Category: Smartphones

Google’s Project ARA phone being trialled in Puerto Rico

Article

Project Ara Hands-on: Meet Google’s Future-Proof Phone | Tom’s Guide

Concept Video

http://youtu.be/T6BHJspyh6s

My Comments

I have made some mention about Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone which uses “swap-out” modules so you can customise it to your needs and tastes effectively.

The Project Ara platform, as I have said before, reminds me of the IBM PC family of desktop computers and other desktop computers built on the AT, ATX and similar platforms where you can easily install cards to add functionality to them or improve their functionality. This is something I have done so many times where I have moved hard disks, optical drives, video and sound cards and the like between different computers to gradually upgrade to the computer that I wanted.

But there has been a lot of mockup prototypes and proof-of-concept models being shown by Google to the press at various times. Now the rubber hits the road at Puerto Rico where they are doing an area-specific “market-test” on this concept using food trucks as a way to sell the phone and modules.

It has become a chance for the computer press to see some actual working examples in use where the device works as a mobile device – as in to see it work.

I do see the Google Ara platform become a way for other device manufacturers to implement ways to expand their devices to suit today’s needs. The key application that would come to mind would be Project Ara network or interface modules like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Zigbee modules installed in the “durable” class of devices like heating / air-conditioning systems or “white goods” to be part of the connected home; similar modules installed in Smart TVs to allow them to run newer firmware.

Consumer Electronics Show 2015–Part 1–Personal Computing

No sooner than the Christmas shopping season is upon us that the hype machine for the Consumer Electronics Show starts to warm up. This is where the Internet is awash with rumours about what hot gadgets will be shown in Las Vegas during the first week of January.

This year, it is becoming the place to even show household appliances in a similar vein to what is happening in Europe when the Internationaler Funkaustellung takes place in Berlin during the first week of September. But certain technologies are being considered key drivers at this show such as more of 4K UHDTV including more content for this ultra-high-resolution technology, the Internet Of Everything being more pervasive with an increase in the number of gadgets that link to the Internet or our smartphones, along with highly-converged personal computing.

A key issue that will be worth remembering  through this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is how Sony has come out of its recent massive cyber-attack that nearly crippled Sony Pictures. The President of Sony Corporation, as part of the press conference, ran a speech about not caving in to that attack especially where it concerned “The Interview”. He was underscoring the key factors of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of association as being very important lifebloods and lifelines of Sony and their entertainment business. For me, it was very much like Winston Churchill’s “We Shall Fight On The Beaches” battle speech given to the UK Parliament on June 4 1940 during World War II with these memorable lines:

“…. we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…..

Personal Computing

It is hard to split apart the different classes of personal computing devices what with the “2-in-1” convertibles and detachables becoming a major part of manufacturers’ lineups while smaller tablets have the computing abilities of even low-end laptops. Some of these even run Windows or Android or even can boot between both operating systems. This is why I have classed them together as one heading because of the way the CES hype machine was coming up with these machines.

As well, it is coming to the point where a household will have multiple computer devices at different screen sizes and for different uses. For example a “2-in-1” convertible or detachable computer could serve as one’s highly-portable auxiliary computer whereas a 7”-8” tablet could become a personal reference device or a smartphone becomes your main communications device.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon press image - courtesy of Lenovo

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon – now refreshed with new hardware

An example of this is NVIDIA with their Tegra X1 ARM processor which is able to achieve a 1 teraflop throughput and work with 4K video at 60Hz. Sony had put in to the CES hype machine the idea of a 12” Android tablet that can work at 4K resolution.

Lenovo have refreshed most of their computer lineup like the Thinkpad X1 Carbon carbon-fibre-built Ultrabook. Their new equipment will be more slimline and there will be a new solid-state-drive-only Ultrabook in the form of the T450S. They have also built up a range of Ultrabook accessories that are designed to stack like Lego bricks such a an external battery pack, expansion module (docking station) and an external hard disk.

