Tag: smartphones

Google Gives a Boost to Mobile-Friendly Websites With its New Update

Google is making a pre-determined move that will affect website search on mobile devices. The search giant has revised its search algorithm to rank sites at the top that are tailored for mobile screens. Termed as Mobile-Friendly update, the new changes have been implemented from yesterday.

The new upgrade will push up the content fitting the small screen of your smartphones and force the desktop-optimised searches down to the bottom of the list. It will give a boost to mobile-adaptive websites, given that over 60 percent of the search is done through smartphones. The update is limited to just handsets only and doesn’t extend to bigger devices like tablets. This suggests that from now on, search results on mobile will be different from the results googled on the desktop.

Google stated in its blog post –

We’re boosting the ranking of mobile-friendly pages on mobile search results. Now searchers can more easily find high-quality and relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targets are spaced appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling.

However Google is not favouring anyone in the internet business, it will give advantage to the sites designed for mobile. The search would work on Mobile-Friendly Test and would scan different factors of each page to give it a thumps up. It’s important to note that the update applies to individual pages, not entire websites. It will affect search results in all languages globally.

The California-based giant recently did another major alteration for smartphones; it slipped a list of relevant apps within search results for you to download. Both these moves are useful for users and developers alike.

April 22, 2015
Samsung Bets On 128 GB Storage To Boost Sales of Affordable Devices

Samsung has been losing the interest of budget device buyers as its competition has been offering better specs and features to the customers. So how does Samsung take on this challenge? The Korean electronics giant decided to offer 128GB storage options to in its affordable smartphone line-up.

Samsung has already introduced 128 GB internal UFS storage on its latest flagship, the Galaxy S6. Now the company is planning to offer the huge internal storage in its phones and tablets that are lower in the price listings.

The new 128 GB 3-bit NAND-based eMMC 5.0 storage would adorn the future line of affordable devices from Samsung. It will also help in recording high-definition videos and multi-tasking in those smart-gadgets. This massive storage option will be a boon to multimedia hoarders who always have to depend on SD cards and Cloud storages for their content.

It is not sure as of yet as to when this technology would come to Samsung’s lower end devices. While Samsung figures out when it can bring the storage, it should also work towards bringing attractive devices that sell on their own merits, like many other devices in the affordable segment. That would help Samsung more in the long run instead of flaunting individual features.

March 20, 2015
How Smartphones are Just as Good as Fitness Bands in Tracking Health

Wearable technology is the field where most of the innovations are taking place in the tech sector. All technology brands are trying to woo consumers with new wearable devices. One of the basic features of most of the wearables, especially smartwatches is their ability track the fitness activities of the user. A new study might just spoil the fun for the makers of such fitness trackers as it says that smartphone apps may be just as good as wearables in tracking fitness.

The research letter was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study found the mobile apps to be just as good, if not better than the fitness wearables.

The researchers used ten most selling smartphone apps as well as devices for the test. They made participants walk twice on a treadmill for 500 steps and 1500 steps. The participants of the study were packed up with multiple devices during the test. They were made to wear a waistband with one pedometer and two accelerometers, three wearable devices and two smartphones where one was running three apps while the other was running one app.

In their results, the researchers found the smartphone apps to be reasonably accurate, and there was at most a 7% difference in figures between the apps. But when it came to fitness wearables, they found the result varying across the different devices. Devices like the Fitbit One and Zip were found to be accurate in their readings while the Nike Fuelband was found to be off by a huge margin.

This revelation might get consumers to question the need for buying a wearable fitness sensor. Well, the newer smartwatches are coming with more features that give you broader health data than just the distance covered in a day. This study didn’t consider the new smartwatches. Apart from their health benefits, the smartwatches also act as remotes for your various digital appliances and their functionalities will just keep on increasing. So while the study puts to question the need for fitness sensors, the wearable market is still a fertile market for investment by the tech industry.

February 11, 2015
Next Step in Smartphone Evolution: A Handheld Disease Detector

Smartphones have brought immense convenience to our lives. It has become an essential, part of our daily life and to some extent even control the schedule of our day. As the reach of these devices grows widespread, a lot of new uses are coming into prominence. One major field, where smartphones are proving useful, is medicine. These handheld machines can be a great tool for detection of diseases before they become life threatening.

