Toshiba’s latest laptop does convertibility on the cheap

With recent models from Dell and now Apple, tablet laptop hybrids a la Surface are suddenly de rigeur. If those models are outside your budget, Toshiba has just introduced its own low-cost Windows 10 model, the Satellite Click 10. It weighs in at a scant 2.2 pounds and when you detach the keyboard, you’ve got a 0.36-inch, 1.2 pound tablet. Either way, you get features like a 10-inch 1,900 x 1,200 multi-touch display, front 8-megapixel and 2-megapixel rear cameras, 32GB or 64GB of SSD storage (expandable via a MicroSD slot), a Micro HDMI port for TV output and Dolby Digital Plus stereo speakers. Slideshow-319655

The fun stops there, however, as it only packs an Intel Atom x5 processor and 2GB of RAM. Power-wise, that makes it more tablet than laptop, so running Windows 10 may be a burden for it. However, the $349 price tag may overcome those objections, and the light weight, keyboard and Windows 10 should make it a decent tablet and viable laptop in a pinch, for less than many Android tablets.

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Tags: detachable, Hybrid, Satellite Click 10, Toshiba

Pax is bringing its vaporizer to Europe

Pax sells some of the best loose-leaf vaporizers — and proprietary e-cig systems — on the market. Over the past five years, though, its products have only officially been available in North America. Today, the San Francisco startup is branching out into Europe, beginning with the UK and Germany. But not all of its products are making the journey across the Atlantic yet.

To start with, just the Pax 2 vaporizer will go on sale. It’s already available through the company’s site, and it’s also heading to “local brick and mortar retailers.” It costs £199 in the UK and €255 in Germany, including sales tax. Pax has inked a deal with a local logistics company called Rhenus Group, which it says will allow it to rapidly expand and offer its products in more countries over the coming months.

As for Pax’s other products, it doesn’t look like the cheaper original vaporizer — which has sold over 500,000 in North America — will come to Europe any time soon. There’s also no timeline for the company’s Juul e-cigarette, which offers a solid vaping experience in a tiny package, but Pax says it sees “significant opportunity for the Juul brand across markets.”

Although Pax is starting with the UK and Germany, it’s not going to end there. It’s picked the two territories due to the UK and Germany’s “significant influence influence across Europe in art, fashion and music,” and the fact that both countries have a “cultural adoption of loose-leaf tobacco use.” (Not to mention that they’re also the continent’s two largest economies). Where next for Pax? It’s keeping that under wraps, but based on the above criteria France and Italy would be the obvious answer.

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Tags: ECigarettes, juul, pax, Pax2, pax2vaporizer, vaping, Vaporizer

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 takes just 35 minutes to reach 80 percent charge

Charging your handset overnight used to be part of our nightly routine, but now? Not so much. Thanks to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology, we can charge our devices whenever we want, and still have enough juice to make it through the day. And it’s going to get even better because Qualcomm has just announced Quick Charge 3.0 that will allow smartphones to go from being as dead-as-a-doornail to 80 percent charge in just 35 minutes.

Quick Charge 3.0 is designed to be 38% more efficient than its predecessor, and twice as fast as Quick Charge 2.0. A range of connectors are supported, including USB Type-C, USB Type-A, USB micro and other proprietary ports. Depending on your device and charger, Quick Charge 3.0 can also detect the correct level of power to request from the charger at any point of the transfer, as well as supporting a wider range of voltages ranging from 3.6V to 20V, in 200mV increments. 

It will be available on the Snapdragon 820 which should make its appearance in 2016, as well as the 620, 618, 617 and 430 platforms. We have the full press release below:

 

HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has introduced its next-generation of fast charging technology with Qualcomm^® Quick Charge^™ 3.0 technology. Quick Charge 3.0 is the third generation of this technology and is the first of its kind to employ Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage (INOV), a new algorithm developed by Qualcomm Technologies, designed to allow portable devices the ability to determine what power level to request at any point in time for optimum power transfer, while maximizing efficiency. With Quick Charge 3.0 you can charge a typical phone from zero to 80 percent in about 35 minutes compared to conventional mobile devices without Quick Charge that may typically require almost an hour and a half.

With, INOV and other advancements, Quick Charge 3.0 is designed to be up to 38 percent more efficient than Quick Charge 2.0, while also implementing additional steps to help protect battery cycle life.  Additionally, when used with Qualcomm Technologies’ latest, advanced parallel charging configurations, Quick Charge 3.0 can:

• Help improve fast charging up to 27% or reduces power dissipation by up to 45% when compared to Quick Charge 2.0.
• Charge up to 2x faster than Quick Charge 1.0

Available now, Quick Charge 3.0 will be featured as an option on select Qualcomm^®Snapdragon^™ processors, including Snapdragon 820, 620, 618, 617 and 430, and is anticipated to appear in mobile devices launched next year.  Qualcomm Snapdragon processors are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“We are significantly enhancing the capabilities and benefits offered by Quick Charge 3.0 to bring robust fast charging technology to all,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Quick Charge 3.0 addresses a primary consumer challenge with today’s mobile devices in helping users restore battery life quickly and efficiently, and does so through leading technology and a robust ecosystem including leading device and accessory OEMs.”

Additional improvements offered by Quick Charge 3.0 include enhanced flexibility over Quick Charge 2.0, notably in terms of charging options. While Quick Charge 2.0 offers four charging voltages at 5V, 9V, 12V and 20V, Quick Charge 3.0 provides flexibility with 200mV increments from 3.6V to 20V. This allows the phone to request just enough voltage to reach the desired charge current, resulting in minimized losses, increased efficiency, and improved thermal performance.  

