2013-08-28



As TechRadar gears up for another big show at IFA 2013 in Berlin, there’s plenty already confirmed for the week.

2012′s show threw heaps of new tech our way. Acer was flaunting the gorgeous Aspire S7, while Dell went super-sized with its all-in-one XPS One 27 Touch and Panasonic brought 145 inches of 4K TV goodness. And yes, Samsung dropped the Galaxy Note 2.

It’s certainly going to be another big year for 4K as ultra HD has been picking up more speed over the past few months, so expect to see plenty of sparkly new viewing boxes for that home cinema you’ve been planning.

TechRadar will of course be back at the show for 2013, but what are we currently expecting to see in Berlin this year? Here’s what we know so far.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3

We now know for certain that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will make its first official appearance at this year’s IFA show, after confirmation from executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, Lee Young-hee.

The device has been popping up all over the place over the past few months. Its planned September arrival was never much of a surprise though as both the Galaxy Note and Note 2 made their debuts at previous IFAs.

We also believe the Galaxy Note 3 could be arriving in two variations – one with the new Exynos 5 Octa processor and one powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip.

So far, various sources have claimed that the Note 3 will feature 3GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation and LTE. We’ve even had a few alleged pics of the device surface online.

Samsung Galaxy Gear

Samsung has also confirmed that it will unveil its Galaxy Gear smartwatch alongside the Note 3 at its IFA event.

We know that the watch won’t be going for the rumoured flexible display, but it seems it will be more of a partner for your smartphone rather than a standalone device.

YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGmLpIXmjZE

The watch is rumoured to then be hitting the market at the end of September, possibly in a range of five colours.

An IFA unveiling will also put Samsung ahead of Apple in the smartwatch race, as Cupertino is believed to be gearing up its own watch-based gizmo.

Sony sounds the Honami alarm

Sony’s next flagship phone is expected to arrive at the big Berlin event, and the company has whetting our appetites over the past few weeks with more teasers than you can shake a waterproof handset at.

The smartphone is currently going by three names – the Honami, the Xperia i1 and the Xperia Z1 – but we know that it will have a slender, Xperia Z-like design.



Lenovo brings multi-mode fun

Lenovo promises to bring the big guns again this year. The Chinese firm has a big event planned for September 5, where it says it will be unveiling its latest "multi-mode" products.

One thing we’re hearing about is a possible Snapdragon 800 phone that could be revealed by Lenovo on that date. Dubbed the X910, the phone is said to be powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core CPU, and running on Android 4.2 Jelly bean.

Although, like the Lenovo K900, this could end up being released on the Asian markets only.

Last year’s IFA saw Lenovo intro three new tablets and some all-in-one, multi-touch Windows 8 PCs.

Samsung Ultra HD TVs

At an event earlier this year, Samsung said that it’s planning to bring the 4K love to IFA 2013 in the shape of both larger and smaller Ultra HD S9000 TVs.

The smaller models will most likely include the 55-inch and 65-inch versions that went on pre-order in South Korea this month, however we’re yet to hear about release plans beyond that.

Still, it will be nice to see Samsung’s 85-inch behemoth getting some more reasonably-sized siblings, and we expect to see them showing off at this year’s IFA.

LG G Pad 8.3

LG outed its latest tablet in a YouTube teaser video, and even though it didn’t show us what it will look like, we believe we may have seen it anyway.

The tablet, rumoured to have a 8.3-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution, quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, is expected to make its first official appearance for the cameras at this year’s show.



HTC One Max

HTC is thought to be readying a phablet contender to take on Samsung. The HTC One Max is the rumoured entrant, said to be eyeing an early September launch.

HTC could even get in before IFA kicks off to spoil Samsung’s party. Right now we’re expecting the Max to touch down with a 5.9-inch, full HD display, with a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM working their magic inside.

Philips gets ambient

Philips has declared that this year’s IFA will bring an update to its Ambilight TV technology, which projects ambient colours around the side of the box.

We’ve no idea as to what specific innovations will be unveiled, but expect the Ambilight TV range to get some enhancements come September.

    

TechRadar: World of tech

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