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Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OTA Rolling Out to Xperia J (ST26i)

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by Jason Bracey on
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Great news for Sony Xperia J owners out there! Like its brothers, the Xperia T/TL (LT30p, LT30at, LT30z) and Xperia V (LT25i), the Xperia J (ST26i) will finally see the much anticipated Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OTA update rolling out to handsets.

This is amazing in itself since the Xperia J only has a single-core CPU and 512 MB of RAM. The kernel version is 3.4 and the firmware is 11.2.A.0.21.

Rumor has it that the Xperia TX (LT29i) will be seeing its update to 4.1.2 Jelly Bean goodness here in the next couple of weeks. So fear not Sony fans, the company is working hard to ensure their Xperia handsets stay up-to-date in an ever-changing mobile market, making it that much easier to live with signing that two year service commitment…mmm, okay, maybe just a little easier anyway.

Source: XPERIA Blog

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 200 and 400 for entry level phones

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by Jared Peters on
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Today, Qualcomm made their entry level Snapdragon processors official, and listed off some pretty impressive specs for what’s going to be considered “budget phone” in the next few months. The Snapdragon 200 series is the weaker of the two, offering quad A5 CPUs at up to 1.4 GHz per core, Adreno 203 GPU, and UMTS and CDMA support. The 200 series is listed as being balanced for cost and performance and will provide excellent battery life and speed for entry level phones.

The 400 series is the big brother of the two, and comes in two variants; Dual Krait CPUs running at up to 1.7GHz per core, or a quad A7 CPU at 1.4 GHz per core. It’s paired with the Adreno 305 GPU, Miracast wireless display technology, a slew of different modem options, and LPDDR2 or LPDDR3 RAM, which will drastically improve processor performance. When this generation’s budget processors are quad-core, I think it’s safe to say that the devices to be released in 2013 are going to be pretty phenomenal.

source: Qualcomm

Netgear updates Push2TV PTV3000 device to support Android devices, squelch bugs

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by Jeff Causey on
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Last month at CES 2013 we got to spend some time with Netgear’s Push2TV display adapter, the Netgear PTV3000, checking out the Miracasting capabilities using a Samsung Galaxy S III. As impressed as we were with the possibilities of pushing the display from an Android device to a big screen TV, Netgear still had some work to do to address some issues and expand the list of compatible devices. Those efforts took a major step today with a new update released by Netgear. Support for several devices has been incorporated into the PTV3000, including the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, the LG Optimus G, the LG Nexus 4, and some Sony Xperia devices running Android 4.0.4 and above.

If you have one of the devices, hit the break for the full list of improvements and instructions for updating the firmware. » Read the rest

Hands on with the Netgear Push 2 TV with Miracast [Video]

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by Roy Alugbue on
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As we see more and more of our devices get fitted with Miracast capabilties, we are seeing more and more accessories like the Netgear Push 2 TV display adapter find its way into the limelight. Using a trusty ol’ Galaxy S III smartphone, launching the All Share Cast widget and pairing the device with the adapter— users are able to display any and all content from the smartphone’s screen right onto the television’s screen via WiFi.

I know you’re all itching to see the capability in order to believe it, so head on past the break to see just a tease of what Miracast can do for your Miracast-enabled devices.

 

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Qualcomm Announces New Snapdragon Chips, Highlights Clear Intention To Trump The Competition… Again

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by Roy Alugbue on
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Not intent on letting NVIDIA grab all the attention here at CES, Qualcomm has introduced a pair of new processors called the Snapdragon 600 and 800 series. First off the bat, the 600 models will feature some incredible specs including a quad-core Krait 300 CPU at speeds up to a whopping 1.9GHz, an Adreno 320 GPU and will offer up to 40% better performance than the Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. Sure the 600 series chips sound like they’ll be beastly as heck— but that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Qualcomm.  The 800 models will take specs a step further and include a quad-core Krait 400 CPU at speeds up to a sizzling 2.3GHz, an Adreno 330 GPU, UltraHD resolution support (4096 × 2304), full support for DTS-HD, Dolby Digital Plus and 7.1 surround sound and wait for it— up to 75% better performance than the Snapdragon S4 Pro chip. Incredible.

Just when you think the Snapdragon S4 Pro reaches the pinnacle— Qualcomm comes out of the blue and ups the ante yet again. The Snapdragon 600 series of chips are expected to be available in devices by Q2 of this year, while we’ll see Snapdragon 800 series are expected to be available by the year’s end. Hopefully you all can contain yourselves— but in the meantime, check out the presser after you hit the break. Oh and don’t forget to check out our continuous coverage of CES by clicking here.

