One thing is not in dispute in the wider computer market; the tablet is increasingly becoming the form factor of choice. But will that stand with the pro market? Samsung is trying to make it happen with the Galaxy Note Pro line, and the first one is coming on that most romantic of holidays, Arbor Day. Wait, Valentine’s Day? OK, Valentine’s Day.
Hefty Tablet, Hefty Price
The Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, as you may have guessed, comes with a 12.2 inch screen. If you want twelve inches of tablet for Valentine’s Day, though, you will need to pay for the privilege. Specifically, you’ll need to come up with a heart-stopping $850. But is it worth the price? Good question.
Is A Big Touchscreen Worth A Big Price Tag?
It’d be one thing if this were in the same ballpark as, say, the first version of the Surface Pro, which was essentially a demo unit for Windows 8, but this isn’t in the same league and it may not even be playing the same sport. It’s got a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 with a quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 and Adreno 330 GPU. Undeniably pretty impressive… but on a pro level, where you need not just power but applicability, it does raise an eyebrow or two. Secondly, considering Intel has Android/Window tablets in the pipe, and that Chromebooks are getting larger and cheaper, $850 seems like a hefty chunk of change for a tablet. Samsung had better have more than just a big touchscreen to justify the tag.
Pro? We’ll See
One way or the other, Samsung’s about to put the idea that tablets can make the leap to business class to the test; the 12.2 is just the first in a full-on offensive. We’ll see if it works; obviously, there are some large barriers to overcome. Either way, though, the tablet game just got a whole lot more interesting.
galaxy note pro Samsung Tablets Comparisons
2014 is expected to bring us not only higher-resolution displays like the Quad HD 2560 x 1440-pixel screen rumored to come with phones like theSamsung Galaxy S5, but also dramatically improved colors. The culprit? A nascent ‘quantum dots’ LCD technology that we first saw in the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7-inch tablet last year. While the technology appeared on just one tablet last year, quantum dot displays are expected to become much more common in 2014, bringing a much needed improvement in smartphones and tablets, according to DisplayMate screen expert Raymond Soneira.
The problem with current LCD technology is that it uses white LED’s with yellow phosphorus that produce broad light spectrum, which makes it hard to achieve nicely saturated colors. Quantum dots, in contrast, are capable of converting light from blue LEDs directly to produce highly saturated colors, similar to the ones in AMOLED displays. Even better, quantum dots allow precise tuning and calibration during the manufacturing process, which should increase the color accuracy.
The staggering difference can be best seen in a spectrum chart comparing a traditional LCD display (used in the iPad mini) to a ‘quantum dot’ one (used in the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7).
Notice the advantage of the quantum dot LCD display of the Kindle over the iPad mini
The new technology would also be instrumental in overcoming the narrow color gamut of devices like the iPad mini with Retina and the Microsoft Surface 2.
All in all, we can expect to see not just sharper screens on mobile devices in 2014, but more accurate and colorful ones. What’s not to love about this? Feel free to also check out the slideshow right below showing other upcoming technologies that will improve our mobile screens soon.
All eyes on 2014: what's next for mobile displaysFullscreen
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1. The new resolution: 2560 x 1440, QHD
First, let’s speak about the elephant in the room - QHD. Often referred to as 2K or WQHD, we have decided to use the QHD name that most display makers use for the 2560 x 1440-pixel screens that we’ll see on smartphones in 2014. Cramming even more pixels in our smartphones displays will make everything our screens look sharper, but the change will be most noticeable when looking at fine elements - for instance when reading text that will look very crisp and paper-like. We’re smitten by the quick advances in display resolutions. In a push driven by Apple with its “Retina” screen, the boom started happening around 2010 with the iPhone 4’s 640 x 960 pixel screen. 720p followed quickly after in devices like the Samsung Galaxy S III in 2012, and everyone moved to 1080p in 2013
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There aren't many network-attached hard drives for the home, and those that exist aren't always easy to use... not unless you enjoy drive mapping, anyway. Toshiba may just make the experience simpler with its just-shipped Canvio Home, though. This sequel to the Canvio Personal Cloud takes some of the guesswork out of setting up and finding your storage on your home network; if you just need to drag-and-drop files, you could be up and running within minutes. The Canvio Home also introduces official Mac support. As before, you can access the Canvio Home from anywhere (including Android and iOS apps), and it will stream media to local DLNA-capable gadgets. Toshiba is selling a 2TB version of the new disk for $200, while its 3TB sibling costs $260.
