Monday, 29 July 2013

Apple Supplier Report Reveals Plastic Back Casing For Budget iPhone

 Rumblings of a low-cost, plastic iPhone have been popping up on a fairly frequent basis throughout 2013, and today the rumored device is making headlines once again. 
Apple’s future plan to introduce a plastic device is confirmed within this morning’s shocking report into labor abuses at manufacturing partner, Pegatron.
As part of the investigation, China Labor Watch inserted people inside three of Pegatron’s factories. In one of these reports it confirms the future debut of a plastic iPhone:
“Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines. This iPhone model with a plastic cover will soon be released on the market by Apple,”the report explains.
“The new cell phone has not yet been put into mass production, so quantity is not as important,” a worker wrote. “This makes our job more slow paced than in departments that have begun mass production schedules.”
In addition, China Labor Watch’s company profile notes that Pegatron is responsible for building “low-priced plastic iPhones” for Apple, in addition to the iPhone 4, 4S and the 5.
The report accuses Pegatron of violating labor regulations in China, as well as international labor laws and Apple’s own standards. 
Photographs allegedly detailing the new iPhone’s packaging were uploaded to the Chinese forum WeiPhone over the weekend. The name iPhone 5C is printed on the side of the box, possibly leaking the name of the device.


[Via]

Alleged Packaging For Budget 'iPhone 5c' Leaked

Apple is expected to launch a new iPhone in the coming weeks. Images and videos of what’s being rumoured to be a budget iPhone – or the iPhone ‘Lite’ – have surfaced online. This new iPhone will reportedly come with a plastic build, 4-inch display and multiple colour options.
Additional proof of this new Apple device has popped up, courtesy of WeiPhone, and potentially shows its final retail packaging. A picture reveals a bin full of boxes indicating this budget device will go under the brand name of “iPhone 5C. ” Some speculation is that the C stands for ‘colour’.
This, or course, is still a rumour until Apple officially announces the device. The new low-cost device could possibly be released in August or September. The WeiPhone forums are a fairly frequent source of Apple rumors, although the site itself does not frequently report on them, making it difficult to determine a steady track record as posting in the site’s forums come from a variety of different posters.
The iPhone 5, which is almost a year old, was the most popular iPhone sold in Apple’s quarter ending June 30, but the 4 (first available June 24, 2010) and 4S (first available October 14, 2011) models sold well in emerging markets, indicating demand for a more updated budget smartphone to go along with the new, rumoured iPhone 5S in the fall lineup.
[Via]

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Motorola Moto X To Feature Magic Glass

Moto X, the upcoming new Android-based smartphone from mobile phone maker Motorola, is expected to become official on August 1 with some appealing design features packed inside, some of the latest reports via Android and Me founder Taylor Wimberly on the matter suggest. 
The Moto X will come equipped with Moto Magic Glass, a single layer of Gorilla Glass which is molded to a special polymer to make for a continuous surface that wraps around the entire front and edges of the phone. In addition, the Moto X will feature zero gap construction, allowing for a smooth and seamless feel along the backside.
The Android expert also claims that the handset will come equipped with Dual LTE MIMO Smart Antennas to give users the best LTE speeds and reception possible. The Moto X will allegedly contain five antennas total, with two dedicated exclusively to 4G LTE connectivity (not that this matters much to us Indians…).
According to TechnoBuffalo, Google was working with Motorola on a Moto xWatch that would launch alongside the Moto X. The two Moto X devices “definitely integrate in some interesting ways for device authentication,” Wimberly explained.
As usual, it all sounds great, but we’ll have to wait and see how much is accurate when the official word comes next week.
[Via]

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Nvidia Project Logan Chips For Mobiles Bring PS3-Like Graphics To Your Smartphone

