AllThingsD » processor

Dell XPS 8500, Vostro 470 Desktops Get the Ivy Bridge Boost

Bonnie Cha — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:29:39 +0000

Faster computers and laptops are on the way, thanks to a new chipset from Intel called Ivy Bridge, but some companies are already incorporating the new technology into their products, including Dell.

Available today are Dell’s latest desktops, the XPS 8500 and Vostro 470, both of which feature the new Ivy Bridge processors.

The XPS 8500 is designed for those who do a lot of multimedia work, such as editing videos and designing graphics, and is also suitable for gamers. Depending on your needs, you can build your computer with either an Intel Core i5 or i7 quad-core processor, and there are several graphics-card options from AMD Radeon and Nvidia.

To ensure high performance, the XPS 8500 also has USB 3.0 for faster data transfer and various solid-state drive configurations, which will help boost application load and boot-up times.

Meanwhile, the Vostro 470 goes after the small-business segment with its extra security and storage features. The Windows 7 desktop offers up to two terabytes of storage and 12 gigabytes of memory capacity, plus expandability options. It also works with backup services like DataSafe Online Backup.

Like the XPS 8500, the Vostro 470 offers the same processor options and USB 3.0.

One other factor that might attract small businesses to the Vostro 470 is its more affordable price tag. Pricing for the Vostro 470 starts at $549, while the XPS 8500 starts at $749. Both are available now through Dell’s Web site and select retail stores nationwide.

Teardown Shows Nokia's Lumia 900 Costs $209 to Build

Arik Hesseldahl — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:30:46 +0000

As smartphones go, the Lumia 900 has a lot of hopes tied up into it. It represents the collaboration of Microsoft, the software behemoth on the PC that has struggled in recent years to make a go of the smartphone business, and Nokia, once the king of wireless phones, period, now struggling to get back in the game versus Apple and Google.

So far, the launch hasn’t gone quite so well. First there was a lackluster review. Then, days after going on sale on Easter Sunday, the company has admitted to a software glitch and is offering people who bought one a $100 credit in addition to a software patch. The credit makes the phone free to buyers willing to take a two-year service contract.

Now the market research firm IHS iSuppli has taken a Lumia 900 apart and, in a report shared with AllThingsD that will be released later today, has determined that it costs Nokia about $209 to build. And, judging from the parts being used, it’s not exactly built like the most cutting-edge phone on the market.

In fact, it seems like Microsoft and wireless chipmaker Qualcomm are both making an effort to showcase how efficient Windows Phone 7 for mobile can be; at the same time, they seem to be aiming to entice other hardware manufacturers by demonstrating that a full-featured smartphone can be built using components that are about a generation behind the current high end, and therefore cheaper, says Andrew Rassweiler, the iSuppli analyst who supervised the teardown.

For example, the teardown found that the Lumia 900 uses a single-core Qualcomm chip that costs $17 as its main applications processor; a phone with similar features running Google’s Android OS, such as Samsung’s Galaxy SII Skyrocket, uses a higher-end dual-core processor that costs $22.

“It appears what Microsoft and Qualcomm and Nokia are trying to do here — and this is being driven by Microsoft more than anyone else — is streamline the OS so it can run on a lighter processing platform,” Rassweiler told me. “The point being is to undercut the higher end phones.”

The choices don’t end with the processor. The phone contains only 512 megabytes of DRAM memory, where most phones would use one gigabyte. And the trend is expected to continue, as the next generation of Microsoft’s mobile OS will require even less memory.

Another example: The Bluetooth chip. Nokia is using a slightly older chip from Broadcom, and not the latest, greatest Bluetooth part. The difference between them is only $2.50, but it serves as another example showing that Nokia is aiming to compete on price.

For Nokia, the strategy seems to be one of aiming to compete against other phones on price, while offering similar features. The Lumia is thought to sell for $450 at retail without a subsidy, or about $200 lower than Apple’s iPhone 4S, which starts at $649 without a contract, depending on model, and costs between $188 and $245 to build.

Microsoft is also thought to be helping Nokia out, says iSuppli’s Wayne Lam, who also participated in the teardown analysis. While software costs are not considered in a teardown analysis, he says Microsoft is thought to be making less than $5 per phone in licensing fees on the Windows Phone 7 operating system, far lower than the $15 per device it is said to want. That would be in line with the $3 per phone price that Nokia is thought to have paid in licensing fees for the Symbian OS it used previously, and of which it was a partial owner. “Nokia is getting a fantastic discount,” Lam told me.

One place where Nokia didn’t skimp? The gyroscope chip, which determines how the phone is being moved. It contains the same gyroscope chip from STMicroelectronics that goes into the iPhone 4S. There are, apparently, some things on which you simply can’t compromise.

HP Envy Spectre 14: A Premium Ultrabook, at a Premium Price

Lauren Goode — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:00:04 +0000

Over the past six months in the personal computing world, there has been much ado about Ultrabooks — thin, lightweight laptops with Intel-determined technical specifications that compete with Apple’s MacBook Air. Windows PC makers like Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Acer have all introduced Ultrabooks, and Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest computer maker, has gotten into the game as well.

This week, I’ve been testing the HP Envy Spectre 14, a glass-covered laptop that falls into the Ultrabook category. The Envy Spectre hit the market in February, and the base model currently retails for $1,400.

I liked the Envy Spectre. It’s eye-catching, lighter than the laptop I usually carry, and zippy in terms of its processing power. But compared to other Ultrabooks, it’s heavier and more expensive. It’s really more of a premium product, rather than an ultra-light laptop. Also, there were a couple elements of its design, such as the fact that it wasn’t tapered and the lid was hard to open, that might prevent it from being my main laptop squeeze.

[ See post to watch video ]

The Envy Spectre 14 is 20 millimeters thick — just over 0.79 inches — and has a 13.3-inch-wide body with a 14-inch-diagonal LED-backlit display. It weighs just shy of four pounds. In comparison, the Dell XPS 13, which AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg recently reviewed, is, at its largest point, 0.71 inches thick and just under three pounds. The 13-inch MacBook Air, which at its largest point is 0.68 inches thick, also weighs in at 2.96 pounds.

