Double-sided transparent touchscreen shown off on NTT DoCoMo prototype

See-through displays may or may not be making a comeback, but NTT DoCoMo is at least trying to give them a different spin. Working with Fujitsu, it's added a Vita-style extra touch panel to the rear of the screen, which works with the transparency to let the user navigate Android without ever obscuring the UI with their fingers. It also allows new types of interaction based on "gripping" objects -- holding down a finger at the back to modify the effect of a swipe on the front. The prototype was actually announced a little while back, but DigInfo has a video (embedded after the break) that shows how it works in practice -- just don't expect to be enjoying Netflix on that washed-out QVGA display anytime soon.

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Nvidia touts thirty Tegra 3 smartphone designs for 2012, faster LTE with Icera i500 and next-gen 'Grey' processor

Nvidia says its Tegra 3 system-on-chip is doing exceptionally well: the company claims 30 smartphones are slated to sport the quad-core silicon this year, double the 15 design wins that Tegra 2 had in 2011. Nvidia GM Mike Rayfield delivered the news at the company's annual investor meeting today, and he emphasized that many of these phones will be less expensive, too: 13 of them have a transfer price (not to be confused with a retail price) of under $300, compared to zero such phones last year.

Nvidia's building steam on the LTE networking front as well. This morning, Nvidia announced that its first LTE modem, the Icera 410, has been certified for AT&T's LTE network, which means that Qualcomm might have some competition (at least in the tablet space), and Mike Rayfield just introduced its successor: the Icera 500. While he didn't provide many details, he told investors that the i500 will have next-gen LTE speeds beyond what we've seen thus far, and it will be the modem paired with the company's next-gen Tegra processor for "Grey," the company's first integrated LTE silicon. We won't see Grey until next year, but Nvidia promises that its standalone Icera LTE technology will arrive later in 2012 with the aforementioned Icera 410.

Via The Verge

Google set to release new range of ICS devices

Hand firmly grasping hat? Good. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on quite the bombshell today, noting that Google is about to cause its carrier partners in the States all sorts of grief -- indirectly, of course. Just weeks after placing its heralded Galaxy Nexus on sale for $399 unlocked, the report states that said move is only the beginning of a new initiative. Likely to be formally revealed at Google I/O, the mega-corp is planning to partner with a variety of OEMs (rather than just one at a time) in order to have up to five Pure Google (read: Nexus) devices available at once. Better still, the whole stable will ship with Android 5.0 (Jelly Bean) and will be sold directly from Google in unlocked form to consumers in America, Europe and Asia.

The move is significant in a myriad ways. For one, more unlocked Nexus devices means more choice when it comes to carrier selection. Furthermore, the move is likely to quell fears that certain partners may have about Google making Motorola Mobility its favorite after a $12 billion acquisition. Not surprisingly, Google's not commenting on the matter, but sources "close" to the situation say that the company's hoping to have the 5.0 cadre on sale by Thanksgiving -- you know, just in time for Black Friday and the looming holiday shopping season. We're all guessing that this will address the growing "app situation" head-on; by making a push to eliminate carrier-infused bloatware (while also providing early Android OS access to more partners), we're hoping that the whole "skinning" dilemma is addressed, too.

Engadget

Samsung releases Galaxy S III

1 day ago

1 day ago

After leapfrogging Apple as the world's biggest phone marker just recently, Samsung has released an update of it's most popular phone model the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones.

Among the key changes are the hardware specifications that are being updated and some nifty nice features like allowing you to pick up a call just by holding the phone to your ear and not to switch off the screen when you are reading text on the screen.

For someone that is willing to hold out, you should wait as they might be releasing an offical phone for the refresher of the Google Nexus line of phones.

MemoRight FTM Plus Slim 7mm 240GB Solid State Drive Review‏

Tweaktown has published a new review of the MemoRight FTM Plus Slim 7mm 240GB Solid State Drive. It is described as one of the SSD with the thinnest profile on the block, with it targeting the Ultrabook segment.

Tweak Town

Samsung comes out tops in phone market

Research firm IDC is reporting that Nokia has been dethroned as the world's biggest phone maker bySamsung. In the first quarter of the year, Samsung shipped 98.3 million mobile phones, with Nokia andApple in second and third place. In the smartphone-only charts, the Korean company shipped 42.2 million of its Android and Windows Phone handsets, while Cupertino shipped 35.1 million and Nokia shipped a paltry-by-comparison 11.9 million.

Samsung, Apple and companies outside the top 5 all made big gains in the smartphone space, while Nokia, RIM and HTC all felt their numbers drop. Unsurprisingly, companies with big stakes in dumb phones suffered, with Nokia and LG losing big chunks of their market share to the big two and stalking horse ZTE, which has bested LG for fourth place. After the break, we've got the official tallies that you can pore over.