» Read the rest

Hands on with the ASUS Qube Google TV [Video]

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by Robert Nazarian on
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As we expected, ASUS unveiled the Qube Google TV box. It’s not only shaped like a cube, but the UI is cube-like. It’s the first Google TV product that has Version 3 of the software, which give you voice support and Google Primetime. It seems to be feature-rich with a nice remote and DLNA, but it appears to lack Miracast. It will be available in February for $129. Hit the break for the hands on.

» Read the rest

LG Introduces New Cinema 3D TVs Ahead Of CES, Highlights Full NFC Capabilities In The Process

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by Roy Alugbue on
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LG hasn’t just been focused on developing awesome smartphones, but it’s also been focused on developing awesome TV sets as well. LG has unofficially introduced its 2013 Cinema 3D TV lineup ahead of CES next week. The biggest noteworthy aspect of the new TVs is the fact that they will arrive with full NFC capabilities emphasizing LG’s “Tag On” technology– allowing users of the TVs to pair the TV sets with their NFC-enabled smartphones using an NFC sticker and effectively streaming content with minimal, if any issues. Additional features of the new TV sets includes things like a faster CPU processor, a new Magic Remote which is a motion-sensing pointer and voice-controlled device that features Miracast and of course, higher-end models featuring a near bezel-less design.

We know you’re all itching for some more details and shots of the TVs up close, so be sure to stick around with us next week at CES to get all the details and shots you can handle.

source: Pocket-lint

Broadcom Announces New SoC For Budget Devices, Offers Full HSPA+ And Jelly Bean Support

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by Roy Alugbue on
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Sure we’ve seen some other chipmakers working on a few budget processors for the masses recently, but other manufacturers seem to have their sights set on the ever-growing budget market as well. And so following its earlier onslaught of mobile processors, Broadcom recently announced its BCM21664T chip, which is a specialized SoC featuring a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, a VideoCore GPU which can support 720P video recording and full 1080P video playback. The chipset is also optimized for faux-g HSPA+ technology and should be able to haul in downstream speeds of up to 21.1Mbps and upstream speeds of up to 5.8Mbps. Oh and best of all— Broadcom’s new SoC is specially optimized for Jelly Bean— specifically the newest Jelly Bean version. Very exciting news indeed.

So now that the chipset has been announced, we’re sure that many of you are eagerly awaiting the development of new budget-level devices featuring Jelly Bean running the show. Hopefully we don’t need to wait too long to see the first devices start to trickle down.

Hit the break the see Broadcom’s full presser.

 

» Read the rest

Google to take on Apple’s AirPlay, hopes to move the technology forward

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by Sean Stewart on
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Google is apparently working on an alternative to AirPlay, and we’re not referring to Miracast either. We’ve discussed Miracast recently, and media streamers aren’t really anything new, however Google is looking to move this technology forward by bypassing the ‘external box’ part and solely use the device in hand coupled with a TV, or even a laptop. The ultimate idea is to convince third party manufacturers that Google’s version is the way of the future and to embed most devices with their technology, foregoing other attempts such as DLNA, AllShare, and others.

While Miracast and others are simply a screen sharing application, Google’s version will purportedly support data flow in both directions, enabling a sweet second screen functionality for the user. Such applications could include miscellaneous information about a movie you’re watching, or it could have functional ability with a game you’re playing. The possibilities are truly endless. What are your thoughts on this attempt from Google?

source:  GigaOm

Google Nexus 4 Smartphone Is The Only Nexus Device To Currently Support Miracast At This Time

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by Roy Alugbue on
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While we know that the new Nexus 4 will support the coveted Miracast feature thanks to Android 4.2, it appears that the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 will each not support Miracast, despite operating on Android 4.2 as well. There seems to have been a major discussion on a Google Forum on whether or not the tablets would feature Miracast and while some users reported it worked and others didn’t— a user by the name of Eth@n took some time to confirm the following:

 

“Just wanted to confirm that Nexus 4 is currently our only Nexus device that works with Miracast wireless display on Android 4.2. There was a reference to wireless display on our Help site for Nexus 10, but we’ve since removed that reference. Our apologies for any confusion that may have caused.”

 

So there you have it— don’t try looking for Miracast for now— unless of course, you have a Nexus 4. Let’s see how Google handles this moving forward and wait for a possible update which should enable the feature for the rest of the Nexus devices out there.

source: Google Product Forums

 

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