Despite its thickness, the HP Envy Spectre 14 is an attractive laptop. Its aluminum body is covered with Gorilla Glass, the thin, chemically-strengthened glass that makes up the displays of many smartphones and tablets. The glass is layered over three areas of the laptop: The lid, the 1600 by 900 pixel display screen and the palm rest. The trackpad is coated with chemically etched glass, which gives it slightly more traction than the cool-to-the-touch, super glossy Gorilla Glass.

The glass is scratch-resistant — I threw my keys into my laptop bag a few times, and the laptop wasn’t scratched — but it’s definitely not smudge-resistant. As with my smartphone and iPad, it was only a matter of time before the Spectre was covered with cloudy fingerprints. Fortunately, HP has included a protective case with the laptop.

The Spectre comes with a 128 gigabyte solid-state drive, 4GB of memory, runs Windows 7 and is powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, with the option to upgrade to a faster i7 processor for an extra $200. For an additional $300, you can also get a 256GB solid-state drive.

When I fired up the Envy Spectre for the first time, I noticed how quickly it booted up and how fast it was compared to my regular laptop, a fully loaded MacBook Pro. I downloaded iTunes, purchased a new album, installed a new Web browser and ran multiple Web pages at once, including a video-streaming site; even with all that going on, the Envy Spectre didn’t seem to slow down at all.

HP claims 9.5 hours of battery life with the Envy Spectre, provided that the user has the laptop set to HP’s recommended power-saving settings. In my test of the Spectre, which involved turning off power savers and setting the display to full brightness, connecting to Wi-Fi, playing an iTunes playlist nonstop and running an email application, the battery lasted just over five hours. With more normal usage, I estimate you’ll get about an hour more.

After a week with the Envy Spectre, there were a couple of elements of its design that bugged me. The first is that it’s actually difficult to open. There’s a barely-there lip on the lid of the laptop, and every time the device was shut, I had to dig my nails around the edges to pry it open.

I also noticed that the Envy Spectre’s screen doesn’t recline as far back as some other laptop screens do. This laptop has a dropped hinge so the bottom of its display butts up against the keyboard, physically preventing it from going back further. I compared the Spectre to an Asus Ultrabook and even a MacBook Pro, and both laptops opened up wider than the Spectre does. For users who prefer a wide range of motion with their laptop screens, this could be a drawback.

But there were aspects of the hardware that I liked. The LED-backlit keyboard is a nice touch, and the keys had a velvety feel to them. The keys also have proximity sensors that sense when the user has stepped away from the laptop for an extended period, dimming the backlighting and acting as a minor battery-saving mechanism. While some people are used to function keys performing common shortcuts — such as F5 for refreshing a Web page — I liked that the Spectre’s function keys adjusted display brightness and controlled music playing.

There’s an easy-to-access volume-control wheel on the right-hand side of the keyboard. This is part of HP’s Beats product, offered in select computers, which is supposed to produce better-sounding audio. While Beats audio isn’t going to replace the sound system in your home or apartment anytime soon, the music tracks I listened to through the laptop sounded fuller with Beats, especially when heard through headphones.

Unlike the MacBook Air, the Envy Spectre comes with an expandable built-in Ethernet port, along with two USB ports, an HDMI port and a Mini Display port.

There are also some other sweeteners that HP threw in with the Envy Spectre 14, including Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements (which photo and video hounds will appreciate), a two-year warranty for the price of one year and a two-year Norton AntiVirus software package.

I would recommend the HP Envy Spectre 14 — but as a premium laptop, not as an Ultrabook. For consumers who want a super slim, lightweight laptop, there are options with similar technical specifications that weigh in at under three pounds and cost less.

Mobile Payments Price War Heats Up as Pay Anywhere Slashes Merchant Fees

Tricia Duryee — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:30:07 +0000

Pay Anywhere is continuing a yearlong price war by dropping how much it charges merchants to use its credit card processing service for smartphones.

The company, which is backed by North American Bancard, a privately held credit card processing company, launched its service about a year ago and is arguably less-known than others, such as Square, run by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and backed by Visa, Intuit’s GoPayment, or PayPal.

In order to try and change that, Pay Anywhere plans to announce today a price drop to make its rates one of the lowest in the sector — by a very slim margin.

It will now charge 2.69 percent of each transaction; in other words, $2.69 for every $100 charged.

In comparison, eBay-owned PayPal, which unveiled its PayPal Here service on Friday, is charging merchants 2.7 percent of each transaction. Intuit also charges 2.7 percent; Square charges a slightly higher 2.75 percent.

Before today’s cut, Pay Anywhere was charging 2.69 percent, plus a flat rate of 19 cents per transaction, making it one of the most expensive. (A spokeswoman said the Pay Anywhere app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since it launched. Pay Anywhere and North American Bancard does a combined $12 billion in business annually, but she declined to say how much Pay Anywhere processes alone.)

The practice of charging a flat rate and a percentage was common around a year ago, but the payment structures have changed drastically as the competition heated up. For instance, it also used to be common for providers to charge for the credit-card readers, which plug into smartphones. Those are now free, too.

But it’s unclear whether merchants will be attracted to lower interchange rates alone.

Other considerations to take into account are additional features, such as security or software. A good analytics program on the phone can track a store’s inventory; Intuit offers integration with its commonly used QuickBooks software. Square offers cash-register-like services, and PayPal says it will offer the ability to accept checks by snapping a picture of the check using a phone’s camera.

Likewise, Pay Anywhere touts many of these features, including a “built-in Heat Map” to locate sales trends.

While all of these providers are competing against traditional credit card processors and integrators that typically sell both hardware and services, they are also largely going after a different market — the massive offline business that is conducted in cash or by check.

Many merchants, from farmers to taxicab drivers, have been reluctant to pay the high rates that traditional card-processing services charge today, and only accept cash — or visibly cringe whenever a customer pulls out plastic.

Waiting for Windows 8

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:24:14 +0000

I am in need of a new computer. I currently run Windows XP. When is Windows 8 due and should I wait for it? Should I just buy a new computer now with Windows 7 and upgrade to 8 when it arrives?

