Friday, January 11, 2013

Samsung shows off 'unbreakable' phone which rolls up like paper

The screen uses the same OLED - organic LED - technology as many current smartphones, but encased in plastic instead of glass.



Samsung wowed an audience in Las Vegas this week with a working mobile phone screen which can be rolled and unrolled like a sheet of paper.

The screen kept working as it was rolled and unrolled - showing off that it is far more flexible than previous 'bendable' screens.

The screen uses the same OLED - organic LED - technology as many current smartphones, but encased in plastic instead of glass.

The prototype device is built to be "virtually unbreakable", Samsung claims.

The device was shown off by Brian Berkeley, senior vice-president of Samsung Display, at a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

“Our team was able to make a high resolution display on extremely thin plastic instead of glass, so it won’t break even if it’s dropped,” said Berkeley.

“This new form factor will really begin to change how people interact with their devices, opening up new lifestyle possibilities.”
The new display is called “Youm."

Berkeley also showed off a smartphone prototype equipped with a curved edge, which works almost like a 'second screen' around the edge of the device.

The Korean technology company remained quiet on when flexible phones might go on sale

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

CES 2013: 10 Products You Don't Want To Miss


1. HP Envy IPS Monitor




Hewlett-Packard will be MIA on the CES show floor, but the PC maker did make an appearance at Pepcom's Digital Experience event to flaunt some of  its latest and greatest.

One piece of eye candy in HP's lineup was the new Envy 27-inch IPS Monitor, a display claimed by the company to be the "world's first" with integrated Beats by Dr. Dre speakers. The built-in speakers are tilted at a slight upward angle, a design detail HP said delivers top-notch frequencies and a booming bass.
The "IPS" tag in the display's name stands for "In-Plane Switching" technology, which lets the monitor be tilted horizontally or vertically at a 178-degree angle. HP's new Envy IPS, which will starting shipping Feb. 3 for $500, is also complete with edge-to-edge glass, and a thin, 0.5-inch frame.

2. Samsung Series 7 Chronos Laptop



Samsung seriously set up shop at Monday's Pepcom event, showcasing three tables' worth of new products, including its new Series 7 Chronos notebook.

Aimed largely at enterprise users, the new Series 7 Chronos is a touch-enabled notebook, equipped with Windows 8 and a full 1,920 x 1,080 HD display. It packs an Intel quad-core processor, up to 16 GB of memory, and up to 1 TB of storage.

Business-specific features include RAMaccelerator, a new software solution Samsung said provides up to a 150 percent increase in Web browsing and runtime speeds, along with an impressive 11.5-hour battery life, ideal for those longer-than-expected work days. Pricing and availability details for the new Series 7 Chronos are still under wraps.




3. Acer Iconia B1


Surprisingly, Acer was one the few Pepcom-goers to tout a stand-alone tablet, showcasing its new entry-level Iconia B1.

With a compact, 7-inch screen, the Iconia B1 can be used easily with one hand, allowing users to comfortably peruse its Andriod Jelly Bean 4.1 OS. Under the hood is a Mediatek dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 8 GB of internal memory, with USB 2.0 and micro-USB ports also intact. The Iconia B1 touts a unique design composed of triangular corners and bright blue accents.

Acer's latest tablet is also pretty svelte, weighing just 0.7 pounds and measuring 0.4 inches thick. No official word on pricing or availability yet, but Acer did tease that the Iconia B1 would boast a price tag of $150 or less.


 4. Sony Xperia Z



Slated to launch globally sometime during the first quarter, the new Xperia Z is fueled by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, includes a 13-megapixel camera, and supports the latest 4G LTE networks. According to Sony, it has "all the specifications expected from a premium smartphone.




5. Samsung F8000 Smart TV

Soon to be available in display sizes up to 75 inches, Samsung's new F8000 is an LED Smart TV that provides a Full HD resolution, along with support for 3-D use. It's said by Samsung to be one of the world's first LED TVs with a quad-core processor, a distinction that lets the F8000 provide faster Web browsing and app-to-app toggling than its competitors










6. Asus Qube

Asus has cooked up a slick way to make your dumb TV smart. The Qube is a set-top box that effectively turns the connected tv into a Google TV. That gives users access to more than 100,000 shows on Amazon, Google Play, Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go and others. The Qube comes with a QWERTY remote that will also accept gesture and voice commands.  














7. Asus Transformer All-in-One

This is a huge leap for Asus's Transformer line of computers. This all-in-one has an 18.4-inch 1,080p IPS display and a huge trick up its sleeve. The monitor detaches, effectively becoming a monstrous slate equipped with its own battery, a Tegra 3 processor and Android Jelly Bean. When docked, it gains access to the Core i5 (or i7) processor in the dock and utilizes Windows 8. Even better, using Splashtop software, the tablet can still use Windows 8 when in Wi-Fi range of the dock itself. Prices will start at $1,299









8. Synaptics ThinTouch 


Synaptics has been working on the ThinTouch keyboard for quite some time now, but going hands-on with it was a treat. The new keyboard, destined for laptops, is even thinner than that of the MacBook Air. Synaptics achieves this through a rather ingenuous mechanical move. Think of tapping a key on your keyboard, it moves straight down. That's the travel of your key. The ThinTouch travels diagonally, shaving the distance it must travel and resulting in a thinner keyboard.












