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LG announces curved screen phones to launch in 2014

October 12th, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
12

LG has announced it is to start mass-production of what it calls the “world’s first flexible OLED [organic light-emitting diode] panel for smartphones”.
The South Korean firm said it hoped to start selling the first handsets to feature the tech next year.
The news comes weeks after Samsung made a similar announcement.
Samsung said it intended to launch its first product – a special edition of the Galaxy Note 3 – later this month.
Both companies already use the technology to offer curved OLED television sets.
Although the displays used in the TVs are in theory “flexible”, they are mounted in fixed shells so they cannot be bent or otherwise re-shaped by the owner.
A press release from LG’s display division indicated its handset screen would curve from top-to-bottom rather than side-to-side, the design Samsung described in a recent patent.

It said the advantage of using the tech was that the panel was “bendable and unbreakable”.
“The new display is vertically concave from top to bottom with a radius of 700mm [28in], opening up a world of design innovations in the smartphone market,” LG added.
“What’s more, it is also the world’s lightest, weighing a mere 7.2g [0.25oz] even with a 6in screen, the largest among current smartphone OLED displays.”
One industry watcher was not convinced the product, as described, would have much appeal.
“I think LG is doing this to show it is innovative, to do something different and to stand out from the rest of the bar-style screen devices that we have at the moment,” said David McQueen, a mobile device expert at tech consultants Informa.
“But I don’t think consumers are going to be that interested by a slightly curved design.
“However, we do think there will be interest if flexible screens are used to offer different form factors.
“For example a device that you snap round your wrist or a traditional shaped smartphone whose screen wraps around the sides onto a bit of the back so that the edges become touchscreen rather than hard buttons.”

Samsung Event 2013: Everything we expect Samsung to announce at ‘Unpacked’ event

October 8th, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
08

Months after revealing the Galaxy S4, which turned out to be another global sales smash for the surging Apple competitor, Samsung is surely hoping that its new gadgets will make a similar splash in the market. What does the Korean tech behemoth have in store? Here’s what we’re expecting (and make sure to follow @YahooTech on Twitter for all the latest).

The Galaxy Note III
For this Unpacked event, we hope Samsung brought a huge suitcase.
We’re definitely expecting a third edition of the Galaxy Note, the so-called “phablet” that pushed the boundaries of smartphone screen size when it was first introduced in 2011. Leaks indicate that the Galaxy Note III will be even larger than its predecessor, with a 5.7 inch display (compared to a 5.5 inch display on the Note II, and a 5.3 inch display on the original Note).

There are also rumors that the Note III will include a fingerprint sensor, to enhance security both for locking and unlocking the device, and perhaps for more secure “tap-to-pay” payments via NFC. Apple has also been rumored to include a fingerprint sensor on its upcoming iPhone, to be announced on September 10; and though smartphones have shipped with fingerprint scanners and sensors before — predominantly in Japan — the Galaxy Note III would be the first mainstream American phone to ship with one, should the rumors be true.
A tweet from noted tech leaker @evleaks, meanwhile, allegedly reveals even more about the phone’s hardware and software: Per an alleged screenshot of the phone’s Setting screen from @evleaks, the Galaxy Note III will run the brand new Android 4.3 operating system, making it one of, if not the, first smartphones to ship with the latest version of Android. Evleaks also indicates that the Note 3 will sports a 2.3 Ghz quad-core processor and a 2.5 GB of RAM.
And, finally, one accessory we fully expect the Note III to ship with: a stylus. Each of the first two Galaxy Notes have included a stylus, or “S Pen,” and we don’t expect the Note III to be any different than its predecessors in that respect.

