablet chipset will take the company. For years Intel has dominated the PC and Laptop processor market and only time will tell if it is able to do the same in tablet and smartphone world.

Intel to Power More than 130 Tablets this Year