“LG Electronics featured Quick Charge 2.0 in our recent smartphone designs and the reaction from the public was very positive,” said Dr. Sang G. Kim, AVP, LG Electronics. “At its core, LG strives to design devices that deliver an unbeatable user-experience. Qualcomm Technologies’ solution is well aligned with that philosophy and fast charging has quickly become one of the more popular device features.  Qualcomm Technologies’ solution is also generations ahead of others and we look forward to offering Quick Charge 3.0 to our customers to give them a full charge faster and with increased efficiency.”

Quick Charge 3.0 also maintains forward and backward compatibility with previous versions of Quick Charge as well as with connectors, including USB Type-C, as well as the same ultra-fast charging speed, cable independence offering OEMs several options, and UL certification to help meet quality and safety standards.  

Quick Charge 3.0 is implemented with minimal changes to current designs, offering OEMs a low cost option for fast battery charging. Operators and OEMs benefit from the established Quick Charge ecosystem with over 20 OEMs already supporting Quick Charge 2.0, and over 90 available accessories. The fast charging technology is mandated by several operators with active support from other operators and retailers.

To date there are more than 40 mobile devices and 100 certified accessories with Quick Charge 2.0.  To see the list of companies, please visit:   https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/quick-charge-device-list.   For more information on Quick Charge, you may also visit:https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/quick-charge.

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Qualcomm announces mid-range Snapdragon 430 and 617 processors

Fast on the heels of announcing its new Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology, Qualcomm has also announced two new  processors, the Snapdragon 430 and Snapdragon 630, with both processors bringing high-end features to the middle of the range.

The Snapdragon 430 is an octa-core processor with A53 cores clocked at up to 1.2GHz and there’s an Adreno 505 GPU providing the graphics. The modem is X6 LTE enabled, which allows for Cat 4 downlink speeds up to 150Mbps. There is also support for 2x10MHz carrier aggregation and a Cat 5 uplink speed of 75Mbps. The Snapdragon 430 has dual-ISP’s which enables the capture of images up to 21MP in size, while 1080p Full HD displays, capture, and playback are supported. The Snapdragon 430 is expected to appear in devices in 2016.

 The Snapdragon 617 is expected to appear in devices by the end of 2015, and as you would expect, is a step up from the 430. The Snapdragon 617 is an octa-core processor with A53 cores clocked at up to 1.5GHz, with an Adreno 405 GPU bringing the graphics. As with the 430, the 617 features dual-ISPs allowing the capture of images up to 21MP in size. The 617 features another new modem, this time incorporating X8 LTE capabilities, supporting Cat 7 download speeds of up to 300Mbps, and uploads speeds of up to 100Mbps, along with 2x20MHz carrier aggregation. It all sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but it allows for faster LTE data, and that’s never a bad thing.

Both the Snapdragon 430 and 617 feature Qualcomm’s new Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology, which can charge a 2,750mAh battery from 0 to 80 percent in just 35 minutes.

Full Press Release:

HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has introduced two new Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processors. The new chipsets, the Snapdragon 430 and the Snapdragon 617, offer advances in both multimedia and connectivity for mid-range mobile devices.

The Snapdragon 430 features X6 LTE, with Cat 4 downlink speeds of up to 150 Mbps and support of 2×10 MHz Carrier Aggregation, and Cat 5 uplink speed of up to 75 Mbps via support for 64-QAM – a first in this tier. The Snapdragon 430 supports excellent image quality for dual camera configurations and sensors up to 21MP. The Snapdragon 430 uses the powerful new Qualcomm® Adreno™ 505 GPU with features such as Open GL ES3.1, Android Extension Pack, and OpenCL 2.0. Incorporating features that were previously limited to the high tier, the Snapdragon 617 improves on both the connectivity and capabilities of the Snapdragon 430. To meet the global demand for faster LTE data rates, the Snapdragon 617 integrates the X8 LTE modem, featuring support for Cat 7 download speeds of up to 300 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 100 Mbps using bi-directional 2×20 MHz carrier aggregation. It also shares the same software advances, dual-ISP and camera architecture of the Snapdragon 620 and 618. In addition, the same software package runs the Snapdragon 617, 618 and 620, enabling OEMs to deliver these products quickly and efficiently. For optimal RF performance, the Snapdragon 617 and 430 pair with WTR 2965, the new cost-optimized RF transceiver for global carrier aggregation.

Both the Snapdragon 617 and 430 use the power efficient ARM® Cortex™ A53 CPUs in octa-core configurations. Both also include support for Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 3.0, the next generation of fast-charging technology. Each uses the high performance, low power Qualcomm® Hexagon™ DSP, supporting low power sensor and advanced audio. Snapdragon 430 and Snapdragon 617 will fast track the regional certification process with support for the Qualcomm® Global Pass certification program.

“As smartphones and tablets continue to spread to all corners of the globe, we recognize that users are becoming more discerning in what they want,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The introduction of these new processors is a clear indication that we are listening to the needs of our customers who want ever improving cameras, faster connectivity, and better battery life across all available price points.”

Commercial devices featuring the Snapdragon 430 are expected to be available in Q2 2016, and the Snapdragon 617 is expected to be in commercial devices before the end of 2015.

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, Snapdragon, Adreno and Hexagon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Quick Charge is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm Snapdragon, Qualcomm Adreno, Qualcomm Quick Charge and Qualcomm Hexagon are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Qualcomm Global Pass is a solution of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

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