Motorola RAZR V goes on sale at Bell, gives Canadians a thin slice of Ice Cream Sandwich

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/03/motorola-razr-v-goes-on-sale-at-bell/

Bell's version of the Motorola RAZR V might not be the media darling that is the Atrix HD, but that shouldn't dampen the interest for Canadians that can at last buy what's potentially a slick deal for an Android 4.0 phone. For $30 on a 3-year contract, or $400 contract-free, the carrier is offering an arguably improved version of the late 2011 RAZR (Droid RAZR for Yankees). Although it bulks up slightly to a third of an inch thick, it's still a skinny, Kevlar-clad wedge. The primary upgrade outside of the OS is a swap-out of that frankly mediocre Super AMOLED screen of the original RAZR smartphone for a much nicer ColorBoost LCD -- sorry, ColourBoost. Otherwise, you're getting the familiar 1.2GHz processor, 14.4Mbps HSPA+ data and 8-megapixel rear camera, although Motorola has shaved the built-in storage to 4GB to keep the costs down. We'd still be tempted to snag the Galaxy Nexus across the aisle to get us a taste of Jelly Bean for the same money, but Canucks with a penchant for Smart Actions now have an option outside of Rogers to get their fix.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola RAZR V goes on sale at Bell, gives Canadians a thin slice of Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/03/seagate-completes-purchase-lacie/

The final price may end up being more than the initially proposed $186 million, but Seagate has successfully acquired a controlling share of LaCie stocks. The provisional price of €4.05 per share could increase to €4.17 if Seagate manages to accumulate 95 percent of the company's stocks in the next six months. As of now, however, it hold just shy of 65 percent, enough to take control of the French manufacturer. With LaCie and its valuable consumer business under its belt and Samsung's SSD expertise, the move to reject a Western Digital take over is looking better and better. After all, consumer choice is the engine of capitalism and now Seagate has more than enough ammunition to take on WD and its Hitachi properties. Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill

Filed under: Storage

Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill originally appeared on Engadget on F! ri, 03 A ug 2012 23:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon-branded Galaxy S III wireless charging kit starts showing up at retail stores

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/04/verizon-samsung-galaxy-s3-wireless-charging-kit/

Back when we met the Galaxy S III for the very first time, Samsung promised a wireless charging solution would be coming soon to its sleek and potent slab. Unfortunately, Sammy's power-boosting companion's been hit by hapless delays that have prevented it from seeing the light of day. Now, thanks to a few recent shots from Phone Arena, it looks like at least some S3 owners could see a bundle in the near future, albeit not the official one from the Korean outfit. According to the site's kind tipster, Verizon's allegedly pricing the charging station at $50, while the rear case is expected to be around $40 -- making it nearly $90 for the entire kit. Naturally, this could change at any given moment, but hey, at least we know it's out there.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Wireless

Verizon-branded Galaxy S III wireless charging kit starts showing up at retail stores originally appeared on Enga! dget on Sat, 04 Aug 2012 00:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBM pushing System z, Power7+ chips as high as 5.5GHz, mainframes get mightier

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/04/ibm-pushing-system-z-power7-chips-as-high-as-5-5ghz/

Ten-core, 2.4GHz Xeons? Pshaw. IBM is used to the kind of clock speeds and brute force power that lead to Europe-dominating supercomputers. Big Blue has no intentions of letting its guard down when it unveils its next generation processors at the upcoming Hot Chips conference: the company is teasing that the "zNext" chip at the heart of a future System z mainframe will ramp up to 5.5GHz -- that's faster than the still-speedy 5.2GHz z196 that has led IBM's pack since 2010. For those who don't need quite that big a sledgehammer, the technology veteran is hinting that its upcoming Power7+ processors will be up to 20 percent faster than the long-serving Power7, whose current 4.14GHz peak clock rate may seem quaint. We'll know just how much those extra cycles mean when IBM takes to the conference podium on August 29th, but it's safe to say that our databases and large-scale simulations won't know what hit them.

Filed under: Desktops

IBM pushing System z, Power7+ chips as high as 5.5GHz, mainfra! mes get mightier originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Aug 2012 02:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Wi-Fi NEX Camera Would Be Fine and All But Sony Needs to Chill Out [Rumors]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5931550/a--wi+fi-nex-camera-would-be-fine-and-all-but-sony-needs-to-chill-out

A purported leak reported by Sony Alpha Rumors has outed the latest incarnation of its Sony's mid-range mirroless, interchangeable-lens camera beast, the NEX-5N. Well, it's two cameras really; the Sony NEX-5R and Sony NEX-6 will supposedly be announced in September.

The cameras were discovered on the product listing of an Indonesian company. According to Sony Alpha Rumor's reports, the cameras will be Wi-Fi enabled much like Samsung's latest of mirrorless cameras. The NEX-5R will supposedly have the same vanity-friendly 180-degree tilting screen that's good for taking self-portraits. The NEX-6 looks to be a new addition to the line. It will supposedly be a cheaper version of the $1300 NEX-7 with a lower-resolution electronic viewfinder.

We're fond of Sony's NEX camers. At $600 with a lens, the fantastic NEX-F3 (pictured above) is one of the best camera deals out there—just like the NEX-C3 a year before and the NEX-3 a year before that. Yup, Sony has been upgrading its mirrorless line-up every single year. And now it's apparently adding a fourth camera? After a while these little iterations and different version almost start to feel like product spam. Why not save the bitsy upgrades for a monster refresh? Do we need so many concurrent versions of basically the same thing? As we've seen with companies like Nikon and Canon, sometimes spacing upgrades out gives consumers new products that actually have appreciable differences from their predecessors. But, hey, as long as Sony's cameras keep kicking butt, we've got no right to complain. [Postel.go via The Verge via Sony Alpha Rumors]

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