Researchers devise new image sensor that could meld screens with cameras
As of now, the setup only snaps black and white images with a resolution of 32 x 32 pixels, but there are plans to boost its fidelity by leveraging higher quality photodiodes (or even composite photos). Also, color photographs could be achieved by using several sheets that capture different hues of light. So, what's this all mean for practical applications? Researchers believe its prime use lies in layering the film on TV screens and other displays to offer gesture controls without pesky, additional cameras. In addition, objects can be imbued with sensor capabilities if wrapped with the layer, and even CCD's could benefit from having a slice of the polymer slapped on them to take photos at different exposures. Hit the second source link for the scientific nitty-gritty, or head past the break for a glimpse at the setup's photos.
Filed under: Cameras, Alt
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Via: Gizmodo
Source: The Optical Society, Optics InfoBase
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How would you change Nokia's 808 Pureview?
Nokia's 808 PureView. It's a Symbian phone... but it's got a magical camera. It's a Symbian phone... but... that lens! You can imagine the wrangling when people were deciding if they wanted to buy one of these last summer. On one hand, it was running a Zombie operating system with weak internals. On the other, it had a camera sensor that took truly beautiful images. So, for the merry few of you who purchased this handset, what was it like to use on a daily basis? Normally, we'd ask you to chime in with suggestion on how you'd change it, but let's be honest. If Nokia slapped this 41-megapixel sensor on a Lumia 920, we'd have difficulty looking at anything else.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia
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NYT: Barnes & Noble may be moving away from Nook hardware
Barnes & Noble's hardware division hasn't exactly been glowing recently, and if one New York Times source is to be believed, it'll take more than cute (and charitable) rhymes to keep investors happy. According to the NYT source, company executives want to shift from making Barnes & Noble branded hardware to licensing its content to other manufactures. "They are not completely getting out of the hardware business, but they are going to lean a lot more on the comprehensive digital catalog of content," the paper was told. The source went on to explain that the company will emphasize this new strategy in its Q3 2013 fiscal report next week, committing to building deeper relationships with device makers like Samsung and Microsoft. The unnamed informant didn't say which devices the bookseller planned to shelve, but we wouldn't be too surprised to see the more expensive SKUs fall by the wayside. Either way, we'll see the facts for themselves when the company posts its earnings next week.
Update: Barnes & Noble followed up with us to clarify the situation, stating plainly that it has "no plans to discontinue our award-winning line of Nook products."
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Source: New York Times
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Alt-week 2.24.13: Mapping the brain, discovering dark matter and our inevitable, grizzly end
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
The discovery of what is hoped to be the Higgs boson was an exciting time for anyone with a curious mind. It turns out, that the price of knowledge is often a heavy one. Without putting too much of a negative spin on it... that teeny-weeny boson could predict bad news. On a lighter -- or is that darker -- note, other areas of science and technology bravely march ever-onward with the goal of a better understanding of life, the universe, and tattoos. This is alt-week.
Filed under: Science, Alt
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Refresh Roundup: week of February 18th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
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The Weekly Roundup for 02.18.2013
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
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Samsung's comically large Galaxy Note 8.0 smartphone: purely a brand play, if nothing else
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The doors to this year's Mobile World Congress have just barely been opened, but you might say the show is already won. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it's Samsung doing the winning. For those who were far too busy enjoying their Saturday evenings to notice, I should point out that Samsung has just taken the wraps off of the world's largest smartphone. The global version of Galaxy Note 8.0's fantastically (hilariously?) large display is indeed embedded onto a device that will not only surf the soothing waters of the world wide web, but also make phone calls for those brazen enough to toss it upside their noggin'.
The question, obviously, is "Why? But as I let the announcement wash over me, the answer became all too clear: "Because it can."
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Samsung
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Kyocera Smart Sonic receiver transmits call audio through cranial vibrations (video)
Kyocera's Smart Sonic receiver and tissue conduction technology have been around for some time, but this year at MWC, we had another chance to test it out. In case you didn't know, the receiver's a ceramic piezoelectric actuator that takes the place of a phone's speaker to let listeners hear phone calls in even the loudest environments. We got to test it out with a Kyocera Torque, and well... trust us, you'll want to see (and hear) the results in the video after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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Switched On: Moving forward with leaning back
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
Just a few months have passed between the introduction of the Droid DNA and the new HTC One, but it seems that HTC has been turned upside down in that time. While the Droid DNA was introduced in conjunction with Verizon and can't be a wholly representative picture of how HTC might have introduced the device otherwise, it was a spec- and design-driven product -- a 5-inch, 1080p display with a 440-ppi density that appeared to spill over onto sides that included a microperforation.
