Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 takes just 35 minutes to reach 80 percent charge
Charging your handset overnight used to be part of our nightly routine, but now? Not so much. Thanks to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology, we can charge our devices whenever we want, and still have enough juice to make it through the day. And it’s going to get even better because Qualcomm has just announced Quick Charge 3.0 that will allow smartphones to go from being as dead-as-a-doornail to 80 percent charge in just 35 minutes.
Quick Charge 3.0 is designed to be 38% more efficient than its predecessor, and twice as fast as Quick Charge 2.0. A range of connectors are supported, including USB Type-C, USB Type-A, USB micro and other proprietary ports. Depending on your device and charger, Quick Charge 3.0 can also detect the correct level of power to request from the charger at any point of the transfer, as well as supporting a wider range of voltages ranging from 3.6V to 20V, in 200mV increments.
It will be available on the Snapdragon 820 which should make its appearance in 2016, as well as the 620, 618, 617 and 430 platforms. We have the full press release below:
HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has introduced its next-generation of fast charging technology with Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 3.0 technology. Quick Charge 3.0 is the third generation of this technology and is the first of its kind to employ Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage (INOV), a new algorithm developed by Qualcomm Technologies, designed to allow portable devices the ability to determine what power level to request at any point in time for optimum power transfer, while maximizing efficiency. With Quick Charge 3.0 you can charge a typical phone from zero to 80 percent in about 35 minutes compared to conventional mobile devices without Quick Charge that may typically require almost an hour and a half.
With, INOV and other advancements, Quick Charge 3.0 is designed to be up to 38 percent more efficient than Quick Charge 2.0, while also implementing additional steps to help protect battery cycle life. Additionally, when used with Qualcomm Technologies’ latest, advanced parallel charging configurations, Quick Charge 3.0 can:
- Help improve fast charging up to 27% or reduces power dissipation by up to 45% when compared to Quick Charge 2.0.
- Charge up to 2x faster than Quick Charge 1.0
Available now, Quick Charge 3.0 will be featured as an option on select Qualcomm®Snapdragon™ processors, including Snapdragon 820, 620, 618, 617 and 430, and is anticipated to appear in mobile devices launched next year. Qualcomm Snapdragon processors are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
“We are significantly enhancing the capabilities and benefits offered by Quick Charge 3.0 to bring robust fast charging technology to all,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Quick Charge 3.0 addresses a primary consumer challenge with today’s mobile devices in helping users restore battery life quickly and efficiently, and does so through leading technology and a robust ecosystem including leading device and accessory OEMs.”
Additional improvements offered by Quick Charge 3.0 include enhanced flexibility over Quick Charge 2.0, notably in terms of charging options. While Quick Charge 2.0 offers four charging voltages at 5V, 9V, 12V and 20V, Quick Charge 3.0 provides flexibility with 200mV increments from 3.6V to 20V. This allows the phone to request just enough voltage to reach the desired charge current, resulting in minimized losses, increased efficiency, and improved thermal performance.
“LG Electronics featured Quick Charge 2.0 in our recent smartphone designs and the reaction from the public was very positive,” said Dr. Sang G. Kim, AVP, LG Electronics. “At its core, LG strives to design devices that deliver an unbeatable user-experience. Qualcomm Technologies’ solution is well aligned with that philosophy and fast charging has quickly become one of the more popular device features. Qualcomm Technologies’ solution is also generations ahead of others and we look forward to offering Quick Charge 3.0 to our customers to give them a full charge faster and with increased efficiency.”
Quick Charge 3.0 also maintains forward and backward compatibility with previous versions of Quick Charge as well as with connectors, including USB Type-C, as well as the same ultra-fast charging speed, cable independence offering OEMs several options, and UL certification to help meet quality and safety standards.
Quick Charge 3.0 is implemented with minimal changes to current designs, offering OEMs a low cost option for fast battery charging. Operators and OEMs benefit from the established Quick Charge ecosystem with over 20 OEMs already supporting Quick Charge 2.0, and over 90 available accessories. The fast charging technology is mandated by several operators with active support from other operators and retailers.
To date there are more than 40 mobile devices and 100 certified accessories with Quick Charge 2.0. To see the list of companies, please visit: https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/quick-charge-device-list. For more information on Quick Charge, you may also visit:https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/quick-charge.
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Qualcomm announces mid-range Snapdragon 430 and 617 processors
Fast on the heels of announcing its new Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology, Qualcomm has also announced two new processors, the Snapdragon 430 and Snapdragon 630, with both processors bringing high-end features to the middle of the range.