Windows 8 will likely be released in test, or beta, form, early in the year, and then in final form by the 2012 holiday shopping season. Whether you should wait depends on how badly you need a new PC. One thing to bear in mind if you do buy now is that while Windows 8 will work fine with a keyboard and mouse, its slick new user interface is designed for a touch screen.

What is the difference between the AMD and the Intel microprocessor chips?

They are different designs from different companies, though Intel is the dominant brand by far. In broad strokes, Advanced Micro Devices’ chips have often claimed better graphics performance and have generally been less expensive. But most computer makers choose Intel, which has lately focused intensely on better battery life without compromising performance.

For average consumers, the most important factor is that Windows runs fine on both, and a typical user doing typical, low-stress tasks might find it hard to distinguish between roughly comparable chips made by the two companies. So, if you are on a budget and an AMD-based machine you like costs less, you are safe to go with it.

I read your article about using Boot Camp to run Windows on a Mac and it was extremely informative. But I did not understand how to create the drivers needed to make Windows recognize the particular features of the Mac hardware.

Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant program, which is used to set up the Windows installation on a Mac, includes a step in which you download and store the drivers on either a CD or DVD, or an external USB drive. This is software Windows needs to properly operate the Mac’s keyboard, mouse, trackpad and camera.

If you just follow the steps in the Assistant software, you should be able to download and install these drivers, which Apple calls Windows Support Software. It’s a good idea to print the Boot Camp installation guide before you start, an option that appears on the first screen of the Assistant program.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Raspberry Pi, a Credit-Card-Sized Computer, Set to Launch

Lauren Goode — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:33:51 +0000

The Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer that plugs directly into your TV via an HDMI input, is launching next month, following five years of research and development. Developed in the U.K. by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the $35 version of the device runs Linux, has a 700MHZ ARM 11 processor and 256MB of RAM, and features the first-person multiplayer video game Quake 3 Arena; the $25 version has similar specs, but with 128MB of RAM. Videogame veteran David Braben, the brains behind the Pi, has been quoted as saying he originally created the Pi for educational use.

Do You Really Want a 3-D Laptop? HP Hopes So.

Lauren Goode — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:01:50 +0000

Over the past couple of years, 3-D has been making its way onto PCs faster than consumers can say, “Wouldn’t it be great to watch a two-hour movie on my laptop while wearing battery-operated glasses?”

Tomorrow, Hewlett-Packard is launching the newest version of its HP Envy 17 with 3-D capabilities, alongside the new HP Envy 15 and Envy 17 notebook PCs, available through HP Direct.

For gamers, a 3-D PC offers different kinds of gaming options, and on a larger screen than a handheld device has. But do consumers — hardcore gamers aside — really want a 3-D PC? Let’s take a look at some of the technical specifics and other factors to consider when it comes to computers with 3-D options:

Hardware and glasses:
As the technology gets more advanced, more 3-D laptops are expected to come to market with autostereoscopic (glasses-free) screens. Toshiba, for example, recently introduced the Qosmio F750 (in Europe) and Qosmio F755 (North America); both laptops run Windows 7 and feature a 15.6-inch Toshiba TruBrite 1080p autostereoscopic 3-D display.

But most 3-D laptops — such as the Sony VAIO F 3D, the Origin EON15 3D, the Dell Alienware M17x R3 and the Dell XPS 17 with optional 3-D screen — currently have stereoscopic screens, which means users have to wear glasses to experience the 3-D effect.

Nvidia’s 3D Vision kit is commonly bundled with these laptops and includes a pair of the necessary glasses, as well as a 3-D vision USB controller/emitter.

The kinds of glasses consumers are supposed to wear vary, as well: There’s the “active” kind versus the “passive” kind. Nvidia’s 3-D glasses, for example, are active-shutter lenses (read: battery-operated) that create the 3-D image by rapidly shuttering the left eye and then the right eye. Passive — a.k.a. polarized — 3-D glasses are cheaper, look a lot like sunglasses, and work by allowing different levels of light into each eye. Note that these are different from the anaglyph cardboard glasses you might have worn at the movies as a kid.

So, if the 3-D viewing doesn’t give you a headache, the lack of standardization in this industry just might.

Content: It’s the chicken-or-the-egg problem: Hardware makers can’t sell 3-D products well without enough 3-D content for people to watch and play; content creators are hesitant to invest in making 3-D material when the format hasn’t yet been adopted on a mass scale.

But games may indeed be the shining star when it comes to 3-D on PCs. Game developers have been creating games with inherent 3-D capabilities for many years now; consumers just didn’t have the display options they now have to view the games. And 3-D PCs often include super-fast graphics cards that are optimal for game viewing.

In terms of content volume, Nvidia says its 3D Vision Kit includes software that converts “hundreds” of standard 2-D games to 3-D, including popular titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Battlefield 3.

Price points: Despite the fact that slowing demand for PCs has been pushing netbook and notebook prices down for consumers, 3-D laptop pricing still ranges on the high side. Dell’s Alienware M17x R3 and XPS 17 (with 3-D screen), Toshiba’s Qosmio F755 and the Sony VAIO F 3D all currently retail for around $1,500.

The bottom line: laptops with 3-D capabilities tend to be more expensive at a base price. Add in the cost of active-shutter glasses when they’re not bundled in — anywhere from $40 to $150 — and consumers are paying even more.

Where does the new HP Envy 17 3D fit in?: The new HP Envy 17 3D does have some nice features, such as a 17.3-inch 3-D, LED Radiance display with full 1080p HD viewing, backlit keys, an upgraded touchpad and a Blu-ray and 12.7mm DVD-RW slot. It runs Windows 7, has an Intel Core i5-2340M processor, and its list price is $1,599.99, which includes one pair of 3-D glasses (it does not work with the Nvidia 3D Vision kit). Hopefully, battery life will show improvement from the last Envy 17 3D, which some reviewers complained was short-lived.

Readers, what do you think: Would you buy a 3-D laptop?

