3 SRTs for the Road

Chrysler is said to be working on a third model to add to its new SRT brand, which launches late this year with the 2013 Viper. A new-age SRT Barracuda will be the nascent brand's second model.

Chrysler launched its Street & Racing Technology models in the last decade as performance versions of existing models, from the Dodge Neon SRT4 to the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 and Dodge Ram SRT10. The 2013 SRT Viper drops the Dodge moniker.

Last January, we broke news that a new pony-musclecar would join the SRT Viper in the lineup. The SRT Barracuda won't necessitate revival of the Plymouth brand and will eventually replace the Dodge Challenger. The SRT Barracuda should appear by the 2015 model year, same as for the next-generation Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, while the Challenger may live on into the 2017 model year.

The Barracuda will be based on Chrysler's new LA rear-drive platform, which is downsized from the full-size LY platform (Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger), or the Challenger's previous-generation, LX RWD platform. Fiat also will use the LA platform to underpin several of its cars, most notably the replacement for the front-drive Alfa Romeo 159 and likely a successor to the larger, BMW 5 Series-size FWD Alfa 166 produced from 1998 to 2007.So what will SRT Number 3 be? Two possibilities are a successor to the Dodge Ram SRT10 and a small, two-seat sports car. 

There are issues with either idea. Ford has had unexpected success with the F-150 SVT Raptor. A Ram-based SRT designed more for extreme off-roading is a good prospect. However, the Raptor does fall under the Ford F-150 brand, and it's hard to imagine Ram splitting off a separate truck model.

The Latest on the Bugatti Galibier

Bugatti still has about 80 available order slots for its Veyron Gran Sport and Gran Sport Vitesse, and has more than that left to manufacture. As such, there remains about a year and a half's worth of work for the factory. After that? The Bugatti Galibier super sedan is next up, but as of right now it looks as though it's unlikely to be ready before the Veyron line stops.

When the Galibier was first shown as a concept to potential owners in fall 2009, many of them requested changes to the interior to make something more distinctive and luxurious. A year later, Wolfgang Duerheimer took over from Franz-Josef Paefgen as Bugatti president (and Bentley CEO), and insisted on major body and engineering changes.

Duerheimer has since departed to run Audi's R&D, leaving Bugatti and Bentley with yet another new boss, Wolfgang Schreiber. He was brought in when transmission issues delayed the Veyron's launch. Soon after, he was given responsibility for finishing development of the whole car. He was then moved to run VW's van division. Insiders predict he might call for further changes to the Galibier. As a result, the production car that finally emerges could be very different from the original concept.Being a sedan, the Galibier will likely outsell the Veyron, of which 450 will be made and 360 have been sold (253 Veyrons, 47 Super Sports, and 60 of 150 Grand Sport/Grand Sport Vitesse). It will also be fishing in a larger pool of potential buyers than the Veyron. To buy a 1000-hp-plus hyper sports car with a seven-figure price tag, you need to be very rich and to love fast cars. To buy a 1000-hp-plus hyper sedan with a seven-figure price tag (the Galibier will retail for at least four times the $265k-plus Bentley wants for a Mulsanne), you need only be very rich.Speaking of rich, there are no plans for a cheaper Bugatti model. Salespeople say it would anger existing customers who buy into the brand's exclusivity.

Nissan Working on Mini-Z to target FR-S/BRZ

On the heels of Nissan's recent motorsport successes -- a factory-backed GT-R placed first in class at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring and the radical DeltaWing stole the show at the 24 Hours of Le Mans -- comes news that executives have finally given the green light for a compact sports car known in house as the "Mini-Z." It's not a new rear-drive Silvia/240SX -- that project was cancelled in late 2008 during the financial crisis. Instead, it's a compact, front-drive-based sports car that will be aimed squarely at the Toyota GT86/Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ.Plans for such a car were first revealed at last year's Shanghai auto show in the form of the Compact Sports Concept.

 The company spiel called it a unique sports car for drivers in emerging markets leading active lifestyles with an interest in motorsport, but we can expect to see it in established markets as well. As you can see in this rendering that depicts what the car may turn out to be, it has morphed from a sporty hatch into an aggressive coupe. There is also word that there will be an AWD version to go with the base FWD variant, based on the Juke's all-mode 4x4 i-system with torque vectoring.