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook press image courtesy of Dell

Dell XPS 13 negligable-bezel Ultrabook

Dell have released a negligable-bezel XPS 13 Ultrabook and an ultra-slim Venue 8 7000 coat-pocket Android tablet. This implements multiple-camera depth-sense technology along with, guess what, an OLED screen which I would expect to be a treat for your social-media pictures or what you took with your camera.

Toshiba Portégé Z20T detachable laptop press image courtesy of Toshiba

Toshiba Portégé Z20T detachable pitched at the business user

The “two-in-one” convertible or detachable computer is still alive with the Jide which is an 11” Surface-style tablet along with Toshiba’s Satellite Click Mini which is an 11” netbook-style detachable. Toshiba also released the Portégé Z20t which is a 12.5” 2-in-1 detachable pitched at the business user and is driven by the Intel Core M technology.

They are still pushing on with smartphones with Acer fielding the Liquid Z410 Android low-cost unit with 4.5” screen. Yezz is even pitching to the Windows Phone platform with the Billy S5 LTE model. The old dogs of consumer photography are vying for each other’s existence in the digital world through Kodak and Polaroid offering Android smartphones with Polaroid’s phone, a badge-engineered Oppo N1, known as the “Selfie” to court the selfie-taking craze. As well, ASUS have released the ZenFone Zoom which is the first smartphone to implement optical zoom in their rear camera. This Android phone also implements a 13-megapixel sensor and optical stabilisation on that camera.

LG G-Flex 2 curved Android smartphone - courtesy of LG

LG G-Flex 2 curved smartphone – to snap at Apple’s and Samsung’s heels

But the steal of the show is the LG G Flex 2 which is the first curved smartphone to get some real market traction. This sexy number implements a 5.5” Full HD OLED screen and is more durable than most flat phones. It is equipped with Gorilla Glass and a self-healing case that keeps looking anew. But it uses Snapdragon 810 64-bit horespower with 2Gb RAM and 32Gb storage infinitely expandable by microSD cards. The camera implements laser-assisted auto focus and it runs Android 5 Lollipop. But do I see it knock Apple, HTC and Samsung off their perches when it comes to premium smartphones – if it becomes the next thing in cool.

In the next post, I will be looking at the trends for wearable technology and the Internet Of Everything

You can deregister iMessage if you move away from your iPhone

Article

iMessage deregister Webpage

Deregister iMessage from your number without your iPhone

Apple finally offers an easy solution to its missing text message problem | Engadget

From the horse’s mouth

Apple

Deregister iMessage site

My Comments

If you are moving towards another non-Apple platform for your smartphone or have decided to change your mobile phone number, you may run into issues with Apple’s iMessage “over-the-top” message service which you used as your enhanced messaging service with iOS.

The default setup for iMessage is to route all your regular inbound and outbound SMS and MMS traffic via this service. This can cause problems with you or your contacts not receiving messages if you are moving off the iPhone platform or phantom messages coming through from your old number when you are changing phone numbers.

To deal with this problem, you would typically use the iPhone’s Settings control panel to deactivate iMessage and is something you may have to do before you move off to the other platform or arrange to have your mobile number changed by your carrier.

On the other hand, Apple has provided an answer for those of us who have done the switchover without deactivating iMessage on the iPhone. This can happen when you are in a hurry to switch over or have your mobile service immediately provisioned on your new non-Apple phone.

Here, you visit a page on their Website and key in your mobile phone number to deregister it from iMessage. You will receive a “confirmation number” on your new phone as an SMS, which you then subsequently key in to the Website to set this deregistration in stone. If this doesn’t work, you may have to contact Apple’s technical support to make sure this happens. You may also have to contact Apple’s technical support if you are not receiving SMS or MMS messages on your iPhone after a number change.

This doesn’t affect other iOS or Mac OS X devices that use iMessage because these work on your Apple ID (email address) as being your iMessage address. It primarily detaches your existing mobile number from your Apple ID as an iMessage address.

