One of the products taking the stage at this week’s SID 2013 show will be a flexible 5-inch OLED smartphone screen. [Read more]
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Tag Archives: smartphone
LG to demo bendable and unbreakable smartphone screen
Posted by Gsurface
on May 20, 2013
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Lenovo rolls out IdeaPhone K900 Intel-Inside smartphone in China
Posted by Gsurface
on May 18, 2013
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Back in January at CES, we got our hands on Lenovo’s IdeaPhone K900 Intel-Inside smartphone, a sleek unibody handset with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and a 5.5-inch 1080p display. It has been a long time coming, but the smartphone has finally hit shelves, with Lenovo launching the phone in China earlier this week. The K900
Smartphone Tracker Gives Doctors Remote Viewing Powers
Posted by Gsurface
on May 17, 2013
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Here’s the smartphone technology that alerts a doctor when patients are headed for trouble.
At the Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, nurses can see into the lives of some diabetes patients even when they’re not at the clinic. If a specific patient starts acting lethargic, or making lengthy calls to his mom, a green box representing him on an online dashboard turns yellow, then red. Soon, a nurse will call to see if he is still taking his medication.
NEC’s Medias X smartphone for DoCoMo features first ever liquid-cooled CPU
Posted by Gsurface
on May 15, 2013
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NEC’s just broken some new ground with the Medias X, the world’s first liquid-cooled smartphone that was launched as part of DoCoMo’s summer lineup. Rather than being aimed at the propeller-heads usually associated with that tech, though, NEC and DoCoMo are marketing it towards women in the same patronizing manner as the infamous HTC Rhyme and Fujitsu Arows Kiss F-03D. That aside, cooling for the quad-core Snapdragon 600 CPU works via a liquid-charged tube from the processor to a graphite “radiator” along the system board that disperses heat. We’re not exactly sure why the phone needs it, though, as the rest of the specs aren’t exactly flagship material: Android 4.2, a 4.7-inch 720p display, LTE and a 13.1-megapixel Exmor RS camera. Though NEC claims the phone runs much cooler than a standard model (see the graphic after the break), we haven’t heard too many complaints about hot phones lately — but perhaps we’re hanging with the wrong crowd.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: The Verge
Source: NEC
LG Optimus G2 smartphone leaks: Nexus 5 no more
Posted by Gsurface
on May 11, 2013
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University student crafts app that helps blind smartphone users snap photos
Posted by Gsurface
on May 10, 2013
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Dustin Adams, a Ph.D student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has teamed up with colleagues at his school in order to craft an app that helps visually impaired users line up the ideal snapshot. The project started out as a quiz, asking 54 people with varying degrees of ocular impairment what they found most difficult about taking photos. From there, he essentially boiled that down into requirements for a smartphone program. For starters, the app does away with a conventional shutter button, instead relying on an upward swipe gesture to grab a frame.
Moreover, it integrates face detection and voice accessibility, enabling the phone itself to talk to the photographer and alert him / her as to how many faces are detected and in focus. The app also captures a 30-second audio clip whenever the camera mode is activated, which helps remind users of what was going on during the capture of a shot. Unfortunately, there aren’t any screenshots or videos of the app in action just yet, but that’s scheduled to change when it’s formally unveiled at the Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments conference in Greece later this month.
Via: NewScientist
Amazon plans smartphone with 3D screen
Posted by Gsurface
on May 10, 2013
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Samsung Galaxy Centura smartphone destined for Straight Talk
Posted by Gsurface
on May 9, 2013
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Samsung has quietly slipped a new smartphone into the market, this one destined for Straight Talk and bestowed with the Galaxy Centura name. The phone wasn’t announced, instead appearing over on Samsung’s website, where it currently sits without a price or launch date, but alongside a list of specifications that point to an all-around basic
Nintendo Offers Smartphone App Porting Tool, But Should Be Porting Its Content To Phones Instead
Posted by Gsurface
on May 6, 2013
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Nintendo is trying to get people to buy the new Wii U, but it just isn’t working, according to recent sales numbers. Now, the Japanese gaming giant is hoping that helping developers port their smartphone content to the home gaming console with conversion software will help entice buyers, according to the Japan Times.
TechCrunch
Broadcast Video Will Soon Be Packed into Smartphone Signals
Posted by Gsurface
on May 6, 2013
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Putting broadcast signals within LTE mobile network technology could open up bandwidth and disrupt business models.
