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iPad 3 logic board with 'A5X' chip purportedly snapped by Mr. Not-so-Blurrycam

Daniel Cooper — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:09:00 EST

Well, if it looks real, sounds real and is halfway logical, we probably should distrust it all the more. Yes, it's the time when all the rumors, photoshops and general hysteria around Apple's next slab reaches its apex. The photo above was grabbed by the steady hand of sas126, a blurrycam snapper in name only, and posted to Chinese site Weiphone, purporting to be the logic board for the iPad 3. The big news (if true) is the "A5X" silicon, suggesting we'll see an incremental enhancement rather than the wholesale revolutions evident in the A4 and A5 chips that accompanied its predecessors. The SoC (with the Apple logo, to the right of the two Hynix memory modules) carries a date-stamp of 1146, suggesting it was produced in the 46th week of last year. Of course, now that we're getting so close to the actual event, whatever Tim Cook whips out on stage will never match whatever we'd conjured up on our own hearts: so try to dampen down that rampant excitement because we've still got 17 days left to wait.

iPad 3 logic board with 'A5X' chip purportedly snapped by Mr. Not-so-Blurrycam originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD A4-3300 and A4-3400 APUs ready to ship, take on Intel for your budget PC dollar

Terrence O'Brien — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:59:00 EST

That's right folks, AMD's A4 APUs are here and ready to take on Intel in a battle for the bottom end of the mainstream desktop market. These dual-core desktop parts pack integrated graphics courtesy of the company's Radeon line. Both also boast a 65W TDP and 1MB of L2 cache. The only difference here is speed and price: the 3300 clocks in at 2.5GHz with a 440MHz GPU for $70, while the 3400 moves on up to 2.7GHz and a 600MHz GPU for only $5 more. They're not exactly speed demons, but should be able to hold their own against similarly priced Pentiums -- especially if you don't plan on buying a discrete graphics card. You can pick one up now at Amazon and other select retailers but, before you go, check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading AMD A4-3300 and A4-3400 APUs ready to ship, take on Intel for your budget PC dollar

AMD A4-3300 and A4-3400 APUs ready to ship, take on Intel for your budget PC dollar originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba outs blingtastic Qosmio X770 for the US market, new P, C, and L series laptops

Dana Wollman — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:00:00 EST

See that refined beast? You're looking at the Toshiba Qosmio X770 -- that European gaming behemoth we ogled from afar last month -- and in a matter of weeks, it'll continue its world tour to land on US shores. To recap, the company shrunk the screen from 18.4 inches to a more manageable 17.3, gave it a paint job that ever-so-subtly fades from red to gunmetal gray, and added a matching red backlit keyboard. This beefy guy comes in $1,199 and $1,899 configurations, with the higher-end model packing a 3D display, quad-core Core i7 CPU, and a 1.25TB hybrid hard drive, and the lower end offering a dual-core Core i5 CPU and a 750GB HDD. Either way, though, you'll get NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M graphics, 1.5GB of video memory, and MaxxAudio3 sound enhancement software.

Meanwhile, Toshiba streamlined its consumer laptops for those non-gamers in the back-to-school crowd, axing the A and M lines, and leaving just the P series, for "premium." It'll include 14-, 15.6-, and 17.3-inch models, all decked out in a textured, two-tone Fuxion X2 finish and featuring USB sleep-and-charge ports, HDMI-out, Harman Kardon speakers, and that same MaxxAudio 3 utility. Depending on the configuration, you can also score NVIDIA GeForce GT540M graphics, Intel Wireless Display, a 4G radio, a Blu-ray drive, and a 3D screen (only on the 15-incher). On the inside, you've got your choice of Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs or a spankin' new A6-3400M accelerated processing unit from AMD. Look for the 14-inch P745 with a starting price of $699, and 15-inch P755 and the 17-inch P775 for $629 and up.

And, rounding out its portfolio, Toshiba refreshed its budget Satellite L700 series with Core 2011 processors and new AMD A4 and A6 APUs, while the entry-level Satellite C800 gets AMD Fusion C-50 and E-350 APU options. None of these laptops go on sale until later this month, so for now you can content yourself with those up-close-and-personal hands-on shots below.