The Galaxy Gear Smartwatch
Reports are also leading us to believe that the world’s largest smartphone maker is likely to introduce a smartwatch at tomorrow’s event. In fact, Samsung’s purported wrist watch device may be even be packing some impressive, smartphone-like guts.
According to information obtained by AmongTech, Samsung’s smartwatch, reportedly named the Galaxy Gear, will pack a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, a 2.5” touchscreen watch face and a 4 MegaPixel 720p front-facing camera. It’s believed that the Gear will also be running a version of Android Jellybean, designed to run some Android apps, and come equipped with an accelerometer and Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities.
Though Samsung’s eventual addition of a smartwatch to its line of devices was expected, an unveiling on Tuesday means that Apple’s Korean rival may end up beating them to market. Reports earlier this year have pinned Apple to the development of an iWatch, also believed to be a smartwatch device.
One reported Galaxy Gear that turned out to be little more than a dream: a flexible, wrap around-type screen. In an interview with The Korea Times last month, Samsung Mobile’s executive vice president Lee Young-Hee revealed that the Gear “won’t have a flexible display.” Maybe next year’s model.

Android or Apple? How to Buy the Best Tablet

October 3rd, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
03

Whether you opt for an Apple iPad or one of many Androids, choosing the right media-consumption tablet isn’t necessarily a snap. Here’s what you need to know before you hit the store.

It’s difficult to remember a time before tablets, but it’s been three short years since the originalApple iPad hit the scene, and the current tablet market was born. Since then, we’ve seen scores of manufacturers trying to snag a slice of the tablet pie, which so far, has been dominated by Apple, now on its fourth iPad iteration. Growth is so rapid in the segment that some analysts claim tablet sales are set to outpace laptops this year. There’s no denying that the tablet is here to stay.
But which tablet is right for you? Whether you’re eyeing an iPad, one of the many Android tablets available, here are the key factors you need to consider when shopping for a tablet:

First Off: Do You Even Need One?
Simply put, tablets aren’t really filling any true need—even three years in, they’re still neither replacements for computers nor smartphones. While you can tackle productivity tasks on a tablet, you won’t get a desktop-grade operating system, like you’ll find on a PC. Plus, since we’re talking about slates here, we’re talking about on-screen keyboards. Of course, there are plenty of worthy add-on hardware keyboards, especially for the iPad, but few will provide the same comfort you’ll experience with a laptop or a desktop. The main focus of the tablets we’ll discuss here is media consumption, not productivity. If you want a slate or convertible tablet for work, take a look at the top-rated Windows 8 tablets we’ve tested, but be prepared to pay laptop prices, many run around the $1k mark.
Tablets do have advantages over both laptops and phones, offering a more portable way to check email, browse the Web, video chat, watch movies, listen to music, and play games than your laptop can provide, but with a bigger screen than on your smartphone. Even so, you probably don’t need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.

Choose Your Operating System
Just like with a full-fledged computer, if you’re getting a tablet, you need to pick a camp. And just like with a computer, your decision will likely come down to your gut feeling. Right now, the top two contenders are Apple with its iPads and iPad mini, and Android with its many hardware choices from the likes of Acer, Amazon, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Google, Samsung, and others.
Microsoft recently entered the race with its Surface $349.00 at Microsoft Store tablet, running Windows RT, a slimmed-down version of Windows 8, which runs on mobile devices with ARM processors. We’ve also seen RT-based tablets from Asus, Dell, and Lenovo, but overall, the platform hasn’t really taken off, with some vendors like HP and Samsung canceling RT-based tablet releases to focus on Android and Atom-powered Windows 8 models.
Generally speaking, the greatest strength of Apple’s iOS, the operating system on the iPad and iPad mini, is twofold: It’s very clean and intuitive, and the wide selection of iPad apps that you can buy right on your tablet—more than 300,000 iPad-specific titles at the time of this writing—work uniformly well with very few exceptions. (For more, check out our fulliOS 6.1 Review.)
Google’s mobile OS, Android, is a more complicated story. Besides having your choice of hardware from several manufacturers, at any given time, there are a few iterations of Android floating around on various devices. The latest version, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), is the best yet, with maximum configurability, a top-notch notification system, fast, smooth Web browsing, and seamless integration with Google applications like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Talk for video chat. The latest Android version also adds support for multiple user logins so you can share your tablet with a friend or family member, a useful feature that’s missing in Apple tablets. The only problem: Right now, you can only find Android 4.2 on Google’s own Nexus tablets and a small handful of others including a couple of Transformer models from Asus.

