Hasta La Gadget!

What are you going to add to a smartphone series that’s already gone big-screen, already has a stylus and already offers up a decent battery life? According to the Korea Economic Daily, Samsung believes adding a heavy-duty camera upgrade to 4K should do the trick. The news site’s source (identified as an “industry official” rather than a Samsung employee), says the Galaxy Note III, which is likely to make its debut at IFA 2013, will be able to record video in Ultra High Definition. It’s a significant pixel boost from the 1080p video capture available to last year’s Galaxy Note II.

The company is likely hoping that offering up an opportunity to record in 4K will mean those smartphone owners are then more likely to upgrade their TV sets (to a Ultra HD Samsung model, naturally) to make the most of their crisp video content. Alongside a new camera, the same source reckons that audio quality will be bumped up to 24-bit, like LG’s G2 and a step above the 16-bit audio tech in Samsung’s existing Galaxy phones. No word on the previous notion of three differently-sized models and as the source material has gone through the Google Translate grinder, things aren’t as clear as we’d have hoped. However, the Korea Economic Daily has past form when it comes to Samsung news. Next week, we’re sure to hear all the finer details and we’re taking bets on which company will be the first to claim “world’s first”.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Via: SAM Mobile

Source: Korea Economic Daily (Korean)

The Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) standard, beloved of Roku and Android phone manufacturers, is about to get exciting: an update coming in September will allow phones to spit out 4K video from their USB ports.

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We’ve seen touch-friendly tables before, but they’re rarely so slick as the Multi Surface Experience, a newly launched collaboration between design firm Gensler and ad agency The Hive. The installation lets guests explore Gensler’s architectural portfolio (the book you see above) just by walking up to a wavy table. An overhead projector, Kinect for Windows and special software present an interface wherever people stand; when users choose to learn more about a project, it pops up on a wall-mounted 4K display. The current experience is sadly confined to Gensler’s Los Angeles office, but it’s also the start of teamwork that could lead to commercial designs. Don’t be surprised if company lobbies are much livelier in the future.

Filed under: Displays, Alt

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Source: The Hive

Satellite TV in Ultra HD quality is no longer just a dream: following a successful test broadcast this week, KT Skylife has unveiled a roadmap for offering 4K TV to its subscribers. The Korean provider plans to trial one channel of UHD content in the efficient H.265 (HEVC) video format next year, with a full commercial launch due in 2015. Widespread availability will depend on KT Skylife’s ability to clear regulatory hurdles, CEO Jae-chul Moon says. The real challenge, however, may be finding customers with Ultra HD TVs. While prices are falling quickly, there’s no guarantee that 4K sets will be commonplace in two years’ time.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: The Korea Times

Alright, we admittedly don’t know a great deal about the provenance of the slide above. It was first picked up on Chinese social networking site Weibo, but the original post seems to have been deleted. What we do know, however, is that Sony’s forthcoming flagship phone, codenamed Honami, has already been rumored to possess a 4K-ready processor (the Snapdragon 800), and that Sony is wildly enthusiastic about 4K as something that can unite its expanding hardware ecosystem. The slide’s title therefore has a ring of truth to it, because it’s accompanied by Bravia branding and sounds like realistic marketing babble from a TV-focused presentation:

“How do you get 4K content? By shooting videos with a 4K cellphone.”

The slide also details a 20-megapixel Exmor R rear camera sensor for Honami, which tallies with earlier reports, as well as a meaty 2.2-megapixel front-facing camera. The only issue we have is with the quoted 4K video resolution of 4,000 x 2,000 — it’s unusual and doesn’t match the Ultra HD resolution Sony has settled on for its 4K TVs (3,840 x 2,160). In any case, resolution is only half the story. This is all speculative, of course, but if other bottlenecks in this phone forced Sony to compress the heck out of captured 4K video, there’s every chance it’d end up looking worse than 1080p.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Sony

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Source: Vgooo