Xiaomi Mi 5 Release Date and Rumored Features

Xiaomi Mi 5 is a much anticipated smartphone expected from this established Chinese smartphone manufacturer.

Anticipations are high, as many expect the device to be outstanding, just like the recent models of Xiaomi smartphones the company has been rolling out.

One thing for sure is that the Mi 5 will be unveiled this February 24 at a press event, latest reports reveal. The news was made public by Hugo Barra, the OEM's global product director through his Facebook page. If this materializes, it will be Xiaomi's first launch this year, a move that will also be approving the many rumors that have been doing rounds regarding the same.

Xiaomi Mi 5 to be showcased at the MWC 2016

The upcoming MWC 2016 event that will be held in Barcelona, Spain as usual will see Xiaomi join other invited companies in showcasing their latest devices during the invite-only media preview event at the MWC. During this event, the company will reveal the Xiaomi Mi 5 to compete with other major players expected to release their flagships during the same event, for instance, HTC, LG and of course Samsung.

Possible features

Just like the many rumors that are doing the rounds regarding the release of Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5, Xiaomi Mi 5 and HTC One M10 also have their own share of speculations.

The latest reports suggest that the new Mi 5 will possibly take after the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with respect to design. In the leaked renders, the phone has an edge-to-edge display screen that is enclosed in an all-metal casing. There are further reports that suggest this device will come in two variants.

As far as the spec sheet is concerned, rumor has it that Xiaomi will include a 5.2 inch display screen on the Mi 5, which will be capable of a res power of 2560 by 1440 pixels. Inside the phone there will be the latest octa-core Snapdragon 820 chipset and a RAM of 4GB, just like what is expected of the Galaxy S7. To crown things up, Xiaomi Mi 5 will come with a rear snapper of 16MP and a capable selfie snapper of 13MP.

As noted earlier, these are only but rumors and speculations, but the real thing will be known in the next few weeks. But for sure, this device will give Samsung, LG and HTC, among others, a run for their money come the end of the year.

Source: Xiaomi Mi 5 Release Date and Rumored Features

Sony's dual-lens cameras coming to major smartphones

Sony has long provided the camera module's for Apple's iPhones so the firm can be expected to adopt the Japanese giant's most recent innovations.

Furthermore, reports also stated that the new iPhone 7 device will have an optical zoom in addition to the dual lens shooter.

"Well, for next year, our so-called dual lens - dual camera platform will be launched by, we believe, major smartphone players", Kenichiro Yoshida, Chief Financial Officer for Sony, said during a Q3 2015 earnings call.

Apart from a dual-lens camera module, several reports have claimed Apple is testing its iPhone 7 variants with multi-touch Force Touch, in-display fingerprint scanner to eliminate the Home button, and wireless charging technology.

There has been a lot of media hype lately around the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, including purported designs, specs, and release date.

HTC One M8 is one of the pioneers that didn't manage to make the dual-lens camera setup mainstream, but chances are the adoption of this technology will happen next year.

Apple is set to start testing a new dual lens camera system, destined for its new iPhone 7 Plus.

So based on Sony's prediction, 2017 looks to be a breakout year for the dual-lens camera, but we're still holding out hope that 2016 will get the party started. This is mostly due to slowing sales of high-end smartphone, something Sony says will likely impact the production of dual camera smartphones. In an attempt to revamp the declining flagship smartphone business, Sony believes that its dual-lens camera will help contribute positively to the market.

Yoshida said that smartphones with dual-lens cameras will be big by 2017.

The launch of the iPhone 7 is still multiple months away, but details about the new device have been steadily trickling out.

Just yesterday, a separate report said the handset could lose the rear antenna bands and camera bulge on the iPhone 6 line. Other rumors suggest it will have improved water resistance and no headphone jack.

Source: Sony's dual-lens cameras coming to major smartphones

Samsung Galaxy S7 release date, specs, pricing; powerful battery hinted

Samsung Galaxy S7 is the cynosure of all eyes of late as its release date is drawing close. Even as Samsung fans and gadget lovers are eagerly waiting for the announcement of the much-anticipated flagship device, a new report has claimed that it will house a powerful battery much superior to its predecessor.

The Galaxy S6, which was released last year, has a non-removable Li-Ion 2,550mAh battery with up to 17 hours (3G) of talk time and up to 49 hours on music play, which is impressive considering that it boasts of screen resolution (577 ppi pixel density). However, the Galaxy S7 may come with an even better battery if one is to go by the latest claim.

The upcoming next-generation smartphone will come with a powerful battery that can last for two days with LTE on and screen set at 75% brightness, Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin claimed on his Twitter page (via BGR). He has also shared screenshots from a dual-SIM version of the alleged smartphone. 