The idea of having the ability to remotely stop a vehicle isn’t new. GM has been able to do that for a number of years via OnStar. If some OnStar equipped cars are stolen, the car can be remotely turned off allowing police to catch the suspects. Authorities in Europe have a plan that could one day require remote kill switches on all cars.
The plan would require every car entering Europe to have a system fitted that would allow the car to be tracked and disabled remotely by police. The program is reportedly being developed by the European Network of Law Enforcement Technologies with the goal of building a standard for all automobiles.
The plan was revealed by a civil rights group from Europe called Statewatch. Authorities want to make it so police could disable any vehicle remotely at the touch of a button. The police say such a system would end high-speed chases.
Statewatch fears that the system would be abused. The GM OnStar system requires the owner of the vehicle to give permission for the stop before the technology is activated. OnStar says that it performs as many as seven slowdowns of this type each month.
SOURCE: Fox News
Conventional rumor-derived knowledge so far is that the iPhone 6 will sport an 8 MP camera again, though speculation on a higher-resolution unit have been bandied about before, too.
Now the news section of the giant electronics e-tailer JD has posted tips claimed to be from the Taiwanese supply chain of Apple, and they cite a 10 MP+ camera is in the cards for the next iPhone. Not only will the sensor be new, they report, but also the camera unit will have a very wide f/1.8 aperture, and support interchangeable resin lenses.
ARTON resin lenses
Those lenses, for which Apple already filed a patent, are allegedly made by the Japanese JSR, and feature more nuanced light filtering via the transparent resin.
JSR's resin invention is branded Arton, and it has mobile phone lenses application listed in the description. The company gives the following brief explanation about its properties, which, besides excellent optical characteristics, seem to include extra durability, too:
ARTON is superior in optical characteristics, dimension stability, and is a transparent resin (cyclic olefin resin) of a high heat resistance. ARTON is one of the high functional resins best suited for optical applications such as optical films, light guiding plates, optical lenses etc.
source: JD via G4Games
Based on the website of Turkey's president Abdullah Gül, the latter was supposed to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook starting 4am EST this morning. While we have no indication that the meeting has ended, at stake is a possible $4 billion in Apple iPad orders. The tablets are being sought for the country's FATIH project which replaces traditional classroom tools with newer technology like tablets.
The meeting between Cook and President Gül had been planned back in December, and the Apple CEO's trip to Turkey was timed to coincide with the opening of the first Apple Store in the country. In October, Apple turned the switch on its online store in the region, and now has a physical 21,000 square foot retail location at the Zorlu Center in Instanbul.
As we mentioned back in December, the initial stage of the agreement covers 10.6 million units of the Apple iPad, with subsequent shipments of 2 million to 2.5 million to take place over a four year period.
Both sides visited each other, starting with last year's visit to Turkey by Apple's VP of Education John Couch. That was followed by a trip to Cupertino by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who wanted to check out the tablet before placing orders for the device.
source: Govt.ofTurkey via AppleInsider
We heard that a sequel to the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom might be on the way, temporarily dubbed S5 Zoom, and now a Samsung mobile camera has appeared on Zauba, the import database, indicating a successor to Samsung's camera with phone functions could indeed be in the cards.
Listed as "Samsung Mobile Camera for R&D purpose", the gadget is pegged at an import cost of around $523 equivalent, which is right in the ballpark of what the original S4 Zoom did cost at launch. As per the specs, no word yet, but we'd wager to guess the phone part will be upgraded compared to last year's original.
In the meantime, a further proof appeared that Samsung will play the same variations game it ran last year with the Galaxy S4. There was a waterproof, toughened version of the flagship, called S4 Active, and Korean media reports that an S5 Active is in the works, too, so all bases will be covered again. The publication says that Samsung is gunning for 20-30% of the total S5 sales to be of the S5 Active variation this year, unlike the last one, where the chunky watertight S4 Active grabbed only 4% of the flagship sales.
Samsung just announced there will be a new Unpacked event at MWC on February 24th, and the "5" in the description is a not-so-subtle hint that the S5 might debut there, so all be revealed in just three weeks time.
source: Zauba via BlogofMobile & ETNews via G4Games
As we told you earlier this year, Sony is the only FIFA 2014 World Cup official partner that manufactures phones. Its collaboration with FIFA allowed it to put the 2014 World Cup logo on the retail box of the newXperia Z1 Compact. But Sony also makes smartwatches, among other things, and that’s why it will launch a SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition soon.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition comes with a wrist band that features the colors of the Brazilian flag. As you probably already know, Brazil is where FIFA 2014 World Cup will take place starting June. Other than the yellow-green wrist band, the SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition seems to be similar to the original version.
