Intel introduces new quad-core Atom with built-in LTE

Intel introduced the first major upgrade to its Atom line of mobile chipsets with the Bay Trail-T SoC, which features a new microarchitecture and Intel's brand new LTE modem.
The new microarchitecture is called Silvermont and is built on a 22nm process, matching Intel's new Haswell chips. It promises either a 3x performance increase or a 5x energy saving over the current Atoms, depending on what's needed.
The performance increase will come in the form of better single-threaded performance and up to 8 CPU cores, though the first chipset will be quad-core.
The Bay Trail chips will be used in tablets (both Android and Windows 8.1) including 2-in-1 tablets that will launch this holiday season at $399, but also entry level laptops and even desktops. The mobile solutions target 8+ hours of battery life on a 30Wh battery and a 10.1" screen (measured by playing a 1080p@30fps video).
Speaking of video, Intel's chips have support for 4K video decoding and promise great performance for 3D games, but there's no info on the GPU itself.
Smartphones are also in the cards with the Merrifield platform, which is also built on a 22nm process. Intel showcased a reference platform at Computex 2013 but gave no timeline for when such smartphones will hit the market.

The new XMM 7160 modem will be built into some Bay Trail chipsets for global LTE roaming at low power usage. That challenges Qualcomm's dominance in the field, though the Snapdragon maker isn’t standing still either.

Sony introduces dual-core Xperia M and Xperia M dual 

Sony Xperia M has just gone official. It packs a 4.0-inch TFT display of FWVGA resolution and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset featuring a 1GHz dual-core Krait processor, Adreno 305 graphics and 1GB of RAM.
Sony Xperia M also comes with a 5MP camera using an Exmor RS sensor and capable of 720p video recording, a 0.3MP front snapper for video chats, and 4 GB of expandable storage.

Sony Xperia M

The Sony Xperia M connectivity package includes dual-band Wi-Fi, 3G with HSPA, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and FM radio. Sony is advertising the Xperia M as a phone with "magical one-touch functions" thanks to its NFC connectivity and dedicated sharing apps.
Sony Xperia M runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Sony's proprietary skin on top of it. It will be available in four color versions - Black, White, Purple and Lime.
A dual-SIM version of Xperia M is also going to be available. The Xperia M dual has the same specs, except for the extra SIM slot and the lack of Lime color option.
Both Xperia M and Xperia M dual will hit the shelves in Q3 this year, but their pricing is yet to be announced.

Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 and Galaxy Tab 3 10.1

We have already seen the 7-inch version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, which was announced back in April. Now Samsung has announced two new additions to the lineup in the form of an 8-inch and 10.1-inch model.

The 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 improves upon the 7-inch by offering a slightly bigger and higher resolution 1280 x 800 display and a faster 1.5GHz dual-core processor. The slate packs a 5 megapixel camera on the back, 1.3 megapixel on the front, 16/32GB internal memory with microSD card slot, 1.5GB of RAM, LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth connectivity, 4,450mAh battery. It's running on the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 model has similar specifications, including the same 1280 x 800 resolution, only it's stretched over 10.1-inches. Only differences here are a faster 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 6,800mAh battery and strangely, a lower resolution 3 megapixel camera and only 1GB of RAM. Also, as you can see from the image above, Samsung has completely dumped the on-screen keys in favor of physical buttons below the display.
Although there is no mention of it in Samsung's press release, Reuters claims that the Galaxy tab 3 10.1 is running on Intel's Atom processors. We will need to get our hands on the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 to find out which exact processor is running under its hood

Huawei Ascend Mate arrives at HQ, poses for our camera

Huawei Ascend Mate has just made it to out office. It’s the company’s largest smartphone up to date with a 6.1-inch IPS+ 720p display. The Mate is powered by Huawei’s home-brewed K3V2 chip, which has a quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 processor, 16-core graphics and 2GB of RAM.

The Ascend Mate runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS skinned with Huawei’s own Emotion UI. The entire skin reminds us a lot of the Meizu MX phones, since it lacks an app drawer and everything goes on your homescreens.

Huawei Ascend Mate
We’ve prepared an unboxing and UI demo video for you. Enjoy!

ASUS unwraps its PQ321 31.5-inch 4K-resolution monitor

ASUS has announced the PQ321 monitor packing 4K resolution. The professional-grade screen is 31.5 inches in diagonal and can show one billion colors thanks to its 10-bit RGB LED-backlit IGZO panel.

The 4K resolution translates to 3840 x 2160 pixels, which adds up to a pixel density of 140 pixels per inch. Other features of the ASUS PQ321 include 176-degree viewing angle, 350 cd/m2 brightness and 8ms response time.
Gladly, the monitor offers lots of adjustment; there’s height, tilt and swivel. Connectivity wise, there’s a DisplayPort, dual HDMI inputs sporting picture-in-picture capability, and a 3.5mm audio jack for the 2W built-in stereo speakers.
Promised to hit shelves in the USA and Canada at the end of June, the ASUS PQ321 doesn’t yet have an official price tag, but you can bet it’s going to be priced along the lines of its resolution

The price of running pure Android on the HTC One – no Zoe, Beats Audio software IR remote or FM radio

Holo fans are probably still a little hung over after finding out that the Galaxy S4 Google Edition wasn’t an accident – HTC is doing it too with the One. So, the two arguably best Android phones are getting a pure Android option, but what does that mean in terms of proprietary functionality?

Android Police asked HTC who sent back a detailed reply.
HTC One’s camera is its biggest feature and a lot of that depends on Zoe. The HTC One with Nexus experience loses Zoe and all its image processing magic (video Highlights, sequence shots, object removal, etc.) but the stock camera does have Photo Spheres.
Also HTC says “the camera will still produce comparable high quality pictures” so presumably Optical Image Stabilization will still work, which was the most important feature anyway. It remains to be seen how the native low-light mode compares to the one tuned by HTC though.
Similarly, the software part of Beats Audio will be removed but the high-quality audio hardware will remain.
Other hardware features that depend on non-AOSP software will also be disabled – that means no IR blaster and no FM radio. If Android grows native support for such features later on, they will be enabled (we could probably count on some flashable solution from XDA in the meantime, too).
The HTC logo that some modders managed to turn into a third button will remain disabled

Samsung to allegedly use Intel processors for its Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 tablet

Samsung is no stranger to working with a wide range of chip makers for its devices, even though the company fabricates its own chips. The reason for this have often been Samsung’s inability to produce enough chips on its own and thus had to look at other OEMs to supply the processors.

Although Samsung and Intel have worked together in the past on several products, we are yet to see a Samsung Android device running one of Intel’s processors. It seems, though, that it won’t be long before we do. According to the sources at Reuters, Samsung is working with Intel to get the latter’s Clover Trail+ series of x86 mobile processors in at least one variant of its upcoming Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 tablet.
According to Korea Times, the reason once again is related to supplies, as Samsung is seemingly unable to produce enough of its own Exynos range of processors. Although it’s hard to tell just how Intel’s processors stack up against Samsung’s in terms of performance, the former have done well so far on their own and should offer respectable performance on Samsung’s tablet.