Samsung Ativ Tab preview: First look

Introduction

It may look like Samsung is dipping a toe in unknown waters but its long-time partnership with Microsoft is a wet suit of sorts. The Ativ Tab may be the company's first Windows 8 RT tablet but not its first Windows slate.

You may be familiar with the Samsung Series 7, a handful of tablet PCs running the desktop version of Windows 7. These Intel-powered devices are essentially laptops proper (give or take a keyboard) and have understandably been off our radar.

   
Samsung Ativ Tab official photos

The Ativ Tab on the other hand is a tablet that we would be interested in - a tablet like them Google and Apple slates. Running the lighter Windows 8 RT, the Ativ Tab is powered by an ARM chipset, like millions of phones and other handheld devices. All prim and proper, just not quite sure about the name. Ativ as in "Vita" read backwards. Yeah, right.

Anyway, it will be up to the Ativ Tab, the Microsoft Surface and probably more Windows-powered slates from the likes of Acer and Asus (why not Nokia) to bring the professed three-horse race over to tablets.

But let's not get carried away fantasizing about a double-edged attack on the iPad - an idea, which Samsung of all makers would most certainly savor - and take a look at the Ativ Tab's highlights instead.

Samsung Ativ Tab at a glance:

• Form factor: Tablet
• Dimensions: 265.8 x 168.1 x 8.9 mm
• Weight: 570g
• Display: 16M-color 10.1" PLS LCD HD capacitive touchscreen (1366x768 pixels), 400-nits of brightness
• OS: Windows 8 RT, Windows UI
• Chipset: 1.5 GHz dual-core Krait CPU, Adreno 305 GPU, Snapdragon S4 Plus APQ8090a chipset, 2GB of RAM
• Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Channel Bonding, Assisted GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, microHDMI, NFC, USB 2.0 Host
• Memory: 32/64GB of inbuilt storage, expandable via a microSD card slot (up to 64GB)
• Camera: 5 MP autofocus camera, LED flash with 720p video recording, 1.9MP front-facing camera
• Battery: 8,200mAh Li-Ion
• Misc: Microsoft Office package, Gyro sensor, accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation, ambient light sensor, DivX/XviD support, TV-out (adapter required), USB host Proprietary 13-pin connector for keyboard dock, Capacitive Sylus (optional)

Specs-wise there's nothing particularly impressive about the Samsung Ativ Tab. It's less powerful than even some of the smartphones out there, we've seen better screens, more apps, voice call support, and probably superior media capabilities elsewhere.

 
Samsung Ativ Tab live photos

But the Ativ Tab has other strengths, the Office package and seamless compatibility with your home or office PC being one of the highlights. It has expandable storage too, which not all tablets guarantee - the Surface for one hasn't got a card slot. An optional keyboard and a stylus are other points in favor. Now, let's start exploring the Samsung Ativ Tab.

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Motorola DROID RAZR M available now, starting at $50

The Motorola DROID RAZR M is the first of the new RAZR family to become available - you can get it right now online or from Verizon.

The phone offers a 4.3" screen in a package about the same size as the new iPhone 5, a dual-core Krait processor at 1.5GHz, plus a battery that's "40% more powerful than the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S".

And there's also LTE connectivity on Verizon's 4G network, of course. The DROID RAZR M will launch with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but will be updated to Jelly Bean soon - Motorola made a serious commitment to updates.

You can grab the phone (in black or white) from Motorola's own site for $99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate). Or you can get it from Verizon, who also offer a $145 bundle version, which also includes a silicon cover 3 screen protectors and a car charger.

Amazon Wireless also carries the DROID RAZR M and currently they list it at $49. All these prices are with a 2-year contract, of course.

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LG and Qualcomm sent invitations for a joint event that will be held in New York on September 19.

The invitation clearly shows that it will be all about some new smartphone and it would be a real shocker if the device in question isn't the US version of the Optimus G.

