Microsoft Lumia 950 review: Not a flagship, but a first step
After years of misguided attempts at mobile, Microsoft is ready for a fresh start. While Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 mostly just looked like their desktop counterparts, Windows 10 Mobile aspires to something even more substantial. This time, Microsoft tried to build a mobile platform — and a phone — that can seriously replicate some of those big-screen experiences. Rather than just peck out emails and rough drafts on the new Lumia 950, Windows 10 makes it possible to connect a keyboard, mouse and display and let Universal apps like Word and Outlook to get more done.
Microsoft doesn’t think the Lumia 950 is a new phone as much as it a symbol of something new — a standard-bearer for a kind of mobile computing that won’t be contained by a single box in your pocket. Their vision is ambitious, and who knows! They might be right about all of this. For now though, it’s clear Microsoft still has plenty of work to do.Slideshow-342927
Chromecast owners can grab 3 months free Spotify Premium
Everyone loves a freebie and Chromecast owners old and new can grab 3 months of Spotify Premium for absolutely nothing for a limited time, no strings attached. The deal comes directly from Google’s Chromecast offers page.
Thinking about buying?
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The offer applies to all Chromecast models and can be redeemed in at least the US, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, and a number of European countries. Additional countries should be able to snag the deal too, so it’s worth a shot if Spotify is live in your region.
Spotify Premium usually costs $9.99 per month. Alternatively, Google Play Music has a three month free sign-up offer for Chromecast owners as well.
If you don’t own a Chromecast, you can grab a pair of them for just $50 from the Google Store. Spotify is also currently offering 90 days of Premium for just $0.99 anyway, so you don’t really need Google’s hardware to enjoy ad-free music streaming. This offer is good until January 2nd 2016 and should apply to all 60 countries that Spotify is available in.
[Deal] DigiCal celebrates Black Friday and Cyber Monday with 50% off discount
Things are quite hectic this time of the year. So let’s get you organized with a premium calendar app. DigiCal, which we named one of the best calendar apps around, is hosting a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale to give you a quality calendar at friendly price.
The paid version of DigiCal is normally $4.95, but the promotion allows you to pick it up for 50% less. Here are the benefits of DigiCal+:
- No ads
- Two extra calendar widgets: Beautiful month and month calendar widget
- Select which calendars to display on your widgets
- Extra widet customization for theme styles and font size pre-sets
- Personalize background colors and transparency using the widget color picker
- Customize text size, style, and colors in the widgets
- Forty-two theme colors to customize the calendar views
- Year view with heat map for spotting free/busy periods
- Hide week numbers in calendar views
- Change font type and size in calendar views
- Custom snooze options
This offer is currently live and runs through Wednesday, December 2.
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Sony Working on App to Stream PS4 Games on Mac and PC
Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida has announced on Twitter that the company is working on an official Remote Play app for Mac and PC, enabling users to stream and play PS4 games on desktops and notebooks, per The Verge.
Remote Play is currently limited to various Sony devices, including the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV and newer Xperia-branded smartphones and tablets. All new PS4 games must be compatible with Remote Play, except for games that use peripherals such as PlayStation Move.
Some people asked if we plan to provide Remote Play function to PC, and yes, we are indeed working on an official application for PC/Mac. 😀
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) November 27, 2015
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsWhile owning a PS4 gaming console will still be required to play games like Fallout 4 or Destiny on a Mac or PC, the expanded Remote Play app will move Sony games one step closer to true cross-platform playability.
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[Deal] UK Google Store cuts prices on Nexus 9, Nexus cases and more for Black Friday
Everyone is getting into the spirit of Black Friday madness, Amazon slashed prices of its own-brand devices earlier, and now the UK Google Store has reduced prices on the Nexus 9, Nexus cases, and the Huawei Watch. And if that isn’t quite enough, buying a new Chromecast will also get you a goodly amount of Play Store credit to get started with. Join us after the break for more details.