The Snapdragon 430 is an octa-core processor with A53 cores clocked at up to 1.2GHz and there’s an Adreno 505 GPU providing the graphics. The modem is X6 LTE enabled, which allows for Cat 4 downlink speeds up to 150Mbps. There is also support for 2x10MHz carrier aggregation and a Cat 5 uplink speed of 75Mbps. The Snapdragon 430 has dual-ISP’s which enables the capture of images up to 21MP in size, while 1080p Full HD displays, capture, and playback are supported. The Snapdragon 430 is expected to appear in devices in 2016.
The Snapdragon 617 is expected to appear in devices by the end of 2015, and as you would expect, is a step up from the 430. The Snapdragon 617 is an octa-core processor with A53 cores clocked at up to 1.5GHz, with an Adreno 405 GPU bringing the graphics. As with the 430, the 617 features dual-ISPs allowing the capture of images up to 21MP in size. The 617 features another new modem, this time incorporating X8 LTE capabilities, supporting Cat 7 download speeds of up to 300Mbps, and uploads speeds of up to 100Mbps, along with 2x20MHz carrier aggregation. It all sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but it allows for faster LTE data, and that’s never a bad thing.
Both the Snapdragon 430 and 617 feature Qualcomm’s new Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging technology, which can charge a 2,750mAh battery from 0 to 80 percent in just 35 minutes.
Full Press Release:
HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has introduced two new Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processors. The new chipsets, the Snapdragon 430 and the Snapdragon 617, offer advances in both multimedia and connectivity for mid-range mobile devices.
The Snapdragon 430 features X6 LTE, with Cat 4 downlink speeds of up to 150 Mbps and support of 2×10 MHz Carrier Aggregation, and Cat 5 uplink speed of up to 75 Mbps via support for 64-QAM – a first in this tier. The Snapdragon 430 supports excellent image quality for dual camera configurations and sensors up to 21MP. The Snapdragon 430 uses the powerful new Qualcomm® Adreno™ 505 GPU with features such as Open GL ES3.1, Android Extension Pack, and OpenCL 2.0. Incorporating features that were previously limited to the high tier, the Snapdragon 617 improves on both the connectivity and capabilities of the Snapdragon 430. To meet the global demand for faster LTE data rates, the Snapdragon 617 integrates the X8 LTE modem, featuring support for Cat 7 download speeds of up to 300 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 100 Mbps using bi-directional 2×20 MHz carrier aggregation. It also shares the same software advances, dual-ISP and camera architecture of the Snapdragon 620 and 618. In addition, the same software package runs the Snapdragon 617, 618 and 620, enabling OEMs to deliver these products quickly and efficiently. For optimal RF performance, the Snapdragon 617 and 430 pair with WTR 2965, the new cost-optimized RF transceiver for global carrier aggregation.
Both the Snapdragon 617 and 430 use the power efficient ARM® Cortex™ A53 CPUs in octa-core configurations. Both also include support for Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 3.0, the next generation of fast-charging technology. Each uses the high performance, low power Qualcomm® Hexagon™ DSP, supporting low power sensor and advanced audio. Snapdragon 430 and Snapdragon 617 will fast track the regional certification process with support for the Qualcomm® Global Pass certification program.
“As smartphones and tablets continue to spread to all corners of the globe, we recognize that users are becoming more discerning in what they want,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “The introduction of these new processors is a clear indication that we are listening to the needs of our customers who want ever improving cameras, faster connectivity, and better battery life across all available price points.”
Commercial devices featuring the Snapdragon 430 are expected to be available in Q2 2016, and the Snapdragon 617 is expected to be in commercial devices before the end of 2015.
About Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.Qualcomm, Snapdragon, Adreno and Hexagon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Quick Charge is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm Snapdragon, Qualcomm Adreno, Qualcomm Quick Charge and Qualcomm Hexagon are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Qualcomm Global Pass is a solution of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Come comment on this article: Qualcomm announces mid-range Snapdragon 430 and 617 processors
Report: Samsung to cut jobs in China, reduce component orders
Samsung can’t seem to escape reports that it is preparing to shrink its workforce in one way or another. The latest report comes from China and states that Samsung may be looking to cut around 1,000 jobs in the country, as smartphone sales hit saturation.
If true, this job cut would affect around 9 percent of Samsung’s workforce in China. Samsung declined to comment on the matter. Earlier in the month, Samsung dismissed reports that it was preparing to cut a number of management positions at its headquarters in South Korea. However, the tech company did state that it would be relocating some employees.
Sources from Korea area also suggesting that the company will be reducing its component orders for mobile products. As tablet and smartphone sales continue to remain under strain, Samsung is likely looking to reduce the number of devices that it produces to save costs. Although this means that the company may struggle to meet any up-tick in demand.
This will also have a knock-on effect for Samsung’s component businesses, such as its AMOLED display and semiconductor divisions. To offset its own falling product orders, Samsung may have to sell additional components to rival manufacturers. Flash memory sales have been strong lately, and the company should profit from 14nm chip manufacturing for Apple and Qualcomm. Chinese vendors are apparently expressing strong interest in Samsung’s AMOLED display technology too.