Back in March, NVIDIA showed off its roadmap of its Tegra SoCs and what we can expect from them. Well, it may be late July, and we may be still waiting on Tegra 4 devices to pop up, but NVIDIA clearly hasn’t stopped working. The company recently showcased some of the features in Project Logan, with a large focus on Mobile Kepler.
Today the company revealed that its upcoming mobile chip will utilize the same Kepler graphics architecture found in its latest desktop and laptop GPUs, bringing graphics that exceed PS3 and rival current PCs to smartphones and tablets. Behold Project Logan.
“I think this is the biggest breakthrough in graphics since we introduced the GeForce 256 (graphics chip) 14 years ago,” said Dan Vivoli, senior vice president of corporate and strategic marketing at Nvidia in Santa Clara, Calif., in an interview with GamesBeat. “But this is 400 times more powerful than the original GeForce. This is the most efficient mobile processor ever designed.”
Kepler supports the full spectrum of OpenGL – including the just-announced OpenGL 4.4 full-featured graphics specification and the OpenGL ES 3.0 embedded standard. It also supports DirectX 11, Microsoft’s latest graphics API.
Nvidia’s first Project Logan prototype chips have been back from the factories for only a few weeks, but the company says they are running cool demos such as Ira already.
[Via]

Sony Xperia Z Ultra To Launch In India On 31st July?


SPECIFICATION

Company/Brand                        Sony

OS                                             Android OS, v4.2 (Jelly Bean)

Announced                                June 25, 2013.

Released                                   July 31, 2013 (Rumoured)

Chipset                                      Qualcomm MSM8274 or MSM8974 Snapdragon 800

Processor                                  Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400

GPU                                           Adreno 330

RAM                                           2 GB RAM

Battery                                       Non-removable Li-Ion 3050 mAh battery

Primary Camera                        8 MP autofocus with flash

Secondary Camera                    2 MP

Weight                                       212 g

Dimensions                                179.4 x 92.2 x 6.5 mm

Main Display                             6.4 inch Triluminos display

In-Built Storage                         16 GB expandable to 64 GB


Sources say that Sony is all set to launch its high-end phablet, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra in India soon. An online portal suggested that the Sony Xperia Z Ultra will be available in India starting July 31st. However, there is no confirmation form Sony about its release date.
At an event in Germany last month, Sony officially announced the Sony Xperia Z Ultra,  a new smartphone with a 6.4-inch full high-definition screen which is powered by quad core a Snapdragon 800 chipset.
The 6.4-inch, 1,920 by 1,080 pixel display is what Sony calls a TRILUMINOUS Display, incorporating technology from the Bravia television line, including the X-Reality video-enhancing software.
The Sony Xperia Z Ultra works with a stylus (or any pencil, Sony says) and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. There’s a powerful Adreno 330 GPU to push all the pixels to the screen too, a part of the new Snapdragon 800 chipset, which also packs a quad-core Krait 400 processor clocked at 2.2GHz.
At 6.5 mmm Sony is heralding the phone as the “world’s slimmest and largest full HD smartphone.”
Other specs of the phone include an 8-megapixel camera, a 3,000 mAh battery and 16 gigabytes of internal storage, with about 11 GB available to the user, and a microSD card slot for extra space. (Props to Sony for being up-front about the usable storage space).
The battery, on the other hand, is a quite respectable 3000mAh, though that screen will definitely eat it up faster than more conventional phones. Looking at the UK pricing it seems that the Sony Xperia Z Ultra will be available in India at around Rs 45, 000. But considering the competition in the phablets market, we believe that Sony should price it around RS 40,000.



