Google co-founder Sergey Brin took the stage at the TED Conference late in February, delivering a talk about Google Glass in which he dropped his now infamous quote about smartphones being “emasculating.” Now the video is available in full for all to see, so you can see not only the money moment at around 4:26, but also hear Brin’s thoughts on Glass and its origins.
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Tag Archives: smartphone - Page 2
Watch Google’s Sergey Brin Talk About The Emasculating Smartphone And Google Glass
Posted by Gsurface
on March 22, 2013
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Blackberry plans to roll out high-end smartphone in time for the holidays
Posted by Gsurface
on March 22, 2013
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Blackberry, ever-ambitious and pushing to regain all it has slowly lost, plans to release a flagship handset in time for the holiday season, a phone the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins says he is “very excited about.” This information comes from an interview the CEO had with the folks over at CNET, and while precious few
Your Next Smartphone Screen May Be Made of Sapphire
Posted by Gsurface
on March 20, 2013
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Manufactured sapphire is incredibly strong and scratch resistant. Now falling costs and technology improvements could make it competitive with glass.
Manufactured sapphire—a material that’s used as transparent armor on military vehicles—could become cheap enough to replace the glass display covers on mobile phones. That could mean smartphone screens that don’t crack when you drop them and can’t be scratched with keys, or even by a concrete sidewalk.
ZTE Quantum smartphone surfaces with 13MP camera and 5-inch display
Posted by Gsurface
on March 20, 2013
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Our friends over at Android Police surfaced a leak of ZTE‘s Quantum smartphone, which is destined for Sprint. The handset is shown as being the N8910 model, and while it isn’t the highest end handset out there, the specs certainly make this smartphone worth checking out. You can check out some pictures of the phone
Scosche controlFREQ car stereo turns your smartphone into a remote
Posted by Gsurface
on March 18, 2013
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Scosche has announced a new product called the controlFREQ. The controlFREQ and is a stereo receiver for your vehicle that allows you to use your smartphone as a wireless remote control via an included app. Using this app, the car stereo turns most smartphones including Android devices and the iPhone into a remote control button
Insert Coin finalist: Snapzoom scope smartphone adapter hands-on
Posted by Gsurface
on March 16, 2013
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One of five finalists in our first-annual Insert Coin: New Challengers competition, the Snapzoom is an adapter that lets you connect a smartphone to a telescope or a pair of binoculars for some long-range snapshots. We gave you a brief look at the product earlier in our contest, but we went hands-on with the Snapzoom ahead of Engadget Expand — with the San Francisco Bay serving as our test subject, no less.
The Snapzoom isn’t the only product of its kind, but it stands out for being universal. Though we tested the adapter with an iPhone 5, it will work with virtually every smartphone, thanks to adjustable clamps. Connecting the handset (in its case) to a set of binoculars was seamless: we just attached the device via the self-centering clamps and tightened it into place. It’s easy to get excited when the setup brings you up close and personal with Alcatraz, but Snapzoom basically assumes you have some stunning imagery to shoot. We’ll have to wait and see how our elite panel of Insert Coin judges thinks this contestant stacks up. In the meantime, check out the video demo past the break.
Filed under: Cameras, Peripherals
A new rockstar is born: Samsung debuts Galaxy S 4 smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on March 16, 2013
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Lomography Smartphone Film Scanner goes on sale for $59
Posted by Gsurface
on March 14, 2013
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Lomography’s Smartphone Film Scanner has reached that moment that every crowdfunding project strives for, but often seems elusive: everyday sales. The peripheral is now sitting in stock at an ordinary, post-Kickstarter $ 59 price. As you’d expect, the functionality remains what we were promised earlier in the year. Slot in an iPhone, or certain Android smartphones, and scanning 35mm film or a slide is just a matter of lining things up and snapping a photo with the phone’s camera. Anyone who’s sitting on a treasure trove of old photos — or is just holding on to that film SLR for dear life — can shop for the scanner at the source link.