See also: Report: Samsung to focus on profits rather than growth
Poor smartphones sales and questionable financial results are driving opinions that Samsung needs to do something to improve profits. Cutting labour costs would be one way to do it, as could taking tighter control over stock orders. Samsung is reportedly switching focus to profits rather than growth going forward, but there haven’t been any official details about how the company is planning to make this adjustment.
HTC One A9 will be launched with Android 6.0 and Sense 7
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With the financial troubles front and centre at HTC, all eyes are on the next device that the Taiwanese manufacturer releases. Word on the street is that this device will be announced at an event booked on September 29th, and that device will be the HTC One A9, or as some know it, the Hima or Aero. While we’re expecting all manner of power on the inside of the device, we’ve heard about the software side of things thanks to serial HTC leaker, LlabTooFeR. According to LlabTooFeR, the HTC One A9 will be launched with Android 6.0 and Sense 7, which makes a bit of sense seeing as Google is expected to be announcing its new devices that same day and releasing Android 6.0 Marshmallow into the wild.
Hima_Aero will run Android 6.0 and Sense 7 GP on the launch…
— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) September 14, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsWith that in mind, we should probably take this news with a grain of salt – it’s been suggested that the device being announced could also be the HTC Butterfly 3, which holds slightly more water seeing as its only been 6 months since the One M9 was released. Then again, they could be the same device. All the same, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 was announced a few weeks early, so I feel like anything could happen at this point.
What do you think about the fact the HTC One A9 will be launched with Android 6.0 and Sense 7? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Twitter via Phones Review
The post HTC One A9 will be launched with Android 6.0 and Sense 7 appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Barclaycard to launch NFC payments on Android ahead of Apple Pay
Since Apple Pay launched in the UK, several banks have been dragging their heels when it comes to supporting the contactless payment platform. Lloyds and Halifax begun a gradual roll-out just last week, casting renewed shade on Barclays, which appears to be more interested in its bPay gear (and jacket) than throwing iPhone and Apple Watch users a bone. The banking giant said some time ago it’ll eventually play nice with Apple Pay, but it’s decided in the interim to turn its attention to Android users. Its credit card arm, Barclaycard, announced today that from November, its Android app will begin supporting NFC payments. These payments won’t be limited to the (recently raised) £30 contactless cap, too, with transactions of up to £100 allowed with PIN authentication (similar to Apple Pay).
Additional features coming to the updated Barclaycard app include a direct line to the customer call centre to report a lost, stolen or damaged card, and receive an “instant card replacement.” A new, virtual card will be added to your app so you can begin using it straight away, while you wait for the physical counterpart to turn up in the post.
As Barclaycard now has a contactless payment system in place for Android users, it might decide to forego support for platforms like Samsung Pay and Android Pay when they come to the UK in the near future, preferring to go it alone instead. Barclays continues to show a vested interest in contactless payments, but on its own terms. It’s only a matter of time before Apple Pay becomes part of the equation (Barclaycards are supported in the US, after all), but Barclays isn’t rushing to draft a middleman in just yet — especially one that’s expecting a cut.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple
Via:
Press Association (Yahoo! News)
Source:
Barclaycard
Tags: apple, applepay, barclaycard, barclays, ContactlessPayment, MobilePayments, mobilepostcross, nfc, NfcPayments
‘Let’s Encrypt’ project issues its first free certificate
Last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation along with Mozilla and Cisco launched an initiative called “Let’s Encrypt” that promised to hand out free certificates anyone can use. Today, the team has released its first one — it’s only available to beta testers for now, but everyone can see it in action on the group’s website. The project aims to make HTTPS implementation easier for website and online shop owners, in order to ensure the safety of customers’ data. According to the EFF, participants can forget “muddling through complicated programming to set up encryption on a website, or yearly fees.” The team did mention when the project launched that all users have to do to use the free certificate is to run a program.
Folks who want to participate in the beta testing phase can sign up and submit their domains for consideration. Major browsers still don’t recognize Let’s Encrypt’s certificate as a trusted authority, though, so beta testers will have to do much more than “run a program.” Thankfully, the team’s already working with Google (for Chrome), Mozilla (for Firefox), Apple (for Safari) and Microsoft (for Edge) to make that happen. If all goes well, the certificate will be available for everyone to use on the week of November 16th, 2015.
