Flexible smartphones will dominate 40-percent of the smartphone market by 2018, LG predicts, billing the LG G Flex with its curved 6-inch AMOLED display as the first of a new breed of handsets. “We got bored of flat” LG‘s Dr Ramchan Woo, head of mobile product planning, said of the motivation behind the G Flex, […]
This week we’re getting another look at the Qualcomm Toq smartwatch, a device that was revealed by the processor manufacturer earlier this year. This device was revealed on the same day the Samsung Galaxy Gear was shown off, the Samsung device aimed at consumers, the Qualcomm device directed at a crowd that’s made up of […]
Jolla’s self-titled and first smartphone launched in partnership with Finnish carrier DNA this week, with a few hundred handsets finding their way to early pre-orderers. Today, a couple of familiar faces from the company stopped off in London to let us play with the final hardware and get to grips with Jolla’s Sailfish OS, which is based somewhat on Nokia’s old MeeGo platform. If you caught our tour of the Jolla prototype earlier this year then you’ve got a good idea of what the handset looks like. In fact, the only differences we can see aesthetically are slightly smaller bezels above and below the screen, and that the rear camera has moved from right flank to center stage. Internally, the core specs are: A 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 (MSM8930), 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage space (expandable), a 4.5-inch, 960×540 (qHD) IPS LCD display, an 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel shooter on the front. We only had a few hours to probe Jolla’s first device, but head past the break for our initial impressions.%Gallery-slideshow124244%
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Gionee isn’t exactly a name that you’d come across in the Western market every day, but this time, the Chinese company has big global ambitions. The latest proof is its Elife E7, a 5.5-inch 1080p Android phone that boasts two titles: it’s the first known phone featuring the 2.5GHz flavor of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 chip (MSM8974AC); plus it has the most sensitive 16-megapixel camera, courtesy of its Largan M8 lens (though the aperture is still unknown) and 1/2.3-inch sensor with large 1.34µm pixels. Compared to the competition, Gionee believes this particular OmniVision sensor has the best balance between resolution and pixel size, and the phone maker even went as far as claiming this already beats the 1.12µm, 16-megapixel counterpart on the yet-to-be-announced Galaxy S 5. Of course, we’ll believe it when we get to properly test the E7’s camera ourselves.
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Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Drift Innovation has been making action cameras for some time now. Today sees its latest offering — the Ghost S — hit stores globally. What’s new this time? Well there’s the usual assortment of video improvements: 1080p at 60fps, new “scene” modes and better low-light recording. There’s also a dramatically improved battery, that now offers 3.5 hours of recording at standard 1080p/30fps. Impressive. But, perhaps more significant that that, Drift is stepping forward as a brand. It’s no secret this market is dominated by one major player, a situation only accentuated by the recent demise of its next best known competitor. But, while all this was going on, Drift has kept its head down and concentrated hard on continually revising its products. As the marketing parlance goes, the Drift Ghost S is its best camera yet, but also a metaphorical stone from David’s sling. Are we about to see the action camera market get the all important “other option” it desperately needs? We spent some time with the Ghost S — one of the most promising candidates yet — to find out.%Gallery-slideshow123322%
Filed under: Cameras
Source: Drift Innovation
In the case you have around a thousand bucks to burn and you’re looking for the coolest gadget to buy to impress your family during Thanksgiving dinner, look no further than the LG G Flex. This is the second device to come out with a curved display (the first being the Samsung Galaxy Round), which arcs from top to bottom and even offers a little bit of flex when you push down on it. Officially it’s only available in Korea for 999,940 won (about $940), and while rumors are pointing to an eventual launch in other parts of the world, the earliest — and richest — of early adopters in the US can grab one from importers for around $1,100. One of those companies is Negri Electronics, which was gracious enough to send us a G Flex for a few days.
Between the G Flex and the Galaxy Round, you’re looking at two of the most expensive smartphones this side of a Vertu or Porsche Design BlackBerry. So what’s the point? The benefits of curved or flexible displays are three-fold (so far): they promise more durable gadgets, a better viewing experience over regular phones and could potentially lead to wholly flexible devices or even brand new form factors (Samsung, for instance, is already working on a phone with a foldable screen, as well as a prototype with a bent display). It’s pretty exciting stuff, so we’ve opened up the G Flex box, fired up the phone, and we’re ready to share our initial impressions with you. Take a closer look at the G Flex with our gallery and thoughts below.
