Hasta La Gadget!

Sharp has reportedly begun talks with Dell, Intel, and other US companies for a potential share in the display firm, in a move that may be designed to put pressure on existing Foxconn negotiations. The discussions – which are also believed to be ongoing with Qualcomm, according to the WSJ‘s sources – would see struggling Sharp offer up a stake in return for as much as $240m depending on the suitor, with the spoils of the deal being a guaranteed supply of the company’s IGZO displays.

According to the insiders, Sharp is hoping to squeeze up to $240m from Intel or Dell, though its ambitions for Qualcomm investment are more modest. The display firm has been mired in ongoing negotiations with Foxconn/Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. for several months, with the firms needing to reach a conclusion by March 2013 but uncertainty around Sharp’s value stalling the deal.

Unofficially, however, a Sharp executive speaking to the newspaper said that while the companies continue to talk, “the unpredictability of its earnings are hindering” the likelihood of a deal. Others familiar with the deal have said that Sharp is laying on hyperbole about IGZO’s promise as a key negotiating point, routinely describing it as “potentially game-changing technology.”

That game-changer comes down to how IGZO works, replacing the substrate material among other changes, and in doing so reducing power consumption and increasing pixel density. That makes for displays that can offer the same brightness as regular LCD but with lesser power demands, or alternatively use the same power as traditional panels but for a much brighter picture, useful for outdoor applications.

IGZO production, however, has struggled to meet Sharp’s goals, and so far the panels are only showing up in a limited way in tablets and phones for the Japanese market. However, Sharp claims it is ready to offer a 32-inch IGZO panel that runs at an impressive 3840 x 2160 resolution, and which could well find its way into future Apple products according to some industry speculation.

In fact, Apple involvement in Sharp’s ongoing business has been the source of display channel muttering for some time. One analyst has suggested that a $2bn blip on Apple’s most recent financial results sheet was in fact a helping hand to the Japanese firm, potentially bringing forward future panel orders onto the books so as to help shore up the supplier.

Sharp has declined to comment on whether it is in negotiations with companies outside of Foxconn, and neither Dell, Qualcomm, nor Intel would comment on the rumors. It’s possible, however, that the move to widen negotiations – or, indeed, the leaks that such a move is being considered – is a tactical one to increase pressure on Foxconn management.

Sharp $240m talks tipped with Dell, Intel and Qualcomm: IGZO the prize is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Loans, cuts and mortgages — Sharp is doing everything it can to meet its “profitable by 2014” pledge, and according to the Wall Street Journal, it’s looking to US suitors to lend a hand. Sources close to the company say that it’s offering a stake in Sharp to companies like Dell, Intel and Qualcomm in exchange for a capital investment. So far, all four companies have declined to comment, but investors would reportedly score easy access to Sharp displays, a deal that could be a boon for Dell’s hardware division. The display outfit had originally hoped to bolster its bottom line by selling a capital stake to Hon Hai, but the deal fizzled in August. No official numbers have been announced, but the WSJ is being told that Sharp is hoping to take in ¥20 billion (about $240 million) from both Dell and Intel, and is negotiating a more meager investment with Qualcomm. With any luck, the international agreements will keep Sharp afloat long enough for its IGZO-based LCD panels to put some black ink in the firm’s ledgers.

Filed under: Displays, Misc, Intel, Dell

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, has announced it has acquired “certain assets” from Israeli company, EPOS Development, which develops low-cost, digital ultrasound positioning technologies for use in input systems such as pen, stylus and gesture recognition.

Here’s how EPOS describes its technology on its website

EPOS technology is based on the transmission of ultrasonic acoustic waves between two or more devices via a Transmitter and a software-based Receiver. The Transmitter, embedded within an input device, sends constant acoustic signals to the software-based Receiver that in turn, uses them to measure the distance and position of the pointing device.

Enabling advanced, embedded technologies for both 2 and 3 Dimensional input solutions, EPOS technology uses only standard MEMs microphones, making it low in cost and easy to integrate with only minimal hardware and design changes required.

Qualcomm said the acquired assets will be incorporated into its Snapdragon processor — a chipset used to power a large variety of Android and Windows Phone smartphones and tablets — in order to “strengthen and differentiate” the chipset, and support “powerful next generation user experiences” for smartphones, tablets and e-readers.

Qualcomm also noted EPOS’ technology works both on and off screen and in three dimensions — flagging up the potential for no-touch user interfaces to be deployed in future mobile devices, moving beyond the current preoccupation with touchscreens. Although Qualcomm also said it intends to provide “digital pen/stylus reference designs” to help accelerate adoption of EPOS’ ultrasound technology across “consumer, enterprise and education” markets — so it’s clearly not exclusively interested in gesture-based input mechanisms.

“As computing evolves beyond the PC, consumers are looking for intuitive new ways to interact with their mobile devices,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, QTI, in a statement. “EPOS’ technology goes beyond the PC-era mouse and keyboard and enables touch-free gesture and pen interactions as user input mechanisms. Enabling this technology on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor will allow devices that accommodate a more mobile and multimedia-centric lifestyle.”

Some EPOS staff are joining Qualcomm and will be integrated into the chipmaker’s Israel’s R&D team where they will be working on “delivering new mobile device and service capabilities”.

Release follows below

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced that it has acquired certain assets of EPOS Development, Ltd. (EPOS), a leading developer of ultrasound technologies for input solutions, including pen, stylus and gesture recognition. The company, based in Hod Hasharon, Israel, has developed digital positioning technology that enables device manufacturers to integrate advanced user input capabilities into a wide range of consumer devices.

