LG is preparing to launch the G4 Stylus in India
If a new report found online earlier today is anything to go by, LG’s latest variant of its flagship smartphone is en route to India. The G4 Stylus is expected to hit shelves in the region within the next two weeks and will have a price tag of INR 24,990 ($390).
For those unaware, the Stylus was announced last month and packs a 5.7-inch Full HD IPS display, a 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 410 chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, an integrated stylus and a 3,000mAh Li-Ion battery.
The handset runs the latest build of Android 5.0 Lollipop skinned with LG’s custom user interface straight out of the box, but is expected to receive the long-awaited Android 5.1.1 update in the not-too-distant future.
Are you planning on picking up a G4 Stylus? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.
Source: MaheshTelecom
Come comment on this article: LG is preparing to launch the G4 Stylus in India
PayPal acquiring digital money-transfer startup Xoom to facilitate international money transfers
PayPal announced on Wednesday that it is acquiring digital money transfer startup Xoom for $890 million with the aim of making the process of sending money abroad to your friends and family easier, safer and more affordable. Xoom has transferred more than $7 billion for its 1.3 million users customers over the course of the 12 months before April 2015. These transactions were primary made via mobile devices between family and friends. This service helps people in the United States send money to their friends and family for paying bills and supporting them in 37 countries around the world.
PayPal currently focuses on business money payments and hopes to expand its money transfer services into the growing global money transfer market. Acquiring Xoom will allow PayPal to offer more services to its global customer base and help them expand in key countries such as Mexico, India, the Philippines, China and Brazil. PayPal currently has 68 million active users and hopes to continue growing by penetrating into those new markets.
PayPal expects the acquisition to be made by the end of the fourth quarter of 2015.
Source: PayPal
Via: Engadget
Come comment on this article: PayPal acquiring digital money-transfer startup Xoom to facilitate international money transfers
Strong and secure Turing Phone going up for pre-order on July 31st
Turing Robotic Industries (TRI) announced their brand new Turing Phone last April. It promised superior security and a strong design that would be a perfect fit for the active businessman. Some loved it, some not so much, but one thing is for sure – it stroke the audience, causing an onslaught of thoughts, questions and concerns.
The most popular doubt was regarding the release date and pricing information. We are not quite sure about the exact release date quite yet, but Turing Robotic Industries is now telling us you can pre-order this enterprise beast starting July 31st.
This phone turns out to be a very special product; it is the first liquidmetal-built smartphone to come to market. What the hell is liquidmetal? Don’t worry, I asked the same thing. As it turns out this amorphous metal alloy was developed by the California Institute of Technology research team, and it contains a mixture of zirconium, copper, aluminum, nickel and silver.
It’s not just a fancy name to throw on a specs sheet, that’s for sure. Liquidmetal has a high tensile strength and coefficient of restitution. It is also blessed with insane anti-wearing characteristics and its corrosion resistance is said to be like no other. In short: this phone will be built to withstand the horrors some of us put our devices through on a daily basis.
The Turing Phone is about more than just a strong build quality, though. This device is to compete against high-profile security devices like Silent Circle’s Blackphone products. The Turing Phone can directly verify the identity of other Turing devices using the company’s decentralized authentication technology. This method creates a protected network that insulates the device from cyber-threats and privacy intrusions, allowing users to share all kinds of private information without a single worry.
Don’t all these phones turn out being horrible, though? While we will agree most rugged and security-focused smartphones are no good in terms of consumer expectations, the Turing Phone packs a pretty good punch. Here are the specifications.
Turing Phone specs
- Android 5.0 Lollipop
- 5.5-inch 1080p display
- 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor
- 3 GB of RAM
- 16/64/128 GB of internal storage
- 13 MP rear-facing camera
- 8 MP front-facing camera
- 3000 mAh battery
Not bad at all, but remember these phones are not priced the same way consumer phones are. Turing Robotics Industries is definitely charging a premium for its highly secure and resistant smartphones. The 16 GB version will go for $610. Meanwhile, the 64 GB and 128 GB will cost $740 and $870, accordingly.
Not sure whether you want to pre-order or simply wait for the phone to be officially released? Turing Robotics Industries wants to give you a little incentive by offering all pre-ordering customers a bonus accessories package. It will include a Bleutooth keyboard, a Bluetooth speaker, a Bluetooth gaming headset and a gaming controller.