In contrast, little was said about the HTC One hardware itself until later in the device's introduction, surprising because the HTC One is not only the most attractive handset the company has ever built, but also certainly one of the most attractive on the market. While it is an Android device, the casing builds upon the tapered, Windows Phone-inspired 8X, substituting aluminum for polycarbonate. That said, there is also the spillover glass effect found on the Droid DNA. The HTC One retains the 1080p display found in the Droid DNA. However, since the screen is smaller, the pixel density is even higher (468 ppi) than in that record-breaking device.
Filed under: Cellphones, HTC, Blackberry
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NVIDIA Tegra 4i Phoenix reference phone hands-on (video)
NVIDIA's latest venture in the mobile world, called the 4i, was introduced last week ahead of Mobile World Congress, and fortunately the chipset maker brought the product to Barcelona embedded in a reference phone known as "Phoenix." The 8mm-thick handset, which will find a home in the labs of manufacturers and carriers (as well as the desks of many third-party devs), sports a 5-inch 1080p display, 13MP rear-facing camera, PRISM 2, Chimera, DirectTouch and LTE (we're told that most major bands are included for testing purposes). As it's not geared for general consumer use, so it's not the thinnest, sleekest or best-looking device, and the back doesn't even seem to snap completely shut. Units are being sampled as we speak, and we should expect to see devices hit the market in nine to twelve months. Since it's still pretty early in the process, we weren't able to turn on the phone or benchmark the chipset; the only exception to this rule, as you'll see in the video, was when a rep showed a gaming demo on his particular unit.
While the 4i is the smaller brother of the Tegra 4 family, it's still expected to be quite powerful. The chip, which is designed specifically for smartphones (tablets will take advantage of Tegra 4 instead), features four 28nm Cortex-A9 r4 (beefed-up from the standard A9) cores that can be clocked up to 2.3GHz, 60 GPU cores (compared to 72 on the T4) and an integrated i500 LTE baseband modem. For additional comparison, NVIDIA showed us the two sibling boards side-by-side. Head below to check out our galleries of Phoenix and the two chipsets, as well as a brief video that shows off the graphics prowess of the 4i.
Gallery: NVIDIA Tegra 4i Phoenix reference phone hands-on
Gallery: NVIDIA Tegra 4 vs 4i
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, NVIDIA
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NVIDIA Tegra 4 benchmarked, breaks all sorts of speed records (video)
When NVIDIA unveiled Tegra 4 back at CES, we scrambled to get hands-on with a reference device. And though our initial performance impressions were positive -- it runs 1080p video and games smoothly -- there was only so much we could say to illustrate how fast the performance is. After all, Tegra 3 already does a fine job handling games and full HD movies. What we really needed were benchmarks, some quantitative data to help show the difference between Tegra 4 devices and whatever's currently on the market. Fortunately for all of you, we just got our chance: here at Mobile World Congress, the company has reference tablets set up expressly for the purpose of running tests. So, we did just that... over and over and over until we had a long list of scores. Meet us after the break to see how it fared.
Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, NVIDIA
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Insert Coin semifinalist: smARtPULSE is a hackable Bluetooth oximeter
Oximeters aren't exactly the sexiest gadgets in the world, but they're definitely quite useful. Monitoring pulse and blood oxygen levels are important for patients in hospitals, athletes trying to squeeze every last drop of performance from their body and anyone making a sudden trip to high altitudes. smARtPULSE uses pretty standard photodetection technology for tracking oxygen levels, but its ability to tether to a whole host of other devices via Bluetooth 4.0 is what really sets it apart. There are free Android and iOS apps for those that just want to check their vitals and be done with it, but tinkerers can have a field day with the open-source hardware and upcoming API. At the end of the day, connecting the smARtPULSE to any computer (be it Linux, Windows or OS X) will be pretty simple, and there will even be libraries available for Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Electric Imp. With the prototyping out of the way, now the team is finishing up the API and ironing out the final design.
Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
Filed under: Wearables
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Ceton reveals Android, Windows Media Center integration details for its Echo
Just after launch, Ceton announced it would bring Android to the Echo Windows Media Center Extender by the end of last year. Owners of the device have been left wondering ever since then: what's the holdup? Now the Ceton Blog has spelled out what's taking so long. Essentially the story goes that Android is optimized for touch screens, rather than the big screen, and the company decided to hold off until some changes could be made. Most interestingly, one of those changes is integrating Windows Media Center into Android, allowing users to access all the content that both platforms have to offer in a single user interface. A hefty goal indeed and one worth waiting for, but the question of when remains. While the post does include some interesting screen shots and other details -- like Windows 8 support -- it stops just short of making another promise to deliver the update in any particular amount time.
Gallery: Media Center on Echo running Andriod
Filed under: HD
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Source: Ceton Blog
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PowerbyProxi debuts wireless charging solution, aims to fully integrate it into future smartphones (video)
The pathway to innovation is paved with failed attempts to produce wireless charging solutions that a) actually work and b) people genuinely want to use, but we've got yet another upstart here at Mobile World Congress willing to give it a go. PowerbyProxi's solution looks pretty similar to renditions we've seen from Fulton Innovation, but it's quick to point out the differences. The loosely-coupled method uses a bantam receiver that's "efficient enough to be integrated into the processor board of a smartphone without causing over-heating."
While previous industry designs have resulted in longer charging times than if the device were plugged into a wall socket, PowerbyProxi's solution reportedly "provides charging at the same speed as wired charging." In fact, it claims to offer the only system that can rejuvenate up to three devices at the same time at full power. If you're wondering what working group these guys are going to side with, that much is still up in the air -- it's remaining "agnostic towards the selection of an ultimate standard" for now.
We spoke with the company here at Mobile World Congress, and it confirmed to us that it's working with the top five major battery manufacturers, and we should see wireless AA and AAA cells "within 12 months." It wouldn't confirm how soon we'd see it in phones, tablets or laptops (yeah, it'll work in all of 'em), but it's clearly working with some of the top OEMs and hoping for the best. In the demo we witnessed, specially equipped Galaxy S III handsets charged alongside one another, even when barely clinging to the charging pad. Despite a bunch of metallic objects being heaped on the pad, it was intelligent enough to only send power to the phones, keeping gum boxes and coins cool, calm and collected. Head on past the break for quick video tour as well as a press release.
Dana Murph contributed to this report.
Gallery: PowerbyProxi debuts wireless charging solution at MWC 2013 (hands-on)
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile
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Source: PowerbyProxi
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ZTE Open Firefox OS phone announced at MWC 2013, we go hands-on
Alcatel wasn't the only one to flash some Firefox OS hardware at Mozilla's big MWC event. ZTE was also showing off two shades of its new smartphone, the Open. The device will launch in orange and blue in global territories starting in Q2. It has a very handy 3.5-inch screen, meaning there's no issues holding it in one hand but there's not a lot of premium feel going on here. The plastic shell felt like any low-end Android device, though we won't fault the grippy finish here.
Other specs (that we've already snuck a peek at) include a Cortex-A5-based Qualcomm processor that could be clocked at either 600MHz or 800MHz -- we're trying to get a confirmation on that. There's also 256MB of RAM, 512MB of expandable storage and a humble 3.2-megapixel camera on the back. The 480 x 320 screen itself is nothing to shout home about. Again, it feels like a flashback to those sub-$150 smartphones that did the rounds back in 2011 and while it's not the flashiest spec sheet, ZTE (and Firefox) are pitching this at those millions of future smartphone users that haven't already plumped for a mobile OS. However, the search function looks pretty pervasive, able to tap into apps, the web and more in search of the answer you're looking for. Specific carriers will be able to add in their own apps (pre-installed or not) for its customers. We got a glimpse at a data monitoring app that could pull together your data habits and respective carrier plans -- even if there's no word on a US release beyond some time in 2014. There's a quick hands-on after the break.
