The new Formula E cars sound like upset cats
The second season of Formula E kicks off in October, and there’s one key difference for the championship’s sophomore year: custom batteries and motors. The teams are now able to experiment with the car’s powertrain, which includes the e-motor, inverter, gearbox and cooling system. That means the cars will perform differently on the track, adding a little extra strategy and excitement to the proceedings. What we didn’t expect, however, is the sound of the cars to change — watch the video below for a glimpse at how they’ll be screeching off the starting grid. Is it me, or do they all sound like confused felines?
[Image Credit: David Davies/PA Archive]
Filed under:
Transportation
Source:
FIA Formula E
Tags: electric, ElectricCar, ElectricVehicle, engine, ev, formulae, motorsport, motorsports, sound
Compare all UK networks with Ofcom’s mobile coverage checker
Between price, data allowances and customer perks, there are plenty of things to consider when choosing a new mobile plan. But all of that research is moot if the carrier you end up choosing has poor coverage in your area. The four major providers — EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone — offer coverage maps to help inform your decision, but ever the people’s champion, Ofcom’s gone one better. Today, the telecoms regulator launched the “Mobile Coverage Checker,” an online tool that pools data from all four carriers and some of its own intel to provide a comprehensive overview of signal strength across the UK. Simply whack in a postcode, and the tool will show you what level of 2G, 3G and 4G coverage you can expect, both indoors and outdoors, on any of the major networks. The map can apply to smaller MVNOs, too, provided you know what provider they’re allied to. Ofcom is hoping users will also provide feedback on their local coverage to help improve the new tool, with an updated version slated for release this autumn.
[Image credit: Getty]
Source:
Ofcom
Tags: coverage, ee, mobilecoveragechecker, mobilepostcross, o2, ofcom, signal, three, vodafone
Lenovo believes Motorola was a smart purchase, despite falling profits
The smartphone market has become an increasingly tough place to business during the past couple of years, with a slowdown in flagship smartphone demand and huge pressure on price in entry level markets. Many of the well-known smartphone brands have fallen short of their financial targets this year and the situation appears to be no different for Lenovo.
Lenovo has seen its smartphone shipments decline the most recent quarter, down 31 percent compared with a year earlier. The company managed to ship 5.9 million handsets in the second quarter, resulting in a pre-tax loss of $292 million for the mobile division.
Compounding the issue, Lenovo purchased Motorola for $2.91 billion last year in a bid to expand its smartphone business to new markets and to secure itself a position as a dominant player in the market. The large expense provided a temporary boost for Lenovo, which jumped up to third place in the global smartphone rankings following the purchase. However, the combined company has slipped back into fifth position this year, with a 4.5 percent share of the market.
The Motorola range remains popular and will be the focus of Lenovo’s mobile business going forward.
Lenovo cited poor sales in Brazil and China, as the markets continue to become even more competitive. The company says that it will be looking to regions outside of its home turf for additional growth. Although this raises a question about whether the expensive acquisition of Motorola was a worthwhile venture for Lenovo.
“I still believe this acquisition (Motorola) was the right decision…Except Apple and Samsung there is no third strong (global) player. I believe that will be Lenovo.”
Lenovo is also struggling with the decline in the PC market, which contracted by 11.8 percent in the second quarter of the year. Although its share rose slightly from last year, Lenovo shipments fall year over year for the first time since Q2 2013. Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s Chief Executive, stated that the past quarter was “the toughest market environment in recent years”.
As a result, Lenovo is planning to cut 10 percent of its nonmanufacturing positions, a total of 3,200 jobs. The company is looking to make $650 million worth of savings in the second half of 2015. Furthermore, Lenovo’s mobile business will undergo a restructure worth $900 million in the next quarter. The company is looking to clear stock and to put a bigger emphasis on its new Motorola brand.
The Latest Moto’s
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Perhaps Motorola’s latest line-up of competitively priced smartphones will boost Lenovo’s revenue in the second half of the year?