In addition, four color schemes will be announced on July 22nd, so you can be ready to make your pre-order as soon as July 31st comes around. The Turing Phone will be available for pre-order straight from the manufacturer’s website.
Are any of you signing up? It’s definitely a niche market they are trying to target… but it’s also one with a lot of cash in hand.
Snugs uses 3D scanners to build you bespoke earbuds
Whether in-ear ‘phones cost £10 or £1000, nearly all come with the same three sizes of rubbery buds you use to wedge them in your trophy handles. UK company Snugs, however, offers a more personalised approach, measuring the unique curves of your ear canals to tailor bespoke buds that promise the best in noise isolation and comfort. Before, a Snugs fitting would entail earfuls of fast-setting paste that cured into a mold the company could use to create custom buds. Now, though, Snugs is making the jump from physical models to 3D scanning technology, in order to make the whole process quicker, better and more accessible to you and me.
Custom earphones are nothing new. In fact, many top musicians and other professionals use bespoke in-ear monitors that are created the Snugs way; or rather, the old Snugs way. The company was established specifically to bring this level of personalisation to consumer earphones, which it’s been doing for around two years now. It’s a niche, expensive and luxury product, but beyond that, having silicone paste pumped deep into your ears isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The process is invasive, labourious and simply not possible if you suffer/have suffered from various ear-related ailments. Recently developed 3D ear scanners, which use lasers to map out the twists and turns of your ear canals, aren’t burdened with the same issues.
The scanning process still has an almost clinical feel to it, but even the more squeamish of customers needn’t be too apprehensive. Constructing a digital model of an ear takes roughly five minutes, and only a small portion of that involves a shallow, perfectly comfortable probing. Being less invasive isn’t the only benefit of the 3D scanning method, though. Custom earbuds produced off the back of a 3D scan are basically the best they can be, since there’s a much lower chance of minor imperfections creeping in. Between making a physical impression, shipping it off to get digitised and producing bespoke buds from the scan, each step has a small but inherent margin for error (kind of like photocopying a document over and over). Jumping straight to the scanning stage simply makes for less steps and thus, a more accurate image.
Removing the physical mold from the process also means turnaround times can be improved. What used to take roughly a week now takes only three or four days, since a 3D scan can be sent to a manufacturing partner instantly. Also, should you want another set in the future but are based in Asia by that point, for example, Snugs can shoot the archived scan over to its ally in that region, rather than having to mail the original models. Eventually, Snugs expects to be able to go from scan to completed product overnight, but for that to happen, it needs to reduce its reliance on out-sourcing production.
Currently, scans are sent to third-parties that then make the bespoke buds on industrial silicone 3D printers, before hand-finishing and shipping them out. For now, that makes sense, but before the end of next year, Snugs wants to move production in-house. The hope is that with the simpler, less invasive 3D scanner method, an increase in interest and orders will allow the company to do this. The relatively small outfit is under no illusion that the custom earbuds market is going to explode overnight, though, which is why it’s only piloting the use of 3D scanners in London right now. Should business pick up, the plan is to roll them out to the rest of the UK, and perhaps beyond.
It’s something of a chicken and egg scenario. The fact is, Snugs are really expensive. Book an appointment at a local scanning centre, and a set of buds will set you back £159. Want a VIP house call? That’ll be £209. And remember, we’re talking purely about silicone earbuds here — you still need a set of in-ears to pair them with (though Snugs do offer a few bundles). In time, the company expects to cut the price of its service significantly, but that’ll only be possible if it can take over the responsibility of actually making the things.
The next step is to open a bricks-and-mortar store in London, which Snugs is planning to do later this year. With a silicone 3D printer in the backroom, the company wants to create a one-stop shop where scanning, manufacturing and finishing is all done under the one roof. The end goal, Snugs tells us, is to have its own locations and a presence within other stores, particularly those that deal in mobile phones and the like. Using 3D scanners instead of silicone molds makes this vision way more achievable, and having stores equipped to deal with walk-ins would greatly improve consumer accessibility. Who knows? One day we could all be walking around with our own unique set of buds, but for now at least, they’re reserved for audiophiles with a wedge of spare cash to play with.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video
Source: Snugs
#ICYMI: Freezing lasers, tweeting video games and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: Microsoft debuts a Kinect-based room mapping system that understands furniture; we watch LEDs change color as they’re frozen in liquid nitrogen (because science!) and a programmer creates a game whose code fits into a single Tweet.
