Samsung announces 4GB DDR4 mobile DRAM

Samsung has been working hard this holiday season and today announced its 8Gb (that's 1GB) LPDDR4 mobile DRAM chip. This is not only the industry first LPDDR4 mobile DRAM, but it's also the first mobile DRAM to fit such a high density (8 gigabits) on a single die. Four of those dies can successfully be combined for a total of 4GB of mobile memory - an amount that so far has not been achieved commercially.

Fabricated on the 20nm manufacturing process, the new mobile LPDDR4 chips are reportedly 50% faster than the fastest LPDDR3 memory on the market, while also consuming 40% less power at 1.1 volts.

Here's what Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics said regarding the new product.

This next-generation LPDDR4 DRAM will contribute significantly to faster growth of the global mobile DRAM market, which will soon comprise the largest share of the entire DRAM market

The data transfer speeds the new 8Gb LPDDR4 DRAM chip can achieve are 3,200Mbps per pin - twice the speed of currently produced 20nm LPDDR3 DRAM.

Samsung also hints that the resulting 4GB RAM modules will be included in "UHD smartphones, tablets and ultra-slim notebooks," which says something about the jump in smartphone screen resolution during the next year. Perhaps even the upcoming Galaxy S5 may be one of those UHD smartphones.

Mind you, to utilize that kind of memory, the Galaxy S5 will need a 64-bit CPU architecture. Good thing Samsung promises it's 64-bit SoC will be ready in time for the phone's announcement (usually in the first half of the year).

Thanks for the tip, sharang!

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Asus teases 4-, 5-, and 6-inch smart devices for CES 2014

In anticipation of 2014's first big trade show, Asus is looking to draw some hype to its anticipated smartphone announcements with a second CES teaser. Take a look:

The balls raining down from the sky are labeled with the numbers 4, 5, and 6, which most likely indicate that Asus is preparing smartphones with those display diagonals. The larger size indicates that Asus is looking to enter into the phablet realm, which saw life in 2013, and looks to continue to grow in popularity next year.

In case you missed Asus's first teaser, here it is showing off an upcoming convertible tablet that's speculated to run both Android and Windows in a possible dual-boot configuration.

Be sure to check back with us on January 6 for full coverage Asus's pre-CES press event, as well as full coverage of CES 2014 from Las Vegas from January 7-10.

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Dust, splash proof Nokia Asha 106 now available for Rs 1,399

Nokia had announced the new entry level Nokia 106 mobile in August this year. The Nokia 106 phone is now listed online for Rs 1,399 at the official Nokia online store. Nokia 106 has a sub 2-inch colour display and features a dust proof as well as splash-proof keypad. This entry level handset is available in red, black and white colours.

The Nokia 106 is the basic entry level offering standby time of 35 days and continuous talk time of 9.9 hours. Nokia has packed it with a 800 mAh Nokia BL-5CB battery. This bar style form factor bearing mobile phone features 2G network support. Nokia 106 runs custom J2ME interface and supports several Java based apps.

This entry level phone has back panel design similar to the Lumia family devices. The multi-tap keyboard is reportedly splash-resistant and dust proof. Though the device has not got any certification it can survive couple of light splashes. The Nokia 106 is a single SIM mobile phone available for Rs 1,399 from Nokia Indiatimes Store.

Top 5 tablets under Rs 10,000

There are dozens of tablets under Rs 10,000 but few offer good performance. We have thus carefully selected some, based on their features and performance.

Some of them have already been reviewed by The Mobile Indian.

Asus Google Nexus 7 2012 (WiFi , 16 GB) (Rs 8,999)

Including this tablet in the list should be no surprise for anyone. Not only does it come from a renowned brand, its features make it one of the best performing tablets in the market and it is especially meant for gamers. Asus Google Nexus 7 (WiFi, 16 GB) 2012 version comes with a 7 inch touchscreen with high definition (1280 x 720 pixel) resolution. The display has Corning Gorilla Glass coating that protects it from scratches, but the highlight of the tablet is its Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor which in association with 1 GB RAM gives absolutely flawless performance and is thus considered the best gaming device in its price range.

This model of Nexus 7 has 16 GB internal storage of which around 12 GB will be available for data. Besides, currently it has received Android 4.4 Kitkat update. The tablet only has a 1.2 megapixel camera though; there is no rear camera in the Nexus 7. It has a huge 4325 mAh battery, which claims to provide 10 hours of internet browsing and 300 hours on standby.

This model of Nexus 7 has only WiFi connectivity (no 3G or SIM calling). This 10.45 mm thick and 340 gram heavy tablet also has a micro USB port for file transfer.

Samsung to release Galaxy Note 3 Lite by end of Q1 2014

We reported on rumors of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite a little while back. To refresh your memory, the Galaxy Note 3 Lite is Samsung's planned lower-end version of its popular Note smartphone. There were also talks of it being leaked in four different variants earlier in the year. Well it seems that the rumors are still alive and it is quite possible that a Note 3 Lite may be released by the end of the first quarter, 2014.

Rumors say that the Note 3 Lite should make use of an LCD of either 5.5 or 5.7 inches. Apparently, the Korean manufacturing giant is testing both sizes. Since it is a "lite" version of the phone, it would be safe to assume that they will go with the smaller screen.

The source of the new rumor is SamMobile's twitter:

The tweet also tells us the model name for the LTE version of the smartphone - N7505. It's a safe bet that the non-LTE version will be labeled N7500. The Note 3 model names are N9005 for the LTE version and N9005 for the 3G version.

Specs-wise there isn't much news, but it is thought that the "lite" moniker will replace the "mini" series of phones, as there are rumors of a Samsung Galaxy Grand Lite in the works as well. Like Samsung's mini models, expect a downgrade in tech specs compared to their big brother variants.

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LG's Odin octa-core chip benchmarked by AnTuTu

LG's looking to start early in the octa-core chip race, and their processor has just been benchmarked by AnTuTu. The results are good, but not Snapdragon 800 good. It's quite on par with Samsung's octa-core Exynos chipset.

Nicknamed the LG Odin, LG's octa-core chip performed similarly to the quad-core Samsung Exynos 5410. This probably means that the Odin isn't a true octa-core processor, but that it only uses half of the cores at once for the real dirty work, and the other half for menial tasks.

It's also worth mentioning that the AnTuTu benchmark results revealed that the Odin was clocked at a low speed (100 MHz-1GHz). This probably bodes well for the actual every day use of LG's octa-core processor. One, because its performance was that good at these low speeds, and two, it will only get better if it's speed increased when the chip comes to market.

Graphical performance is expected to be great on LG's SoC, as its GPU will be the Power VR Series 6. So gamers interested in potentially getting a G3 in the future can rejoice.

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30% of all Windows Phones are Lumia 520 or 521

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you sell a handset with decent specs at an attractive price. As a result of Nokia's aggressive pricing with the Lumia 520 and 521, these little smartphones that could now account for 30% of all Windows Phone handsets sold worldwide.

The news was reveled on AdDuplex's Alex Mendelvich's Twitter account. In the US, the 520 has even outdone sales of the Lumia 920, which previously held the number 2 spot.

If the numbers for the Lumia 520 and 521 are anything to go by, then the Lumia 525 should be a real hit as well. It is nearly identical to the aforementioned two models but for one important difference: it has double the RAM (1GB). This will allow 525 users to enjoy virtually all apps on the Windows Phone marketplace, giving them even more bang for their buck. Let's see if Nokia can win the bargain smartphone race, where it certainly does well now.

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