Though Nissan didn't reveal the concept's powertrain in Shanghai, we've learned it was fitted with the 190-hp, 1.6-liter turbo-four from the Nissan Juke that also served as base for the engine in the DeltaWing. Though the engine gives up some power to the 200-hp flat-four in the Toyobaru, it's said to have a wider torque band with stronger mid-range and top-end response.China is thought to be the car's main market, but Japan and some European countries are destined to receive small batches as well, with the U.S. still under consideration. Price-wise, the Nissan is expected to undercut the Toyota and Subaru by as much as 10 percent, carrying a sticker price somewhere below $22,000. Nissan will be able to cut production costs and weight by incorporating the current Juke's platform and turbo powertrain. Another major difference will be design. The Mini-Z coupe is expected to follow in the Juke's footsteps and employ some unique lines, eschewing the traditional sports car proportions of the Toyobaru. One insider says the Nissan will be close in size to the Honda CR-Z.The project was conceived as a joint Japan-China endeavor, with Japan taking the R&D initiative while China worked on design and data assembly, according to a source close to Nissan. It has since been approved by all the relevant departments inside Nissan's HQ, and, according to our source, is well into the development cycle with a debut possible as early as late 2013.

The Best Smartphones of 2012

Lots of excellent smartphones have been released this year, so many, that it can be difficult to keep track of the best of the best. Choosing a particular device for yourself at upgrade time, can be especially daunting because there are so many choices out there.

Luckily we’re here to help. We’re going to cover some of the best smartphones that have been released this year and help you decide which phone is right for you.

We may not be Verizon, AT&T or wireless carrier reps, but at least we can give you a little of the information you need to pick out your next phone.

The Best Smartphones of 2012 

1. Samsung Galaxy SIII – The Samsung Galaxy SIII is an incredibly beautiful smartphone running the Android OS. Currently the Galaxy SIII is running Android 4.0 ICS, but it is likely Samsung owners will see an OTA update for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The Galaxy SIII is available in a marble white, and pebble blue, finish for $626 without a contract.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, combined with 2GB of installed RAM and a 16GB internal storage capacity. The SIII also includes a 4.8″ HD AMOLED display with a maximum supported resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Needless to say, the screen is large, very vivid, and exceptionally beautiful.
You can’t go wrong here with tons of advanced features included like the wireless S-beam file transfer functionality, Samsung video pop-up play (to watch videos and perform other tasks simultaneously), and the S-Voice functionality which is a Siri-like voice search feature.
For multimedia, the Galaxy SIII offers an 8.0 MP rear facing camera with full 1080p video recording support and a 1.9MP front facing camera for webcam self-shot and video chat support.
The Samsung Galaxy SIII is available through several wireless carriers and can be purchased unlocked for use with any service via Amazon.
Samsung Galaxy Beam – The Samsung Galaxy Beam is a rather attractive device with one prominent feature, it includes a built-in projector.
The Galaxy Beam includes a 15 lumen nHD projector that can display an image up to 50 inches at a resolution of 640×360 under low light settings. The Beam is perfect for those brief moments where you want to present media and content from your phone screen to a large group, and you don’t need the added stress of dealing with other devices.
The Galaxy Beam is powered by a dual-core 1 GHz processor combined with 768 MB of installed RAM and is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. In addition, the Beam includes 16GB of internal storage with a microSD slot that supports up to 32GB of additional storage.
Galaxy Beam media features include a 5MP rear facing camera with flash, a 1.3MP front facing camera, 720p video playback support, an accelerometer, gyroscope and digital compass.
The Galaxy Beam also includes the standard smartphone features like an integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 radio, Bluetooth 3.0 functionality, USB 2.0 and microUSB support and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

2. Nokia Lumia 900 – The Nokia Lumia 900 is running the highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 mobile OS. It is powered by a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm processor and includes 512MB of installed RAM.

The Lumia 900 is adorned with a large 4.3″ AMOLED touchscreen display with a 480×800 maximum supported resolution. Of course, the Lumia 900 has all the standard features like integrated Wi-Fi, GPS support, Bluetooth functionality and AT&T mobile hotspot support.
The Nokia Lumia 900 includes additional features such as 16GB of internal storage, an 8MP rear facing camera, a 1MP front facing camera (webcam), full HD720p video recording, and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
The biggest feature of the new Windows Phone OS is the integrated Xbox Live support, which allows users to browse the Xbox Live service and play games (with full achievement support) while on the go. With the Windows Phone 8 devices on the way, the price of the Lumia 900 is expected to drop considerably. If you can handle waiting a little longer to pick up one of the newer Windows Phone 8 devices, it might work in your favor.
For more details on the Nokia Lumia 900, please check out our review of the device, including the phone’s standard features and price.

The Anticipated iPhone 5 is Rumored to Launch in September

3. Apple iPhone 5 – The iPhone 5 is set to launch sometime in September, or at least those are the rumors we’re hearing. Obviously when dealing with the latest iPhone, new hardware and software features are never confirmed until launch so we’ll have to wait for confirmation.