iPhone Sales Help Apple Post Strong Q3 Revenue

 It is only with Apple that analysts would express disappointment in a year over year quarterly drop from $8.8 billion to $6.9 billion, but a drop it was. Apple posted strong fiscal Q3 earnings today with revenue of $35.3 billion, up slightly from the same period a year ago and ahead of expectations.
As expected, the numbers posted today, which include the period between March 31 and June 30, were massive, with 31.2 million iPhones and 14.6 million iPads sold. The average sales price of the two devices has dropped — $581 for the iPhone; $436 for the iPad — likely due to the introduction of the iPad mini and the wideravailability of the iPhone 4 and 4S as “value” devices in developing countries, but the overall number of iPhones sold increased year over year and set a new June record, according to Apple. The total number of iPads sold dropped, however, from 17 million in Q3 2012.
Earnings per share were $7.47, ahead of analysts’ expectations but down from $9.32 last year this time. Gross margin continues to tick downwards, at 36.9% versus 42.8% Q3 2012.
Apple is predicting revenue of between $34 and $37 billion for next quarter, with gross margins stable between 36 and 37%.
Tim Cook said in a prepared statement that Apple is “really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.” 

Blackberry A10 picture leaks, 5 inch AMOLED and 2800 mAh battery













SPECIFICATION

Company/Brand                  Blackberry

Type                                      Smartphone

OS                                         Blackberry 10.2 

Price                                      TBA

Chipset                                  Snapdragon S4

Processor                             Dual Core 1.7 GHz

GPU                                       Adreno

RAM                                       2GB

Battery                                   2800 mAh

Primary Camera                  8 MP

Secondary Camera             2 MP

Video Capabilities              1080p

Auto Focus                           Tap to Focus

Main Display                         5 inch 1920 x 1080p AMOLED HD display

In-Built Storage                     16 GB

 The Blackberry A10 is the next device in the company’s lineup of Blackberry 10 devices, and its not much of a secret. In the latest leak from Tinhte.vn, the smartphone is shown off in a hands-on video, which confirms that the A10 will have a large 2,800mAh battery and 5-inch HD AMOLED display not an LCD.



The Blackberry A10 is the next phone to be launched after the Q5 which has seen roaring demands unlike predictions from experts. The A10 is said to be the company’s next flagship with a  1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 16GB of internal storage, LTE connectivity, a 2,800 mAh battery, NFC, a microSD slot and BlackBerry 10.2.
The video below is in Vietnamese, so you can view it to get a glimpse of the device unless you know the language.


Nvidia Launches The Quadro K6000 - The World's Fastest GPU

NVIDIA has announced at Siggraph, the annual computer graphics conference, the Kepler-based Quadro K6000. The company says it’s “the fastest and most capable GPU ever built” with twice the graphics capability of the Quadro 6000 predecessor.
The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 GPU is actually a graphics card with the full-featured GK110 graphics processor (Kepler architecture).It comes with 2,880 streaming multiprocessor (SMX) cores (faster visualization and compute horsepower) and 12 GB of GDDR5 ultra-fast memory.
Between that and four simultaneous display links (up to 4K resolution with DisplayPort 1.2), the adapter is five times as fast as the NVIDIA Quadro 6000 GPU (its predecessor) and has twice the graphics capability.
“The Kepler features are key to our next generation of real-time lighting and geometry handling. We were thrilled to get an early look at the K6000. The added memory and other features allow our artists to see much more of the final scene in a real-time, interactive form, and allow many more artistic iterations.”
-Guido Quaroni, Pixar vice president of Software R&D
The “world’s largest and fastest” DDR5 graphics memory enables companies like Nissan to load nearly complete vehicle models, for instance.  
The Quadro K6000 is set to hit the market in autumn and will be available through vendors such as HP, Dell and Lenovo, as well as system integrators and partners like PNY.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Hello Moto: Moto X Press Render Leaked

 If you are actively following the news around the Moto X you will know that earlier today the launch date for the elusive Moto X was finalized. Now @eveleaks the notorious tipster for the mobile world has leaked press renders for the hardware. 
The Moto X is expected to be a Mid Range handset and expected to be priced around 300-400 US $. The hardware expectations are running anywhere from a 4.7 inch to 5 inch HD display which may only run up to 1280 x 720 p screen. An 8 MP main camera and a 2.1 MP front facing camera will finish off the optics, and a Quad Core chipset will handle the processing needs of the Android 4.3 capable handset. 
If you closely inspect the render it appears to have a carbon fibre weave on the back which sort of resembles the design of the Blackberry Q10, and the interface appears to be running stock Android with no tweaks or overlays as earlier expected.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Rumour : Apple Is Working On “Mogul” Slow-Motion Video Recording Feature

