Vivo Xplay 3S unveiled with a 6-inch 2K display, powerful audio amp and fingerprint reader

We came away rather impressed with the Vivo Xplay from China, so today’s launch of its successor, the Xplay 3S (which is a bit odd as there was never an “Xplay 2″), is something that we’ve been looking forward to since the teaser way back in October. As mentioned before, this new Android phone is still the first to pack a 2K (2,560 x 1,440) display, which works out to be a ridiculously high 490ppi density on the 6-inch panel.

Like other recent Vivo phones, you’ll find a pair of dedicated audio chips on the Xplay 3S — here you have ESS Technology’s ES9018 DAC and Texas Instruments’ OPA2604 amplifier, both of which are said to be the crème de la crème in their respective categories. This should go nicely with the built-in DTS Headphone:X feature that brings 7.1 or even 11.1 surround sound effect to your stereo headphones; plus Vivo’s video streaming service already hosts about 200 Headphone:X-capable movies (along with over 400 movies in 1080p and over 1,000 movies in 720p), with more to be added each month.

Other specs include a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 3,200mAh battery plus support for both TD-LTE and FDD-LTE. This is all inside a 172g body with a 4.5mm-thick metallic bezel, though the phone is just a tad thicker towards the middle due to its curvature. The actual new bit this time round is the fingerprint reader on the back, which lets you unlock the device and sensitive documents.

Our only worry is that the f/1.8 13-megapixel camera — which should be of decent quality — is positioned rather close to the fingerprint scanner, meaning it’s prone to smudges. On a related note, like many Chinese phones these days, the 5-megapixel front imager should keep the girls busy with its various beautification features. What’s more, these settings can also be toggled by voice command now, but only if you don’t mind shouting “make my face thinner” or “make my eyes bigger” in front of other people.

There are some nice goodies in the latest version of Vivo’s Android ROM, which is now awkwardly dubbed Funtouch OS. The most notable one is Photo+, a video sharing app that takes advantage of augmented reality (as demonstrated in the above clip). Once your video is uploaded to the cloud, you can pick a video frame for printing or sharing digitally; and then using the same app, point the camera at the still to “animate” it with its assigned video clip.

In addition to the OS’ gentle facelift, other cool new features include gesture assignment for contacts, mood-based music playlist, “air wake” gesture input to toggle apps, location-based reminders, City Show AR app (like Layar) to browse nearby offers, and a “timeline desktop” app that lists your photos and interaction with friends chronologically. One unfortunate thing here is that Vivo’s new camera app looks all too similar to Nokia’s offering, but it’ll be interesting to see if the latter company can do anything about this in China.

Sadly, there’s no info on when the Xplay 3S will be available for purchase. All we know is Chinese online store Tmall will be taking pre-orders soon, and there’s no doubt that Vivo is pushing for a full launch before Chinese New Year (January 31st for 2014). The price is CN¥3,498 or about $580, and the company told us that it has big plans for the overseas market next year, so we shall keep an eye out for the Xplay 3S’ next move.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

Source: Sina Weibo

You may be able to make in-flight calls next year, but not on Delta

In a company-wide memo sent to 80,000 Delta employees this morning, CEO Richard Anderson put his foot down on the issue of in-flight passenger calls. His definitive statement, “Delta will not allow cellular calls or internet-based voice communications onboard Delta or Delta Connection flights,” will apply regardless of updated regulations from the FCC. That agency is considering lifting the ban on in-flight calls come 2014, but the Department of Transportation may follow up with its own ruling to maintain the phone-free environment many of us have come to enjoy at 30,000 feet.

Meanwhile, powerful in-flight internet services, like JetBlue’s recently launched Fly-Fi, take communications a step further, enabling VoIP and video chat services with performance that makes using these tools more than a novelty. Delta, for its part, will support non-voice cell services pending FCC and FAA approval: “if the FCC lifts its ban on cellular use in flight, Delta will move quickly to enable customers to use text, email and other silent data transmission services gate to gate.”

(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Comments

Source: Delta

Yes, this is dog: No More Woof aims to translate canine thoughts into human speech

Head over to Indiegogo today and you’ll find a particularly wacky (and risky) project bidding for your investment. It’s a device that goes by the name of No More Woof, which admittedly sounds like it does horrible things to dogs’ vocal cords, but which actually promises something very different. It’s a canine-sized headset that consists of EEG recorders connected to a small Raspberry Pi computer and a loudspeaker, supposedly allowing “ionic current flows” in a dog’s brain to be translated into human speech. A $65 model is said to distinguish between three different thoughts, including tiredness and curiosity, while more expensive options will have more sensors and more powerful software.

The only hold-up (and it’s a big one) is that this project is being offered for crowdfunding while still at the concept stage, and all investment will be kept even if the funding target isn’t met. According to a disclaimer on the Indiegogo page:

“Yes, we HAVE achieved some results, but we are very far from a mass-producable product. That said, we believe that within a few years the technologies we are working with will revolutionize our relation to pets and animals.”

Indeed, there’s no evidence that ST, the Scandinavian research lab behind No More Woof and last year’s equally strange iRock rocking chair, has managed to come up with anything like a working prototype — or at least there’s no sign of one in the long-but-vacant video embedded below. Nevertheless, if dog barks are eventually mistranslated by this sort of “novelty science” (a word ST actually uses to describe its own research), who’ll be any the wiser?

Filed under: Misc, Alt

Comments

Source: Indiegogo