The iPhone 5 is expected to have a 4” 16:9 screen, powered by a 1.2 to 1.5GHz A6 quad-core processor and at least 1GB of installed RAM. The predecessor to the A6 processor, the A5, included an integrated GPU so it’s likely the A6 will include a more advanced GPU which will allow the iPhone 5 to run more graphic intensive games and applications.
The iPhone 5 is also expected to include a 4G or 4G LTE radio for use with advanced wireless speeds, and of course all the standard bells and whistles that the other iPhone devices included.
If you’re looking for more information on the iPhone 5, please check out our briefing of the latest news and rumors.

The Best Smartphones of 2012

So there you have it, those are the best smartphones that have released in 2012, or are set to launch soon. Of course, we haven’t made the decision for you when upgrade time does finally come back around, but at least we’ve narrowed down your view to the best of the best.

Apple iPad 3 Features And Release Date

The Apple iPad is one of the best-selling tablets in the world, and the iPad 3 is one of the most anticipated devices from Apple this year. This article explains you about the new features that are to be included in the iPad 3.

Update: The New iPad was announced on March 7th 2012… It is not called the iPad 3, it is kown as iPad 2012. We have written a full review about the new ipad 2012 here.

In a nutshell, the Apple iPad3 will feature a new, thinner and sleeker design, down nearly 20 percent in size compared to the iPad 2. It will also support full touchscreen HD display with a screen resolution of 2048 x 1536.

Apart from that, the iPad 3 will have a lighter battery, reducing the weight of the tablet. However, the battery is reported to cost 20 to 30 percent more than the current iPad’s battery, and will also have a longer battery life.

It is also expected that the iPad 3 will have a wireless charging technology, which will be able to charge the battery and transfer data wirelessly.

iPad 3 Features

A6 Processor

The current Apple iPad 2 has a 900MHz dual-core ARM Cortext-A9 processor, Apple A5 chipset and PowerVr SGX543MP2 GPU. This certainly made the Apple iPad 2 a powerful tablet and a main competitor in the world of tablets. Now Apple is aiming to make the competition tougher by sporting an A6 Quad-core Processor in the iPad 3. This would make the iPad 3 as powerful as any high-end desktop.

According to Linley Group senior analyst Kevin Krewell, “We expect the A6 will be a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 design, which would be competitive with next year’s best mobile processors. In 2012, Nvidia will offer a quad-core Cortex-A9 processor, and Qualcomm will have the aforementioned MSM8960, a dual-core A15-class processor operating at 1.7GHz. Fabricating Apple’s A6 in 28nm (instead of the 40nm process Nvidia is using for its quad-core part) will reduce both die cost and power, yielding a much better product.”

iOS 5

The iPad 3 will come with the latest iOS 5, which will host the multi-touch gesture technology. However, analyst and tech enthusiasts predict that Apple would introduce OS X Lion for the tablet, since it will be powered by a quad-core processor.

This will also include multitasking features, such as notifications, task-finishing, app-switching, location and background sound.

3D Feature and New Retina Display

Apple enthusiast expected the Retina Display feature on Apple iPad 2; however, Apple has been working majorly for an improved version of it to include it in the iPad 3. The iPhone 4 currently supports the Retina Display with a screen resolution of 960 x 640. Apple explains Retina Display as: “Developing pixels a mere 78 micrometers wide, Apple engineers were able to pack four times the number of pixels into the same 3.5-inch (diagonal) screen found on earlier iPhone models. The resulting pixel density of iPhone 4 – 326 pixels per inch – makes text and graphics look smooth and continuous at any size.”

iPad 3 Features Continued:

Cloud Computing

Apple announced its Cloud services during the WWDC 2011, and will definitely include the iCloud technology both in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. With iCloud users can store photos, apps, calendars and access songs on iTunes without having them to store in the phone’s memory.

Camera

The iPad 3 will come with an improved camera, since the previous version of the table didn’t seem impressive enough. Unlike the iPad 2, the new tablet will come with LED flash to support the camera. It is expected to have a 5MP camera with 1080p or 720p video recording quality of 60 frames per second. The technology made by OmniVision will help reduce the size of the table by 20 percent.

Fingerprint Proof

Apple has already been granted patents on this technology, and is working real hard to make the iPad3 fingerprint proof. The touch screen will be coated with oleophobic materials, which will reduce the oil and fingerprints on the screen.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Features, Specifications And Release Date

Samsung Galaxy S3 UPDATE:
According to sources, the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S III have been leaked on the Web.
And looking at the specifications, it clearly appears that this is perhaps one of the best Android smartphones that the world is going to see.
Here are the most important specs of the Samsung Galaxy S3 that we have managed to obtain from different sources:

• A 4.8-inch full HD 1080P resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio.
• It will be powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor.
• Features a front facing 2 MP camera for video calling and an 8 MP rear camera.
• Supports 4G LTE connectivity.
• Runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
• Sources indicate that the smartphone will have a brand new ceramic case.