 Gone are the days, when camera was just a feature for a Smartphone. It seems that like just about every smartphone player, Apple too is devoting time and resources to up their camera game. Over the past few years, Apple has attempted to innovate in the mobile camera department. The iPhone 3GS brought advanced video recording and face detection, the iPhone 4 brought 720P video recording, the iPhone 4S introduced an advanced optics system and 1080P recording, and the iPhone 5 introduced a glitzy, simple-to-use Panorama tool. With no sign of a new camera feature (other than filter effects) in the already-announced iOS 7, what camera improvements can we expect in the new iPhone?
According to 9to5Mac, Apple is designing a new iPhone camera feature called “Mogul” mode. A mogul is defined as “a powerful person in a media industry,” making the word a perfect codename (or even a marketing name) for a new iPhone camera feature. 
Also the sources on web indicates that perhaps Apple is also working on a new a 13MP Sony-designed sensor camera with a dual-LED flash setup.

According to 9to5Mac’s, “Mogul” is a feature in development that allows the iPhone to capture video at an exceptionally fast and precise rate. Specifically, the feature can allow the iPhone to record video at a rate of 120 frames-per-second (FPS). The resolution at which this 120FPS video could be recorded at, however it is currently not clear.
But as it looks, by the time Mogul sees the light of day, Apple’s rivals may be well ahead of it in terms of camera prowess. Samsung’s Galaxy S4, Nokia’s Lumia 920, and HTC’s One are the latest in a growing pool of smartphones that let users shooting slow-motion video (the two former records at 120fps, but HTC doesn’t specify). And then there are devices like Nokia’s Lumia 1020, which sports a tremendous 41-megapixel camera sensor and if it’s anything like the 808 PureView that came before it, can capture some really stunning video.
The sheer amount of mobile camera options means that consumers will ultimately be able to capture moments more effectively with their iPhones or Lumias. However, the smartphone camera war is already weighing heavily on some camera manufacturers, which are struggling to keep their businesses in order while high-powered camera phones reduces the importance of the venerable point-and-shoot.

Monday, 15 July 2013

Daughter Got Electrocuted Using iPhone - Says Chinese Family


Acoording to NDTV and IANS, Relatives of a 23-year-old woman from northwest China have claimed that she died after being electrocuted while using her iPhone. The older sister of victim, Ailun, said on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, that Ma was electrocuted while trying to answer a call on her iPhone while the device was charging, Xinhua reported.
“(I) hope that Apple Inc can give us an explanation. I also hope that all of you will refrain from using your mobile devices while charging,” her post read.
The post has gone viral online, with many forwarding the message and warning others of the dangers of using mobile devices while they are being charged. Ma’s father, Ma Guanghui, confirmed that his daughter was electrocuted, adding that her body showed signs of electrocution.
Ma, a resident of Xinjiang’s city of Changji, was previously employed as a flight attendant at China Southern Airlines. Ma’s sister said she hopes to seek justice from Apple.
Apple said Sunday the company felt “deeply sorry for the unfortunate accident” and expressed condolence to the victim and her family. It said it would have a thorough probe into the case.

