NEWS
SMARTPHONE NEWS
Last month was a bumper month on the smartphone side
with not just the IFA 2013 consumer electronics show but
also Apple’s unveiling of not one but two new iPhones.
New ?agship for Sony
We’ve reviewed some hot Sony smartphones (Z, V) during the past year, and now the Japanese
company is back with a new flagship. Its Z1 is actually a bit thicker (8.5 mm vs 7.9 mm) and heavier (169 g vs 146 g) than the Xperia Z it replaces, also opting for a 5" full HD screen. Sony continues on its water- and dust proof (IP55 and IP58) quest, also including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon
800 quad-core processor running at 2.2 GHz per core under the hood.
Much like Nokia, Sony is opting for more megapixels, with the Z1 boasting a 20.7 megapixel camera. More specs you say? How about 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage with a microSD slot, a 3000
mAh battery, and LTE connectivity. The Z1 should be in SA during the course of this month, with no
pricing info available at the time of going to print.
Display
5" full HD
Performance
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor (2.2 GHz)
RAM
2 GB
Eight cores for Samsung
Sweet new version of Android
unwrapped
BB Z10 on steroids?
After suffering the indignity of having the
quad-core Snapdragon 800 give its eightcore Exynos 5 Octa some serious stick,
Samsung opted to turn up the heat in its
SoC kitchen. Thanks to the company’s heterogeneous multiprocessing (HMP) solution
for the Exynos 5 Octa that launches in Q4
2013, the processor range can utilise all of
its four high-performance Cortex-A15 cores
and four low energy Cortex-A7 cores at the
same time. The CPU ball is in your court
Qualcomm.
Following in the sugar-filled heels of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is not Key Lime Pie as
many (including us) expected, but rather
Android 4.4 KitKat, which has been named
after Nestlé’s popular chocolate and wafer
confectionery. Google has not revealed
any of the new features that KitKat will be
bringing to the mobile device table, but this
should change at the end of October when
the company is expected to showcase
the platform and a Nexus 5 smartphone.
Special KitKats will be produced for the
occasion.
Despite the worrying state of mobile affairs in
BlackBerry land, the company is sticking to its
mobile guns. Its new Z30 flagship smartphone
boasts a 5" AMOLED touchscreen, snappier
1.7 GHz SoC that sports quad-core graphics
(probably Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro), a
larger 2880 mAh battery, enhanced stereo audio
and improved antenna technology for better
reception and snappier downloads. The Z30
is already available in the UK and Middle East
and should hit local shores in time to fit into your
Xmas stocking.
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October 2013 | TechSmart