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile
Via: Gizmodo Australia
Source: Lomography
Breathometer is a mini breathalyzer for your smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on March 13, 2013
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Neo N003 is the world’s cheapest 1080p smartphone at $145
Posted by Gsurface
on March 9, 2013
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The Neo N003 smartphone first popped up last month, and has now officially been unveiled, earning the title of world’s cheapest 1080p smartphone. While the price is budget-friendly, the specs are decidedly mid-range, but still much higher than what we’d expect from such a low-cost device. Unfortunately, it looks like the handset is only destined
A Shrinking Garmin Navigates the Smartphone Storm
Posted by Gsurface
on March 8, 2013
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Smartphones are digital “Swiss Army knives” that do just about everything. Can the world’s leading GPS company survive?
Garmin was once one of the world’s hottest growth companies—“the next Apple,” according to some stock pickers. In 2007 the company, the world’s top seller of GPS devices for car dashboards and boat cockpits, doubled its sales on what seemed like unquenchable consumer demand for its location-finding gadgets.
The 7 deadly sins of smartphone users
Posted by Gsurface
on March 4, 2013
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Everyone is guilty of the occasional indiscretion on a mobile device.
FOX News
Smart bracelet glows with smartphone notifications
Posted by Gsurface
on March 1, 2013
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Turn off your ringer and get your smartphone alerts and notifications in a rainbow of colors with the Embrace+ smart bracelet. [Read more]
CNET News
This sapphire smartphone screen is strong, strong, strong
Posted by Gsurface
on February 28, 2013
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Want a phone screen that really won’t break? Make it out of tougher stuff than glass. [Read more]
CNET News
Smartphone Screen Real Estate: How Big Is Big Enough?
Posted by Gsurface
on February 28, 2013
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MojoKid writes “Aside from the terrible nickname (it sounds like a term for the spoiled offspring of fabulous people), phablets are somewhat controversial because they seem to be the epitome of inflated phone sizes. A lot of people wanted bigger, and this is ‘bigger’ to the extreme. A larger screen on a smartphone is attractive for obvious reasons, but surely there’s a limit. So how big is too big? If you’re not into parsing out the particulars of form factors and use cases, here’s a really easy way to figure out if your phone or phablet is too big: Can you hold the device in one hand and 1) unlock the phone, 2) type out a text message with your thumb, and 3) adjust the volume with the rocker without using your other hand? If not, you might need a smaller phone.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Smartphone Makers: Don’t Leave the Elderly Behind
Posted by Gsurface
on February 28, 2013
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They may not make up the sexiest market segment. But don’t forget Grandma and Grandpa!
AllThingsD reports that Fujitsu is pitching an Android phone it’s calling the Stylistic, aimed at the “mature consumer” (read: old folks). Technology for the elderly may not be the sexiest topic, and seniors in general may not be the coolest demographic, but technology companies should be doing more of this. There may or may not be a business case for laving R&D on seniors, but if nothing else, it’s the right thing to do, and could inspire a kind of generational trickle-down brand loyalty to the sons, daughters, and grandkids who would buy these products.
Sergey Brin Says Using a Smartphone Is ‘Emasculating’
Posted by Gsurface
on February 28, 2013
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An anonymous reader writes “While speaking at the TED Conference in California earlier today, Sergey Brin seemingly tried to set the stage for a world where using Google Glass is as normal as using a smartphone. What’s more, Brin went so far as to say that using smartphones is ‘emasculating.’ Brin said that smartphone users often seclude themselves in their own private virtual worlds. ‘Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people,’ Brin asked. Are people in the future destined to communicate via just walking around, looking down, and ‘rubbing a featureless piece of glass,’ Brin asked rhetorically. ‘It’s kind of emasculating. Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?’ Is wearing futuristic glasses any better?” Another reader sends in an article that also muses on our psychological connection to our devices. Or, as he puts it, the “increasingly weird and perhaps overly intimate relationship we have with our gadgets; the fist we touch when awake, the last at night. Our minds have become bookended by glass.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Smartphone bacteria ‘art project’: THIS lives on your phone
Posted by Gsurface
on February 27, 2013
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Jolla CEO hopes to put an end to smartphone spec war
Posted by Gsurface
on February 26, 2013
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Finnish company Jolla and its CEO Marc Dillon are hoping to convince consumers that buying a new smartphone isn't just about the number of cores available and the size of the screen when the company later this year releases the first smartphone based on the Sailfish OS.
