When you hear the name Coolpad it might not ring a bell but the company has big plans for their phones in the US, and are here in Las Vegas for CTIA showing off their latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphones. The popular Chinese manufacturer wants to deliver quality 4G LTE smartphones for those on
Remember Yotaphone, the twin-display Android smartphone (color LCD in front, e-ink in back)? Today at CTIA in Las Vagas, Yota devices, the company behind the innovative handset, introduced Ruby, a sleek LTE hotspot with a small e-ink screen. We don’t usually get too excited about such devices, but Ruby looks like something out of Jony Ive‘s workshop, with some interesting features to match. The design recalls the iPod mini but is made of white plastic instead of aluminum.
Along the top edge, you’ll find the e-ink display and a two-way power switch — slide it to the left and Ruby behaves like a secure hotspot, slide it to the right and it’s a public access point. The e-ink screen shows battery and signal status, the number of connected devices and a smiley icon to confirm public mode. On the bottom edge is a trick flap that’s both a micro-USB socket and a USB Type A plug depending on how it’s positioned — the micro-SIM slot is cleverly hidden behind it. A programmable RGB LED mounted behind the Yota logo completes the package on the front of the hotspot.
Ruby currently supports quad-band EDGE, plus HSPA+ and LTE for the European market, but the radio can be configured (in hardware) to support other bands. The 2100mAh battery powers the unit for about 16 hours of use (60 hours on standby) and can be charged to 70 percent capacity in about an hour. Yota’s signed a few deals with carriers in Russia and Europe and the device is expected to become available to Russian customers in two to three weeks for about $120 (unsubsidized). No word on whether Ruby will land in the US (yet). Take a look at our hands-on gallery below.
Gallery: Yota devices LTE hotspot hands-on
We’ve already spent some quality time with Nokia’s handsome Lumia 925 and while it’s no secret the company’s Windows Phone flagship is coming to the US courtesy of T-Mobile, we’d never actually seen the carrier-branded model — until now, that is. Nokia brought T-Mobile’s version of the handset to CTIA 2013 where we took it for a brief spin. As you’d expect, the phone is identical to its global twin save for the operator’s logo below the capacitive button and the radios which support T-Mobile’s bands. Unfortunately, the Lumia 925 we played with was not final, so the software was off limits. In terms of hardware, it features the same 4.5-inch 1,280 x 768 AMOLED screen, 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB of storage and 8.7-megapixel camera with OIS. This is definitely one of Nokia’s most attractive designs yet, and we’re looking forward to getting our hands on a review unit soon. In the meantime, why not check out the gallery below?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia, T-Mobile
There are plenty of kits out there designed to help kids learn the ins and outs of electronics, but LightUp hopes to stand out from the crowd with not just easy-to-use building blocks but an accompanying augmented reality app as well. From resistors and LED modules to light sensors, each block represents a real component that can be attached to each other via magnetic connectors, hopefully creating a circuit in the process. LightUp even offers an Arduino-compatible microcontroller block to help kids start coding — clip the programming wand to the block, hook it up to your computer, and away you go.
What really sets LightUp apart is the aforementioned AR app. Simply snap a picture of your circuit, and the software will let you know what’s wrong with it if there’s a mistake. If everything’s working, it’ll display an electrical flow animation atop the picture, showing kids the magic of electricity. We had a go at creating a circuit ourselves, and were delighted at how easy it was. The connectors fit in either direction, and can be attached and reattached with ease. We also saw a brief demo of the prototype application, and sure enough, it showed us when an LED block was placed backwards with an error message — you can see it in action in the video below.
Gallery: LightUp hands-on
Filed under: Science
Source: LightUp, Kickstarter
We haven’t heard about Mirasol for a while now, but Qualcomm’s reflective display tech showed up in a few proof-of-concepts on the SID Display Week floor. We got a look at a previously announced 1.5-inch panel embedded on the top of an “always-on” smartphone and on the face of a smartwatch. Though a rep took care to emphasize that these were just mockups, he said the screen will soon show up in some third-party devices.
More interesting, though, was the company’s next-gen display: a 5.1-inch panel sporting a stunning 2,560 x 1,440 (577 ppi) resolution. Viewed up close, it delivers crisp images, but the reflective display kicks back a silvery tint and colors don’t pop as they do on other handsets. But while the sky-high pixel count may not tell the whole story, the screen offers one huge plus: a 6x power advantage over LCD and OLED displays. In practical terms, that means devices could go days without charging. Don’t expect to see this guy in your next smartphone, though: by “next-gen,” Qualcomm means this tech has a few more years in the R&D phase before it’ll be ready to hit a licensee’s production line. For now, make do with our hands-on video after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Wearables, Mobile
Sony’s new e-ink prototype is getting the test-drive treatment at Japanese universities, but SID provides a perfect opportunity to give the North American market a demo. We found the Digital Paper slab parked at E Ink’s booth — fitting, as the company’s new Mobius flexible display is the device’s biggest selling point.
