Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MDP benchmarks: prepare for ludicrous speed

Today we had a chance to play with Qualcomm's latest MDP devices (tablet and phone) which pack the company's mighty Snapdragon 800 SoC (MSM8974). The tablet is slightly larger than than last year's and features an 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080-pixel display, 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 32GB of built-in flash storage (with microSD expansion), USB 3.0 support and a 12 megapixel AF rear camera with flash (2MP fixed-focus in front). All of this is crammed into a slim (0.46 inches / 11.7mm) chassis that's powered by a 3400mAh Li-ion battery and incorporates a bevvy of radios (LTE band 17, WiFi ac, Bluetooth 4 LE, GPS, NFC) and sensors (including pressure and humidity).

The phone shares most of the tablet's specs but swaps the screen for a 4.3-inch panel (1280 x 720 pixels) and the battery for a smaller (1500mAh) pack. We put these Snapdragon 800-equipped MDPs through their paces by running our usual suite of benchmarks (plus a few more). The results? Prepare for ludicrous speed! More after the break.

As you can tell from the numbers, the Snapdragon 800 certainly smokes its predecessors and even Samsung's zippy Exynos 5 Octa. Still, Nvidia's Tegra 4 put up a decent fight and even managed to beat Qualcomm's processor in a couple of tests. It'll be interesting to see how the SoC wars shape up as these chips make it into consumer devices later this year. We're certainly looking forward to it.

Rounds updates video chat app, lets users browse the web together (video)

ROUNDS ADDS CO-BROWSING TO ITS MOBILE HANGOUT NETWORK; FIRST TO LET FRIENDS SURF THE WEB TOGETHER INSIDE MOBILE VIDEO CHATS

For the First Time, Users Can Navigate the Same Webpage at the Same Time To Shop, Watch TV, Play Games or Take Photos Together Whilst Video Chatting

TEL AVIV (June 18, 2013) – Rounds (www.rounds.com) launched a new update to its popular Rounds Video Chat Hangout mobile app for iOS and Android today, becoming the first hangout network to let friends securely surf the web together during live video conversations.

The result of a partnership with Dutch startup, Channel.me, Rounds' new co-browsing feature synchronizes the touchscreen activity between users while web surfing during mobile video chatting. Rounds users can now navigate the same webpage at the same time with their friends, with both of them able to control the experience – including clicking links and typing in new URLs. Users see each other's live video streams in thumbnail form during co-browsing, allowing their live reactions to add a feeling of togetherness.

"Adding co-browsing to Rounds fits with our vision for giving friends an online hangout experiences as true as real life," said Rounds CEO and co-founder Dany Fishel. "When teens hang out in the real world, they do more than just talk – they do activities like watching TV, shopping, and taking or sharing photos together. Rounds is bringing all these activities inside video communication for the first time."

The feature is an "open URL" experience, meaning users are not restricted to which sites they visit when co-browsing during video conversations. The co-browsing experience is now compatible with Google Search, Wikipedia, Preen.Me, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Amazon, eBay, ESPN, The Huffington Post, wanelo, Imgur and TheFancy.

Security-wise, the experience resembles two friends surfing the web together on one computer in the same location. Usernames and email addresses are visible during the login process, but passwords are not. Rounds requires pre-existing Facebook friendship for users to launch video chats with each other, giving the new co-browsing feature a built-in layer of protection. For the first time, friends can browse and shop the web together from their mobile devices anywhere.

"With the growth of sales via mobile devices it becomes more important for mobile apps to create innovative services that support m-commerce and the unique behavior patterns of a mobile consumer," says Roger Entner, Founder and Lead Analyst at Recon Analytics.

Building on its signature characteristic of providing online entertainment and fun activities to teens during live video communication, co-browsing joins Rounds' other interactive features, including playing HTML5 games during video chats, watching YouTube videos together, adding Instagram-like effects and scribbling over each other's live video streams, uploading photos for joint viewing across devices, and changing view modes.

Channel.me integrated their co-browser using Rounds easy to use API, which allows developers to create synchronized HTML5 activities between users in the real-time experience of a live, mobile video chat environment.

Rounds Video Chat Hangout is available as a free download in both the iTunes App Store and Google Play, or directly via www.rounds.com. New features are expected to be added regularly throughout summer 2013.

