iPad mini, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD go head to head, inside a blender

Continuing their tradition of blending newly released gadgets inside one of their absurdly strong and powerful blender by none other than the CEO Tom Dickson himself, Blendtec has released a new video where they blend the iPad mini.

But it’s not just the iPad mini that will be facing the blades of chaos inside the blender. Giving it company are the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. It really doesn’t matter how many contestants there are, though. In the end, the only winner is the Blendtec blender.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

The iPad mini gets an iFixit teardown

iFixit is continuing their tradition of tearing down every major new product and the latest product to fall in their hands is the new iPad mini.

As usual the teardown reveals some interesting pieces of information that are otherwise kept away from the general public by manufacturers. So let’s take a look.

The first thing we learn is that the iPad mini is not repair-friendly. There is a copious amount of glue that holds parts together, which is good if you have to package everything in a tight space but not if you want to take things apart (unless you have a heat gun like iFixit). Thankfully, it’s not all bad, with the display and the glass are not fused together, so they are easier to replace separately and the battery is not soldered to the logic board or other components.

One of the most interesting discoveries inside the iPad mini is the presence of stereo speakers. Yes, surprisingly, that second grille at the bottom isn’t just ornamental and although the Apple website mentions only one speaker the iPad mini actually has two inside. The only reason I could think of why Apple is not touting this addition is because the more expensive iPad 2 and the iPad with Retina display have only a single loudspeaker, as does every other iOS device.

That’s the extent of surprises inside the iPad mini. The other parts are rather expected. The display unit in iFixit’s device was manufactured by Samsung but since Apple does not rely on just one supplier other device may have units from other suppliers, such as LG. The A5 chip is similar to the one in the iPad 2 and also has the same 512MB of RAM. The Li-Po battery is 16.5Whr, down from 25WHr on the iPad 2 and 43Whr on the iPad with Retina display, although that evidently hasn’t affected the battery life at all.

The new Lightning connector makes an appearance here and due to its smaller size makes it possible for Apple to squeeze in a second loudspeaker on the side. The cameras are same as that on the iPad with Retina display; 1.2 megapixel on the front and 5 megapixel on the back.

You can read the full teardown report from the link below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Watch the Apple iPad mini official promo video

As per tradition Apple has released a promotion video for its newly announced iPad mini.

The smaller 7.9-inch slate shares its chipset and screen resolution of the iPad 2, but adds a 5MP rear camera and the new Lightning port. The video tells more about those as well as the other cool bits of the compact tablet.

Check it out.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Apple to offer live stream for its iPad mini event tonight

As a welcome break of tradition, Apple is going to offer live streaming of its iPad mini event tonight. The company will let you become a part of the unveiling of its latest product through its web site or, if you happen to own one, through Apple TV.

As you probably know by now, Apple is going to hold an event, which starts tonight at 17:00 GMT and should see the introduction of the first 7.85” iOS tablet, probably called iPad mini. Sporting a more compact design and a more attractive price tag than its larger sibling, the iPad mini should help iOS get an even firmer grasp of the tablet market.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal released

Following their biyearly tradition of releasing major updates to their OS, Canonical has released the newest version of Ubuntu, 12.10 Quantal Quetzal.

Among the chief new features is the ability to set websites as web apps and pin them to the launcher. You can have websites such as Gmail or Facebook pinned to your launcher and then open them just as you would open an application.

The other new feature is the inclusion of online search for your accounts within the Dash. Earlier you could only search for local files within the OS but now you can type any query and Ubuntu will search your online accounts such as Flickr, Google Drive, etc. as long as you log in to them from within the OS.

Lastly, there is a new Preview option for files within the Dash that lets you preview them without having to open the file.

As usual, Ubuntu 12.10 is completely free to download and install and you can get it from the link below.

Here’s a bit of trivia. When the Ubuntu 12.10 was released yesterday, the homepage said ‘Avoid the pain of Windows 8′. Now if you go to the homepage, it says ‘Your wish is our command’. Wonder what made Ubuntu suddenly change their wording.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ported to the T-Mobile G1

The opensource nature of the Android OS means new updates are often found running on older phones before they officially hit the newer devices.

Keeping with that tradition, today we are about to see the very latest version of Android running on the very first commercially sold Android phone. Yes, you are about to see Jelly Bean running on the T-Mobile G1.

This hack was put together by the folks at SoCal Devs and they have details on how to go about doing it on xda-developers forums. While it’s not exactly Project Butter (more like Project Stutter) nor is it particularly stable, the phone does seem to be able to run it somehow.

If you still have this phone lying around you can try this hack and have some fun with it. Just don’t expect to be able to use it on a daily basis.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com