Hasta La Gadget!

It was only a few years ago that companies such as Samsung were demonstrating displays that were flexible, and while it was rumored for a while, the fruition of their efforts were realized this year with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Round and the LG G Flex, both of which have gone on sale to regular consumers, as opposed to merely being prototypes or concepts. While both devices do feature pretty curved displays, they are still somewhat rigid and apart from novelty value, there really isn’t much use to owning one at the moment. However LG feels that come 2018, smartphones with flexible displays will command a whopping 40% of the market, which basically means that almost one out of 2 devices will have such a display.

Why is LG so confident that this will be happening? Well apparently they seem to think that handsets with curved or flexible displays tend to feel better since they conform more with the curves of your hand, as opposed to being a solid block of plastic/metal. However like we said, Samsung and LG’s efforts right now aren’t exactly considered “flexible”, but rather devices with the curvature of its display being extremely pronounced, so apart from bragging rights, these phones pretty much function almost similar to current smartphones. Will phones with flexible displays truly be the choice of the future? Or will curved/flexible displays end up like 3D phones?

LG: Flexible Displays Will Account For 40% Of The Market In 2018 original content from Ubergizmo.

Earlier we had reported that Samsung could be working a high-end range of handsets that would fall under its Galaxy F lineup, and coincidentally enough, a certain Samsung SM-G900F has shown up in shipping manifests. Given the earlier Galaxy F rumors, it would seem as though the “F” in the model number is more than a happy coincidence. While it is unclear as to what the SM-G900F could be, the fact that its model number is similar to the earlier reported SM-G900S, save for the last letter, it has been speculated that this could be another variant of the Samsung Galaxy S5, perhaps a more high-end version.

According to the folks at SamMobile, they are speculating that perhaps the SM-G900S could be the faux leather Galaxy S5, while the SM-G900F could be the higher-end metal version of the Galaxy S5 whose alleged metallic frame was leaked not too long ago. However like we said this is purely speculation at this point in time, and for all we know the SM-G900F could be the same Galaxy S5 device, just destined for a different market, just like how the major carriers in the US have different model names for the same device. In the meantime what do you guys think? Could we be looking at higher and lower-end Galaxy S5 handsets, like what Apple did with the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c?

Samsung SM-G900F Shows Up In Shipping Manifest original content from Ubergizmo.

While there is only one Steve Jobs, it has not stopped others from trying to mimic his style or leadership skills, and over in China, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun has been likened to Apple’s late co-founder before, a title which he did not seem to want too much. While Xiaomi has pretty interesting and unique smartphones of their own and have managed to sell them in record breaking times, it seems that at the end of the day, Jun still believes that Apple’s iPhone is the best smartphone in the world.

This is according to an interview that Jun did with the Beijing News where Jun was quoted as saying, “iPhone is still the best smartphone on the planet […] For Xiaomi there’s a lot of space for learning and talent.” It’s good to see that CEOs such as Jun still have the ability to be humble despite his company experiencing a fair amount of success in China. For example Xiaomi is actually the fifth most used smartphone brand in China, losing higher positions to the likes of international tech giants such as Samsung and Apple.

In fact Xiaomi is so prominent to the point where they managed to lure former Android executive, Hugo Barra, over to their team, where Barra was vowed to transform Xiaomi into the next Google or Amazon.

Xiaomi CEO Admits The iPhone Is Still The Best Smartphone original content from Ubergizmo.

How often do you use Bluetooth connectivity in your everyday life? Well, if you are an avid fan of this kind of wireless connectivity, then I am quite sure that you would have done your bit to follow up on the various Bluetooth peripherals that have been revealed in the past, not to mention the version of Bluetooth that they support. When Bluetooth 4.0 rolled around, this wireless technology enabled one to make a leap that paved the way for low energy consumption even when they remain connected to supported accessories. This would in turn ensure that devices such as smart watches and health trackers would have a stretched out battery life. Right now, the Bluetooth SIG has made an announcement for features that are headed in the direction of Bluetooth 4.1, so let us take a closer look at what is on offer.

The version number alone would tell just what an incremental update this is, but do expect a few changes to be made that are for the better. A trio of what some might call “major usability updates” would be “coexistence”, where it allows Bluetooth and LTE radios to communicate with one another when coordinating transmissions, which on paper, would decrease the likelihood of near-band interference. Other than that, “better connections” refer to flexible reconnection intervals, while “improved data transfer” opens up the door to a more efficient data transfer mechanism. Time to sit tight and see what kind of peripherals will support the new standard!

Bluetooth 4.1 Features Revealed original content from Ubergizmo.

If there was one peeve that I have with smartphones is that sometimes their integration could be a little bit better. For example if one were to do a search in their web browser and come across a Facebook page or profile, it should open up the Facebook app, as an example. Well the good news is that Google has announced an update to its Search feature where search results can yield the option of allowing the user to open up their results in an app. For example if you were to Google a name of a celebrity, instead of surfing to the IMDb website, you can choose the option to launch the app instead.

Google search has also been updated where searching for apps will allow users to directly launch the Google Play store, as you can see in the screenshot above. At the moment it seems that apps that support opening from Google search include IMDb, Newegg, OpenTable, and Wikipedia, as developers will have to include support for the “Open in app” function. Perhaps down the line we will start seeing more support, such as with Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, but in the meantime what do you guys think of this new feature? Pretty cool, huh?

Google Search Updated, Will Launch Apps From Search Results original content from Ubergizmo.