LG to launch a Hi-Fi music service for its premium phones
Today, LG has announced that it will be bringing a “Hi-Fi” music service to its premium smartphone line-up, to cater for increasing demand for high quality music. The company is not planning a service to compete with streaming services like Google Play, Apple Music, or Spotify, but instead wants to bring higher quality audio downloads to compatible mobile devices.
LG’s Hi-Fi music will offer 24-bit/192kHz track downloads, which is notably higher quality than competing streaming services and typical MP3/CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) downloads available from most online music stores. Qualifying customers will be given two free tracks to download each month and the option to buy more at a 50 percent discount.
“MP3 music is perfectly fine for most people but those with Hi-Fi capable LG smartphones can experience a much richer environment.” – Chris Yie, LG vice president and head of marketing
Not every smartphone in LG’s extensive range supports high resolution audio playback, so the service will only be available on phones with 24-bit capabilities, such as the LG G4, G3, G2 and G Flex 2. The music service will be introduced as part of the LG SmartWorld app that comes pre-installed on LG’s smartphones.
LG has not given out any pricing or launch date information yet, but the company has announced that the music service will be available in 70 different countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Italy and Russia.
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 2 comes with a MediaTek Helio X10 SoC and 5.5-Inch FHD display for just $125
While Samsung prepares to announce the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus later today, Xiaomi has announced a new device of its own, the Redmi Note 2. Notable features include a camera with a focus speed of just a tenth of a second and MediaTek’s new Helio X10 SoC. Join us after the break for all the specifications and more images.
Specifications:
- MIUI 7 (based on Android 5.0 Lollipop)
- 5.5-Inch Full-HD display
- MediaTek MT6795 Helio X10 Octa-core processor (16GB models clocked @ 2.0GHz/ 32GB @ 2.2GHz)
- PowerVR G6200 GPU
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB/32GB Internal storage
- 13MP Rear camera with phase detection auto-focus and focus speed of 0.1 seconds (supplied by Samsung/OmniVision)
- 5MP Front camera
- 4G Dual-SIM
- Infrared remote
- 3,060mAh removable battery with Quick Charge 2.0
- Dimensions: 152 x 76 x 8.25mm
- Weight: 160 grams
- Available in white/black/pink/brown/light blue
The Redmi Note 2 starts at 799 Chinese Yuan ($125) with 4G connectivity on one SIM slot and 3G on the second. The next model is priced at 899 Chinese Yuan ($140)is also 16GB, but has 4G connectivity (TDD-LTE + FDD-LTE) on both SIM slots. Finally, there is also the Redmi Note 2 Prime with 4G connectivity on both SIM slots, 32GB of internal storage, a slightly higher clocked processor and a price tag of 999 Chinese Yuan ($156). Whichever way you look at it, the Redmi Note 2 is a lot of phone for a small amount of money. The camera’s super-fast focus speed is impressive by itself. What do you think of the Redmi Note 2?
Source: MIUI Forum
Come comment on this article: Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 2 comes with a MediaTek Helio X10 SoC and 5.5-Inch FHD display for just $125
Apple teams up with app devs to make iPad better for work
iPads are apparently not doing too hot at the moment, and Apple is looking for a way to reverse the drop in sales that’s been going on the past six quarters. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cupertino hopes to accomplish that by making its tablets more enticing to businesses. The WSJ also reports the tech juggernaut is working with over 40 unknown enterprise app developers in an initiative that’s internally called “mobility partner program” (MPP). The members in the alliance are developing iOS apps for entrepreneurs, such as accounting and digital cash register programs. Apple’s also encouraging them to collaborate and create apps that work together. In addition, the partners are expected to send representatives to train Apple’s business specialists.
Cupertino told investors about MPP during a call in April, but details are still sparse. Even some of the partners aren’t quite sure how the alliance will work, and don’t know the identities of the other members. That said, the WSJ report reveals that Apple’s long-term goal is to sell app bundles tailored for specific businesses, and that it’s trying to get old IBM partners to create iPad apps. The company is also planning to ask carriers — AT&T and Verizon were specifically mentioned — to help it sell app bundles in the future.