From the cutting room floor: Google rolls out 60 FPS video playback for its mobile app so now the walkthrough on your phone matches the gameplay on your console.
Let the team at Engadget know about any interesting stories or videos you stumble across by using the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
Apple kills Home Sharing for music in iOS 8.4
The arrival of Apple Music has been much-celebrated, but for it to live, the company appears to have killed-off Home Sharing from iOS. The feature enabled you to stream tunes from your desktop (i.e. where your collection is) over your home network to a local iPod, iPhone or iPad. Unfortunately, as 9to5Mac reports, that offering has now been pulled, so you’ll have to postpone any impromptu kitchen parties that you had planned. Interestingly, the change only affects music playback, since you can still share video to nearby iDevices.
Thankfully, the lack of Home Sharing is listed as a “known issue” in the iOS 8.4 release notes, so there is some hope that developers are working on a fix right now. That should appease many of the people on the company’s support forums who are all clamoring for the feature to return. Until then, however, only Apple TV users will be able to broadcast music that they own from their OS X machine to other parts of their house. Of course, it’d be cynical to suggest that the feature was killed at the behest of the record labels. They’d never do such a thing, would they?
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Apple, (2), Apple Support Forums
‘iPhone 6s’ Again Rumored to Feature 12MP Camera With 4K Video Recording
A sketchy and unconfirmed internal document posted by an alleged Foxconn employee on Chinese microblogging website Weibo (via PhoneArena) corroborates rumors that the next-generation iPhone could feature a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with 4K video recording and 240 FPS slow-motion capabilities.
Weibo user KJuma has since removed the pair of leaked documents he shared on the Twitter-like service, but not before the images began making their rounds on the web. The documents also corroborate multiple rumors claiming the so-called iPhone 6s (“N66″) and iPhone 6s Plus (“N71″) will have 2GB of RAM.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a respectable track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming product plans, issued a note to investors in May with eleven predictions for the next iPhone, and a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera sensor and A9 processor with 2GB of RAM were among the new features he listed.
TYLT RIBBN 4.8A car charger review
Car chargers for your phone are generally very bland. There’s not a whole lot to them. Mostly just plastic, an LED light and a cord to charge your phone. TYLT looks to change things up with the RIBBN car charger. In this review, we will look at what sets the TYLT RIBBN charger apart from the competition.
TYLT RIBBN styling:
When it comes to style, its hard to beat the TYLT RIBBN. They bucked the standard of a round power adapter and went with a square base. The raised logo and soft touch surfaces add a premium feel to the charger. The flat ribbon style cord distinguishes it from other car chargers on the market and they offer it four separate colors. This is by far the nicest looking and feeling car charger that I have used.
TYLT RIBBN function:
One of the stylistic cues that sets the TYLT RIBBN apart is the flat ribbon style cord. You’ll be happy to know that this is not just a gimmicky styling choice. The ribboned cord actually helps to keep it tangle free. When you’re getting in and out of the car all day, this is a feature that you’ll love. There is also a second USB port, so you can charge a second device at the same time. The charger also features a 4.8Amp circuit that allows for rapid charging of 2 phones or tablets at the same time. I find this especially handy as I often have people in the car with their own devices and we usually have to choose who can charge their phone based on who has less battery percentage left.
Who should buy the TYLT RIBBN:
Anyone looking at a car charger should consider the TYLT RIBBN. It’s definitely not the cheapest and you can buy a cheaper charger on eBay, but this is a case of you get what you pay for. The TYLT RIBBN has a premium feel and build quality. Even the packaging is top notch.
What we liked:
- Premium feel
- Ribbon styled cord
- color choices
What could be better:
- A visible LED indicator would be nice
- Detachable ribbon cable
- Cheaper price
Overall
Are you looking for a cheap, plasticky, and unreliable charger that you’ll have to replace in a month or so? If so, buy the $3 charger on eBay. If not, give the TYLT RIBBN a chance. You won’t regret spending the $39.99 that the TYLT RIBBN retails for.
The post TYLT RIBBN 4.8A car charger review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Road to 4K: Do we need it? And who will be first?
The question of whether we need 4K (Ultra HD) displays on a smartphone has been raised in many discussions and the answer is usually that we don’t, as 4K is beyond what the typical eye can see. Yet the smartphone market is progressing at such an advanced rate that the question should be a case of when – and not if – 4K (UHD) displays become truly portable.