The same source had earlier claimed that the Galaxy S7 battery can last for 17 hours while playing video at maximum brightness. However, these claims are not confirmed yet.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S7 along with the bigger version – Galaxy S7 edge -- at its scheduled "Unpacked" event on 21 February, a day before the Mobile World Congress 2016 (MWC 2016) kicks off.

The Galaxy S7 is expected to sport a 5.1-inch QHD display with 2,560x1,440 pixels and a 3,000mAh battery, while the Galaxy S6 edge has a 5.5-inch screen with a 3,500mAh battery. However, both the devices are expected to share specifications. It is reported that the devices will have an Exynos 8890 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor (depending on region), Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a 64GB inbuilt memory, a 4GB RAM, a 12MP main camera and a 5MP front-snapper.

Source: Samsung Galaxy S7 release date, specs, pricing; powerful battery hinted

Funker Releases Windows 10 Smartphone W5.5 Pro; Specs Include Snapdragon 410, 5.5-Inch Display, 13MP Camera

By Charmaine Montes , Christian Post Contributor

February 4, 2016|10:32 am

Funker

Funker W5.5 Pro

Spanish smartphone manufacturer Funker isn't a popular name around the world but that doesn't stop them from releasing a device that may catch any tech junkie's attention. According to a report by GSM Arena, the device is dubbed as W5.5 Pro and it is pre-installed with Windows 10 Mobile operating system.

With a 5.5-inch HD display (1280x720 pixel resolution), Phones Review detailed that the new handset is priced at €239 or around $260, £180, or Rs. 17,700 at current rates. However, the device is only available in Spain for now. It's not yet announced on whether it will be shipped to other countries or if it will stay exclusive to its home country.

A very notable feature of the device is its ultra-thin design, as noted in Neowin. It is just 6.9mm thick, which is actually slimmer than the iPhone 6s Plus. It also measures 154.8 mm x 78.6 mm and weighs 135g. Under the hood, one will find the device being powered with a Quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor paired with 2 GB of RAM and a built-in memory storage of 16 GB that can be expanded further via microSD card.

As for the camera specs, the Funker W5.5 Pro is equipped with a 13-megapixel sensor with 1080p video capture and dual-flash that has been mounted on the rear of the phone. On the front is a 5-megapixel snapper for taking selfies and video calls. Giving it life and power is a 2,600 mAh battery cell. It is available in Black hue and supports 4G LTE connectivity. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP/HFP/OPP, microUSB 2.0, GPS and AGPS. It is also said to be water resistant.

According to Softpedia, the W5.5 Pro is now available for pre-booking since Jan. 30. It's not announced though when the smartphones will be shipped out. Those who have made an order will have to stay tuned to find out.

Source: Funker Releases Windows 10 Smartphone W5.5 Pro; Specs Include Snapdragon 410, 5.5-Inch Display, 13MP Camera

Smartphones for sensing

IMAGE: These are photographs and results from our homebuilt smart home system. view more

Credit: ©Science China Press

As a core communication device, the mobile phone is becoming increasingly popular in our daily lives. A wide variety of functional units and friendly operating systems make mobile phones eminently suitable for smart technological applications, and mobile phones have also attracted the interest of scientists.

Recently, sensing applications at multiple scales, such as personal, group, and community sensing, have been developed. Sensing software is increasingly being developed for smartphones, providing both convenience and pleasure (e.g., angles in pictures and photos can be measured using the smartphone measurement app Partometer). Many people have played such camera measurement tools downloaded from ''Google Play'' (http://www. new-itechnologies. com/ , http://www. vistechprojects. com/ ). Above all, to safeguard people's health, much effort has been directed toward using mobile phone sensing devices for physical examination and environmental monitoring. Examples of such sensors include those measuring the ultraviolet index, those used for health monitoring (e.g., heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen saturation), and those used for air monitoring, ultrasonic scanning, three-dimensional (3D) scanning, and the detection of chemicals.

In a review published in 2016(3) issue of Science Bulletin, the fabrication and application of mobile phone sensors are presented. For example, inertial magnetic sensors, earphones, cameras, and Wi-Fi or 3G all play important roles in mobile phone sensing.

Smartphone sensors can be classified as electromagnetic sensors, audio-frequency sensors, optical sensors, electrochemical sensors, and other sensors. The future development of smartphone sensing and perspectives are also summarized in this review.

A smart home system have been developed by Prof. Niu's research group, which consists of a homebuilt electrochemical workstation, gas sensors and a mobile phone programmed with specific software. CO2, CO, O2, NH3, formaldehyde, VOC, PM2.5, SO2, H2S, NO2, NO, temperature, humidity can be detected by smartphones and instantaneity transferred to Internet (Fig. 1). It can communicate with the Internet for information exchange and communication achieving intelligent identification, monitoring and management. The internet of things will be widely applied in industrial production, smart home, intelligent security, environmental protection, medical diagnosis, and biotechnology.

