NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet With LTE Available For Pre-Order Today

NVIDIA has finally put the LTE SHIELD Tablet up for pre-order. When the tablet first came out we were impressed with it, but there were questions about it too. Most notably, we didn’t know when the LTE version was going to be released into the wild. Today we found out. NVIDIA has it up on their website for pre-order and it will begin shipping on September 30. Some retailers should have it on that date as well.

The LTE version of the SHIELD Tablet is pretty much identical to the WiFi version, with the addition of an LTE compatible cellular radio. The internal storage has been increased from 16GB to 32GB as well. That’s a welcome addition. You also still have a micro SD card slot so you can expand the storage if 32GB isn’t enough for your gaming needs.

NVIDIA is also dropping some new games on us to coincide with the release of the new LTE SHIELD Tablet. Three games, to be exact: Broadsword, Beach Buggy Racing, and Bombsquad. Broadsword looks like your typical MMORPG. Beach Buggy Racing is just what it sounds like: racing, on the beach, in a buggy. You can play multiplayer mode with friends that are on the same local connection as you with that one. Bombsquad is another local multiplayer game featuring capture-the-flag and other party-type mini-games. All three of those should be up on the Google Play Store if you want to give them a shot on your WiFi SHIELD Tablet.

The LTE variant of the tablet supports LTE bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17, and 20. It’s certified on AT&T in the US, and it should work just fine on T-Mobile as well. The device comes SIM-unlocked so you can pop your SIM card in it and use it wherever you like. It also supports HSPA+ bands 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8. AT&T is even offering a $100 bill credit if you activate your LTE SHIELD Tablet on their network with a new two-year contract. Of course, if you just prefer WiFi, then you can go ahead and grab one from Amazon right now.

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Sony’s Budget Xperia E3 Smartphone Launches In India

Sony unveiled three smartphones at this year’s IFA in Berlin. Two high-end ones most people probably know about, Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact and the budget Xperia E3. This device features a 4.5-inch IPS display 854 x 480 in resolution along with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage (expandable via MicroSD card up to 32GB). Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz is powering this thing which comes with Adreno 305 GPU for graphics processing. 5-megapixel camera is located at the back of this device while it also has a front-facing shooter which sports VGA resolution. Xperia E3 comes with a non-removable 2330mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat pre-installed with Sony’s very own UI on top of it.

The device has launched in India for those interested. It is available in both single-SIM and dual-SIM variants. The former will cost you Rs. 11,790 ($194) while the latter one is priced at Rs. 12,790 ($210). These devices are available in black and white color variants. Sony Xperia E3 is a budget device, no doubt about it. It’s specifications are not exactly something that would attract a hardcore smartphone user, but it will do the job. Snapdragon 400 is a great processor and this device can easily be considered Moto G’s competition for this market segment, although I believe Moto G will sell better than Sony’s offering for a bunch of reasons. Many people don’t like the desing of this handset all that much, I have to say I’m not the fan of those extremely thick bezels either, Sony should have done better when that is concerned. This is just my honest opinion though, of course.

What do you think about this device, is it something you’d buy or recommend someone else buy? Do you consider those bezels to be too thick as well? Interesting enough, this device is up for sale only a day after Google announced the first batch of Android One devices in that very same country. Even those Android One devices could be considered a direct competitor to this device and I actually believe they’re a better buy and almost half the price of this device.

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Google Nexus 9: Will it be 64-bit?

That’s pretty much confirmed, that it will be 64-bit. Especially when NVIDIA leaked out that they are working with HTC and Google on the Nexus 9 which will feature the Tegra K1 processor inside. So it’ll be 64-bit, but we likely won’t see much in terms of speed changes. Why? Because the Nexus 9 more than likely won’t have 4GB of RAM. I don’t see Google jumping from 2GB to 4GB of RAM, but it can be done. And Samsung is already mass manufacturing 4GB of RAM modules for mobile devices – which made it odd that the Galaxy Note 4 didn’t have 4GB of RAM.

Android L, which will likely launch on the Nexus 9, is going to be 64-bit and now the Nexus 9 will have the correct hardware to support it, which is a big deal I think. The NVIDIA Tegra K1 is also a big deal for gamers. As you’ll get all kinds of amazing graphics and such for gaming on Android. So I fully expect that Google will promote this as a gaming device, if they don’t, I’d be very surprised.