If you want to watch video on your phone or tablet, you’ll find that many networks can’t always serve up the data fast enough. So your choices are either to find a Wi-Fi hotspot, take your chances on congestion and high data charges on a cellular network, or plug in a special dongle that picks up TV broadcasts (see “Broadcast TV Aims for Your Smartphone”).
Mystery LG smartphone spied with no front buttons, many unanswered questions
Posted by Gsurface
on May 5, 2013
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Hello, what’s this? While many of us were out enjoying the spring weather, @evleaks was busy posting photos of an unknown LG smartphone that, if real, represents a notable shift in the Korean company’s design language. The device shares the Nexus 4‘s slightly curvy outline and lack of front-facing hardware buttons, but appears to have a taller screen, a new speaker grille and a different sensor layout. It’s not very likely to be part of the Nexus program with that conspicuous LG logo at the front, but there are few other clues as to where it would fit in LG’s phone family — is it an Optimus G sequel, an Optimus LTE2 follow-up, or something entirely fresh? We may well see more of this mystery hardware in the near future, though, and there’s already a close-up of the top bezel to be found after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source: @Evleaks (Facebook), (Twitter)
10 must-have smartphone apps
Posted by Gsurface
on May 4, 2013
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Apple approaching 40% in smartphone market share, others stagnant
Posted by Gsurface
on May 3, 2013
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comScore released its quarterly smartphone market share results for Q1 2013, and it shows that Apple‘s smartphone market share rose 2.7% percentage points from last quarter. The company now stands at 39%, up from 36.3% back in December. This marks a record-high market share for the Cupertino-based company, while other manufacturers have remained mostly stagnant.
BYOD, or else. Companies will soon require that workers use their own smartphone on the job
Posted by Gsurface
on May 1, 2013
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A Gartner study released today predicts that by 2017, half of all companies will require employees to bring their own smartphones for work purposes.
Computerworld News
Samsung builds chips to supercharge your smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on May 1, 2013
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Samsung began production of the industry’s first ultra-high-speed, 4Gbit, LPDDR3 mobile memory, which it says has performance levels comparable to the standard DRAM used in personal computers.
Computerworld News
How a Cheap Plastic Film Can Give Your Smartphone a 3-D Screen
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2013
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A plastic smartphone screen cover patterned with tiny lenses could help mobile 3-D take off.
Last week, a company in Singapore began shipping $ 35 plastic screen protectors for the iPhone 5. These are no ordinary screen protectors, though—each has half a million tiny lenses precisely patterned on its surface, which can turn an ordinary phone into a device capable of displaying 3-D images and video, no glasses required.
Skinny Huawei smartphone shows off 6.2mm profile in Chinese certification
Posted by Gsurface
on April 29, 2013
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The FCC isn’t the only agency playing with devices we don’t even know exist, and its Chinese equivalent has recently had some hands-on time with an unknown Huawei smartphone, codename P6-U06. Luckily, there are a few pics and specs to accompany the filing, which tell us it weighs 120g (4.2 ounces) and measures 132.6 x 65.5 x 6.18mm (5.2 x 2.6 x 0.2 inch), meaning it could be one of the super-slim P series handsets a Huawei exec hinted at CES. We didn’t see any evidence of these at MWC, but the same exec promised more was to come in 2013, possibly starting with this P6-U06.
Those dimensions house a 4.7-inch TFT screen at 720p resolution, quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB RAM, an 8-megapixel camera on the back and an unusually large 5-megapixel sensor in the shooter up front. Unsurprisingly, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean is listed as the OS, while dual-SIM support and GSM / WCDMA radios suggest Asia as the target market (not to mention the Chinese certification). That’s all we’ve got on the P6-U06 for now, but in lieu of official press shots, the handset strikes a couple more candid poses after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: NowhereElse
LG Optimus F5 mid-range LTE smartphone hits France April 29, global dispersion to follow
Posted by Gsurface
on April 28, 2013
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LG’s F-series handsets may not be in the same class an HTC One or GS4, but we can’t help to appreciate the solid specs and LTE-goodness baked into these mid-range devices. Following a debut alongside its F7 sibling at MWC, the F5 will begin trickling out to retail April 29th in France. While there’s no mention of US availability — despite a recent leak pegging it for Verizon — LG will also be soon be pushing it out to parts of Asia and Central / South America as well. Aimed at markets new to LTE, the smartphone packs a beefy 2,150mAh battery, five-megapixel camera, 1.2GHz Dual-Core processor and a 4.3-inch screen to display LG’s skinned version of Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2. If you’re curious to give LTE a go with LG, you’ll find the full press release after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
For first time, smartphone sales top other mobile phones in first quarter
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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Six years after the sale of the first iPhone and 14 years after the first BlackBerry email pager was unveiled, smartphone shipments have outnumbered sales of other types of mobile phones.
