Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 will have X12 LTE

Qualcomm is getting ready to announce its new high-end chipset the Snapdragon 820. This will be an upgrade of the current Snapdragon 810 chipset found in many current high-end flagships.

Qualcomm just announced that the Snapdragon 820 will include a X12 modem. The modem will supply crazy high data transfer speeds perhaps faster than anything we’ve ever seen before.  In addition, the Snapdragon 820 will be the first ever chipset to support Cat. 12 data speeds of up to 600Mbps and upload speeds of 150Mbps Cat 13 LTE uplink. These are insanly high numbers. But it doesn’t stop there. Qualcomm has promised to support up to 4×4 MIMO connections for a single carrier with LTE.

The new chipset will support 802.11ad Wi-Fi connectivity up to 4.6Gbps. 2×2 MU-MIMO or ‘LTE Unlicensed’ 802.11ac will also be included and supports speeds up to 867Mbps.

All in all this is going to be a blazing fast chipset that should have tech savvy consumers excited. Hopefully Qualcomm has made adjustments to prevent the chipset from containing the overheating issues we saw with the Snapdragon 810. According to recent reports, Android manufacturers are already testing and optimizing the chipset for their upcoming devices and so far the results sounds promising.  It is said the Snapdragon 820 chipset will bring speeds like never before up to two-to-three times faster as its counterpart. Let’s hope it lives up to our expectations.

Source: Qualcomm

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Lower end Snapdragon chips hit big numbers

Although low-end processors do not put up big numbers in testing and may not garner a lot of attention, for companies that manufacture them, like Qualcomm, they are the “bread and butter” that help keep the companies chugging along. About a year ago Qualcomm introduced some new chipsets for budget-oriented devices, the Snapdragon 410 and the Snapdragon 210. In just their first year of bringing 64-bit computing power and LTE connectivity to this segment of the market, Qualcomm has reached a couple big milestones.

The Snapdragon 410 has already been spec’ed out for use in over 550 mobile devices around the globe from over 60 different OEMs. The chip is already powering more than 200 million units that have shipped. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 210 is being used in over 200 designs that have already shipped or are in the pipeline.

Some of the smartphones using the Snapdragon 410 include the Asus Zenphone 2, the Motorola Moto G, and the Xiaomi Redmi 2. Xiaomi president Bin Lin notes the Snapdragon 410 “enabled us to provide an amazing smartphone at an unbelievable price point.”

You can read the full press release below.

Qualcomm Announces New Milestone in Snapdragon 410 and 210 Shipments

—Snapdragon processors for high-volume, mainstream segments driving demand for affordable mobile devices in emerging regions—*

HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced it has reached a milestone for its Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 410 and 210 processors. Within the first year of its commercial launch, the Snapdragon 410 processor, which brought 64-bit computing power and LTE connectivity to emerging regions, is now available in more than 550 mobile device designs. The Snapdragon 410 processor has also shipped more than 200 million units globally from more than 60 OEMs. Additionally, the Snapdragon 210 processor has been included in more than 200 designs either shipped or in the device pipeline. The Snapdragon 210 processor is the first commercial processor for mobile in its class to deliver 4G LTE connectivity to developing regions, while the 410 is the first commercial processor for mobile to provide 64-bit computing to the sub-$150 pricing point.

Both Snapdragon processors have been designed to provide the most value to consumers in developing regions around the world. In reaching these key milestones, Qualcomm Technologies continues to demonstrate a position of technology leadership across multiple handset tiers in the smartphone industry.

New devices based on Snapdragon 210 processor include the Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 3(5), ZTE A460, and Huawei Bee 4G and Honor 4A. New devices based on the Snapdragon 410 processor include Motorola Moto G, Asus Zenphone 2 (ZE550KL), HTC Desire 510, HTC Desire 626, Samsung Galaxy Mega 2, Xiaomi Redmi 2 and BLU Life One. We anticipate more devices in the coming weeks and months.

“Xiaomi prides itself in making reasonably priced products that deliver strong customer value,” said Bin Lin, president, Xiaomi. “The Redmi 2 comes with a Snapdragon 410 processor because it enabled us to provide an amazing smartphone at an unbelievable price point.”

“Last month, we launched the Snapdragon 410-powered ZenFone Max,” said Erik Hermanson, head of global marketing, ASUS. “We chose to work with Qualcomm Technologies because of their extensive history and background in making top-performing processors in affordable tiers.”

“At Lenovo, we strive to deliver tablets that closely match consumers’ needs to enhance their tablet experience. We are giving them flexibility to access their on-demand content anytime and anywhere,” said Jeff Meredith, vice president and general manager, tablets, mobile business group, Lenovo. “We’re really delighted to work with Qualcomm Technologies. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor is power-optimized for great performance and energy efficiency, making our YOGA Tab 3, 8 & 10 tablets faster and smoother at multitasking.”

“Making an affordable smartphone that comes with high computing and graphics performance is easier said than done,” said Samuel Ohev-Zion, BLU Products. “Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon 410 processor was a straightforward decision since we didn’t need to make compromises to get the performance or connectivity options our customers demand.”

