While industry analysts have recently lowered their estimates for PC sales, the smartphone market is apparently growing even faster than expected. The worldwide market for “converged mobile devices” will grow 55.4 percent this year compared to 2009, and in the coming years Android will enjoy the fastest growth (51,2 percent), rising to almost 25 percent of the market by 2014, says the study.

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Sweden-based People of Lava has begun taking pre-orders for its “Scandinavia Window to the World” line of Android-based HDTVs, and the platform apparently impressed observers at the IFA show. Meanwhile, Samsung is considering making Android-based TVs too, says an industry report.

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Samsung Electronics announced a dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based system-on-chip (SoC) for tablets, netbooks, and smartphones to compete with Nvidia's Tegra 2. Code-named “Orion,” the 45-nanometer (nm) fabricated SoC offers dual 1GHz cores, and features a 1MB L2 cache, a 1080p HD video accelerator, improved 3D graphics performance, dual-display support, and even a GPS receiver, says the company.

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Axiomtek announced a fanless, industrial “shoebox” PC with four expansion slots and support for processors as fast as 2.53GHz. The IPC914-211-FL supports Intel Core 2 Duo and Celeron M CPUs, with up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, dual gigabit Ethernet ports, and a 2.5-inch drive bay, says the company.

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IDC analysts say consumer purchases of PCs will slow in the second half of the year, but that strong commercial sales will help offset some of the weakness. PC shipments will be up by 17 percent year-over-year, the research firm added, lowering its previous prediction of a 19.8 percent gain over 2009.

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Direct Insight announced a SODIMM-sized COM (computer on module) based on TI's Sitara AM3703 or DM3730, with ARM Cortex-A8 cores clocked at up to 1GHz. The SwiftModule-DM offers up to 256MB of RAM and 256MB of flash storage, and a touchscreen interface supporting up to 2048 x 2048 pixels, and is compatible with both Linux and Android.

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Philips and Samsung have both announced Android 2.1-based, 3.2-inch portable media players (PMPs), primed to compete with Apple's newly upgraded iPod Touch. Philips' GoGear Connect reportedly includes Wi-Fi, GPS, and Android Market access, while Samsung's Galaxy Player 50 offers both a videocam and two-megapixel camera in addition to its multimedia capabilities.

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The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) has announced formal adoption of the COM Express Revision 2.0 spec, ratifying the 3.75 by 3.75-inch COM Express Compact module size and adding Digital Display Interfaces. Concurrently, Kontron announced a revised version of its ETXexpress-AI COM (computer on module), adopting the new COM Express Type 6 pinout.

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Beijing-based international online reseller LightInTheBox.com announced it has had two months of surprisingly strong sales of a seven-inch, $140 Android tablet. The aPad Android Tablet runs Android 1.6 — with Android Market support — on Samsung's ARM11-based 667MHz S3C6410, and offers 1GB of flash, an SD slot, Wi-Fi, and an 800 x 480-pixel screen, says the company.

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Toshiba Europe announced a 10.1-inch Android 2.2 media tablet, due for a fourth quarter release in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The Folio 100 runs Android 2.2 on an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and offers a 10.1-inch, WSVGA display, but it lacks both GPS and Android Market access.

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Globalfoundries says it has reached a “significant milestone” in its production of 28-nanometer ARM Cortex-A9 processors, with silicon expected in late 2010. While initial clock speeds could reach an Intel Atom-beating 2.5GHz, the company said further performance boosts for 28nm are in the works, and also provided its first timeline for the introduction of 22nm and 20nm manufacturing.

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Samsung Electronics announced its much-anticipated Android consumer tablet, due to ship in Europe in mid-September. The Samsung Galaxy Tab runs Android 2.2 on a 1GHz Cortex-A8 processor, and offers a seven-inch, 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, a three-megapixel camera, a front-facing videocam, 802.11n, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, and 3G with voice telephony, says the company.

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HP and Hynix Semiconductor announced they've entered into a joint development agreement on a memristor technology called ReRAM, claimed to be up to 100 times faster than flash memory while using 1/10th the energy. ReRAM devices could start replacing random access memory (RAM) and flash within three years, and may eventually replace CPUs, too, say the companies.

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Immersion Corp. announced technology designed to enable touch feedback effects for tablets and other devices running either Android or Windows 7. The “TouchSense 2500” solution has already been built into Toshiba's dual-screen tablet, the Libretto W100, the company adds.

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HP has revamped two of its 10.1-inch netbooks to include Intel's recently announced, dual-core Atom N550 processor, along with optional Broadcom video accelerator chips. Both netbooks are available with Windows 7, but the Mini 210 also offers a Linux-based “QuickWeb” fast boot option, and the Mini 5103 is available with a full SUSE Linux installation.

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