Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Takes on iPad Mini

The 10.1-inch Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet too big? The 5.5-inch Galaxy Note 2 too small to be your tablet but too big to be your phone?

The Galaxy Note 8.0 might be just right. Or at least that's what Samsung is hoping. The company has announced its new 8-inch, Android tablet today at Mobile World Congress, a large mobile tradeshow in Barcelona, and it hopes its new software features and the portable size will make it standout, especially against Apple's iPad Mini.

A Notebook Size
The tablet is slightly wider than the 7-inch tablets on the market, including Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7, and is meant to be easier to operate in one hand.

"We have seen through consumer research people like the one-handed experience," Shoneel Kolhatkar, Samsung's director of Product Planning, told ABC News. "The Note 10.1 is more of a lean back experience and this is really about the lean forward, you are actively engaged with your notepad and the content you are editing."

Samsung's first Android tablet introduced in 2010 -- the Galaxy Tab -- had a 7-inch display and the company has since made tablets with various different screen sizes. Apple introduced a smaller, 7.9-inch version of the iPad -- the iPad Mini -- in late 2012. Shoneel and other Samsung executives stressed to ABC News that it had smaller tablets long before Apple came out with the Mini.

RELATED: Samsung Galaxy S4 Is Coming

Powered by a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, the Galaxy Note 8.0 features a 1280 x 800-resolution WXGA screen and a 5-megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3-megapixel camera on the front. Samsung says it was designed to be like a personal notebook or diary and that it is the perfect size for you to take anywhere.

Improved S-Pen Software
But key to the hardware is Samsung's S-Pen, the same stylus or digital pen that it began shipping with its other Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 2 products. The pen, Samsung says, provides a natural mode of interaction for users who prefer to write, and has been successful for the company so far.

"The Note category was really really successful, frankly it took many of us by surprise," Kolhatkar said. "As consumers started using the Note devices, they used so many ways of personalizing notes and writing on their photographs. We want to bring the best size form factor into this category of device."

With the Galaxy Note 8.0 Samsung has enhanced the pen software experience, too. The Air View feature lets you hover the pen over specific Samsung apps so you can see previews of videos, emails or photos without actually launching the apps. The pen also now allows you to control the menu and back buttons on the device.

While Samsung is using Google's Android 4.2.1 (or Jelly Bean), it's also built some added multitasking features on top. The multi-window option allow you to put apps side by side. For instance, you can have a website or book on the left side of the screen and then take notes in the S Note application on the right. Other software features include Smart Stay, which will keep the screen on automatically when you are looking at it and a Reader's Mode, which alters the screen brightness for reading.

Smarter Remote
But while Samsung wants the Galaxy Note 8.0 to be your notebook, it also wants it to be your remote control. The tablet has an IR blaster and the company's new Smart Remote app, which allows the tablet to function as a universal remote control. A graphical, TV Guide-like interface allows you tap on images to change the channel. It also includes a new smart search, which lets you search for shows or movies across lots of different services.

The Note 8.0 will be out in the second quarter of 2013. Samsung is not detailing the exact pricing and availability in the U.S., but Kolhatkar did say that the Note would be the best "combination of size and price." Its current Galaxy Note 10.1 sells for $499 and its Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for $199. As Kolhtkar said, "Samsung is always going to provide choice."

Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=e2138521493298653e64571136cfdd79

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Benchmarking The Google Nexus With Ubuntu

Tests are running full-speed this weekend on benchmarking the performance of the brand new Ubuntu Touch/Tablet Developer Preview with the Google Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices. Here's a preview with some initial findings from performance testing these mobile ARM devices using Ubuntu Linux.

Within Ubuntu Touch/Tablet Is Using SurfaceFlinger on launch-day I already shared some initial facts about this mobile Ubuntu platform that's actually powered by Google's Android / CyanogenMod. I also shared My Favorite Command For Ubuntu Touch/Tablet. This mobile Ubuntu flavor basically has the Ubuntu user-land running within a chroot, so the command is basically entering this Ubuntu environment outside of Android and then being in a conventional Ubuntu environment. From this area is where the tests are being done.