“The pipeline of device designs with Snapdragon 210 processors is double what has already shipped to date,” said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and co-president, QCT. “We’re excited that increasing numbers of users around the globe are enjoying a premium computing and connectivity experience at an extremely affordable price point. Additionally, given the proliferation of 4G LTE worldwide, which is currently 422 commercial LTE networks and counting, and five generations of LTE modems that extend LTE to all tiers, Qualcomm Technologies is also excited to have helped operators worldwide make 4G LT technology available to all of their customers.”

About Qualcomm Incorporated

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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Sony shuts down its UK online retail store

Sony has never been a huge player in the Android world, at least not to the same degree as companies like Samsung or even HTC, but in the last few years they have quickly fallen further down the ladder.

Earlier this year, Sony made it clear they would be investing less in their mobile efforts, though this hasn’t stopped them from producing two flagships, the Xperia Z3+/Z4 and now the new Xperia Z5 family. While the Sony Xperia Z5 family takes some positive steps in the right direction, offering a further slimmed down UI and even a 4K model, high pricing and poor marketing are unlikely to change anytime soon. Another potential issue? Availability.

Sony has never had a major presence in the US, offering most of its products either through its website or a partnering retailer. Sony has also had a carrier presence, but it has generally been limited to just T-Mobile or Verizon. This summer, Sony shut off one of these channels: its retail store. This meant that Sony fans had to either go through a site like Amazon, or turn to carriers. And now they are essentially doing the same in the UK.

Effective immediately, Sony shoppers will now be reliant on carriers or Sony’s partnering retails for Sony devices in the UK. The Japanese giant’s UK website will continue to offer advice on their phones but will no longer sell them, similar to what we have seen with the US website.

Sony gets so much right with the design of their phones, but unfortunately fails at the areas that matter most to average consumers: pricing, availability, and marketing. Too bad nothing indicates that this situation will ever change, at least not under Sony’s current leadership. What do you think of Sony’s mobile products? What changes would you like to see in order to be more interested? How do you feel about their closure of the US, and now the UK, retail stores?

Tronsmart announces all new Quick Charge 3.0 compatible chargers

Qualcomm today announced Quick Charge 3.0, a new fast charging technology that can bring a device from dead to 85% in just 35 minutes. And now Tronsmart will be the first brand to bring Qualcomm-supported Quick Charge 3.0 adapters to the market.

Tronsmart says they’ve been working with Power Integrations for months to build and design the perfect Quick Charge 3.0 solution, and thus far, they’ve seen a lot of success. Tronsmart is using their most popular adapter, the WC1Q wall charger to demo the technology before consumers can get their hands on the new charger.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The company said they would be releasing their Quick Charge 3.0 chargers to partner websites and independent reviewers this month, but gave no firm indication as to when consumers could get their hands on the new chargers. There’s no doubt they’ll be available soon, as we’re only a few months out before we begin seeing devices running the new Snapdragon 820 chipset.

In the meantime, you can check out our review of some of Tronsmart’s Quick Charge 2.0 products!

source: Tronsmart

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ISP wins 11-year battle to reveal warrantless FBI spying

A US district court has struck down an 11-year-old gag order imposed by the FBI on Nicolas Merrill, the former head of a small internet service provider. Originally issued in 2004, it forbade Merrill from revealing that he’d received a so-called national security letter (NSL), a warrantless demand for customer data. The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes about 300,000 such letters have been sent since the Patriot Act was enacted in 2001, but the decision signals the first time that a gag order has been lifted. “Courts cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, simply cannot accept the Government’s assertions that disclosure would… create a (public) risk,” said Judge Victor Marrero.

With the Patriot Act, Congress handed the FBI, NSA and other agencies the authority to demand phone and email records — but not their contents — from service providers, email services or social networks like Facebook. All it had to do was write a letter, sans warrant, saying it needed the data for national security reasons. On top of that, it usually gagged companies from revealing they even received NSLs, saying such disclosure could hamper investigations.

Merrill was the first person to challenge a gag order and never complied with the FBI’s original request for his customer’s information. Though his internet company ceased operations long ago, he created the Calyx Institute to inform the public about digital privacy and help other service providers build it into their products. In a Washington Post opinion piece, he said he the ongoing gag order had become a burden since he now speaks about privacy issues in public.

Proud to announce that I have won in federal court AGAIN and that my 11yr old #NSL gag order has been struck down https://t.co/0CrvNh1Cau

— Nicholas Merrill (@nickcalyx) September 14, 2015

Earlier this year, the White House said that NSL gag orders must be lifted after three years or the close of an investigation, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, the decision wasn’t applied retroactively, so the FBI kept Merrill muzzled, even though its case against his client ended prior to 2010. Merrill said the agency isn’t motivated by legitimate national security concerns, but rather “a desire to insulate (itself) from public criticism and oversight.”

Earlier this year, Merrill was granted permission to inform his customer that he’d been targeted by the feds. Unless the government appeals within 90 days, he’ll soon be free to disclose exactly which records the FBI ordered him to give up. “I hope today’s victory will finally allow Americans to engage in an informed debate about proper the scope of the government’s warrantless surveillance powers,” he said.

[Image credit: Getty Images]

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Via:
The Intercept

Source:
US District Court, Nicholas Merrill (Twitter)

Tags: FBI, GagOrder, NationalSecurityLetter, NicholasMerrill, NSL, privacy