Nvidia’s Jen-Hsun Huang on Superman Quad-Core Chip, Microsoft and Apple: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:12:15 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.

An early pioneer in graphics chips, the tech company is now aiming at the market for processors driving smartphones, tablets and, soon, PCs. Nvidia’s latest effort is a quad-core chip code named Kal-El, which is the Krypton moniker of Superman.

Is Huang the Man of Steel? Or, at least, can he steal some of major rival Qualcomm’s thunder?

Here’s the video of his onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

A Guide for PC Buyers Not Looking for a Tablet

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:02:27 +0000

If you’re shopping for a laptop this autumn, you’ll find most of the capabilities and prices in the sluggish market unchanged. You’ll still likely be considering whether it’s time to get a tablet instead of a new laptop.

[ See post to watch video ]

But if you’re focused on a Windows machine, and you look carefully, you’ll see that a new class of portable PC is beginning to appear. It’s called the “ultrabook,” and is essentially the Windows version of Apple’s popular, nearly four-year old MacBook Air—an ultraskinny, light, speedy, versatile laptop with long battery life.

The arrival of the ultrabook is a welcome development, not only because it spices up the market, but because I consider the MacBook Air the best all-around consumer laptop available, and anything that emulates it is a good idea, if done well.

There are only a few ultrabooks available this season and they aren’t for everybody. Most have limited storage and, like the MacBook Air, are priced near the $1,000 range—rich territory in a tight economy where Apple buyers seem comfortable, though not many others. Still, this new class of Windows laptop is the only fundamentally fresh choice in the laptop market.

If the price is too high, you should be able to get a capable major-brand laptop for between $500 and $800, with plenty of storage and memory.

My annual fall laptop buyers’ guide today offers tips for wading through the technobabble in computer ads, and in online and physical stores. As always, these tips are for average consumers doing common tasks, such as email, Web browsing, social networking, general office productivity, photos, music, videos and simple games. This guide isn’t meant for corporate buyers, or for hard-core gamers or serious media producers.

The recently unveiled Asus Zenbook

The tablet question: Tablets like Apple’s iPad 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 can perform many, though not all, of the functions of a laptop. Most tablet lovers find themselves reaching for their laptops less often to do things like email. If your budget is limited and you’re thinking of shelling out $500 for a full-size tablet, consider whether you can put off getting a new laptop this year instead of buying both.

Future Windows: If you’re shopping for a Windows laptop, be aware that in 2012, Microsoft will offer a new version of Windows, called Windows 8, with a radical new multitouch interface that makes use of a touch screen. The software giant stresses that Windows 8 won’t require such a screen, and will still work with a mouse or touch pad. But unless you have a laptop with a multi-touch screen, you won’t be able to take advantage of the Windows 8 touch-screen features.

Ultrabooks: Four companies make this class of laptop: Acer, Lenovo, Asus and, shortly, Toshiba. These machines are under 0.8 inch thick, weigh less than three pounds, and generally claim long battery life and almost-instant startup times. All run Windows 7; none has a touch screen. Like the MacBook Air, they use solid-state drives (though some combine these with standard hard disks) and have screens of either 11 inches or 13 inches. Prices generally run from around $900 to $1,100.

Windows vs. Mac: Mac laptops cost more and offer less variety than Windows laptops. The least expensive Mac laptop is $999, while a few stripped-down Windows portables can be had for under $300. Well-equipped Windows laptops start at $500 to $600. But Apple laptops combine beauty, ruggedness and long battery life with good customer service. Macs also come with better built-in software, including the new Lion operating system, which includes some tablet-like features. And they can run Windows, at extra cost.

Finally, Mac users don’t fear viruses and other malicious software, because virtually none work on the Mac.

Memory: Get at least 4 gigabytes of memory, or RAM, on a new Windows computer. On a Mac, most consumers can get away with 2 gigabytes.

Processors: Intel’s latest chips are the i3, i5, and i7 Core models. But a laptop with chips from rival AMD, or older Intel dual-core chips, also is OK.

Graphics: Usually less expensive machines have wimpier graphics hardware, and costlier ones have more powerful graphics. Better graphics can make your whole machine faster, because more and more software is designed to offload general processing tasks onto the graphics chips.

Hard disks: A 320-gigabyte hard disk should be the minimum on most PCs. Solid-state disks, like those in the new ultrabooks or the MacBook Air, generally come in sizes of 128 GB or 256 GB. They omit moving parts and use flash memory to store your files, as on a smartphone or tablet. They are costlier, but faster, and use less power.

Ports: Many PCs now come with a port called HDMI, which makes linking to a high-definition TV easy. There is a new, much faster USB port, called USB 3.0, but few peripheral devices can use it. And Apple has introduced yet another high-speed connector that has little practical use so far, called Thunderbolt.

As always, be wary of sales pitches and don’t buy more laptop than you need.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

I Am Number 4S? -- No Sparkly iPhone 5 Disappoints Apple Fans (and Wall Street)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:08:46 +0000

Apple rolled out a new iPhone today. Sort of.

Except it did not have a bigger, flatter screen. It did not have a sleeker, thinner body. It would not need all new polypropylene sleeves and other fancy accessories.

In other words, it was not an iPhone 5.

Oops, after all the breathless stories about this ideal and groundbreaking new device and predictions — including here — that this was the name of whatever Apple was releasing.

In fact, everyone was using that moniker for it, from local television news to vendors to my mother.

Instead, the tech giant launched the new iPhone 4S, which has a faster processor, an improved camera and Siri voice control feature, at a cheaper price.

Very slick, as usual, and full of cool Apple bells and whistles.

Still. Prolonged sighs could be felt all over the blogosphere and on Twitter, where Steve Brown tweeted me: “Can I be bummed now?!?”

You may.

Better still, Davin Bentti wrote: “The ‘S’ stands for ‘Steve, come back!’”

He was referring to the missing Apple icon Steve Jobs, who recently turned over leadership at the company to new CEO Tim Cook. Jobs’s Apple event performances are legendary.

Wall Street also had its iPhone 5 bubble burst, with investors shunning Apple stock. Shares are down almost five percent now.