Despite all the secrecy, the WSJ says the project already helped at least a couple of small business owners. In what could have been early tests for the initiative, Cupertino invited the owner of a skincare company to attend a meeting with some MPP members after a visit to the Apple Store. They ultimately convinced her to switch to a partner’s accounting software, which she found more effective than her old bookkeeping method. Another entrepreneur, a restaurant owner in Toronto, was compelled to buy three iPads after a meeting with yet another project partner. He uses those iPads as a digital cash register, and it allows cooks to see new orders instantly and prep food more quickly.
Source:
The Wall Street Journal
Tags: app, apple, business, enterprise, ipad
Xiaomi’s $125 phone has the same heart as HTC’s flagship
For those who don’t know, Xiaomi has a budget line of smartphones called Redmi, but they’ve kind of fallen off our radar for some time. That’s not the case with the latest model announced today. Following its predecessor, this Redmi Note 2 is sticking with the same 5.5-inch screen size but with a higher resolution of 1080p. What really caught our attention, though, is that despite the phone’s $125 base price, it’s powered by MediaTek’s high-end Helio X10 chipset. That’s the same octa-core silicon inside HTC’s flagship M9+, which costs almost four times as much as the Redmi. Slideshow-312451
The 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera is also impressive, as it’s one of the few in the smartphone market that does phase detection for faster auto-focus. Likewise, the 5-megapixel front camera should do well in the dark, thanks to its f/2.0 aperture and large 1.4um pixels.
As a bonus, Xiaomi’s added an infrared blaster on the top side of the phone, meaning you can control your TV, Hi-Fi and even air conditioner with it. That’s pretty fun for a $125 phone. Everything else tucked inside this Mi 4i-like body is also decent for the price: There’s 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, a swappable 3,060 mAh battery, dual Micro SIM slots, either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage and up to 32GB of microSD expansion (which is a weird limitation).
On the software side, the Redmi Note 2 will be the first to run on Xiaomi’s MIUI 7 based on Android, which features improved power efficiency, faster response, kid mode and face recognition in the photo app. In China, MIUI 7 users will also get to take advantage of a new virtual SIM service dubbed Mi Roaming, which operates in 36 regions and costs just 0.1 yuan per MB (about $16 per GB) on average. All existing Xiaomi phones except for the Mi 1 series will be upgradable to the developer version of MIUI 7 on August 14th.
In China, the Redmi Note 2 will be available for purchase on August 16th, with the 2GHz, 16GB base model costing 799 yuan (about $125) or 899 yuan ($140), depending on which network you use, and the higher-end 2.2GHz, 32GB Redmi Note 2 Prime costing 999 yuan ($160).
Filed under:
Cellphones, Mobile
Via:
Engadget Chinese
Source:
Xiaomi (Chinese)
Tags: china, heliox10, mi, miui, miui7, mobilepostcross, octacore, phablet, phone, redmi, redmi note 2, redminote2, xiaomi
Lenovo will rely on Motorola to design, develop and manufacture smartphone products
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Lenovo announced their financial results earlier today, and while their mobile division technically lost $292 million USD, it wasn’t exactly because of recent acquisition, Motorola. In fact, Motorola’s smartphone revenue contributed $1.2 billion of the $2.1 billion total revenue from Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group (MBG), a fact that isn’t lost on Lenovo. To that end, Lenovo will rely on Motorola to “design, develop and manufacture smartphone products”, we’re assuming even Lenovo branded devices, as the company attempts to make the MBG profitable again.