The development of smartphone sensing depends on different technologies (microelectronics, software, and communications). In the future, mobile phone devices will benefit from (i) having better operating systems to achieve data acquisition and processing by inexperienced users, (ii) improvements in access point technology for increased processing power processing and reduced power consumption, (iii) improved smart display technology with more power efficiency and flexibility, (iv) new sensor types being integrated into smartphones to acquire various new physical quantities, (v) faster battery charging, wireless battery charging, and adaptive battery management, (vi) advances in material technology to enable a new generation of lighter, more flexible, and durable devices, (vii) trends in Web technology to make data transformation more universal, convenient, and rapid, (vii) expansion of cloud service to permit online data storage and data sharing between different users, (ix) the d evelopment of user interfaces that can use gestures and retina tracking, an infrared keyboard, and context-aware user interfaces, and (x) faster and safer mobile network capabilities.

###

Acknowledgements

The authors are most grateful to the NSFC (No. 21225524 and 21405147) for their financial support.

See the article:

Fenghua Li, Yu Bao, Dandan Wang, Wei Wang, Li Niu. Smartphones for sensing. Science Bulletin, 2016, 61(3): 190-201. DOI 10.1007/s11434-015-0954-1

http://www. scibull. com:8080/ EN/ abstract/ abstract510198. shtmlhttp://link. springer. com/ article/ 10. 1007%2Fs11434-015-0954-1

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

Source: Smartphones for sensing

Vaio to release Windows 10 phone

Out this week

Sony spin-off Vaio is set to release a new Windows 10 smartphone this week.

According to Mynavi.jp Vaio is holding a press conference to announce the new phone on February 4.

Executives from both Microsoft and Vaio are expected to attend, including Takuya Hirano, the president of Microsoft Japan. A spokeswoman for Vaio in the United States confirmed the announcement, but declined to provide further details.

So given that, it is likely to mean that Vaio is jumping on the Redmond bandwagon.

Vaio is associated with Android OS but has never became a big name.Microsoft has already launched the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL as its own flagship smartphones running Windows 10 Mobile. However it has not done that well and Lumia sales have suffered.

It is not really clear why as there is some interest from other suppliers and hints that the OS might do well. It is possible is that Microsoft can't sell its own Lumia phone, but is hoping that third party types might do a better job.

Vaiois the second big name to enter the market for third-party Windows phone hardware recently. Acer is already in the market with products being shown off at CES.

The OS itself is pretty good and it would be good to have a PC friendly OS which can kick Google and Apple in the bottom line.

Source: Vaio to release Windows 10 phone

Smartphone Maker LEAGOO Releases its Flagship Device the Shark 1

SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese smartphone manufacturer LEAGOO has released its flagship device the Shark 1, marking the company's entry into the competitive high-end smartphone market. 

Having won 2015 Overseas Best-selling Brand altogether with Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo, LEAGOO's Shark 1 is both easy on the eye offers the high functionality and modern technology today's smartphone users have come to expect.

At a glance specifications of the LEAGOO Shark 1:

6300 mAh battery offers 770 hours standby and 72 hours general use

Quick charge technology allowing a fully charge in 1.5 hours

64-bit 1.3GHz octa core processor based on ARM Cortex-A53

3GB RAM & 16GB ROM storage

6-inch display

Quick-response fingerprint ID scanner

GPS, GLONASS, Galileo & BeiDou compatiblity

The Shark 1 battery supports LGQC v3.0 technology, with the unique power management system, the charging voltage and current can reach 9V/3A,so it can be topped up to the brim with power in 1.5 hours*.  It supports more than 770 hours standby or 72 hours general usage. You can watch 25 hours of online video, even listen to over 49 hours of music. This amazing endurance gives you much more time to browse, play games and enjoy Hollywood blockbusters.

The response speed of the updated 3.0 fingerprint ID scanner is just 0.39s with the 360° identification angle and 508PPI scanning resolution enabling easy and practical unlocking.

The device also features globally accurate positioning compatible with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo & BeiDou and the AWINiC K6 amplifier adopted by most Huawei products, while the 6-inch display is as clear as any phablet and suits the needs of those who prefer larger-sized handsets. The rounded corners of the 8.5mm rectangular figure ensures a better hold and the 2.5D corning glass on the touch panel makes the body appealingly slick.

In short, LEAGOO's Shark 1 is a device for those who want complete functionality and never want to worry about running out of power, while the large screen also increase video watching and gaming experience.

To see more details about the LEAGOO Shark 1, click here: http://www.leagoo.com/mobile/Shark_Series/Shark_1.html  

Contact:

Lilian LiTel: +86-755-8281-0108E-mail: service@leagoo.com Website: http://www.leagoo.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160201/327798

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smartphone-maker-leagoo-releases-its-flagship-device-the-shark-1-300212736.html

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Source: Smartphone Maker LEAGOO Releases its Flagship Device the Shark 1