I vividly recall a conversation I had with a few colleagues early last year, that turned into debate about whether Quad HD would ever become a reality. Yet now, less than 18 months later, the industry already looks to be moving past QHD.
Both Samsung and LG have introduced QHD screens in their smartphones, while other manufacturers don’t seem to be showing as much interest. With that said, there are still plenty of manufacturers that strive to be the first to reach 4K UHD. Let’s take a look at who is most likely to make the first 4K phone and the benefits and drawbacks that moving to such high resolution will bring.
Display panel manufacturers
Before we can consider who will be first, we need to consider which display manufacturer is capable of producing a 4K smartphone display. There are several major LCD manufacturers, who create displays for everything from smartphones and tablets to automobiles and navigational equipment, but here’s the few that are most likely to be involved with the production of a UHD smartphone display.
Samsung Display
The name really speaks for itself; the company is one of the world’s leading display manufacturers and supplies displays to many of the world’s leading electronics manufacturers, including Apple. Samsung Display has already produced Quad HD Super AMOLED displays – which are used in both the Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy S6 – and also has the world’s first dual-curved smartphone in the Galaxy S6 Edge (which also uses a QHD Super AMOLED screen).
LG Display
Better known for its TV display heritage, LG Display provides most of the panels used in LG smartphones, including the stunning Quad HD Quantum Dot Display used on the LG G4. Its display technology is also used in other smartphones. It’s worth noting that LG Display has been the world’s leading large-sized LCD manufacturer for the past four years and, in 2014, the company accounted for 26.7 percent of the market for displays measuring 9.1 inches and above (closely followed by Samsung, who had 20.2 percent).
Sharp
Sharp has a long and proud history in displays, beginning with its first television sets way back in 1953. The manufacturer produces screens of all sizes and owns the only 10th generation LCD manufacturing plant on the planet. In 2010, it struck an agreement to produce displays for Samsung and it can also count Apple and other OEMs amongst its customers. In 2014, the company recorded 2.8 percent of the large-sized LCD market and it has already shown off the world’s first 4K smartphone screen (more on that below).
Innolux
The Taiwanese company is relatively young, having only been founded in 2003 before being publicly floated in 2006. In March 2010, the company in its current state was founded through the biggest merger in the flat panel display industry, when Innolux, Chi Mei Optoelectronics and Toppoly Optoelectronics merged. In 2014, Innolux was the third largest producer of large screen displays with 17.8 percent of total shipments including supplying panels to Samsung, LG, Sony and providing most of the screens used in Toshiba, Sharp (where it is equal to Sharp itself), Panasonic and Phillips devices.
AU Optronics
AUO’s 4K Curved Ultra HD TVs
AU Optronics (AUO), the second Taiwanese manufacturer on our list supplies several manufacturers including Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and several Chinese manufacturers (including HiSense, Konka and Haier). With several smartphone players amongst its customers, AUO would have plenty of potential buyers if it developed a 4K smartphone screen. In 2014, the company controlled 16.8 percent of the large LCD market and provided a large amount of the displays used in Sony devices measuring 9.1 inches or more.
Japan Display
Japan Display’s 4K Tablet Display
Japan Display Inc (JDI) is the youngest company on the market, having launched only on April 1st 2012 through the government-backed merger of the loss-making display divisions of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi. JDI was created specifically to manufacturer small and medium sized displays for mobile devices and has the largest production capacity of LTPS LCD displays in the industry.
Benefits of 4K
There are many benefits to using 4K on smartphones, both immediate and in the future. The key benefits and reasons to use 4K in smartphones are the knock-on effect and the benefits to virtual reality.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality may seem like something that belongs in the movies but over the past year, we’ve seen a new breed of virtual reality devices, which are powered by smartphones. Samsung’s Gear VR range uses the company’s next-generation handsets (the Note 4 and Galaxy S6) as the display in a virtual reality headset and this trend looks like one that might be followed by other manufacturers.
Using 4K on a smartphone would offer more pixels for virtual reality to work with; the current smartphone market plateaus at Quad HD and while the experience is certainly immersive, the higher resolution offered by 4K would mean an even better experience.
Packing millions of pixels into a smartphone display would also mean colours and vibrancy are improved, resulting in an overall better VR experience. Virtual reality might still seem like a concept at times, but with smartphones ever developing, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes an integral part of our daily lives.
