AMD unveils Opteron 6300, hopes to put servers in a Piledriver

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/05/amd-unveils-opteron-6300-hopes-to-put-servers-in-a-piledriver/

AMD's advantage these days most often rests in datacenters that thrive on the chip designer's love of many-core processors, so it was almost surprising that the company brought its Piledriver architecture to the mainstream before turning to the server room. It's closing that gap now that the Opteron 6300 is here. The sequel to the 6200 fits into the same sockets and consumes the same energy as its ancestor, but speeds ahead through Piledriver's newer layout and instructions -- if you believe AMD, as much as 24 percent faster in one performance test, 40 percent in performance per watt and (naturally) a better deal for the money than Intel's Xeon. Whether that's true or just marketing bluster, there's a wide spread of chips that range from a quad-core, 3.5GHz example to a 16-core, 2.8GHz beast for massively parallel tasks. Cray, Dell, HP and others plan to boost their servers before long, although the surest proof of the 6300's success from our perspective may be that everything in the bacrkoom runs just as smoothly as it did yesterday.

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Filed under: Desktops, AMD

AMD unve! ils Opte ron 6300, hopes to put servers in a Piledriver originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus 4 review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/

Movie sequels often don't live up to the hype of the original blockbuster, but the same isn't always true of smartphones -- on the contrary, they typically get even better. The Nexus lineup, initially thought of as a "playground" for Android developers to test their apps on, has continually gotten better at its craft (and popularity). Not only that, it's picking up momentum: in less than five months, Google has crafted two Nexus tablets as well as its latest and greatest smartphone known as the Nexus 4, and the attractively priced devices are now facing more interest than they ever have before.

The Nexus 4 is a veritable dreamboat when it comes to looks and specs. It's a smooth, elegant-looking device that comes with a large, 4.7-inch, HD display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and plenty of other appealing components. It exhibits a lot of commonalities to LG's current flagship, the Optimus G. And for a starting price of $299 unlocked, it's sure to attract a whole new demographic that until recently had never even heard of a Nexus. But is this a flagship smartphone that everyone will want to buy, or should the fourth-generation offering just be another target of developers' envy? Stay tuned past the break to find out.

Gallery: Google Nexus 4 review

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, LG

Nexus 4 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus 10 review

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-10-review/

When Google unleashed the Nexus 7 upon us earlier this summer we were caught completely off-guard. A $200 tablet that was legitimately good in every regard? It was unheard of at the time, and even five months later it's still a really nice slate. Now it has a big brother, the Nexus 10, this time coming courtesy of Samsung. At $399 it arrives with less fanfare and a higher price, but it also comes with a very distinctive selling point: a stratospherically high resolution.

This 10.1-inch panel has an eye-watering 2,560 x 1,600 resolution -- the very same as the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display but in a much smaller package. Is Google's second reference tablet the ultimate Android 10-incher at a bargain price, or is it simply another big tablet with a lot of pixels? Your answer awaits after the break.

Gallery: Nexus 10 review

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Filed under: Tablets, Samsung, Google

Nexus 10 review originally appeared on ! Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google explains how its Android 4.2 malware scanner guards the side door

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/android-malware-scanner/

Sideloading apps on Android implies a whole set of security holes, but the new malware scanner included in Android 4.2 could provide a much-needed plug. Talking to Computerworld, Android VP of Engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer revealed that Google's been analyzing APKs that crop up online, regardless of whether they're official market apps or not, in order to maintain a growing database of good and bad code. The scanner -- shown above -- then works in a similar way to the Bouncer on the front gate, comparing all the apps on your phone to that database. The new sentry helps Google build upon other Android 4.2 security features such as an improved app permission screen and a block against apps sending premium SMS messages in the background. On the other hand, some might say that collecting samples of existing malware will never be as powerful as truly understanding its DNA.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Google

Google explains how its Android 4.2 malware scanner guards the side door originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Late 2012 iPad carries new PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics, muscles ahead in video speed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/ipad-4th-generation-found-carrying-new-powervr-sgx-554mp4-gpu/

It's well established that the A6X chip in the fourth-generation iPad is about twice as fast as its predecessor in pure number crunching, but how about those reportedly doubled graphics amid some increasingly fierce competition? Thanks to some help from Kishonti, AnandTech has learned that Apple may still have an ace up its sleeve. The new tablet carries a new, quad-core PowerVR SGX554MP4 with twice the raw potential as the already quick 543MP4 graphics in the A5X. While that doesn't always lead to a literal doubling of 3D performance, it unambiguously puts the new new iPad on top in GLBenchmark, with even the imminent Nexus 10's new Mali-T604 video left in the middle of a large pack. We're somewhat surprised when the Samsung-made Nexus is using a brand new chip architecture that many had thought would represent a fundamental leap in speed. Visuals aren't the only factors in buying tablets, so take the results with the appropriate grains of salt; if gaming or sheer responsiveness matters most, however, there's now a clear frontrunner.

Filed under: Tablets, Apple, Samsung, Google

Late 2012 iPad carries new PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics, muscles ahead in video speed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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