Samsung launches a TV with a Curved screen Based on OLED technology

Samsung has officially launched its first super-thin curved TV screen with a price tag of £8,500 ($13,000) - five times more than its flat-screen equivalents. The 55-inch model has a high-resolution OLED display and its design means the screen is an equal distance from the viewer at all times.

It is now on sale in South Korea but Samsung told Reuters the set will be made available in other countries from July - the first time a curved TV of its kind has been sold outside of Asia.
The Korean company announced the television during the Consumer Electronics Show in January this year.

At the time, Samsung's curved screen was the world's first yet delays in the manufacturing process meant that rival LG beat the company to selling the device. Speaking at the launch event Kim Hyunsuk, Samsung executive vice president, said: 'We have just introduced our first OLED TV and have to see consumer response to gauge overall market demand.' 

Samsung Curved TV based on OLED technology

Samsung said it will begin selling its curved OLED television outside South Korea from July but did not specify which countries. It also said it has no plans to offer a non-curved one this year. The concave display gives viewers a sense of being immersed in the images. Samsung claims its 'Timeless Arena' design reduces the chance of images appearing pixelated, too. The 55-inch OLED screen also supports Samsung TV features such as multi-view that lets two people watch different things at the same time.
Samsung and LG, which are the only TV makers in the world to begin commercial sales of OLED TVs, had promised to launch them in 2012 but delayed the launch to this year.

The two South Korean TV giants tout OLED, short for organic light-emitting diode, as the next-generation display technology that will eventually replace older displays. But mass producing OLED displays still faces many challenges, leading to high prices. In addition to curved OLED TVs, Samsung launched two ultra-HD TVs, with four times the resolution of regular high-definition TVs. 

Samsung Curved TV on Display

An OLED display works without a backlight, which means it can display deep black levels and can be thinner and lighter than a liquid crystal display (LCD). In low lighting an OLED screen can produce a higher contrast ratio than an LCD, too.

The technology has long been touted as the future of consumer electronics displays, offering crisper picture resolution, a faster response time and high contrast images. Yet televisions with OLED screens are still a niche market and Samsung warned that industry forecasts for sales growth were a bit too optimistic.

Research firm DisplaySearch has forecast global industry-wide sales of OLED televisions at 50,000 this year, at 600,000 next year and rapid growth thereafter to reach 7 million in 2016.
LG, which currently offers both curved and non-curved 55-inch screens, is estimated to have only sold a few hundred screens so far after starting sales earlier this year.

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iPhone 6 rumours: 5.7-in screen, iOS 7, transparent exteriors

A new video purportedly showing the bigger, sturdier iPhone 6 in action has been ‘leaked’ online by consumer tech lifestyle portal T3 listing features including the rumoured 5.7-inch screen, a more powerful A7 chip for gaming enthusiasts, and sporting Apple’s new iOS 7 software. Rumours about the iPhone 6 launching in 2014 have been buzzing around for quite some time now. 
   But with this new ‘digital’ proof, it is looking more and more likely that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will launch a bigger iPhone in 2014 to take on Samsung’s phablets and ever-larger smartphones, most notably the Korean firm’s s According to T3, with Android smartphones like the HTC One and Huawei P6 now boasting screen sizes of 4.7-inches and upwards whilst still keeping Full HD displays, it would make sense for Apple to release a product that could compete with them physically. Specs: Screen, size, resolution The new video is quite graphic in detailing the specs of the upcoming iPhone 6, providing not just the screen size, but also resolution (1920x1080 Retina display), physical specs including height, width, weight, etc., and of course images and a visual comparison with the current iteration iPhone 5.
Operating system: iOS 7 all the way

While much of this should still be taken with a pinch of salt – as all Apple rumours should be – the most likely of these to happen is the iPhone 6 upgrade to iOS 7 platform. The new platform is a complete overhaul of the OS, and was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2013 earlier this month.

Apple maintains that the iOS 7 is the most advanced mobile OS, and is coming this fall (which in the northern hemisphere runs from September 22, 2013, until December 30, 2013).