It looks like the Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition will be launched in the UK starting March. Alongside it, a Silver metal edition will also be available (obviously featuring a silver metal wrist band). Retailer Clove will sell both new SmartWatch 2 models for $215 (£132) each.
Like most of Sony’s latest smartphones, the SmartWatch 2 is water resistant (IP57). It offers a 1.6-inch transflective LCD screen with 220 x 176 pixels, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and a battery that should provide up to 3-4 days of "normal usage."
source: Clove via Xperia Blog
As we told you earlier this year, Sony is the only FIFA 2014 World Cup official partner that manufactures phones. Its collaboration with FIFA allowed it to put the 2014 World Cup logo on the retail box of the newXperia Z1 Compact. But Sony also makes smartwatches, among other things, and that’s why it will launch a SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition soon.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition comes with a wrist band that features the colors of the Brazilian flag. As you probably already know, Brazil is where FIFA 2014 World Cup will take place starting June. Other than the yellow-green wrist band, the SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition seems to be similar to the original version.
It looks like the Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition will be launched in the UK starting March. Alongside it, a Silver metal edition will also be available (obviously featuring a silver metal wrist band). Retailer Clove will sell both new SmartWatch 2 models for $215 (£132) each.
Like most of Sony’s latest smartphones, the SmartWatch 2 is water resistant (IP57). It offers a 1.6-inch transflective LCD screen with 220 x 176 pixels, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and a battery that should provide up to 3-4 days of "normal usage."
source: Clove via Xperia Blog
It's official: Microsoft’s search for a new CEO is over. Following recent speculations, the software giant is indeed appointing Satya Nadella as its new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer. The 46-year-old Nadella will take over immediately, allowing Ballmer to retire early. Nadella had been one of a number of candidates that Microsoft is believed to have interviewed for the role; the company originally said it was pushing to name its Ballmer successor before the end of last year. Despite the fact that the search extended into 2014, the timing of the CEO announcement is important as it places Nadella in charge ahead of the closure of Microsoft’s Nokia deal and the company's ongoing reorganization.
"Today is a very humbling day for me," says Nadella in an internal memo to Microsoft employees. "It is an incredible honor for me to lead and serve this great company of ours." In the broad letter, Nadella outlines his reasons for working at Microsoft, along with his 22-year history at the company. "While we have seen great success, we are hungry to do more," he notes. "This is a critical time for the industry and for Microsoft. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places — as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it. Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world."
As Nadella takes over as CEO co-founder Bill Gates steps down as chairman today;his new official title is founder and technology advisor. "I'm thrilled that Satya has asked me to step up, substantially increasing my time at the company," says Gates in a videocommenting on Nadella's new position. "I'll have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups and it'll be fun to define this next round of products working together."
In a similar video, former CEO Steve Ballmer also congratulates Nadella on his new role: "I have absolutely no doubt Microsoft is in good hands, with Satya and the rest of the senior leadership team that is in place," says Ballmer. "We have so many strong leaders … the future of Microsoft is incredibly bright." It's clear that Microsoft's former CEOs back Nadella, and he also has the unanimous support of the board.
Nadella is a Microsoft veteran, having joined the company over 20 years ago. Born in India in 1969, Nadella studied Electrical Engineering at the Mangalore University before moving to the US to study computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He originally worked at Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems before heading to Redmond to work on research for Microsoft’s online services division. He has held a number of roles inside the company: he's worked in the company’s business division on Office and even has some experience building the Bing search engine. Most importantly, however, he has been instrumental in transforming Microsoft’s cloud business and has previously led its server and tools business.
MICROSOFT'S SERVER AND ENTERPRISE GUY
Nadella’s work on Microsoft’s server and tools business helped boost the division’s profitability and smoothed its transition from traditional client-server computing to cloud infrastructure like Windows Azure. Recently, Nadella has been focused on Microsoft’s cloud businesses, pushing the company’s underlying infrastructure and services into products like Bing, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, and Skype. While Nadella has little experience running consumer-facing businesses like Xbox or Skype, he does have a deep understanding and knowledge of the computing and engineering required to develop and build services and applications that are used by millions. Given Microsoft’s "devices and services" push, he’s clearly well positioned to help steer the company in one particular direction.
