Reviews on MT8173 processor

Qualcomm and Huawei will launch their new SOC based on ARM Cortex A72. Another SOC supplier, Mediatek can not fall behind. Recently, Mediatek launched its new SOC, MT8173, this processor is based on ARM Cortex A72, more important, it single core performance is scored 1752, higher than Kirin 950. This MT8173 may be firstly adopted by AMazon tablet pc, and will be for sale at end of this year.

MT8173 is one quad core processor based on ARM Cortex A72. One month ago, we disclosed this SOC adopts 28nm process technology, if adopting 16nm process from TSMC, its single core performance will be 2200, higher than Qualcomm Snapdragon 820.

MT8173 is specially designed for tablet pc, but early this year, Mediatek announced that it will put LTE-Advanced modem into this SOC, that means, it will be also adopted by smartphone in near future.

As the first SOC with ARM Cortex A72 from Mediatek,  it owns 2 ARM Cortex A72, and 2 ARM Cortex A53. Its performance is 600% of MT8125, and comes with Corepilot 2.0 technology from Mediatek.

The GPU of MT8173 is GX6250, frequency is 600MHz, supports 4K resolution videos.

This SOC will be firstly adopted by one Amazon tablet pc, this unit owns one 1080P 7 inch IPS screen, 2G RAM and 8GB storage. Operation system is Android 5.1 Lollipop OS. It will be for sale at this year end.

Most expensive smart watch, Tag Heuer Connected

After Apple launched Apple Watch, many suppliers started to copy Apple Watch. Recently, Tag Heuer from Swiss launches one smart watch, named Connected. Its price is 1500 US dollars, becoming one of most expensive smart watches.

Connected smart watch adopts design similar as mechanical watch. But its dial plate is one 1.5 inch LTPS LED screen. Resolution is 360*360 pixels. Its screen is covered Sapphire glass, and supports IP67 level water proof function. Its body is made of Titanium alloy.

Connected smart watch adopts one Intel dual core processor, RAM is 1GB and storage is 4GB. There is one built in microphone. This unit can support power saving Bluetooth 4.1, and 2.4GHz Wifi 802.11 b/g/n.

As information from suverimax.com, this Connected smartphone will be for sale in New York within this week, price is 1500 US dollars. Then it will land Europe.

Verizon launches new tablet pc for kids

Though, in tablet pc market, Verizon is not a well known brand name. But till now, it has already launched several tablets pc for special users. For example, recently, Verizon will launch a new tablet pc. Its model name is Ellipsis Kids. From its name, we can see, this unit is developed for kids, it includes contents suitable for kids, colorful shell, and parents lock.

This time, Verizon makes cooperation with Zoodles. People who buy this Ellipsis Kids can have free Zoodle service including books, videos, etc. Parents just need to input the ages, interest, then Zoodles will choose contents for you. Of course, parents can set time and content limitation as well.

This Ellipsis Kids adopts the new Kids-Tough shell, it can help reduce the shocking when dropped. Ellipsis owns one 8 inch 8 inch HD IPS screen, and supports Verizon 4G LTE network(only for Verizon network). Its storage is 16GB, and can be extended by 32GB TF card.

Ellipsis Kids will be for sale on 12th, Nov, its price is about 250 US dollars.

HP launched new tablet pc, Spectre X2

Yesterday morning, HP launched one new tablet pc, Spectre X2. This unit owns one removable keyboard and bracket to support the tablet. Its bracket is quite different with others like Surface, it adopts U style design, and very slim, so it can support tablet pc in any angle.

HP Spectre X2 adopts latest Intel Core M processor based on Skylake framework which is also adopted by new Macbook. Regarding the processor, buyers can choose different models, including Core M3, M5 and M7. RAM can be 4GB or 8GB. Flash memory has three options as well, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. Unit owns one SD card reader and USB Type C port, you can use one of the USB port to charge the tablet.

This unit can support the Verizon LTE network. There are dual cameras built in, and one Intel RealSense 3D camera at back of the unit.

Regarding the price, it is starting from 799.99 US dollars, and you can order it online from 8th, Nov. Compared with another 2 in 1 tablet pc, Surface Pro 4, this HP Spectre X2 is much cheaper, of course, its configuration is also a bit lower. So which one you like.

Further news about Intel Cherry Trail

Microsoft has launched the new Windows 10 operation system for nearly 1 month. Many tablet pc with Windows 8.1 OS have been upgraded to new Windows 10. But there are very few new tablets with Windows 10 available in market. That is because Intel launch the Skylake very late, second, many tablet pc manufacturers are still testing the new devices with new chipset and operation system. We believe there will be a lot of new products available in following months, especially devices with Intel Cherry Trail processors.

This Intel Cherry Trail is displayed in Jan 2015, CES 2015 trade show. Compared with Bay Trail framework, this Cherry Trail is more excellent. Thanks to the 14nm process technology, its power consumption is reduced by nearly 50%, CPU performance is boosted slightly, but GPU performance is nearly twice of Bay Trail. Cherry Trail has integrated XMM 726X modem, which can support LTE-A network. The max download speed is 300Mbps, more important, Intel has put the Realsense 3D technology into this processor.