[Image credit: Jorg Greuel]
Filed under:
Misc
Source:
Let’s Encrypt, EFF
Tags: encryptioncertificate, letsencrypt, security
Barclaycard to launch NFC payments on Android ahead of Apple Pay
Since Apple Pay launched in the UK, several banks have been dragging their heels when it comes to supporting the contactless payment platform. Lloyds and Halifax begun a gradual roll-out just last week, casting renewed shade on Barclays, which appears to be more interested in its bPay gear (and jacket) than throwing iPhone and Apple Watch users a bone. The banking giant said some time ago it’ll eventually play nice with Apple Pay, but it’s decided in the interim to turn its attention to Android users. Its credit card arm, Barclaycard, announced today that from November, its Android app will begin supporting NFC payments. These payments won’t be limited to the (recently raised) £30 contactless cap, too, with transactions of up to £100 allowed with PIN authentication (similar to Apple Pay).
Additional features coming to the updated Barclaycard app include a direct line to the customer call centre to report a lost, stolen or damaged card, and receive an “instant card replacement.” A new, virtual card will be added to your app so you can begin using it straight away, while you wait for the physical counterpart to turn up in the post.
As Barclaycard now has a contactless payment system in place for Android users, it might decide to forego support for platforms like Samsung Pay and Android Pay when they come to the UK in the near future, preferring to go it alone instead. Barclays continues to show a vested interest in contactless payments, but on its own terms. It’s only a matter of time before Apple Pay becomes part of the equation (Barclaycards are supported in the US, after all), but Barclays isn’t rushing to draft a middleman in just yet — especially one that’s expecting a cut.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple
Via:
Press Association (Yahoo! News)
Source:
Barclaycard
Tags: apple, applepay, barclaycard, barclays, ContactlessPayment, MobilePayments, mobilepostcross, nfc, NfcPayments
Google told to unbundle apps from Android in Russia
Another country isn’t too happy with Google, this time Russia is accusing the search giant of breaching its anti-trust regulations, as it gains an unfair competitive advantage from the pre-installed Google products bundled in with Android phones and tablets. The situation arose after the Yandex search engine, a Russian internet company, complained to regulators about Google back in February.
The Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service found that Android unfairly favours Google services and accuses Google of abusing its dominant position in the smartphone and tablet markets. It would rather that phones simply shipped with the Google Play Store, leaving users free to choose the rest of their apps. The body will be issuing detailed instructions to Google about how to proceed within the next 10 days.
“We welcome the positive ruling of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, which took up this complex case and, having examined the evidence, recognised a violation on the part of Google … We believe the FAS’s decision will serve to restore competition on the market.” – Yandex
Yandex seems to already be a winner following the announcement, as the company’s stock leapt up by around 10 percent. According to Bloomberg, Yandex’s search results have fallen to 50 percent of traffic this year, while Google’s climbed to 42 percent. Yandex clearly doesn’t like the extra competition.
Google has not issued a reply yet, stating only that it will study the case and plan its next move once it receives demands from the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service. Google is likely looking at another costly and lengthy legal battle.
Russia is not the only one upset with Google’s dominant market position lately. The tech company is also under investigation by the European Commission regarding its Android OS and pre-installed services. Google is also fighting a similar anti-trust case in Europe over alleged preferential shopping search results.
Sony’s Project Morpheus is now ‘PlayStation VR’
Sony’s Project Morpheus VR system has a new, more obvious name: PlayStation VR. The announcement came today at the company’s Tokyo Game Show press conference, but that’s about the only new information Sony was willing to part with. Explaining the change, PlayStation product business president Masayasu Ito says “The name ‘PlayStation VR’ not only directly expresses an entirely new experience from PlayStation that allows players to feel as if they are physically inside the virtual world of a game, but it also reflects our hopes that we want our users to feel a sense of familiarity as they enjoy this amazing experience.” He adds that the hardware itself will continue to be refined in the coming months, and that Sony is working closely with 3rd parties and in-house studios to ensure there are actually some games for the thing when it launches. There’s still no official release date for the headset, which is due for release at some point in early 2016.
Filed under:
Gaming
Tags: PlaystationVR, ProjectMorpheus, VirtualReality
PlayStation 4 is getting a price cut in Japan
If you were holding off on a price drop before buying a PlayStation 4, I hope you’re living in Japan. Sony just announced that its latest home console is getting a price cut to 35,000 yen (around $300) in the region, starting October 1st. You might be asking how this affects everyone else. Well, for starters this is a Sony sanctioned price cut and this is the first official one for the PS4. With the upcoming Paris Games Week (that Sony’s pledged to be at in a big way) this could very well signal a price drop in Europe. And then we have the upcoming PlayStation Experience show in the United States later this year, which could see the asking price drop domestically too.
We didn’t get any new info on how the system is selling worldwide, but this coupled with the official name for Project Morpheus PlayStation VR is at least something from the otherwise lackluster pre-Tokyo Game Show keynote.
Filed under:
Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Tags: gaming, hd, hdpostcross, japan, playstation, playstation4, pricecut, pricedrop, sony, tgs2015
AIVAnet 