Computerworld News
Nvidia Shows Off The Tegra 4i Reference Smartphone On Video, Delivers Impressive Mobile Gaming Performance
Posted by Gsurface
on February 25, 2013
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Nvidia only recently introduced its Tegra 4i processor, which pairs Tegra 4 power with integrated LTE — an Nvidia first for mobile chips — into a single system-on-a-chip. The company is now showing off the processor in action on in-house developed reference smartphone hardware called the Phoenix, which is actually present as a working model at MWC in Spain, as you can see in the video above.
TechCrunch
Caterpillar CAT B15 smartphone offers a taste of rugged Jelly Bean
Posted by Gsurface
on February 25, 2013
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We’ve seen our fair share of rugged smartphones, but there’s a certain amount of attention due when a heavy equipment builder like Caterpillar gets involved. Its newest smartphone, the CAT B15, undoubtedly has the survivability you’d expect from a company that makes bulldozers: the aluminum-and-rubber shell can survive 5.9-foot drops on to hard concrete, stay immersed in 3.3 feet of water for half an hour and keep working in temperatures between -4F to 122F. Just don’t expect top-flight performance elsewhere. While we’re big fans of the CAT B15 shipping with Jelly Bean, its 4-inch WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 chip, 512MB of RAM and 5-megapixel camera won’t have many of us giving up our faster, more fragile devices. The phone’s £299 and €329 European prices (about $ 437) could still lead to the more accident-prone among us picking up a CAT B15 when it ships in March.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: T3
ZTE Launches 5.7″ 720p Grand Memo Smartphone With Quad-Core CPU And Android 4.1
Posted by Gsurface
on February 25, 2013
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ZTE has just introduced the Grand Memo flagship smartphone at MWC in Barcelona. The Grand Memo has top-shelf specs including a 5.7-inch 720×1280 TFT display, a quad-core Qualcomm 800 processor, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera for video chat.
ZTE is marketing this as its phablet experience, as competitors like Huawei, Samsung, and most recently Asus bet big on extra-large screens. Considering how much data and texting overpower our smartphone usage, it seems to be paying off.
TechCrunch
One In Four Mobile Users Keep Dirty Pics Or Vids On Their Smartphone, And We All Know It’s You
Posted by Gsurface
on February 25, 2013
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A new survey from software security company AVG announced today reveals that a full 25 percent of mobile users keep “intimate photos or videos” on their smartphone or tablet device, a surprisingly high number given that only 36 percent said they would be comfortable checking their bank balance from a smartphone screen. AVG surveyed 5,107 smartphone users in the U.K., U.S., France, Germany and Brazil to get a broad look at how pervy we all are.
TechCrunch
Samsung to launch first Tizen smartphone as early as July
Posted by Gsurface
on February 24, 2013
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The upstart operating system will get its first device courtesy of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer. [Read more]
CNET News
Mobile World Congress: the year’s best smartphone party
Posted by Gsurface
on February 22, 2013
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The annual event in Barcelona, Spain, will produce some of 2013′s most exciting smartphone news. Join CNET as we cover the show inside and out. [Read more]
CNET News
Your Next Smartphone Could Respond to Your Voice, Even When It’s Asleep
Posted by Gsurface
on February 22, 2013
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Fujitsu Finally Enters Europe’s Smartphone Market With A Senior-Focused Android Device With France Telecom, Starting In June
Posted by Gsurface
on February 19, 2013
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It was exactly a year ago that news began to surface of Fujitsu’s intention to come to Europe with its Android-based smartphones. Now the Japanese company is finally coming good on those reports: on Tuesday, Fujitsu is launching its first device in Europe, marking its first “extensive foray into the smartphone market outside Japan.”
