MWC 2011: Toshiba rolls out trio of Satellite R800 laptops

Most of the news atMobile World Congress 2011 so far has revolved around tablets and smartphones, butToshiba is also rolling out a trio ofSatellite R800 series laptops.

Each of the new Satellite notebooks run on Intel Core processors and sport an enhanced cooling system, also made in partnership with Intel.

The most business travel-friendly would be the 13.3-inch R830. The mobile broadband-ready machine can hold a 650GB hard drive (with a HDD 3D impact sensor), up to 8GB of DDR3 memory and a super-slim DVD drive. Additional useful specs include Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, HDMI connectivity and a VGA webcam.

For occasional travelers and those who want larger displays but also the option of portability, Toshiba also has the 14-inch R840 and the 15-inch R850.

Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, but all three notebooks should touch ground during the second quarter in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

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Nokia N8 - dark gray

hough Symbian enjoys great popularity in other parts of the world, it's not well known in the States and is falling behind the competition in usability and functionality. The Symbian 3 operating system is a stepping stone in addressing those issues, and the Nokia N8 is the first smartphone to ship running the revamped OS. It certainly brings some much-needed improvements, such as a simplified touch interface and enhanced multimedia capabilities. The N8 is also one of the best camera phones we've seen to date, and delivers good call quality and battery life. That said, it still falls short on a number of fronts, including ease of use, navigation, and integrated services. This, coupled with an expensive price tag of $549 unlocked, isn't going to attract the masses. Symbian fans will find much to like in the Nokia N8, but consumers will be better off going with an Android device or the iPhone.

Design
For the most part, Nokia has always produced some great hardware and the Nokia N8 is no exception. As soon as you pick it up, you'll notice the high-quality construction with its metal finishes and glass display. At 4.47 inches tall by 2.32 inches wide by 0.51 inch thick and 2.91 ounces, the smartphone is a nice size: big enough to have a sizable screen but thin and compact enough to make it easy to carry and hold. The camera housing on the back sticks out just slightly, taking a bit away from the streamlined design, but it's not a big deal.Gracing the front of the phone is a 3.5-inch, AMOLED capacitive touch screen. With a 640x360-pixel resolution and support for 16.7 million colors, the display is bright and clear, and we were able to see the contents of the screen outdoors. That said, it's not as sharp as some of the latest smartphones. Compared with devices like the HTC Evo 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S series, text and images don't appear as smooth and the pixels are more visible. It doesn't hamper the phone's use, but you definitely notice the difference.

The display offers a built-in accelerometer and pinch-to-zoom support. The responsiveness of both features is a bit inconsistent. At times, it can be quick or instantaneous, and at other times, there can be a slight delay. This is also true of the touch screen in general. For the most part, it registered our touches but there were occasions where it simply didn't respond or it was so slow to respond that we thought there was a problem. Also, scrolling through lists and home screen panels isn't quite as smooth or zippy as it is some competing phones.

For text entry, you get an onscreen keyboards in portrait and landscape modes, but you only get a QWERTY option in landscape view. This means that if you want to type any messages in portrait view, you'll have to peck away on an alphanumeric keypad.

Aside from the touch screen, there are a couple of controls to help you navigate and perform other functions on the phone. Below the display, there is a lone key that brings you to the main menu or the home screen if you're in another application. On the right side, there's a volume rocker, a lock switch, and a camera activation/capture button.

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HTC Inspire 4G

The 4G wars are on, and the carriers are getting quite aggressive in their campaigns. Though a little slow to start, AT&T has finally joined the fray and announced at CES 2011 that it would launch its LTE network in mid-2011 and release 20 4G devices this year. The first of which is the HTC Inspire 4G.

Available starting February 13, the Inspire operates on the carrier's HSPA+ network (now recognized as 4G), which AT&T says can provide data speeds up to 4X faster than its 3G network. Unfortunately, we didn't experience anything close to that during our test period but that doesn't mean you should dismiss the Inspire 4G. The Android 2.2 device is very capable and comes packed with mobile hot-spot capabilities, the latest version of HTC Sense, a spacious 4.3-inch touch screen, and an 8-megapixel camera. When you factor that in with its affordable $99.99 (with contract) price tag, you have one great value buy. Though some might wait for the upcoming dual-core Motorola Atrix 4G, the HTC Inspire 4G gives you a lot of bang for your buck.

Design
The HTC Inspire 4G follows in the large footsteps of the HTC Evo 4G and HD7, measuring 4.8 inches tall by 2.7 inches wide by 0.46 inch thick and weighing 5.78 ounces. The size certainly makes holding and carrying the device a bit of work, but nothing you can't get used to with some time. Plus, all things considered, it's still a pretty slim device.

