4.0

Nvidia is eying a market for inexpensive dual-core smartphones that underprice the iPhone 4S by a wide margin.

That phone segment, which the graphics chipmaker calls the "1,000 RMB phone" in China, will use Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 processor paired with a 3G modem, according to Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang, who spoke during the earnings conference call this afternoon. RMB refers to the Chinese currency.

RMB 1,000 is about 75 percent less than the price of an iPhone 4S, which currently retails for RMB 4,988 in China.

"That's a pretty exciting … Read more

Motorola has acknowledged a number of smartphones it expects carriers to fill up with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in 2012. Joining the Droid Razr, Motorola Xoom, and Droid Bionic are new and notable handsets such as the Droid Bionic, Droid Razr Maxx, and Droid 4.

As to when these particular models will see their respective updates, that will vary from device to device. And, considering that most of the smartphones are listed in the "Evaluation & Planning" phase, when may prove to be the second half of the year at the earliest.

Motorola advises that smartphone … Read more

Don't you wish you could have it all? Sadly, sometimes we can't, especially when it comes to smartphones.

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I help a reader decide between two Motorola Droid smartphones. The new Droid 4, which comes with a full-QWERTY keyboard or the Droid Razr Maxx, a flashy new touch-screen device with the longest battery life of any 4G LTE device on the market. I also offer some advice to an Android customer who is patiently waiting for HTC to introduce a new smartphone with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Physical keyboard vs. Long battery life

Dear … Read more

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 is the latest in the company's long line of tablets. But if the initial pricing details are true, the device is likely to be a hard sell.

Revealing what it says are the "official" prices across several countries in Europe, blogging site Sammy Hub found that the price in U.S. dollars for the Wi-Fi-only version ranged from $419 to $450, while the cost of the Wi-Fi+3G version varied from $523 to $568.

Those prices cover four Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, though the new tablet will make … Read more

HTC has once again taken to Facebook to shed light on Android 4.0 updates for its line of smartphones.

The company has added three handsets, the HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S, and HTC Desire HD, to the list of devices expected to see Ice Cream Sandwich in 2012. These will join other notable smartphones such as the HTC Amaze 4G, HTC Evo 3D, and HTC Rezound in getting 4.0 "later this year."

In addition to adding the new models, HTC has further clarified the time frame as to when other handsets will see the update … Read more

A pair of unannounced LG smartphones are appearing online just four weeks before Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The preliminary details were found in the UPnP Forum (1) (2), a popular spot for spying new devices before they come to market. Aside from the respective model numbers, there's not a ton of information to glean from the actual findings. PocketNow, however, has unearthed additional details.

After piecing together user agent profiles and model numbers, the LG-P700 will run Ice Cream Sandwich and feature a 640x480-pixel display. As that resolution does not fit the typical dimensions for Android handsets, … Read more

New video landed online this week that shows us our first real-world look at the unannounced HTC Ville.

Expected to be unveiled at Mobile World Congress in late February, the Ville should be HTC's thinnest smartphone to date.

The Ville first broke cover in early November when we learned that it would feature some rather high-end hardware. Rumored specs include Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, an updated version of HTC's Sense UI, a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, and an 8-megapixel camera.

Capable of recording 1080p HD video, the … Read more

Though new rumors are suggesting that we won't see a Samsung Galaxy S II sucessor at next month's Mobile World Congress, it's pretty much guaranteed that Samsung will introduce something in Barcelona, Spain.

Yes, according to new rumors currently spreading across the Internet, Sammy instead will unveil a 2GHz dual-core Galaxy Tab instead.

Word of the device first surfaced in December when BGR reported on an alleged 11.6-inch tablet with a 2,560x1,600-pixel display resolution.

With a form factor said to be "barely larger" than its predecessor, the presumed Galaxy Tab 11.6 … Read more

You're up late jamming to tunes, maybe a bit too loud, but you're not bothering anyone. You shut down and go to bed. In the morning, you boot up, and an acoustic battering ram knocks the ears clean off your splitting skull. Sound familiar? You need Auto Mute, a small bit of freeware that automatically mutes your PC's sound during startup, wake-up, logoff, sleep, or shutdown, ensuring that the your next bootup will be silent, even if you left your amp on with the knobs turned to 11.

Auto Mute first opens with a startup guide, but … Read more