It’s probably a little early to expect Google to discount the recently released Nexus 5X and 6P, but they are giving a 50% discount off all Nexus cases, as well as the Nexus 9 Keyboard Folio. So, say the Nexus 5X Folio case would usually cost you £30, it will now be reduced to just £15 when you checkout. As for the Nexus 9 Keyboard Folio, instead of costing an eye-watering £110, it is now available for a more reasonable £55.
On to the hardware, and Google is offering the 16GB Nexus 9 tablet in white or black for £199, as opposed to the stock price of £319. The 32GB version can be had in black, white or sand for £279 instead of £399. The only LTE version available is in black with 32GB of storage, priced at £339. For £339, the 32GB LTE model is almost affordable thanks to the discount.
Moving on to the Chromecast, and here Google has decided against reducing an already affordable price, including £20 worth of Play Store credit instead. For £30, the Chromecast makes a great stocking filler, and the £20 worth of Play Store credit means that the recipient will be occupied for quite a while.
Finally, you can save £50 on the stylish Huawei Watch, which is reduced from £329 to £279 on checkout. It’s still pricey, but, unless you are buying the Tag Heuer Connected, the Huawei Watch is generally accepted as being the best looking Android Wear smartwatch available. Are you picking anything up from the Google Store today? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Google Store UK
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LG announces substantial investment in next gen OLED production
LG Display is one of the major players in the growing OLED display panel business and the company has just announced a major investment to boost future production. LG is to spend KRW 1.84 trillion ($1.59 billion) to begin building a new plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Korea, with production expected to commence in the first half of 2018.
The new manufacturing facility will be known as the P10 plant and will be the size of 14 football fields, reaching 100 meters tall. The P10 plant is expected to cover manufacturing of a wide range of panel sizes and is stated to be used for the production of large OLED panels for the TV market, along with smaller flexible OLED displays for the smartwatch and automotive markets. The first KRW 1.84 trillion covers the basic building of the plant, while LG’s total investment in the new facility is expected to reach more than KRW 10 trillion ($8.71 billion) as production scales up.
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OLED is seen as a key investment for LG going forward, as the company looks for ways to continue to differentiate its products from the competition and moves to make its technology more price competitive with rival LCD products. OLED benefits and improvements over LCD displays when it comes to color gamut and power efficiency are expected to fuel growing demand over the next decade. The market is estimated to be worth $29.1 billion by 2022, according to market research firm IHS.
LG had previously announced other notable investments to increase its OLED production capabilities, including KRW 1.05 trillion ($0.91 billion) into a 6th generation flexible OLED display production line at the Gumi Plant in Gyeongbuk Province. Rival OLED manufacturer Samsung has also announced its own plans to boost OLED manufacturing this year and recently sold off LCD manufacturing assets to make room for additional OLED production.
Seoul, Korea (Nov. 27, 2015) – LG Display, the world’s leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it will invest KRW1.84 trillion to begin building a new panel plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Korea, with production expected to commence in the first half of 2018.
The company decided on the new plant, known as P10, because of anticipated demand for OLED panels over the next several years. The P10 plant will mainly produce both large-size OLED TV panels and flexible OLED panels for smartwatches and automotive displays.
The KRW1.84 trillion investment covers the construction of the P10 building, the foundations for the clean rooms and infrastructure for water and power supplies and will begin this year. The total investment in the P10 plant is expected to reach more than KRW10 trillion, and with LG Display gradually expanding the scale of the production line based on customer demand and market conditions.
The completed plant will cover an area of 382m x 265m, which is equivalent in size to 14 football fields, and will be 100 meters high. Plans call mostly for the installation of large size OLED lines that will be 9th generation or above along with flexible OLED lines at the new plant. The first production line is scheduled to start mass production in the first half of 2018.
The company is expecting the lines will produce OLED in every product segment, including ultra large-size products as well as future products such as flexible and transparent displays. Dr. Sang Beom Han, CEO and President of LG Display said, “LG Display’s investment in P10 Plant is a historical investment for the industry since it will not only help expand the OLED market but also accelerate the development of future display technologies. With the active support of the Korean government, we believe the P10 plant will become the center of the global OLED industry.”
