Here is my collection of relevant trend for smart phones in 2018:
It seems that crazy growth times in smart phone markets are over at least for some time. The eight-year-long smartphone bubble in China has abruptly come to an end, in yet another warning sign that the global synchronized growth narrative is merely an illusion. China’s smartphone market suffered its first ever annual decline, with shipments down 4 percent from 2016 to 459 million phones in 2017. Canalys blames the weakness on a terrible y/y performance in the industry during the Q4 2017 period, with shipments crashing by over 14 percent to around 113 million phones. Anshul Gupta, a research director at Gartner, said in a statement that customers are choosing higher quality models and keeping them longer, lengthening the replacement cycle for smartphones. 1.9 billion mobile phones were sold in 2017.
Smartphone unit volumes are likely to return to low single-digit percentage growth in 2018 after unit sales declined in the fourth quarter for the first time ever, according to market research firm IDC. Gartner Says Worldwide Device Shipments Will Increase 2.1 Percent in 2018. Overall market is predicted to reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8 percent over period from 2017 to 2022. Taiwan-based IC design houses expect orders from China’s smartphone industry to pick up in the second quarter of 2018, with customer orders likely to register double-digit sequential growth. The processor market is now growing thanks to cell phones – cellular processors account for 28 percent of all processor sales.
Apple is the biggest money maker. Apple took over half of all mobile phone revenue in the end of 2017. During October-December, Apple took over 51 percent of the total net sales of its mobile phone through its iPhone. During the quarter, Apple made more sales on its phones than all other manufacturers in total (total net sales of mobile phone manufacturers were $ 120.2 billion and Apple got$ 61.4 billion). Samsung sold for $ 18.9 billion. Huawei sold three million units for $ 8.4 billion. Apple took also the lead from Samsung in smartphone shipments volume: Apple iPhone volumes reached 77.3 million units compared with 74.1 million for Samsung during the last quarter of 2017, according to the Feb. 1 IDC report.
Wireless charging has finally hit the mainstream. At the moment Qi seems to be the winning technology as it is mostly widely adopted and even Apple selected to use it. According to IHS, in 2017 year, 500 million devices with wireless charging were sold (40 percent higher than in the previous year). Mobile phones were the largest single product group. Next year, a billion devices with wireless charging will be introduced, estimates IHS.
New camera features are coming. More lenses to smart phones are coming. A few phones now have four camera lenses, with two on the back and two on the front, but an upcoming Nokia handset could go one better with five. HMD Global isn’t the only company working on the photography-focused smartphone. The Chinese company Huawei is planning to launch its P-20 flagship phone, featuring five cameras in total. Samsung’s upcoming Exynos 7 processor model 9610 is capable of recording slow motion video at 480 frames per second.
Smartphone users seem to be spending less time but more money each time they visit a website. Each time Americans visit retail websites on their phones, they’re spending less time but more money. According to Adobe Analytics the time smartphone users spend on websites per visit has decreased by 10% since 2015 but the amount of money spent per visit has increased by 27%.
People have their phones with them all the time and watch their phones very often. According to Huawei’s Smartphone Relationships survey, 49 percent of respondents think they view their phone several times in one hour. More than half (58%) of the respondents carry the phone with them over 13 hours a day. Most phones are still used to send messages (86%), even though photography (85%) and social media usage (81%) attracted almost the same. 27% of respondents actively use the phone for 3-4 hours a day. 61 percent of users read emails or browse social media first when they are awakened in the morning.
Android and iOS have taken practically almost all of the smart phone OS market. Android 7 is the most common operating system version, as it spins 18.4 percent of all devices on the market. Android 6 is close to the same figures, accounting for 17.6 percent. Of all smartphones, 17.5 percent already run iOS 11. Windows Phone devices accounted for 0.87 percent and is decreasing, so Windows phone is dead. Microsoft has practically ended Windows Phone platform.
Android P brings new features like indoor positioning, privacy features, multi-camera support and easier to support the cutout in the display. Android P developer preview is now available for testing.
There is no more Android Wear. Android Wear has been rebranded as Wear OS to reflect the fact that it works with both Android and iOS smartphone.
Android Go is stripped down version of Android for low-end devices. Android Go phones, which are mostly low-end devices for ~$100 with 1GB RAM or less, were announced at MWC.
Security chip technologies designed for computers are pushing to smart phones. Purism is working on a Librem5 smartphone that can be run on virtually any Linux operating system and all data on the phone will be protected with a Trusted Platofrm Module (TPM).
AI is coming to smart phones with applications like taking decisions, recognizing text, speech and images, or translating foreign languages. Mobile AI Race Unfolds at MWC. The performance of smartphone application processors is constantly increasing, especially in image processing and artificial intelligence. While Apple and Samsung, both armed with home-grown apps processors, have a lock on the premium smartphone market, MediaTek, seeking to rebound in smartphones, is rolling out at the Mobile World Congress its Helio P60 chipset. Samsung develops its own neural network processor (invested last year in China’s DeePhi Technologies). Samsung has not told whether the new Exonys circuit is integrated with a separate neural network processor like Huawei’s Kirin or Apple processors. LG’s opening in AI is the V30S model that is based on the V30 platform. The device is part of LG’s new artificial intelligence ThinQ brand. Telecom operators are looking to artificial intelligence as a potential money-spinner to combat stagnating mobile service revenues. Tirias Research believes that by 2025, 95 percent of all new devices or platforms will leverage artificial intelligence in the cloud or with some form of native machine learning.
5G is coming faster than anyone expected. 5G phones are getting more and more popular in a couple of years. Market research company Gartner predicts that 5G networks will become more common in smart phones in the early 2020s. 5G is coming to newest phones with advanced chip technology. Qualcomm said it will continue to work with longtime foundry supplier Samsung Electronics on Snapdragon 5G chipsets using Samsung’s 7nm Low Power Plus (LPP) process technology with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The X24 modem is the first volume-to-output circuit that is manufactured using a 7 nanometer process. Intel, TSMC and Globalfoundries are targeting EUV production sometime in 2019. Gartner says that by 2021, 9 Percent of Smartphones Sold Will Support 5G.
Cisco projects that by 2020, the average smartphone will generate 4.4GB of network traffic every month (up from less than 1GB per month in 2015). And by 2021, smartphone traffic will exceed PC traffic.
