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TI Power Chip for Wearables is Wireless

Texas Instruments (TI) has announced a number of devices addressing the power requirements of mobile and wearable devices. As nice as some of these new gadgets are, they still need power to run. The BQ25100, BQ25100H, and BQ25101 are linear chargers for Li-Ion and Li- polymer batteries with a wide range of input voltage and … Read more

Battery Technology Must Change, ABI Urges

The eight billion mobile devices – including smart- and feature phones, wearables, tablets and notebooks – in the world by 2019 will provide a huge base for new battery and charging technologies, says ABI Research. Battery and charging technologies have lagged behind other developments in the mobile space, says ABI’s Nick Spencer. He added, “Short … Read more

‘FingerShadow’ Saves OLED Power

A paper published by Microsoft Research (http://tinyurl.com/nqvq736) has shown a new way to conserve power on mobile devices. Recognising that the screen is the most power-hungry component in a smartphone, Microsoft researchers have developed a method called ‘FingerShadow’ to reduce power-draw. Utilising local dimming, the system darkens areas of the screen that are covered by … Read more

Longshine Shows First Hybrid Smartwatch

Longshine Technologies, a Chinese ODM, has developed a product that marries the analogue and digital worlds. The circular Halo smartwatch has an analogue face and transparent OLED touchscreen. Currently in the prototype stage, the Halo 1 is a smartphone companion device, while the Halo 2 has 2G connectivity and a SIM card slot, and can … Read more

Market Research Targets Wearables

CE markets are always changing and everyone wants to stay ahead of what is going on. This leads to many market reviews and market forecasts of products that have not even been developed and appears to be especially true for the developing wearables market. Market research also plays an important role in the development of … Read more

Microsoft Committed to Surface

Microsoft wasted no time recently in countering a claim by Taiwan’s Digitimes that the company was ‘likely to terminate the [Surface] product line’. A blog post by Surface general manager Brian Hall (http://tinyurl.com/kc7fxr9) showed that there will be at least one more generation of Surface products. Hall stated that the Surface Pro 3 Type Covers, … Read more

Samsung Owes Microsoft Over $1 Billion

Back in 2010, Microsoft started bringing legal action against Android stakeholders, which resulted in various licensing deals. The company refused to announce what was being licensed to the stakeholders – 25 of them, including Foxconn, HTC, ZTE and Samsung. The stakeholders themselves were also blocked from revealing any details, due to a legal agreement. Last … Read more

Tablet Growth Shifts Away From Market Leaders

Worldwide branded tablet shipments are set to remain below 200 million this year, with growth at a ‘disappointing’ 2.5% YoY, says ABI Research. Apple and Samsung led the market in the first six months of 2014 (representing a combined 70% of all shipments). Shipments of the iPad were down 13% YoY, although Samsung’s tablets rose … Read more

Toshiba Challenges Google at Ceatec (Sort of)

Wearables were big news this year at Ceatec, which took place in Japan earlier this month. The show is always an interesting one, to see what we can expect from Japan in the coming month. Epson demonstrated its Moverio smartglasses. The Pulsense fitness tracker, introduced at IFA, was also on show. Sharp showed off a … Read more

US Consumers Value Cars and Smartphones

A very interesting article has been posted by Warranty Week, about the market for product protection plans (aka extended warranties) in the USA. Despite the urgings of so-called watchdogs, the adoption of these insurance packages for smartphones is growing at a tremendous rate. Warranty Week expects the protection plan market in the USA to be … Read more