LG Optimus GJ officially announced in Taiwan

LG has extended its collection of smartphones by officially announcing the Optimus GJ in Taiwan. The Optimus GJ is an upgraded version of the popular LG Optimus G with water and dust resistance. The new smartphone can withstand 1 meter of water for 30 minutes

The specifications of the Optimus GJ are quite similar to Optimus G with the device sporting a 4.7-inch display of 720p resolution. The Optimug GJ is powered by a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor along with 2 GB of RAM.

       
Images of LG Optimug GJ

The device features a 13 megapixel rear camera, 1.3 megapixel front facing snapper and 16 GB of internal memory. It runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of box and is powered by a 2,280mAh battery.

LG Optimus GJ will compete against the likes of Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZR. The Optimus GJ is currently available in Taiwan and is priced at TWD17,990 (about $602). Unfortunately, there is no word on the global availability of the smartphone as of now.

HTC Desire 600 dual sim goes official, Sense 5 on board

The HTC One leads the charge of the Sense 5 experience and now the HTC Desire 600 dual sim fills the ranks with an affordable alternative. The smartphone was introduced today and is supposed to bring many of the One's premium features at a far lower price point.

The HTC Desire 600 dual sim runs Android Jelly Bean (probably 4.1) with Sense 5 on top, which includes the BlinkFeed screen that pulls updates and info from your social networking accounts and 1,400 media sources.

It's powered by a Snapdragon 200 chipset, which packs four Cortex-A5 CPUs clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB RAM and Adreno 203 GPU. There's 8GB of built-in storage and a 1,860mAh battery.

The smartphone has a 4.5" Super LCD2 screen with qHD resolution, surrounded by two BoomSound speakers, just like on the One. Beats Audio is, of course, also a part of the package.

The HTC Desire 600 dual sim packs an 8MP / 720p main camera and a 1.6MP front-facing camera that can be used to capture photos, which the Video Highlights feature combines into 30 second video clips. All you have to do is pick the music theme. It's not as great as Zoe, but it's in the same spirit.

As the name suggests, the phone has two SIM card slots and both cards are active at the same time – you can receive a call on one of them, even if the other is already in use. The phone has 3G with HSDPA connectivity (up to 7.2Mbps down), Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX, Wi-Fi b/g/n, NFC and GPS (plus GLONASS in Russia and the EU).

The HTC Desire 600 will be available early next month and while it aims for global availability, it will start off with Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East. There's no info on pricing yet.

AMD launches new mobile chips: will they be in your next laptop or tablet?

Under ever-increasing pressure from Intel, AMD has formally announced its yearly refresh of its mobile processors.

Known as APUs (Accelerated Processing Units), the hybrid GPU and CPU chips will be branded A4 and E2 at the value end of the market, and A6, A8 and A10 for performance laptops and what AMD calls 'ultra-thins'. These latter chips are – generally speaking - designed to go squarely against Intel's Core i3 and i5, while A4 and E2 will take on Celeron and Pentium in budget, mainstream laptops.

All are based on the same Jaguar cores as the AMD-powered next-gen consoles as well as the new Graphics Core Next (GCN) GPU architecture.

Behind the branding are three different hardware platforms; there is an ultra-low power quad-core platform for tablets and small touchscreen Windows 8 laptops codenamed Temash.

• Best CPU: 10 top processors reviewed and rated

According to figures from AMD, Temash offers 5x the performance of the comparable chip from Intel's Atom (Clover Trail) platform. Speaking at a recent briefing attended by TechRadar, AMD's head of mobility Kevin Lensing talked up Temash.

"There's an opportunity to redefine the tablet a little bit, so you can redefine what people do on their slates. There's no other part that can do what you saw on this class of device. Compared to the [comparable Atom processor] you 200 per cent improvement in terms of performance per Watt in 3D Mark 11."

We've seen that silicon in several rather underpowered Windows 8 tabletsso far such as the Asus Vivo Tab.

Mainstream and performance APUs

AMD's mainstream platform carries the Kabini codename and is said to be 25 per cent more efficient over the preceding generation of silicon, offering a cited 1.5 extra hours of battery life during 720p playback. "[This chip] brings quad-core to this market and completely outclasses Pentium. In fact, it's a clean kill over Pentium and it's going to dominate the open level of the notebook space."

In terms of specs, the Temash and Kabini clockspeeds range between 1.0-2.0 GHz with power consumption between 3.9 and 25W. The highest power Temash chip is 9W.