Truth be told, Motorola’s performance was actually pretty average when you consider it as its own entity – its smartphone shipments were down 31% to 5.9 million and it’s struggled to capitalize on its usual markets, like Brazil. Lenovo described these challenges as “intensifying competition, long product development lifecycles with related inventory issues, macroeconomic issues in Brazil (a large market for Motorola), and a fixed cost structure that was out of balance with the losses incurred.” That sounds like a lot of systemic issues, so we hope Lenovo is able to help Motorola resolve these moving forward, because we sure as hell like their latest devices.
What do you think about the news that Lenovo will rely on Motorola to design, develop and manufacture smartphone products? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Lenovo via Phone Arena
The post Lenovo will rely on Motorola to design, develop and manufacture smartphone products appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Get a 128GB Galaxy S6 for just $599 today
Looking for a new smartphone and want a bargain? Maybe you’ve considered the Samsung Galaxy S6 but put off by its lofty price tag? Or you’ve decided to buy the Galaxy S6 but would like most storage? If any of those apply to you, then you’re in luck as the 128GB version of the Galaxy S6 is down to just $599 today.
Are the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge overpriced?
B&H has slashed the price of the largest Galaxy S6 storage option down to $599 and given the handset costs upwards of $700 for the entry-level 32GB version, this is definitely a bargain. Samsung revealed it was planning to ‘adjust’ the price of the Galaxy S6 in response to poor sales and while B&H has slashed the price, it doesn’t appear to be market-wide, with the same handset costing $799.99 at Verizon and over $1,000 at Amazon.
If the Galaxy S6 was already in your mind, this deal might prove too good to be true and if you’ve decided you’d quite like the handset at the discounted price, you’ll need to be quick; the B&H deal ends tonight at midnight ET. Not sure if Samsung’s smartphone is the one for you? Check out all our coverage in our Galaxy S6 portal, our full Galaxy S6 Review and the videos below.
Galaxy S6 in video:
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Lenovo announces they will bet on Motorola for their mobile future
During an earnings call on Wednesday, Lenovo announced they will depend on Motorola to design and produce smartphones for the company. Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in 2014 in an effort to beef up their their smartphone offerings in the United States. Since then Motorola has gone on to release the most popular smartphone in it’s history, the Moto G and what is widely regarded as the best Android Wear smartwatch on the market, The Moto 360.
Lenovo has stated that they will reshuffle their mobile division to offer a more “streamlined product portfolio, with fewer, more clearly-differentiated models.” That’s probably a smart move on Lenovo’s part. While they’re not a complete unknown in the smart phone world, they do only account for 5.6% of the market and that takes into account Motorola. Following the vision of Motorola’s mobile division to put out higher quality smartphones cheaper than their competitors would seem to be strategically advantageous. Lenovo can still release high end phones under their own name like the P90, Vibe X2 pro, and Vibe Shot that were announced at CES.
While some may see this as good news, the earnings call wasn’t all positive. Lenovo is facing increasing competition and negative headlines in both the mobile and computer markets and it shows in their numbers. While quarterly revenue was $10.7 billion (a 3% increase year-over-year), first quarter pre-tax income decreased 80% to $52 million and net income declined 51% to 105 million.
“Lenovo saw severe challenges in its main markets. It faced significant declines in the global PC and tablet markets, as well as slowing growth and increasing competition – especially in China – in smartphones. There were macroeconomic challenges in Brazil and Latin America and large currency fluctuations, intensifying competition, which hurt Motorola’s profitability in particular. Finally, Lenovo saw a rapidly shifting technology demand landscape in the enterprise business.“
In addition to restructuring the mobile group, Lenovo also announced that they will preposition their enterprise group to “attack” the most relevant and attractive market segments, accelerate the drive for 30% share in PCs and strive for greater efficiency across all functions. Lenovo says this will save them $650 million in expenses in the second half of this year and $1.35 billion on an annual basis. To accomplish the cuts, Lenovo will cut about 10% of it’s non-manufacturing staff and 60,000 people total.
Source: Lenovo via PhoneArena
The post Lenovo announces they will bet on Motorola for their mobile future appeared first on AndroidGuys.
AIVAnet 