Hasta La Gadget!

Apple's iPad (left) next to Samsung's Galaxy Tab. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Apple and Samsung this week won awards for display technologies on their mobile devices.

Apple’s iPhone and iPad earned gold Display of the Year and Display Application of the Year awards from the Society for Information Display. Both devices received praise for their usage of in-plane switching technology, in which crystal molecules are oriented so their motion is parallel to the panel, instead of perpendicular to it. The result is a very wide viewing angle — up to 180 degrees — with brilliant color.

Apple’s iPhone 4 high pixel-density “Retina Display” is reportedly manufactured by LG Displays, which is also the main supplier for the iPad’s display.

Meanwhile, Samsung earned silver awards for displays on its Galaxy S smartphones, as well as its on-cell touch active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display technology. Samsung’s displays gained applause for using Super AMOLED technology, in which pixels emit their own light so the display does not require backlighting, to “deliver very high performance and exceptional display quality,” according to the society.

Also, Samsung’s on-cell touch technology integrates the touch sensor into the display itself, rather than putting the sensor on a separate piece of glass and laminating it on the display, which allows the display to be thinner and more responsive, the society said.

“[The award winners] demonstrate the remarkable contributions made by the display industry to broaden and enhance the lives of people,” said Bob Melcher, chairman of the SID Display of the Year Awards committee, in a press statement.

Display technologies take on an increasingly important role in the gadget industry as the newest mobile devices continue to shed physical keyboards and buttons in favor of touchscreens. Today, a smartphone’s display is as important as the software that runs beneath it.

Many display experts agree that Apple’s gadgets lead the game in the display industry thanks to their usage of in-plane switching, but Samsung’s AMOLED displays are not far from catching up.

“While OLED is still a relatively young display technology that has not yet been perfected to the performance levels of the very best mature LCDs [such as those on the iPhone and iPad], the Galaxy S is already an impressive display for an upcoming and rapidly evolving technology,” said Raymond Soneira, a display expert at DisplayMate, who has done independent testing on various displays.

See Also:

• Apple’s 27-inch LED Display Now on Sale
• Apple iPad’s Display Is More Like a TV Than a Laptop
• Samsung Demos Retina-Resolution Tablet Display

The developers targeted by Lodsys’s patent infringement accusations last week have been in a sleepless holding pattern, awaiting response from Apple before making their next moves. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) staff attorney Julie Samuels says that Apple legal is likely hard at work reviewing the patent in question, however, and should be in touch soon. Though it’s very unlikely that Cupertino won’t offer assistance, devs will also be able to turn to EFF for advice, where they may even be paired with pro bono patent attorneys. Besides offering this bit of good news, Samuels was able to help us dig deeper into Lodsys, and the dirty business of patent suits. To get some perspective, we reached out to Lodsys CEO Mark Small and EFF (which tends to side with developers). We have yet to hear back from Mr. Small, but EFF was kind enough to give us its take on the situation. Click through for the full rundown.

Continue reading Lodsys vs. Apple Devs: EFF helps us dig deeper

Lodsys vs. Apple Devs: EFF helps us dig deeper originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IRemoco’s chopper is controlled by waving around your iPhone

IRemoco is a remote-control toy helicopter that you drive with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The $100 kit contains the chopper itself, along with a dongle which plugs into the dock connector of your iDevice and sends your instructions to the helicopter. The project — currently seeking funding on Kickstarter — differs from other IR ‘copters in the way you control it.

While you can opt to use on-screen joysticks to fly the helicopter, it looks like a lot more fun to use motion control. The app (already in the App Store to check out for free) uses the accelerometer or gyroscope inside the iDevice to translate the phone’s movements into helicopter’s movements. Tilt the phone to the side and the ‘copter does the same.

Both the helicopter and the remote have rechargeable batteries (via USB), and the helicopter is gyroscopically stabilized, making it easy to fly. Should you crash it, the motors will cut out, and the rotors are all made of bendy plastic so they should bounce back just fine. Should you manage to snap one anyway, there are replacement blades in the box.

The designers, Andrew Ayres and Tom Sisterson, plan to bring more toys to market if this one takes of (sorry), and they will use the same controller dongle, thus making the new toys cheaper. Even now, if you have more than one helicopter (for instance, if you opt for the $150 two-chopper pack) then you can control them from the same phone, touching on-screen buttons to switch between them.

I’m sold. I’d totally love to take one of these for a spin. And here’s hoping Andrew and Tom’s future plans include a helicopter with a camera that can beam back to the iPad’s screen. Then I could finally find out what’s making my neighbor so happy on her fenced-off roof-terrace that she screams in delight.

iRemoco – remote control helicopter for iPhone, iPod & iPad [Kickstarter. Thanks, Paul!]

See Also:

• Helicam Combines Toy Helicopter and Camera for HD Videos
• King Of The Rocket Men Designs Personal Helicopter
• Nigerian Student Builds Home Made Helicopter

Internet radio provider Slacker is bulldozing the thin line dividing itself from subscription-based music services today, with the launch of Premium Radio. The new pricing tier joins the existing gratis Basic Radio and ad-free Radio Plus plans, adding an all-you-can-eat music model akin to services like Rhapsody and Rdio. Subscribers who shell out $9.99 a month receive all of the features of the $3.99 Radio Plus users, plus unlimited access to eight million songs, letting them listen to what they want, when the want, and generally play god with the site’s existing radio services. Premium Radio also gives you on- and offline access to music on a number of mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, and BlackBerry handsets — not to mention unlimited bragging rights to all of your broke friends who are still rocking the Basic Radio plan. Don’t feel too bad for ’em, though — at least they didn’t get suckered into slotRadio.

Continue reading Slacker intros Premium Radio subscription service, makes Radio Plus look like Basic Radio

Slacker intros Premium Radio subscription service, makes Radio Plus look like Basic Radio originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance voices found in OS X Lion, patent application suggests new iPhone speech / text capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 15:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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