Gallery: Toshiba Qosmio X770

Gallery: Toshiba Satellite P700 Series

Continue reading Toshiba outs blingtastic Qosmio X770 for the US market, new P, C, and L series laptops

Toshiba outs blingtastic Qosmio X770 for the US market, new P, C, and L series laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD's Fusion A-Series chips official: 10.5-hour battery life, DirectX 11 graphics, and USB 3.0 support (video)

Dana Wollman — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:43:00 EST

AMD's Llano platform has been on our radar for more than two years, and finally, the company has come clean with its latest class of hybrid CPU / GPU chips, officially dubbed the Fusion A-Series. Unlike the low-power flavor of Fusion accelerated processing units already on the market, these 32-nanometer APUs were designed with desktops and mainstream laptops in mind, taking direct aim at Intel's Core 2011 processors with the promise of superior processing and discrete-level graphics, and 10-plus hours of battery life.

Aside from the assorted performance and battery life claims the company is making (much more on that in a moment), what this means is that as far as laptops go, AMD is completely stepping away from the standalone-CPU-plus-GPU paradigm. But, the company will still make dedicated Radeon cards, which can be coupled with an APU for a 75 percent boost in graphics performance -- a setup AMD is calling "Dual Graphics." All told, these chips measure just 228 square millimeters. To put this in context, check out the gallery of hands-on shots below, featuring the A-series next to a standalone CPU, discrete graphics card, and, for the sake of scale, the kind of low-power Fusion chip introduced back at CES.

A-Series-equipped PCs are already shipping, and AMD says we can expect to see at least 150 of them this year. That sounds promising indeed, but we've still got lots of technical details to rehash. Head on past the break for the full spill on what these APUs pledge to do, along with a video of AMD senior product marketing manager Raymond Dumbeck showing off some A-series laptops in action.

Gallery: AMD Fusion A Series hands-on

Continue reading AMD's Fusion A-Series chips official: 10.5-hour battery life, DirectX 11 graphics, and USB 3.0 support (video)

AMD's Fusion A-Series chips official: 10.5-hour battery life, DirectX 11 graphics, and USB 3.0 support (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6

Vlad Savov — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:48:00 EST

Don't mistake the relative quietness from AMD on the APU front for inactivity. Ever since announcing the first shipment of its Llano Accelerated Processing Unit in April, the company's been working behind the scenes to ramp up availability to OEMs, and somewhere along the supply chain a gracious soul has been found who's leaked the bulk pricing for those chips. The new quad-core A Series processors start off at $110 for an A6-3450 and max out at $170 for an A8-3550P, but there's also mention of octa-core FX processors, which will weigh in at $320 a piece and reputedly compete with Intel's 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K. The latter are built around AMD's Bulldozer modules (wherein one module counts for two cores) and look to be the manifestation of the company's Zambezi CPUs, which could come without an integrated graphics processor as is available on the Llano and the rest of AMD's Fusion line.

Just to whet appetites further, we've also come across an HP dv6 on an obscure German retail site, offering a 1.6GHz A6-3410MX APU, 6GB of RAM, and a most reasonable €590 price. There's obviously no promised delivery date, but this should be the first of many such appearances in the coming days as we build up towards Computex 2011. Something tells us AMD won't be holding back when the Taipei electronics show gets started.

[Thanks, Shashwat and Vygantas]

AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 04:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bridgestone builds world's largest e-paper tablets, shuns consumers (video)

Terrence O'Brien — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:42:00 EST

If you thought the Kno was unwieldy, check out these A4 and A3 paper-sized AeroBee terminals from Bridgestone. The company, best known for its tire commercials featuring adorable animals about to get run over, unveiled two new tablets with 21-inch and 13-inch (underwhelming) color e-paper screens -- the largest available on the market. You can check them out in the video after the break, but don't get too excited, these beasts aren't destined for consumers. Instead, they're being marketed to businesses which will likely use them as in-store displays or kiosks. Next step: coffee table-book e-readers. Though, we suspect In the Shadow of No Towers would lose something in the translation.

Continue reading Bridgestone builds world's largest e-paper tablets, shuns consumers (video)

Bridgestone builds world's largest e-paper tablets, shuns consumers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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XBMC comes to the iPad

Sean Hollister — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:07:00 EST

We were politely asked to keep quiet about this until today, but here's the truth: XBMC now runs on the Apple A4, period. As in, there's no reason why you can't install that shiny new Apple TV 2 version of the media center software on your jailbroken iPad or iPhone 4 too. Find instructions at our more coverage link... then give the hackers and developers a cheer.