Detecting Aids and Syphilis

Recently, researchers at the University of Columbia have unveiled a cheap accessory that can be plugged into the smartphone and could detect HIV and Syphilis. The device that costs just $34 and has been tested on 96 volunteers in Rwanda with promising results. Called a Dongle, it takes a fingerprick of blood, like a home glucose test and displays the result in just 15 minutes. This could come in as a handy detection tool as people can check themselves in the privacy of their home. So while the governments can work towards battling the stigma, this tool can get the patients to detect their disease and seek medical treatment.

This is just one of the latest in the line of valuable research which hopes to give the power of disease detection to the public through their trusty smartphones. Smartphones have been actively seen as the tools for providing low-cost disease detection. Below are few of the instances where the smartphones can come handy in medical situations.

Parkinson’s disease

Researchers at Aston University have developed a phone app that can spot signs of Parkinson disease with more than 90 per cent accuracy. The app tests the individual through voice analysis by asking the person to pronounce a sound in the phone recorder. Then it asks the person to walk 20 paces so that it can record the moments through the accelerometer. Finally, the person has to complete a simple finger dexterity test on the touchscreen.
Usually, Parkinson is tough to diagnose in the initial stages so a handy tool that is also accurate will help a long way to fight the disease.

Mobile Eye Care

The camera of the smartphone can be a boon for people living in poor regions of the world. The visually impaired population of these areas don’t have regular access to medical facilities and doctors. Most of these illnesses are avoidable, but the lack of medical attention makes matters worse for the patients. Dr. Andrew Bastawrous wanted to give these people the gift of prolonged eyesight and hence created a smartphone app called Peek. To further check the retina of the eye, his team created a clip on a 3D printed attachment that costs less than $5 to produce. This attachment gives high-quality view of the back of the eye which is almost as good as the expensive laboratory equipment. The results gathered by the app are stored in a database accessible by doctors from all corners of the world who can stay in touch with their patients.

Urine Check

MIT entrepreneur Myshkin Ingawale unveiled his new mobile app Uchek at TED conference. An individual has to dip in a urinalysis strip in a cup and just take a photo of the strip; that’s it. Uchek can measure the levels of glucose, proteins, ketones and other values in the body through the image. It can be used to detect diabetes, urinary tract infections and up to 25 other diseases. Tests have shown that the app is more accurate that humans are at interpreting the color coded strips. The app costs a meager 99 cents while the color-coded strips are priced at $20. This might be one of the cheapest and beneficial tools for self-monitoring.

These are just a few ways in which smartphones are helping to make the lives of people better. It’s great to see how smartphone are evolving from simple communication tools into powerful machinery that can take care of our health and well being. People now have more access to smartphones than drinking and running water, and so they can come in handy to battle some of the most difficult human issues. Of course, smartphones won’t be able to take the place of doctors and health care workers any time soon, but they can become a valuable companion. With the arrival of healthcare wearables, it would become easier than ever to live a healthy life. The future looks good for a healthy humanity and smartphones may become one of the major reasons for that. And it definitely is a lot better use of these devices than crushing candies.

February 6, 2015
Falling Sales Lead Samsung to Decrease its Smartphone Portfolio By 25-30 Percent

Things haven’t been great for Samsung lately. The company’s phones are being berated for their generic designs and offering low specs at high price. It is also facing a profit margin that is lower than before it unveiled the Galaxy line of phones. Looking at the numbers, it can be said that the company is going on a reinvention drive.

It was reported just a few days back that the company was launching ‘Project Zero’ to reinvent its next flagship from scratch. This model will be an inspiration that can be later carried down the food chain. But apart from creating a new product, the South Korean giant will shelve as much as a quarter of its devices.

Head of Investor Relations Robert Yi has said that the cuts in the portfolio can be up to 25 to 30 percent. Presently, Samsung’s margins from its mobile and information technology business squeezed to just 7% in the third quarter that ended September. It is at the lowest level since the end of 2008, before it launched its first Galaxy smartphone. This should be worrisome as the mobile business has almost become the face of the company, and a loss would severely affect the company’s perception in the eyes of its consumers.

