The week in gadgets


10 Apr 2012

A look at gadget happenings, as LG may prepare a Samsung Galaxy S III rival, the new iPad accounts for 10pc of the iPad market in the US, and Google upgrades its Android emulator.

LG preparing Samsung Galaxy S III rival?

LG Electronics is reportedly preparing a smartphone which insiders say will offer ‘comparable features’ to Samsung’s upcoming flagship device, the Galaxy S III.

CNET reports that the LG D1L will offer a 4.7-inch, 1,280 x 720 display and 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. It could also run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and could support 4G LTE.

Nothing has been confirmed about the Samsung Galaxy S III, however, rumours suggest it will have a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor, a 4.8-inch, 1,280 x 720 resolution display, could support 4G LTE and could run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

LG’s next smartphone could make its debut in May while Samsung’s may be unveiled in April or May.

New iPad accounts for more than 10pc of total iPad marketshare in US

The new iPad now makes up more than 10pc of the total iPad market share in the US, according to new figures from the Chitika Insights iPad Tracker.

Apple’s newest tablet gained a 5pc share after just four days on the market and has reached 10pc less than one month after going on sale.

The new iPad went on sale in the middle of March and features a Retina display. Apple managed to sell more than 3m new iPads three days after it went on sale.

Google upgrades Android emulator for better app testing

Google has upgraded its Android emulator to allow developers building and testing apps to access better support for hardware features, as well as improved performance.

According to Google, the Android emulator now has built-in GPU support and now supports OpenGL ES 2.0 to let OpenGL games run within the emulator. Google has also improved the CPU performance of the emulator.

The emulator also supports a tethered Android device for inputs for sensors and multi-touch input. Google said the emulator will also support Bluetooth and NFC in the future.

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