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Samsung details the Exynos processors inside the Galaxy S5 and Note 3 Neo
Samsung has been hinting at new Exynos processors for both a Galaxy S5 variant and the Galaxy Note 3 Neo, and today it's detailing the two CPUs in earnest. The GS5's expected chip, the Exynos 5422, is primarily a speed bump of the eight-core Exynos 5 Octa we saw last July; it boosts the clock speeds of the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 cores to 2.1GHz and 1.5GHz respectively. The processor also delivers support for running all eight cores at once, and can handle both 2,560 x 1,600 displays as well as 4K video recording. The Exynos 5260 (aka Exynos 5 Hexa) destined for the Note 3 Neo isn't quite so glamorous, dropping to two 1.7GHz Cortex-A15 cores and four 1.3GHz Cortex-A7 cores. However, it still has many of the features of its bigger sibling -- it can run all six cores at once and use the same screen resolutions. Not surprisingly, it doesn't have the horsepower to record 4K video. Both of the new Exynos designs are either in production or will be by the end of the first quarter, so you can expect to see them in shipping smartphones relatively soon.
World's first 128GB phone now available from Meizu, but only works in China
You may recall that a little while back we checked out China's Meizu MX3, and in addition to its unique 15:9 1,800 x 1,080 display, one of its other selling points is the 128GB storage option. Well, this version is finally available as of today, except it's only offered to the TD-SCDMA variant of the phone, meaning you can only use it on China Mobile's network or, if you're desperate, any GSM 2G network. If that's no problem and you have an address in China, then you can head over to online store JD.com and hand over CN¥3,999 (about US$660) for the 5.1-inch, Exynos 5 Octa-powered device off contract. As for the rest of us, it's probably just a matter of time before the WCDMA-flavored MX3 gets the same treatment, so stay tuned. Alternatively, the upcoming Vivo Xplay 3S is rumored to have a 128GB option as well, and given that it'll support both TD-LTE and FD-LTE, it might be a better buy for us speed freaks outside China.
Exynos 5 Octa demos 8 cores working at once and other feats of CPU strength (video)
Just in case yesterday's news that Samsung is ready to enable new features on its Exynos 5 Octa chips wasn't clear, ARM has published a few demo videos to show what it can do. All three are embedded after the break, and the first one highlights how the Exynos 5 Octa 5420 can activate some or all of its 8 cores to maximize responsiveness while launching and using Quickoffice. As you can see above in the screenshot, all eight cores are activated while launching the app, then unused ones switch off for more efficiency. Another video shows how it runs Angry Birds Rio on just the four Cortex-A7 "LITTLE" side of the CPU, rarely activating any of their more power-hungry A15 friends. The last demo video shows how its Mali-T628 GPU activates to process images faster and more efficiently than the CPU alone can.
Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa CPUs will be able to use all eight cores at once in Q4
We'll have to change our terminology for Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa mobile chips now. We've been calling them "not-quite" eight core CPUs since they can't actually use all eight at once, but the company's new Heterogeneous Multi-Processing solution is going to change that. Once it's available in Q4 it will let devices access both sides of the big.LITTLE ARM configuration simultaneously, which it claims will increase both performance and efficiency. While software threads with high priority use the "big" A15 core, lower priority tasks can run on the "small" A7 without needing to switch back and forth. Samsung isn't the only one running this setup however, as MediaTek announced an implementation for its MT8135 back in July. There are more details included in the press release (after the break) but we're not seeing any confirmation if this will ever be enabled on existing / announced devices like some flavors of the Galaxy S 4 or the Meizu MX3. Either way, the folks at Qualcomm might want to put together another video.
Meizu MX3 hands-on: a significant improvement from the MX2 (video)
Having sat through Meizu's entire launch event in Beijing, we have to admit: the new MX3 took us by surprise. We weren't expecting much after knowing some of the key specs from the leaks, and to be frank, the Chinese company lost its way with the MX2; but Jack Wong's team seems to have put its focus back in place with its latest flagship. First off, while the MX3 has preserved the predecessor's metallic-rim design, Meizu has now managed to refine the manufacturing process to remove all the sharp edges, and boy does that new body feel good. The TOL (touch-on-lens) display may look odd with its 1,800 x 1,080 resolution, but it looked good on the demo units, and that 15:9 aspect ratio has some advantage for web browsing in portrait mode. There were many other features that we couldn't comment on based on our hands-on, such as the audio quality from the Wolfson chip and the image quality from the third-gen Sony 8-megapixel sensor, but the presence of these components suggests that Meizu may be headed back in the right direction. The number of improvements on the slick, Android 4.2-based Flyme 3.0 is also impressive, making it slightly more user-friendly (especially for first-timers) as well as more pleasing to the eye. It'll just take some getting used to with Meizu's own soft key approach (virtual buttons on a "Smart Bar" plus a capacitive home button). Much like the battery life and radio performance, we'll only be able to properly comment on the software part over an extended period of usage, so do keep an eye out for our MX3 review in the near future. Oh, and we have a hands-on video after the break.