Further up the chain, the performance segment is known as Richland and, according to AMD, boasts productivity gains around 12 per cent and 40 per cent better graphics performance over the previous generations. "You want a high powered notebook to feel snappy," said Lansing. "And of course we're going to give you the best graphics, the best compute."

Kabini is AMD's mainstream laptop processor

AMD believes it can still has a lot to offer in value and performance systems alike, but it also sees a lot of opportunity in tablets and convertibles as Windows 8 gradually takes bigger slice of the market.

Lensing laid down a challenge for Intel's upcoming Bay Trail Atom chips – "we've got plenty of headroom in Temash" also hinting he expects favourable comparisons with Haswell (Intel's next-gen Core processors) with the higher-end chips.

Focused on tablets and small notebooks

Lensing also claimed AMD was "uniquely positioned" to provide users with better tablet experiences because of its expertise in graphics. "We've got to make great devices. This is where our silicon is focused, on tablets and performance tablets and it's small form factor touch notebooks. There are lots of guys making silicon for smartphones and trying to pull it up in terms of performance, there are lots of guys making silicon for old client [PC] devices and trying to push it down into this space.

"We're focusing our dart right in that area, in the convergence space. We have optimised for the best performance per watt in the four to 14 watt category. You have to optimise for that space to win – you can't optimise for a desktop or notebook and win in this space. We're uniquely positioned here."

Kabini is said to be 25 per cent more efficient over the preceding generation

"The world has taught us that gaming is the number one revenue stream on iOS and that the world is sensitised to graphics on these devices. And of course graphics is where we shine. So you take the graphics expectation on these devices and the graphics [we do] on Windows and bring those two worlds together. Devices that enable you to get things done but also devices that have a great display and form factor. So you're not switching between three or four devices every day, it's [about] one device."

AMD also announced a technology known as DockPort. Similar to Intel's Thunderbolt in concept (in fact, Lansing said it was almost DisplayPort+), it enables USB, power and display over a single connection.

• System on a Chip: what you need to know about SoCs

Another technology for tablets, called TurboDock, manages power when undocked but ratchets up performance when you dock the tablet. "We're very focused on giving you a full notebook experience in these devices. TurboDock keeps it nice and cool when it's in your hand, but when in a dock it ratchets up to the full notebook experience."

See what you're missing with the new Nokia Lumia 925

The new Nokia Lumia 925 is the world's most innovative smartphone, encompassing an industry-leading camera, stunning aluminium design and superb HD screen all in beautifully thin package.

The Lumia 925 is the phone that's designed to help you capture life's best moments, no matter where you are. Using a six piece lens in front of the award-winning 8.7MP camera, whether it's getting the picture of your friends late at night or the moment your mate scores a winning goal, the Lumia 925's camera will allow you to capture the moment in perfect clarity.

Smarter than smart

This innovation is brought about through the all-new Nokia Smart Camera feature, which takes a burst of images and then uses a simple UI to let you decide which effects or changes you want to make. This means you can alter a face if someone shut their eyes at the crucial moment, or create an action shot that combines lots of images at once to create a really cool effect.

What if you've spent ages composing that really great holiday shot, only to have it ruined by someone walking in front of you? With Smart Camera you can simply and easily edit out any unwanted items, meaning no more random people in your favourite vacation snaps, allowing you to make any photo look the way you want.

And what's more, you can set this mode to activate automatically so there's no need to worry that you'll miss the moment when you whip your camera out of a pocket or bag.

On top of this, Nokia has brought spectacular sharpness to low-light photos and videos, thanks to the upgraded camera. Even in low light you can take the best photos of any smartphone on the market, so you don't have to worry about waiting for a flash when you want to get the perfect snap in darker conditions.

The best a smartphone can offer

Of course, there's so much more to the Nokia Lumia 925 than a stunning camera. The design is one that encapsulates Nokia's decades of design and research into what makes the best smartphone, and the glorious fusion of aluminium and polycarbonate has created a phone that you'll find it hard to put down.

The Lumia 925 also offers a fantastic 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ screen, which makes games and movies look stunning thanks to the HD resolution on offer. It uses Nokia's advanced ClearBlack technology to improve the quality of the display too, meaning everything you want to do on the phone will look as crisp and sharp as can be.

Nokia's rich Windows Phone heritage shines throughout the Lumia 925, bringing intelligent and useful features like HERE Maps with LiveSight. The former is the only smartphone application to offer a truly offline mapping experience, giving you an intuitive and simple mapping experience that can turn your phone into a fully-fledged sat-nav device too.