Samsung is also getting beat by brands like Xiaomi, Motorola and local brands who are rapidly clearing the dominance of Samsung devices in the market. The company got a massive jolt this year when it dropped to second spot in India and China. This must have finally led the company to see the light and create a new strategy.

It’s not sure as of yet as to what devices will get the boot but considering the massive stock of the Grands and Primes and Autobots and Decepticons, there is a scope for decreasing the number of devices in the portfolio. The company is also targeting the mid and lower segment of the market where the maximum volume of the sales takes place.

Samsung has the potential and resources for beating Xiaomi at its own game. It even has enough financial cushioning to take some unwanted hits. So, it would be advisable to Samsung to take on some more serious risks and give the consumers an offering that will actually be aspirational.

November 19, 2014
7 Reasons Why Android is The Undefeated King in India

If you ever raise the question, ‘Which is the best OS for smartphones?’, it is inevitable that you will end up in an endless argument that is likely to turn into name-calling. While there are other mobile platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android have been dominant contenders in the game.

Both companies enjoy the support of loyal fans who religiously follow every minute update and change made to the mobile platforms. But, we are the country of budget phones and a ‘value for money’ market. Android makes a perfect companion of these ideals.

Here we are listing 7 reasons why Android is the undefeated king in the Indian smartphone market.

7. Google Now works better than Siri in India

Even Apple acknowledges this. Google Now is much better and functional in our country. It is not only faster than Siri at answering your questions but it also does a much better job at recognizing Indian accents. Furthermore, you also have an option of downloading the speech recognition files to the device for offline use in Android devices.

6. App publishing in Android is a lot easier

Publishing an Android app is as easy as child’s play. Once you are done making the app, you just have to sign up via a handy Eclipse wizard, and you have an APK file that can run on any device. You can email it, put it up on a web site, or upload it to Google Play and make it available worldwide within the hour. Even better, you can check install statistics and crash reports, including stack traces which identify the exclusive line of code that went wrong, and you can upload a bug-fix version immediately. On the other hand, it is a nightmare to publish an Apple app.

5. Wide range of sharing options

Android powered devices gives option of sharing media files through any installed app with sharing capabilities. That means if you want to share media file through Blogger, Tumblr, Instagram or Pinterest or any other social media app you can do it easy on Android OS devices. However, iOS restrict you to the pre-installed apps such as Message, Mail, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr for media sharing.

4. No mandatory Multimedia apps for Android

Apple needs iTunes to sync your music and iPhoto for pictures to your iOS smartphones which is a huge drawback especially for people who use Windows on their PCs and Laptops. On the other hand, Android isn’t as bothered about where your music or pictures comes from. You can just plug in your device to your laptops or PC using a USB cable and transfer music and other multimedia files with an ease.

3. Its customizability

If the stock Android look doesn’t suit your taste you can customise your Android smartphones. Sky is the limit with various launchers, themes and what not, available on the Play Store. You can even download an iOS 7 theme, if that is what you are into. And yes, on most Android phones, you can unlock your device to any app you want, which comes handy when you use certain apps regularly.

2. Free Apps vs Premium Apps

It’s true Apple App store offer you many premium quality apps but most of them are paid. On the other hand, Google’s Play Store offers far more options than the App Store. Play Store has an array of genres and categories which offers amazing app (including third party apps) mostly for free or for minimal charges.

1. Android comes in Budget Friendly phones

Android is an open source OS and is available for any manufacturer to use, while iOS is available exclusively on the devices that Apple manufactures. This makes a huge difference as Apple’s iPhones are high-end expensive phones. For an Indian, value for money matters. You can find Android OS in the extensive price range from Rs. 3,000 to 70,000. Hence, we conclude, Android is the true king of smartphones in India.

August 26, 2014
5 Cool Photo Editing Apps you Should Download

Simply clicking a photo and posting it? That’s an old story now. Smartphones are becoming smarter and so are our day to day lives with it. These days, app stores are flooded with photo editing apps that offer you range of filters and smart editing options. But choosing the best one from these option is a hard task. So, we have assembled a list of the best photo-editing apps for you to use on your smartphones.