Meizu MX3 unveiled with Exynos 5 Octa, 5.1-inch screen, Wolfson audio and 128GB option
Ahead of main rival Xiaomi's big event later this week, Meizu has today unveiled its latest Android device, the MX3, at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. Like many recent flagship phones, this one finally breaks the previous 4.4-inch barrier to make way for a 5.1-inch display, though with an odd 1,800 x 1,080, 15:9 panel from Sharp and JDI to follow Meizu's string of odd aspect ratios. At the same time, the manufacturer has managed to keep the screen bezel at 2.9mm thick, making the carefully curved body 72mm wide (as well as 9.1mm thick and 143g heavy). This is apparently the result of Jack Wong's 30-plus handcrafted wooden prototypes, followed by some 3D scanning. Read on for more. Update: Our hands-on post is up as well!
Samsung reportedly crafting 10- and 12.2-inch tablets with 2,560 x 1,600 displays
Samsung already has tablets on the market bearing almost any display size that might interest you. If a tweet from @evleaks is to be believed, Sammy has yet more slates in the pipeline, including its biggest one yet. Allegedly, the unannounced SM-P900 tablet carries a 12.2-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 screen (same res as the Nexus 10), an Exynos 5 Octa heart, and an S-Pen that would make it part of the Note family. Another device, known as the SM-P600, is said to cram that same resolution into a 10-inch display, and switches Samsung's chip for a Snapdragon 800. We'd be more willing to buy the rumor if there were pics to back it up, but it's rare for the source to be completely off the mark. Could we see these new tablets at IFA alongside a trio of Galaxy Note III models? Join us in a little under a month for the Samsung edition of Mythbusters.
New Exynos 5 Octa: 20 percent more CPU power, over twice the 3D graphics oomph
Samsung couldn't help itself last week when it teased a new Exynos 5 Octa system on a chip, and now it's dishing out the full details. The fresh 5420 variant of the SoC is based on Mali-T628 MP6 silicon, packs a quartet of ARM Cortex-A15 cores running at 1.8GHz and four 1.3GHz Cortex-A7s in an ARM big.LITTLE configuration. Seoul claims that the package packs 20 percent more CPU processing punch, and has two times greater 3D graphics power than its predecessor. Dual-channel LPDDR3 at 933MHz gives the processor a screaming memory bandwidth of 14.9 GBps, which lends it full HD WiFi display support. Baked inside is an image compression solution that makes for energy efficient multimedia loading, and squeezes out more hours of use with high-res displays. There's no word on which devices might use the new SoCs, but the chips are already being sampled by Samsung's customers, and mass-production is slated for August.
Samsung: new Exynos 5 Octa SoC coming next week
Samsung's current ARM superchip, the Exynos 5 Octa, was revealed at CES and has just started making its way into handsets, but the company claims it's already got a new and improved version ready to roll. Today, the company's SamsungExynos Twitter account revealed that a "more powerful, enhanced" Octa will make its debut next week. What, exactly, that means remains to be seen, but we'll be bringing you that info as soon as Samsung dishes it out. Stay tuned.
Dual-SIM Samsung Galaxy S 4 launches in China with an Exynos 5 Octa inside
Remember the leaked GT-i9502, that dual-SIM variant of the Galaxy S 4 that ultimately confirmed many rumors? That smartphone at last exists beyond a collection of photos, as Samsung just launched it for China Unicom customers. The support for an extra cellular line is naturally the highlight, although there's another perk for GS4 connoisseurs: the i9502 has the same 1.6GHz Exynos 5 Octa processor as the i9500, which might eke out more performance than the Snapdragon 600 models. There isn't any word on whether or not the i9502 edition will leave China, although we wouldn't count on European or North American editions when there isn't LTE inside to please 4G-obsessed carriers.