Processors based on Cherry Trail can be quad core and four threads, max frequency is 2.7GHz, supporting LPDDR3 or DDR3L-RS 1600Mhz RAM, band width is 25.6GB/s. Its GPU is adopting the 8th Gen Intel HD Graphics.

The first product with Intel Cherry Trail is Microsoft Surface 3. CPU is the Intel Atom X7 Z8700 quad core processor. But except this Surface 3 and HP Pro Tablet 608, we can not see any tablet with Cherry Trail. But as our news, Dell is planning to launch two new products with Cherry Trail.

More information about Cube I10 Remix

Remix OS is one operation system special for Android tablet pc based on Android OS. Now, in market, most of tablet Android have very bad users’ experience. This Remix OS is one new choice. Now, many tablet pc suppliers from China start to cooperate with Remix, and there are several new products running Remix OS.

Recently, people from USA disclosed that Cube will launch one new tablet pc with Remix operation system. This unit owns one 10.6 inch IPS screen, model number is Cube I10 Remix. It adopts one 64 bit quad core processor from Intel. RAM is 2GB, and flash memory is 32GB. There are dual cameras built in, and supports HDMI output, Bluetooth, OTG etc.

Cube did not tell too many information about this tablet, as we know, the price of this Cube I10 Remix is about 115 US dollars, and will be for sale very soon.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 rolls out

Yesterday, Samsung launched its new tablet pc, Galaxy Tab S2 in Beijing, China. This new product adopts metal body, its thickness is only 5.6mm. It has 8 inch and 9.7 inch, two different screen size. Screen ratio is 4:3. The screen material is AMOLED. Resolution is 2048*1536 pixels. Except that, Galaxy Tab S2 provides Wifi and 4G LTE editions.

This Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 comes with Samsung Exynos 7433 octa core processor, RAM is 3GB. There is one Micro SD card slot which can support 128GB at max. The front camera is 2.1M pixels, and rear camera is 8M pixels. Unit has Touch ID function. The battery capacity of 8 inch is 4000Mah, and 9.7 inch is 5870Mah. The operation system is Android 5.0 Lollipop OS.

In the conference, Samsung did not tell the price of this new tablet pc, but it will be for sale in following weeks. People who are interested in this unit can follow up our further report.

Nymi Band, one unique smart bracelet

As Apple Pay becomes more and more popular now, there are many mobile pay available, like Android Pay, and Samsung pay. Except that, fingerprint can also authenticates for payment. But news from stcamusa.com, one new bracelet is launched, named Nymi Band. Its authentication method is much safer than fingerprint. It uses heart beat for authentication.

The sensor of this smart bracelet can tracks and recognizes the electrical activity of users’ heart. This method can not be copied. In fact, the idea of this Nymi Band was introduced in 2013.

Now, this Nymi Band is already provided to users of Master Card and TD Bank Group for trial in Canada. In near future, it will support more other banks. As the electrical activity is different for everyone, so the authentication is quite safe. The payment will be committed by NFC function. If the retailer can support the Paypass of Master card, you can use this Nymi Band to make payment.

Till now, we don’t know when it will be for sale. Its price is more than 150 US dollars. If it succeeds, in future, smart phones or smart watches will also come with this heart beating authentication.

Sales volume of Apple Watch is only 1.2 million pieces?

Early today, Apple released its financial report of the 3rd quarter, 2015. The sales volume of Apple Watch becomes the focus.  But Apple did not list it separately, but put it together with iPod, Beats etc.

Apple said its revenue of other business increased about 950 million US dollars to 2.64 billion US dollars. The growth are all from Apple Watch.

As estimation, the average price of Apple Watch is about 499 US dollars. If based on this price, then the total sale volume of Apple Watch is about 1.9 million pieces. Of course, this does not take the bracelet and other accessories of Apple Watch into consideration, and the iPod sale decrease.

If the average price is 550 US dollars, then the sales volume is only 1.2 million pieces. No matter it is 1.9 million pieces or 1.2 million pieces, it is much different with what we estimated before, about 4 million pieces.

But we can not say Apple Watch is failed, since Apple is preparing some plans for Apple Watch. So maybe in next quarter, we will see a great growth.

Shipment of ASUS tablets will reduce 30% in 2015

Report from STCAMUSA, it estimated the total shipment volume of ASUS tablet pc will reduce 30% in 2015 and will be 6 to 7 million pieces. In last year, its total shipment volume is 9.4 million pieces.

The reason for the less shipment volume is smart phones with big screen are becoming more and more popular than before. iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note have big screen size, and experience, functions are similar as tablet pc. So they have good sales in market. The other point is most tablets pc can not support phone calls and internet surf.

In fact, not only ASUS, many other tablet pc suppliers from Taiwan have the same condition. In the first half of 2015, the total shipment from Taiwan is about 2.5 million pieces, compared with last year, it is reduced by 39%.

In the first quarter, the shipment volume of ASUS was 1.5 million pieces, and second quarter was 1 million pieces. They are much less than ASUS target which are 1.8 million and 1.2 million pieces.