ZTE U988S Is The World's First Tegra 4 Powered Smartphone

 A new device from ZTE, called the ZTE U988S is all set to become the world’s first smartphone to be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 4 Chipset.
The ZTE U988S will come with a 1.8GHz NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and will also feature 2GB of RAM, it will be running Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.
It has a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution LCD display at the front, with a 2MP front camera at the top. At the back, there is a 13MP camera. The phone also features a MicroSD slot for memory expansion. 
There are no details as yet on when the ZTE U988S will be available, as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.
NVIDIA announced their chipset upgrade of the year at CES 2013, the Tegra 4 platform. Even though the chip retains the same 4-plus-1 arrangement of the Tegra 3 Platform, it adds capabilities of an impressive 72 GPU cores. That will improve the GPU capability almost 6 times. 
Its also the first quad-core processor with Cortex A15 cores on-board, which offers compatibility with LTE networks. NVIDIA also claims this piece of silicon is the world’s fastest mobile processor. in a comparative chart putting the NVIDIA Tegra 4 ahead of the iPad 4 and then the Nexus 10.
The Tegra 4 also boasts of new Photography computational expertise, which will drastically improve the time between an image clicked, processed and saved. 
[Via]

Google Employee Awarded First Microsoft Bug Program Bounty

 In June, Microsoft announced new “bounty programs” for people who could find exploits inside Windows 8.1 or vulnerabilities in the Internet Explorer 11 preview. This week, Microsoft announced that it has already informed one person that he has won money for finding an issue in IE11.
According to a post published by Katie Moussouris, senior security strategist at Microsoft, the company has already paid one security engineer for finding a glitch in Internet Explorer 11, but no specifics have been provided.
“The security community has responded enthusiastically to our new bounty programs, submitting over a dozen issues for us to investigate in just the first two weeks since the programs opened. I personally notified the very first bounty recipient via email today that his submission for the Internet Explorer 11 Preview Bug Bounty is confirmed and validated. (Translation: He’s getting paid.)” Moussouris wrote.
And still, Moussouris mentioned the name of the lucky winner in a short tweet the past week, revealing that he’s none other than Ivan Fratric, a Google information security engineer who also won $50,000 (€38,300) in 2012 in the software maker’s BlueHat contest.
While the Windows 8.1 bounty program is ongoing, the IE11 preview bounty program will end on July 26. Moussouris said a number of other researchers have also found exploits in IE11 and will be notified of that fact very soon. The reported vulnerabilities can qualify for bounties between $500 and $11,000, or even more in particular cases, depending on the gravity of the vulnerability and the quality of the report. 
[Via]

Saturday, 13 July 2013

Microsoft Posts Complete Details Of Windows Phone 8 Amber Update

 Microsoft has detailed the upcoming ‘Amber’ update for Windows Phone 8, also known as GDR2. While the update is not as significant as some Windows Phone users are hoping for, it adds a bunch of much-needed functionality to the operating system, and should quench the public’s thirst for a few more months. 
OEMs will release ‘Amber’, which adds FM radio support to handsets that support it, improves Xbox Music and stabilizes Skype, which has heretofore upset the balance of the People hub.
Users will also be able to set a favourite Lens app to open as the default camera, and use Data Sense to keep track of data usage overall, or on a per-app basis.
Here’s what’s new in Windows Phone versions 8.0.10327.77 and 8.0.10328.78:
  •  Xbox Music. It’s now easier to select, download, and pin music. Plus, music fans will see more accurate metadata (such as song and album information) and many other performance improvements.

  • FM radio. Listen to FM radio right from the Music+Videos hub. (Not available for all phones.)

  • Data Sense. Stay on top of your phone’s data usage with Data Sense. You can set a limit based on your data plan, or just keep track of which apps use the most data. (Not all mobile operators offer Data Sense.)

  • Skype. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) apps like Lync and Skype now feature improved stability and performance.

  • Internet Explorer. Your web browsing experience is now better than ever with improved HTML 5 compatibility.

