HTC Edge – The First Quad-Core Smartphone?
The biggest smartphone news this week came courtesy of PocketNow, who broke the story on the amazing HTC Edge. The Edge is reportedly the first smartphone to use a quad-core processor, utilising Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Kal-El chipset.
It should run up to twice as fast as the best dual-core processors in apps that are multi-threaded, or run two apps at the same speed, making it an excellent future-proof architecture as multitasking becomes more popular on smartphones. The chipset could also potentially use less power thanks to its dedicated low-power companion core for low-intensity tasks like listening to music and receiving messages.
The rest of its specs are top notch, including a 4.7″ 720p HD S-LCD 2 optically laminated display, a gigabyte of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage (no expandable storage), Bluetooth 4, NFC and everything else you’d expect.
The HTC Edge is expected to be released between Q1 and Q2 next year, so if you’re planning to pick up a dual-core HD phone you might want to wait a bit for the quad-core sequel.
Modern Warfare 3 Hits Shelves
Of course the big game launch this week was the latest Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 3. Already Activision has announced they’ve made $400,000,000 in sales of the title in the United States and United Kingdom alone, selling 6,500,000 copies in just 24 hours.
How is it? Well, let’s just say those sales figures are reasonable. Modern Warfare 3 offers the same rollercoaster ride as always, in three parts.
The first stop for most will be the linear single player campaign, with plenty of explosions and exciting shooting-from-cover gameplay. It’s not as good as the original Modern Warfare, but Infinity Ward haven’t forgotten how to craft a beautifully placed if slightly empty-headed story mode.
The second stop is that halfway home between single player and multiplayer, Special Ops. The mode is vastly improved by the inclusion of the survival mode that was previously only found in the Treyarch produced titles (World at War, Black Ops).
Co-op survival action in a modern setting works much better than it ever did against nazi zombies, as the AI is much more interesting and forces interesting situations better than a horde of shuffling fiends ever did. The stand-alone missions such as defuse a bomb, rescue hostages are fun too, but survival mode is the one you’ll be spending the most time on if you’ve got a willing friend.
The final stop for most will be the multiplayer, and of course it’s been improved. While there are small balance tweaks and changes everywhere, the most important is the evolution of the kill-streak system. The system now allows you to choose between traditional kill-streaks, support streaks which aren’t interrupted by death, and perk streaks which make your character stronger the more kills you get. Switching between the three is easy, and makes playing aggressively much more rewarding.
All in all, it’s the same roller coaster ride as it was last year, but it’s still too good to pass up. I have high hopes for Infinity Ward’s next turn at the plate in two years, when they’ll finally have the chance to try something new, as all of their senior staff left in the making of MW3.
The Rise of Smartphone Malware
According to research carried out by the national online security initiative in the UK, malware aimed at smartphones has risen by 800% in the last four months. These programs typically take the form of extra levels for popular games or even security software, and with the increased prevalence of users installing apps, have the potential to reach a wide audience. Users are also using their phones more for financial tasks such as accessing their bank accounts online, so the danger is that many could fall prey to the malware developers.
What can you do about it? Well, the first thing is to avoid pirated versions of free apps. You might think you’re saving a bit of money, but in reality you’re allowing an app onto your phone that is unchecked by Apple or the Android Market, and that’s a dangerous practice.
The second thing is to check the ratings and comments of apps you’re about to install – even if it looks legitimate, it may be worth checking out the company online. Also beware of apps which masquerade as others – if you’re looking for a specific app and you find one that’s almost the same but has a few letters off, don’t fall for it.
The third thing is to keep tabs on your phone’s activity. Check your phone bill regularly for unusual charges and ensure you can verify all of the apps running on your phone. If your phone begins to lose battery life quickly or seems slower than it was, then it may be a sign of a malware infestation.
Of course, there is also an app solution – security vendors like Kaspersky and F-Secure have produced malware-detecting apps for your phone, but although they have the best detection rates they do require a monthly or yearly subscription.
A good free app is called Lookout, and is available for iPhone and Android now from the App Store and Market respectively. It’s a bit different on each platform, but it provides anti-malware where necessary and also has useful features, for example locating a lost or misplaced phone using GPS.
So overall use common sense – check apps before you install, don’t download apps from unsavoury corners of the internet and install some anti-malware software. Good luck and stay safe!
So that’s the big news from the past week – what do you think? Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
This article was written by William Judd. William writes for MobileFun.co.uk, the UK’s leading online retailer of the new Kindle cover, the BlackBerry 9900 battery and Griffin Survivor.