XBMC comes to the iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More details emerge on Apple's A5 chip for upcoming iPad 2 and iPhone 5

Paul Miller — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:04:00 EST

So, AppleInsider has some new info on Apple's successor to the A4, which we were talking up last week, and our sources say it's spot on. Specifically, AI claims that Apple is moving to dual-core SGX543 graphics, up from the A4's single SGX535 GPU (also known as the PowerVR 535). What's particularly great about this move is that the graphical power improvement is rated at around 4X the current generation -- which makes a true 4X resolution iPad "Retina Display" upgrade seem much more of a possibility. We're also starting to see 1080p HDMI video output as a "default" spec in this year's generation of devices, so there's no reason Apple will want to be left out -- particularly in the Apple TV -- and these dual graphics cores could handle that easily. The same cast of A4 characters are to credit for this new A5 generation, including the Apple-owned Intrinsity and PA Semi, while Samsung will again do the production duties. But details aside, we're just excited to play around with all this new horsepower when it hits -- apparently the PSP 2 is rumored to use the same graphics architecture with even more cores. Isn't Moore's law a grand thing?

More details emerge on Apple's A5 chip for upcoming iPad 2 and iPhone 5 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple TV teardown reveals 8GB flash storage, 256MB RAM, leftover iPad parts

Ross Miller — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:49:00 EST

"Of course the new Apple TV gets a teardown, silly," is what we would tell you should you have the audacity to question its inevitability. But alas, we're too busy analyzing every photo of iFixit's gallery to even dignify your raised eyebrow with an unprovoked response. The site gives it 8 out of 10 in its metric of repairability, opining it might be "the most eco-friendly set-top box of all time." With that said, here are the big takeaways we're seeing so far: 8GB of storage provided care of a Samsung K9LCG08U1M NAND Flash chip, and the same one found in the iPad. Speaking of which, there's also the exact same markings on its Apple A4 processor as the iPad and new iPod touch, K4X2G643GE (not the same as the iPhone 4, as it turns out), the exact same Broadcom BCM4329XKUBG 802.11n WiFi / Bluetooth / FM chip as the iPad, and at 256MB, the same amount of RAM. Also interesting and of note are the solder pads near the side of the logic board, which look to be a perfect fit for an Apple dock connector. At any rate, with all that's under the hood, we expect the jailbreak community to have an absolute field day.

Apple TV teardown reveals 8GB flash storage, 256MB RAM, leftover iPad parts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPod touch (2010) torn down, found to contain an awful lot of battery

Vlad Savov — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:52:00 EST

As predictable as the sun rising somewhere over east Japan, the iFixit crew have put their tools and wits to the task of deconstructing the latest generation of iPod touch. Their teardown is still ongoing (exciting, isn't it?), but here are their observations so far. The new touch is noted as being the easiest to crack open yet, and yes, its retina-busting 640 x 960 LCD is fused to the external glass, just like the iPhone 4. There's an 11-gram EMI shield between the front end and the battery, accounting for a lofty 10 percent of the portable media player's weight. Beyond it, you'll find a chunky 3.44Whr Li-Pol cell, which is soldered to the board as is usual Apple practice, but a novelty here is that the headphone jack isn't. Great, tie down the thing we might want to replace and untether the one we don't care about. We'll keep you updated with any other salient info as it arises, but for now, go check out the source link for more pictures of the undressed iPod touch.

The front-facing camera has been found, as expected, to be the exact same module as built into the iPhone 4. The WiFi antenna is located just under the front glass panel, a position said to have allowed for the new all-aluminum back on the iPod touch. Another shock: the A4 chip that drives the iPad and iPhone 4 is also found on the 2010 touch, and its markings confirm a 256MB RAM allowance.

Continue reading iPod touch (2010) torn down, found to contain an awful lot of battery

iPod touch (2010) torn down, found to contain an awful lot of battery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S, part deux: HD video playback (video)

Vlad Savov — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:10:00 EST

We just couldn't leave this face-off of superscreens alone, and went back for another bite at the cherry. Admittedly, we found out the Galaxy S had a browser-specific brightness setting that we hadn't maxed out before setting off our camera hounds, so we've gone and remedied earlier comparison shots with the gallery below, and just as a bonus, we've now also run a HD video clip on both phones. This was to see how the Hummingbird and A4 SOCs, considered close siblings, handled some taxing video work and also to again compare performance deep down on the pixel level. What we can tell you now is that both handsets chewed through the ~~1080p~~ HD clip with ease and that both gave results we have no hesitation in describing as sublime. Click past the break for the up close and personal video comparison action.