Wireless Technology is becoming The Existential Necessity of Life. Technologies like LTE, 5G, and Wi-Fi are continuing to improve. The wireless technologies we all use daily are cellular LTE and Wi-Fi. LTE is gradually morphing into 5G and Wi-Fi continues to get better. Long Term Evolution is our current 4G worldwide cellular standard. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is still working on 5G, but concurrently companies are testing 5G New Radio (NR) equipment. Wi-Fi, LTE, and 5G all have one thing in common. Their increases in data rate and user capacity have come primarily from advanced antenna techniques.
Current and future smartphones that combine spectrum from several frequency bands can function without a typical antenna, thanks to a tiny “booster” device that can radiate RF signals from the smartphone itself. Microstrip patch antennas became well received in wireless communications systems due to their low cost of fabrication and effectiveness in those systems. A number of approaches have been developed to overcome the limits of traditional antenna designs.
Electromagnetic Radiation Is Decreasing in New Generations of Smartphones. While there’s no evidence that phone-produced RF radiation is carcinogenic, new phones are emitting less of it.
Traditional SIM will be replaced in the near future. It is expected that the traditional SIM card format becomes unnecessary, as in the coming years, all devices will be manufactured with eSIM capability. ESIM allows many things for both the consumer and the operator. For example the same subscriber contract, it is possible to tie up several devices. Also according to the operators, the current network roaming will disappear within the next 3-5 years.
NFC specifications are updates and usage is increasing. Apple’s iOS 11 announcement last spring opening the iPhone 7 and following models to use NFC technology beyond Apple Pay had significant impact across many markets. The 2017 Technical Specification Release from the NFC Forum is made up of 21 new or updated near field communication (NFC) technical specifications. The new specifications are a big step toward ensuring interoperability between NFC solutions in the market with various existing infrastructures, unifying new and existing specs to ensure interoperability and functionality across all solutions using NFC technology (ISO/IEC 14443 or ISO/IEC 18092 specifications).
Smart Glasses are still not ready to wear. Talks give skeptical takes on AR, 5G. Ans we have this this confusion of Smart Glasses vs. Augmented Reality Goggles vs. Virtual Reality Headsets.
Finger sensor integrated to display tries to push to market. Japan Display Inc. (JDI) unveiled a transparent glass-based capacitive fingerprint sensor. Although its TFT-based fingerprint sensors have certain advantages over silicon-based solutions, JDI might be arriving too late with too little. But it could be too little too late as manufacturers are eyeing to other solutions.
Now that Samsung’s Galaxy S9 is already on the market and Huawei’s P20 announcement is looming large, imaging experts have declared 3D sensing the new battleground for the mobile industry. It is left to be seen whether either Samsung or Huawei will be able to catch up with Apple’s iPhone X. The bar set by Apple’s TrueDepth camera is very high. According to Digitimes, the TrueDepth module module costs $ 30-50, which makes the component too expensive for a few hundred dollars in Chinese-speaking phones. TrueDepth-like solutions have very few component suppliers, so prices are not yet coming down. The TrueDepth module is based on five subsystems or modules: infrared camera, proximity sensor, infrared light, RGB camera and point the projector.
Large-scale use of biometric authentication is primarily tied to smartphones. The wide-range of sensors built into these handheld and ubiquitous devices make them an ideal tool for face and iris recognition (camera), voice (microphone), and touch (fingerprint). Banks are increasingly using voice and face recognition via smartphones for mobile banking purposes. Biometric authentication has several distinct advantages over passwords, including advantages and disadvantages that they are difficult to change. But Are Biometrics as a Form of Authentication Over-hyped and Unreliable? “Whether a particular biometric method is useful or not depends on the sensor quality and ease of duplicating a particular biometric,”
Smart phone display size seems to be growing. Now, it looks like the size of the iPhone screen will grow clearly this year. As manufacturers shrink bezels and the front-facing sensors leave a notch on your display, Android P will make it easier to support the cutout in the display.
New display technologies are pushing to replace LCD. The AMOLED display is rapidly expanding on smartphones and in particular a flexible version. Last year, flexible displays in the AMOLED market grew to nearly 55 per cent. The X-model is Apple’s first AMOLED display phone. Samsung, LG Display, BOE and Kunshan Optoelectronics began supplying their own flexible screens for smartphones. In near future is it not just LCD and OLED. Sources detail Apple’s initiative to develop tech to mass-produce MicroLED displays, an OLED successor, still at least two years from shipping in its devices.
Nokia brand has returned to smart phone market. Nokia CEO Suri was surprised at Nokia’s return to success: “I would not have thought it a year ago”. HMD has sold last year 70 million phones. Nokia’s basic phone deliveries last year had some 60 million and around 10 million smartphones. Nokia is now receiving money from HMD Global’s Nokia phone sales in royalties.
Smart phone sensors are used more and more for medical diagnostics applications. Most smartphones include an accelerometer and many other sensors. As almost all of us have a smartphone almost all the time, it gives many opportunities for health monitoring. For example a novel method allows screening of stroke-causing cardiac atrial fibrillation using a standard smartphone was developed by the University of Turku.
Smart phones contains a lot of information that is protected in many ways. Authorities want to take a look at this data sometimes. Getting the data from protected phones has became a business of it’s own. Israeli Cellebrite sells the service to get data from secured smartphone for $ 5,000. GrayShift is selling for $15,000 a device that opens all iPhones.
Traditional 3.5 mm audio jack seems to be disappearing from smart phones. Overwhelming impression from CES 2018 was that headphone companies have, without exception, bid a silent goodbye to the 3.5mm audio plug. Many manufacturers are leaving 3.5 mm audio jacks out of their high end phones while mainly offering wireless audio and USB-C and Lightning as the alternatives. The ACI headphone jack plugged into a traditional 3,5 mm audio connector with data features challenges USB-C. The Austrian ams company has now developed a new interface standard for 3.5 mm audio socket, offering full compatibility backwards to the current 3.5-mm sockets. The new Accessory Communication Interface (ACI) uses the microphone MIC signal line to provide additional features and turn it into a bidirectional digital connection. Sony’s working hard on promoting a new 4.4mm Pentaconn connector as the next wired standard for dedicated audio lovers. But maybe the battle with 3.5 mm audio jack is already lost to USB-C? Let’s see. The future of headphones seems to be messy. Buying headphones in 2018 is going to be a fragmented mess.
