The past few months have been chock full of touchscreen innovations, from flexible displays to full-screen fingerprint recognition. Patent Bolt looks to have stumbled upon the latest evolutionary idea in the form of a patent from Samsung that describes touch controls extending to the backside of devices with transparent displays. Samsung provides several examples of how back touch could be useful on a transparent device, including the ability to open applications or control a video without obscuring the display. Other examples include moving objects that sit on the bottom layer of a multi-layered screen, and strengthening unlock screen with dual-sided passwords. Samsung is no stranger to transparent displays so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the company try rolling out a smartphone with a curved see-through screen at some point over the next few years.
Apple’s new flagship iPhone 5s isn’t just the presumed fastest-selling smartphone ever, it’s also apparently in hotter demand than any other tech device on the planet. Yahoo recently released its list of the top 10 tech searches performed with Yahoo’s search engine in 2013 to the UK’s Daily Star, and front and center at the top of the list is “Apple iPhone.” Following the iPhone are Amazon’s Kindle and “Samsung Galaxy,” and the iPad and PlayStation 4 round out the top five items. In somewhat interesting news considering the state of each company’s smartphone business, “BlackBerry” was the seventh most popular tech search of the year and “Nokia Lumia” came in at No. 9. Yahoo’s full list can be seen below. More →
You don’t have to pay nearly as much as you’re likely paying now for cell phone service. Increasingly, cheaper cell phone plans are available through what are called “mobile virtual network operators,” or MVNOs. These MVNOs rent space from the major networks instead of building their own. MVNOs are increasingly popular; there are now more than 120 MVNOs with a combined 30 million customers. An example of just one company that is making real headway: Consumer Cellular, an MVNO that uses AT&T’s network, has increased its customer base from 400,000 to 1.3 million over the past four years. More →
Often called the Steve Jobs of China – a title he publicly said wasn’t appropriate – Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun said in an interview with Beijing News that Apple’s iPhone is still the best smartphone in the world, even though his company sells popular smartphone models running a customized version of Android. “iPhone is still the best smartphone on the planet,” Jun said. “For Xiaomi there’s a lot of space for learning and talent.” More →
Samsung has been relatively quiet since the recent launch of its Galaxy Note 3 phablet and Galaxy Gear smartwatch, but the consumer tech giant reportedly has a big first quarter planned. According to a new report from South Korean news site ET News, Samsung is cooking up at least five new smartphones that will launch during the first quarter next year. The handsets will range from entry-level to high-end and the star of the show will reportedly be Samsung’s next-generation hero phone, the Galaxy S5. More →
If there’s one thing we feel confident in saying about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone it’s that it will have killer hardware. FoneArena points us to a new benchmark posted at GFXBench showing a mystery Samsung phone that features a 2K display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. Given the resolution shown in the benchmark, FoneArena speculates that the mystery device might have “a 5.25-inch display since the pixel density of a 5.25-inch 2560 x 1440 pixels display would be 560 ppi.” While we don’t know for sure which new Samsung phone this is, it’s very likely that the Galaxy S5 will at least match the specs revealed in the benchmark. Earlier leaks have suggested that the Galaxy S5 will feature a 5-inch Super AMOLED display, a 16-megapixel camera, a 4,000 mAh battery, 3GB of RAM and Android 4.4 KitKat.
While Nokia’s Lumia 1020 certainly has the most powerful camera of any flagship smartphone, Samsung is looking more and more determined to close the gap. Korea’s ETNews reports that Samsung is working on a 20-megapixel smartphone camera module that the company will release in the second half of 2014. ETNews says that Samsung is working to aggressively improve its smartphones’ cameras and is planning to release the 20-megapixel module even though it will be releasing its Galaxy S5 flagship phone with a 16-megapixel camera just a few months earlier. Of course, even a 20-megapixel module would only give Samsung smartphone cameras just half of what the Lumia 1020 camera offers with 41 megapixels, although there’s a lot more to camera quality than what shows up on the specs sheet.
After just one month, Android 4.4, or KitKat, is now on 1.1% of all Android devices, according to the latest update to Google’s Android dashboard. Jelly Bean (Android 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) still has the largest share, with 54.5%, followed by Gingerbread (Android 2.3) at 24.1% and Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) at 18.6%. Google updates its Android dashboard at the beginning of each month. Since KitKat was released on October 31st, this was the first update that included the latest version of Android. Early KitKat adoption seems low, as is the case with all new Android versions following their debuts, but 1.1% penetration is actually quite respectable. More →
Remember the ruling from Tuesday morning that threatened to take the HTC One off the market in the United Kingdom? It turns out that Judge Richard Arnold might have also let slip the release date of the HTC One sequel while reaching his decision. More →
BlackBerry admits that its handsets aren’t for everyone but it’s hoping that its mobile device management services are. Per Reuters, BlackBerry said on Tuesday that “the number of large business and government clients that have installed or are testing BlackBerry’s mobile device management service has risen roughly 20% over the past six months,” a welcome sign for a company whose BlackBerry 10 handset sales have been an abject horror show. In conjunction with this encouraging news, BlackBerry also announced the release of its BES 10.2 platform that includes expanded multi-platform support including “Secure Work Space support for iOS 7 background email sync”; BYOD enrollment for iOS and Android devices that will help users better keep their work and personal data separate; and a self-service IT portal.
A new Apple patent describes a technology that uses face detection and recognition to activate certain features on devices including iPhones, iPads or Macs, AppleInsider reports. The feature would help Apple offer a more secure environment to iOS and OS X device users, as well as provide quick access to a personalized iPhone or Mac setup based on the face of the user. More →
Android fans were not happy on Cyber Monday when one of the best deals around for an Android smartphone was practically impossible to take advantage of. Motorola announced last week that it would offer its customizable hero phone, the Moto X, for just $349 off contract. The deal would bring the great handset’s price down to the same level as Google’s Nexus 5, making it a fantastic option for smartphone buyers who don’t want to be tethered to a carrier with a service contract but also don’t want to buy into one of carriers’ scammy new accelerated upgrade plans. The only problem, of course, was that Motorola’s Moto Maker website, where buyers need to go to design and purchase their Moto X handsets, was down almost all day on Monday. More →