“As computing evolves beyond the PC, consumers are looking for intuitive new ways to interact with their mobile devices,” said Raj Talluri, senior vice president, product management, QTI. “EPOS’ technology goes beyond the PC-era mouse and keyboard and enables touch-free gesture and pen interactions as user input mechanisms. Enabling this technology on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor will allow devices that accommodate a more mobile and multimedia-centric lifestyle.”

The acquired assets will further strengthen and differentiate Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor, allowing unique and powerful next-generation user experiences for smartphones, tablets and e-readers. EPOS team members who are joining Qualcomm will be integrated into Qualcomm Israel’s R&D team and will be focused on delivering new mobile device and service capabilities.

The EPOS technology is based on the digital transmission of ultrasonic waves, enabling precise tracking by a receiver to enable multiple applications.

“Ultrasound technology provides device manufacturers a low-cost approach for integrating pen and stylus-based user interfaces into their products while gaining the benefit of a slew of new capabilities,” said Oded Turbahn, chief executive officer, EPOS. “Relative to other pen and stylus input solutions, the additional bill of material cost for the device is minimal as the technology does not require changes to the device’s screen and is independent of screen size. The EPOS team is excited about joining Qualcomm in working to further the potential of digital ultrasound.”

EPOS’ ultrasound technology provides a differentiated, high-resolution user experience that works on screen and off screen, as well as in three dimensions. Qualcomm intends to provide digital pen/stylus reference designs to help accelerate adoption of this technology in the consumer, enterprise and education markets.

About EPOS Development, Ltd.

EPOS Development, Ltd. is a leading provider of advanced digital positioning technologies. Headquartered in Israel and backed by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Walden Israel Venture Capital and Tel-Ad, EPOS develops next-generation input solutions for consumer electronics and mobile devices.

About Qualcomm Technologies

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), is redefining the way people incorporate wireless devices and services into everyday life. QTI and its subsidiaries operate substantially all of Qualcomm’s research and development activities, and product and services businesses, including Qualcomm’s semiconductor business, QCT. QTI’s developments enable opportunities across the wireless and wired value chains by making devices and networks faster, content richer and communications more personal and affordable to people everywhere. For more information, go to www.qualcomm.com.

The folks at HTC have brought on a beast of a device this week in the DROID DNA, a smartphone with a 5-inch full HD 1080p super LCD 3 display and the highest resolution and pixel density available in the whole entire world. This device is literally the most high-definition smartphone on the market and works with Verizon’s 4G LTE network for data speed, also coming packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core 1.5GHz processor under the hood for beastly power.

This machine has a curved black soft-touch plastic back that gets down to 4mm at its thinnest point and has cool “microgrill” sidewalls in a bright red to accentuate your DROID experience. Inside is 2GB of RAM for perfect next-generation power teamed with your S4 Pro processor and Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box with HTC Sense 4+ user interface for a real HTC experience as well.

Inside you’ll also find the same HTC ImageSense chip present in the HTC One series, this being separate from the main quad-core processor from Qualcomm. This device works with HTC ImageSense technology and a new camera interface made with several new features to bring on a camera experience like no other. One of these features is a “Sightseeing” mode that allows you to get to your camera by pressing the device’s power button.

The camera on the front of the DROID DNA provides a quality not often seen in front-facing cameras on smartphones. Normally you’ll find the front-facing camera getting a TINY bit of quality only good enough for basic video chat. Instead what you’re getting here is what HTC calls a “best-in-class” experience with a lovely 2.1MP, f/2.0 aperture, and 88-degree ultra-wide angle front-facing camera made for not just video chat, but relatively high quality photos as well.

The front-facing camera works with a new mode called Auto Portrait – touch to begin an automatic countdown timer and snap a nice one. This device also works with HTC VideoPic, allowing you to take high quality photos while you’re shooting 1080p HD video. It also has Continuous Shooting mode with a cool 4 frames per second by just holding the shutter button. You’ve also got Map and Event Views in your photo gallery showing when and where the photos were taken.

Oddly, it appears that this device will be coming with just 16GB of internal storage and no microSD expansion slot. This means HTC is relying heavily on the idea that cloud storage is the way of the future – or the now, as it were. The battery inside this device is 2020mAh – this might also be a big downfall of the device unless the Qualcomm processor ends up being very, very good at battery conservation.

This device continues HTC’s audio adventure with Beats Audio for “studio-quality sound” across your “entire multimedia experience.” In this case, that means you’ve got a 2.55v built-in headset amplifier as well as a dedicated rear-speaker amp for high-quality sound any way you swing it. Get pumped up for the release of this monster – Autumn’s largest in HTC power!

DROID DNA by HTC revealed with world’s most HD display is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

China Mobile is set to release Nokia‘s flagship smartphone, the Lumia 920, on December 5. It’ll be called the Lumia 920T, and the carrier just leaked some more details about the device. One particular piece of information is that the processor in the leaked Lumia 920T will be slightly faster than the US version of the 920.

China Mobile has shown off their version of the Lumia 920 that will come with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro MSM8960T chipset, which comes with an Adreno 320 GPU. The US version runs off of the Qualcomm S4 Plus MSM8960 chipset that only has an Adreno 225 GPU. Obviously, we’re not sure how much faster the chip will be in the new phone, but it’s said that the 320 offers nearly triple the performance of the 225.

While it might seem like Nokia is shafting their customers in other countries who only have the Lumia 920, the reason why Nokia had to use the MSM8960T chipset is said to be because it is the only chipset that supports China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE standards. This seems like valid excuse, but also makes us bummed.

While the 920T will certainly offer quicker performance than the regular 920, we’re curious as to how much faster the device will be and if users will notice a significant difference between the two. The Adreno 320 GPU is being used with the Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 chip on some US phones like LG Optimus G and Google’s Nexus 4.

[via GSM Insider]

Nokia Lumia 920T leaks, comes with faster Snapdragon S4 and Adreno 320 GPU is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.