Will Wearables Sales Explode This Christmas?
More than 1 million wearable devices will be sold in the UK this Christmas, Samsung has predicted – reaching a value of
HP Offers Stylus With Procap Tablet
HP is preparing to launch a large tablet for business users. Hardware security is integrated and managed through HP’s Touchpoint Manager and Managed Mobility Services. Third-party security software is also available as an option. Although it supports finger touch, the Pro Slate 12 is also supplied with a stylus: the HP Duet pen. With a … Read more
Huawei’s Honor Brand Charges in to Europe
Huawei’s Honor brand is available online only. Savings from this business strategy are said to be passed on to consumers directly. A new addition to the lineup is the Honor 6, available through Amazon in Europe – a change for the brand, which has previously been limited to Asia. In appearance a fairly standard (iPhone-esque) … Read more
Motorola Makes Big Battery Claims With Droid Turbo
A new smartphone has been added to Motorola’s line of premium Droid-brand smartphones. The Droid Turbo will be available exclusively through Verizon in the USA, with a major selling point in its battery life. Motorola says that the 3,900mAh battery on the Droid Turbo will last for up to two days with standard usage. We … Read more
Oppo Beats Gionee and Adds Motors to N Series
China’s Gionee’s S5.1 (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 39) didn’t hold on to its title of ‘world’s thinnest smartphone’ for long. Domestic rival Oppo has beaten the 5.1mm phone with its Oppo R5, which is 4.85mm thick. Of course, the thin (steel) body does have a trade-off. While many of the phone’s specifications are toward … Read more
Panasonic Completes 7″ Toughpad Range With Android
Panasonic’s 7″ Toughpad range has been completed, with a new Android 4.4.4 model – the Toughpad FZ-B2 – joining existing Windows units. A fanless tablet, the Fz-B2 is IP65-compliant, meets the MIL-STD-810G standard and can be dropped from 1.5m. Operation is possible in -10 deg to 50 deg temperatures. With extended use in mind, Panasonic … Read more
Samsung Goes After Mid-Range Market
Late last month a new line of entry- to mid-range Galaxy smartphones appeared online, called the Galaxy A series. We wrote about them, but Samsung put out an official release just before we went to press, so we held the story back until this week so that we could cover the phones in more detail. … Read more
Shanda Uses Hybrid Display for Week-Long Smartwatch Life
Shanda, a Chinese manufacturer, has unveiled two smartwatches with battery life of up to a week. Using a hybrid screen, which switches between (transflective) LCD and E Ink modes, the Geak Watch 2 and Geak Watch 2 Pro support up to six or seven days of normal use, respectively. In standby mode, using only the … Read more
Tracking Deformation for Tablet Input
Microsoft Research has developed a transparent sensor surface for tablet PCs, called FlexSense. The work was performed in partnership with the Institute of Surface Technologies and Photonics of Joanneum Research and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. FlexSense is a flexible sensor foil connected to the tablet. It enables a direct reconstruction of complex … Read more
Liquavista Technology – what’s the catch?
The story that caught my attention particularly this week is the report that Samsung is trying to sell Liquavista, the Philips spin-off that it bought in January 2011 (the story has been going around for some time, but activity seems to have stepped up). Liquavista, which became the Samsung Netherlands Research Centre) had a technology … Read more
Samsung’s Sharp Move
The big story of last week was, without doubt, the planned Samsung investment in Sharp. The symbolism is more important than the substance. The deal indicates that Samsung wants to have an on-going relationship with its Japanese rival and that would have been very surprising in the past. However, the stark economics of the future … Read more
CES & Eye Tracking
I wrote in Display Monitor recently about this time being the time for a change over from PCs being at the centre of our technology worlds and mobile devices dominating. This will be a continuing challenge for monitor makers, but the business won’t go away. Our unofficial company motto is “Don’t forget the people” and … Read more