What About Apps?
What’s a tablet without quality apps? If you want every third-party app under the sun, right now, nothing out there beats the iPad with its 300,000+ programs and games designed specifically for Apple tablets. The App Store is well-curated and monitored, offers a deep selection, and includes every popular app you can think of. If a wide range of compelling apps that look good and work well your tablet is your main priority, Apple is your best bet.
Android has made some strides on app selection in the past year, courting more developers and offering more high-quality tablet apps, but its still nowhere near the number Apple offers. It’s tough to say exactly how many tablet-optimized Android apps are available, but it’s likely in the thousands, rather than the hundreds of thousands. There are also Android phone apps, which look decent on a 7-inch tablet, but not a 9- or 10-inch one, so you’re likely to have more problems getting high-quality apps for larger Android tablets.

Screen Size and Storage
This consideration is a bit obvious, but size—both screen real estate and storage capacity—is important to consider. First things first: When you hear the term “10-inch or 7-inch tablet” this refers to the size of the screen, measured diagonally, and not the size of the tablet itself. 7-inch tablets are considered small-screen, while 8.9- to 10-inch tablets are considered large screen. Apple iPads, Google Nexus tablets, Amazon Kindle Fires, and B&N Nook HD tablets all come in both small- and large-screen iterations. Samsung, for one, wants you to have multiple choices, so it offers its Android tablets in multiple screen sizes (10.1, 8.9, 8.0, 7.7, 7.0 inches, and even a phone/tablet hybrid, the Galaxy Note II with a 5.5-inch display and a stylus).
Screen resolution is important too, especially for ebook reading and Web surfing. A sharp, bright display is key. Right now, the Google Nexus 10 is the sharpest you’ll find with a2,560-by-1,600, 300-pixel-per-inch resolution. The fourth-gen iPad $499.00 at Apple Store with its 2,048-by-1,536-pixel (264 ppi) Retina display is no slouch either. If you’re in the market for a 10-inch Android tablet, look for a display with at least a 1,280-by-800 resolution. For 7-inch models: The Amazon Kindle Fire’s display is 1,024-by-600, and is perfectly viewable, even for ebook reading, but line it up side-by-side with the same-sizeKindle Fire HD’s 1,280-by-800 screen, and you’ll definitely notice the difference.
The weight of a tablet is one definite advantage it has over a laptop—but let’s be clear, at around 1.44 pounds (in the case of the latest iPad) it’s not cell-phone light. This is true for small-screen tablets as well. After you hold one with a single hand on a subway ride for 20 minutes, your hand will get tired. Setting it flat in your lap, rather than propped up on a stand, can also be a little awkward. And few tablets will fit in your pocket, unless it’s a extra large jacket pocket.
Cloud storage is an option for many tablets (iCloud for iPads, Amazon Cloud Storage for Kindle Fires, and SkyDrive for the MS Surface tablet are a few examples), but when it comes to on-board storage, more is always better. All those apps, when combined with a typical music, video, and photo library, can take up a lot of space. Right now storage tops out at 64GB of flash-based memory, with most of the tablets we’ve tested available in either 16, 32, or 64GB varieties. Larger capacity models can get as expensive as full-featured laptops, though—the 64GB Wi-Fi-only iPad rings up at $700, add 4G service, and you’re up to $830. A few Android tablets have microSD memory card slots that let you expand storage; the Surface has one as well.

Wi-Fi-Only vs. Cellular Models
Many tablets come in a Wi-Fi-only model or with the option of always-on cellular service from a wireless provider. If you want to use your tablet to get online anywhere, you should opt for a model with a cell radio, like the aforementioned fourth-gen iPad, iPad mini, or the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 $244.00 at Amazon. Of course, this adds to the device’s price, and then you need to pay for cellular service. Generally, though, with a tablet, you can purchase data on a month-to-month basis, without signing a contract.