The knock-on effect
The Idol 3 is only $250 and yet has a 1080p display… an example of the knock-on effect at work?
Arguably the biggest reason for manufacturers to go to 4K on their smartphones is the knock-on effect; as 4K Ultra HD panels become affordable at a smaller size, the cost of panels with Full HD and even Quad HD would reduce dramatically. As a result, manufacturers would be able to use these panels in handsets where, previously, this wasn’t possible due to the cost.
Affordable for all…
The knock-on effect is not just with the display, as 4K on smartphones would mean advanced processors are being used in flagships. As a result, all components that are currently used in flagships would reduce in price and instead of being limited to just premium devices with a high price tag, they would be affordable enough to be used further down the smartphone chain. As a result, the knock-on effect of 4K would mean the entire smartphone industry advances ahead of where it currently is.
Those are some of the big benefits of 4K on smartphones, but what about the potential pitfalls? What do manufacturers need to watch out for and is 4K on smartphones even technically possible?
Pitfalls of 4K
There are three perceived major pitfalls to using 4K on smartphones – battery life, cost, and lack of available content – and I personally believe that the design factor will also be a concern when considering 4K smartphones. Let’s take a look at these in more detail:
Battery life
The biggest concern with using 4K on a smartphone is an issue that affects all smartphones and doesn’t just apply to Ultra HD: battery life. Although mobile technology has advanced considerably over the past few years, battery technology hasn’t followed suit and one reason that manufacturers are avoiding even Quad HD resolution is the additional strain on the battery from powering those extra pixels.
The current crop of Quad HD enabled smartphones feature battery capacities between 2,550mAh and 3,300mAh and these provide on average, between 10 and 40 hours battery life depending on usage. Something I’ve personally noticed is that using Quad HD displays at full brightness – which is really the only way to enjoy the next-generation display and resolution – can reduce battery life by half, and with Ultra HD displays, the temptation will likely be to use the display at full brightness wherever possible, to make the most out of the next-generation display.
Powering an Ultra HD display will require more than just the display itself as next-generation processors will be needed to power the display in the most effective manner. Alongside the cost factor (which we’ll look at below), these may also draw more power and the effect on battery life is likely to be impacted even further.
Cost
The smartphone industry has followed a predictable trend over the past decade; at first, smartphones were very expensive with a small feature set and then as technology advanced, the cost of components and handsets themselves reduced considerably.
Over the past eighteen months, we’ve seen a trend where smartphones are currently rising in cost and this looks set to continue as the feature set of premium flagship handsets becomes more advanced. Consider the cost of the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, the Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as outlined in the table below:
| Storage | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6 Plus | Galaxy S6 | Galaxy S6 Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16GB | $649 / £539 | $749 / £619 | N/A | N/A | |
| 32GB | N/A | N/A | $699 / £599 | $849 / £ N/A | |
| 64GB | $749 / £619 | $849 / £699 | $799 / £660 | $949 / £760 | |
| 128GB | $849 / £699 | $949 / £789 | $885 / £730 | $990 / £899 | |
Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S6 Edge has a starting price of $849 for the base 32GB model, which rises to $990 for the 128GB model and makes the Galaxy S6 Edge the highest-priced flagship on the market to-date. This handset comes with real innovation – the dual-edged curve makes the Galaxy S6 Edge the true flagship – but if the same handset were to sport Ultra HD resolution and next-generation internals, the price could conceivably increase by $200-$300, if not more.
Based on historical trends, it could take two years for Ultra HD to become truly affordable for smartphones and even then, it might take a year or two extra before it’s widely used on all smartphones. By way of comparison, the LG G4 also has a Quad HD display but can be had for approximately $699 and the varying price is down to the difference in materials and design.
As mentioned above, battery life would also need to be improved and innovation in battery technology may result in increasing the cost of a 4K smartphone further. As a result, it’s possible we could see 4K smartphones cost upwards of $1000 when they are first introduced to the market and this could make them inaccessible to most, if not all, consumers.
At present, 4K Ultra HD televisions can be purchased for as little as £400 (approx. $600) in the UK but no more than two years ago, these retailed for upwards of £2000 (approx. $3000). The drastic reduction in the cost of a 4K TV suggests that 4K smartphones would initially be higher priced but reduce in cost as more manufacturers explore the use of next-generation displays.
