Huawei Ascend G526 hands-on: a midrange 4.5-inch LTE handset

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/huawei-ascend-g526-hands-on/

The Ascend P2 is getting the bulk of the attention at Huawei's booth at MWC 2013, but the Chinese company has a history of hiding an unannounced phone or two in less-visited corners of the booth. This time around it's the Ascend G526 that blends into the background, hanging out with a few other LTE-enabled devices. The G526, which hasn't been assigned any pricing or timeframe for availability (we've reached out to Huawei for more information), features a 4.5-inch qHD IPS display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Additionally, it enjoys a 5MP rear camera and VGA front-facing cam, as well as a 1,950mAh battery and WiFi Direct support. There appears to be three variants of this device -- L11, L22 and L33 -- each one offering different frequencies for various carriers and markets. More details are forthcoming, but we'll update this post as we hear more.

The phone, which measures 133 x 67.5 x 9.9mm, is actually rather comfortable to hold in the hand. It's about par for the course when it comes to midrange handsets, with a slick plastic back that curves inward on each side so as to hug the edges. A 3.5mm jack can be seen up top while the power and volume buttons are on the right. Tragically, the micro-USB charging port is located on the upper left side of the phone, which is an incredibly awkward place when you're trying to use the device whilst it's chained to an outlet. We have a full gallery of images of the new device below.

Gallery: Huawei Ascend G526 hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Samsung puts latest Exynos 5 Octa chip into a prototype tablet, we go hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/samsung-exynos-octa-hands-on/

The Exynos 5 Octa was definitely one of the biggest things to come out of CES. Given how well the regular dual-core Exynos V performs in the Nexus 10 and Chromebook, devices containing the souped-up Octa version could be really special. As you probably know already, we're looking at four Cortex-A15 cores for when you need raw performance for gaming or media creation, and then four energy-saving Cortex-A7 cores for less demanding tasks like surfing or watching video. We've just seen how fast and fluid this big.LITTLE core-switching technology is, courtesy of a Samsung reference tablet on show at ARM's booth at MWC -- check it out for yourself after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Samsung

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Build Your Own Power-Efficient DIY Remote Storage System

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5986177/build-your-own-power+efficient-diy-remote-storage-system

Cloud storage is everywhere, but if you don't want to mess around with keeping your data on someone else's computer, or you simply don't want to pay for it, DIYer Dominic came up with a solution to use his own computer as a DIY remote storage system over Wi-Fi.

Wake-on-LAN has existed for a while to make it easy to access your computer from anywhere, but it doesn't always work that well unless you have the right hardware, and waking on Wi-Fi is still a little iffy. Dominic needed a system to remotely back up his photos on vacation to safe space on his phone, so he installed Open WRT on a cheap router, and then wired the router to power up the PC when it's pinged. It's an interesting way to roll your own power-efficient storage system, but it's certainly not the only solution. Head over to Dominic's site for a full guide.

Dropping Dropbox + Hardware Hacking | Dom's blog via Hack a Day

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Samsung's HomeSync Android Box Brings a Whopping 1TB of Storage to Your TV

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5986544/samsungs-homesync-brings-1tb-of-android-to-your-tv

Set top boxes aren't exactly mobile tech, but Samsung has unveiled its new one at this year's Mobile World Congress. The HomeSync aims to work with your mobile devices and serve has a hefty little Android-powered box for all your media. A 1TB box.

Running Android Jelly Bean (version unspecified) the HomeSync will let users push apps, games, and other media to the an HDTV. No one's actually saying "Google TV" here, but the box will have access to the Google Play store, and can push all that goodness through to your TV at 1080p through its HDMI 1.4 connection.

Inside, the HomeSync has an 8GB SSD for OS and basic storage and a gig of RAM, but behind that sits a massive 1TB hard drive that should be enough to satisfy even the most ardent digital pack-rats. Samsung has no illuisions that one person would endeavor to fill that space (or should endeavor), so the HomeSync can support up to 8 different accounts, each of which gets its own little slice, separate from the others, complete with encryption if you want.

The HomeSync will be available in the US sometime April 2013, but there's no world on how much it'll cost, or whether or not it can handle streaming protocols like Miricast, so don't lay down all your judgement quite yet. But if nothing else, it's bound to be the spiffiest 1TB hard drive out there. [CNET]

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Benchmarks Are In: Nvidia's Tegra 4 Really Cooks

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5986554/benchmarks-are-in-nvidias-tegra-4-really-cooks

When Nvida announced the Tegra 4 back at CES, they laid down the claim it was the world's fastest mobile processor. Now Nvidia's got some prototype devices at Mobile World Congress, the benchmarks are coming in and there's no questioning it. The Tegra 4 is a total speed-demon.

A generation better than the Tegra 3 and Qualcomm S4 processors common now, it shouldn't be a surprise that the Tegra 4 can demolish the processor in just about every other phone on the market, but now the proof is in. And Apple's peppy A6 is no exclusion. Then again, the Tegra 4's got a bit of a head start.

Samsung and Qualcomm have competition in the works though, with the Exynos 5 Octa and Snapdragon 800 respectively. And like Nvidia boasted with the Tegra 4, Qualcomm is behind its Spadragon 800 as "the fastest." But until we see some benchmarks, the Tegra 4 is taking the cake, and handily. You can expect to see that puppy in Nvidia's Project Shield when it launches in this spring, and you'll find its cousin, the T4i, folded into mobile phones late this year. Get ready for a rocket ride. [PC Mag]

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