Gallery: ZTE Open hands-on
Myriam Joire, Terrence O'Brien and Sharif Sakr contributed to this report.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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HP Slate 7 hands-on (update: video)
Well, this might just be the biggest news to come out of Mobile World Congress. Long after discontinuing the TouchPad (and the rest of its mobile devices, for that matter) HP is back with a new tablet. This time, though, it runs not webOS, but an old safety: Android. Interestingly, though, HP is returning to the tablet space not with a high-end flagship, but a lower-end device priced to sell. The Slate 7 is priced at $169, with modest specs that include a dual-core A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, a 7-inch, 1,024 x 600 display and dual 3MP / VGA cameras. All that said, it could be worth a second look when it goes on sale in April. Meet us past the break to see what we mean.
Gallery: HP Slate 7 hands-on
Filed under: Tablets, HP
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Mozilla CEO: looking at a 2014 time frame for a US Firefox OS release
With a number of other countries already in line to get their hands on Mozilla's Firefox OS, it's pretty clear that the company doesn't have the States at the top of its list of priorities. While attending its press conference at MWC today, however, we just had to ask: when will we be getting a turn at the mobile operating system? CEO Gary Kovacs assured us that the US is indeed on the list (albeit a bit further down), and his company has both plans and partners lined up for what looks to be a 2014 release time frame for the low cost operating system.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
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Alcatel One Touch Star hands-on
Alongside Alcatel's other launches today at Mobile World Congress the One Touch Star is another example of an affordable handset that still manages to maintain good looks with excellent fit an finish. Featuring a 4-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, quad-band GSM and 900 / 2100 UMTS, all powered by a 1GHz dual-core CPU.
The handset is a little on the heavy side, but not in an awful way, more like a quality sort of feeling, reminiscent of iPhone's weight. Clever touches such as the corner tab being recessed a little more to get at the 1500mAh battery and SIM slots -- or dual-SIM slots when optioned with that -- is also a clever touch and just generally adds to the device's appeal. Of course the One Touch Star will be a budget phone but it is also a brilliant example of how lower pricing and excellent quality can coexist. Well done Alcatel, well done. No word on pricing but it is expected to begin shipping sometime in March 2013. A Gallery showing off the cranberry variety is just below the break.
Filed under: Cellphones
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Alcatel Idol X hands-on (video)
Alcatel converted its One Touch Idol line from a duo to a trio with today's launch of yet another set at Mobile World Congress: the Idol X. While not quite as thin as its 6.45mm-thin Idol Ultra sibling, at 7mm thick with a tiny 2.4mm bezel it is definitely is about as small as a 5" set can get. The Idol X's giant 1080p IPS display is fantastic to look at and Jelly Bean is snappy driven by a quad core MediaTek MT6589 1.2GHz CPU. Like many of Alcatel's other sets the range of config option varies by market and the same is true here as we'll see both 13 and 8-megapixel variants -- both with 1080p front facing cameras -- and dual or single-SIM, with the single variety getting a bonus microSD slot. While the Idol X is not equipped with LTE it does have 42Mbps HSPA+ connectivity, quad-band GSM and offers dual-band UMTS in both 900MHz / 2100MHz or 850MHz / 2100MHz frequencies.
Alcatel's all about mass market, it isn't chasing the likes of Apple or Samsung but rather is quite happy to simply make "devices for people." So while 2012 marked its first foray into smartphones, judging by what we've seen so far in 2013 from them it seems they've nailed affordability while maintaining a surprising amount of quality, a great combination. Join Myriam just after the break for a quick video tour.
Gallery: Alcatel OneTouch Idol X hands-on
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Alcatel One Touch Fire joins the Firefox OS cuddle party, we go hands-on (video)
ZTE may have had a head start in the Firefox OS race ahead of MWC, but Alcatel's also got something similar to ride on the waves of some "500 million Mozilla users." Suitably dubbed the One Touch Fire, this entry-level phone is basically a rehash of the budget One Touch T'Pop announced back at CES, packing a 3.5-inch HVGA TN display, a 1GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 512MB storage and a 3.2-megapixel camera. There are also the usual bunch of radios: WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, FM radio and UMTS 900/2100 and 850/1900/2100 (up to 7.2Mbps for download and 5.76Mbps for upload). Underneath the removable 1,400mAh battery you'll find a microSD slot that'll take anything up to 32GB (a 2GB card is included), as well as a slot for an old-school Mini-SIM card.