Lack of 4K video
4K televisions may have been around for a few years but the available 4K content doesn’t currently reflect the wide availability of 4K TVs. In the UK at least, broadcasters are yet to adopt the next generation standard and on more than one occasion, I’ve overheard discussions where consumers opt not to go for a 4K TV as the available content doesn’t reflect the cost of said TVs.
Producing content in 4K requires advanced equipment and an overhaul of existing infrastructure. Currently, broadcasters see very little reason to bare the cost of these upgrades as consumers themselves see very little appeal in 4K and this cycle could result in a stunt in growth and innovation.
The introduction – and adoption – of 4K on smartphones could provide the boost necessary to tempt media companies into making more 4K content. However, it’s also possible that manufacturers investing in 4K on mobile devices could find that consumers themselves have little interest in it.
The design factor
This is a pitfall to 4K that I personally believe should also be taken under consideration: the design factor. Smartphone design has followed the trend of handsets becoming smaller and thinner before displays became larger and larger; the current crop of handsets suggest that displays measuring between 4.7 and 5.2 inches are the plateau for a normal smartphone with displays between 5.5 and 6.5 inches indicating a phablet device.
OEMs currently follow one of two design strategies: go as thin as possible – like the flagship Huawei P8 which measures just 6.4mm thick – or go stylish with as many features as possible – like the curved HTC One M9 or the LG G4 which measures between 6.3mm and 9.8mm thick. The introduction of a 4K smartphone along with the extra battery capacity needed and the advanced internals could result in an impact on the possibilities of design. Could manufacturers like Samsung bring a handset that is as slim and feature-packed as the Galaxy S6 or dual-curved like the Galaxy S6 Edge and still incorporate an Ultra HD display, bigger battery and next-generation internals?
Do we need 4K on smartphones?
A couple of years ago, we may have asked the same question about Quad HD and before that, even about Full HD. 4K definitely has both major benefits and major pitfalls that OEMs will need to consider and evaluate before introducing a 4K smartphone, but the question of whether we need 4K is different to both Quad HD and Full HD.
The minimum density the human eye can see without being able to discern pixels is 350 pixels per inch density, which is slightly higher than Apple’s Retina Display on the iPhone 6, which offers 326ppi pixel density.
| Resolution | Screen Size | |
|---|---|---|
| HD Ready | 1280×720 | 4.196 inches |
| Full HD | 1920×1080 | 6.294 inches |
| Quad HD | 2560×1440 | 8.394 inches |
| Ultra HD | 3840×2160 | 12.588 inches |
Reverse calculating the density leads us to the figures in the table above, which suggest that a Full HD screen measuring 6.294 inches is the point at which the average human eye stops discerning individual pixels. For Quad HD resolution, the display size increases to 8.394 inches – like the QHD display on the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 – and for Ultra HD, this increases further to 12.588 inches.
Considering the trends we highlighted earlier in the design factor, a 4K smartphone measuring 5.0 inches would result in a pixel density of 881ppi – almost three times as much as the human eye actually needs – while a phablet measuring 6 inches would result in a pixel density of 734 pixels per inch (which is far above anything on the market at the moment).
The average human eye doesn’t need anything above Full HD resolution in a 5-inch phone, but the market has already moved significantly past this threshold. Likewise, bar some major technological obstacles (battery consumption, insufficient processing power), it looks like the industry will adopt 4K. To answer the question, we probably don’t need 4K, but the electronics industry rarely settles for “good enough,” so it looks like we’re going to get it anyway.
4K – who will get there first?
Now we know everything there is to know about 4K, the question becomes who will be first to market. Based on past innovation in the market, there are just a handful of companies who would be able to successfully bring a commercially viable 4K smartphone to market.
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The most obvious of these are the two Korean manufacturers – LG and Samsung. Both companies have sibling divisions focusing on display technology and between them, they supply over 50 percent of the LCD panels used in consumer electronics today. LG was the first mainstream OEM to bring a Quad HD display to the market – the LG G3 – followed a few months later by Samsung with the Note 4.
Moving on from the big two and we come to two Chinese manufacturers: Huawei and Xiaomi. Speaking at the IFA 2015 GPC last month, Paul Gray – a Principal Analyst at IHS-DisplaySearch – quoted research that suggested 17 percent of all 4K televisions this year would be sold in China. The demand for technology in an ever-advancing market suggests that both of these manufacturers could be instrumental in bringing the first Ultra HD smartphone to market.