  • Camera. Set your favorite Lens so it opens automatically when you press the camera button. (Not available for all phones.) Other improvements. Includes many other improvements to WindowsPhone.
 While a huge overhaul of Microsoft’s mobile OS isn’t expected until early 2014, this update will hopefully keep Windows Phone 8 users happy until then. Look for the update to be rolling out to devices soon. 
The newly launched Nokia Lumia 1020 is the second device to come pre-loaded with Windows Phone 8 Amber, with the Lumia 925 being the first.
[Via]

Friday, 12 July 2013

Prepaid Steam cards to be available in India very soon

 If you’ve been unable to participate in Steam sales due to your lack of access to a debit or credit card, a solution is near.
Cybergames India has tied up with Valve to release prepaid Steam cards, or Wallet Codes as they’re called, in India. These cards work just like Xbox Live or PSN subscription cards, and can be redeemed within Steam to add funds to your Steam wallet.
It’s unclear what denominations these cards will be available in, but Gamestop in the US offers them in $20 and $50 variants. We assume that the same denominations will be available in India at an equivalent Rupee price, but we’re yet to get confirmation on this.
Cybergames says that Steam cards will be available in India “very soon”, but didn’t specify a date.
We’ll have more updates on this as soon as we know more.

Apple Store Is Down Worldwide, New Products In Line?


The worldwide Apple store is down, and it has been down for the past 3 hours, giving rise to speculations that new/refreshed products will soon be announced.
Apple, from time to time, takes down its websites for maintenance and user interface upgrades so it could all just be a false alarm. However, if Apple were to announce a new device right now, it would most probably be a new line of Macbook Pros. Other than that, it could officially release the Mac Pro, the device they said would be announced later this year.
The new Mac Pro will be at least doubly powerful on every count than its predecessors. Its flash storage will be 10 times faster than any hard drive Apple has installed in its Mac Pros yet. The flash storage will offer 1.26 Gbps for reading and 1 Gpbs for writing. It will run on Intel Xeon chips, with up to 12-core configurations possible.
Among the changes to the casing, the new Mac Pro will be able to rotate using a handle on top. Motion sensors will detect when it is being rotated and the computer will light up the input panel for greater visibility.
Guess we’ll just have to wait and see whether it’s a false alarm.

LG Announces World’s Slimmest Smartphone Display; A 1080p, 5.2inch Beauty


 Finally! After seeing phones of ginormous proportions, with no real effort to check the thickness of phones off late, LG has launched a beauty. The world’s slimmest smartphone display.
Touted as the thinnest 5.2 inch LCD display, LG has surely made the headlines with this creation. Measuring in at just 2.3 mm in thickness, this phone is the first of its kind to  support a resolution of 1080×1920 with real RGB sub pixels. G calls the technology behind this screen the Advanced One-Glass-Solution (OGS). This tech involves inserting dual flexible printed circuits between the LCD panel and touch film. This results in 30% fewer lines on the panel.

Specs:

  • 5.2 inch
  • Full HD-1080p
  • Just 2.3 mm thick
  • 2.3 mm bezel
Having true RGB value for each and every pixel, its brightness is to output a brightness of 535 nits(unit to measure brightness). This makes this screen, the first ever full 1080p display to have such a high brightness level. It will also provide an enhanced touch experience, better “grip-ability,” and a larger visible display space.
Unlike most other display prototypes that bend and fold but have no practical use in devices immediately, this screen is said to be already incorporated in the LG Optimus G2! The thickness of the phone can finally be minimal without compromising on features like display and camera.

Advantages

  1. A screen this size certainly improves your mobile viewing experience. With the apt brightness settings to enjoy an HD movie.
  2. Having an LCD this slim might actually make it possible for an OEM to engineer a phone that is sufficiently thin, but also makes more room for a large battery.
  3. With a 5.2 inch LCD that offers a good grip, the problem of handling huge phones without slipping put is eliminated.