The Nexus 9 is shaping up to be a pretty interesting tablet from Google and HTC (HTC is also rumored to be launching a few more tablets this year). I’m definitely looking forward to it. How about the rest of you?

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Google Nexus 6 / X: Will it be 64-bit?

This is kind of a no-brainer, but still needs to be talked about. While Google did say that Android L will be 64-bit, that doesn’t mean that the Nexus 6 will be 64-bit. As we don’t have many processors available right now that are 64-bit. Right now there’s the Tegra K1 from NVIDIA, and a few Qualcomm processors that won’t be available until next year, the Snapdragon 808 and 810. Samsung also has a few Exynos processors too, but those usually don’t have LTE which wouldn’t be good for the US and other LTE markets.

We’re looking at the Snapdragon 801 or the 805 being in the Nexus 6, which means we may not have complete 64-bit architecture on the Nexus 6. The software will be ready but the hardware won’t be, unfortunately. It would still be interesting to see Google launch a 64-bit OS on a smartphone that is not 64-bit. However, companies have done stuff like that before.

The Nexus 6 will still likely be a beast, and I don’t think we really need 64-bit just yet. Not obviously we want it, but I don’t think it’s really needed just yet. Especially when phones are still packing in 2GB of RAM and not 4GB of RAM. 64-bit architecture doesn’t really make a difference until you get to 4GB of RAM, so maybe we’ll see that in the near future.

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Qualcomm buy Imaging Software Specialist Euvision

Qualcomm have announced the acquisition of Euvision Technologies, an image recognition specialist, which the US giant may be planning to bolster its image and visual recognition services. Euvision’s current flagship product is called Impala, which may be used both for fun and also in a much grander sense: examples given including mining for images by large businesses or Government agencies such as Interpol. Social networks are interested in such software because it allows them to thread a balance between engaging and protecting users of their services, for example by excluding nudity, violence and similar images from a social media website. Euvision state that they invented their own computer vision algorithms encompassing the scientific publications’ image libraries so as to improve how the software works. The company have also proven their software works on images that have never been viewed before; the system is less reliant on being trained by similar images. They are keen to point out that their software sees far beyond car registration plates and faces but can differentiate between ID cards and real images, bank notes, common application screenshots, sunsets, beaches, different animals. Euvision’s core software product, Impala, is built in part on Qualcomm’s Multicore Asychronous Runtime Environment (MARE), which is designed to speed up how the application runs on multicore processors.

Why would Qualcomm be interested in a specialist image recognition tool? The move may be driven by the rise of good quality cameras mounted on increasingly more powerful smartphones. We’ve seen an explosion of photographs being taken and shared amongst friends. There are signs that users are struggling to edit and categorise these images, so perhaps the chipmaker is planning on automating this process. Image recognition has been an important area for Google and Facebook, which have also been buying up technology and talent in this arena. And let’s not forget that Qualcomm have given the Snapdragon 805 more of a focus on imaging with greater support for more and higher quality cameras. The Snapdragon included depth-of-field processing, which of course HTC makes special use of with the M8’s dual camera set up.

It seems the days of an equipment manufacturer putting any old 5 MP camera on the back of even a mid-range smartphone are long past us. It’s exciting to see the manufacturers coming up with ingenious ways to utilise the technology inside the handsets. I suspect that Qualcomm’s acquisition won’t be visibly noticed for another year or so, but how excited are you for seeing the new visual technology working on a smartphone or tablet near you?

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Another day another Samsung commercial, this time Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard get the lead

After last week’s Galaxy Note 4 commercials mocking the iPhone 6, Samsung is turning their attention to the Galaxy Tab S. This one features both Kristen Bell and her husband Dax Shepard, and it shows you just how much they love their Samsung tabs. In other words……they just can’t live without them. Check it out after the break, and you can also read our review here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Come comment on this article: Another day another Samsung commercial, this time Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard get the lead

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New ad: Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard just love the Galaxy Tab S

Samsung released no fewer than seven ads following the release of the larger iPhones last week. After all the jabs at Apple, it’s good to see the Korean company focusing on its own products in its newest commercial.

The 90 second clip stars Hollywood couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, who ostensibly are big fans of Samsung’s Tab S series of AMOLED tablets. From making plans for the day on a lazy morning, to playing Asphalt 8 racing on the couch, to skipping some fancy soiree for a movie, Dax and Kristen are just your normal average couple with an unhealthy obsession for Samsung tablets.

What do you think of this new clip?

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