Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, April 26, 2010

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 4-way SLI exemplifies law of diminishing returns

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/nvidia-geforce-gtx-480-4-way-sli-exemplifies-law-of-diminishing/

What's better than three monstrous GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards in a 3-way SLI configuration? How about four... is what we'd like to say, if Hardware.info hadn't just discovered that said setup is a huge waste of cash. With a full four GTX 480 cards buckled into an X58 Classified 4-Way SLI motherboard plus a Core i7-980X processor and a massive 1.5 kilowatt power supply to squeeze the juice, the €4,064 ($5,440) box still lost to a similarly configured 3-way rig in a wide variety of benchmarks. You could argue the system was CPU-limited, but Hardware.info used the fastest consumer chip available -- so it seems there's no place in today's market (keyword: today) for GTX 480 4-way SLI. Except, of course, for droolworthy snapshots like the above.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 4-way SLI exemplifies law of diminishing returns originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Confirmed: Droid Incredible's multitouch support is better than the Nexus One's

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/confirmed-droid-incredibles-multitouch-support-is-better-than/

You might recall that fascinating video a while back showing the Nexus One's touch sensor getting all discombobulated when the tester's multitouch fingerwork started to get a little too fancy, and now, Android Central has confirmed that Verizon's Droid Incredible doesn't suffer the same fate -- but why is that, exactly? Android and Me is reporting that the Droid Incredible and EVO 4G both employ an Atmel maXTouch sensor with unlimited touch support -- a relatively new product launched in late '09 -- whereas the Nexus One is using Synaptics' older ClearPad 2000, which was designed to top out with simple two-finger gestures like pinch zoom. The upshot? Complicated multitouch games might end up being less playable (or downright unusable) on the Nexus One, but the silver lining is that HTC's gone ahead and rolled out better components for its latest round of devices that should prevent this from being a problem going forward. Follow the break for Android Central's video of the Droid Incredible multitouching circles around the Nexus One -- figuratively speaking, of course.

Continue reading Confirmed: Droid Incredible's multitouch support is better than the Nexus One's

Confirmed: Droid Incredible's multitouch support is better than the Nexus One's originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google updates Nexus One page, tells Verizon customers to get a Droid Incredible instead

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/google-updates-nexus-one-page-tells-verizon-customers-to-get-a/

Now this, this is all kinds of silly. Google has been busy updating its phone sales site, and the latest word for Verizon Wireless subscribers encourages them to look at the "similarly feature-packed" cousin of the Nexus One, the Incredible. Importantly, what's missing from the new wording is the "coming soon" tag, suggesting that for all intents and purposes the Nexus has been obviated by the arrival of the Incredible. In a separate blog post updating us on carrier partnerships, Google again reiterates its mini-advert for the new HTC phone on Verizon while keeping mum about the Nexus One's future. A true CDMA variant of le superphone should still be coming wearing Sprint regalia, but it's disappointing to see Google use such doublespeak techniques. Is the Verizon Nexus canceled or not?

Google updates Nexus One page, tells Verizon customers to get a Droid Incredible instead originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Bold 9650 announced, targets Tour owners' big complaints

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/blackberry-bold-9650-announced-targets-tour-owners-big-complai/

RIM has a longstanding track record of refining its hardware with near-surgical precision -- from one generation of BlackBerry to the next, you almost always see a very careful, deliberate evolution, from the Storm2's revamped SurePress tech to the Bold 9700's optical pad and countless examples in between. "Evolution" is exactly how we'd describe the CDMA- and GSM-equipped Bold 9650, the Tour's spiritual successor that ditches the old name to join forces with the remainder of the Bold line. Dimensionally, the Bold 9650 is a dead ringer for the Tour -- it's still 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.56 inches -- but it packs on two-tenths of an ounce worth of weight in exchange for oft-requested WiFi support and an extra 256MB of internal storage (it's now up to 512MB total). The other big difference, of course, is the replacement of the dodgy trackball with an optical pad, continuing a trend that has now permeated throughout virtually all of RIM's lineup. Look for the Bold 9650 to hit American carriers -- presumably both Verizon and Sprint -- in May. Follow the break for a second shot and RIM's full press release!

Continue reading BlackBerry Bold 9650 announced, targets Tour owners' big complaints

BlackBerry Bold 9650 announced, targets Tour owners' big complaints originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Pearl 3G revealed: two keypad styles and 802.11n WiFi

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/blackberry-pearl-3g-revealed-two-keypad-styles-and-802-11n-wifi/

As smartphones go, the original BlackBerry Pearl 8100 series' longevity is nothing short of astounding -- with some minor tweaks, the phone has lasted essentially unchanged for well over three years. Needless to say, it's time for the granddaddy of consumer-grade BlackBerrys to start collecting pension, so it's an awfully good thing that RIM has chosen its WES conference this week to announce the all-new Pearl 3G. Rumored as the Pearl 9100, the phone becomes RIM's very first with 802.11n WiFi support (in addition to 802.11b and g, naturally) and features a 3.2 megapixel camera, 256MB of internal storage with microSD expansion up to 32GB, GPS, triband HSDPA with quadband GSM / EDGE, and a 360 x 400 display. RIM is making the Pearl 3G available in "several lustrous colors" and two different keypad configurations -- numeric 14-key and the more traditional SurePress 20-key -- though there's no indication that the rumored QWERTY version will make it to retail (at least, not yet) or that the company intends for users to be able to swap modules themselves. Expect the phone to launch with "various carriers" in May -- and considering that they've got both AWS and 850 / 1900MHz 3G versions in the mix, we'd expect to see it launch on AT&T and T-Mobile alike. Follow the break for RIM's full press release.

Continue reading BlackBerry Pearl 3G revealed: two keypad styles and 802.11n WiFi

BlackBerry Pearl 3G revealed: two keypad styles and 802.11n WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:30:! 00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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