Samsung Galaxy S 4 isn't even out yet, but it might have been rooted already (update: or not)
We might have spent a few hours toying with Samsung's new mobile hardware, but some tinkerers over at XDA-Developers claim have had enough time to root the Galaxy S 4, already. This means those (very) early adopters might be able to peruse the inner workings as soon as it arrives on store shelves. There's a video of the process after the break and you can pick up all the necessary custom ROM files (and warnings of not to meddle with what you do not understand) at the source. There is one tiny caveat to the news, however, as the rooting magic is focused squarely on the Exynos 5 Octa model for now. According to SAM Mobile, several batches of the new Galaxy phone are rumored to be packing Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 instead of Samsung's homemade chip series. An official spokesperson from the UK branch has confirmed that it'll arrive there with the Snapdragon processor. Update: Perhaps we were a little too zealous. Notable smartphone tinkerer Chainfire has taken to Google Plus to note that this would be a pretty huge accomplishment given the limited number of handsets currently out there. Most of the XDA-Developers thread details custom ROMs, while the Galaxy S 4 apparently has a few extra tricks to slow down the rooting process. Read Chainfire's full breakdown in More Coverage. Apologies for any confusion. Update 2: A mere day and a half later, and Chainfire's been in touch to confirm he/she has a working root for the S 4, although aren't yet able to try it out on the final retail iteration. We'll have to wait a few weeks before it's able to pass that tet.
Samsung Exynos Octa now rocking LTE, destined for Korean market
When Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa was announced, it was believed to be compatible with 3G networks only. As such, the HSPA+ (global) version of the Galaxy S 4 was the only handset to feature the company's eight-core SoC -- the LTE model shipping with Qualcomm's 4G-capable, quad-core Snapdragon 600 instead. That's apparently changed, with the Korean giant tweeting that the Exynos 5 Octa now supports LTE on 20 bands. So why even make a Snapdragon 600 version of the Galaxy S 4, then? Perhaps Samsung can't produce as many chips as Qualcomm to meet the upcoming worldwide demand for its new flagship. This appears likely, with inews24 and new-samsunggalaxys4 reporting that the Exynos 5 Octa with LTE is currently reserved for Korean models only (SHV-E300S, SHV-E300K and SHV-E300L, to be exact). So, anyone fancy a trip to Seoul in the near future?
Samsung puts Exynos 5 Octa into production: guess who's the first customer
That Galaxy S 4 isn't going to compute tasks through sheer force of will, you know. Just a day after Samsung unveiled the smartphone as its inaugural Exynos 5 Octa device, the company has confirmed that the not-really-eight-core ARM processor should be in mass production during the second quarter of the year, or between April and June. There aren't many more details to share beyond what the company mentioned at CES, but that doesn't diminish what could be a best-of-all-worlds processor: the automatic switching between four Cortex-A15 and four Cortex-A7 cores should give it a performance edge over many of its peers while reducing power consumption by up to 70 percent. We also know that the Octa's graphics performance has largely caught up to peers versus earlier Exynos 4 designs, as Imagination Technologies has confirmed that its PowerVR SGX544MP is providing enough muscle to double 3D performance over the creaky Mali-400 in the Exynos 4 Quad. About the only mystery left is whether or not many companies beyond Samsung will get a chance at some Exynos 5 Octa silicon, although there's one or two prospects.
Samsung Galaxy S 4 preview: a flagship with some familiar roots
You say you want a revolution? Too bad, because this Galaxy smartphone update is just that... an update. Samsung's newly unveiled Galaxy S 4 is an incremental step up, an evolution less "inspired by nature" and more by last year's GS III. Don't believe us? Just take a look at the two handsets side by side to see the overtly obvious heritage. Samsung's staying the course with the overall design language, though it's expanded the screen size to five inches -- now powered by a Full HD Super AMOLED display with 441 ppi (and yes, it's still PenTile). On the inside, it has a processor setup that we're told will be either an Exynos 5 or Snapdragon depending on the region, along with 2GB of RAM, 16, 32 or 64GB of internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2,600mAh battery. Starting to see the bigger picture here? Samsung had a good thing on its hands with the GS III and it's not willing to compromise much of the tried-and-true with the GS 4. It will launch globally in Q2, with a stateside debut on T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular and Cricket. Until then, join us past the break for our detailed first impressions. %Gallery-182135% %Gallery-182392% Check out our event hub for all the action from Samsung's Galaxy S 4 event.
Samsung's next-gen Exynos 5 Octa rumored to have only current-gen PowerVR graphics
There's nothing we can concretely do or say about the Exynos 5 Octa until it's in a device and in our hands. It's all just educated guesswork in the meantime, but that happens to be something AnandTech is rather good at. That site has reached the conclusion, based on "numerous sources," that the Octa probably uses a PowerVR 544MP3 GPU clocked at 533MHz. If true, this implies that the ARM Mali T-604 used in Exynos Dual devices like the Sammy Chromebook somehow couldn't meet Octa's needs, and that the higher-specced T-658 perhaps wasn't ready. It also suggests that Octa's graphical and GPU compute performance might lie somewhere between that of the third-gen iPad (A5X) and the fourth-gen (A6X). Frankly, a newer GPU would have been more exciting, especially given the appearance of PowerVR Series6 at CES, but big.LITTLE should still give us plenty to talk about when the new eight-core chip finally arrives.
