If you’re into benchmarks, you may be interested in the latest results from the Intel powered Santa Clara set to hit France in June. We’re all curious to see how Intel’s new Medfield chips perform and whether or not they will shake up the mobile market as they claim they will. A German blogger recently took the Santa Clara for a spin through Rightware and Vellamo, both of which are browser benchmark tools. Rightware tests the browser’s performance in JavaScript and HTML rendering. The Intel chip performed quite nicely, scoring a 89180 which is slightly better than the iPhone 4S (87801) but still well under the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (98272).
According to some industry sources that spoke with DigiTimes, we could be seeing the mythical Google Nexus tablet as early as May. It’s reported that ASUS will be the one to manufacturer the 7″ low cost tablet after other potential partners didn’t quite make the cut. Apparently HTC and Acer were in the running, but after HTC’s unwillingness to to develop a low-price model and Acer’s lack of in-house R&D, ASUS was declared the winner. Considering ASUS’s recent dedication to Android and the tablet market, I would not be surprised at all if they end up manufacturing the Nexus tablet, in fact I expect it.
When Google killed off the Android Market and replaced it with the Google Play Store, not every device was happy about it. In fact, some Motorola devices refused to link to the new Google Play Store in protest of Google’s heinous crime. Google acted fast and deployed the update police to force Motorola devices into submission. Thanks to the latest Google Play Store update 3.4.7, your Motorola app drawer store link will now work, forcing you to bust out that heartfelt eulogy you had prepared for the Android Market and say goodbye.
R.I.P Android Market
When HTC unveiled their future lineup of top-tier smartphones at Mobile World Congress, they heavily boasted about the phone’s camera. They claimed it would rival any digital camera and that it would deliver a camera experience in a way never seen on phones before. They made a pretty big deal over their new ImageSense software as well as the custom ImageChip, f/2.0 lens, HDR technology, and super fast capture. The incessant hype led to a wave of praise and anticipation. Users instantly began dreaming of the professional headshot profiles they’d be posting to Facebook. Kidding aside, they did make it sound awesome, and when they posted a set of pictures from the HTC One X to Facebook, it validated our praise.
We have some good news for owners of the Motorola DROID 2 Global on Verizon: you have an update! It’s nothing as exciting as Ice Cream Sandwich, but it does take care of some pesky bugs, including the “out of memory” errors some of you may have experienced. The update began rolling out OTA last night and should make it to your device sometime today. To check for the update manually, simply go to Settings > About Phone > System Update. If you still don’t see anything, just sit tight as it’s on the way.
