Showing posts with label Smartphone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smartphone. Show all posts

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Google unveils new Android 'N'

In a surprise unveiling, Google has given the world its first look at the next version of Android.

The yet-to-be-named Android update, codenamed "Android N," features a split-screen mode, improved notifications and better battery life. Google unveiled a preview version of Android N for developers this week.
Split-screen
The new split-screen tool would catch Android up to Apple's iPad, Samsung and Windows, which all give customers the ability to view multiple apps on the same screen.
Google said it could allow a video-playing app to continue to run while a person opens a different app. For example, you could continue to watch a YouTube video while opening up your Gmail app to respond to an email.
Samsung, which makes Android phones and tablets, has long given customers the ability to run split-screen apps. But it was an add-on feature, so people who owned non-Samsung Android devices have been left out of the multi-window fun.
Notifications
 
Android N will introduce notifications that customers can reply to inside the notification itself. So if you get a text message, you can hit "reply" right in the notification and start typing without opening up the messaging app.
Interactive notifications have been a staple of Android for years, although they've been limited to actions like play, pause or delete. Unlike iOS, Android largely hasn't allowed people to type anything into a notification. Google's Hangouts currently allows customers to reply from an Android notification, but that still requires a pop-up window. Android N will just expand the notification window a bit to include a text box.
Android N will also include "bundled notifications," which will keep all notifications for a single app in one line. Customers will be able to expand those notifications using a two-finger gesture or by tapping a new expansion button.
Battery efficiency
In the current version of Android, Google (GOOGL, Tech30) included a feature called "Doze," which put phones into a deep sleep when they were sitting on a table for a while.
Android N will take Doze a step further, putting phones to rest whenever the screen is off. Google also said that Android N will make background tasks more efficient and less taxing on the battery.
And more!
Google said Android N's new feature set isn't limited to those new bells and whistles. Google will continue to release new features as it builds them.
Typically, new Android releases are unveiled during Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference. This year's I/O is scheduled for May 18-20.
"We're doing something a little different this year by releasing the preview early... really early," Google said in a blog post.
Google noted that a super-early preview allows developers to weigh in much sooner, giving Google more time to incorporate app-makers' feedback. It follows Microsoft's nearly yearlong preview of Windows 10, allowing anyone to download it and submit suggestions along the way.
The next version of Android will be named after some tasty treat that starts with the letter "N." The current version is called Marshmallow.

SOURCE: http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/10/technology/android-n/

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge's edge screen

Samsung added new features that take advantage of the curved screen; let's take a look.



That slick edge screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is more than just a pretty design, it's functional, too.
Last year's Galaxy S6 Edge had just a few features to make use of the curved screen, but the S7 ramps it up. The curved edges of the display make it feel like the screen never really stops. The edges of the screen also act as an additional place to show information in a way that doesn't interfere with the rest of the screen.
We'll dive into everything Samsung added to the edge screen this year below and go hands-on with them in the video above.

Edge panels

The edge screen gets far more shortcuts and tools with the S7 Edge. The People edge, a menu of favorite contacts is still there, but it's joined by the Apps edge menu, which shows your most frequently used apps and the Tasks edge, where you can add shortcuts of things you do often with your phone (such as taking a selfie or creating a new calendar event).
There are also new panels of information from Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, your calendar, weather and more. You can customize the Edge screen in settings, removing panels you don't want and downloading new ones from the Samsung app store.

Edge feed

Swipe a finger back and forth along either edge when the screen is off to see the Edge feed. It's a tiny display of helpful information, like missed calls, messages, sports scores and news updates. You can swipe up and down along the edge to move between feeds, which include Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance stock information, and your step count from the built-in S Health pedometer.

Edge lighting

Just like with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, the S7 Edge's screen will light up when someone calls or texts you. When the phone is resting screen down, the edge will glow when you get an incoming call or text. If the person calling you is one of the contacts in your People edge the screen will glow with whichever color you've assigned them -- either blue, green, purple, yellow or orange.