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And So the AsiaD Speakers Begin: Google, Alibaba, Twitter, Asus, Nvidia and More to Come!

Kara Swisher — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:31:40 +0000

No rest for the weary D conference producers!

Which would be Walt Mossberg and me, since we are now hard at work — after a very successful ninth D: All Things Digital — on our newest event: AsiaD.

An international confab — this one will be held October 19 to 21 in Hong Kong — is a big deal for us and we’re making sure it is up to snuff for our audience there.

That begins with the speakers, which we will start announcing now and continue to as we add them onto the roster. As we have said before, we’re going for a lineup of both Asian and U.S. speakers, as well as demos from the region, with a focus on the critical emerging market.

That’s why with smartphones in ascendance globally, having Andy Rubin, who runs Google’s Android efforts, is a no-brainer. The longtime mobile exec is at the top of an aggressive push by the Silicon Valley Internet giant to dominate the important sector across the world.

Speaking of domination, we are asking Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma onstage to talk more about his efforts to make the company a powerhouse in China and elsewhere. His recent bare-knuckled fight with Yahoo over Alipay, as he has built a wide-ranging Internet giant, should make for an interesting interview.

Expect a deep dive into what makes the future Web work with Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, who is someone breaking new ground as he tears down old digital paradigms. With Twitter, Dorsey redefined the real-time world and how the virtual one communicates; with Square, he is upending the payments arena, even as others try to upend him.

Nvidia is not only a pioneer of graphics chips, but now its processors are widely used in the latest mobile devices. That’s why its founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has a lot to say about the future of the fastest-growing sector of computing, from smartphones to tablets and whatever’s next.

And Asus Chairman Jonney Shih has presided over the Taiwanese tech giant since the early 1990s. Most recently, the company pioneered the netbook market and is now plunging deeply into the tablet business, making Shih perfect to discuss these key issues in Asia and around the world.

As usual with D, there will be more big names to come — and you can find out more here.

Motorola's Xoom Starts Tablet Wars With iPad

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:01:36 +0000

After months of speculation, the tablet wars begin in earnest this week. Motorola is releasing its Xoom tablet on Feb. 24, and I consider it the first truly comparable competitor to Apple’s hit iPad. That is partly because it is the first iPad challenger to run Honeycomb, an elegant new version of Google’s Android operating system designed especially for tablets.

[ See post to watch video ]

Both Motorola’s hardware and Google’s new software are impressive and, after testing it for about a week, I believe the Xoom beats the first-generation iPad in certain respects, though it lags in others. Like the iPad, the Xoom has a roomy 10-inch screen, and it’s about the same thickness and weight as the iPad, albeit narrower and longer. And, like the iPad’s operating system, Honeycomb gives software the ability to make good use of that screen real estate, with apps that are more computer-like than those on a smartphone.

The Xoom has a more potent processor than the current iPad; front and rear cameras versus none for the iPad; better speakers; and higher screen resolution. It also can be upgraded free later this year to support Verizon’s faster 4G cellular data network (though monthly fees may rise.)

Motorola is taking aim at the iPad just as Apple is expected to announce, next week, a second-generation of its tablet. Little is known about this second iPad, but it’s widely expected to take away at least one of the Xoom’s advantages over the original iPad—cameras—and is rumored to be thinner and lighter, since weight was one of the most common complaints about the generally praised first iPad.

The iPad has way more tablet-specific apps—around 60,000 versus a handful—and, in my tests, much better battery life. Plus, whatever the specs say, it’s a fast device with a beautiful screen that delights people daily. But, overall, the Xoom with Honeycomb is a strong alternative to the original iPad, and one that will only improve over time.

The Xoom’s screen is long and narrow, good for widescreen video.

Unfortunately for consumers looking for iPad alternatives, the Xoom has an Achilles’ heel: price. While iPads come in a range of models priced all the way up to $829—none of which requires a cellphone contract—Apple’s entry price for the iPad is just $499. By contrast, the base price of a Xoom without a cellphone contract is $800—60% more. And even with a Verizon two-year contract at $20 to $80 a month—depending on the data limit you choose—the least you can pay for a Xoom is $600, or 20% more before counting the contract costs.

In fairness, the iPad model with the same memory as the Xoom and a 3G cellular modem like the Xoom’s is $729, which is a closer comparison. But it is still less than $800, and consumers still focus on that $499 iPad entry price (for a Wi-Fi-only model.)

As much as I like the Xoom and Honeycomb, I’d advise consumers to wait to see what Apple has up its sleeve next before committing to a higher price for the Motorola product.

Meanwhile, here’s what I found in testing the Xoom.

Hardware

Though it works fine in portrait, or vertical, mode, the Xoom is mainly designed as a landscape, or horizontal, device. The screen is long and narrow, proportioned to best fit widescreen video. The HD screen boasts a resolution of 1280 by 800, versus 1024 by 768 for the iPad.

It felt heavier than the iPad, though the weight of 1.6 pounds is the same as on the cellular version of the Apple product. Overall, it has a solid, high-quality feel. There aren’t any physical buttons except for an on-off switch at the rear and volume controls on an edge. The common Android home, back and other buttons are rendered in the software. The glass on the front is surrounded by a relatively thin black border.

I found it generally comfortable to hold, except when I was reading for long periods in vertical mode, where the long, thin shape and weight made it feel a bit unbalanced.

I performed the same battery test on the Xoom as I have on other tablets. I played video constantly with the connectivity turned on and the screen at almost full brightness until the battery died. Alas, while the Xoom claims up to 10 hours of video playback, I got just 7 hours and 32 minutes. By contrast, on the same test, the iPad, which also claims 10 hours, logged 11.5 hours, or four hours more.

I also tested the Xoom’s front-facing 2-megapixel camera by performing a video chat with a Motorola employee using Google Talk software. The chat broke up or froze several times over Verizon’s network, but we eventually got it to work pretty well on Wi-Fi.