At 13.3 inches, the panel is larger than your typical e-reader’s, but it weighs just 60 grams. That light footprint comes courtesy of E Ink’s TFT tech, which allows for larger, more rugged devices without the extra weight. The Digital Paper’s form factor matches the size of a sheet of A4 paper, and the on-board digitizer lets users scrawl notes on the electromagnetic induction touchscreen. Naturally, this is just one implementation of the E Ink’s display, but it’s neat to see a prototype in action nonetheless. Head past the break to do just that.
You’ve already read our hands-on with Xbox One’s new Kinect and wireless gamepad, but perhaps you noticed our inability to test the gamepad’s new “impulse triggers?” Well, we’re glad to tell you we’ve just mended that exception.
First things first, though — we got hands-on with the new gamepad in a more finished state (which is to say “with the impulse triggers and the new Start / Back buttons). The most noticeable difference is one that most gamers will likely overlook initially: the new texture on the edge of the analog sticks. Head below with us for more!
Gallery: Xbox One hands-on
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, HD, Microsoft
Boost Mobile launched a Mobile Wallet app and service today at CTIA 2013 with an interesting twist in that it is tied to a Visa Prepaid card. Boost Mobile customers simply hit up a store to get signed up, download an app onto their handset and once funds are added to their account can use them in a wide variety of ways. From sending money via the app to people in 135 other countries, the ability to pay more than 3,500 billers nationwide, top up your prepaid account and using the included Visa debit card any money in your account can be accessed via that card as well. The app also makes use of your handset’s camera with its Quick Check feature — which is coming soon — allowing an account holder to snap a photo of a check and submit it using the app to have the check’s value added to your mobile wallet once approved — which is nifty, if you don’t use a bank we suppose. There are no month-to-month fees for the service but each bill you pay will cost some $2 and climbs depending on how quickly you need the payment made against the account. The service launches in Los Angeles, San Diego and parts of New Jersey today with rollout to all markets expected by the end of the year.
So, it’s not the full laptop setup we were kinda-sorta expecting based on Samsung’s announcement yesterday, but the Korean company’s 13.3-inch 3,200 x 1,800 panel — with a whopping 275 ppi — is still plenty impressive on its own. Though the prototype was connected to a desktop PC rather than installed in a notebook, the demo gave us what we came for: a look at that sheer pixel density. You really have to see it to believe it — with the desktop set to the screen’s native resolution, menus, icons and text all appear tiny. The benefit of such a high resolution, of course, is that you can fit more information on screen, and it’s more than a little reminiscent of Apple’s Retina display. The booth wasn’t equipped with internet access, so we couldn’t test the panel’s mettle with a trip to this very site, but images on the desktop and in Samsung’s pre-loaded PowerPoint looked very bright and crisp.
In addition to playing up the pixel count, Samsung touted its prototype as a “green panel,” claiming 30-percent lower power consumption than existing LCDs. And like the flexible LG display we saw just a bit earlier, this screen won’t stay off the market for long: expect a 13.3-inch version — with touch capability — to ship in the next two months, though it may debut on a third-party laptop, not necessarily one manufactured by Samsung. A rep told us that 14- and 15.6-inch versions will follow. Check out our hands-on video and photos for a closer look.
You can’t blame us for rushing to see LG’s flexible OLED HD panel here at SID. First announced earlier this week, the 5-inch display sports a plastic construction, which allows it to be both bendable and unbreakable. Most alluring of all, though, is LG’s intimation that the screen tech will debut in a smartphone by the end of this year. Before we get lost in thoughts about a tricked-out Optimus G, let’s take a look at this early prototype.
The panel is made of plastic substrates, which are both more flexible and cheaper to manufacture than their glass counterparts. In fact, cost-effectiveness seems to be the chief objective overall. Clumsy consumers will benefit as well — in a smartphone, the glass above the screen could break, but the OLED panel would stay in tact, resulting in lower repair costs. At the company’s booth, a demo area let attendees take a hammer to the standalone display and twist it every which way — sure enough, it withstood these torture tests. In our hands, the 5-inch screen was lightweight and responsive to twists and bends; it felt like a thick film strip.
An LG rep told us the panel could sport a bigger or smaller size when it debuts in a smartphone later this year. And though the prototype on display here today was labeled merely as “HD,” we’re sure that resolution could be adjusted as well. For now, get an early look in our video after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, LG
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