Apple wireless charging


Many Android phones, like Samsung's Galaxy S7, have some form of built-in wireless charging. But the only way to charge an iPhone remains through an old-fashioned cord.
But there's a growing amount of evidence that this will change soon.
Bloomberg reported in January that Apple has been working on a wireless charging technology with partners that would allow its devices to siphon power from "further away from than the charging mats used with current smartphones."
A Morgan Stanley analyst note from February says the same thing: it expects wireless charging to be added to the iPhone in the next 1-2 years, based on industry experts.
Apple has filed a few patents describing wireless charging, and The Wall Street Journal reported that it was looking into "a new way of charging" back in 2012. Given Apple's tepid approach to wireless charging so far, it's unlikely that Apple is working on implementing the same tech that's currently on the market.
All signs point to one partner: Energous, a publicly traded company that's firmly in its R&D phase at the moment. It's come up with a system called WattUp that enables smartphones and other small gadgets to charge from as far as 15 feet away from a wireless transmitter.
Here's why so many people think Energous's wireless charging system is going to end up in Apple products:

Energous CEO keeps alluding to a "key strategic partner" that sounds a lot like Apple

In early 2015, Energous said that it had signed a deal with "one of the top five consumer electronics companies in the world." That narrows the possibility down to only a few companies: Apple, Samsung, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Hitachi. 

During a conference call on Thursday, Energous' relationship with its "key strategic partner" kept coming up.
"The whole relationship and the internal development are really shrouded in secrecy. They’re compartmentalized even within our key strategic partner," Stephen Rizzone said. "There is an element of secrecy to them and so we really just can't speak to any component or any specific as it relates to the milestone or development."
But Rizzone did confirm that Energous continues to hit milestones for its #1 customer. "One path is to actively support our key strategic partner as the adoption process moves to their organization," Rizzone said. He believes Energous tech will be in consumer hands "late this year early next year."
Also key: whoever Energous is working for is going to help shepherd the company through the tricky FCC approval process. Apple's compliance team shepherds hundreds of products through the FCC.

It's the only long-range wireless charging technology ready to ship

https://youtu.be/if4hiu1tHto 

While Energous isn't the only startup trying to crack wireless power, it may be the only company that can deliver a working product for production in the next two years.
Essentially, WattUp sends focused signals on the same frequency as Wi-Fi. A chip connected to a small device captures those signals and converts them into power. It's safe, which is important as it and its partner companies attempt to secure FCC approval. 
uBeam, for example, is often considered a close competitor, but its ultrasound technology is firmly in the prototyping stage as physicists and experts question whether its wireless charging is even physically possible. 
Another potential competitor, Witricity, uses technology that is an enhancement of the current magnetic-field based approach used in phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S7, and counts Intel as an investor. However, its approach seems like a much better fit for electric cars or laptops, and not phones. Plus, its range tops out at only a few feet.
Energous has been giving full demos of its technology for the past two years and it appears to work just fine. CEO Stephen Rizzone said that it's already shipped development kits to partners. According to the company, its wireless charging system is about 70% efficient already and still improving. 

Apple and Energous are on the same standards group for designing wireless charging tests

Disruptive Tech Research analyst Louis Basenese said in a research note that a compliance manager at Apple, Michael O'Dwyer, is on a standards committee to develop standard ways to "test wireless power transfer products."
As Basenese says, it's unlikely that Apple would be on such a committee unless it saw a scenario in which it would have to test a wireless charging product it makes. And guess who else is on that committee? Energous' director of regulatory compliance.
Additionally, an analysis of LinkedIn profiles finds multiple engineers who have moved from battery development at Apple to roles at Energous – one of whom wrote that she "specialized in major accounts."

Probably 2017

If Energous is Apple's wireless charging partner, it just gave a few major hints about when you can expect the technology to hit the market. It's sticking to its "late 2016" timeline for its technology to make it into consumer products, but it's the "mid-size and the full sized transmitters" that its key strategic partner is interested in.
The "mini" transmitter is geared towards wearables and other smaller devices, according to Rizzone.
"They are more complex, they are going to take longer to both integrate into the products of our key strategic partners," Rizzone explained.
So while the evidence is stacking up that Apple may be working on wireless charging technology, it probably won't be ready in time for the iPhone 7 that's expected to come out late this year.

SOURCE: http://www.businessinsider.com/evidence-apple-is-working-on-wireless-charging-for-iphones-and-apple-watch-2016-3