The Xoom’s battery is sealed, and it only comes with 32 gigabytes of memory, versus a range of between 16 and 64 GB for various models of the iPad. However, it has a slot for a memory card that Motorola says will work after a software upgrade to add more memory. There is also a removable back and a SIM card slot that would be used only if you chose to upgrade to 4G in the second quarter of this year.

Software

Perhaps even more impressive than the hardware is the Honeycomb software, which, for now, Google won’t offer on cellphones, only tablets, of which the Xoom is the first.

I’ve always felt that Android had a rough-around-the edges, geeky feel, with too many steps to do things and too much reliance on menus. But Honeycomb eliminates much of that. Actions like composing emails, or changing settings are much more obvious and quicker. The smart but cluttered notification bar has been moved to the lower right and simplified. A tap on it pops up relevant information.

There is still a separate email app for Gmail, as opposed to other email services you may use. But, now, as on the iPad, email is presented in multiple columns and is more attractive and easier to use.

The browser is especially impressive, with PC-like features, such as visible tabs for open pages and the ability to open a private browsing session. Apps like Maps and YouTube have 3-D views. There’s a movie-editing app and live widgets for the home screens that show email previews or video frames.

There are some downsides. The ability to play Flash video—a big Android selling point—won’t work on the Xoom at launch. It will take some weeks to appear. And I found numerous apps in the Android Market that wouldn’t work with the Xoom. I couldn’t locate a working video download or rental service, though Google says these will be available soon.

Some apps for phones, like the popular game Angry Birds, filled the screen beautifully and worked fine.

Bottom line: The Xoom and Honeycomb are a promising pair that should give the iPad its stiffest competition. But price will be an obstacle, and Apple isn’t standing still.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

Tablets Flying Fast and Furious at CES

Ina Fried — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:12 +0000

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show figured to be the year of the tablet, and so far it hasn’t disappointed on that front.

On Wednesday, Motorola formally announced its Android 3.0-based Xoom tablet, while LG announced plans for the T-Mobile G-Slate, which will also run the Honeycomb version of Google’s Android operating system. Samsung, meanwhile, said it plans to add a Wi-Fi-only model to its Galaxy Tab model. The device will use version 2.2 of Android and hit the market in the first quarter, though the company did not announce a price or exact timing.

The Motorola Xoom packs a 16-by-10 aspect ratio, a dual-core processor, 1080p playback and Flash support, and will run on Verizon’s network. Initially, the tablet will run on Verizon’s 3G network, but Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha said the Xoom that goes on sale in the first quarter of this year will be upgradeable to 4G by the end of the second quarter.

“The software is not completely done,” Jha said, adding that the hardware isn’t either.

Google Android boss Andy Rubin had briefly showed a prototype Motorola tablet at last month’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference and said that Honeycomb was being designed expressly with tablets in mind.

The Xoom, Wi-Fi Samsung Tab and G-Slate are in addition to the Toshiba, Asus and Vizio tablets announced earlier in the week.

Nearly all of these tablets are running some flavor of Android, though a handful of Windows 7 tablets are also being shown in Las Vegas.

However, the scene in Vegas offers a somewhat skewed view of the tablet market. Outside Sin City, the iPad is still the dominant player, while a number of tablet competitors expected soon have opted not to launch here. HP is having an event next month to focus on future webOS devices, while Research In Motion has said it will launch its PlayBook before the end of March.

Motorola also used some of its afternoon event to show off the Motorola Atrix 4G, a smartphone introduced at an AT&T event earlier in the day. It packs a fingerprint reader, a dual-core 1GHz processor, and the ability to dock to an 11-inch screen and keyboard to act as a mini-laptop, with eight hours of battery life.

When docked, the phone can power a full desktop version of Mozilla, including full Flash support, allowing for a PC-like experience all powered by the smartphone. AT&T Senior Vice President Jeff Bradley said it is too soon to say how much the device will cost, but promised the price will be competitive. Although AT&T has the U.S. exclusive on the Atrix, Motorola said it will be offered through Bell Canada and Orange UK.

In addition to the Atrix and Tablet, Motorola announced its first phone to run on faster LTE networks–the dual-core Droid Bionic, which is slated to arrive early in the second quarter on Verizon Wireless. Motorola also introduced the Cliq 2, an update to Motorola’s first Motoblur phone for T-Mobile.

Update 5:45 pm PT: As for timing, I confirmed that the Motorola Xoom is indeed the “lead device” for Honeycomb and will be the first on the market when it ships later this quarter. The LG model is slated to ship “in the coming months,” and other Honeycomb tablets will follow.

Google isn’t sharing a lot of new details on Honeycomb, but Rubin did make a short blog post and upload this YouTube video, which touts Google Talk video chatting, a specially designed YouTube App and access to Google Books.

“Many of Android’s existing features will really shine on Honeycomb: refined multi-tasking, elegant notifications, access to over 100,000 apps on Android Market, home screen customization with a new 3D experience and redesigned widgets that are richer and more interactive,” Rubin said in the blog post. “We’ve also made some powerful upgrades to the web browser, including tabbed browsing, form auto-fill, syncing with your Google Chrome bookmarks, and incognito mode for private browsing.”

Analyst: Flash Could Be Hogging PlayBook Battery Life

John Paczkowski — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:02:45 +0000

Despite Research in Motion’s best efforts to silence them, questions about the battery life of its forthcoming PlayBook tablet have followed the company into the new year.

In a sequel to his original research note suggesting the PlayBook’s battery life is “relatively poor” compared to rivals’, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu reiterates that claim, saying he would be “very surprised if PlayBook matches anywhere near the battery life of the iPad at 10 hours unless it uses a larger battery.”

The reasons for this are threefold:

The PlayBook supports Flash, and Flash is a resource hog. Says Wu, “As seen in recent tests for the new MacBook Air, use of Flash can cut battery life in half….From our understanding, the poor battery life of early PlayBook units may be due to its incorporation of Adobe Flash.”
QNX, the operating system on which PlayBook is to run, wasn’t designed for it. It was intended for devices drawing power from a wall socket or car battery, not mobile platforms whose power sources are necessarily limited by their own mobility.
RIM’s implementation of power management is not as well-integrated as that of its rivals–particularly Apple, whose homegrown A4 system-on-chip enables the company to deliver superior battery life.