Mobile Malware Attacks Surged in 2017. Machine learning is used to fight against harmful Android Apps. According to Google’s Android Security 2017 Year in Review report 60.3 percent of Potentially Harmful Apps (PHAs) were detected via machine learning. The detection is done by a service called Google Play Protect, which is enabled on over 2 billion devices (running Android 4.3 and up) to constantly scan Android apps for malicious activity. Play Protect reviews 50B+ apps every day.
We will start experiencing the fundamental flaw of too many listening devices. A “first world problem,” at least for the moment is that all kinds of devices capable of acting as a voice-powered digital assistant expands, and as they’re sold over an expanding footprint of the overall international market, it’ll increasingly become an “all-world problem.” For example when you say “Ok Google,” all several widgets can wake up and respond to what you say next.
Sources:
https://www.androidcentral.com/android-p
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/16903516/headphones-wireless-analog-jack-future-ces-2018
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7477&via=n&datum=2018-01-30_15:32:36
https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3849063
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7544-huawei-puhelintaa-katsotaan-useita-kertoja-tunnissa
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7568&via=n&datum=2018-02-15_15:01:17
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/mobiili/art-2000005600539.html?ref=rss
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7560&via=n&datum=2018-02-14_15:22:43
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332970
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7509-prosessorimarkkina-kasvaa-nyt-kannykoiden-ansiosta
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332930
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7544&via=n&datum=2018-02-12_14:23:45
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180222PD208.html
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7570&via=n&datum=2018-02-16_15:00:38
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7616-lg-hyppasi-tekoalyjunaan
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7618-rajeev-suri-5g-tulee-nopeammin-kuin-kukaan-odotti
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333009
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7752&via=n&datum=2018-03-23_14:10:57
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333002
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7579&via=n&datum=2018-02-19_14:48:02
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333021
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/new-android-go-phones-show-how-much-you-can-get-for-100/
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332996
https://www.recode.net/2018/2/28/17058560/smartphone-users-spending-money-website-visits-adobe
http://www.securityweek.com/can-biometrics-solve-authentication-problem
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/mobiili/art-2000005535369.html
http://www.techradar.com/news/next-nokia-flagship-could-have-five-camera-lenses
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7429&via=n&datum=2018-01-19_15:53:09
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7449&via=n&datum=2018-01-24_15:29:17
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332898
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332890
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7653&via=n&datum=2018-03-05_15:39:52
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7683&via=n&datum=2018-03-09_14:55:36
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332879
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-28/did-smartphone-bubble-china-just-pop
http://investmentwatchblog.com/did-the-chinese-smartphone-bubble-just-pop/
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7467-iphonen-naytto-kasvaa
https://www.securityweek.com/mobile-malware-attacks-surged-2017-kaspersky
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7686-taman-takia-iphonen-face-id-ei-tule-androidiin
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7714-vanha-audioplugi-haastaa-usb-c-n-digitalisoituna
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https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333098
531 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Hands-on with the RED Hydrogen One Android phone with a 5.7-inch “holographic” display, coming to Verizon and AT&T sometime this summer starting at $1,195
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/19/17372510/red-hydrogen-one-smartphone-hands-on-photos-video
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/05/21/lisaa-rahaa-nokia-kannykoiden-tekemiseen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple’s manufacturing partner TSMC has started mass production of 7nm processors for iPhones launching later this year — – More-efficient 7-nanometer processors coming later this year — Samsung is also working on the next-generation chip technology
Next Generation iPhone Chips Go Into Production
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/apple-partner-tsmc-is-said-to-start-making-chips-for-new-iphones
Apple Inc. manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has started mass production of next-generation processors for new iPhones launching later this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The processor, likely to be called the A12 chip, will use a 7-nanometer design that can be smaller, faster and more efficient than the 10-nanometer chips in current Apple devices like the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the people said.
In April, TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it started mass-producing 7-nanometer processors, but didn’t disclose it was building them for a specific partner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google expands Family Link to 26 EU countries, now available in 37 countries in total
https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/22/google-expands-family-link-27-eu-countries-now-available-38-countries-total/
People in all countries have kids, so it’s a bit disheartening when a feature launches for families and it’s limited to the US. That was the story with Family Link last year, which was only available in the US at first. However, the parental control service started expanding shortly after, adding Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, then Canada this past February. We might have missed the memo too, because it added a few more countries between then and now (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Mexico, UK). That made the total eleven, but now Family Link is expanding to 26 new countries, all in the EU.
There wasn’t an official announcement, but as part of the European GDPR, Google has implemented Family Link in the EU to let parents create accounts for their children and retain control over their devices and apps under the new EU provisions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.kids.familylink&hl=fi
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM’s Verifier inspects (and verifies) diamonds, pills and materials at the micron level
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/23/ibms-verifier-inspects-and-verifies-diamonds-pills-and-materials-at-the-micron-level/?utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
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IBM’s Verifier inspects (and verifies) diamonds, pills and materials at the micron level
Devin Coldewey
@techcrunch / Yesterday
27388103237_05e5800064_o
It’s not enough in this day and age that we have to deal with fake news, we also have to deal with fake prescription drugs, fake luxury goods, and fake Renaissance-era paintings. Sometimes all at once! IBM’s Verifier is a gadget and platform made (naturally) to instantly verify that something is what it claims to be, by inspecting it at a microscopic level.
Essentially you stick a little thing on your phone’s camera, open the app, and put the sensor against what you’re trying to verify, be it a generic antidepressant or an ore sample. By combining microscopy, spectroscopy, and a little bit of AI, the Verifier compares what it sees to a known version of the item and tells you whether they’re the same.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Starbucks’s mobile payment service is slightly outpacing Apple’s
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/22/starbuckss-mobile-payment-service-is-slightly-outpacing-apples/?utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook
People really love getting their coffee more quickly. Starbucks, which has operated its own mobile payments service since 2011, is the market leader in terms of mobile payments users, beating out Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, according to a new reporter from eMarketer
Tomi Engdahl says:
We Dropped $18,000 Worth of Phones, and These Are the Toughest (and Weakest)
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/smartphone-drop-tests,review-5431.html
We all know that feeling. You’re walking along the street, answering a text message, when someone bumps you, and your phone goes flying onto the concrete. Will your phone hold up, or will it crack under the pressure?