Anki Drive isn't just a car racing game, it's an iOS-based robotics platform

When Anki Drive was demoed live on stage during Apple's WWDC, we saw a modern take on classic slot cars using iOS devices and Bluetooth-equipped toy vehicles -- basically a racing video game rendered with real world objects. But there's actually a lot more to it than that. Earlier this week, we talked briefly with Boris Sofman -- Anki's CEO and cofounder -- about the product and the startup's history and ambitions. While playing the game and taking pictures was off limits, we got the opportunity to examine the cars up close. Read on after the break. Gallery: WWDC 2013: Anki Drive AppFiled under: Gaming, Robots, Wireless, Mobile, AppleComments

HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook review: a first attempt at Chrome OS that cuts too many corners

Things have been pretty quiet on the Chromebook front since the launch of Google's gorgeous, but pricey flagship, the Pixel. It's arguably a hard product to beat, but then again, the Chromebook battle is really taking place at the low end of the market with machines like Acer's inexpensive $199 C7 and Samsung's delightful $249 ARM-based model. This is exactly the arena HP's decided to enter with its $329 Pavilion 14, the first Chromebook with a 14-inch display. Apparently, the company's research indicates there's room for a larger Chromebook that's used primarily at home where thickness, weight and battery life are less critical. While that's difficult for road warriors like us to understand, it only takes a visit to Best Buy to see row upon row of large, cheap, generic Windows laptops, so perhaps HP is onto something. Like Acer's C7, the Pavilion 14 is a Chromebook based on an existing PC chassis. It features an Intel Celeron processor, 2GB RAM, a 16GB SSD and Bluetooth. So how does it compare to the aforementioned competition? Is there a market for a larger Chromebook that mostly lives at home? Read on to find out. Gallery: HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook reviewFiled under: Laptops, HPComments

Fujifilm and Panasonic's organic CMOS image sensor boosts dynamic range and sensitivity

We've all been enjoying the benefits of AMOLED displays for several years now -- high contrast ratios, wide viewing angles and vivid colors -- so it was only a matter of time until organic films ended up in image sensors. Fujifilm and Panasonic have been working on organic CMOS image sensors and just showed the results of their collaboration at the 2013 Symposium on VLSI Technology in Kyoto. By replacing the traditional silicon photodiode with an organic photoelectric conversion layer, researchers have created image sensors with a dynamic range of 88dB (the industry's highest), a 1.2-fold increase in sensitivity (compared to traditional designs) and a 60-degree range of incident light (vs. 30-40 degrees, typically). What does this mean in practice? Less clipping in bright scenes, better low-light performance and richer colors and textures. The companies plan to promote these new organic CMOS image sensors for use in a wide range of imaging applications, including next generation cameras and phones. We can't wait!Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, MobileCommentsSource: Fujifilm

Google updates Gesture Search, now recognizes over 40 languages

Gesture lovers and polyglots rejoice! Yesterday, Google updated Gesture Search for Android phones and tablets, making it compatible with even more languages. The app provides quick access to music, contacts, applications, settings and bookmarks -- to name some -- by letting users simply draw characters on the screen. It now recognizes over 40 languages and even handles transliteration, which comes in handy in Chinese, for example, where some native characters require more strokes than latin equivalents. Gesture Search started life as a Google Labs project back in March 2010 and received several tweaks over the years, including tablet support last fall. So go ahead: download the latest version from the Play Store and swipe away.Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, GoogleCommentsSource: Google (Google+)

Sprint testing LTE cell sites in San Francisco, we pay one a visit

It's not everyday that you get to mill around rooftops like Spider-Man, so when Sprint invited us to visit one of its LTE cell sites in San Francisco, our answer was a resounding "yes." While the company's been testing LTE in the city by the bay for several months now, we're still a few weeks away from an official rollout. Cell site SF33XC664 is located high above Van Ness Avenue with phenomenal views of the Golden Gate and Telegraph Hill. Sprint showed us around the various pieces of equipment and let us run some speed tests. Take a look at our hands-on gallery below then hit the break to join us on a complete tour. Gallery: Sprint LTE cell site visitFiled under: Wireless, Mobile, SprintComments