Tuesday, February 09, 2010

ATI Radeon HD 5570 fills the last remaining gap in DirectX 11 empire

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/ati-radeon-hd-5570-fills-the-last-remaining-gap-in-directx-11-em/

ATI seems to be so enamored with its 40nm DirectX 11 Evergreen chips that at this point it's bringing out new graphics cards just to remind us of how awesome its technology is. Slotting in between the $100 HD 5670 and $50 HD 5450, the new Radeon HD 5570 will predictably retail at around $75 to $80, with up to 1GB of onboard GDDR3, a 650MHz core clock speed, and a thrifty 43W power budget under full load. Reviewers were big fans of its performance relative to the HD 5450 -- nearly doubling it in some cases -- but still struggled to recommend this as a better value for gamers than the only marginally more expensive HD 5670. Then again, the low profile card, single-slot cooler, and minimal power requirements make the 5570 an absolute gem for HTPC or SFF setups, so whether you're in that particular market or just curious, we recommend you check out the full reviews below.

Read - HotHardware
Read - AnandTech
Read - HardOCP
Read - Legit Reviews

ATI Radeon HD 5570 fills the last remaining gap in DirectX 11 empire originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:32 AM

Samsung's first Bada phone with Super AMOLED to be announced on February 14th? Sure.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/samsungs-first-bada-phone-with-super-amoled-to-be-announced-on/

By now you're undoubtedly aware than Samsung has a new smartphone OS (Bada) and touchscreen technology (Super AMOLED) in the works. In this case, putting 2 and 2 together yields 14, a number that matches Samsung's February 14th press event at Mobile World Congress. How so? Well, first of all, Sammy is promoting the Samsung Unpacked teaser page from its Bada site. The ocean-themed teaser ("bada" means "ocean" in Korean) says, "on 2.14 a new mobile from Samsung is born. See it first in Barcelona." A quick look at the teaser site's source reveals the keywords "Bada," "smartphone," and "AMOLED." In other words, you can bet that Samsung will be unveiling a 3.3-inch, 800 x 480 pixel Super AMOLED (already rumored for a next week reveal) touchscreen Bada phone on February 14th.

P.S. The image above comes courtesy of GSM Arena. While the site won't say what the device is on the left it's clearly running Samsung's Bada UI and is likely AMOLED judging by those deep blacks. The display is also slightly smaller than the iPhone 3G's 3.5-inch display. Gee... what could it be?

Samsung's first Bada phone with Super AMOLED to be announced on February 14th? Sure. originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear  |  sourceSamsung Unpacked  | Email this | Comments

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Posted by Augustine at 11:32 AM

NVIDIA Optimus automates graphics switching, promises the best of both worlds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/nvidia-optimus-automates-graphics-switching-promises-the-best-o/

We've always thought switchable graphics made a lot of sense on laptops, and NVIDIA's new Optimus tech looks like it's going to bring it mainstream in a serious way -- there's no more manually toggling between the powerful discrete GPU and the power-saving integrated chip. More than just automatically switching off the discrete GPU when the laptop is unplugged, the idea is that you don't have to think about when you want to use the different graphics options: the software and hardware combo will take care of deciding which graphics processor is best for the application or content. For instance, launch Call of Duty 4 and the discrete GPU will power on, close out and start writing an e-mail and it will switch to the IGP. Sounds pretty simple, but under the hood its much more complicated as NVIDIA has moved to running the drivers for both graphics subsystems concurrently and removed the multiplexers under the hood. For more details on all the technical fixes hit the more coverage link.

Unsurprisingly, Intel hasn't been involved in these innovations, but NVIDIA says Optimus will work with Intel's new Core 2010 processors and the Pineview Atom platform, along with NVIDIA's GeForce 200M series, GeForce 300M series, next-gen GeForce M, and next-gen Ion GPUs. Speaking of Ion, NVIDIA wouldn't officially say what the next version will look like, but they confirmed it will be announced in March and use Optimus technology (we're pretty much assuming that it will combine the Pineview platform with a lower-end discrete GPU, like the previously hinted G310). The first Optimus-enabled laptops will hit at the end of this month courtesy of ASUS, and will include the UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv, N82Jv, and U30Jc. We've been playing around with the $849 UL50Vf, so hit the break for some early impressions and video of the new graphics technology.

Continue reading NVIDIA Optimus automates graphics switching, promises the best of both worlds

NVIDIA Optimus automates graphics switching, promises the best of both worlds originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:31 AM

Elecom introduces SDXC-compatible card reader, waits for you to afford SDXC cards

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/elecom-introduces-sdxc-compatible-card-reader-waits-for-you-to/

Panasonic's duo of SDXC cards should be shipping out this month, which means that you'll be needing a new card reader on the double. Of course, it's not like you're really about to pay upwards of $450 for 32GB of wicked fast Secure Digital storage (or $600 for the 64 gigger), but hey, it's hard to knock Elecom for being proactive. Said outfit has just released what looks to be the first multicard readers to openly support SDXC, with the MR-A001BK handling ten formats and the MR-A002 supporting a grand total of 32 -- some of which haven't been used regularly since Vikings ruled the north. Both are expected to ship in Japan later this month, with pricing set for ¥1,890 ($21) and ¥2,415 ($27) in order of mention.

Elecom introduces SDXC-compatible card reader, waits for you to afford SDXC cards originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Akihabara News  |  sourceElecom  | Email this | Comments

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Posted by Augustine at 11:31 AM

TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip, UWB and LTE are like 'hello?'

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/ti-stuffs-wifi-gps-bluetooth-and-fm-radios-on-a-single-chip-u/

Heads-up, kids -- Mobile World Congress is but days away from liftoff, and it looks like Texas Instruments will be there with a purpose. The company has today introduced what it's calling the "industry's first quad-radio single chip," which throws 802.11n, GPS, FM transmit / receive and Bluetooth radios onto a single 65-nanometer WiLink 7.0 solution. Purportedly, this device reduces costs by 30 percent, size by 50 percent and bragging rights by 894 percent. The chip is currently sampling to OEMs with undisclosed names, which could mean that a prototype phone or two will be taking advantage in Barcelona. Fingers crossed.

Continue reading TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip, UWB and LTE are like 'hello?'

TI stuffs WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and FM radios on a single chip, UWB and LTE are like 'hello?' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:31 AM

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