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CTIA 2012: a look back at our favorite devices

Sean Cooper — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:10:00 -0400

CTIA 2012 is wrapping up and we thought we'd spend a few minutes reminiscing about some of the more interesting devices we had a chance to see for the first time or that were launched here. Unfortunately for us -- and thereby for you, too -- the show lacked the bite we've seen at previous events, in fact it barely registered a nibble. We did catch up with five products we'd like to highlight so follow on after the break for our recap.

Filed under: Mobile

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Samsung Galaxy S III wrap-up

James Trew — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:30:00 -0400

So, it's time to take down the decorations, remove that party hat and sweep up the confetti (you can clear the unfinished drinks in the morning). As Earl's Court in London echoes with the hollow sound of empty plastic champagne flutes and half-eaten canapes, the rest of the tech world gives a sigh of relief. The Samsung Galaxy S III is here. Was it what you expected? If you haven't yet decided, don't worry, we've got you covered. After all the months of anticipation, cryptic clues and teasing it's understandable that you might be feel a little bit spent. That's why we're going to carry you over the finish line, by providing you with a fireman's lift of all things GS3. We've collected together all the links to tonight's main stories, along with a little reminder of the route we took to get here. So forget about the post-party hangover for now, and do the walk of shame past the break for the round-up.

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Mobile World Congress 2012: best of show

Sean Cooper — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:30:00 -0500

Mobile World Congress 2012 was a massively exciting show and true to form brought us so much new kit to be excited about in early 2012. From Intel's Medfield launch, a 41-megapixel smartphone, a new generation of personal hotspots and even engineered metals using micro arc oxidation, there was never a dull moment. Highlighting what was best, most innovative, or interesting is a tough nut but we've done our best to point out the highlights using our impressions -- and the occasional arm-wrestling match -- to chose the finalists amongst the products and our Editor's more notable achievements. Fly through to the next page and have a look at our takeaways from this, the most intense mobile tech show of the year.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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NVIDIA's GTX 560 desktop GPU fills an exceedingly narrow pricing niche

Terrence O'Brien — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:42:00 -0400

With Tegra 2 hogging the spotlight, sometimes it's easy to forget that NVIDIA is still primarily in the business of making GPUs for computers. Yet, here it is with the GeForce GTX 560, another graphics chip ready to be inserted into mid-range gaming rigs. This smaller sibling of the GTX 560 Ti is designed to plug right into a small price gap in the company's lineup -- right around the $200 mark. The 336 CUDA cores inside this second-gen Fermi card, predictably, perform slightly better than the GTX 460 and fall just short of the 560 Ti, but it does eke out a victory over similarly priced competition from AMD. The only thing that kept reviewers from wholeheartedly endorsing the various (and often overclocked) flavors of the 560 was the tiny difference in price between it and its relatives -- tacking on the letters Ti and its 48 additional stream processors costs as little as $15 after a mail-in rebate. Check out the reviews below for all the benchmarks your little nerd heart can handle. And don't miss the video of a GTX 560 plowing through Duke Nukem Forever, Alice: Madness Returns, and Dungeon Siege III at the more coverage link.

Read - Tech Report
Read - AnandTech
Read - Tom's Hardware
Read - Guru 3D

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AMD elevates the low-end with trio of sub-$100 cards: Radeon HD 6670, 6570, and 6450

Terrence O'Brien — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:53:00 -0400

Graphics card companies don't live and die by the enthusiast market alone. That may be where the glory is, but it's the budget cards that really bring in the bacon. For the entry level, AMD just unleashed a trio of sub-$100 cards, the Radeon HD 6670, 6570, and 6450. How do they perform? Well, let's just say you get what you pay for. Reaction from reviewers has been one of mild indifference. Depending on manufacturer, fan noise does appear to be an issue, possibly precluding the cards from being a viable HTPC choice. Otherwise, even the lowly, $55 6450 is a worthy upgrade over an integrated graphics chip or a two-year-old discrete card, but it can't match the performance of NVIDIA's GT 430, which can be had for only a few dollars more. Consensus was that, with prices of the older 5000 series being slashed, purchasers can get more bang for their GPU buck by sticking with last generation cards (like the Radeon HD 5750) if they're looking for pure gaming prowess. That said, the GDDR5 flavors of the 6670 provide perfectly playable performance on most modern games (it averaged 45 FPS in Call of Duty: Black Ops) for just $99 (the 6570 runs about $79). Just beware those models shipping with GDDR3. Benchmarks galore below.

Read - Hexus
Read - techPowerUp 6450
Read - techPowerUp 6670
Read - Guru3D
Read - Tech Report
Read - Tom's Hardware 6670 and 6570
Read - Tom's Hardware 6450
Read - TweakTown
Read - AnandTech
Read - HotHardware

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Twitter for Android: the best apps reviewed

Richard Lai — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:16:00 -0400

You know what's awesome? Cookie dough ice cream. But when it comes to the smartphone market, the 18-month-old, steadily-growing Android platform is equally wondrous. Sure, Google may have a tiny bit of catching up to do when compared with Apple's market share, but at least Android users are already spoiled with a handful of good Twitter apps. Better yet, Twitter has now thrown in its official app to spice up the competition, so we thought it'd be interesting to put it head-to-head against the third-party clients. Read on to find out if we have a winner.

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Apple iPad launch day roundup: everything you need to know

Joseph L. Flatley — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:22:00 -0500

The long rumored (and we mean long rumored) Apple tablet has finally arrived. Is the iPad as "magical" as the company hopes? Perhaps not, but there is a lot to this story beyond the obvious: A4 chip? Micro SIM? What's the deal with Flash? Since we know you're looking for the straight dope on the big reveal, and since this is what Engadget does best, we've thoughtfully compiled the last twenty-four hours worth of coverage in something we like to call a "list." Now sit back, put your feet up, and take it all in.

The liveblog

Live from the Apple 'latest creation' event

Impressions / hands-on coverage

Product announcements

In-depth / details

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Black Friday deal roundup: Zhu Zhu mania edition

Joshua Topolsky — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Ah, Black Friday. The words send shivers down your spine... do they not? We're sure that you're probably napping right now after a 4AM jaunt to your nearest brick and mortar retailer, where you inevitably trampled some children to get your hands on a Zhu Zhu or that super cheap TV with a 10:1 contrast ratio (hey, it was really cheap!). Still, there are some hard workin', hard spendin' folks who probably haven't had nearly enough of Capitalism Day, and as such, we're going to round up some of the best or most interesting deals we've seen thus far for their shopping pleasure. We've already done a few posts on the matter prior to the big day, and we'll include those here as well. Oh, and we're going to let you know about deals that seem too good to be true or just plain bunk to us, because no one wants you wasting your money... beyond what is considered reasonable by polite society. If you guys have any deals you think are notable, use the tip form (or comments) and let us know!

New deals today:

Dell Zino HD for $199 (buyer beware, it ships with Vista)
PS3 Slim (120GB) with inFAMOUS and Killzone 2 + a $10 Amazon gift certificate (different deals also available at other retailers)
Westinghouse 32-inch TV for $246 at Target (it is dirt cheap, but probably looks like crap)
TomTom iPhone app 30 percent off until Monday (link goes to App Store)

Previous deals:

Apple's Black Friday deals
Black Friday deals roundup: Best Buy, Lenovo, Verizon and more
Black Friday deals roundup: Walmart, Target and NewEgg
Black Friday deals bonanza round up
Black Friday ads leaking all over town, we've rounded them up
Sears Black Friday ad revealed, we'll be sleeping off our tryptophan hangovers

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