N.B. -- We ran a 1080p clip on both phones' respective YouTube apps over WiFi. Although we're certain from the quality of the video that it was at least 720p, we can't say for sure that it was the full 1080 enchilada.

Gallery: iPhone 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S: displays at full brightness

Continue reading iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S, part deux: HD video playback (video)

iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S, part deux: HD video playback (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's A4 is like Samsung's S5, except where it's not

Sean Hollister — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:53:00 EST

Though the Apple iPad and the Samsung Wave most assuredly share the same brain, EE Times would like you to know there's more to a chip than its core -- analyzing Apple's system-on-a-chip designs in detail back to early iPhones, the publication noticed that Cupertino's silicon both has custom design quirks on top of ARM and shows heavy influence from Samsung as well. EE Times claims that while the A4 and Samsung S5PC110 are similar, there are certainly differences, enough to call the A4 a custom design. Essentially, Apple has a taken a one-size-fits-all product originally engineered to meet the needs of a broad range of OEMs and reduced its complexity, footprint, and cost to match Apple's particular goals. As far as whether PA Semi or Intrinsity had a hand in that design, the authors suggest only the latter seems very involved. What all this means for intellectual property questions is anyone's guess -- we'll let the lawyers fight that one out -- but when you encounter diehard fans that claim one's ripping off the other, at least now you'll be able to calmly explain the situation. Find the deep technical dive at our source link.

Apple's A4 is like Samsung's S5, except where it's not originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple iPad and Samsung Wave share a brain

Tim Stevens — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:59:00 EST

At his keynote yesterday, Steve Jobs very proudly touted the "wonderful" A4 processor, saying it was "designed by our own team" and, additionally, "is so good." That chip is the muscle inside the iPad and the new iPhone 4, but now we're finding that others are using it too... a little more quietly. We knew that Intrinsity was the company behind the (previously dubbed) Cortex A8 chip, and that Intrinsity worked with Samsung to develop and manufacture it. Now we're finding that Samsung is keeping a little of that sweet, sweet silicon for itself. The Samsung Wave uses a processor called the S5PC110A01, which UBM TechInsights has verified shares the same 1GHz A8 core as Apple's A4. No, Bada may not be showing quite the potential of iOS 4, and something tells us the new iPhone will be a bit more popular than the Wave, but it's safe to say these two handsets have definitely fallen from the same ARM family tree.

Continue reading Apple iPad and Samsung Wave share a brain

Apple iPad and Samsung Wave share a brain originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fourth generation iPhone teardown reveals A4 microprocessor

Thomas Ricker — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:14:00 EST

See the marking on that chip with the Apple logo? No, not the "N90" codename indicating that it's from Apple's next generation GSM iPhone, the other text. If we're not mistaken then we're seeing "339S0084" on that chip from today's fourth-generation iPhone teardown. Guess what? According to Chipworks, that's the Apple A4 microprocessor fabricated by Samsung and the presumed work of Apple's acquired PA Semi and Intrinsity engineers. The "APL0398" text is also the same as that found on the iPad's speedy and power sipping A4 system-on-chip. The other markings differ however. What that means isn't entirely clear yet but we're digging.

Fourth generation iPhone teardown reveals A4 microprocessor originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 06:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple purchases Intrinsity, just 498 more ARM licensees to go

Paul Miller — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:07:00 EST

With P.A. Semi under its belt, and now "people familiar with the deal" reporting to The New York Times that a purchase of Intrinsity is a go, Apple's march to ARM preeminence is becoming much more clear. A rumor about an Intrinsity purchase surfaced a few weeks ago when the processor design firm's website went down and a few of its employees switched their LinkedIn employee status over to Apple, but now we've got some solid confirmation -- though Apple and Intrinsity are still staying tight-lipped about the deal. Intrinsity's rumored contribution to the iPad's A4 chip is a modified A8 core it designed dubbed the Hummingbird, which squeezes 1GHz of performance out of a chip regularly limited to a mere 650MHz. It's unlikely that this acquisition will shed much more light on the internals of the iPad or future Apple devices -- in fact, it might help obfuscate them -- but it's clear that Apple is dead set on owning as much IP and "smart people" in relation to ARM as it can muster. Of course, the next big rumor on this front is a purchase of ARM itself, but that's an entirely different can of worms.