Photoshop Touch

What a surprise, Photoshop tops the list. But before you get your hopes up too high, you should know that this app doesn’t come close to the power of its desktop counterpart. You can do some of the basic Photoshop things like working with layers. However, it’s mixed in with more conventional mobile photo editing features like filters and mild adjustments like color correction. There are some cool features like camera fill and using Adobe Creative Cloud, it is compatible with the desktop version Photoshop.

VSCO Cam

If you’re looking for a smooth app that has gorgeous effects and features, VSCO is the one for you. VSCO has great presets, cool features like viewing before and after photos, and a wide range of filters. A lot of people seem to prefer it over Instagram. The app uses a grid scheme that allows you to publish your photos. It is sleek and easy to use. It only launched on Android recently, after premiering as an iPhone app, so there is still certain adjustments to be made. Features like separate exposure and focus locking are not yet included. Everything here is simple and works well, even if they don’t have a million extra features.

Photoshop Express

Another one from Adobe, this app is one of the most user-friendly photo-editors I have used. Simple and spontaneous, Photoshop Express lets you make the essential adjustments to crop, exposure, color, tint, hue, saturation, contrast and levels with ease. You can add many of the classic filters from Photoshop, including “Lens zoom,” “Grain” and “Glow.” And it’s free so, if you don’t already have it, you should be downloading it now.

Cupslice Photo Editor

Cupslice is a photo editor with a little more skill and buff, even if the features aren’t as heavy as some of the others I have listed. It comes with over 50 effects to start along with your basic editing tools. It also includes a number of stickers you can add to photos and that number gets updated every week. It’s a nice, simple app that should suit the needs of most people.

Photo Editor by Aviary

Photo Editor by Aviary is a very specific and composed photo editor. In addition to the most popular features such as filters, stickers, frames etc. This photo editor by Aviary provides you with addition features such as red-eye correction, tooth whitening and many more. It’s fairly amazing app providing solution to pretty much every problem with your clicks. This straightforward app would be useful addition to your smartphone.

June 3, 2014
LG Chem Unveils Batteries For Next Generation: Curved Batteries in Production

LG Display has confirmed production of a “bendable and unbreakable” smartphone display. Now, LG Chem unveiled what they have got for the future smartphones as the company unveiled the next generation of batteries.

Through the exclusiveness of our unique technology, LG Chem has succeeded in launching future batteries that have not existed before. This shall be the fundamental grounds for LG Chem to become a pioneer in the market. As a leader of battery manufacturer, we will continue to strive for Global No.1 by developing more of optimized, safe and long-lasting batteries to make it the business of future generation”, said YS Kwon, the President of Energy Solution Company, LG Chem.

The company announced that they have curved batteries in mass production, which will power the next generation smart phone from LG. The company calls it “Stack and Folding technology”, while the company claims that they can build batteries that will fit phones, or any wearable devices(watches, glass). The company has the patent of Stack & Folding technology and the mass production of Curved Battery has been started since this month and the products will power the next smart phone line up of LG Electronics.

[toggle title=”Press Release “]LG Chem to unveil batteries of next generation
SEOUL–(Korea Newswire) October 8, 2013 — LG Chem, a leading battery manufacturer, is ready to unveil batteries that have not existed before.

The company announced on the 8th that it has succeeded in breaking the tradition of rectangular shaped batteries to lead the effort to a more sustainable future by mass producing batteries of different shapes.

The types of LG Chem’s future batteries can be categorized as the following. ? Stepped Battery, ? Curved Battery and ? Cable Battery.

At the moment, the chemical company is already mass producing stepped and curved batteries. Stepped Battery from Nanjing plant of LG Chem has been manufactured since July to power LG G2. However, the actual production of Cable Battery shall begin in upcoming years.

First of all, Stepped Battery refers to an integral type of a battery in which two batteries are added on top of each other in the shape of “step design.” The battery takes greater advantage of available space within the device than other batteries as it perfectly suits the changing trend of modern IT gadgets of flexible designs.

For example, recent mobile devices have been adopting round shapes and designs with rear buttons creating unnecessary “dead space” inside the gadget. With Stepped Batteries, the dead space can be filled up to fully power the handset and also increase the battery capacity.

In fact, the battery density has increased the capacity by 16% and also the life span by more than 3 hours when applied to the newly launched LG G2, a premium smart phone by LG Electronics.