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Apple could be working on television

We know Apple already sells Apple TV. But it might be working on an another kind of Apple TV--as in an Apple-branded television, not a set-top box that hooks up to your TV.

Eagle-eyed bloggers at 9to5 Mac noticed a job listing today that Apple posted that leaves little doubt it's something the company is at least exploring.

The listing asks, rather benignly, for someone who wants to work on "new power management designs and technologies." But in what will Apple use this new power-management technology? The listing goes on to say that it will be used for "Apple's next-generation Macintosh platforms spanning from notebook computers, desktop computers, servers, standalone displays, and TV."

It's safe to say that if Apple were going to advertise a job listing to work on generic product types, it would use the term set-top box or something similar to describe Apple TV in its current incarnation, since "TV" in any other context refers to a display, not a box. But it specifically says "TV."

Making and selling a TV really wouldn't be that much of a stretch for Apple. Everyone has a television, so there's a built-in set of customers already. Apple makes some of the most well-regarded monitors on the market, and what are monitors but (basically) TVs without a TV antenna? Plus, Apple's got a growing video empire in iTunes, and though it likes to call it a hobby, with Apple TV it shows the company is interested in being in the living room, not just the office, car, coffee shop, or your backpack or purse.

You might wonder, rightly, who in their right mind would want to enter the television business these days. Rapid commodification, easily copied features, and being forced to find new ways to display content that make people buy a new TV every couple years (HD, 3D, Internet-connected TVs) all make it a rough industry to be in right now.

Of course the same could be said about PCs and mobile phones, but Apple has demonstrated it knows how to reap profits in both those industries in ways its competitors haven't.

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Nvidia Quad Core Mobile Processors Coming in August

Ah, remember just six months ago, when we were anticipating super fast dual-core mobile processors? Well Nvidia and Qualcomm have been moving along quickly--on Tuesday Nvidia not only announced, but demonstrated, its new quad-core mobile processor at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The new processor, dubbed "Kal-El" (Superman's Krypton name, by the way), is expected to ship in tablets by August, and in smartphones by Christmas 2011. This announcement came just a day after mobile processing rival Qualcomm announced its own quad-core processor, a refreshed 2.5GHz Snapdragon, will be shipping in early 2012. Boom, Qualcomm…headshot.

Nvidia demonstrated Kal-El in action at MWC, showing how it allows web browsing up to two times faster than dual-core processors.

Nvidia also demonstrated Kal-El running CoreMark. Kal-El received a CoreMark score of 11,352--about twice the performance rating of Nvidia's Tegra 2, which received a CoreMark score of 5,840.

The new processor also contains the new 12-core GeForce GPU, and Nvidia says the processor is already out in the wild--in a blog post on Tuesday, Michael Rayfield said that customers are "getting samples now, and they're planning production in August."

Rayfield also gave us a look at Nvidia's roadmap for the next few years: consistently faster processors debuting each year until 2014. The processors are currently codenamed "Wayne," "Logan," and "Stark," and Rayfield says "Stark" will feature 75x improvement in performance over the Tegra 2.

"You might ask, What on earth can be done with nearly 75x improvement in performance over Tegra 2 that Stark will provide in 2014?" Raymond notes.

Hopefully allow us to fly around in our iron suits and slash people with our adamantium hand claws?

Apparently it doesn't matter what can be done, because "our customers and partners have already indicated that they're confident they can use everything we give them."

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Motorola releases mobile device management software

Motorola has launched a device-management software platform aimed at IT managers that works with a variety of brands, but excludes Research In Motion devices like the BlackBerry.

The Mobility Services Platform 3 product provides end-to-end management of mobile devices as well as printers, credit card readers and other peripherals, according to Motorola. The software will cost $45 per device per year, with discounts available for large volume customers.

The software is designed to let IT managers schedule automatic updating for the various operating systems, firmware and applications in use while gathering important data on where and how devices are being used for devices with integrated GPS systems.

The product will be targeted at Motorola's traditional verticals, including health care, retail, transportation logistics, warehousing and manufacturing, said Motorola Director of Global Product Marketing Sheldon Safir.

"It eliminates the need to call things back from the field or manually upgrade them because thousands of pieces can be upgraded remotely at the same time," he said. "We bring the addition of incorporating consumer devices that are coming into the enterprise space and the ability to manage them using the one software.

"This also incorporates some integration with our air defense platform that monitors, tracks and manages the wireless infrastructure," Safir said.