Obviously further work is needed to optimize the device’s battery life; RIM admitted as much in its rebuttal to Wu’s first note and, to be fair, this is a pre-release device–a work in progress. RIM still has a few months left to optimize the PlayBook’s battery and get it to that “comparable” level it claims.

But even fully optimized, Wu doesn’t see it matching the iPad.

“Our sources indicate that the best that PlayBook can probably deliver is six hours as offered by the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is nearly half of that offered by iPad,” he concludes. “And that is with significant re-engineering.”

RIM: PlayBook Battery Life Will Be "Comparable," Not Crappy

John Paczkowski — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:55:13 +0000

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook does not suffer from poor battery life. Or, rather, if it does now it won’t when it finally ships.

That’s RIM’s rebuttal to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu’s suggestion that the PlayBook’s battery life is “relatively poor” compared to rivals–a claim the company says is based on the observation of a pre-beta version of the device.

“Any testing of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented,” RIM said in a statement. “RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”

Ah, but comparable to what? And speaking of “comparable,” what happened to “way ahead”? Wasn’t that what RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said of the PlayBook’s performance during the company’s last earnings call? “I think there’s going to be a rapid desire for high performance. And I think we’re way ahead on that. And I think CIO friendliness, we’re way ahead on that.”

And what does RIM have to say about Wu’s suggestion that it may be forced to delay the PlayBook’s launch to optimize its battery life? Nothing beyond the oblique assertion that it’s on track with an undisclosed internal schedule. Question is, is that schedule still based on an early 2011 launch or one in the May quarter as Wu suggested. Because if it’s the latter, that means the PlayBook could conceivably arrive at market after the next-generation iPad.

BlackBerry PlayBook: Car Battery Not Included [UPDATED]

John Paczkowski — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:38:44 +0000

If Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook is to succeed at market the way the company hopes, there are a few engineering hurdles to overcome. The most significant, according to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, is the pre-release device’s relatively poor battery life.

Sources tell him the tablet currently lasts just a few hours per charge, compared with rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, which lasts about six, and the iPad, which lasts upward of 10. If true, that’s an untenable situation for RIM, which really needs to hit the mark with the PlayBook, and it may cause a delay of the launch–if only for a bit (to be fair, Wu is talking about an unreleased device that’s still in development and months away from market).

“From our understanding, this [is] likely why RIMM pushed out its launch to the May 2011 quarter,” Wu writes. “Keep in mind that QNX (the OS on which PlayBook runs) wasn’t originally designed for mobile environments but rather for devices like network equipment and automobiles where battery life isn’t as much a constraint.”

In other words, as promising as plugging QNX into a tablet form factor with a dual-core processor and a gig of RAM sounds, it’s proving to be a bit of a challenge. So what’s the solution? Most likely a bigger battery. But obviously that will add to the heft of the device and perhaps require a design concession or two.

Given that, Wu takes a conservative view of PlayBook’s prospects; he figures RIM will sell 700,000 units in 2011, far less than the one million to eight million that other analysts have been calling for. “As we have said before, we are not convinced that tablets outside of the iPad will see high volume success,” he concludes.

UPDATE: RIM finally got back to me with a comment: “Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”

Intel Wants to Stay Inside Netbooks, Tablets

Ina Fried — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:49:02 +0000

Intel, sensing a threat from the ever-widening variety of non-Wintel-based netbooks and tablets, has formed a separate business unit to focus on those two categories of devices.

The new unit, whose existence was first reported by the New York Times, comes as a wave of Android-based tablets hits the market and as Google announces the first beta test of Chrome OS-based netbooks.

The group will be headed up by Doug Davis (pictured here), an Intel vice president previously responsible for the embedded chip unit that helped get the Atom processor into cars and other nontraditional devices. Before forming the new unit, Intel had included its tablet and netbook effort within the same unit that handled all other PC chips.

“It’s just a matter of laying extra focus on that area,” said Intel spokesman Bill Kircos.

Intel has found its way into the vast majority of netbooks, led by the success of its Atom chips. Tablets, meanwhile, have been a different story. Apple’s iPad–the dominant force in the market–uses Apple’s ARM-based A4 processor, while Android tablets also use various non-Intel chips. Intel has been in Windows-based tablets since the first tablet PCs came out early last decade, but Windows 7-based touchscreen slates are just now coming to market. Microsoft has promised that more models will be coming, particularly next year once Intel’s Oak Trail processor is available.

“The weight of the PC industry is now targeting tablets,” spokesman Bill Kircos said, adding that the company expects 35 Intel-based tablets to come out in the first half of next year, along with about 65 netbooks using its processors.

Although Chrome OS is designed to run on a variety of processors, it is worth noting that the first model–an unbranded netbook for early testers–does use an Atom processor.

Although netbooks have faded from the spotlight with the rise of the iPad, Kircos said that Intel hopes to spark interest in the category by bringing over some features previously found only in full-fledged notebooks, such as Wireless Display (Wi-Di), which lets computers beam content wirelessly to a television with a special adaptor.

“We’ll be starting to innovate a lot more on the netbook,” he said.

Palm Pre 2 Unlocked, Unleashed

John Paczkowski — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:53:49 +0000

Hewlett-Packard this morning began offering an unlocked GSM version of the Palm Pre 2 for sale. Priced at $449.99, the device runs webOS 2.0 and features a 1GHz processor and a 3.1-inch HVGA touchscreen, and is generally a nice incremental upgrade from the Pre Plus.

One More Thing: Apple's New MacBook Air

Beth Callaghan — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:15:34 +0000

Steve Jobs’s “one more thing” today at Apple’s Town Hall event was the new MacBook Air, or, as he put it, “what would happen if a MacBook hooked up with an iPad.” The quick details: Complete unibody construction, all solid state storage, and there are two models, each with two configurations:

11.6-inch LED backlit hi-res display, Core 2 Duo processor, FaceTime camera and five hours of battery life.
$999 at 64 gb
$1,199 at 128 gb

13.3-inch LED backlit hi-res display, Core 2 duo processor, FaceTime camera and seven hours of battery life.
$1,299 at 128 gb
$1,599 at 256 gb

First-Gen Apple TV: $237 in Parts; Second-Gen Apple TV: $64 in Parts

John Paczkowski — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:00:29 +0000

Apple’s new Apple TV is about a quarter of the size of its predecessor.

