NVIDIA Kal-El reference tablet hands-on

As if showing up in two of the first four reference devices for Windows on ARM wasn't enough of an achievement for NVIDIA's quad-core Kal-El superchip, it decided to visit us in person here at Computex to demonstrate its splendid graphical prowess. Running Android 3.1 on a 10-inch, 1280 x 800 screen, it gave us a first-hand look at the Glow Ball demo that wowed us in video form just a couple of days ago. What we saw on the dev tablet before us was no less impressive; lighting was being rendered in real time and scattered over a multiplicity of surfaces, while the cloth simulation was, to use a terrible pun, silky smooth. NVIDIA also ran us through a sightseeing tour of the Unreal Development Kit and Lost Planet 2, noting that the PC game took only a couple of months to port over to work on the Kal-El architecture. Unfortunately, no new details were forthcoming about when Kal-El devices might be coming or what developers we should expect to see coding games and other content to exploit the platform's evidently mighty capabilities. For now, we'll just have to sate ourselves with the video after the break.

NVIDIA Kal-El development platform hands-on

Madfinger announces new Shadowgun game, with Tegra 2 and Kal-El support

Madfinger Games, the Czech Republic-based company behind Samurai II: Vengeance, has just announced Shadowgun -- a futuristic, shoot 'em up game for Tegra 2-equipped Android phones and tablets. Available on both the Tegra Zone app and Android Market, Shadowgun promises to bring console-quality graphics and performance to mobile platforms -- presumably with the extra geometric detail and high-res textures we've seen in other Tegra 2-tailored games. Madfinger is also developing a version for devices powered by NVIDIA's forthcoming quad-core processor, alluringly known as Project Kal-El. Price and availability have yet to be announced.

Droid Life, Android Central

Madfinger Games

AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6

Don't mistake the relative quietness from AMD on the APU front for inactivity. Ever since announcing the first shipment of its Llano Accelerated Processing Unit in April, the company's been working behind the scenes to ramp up availability to OEMs, and somewhere along the supply chain a gracious soul has been found who's leaked the bulk pricing for those chips. The new quad-core A Series processors start off at $110 for an A6-3450 and max out at $170 for an A8-3550P, but there's also mention of octa-core FX processors, which will weigh in at $320 a piece and reputedly compete with Intel's 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K. The latter are built around AMD's Bulldozer modules (wherein one module counts for two cores) and look to be the manifestation of the company's Zambezi CPUs, which could come without an integrated graphics processor as is available on the Llano and the rest of AMD's Fusion line.

Just to whet appetites further, we've also come across an HP dv6 on an obscure German retail site, offering a 1.6GHz A6-3410MX APU, 6GB of RAM, and a most reasonable €590 price. There's obviously no promised delivery date, but this should be the first of many such appearances in the coming days as we build up towards Computex 2011. Something tells us AMD won't be holding back when the Taipei electronics show gets started.

WCCF Tech, MyDrivers

DigiTimes, Passiontec.de

Amazon's Android tablet coming in 10- and 7-inch models with quad-core Tegra power?

We've pretty much accepted that Amazon will release a proper Android tablet in 2011. The details, however, are still unclear. Enter Silicon Valley analyst, Tim Bajarin, who claims to have some inside information from his sources in Taipei. If correct, then we should see Amazon launch a 10-inch LCD tablet before the holidays. He's also heard of a 7-inch model and plans to use NVIDIA's new quad-core Tegra SoC in order to blaze a path into the crowded tablet market. Interestingly enough, Tim's sources say that Amazon wanted to use a switchable "black and white E Ink-like display and a color LCD" hybrid but the two vendors approached (Qualcomm and Pixel Qi?) won't be ready with a suitable display until 2012 or 2013. Of course, Samsung -- the rumored DNA at the core of Amazon's tablet -- has plenty of experience with 10- and 7-inch Android tablets and the decision to go LCD aligns with those rumors of a Fringe Field Switching display reported by DigiTimes earlier this month. So while none of this is verified, at least it gives us something more to chew on while we "stay tuned" for whatever Bezos is cooking.

PC Mag

AMD quad-core A8-3530MX processor for laptops to debut in June?

Turkish website Donanimhaber has correctly pegged some early NVIDIA details in the past, and it's now back with a leak of a new AMD Fusion chip that's said to be a part of the company's upcoming "Sabine" platform. Dubbed the A8-3530MX, the 32nm, quad-core processor purportedly clocks in at 1.9GHz and boasts 4MB of Level 2 cache, and it can apparently be boosted to 2.6GHz in TurboCore mode. Otherwise, it's said to pack an integrated Radeon HD 6620G graphics core, along support for for both 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM and low-power DDR3L memory. Of course, all of that it still unconfirmed by AMD itself but, if Donanimhaber is to be believed, we should be seeing this one hit laptops sometime June.

Electronista Donanimhaber

HP's Pavilion dv6t and dv7t available with 1080p screens, people who bought three months ago sigh

When HP's Pavilion Quad Edition dv6t and dv7t went on sale three months ago, we couldn't think of too many detractors, but we did take issue with the fact that these 15.6- and 17.3-inch screens maxed out at 1600 x 900 resolution. If you fall into that camp, well, the Powers That Be over at HP heard you -- both machines are now available with 1080p displays, for an extra $150. As before, both come standard with 2GHz quad-core Core i7 processors, AMD Radeon HD 6490M graphics with 1GB of video memory, 4GB of RAM, and 640GB hard drives. HP is also offering free upgrades to 6GB RAM and 750GB hard drive space, though no promises on how long that'll last. Before you get too excited, though, 1080p displays are only an option on these so-called Quad Edition models and the dv6t Select Edition -- meaning, you can't opt for a lower-end dv6 or dv7t and expect to upgrade it. Confusing naming conventions aside, if you're tempted, we suggest you avail yourself of some sweet coupons at the source links.

LogicBuy (1), LogicBuy (2)

HP (1), (2), (3)