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The Toshiba Kirabook is the first Windows ultrabook to feature a display that rivals the ones found on the MacBook Pro with Retina and Google Chromebook Pixel. But according to one of the first reviews of the Kirabook, that screen might be a mixed blessing on a Windows laptop.
Here are some of the day’s top stories from around the web. It’s a particularly rumor-heavy roundup, but I’ve decided to start with things that we know at the top, and things we might kinda think someone trustworthy mighta told us below.
- Toshiba Kirabook high-res ultrabook reviewed
Toshiba’s Kirabook is a Windows 8 ultrabook with a 13.3 inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel display. Apparently the screen looks great, but many apps do not — since they aren’t designed for a screen this good. [The Verge] - Android chief Sundar Pichai talks ahead of Google I/O
He didn’t really spill many beans, but Google’s Sundar Pichai has given one of his first interviews since taking over management of Android software at Google. He suggests that Chrome and Android are still separate, but complimentary, that most of the announcements coming at I/O this week will be developer-centric, and that Google is fine with third-party customization like Facebook Home. [Wired] - Samsung shows off super-fast 1Gbps wireless data transmission, calls it 5G for no good reason
Samsung grabbed some headlines today by demonstrating new ridiculously fast data transfers over a wireless network. But at the moment the range is pretty limited… and it’s not 5G, because there’s no such thing as 5G yet. [The Verge] - More AMD “Temash” A6-1450 performance tests
Chippy at UMPC Portal has been testing one of the first laptops to ship with an AMD “Temash” processor, and while it offers decent performance with relatively low power consumption, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. - ABC to offer live TV broadcasts to IOS devices in select markets
Live TV is coming to mobile devices in the US, no TV tuner required. [9to5Google] - Leaked Samsung roadmap provides Galaxy S4 mini specs, more
If this leaked product roadmap is to be believed, Samsung will have a 4.3 inch variant of the Galaxy S4 soon, and while it has a dual-core chip instead of octa-core, it should still be pretty fast. Other details suggest a new 6 inch smartphone and a Galaxy Note 3. [OLED-Display] - Sony Vaio P-series notebooks with 11, 13 inch screens and Haswell chips on the way?
The last time Sony released a Vaio P laptop, it had an 8 inch widescreen display and a tiny keyboard. Now it looks like the company could be reviving the name for some larger ultrabooks — or this could be some sort of hoax. [Notebook Review via OMG Laptop] - Xiaomi may be working on its first laptop
The Chinese software company has made a name for itself by releasing the popular MIUI ROM, which it followed up with a series of MIUI phones. Now there’s a rumor going around that the company plans to release a 15.6 inch laptop with a Core i7 CPU, 1080p display, and $650 price tag. [GizChina]
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If Chippy’s AMD Temash testing is accurate then the results aren’t very good for AMD. At least, how Acer put the device together is resulting in very bad performance vs power consumption efficiency where a Core i5 ULV beats it. Hopefully, these are just driver bugs or Acer put it together wrong.
In terms of direct notebook to notebook comparisons, people are better off with the Acer V5 171 with an Intel Core i5 or the Asus X202 if you really want that awkward touch screen on a clamshell.