The competitors in the market may succeed in stacking two batteries to make it into the step design but due to the increased cost of such technology, rivals will not achieve to do so, unless they can make it to an integral single type just like LG Chem.

At the Nanjing plant, LG Chem plans to launch Stepped Battery that goes beyond 3 to 4 step designs, stacking up more batteries into one single type depending on customer needs.

In addition, LG Chem’s Curved Battery refers to packs that can power IT devices with curved screen or flexible designs such as smart phones, watches and glasses. The company has the exclusive patent of Stack & Folding technology which reduces physical stress when realizing the curved design of battery packs. The mass production of Curved Battery has been started since this month and the products will power the next smart phone line up of LG Electronics.

Lastly, Cable Battery is applied to IT devices that are bendable, wearable and even be tied into a knot. Because it has been designed to use low electricity, the battery does not heat up although the user may operate the device for a long time. Moreover, the waterproof features of the battery allow itself to be used in wearable gadgets regardless of flexible figures, from necklace types to smart watches.

“Through the exclusiveness of our unique technology, LG Chem has succeeded in launching future batteries that have not existed before. This shall be the fundamental grounds for LG Chem to become a pioneer in the market. As a leader of battery manufacturer, we will continue to strive for Global No.1 by developing more of optimized, safe and long-lasting batteries to make it the business of future generation”, said YS Kwon, the President of Energy Solution Company, LG Chem.

LG Chem will be participating at the InterBattery 2013, which will be held in COEX from Oct 16th to display and demonstrate related products in a private zone.

About LG Chem
LG Chem, Ltd. is a globally diversified chemical company which operates three main business units: Petrochemicals, IT & Electronic Materials, and Energy Solution. The chemical business manufactures a wide range of products, from petrochemical goods to high-value added plastics. It also extends its chemical expertise into high-tech areas such as electronic materials and rechargeable batteries. LG Chem is one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers. For more information, please visit the LG Chem website at www.lgchem.com[/toggle]

October 8, 2013
The Demise Of Cell Phone Form Factors

The scene (2005) : Three teenagers sitting together text away on their cellphones. A flip-phone, a slider, a-twist and use cellphone.

The scene (2005) : Three teenagers sitting together text away on their smartphones. A touchscreen candybar, another touchscreen candybar and a touchscreen candybar.

Back in 2006, I had a Motorola Razr. It made calls and got texts, and did little else. It was thin and lightweight. It made a pleasing sound as it snapped open and shut. “Ooh, a Razr,” people would say, causing me to blush.

The MotoRazr remains the most iconic flip phone mankind has witnessed.

Smartphones and feature phones back then came in many different shapes and sizes, and moving parts were in – displays that pivoted, swiveled, and twisted around, or keyboards that clumsily tucked under the display.

It was all about which phone had the coolest features and the most unique form factor, not about brand, specifications or how big and dense the display was.

After the introduction of the iPhone, the change of variety shifted from form factors to features themselves. Slowly, all premium devices shifted from their funky form factors to the boring candybar factor.

In a way, the choices today are more than there have ever been. Companies experiment with build quality and materials based on the same form factor. And there are four major mobile operating systems to choose from: Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.

But, the main thing we’ve been missing since the flip phone era is the satisfying THWACK! of ending a phone call. You just can’t hang up authoritatively with a smartphone. “Did you see that guy jam his thumb against his iPhone? Ooh, he must be mad!!”

Slider phones too do not just remain the province of the elderly and the clueless. Increasingly, young, tech-savvy people may be wanting slider phones for that smooth transition to reveal the keyboard.

If you’re feeling nostalgic enough to explore a potential purchase of these devices, I’m afraid I have some bad news : there aren’t many options available in the market. You might find the odd feature phone which comes in a variety of form factors, but it may not be what you need as far as features are concerned.

Wearable tech may signal the next shift in form factors.

We may yet be about to witness yet another form factor transition. One from the standard candybar to flexible smartphones, wearable technology.

Every other form factor is nearing extinction, if it hasn’t already.

September 20, 2013
Panasonic T11 and P11 Android Smartphones Now Available

Panasonic has unveiled two new smartphones, the P11 and T11, these devices are available on online websites. The Panasonic T11 is priced at Rs. 9,520 and the Panasonic P11 is priced at Rs. 16,364.

