Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Rumor: the screen of next iPhone will have twice as many pixels

http://cdn.gsmarena.com/vv/newsimg/13/05/iphone-5s-2x-screen/big.jpg
The next iPhone" rumors are a popular pastime activity on the Internet and they vary wildly in terms of plausibility. This latest batch comes from China's Wei Feng social network and claims Apple is going to double the pixel count for the next iPhone and that the side bezels will be thinner, similar to the iPad mini.
The current iPhone 5 has about 730 thousand pixels and 326ppi pixel density. If the rumor is true, the next iPhone will have a screen with around 1.5 million pixels and 460ppi pixel density (that's assuming the screen size doesn’t change). If Apple decides to match current 5" 1080p droids at 440ppi, the screen size can be increased up to 4.2".
Of course, such a move will be difficult – going from the 3GS to the 4, Apple doubled the pixel count both horizontally and vertically, effectively quadrupling the pixel count. Apps that didn’t support the new resolution were easily upscaled.
From the 4 and 4S to the 5, Apple added an extra 176 pixel rows and apps that don't support the new resolution are just letterboxed with black bars (some still have them).
But to double the pixel count for the next iPhone, Apple will need to multiply the horizontal and the vertical pixel count by a square root of 2 (so the resulting resolution is something like 905 x 1606). Scaling apps to fit will be more difficult this time (or there will be black bars on the sides too), so it's unlikely Apple will go for this solution.
The rumored brand new look for iOS 7 might help somehow, but we'll have to wait and see.
The rumor also states that the next iPhone goes into production next month and will launch in September, meaning we might soon start seeing leaks.

LG planning new tablet for Q3 2013, not working on a Nexus 5

It's been awhile since LG produced a product in the tablet space and too few remember the 3D capturing Optimus Pad V900 and its uninspiring successor the Optimus Pad LTE.
In an interview with Dutch All About Phones Vice President LG Mobile for Europe Kim Won has revealed that LG is indeed working on tablet hardware for this year, which, if we hypothesize, should probably make an appearance at the IFA congress in Berlin this September.


Kim Won had other interesting things to say as well. He admitted LG isn't working on a Nexus 5 smartphone as of now but doesn't dismiss working again with Google in the future. He added that releasing a flagship device, rebranded with AOSP Android (like Samsung and Google did) isn't on the table as LG will not have advantage with a device, stripped of its custom UI.
He also said that LG isn't happy with the duopoly of Android and iOS and said that LG might be looking for another sustainable OS for future business but made clear he was not referring to Windows Phone - so perhaps Tizen or Firefox OS then?
Finally, Kim Won said that LG might work on its own chip design for smartphones in the future.

Samsung trying OIS for the Galaxy Note III camera

According to a report by the Korean ETNews, Samsung is testing a camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) in the upcoming Galaxy Note. III

But that won't be the only feature that the 13MP camera of the Note III will be capable of. According to the source, users will be able to edit photos on the fly with the included S Pen. Another feature that Samsung was reportedly discussing was a 3x optical zoom, but this had made the device thicker than needed, so the idea was rejected.
The newspaper has even quoted a Samsung employee, who states that the company is experimenting with various technologies. Here's the full quote.
We are pondering various technologies at this stage – for example, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and shutter functions. But, nothing has yet to be confirmed, so we cannot conclusively say that those functions will be added to the Galaxy Note 3.
Granted, Nokia and HTC have both adopted OIS solutions in selected smartphones, so it won't be at all surprising to see Samsung offer the benefits of the technology in its own upcoming devices. We just feel pessimistic that they would introduce such a cameraphone-centric feature on no other than the Galaxy Note III.
Other than that, rumors have it that the Galaxy Note III will pack a 5.99-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen with the same pixel structure as the Galaxy S4's display, a higher clocked Exynos 5 Octa chipset and 3GB of RAM. We'll find out more at the IFA 2013 in early September, the event where the last year's Note II was announced.

Bell Labs doubles beams in fiber optic lines to reach 400Gbps on a global scale Alt

Bell Labs doubles light in fiber optic lines to reach greater distances
It's comparatively easy to run fiber optic lines at high speeds; it's another matter to sustain that pace between continents. Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs has found a way to go that extreme distance by relying on the basic concept behind noise-cancelling headphones. When the researchers send data across two light beams in opposing phases, they can superimpose the signals and neutralize the distortion that would normally occur at long ranges. Such clean output lets Bell Labs ramp up the signal strength and maintain high speeds across whole oceans: its test pushed 400Gbps through 7,954 miles of fiber. There's no word on how soon we'll see twin-light technique put into practice, although we suspect that a networking giant like Alcatel-Lucent wants the extra bandwidth as quickly as possible.