Droid Razr teardown reveals impressive guts

iFix has voided yet another warranty in order to show us exactly what makes the new Droid Razr tick. To open the phone, they begin to saw the unit apart with a dozuki, but quickly realized a spudger and plastic opening tool were also reasonably effective.

Motorola has been making a come back after being set aside for years by other companies that have had a seemingly endless stream of hipper smart phones. About two years ago though, the company introduced the Droid, which turned out to be a very successful smartphone series. Back in action, the company is betting its super-identifiable Razr namesake and styling will bring back the same "wow" factor as it did in 2004. Be sure to check out our hands on review, if you have not already.

                                                          

The Droid Razr packs a lot of technology into a "razr" thin form factor, so what we find inside the phone is an impressive amount of thoughtful engineering. The unit is packed tight with no room to spare, filled with EMI shielded chips, an ultra-thin 1750mAh battery, tiny ribbon cables and a lot of adhesive.

The website rates the Droid Razr a 4 out of 10 on its repairability score, a rating low enough to probably scare away all but the most confident do-it-yourselfers.

iFixit lists the inordinate number of chips found inside the unit:

• Toshiba THGBM4G7D2GBAIE 16GB EMMC Flash Memory
• Samsung K3PE7E700M-XGC1 4Gb LPDDR2 RAM
• Qualcomm MDM6600 Dual-Mode Baseband/RF Transceiver
• Qualcomm PM8028 Power Management IC
• Avago ACPM-7868 Quad-Band Power Amplifier
• Motorola T6VP0XBG-0001 (believed to be the LCM 2.0 LTE baseband processor)
• Texas Instruments WL1285C Wilink 7 Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/GPS
• Skyworks 77449 Power Amplifier Module for LTE/EUTRAN Bands XIII/XIV
• Toshiba Y9A0A111308LA Memory Stack
• ST Ericsson CPCAP 6556002
• Hynix H90H1GH51JMP
• Infineon 5726 SLU A1 H1118 3A126586
• Bosch 2133 C3H L1ABG accelerometer

iFixit also notes some unusual design elements. The digitizer (the glass on the front) is permenantly adhered to the AMOLED LCD display, which makes breaking the digitizer an expensive accident. Also, there are a tremendous amount of chips on the system board facing the display which makes it eerily devoid of all visible circuitry on the bottom. This was done to keep the Razr slim, no doubt.

Images courtesy of iFixit. You can view the full teardown here.

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Intel Sandy Bridge-E Debuts: Core i7-3960X Reviewed

Intel kick started 2011 with the release of their 2nd generation Core processors as they unleashed the Sandy Bridge architecture for the first time. Initially there were five processors, which included the popular Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K.

Enabling these new processors was the LGA1155 platform, which brought about three new chipsets. Two of these, the H67 and P67, went on to spoil what would have otherwise been perfect execution by Intel. Plagued by a SATA 3Gb/s bug, this put the entire platform on hold for numerous months until Intel could ramp up production of working B3 stepping chipsets to replace the defective models, effectively costing Intel a billion dollars or thereabouts.

By March the company was on the mend and before long it was all about Sandy Bridge. Intel described its production increase for the microprocessor as the fastest ramp-up of any product in the company’s history.

With the Sandy Bridge processors hitting full stride, the recent release of AMD’s Bulldozer processors was not enough to slow sales. This was largely due to Bulldozer’s inability to compete well enough with the Core i5-2xxx series. Even worse than that, it's next to impossible to actually buy an AMD FX-8150 processor thanks to chip shortages. Meanwhile, Intel is preparing to strike back by bolstering their 2nd generation Core processors even further.

Today marks the arrival of Sandy Bridge-E and three new processors released initially, which include the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition, Core i7-3930K and Core i7-3820. Powered by a new LGA2011 socket, these 32nm processors provide up to six cores with a dozen threads. Intel has also upgraded the integrated memory controller with four channels supporting DDR3-1600 memory, for a theoretical peak bandwidth of 51.2GB/s.

These processors will be explored in greater detail shortly, but for now it's worth mentioning they feature a total of 2.27 billion transistors in a die size of 20.8mm by 20.9mm, which are mind-boggling stats to say the least.