The software will eventually be made compatible with BlackBerry devices, Safir said, but could not provide a date for when this would be done.

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iPad 3 watch: Is Apple readying a “tweener” tablet?

An analyst with a strong track record of predicting new Apple products says Apple has a new device in the works with a screen size that falls somewhere in between that of the iPhone and iPad.

Apple Insider reports that Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has described an iOS device in the works for release in the second half of the year, and other reports say the screen size could be about 5 or 6 inches – putting it squarely in between the 9.7-inch iPad screen and 3.5-inch iPhone screen.

Apple watchers say it’s unlikely Apple would roll out a tablet computer -- or "iPad mini" -- with a 6-inch screen in light of disparaging remarks made by Apple chief Steve Jobs about small tablets, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab, last fall ("We think the current crop of tablets will be DOA, dead on arrival," said Jobs. "They’ll learn the screens are too small and increase the size next year, while the old ones will be orphan products.").

Delivering a 6-inch screen on a big iPod touch focused on gaming and multimedia apps would get around Apple offering such a product technically labeled a tablet itself.

APPLE TALK: New Apple MacBook Pro rumors swirl 

COMPARISON: HP TouchPad vs. Apple iPad 

Kuo also tells Apple Insider to expect an iPad 3 with double the screen resolution (2048 x 1536) of current models. The so-called Retina screen style had been expected initially for the iPad 2, but supply issues reportedly have made that undoable. Recent iPad 3 speculation has focused on new features such as HD capabilities and support for Version 5.1 of Apple iOS.

Meanwhile, Apple hasn’t yet even announced an iPad 2, though reports are that the company has started to crank them out and will be announcing something shortly. 

Explosive iPad sales have boosted Apple to the #3 position worldwide in PC sales -- if you count tablets as PCs -- according to the latest numbers from research firm Canalys. Apple said it sold 7.33 million iPads during its most recently reported fiscal quarter.

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China's Huawei to reverse controversial deal for 3Leaf

Chinese network equipment supplier Huawei has reversed its stance and has accepted a U.S. panel's recommendation to voluntarily divest from a business acquisition that had drawn national security concerns.

Huawei said in a statement on Saturday that the company has agreed to follow the recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) by stopping to acquire specific assets from a U.S. startup.

In May, Huawei had paid US$2 million to buy intellectual property from 3Leaf Systems, which specializes in building servers to run together as more powerful mainframe computers. The deal, however, has come under scrutiny from the U.S. government, because it was cleared without the approval from CFIUS. Government officials then asked Huawei to place the deal under the review of CFIUS.

Huawei already purchased the intellectual property and hired staff from 3Leaf Systems, so it's unclear how the deal would be reversed.

Earlier this week, the Chinese company had said it declined the CFIUS's recommendation to voluntarily divest from acquisition. Huawei's move likely would have forced President Barack Obama to make a decision and resolve the matter.

"The significant impact and attention that the transaction has caused were not what we intended," Huawei said in its statement. "Rather, our intention was to go through all the procedures to reveal the truth about Huawei."

Huawei has drawn accusations from U.S. officials that the company is linked to the Chinese military. The alleged ties has made it difficult for the company to complete certain U.S. business deals in the past. Huawei, however, denies any such ties to the Chinese military, stressing that the company is completely employee-owned.

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As violence escalates, Libya cuts off the Internet

With violence escalating, Libya is pulling the plug on its Internet connection.

Libya's main Internet service provider, General Post and Telecommunications Company, began to cut Internet access on Friday, said Earl Zmijewski, general manager with Internet monitoring company Renesys. "They started pulling the plug around 23:18 UTC today and are currently largely off the air," he said via e-mail. That was 1:18 a.m. Saturday, local time.

Libya appears to be taking its cue from Egypt, which cut off all Internet access at the end of January as it was roiled by street protests calling for political reform.

In similar fashion, thousands of Libyans took to the streets in the city of Benghazi this week in protests that have led to 46 killings in the past three days, according to Amnesty International.

As the situation has escalated, Internet traffic has been cut, making it difficult to get a picture of the situation on the ground.

Libya is much smaller than Egypt, with fewer networks to unplug, and it appears that this has made the job of cutting Internet access much simpler.

Agence France Press reported Friday that Facebook was inaccessible from Tripoli, Libya's capital, and that "access to the Internet was intermittent."

Posts to on Twitter and the blog TechCrunch reported similar problems. Software publisher NeoSmart Technolgies, citing "friends" in Libya, said the government ordered Internet service providers in the country to block most Web access. "Currently, most websites are unavailable and Internet access is, by and large, being blocked," the company said in a blog post.

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