Hasta La Gadget!

Would you whack your phone voluntarily to shut it up? I know I wouldn’t. Just think of all the bumps and scratches whacking might cause to the phone’s exterior. This is just one more reason why I probably won’t be buying any Microsoft phones soon – especially those that incorporate this strange feature.

Okay, so Microsoft hasn’t actually gotten around to making phones that ask you to whack them, but they might. They’ve been on a patent filing spree lately and the one that asks you to give your phone a good old whack or two is just one of them.

The patent application explains that users will be able to turn their phone off or make it go silent by hitting it. It’s pretty much common knowledge that you aren’t supposed to drop your phone or hit it at will, but if Microsoft goes through with incorporating this feature into future phones, then you might soon see well-meaning people whacking their phones in public while they look like idiots to the rest of us.

[TNW via Gizmodo via Dvice]

It’s been quite a month for leaks and the announcement of new cameras by various manufacturers. This week, a pair of new Olympus interchangeable lens compact cameras leaked as well. A few scant details of the cameras were also offered along with the leaked photos.

The black camera you see is said to be called the E-PL5, with the silver camera called the E-PM2. As you can clearly tell, both offer interchangeable lenses and look very similar. At first glance you could almost mistake them as two different colors of the same camera. However there are slight differences, such as the black camera having a knurled knob on the top, likely a manual control of some sort.

Rumor has it that both cameras will use the same sensor as found in the Olympus E-M5. The cameras also should have the same image processing engine called TruePic VI. Both of the cameras are also said to have touch screens on the back. The silver camera is said to sell for €399 (~$523 USD) with the black camera going for €599 (~$785 USD). Both prices reportedly include 14-42 mm kit lenses. Expect more details in the coming weeks.

[via 43rumors]

With one’s share value tanking to half its original IPO value, Mark
Zuckerberg’s been in an ongoing crisis management mode for months now.
Acccepting every speaking engagement offered, ironically he spoke at
TechCrunch’s Disrupt Conference on the same date Apple’s stock escalated to an all-time high of $660.97.

I’m huge fan of wireless charging for smartphones and other devices. The problem with wireless charging is that there are multiple wireless charging formats on the market and they’re not all compatible. That means you could purchase a case for your iPhone that would work on one charging base, but not the other.

Three of the most common wireless charging technologies on the market include inductive coupling, magnetic resonance, and Qi technology. Now, a company called Fulton Innovation has announced a new wireless charging breakthrough called Adaptive Resonance from their eCoupled line. This technology allows a single charging plate to support the charging of devices using any of the three methods at the same time.

The charging plate also allows the devices to maintain charging as they are moved around on the charging plate. That means you can scoot the devices around and they’ll still have power.

I like the idea of this technology, as it eliminates problems with incompatibility, and makes wireless charging just that much more practical.

As expected, Apple today revealed the iPhone 5. The new iPhone 5 is the first significant update to the iPhone line in 2 years, after last year’s incremental iPhone 4S release, and just in time for iPhone 4 users’ contracts to expire. Perfect timing again, Apple.

Starting off with the hardware changes, the new iPhone has a 1136 x 640 (326 ppi) resolution, 4″ multitouch display – for the first time offering a true 16×9 display ratio – ideal for viewing HD video content. This bigger screen also buys you one extra row of apps on the home screen. While Apple has already upgraded its bundled apps for the taller screen, existing apps will be centered on the screen with tiny black bars above and below. The new display is also much thinner, and touts 44% more color saturation than the previous model.

From the front, the iPhone 5 doesn’t look dramatically different – though the camera has been centered above the speaker at the top of the phone, and it looks a little stretched out thanks to the larger screen. On the backside of the unibody aluminum case, you can see a two-toned matte finish which looks nice and is should be way less susceptible to breakage than the all-glass back of the last generation. The iPhone is 7.6mm thick and it weighs 112 grams, making it the thinnest and lightest iPhone yet – 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the 4S as a matter of fact.

Under the hood, the iPhone 5 has an upgraded processor, the A6, which Apple says is twice as fast as its predecessor in both the CPU and graphics departments. And thank goodness, Apple has finally jumped on the 4G bandwagon, offering 4G LTE high-speed connectivity. Assuming you live in a 4G coverage area, this is reason alone to upgrade. The phone also supports HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA wireless technologies. Wi-Fi has also gotten a boost, with 802.11a/b/g/n and dual channel 2.4/5GHz support.