The mind blowing Android smartphone Samsung Galaxy S 2 was given worldwide release dates starting from May 2011, by more than 140 vendors in some 120 countries.
Since then, the smartphone has got tremendous success and reached sky high demand rate. The dual core processor phone managed to receive pre-orders for 3 million Galaxy S2 units globally.
After having this huge success, it is rumored that Samsung has been busy working on the next version of the smartphone Samsung Galaxy S3. It is expected that the device will feature a Samsung Exynos 4212 processor clocked at 1.8GHz and an ARM Cortex A9 chip, which will offer a 25% performance boost and a 30% reduction in power consumption.
You can find plenty of rumors across the Internet about Samsung Galaxy S3, and the expectations of its fans are quite high. J.K. Shin, president of Samsung’s mobile communications division has confirmed the release of the next generation of the Galaxy smartphone will follow-up sometime in 2012. It is also expected that the Galaxy S3 will most probably be powered by Google’s latest OS – Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Rumors indicate that Samsung may unveil Galaxy S3 at a similar time to the iPhone 5, which is in mid-2012.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Features

Although the smartphone is yet to be officially announced, this post features about the expected hardware and software specifications in the Samsung Galaxy S3. The post is purely based on rumors and we are not sure whether the phone will sport these features.

Processor and Memory

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S3 smartphone, also known as the “iPhone killer”, is expected to include a quad-core processor. As I mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is believed to have a Samsung Exynos 4212 processor clocked at 1.8GHz. This processor is a 32nm chip with 50 percent greater graphics performance and 30 percent less power consumption than its previous chip, the Exynos 4410 which featured in the Samsung Galaxy S2. It is also claimed to be 5 times faster than its Mali-400 MP chip of its predecessor.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will have multi-tasking feature, which will allow you to efficiently run multiple applications simultaneously. To enable easy multi-tasking process and playing games, it is rumored that the smartphone will come with 2GB RAM. It is likely to be the first smart phone to boast 2GB of RAM, and will come with a generous 32GB of storage.

One thing that many users on the Internet that talk about Samsung Galaxy phones is its display. The Samsung Galaxy S3 will sport a giant 4.6 inch screen, slightly bigger than its predecessor Galaxy S2, which has 4.3 inch screen. This would account to a 1280×720 screen resolution of the Galaxy S3. It is known that Samsung accidentally leaked that it would release the phone with the new flexible glass specifically – FOLED technology.
A creative design company based in Ukrainian drafted a concept design of the Samsung Galaxy S3, showing that the upcoming smartphone will be similar to Galaxy S2 in terms of looks and design. However, it is known that the home button has been replaced with a Samsung logo and slimmed down to make space for the larger screen.

Camera in the Samsung Galaxy S3

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is likely to sport a 12 megapixels rear camera, while the current GS2 boasts a 8 megapixels. It will have a 1/2.3-inch sensor, which is much bigger than the 1/3.2 inch CMOS chip found in several smartphone, including the Apple iPhone 4S.

However, some rumors indicate that Samsung is planning to launch the smartphone with a 16 megapixels camera. There are several smartphone that already have a 12 megapixels camera, including some Nokia phones. But if the rumor about GS3 featuring a 16 megapixels camera turns out true, then it would be a major successful stroke for Samsung.

Latest Android OS

Yes, the smartphone is expected to have the latest release of the Android OS – Ice Cream Sandwich, which has the following new features included:
- Face Unlock, a feature that allows users to unlock handsets using facial recognition software
- Better voice integration and continuous, real-time speech to text dictation
- Virtual buttons in the UI, in place of capacitive or physical buttons
- New tabbed web browser, allowing up to 16 tabs
- Ability to shut down apps that are using data in the background
- Improved error correction on the keyboard

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 Available Now

In the past, it has been frequently speculated that ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 2′ may land on Nintendo’s upcoming console, Wii U. These speculations have surfaced afresh now that Nintendo has announced the date and pricing of Wii U for the U.S. users.

The company has announced that the console is due to hit the U.S. market on Nov 18th and is going to carry a price tag of $299.99 for the basic set, with 8 GB memory. The 32 GB is going to set you back a cool $349.99. Black Ops 2 has been officially announced to be landing on the console and rumors have it that it would come just in time for the U.S. launch.

According to the rumors, the game will become available for Nintendo Wii U in November. To be specific, it will arrive on Nov 13th and will feature the second-screen gameplay option.

Moreover, the game will arrive with a number of Wii U-suited controller options. These include the ability to use Classic Controller Pro, GamePad and Wii Remote with the ga. The good news for the CoD fans is that the Wii U release of the game will contain all the features available across other game consoles.

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