Good news: Chances are, your phone will survive a 6-foot fall onto wood and, if it’s lucky enough to land on its edge, withstand drops onto concrete with minimal damage. Bad news: If you don’t have a screen protector, there’s a really good chance something’s going to break.
So, what’s the toughest (nonrugged) phone out there? The $500 Motorola Moto Z2 Force. While the result wasn’t completely unexpected — after all, the phone has a ShatterShield display, which the company guarantees against cracks — the Moto Z2 Force survived drops from 6 feet onto concrete, with barely a scratch.
Apple’s least-expensive phone didn’t prove very tough at all.
The final round for the surviving phones was to drop them from 4 feet into a water-filled toilet. Unused, of course.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Next Generation iPhone Chips Go Into Production
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/apple-partner-tsmc-is-said-to-start-making-chips-for-new-iphones
Apple Inc. manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has started mass production of next-generation processors for new iPhones launching later this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The processor, likely to be called the A12 chip, will use a 7-nanometer design that can be smaller, faster and more efficient than the 10-nanometer chips in current Apple devices like the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the people said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/hmd-global-teki-nokia-puhelimilla-kovat-tappiot-6725759
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/nokia-puhelimia-valmistava-hmd-global-sai-100-miljoonan-dollarin-rahoituksen-viime-vuoden-tappio-65-miljoonaa-euroa/ee802ac6-2809-3de1-aaa8-bc44a781fc45
Tomi Engdahl says:
Got Huawei/Honor maps errors? Install the beta Play Services to fix it (Update)
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-play-services-huawei-honor-866884/
A recent Google Play Services update might have screwed up some apps on Huawei and Honor devices.
Huawei and Google acknowledged the issues and said a fix is on the way.
A fix is now rolling out to the beta version of Google Play Services
Tomi Engdahl says:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Report: Apple to give some developers more access to iPhone NFC chip for Apple Pay-like contactless interactions like opening doors or replacing transit cards — The Information reports that Apple will be taking a big leap in iOS 12, giving some third-party developers full access …
iOS 12 will reportedly include new NFC features, enable iPhones to become secure hotel room keys
https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/25/apple-will-reportedly-open-up-nfc-in-ios-12/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung might launch Galaxy Note9 with 8GB of RAM and 512GB internal storage
https://www.neowin.net/news/samsung-might-launch-galaxy-note9-with-8gb-of-ram-and-512gb-internal-storage
Following the fiery Note7 fiasco in 2016, Samsung quickly turned the game around with the device’s successor, the Galaxy Note8. With the impending launch of the Galaxy Note9 this years, rumors have already begun to float regarding the features that Samsung might be integrating into its next premium handset.
A new report now claims that Samsung might launch the Galaxy Note9 with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.
Currently, the most premium variant of the latest Note8 in some regions features 6GB of RAM and 256GB internal storage
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone X camera glass cracking, people wonder why
http://pocketnow.com/2018/05/25/iphone-x-camera-glass-cracking-people-wonder-why
Groups of iPhone X users have been complaining over the past several months on Apple’s support communities and Reddit threads about finding cracks in the cover glass of the rear camera system despite the phone being protected by cases and them having never dropped their devices.
Complainants were pointed to the environmental operating requirements which require the iPhone X to be in ambient temperature of 32°F/0°C to 95°F/35°C while operating and -4°F/-20°C to 113°F/45°C when not operating. However, many users say the crack occurred while within those limits and others have come to say that their units did not crack at more intense temperatures.
Reported repair costs have ranged between $99 on AppleCare+ to up to $549 outside of warranty.
Apple has said that sapphire is used to protect the cameras of its iPhones
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rani Molla / Recode:
Mary Meeker’s annual internet trends report: smartphone shipments stagnate as average selling price drops, e-commerce sales growth and time online rise, more — Here’s a first look at the most highly anticipated slide deck in Silicon Valley. — It’s that time of year again …
Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report: All the slides, plus analysis
Here’s a first look at the most highly anticipated slide deck in Silicon Valley.
https://www.recode.net/2018/5/30/17385116/mary-meeker-slides-internet-trends-code-conference-2018
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Google’s Project Fi adds support for three new handsets: LG G7 ThinQ, the newly announced LG V35 ThinQ, and Moto G6 — More choices at last — Google announced today that Project Fi users will soon have a few more device choices. Three new phones will work with Google’s wireless service …
Google is expanding its Project Fi phone lineup with the LG G7, V35, and Moto G6
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/5/30/17406370/google-lg-g7-thinq-v35-moto-g6-project-fi
Google announced today that Project Fi users will soon have a few more device choices.
The Project Fi data-only SIM is my favorite deal in wireless
Skip the tethering hassle
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15782436/project-fi-data-only-sim-deal-wireless-lte-tmobile
Project Fi is Google’s specialized wireless service designed primarily for Google’s own phones. It doesn’t get much attention because, in order to use it, your main phone pretty much has to be either a Google Pixel or a Nexus device. It hasn’t kept up with the trend of unlimited data that other carriers are doing now, but it does have a refreshingly simple business model.
Here’s how it works, if you don’t know: you pay $20 per month for your phone and $10 per GB of data that you use. That’s pretty much it. Additional phones are $15 per month and use the same data bucket.
you can order free, data-only SIM cards and slap them into whatever device you want at no extra charge — it just pulls from your usual data bucket.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scott Stein / CNET:
Google makes its AR Expeditions available on iOS and Android, with 800 VR and 100 AR experiences — I remember using a selfie stick to try out Google’s educational vision of AR, and it was impressive. My son tried it in his school one day, and felt the same way.
Google AR Expeditions just arrived on iOS and Android
Selfie-stick AR has been touring schools, but now anyone can try.
https://www.cnet.com/news/google-ar-expeditions-just-arrived-on-ios-and-android/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gartner Says Worldwide Sales of Smartphones Returned to Growth in First Quarter of 2018
https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3876865
While Huawei and Xiaomi Experienced the Largest Growth in the Quarter, Apple Returned to Growth After Sales Declined Last Quarter
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arm Targets Laptop Performance
Cortex-A76 mobile core aimed at Intel’s Skylake
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333333
Arm announced a new mobile CPU core that it said can deliver performance within 10% of Intel’s latest Skylake chips. Analysts praised the architecture’s leap forward but said that they doubt Arm will take a significant share of today’s x86-based notebooks.