It could be improved by providing iMessage management through an Apple-hosted Web dashboard that allows you to do things like deregister your phone number or manually add, change or delete phone numbers associated with your iMessage service. This can be of importance with situations like travellers and expats who use SIM cards from providers local to where they are travelling in order to dodge roaming fees or have local-mobile-number presence.

What makes that smartphone a “selfie” smartphone?

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 press picture courtesy of Samsung

The calibre of the front-facing camera on a smartphone may determine its selfie prowess

Over these past months, smartphone manufacturers and the technology press have been going on about smartphones that are described as “selfie” smartphones. But what are they and what is this trend?

Like most of the consumer-technology companies, these companies are pitching the products at young people who are wanting to take many “selfies” which are pictures of themselves. This is mainly to provide the pictures that can be thrown up on Facebook, Instagram or other similar social networks or used as “avatar” images that are used to identify people on many games, instant-messaging and social-networking services.

Most smartphones have a front-facing camera along with a rear-facing camera but, in a lot of cases, the rear-facing camera has higher photo-taking abilities than the front-facing camera. This is because the front-facing camera has been purposed primarily for videocalls using 3G, Skype or similar services and has a resolution that usually maxes out at 3 Megapixels. As well, the lens systems in these cameras typically is a fixed-focus lens that may not yield good-quality pictures.

Some people get around this by typically having someone else take a picture of themselves using the rear-facing camera. This may range from another person in their group taking the picture or them roping in a stranger to immediately become familiar with the phone’s camera app and take that group picture. Or they may use other tricks like using a mirror or using the phone at arm’s length to take a rough shot.

What these “selfie” smartphones are all about is that they have a front-facing camera that is optimised to turn out high-quality still pictures along with logic to make the act of taking these pictures easier. The cameras will typically have resolutions of at least 5 Megapixels and, in some cases, there are some phones emanating from China that have 2 13-megapixel cameras. The lenses in these cameras even are optimised to take the best selfies by using a wide-angle design. Some of the Android phones implement camera logic to take improved shots with the front camera like removing blemishes for example or managing the rear camera to take those selfies like implementing a self-timer.

Personally, I would look towards using whatever post-processing functionality like cropping to get the picture right before tendering it to that social-media site because you may not get the framing right. This is more so if you are using your device’s rear camera to take these shots and you don’t have the help of someone else to take that picture.

Emergency-notification apps–very important for some of us

In Case Of Emergency opening screen

In Case Of Emergency opening screen

I am highlighting the emergency-notification apps like “ICE In Case of Emergency” which are available for most smartphone platforms along with other techniques to make your smartphone work with you if you are caught up in a medical emergency or disaster.

What are these apps?

These apps provide access to information that is essential for others to know if an emergency occurs. Typically the apps work with a lock-screen that provides immediate access to this information along with the necessary space to store that information on our smartphones. As well, they keep the phone’s security functionality in place by providing “sandboxed” access to the emergency information but you can gain full access to your phone using the regular passcode that you have for it. This “sandboxed” access may only allow you to dial the contacts listed in the app’s contact list from that app when the phone is locked so you can still contact them in case of emergency.

In Case Of Emergency app widget on lock screen

In Case Of Emergency app widget on lock screen

They store information about whom to contact in case of emergency, illnesses or other conditions that others should be aware of, medical contacts along with information about the medicines that the person on the file is taking. They may even have the ability for you to directly dial the emergency contacts from their user interface. Some more sophisticated variants may work with a cloud service and your phone’s location identification features to transmit your location to loved ones in case of emergency.

Most of these apps are available from the mobile app stores for pennies’ worth or, in some cases, for free. On the other hand, you can add text to your phone’s lock-screen wallpaper with your emergency-contact information so this is available at all times even when your phone is locked. There are apps that can facilitate that by “mixing the text with the pictures”.

Who are they useful for?

One group of people they are essential for are those of us who have chronic illnesses which can result in an unpredictable emergency situation like a coma, seizure or asthma attack. This includes elderly people who are at risk of a stroke or something similar that is brought on by the ageing process.