Press Release

Seoul, Korea (July 11, 2013) – LG Display [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220], a leading innovator of display technology, today announced that it will unveil the world’s slimmest Full HD LCD panel for smartphones. The state-of-the-art 5.2-inch panel is an exciting advancement for the premium mobile device market enabling sleeker Full HD smartphones featuring better “grip-ability” and a superior viewing experience.
Only 2.2mm thin with a 2.3mm bezel, LG Display’s new panel is both slimmest and narrowest among existing Full HD LCD panels designed for mobile devices. This world’s slimmest Full HD LCD panel will provide larger visible display space on smartphones, critical as mobile devices are used for multimedia viewing more than ever before. Additionally, the panel will make devices easier to grip as well as lighter in weight.
Key to realizing the world’s slimmest panel is LG Display’s Advanced One-Glass-Solution (OGS), the latest touch technology enabling an enhanced touch screen experience, developed and applied to the new panel for the first time ever. Dual Flexible Printed Circuits, superior to a single circuit, have been inserted between the panel and touch film, reducing the number of lines on the panel by more than 30 percent. Utilization of a direct bonding system has also resulted in Optical Clear Resin between the panel and touch film for greater brightness.
The new panel’s superiority in displaying resolution, brightness, and contrast ratio results in enhanced outdoor readability. By utilizing 1,080X1,920 pixels consisting of Red, Green, Blue (RGB) sub-pixels, the panel is a true Full HD display. And with a brightness of 535 nits at maximum, LG Display’s panel outperforms all current mobile Full HD LCD panels. Finally, measuring contrast in real-life surroundings with Ambient Contrast Ratio results in a reading of 3.74:1 based on 10,000 lux, confirming the perfect performance of the panel even in strong outdoor sunlight conditions.Renowned testing firm Intertek has officially certified these results.
“Today’s introduction of the world’s slimmest Full HD LCD panel represents an exciting advancement for the high-end smartphone segment, and is possible due to our world-class expertise in IPS and touch technologies,” said Dr. Byeong-Koo Kim, Vice President and Head of LG Display’s IT and Mobile Development Group. “LG Display will continue its commitment to developing products that maximize consumer value as well as opening new doors for the mobile and tablet PC industry.”


Monday, 8 July 2013

The Rise And Death Of Portable Media Players

We grew up listening to the classic Beatle ( or Kishore Kumar for most) songs that our parents used to listen to. As we matured, we formed our own taste and style in music, and the technology surrounding us evolved. And as consumers, we adapted to it. We embraced the technology, incorporating it into our lifestyle and thereby becoming routine. Music plays a vital role in our society.
Hence, it was only natural for most of us to own a portable mp3 player that we would listen to every day, everywhere. But dwindling sales have led many to believe that the days of portable media players are numbered. We take a look.

Why MP3?

Before there were any MP3 players, there were MP3s: invented in 1987 by a group of German scientists looking for a way to shrink video files so that they would be easier to use on computers. To achieve this they stripped out as much “extraneous” data as possible, supposedly the stuff we wouldn’t miss. This loss of quality is at its least discernable when listening on headphones with the volume cranked up, so by 1998 the first portable digital music player had arrived: the MPMan F10, created by South Korean company SaeHan. (It wasn’t a hit; SaeHan now mostly manufactures textiles.)
                                                 The world’s first portable media player.
 Mp3 also known as MPEG Audio Layer 3 is used to compress audio files so they take up lesser hard disk space. It can be stored and played on many digital devices such as computers, mobile phones and portable mp3 players. Consumers use mp3 files to listen to and store music.
For example, “A four-minute song on a CD would create a file of 42 MB (megabytes), while the same song encoded to MP3 would be reduced to just 3.84 MB. This reduction means that the file requires one-tenth of the hard disc space, allowing 10 times as much music to be stored in the same space.”

Quick Adoption

These new Portable Media Players would hold 1000 songs, could be recharged within an hour and would cost around 3-4k at that time. They were compact, came in a bunch of colours and were the “in thing” during that era.
“The internet and  easy-to-share programs like Napster and Limewire played the role of catalysts for Portable Media Players by providing easy and free access to music files.”
By 2004, the digital music market was still wide open, with MP3 players comprising a small portion of all portable audio sales, and the biggest players wanted in. Apple had launched the iTunes Music Store in October of 2003, but wouldn’t sell a billion songs for nearly two years. Companies like Archos, Creative, and iRiver had been building players all along, but the early aughts weren’t for purely digital music yet. With the arrival of faster internet speeds and easy-to-share programs like Napster and Limewire, acquiring music was easier than ever. 
This led to people opening up to the idea of carrying a portable, compact device to fulfill their music needs.