The new OS will have a new design – rounded icons, striking colors and a stark font – along with a plethora of new features like Control Center, AirDrop for iOS and smarter multitasking. Here’s a link to 

Attire: Multi-coloured yes, but metal or plastic, or both?

Apple has been reportedly working on unveiling multiple colours for its new iPhone 6, as opposed to the current white or black variants.

But what’s also gaining credence among Apple-watchers is a rumour that the Cupertino-based tech giant might make the switch to plastic, at least for its low-end offering. According to many reports for iPhone 6, Apple is working on transparent plastic cases, which allows internal parts to be seen from outside.

However, it still is not clear that such cases are being worked up for the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6. Rumors in early June 2013 pointed at a $399 price point for the cheap iPhone 6.

Eyes-free Siri for your Ferrari

In addition, the iPhone 6 is expected to improve its Siri capabilities on the one hand, and be ready for an eyes-free in-car experience on the other. 

Making a splash by going waterproof

The new iPhone 6 could also be waterproof, giving in to the trend being set by a number of tier 1 smartphones, including the Sony Xperia Z, the LG Optimus JG, Huawei Ascend D2, and the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

Snap and shoot

Moreover, the new iPhone 6 will have a much better camera capabilities to compete with the 18MP camera of the Samsung Galaxy S4, which is clearly one of the best cameras in smartphones today.

Apple will be banking on Sony’s next-gen camera sensors to propel it near to the Galaxy S4’s camera capabilities, and is rumoured to be looking at a 13-megapixel sensor that requires less space without compromising image quality.

In May, Apple Insider reported on a patent allowing the iPhone to remotely control other illuminating devices, meaning extra flashes. The new technology works in a similar fashion to those in professional photography studios.

Availability and Pricing

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, who has in the past correctly predicted a number of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) launches, reported in his report in April that Apple Inc. will launch its iPhone 6 in June 2014, with a bigger display. 

But it’s likely that Apple will unveil the iPhone 5S by next month. With a number of online dealers in the US and UK recently beginning to undertake a spring-cleaning exercise of the current and previous iterations of Apple’s smartphone, the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S, it is likely that the new iPhone 5S will be unveiled by next month, fingers-crossed, and might hit the stores coinciding with the ‘fall’ launch of the iOS 7.

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iPhone 6 and Galaxy S5 will have liquid cooling feature

The race to decisively nail the title of world’s coolest smartphone just got hotter, with both Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics (NASDAQ:SSNLF) reportedly evaluating the use of liquid cooling technology for their next generation of smartphones.

The technology is already in use in some laptops, where ultra-thin heat pipes are used to carry heat away from processors and wireless chip. Heat pipes contain a liquid that turns into a vapour when it comes into contact with a hot interface. The vapour then travels along the heat pipe to the cold interface, condensing back into a liquid, and releasing the latent heat.

But let’s leave the technical details for the engineers. What matters to me - and you – is that that niggling heat that we have all felt emanating from our smartphones, sometimes even after just casual use, could be a thing of the past – as soon as the fourth quarter of the year.

If you, like me, find it irritating that metallic phones heat up more, and more often, than their plastic counterparts, then this news should come as a breeze of cool air in stark summers. Most probably, Apple’s iPhone 6 will feature this technology, as will the Galaxy S5, the next iteration of Samsung’s Galaxy line of smartphones.And this news actually comes in the nick of time. Traditionally, smartphones such as the iPhone have used a graphite-plus-foil insulating method to keep the heat within the device, but with apps getting more and more demanding of processors, and processors getting more powerful, this method is no longer efficient enough to keep the heat from filtering out, as we all know very well.

And with 4G fast becoming a common transmission specification for smartphones, the heat problem was only expected to become worse. Now, however, Apple and Samsung seem to be evaluating a cool solution for that.

According to a new report by DigiTimes, “smartphone players such as Apple, Samsung Electronics and High Tech Computer have started showing interest in adopting ultra-thin heat pipes for their smartphones and are expected to release heat pipe-adopted models in the fourth quarter, at the earliest, according to sources from cooling module player.”

DigiTimes says heat pipe cooled smartphone models could be released by the fourth quarter at the earliest.