Huawei Tour of China 2015
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During our trip to China in January, Huawei confirmed that it had no current plans to adopt Ultra HD on smartphones due to the perceived cost to battery life but the company also revealed that it is looking into next-generation battery technology. Innovation in battery would solve the perceived cost of features over battery life and could mean that Huawei finally adopts displays above Full HD.
Rival Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is also worth a mention as a potential candidate to launch an Ultra HD handset, but this seems less likely as the company focuses on bringing devices at an affordable price. While some of their handsets may be higher priced than the company’s ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit), it’s unlikely Xiaomi could introduce the first 4K Ultra HD smartphone and still make it affordable enough.
Last on this list is Sharp and we’ve saved this until the end for good reason – the company appears to be working on the first 5.5 inch Ultra HD on the market, though the Japanese company never officially confirmed its existence. The screen boasts an eye-watering 806 pixels per inch density and is expected to go into mass production next year. Rather tellingly, Chinese manufacturers are being suggested as amongst the first customers for the advanced smartphone display.
This information suggests that the first commercially available 4K smartphones will launch towards the end of 2016 or in early 2017. Based on current smartphone launch cycles, if Samsung and LG were first, then we could see next year’s Galaxy Note or LG G flagship offer Ultra HD but it’s more likely that the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2017 will be our first glimpse of a 4K smartphone.
4K – the conclusion
Talking to the BBC about Sharp’s new 4K smartphone screen, analyst Tim Coulling from Calasys suggested that the perceived benefits of upgrading from 2K to 4K are minimal:
“At a certain point, the improvements get less visually stunning. Once you jump from 2K to 4K, you’re going to struggle to tell the two images apart even if you have perfect vision.”
However, while this will certainly apply to smartphones, I personally think the benefits of using Ultra HD on a tablet would be more apparent. My thoughts are that Quad HD will suffice on any device up to 7 inches in size and Ultra HD should be limited to tablets measuring 7.1 inches or more.
Using this as an example, a Quad HD device measuring 7 inches would offer approx. 420 pixels per inch density (which is considered great by smartphone standards), while an Ultra HD display on a tablet measuring 8 inches (like the Galaxy Tab S) would offer 550ppi, which is slightly higher than the 533ppi density offered by the Quad HD display on the LG G4.
Smartphone displays have evolved drastically over the past two years, but while we’re able to get pixel densities in excess of 500 on a smartphone, the same can’t be said for the tablet market. As an example, the Retina Display on the iPad Air 2 offers 264ppi density while the Quad HD display on the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 offers 288ppi density – both of these are below the human eye threshold and offer an experience that is visibly worse than their smartphone counterparts. Increasing to Ultra HD would result in pixel densities of 454 and 419 respectively, which would bring tablets beyond the point at which the human eye can notice pixels.
It’s just a question of who’s gonna be first…
As compelling an argument the numbers make, the fact that Sharp have a Ultra HD smartphone panel in the making suggests that 4K and beyond will become reality sooner rather than later. Whether we need them or not is a debate that will be contested for years to come, but 4K on smartphones is soon to be reality; it’s just a question of who will be first.
Who do you think will be first? Do you think we need 4K on smartphones? Let us know your views in the comments below.
Google Nexus 6 price slashed to £304
Google has just made a big cut in the price of its Nexus 6 flagship for UK customers. The handset is now available from the Google Store for just £303.99.
That’s for the 32GB option, which is available in your choice of Midnight Blue or Cloud White. A similar discount has also been applied to the 64GB version of the Nexus 6, which will set you back just £378.99, again with the same choice of colours. The smartphones also come with free shipping.
Big price reductions usually stir up suggestions that a successor might be on the way. We’re still stuck with rumors for now, but Huawei is pegged as the current favourite to produce the next Nexus smartphone.
This isn’t the only discount deal to have been applied to the Nexus 6 in the UK recently. Just last month Motorola, which manufacturers the Nexus 6, cut the price down from £480 to £400, along with a substantial discount for its Moto X to just £229. The Moto X offer has been extended until midnight on the 6th of July, in case you missed out last month. You can grab it here.
More on the Nexus 6:
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It’s not clear if this is now a permanent price cut for the handset, or just a temporary deal. Either way, it’s good news for those who have been looking to pick up a Nexus 6 for cheap.
AIVAnet 