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Amazon increases Kindle Fire production again to 5 million units

Amazon has increased production output on its Kindle Fire tablet for the second time to the tune of 5 million units by the end of the year. The company is betting big based on strong pre-orders, according to sources from upstream component suppliers as reported by DigiTimes.

                                       

This is the second time that Amazon has ramped up production on the 7-inch tablet ahead of its public launch. In the middle of the third quarter, the Kindle maker called for 4 million units to be produced, up from the original 3.5 million when the tablet was announced.

These rumors fall in line with similar statements from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last month during an earnings call. Bezos said pre-orders have exceeded expectations and thus they were increasing capacity and building millions more than initially planned, although he didn’t give any specific numbers.

Furthermore, Amazon believes that Kindle Fire will remain strong past the holiday season which could prompt even more orders depending on how quickly the 5 million sell out. Upstream component suppliers that look to benefit from the increased demand include Wintek, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), LG Display, Quanta Computer, Ilitek, Aces Connectors and Wah Hong Industrial.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is expected to go head-to-head with Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet this holiday season. Amazon’s tablet is set to launch on November 15 at an attractive $199 price point while the recently-announced Nook Tablet sells for $50 more but offers double the RAM and internal storage capacity of the Kindle Fire. The Nook Tablet will be available starting November 18.

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Xbox.com getting Metro UI ahead of Xbox Live dashboard update

Microsoft will be making some changes to Xbox.com in the coming days in anticipation of the next Xbox 360 dashboard update. The familiar “My Xbox” section will be replaced by a forward-thinking “Social” area, complete with Metro UI styling.

Social builds on the current My Xbox by allowing you to see more detailed information regarding what your friends are doing. One new feature is called Beacons which lets you to mark games you wish to play with others on your friends list.

Your friends will see the Beacon and can decide if they also want to play the game, rather than you having to send multiple game invites or arrange playing together through traditional means. You can have up to three Beacons active at a time and you can optionally add a description to each one indicating things like what time you want to play or what game mode you are interested in.

Social will also display links to Xbox LIVE events, preview articles, new video and game releases, Gamer Spotlight and more. Quick links on the left of the Social screen show you things like how many friends are online and how many messages you have. Below your avatar are links to common tasks like redeeming codes and adding Microsoft Points.

Xbox.com users will also be able to search the Zune catalog and buy television shows and movies directly from the web browser.

A leaked internal email sent to PayPal employees in September revealed that Microsoft is planning to launch thenew Xbox dashboard on November 15, marking the 10-year anniversary of the original Xbox launch in 2001.

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Motorola Droid RAZR hands-on impressions

While we work on the full written review of the Motorola DROID RAZR, I thought I'd at least share some of my gut feelings and impressions of the device, now that I've been using it for a short while.

To start with, Motorola really hit it out of the park with the hardware. The 7.1mm thick body is super tough thanks to its Kevlar back cover, Gorilla Glass up front, and a steel internal frame. You might lament the lack of a user replaceable battery, but you'll love the qHD resolution Super AMOLED display, speedy dual-core 1.2GHz processor, and fine 1080p-capable 8 megapixel camera. You simply can't argue with the results.

The software is surprisingly good, too. The Motorola user interface is mostly unobtrusive and workable, and the new Smart Actions system on the phone can really make the DROID RAZR seem self-aware at times.

I pretty much love everything about the phone. Pretty much. I'm certainly thankful for the high data rates offered by Verizon's LTE network, but the DROID RAZR is every bit a battery hog because of its LTE support. Even with a 1780mAh battery, this device struggles to get through a full day under relatively light duty. With some tweaks of the battery settings, of which there are many, and some clever Smart Actions, you might be able to extend its life. But out of the box, the Motorola DROID RAZR still wants for juice, and it runs excessively hot while it sucks down those milliwatt-hours.

In the end, if LTE is what you are after, there simply is no other device on the market that can package it up as slickly at the Motorola DROID RAZR.