Apple purchases Intrinsity, just 498 more ARM licensees to go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed

Darren Murph — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:22:00 EST

Mama always said that downpours followed Spring showers, and sure enough, the Apple news has been flowing hot and heavy overnight. For starters, an IEEE Spectrum report has people talking once more about Intrinsity; if you'll recall, rumors flared up earlier in the month about Apple nabbing said company, similar to the way it acquired P.A. Semi way back in the naughties. Now, it seems that round two of those whispers are gaining steam, with some analysts suggesting that without Intrinsity's expertise, there was simply no way the silicon within the iPad could've been pushed to 1GHz in time for launch. In related news, we're also hearing that Cupertino is interested in acquiring ARM Holdings, and considering just how much business Apple pushes ARM's way, it's not illogical to imagine Apple wanting to just bring ARM in-house. If the deal went down, Apple would obviously hold a huge amount of control over whether or not ARM chips ended up in rival products, and if it yanked those Cortex slabs out from the market place, you can bet there would be a mad scramble to create a competitive portfolio to serve those suddenly chip-less product makers. Finally, a new iPhone OS 4 (beta 2) video has surfaced, giving the world a solid look at a new circular side-swapped animation that occurs when switching apps -- head on past the break to check it out, and give those links below a visit for more of that succulent nitty-gritty.

Continue reading Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed

Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's A4 system-on-chip gets decoupled from iPad, investigated with the help of an X-ray

Vlad Savov — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:04:00 EST

Ever so gently, we're starting to peel away the layers of mystery surrounding the A4 system-on-chip that powers Apple's fancy new slate device. iFixit, helped by reverse engineering firm Chipworks, have gone to the trouble of both dissecting and X-raying the iPad's central processing hub in their quest to lift the veil of ignorance. Their findings confirmed that the A4 is built using a "package on package" method, meaning that the 256MB of Samsung-provided SDRAM is stacked immediately atop the CPU, which is noted as being reductive to both latency and energy use. With a single core processor inside, the iFixit team concluded the iPad had to be running on a Cortex A8 -- which is very much the likeliest choice at this point -- but their assertion that it couldn't be a Cortex A9 MPCore inside is inaccurate, as those chips also come in single-core options. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how it stacks up against Samsung's Hummingbird chip, which was designed by Intrinsity, the same company Apple is being rumored to have recently acquired. Finally, the visual inspection of the iPad's mobo puts a model number to the already known PowerVR GPU, narrowing it down to the SGX 535, while also naming and picturing a number of other exciting components, such as the always popular capacitive touchscreen controller. Hit the source link below for all the lurid images.

Apple's A4 system-on-chip gets decoupled from iPad, investigated with the help of an X-ray originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's A4 SoC faces Qualcomm Snapdragon in knock-down-drag-out benchmarking test

Darren Murph — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:57:00 EST

Up until now, a shroud of mystery has surrounded Apple's custom engineered A4 system-on-chip; we know it's clocked at 1GHz, likely tied to Apple's prior acquisition of P.A. Semi and manufactured by Samsung. Outside of that, the only other knowledge we've gained has come not from the mouth of Cupertino, but from the extracting wizards over at iFixit. The A4 contains at least three layers of circuitry layered on top of each other, though it's packaged just like the iPhone processor: microprocessor in one package and two memory modules in the other package. We also learned that the iPad RAM is actually inside of the A4 processor package, and we're expecting to learn even more from those folks in the coming days. All that said, there's still much debate on whether Apple's own silicon can stand up to Qualcomm's heralded 1GHz Snapdragon, the chip powering Google's Nexus One among other things. AnandTech pitted their iPad against the iPhone 3GS (600MHz ARM Cortex A8) and the aforesaid Nexus One (1GHz Snapdragon QSD8250), using a number of website loads as the primary benchmark. Overall, the A4 proved to be around 10 to 30 percent faster, though it's impossible to say what effect the operating system has on things. Have a gander at that source link for more -- we get the feeling the competitions have just begun.

Apple's A4 SoC faces Qualcomm Snapdragon in knock-down-drag-out benchmarking test originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is Intrinsity Apple's latest chipmaker acquisition?

