Google might be merging Chrome OS and Android in the near future

Google has maintained Chrome OS and Android as two separate products for years now, but we’ve some overlap between the two here and there. There have been some serious questions over whether or not Google should fold both operating systems into one unified OS, and although it hasn’t happened yet it looks like we might see it happen in the next few years.

Google will reportedly be merging Chrome OS into Android, and importantly not the other way around. Chrome OS (and Chromebooks) have done well in the low-cost sector of the market, but it’s nothing compared to the sheer dominance of Android as a mobile operating system. It would only make sense to bring the best of Chrome OS into Android and ship that on all devices, unifying products, services, and most importantly, Google’s Play Store.

There are still some cloudy questions over exactly how this is going to work, as Google is reportedly preparing this to work on smartphones and PCs. It’s not clear if by PCs Google means all computers, including Windows and OS X machines, or if it will just be a new lineup to replace the Chromebooks and Chrome OS. Chrome OS essentially relies on the Chrome browser to do just about everything, so it makes sense that this Chrome OS/Android merger could be centered around Chrome. That would keep things extremely widely available to as many users as possible, which is exactly what Google wants.

Rumors suggest we’ll see an early build of this new operating system next year, but Google isn’t planning on releasing an actual product until sometime in 2017.

source: Wall Street Journal

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What the OnePlus X means for the budget market

For those who keep up with OnePlus, we’ve known that a variant dubbed the OnePlus X was coming. I don’t know about you, but my mind had just passed it off as a less significant OnePlus 2. Boy, was I wrong.

In a way, the OnePlus X ups the quality of the OnePlus 2 but reduces the price. No, it’s not quite that simple, a couple specs do take a mid-range turn. But, depending on what you value in a smartphone, the OnePlus X can be the better phone.

However, the impact of the X isn’t just confined to OnePlus’s world, this is a BIG deal to the overall budget smartphone market. More than any other year, 2015 has shown a shift to the relevance of budget offerings. There were so many strong budget contenders this year, such as the Asus Zenfone 2, Acatel Idol 3, and Moto X Style/Pure (or Moto X Play). A fantastic way to look at the OnePlus X is as icing on the cake and a peek at the future.

So what exactly did OnePlus do so right with the X? Firstly, I challenge you to find such a well-crafted phone for $250. Even phones well past the $300 mark still have that plasticky, yesteryear feel. OnePlus is offering a phone as premium as they come, for only $250. Other glass/metal phones, such as the Samsung’s Galaxy or Sony’s Xperia flagships, run around $700 to boot.

But it’s not just that OnePlus created a pretty phone, the sacrifices it made in order to keep the price down are thought-out. One of these is with using Qualcomm’s previous reigning champ, the Snapdragon 801. However, we should be past the days of dying for the latest processor. It will be fast and it will work well. And there’s 3GB of RAM.

The 5″ screen size works for most people (AMOLED panel) and the 1080P resolution is plenty for that size. Budget phones are known to just throw in just some camera, which ends up being mediocre. OnePlus didn’t skimp in this way, at least on paper. There is a 13MP f/2.2 ISOCELL sensor with Phase-Detection Autofocus. The front camera is 8MP with a f2.4 aperture.

There is microSD expansion up to 128GB now. The battery is a considerable 2,525mAh. The more I go on, the more I’m impressed at what you’re getting for $250.

It’s unfortunate that the Invite system is a catch for all of OnePlus’s phones. No one likes it, I imagine not even OnePlus. But this is what it needs to do to push the budget limit. It is in avoiding excess inventory that the pricing can be the way it is. Fortunately, after the Invite process in November, OnePlus will open sales for the OnePlus X periodically.

The point is that the budget phone has now come a long way. The OnePlus X makes that bridge between costly flagship phones and compromised budget phones very short. In my opinion, it will make those who only buy flagship phones seriously stop and think: Why exactly am I spending 3x more? That is the key. The budget phone movement is going to change things.

The OnePlus X makes the future look bright, not only for affordability but also for the non-contract/unlocked way of purchasing a phone. The unlocked movement grows each time a promising budget phone is released, and I’m thankful for OnePlus ending 2015 in a bang.

OnePlus Invites page

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Researchers believe breakthrough might make batteries drastically cheaper

Against an assumption that has prevailed in scientific communities for over eighty years, researchers at Oregon State University believe that potassium can be used to create a replacement for lithium-ion batteries. Chemist Xiulei Ji says that this possibility hasn’t been revisited since it was originally explored in 1932.

“For decades, people have assumed that potassium couldn’t work with graphite or other bulk carbon anodes in a battery,” said chemist Xiulei Ji, elaborating that he was surprised that the concept had been left uninvestigated for so long. In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Ji lays out his team’s process developing a potassium-graphite cell.  

The possibilities that this could open up technologically are huge. Potassium is 880 times more abundant than lithium, which makes it a much cheaper alternative. If it could be successfully implemented as a replacement for lithium, we might see some significant price drops in devices that use lithium batteries, like smart phones.

However, if this revolution is to take place, the road ahead is rocky. Potassium atoms are far larger than lithium atoms, which makes it difficult to integrate with graphite. In order to achieve better results, the team wound up synthesizing a softer carbon material to replace graphite. Even with this enhancement, the team’s potassium-carbon batteries still aren’t as potent as lithium-carbon batteries.

“It’s safe to say that the energy density of a potassium-ion battery may never exceed that of lithium-ion batteries,” Ji said. “But they may provide a long cycling life, a high power density, a lot lower cost, and be ready to take the advantage of the existing manufacturing processes of carbon anode materials.”

In short, potassium-ion batteries may never pack the punch-per-pound that lithium batteries do, but the reduced cost of using this cheaper element may make the shift worth it. Potassium isn’t the only ingredient currently striving to replace the problematically uncommon lithium. Researchers are also actively pursuing sodium and magnesium for this role as well.