While Nadella has made a name for himself inside Microsoft as an intelligent and charismatic leader over the years, he’s not a household name to consumers, and even to most businesses. He has surged through the ranks with technical expertise and a focus on enterprise, but has little involvement in Microsoft’s devices and mobile future. His appointment will come as a surprise to those who expected former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to take over from Ballmer. While Elop has run a publicly traded company, Nadella lacks this key experience. Elop will still rejoin Microsoft shortly to lead an expanded devices team focused on Surface, Windows Phones, and Xbox.
Microsoft’s core strength currently relies on enterprises and businesses purchasing licenses or using software and services that the company develops. While Windows is struggling thanks to a decline in PC shipments, Microsoft’s enterprise, Office software, and services are continuing to bring in impressive revenues for the company. Nadella compliments this strength perfectly, but he will now need to prove he can complete Microsoft’s vision for devices and its ongoing mobile push.
As we told you earlier this year, Sony is the only FIFA 2014 World Cup official partner that manufactures phones. Its collaboration with FIFA allowed it to put the 2014 World Cup logo on the retail box of the newXperia Z1 Compact. But Sony also makes smartwatches, among other things, and that’s why it will launch a SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition soon.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition comes with a wrist band that features the colors of the Brazilian flag. As you probably already know, Brazil is where FIFA 2014 World Cup will take place starting June. Other than the yellow-green wrist band, the SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition seems to be similar to the original version.
It looks like the Sony SmartWatch 2 FIFA edition will be launched in the UK starting March. Alongside it, a Silver metal edition will also be available (obviously featuring a silver metal wrist band). Retailer Clove will sell both new SmartWatch 2 models for $215 (£132) each.
Like most of Sony’s latest smartphones, the SmartWatch 2 is water resistant (IP57). It offers a 1.6-inch transflective LCD screen with 220 x 176 pixels, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and a battery that should provide up to 3-4 days of "normal usage."
source: Clove via Xperia Blog
Contextual apps and services are considered by many to be the next big frontier in mobile devices. Google has been pushing the benefits of contextual data with Google Now in Android and iOS, while Apple has integrated similar services to a limited extent in iOS 7. Startups such as Cover and recent Yahoo acquisition Aviate, provide wildly different smartphone experiences based on contextual data such as location or time of day.
EverythingMe, a homescreen and app launcher for Android available today, provides yet another take on using contextual data to make your smartphone even better. Co-founder Ami Ben David calls it "Smartphone 2.0" (as opposed to the static launchers in Android and iOS, i.e. smartphone 1.0) and promises that it will make your phone smarter and more efficient to use.
EVERYTHINGME WILL FEEL FAMILIAR TO MOST ANDROID USERS
EverythingMe looks more like a traditional Android launcher than its main competitor Aviate, with five homescreens, an app drawer, and a search bar at the top. It's more familiar to someone that has used Android before, and doesn't require you to completely relearn where all of your apps are. It's more dynamic than traditional launchers, with its changing backgrounds and swift animations. It feels more alive as you use it.
The project initially started as a way to improve search on your phone, and EverythingMe claims its search bar now offers the fastest in-phone search available on Android. Finding apps or contacts only requires a tap or two in the search bar at the top of your screen, and the entire interface will rearrange itself as you type based on what you're looking for. More frequently used apps or contacts will bubble to the top of the results, while searches for specific artists or albums will be transferred to appropriate apps. A search for "movie" pulls up quick shortcuts to the YouTube, Netflix, and IMDB apps on my phone, as well as links to Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, and other relevant web sites. The background changes to a relevant image from James Cameron's Avatar , which provides a more colorful and dynamic feel than the stark white backgrounds in Google's Search app.
EverythingMe also offers Smart Folders, folders that automatically populate with related apps. A Smart Folder of social apps will automatically contain your Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat apps, for instance. If you download Instagram, it will automatically be added to the social folder when it is installed. The Smart Folders go beyond just what's on the phone by offering shortcuts to related websites below the installed apps, similar to the web shortcuts available when you use the search bar. Some Smart Folders, such as sports, news, or weather, attempt to anticipate what you are looking for with stylish Google Now-like cards that tell you current conditions or the latest headlines.
