Lenovo First MediaTek-based Smartphone Teased by Kobe Bryant (Video)

Randy Cheung, May 4, 2013 10:30 PM, 602 views, 2 Comments »,

Kobe Bryant is injured at the moment, but he is actively for the smartphone world. Lenovo has recruited the basketball legend to plug an upcoming new handset device. A new behind-the-scenes spot featuring Bryant hit the web this week. The ad sees Kobe playing basketball around with formal suit before plugging the Lenovo P780. It is very low on appearances from the Lenovo P780 itself, with the phone only featuring in the last few seconds of the video. Before that, the Lenovo K900 is the first Lenovo smartphone that promoted by Kobe Bryant …

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New ZTE Geek Smartphone is Powered With 2GHz Intel Processor

Randy Cheung, Apr 12, 2013 5:18 PM, 373 views, Got something to say ?,

Chinese smartphone maker ZTE has introduced the ZTE Geek smartphone over at Intel Developer Forum (IDF), being held in Beijing this week. ZTE Geek packs in Intel’s latest 32nm Atom processor Z2580. The company had announced this processor at the MWC 2013. Lenovo was the first company to announce the Lenovo K900, which is based on Clover Trail+. Apart from the 2GHz dual-core processor, ZTE Geek packs a 5-inch display with 720p resolution, comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The smartphone will run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. For camera, there is an 8-megapixel rear shooter and a 1-megapixel one on the front. Connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS and wireless charging. The battery has a 2,300mAh capacity. It runs WCDMA 3G radio network, and doesn’t support 4G LTE …

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Chinese Bank Card Organization Teams Up with Intel For Mobile Payment Services

Cyril Chang, Apr 12, 2013 4:12 PM, 138 views, Got something to say ?,

China UnionPay, the only domestic bank card organization in communist China, has entered an agreement with Intel to provide mobile payment services. The collaboration was announced at IDF’s keynote in Beijing. The organization is set to use Intel’s Identity Protection Technology and also its distribution of the Hadoop software framework for data centers. During the event, the company has also unveiled the UnionPay Quick Pass service which allows consumers to use an NFC-enabled smartphone powered by Intel processor to pay for products everywhere from department stores to vending machines. To date, the total number of UnionPay card issued worldwide has exceeded 3.5 billion, with presence in all over China and network extended to more than 140 countries. So the joining force is absolutely creating a huge business for Intel in Chinese market and around the world. By the way, is that means if your Android phone is not powered by Intel chips, you will be prohibited to use the mobile payment service ? And what about Apple iPhone that doesn’t even support NFC ?

Silicon Valley Just Couldn’t Live Without Chinese Tech

Star Chang, Apr 8, 2013 8:03 PM, 407 views, 1 Comment »,

US congress recently signed into law to restrict government purchase of computer equipment and other IT gear manufactured in China. Silicon Valley is now taking issue with the restrictions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and ten technology trade groups representing some of the large U.S. tech companies, including HP and Intel, fired off a letter to congressional leaders voicing their concern. Tech companies don’t want the language to be included in future spending bills or be expanded to cover other federal agencies. They’re worried an FBI review of tech products would hurt sales to government agencies. U.S. tech companies also worry the spending bill’s language could also cover their subcontractors in China and routine purchases of laptops or other technology. Retaliation is another potential worry, the trade groups warn that China could easily demand similar reviews for items imported from the United States. The tech firms are hoping that lawmakers will “review the security implications and competitive impact” of the provision as it currently stands, and ideally come up with a less clumsy solution. Practically, Silicon Valley’s interest is profit and stay competitive on price, many foreign tech companies just couldn’t give-up the world factory.

Asus Transformer AiO Will Officially Cost You US$1,299

Star Chang, Mar 9, 2013 7:29 AM, 358 views, 1 Comment »,

Asus first showed us its Transformer AiO — an 18.4-inch Full HD all-in-one/tablet combo that runs both Windows 8 and Android — back at last year Computex, then it showed up again at this year CES, the Tanwanese PC maker has finally given us a release date and a price for its giant tablet. Transformer AiO is a powerful desktop PC, running Windows 8, Intel Core CPU, a bunch of memory and hardisk storage. As a tablet, you can keep running Windows 8 in remote desktop mode or you can run Android Jelly Bean on the device with ARM processor. The Transformer AiO is expected to be available early second quarter at US$1,299 for the basic model. You will get a Windows 8 machine running on a Core i3, 4 GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive storage, and it also comes with a DVD-RW optical drive which properly nobody is going to use it. Popping it from the dock you will get a super-size tablet with its own internal specs: a quad-core Tegra 3, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage. We will see how the market respond to this crazy all-in-one concept.