Computerworld News
WindsorNot: the 4-inch WebOS smartphone that never saw the light of day
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2013
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The downfall of WebOS left more than a few canceled devices in its wake, but the most illusive of the bunch tends to be the WindsorNot: a touch-only smartphone. We’ve seen hints of it here and there, but the shy little device has largely been kept under wraps — until now. The dedicated folks at WebOS Nation have managed to get their hands on a functional prototype. The 4-inch devices seems to lie somewhere between a Pre3 and HP Touchapd, aping the hardware specifications of the former while adopting the latter’s software version: WebOS 3.0. The tweaked software does feature a smartphone-sized keyboard, but WebOS Nation says some of the OS’ trappings are difficult to read, and were clearly meant to be refined for the smaller screen before release. The phone’s form, on the other hand, seems to be top notch, indicating that the project was canned before the software team had a chance to catch up. Check out the source link for a full walkthrough of the device and a brief history lesson of WebOS’ last days.
Filed under: Cellphones, HP
Source: webOS Nation
Samsung Galaxy S4 review: A powerful, giant, confusing smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2013
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Nokia banks on social integration to boost smartphone sales
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2013
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Nokia’s latest advanced feature phone, the Asha 210, comes with a physical key to access WhatsApp messaging, as well as software clients for Twitter and Facebook.
Computerworld News
ABI: Budget smartphones will equal half of all smartphone shipments in future
Posted by Gsurface
on April 23, 2013
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It looks like it won’t just be low-cost Android tablets that will see a huge boost in the market, but low-budget smartphones as well. According to ABI Research, in the year 2018, budget smartphones will equal about 46% of all smartphone shipments, which is 28% higher than today. Currently, 259 million budget smartphones are expected
China's Huawei bolstering smartphone strategy, plans to announce new handset
Posted by Gsurface
on April 23, 2013
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Chinese handset maker Huawei plans to introduce a new smartphone in the middle of this year, packed with the "best hardware and design," and is preparing to open a slew of new stores in its home market.
Computerworld News
One Week Without A Smartphone? Impossible
Posted by Gsurface
on April 21, 2013
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Simplee Combines Mint.com And Paypal To Bring Medical Bill Payment, Management To Your Smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on April 20, 2013
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The mobile health market is growing like a weed these days. According to mHealthWatch and eHealth Initiative, there are 31,000 health and medical-related apps on the market today. In fact, over the last year, the number of health apps jumped 120 percent, and hundreds of apps now hit stores every month. Yet, in spite of this exponential growth, the mobile health space is still in its “Wild West” phase. In other words, it’s a work in progress.
Next-gen battery tech can charge a smartphone in seconds
Posted by Gsurface
on April 18, 2013
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TomTom GO tells you to ditch the smartphone for a new PND
Posted by Gsurface
on April 17, 2013
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This week the folks at TomTom have revealed their next-generation TomTom Go Portable Navigation Device – aiming to keep your GPS in a dedicated device through the future. With three different sizes available (4.3, 5, and 6-inches) and lifetime dedicated connectivity with GPS from TomTom, the TomTom Go series will have you tapping through the
Update: Massive citizen smartphone photo and video probe underway into Boston bombings
Posted by Gsurface
on April 16, 2013
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Following the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, investigators mounted a massive effort to scrutinize digital photos and videos taken about the time of the blasts from citizen smartphones and area surveillance cameras.
Computerworld News
Massive citizen smartphone photo and video probe underway into Boston bombings
Posted by Gsurface
on April 16, 2013
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Following the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, investigators mounted a massive investigation that includes close scrutiny of digital photos and videos taken about the time of the blasts from citizen smartphones and area surveillance cameras.