Donald Melanson — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:59:00 EST

This one's still strictly in the realm of rumor for the time being, but there's a growing amount evidence cropping up suggesting that Apple may have acquired another processor design firm. The company in question this time is Austin-based Intrinsity, which specializes in ARM processors, and has suddenly seen its website replaced with an old school "under construction" image -- supposedly due to "scheduled maintenance." That wouldn't be much to go on by itself, of course, but EDN is reporting that it has a "solid rumor" that Intrinsity has indeed been sold, and a number of Intrinsity employees have apparently already changed their current employer status on LinkedIn to Apple only to promptly change it back. There's even some speculation that Intrinsity may have actually contributed as much or more to the A4 processor in the iPad than P.A. Semi has, although any confirmation of that will likely have to wait until an official announcement -- if there's one to come at all, that is.

Is Intrinsity Apple's latest chipmaker acquisition? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's A4 chip: less is more?

Nilay Patel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:37:00 EST

Although early erroneous reports placed Apple's custom A4 chip at the leading edge of ARM-based design, things are slowly falling back to earth. First, we learned that the graphics subsystem was almost certainly the same PowerVR SGX component found in the iPhone, and now Ars Technica reports that the actual CPU is the familiar single-core Cortex A8 also found in Apple's handset. That makes the A4 seem an awful lot like an tightened-up, overclocked iPhone 3GS chip, which makes sense, seeing as it was actually in production in September of last year. So why the need for a custom part? The answer may well be efficiency and power savings: by cutting out extraneous Cortex A8 features and I/O that go unused in the iPad, Apple can further reduce the A4's size and energy draw -- which could be why Steve Jobs said the iPad's chips "use hardly any power." That might not make a huge difference when tied to a large LCD in a device like the iPad, but Ars speculates that this strategy combined with some of P.A. Semi's dynamic power optimization tech could result in a hyper-efficient chip for the iPhone somewhere down the line. That would certainly be interesting in the future -- but right now we've got the A4, and we can't wait until the end of the month to properly put this thing through its paces.

Apple's A4 chip: less is more? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics, Apple job posting suggests A4 chip will hit other products

Donald Melanson — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:27:00 EST

It may not be as big a surprise as the A4 itself was, but Apple has now confirmed via the latest iPad SDK Beta 3 documentation that the iPad does indeed use PowerVR SGX graphics hardware as part of its custom system-on-a-chip, which flatly contradicts previous reports of A4 using Mali, and lines up with what our pal Anand Shimpi has been telling us lately. What Apple doesn't confirm, unfortunately, is exactly which chip in the PowerVR SGX family the iPad uses, so it's still at least possible that it could pack a bigger punch than the iPhone or iPod touch.

In related news, a recent Apple job posting has now also offered up the first hard evidence that Apple might actually be putting its huge investment in A4 to use other platforms besides the iPad -- shocking, we know. That job is for an Engineering Manager, who would lead a team focused on the "bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms," and would otherwise be responsible for "low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms" -- experience with ARM-based SoCs is also an "additional success factor." Sound like the job you've been waiting for? Then hit up the link below for the complete details.

iPad confirmed to use PowerVR SGX graphics, Apple job posting suggests A4 chip will hit other products originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's A4 chip is ARM Cortex A9 with an ARM Mali GPU?

Vlad Savov — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:44:00 EST

For some of us, amid all the hubbub about revolutions and whatnot yesterday, the most significant announcement on hand was Apple's supposedly custom A4 CPU. Alas, in the cold and brutal light of the morning after, we're hearing that it is in fact a system-on-a-chip driven by a Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU "identical" to the one found inside NVIDIA's Tegra 2, while besting the iPhone 3GS significantly with its 1GHz speed and multicore architecture. The A4 is composed of that Cortex barnburner, an integrated memory controller, and the Mali GPU, making it an all ARM affair -- though we still don't know how much Apple and PA Semi did in terms of arranging and integrating those components within the silicon. While still not 100 percent confirmed, it would seem there were no revolutions on the iPad's processing front -- just a rebranded bit of well engineered hardware.

Apple's A4 chip is ARM Cortex A9 with an ARM Mali GPU? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad powered by custom 1GHz Apple A4 chip

Paul Miller — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:31:00 EST

Look out Intel and friends, Apple is using its own P.A. Semi technology for a custom 1GHz "Apple A4" chip in the iPad. Apple claims to get 10 hours of battery life out of this sucker, along with a month of standby.