Another way to get your tablet online: Use your 3G or 4G phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your tablet—this won’t work with every phone/tablet combo, so you should check with your carrier before you seal a deal.
Finally, before you buy, if you can, head to your local electronics store to get hands-on time with some different tablets, so you can see which feels and works best for you.

Source: www.pcmag.com

Smartphone Cameras at 41 Megapixels Pressure Canon, Nikon

October 1st, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Oct
01

The global camera business, centered in Japan, is headed for a shakeout.
With industry revenue falling to the lowest level in a decade amid surging smartphone sales, Nikon Corp. (7731), the world’s No. 2 camera maker, has cut prices to lure consumers. Market leader Canon Inc. (7751) may follow suit to keep pace, according to UBS AG, putting pressure on smaller producers and possibly leading them to retreat from the business.
“There are too many players,” said Ryosuke Katsura, an analyst at UBS in Tokyo. “It’s going to be tough for smaller camera makers even to remain in the business as competition between Canon and Nikon will likely intensify,” said Katsura, who recommends selling shares of both industry leaders.
Since Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone in 2007, Canon and Nikon stocks have lost more than half their value as demand has withered in an industry they have dominated for over a decade. Nikon is the worst performer in the Nikkei 225 (NKY) index this year, falling 34 percent.
Sales of compact models have slumped as smartphones displace the point-and-shoots that were the biggest part of the market. Now higher margin single-lens reflex models — a market 80 percent controlled by Canon and Nikon — are slowing as well.
To keep sales moving, Nikon has been discounting many models. The Nikon 1 J2, introduced a year ago, now sells for as little as 23,485 yen ($240), 64 percent below its initial price, according to Japanese online comparison site Kakaku.com. The high-end D600, also introduced last September, has declined 26 percent to 145,975 yen.

Army Binoculars
Camera shipments are likely to fall 30 percent this year to 69 million units, according to Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., even as manufacturers try to slow the decline by adding smartphone-like features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Nikon in August cut its 2013 net income target by 23 percent while Canon lowered profit and sales forecasts in July.
Nikon says it cut prices to reduce inventory as demand falls, and that the company is scaling back production to boost profitability. Canon says it doesn’t plan to chase short-term market share gains by cutting prices.
Founded in 1917, Nikon supplied binoculars and optical gear to the Japanese military. After World War II the company focused on consumer products and in 1959 introduced its first SLR camera with an interchangeable lens, the Nikon F. Today it gets 84 percent of operating profit from imaging.

Buddhist Goddess
Canon started in an apartment in the Tokyo district of Roppongi in 1933. The next year, the company built its first 35 millimeter camera, called the Kwanon after the Buddhist goddess of Mercy. Its EOS Rebel, introduced in 1993, helped Canon cement its lead in the market by attracting a younger generation to high-end SLRs.
“Camera makers need to seek a new growth driver,” said Hirosuke Takayama, an analyst for SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo. Medical equipment that uses their image-capturing sensors and processors is “the area the companies are all looking at.”
Olympus Corp. (7733), which started as a maker of microscopes and thermometers in 1919, produced its first camera in 1936. In 1950, it made an early endoscope — for taking pictures inside the body — and the company is now the world’s largest producer of such devices. Olympus plans to stop SLR development and this year closed a Beijing camera plant and suspended its cheapest compact camera line. In April Olympus started a venture with Sony Corp. (6758) to develop medical equipment.

$1 Brownie
Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (4901), a Tokyo-based photographic film maker, is shifting away from consumer cameras to medical systems and display components. Panasonic Corp. (6752), which produces the Lumix brand, will shrink its compact camera business, Chief Executive Officer Kazujiro Tsuga said in an interview.
Both industry leaders have ample resources to fund new ventures and takeovers. Canon had cash and equivalents of 755 billion yen in June while Nikon’s cash holdings were 121 billion yen, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Changes in the camera market may tell them it’s time for them to take risks to do something drastic to change their earnings structure,” said Hisashi Moriyama, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo.
The shift to smartphones could be similar to the transition from film to digital photography, which weeded out companies slow to adapt. Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. sold its SLR business to Sony in 2006 to focus on office equipment. Pentax Corp. was acquired in 2007 by Hoya Corp (7741), which sold the camera operation to Ricoh Co. (7752) four years later. Eastman Kodak Co., the photography pioneer that introduced the $1 Brownie Camera more than a century ago, is now bankrupt.