Computerworld News
Smartphone innovation: Where we’re going next (Smartphones Unlocked)
Posted by Gsurface
on April 14, 2013
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Smartphone advancements are on the edge of transforming in some crazy ways, but it isn’t like you think. [Read more]
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What’s Next For Smartphone Innovation
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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SternisheFan sends in an article about the new features and developments we can expect out of smartphones in the near future. The shortlist: more sensors for tracking the world outside the phone, more gesture-based (i.e. non-touch) input, and integration with wearable computers like smartwatches and Google Glass. From the article: “These under-appreciated components — the gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, and so forth — are starting to get more friends in the neighborhood. Samsung, for instance, slipped pressure, temperature, and humidity sniffers into the Galaxy S4. They may not be the sexiest feature in your phone, but in the future, sensors like accelerometers will be able to collect and report much more detailed information. … In addition to air quality, temperature and speed of movement are also biggies. [Also, a smartphone that can] track your pulse, or even double as an EKG, turning the everyday smartphone into a medical device. … [For wearable computing,] your smartphone is still there, still essential for communicating with your environment, but it becomes only one device in a collection of other, even more personal or convenient gadgets, that solve some of the same sorts of problems in different or complementary ways.” What do you think will be the next generation of killer features for smartphones?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
ZTE Director budget smartphone arrives at US Cellular
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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US Cellular, a regional carrier known for offering the lower rung of smartphones running older varieties of Android than you typically find elsewhere, has just added a budget Ice Cream Sandwich handset to its lineup: the ZTE Director. Perhaps because $ 0.00 is too conventional, the carrier is offering this smartphone for $ 0.01 alongside a new
PSA: Why doesn’t Facebook Home work on my smartphone?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 12, 2013
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Today is the day Facebook Home is released for Android devices, and though it may seem possible to download the app for your smartphone or tablet, it won’t necessarily be in full working order this afternoon. Why would that be – you might ask? Because Facebook’s launch of Facebook Home is limited to just five
Should California Have Banned Checking Smartphone Maps While Driving?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 9, 2013
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Nerval’s Lobster writes “According to an appellate court in California, checking your smartphone while driving your Volkswagen (or any other vehicle) is officially verboten. In January 2012, one Steven R. Spriggs was pulled over and cited for checking a map on his smartphone while driving. In a trial held four months later, Spriggs disputed that his action violated California’s Section 23123 subdivision (a), which states that a person can’t use a phone while driving unless ‘that telephone is specifically designed and configured to allow hands-free driving and talking, and is used in that manner while driving.’ In short, he argued that the statute was limited to those functions of listening and talking—things he insisted could have been followed to the letter of the law. But the judge ruled that operating a phone for GPS, calling, texting, or whatever else was still a distraction and allowed the conviction to stand. That leads to a big question: with everything from Google Glass to cars’ own dashboard screens offering visual ‘distractions’ like dynamic maps, can (and should) courts take a more active role in defining what people are allowed to do with technology behind the wheel? Or are statutes like California’s hopelessly outdated?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Lenovo May Produce A Think-Brand Smartphone, Says ThinkPad Business Unit’s VP
Posted by Gsurface
on April 9, 2013
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In an interview today with Sina Tech (link via Google Translate), Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager of Lenovo’s ThinkPad Business Unit, said that the Chinese tech company may build a Think-brand smartphone. If Lenovo does come out with a Think-brand smartphone (a ThinkPhone?), it would be inline with the company’s growth strategy. Lenovo is currently the world’s second largest marker of PCs behind HP, but is eager to diversify its core businesses by aggressively growing its mobile unit. Bhatia told Sina Tech that the company wants the Think brand, which includes ThinkPad laptops, to gain higher name recognition and desirability among younger consumers. Lenovo has already fared well with its current suite of smartphones: in Q42012, its smartphone business grew 216 percent year-over-year, shipping 9.5 million units and moving into the top five smartphone vendors in the world for the first time, according to data from Canalys. Much of that growth has been fueled, however, by the sale of low-end devices in China, and Lenovo is still searching for ways to gain a larger share of the global market. A high-end smartphone released under its flagship Think brand may serve as Lenovo’s answer to the iPhone and allow it to compete more directly with Apple (CEO Yang Yuanqing has said that he wants Lenovo to overtake the Cupertino company). Other steps Lenovo has taken to build out its mobile business include building a $ 800 million facility in China that will produce smartphones and tablets. The company has also been busy looking at acquisitions, a tactic it took in 2005 when it acquired the ThinkPad brand by purchasing IBM’s PC division. Reports emerged last week that Japan’s NEC is in talks to sell its struggling mobile phone business to Lenovo, and earlier this year BlackBerry was rumored to be another potential acquisition target. Lenovo denied the reports, but purchasing BlackBerry would have allowed it to gain access to a new OS and the Canadian company’s subscriber base. Lenovo has been emailed for comment
TechCrunch
Editor’s Letter: The social smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on April 5, 2013
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In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.