The Cortex-A76 arrives in tandem with new Mali G76 GPU and V76 video cores. All three are expected to appear in premium smartphone SoCs before the end of the year.
The A76 marks a full redesign for mobile systems, packing up to 2-Mbytes L2 cache, 4-Mbytes L3, and running at more than 3 GHz in a 7-nm node. It aims to deliver 90% of the Specint2006 performance of an Intel mobile Skylake chip with one-fourth the area and half the power — or roughly the same performance in thermally constrained systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/suomalaisten-suosikkikannykassa-vakava-haavoittuvuus-kehuttu-lukko-aukeaa-naurettavan-helposti-6727448
Tomi Engdahl says:
The world’s fastest smartphone for gamers
The smartphone may not be the ideal platform for gaming, but by far the most popular it is. Asus’ Gaming Department ROG (Republic of Gamers) announced at the Computex show in Taiwan the device it praises as the world’s first player smartphone.
It has 6-inch screen for mobile gaming: AMOLED screen is updated 90 times per second and its response time is 1 millisecond.
It has the world’s fastest 8-core Snapdragon 845 application processor running at clock frequency reaching 2.96 GHz. Graphics on the screen are drawn by the Adreno 630 processor.
Those processors generate a fair amount of heat, so a separate AeroActive cooling unit can be connected. The device weighs 200 grams.
The device has 60 gigahertz WiGig connection for larger screen connection.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8093&via=n&datum=2018-06-05_15:20:05&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turning Your Smartphone into a Magnifying Glass
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/turning-your-smartphone-into-a-magnifying-glass
the magnification function on the iPhone (there’s also an Android version
This is awesome! Once you’ve enabled this capability, tapping the Home button three times in quick succession activates the iPhone’s camera in magnifying glass mode.
I can think of so many occasions where this capability would be useful.
Speaking of which, here’s how you go about turning this feature on:
On an iPhone
Go into Settings
Select General
Select Accessibility
Select Magnifier
Turn the Magnifier and Auto-Brightness options on.
On an Android
Go into Settings
Select Accessibility
Select Vision
Scroll down and select Magnification (or Magnification Gestures
Once you’ve turned this feature on, in the case of an iPhone, all you have to do is tap the Home button three times quickly in succession to activate the magnification feature
The problem with the Android OS is that there are so many versions out there. One of the guys in the building was presented with the Magnification option. Once he’d enabled this, tapping three times quickly in succession anywhere on the screen placed his phone in magnification mode, just like my iPhone. By comparison, another guy with an Android was given the Magnification Gestures option. After he’d turned this on, tapping three times quickly in succession anywhere on the screen just magnified whatever was on the screen, which meant he had to have previously activated his camera to triple-tap-magnify what the camera was already seeing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables Growth Slows
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333347
Growth in shipments of wearable devices slowed in the first quarter of the year amid a shift in buying away from basic wearables to smarter devices, according to market research firm IDC.
First quarter wearables shipments reached 25.1 million units, an increase of 1.2 percent compared with the year-ago quarter, IDC (Framingham, Mass.) said. The growth rate was significantly lower than the 18 percent year-over-year growth rate that wearables notched in the first quarter of 2017, according to the firm.
IDC said shipments of basic wearables declined by 9.2 percent year-over-year. At the same time, shipments of higher priced wearables from Apple, Fitbit and numerous fashion brands increased by 28.4 percent,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arm Targets Laptop Performance
Cortex-A76 mobile core aimed at Intel’s Skylake
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333333
Arm announced a new mobile CPU core that it said can deliver performance within 10% of Intel’s latest Skylake chips. Analysts praised the architecture’s leap forward but said that they doubt Arm will take a significant share of today’s x86-based notebooks.
The Cortex-A76 arrives in tandem with new Mali G76 GPU and V76 video cores. All three are expected to appear in premium smartphone SoCs before the end of the year.
The A76 marks a full redesign for mobile systems, packing up to 2-Mbytes L2 cache, 4-Mbytes L3, and running at more than 3 GHz in a 7-nm node. It aims to deliver 90% of the Specint2006 performance of an Intel mobile Skylake chip with one-fourth the area and half the power — or roughly the same performance in thermally constrained systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. in Deal to Ease Sanctions on China’s ZTE: Top Official
https://www.securityweek.com/us-deal-ease-sanctions-chinas-zte-top-official
US officials reached a deal Thursday to ease sanctions which threatened to cripple Chinese smartphone maker ZTE, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
Ross told CNBC television the deal includes a $1 billion fine levied on the Chinese firm and a requirement that it change its board of directors.
In April, the Chinese group was cut off from US technology products for violating US sanctions against North Korea and Iran — measures which threatened to put ZTE out of business.
Ross said the agreement calls for “embedding a compliance department” chosen by Washington to monitor company conduct.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Android phones for mobile gaming are on the rise but rampant piracy and Apple’s premium segment dominance give devs little incentive to invest in the platform
Android gaming phones have a lot of growing up to do
Asus’ ROG Phone is riding a wave of renewed interest in building Android gaming devices
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/7/17436168/android-gaming-rog-phone-computex-2018
Gaming and Android have never been bigger. Nvidia’s CEO said at Computex this week that he fully expects every person on the planet to eventually be a gamer, and Android phones have taken over from Windows PCs as the most-used method for humans to access the web. Putting the two together in a new product, then, would seem to be an instant winner, and that’s what Asus has tried to do with its Computex announcement of a new Republic of Gamers Android phone. But is there any reason to expect its fate would be any different to all the previous Android gaming phones that already crashed and burned?
The answer is complicated.
What mobile gamers want from their hardware is a good display, a large battery, and — especially in the case of China, the biggest and most vibrant mobile gaming market — an attainable price. The other appealing thing is sustained performance: having a good enough power and heat management system to allow the phone to keep going without throttling itself.
The most active Android gamers are highly price-sensitive, while the least price-sensitive phone buyers don’t play hugely demanding games
The gap between iOS and Android gaming has existed for a long time, and it still hasn’t been closed.
t the frustrating experience of trying to sell — rather than give away on an ad-supported or freemium basis — his zombie FPS game on Android. Rabas saw piracy rates in excess of 80 percent on Google’s platform. Speaking with game industry insiders at Computex this year, I was told that the piracy problem on Android is as big as ever, and without the ability to lock the platform down — which nobody has any faith that Google is able or willing to do — game developers see little incentive to invest heavily in making higher-quality games.