Here, it means that when they are out and about, they are sure that the people they are with are able to contact someone like a close friend or relative or their doctor to find out what to do in relation to helping them through the situation. As well, they can convey the critical information to the paramedics or safety / security staff who are managing the situation.

I had one of these apps on my phone because of the fact that I have epilepsy and am at risk of the seizures associated with that illness. This came in handy recently when I had one of these seizures during a group get-together at the church I attend and two of the fellow congregants were able to know whom to contact and what to do by the easily-accessible information that the app was able to provide. This was even though they had called an ambulance to attend to this situation.

Another group of users that would benefit from these emergency-notification apps would be those of us who do activities like bushwalking, long-distance running and long-distance cycling. Similarly people who do a lot of travel can benefit from these apps. These kind of activities may require others to know whom to contact if something untoward happens to them.

In all these situations, a hard-copy card that you keep in your bag or wallet and carries the same essential information does work well as a backup in case your phone runs out of batteries or “freezes”.

What to look for with these apps

These apps should have the ability to retain all of the essential information like your name, the phone numbers for at least a few contacts including your primary-care and other-care doctors, along with identity numbers for national / universal health (NHS, Medicare, etc) or other coverage. As well they should be able to keep information about your blood type and other general medical particulars along with information that is essential to treating and managing your illnesses.

As well, they should be able to have the ability to provide off-device backup storage of this information, whether on removable media or a cloud-based storage service. This is to cater for situations where you may upgrade your phone or your phone plays up and destroys the data. To benefit international travellers, the software could keep information like your passport number and “home country” details along with travel insurance contact details.

Another feature that a good emergency-information app should have is the ability to be dynamically switched between different languages. This can be of importance in countries which maintain multiple tongues or have a multicultural society, or for travellers who are travelling in to countries or territories where their home tongue isn’t spoken.

Conclusion

Your smartphone can work as an emergency reference book for others to use if you are stricken through some situation. All it just requires is the use of an emergency-info app and / or using a customised lockscreen wallpaper with the critical information on it.

Internationaler Funkaustellung 2014–Part 1

IFA LogoThe Internationaler Funkaustellung trade fair that happens in Berlin is seen as a launch point for consumer electronics and home appliances being sold primarily in to the European market but also covering to some extent the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Ocieania markets. Typically what is launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas during January may be premiered in Europe during this show.

Personal and home computing

Laptops, notebooks and tablets

ASUS Eeebook X205TA 11" notebook courtesy of ASUS

ASUS Eeebook X205TA – an example of the new cheap Windows notebooks that are appearing

There are two main trends affecting the laptop computer and tablet computer here that you couldn’t really have them as separate product classes. One is an increased proliferation of the detachable and convertible classes of products that become either tablets or laptop computers at any one moment. The other is the available of 11” Windows notebook computers at really low prices to compete with the Chromebook products that run the Google ChromeOS operating system.

As far as the cheap-end laptop is concerned, ASUS, HP and others have been pushing products in this class with ASUS drawing on the EeePC “netbook” heritage with their specimen that has an 11.6” screen, an Intel Bay Trail Atom processor, 2Gb RAM and 32Gb solid-state storage.

Toshiba Satellite Click 2 Pro detachable notebook press image courtesy of Toshiba

Toshiba Satellite Click 2 Pro detachable notebook

The convertibles and detachables are coming strongly in the 13” screen size with Toshiba fielding the Satellite Click 2 Pro P30W detachable Ultrabook and the Dell Latitude 13 7000 for the detachable form factor. Acer have shown up with a 13” “flip-down” convertible in the form of the Aspire R13. The 13” screen size is still perceived as a size to keep with this product class because of a larger screen that can be good as a large “sharable” tablet and the keyboard comfortably large enough for typing up large chunks of copy while you deal with a compact portable computer.