On top of that, Nokia's rich LiveSight technology comes to life via the HERE City Lens app

so you hold your phone up to see restaurants, cafes, shops and more overlaid onto the surfaces of the building's in your phone's camera display as virtual signs - and from there you're a tap away from contact info, opening hours and even reviews of the places, making discovering life's hidden treasures as natural as looking around.

And all of this is built on top of Microsoft's advanced mobile platform, Windows Phone 8. Combining constantly updating Live Tiles and the best of Microsoft on the go, there's very little you'll want for in the Nokia Lumia 925. Whether it's collaborated documents that live update as changes are made or an integrated chat client that makes all messaging slick and easy from wherever you are, you'll always be in contact and able to share the important moments that mateer.

Hands on: Xbox One Gamepad review

Following a full day of presentations, interviews, tours, tech demos and teases of the Xbox One's game-changing potential, the powers that be at Microsoft finally let us get our mitts on the new hardware's controller.

While our time with the gamepad doesn't allow us to tear up the blacktop inForza 5 or command a SEAL Team canine in Call of Duty: Ghosts, it does provide a peek at a few of the 40-plus improvements that have been made over its predecessor.

Before diving into six separate demos tailored to show off the controller's enhanced rumble tech, Microsoft senior product marketing manager, Navin Kumar, states "precision, comfort, and making gaming more realistic than ever" were the driving forces behind designing the new gamepad.

In terms of precision, Kumar points out that the analog sticks respond to inputs with 25 per cent less force, delivering a far more accurate experience. He also claims its d-pad allows for "crisper inputs", perfect for "sweeping movements in fighting and sports games".

Feeling the full effect of 'impulse triggers'

While our hands-on time affords little opportunity to test this improved precision and accuracy, it does allow our thumbs and fingers to feel the full effect of what Kumar refers to as "impulse triggers". Like the 360's controller, the Xbox One gamepad features left and right triggers, used for everything from scoring headshots to flooring gas pedals.

However, the One's controller significantly ups the immersion of these interactive experiences thanks to the addition of motors housed in its triggers: in addition to the pair of rumblers located in the hand-grips - as they are in a 360 controller - the One's peripheral adds one each to both triggers.

It tickles... seriously

As demonstrated during our hands-on time, the tech is being used in a number of ways to intensify the immersion factor. With a press of the Y button, we're able to fire up a helicopter's propeller and a sports car's engine. While these interactions would yield near-identical vibrations with a 360 controller, they feel entirely unique through the One's triggers and sticks. By programming four separate motors, two of which now tickle the sensitive finger tips, the peripheral is able to convey astounding nuance and variety in its vibrations.

On top of differentiating between an engine's powerful roar and a chopper's spinning rotors, the quartet of motors allows us to experience how it feels to pop off a few rounds from a hand-cannon and summon a fireball in the palm of our hand. While the former feels much like it does in any contemporary shooter, the latter - thanks to a slow rumbling build-up, leading into a more intense vibration - yields a sense of empowerment we can't wait to unleash the next time we barbeque baddies in an RPG.

Our final two demos, simulating a ticking heart and braking car, are the most impressive. The pumping brakes deliver a realistic halting sensation the likes of which we've never before experienced in a racer, while the heartbeat - delivered by alternating pulse-like vibrations in the two triggers - feels scary-real. In fact, we're guessing the latter effect will significantly up the fright factor in survival horror games; imagine navigating a dark corridor or derelict space station in complete silence, all while the protagonist's racing pulse thumps beneath your fingertips.

Early Verdict

Based on our time behind the Xbox One's controller - whose ergonomic design will feel comfortably familiar to 360 owners - the impulse triggers seem to hold the most promise and potential for putting players that much deeper in the experiences of rearranging zombies' ribcages with melee weapons, roasting trolls with fire balls, and racing across finish lines.

That said, a number of subtler features, such as magnetic sensor-equipped triggers and a battery case that no longer protrudes from the back of the controller, hint at the many ways the next-gen peripheral will provide more precision in your games and comfort in your hands.

The Softies slimmed down the battery case

Our hands-on time barely scratches the surface of its promised 40-plus improvements, but our satisfied fingers and thumbs are already anticipating what other surprises the Xbox One's gamepad has got hidden beneath its buttons, sticks, and triggers.