Tomi Engdahl says:
technology
Apple, Suppliers Drop After Report of Cut in iPhone Orders
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-08/apple-drops-in-europe-trading-after-report-on-iphone-order-cut
Apple Inc. shares and suppliers declined after a Japanese newspaper report that the technology giant has warned suppliers of a drop of around 20 percent in new iPhone component orders.
Nikkei said Apple told the suppliers that the parts were for iPhones debuting in the second half and would be down from 2017 levels. The newspaper cited people in the industry it didn’t identify.
Apple’s sprawling supply chain comprises thousands of companies
Apple fell 1.7 percent at 9:42 a.m. in New York Friday. Austrian supplier AMS AG dropped as much as 7.2 percent and in the U.S. Cirrus Logic Inc. fell 3.5 percent, Skyworks Solutions Inc. fell 2.6 percent and Qorvo Inc. fell 1.2 percent after the Nikkei report.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Facebook’s new 3D photos work
Here comes the science
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/07/how-facebooks-new-3d-photos-work/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
In case you missed the teaser, 3D photos will live in your news feed just like any other photos, except when you scroll by them, touch or click them, or tilt your phone, they respond as if the photo is actually a window into a tiny diorama, with corresponding changes in perspective. It will work for both ordinary pictures of people and dogs, but also landscapes and panoramas.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Artificial Intelligence Improves the Quality of Cell Phone Cameras
The mobile screening effected by the artificial intelligence is already in use for many tasks, even though small optics still require compromises. Artificial intelligence brings Huawei to new automation, adjustment possibilities and analysis of cellular imaging, resulting in clearly better quality images.
According to Huawei, the growing popularity of mobile photography is explained by its ease. Especially when it comes to surprising shooting conditions, the best camera is always the one that happens to be within reach.
Today, for most, it is most often a smartphone camera, which even up to 85% of all photos are recorded according to the Infotrendins report.
Even sophisticated graphic designers may benefit from the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence for new phones.
Honor 10 campaign photo shoot
“In addition to speed and good image quality, various adjustments are important for a professional, such as adjusting the aperture to provide the right depth of field,” says Öhrling.
Honor’s new 10-model artificial intelligence also helps in post-processing
Semantic image segmentation is used for separating objects and backgrounds, for example, in selfie imaging.
Source: https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/06/08/tekoalylla-parempaa-laatua-kannykkakameroihin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Asus Foreshadows 5G Handsets
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333373
A new handset from Asus gives a glimpse into design issues for next year’s 5G smartphones supporting millimeter wave bands.
Asus announced at Computex what could possibly be the most powerful smartphone to date. The Asus ROG (Republic of Gamers) is a beast, with features such as vapor chamber cooling (found only in gaming laptops), a Snapdragon SDM845 SoC, 8GB RAM, 512 GB storage and a slew of accessories.
The handset has the potential to redefine smartphone gaming. However, my interest in this phone is not gaming, but in one of its connectivity features called 802.11ad aka WiGig, a 60 GHz version of Wi-Fi.
This is Asus’ second attempt at .11ad. Its first .11ad smartphone, the Asus Zen 4 announced last year, only had limited availability. This announcement along with recent news about Facebook’s Terragraph trials shows continued .11ad momentum.
The significance of Asus ROG phone is not just .11ad’s multi-gigabit performance. It foreshadows millimeter wave links in future 5G smartphones, given .11ad uses the 60 GHz band. This phone provides a glimpse of the performance and design considerations of using mmwave well ahead of the 2019 timeframe for 5G handsets.
ASUS Republic of Gamers Announces ROG Phone
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180604005616/en/ASUS-Republic-Gamers-Announces-ROG-Phone
KEY POINTS
Epic performance: World’s fastest speed-binned 2.96GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm Adreno 630 and GameCool vapor-chamber cooling
Unbeatable visuals: AMOLED HDR display with ultrafast 90Hz refresh, 1ms response for smooth, blur-free gaming and 108% DCI-P3 gamut for vivid realism
Total control: Designed for comfortable gaming with unique side-mounted port, programmable ultrasonic AirTrigger sensors and powerful force-feedback system
Endless possibilities: Enhanced gaming experiences with optional TwinView Dock, Mobile Desktop Dock, and Gamevice controller with WiGig Dock
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Top Scams that Android Users Fall For
https://tech.co/the-top-scams-android-users-fall-for-2018-06
In the first quarter of 2018 alone, Americans on Android mobile phones accessed 23 suspected malicious URLs per minute. From fake virus alerts to phoney dating sites, new Android scams have targeted a huge number of victims so far this year.
A massive report just out from PSafe’s dfndr lab has analyzed 200 million digital files from more than 21 million active users of their security app.
So, what type of scams gained the most clicks from those 21 million smartphone owners? Here’s the rundown on the top three scams that worked the most often in the first few months of this year, as well as a few other fascinating insights the PSafe team gleaned from their app data.
#3: Fake Giveaways
One popular method scammers have been using to phish for personal data on Android mobile phones? Fake promotional stunts and sweepstakes.
#2: Adult Dating Sites
We all know that sex sells, but it turns out it scams, as well.
#1: Fake Virus Alerts
The biggest type of scam on Android phones in the first few months of 2018? False virus warnings.
In this scam, a banner ads pops up on a phone claiming to be a system alert from the phone itself. It states that the phone is infected and urges the user to immediately download an antivirus app. Of course, the software isn’t an antivirus at all, but the malware that the user was trying to avoid in the first place.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8133-nxp-tuo-mobiilimaksamisen-kelloihin-ja-koruihin
Tomi Engdahl says:
NXP Launches Mobile Wallet Solution for Wearables, IoT
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333378
German high-end luxury goods manufacturer Montblanc is set to use NXP’s new solution, mWallet 2Go, in a smart watch strap.
Developed in collaboration with Mastercard and Visa, mWallet 2Go comprises NXP’s near field communications (NFC), secure element (SE), NFC middleware, SE JavaCard operating system, SE applets, SEMS (secure element management service), wallet application and software developer kit (SDK), wallet server and MDES (Mastercard digital enablement service) and VTS (Visa token service) tokenization platforms. This entire system enables OEMs to develop a pre-certified and validated turnkey solution. Mastercard had already teamed up with NXP to develop a “Loader Service,” an applet and client accessible to developers looking to deploy secure NFC payments.