Other trends affecting this space include laptops having 4K UHDTV resolution screens which have been brought on by the concept of the Apple Retina display in the MacBook lineup. This is making the concept of high-dot-per-inch displays become the norm in this class of computer which will put pressure on software developers and Webmasters to cater to these screens.

An example of this is the Toshiba Kira 102 13.3” Ultrabook which sports an Intel i7 processor and 256Gb SSD along with a touchscreen resolution of 2560×1440. Let’s not forget that Toshiba were refreshing the popular Satellite L Series of 15” and 17” laptops with them having either Intel or AMD processors.

The tablets are becoming available either as Windows 8.1 units or as Android 4.4 KitKat units. Here, I have had to class tablets with the laptops because they are being positioned as a competitor to the small laptop as a personal computing device although some people could position them more as media-consumption devices. This has been made easier with Microsoft licensing Windows 8.1 at no cost for the small tablet devices.

As well, it was a time when Microsoft was premiering the Surface Pro 3 as a tablet but, really a detachable notebook. Samsung has used this show to promote the Galaxy Tab S which is the first tablet to implement an OLED screen, causing it to be more lightweight as well as show pictures with increased contrast and brilliance.

Sony used this show to premiere the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact which is their “coat-pocket” tablet. As well, they have premiered their PocketBook Android-driven e-ink readers which also includes a 13” model that is pitched at CAD and architectural use. This one also is able to connect to a computer to serve as a Wacom-compliant graphics tablet.  Thomson fielded the THBK-1-1- which is capable of booting between Android or Windows 8.1. Acer was also running a Windows-based 8” tablet in the form of the Atom-powered Iconia Tab 8W.

Peripherals

As for desktop monitors, the 4K resolution is appearing in the premium end of this product class. LG fielded a curved ultrawide 4K unit with a 34” 21:9  screen, along with the 31” Digital Cinema 4K monitor and a 24” gamer-grade monitor.

Smartphones

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge press image courtesy of Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge – a new trend for smartphone displays with the wraparound display

The key trends for the smartphones include moving towards the 5”-6” 16:9 screen size with the display size hitting the golden maximum for the product class. This is where the product is similar in size to a larger highly-functional pocket calculator where it has a large screen yet it is comfortable to hold in one hand and operate with the other. It has been underscored by the so-called “phablet” class of smartphone with the large 6” displays and having that “golden maximum”.

We are also seeing more stylish designs for the premium models along with upscaling of the devices’ processor, camera and similar abilities.

Samsung were pushing their premium Galaxy line at this show. The headline products were the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini and Galaxy Note Edge with screen edges that wrap over side of phone and exposes software-determined options,

Alcatel were exhibiting their One Touch smartphone which uses e-ink as a battery-saving display technology. HTC also exhibited the Desire 820 which was the first Android smartphone to implement a 64-bit ARM processor. This may impact software development for the Android platform because of a requirement to compile 64-bit packages of the apps to take full advantage of this processor’s abilities.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 press picture courtesy of Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – the latest iteration of the phone that started the phablet phenomenon

Companies that are normally dormant when it comes to handheld devices are surfacing with smartphone products of their own. Examples of these include Acer launching their “Leap” smartphone range along with Lenovo launching their Vibe smartphones with some of the products being pitched at the “selfie” culture.

The phablets are emerging in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which is the latest iteration of the Galaxy Note lineup that opened up this product class. Sony answered with the Z3 product range while LG fielded the G3 Stylus 5.5” Android phablet.

As for the emerging markets, Technisat were promoting a dual-SIM Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean smartphone with Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth and FM radio. This runs on a 1500mAH battery with 512Mb RAM and 4Gb main storage at EUR€115.99. LG were running the L Fino and L Bello 3G smartphones for these markets.

The home network

Two main trends that are affecting connectivity on the home network are 802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless connectivity and HomePlug AV2 MIMO powerline connectivity.