A variety of computational benchmarks are being done from a Google Nexus 7 (NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-Core Cortex-A9) and Google Nexus 10 (Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Dual-Core Cortex-A15). With Ubuntu Touch using Google's SurfaceFlinger and not using an X11/X.Org Server (or Wayland), the usual Ubuntu graphics benchmarks won't work. Plus the hardware/drivers are limited to OpenGL ES 2.0 anyways and there's not too many incredibly interesting OpenGL ES performance benchmarks at this time.

A few disk benchmarks are being tried on these ARM tablets but that's not too interesting either with limited flash storage capacities and not the ideal use-case for a tablet. Most of the Linux computational benchmarks being done are looking at audio/video encoding, compilation, and a variety of other workloads. ARM SoCs have proved interesting for building super-computers due to their low power budgets, cost effectiveness, and the performance becoming more competitive to x86 hardware.

With the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets I purchased this week for the Ubuntu testing, at the moment the hardware being benchmarked against it for comparison include the very common PandaBoard ES featuring a Texas Instruments OMAP4460 dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC, a Trim-Slice NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core Cortex-A9 "nettop", the NVIDIA Tegra 3 Cardhu tablet (quad-core Cortex-A9; effectively the same as the Nexus 7), and the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook (Exynos 5 Dual Cortex-A15; effectively the same as the Nexus 10). These other ARM comparison platforms are being loaded up with Ubuntu 13.04 snapshots too, so the packages are close but obvious kernel differences due to the fragmented ARM Linux world.

I'll also likely benchmark some different Intel/AMD x86 systems too for some additional data points showing how well these Ubuntu ARM systems are performing on a modern Linux stack. There have also been requests for benchmarks of the Google Nexus 4 by many Phoronix readers via Twitter, e-mail, and the forums. If you are interested in seeing Nexus 4 benchmarks too or other ARM hardware thrown into the mix, please consider subscribing to Phoronix Premium or making a PayPal tip. This current benchmarking has already been going on since the Thursday release of Ubuntu Touch and will still be happening for several days. I already purchased the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, so benchmarks of the Nexus 4 will depend upon interest level and (ad-enabled) views of these benchmarks to be able to justify additionally buying a Google Nexus 4 ($300+ USD) and the time to spend several more days coming up with these benchmarks. I do agree though, benchmarks of the Nexus 4 with the usual horde of Linux benchmarks from the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 would be very interesting! The S4 Pro is a Quad-Core Qualcomm Krait and would be very interesting to see how this SoC compares to the other ARM/x86 competitors.

One of the interesting traits to also look at whenever running our compute-intensive benchmarks on the ARM hardware in a consumer package is the thermal performance. I've killed ARM-based NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices and killed smart-phones due to overheating by pegging the SoC too much with heavy workloads. The Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 device testing has gone alright in conjunction with my vigorous Linux benchmarking powered by the Phoronix Test Suite. Both tablets have become rather hot when running some of the more demanding multi-threaded Linux benchmarks. However, I have yet to experience any serious problems as a result. The temperature was a bit uncomfortable to the point of moving the Nexus devices nearby a drafty window in the cold Chicago winter as a precaution. (Fortunately, with the Ubuntu chroot it's easy to install the OpenSSH server and be remoting into these devices from elsewhere.)

With both the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 I have also encountered the WiFi adapters no longer communicating with the network after hours of strenuous tests. However, I have yet to determine the cause of these network problems if it's thermal related, a software bug after Ubuntu Touch is used extensively, or some other issue coming to play. After rebooting the devices, the wireless support came back up on both devices.

Another issue I have encountered is with the battery / power source on the Nexus 10. During this testing, both Google tablets are using the respective USB-based power adapters included with the tablets and they are connected to an AC power source (not leaching off any system's USB). With the Nexus 7 everything is running smoothly, but with the Nexus 10 being fully-charged and running off its AC power adapter, eventually the battery will be depleted even when connected to its power source the entire time. Some of these open-source benchmarks end up pushing the hardware over its power capacity for the charger. At least turning off the tablet's display during benchmarking does help from completely draining the battery during the many hours of continuous testing.