Charles Dachs, NXP’s vice and general manager of secure embedded transactions, told EE Times that NXP’s secure element management service (SEMS) was most recently adopted by Garmin to help deploy Garmin Pay in their products without compromising on security.
“Both Visa and Mastercard have embedded SEMS in their tokenization platforms,” Dachs said. “mWallet 2GO integrates full SEMS capabilities. This is how the payment service connects to Mastercard’s and Visa’s ecosystem.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Many Android Devices Ship with ADB Enabled
https://www.securityweek.com/many-android-devices-ship-adb-enabled
Many vendors ship Android devices with the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) feature enabled, thus rendering them exposed to various attacks, security researcher Kevin Beaumont has discovered.
ADB is a feature meant to provide developers with the ability to easily communicate with devices remotely, to execute commands and fully control the device. Because it doesn’t require authentication, ADB allows anyone to connect to a device, install apps and execute commands.
In theory, the device should be first connected via USB to enable ADB, but Beaumont has discovered that some vendors ship Android devices with the feature enabled right from the start. The Debug Bridge listens on port 5555, and anyone can connect to the device over the Internet.
“During research for this article, we’ve found everything from tankers in the US to DVRs in Hong Kong to mobile telephones in South Korea. As an example, a specific Android TV device was also found to ship in this condition,” the security researcher notes.
Root Bridge — how thousands of internet connected Android devices now have no security, and are being exploited by criminals.
https://doublepulsar.com/root-bridge-how-thousands-of-internet-connected-android-devices-now-have-no-security-and-are-b46a68cb0f20?gi=cd7686af2bf8
Android has a feature called Android Debug Bridge (ADB for short) which allows developers to communicate with a device remotely, to execute commands and fully control the device.
“The adb command facilitates a variety of device actions, such as installing and debugging apps, and it provides access to a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on a device.” — Android’s developer portal
It is completely unauthenticated, meaning anybody can connect to a device running ADB to execute commands. However, to enable it — in theory — you have to physically connect to a device using USB and first enable the Debug Bridge.
Unfortunately, vendors have been shipping products with Android Debug Bridge enabled. It listens on port 5555, and enables anybody to connect over the internet to a device. It is also clear some people are insecurely rooting their devices, too.
This is highly problematic as it allows anybody — without any password — to remotely access these devices as ‘root’* — the administrator mode — and then silently install software and execute malicious functions.
These are not problems with Android Debug Bridge itself; ADB is not designed to be deployed in this manner.
*in theory root shouldn’t be available in non-Development builds, but there’s an apparent bypass on some devices – adb shell “su -c command”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone X dethroned as world’s top-selling smartphone
https://www.cultofmac.com/554809/iphone-x-dethroned-as-worlds-top-selling-smartphone/
Apple’s flagship handset has passed its peak popularity. That’s not surprising, given that the iPhone X hit the market more than six months ago. Still, it once could boast of being the world’s best-selling smartphone.
The iPhone X was still Apple’s top-selling model in April, the most recent month for which data is available from Counterpoint Research. It captured 2.3 percent of the global smartphone market. Not bad for a device that some people were calling a flop just a few months ago.
A clear trend in these numbers is that people love expansive screens.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables Bring a Host of Tricky Legal Questions, Says Tech Attorney
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/wearables-bring-a-host-of-tricky-legal-questions-says-tech-attorney
Every new technology needs a good lawyer. For wearables, that’s tech attorney Kraig Baker, a Seattle-based partner in the firm Davis Wright Tremaine. When companies need to think through issues like data privacy for wearable trackers or the capabilities of smart textiles and sports devices, he’s the guy to call.
Baker talked with IEEE Spectrum about the legal questions that will come up as wearables—including “embeddables” and “ingestibles”—become intimate parts of our lives. He sees these technologies as the latest step in a long trend toward human-computer integration.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Allegedly Cancels iPhone SE 2
Company to focus entirely on this year’s iPhone X
https://news.softpedia.com/news/apple-allegedly-cancels-iphone-se-2-521597.shtml
Apple has reportedly canceled the second-generation iPhone SE, as the company wants to focus entirely on the 2018 trio that includes a 5.8-inch iPhone X successor, a 6.1-inch LCD model, and a Plus-sized 6.5-inch iPhone X.
The Cupertino-based tech giant was originally believed to be planning a new 4-inch model borrowing design cues from the iPhone X, like the notch and the edge-to-edge display.
The unveiling was expected in the spring of 2018, with some people with knowledge of the matter then claiming that Apple could announce the new model at WWDC in early June – a first for the company given that WWDC is a software conference.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CopperheadOS: Security features, installing apps, and more
https://opensource.com/article/18/1/copperheados-delivers-mobile-freedom-privacy-and-security?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Fly your open source flag proudly with Copperhead, a mobile OS that takes its FOSS commitment seriously.
CopperheadOS is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license (userspace) and GPL2 license (kernel). It is also based on Android Open Source Project (AOSP).
There are basically only two choices today for phones and tablets: Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android.
These are projects that take the base Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and customize it. Almost all these projects allow you to install the standard Google applications as a separate package, called GApps, and you can have as much or as little Google presence on your phone as you like.
CyanogenMod
OmniROM
Then I found out about CopperheadOS. Copperhead is a version of AOSP that focuses on delivering the most secure Android experience possible.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/mobility-report
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Trump Told Apple iPhones Would be Exempt From Tariffs
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333401
The Trump Administration has told Apple CEO Tim Cook that it would not levy tariffs against iPhones made in China, according to a New York Times report that cites an anonymous source said to be familiar with the negotiations between the tech giant and the U.S. president.
Such a promise would be significant in light of recent moves by the Trump Administration that move the U.S. and China closer to an all-out trade war.
In China Trade War, Apple Worries It Will Be Collateral Damage
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/technology/apple-tim-cook-china.html
Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, may be the leader of the world’s most valuable public company, but lately he has had to act a lot like the tech industry’s top diplomat.
In a trade and technology showdown between the United States and China, Apple and Mr. Cook have a lot to lose. With 41 stores and hundreds of millions of iPhones sold in the country, there is arguably no American company in China as successful, as high-profile and with as big a target on its back.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIPI, VESA Plug in Mobile Video
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333394
New standards deliver high resolution video while minimizing device cost and complexity and maximizing battery life, according to an engineer who worked on one of them.