SMART FOLDERS AUTOMATICALLY GET UPDATED WITH EACH NEW APP YOU INSTALL
The most contextual feature of EverythingMe is its Prediction Bar, a widget of sorts that sits at the bottom of your main homescreen and displays apps that it thinks you are most likely to use at a given time. The bar will change which apps are presented based on your location, time of day, and how often you use them. It includes an agenda-type app that changes during the day with current weather, upcoming appointments, and more. The widget will also show relevant apps if you plug a headset into the phone, or if you have a missed call from one of your favorite contacts. David says that it takes a few days of using EverythingMe before the Prediction Bar becomes its most effective as the launcher changes its suggestions based on your habits.
EverythingMe's goal is to anticipate what you want to do with your phone in any given situation and then make it easy to accomplish that task. David likens it to a real life human assistant that has your coffee just the way you like it on your desk before you even step into the office. I've been using the latest version of the launcher on my Moto X for a couple of days and while it's definitely not as capable as a real human assistant (it has yet to get me a cup of coffee), it has surprised me on a number of occasions by presenting the app or information I'm looking for with little to no input from me. It's also fast and responsive and the extra information it pulls in for the Smart Folders and other functions don't seem to slow it down.
EVERYTHINGME'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE WILL BE GETTING USERS TO INSTALL IT
The biggest challenge for EverythingMe will not be figuring out what app I want to use next but to actually get people to download and install the launcher. The company claims that it saw over two million downloads during its eight month public beta test, which while impressive, is only but a small fraction of the Android userbase. The truth of the matter is that most users are content with they way their phones come out of the box or aren't even aware that they can install a different app launcher.
For now, the company is independent (though it has raised considerable funds, employs over 60 engineers, and has caught the eye of Samsung) and it is offering the app at no cost, hoping that it will continue to grow via word of mouth. EverythingMe makes money by promoting and suggesting apps to users based on their search criteria and it has a partnership with Mozilla to power the search features in Firefox OS. David insists that no promoted app will rank higher than an actual app installed on a user's phone, and I didn't find the suggestions to be obnoxious or obtrusive in the time I've used the app.
EverythingMe is hoping that context will be everything to everyone, and there's a very good chance that the smartphones of tomorrow will be using contextual data in ways that we can only imagine. Until then, EverythingMe is one way to take advantage of all of that data that your smartphone already knows.
SOURCEEVERYTHINGME (GOOGLE PLAY)
Samsung nigh-confirmed that it will officially announce the Galaxy S5 on February 24th at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with those‘Unpacked 5’ invitations it sent out to the media yesterday, but there was one man who warned us about the earlier than expected launch nearly two weeks ago.
We’re talking about Russian insider and blogger Eldar Murtazin, and now he claims he knows the exact specifications of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5.
Samsung’s 2014 flagship is said to come with a 5.24-inch screen with a whopping 2560 x 1440-pixel, Quad HD resolution. If true, this would make the Galaxy S5 the first Quad HD smartphone in the Western hemisphere (the Vivo Xplay 3S outpaced it to become the first Quad HD smartphone in the world, but it’s availability is limited to China). This would also make the Galaxy S5 the world’s first smartphone to break the 500ppi barrier, as its pixel density comes in at 560ppi.
Moreover, the Galaxy S5 should feature a whopping 3200mAh battery, and hopefully, an increase in battery life. In comparison, last year’s Galaxy S4 came with a humbler, 2600mAh battery, but it also features a smaller display with a lower resolution.
Interestingly, the phone is rumored to come with increased internal storage, as there would be a 32GB and 64GB internal storage models, and no 16 gig version. Murtazin, however, does not mention whether the S5 will have a microSD card memory expansion slot.
Samsung is preparing a new TouchWiz interface that might debut on the Galaxy S5
Under the hood, the Galaxy S5 is said to be available in two versions - an international one with a Snapdragon system chip, and another one with an Exynos 6 chip. It’s not yet clear whether the international S5 would have Snapdragon 805 or Snapdragon 800 (likely the MSM8974ac version) at launch.
The camera is once again said to be a 16-megapixel one on the back, and a 3.2-megapixel up front. This falls in line with earlier rumors about a 16-megapixel ISOCELL camera in the next Samsung flagship, so we're not all that surprised about this.
Additionally, the Galaxy S5 should launch with a lot of smarthome software and a few new accessories including an S Band bracelet. Interestingly, plans for a thinner Galaxy Gear smartwatch launching alongside the S5 have allegedly been scrapped at this time.
Finally, do keep in mind that all of this - despite coming from an inside source - is still a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt, at least until we see the new Samsung flagship soon.