Asus Want to Sell You a Cheap 7-inch Phone with an Awkward Style (Video)

Star Chang, Feb 25, 2013 8:30 PM, 644 views, 1 Comment »,

After announcing the third-gen PadFone, Asus has also unveiled the Fonepad, a 7-inch tablet that offers phone functionality, including 3G connectivity for mobile data and full telephony support. The new tablet is powered by a new 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2420 processor. It runs Android 4.1 and features an HD display with IPS technology for wide viewing angles and clarity. The tablet has 1GB of RAM, and use a PowerVR SGX540 chip for processing graphics. It weighs 340 grams and has a slim 10.4mm profile. The device sports a 3-megapixel rear camera with auto focus and a 1.2-megapixel front camera. We think that the add-on of telephony support doesn’t make the Fonepad a perfect combination of tablet and phone in one single device, it just creates embarrassment while using it, but hey, Asus is going to sell you at a very low price for this kind of awkward style …

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Intel Patners with Acer to Introduce More Intel-powered Smartphone

Star Chang, Feb 1, 2013 2:20 PM, 263 views, Got something to say ?,

Intel is trying all their best to expand its presence in the smartphone industry. The world’s biggest chipmaker joined Acer to unveil the Liquid C1 smartphone, a US$330 device running Google’s Android operating system, which will be launched first in Thailand market and then rolled out across Southeast Asia. Last year, Intel persuaded Chinese hardware manufacturers ZTE and Lenovo to build their own phones with Intel chips, but sales have not been stellar. Lenovo shipped more than 1 million units of its best-selling phone in China in the third quarter of last year, but shipped only about 20,000 of its first Intel phone, the K800. Look like Lenovo has not put in too much effort on establishing an x86 beachhead in ARM territory …

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The World’s First All-in-one Piano PC Can Turn Your Kids into Mozart (Video)

Star Chang, Jan 30, 2013 2:55 PM, 1,403 views, Got something to say ?,

Haier, the Chinese consumer electronics and home appliances company, has released an interesting PC product. The ‘Lequ’ Q9 is the world’s first all-in-one desktop piano PC specially target for young kids. The new ‘Smart-Piano’ which comes with a MIDI professional music arranger keyboard, has combine a desktop computer that runs Windows 8 operating system. It equipped with a 27-inch full HD multi-touch screen, and powered by Intel Core i7 processor (IvyBridge) with NVIDIA GT640M 128bit graphics card. The system supports THX audio, and special piano learning software has installed to minimize the difficulty of learning piano. Haier official words said that you can know how to play a piano within 5 minutes. We have found a big Intel logo sticking on the piano system. Yes, Intel Labs has involve in the R&D of this musical product. So what is the price ? It costs 19,999 yuan (USD$3,212) for 2TB hardisk and 8GB RAM, it should be consider cheaper than a professional piano …

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CES 2013: Lenovo K900 Phablet Challenge Galaxy Note 2 with Intel Chip (Video)

Star Chang, Jan 9, 2013 5:37 AM, 2,064 views, 3 Comments »,

Samsung’s reign at the top of the smartphone-tablet hybrid market could end this year, as many major manufacturers are expected to release their own big-screen mobile devices to challenge the Galaxy Note 2’s supremacy. Lenovo has just announced the K900 smartphone/tablet hybrid over at CES. The new phablet comes with a 1080p, 5.5-inch screen and powered by Intel Atom processor. Like the Galaxy Note 2, the K900 has a big 5.5-inch touchscreen, however instead of a 720p resolution, Lenovo claims it’s the first in the world to bestow such a display with 1920 × 1080 pixels; providing a 1080p resolution and a pixel density of more than 400ppi. A version of Google Android is installed, which is the latest 4.2 Jelly Bean …

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China Plans to Build the World’s Fastest Supercomputer with 100,000 Intel CPUs

Star Chang, Dec 26, 2012 4:09 PM, 397 views, 1 Comment »,

China is reportedly building the world’s fastest supercomputer with Intel’s most powerful hardware. The computer could be used to attempt calculations on a massive scale — such as moon exploration or the layout of an entire city. The computer is being assembled with Intel’s finest: 100,000 pieces of Ivy Bridge-based processor Xeon E5, which cost US$2,500 each. The processors are said to be able to compute five times faster the world’s current top supercomputer. It will also use 100,000 co-processor Xeon Phi boards. The Chinese government view the supercomputer as a key tool to help them cope with an aging population and accelerating its space exploration. It is interesting to see China is switching back again to Intel from their homegrown CPUs.