| Huawei Ascend D Quad release set for late August in China, October for European markets Jul 5th 2012, 15:22  Been holding onto the hope that Huawei's quad-core flagship would bow relatively soon? Well, it's time to swallow an extra does of patience because it appears the Ascend D Quad is slated for an eventual late summer / early fall launch. As confirmed to the The Inquirer, the Chinese market will get first crack at the device this August, with a Western European debut to follow sometime after in October of this year. Originally outed at this past Mobile World Congress, the well-specced handset was scheduled for a summer release before technical issues revolving around the company's custom K3 Balong CPU set back mass production. When it finally lands on retailers' shelves, the one-time dynamo device won't look nearly as spectacular, given its now dated ICS OS, the glut of existing Android überphones (i.e. Galaxy S III and One X) and those to come. Does it risk becoming yesterday's mobile news? Only time and you dollars can say for sure. Huawei Ascend D Quad release set for late August in China, October for European markets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  The Inquirer | Email this | Comments | | Fujitsu starts build-it-yourself PC service, lets you go homebrew without the electrical shocks Jul 5th 2012, 14:56  Big PC companies are often seen as being at odds with the concept of custom-built computers: apart from letting us ticking a few checkboxes before we order, they'd rather we not fiddle with the internals. Fujitsu is breaking the mold and embracing some of that DIY culture with its upcoming Hands-on Custom PC Assembly Service. The Japanese can take classes that teach them how to install their picks (from a limited range) of processors, hard drives and RAM. While the program doesn't start completely from scratch -- the motherboard is already installed -- it takes would-be assemblers through many of the experiences of building their own PCs from the ground up. Builders can choose how many components, if they're not quite so ambitious, and learn smart practices like wearing anti-static wristbands. While there won't be as many unintentional jolts of electricity as the real deal, the courses should help PC owners feel comfortable working inside a computer -- not to mention save Fujitsu a few technical support calls. The variable-price courses start in Japan on August 9th for multiple Esprimo desktops and a LifeBook portable. We can only hope that American PC vendors take a few hints and encourage everyone's inner technician. Fujitsu starts build-it-yourself PC service, lets you go homebrew without the electrical shocks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Bit-tech | Fujitsu | Email this | Comments | | iFixit tears down the Nexus Q: made in the USA, and possibly somewhere else Jul 5th 2012, 13:57  Is it possible to manufacture a sophisticated wireless-capable device entirely in the United States? That's vaguely the suggestion of Google's jet-black orb, launched last week at the search (and now hardware) giant's I/O event in San Francisco. Now, the Nexus Q is just dying to get undressed, and that's exactly what our iFixit friends have done, revealing each component's country of origin. Perhaps one of the most notable items, the Samsung 16GB moviNAND Flash Memory module, may have been made stateside (Austin, TX), but could also have been produced in Hwaseong, South Korea. Some parts, such as the ethernet port (China) or optical-out connector (Japan) could only have been imported, as iFixit points out, though others are certainly domestic (a photomicrosensor made in California or Illinois). Ready to dive in yourself to verify those findings? You're not going to want to open this thing up on your own -- there's a bevy of capacitors inside, including one with output in the 400-volt range (a warning label alerts would-be trespassers). You can, however, poke around a bit more at our source link below. iFixit tears down the Nexus Q: made in the USA, and possibly somewhere else originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | iFixit | Email this | Comments | |