Fujitsu, Orange partner on senior-friendly Stylistic S01 smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on February 19, 2013
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Fujitsu just announced a smartphone partnership with Orange Telecom, with its first handset to launch on the French carrier this June. The Stylistic S01 will run Android 4.0 and offer GSM and HSPA compatibility through Orange, and it’s targeted specifically at elderly users. As such, it will include many of the same features available on Fujitsu’s Raku-Raku series of senior-friendly phones available on NTT DoCoMo. For instance, the phone will have tactile virtual buttons that mimic the experience of pushing actual hardware keys, oversized icons and audio technology that optimizes the frequency range according to the user’s age. Other specs include a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor, an 8.1-megapixel camera, a 0.3-MP front-facing shooter and 4GB of internal storage (expandable by microSD card). There’s no pricing info yet, but we’re bound to have more details after getting a hands-on look at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this coming week.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Accel Telecom unveils Voyager, an Android smartphone that wants to stay in the car (video)
Posted by Gsurface
on February 18, 2013
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Remember the days of yore when carphones used to be attached to the car — permanently? Accel Telecom wants to take you back there with the Voyager, an Android smartphone with car-centric functions that can stay put in your vehicle. To start with, the handset will feature a dedicated Waze launcher key for GPS navigation duties, and will also sport “high level noise reduction and echo cancellation,” along with hands-free voice activation. Other features include a 3G-WiFi hotspot, a “driver-centric” design with large physical keys, multiple car-focused apps and “crystal clear, echo free sound quality.” Interestingly, it’ll also connect to your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics system via RS232 or Bluetooth and ping you if any parts are about to break off. Accel told us that it’ll launch Voyager in Europe and the US “with operators that offer a second sim device,” to let you share your current phone number. There’s no sign of pricing yet, but there is PR and a video after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation
New super-duper smartphone cameras likely won’t help HTC and Nokia, analysts say
Posted by Gsurface
on February 18, 2013
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HTC and Nokia are separately expected to announce super-high-quality cameras in new smartphones expected to be unveiled the next week.
Computerworld News
Opera buys Skyfire, wants its video and smartphone optimization expertise
Posted by Gsurface
on February 15, 2013
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In a sudden joining of former leaders in the mobile browser arena that have seen their fortunes turn, Opera announced tonight that it has acquired Skyfire for about $ 155 million in cash and stock. According to the press release, Opera believes one of the things the two can help each other with is its WebPass program that provides short-term mobile data, by further optimizing user’s data requirements. Skyfire CEO Jeffrey Glueck will become an executive vice president at Opera and oversee joint offerings for the two, as well as remain CEO of Skyfire as an independent but wholly-owned subsidiary of Opera.
If you’re still using Skyfire don’t expect it to go away anytime soon, as the two indicate its browser will continue to be developed and supported. The company says three large US mobile operators are already customers for its Rocket Optimizer tech, meant to speed up all manner of data even as mobile connections have gone from dial-up to broadband speeds. Opera claims its advertising chops can help the Skyfire Horizon mobile browser and toolbar applications as well. The deal is expected to close before mid-March, and the two will be taking meetings at MWC 2013 later this month to show mobile operators how much better they are together.