There’s a good chance 2011′s HTC Status, with its portrait QWERTY layout and dedicated Facebook button, never found its way into your social network. That last attempt at the mythical Facebook phone failed to garner much praise, but if social networks gave up so easily, well, we’d all still be using MySpace. HTC and Facebook are at it again, this week launching the $ 99 First, exclusively on AT&T in the US.
Yes, it’s a name every commenter could love (or hate)
Yes, it’s a name every commenter could love (or hate), a title cheekily reminiscent of the HTC One. This, though, is a rather different device, aiming more toward the mid-range and relying on some serious social integration to make it stand out. It’s the first phone runni–ng the Facebook Home interface, which will be available on many devices starting on April 12th. It delivers a far more comprehensive Facebook experience than the previous apps have managed, and intriguingly Zuckerberg himself said that Home is “the next version of Facebook.” The end of the web? Stay tuned.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Transportation, Internet, HTC, Facebook
Facebook Home: A Social Smartphone Makeover
Posted by Gsurface
on April 5, 2013
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Samsung takes smartphone battle to the storefront
Posted by Gsurface
on April 4, 2013
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The Korean electronics giant will open minishops within all U.S. Best Buy stores in the coming months, showcasing how its products interact and potentially making it tougher for rival devices to get attention from buyers. [Read more]
CNET News
Wiping a Smartphone Still Leaves Data Behind
Posted by Gsurface
on April 2, 2013
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KindMind writes “To probably no one’s surprise, wiping a smartphone by standard methods doesn’t get all the data erased. From an article at Wired: ‘Problem is, even if you do everything right, there can still be lots of personal data left behind. Simply restoring a phone to its factory settings won’t completely clear it of data. Even if you use the built-in tools to wipe it, when you go to sell your phone on Craigslist you may be selling all sorts of things along with it that are far more valuable — your name, birth date, Social Security number and home address, for example. … [On a wiped iPhone 3G, mobile forensics specialist Lee Reiber] found a large amount of deleted personal data that he recovered because it had not been overwritten. He was able to find hundreds of phone numbers from a contacts database. Worse, he found a list of nearly every Wi-Fi and cellular access point the phone had ever come across — 68,390 Wi-Fi points and 61,202 cell sites. (This was the same location data tracking that landed Apple in a privacy flap a few years ago, and caused it to change its collection methods.) Even if the phone had never connected to any of the Wi-Fi access points, iOS was still logging them, and Reiber was able to grab them and piece together a trail of where the phone had been turned on.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Android outscores iOS in U.S. smartphone sales, says report
Posted by Gsurface
on April 2, 2013
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Google’s mobile OS scooped up more half of U.S. smartphone sales in the three months ending February 13, says research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. [Read more]
CNET News
HDC clones HTC One with new smartphone, offers it for $160
Posted by Gsurface
on March 30, 2013
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Facebook on the verge of announcing HTC smartphone?
Posted by Gsurface
on March 29, 2013
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A cryptic media invite to see the social network’s “Home on Android” gets the rumor mill running anew about an upcoming Facebook phone. [Read more]
CNET News
Why your next T-Mobile smartphone may cost a fortune
Posted by Gsurface
on March 26, 2013
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Yahoo Buys UK Teen’s Smartphone News App
Posted by Gsurface
on March 26, 2013
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judgecorp writes “Seventeen year old Nick D’Aloisio has sold his smartphone app Summly to Yahoo for an undisclosed sum. The app — created when he was 15 — aggregates news stories by topic and condenses them for time-strapped readers. D’Aloisio and his team will go to work at Yahoo when the deal closes. From the article: ‘Summly was founded by 17-year old Nick D’Aloisio when he was just 15 from his home in London. The service works by sorting news stories by topic and condensing them into bite-sized chunks for time-conscious readers. The Summly application will be closed down and integrated with Yahoo’s existing range of mobile applications. D’Aloisio and the Summly team will be joining Yahoo as part of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This smartphone knows when you’re going to die — and could save your life
Posted by Gsurface
on March 25, 2013
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Predictive Smartphone Assistant Gives You a Heads-Up
Posted by Gsurface
on March 25, 2013
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Smartphone wind meter has no electronics
Posted by Gsurface
on March 24, 2013
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Vaavud is a Kickstarter gizmo that helps you share wind data for the best times to fly, sail, or show off in a storm. [Read more]
CNET News
Lenovo’s 5.3-inch S920 smartphone available for pre-order in China
Posted by Gsurface
on March 23, 2013
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