The Panasonic T11 features a 4 inch display and is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor along with a 1 GB of RAM. The device has a 4 GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable up to 32 GB via micro SD card. Panasonic T11 has a 5 MP rear camera and a VGA front facing camera. This device runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and sports a 1,500 mAh battery.

Whereas, the Panasonic P11 comes with a 5 inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor along with a 1 GB of RAM. This device sports a 8 MP auto focus rear camera with LED flash, the device also have a 2 megapixel front-facing camera. Panasonic P11 has an inbuilt storage of 4 GB which can be expanded up to 32 GB via micro SD card. This device also runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and sports a bigger 2,000 mAh battery, P11 also comes up with Dual SIM support along with 3G.

September 20, 2013
HTC Corp. (US) Confirms Job Cuts

HTC Corp. has terminated more than two dozen jobs at its U.S. offices on Friday. The company said in a statement that the cuts were a decisive action by HTC Corp (US) to streamline and optimize our organization and improve efficiencies after several years of aggressive growth.

The specific number is not given, but as per source familiar with the situation said that about 30 positions were eliminated. It seems that the company is doing everything that is required to boost up the growth, as the company’s ‘Here’s The Change’ promotional campaign is also to its peak.

The official statement given by the company:

Today’s reduction in force is a decisive action by HTC Corp (US) to streamline and optimize our organization and improve efficiencies after several years of aggressive growth. Realigning its human resources against key strategic initiatives will help HTC more effectively advance into a new stage of growth and innovation. This is a hard decision that has direct impact on people who have contributed to the growth HTC has experienced the past several years. However, to achieve our long-term goals as a business and return maximum value to our shareholders, this is a necessary step to drive ongoing innovation, ensure our ability to create strong products like the HTC One, and forge strong customer relationships that solidify our future. HTC is proud of its employees and has a track record of hiring the best and brightest; we continue to hire in strategic areas and encourage impacted employees to apply for open positions that are a fit for their skills.

September 16, 2013
Express Yourself with Doodles, Doodly Doo

Messaging apps have become very popular, specifically applications like WhatsApp. These apps allows one to send and receive not only text messages but also images, videos, locations, audio the recent feature and some songs as well.

Making up doodles or expressing your self was first spread out by the Samsung’s Note series, using that one could easily sketch anything down and share it seamlessly. But the default S note is limited to certain things only.

However, for doodling its not necessary that you would need a stylus, as not all phones supports one. We are talking about the app that can help you to express your opinion in a different way, the app is called ‘Doodly Doo’.

Doodly Doo is an app that allows you to doodle anything that you imagine or to take the artist out of you. You can simply draw anything on the app, there are many brush size options along with a lot of color options. You can also take inputs from the camera, gallery, maps, google images and can also add text, rage faces, smileys and greetings to make your ideas of sketching better.

You can simply use the map option to direct someone where you exactly are, and give your personal message on it. And the greeting option shows up greetings for occasions like Happy birthday, Anniversary and ‘Alot’ more.

The app plays back the doodle on the receiver’s screen exactly the same way it is drawn. Users can also post these doodles to their Facebook, WhatsApp and even send links to watch these doodles to the ones who don’t use this app through SMS.

[youtube id=”pqt6UnKXCbU” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

September 14, 2013
Dell CEO : “Dell Not Getting In The Mobile Phone Business”

Founder and chief executive Michael Dell said a day after Dell Inc. shareholders approved his $25 billion buyout bid that taking the company private will help give it “long-term focus.”

Emphasizing the company’s main business was its enterprise business, Mr. Dell said the company was focused on “powering those clouds that are being fueled by this enormous explosion of mobile devices.”

Dell will participate in tablets and other client devices, he said, but “won’t be getting into the mobile phone business.”

Asked if layoffs were in the offing, CFO Brian Gladden said there would be a company “re-alignment,” without elaborating.

Dell, who founded the company from a college dorm-room in 1984, and partner Silver Lake fought for months to convince skeptical investors his offer was the best option. This week, he gained the upper hand after one of his staunchest opponents, activist investor Carl Icahn, bowed out of the conflict because he said it was “impossible to win.

