64-bit Tablet

Google has officially announced version 64 of its Chrome browser for Android, with downloads to go live on the Google Play Store in the coming days and weeks.

Apple started requiring new iOS apps to include 64-bit binaries back in iOS 8, but developers with 32-bit apps already in the App Store were allowed to stay. The writing was on the wall, however, and Apple since then has pushed for its entire ecosystem to go 64-bit, culminating with an announcement earlier this year that all apps, legacy or not, must move to 64-bit for iOS 11.

Apple announced the next major update to iOS at WWDC 2017 today, calling it, you guessed it, iOS 11. Three devices will lose support, making the OS exclusive to 64-bit devices, and while the company didn't explicitly say so during its keynote, 64-bit apps.

App analytics firm Sensor Tower conducted a survey on the assumption that Apple’s next major iOS update could remove 32-bit support. This would mean that nearly 200,000 apps from the App Store would be rendered obsolete.

The recently-released iOS 10.3 beta 1 provides us with a glimpse into how Apple sees the future of the platform, as new evidence indicates that support for 32-bit apps is very likely to be pulled.

Apple this morning acknowledged the bug whereby if you change your date to May 1970 or earlier, you won't be able to restart your iOS device. The bug affects all iOS devices that utilize a 64-bit chipset.

As expected, chipset maker Qualcomm has officially announced its most powerful mobile chipset, the Snapdragon 820, which is manufactured on the 14nm FinFET technology.

The next big thing from Apple is really big. The new iPad Pro announced by the Cupertino-based company features a large 12.9-inch Retina display. It's a little bit larger than Samsung's Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 slate, which measures 295.6 x 204 x 8mm and weighs 753g (battery included).

Asus announced the ZenPad S 8.0 tablet last month and promised that the slate will go on sale sometime in July. The good news is the company's brand new Android tablet is now available for purchase in the United States.

Some of you might remember Huawei’s latest release in the tablet space, the MediaPad M2, which was launched in France last month. We were expecting the tablet to be rolled out globally beginning this month, but it looks like the Chinese company has decided to launch a special version of MediaPad M2.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is in line for an Android 5.1.1 update, according to a report on the matter. The phablet, which will make way for the Galaxy Note 5 in a couple of months' time, took what seemed like an age to get Android 5.0 Lollipop, but according to SamMobile, testing for Android 5.1.1 is now under way.

Computex 2015 technology trade fair has just kicked off and at least two companies announced lots of products that will be launched on the market throughout the year, Acer and Asus.

MediaTek, whose chips now are stuffed inside low-end, mid-range and top-shelf handsets in Asia (including the recently announced HTC One M9 Plus) has announced two new chipsets designed for tablets. The MT8163 and MT8736 SoCs both feature four cores and 64-bit architecture. But there are some major differences between the two.

Last summer we were telling you the low-cost chip maker was working towards a 64-bit chip that will bestow cheap Android tablets 4K video capabilities.

At this point, it's a public secret that Qualcomm's upcoming 64-bit Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor will reign inside the biggest, baddest Android smartphones and tablets of 2015. If you aren't up to speed with what this beast is made of, you should have a quick look at its technological profile. No matter if you are from team NVIDIA, or team MediaTek, or team Intel, you are bound to end up impressed!

Everyone seems to be jumping on the 64bit bandwagon these days. Apple started the 64bit race with the introduction of Iphone 5S last year. Now major processor manufacturers Samsung, Qualcomm and MediaTek are rushing towards the 64bit era. As you probably know by now, Huawei makes their own processors under the HiSilicon brand name and until now we didn’t had any information about Huawei’s plans regarding the 64bit processors.

Microsoft may have taken over Nokia’s smartphone division, but these days Microsoft isn’t using the Nokia name on its phones anymore… and the Finnish company is branching out in new directions. Nokia doesn’t make smartphone phones anymore, but the company just introduced an Android tablet. The Nokia N1 is an iPad mini-sized tablet with a 2048 x 1536 pixel display, an Intel Atom processor, and a $249 price tag.

The most powerful smartphone in the Alpha lineup has yet to be officially introduced. Samsung hasn’t confirmed the Galaxy A7 and we don’t know when this will happen, but judging by the flow of rumors we’re not that far from an official reveal.

Actions Semiconductor launches their ATM7059 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 with Android 5.0 Lollipop support, at 1.6Ghz on 28nm on UMC's HLP 28nm process with a PowerVR SGX544 GPU, now showing ATM7059 samples in 10.1" 1280x800 tablet samples and shipping the platform through mass production in the first month of 2015 with Android 5.0 Lollipop support.

That’s it! The 64-bit ARM era is upon us! ARMv8 servers have been available to companies for a few months, entry-level 64-bit ARM smartphones such as HTC Desire 510 are coming soon, and so are low cost 64-bit ARM development boards, Nexus 9 tablet leaks (Tegra K1 64-bit) are flooding the blogosphere, and Cube T7 tablet / phablet powered by Mediatek MT8752 octa core Cortex A53 processor will start shipping next month, and is available for pre-order right now for about $200.