Update: we got a picture of the processor courtesy of the iFixit Twitter feed. The chip was apparently manufactured in September of last year! Also, we've got hands-on with the iPad for your external fixations.

iPad powered by custom 1GHz Apple A4 chip originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Newman intros ManMan PMPs, versions A3 through A6

Darren Murph — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:21:00 EST

It's not often that we applaud a foreign media player manufacturer for its choice of naming nomenclature, but Newman's done a swell job with its latest line of ManMans. The A3, A4, A4+, A5 and A6 PMPs all feature lots of glossy, plenty of screen real estate and interfaces not in our native tongue. Granted, there are some notable additions -- including support for PlayFX, the 120GB hard drive within the A6 and a blatant rip of the iTunes logo -- but otherwise, these seem to be fairly middle-of-the-road. Hit the read link for details on each, but don't count on any of 'em heading stateside in the near future.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Newman intros ManMan PMPs, versions A3 through A6 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hello Kitty claims two more Epson laptops

Darren Murph — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:38:00 EST

It's bad (or good, depending on perspective) enough that Hello Kitty has claimed one Epson laptop as its own, but now fanboys and girls can select two other A4 machines to flesh out their collection. Aside from touting heaps of monogrammed cuteness, these machines reportedly weigh in at 6.6-pounds and include a 1.73GHz Intel Celeron M processor, 80GB of hard drive space, 1GB of RAM, and Windows Vista. Seems a little weak considering the ¥189,000 ($1,640) price tag, but it's hard to assign a dollar value to such a design scheme, right? Click on for another color.

Continue reading Hello Kitty claims two more Epson laptops

Filed under: Laptops

Hello Kitty claims two more Epson laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Philips announces A4 color e-paper

Darren Murph — Mon, 14 May 2007 05:50:00 EST

While this doesn't mark the first time that we've caught wind of colorized electronic paper, South Korea's LG Philips has announced that an A4-sized rendition of the vivid bendable display has successfully been developed in its labs. The panel reportedly measures just 35.9-centimeters diagonally, is 0.3-millimeter thick, and can display up to 4,096 colors while maintaining the energy efficient qualities that inevitably come with using energy only when the image changes. Unsurprisingly, the company plans on marketing the device as one of convenience and doesn't hesitate to tout its greenness in the process, but unfortunately, it failed to mention when this would find its way out into the general public.

[Via Physorg]

Filed under: Displays

LG Philips announces A4 color e-paper originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2007 05:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujitsu launching new ALiS based plasmas

Matt Burns — Fri, 19 May 2006 11:52:00 EST

Remember that Hitachi 1024x1080 plasma panel that threw a lot of people for a loop a few weeks ago? Fujitsu is using that same panel in their new A4 series plasmas. This panel allows for a dramatic lower energy use and a higher resolution with a total pixel count of nearly 1.105 million! This panel scales the vertical resolution down a bit with the goal of a more uniform picture and the horizontal gets scaled up a bit with the same thing in mind. Anyways, check out this thread for more details about the resolution. The plasma also has a very high brightness of 1400cd/m2 (42-inch model). The set of course has proprietary picture this and proprietary control that to give you that notorious Fujitsu picture.

Filed under: Plasma

Fujitsu launching new ALiS based plasmas originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 May 2006 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi introduces Albirey eBook in Japan

Evan Blass — Thu, 11 May 2006 08:34:00 EST

From what we can tell (machine translation often thwarts our best attempts at fact checking), Hitachi will be joining the likes of display manufacturers iRex and Sony when they release a commercial eBook reader in Japan tomorrow. The black-and-white e-ink model, supposedly called the "Albirey" and developed with technology from Bridgestone, seems to sport a WiFi connection with "the possibility to modify making use of radio communication," whatever that means, and comes in a package with standard A4 paper-size dimensions. The Albirey should be available tomorrow starting at what Nikkei Net is claiming to be 4,000,000 yen, which is probably the result of some Google Language shenanigans, 'cause that's like $36,000.

Update: Once again, our readers have stepped in and succeeded where machine translation has failed: apparently the price quoted is for a batch of 10 units, which indicates that this unit probably intended for commercial displays and not consumer eBook consumption. Also, make sure to check out the comments for the full specs.

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Hitachi introduces Albirey eBook in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 May 2006 08:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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