41 Megapixels
Smartphone cameras are getting more sophisticated. Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)’s Galaxy S4 is equipped with a 13-megapixel sensor. Sony’s latest Xperia Z1 has a 20.7 megapixel camera and an optional zoom-lens attachment. Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) in July unveiled its Lumia 1020 with a 41-megapixel camera. By contrast, Canon’s EOS-1D X, which sells for $6,799 on the company’s U.S. website, has an 18.1-megapixel sensor — though pixel count is only one of many factors that affect image quality.

As Nikon and and Canon consider diversification, earnings are going to remain under pressure as smartphones cannibalize compacts and margins on SLRs shrink, said Amir Anvarzadeh, a manager of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc. (BGCP) in Singapore.
“This is not,” he said, “going to reverse anytime soon.”

Source: www.bloomberg.com

DRAM shortage from Hynix fire to hit PCs hardest

September 28th, 2013 | Edited by Zoran Stosic | hardware

Sep
28

Repairs to the fabrication plant could take three to six months
The fire damage suffered by SK Hynix’s Wuxi, China DRAM fabrication (FAB) plant last week, along with the resulting power outage and clean room contamination, is expected to lead to a number of problems in the short term for DRAM supply, a new report finds.
Most acutely, the fire that blazed for almost two hours appears to have damaged equipment used for making PC DRAM, which has sent memory prices skyrocketing more than 27 percent over the past week.
DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, said the fire accident experienced by SK Hynix’s Wuxi Plant on Sept. 4 originated from its Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) machinery in the FAB’s clean room. Previously, Hynix had attributed the fire to equipment installation.
“Other than the severely burned equipment, the fire, heavy smoke and power shortages are known to have also contributed to the direct contamination of the clean room and the notably damaged wafer production lines,” DRAMeXchange wrote in its research report.
The fire may have damaged as many as 60,000 memory wafers, DRAMeXchange said.
Saving the fabrication plant from even greater damage, the report noted, was the fact that SK Hynix’s Wuxi Plant is based on a special “Gemini” architecture, one which enables the clean room and other important facilities to operate independently.
“Under such a design, even when a major accident hits an area, a plant would still be able to maintain at least 50 percent of its total production capacity,” the report stated. Other areas of the factory were affected by smoke damage, DRAMeXchange said.
“Sources with close knowledge of semiconductor equipment,” have indicated the recovery could take from three to as long as six months to complete, the report stated.

To facilitate the entire process, SK Hynix has sent up to hundreds of professionals and engineers to visit the accident site and to assess the situation more carefully, DRAMeXchange reported. “Once the damages to the Wuxi Plant have been clarified, the DRAM industry is projected to be in for a series of major challenges,” DRAMeXchange noted.
Some PC equipment manufacturers are seeking help from first tier module makers and Taiwanese DRAM manufacturers to ensure their future supply can be secured, the report said. A tightening of the DRAM inventory could happen as soon as Q4 of this year.
A longer lasting price surge in the DRAM market, additionally, could also become inevitable. “TrendForce believes Samsung and Micron will be the biggest beneficiaries of the current situation with SK Hynix, and that the growth and decline of the three major DRAM manufacturers will be considerably affected in the periods to come,” the report said.
With regards to bringing the undamaged portion of the plant back to full production, “it is taking some time for a thorough safety check by the Chinese fire & safety authorities and for the inspections of damaged equipment,” SK Hynix said in a statement. “However, we plan to complete inspections and full restoration of the air ventilation system and facilities in order to resume production in October.”
“Further, we will make every effort to ramp up operations in stages in order to fully recover normalized production level in November,” Hynix added.
Meanwhile, to minimize disruptions its DRAM supply, Hynix said it will increase its DRAM production in its Korean headquarters.

Source: www.infoworld.com

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