A unique twist on Android for broke college kids

For those who still remember, it’s been well over a year since China’s Smartisan launched the T1, which turned out to be a surprisingly good effort from the teacher-turned-entrepreneur, Luo Yonghao. Today, the startup has finally launched its second Android device, the U1 aka JianGuo (which means “nuts” in Chinese), to cater to the younger audience with an 899 yuan (about $140) base price. That’s about the same as the Redmi Note 2, though some may find this to be a more fun design with what’s arguably a more intuitive interface, as we first saw back in April 2013.

Let’s get the specs out of the way first. What we’re looking at here is a plastic body with a 5.5-inch 1080p display with Gorilla Glass 3, an octa-core Snapdragon 615 chipset (4 x 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 + 4 x 1.0GHz Cortex-A53), 2GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage, 2,900 mAh battery, dual SIM slots, NFC (which is missing on the Redmi Note 2, by the way) and LTE support for most parts of Asia plus Europe (Band 1/3/7). On the photography end, the 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera and the 5-megapixel f/2.2 front-facing imager should do the job just fine — the product page has some full resolution sample images.

Like the T1, the U1 features a volume rocker on both the left and right sides of its body. This symmetrical design allows the user to set one side for volume, and the other for screen brightness. One bonus use case with these is that when on standby, you can press and hold both keys to instantly take a photo, as opposed to having to first turn on the phone, then toggle the camera app and finally hit the capture button. Another design cue taken from the flagship line is how the proximity sensor is tucked into the same ditch as the earpiece, thus giving a cleaner look on the front side of the white phone.

What obviously sets the T1 and the U1 apart is the back cover design. The newer model comes with seven rainbow color options, each featuring a soft skin texture with vertical stripe pattern. Better yet, the phone’s software can switch to a color theme that matches the back cover, unless you choose to stick with what you were using. Smartisan will also be selling some limited edition covers to commemorate special occasions — like the launch of the world’s first instant noodles 57 years ago today — for 99 yuan (about $15) a piece, about 30 percent of which will go towards a fund to support the open source community.

The more exciting part of the U1 is its highly-customized Android ROM. Like before, Smartisan OS is all about keeping it clean with a simple three-by-three grid layout per page, but you can also zoom out to a six-by-six or even a nine-by-nine layout (you’ll want to read our in-depth OS walkthrough and device hands-on). With the upcoming version 2.0 release due September 15th, you’ll be able to sort the icons by time of installation, frequency of usage and even color, as pictured above.

The update also offers new cool features like a visual indication of which app is making noise in the multi-task manager, a beefed-up screenshot tool which can now automatically capture an entire page (rather than manually scrolling through to take multiple screenshots), disc scratching in the music app, integrated business card scanner (17 languages supported) and a speedy local voice search tool.

Last but not least, given that 39 percent of Smartisan users switched from an iPhone, the company is also offering a desktop app dubbed SmartFinder as a much friendlier alternative to Android File Transfer.

There’s no word on global availability just yet, but folks in China will be able to buy a U1 on September 1st, with the 16GB version going for 899 yuan (about $140), and the 32GB version for 999 yuan (about $160). Even though these are already relatively low prices, Smartisan took a step further to offer an instalment plan for as low as 75 yuan ($12) per month, which should make lives easier for students. But if you’re still saving up for Smartisan’s next flagship device, the T2, then you’ll have to wait until its December launch event.

Filed under:
Cellphones, Mobile

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Via:
Engadget Chinese

Source:
Smartisan

Tags: android, china, luoyonghao, mobilepostcross, phone, smartisan, smartisanos, smartisanos2, smartphone, u1

New flu vaccine protects test animals from multiple strains

Every now and then, it happens. You take the time to get a flu shot, but you wind up sick anyway. Bummer. That’s the problem with the flu, it’s not just one virus — it’s multiple variant strains. Every year, researchers have to choose one common strain on which to base the season’s new vaccine. One day, that kind of guesswork could be a thing of the past: according to a new studies in Nature Medicine and Science, researchers are making significant progress on vaccines that fight multiple flu strains simultaneously.

The idea behind these new vaccines has been floating around for awhile, but scientists haven’t had much success with it in the past. Instead of targeting the elements of the virus that mutate from year to year, the new formula is based stable elements common to several strains. This new formulation method has successfully created an immunity to H5N1 (a particularly deadly strain) in rodents and provoked notable immune responses in monkeys infected with H1N1.

Researchers are a long way from developing a viable universal flu vaccine for human use, but these successful animal tests serve as a compelling proof of concept. With time, development and more research studies it’s possible. One day, you may have your last flu shot ever — something we’re all looking forward to.

[Image credit: Getty Images]

Filed under:
Misc, Science

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Via:
The Verge

Source:
Science, Nature Medicine

Tags: flu, fluvaccine, fluvaccines, h1n1, h5n1, science, vaccines, virus

Uber’s self-driving car efforts get help from the University of Arizona

Uber’s ambitions in the self-driving car space took a step forward today — the company just announced a partnership with the University of Arizona that will see the university become the home of Uber’s mapping test vehicles. According to a press release from Arizona governor Doug Ducey, the partnership will focus on research and development for optics systems focused on mapping and safety for self-driving vehicles. Uber is also donating $25,000 to the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences, and an internal email obtained by The Verge indicates that the donation will be for scholarships.

This partnership comes after Uber officially partnered with Carnegie Mellon University earlier this year; since then, Uber’s self-driving cars have been spotted driving around Pittsburgh. There’s also been accusations of Uber poaching many of the university’s researchers, something the University of Arizona might want to keep an eye out for. Either way, this partnership is just another sign that Uber sees its future as one where drivers aren’t behind the wheels of its cars.

[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]

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Source:
State of Arizona, The Verge

Tags: selfdrivingcars, uber, universityofarizona, uofa