By 2021, 82% of all consumer Internet traffic will be video, Cisco’s Visual Networking Index predicts, a 73% increase from 2016. About the only market segment growing faster is virtual and augmented reality applications whose traffic will have a compound annual growth of 82% between 2016 and 2021.
The numbers highlight the fundamental role that video will play in nearly every type of device from smartphones, tablets and AR/VR headsets to connected cars and the Internet of Things (IoT). To meet that demand, the MIPI Alliance just released new versions of MIPI Display Serial Interface 2 (DSI-2) and MIPI Display Command Set (DCS).
MIPI DSI-2 v1.1 specifies the physical link between the chip and display in devices such as smartphones. The specification also is a good fit for IoT devices, such as smart appliances that use displays for streaming video. MIPI DCS v1.4 permits easy access from one embedded controller to support several display screens that are transmitted over MIPI DSI-2 v1.1.
Both MIPI DSI-2 v1.1 and MIPI DCS v1.4 support Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) Display Compression-M. VDC-M is a new display interface compression standard specifically designed for handheld displays.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/06/21/tama-android-puhelin-kestaa-pudotuksen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Six Uses for Augmented Reality
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333395
Augmented reality is one of the top transformative technologies reshaping the world according to Lux Research which describes a handful of its key use cases.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Catalin Cimpanu / BleepingComputer.com:
Google says it is adding a file signature to the header of Android app metadata, helping users determine the authenticity of an app not from the Play Store
Google Updates File Signature Checks for Android Apps
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/google-updates-file-signature-checks-for-android-apps/
Google is changing how the Play Store app is verifying the authenticity of Android apps before installation. The company plans to modify the header of APK (Android app) files to include a new metadata field that contains the app’s file signature.
Apps previously didn’t include this field because they didn’t need it, as Google-approved apps could be installed only via the official Play Store app, which handled all these checks in the background, before the app’s installation.
With the addition of an app file signature to the APK itself, Google is now allowing users to download official apps from the Play Store and distribute them via other channels, lest they not modify the apps in any way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone Explodes, Flying Shrapnel Hits Owner in the Head and Kills Him
Two different phone models currently being investigated
https://news.softpedia.com/news/smartphone-explodes-flying-shrapnel-hits-owner-in-the-head-and-kills-him-521656.shtml
Exploding smartphones have become quite a problem for the entire industry, as in some extreme cases, they can lead to injuries suffered by their owners or even death.
This is what happened recently to Malaysian Ministry of Finance-backed Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd CEO Nazrin Hassan, who was killed by what his brother-in-law says was flying shrapnel from a phone that burst into flames.
Specifically, the brother, whose name was not disclosed, says Nazrin was charging his two phones, a BlackBerry and a Huawei, in his bedroom when one of them exploded, setting the room on fire. While the police say the man probably died from smoke inhalation, the brother-in-law says that what actually happened was that debris from the exploded phone hit Nazrin in the head, causing a severe trauma which eventually led to his death.
“He had two phones, one Blackberry and a Huawei. We don’t know which one exploded.
“No word from smartphone makers”
The police say there’s actually a bigger chance that the death was caused by the fire in the room, which led to smoke intoxication since Nazrin couldn’t get out of the bedroom.
Mobile phone explosion blamed for death of Cradle CEO
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/54886
A mobile phone on the bed or bedside that exploded while being charged could have caused the bedroom fire and the death of Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd CEO Nazrin Hassan yesterday, according to the family.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Samsung Galaxy patent reveals a bezеl-less phone with two screens
https://www.phonearena.com/news/samsung-galaxy-patent-bezel-less-two-screens_id105995
Going from current bezel-less design trends, imagining the smartphone of the future as just one big screen is not that far-fetched of an idea anymore. But Samsung’s latest patent suggests that it could be more than that – it could be one big screen and another, smaller one on the back.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Marks APKs Distributed by Google Play
https://www.securityweek.com/google-marks-apks-distributed-google-play
Google this week announced that it is adding a small amount of security metadata on top of APKs distributed by Google Play in order to verify their authenticity.
Initially announced in December 2017, the new change is designed to verify product authenticity from Google Play and is accompanied by an adjusted Google Play maximum APK size to take into account the small metadata addition.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emily McCormick / Bloomberg:
Analysis: Instagram is estimated to be worth more than $100B if it were a stand-alone company and is on track to cross 2B users within the next five years — – Boost in estimated valuation signifies a 100-fold return — App is predicted to exceed 2 billion users within five years
Instagram Is Estimated to Be Worth More than $100 Billion
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-25/value-of-facebook-s-instagram-estimated-to-top-100-billion
Facebook Inc.’s Instagram is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion, if it were a stand-alone company, marking a 100-fold return for the app was purchased in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
The photo-sharing platform, which reached 1 billion monthly active users earlier this month, will likely help nudge Instagram revenue past $10 billion over the next 12 months,
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG says screw everything, we’re doing five cameras for the V40
New report says LG’s next flagship will have more cameras than ever
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/6/26/17506434/lg-v40-phone-five-cameras-report-rumor
It’s tough to stand out in the premium smartphone world, but LG may have a solution for its upcoming V40 flagship. There’s a rumor from Android Police that says the company is throwing caution to the wind and putting five cameras on its new phone, a device that will surely succeed where last year’s V30’s (and its V35 variant’s) paltry three cameras did not.
According to Android Police’s source, the V40 will feature three cameras on the back of the device. It’s similar to the Huawei P20 Pro, which was the first major smartphone to offer a triple-camera system. The V40 will also feature dual cameras on the front of the device (like the HTC U12 Plus), in what’s rumored be a stereo system to follow for 3D face mapping and unlocking.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This clever case pops open to protect your phone when you drop it
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/27/this-clever-case-pops-open-to-protect-your-phone-when-you-drop-it/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
That moment when you drop your phone and everything stops. You can hear your heart beat — the buzz of the world around you is silenced — all cognition stops — you see as if in slow motion the pirouette of your $700 piece of electronics toward the cement. How will it land? Will you get lucky this time? Or is this it? But if you had this case on it, you’d then see it spring horns and land with a jaunty bounce.
This “active damping” case, a bit like an airbag for your phone
https://www.pre-view-online.com/?pm_id=6154&PHPSESSID=70e03ee28be5181fc929329bfd92d6f7