More of the current-issue broadband routers are being equipped with 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity with more concurrent wireless streams this allowing for increa

Devolo dLAN 1200+ HomePlug AV2 MIMO adaptor press picture courtesy of Devolo

Devolo dLAN 1200+ HomePlug AV2 MIMO adaptor (Continental Schuko plug)

sed Wi-Fi throughput. For that matter, we are seeing such equipment in the order of the AC1900 specification with three radio streams.

Examples of this include TP-Link’s Archer C9 performance broadband router and the NETGEAR NightHawk X4 with the four-stream AC2350 802.11ac Wi-Fi.  As well, TP-Link also fielded the RE200 AC750 dual-band wireless range extender.

As for HomePlug AV2 with its MIMO abilities, Devolo have released their kit for this specification as the dLAN 1200+ which requires the power outlets to be compliant to the Continental “Schuko” plugs at each end of the connection. These have a filtered Continental “Schuko” mains socket in them so you don’t forfeit the AC socket you used for your HomePlug AV2 connection, along with a Gigabit Ethernet socket for your network connection. There are even plans for Devolo to release local-specific variants of this kit for other European countries like UK and France. TP-Link are fielding the PA8030 HomePlug AV2 SISO (two-wire) adaptor which has a Gigabit 3-port Ethernet switch.

There have been a few “Mi-Fi” routers with 4G LTE WAN technology at the IFA 2014. One of these is the NETGEAR Aircard 785 Hotspot which also has a dual-band Wi-Fi LAN connection. TP-Link has fielded a the M7350 Mi-Fi which also works as an SD-card file server.

In the next part of the series, I will be covering the consumer AV technology, the wearables and home appliances technologies.

Using QR codes and NFC to take tourist attractions further

Article

QR Code And NFC Talking Statues | 2D Code

My Comments

London is using QR codes and NFC tags that head to Web-based links as a way of enhancing the visitors’ experience with the well-known characters’ statues. Here, the links provide experiences like Sherlock Holmes talking to you or where you can experience the Bow Bells call associated with the Dick Whittington legend.

But this could be used for various goals like having interpretation boards that “read out” the text to you, show the text in another language or provide extra detail on the attraction. Sometimes you may be able to engage in multimedia content or have the device’s GPS navigate you to another point in a pre-defined tour as part of a tour app.

It just requires the use of QR codes which work with all mobile platforms or NFC “touch-and-go” tags that work with Android and Windows 8 / Windows Phone 8 platforms linking to micro-sites that “take the attraction” further. These would them make the smartphone or tablet become more relevant when you tour an area rather than just as toys.

Apple to launch large-screened iPhones

Articles

Apple to unveil iPhones with 4.7in and 5.5in screens on September 9 | The Australian

Apple sets Sept. 9 for new iPhone debut, report says | CNet

My Comments

Pure Jongo T6 wireless speaker and Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Apple now has intentions to supply a smartphone as large as most desirable Android smartphones

Personally, I have noticed Apple iPhone users become enamoured over the larger screens offered by the recent crop of Android-based high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy S and Note series. For example, a friend of mine liked the fact that my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 had a large screen and thought that this could be a mobile phone solution for her older mother-in-law if this was available in the iPhone range because of the iOS platform being the preferred operating environment for that family.

Apple is feeling worried that the competition are offering better devices than them and the rumour mill that floods the American tech press started to flow with talk about an upcoming iPhone to be launched this year. This has been augmented with Apple having the iOS 8 nearly ready to release at effectively “8.0.0”, which tends to lead to talk of a major revamp for at least one iOS-based product range, usually the iPhone rather than issuing one or more variants or product refreshes. As well, the press were running reports about the manufacturing plants being required to start manufacturing runs of at least 70 million units long, if not 80 million units.

At the moment, the report reckons that September 9 will be the time Apple premieres this product range with typically 2 weeks later being the time that the faithful can line up outside the Apple Stores and mobile phone resellers to get their claws on these devices. Questions I often think of are whether Apple will provide a large lineup of these devices to suit different user needs and requirements.