IHS, the market research firm, forecasts the global OLED panel market will grow to $29.1 billion in 2022 from $8.7 billion in 2014.
TV manufacturers in Korea, China and Japan have already launched OLED TV models and more TV manufacturers in Japan and Europe are expected to adopt OLED TVs in the near future. Demand for flexible OLED panels in the smartwatch and automotive display sectors is also rising because they offer better design flexibility than LCD panels.
LG Display announced in August that it would invest more than KRW10 trillion in expanding production of large-size OLED panels, flexible OLED panels and premium LCDs by 2018. The company has already announced it will invest KRW1.05 trillion in a 6th generation flexible OLED production line in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk Province. The 6th- generation production line will produce 7,500 sheets per month and is expected to start mass production in the first half of 2017.
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AMOLED Panel Market Forecast (Revenue / Unit: US$1,000)
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 8,736,090 | 13,019,587 | 14,551,829 | 16,848,996 | 19,621,122 | 22,541,623 | 25,479,724 | 27,508,481 | 29,129,251 |
Source: IHS_OLED Display Market Tracker_Q3 ‘15
About LG Display
LG Display Co., Ltd. [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220] is the world’s leading innovator of display technologies including thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD), OLEDs and flexible displays. The company manufactures and provides display panels in a broad range of sizes and specifications primarily for use in TVs, notebook computers, desktop monitors, and various other applications including tablets, mobile devices. LG Display currently operates fabrication facilities in Korea and China, and back-end assembly facilities in Korea, China, and Poland. The company has a total of approximately 50,000 employees operating worldwide. For more news and information about LG Display, please visit www.lgdisplay.com
Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any of them in light of new information or future events. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Additional information as to factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements can be found in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Report: LG Electronics working on its second mobile processor
LG is gearing up to go up against Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung with its second mobile application processor, according to industry sources. LG’s Nuclun 2 SoC, as the chip is known, could make an appearance in a future flagship LG smartphone.
According to the source, the Nuclun 2 will be an octa-core design based on ARM’s Cortex-A72 and Cortex-A53 CPU cores, with clock speeds set at 2.1GHz and 1.5GHz respectively. LG Electronics is said to be working with Intel’s 14nm FinFET manufacturing process and TSMC’s similar 16nm technology, either of which would be a notable improvement over the 28nm process used for its first chip.
LG launched its first application processor, the octa-core Nuclun 1, back in 2014. The SoC made its début inside LG’s G3 Screen smartphone and was designed to make the most of high speed LTE-A networks in South Korea. Although the processor didn’t quite compete with other chips in terms of performance at the time, LG is said to be targeting its Nuclun 2 at its premium smartphones.
LG is most likely continuing to develop its own application processors so that it can reduce its dependency on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series. This would afford LG greater flexibility with its design and performance optimizations, while also potentially allowing the company to generate additional revenue per smartphone in the long run.
LG’s Qualcomm powered phones:
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Furthermore, as Qualcomm is expected to use Samsung’s FinFET production line with its Snapdragon 820, LG is unlikely to want to rely on one of its main electronics rivals. Speaking of which, Samsung has similarly managed to reduce its dependency on Qualcomm with its Exynos series of mobile processors and can also leverage its cutting edge manufacturing facilities.
It’s not clear if LG will opt for Intel’s or TSMC’s process. The decision will likely boil down to which company offers the most stable design and the highest performance.
Is Google preparing to test Project Loon in the US?
Google’s Project Loon is a rather surreal sounding project, but according to newly filed documents at the FCC, Google may be preparing to test its internet transmitting balloons at home in the US next year.
According to the document, Google has asked the FCC for a license to test experimental radios that use millimetre bandwidth for wireless transmission in all 50 US states and Puerto Rico. The application does not specifically mention Project Loon by name, but the document was filed by Astro Teller, who oversees the Google X Labs where Project Loon is based.
