The world's fastest open-science supercomputer has finished its NVIDIA Kepler-based upgrade. The newly-rebranded Titan at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee now contains 18,688 Tesla K20 GPU accelerators that helps it achieve a peak performance of more than 20 petaflops.
AT&T is continuing with its planned next round of LTE services. The carrier will be bringing Muncie and Bloomington in Indiana, as well as Bryan-College Station in Texas, on April 8. The 8th is the date that AT&T announced that it would begin shipping two LTE-aware Windows Phones, the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II.
AT&T quickly followed up news of Lumia 900 launch details on Monday with a similar firming up of plans for its other LTE Windows Phone, the HTC Titan II. The 4.7-inch smartphone will show on the same day, April 8. In an unusual step, the Titan II will cost twice as much on contract as Nokia's phone, at $200.
AT&T through its forums stated that it was passing on a a Windows Phone fix. Subscribers on the carrier wouldn't get the build 8107 fix, which fixes a common problem with the keyboard disappearing, for phones that didn't already ship with it preinstalled. A representative didn't have full information as to why, other than that AT&T was "not currently planning" to use it.
Following an early tease, Microsoft as promised launched Windows Phone in China on Wednesday. The initial phone, the HTC Eternity, is an adaptation of the Titan, keeping its 4.7-inch screen, eight-megapixel back camera, and 1.3-megapixel front camera. The Chinese version is unlocked and comes with "popular" Chinese apps already loaded.
The Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh, codenamed Tango, will arrive in China on March 21, according to an invitation sent to media outlets. This will be the first time handsets with Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system will be officially sold in the country, LiveSide reported. HTC has already released a phone in China on March 14, the Titan, ahead of the event, however, which is said to have 7.5 Refresh preloaded.
China officially adopted Windows Phone this weekend after HTC launched its first store in Beijing. The company is carrying the HTC Titan renamed as the Triumph rather than the Titan II, but with a unique software advantage. Where current devices have at most Windows 7.5 Mango, the new version is shipping with the Tango release necessary for China and present on the Nokia Lumia 610.
Nokia's launch of the Lumia 900 in the US may compete fiercely on price. A leak at BGR, corroborated by previously accurate Windows writer Paul Thurrott, has the 4G Windows Phone costing just $100 on an AT&T contract. The same tip likewise supports earlier talk of a March 18 ship date.
Earlier this week, Electronista had the opportunity to try the HTC Titan II first-hand. We'll gauge whether or not the addition of LTE and that massive 16-megapixel camera make for a better device. Read ahead for early impressions and whether or not it stands a chance among Android and iPhone alternatives.
AT&T at its Developer Summit has just confirmed the first-ever LTE-equipped Windows Phones. HTC's Titan II adds the much faster 4G speeds as well as a virtually record-setting 16-megapixel camera. The resolution is twice as much as on the original Titan and only has peers in just-launched Japanese phones.
AT&T committed to its last major Windows Phone launch for the near future on Wednesday with definitive action on the HTC Titan. The extra-large smartphone will be in stores on November 20, roughly two weeks later than its Samsung counterparts, the Focus Flash and Focus S. The Titan will cost as much as the Focus S at $200 on a contract.
Microsoft's Andy Lees used the AsiaD conference to show off the finished versions of AT&T's Windows Phone 7.5 roster. Its headliner and completely new model, the Focus S, looks like what Electronista and others saw before with the same 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen and 8.6mm profile as the Galaxy S II, just with a 1.4GHz single-core Snapdragon and a 1.3-megapixel front camera instead of the two of the Android phone. The phone won't necessarily perform slower in practice due to WP7's light demand.
HTC brought two of its largest smartphones to CTIA, the Titan and Sensation XL. Electronista took a close look at the Titan, which serves as the Windows Phone counterpart to the Android-based Sensation XL. Both handsets share the same essential hardware, centering around an enormous 4.7-inch display, though the Titan lacks the XL's white housing and Beats branding.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory will use the parallel processing capability of the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPU in a new supercomputer, a Cray XK6 nicknamed "Titan." The new supercomputer could deliver over 20 petaflops, making it more than twice as fast as the most powerful supercomputer today, the Fujitsu K supercomputer. Titan will also be three times more energy efficient.
When HTC launches its new smartphone, code-named Runnymede, it will most likely not be called the Bass, as many had expected. Pocketnow now reports that the phone, which will be sold in packages offering Beats Audio accessories, will bear the name Sensation XL. The phone, which the company has still not officially announced, is most likely to have its formal debut at an upcoming HTC media event pegged for October 7.
HTC's American president Martin Fichter touched on his earlier interview with a rare follow-up elaborating on his position. He claimed that he not only didn't see HTC setting out to make an "iPhone killer" but that he actively discouraged the idea in the office. The goal was not to replace Apple but to target those people who didn't fit in Apple's world.
HTC's Runnymede was reinforced Monday with a discovery of a press shot. The phone is now near certain to be an Android conversion of the Windows Phone-based Titan and will share the 4.7-inch, 480x800 screen. Accordingly, what PocketNow saw would be an unusually mid-range device for the big screen, carrying a single-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon and either 16GB or 32GB of storage.
Apple has lost some of its cool factor in smartphones, HTC's US president Martin Fichter argued in an interview Monday. After talking to friends of his college-age daughter at Reed College in Portland, he was convinced the iPhone had lost favor. Younger owners might consider the MacBook Air cool, Fichter mentioned to Geekwire, but they were more likely to be carrying Android phones.
AT&T revisited Windows Phone on Monday with details of a widened Windows Phone strategy for the fall in sync with the Mango update. The launch will be headlined by the Focus S, better known so far as the i937; the device is effectively a slightly slower Galaxy S II and shares its 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen along with the very thin 8.6mm (0.34-inch) profile. It drops to a single-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon and has both an eight-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front camera.
HTC dropped a strong clue as to the release timing of the Bliss with an invite it sent to members of the media. The notice points to a September 20 gathering in New York City. Little is mentioned as to the contents, but a request to "come celebrate in style" and the use of the Bliss' expected seafoam green and possible purple colors.
HTC launched itself back into Windows Phone support at its special event Thursday with two new models. Topping the group, the Titan (once codenamed the Eternity) is the biggest Windows Phone ever and has a 4.7-inch (albeit 480x800) touchscreen in a relatively slim 0.39-inch unibody frame. It confirms front camera support in the Mango update to the OS and has both a 1.3-megapixel front camera along with the rear eight-megapixel piece.