9. Toshiba Mini 3D Sound Bar

Toshiba has had a quality line of audio products for some years now. It's now expanding the line downward with Mini 3D Sound Bar. This Bluetooth speaker looks to compete with products such as the Jawbone Jambox and other popular and diminutive speakers. One way it will compete is with connectivity. Toshiba's offering has analog and digital inputs alongside the Bluetooth option. In a pleasant surprise, the speaker slots in at $179, $20 below Jawbone's category-leading option




 10. HP U160


 Despite the utterly lame name, the U160 will act as a practical and portable solution for those looking for a dual-monitor solution on the go. The U160 is a USB-powered, 15.6-inch monitor. The resolution is nothing to write home about at 1,366 x 768, but for the purpose of a second monitor, it would get the job done. Conveniently, the device has a folding solution that is reminiscent of an iPad Smart Cover. The U160 will launch this month at the rather attractive price of $179.


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Meet the Most Expensive Bluetooth Wireless Speaker


Not every Bluetooth speaker is pint-size. Polk Audio's gorgeous Woodbourne features a mahogany wood veneer top and supports both Bluetooth and AirPlay. It will set you back quite at bit at $600, so looks this good don't come cheap.

Google Nexus 10 Review

Enter the Google Nexus 10 - the Android tablet to rule them all. A brand new chipset and a Retina-killer of a screen are a great start, while the most feature-rich operating system on the market should help seal the deal. Not to mention that the Nexus 10 helps you save a pretty penny, undercutting the main rival by a good 20%.

Key features

  • 10.1" 16M-color Super PLS TFT capacitive touchscreen of WQXGA resolution (2560 x 1600 pixels), 300ppi density
  • Scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 2
  • Exynos 5250 chipset: dual-core 1.7 GHz ARM Cortex-A15 processor, Mali-T604 GPU, 2GB of RAM
  • Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
  • 16/32 GB of built-in memory
  • 5 megapixel camera with LED flash
  • 1.9 MP front-facing camera
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
  • Front-mounted stereo speakers
  • Standard USB port
  • microHDMI port
  • Bluetooth
  • 3.5 mm audio jack
  • GPS with A-GPS support; GLONASS support; digital compass
  • NFC and Android Beam support
  • Accelerometer and proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, barometer
  • 9000 mAh Li-Po battery
  • Multi-user access
  • Attractively priced

Main disadvantages

  • Non-expandable memory
  • No USB host (can be enabled with an app though)
  • No mobile data-enabled version
  • Poor video-codec support out of the box
Apple would go on and on about all those Retina-optimized tablet-friendly apps, but numbers can be deceptive. It looks nearly impossible for any slate on the market to match the functionality the Nexus 10 is offering right out of the box.

Source: @GsmArena

CES:2013 Samsung UN85S9 Ultra HD (4k TV)


The most striking thing about the S9 is the design: this is a floor-standing television mounted on what looks like an artist's easel and the TV is designed to tilt up and down.

The S9 TV features upgraded smarts with improved voice interaction and a quad-core processor to speed things along. If you wanted gesture control on this 4K TV -- or, even more usefully, Skype integration -- then unfortunately the F8500 misses out.

Meanwhile, the Smart Hub application has been enhanced with more content -- movies, videos, and music -- and a new TV program guide. This augments Samsung’s new S-Recommendation engine, which lists suggested content in thumbnails at the bottom of the screen.

The flagship TV incorporates a quad-core processor that should assist with the speed of the Smart TV interface as well as provide grunt for picture-processing tasks such as the Frame Rate Conversion engine and the Motion Judder Canceller.

The S9 offers a number of connectivity options including Samsung Smart View, which streams content between the TV and a Samsung mobile device, and AllShare has now been extended to incorporate Samsung’s "smart" appliances, enabling monitoring of air conditioners and washing machines from the TV screen.
The Samsung UN85S9 will be coming online in 2013, but like all things big, don't expect it to come cheap

Sony Xperia Z might arrive in Europe on February 18



Sony Xperia Z is the highlight of this year's CES, but it was only expected to hit the shelves in March. Various online retailers already listed the phone for the beginning of March and on about £530 (€650) price.
According to an authorized Sony retailer for Poland we might not have to wait all that long. The website of the store lists the smartphone with a February 18 release. The price however stands at a rather steep €680.


This is not an official Sony store, but is an officially authorized retailer, so there is some credibility to the announced date. Of course there is a note that the date is subject to change, but here's hoping this is just a standard disclaimer.

Source: @GsmArena

CES 2013: Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL

In 2012, Sony found itself behind the pace, offering its first dual-core droids just a few weeks before the competition switched to quad-core architectures. Keen to catch up, the Japanese start the year with a bang, courtesy of the quad-core Xperia Z. A near-identical alternative version, called Sony Xperia ZL, gladly doubles the fire power.

The Sony Xperia Z (previously known by its codename Yuga) is another first for Sony - the company's first 5" smartphone. The 5" LCD screen boasts 1080p resolution, which means that each inch of the screen fits 440 separate pixels. It should come as no surprise that the screen is backed by the second generation of the Sony Mobile Bravia engine for even better image quality.

The list of impressive specs goes on with the Xperia Z camera - it's a 13MP shooter with improved performance over last year's flagships. The custom Sony software has been updated as well - it offers HDR mode for video, which is a first on a mobile phone.

And then there's the chipset - Sony continues its partnership with Qualcomm and has picked the Snapdragon S4 Pro, which packs four Krait cores at 1.5GHz, along with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 (it will hardly be idle considering everything needs to be rendered at 1080p resolution).
The Sony Xperia ZL will have a more limited reach than the Z and it differs in several areas: the ZL is slightly shorter and a tad thicker. There's different finish at the back and it's not water-proof like the Xperia Z