Originally, Google had pitched the idea as a way to bring internet access to new customers in countries with poor network infrastructure. The decision to launch its ballons in the US may seem a little odd then, other than for more expansive testing purposes. However, Google has also suggested that Project Loon could turn into a billion dollar business by partnering with telecommunications companies, and Google already has carrier ambitions and connections with Project Fi. Perhaps there is a bigger objective in mind?
Back in October, Google announced that it would conduct tests in Indonesia next year and is also testing the project in Sri Lanka. Carrier tests with Vodafone in New Zealand, Telstra in Australia, and Telefonica in Latin America have also been run in the past, so the project seems very much alive.
US testing could begin as early as January 1st and may last up to 24 months. Keep an eye out for those balloons next year.
[Deal] Amazon slashes the price of its Fire Tablet, Fire TV Stick, Echo and other devices in Black Friday promotion
Black Friday craziness has descended upon us, with everyone and his dog discounting all the items under the sun trying to entice your hard-earned cash out of your wallet, or purse for that matter. Amazon is one of the biggest culprits, cutting prices on its Kindle and Fire hardware in the UK and the US, some of which were already cheap to start with.
Let’s deal with the UK first, and here Amazon has slashed the price of a couple of its tablets and the Fire TV Stick for today only.
- £34.99 – Fire Tablet (Was £49.99)
- £69.99 – Fire Kids Edition Tablet (Was £99.99)
- £24.99 – Fire TV Stick (Was £34.99)
While the Fire Kids Edition is reduced by a third, the Fire Tablet and Fire TV Stick look to be the better options for filling stockings. And unlike most stocking fillers, these will actually be appreciated, and most importantly, they will actually be used instead of being slung in a drawer somewhere until it’s time to re-gift them.
In the US, the home of Black Friday deals, Amazon has seemingly gone all out, cutting the prices of most, if not all of its devices ranging from Kindles to a variety of tablets and the Amazon Echo.
- $34.99 – Fire Tablet (Was $49.99) Ends Nov 29
- $24.99 – Fire TV Stick (Was $39.99) Ends Nov 29
- $34.99 – Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote (Was $49.99) Ends Nov 29
- $74.99 – All-new Fire TV (Was $99.99) Ends Dec 1
- $149.99 – Amazon Echo (Was $179.99)Ends Dec 1
- $69.99 – Kindle for Kids Bundle (Was $139.97) Ends Dec 1
- $99.99 – All-New Paperwhite Kindle (Was $119.99) Ends Dec 1
- $84.99 – All-new Fire Kids Edition Tablet (Was $99.99) Ends Dec 1
- $69.99 – Fire HD 6 Tablet (Was $99.99) Ends Dec 1
- $119.99 – Fire HD 6 Kids Edition (Was $149.99) Until Jan 31
- $249.99 – Kindle Voyage Essentials Bundle (Was 279.97) Until Jan 31
We’ll be scouring the internet in search of other great Black Friday deals throughout today, and probably the weekend as well, so keep you eyes glued to the site. Let us know what has taken your fancy in the comments below.
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[Deal] Save money on the Nest Cam and Thermostat at Amazon UK until December 1
Amazon may have slashed the prices on some of its own hardware as part of its Black Friday promotion, but there’s no shortage of deals from other brands on the global retailer’s website. Here we have a couple of devices that should help you flesh out your collection of home automation gadgets, courtesy of Nest.
You can keep a watchful eye over your home by picking up the Nest Cam from here for just £119, down from its usual price of £159. While the Nest Thermostat, which will allow you to control the heating in your home from near or far, is just £149 from here, giving a saving of £30. Both deals are available from, yes, you guessed it, Amazon UK.
Both the Nest Cam and Thermostat deals are available until December 1, so if you need to deliberate or perhaps convince someone that you need one or both devices, you have some time to do so.
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