The event is called Live Without Boundaries, but that doesn't really give us much information about the nature of the smartphone to be announced. However there's still an important clue to be found on the invitation, pointing to the fact that the it's going to be quad-core Krait-powered LG Optimus G.

The LG Optimus G has already been announced for Korea so we have an official photo of it. Now if you use some image editing software to edit the invitation image and brighten up the shadows (as we did), you can see the device pictured has the same back as the Optimus G. The most telling evidence is the loudspeaker grille location and the texture on the back.

Of course it could all be merely a coincidence and LG might announce something else entirely, but chances of that happening are slim. We’ll be covering the event for you, so feel free to come back next Wednesday to find out.

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ICS update for Sony Xperia ion to come next week

A twitter update from Rogers in Canada reveals that an ICS update is in the works for the Xperia ion. The update is scheduled to arrive next week, although the exact day is not specified.

The Sony Xperia ion went international back in June, and is now available in most markets for around €490. It features a 12 MP camera capable of 1080p recording, 13.2 GB of internal memory, a 4.6" LED capable of 720 x 1280 pixels resolution, powered by a Snapdragon S3 chipset with a dual-core 1.5 GHz CPU.

If you'd like to learn more about the ion, check out our hands-on impressions from this years' CES.

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Motorola DROID RAZR HD developer edition gets outed

In a quiet fashion Motorola has released a developer edition of its latest and greatest DROID RAZR HDsmartphone, sporting a bootloader which can be unlocked. The handset is destined for users with a knack for flashing custom ROMs, as well as those who don't like Verizon's take on Android.

There is no release date set for the headset. A sign up page however is up and running for the overly anxious. Expect a hefty price tag and lack of warranty when the Motorola DROID RAZR HD Developer Edition becomes available.

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EE's LTE-enabled Galaxy S III will run Jelly Bean out of the box

Yesterday, EE (formerly Everything Everywhere) announced that it'll be launching the first 4G LTE network in the UK with the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE and four other phones as the first handsets to support it.

Now it seems there will be a small surprise for the EE users who go for the Galaxy S III LTE - it will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. The news comes from a memo that leaked to Pocket-lint, who later also obtained photos of the Titanium Grey version of the phone running JB. Titanium Grey will apparently be exclusive to EE.

 
Titanium Grey Samsung Galaxy S III running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

The Jelly Bean update is coming to the regular S III soon. We've seen leaked ROMs and we evenpreviewed the update.

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Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 hands-on: First look

It's a big day for Nokia today - it just announced the new crop of Lumia phones, which are the first members of the family to run on the new Windows Phone 8 platform. The future of the Finnish giant is riding on the success of these new phones, so the whole tech industry is watching with bated breath.

The first device Nokia announced is the Lumia 920, "the most innovative smartphone in the world". As expected, the camera has Carl Zeiss lens and Nokia's PureView technology.

The 920 is the new Nokia flagship and promises better images and better video than competitors. It has an 8MP sensor, unlike the 808, but the PureView tech enables better image stabilization and better low-light performance.

The screen on the Lumia 920 is an LCD with 768x1280 resolution. It's pixels update "up to 2.5x faster" than other LCD screens and is also the brightest screen on a smartphone. It is "super sensitive" too, Nokia demonstrated that it works even through thick winder gloves. The ClearBlack technology has been improved and is now PureMotion HD+ - it automatically adjusts the screen tone and brightness according to the ambient light

The phone also packs features like wireless charging with the Fatboy pillow (which has Qi tech inside), NFC, Nokia City Lens augmented reality app and so on.

The second phone announced today is the Nokia Lumia 820. It's a more compact device than the 920 and uses a 4.3" ClearBlack AMOLED display with WVGA resolution. It's a polycarbonate unibody design too, but has protective shells that go on the back to add a new color to your phone or enable the same wireless charging you get on the 920.

The camera is a 8MP shooter with Carl Zeiss lens, though it's not a PureView camera. It still gets some of the interesting new camera features that Microsoft just showed off.

Microsoft had some new features of Windows Phone 8 to announce too, so it's not just new hardware that we saw today.

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