Filed under: Mobile
Source: Opera, Skyfire Blog
HTC teases off-focus glimpses of its new smartphone, goes heavy on the lens flare (video)
Posted by Gsurface
on February 13, 2013
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In case you hadn’t heard, HTC’s warming up for another phone launch, readying events in both New York and London. The UK arm has now offered up a countdown clock (six days to go!), but with an extra soupçon of tease — some ever-so brief glimpses of its M7 device, rumored to land as the HTC One. Fortunately, someone’s managed to track down all the teaser clips and stitch them together — we’ve added it after the break. Alongside plenty of blinding light, we get a better peek at what seems to be a machined metallic edge around the device, as well as a single shot of the camera lens — HTC does love its imaging tech. You can also glean that the device will arrive dressed white, just like its predecessor, the One X.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Via: Android Central
Source: HTC UK, gaurav2328 (YouTube)
Vertu’s first Android smartphone costs €7,900, admits to falling short of ‘bleeding edge’
Posted by Gsurface
on February 12, 2013
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That fancy Vertu Ti handset we saw pop up last month? It’s finally been priced, predictably out of the average buyer’s price range. Sticker shock starts at €7,900, or about $ 10,587, and buys eccentrics with money to burn a sapphire-covered 800 x 480 display, 1.5GHz of processing power and a 1,250mAh battery — all wrapped in a durable titanium shell. What’s it missing? 4G connectivity, unfortunately. “Vertu will never be at the bleeding edge of technology,” Vertu head of design Hutch Hutchison told the BBC. “It has to be about relevant technology and craftsmanship — it’s not a disposable product.” At those prices, we’d certainly hope not. Vertu phones might not be packed with the mobile world’s latest tech, but Hutchison says that the top dollar pricetag buys better durability. “People think sapphire is just posh glass,” he explained to the BBC. “The only thing that scratches it is a diamond.” At the very least, Vertu customers won’t have to worry about which pocket they keep their keys in.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Invisible smartphone on the horizon?
Posted by Gsurface
on February 8, 2013
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Ubuntu Readies an Attempt to Shake Up the Smartphone Business
Posted by Gsurface
on February 8, 2013
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A mobile version of the world’s most widely used Linux operating system shows promise, but it will face stiff competition.
BlackBerry’s new smartphone software is so last week. A new free mobile operating system is being readied for release—by a company hoping to earn support from mobile carriers and handset makers interested in weakening the dominance of Apple and Google.
Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo Moved Into The Top 5 Global Smartphone Vendors In Q4, Says Canalys
Posted by Gsurface
on February 8, 2013
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Canalys just published its final mobile phone shipment estimates, which show that although Samsung is still on top of the global smart phone market, three Chinese manufacturers-Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo-all climbed into the top five for the first time, thanks to domestic success as well as sales in overseas markets.
TechCrunch
Navy fighting pandemics in Africa, South America with smartphone app
Posted by Gsurface
on February 8, 2013
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Ubuntu Smartphone Shipping In October
Posted by Gsurface
on February 6, 2013
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An anonymous reader writes “Smartphones running the open source Ubuntu operating system will be available to customers beginning in October 2013, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth told CIO Journal. Ubuntu will be available on a full range of devices, including desktop and tablet computers, potentially providing corporate IT executives a way to reduce the number of devices they purchase and manage, and would allow users to access all manner of corporate data through a single, pocket-sized device. ‘You can share Windows apps to the phone desktop,’ said Mr. Shuttleworth during a meeting in New York Tuesday.” Jon Brodkin adds, “Canonical is taking community input on what the core applications (e-mail, calendar, clock/alarm, weather, file manager, document viewer, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter) should look like. The best aspects of community proposals will hopefully make it into Ubuntu phones when they finally hit the market sometime toward the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014. Take a look at the best designs Canonical has received so far.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LTE-Advanced Is Poised to Turbocharge Smartphone Data
Posted by Gsurface
on February 6, 2013
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By combining data from multiple antennas and frequencies, ultrafast wireless technology is poised to turbocharge 4G.