For those wanting the benchmark results, stay tuned for multi-page articles (unless of course, you're subscribing to Phoronix Premium for single-page ad-free viewing) next week with all of the data. For those wanting some early metrics, on OpenBenchmarking.org is early results for the Nexus 10 (Samsung Exynos 5) within the 1302235-FO-EXYNOS5DU96 result file. You can compare directly these Ubuntu Nexus figures to your own Linux x86/ARM/SPARC/MIPS system by having the Phoronix Test Suite installed and simply execute phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1302235-FO-EXYNOS5DU96. Within 1302232-FO-GOOGLENEX51 are more test results, but in this round some of the most demanding scientific benchmarks that are publicly available for this hardware.

Stay tuned for more information next week. Random updates on this Ubuntu ARM performance testing expedition are also shared via @MichaelLarabel on Twitter. Any additional test requests or suggestions can be sent to Twitter, email me, or the forums.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Phoronix/~3/h0W90LtF4J8/vr.php

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Chevron, Transocean say Brazil drops criminal oil spill charges

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Brazilian judge dropped criminal charges against Chevron Corp , Transocean Ltd and 17 of their employees related to a November 2011 offshore oil spill, the companies said on Wednesday.

The criminal case, and a civil suit seeking as much as 40 billion reais ($20.4 billion) in damages, have cast a chill over Brazil's oil industry. The criminal suit carried penalties of up to 31 years. The civil case still open is Brazil's largest-ever environmental lawsuit.

Brazilian oil output fell in 2012, and shutting Chevron operations in the South American country contributed to the decline. Investor interest was already waning in the face of regulatory changes and a bitter dispute over royalties that have blocked the sale of new exploration licenses for four years.

"Chevron has been tied up for more than a year over a spill that caused no real damage," said Adriano Pires, head of the Brazil Infrastructure Institute, a Rio de Janeiro energy think-tank. "It's impossible to understand how a country that wants to attract investment would have taken so long to dismiss the case against Chevron."

Failure to dismiss this case, or resolve the civil suit, will make it hard to attract investment for three oil and gas rights auctions planned for later this year, he added.

The press offices of Chevron and Transocean confirmed a Reuters report of the dismissal of criminal charges based on three sources with direct knowledge of the case.

"We welcome this news that the Court recognized, with respect to the Frade event of November 2011, that Transocean's crews did exactly what they were trained to do, acting responsibly, appropriately and quickly while always maintaining safety as their top priority," Guy Cantwell, a Transocean spokesman in Houston, said in an e-mailed statement.

The criminal charges were filed last March by Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, the same Brazilian prosecutor who filed the civil lawsuit.

The 3,600 barrel spill in the Frade Field northeast of Rio de Janeiro was quickly stopped, cleaned up and caused no discernable environmental damage, Brazil's oil regulator, the ANP, said in a report last year.

The spill was less than 1/1000th of the size of BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The Frade spill never came close to shore. No workers were injured in the Frade spill. In the Deepwater Horizon disaster 11 died.

Chevron said in a statement that it "is pleased by the court's decision. Chevron Brasil remains committed to its policy of full transparency and close cooperation with the Brazilian authorities."

Prosecutors can still appeal the ruling dismissing the charges, made by Judge Marcelo Luzio of the 10th Criminal Unit of the Rio de Janeiro Federal Court, one of the sources told Reuters.

The sources asked not to be named because their employers do not allow them to speak about the case.

The Frade field is 52 percent owned by California-based Chevron, 30 percent by Brazil's state-led Petroleo Brasileiro SA and 18 percent by Frade Jap?o, a group owned by Japanese trading companies Inpex Corp and Sojitz Corp .

Petrobras, as the Brazilian company is known, Sojitz and Inpex were never charged in relation to the spill.

Chevron shares fell 0.82 percent in New York trading late Wednesday afternoon while Transocean shares dropped 2.9 percent.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Sofina Mirza-Reid and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chevron-transocean-brazil-drops-criminal-oil-spill-charges-203623648--finance.html

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