And it costs about a quarter as much to make it.

According to iSuppli, the bill of materials for the latest iteration of Apple’s $99 “hobby” is $64, significantly less than the $237 it cost the company to build the 2007 model.* That’s quite a disparity, one evidently driven as much by an adjustment of product vision as build (dumping that costly hard drive obviously didn’t hurt either). Where the original Apple TV was built like a small desktop PC, its successor is built more like an iPad, with a few of the same components; the two devices have an A4 processor in common, as well as Wi-Fi/Bluetooth and power management chips.

That evolution has given consumers a much-improved device with a pitch-perfect design (though it does have some serious shortcomings in the content department), and it’s given Apple (AAPL) better margins.

“Compared to the first-generation Apple TV, the new model offers a dramatically improved ratio of hardware cost to retail price,” iSuppli noted in its teardown analysis. “The initial version of the Apple TV appeared to be a near give-away or subsidized product for Apple, sold at prices that weren’t much more than the underlying hardware costs. With the second-generation version of the hardware, the Apple TV’s price is about 35 percent above its BOM and manufacturing cost.”

*The standard iSuppli caveats apply here. The company’s estimate accounts for hardware and manufacturing costs ONLY–R&D, software, licensing costs, etc. are not considered.

Waiting for Godot: Apple's Fall Event Is Definitely Happening, but Exactly When and What?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:15:21 +0000

Oh, it’s coming.

According to several sources, and as has been widely expected, Apple will once again be holding its annual autumn special event, possibly closer to mid-September this time.

Apple (AAPL), which has had a fall hello-there confab every year since 2005, waited until August 31 last year to announce its “Let’s Rock” event on September 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.

There, CEO Steve Jobs, in his first public appearance since his medical leave of absence, let loose with a bunch of mostly music-focused features.

That included introducing iTunes 9, as well as home sharing, Genius mixes and some updates of the iPod.

“I’m vertical, back at Apple and loving every day of it,” said Jobs last year.

Well, he’s still standing, but he has definitely not stood still, launching both the iPad and the iPhone 4 since then.

Still, because it is Apple, speculation is running high about what the iconic tech company will unveil next.

And most of it centers around the blinging of the iPod touch to bring it into line with many of the features on the iPhone.

That is likely to include front- and rear-facing cameras, which would allow the device to use FaceTime, Apple video-calling software that works over Wi-Fi.

With Jobs promising Apple would release the FaceTime protocol as a open industry standard, combined with the company’s ongoing skirmish with Google (GOOG) in the smartphone space, wouldn’t it be nice to have all those iPods turn into phones?

There could also be an A4 processor in the iPod, which will give it even more oomph.

Other rumors run the gamut, such as a new cloud-based, streamy rethink of Apple TV (possible and exciting), a smaller iPad (silly and unlikely) and a streaming music service (useful and most likely).

Or, because it is Apple, something else.

Oh, one more thing: It goes without saying that Apple PR majordomos passed on my perfectly reasonable request for the entire detailed schedule, including slides, for any special event in September.

ARM Deal Could Extend Microsoft's Reach

Voices — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:02:41 +0000

Microsoft today extended and expanded its relationship with ARM with a new licensing agreement giving it intimate access to the processor architecture for the first time. The two companies were vague about the intent behind the deal, and while the possibility of Microsoft getting into the chip business seemed remote, there was plenty of speculation about ARM-based tablets or other devices running Windows Phone OS or a ported version of Windows, or perhaps some new guts for the Xbox.

IPhone 4: $188 in Parts, $411 in Magic

John Paczkowski — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:52:54 +0000

The components in the 16GB version of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 4 cost $8.55 more than those in its predecessor.

This according to iSuppli’s tear-down analysis of the device, which estimates its bill of materials to be $187.51 (click on chart below to enlarge). That’s a bit more that the iPhone 3GS, which had a BOM of $178.96, but then, Apple’s newest iPhone model boasts a number of enhancements, among them the Retina Display and A4 processor, which iSuppli figures cost $28.50 and $10.75, respectively.

No word on what carriers pay Apple for the device. But right now a 16GB iPhone 4 on AT&T (T) without contract or subsidy costs $599.

[Image credit: iSuppli]

Droid X Drops July 15

John Paczkowski — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:50:35 +0000

If you haven’t already, it’s probably best to resign yourself to Apple (AAPL) and its new iPhone 4 sucking all the air out of the news cycle this week. That said, there is another big mobile device launch today: Verizon’s (VZ) Droid X.

Uncrated this morning at an event in New York, the new Motorola (MOT) handset is pretty robust specwise, with a 4.3-inch, 854×480 multitouch display, eight megapixel camera, 1GHz TI OMAP processor and 8GB internal storage (plus microSD). It will ship with Google’s (GOOG) Android 2.1 OS and arrive at market on July 15. Price: $199.99 with two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

Apple Expands HTC Lawsuit

John Paczkowski — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:30:26 +0000

In early March, Apple filed a suit against HTC alleging infringement of 20 patents related to the iPhone’s graphical user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. Now it appears the company has circled back to sue HTC again.

In a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Apple (AAPL) accuses HTC of infringing two additional patents and reasserts its allegations of infringement of two others.

The two new patents:

6,282,646: “System for real-time adaptation to changes in display configuration”
7,380,116: “System for real-time adaptation to changes in display configuration”

And the patents included in the original suit:

7,657,849: “Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image”
7,383,453: “Conserving power by reducing voltage supplied to an instruction-processing portion of a processor”

So, two new patents added to the original list of 20. Not exactly the opening of a new front in this particular battle, though it’s certainly an expansion of it. Meanwhile, the U.S. International Trade Commission continues to investigate Apple’s infringement claims against HTC and vice-versa.