In the latest test of future wireless bandwidth, Chinese handset maker ZTE and carrier China Mobile last week described achieving a peak download speed of 223 megabits per second in experiments involving a network technology known as LTE Advanced.
MediaTek Anticipates Slow Q1, But Still Confident About Its Fattening Chunk of China’s Smartphone Market
Posted by Gsurface
on February 6, 2013
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MediaTek reported lower-than-expected revenue in its fourth quarter, but the Taiwanese handset chip maker says its still poised to stand strong against rivals like Qualcomm. The company, which was founded in 1997 and entered the mobile phone business in 2004, has grown rapidly on the back of its reference designs, which are purchased and re-branded by manufacturers. MediaTek’s roster of clients include Coolpad, Huawei, Lenovo, Samsung and ZTE.
TechCrunch
Kim Jong-Un and the mysterious smartphone
Posted by Gsurface
on February 5, 2013
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Huawei & Microsoft Team Up To Launch Exclusive Windows Smartphone in Africa
Posted by Gsurface
on February 5, 2013
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Chinese telecoms giant Huawei launched a Windows smartphone tailored for and exclusively available in Africa. The device, a customized version of the Huawei Ascend W1, was created in partnership with Microsoft as part of its new 4Afrika initiative.
TechCrunch
BLU Quattro smartphone series revealed with NVIDIA Tegra 3
Posted by Gsurface
on February 3, 2013
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This week the team at BLU have revealed a new series of smartphones with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor line inside, making it clear that they’re pushing for a more mainstream showing of their Android-based mobile products. This lineup includes the Quattro 4.5, Quattro 4.5 HD, and rounding off the series with a device so
Can Any Smartphone Platform Overcome the Android/iOS Duopoly?
Posted by Gsurface
on January 31, 2013
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Nerval’s Lobster writes “The company formerly known as Research In Motion—which decided to cut right to the proverbial chase and rename itself ‘BlackBerry’—launched its much-anticipated BlackBerry 10 operating system at a high-profile event in New York City Jan. 30. Meanwhile, Microsoft is still dumping tons of money and effort into Windows Phone. But can either smartphone OS — or another player, for that matter — successfully challenge Apple iOS and Google Android, which one research firm estimated as running on 92 percent of smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2012? What would it take for any company to launch that sort of successful effort?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google patent points to multi-flash smartphone camera
Posted by Gsurface
on January 30, 2013
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A new patent granted to Google suggests that camera phones could soon take another slice out of the standalone digital-camera industry. [Read more]
CNET News
Google patent filing shows off multi-flash smartphone camera
Posted by Gsurface
on January 30, 2013
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Smartphone cameras have come a long way in a relatively short period of time, progressing from sub-1-megapixel sensors incapable of taking images in anything but the brightest locations to modern sensors that are challenging the point-and-shoot camera market. Earlier today, a patent filing from Google cropped up showing a multi-flash camera model for smartphones, an
ZTE launches the Blade C smartphone in China
Posted by Gsurface
on January 30, 2013
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ZTE has launched a new handset in China, one of several the company announced and rolled out this year. The Blade C is its latest offering, a solid mid-range handset currently available in China and destined for Europe. Its biggest selling point will no doubt be its price at a low $ 110. The Blade C
5 safe places to put your smartphone while driving
Posted by Gsurface
on January 27, 2013
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Distraction-free driving with a high-tech phone sometimes boils down to choosing the right low-tech mounting system. We round up your options. [Read more]
CNET News
Samsung tops smartphone and overall handsets market in Q4
Posted by Gsurface
on January 25, 2013
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Samsung led both the smartphone and overall handsets market in the fourth quarter, though analysts' estimates of shipments and market share varied.
Computerworld News
Intel’s Yolo low-cost smartphone debuts
Posted by Gsurface
on January 25, 2013
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Intel’s low-cost smartphone will be sold for the first time in Kenya, the chipmaker announced today. [Read more]
CNET News
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