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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Two sticks, four face buttons, a pair of shoulder paddles and a d-pad: the formula for a modern gamepad and the layout of MOGA’s Ace Power controller. It’s a pretty standard assortment of inputs, but this controller happens to be the first fully featured peripheral to support Apple’s new iOS 7 gamepad protocols. Naturally, we couldn’t wait to put the pad through its paces.
The MOGA Ace may have the normal assortment of buttons and triggers, but it has one trick most gamepads can’t emulate: it telescopes. Taken out of the box, the Ace is hardly longer than an iPhone 5s, but pulling on either end stretches the peripheral to fit your iDevice. The Gamepad’s left side retains enough tension to hold a device in place on its own, but our iPod had trouble identifying the controller unless we made a point of pushing the controller’s edges inward to secure the connection. Once we had a compatible iOS 7 device locked in place, however, the Ace worked like a dream.
Sam Cervantes didn’t stand on his new printer when he brought it by our offices the other day. He thought about it for second, a nice reprise of the day he introduced us to its predecessor late last year, but, well, he’d only just pulled that first unit out of the box for the first time, and he didn’t want to scuff up its finish or dent the new enclosure. As to whether the new 3D printer could sustain the weight of a full grown man, he certainly thinks so. It’s still got that steel structure, after all. Maybe we can convince him to put on a show at CES in January.
Structural integrity questions aside, the latest printer from Solidoodle is a nice looking thing, certainly. As the Brooklyn-based company began looking to expand its sales footprint beyond enthusiast-based direct marketing, it no doubt realized that it would have to produce a product that could live on store shelves comfortably next to, say, a laptop or an HP printer. It sounds silly, sure, but big box stores aren’t particularly interested in stocking products that look as though they might have been built in someone’s garage. For all its charms, the Solidoodle 3 had a certain home-brewed quality to it. The new printer goes firmly in the other direction, with a metal enclosure that wouldn’t look too out of place in a lot of homes.%Gallery-slideshow122778%
Filed under: Peripherals
Unless you’ve traded your guitar strings for an axe-shaped MIDI controller, tuning your guitar is probably one of those chores you’ve just learned to deal with. It’s hardly the bane of any guitarist’s existence, but sometimes it seems like there could just be a faster, more brainless way to get your instrument ready to jam. Turns out, there is.
Roadie positions itself as the next generation of guitar tuners. Think of it like a modern String Master, a device that fits snugly over your instrument’s tuning pegs and does the hard part for you. Paired with a companion smartphone app, Roadie listens your guitar’s strings and turns its gears until the instrument is on key. We dropped by the team’s table at Haxlr8r, and the process was dead easy, quickly tuning a demo guitar without breaking a string. In fact, it’s designed not to — by comparing a string’s elasticity with its frequency, the device can actually warn you when your guitar’s wires are about to break. Not a bad trick, particularly for guitarists (like this editor) that aren’t completely sure when their instrument was last restrung. The device’s Kickstarter page has already more than half of its $60,000 goal, and has a little over a month left to get the rest. Looking for a way to chip in (and to avoid guitar maintenance)? Check out the source link below; Roadie tuners start at $79.
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Filed under: Misc
Source: Roadie (Kickstarter)
Does Kawasaki’s new electric cycle have two, three wheels or four? Well, it depends. According to the conceptual sketches and a terse explanatory panel, the “J vehicle” concept EV can switch between a lie-down two-wheel Akira / Tron-baiting cycle and a four three-wheel drive mode, with the latter designated as “comfort” mode. The model, revealed at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, is apparently powered by Kawasaki’s biggest onboard battery pack, the Gigacell, although (any other) details aren’t forthcoming. That’s probably because it’s from the future and is tearing the space-time continuum apart.
(Update: According to those aforementioned concept images, only the front wheels separate outward in comfort mode, turning it into a three-wheeled vehicle, not a quad-bike. We apologize for the error.)
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Filed under: Transportation
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