Qualcomm to introduce new Snapdragon chips and Adreno 400 series in early 2014

Qualcomm is expected to unveil its new generation of Snapdragon mobile system chips and along with them the Adreno 400 graphical chips, according to chip-focused website Fudzilla. Qualcomm is usually making its unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in mid-January in Las Vegas. 

There aren’t many details about the upcoming 2014 Snapdragon chips, but the Adreno 400 graphical chip that is said to be getting ready for the limelight won't have a compute part and will not support OpenCL.

In 2014, Qualcomm might have tougher competitors in both CPU and GPU. Nvidia’s Tegra 5 with Logan chip has already shown impressive capabilities that the Adreno series will have to try and match. PowerVR’s 6-series graphics (used in the new iPhone 5s and iPads) are another strong player and ARM has also just unveiled its Mali 700 GPU. Vivante is also making a mobile graphics chip design. With all this, competition will definitely be heated next year.

Best Nexus 5 cases and covers

Case manufacturers didn't wait for the official Nexus 5 announcement to pull the trigger on their tailored covers, inducing hilariously snarky comments over at the Amazon review crowd.

Now that the handset is in the shops, with one of the best value-for-money propositions in the Android world, we are rounding up some of the more notable cases and covers for its protection, aesthetics, handling enhancements, or just plain old showing off. 

Take a peak at what's currently poised to hit the market for your Nexus 5 in the slideshow below. We'll be updating the list periodically as currently many big names are still dragging their feet with their Nexus 5-tailored wrappers, but an influx of more cases shouldn't be far behind amidst a global rollout.

AT&T activates 200% more Apple iPads during launch weekend

Led by the new Apple iPad Air, AT&T activated 200% more iPads over this past launch weekend than it activated last year. Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, said that part of the reason for the surge in activations was the attractive pricing of the carrier's Mobile Share plan, which allows tablets to be added to an existing account for $10 per month.

The executive also pointed out that the operator was offering the new iPad for $0 down with its AT&T NEXT plan. With NEXT, customers pay for a device monthly, and after 12 months, you can trade it in for a new phone or tablet. Despite the increase in activations, there are probably still quite a few AT&T customers waiting for the Apple iPad mini with Retina display. Demand has been building for the sequel to the 7.9 inch iPad mini, but Apple has delayed the release of the tablet. The Cupertino based tech giant has had trouble obtaining enough Retina display panels as it attempts to build enough tablets to catch up with what almost certainly will be pent-up demand for the device.

"iPad activations on AT&T increased more than 200 percent over the past three days compared to last year's launch weekend, driven by consumer excitement around the new iPad Air and the popularity of AT&T Mobile Share, which lets customers add an iPad to their existing data plan for just $10 a month. We also saw strong demand for AT&T Next, which offers customers an iPad for $0 down."-Ralph de la Vega, president, CEO, AT&T Mobility