What I like of this news is that the large-screened phones are becoming available in all of the smartphone operating platforms rather than some of these platforms. It may also be a chance for Apple to answer the wishes of their faithful who have been pining at the larger-screen phones offered by the competition and allow these people to stay loyal to the Apple ecosystem while satisfying the large-screen desires. Could I also see this as a chance for Apple to investigate the idea of touch-screen computing for the Macintosh platform and make computers and displays that have the touchscreen interface.

Lumsing releases some extended-capacity batteries for Samsung smartphones

Extended-range batteries are available from a third party for this phone

Extended-range batteries are available from a third party for this phone

Article

Lumsing’s Samsung extended batteries on sale for as little as $10 | Android Authority

My Comments

Increasingly, a lot of smartphones and tablets don’t come with user-replaceable batteries anymore. But Samsung have stayed away from the trend by making sure their mobile phones still come with batteries you can replace. This came as an advantage with my previous Samsung Galaxy S Android smartphone which I was using a lot as a phone, email terminal, music player, Web terminal and navigation aid amongst other things. Here, the battery wasn’t holding its charge anymore and I was able to go to a phone accessories shop and buy and install a replacement battery which allowed the smartphone to perform better.

Now Lumsing have made available through Amazon a range of extended-capacity batteries for recent Samsung smartphones. This has a similar advantage to how it was feasible for most manufacturers to supply extended-capacity batteries as first-party aftermarket accessories for your mobile phone so you get that extra run-time out of the phone. It is also similar to how you can choose to buy higher-capacity AA batteries for your gadgets so you aren’t thinking of having to replace them sooner. Similarly, some computer manufacturers offer extended-capacity batteries in their range of accessories for some of their laptop models with some models implementing “dual-battery” setups that work with these aftermarket batteries.

At the moment, some of the batteries are offered for USD9.99-USD$10.99 but this is before shipping and any relevant taxes. People who are part of the Amazon Prime program or have established orders of above USD$35 can buy the batteries free of shipping charges.

The only limitation with this is that you cannot buy extra batteries and charge them outside your device. Rather you would need to charge them in the device before you can use them and you would also fear the batteries self-draining if you keep them as spares. Personally, I would look towards the availability of “off-device” chargers for these batteries for those of us who like to keep one or more reserve batteries.

If Samsung can see these high-capacity batteries offered by a third party work properly and safely in their phones, it could be a chance for them to consider offering extended-capacity batteries to their aftermarket.

 

ASUS to launch a Windows detachable laptop with detachable Android smartphone

Article

ASUS Transformer Book V is a Windows hybrid laptop with a detachable Android phone | Engadget

My Comments

There have been various devices that were effectively multiple devices in one package with one device being able to be detached to perform its own function. One of these devices that came to my mind was Hitachi’s TRK-W1 boombox of the early 80s. This was a high-quality radio-cassette unit with two cassette transports but one of the transports in this unit was in fact capable of becoming a cassette Walkman once it was detached from the main unit and effectively combined two portable-audio paradigms that were underscored through that time period.

ASUS has applied this same concept to the Transformer Book V detachable laptop which has a separately-detachable smartphone. Here, you had a 12” detachable “hybrid” laptop running Windows 8.1 which could become a tablet one moment and a laptop the next like with the HP x2 series. But you could clip a supplied 5” Android smartphone in to the back of the tablet to provide for access to the mobile broadband service.

The tablet could run Windows 8.1 or, with the phone attached, could run Android 4.4 KitKat in a “virtual-phone” window or run as a full-on Android tablet / laptop. It has 4Gb RAM and 128Gb solid-state storage but has a 1Tb hard disk in the battery-less keyboard attachment. The phone would have 64Gb of its own storage and 2Gb of its own RAM. But there is a limitation that each operating system can only use its own storage space.

Who knows when ASUS would officially launch it with many people looking at it housed in a glass showcase. As well, who knows if this would he launched to all of the markets but ASUS are showing that a device integrating Windows and Android in all the useable form factors can be made available.