As The Verge reports, the CEO pledged his company will continue its aggressive push into enterprise services, but also promised new products designed for regular consumers. “Dell will participate in tablets and all sorts of client devices,” he said. “This is the Dell that many of you are very, very familiar with, and you’re going to see it in all its glory.”

September 13, 2013
LG Display shows off 5.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 LCD for Smartphones

LG has once again beat its own record in terms of display size and resolution, with its latest 5.5 inch display for smartphones. The new 5.5 inch display has a mammoth resolution of 2560 x 1440 px and a 538 ppi. The super high res display is only 1.21mm thick, and just 1.2mm at the bezel. According to LG, that makes it the world’s slimmest and narrowest panel, and the use of AH-IPS tech and Low Temperature Poly-Silicon (LTPS) substrate, the screen features 430 nits of brightness.

The resolution of the display is termed as quadHD or 4 times the pixels than that of 1280 x 720 px display, the next big change in the mobile tech may as well be displays. However, how about that long lasting battery that we have been raving about?

[toggle title=”LG Press Release”]LG Display Develops World’s First Quad HD LCD Panel for Smartphones
New panel will deliver optimal viewing experience on larger smartphone displays

Seoul, Korea (August 21, 2013) – LG Display [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220], a leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it has developed the world’s first Quad HD AH-IPS LCD panel for smartphones. At 2560X1440 with 538ppi, the new 5.5-inch Quad HD panel is the highest resolution and ppi (pixel per inch) mobile panel to date, and provides a glimpse at what’s next after current Full HD smartphone panels, critical given the growing trend towards larger displays.

“LG Display, which pioneered the high resolution mobile market with introduction of the world’s first Full HD smartphone panel in 2012, again opens new possibilities with the successful application of QHD technology,” said Dr. Byeong-koo Kim, Vice President and Head of LG Display’s IT and Mobile Development Group. “With this breakthrough, LG Display will continue to raise new standards for mobile resolution and lead the mobile display market.”

LG Display’s Quad HD panel for smartphones realizes clearer images with 4 times more pixels than HD at 1,280X720, thereby reproducing more delicate colors as well as improving contrast and vividness when compared to current mobile displays. This advancement will enable consumers to fully enjoy more life-like and crisp images, and even Blu-ray equivalent video, on their smartphones. The panel also features the highest ppi among current mobile device displays.

In addition, the new Quad HD panel will enable users to enjoy a full view of PC-version web pages at a single glance without image distortion; a contrast to current Full HD displays which only realize 3/4th of a full screen. Also, even when enlarging the screen, users will be able to enjoy undistorted and sharper text.

Only 1.21mm thin with a 1.2mm bezel measured in LCD modules (LCM), LG Display’s new Quad HD panel is both the world’s slimmest and narrowest panel, with 12% reduced thickness compared to the company’s 5.2-inch Full HD panel released last month. Based on Low Temperature Poly-Silicon (LTPS) substrate, the panel also realizes superior brightness of 430nit with improved transmittance and larger aperture opening size.

LTPS-based smartphone displays are expected to record 765 million units in shipments next year according to research firm DisplaySearch, as displays with larger screens, higher resolution, and less power consumption prove key to competitiveness in the premium model segment.[/toggle]

August 21, 2013
Smartphones With SK Hynix 4GB DDR3 Memory Will Be Available By Year End

Do you worry that the 2GB of RAM inside your Nexus 4 or HTC One just isn’t enough? Want to be the person who says his phone has more memory than his 2006-era desktop PC? Your time will come, perhaps sooner than you think.

SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest memory manufacturers and direct competitor to Samsung, has announced that it will begin manufacture of 8Gb (1GB) LPDDR3 RAM modules, which can be stacked together to tally 4GB, by the end of the year.

The SK Hynix chips will be some 25% faster than current-generation LPDDR3 chips such as those inside the Galaxy S4, but the main thing here is the density: these chips will work nicely with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 800 SoC and improved camera modules in next year’s crop of smartphones.

SK Hynix is moving to a 20nm manufacturing process for these modules, which will be thinner, lighter and more energy-efficient than their current counterparts. The first recipients of the 4GB combination will begin this year, but will be far more common by Q2 2014.

[Mobile Syrup]

June 11, 2013