The Motorola DROID RAZR will go on sale on November 11, 2011 ("11-11-11") for $299.99 with a two-year contract. For a limited time, Verizon is offering double the normal amount of data on its monthly data plans for 4G LTE smartphones. As such, a $30 monthly data plan will net a DROID RAZR user 4GB of data monthly.

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Mozilla Thunderbird 8.0, Lightning 1.0 released

he Mozilla Foundation has officially released Thunderbird 8.0 and Lightning 1.0, their full-featured email and calendar clients, respectively. Mozilla added Thunderbird to their rapid release schedule awhile back, so users will continue to get frequent, periodic updates.

While Firefox 8.0 will probably be enjoying most of the spotlight, Thunderbird 8.0 is a substantial upgrade from its previous iteration.

                                                   

Download: Thunderbird 8.0, Lightning 1.0, Firefox 8.0

Thunderbird 8.0 highlights (more)

• Improved speed and responsiveness!
• Thunderbird is based on the new Mozilla Gecko 8 engine
• Add-ons installed by third party programs are now disabled by default
• New Search and Find Shortcuts
• Improved accessibility of the attachment list
• Folder switching pane widget removed
• Numerous platform fixes to stability
• Fixed several security issues

There is currently a known issue with using Thunderbird 8.0, Lightning 1.0 and RSS feeds together. Keep that in mind if you experience any similar issues. Users are also encouraged to remove their previous add-ons and manually install up-to-date versions. 

Lightning, which has been in beta for a few years now, is now primed, polished and ready for its official release. Lightning 1.0 is only compatible with Thunderbird 8, so you will need to upgrade. If you're stuck using an older version of Thunderbird, you may still use Lightning 1.0 Beta 7 or 1.0 Beta 5.

Noteworthy changes in this release of Lightning:

• Full offline support, when the "Cache" is enabled for a calendar
• Improve diagnostics for the ICS provider
• Fix the top startup crash. Please give Lightning another try if you previously had issues
• Some fixes for the alarm system, specifically related to snoozing and recurring events
• Allow opening events already accepted via invitation
• Fresh new UI style for all calendar views

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New carrier offers unlimited service, no contracts or overages for $19/mo

Tired of restrictive contracts and costly overages? Republic Wireless is too. The newcomer has busted onto the scene with a service that is currently unmatched by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. For only $19 a month, the company says it can provide smartphone users with unlimited voice, data and text without lengthy commitments and hidden fees. The catch? For most users, there isn't one.

To eliminate the expense of maintaining pricey cellular networks, Republic Wireless utilizes a hybrid calling technology that sends communications over Wi-Fi whenever possible -- and that's pretty often. The company reports that mobile users are around Wi-Fi about 60% of the time. If you happen to be outside the range of Wi-Fi, your handset will still have conventional WWAN connectivity (via Sprint).

The "unlimited" part isn't entirely true, but it's not untrue either. If used as intended with Wi-Fi, Republic Wireless should theoretically provide you with all the communication you desire. However, while the carrier won't slam you with overages, there are limits imposed on your cellular account. You get the equivalent of 550 minutes, 150 texts and 300MB of data, but those numbers aren't precise.

Your non-Wi-Fi footprint is calculated with a "Cellular Usage Index" (CUI), so there doesn't seem to be a limit on any given traffic type. In other words, your usage patterns are irrelevant as long as the sum of your activity doesn't exceed whatever CUI the company deems "fair." If you surpass that threshold, you'll receive tips on how to reduce your consumption, but again, there are no fees or speed caps.

The service is currently in limited beta and Republic Wireless only offers the LG Optimus. You can't transfer your existing handset, either. The company plans to add more phones in the future (send recommendations to yourvoice@republicwireless.com). The Optimus along with your first month of service will cost $199 plus tax, which is refundable for 30 days. Subsequent months are only $19.

There are some other details worth noting. While domestic roaming is free, there's no international cellular support. Wi-Fi should let you call from anywhere in the world to the US, but Republic Wireless isn't open to international customers yet. You'll require approximately 80kb/s to chat with someone over Wi-Fi, so low-end DSL connections might be iffy when you factor in other network traffic.

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