We got the chance to play with the Fire earlier today and while the glossy plastic body -- in either orange or pink -- felt solid enough, the performance wasn't quite there yet: the touch and software response were significantly sluggish, as you'll see in our hands-on video after the break. On the brighter side of things, the surprisingly large loudspeaker on the back produced some punchy bass, but don't expect too much from its audio quality. Alcatel has a few more months to grease up the phone before its June launch across Latin America and Europe, so we'll be able to give it a proper score then. Press release after the break.
Gallery: Alcatel One Touch Fire hands-on
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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Mozilla to bring marketplace to Firefox OS later this year, allow payment through operators
Mozilla has just announced live at its MWC 2013 event that it'll launch its marketplace for Firefox OS "later this year," and that you'll be able to pay for apps directly through your mobile operator. That's obviously different from Google and Apple's approach, perhaps to entice carriers to jump on board with devices packing the new mobile OS. You'll be able to grab apps in categories like games, news and media from outfits like EA, Disney, Facebook and Twitter. Mozilla's also touting "one-time use and downloadable apps" to let users test out apps before they buy them. The organization said that developers will be able to use "web technologies at the core," to create HTML5-based apps, in order to populate the new ecosystem quickly. The marketplace won't arrive to Firefox OS until later this year, but you can get a preview on Firefox for Android Aurora. For more info, check the PR after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software
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HP Slate 7 Android tablet rocks Beats, $169 price tag; due out in April
Mobile World Congress isn't just about the phones. Sometimes a company's got a little tablet love to give as well. HP's out in Barcelona talking up the new Slate 7, a Jelly Bean-sporting tablet with a 1.6GHz dual-core ARM processor inside. The tablet's got a (you guessed it) 7-inch display, plus front and rear facing cameras and, as the red backing not-so-subtly suggests, built-in Beats Audio. The device's biggest selling point, however, has to be that $169 starting price. The Slate 7's due out in April. In the meantime, have a read of the press release after the break.
Filed under: HP
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Source: HP
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Firefox OS heading to Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Spain and more; Huawei device coming soon
Not content with a simple Deutsche Telecom announcement, Mozilla's using Mobile World Congress as a platform to launch its mobile operating system in a slew of markets. Rolling out in waves, the first round of devices featuring Firefox OS include the likes of Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela, with more markets soon, according to the company. The first round of handsets include devices by Alcatel, LG and ZTE. Mozilla also let slip news of a forthcoming handset from Huawei, who just capped up their own MWC press conference. As you'd expect, there's a whole slew of carriers on board. You can find the list in the release after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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Mozilla details apps for Firefox OS: Facebook, Cut the Rope, Nokia Here and Twitter confirmed
We've only just stepped into Mozilla's press arena but the Firefox creators handed a rich press kit as we did, detailing a fair chunk of what we're expecting to see over the next hour. One of the more noticeable announcements focused on Firefox Marketplace, detailing HTML5 apps you might have heard of before. Along the predictable likes of Facebook and Twitter, games like Cut The Rope will also make an appearance on the new mobile OS, as well as Where's My Water, Disney Mobile and EA game titles. There will be support for cloud file storage through Box too, as well as a mapping app from Nokia Here. Yes, the Finnish phone maker will be bringing its location clout to Firefox OS. SoundCloud, Pulse News, Time Out and Airbnb have also signed up for the new operating system.
Developing...
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
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Likely ZTE Open spotted at Mozilla press conference: it's blue and open, like the ocean
Remember that orphaned spec list we saw for the Mozilla-powered ZTE Open? Well, we think we've just spotted the device that it describes. It only came out for a second, clasped in the hand of someone from Mozilla, but we were just about able to grab a shot. As we saw in an earlier leak, it should be arriving with a 3.5-inch HVGA TFT screen, Cortex -A5-based processor, 512MB of RAM and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Check it out in the dark sea of shapes above and then remind yourself of the rest of the likely specs after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
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Available Tags:hardware , Galaxy , NVIDIA , Windows , wireless , ZTE , Firefox , HP , Mozilla , Android , tablet , Nokia , Twitter ,
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