Apple – The Biggest Player

Apple was without doubt the biggest player in this segment. The iPod was a very clever piece of hardware that utilized new 1.8?”hard drives that Toshiba had developed for a market that didn’t exist yet. Encased in a pearl white and metal casing, the iPod utilized a moving scroll wheel (later, a touch-based one) that served a novel scrolling interface on a relatively large 2″ monochromatic display.
                                                                The first Apple iPod
The iPod would set the standard for Portable Media Players for years to follow, ignoring the plethora of buttons that plagued devices at the time, going so far as to omit a power button. But while the iPod hardware had many of the markings of a success story, its ecosystem (or rather, lack thereof) and price held it back from significant sales numbers for the first three years of its life.
During that time, numerous other companies realised the hidden potential in this segment of technology. MP3 players were substantially less expensive compared to CD players.
                                  The Sony Walkmans were a hit among teenagers.
Companies like Sony, Philips, Cowon began churning out various different models of Portable Media Players. The Sony Walkman series gained popularity among teenagers.

                  Microsoft unveiled various versions of the Zune to compete with Apple.
Microsoft’s Zune was probably Apple’s closest competitor. The hardware was slightly bigger than iPod’s similar hard drive model at the time, but came equipped with a large 3″ color screen, an FM tuner, a segmented circular directional pad that favored the Media Center-derived Twist interface for navigating menus, and a pair of buttons on its face mirrored by a shallow concavity on the backside. The player’s software was also a direct descendant of the Portable Mobile Center OS.
The casing came in five iridescent color schemes. Connectivity was provided by a proprietary 30-pin connector similar to ones used by the iPod. But their success didn’t last long. 
Non-Apple Portable Media Players were put to shame. Bruised. Battered. Beaten to death. All gadgets that attempted to outrank the iPod were ambushed and annihilated. Unless you held a personal grudge against Mr. Steve Jobs, or have had some downers with Apple in the past, you wouldn’t switch to a media player not belonging to the Apple clan.

The Demise

In 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod to the world. People were awestruck. But right there, a small iPod logo on the device’s screen spelled the beginning of the end for portable media players.
                                             The iPhone killed its own parent product.
The iPhone promised a music experience which matched that of the iPod. Except you could make calls, play games, surf the internet, all at the same time while listening to your favourite tracks. Why have two gadgets when you can have one?
We all love our shiny smartphones, but the latest stats on MP3 players prove that the sleek handset in your pocket is a cold-eyed killer.
Yep, according to Mintel’s research sales of the humble portable media players – and let’s face it that means mainly Apple iPods – have dropped by a massive 22 per cent year on year.
‘Microsoft will no longer be producing Zune players,’ the company recently said in a statement timed very close to Apple’s latest iPhone announcements – a good time for tech companies to bury bad news.
Earlier, mobile phones did not offer music playback and so consumers were forced to carry a separate MP3 player, but when the smartphone market took off in 2007, offering devices with huge storage and comprehensive media players, the MP3 player’s days were numbered.
                                                         Sales have been dwindling.
Despite Sony and Samsung each offering alternatives to the iPod with their Walkman and Galaxy ranges respectively, iPods dominates the MP3 player market; but their sales are falling continuously as smartphones continue to thrive, and while the iPod classic is still available, it features in none of Apple’s advertising and hasn’t received an update for more than three years.
I personally like using my 3rd generation iPod Nano and would’t trade it for anything, but smartphone provide me with the convenience of not having to carry two separate devices in the notorious Delhi public transport.
So while you may still use your portable media players while at the gym (though I’ve seen people use tablets to listen to music in the gym! Ridiculous!) or while out for a jog, the fact is that the end of MP3 players is near.
It’s been a nice, long journey nonetheless.