Despite the upgrades to CPU and wireless, Battery life is rated at 8 hours on an LTE connection, and 10 hours on Wi-Fi, which I assume they achieved thanks to the new low-power display. Word is that the battery is only a 1440 mAh model – in comparison, the Droid RAZR MAXX has a 3300 mAh battery – but it also has a much larger screen and older display tech.

The iPhone 5′s camera sounds like no slouch, and it has to live up to the stellar camera in the iPhone 4S. It’s got an 8 megapixel sensor with backside illumination, a hybrid IR filter, five-element lens and an f/2.4 aperture. A new dynamic low-light mode provides 2 extra f-stops of performance compared to the 4S too. The new camera also is faster by up to 40%, and offers a spacial noise reduction algorithm in its new image processing chip. The camera also supports a panorama mode similar to the one found on Sony cameras, shooting massive 28 megapixel widescreen images.

Video mode offers 1080p HD capture with improvements to image stabilization, as well as face detection, and the ability to snap stills while shooting. The front-facing FaceTime HD camera offers 720p resolution, with backside illumination, face detection. You’ll also be able to use FaceTime on cellular networks now. Also upgraded is the audio system, with three microphones (front, back and bottom), as well as improved speakers. In addition, you’ll note that the headphone jack has been moved to the bottom of the phone.

One major change is the switch from the long-standing 30-pin dock connector to a new all-digital, 8-pin connector, dubbed “Lightning.” While the new connector is more durable and 80% smaller to allow for smaller and thinner devices, it does mean you’ll need to start buying new accessories unless you’rewilling to deal with the use of an adapter.

Of course, Apple will gladly sell you some ugly, but necessary 30-pin-to-Lightning connector adapters for $29 a piece. One can only guess that Apple will make tens of millions of dollars selling these over the next few months.

As anticipated, the iPhone 5 will ship with iOS 6, which is loaded with lots of goodies, including improved phone call handling (such as sending a text or SMS when you can’t accept a call,) Facebook integration, upgrades to Safari, Mail, Facetime and Siri. Shared Photo Stream lets you share images with family and friends, and allows comments and likes as well.

The new Passbook app will let you organize tickets, coupons and gift cards in one neat digital wallet. However, it looks like Apple chose to forgo NFC (Near-field communication) technology for now, which certainly doesn’t help the fortunes of that budding technology.

iOS 6 also is the first release to do away with Google’s apps – so both the Maps and YouTube apps you know will be gone. Instead, you’ll get Apple’s new maps app, which features sharp, vector-based images, turn-by-turn navigation, traffic information, Siri and Yelp integration. The only real concern here is how accurate and up-to-date Apple’s mapping data will be in comparison to the years of information Google has collected. As for YouTube, just grab Google’s own new YouTube app now. It’s much better anyhow.

The iPhone 5 will come in three memory configurations: 16GB ($199 USD), 32GB ($299 USD), 64GB ($399 USD) with a 2-year contract.  All models are available in either black or white, with that sexy aluminum back. As a bonus, you can pick up the “old” iPhone 4S for just $99, starting today. 4G LTE Carriers for the iPhone 5 are as follows: U.S.: Sprint, AT&T, Verizon. Canada: Bell, Rogers, Telus, Fido, Virgin Mobile; UK/Germany: T-Mobile; Japan: Softbank and KDDI; Korea: SKT and KT; Hong Kong: SmarTone; and Singapore: SingTel.

The iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order starting this Friday, September 14th, 2012, and will land in stores and homes in North America, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore on September 21st. 20 more countries will get the phone next month. Keep an eye out on the Apple website for pre-order details and more specs.

With all the leaks from parts makers over the last few months, there were no real surprises in today’s announcement, but the iPhone 5 still looks like the most impressive phone Apple has made to date. Assuming battery life is as good as they say, and the 4G networks aren’t brought to their knees when it launches, I can’t see many reasons not to upgrade if you’ve got an iPhone 4 or earlier model.

[Image Credit: gdgt]