In fact, even if the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S5 sport this technology, they won’t be the world’s first mass market liquid-cooled smartphones. That title belongs to the NEC Medias X-06E, which will be made available on Japanese carrier, NTT DoCoMo.

“Currently there are already several cooling module players including Japan-based Furukawa Electric, Taiwan-based Chaun-Choung Technology, Auras and TaiSol Electronics, are developing 0.6mm heat pipes; however, because the heat pipes only have a yield rate of 30 per cent, these players are working aggressively over improving their production currently,” says DigiTimes.

Additionally, Apple is said have a few alternatives on the drawing board too. One involves a reinvented “Ionic Wind Generator” cooling system. A second idea was revealed last November by Patently Apple in its report titled “Apple Invents a New Streamlined Cooling System for iPhone.”

Apple’s most recent invention on the matter surfaced in May 2013 which discussed “diamond-like carbon coatings” to help keep battery-powered devices cooler.
Either way, we know that Apple, Samsung, HTC and NEC (and no doubt numerous others) will have coller smartphones for us soon, hopefully by the end of this year.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom and Note III Leaked

The month of June marks a milestone for Samsung as it releases a string of new Galaxy devices. Earlier this month, leaked photos of the S4 Zoom and the Note III was gone Viral. What is new this time? 

 Shortly before the unexpected online appearance, the South Korean mobile manufacturer unveiled another variant of their latest handset, a waterproof version of the company’s flagship smartphone. This may be a smart move for the company considering its shares experienced a minimal drop after numerous negative reports on the Galaxy S4. 

The name says it all – Galaxy S4 Zoom’s main attraction is its camera. The mobile phone’s snapper is rumored to have a 16-megapixel camera at the back with 10x optical zoom. Compared to the flagship’s camera, S4 Zoom promises to offer sharper images leaving the former behind with only 13 megapixels. However, it is still not known if the device will have the same eye-tracking features. According to O2’s Galaxy S4 page, the flagship is capable of blending images to make continuous photos. In addition, it can capture sounds and pictures simultaneously with the Sound and Shot feature. 

The unofficial photo of the S4 Zoom model that surfaced on the Internet was first released by SamMobile. Days later, TechTastic uploaded a couple of shots of the actual device.

Built around the idea of taking pictures, the device will be Samsung’s first camera-focused Android smartphone. The leaked photo revealed a huge lens on the back, an unlikely feature for most Galaxy handsets. It also has a dedicated camera key on the right specifically situated below the lock and volume keys.  

Galaxy S4 Zoom

Donning a 4.3-inch display, it is smaller diagonally compared to the flagship’s 5-inch super AMOLED touch screen finished with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Reported to be already in its finishing touches. The S4 Zoom is equipped with a 1.6 GHz Dual-core processor, a sufficient power to run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and Samsung’s signature TouchWiz user interference. 

What’s new with the Note III?

From the success of Note 2, the teased Samsung Galaxy Note III is said to be the hope of the next generation phablets.

In terms of hardware appearance, the leaked prototype doesn’t give much excitement. It boasts of a huge 5.66-inch super AMOLED display with curved corners that go along with the high resolution screen. To distinctly identify it, the prototype’s thin bezel spells the difference between the Note III from the Galaxy Mega 6.3. 

It has a wider touch screen display, which was reported to flaunt the same pixel structure of the display of other devices. However, the Note III will definitely lag behind the S4 Zoom in terms of camera. On a brighter side, the phablet will still deliver crisp and sharp images with its 13-megapixel rear camera. 

Other features include an S-Pen which is present in most Note lineups. If the initial features are true, it will be one of the fastest and most powerful tablet out there running the latest Android operating system. This will operate seamlessly with Exynos Octa-core or the Snapdragon 800. 

The S4 Zoom and the Note III are expected to be officially unveiled by Samsung at IFA (Consumers Electronic Unlimited) on September 6-11, 2013 in Berlin. It is the world’s leading trade event in terms of consumer electronics. If these rumors will come into being, these devices are going to be real monsters once it hits the shelves later this year.

What do you think of Samsung’s upcoming lineup?

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