Future batteries, coming soon: charge in seconds, last months and power over the air

While smartphones, smarthomes and even smart wearables are growing ever more advanced, they’re still limited by power. The battery hasn’t advanced in decades. But we’re on the verge of a power revolution.

Big technology companies, and now car companies that are making electric vehicles, are all too aware of the limitations of current lithium-ion batteries. While chips and operating systems are becoming more efficient to save power we’re still only look at a day or two of use on a smartphone before having to recharge. That’s why universities are getting involved.

We’ve seen a plethora of battery discoveries coming out of universities all over the world. Tech companies and car manufacturers are pumping money into battery development. And with races like Formula E adding pressure to improve, that technology is only going to get greater.

But while we’ve been writing about these developments for years there’s still nothing in our phones. This is because everyone is waiting for the perfect replacement before making the jump. That and commitments to current batteries thanks to manufacturing technique that cost a lot to change and existing deals for minerals being hard to break.

Next year is starting to shape up as the year batteries change. We’ve collected all the best battery discoveries that could be with us soon. From over the air charging to super-fast 30-second re-charging, you could be seeing this tech in your gadgets sooner than you think.

Graphene car batteries

Graphene batteries are the future. One company has developed a new battery, called Grabat, that could offer electric cars a driving range of up to 500 miles on a charge. 

Graphenano says the batteries can be charged to full in just a few minutes. It can charge and discharge 33 times faster than lithium ion. Discharge is also crucial for things like cars that want vast amounts of power to pull away quickly.

The capacity of the 2.3V Grabat is huge with around 1000 Wh/kg which compares to lithium ions current 180 Wh/kg. The best part of all this is that these batteries should be ready to go by mid way through 2016.

Laser-made microsupercapacitors

Rice Univeristy

Scientists at Rice University have made a breakthrough in microsupercapacitors. Currently they are expensive to make but using lasers that could soon change.

By using lasers to burn electrode patterns into sheets of plastic manufacturing costs and effort drop massively. The result is a battery that can charge 50 times faster than current batteries and discharge even slower than current supercapacitors. They’re even tough, able to work after being bent over 10,000 times in testing.

Sodium-ion batteries

RS2E

Sodium-ion batteries, that use salt, have been used in laptops following the creation of a prototype by the French network of researchers and industrial firms called RS2E.

This battery uses a standard that means it can be placed in laptops and even work in electric cars like the Tesla Model S.

The exact method on build and how it works are being kept secret but the 6.5cm battery can manage 90 watt-hours per kilogram, making it comparable to lithium-ion but with a 2000 cycle lifespan, which should be improved.

Foam batteries

The future of batteries is 3D. Prieto is the first company to crack this with its battery that uses a copper foam substrate.

This means these batteries will not only be safer, thanks to no flammable electrolyte, but they will also offer longer life, faster charging, five times higher density, be cheaper to make and be smaller then current offerings.

Prieto aims to place its batteries into small items first, like wearables. But it says the batteries can be upscaled so we could see them in phones and maybe even cars in the future. 

Solid-state batteries

MIT

Scientists at MIT, working with Samsung, have discovered solid-state batteries that are better than current lithium-ion efforts. These batteries should be safer, last longer and offer more power.

Current lithium-ion batteries rely on an electrolyte liquid to transport charged particles between the two electrodes. It’s this liquid that can be flammable and which degrades the battery, limiting life.

According to the MIT report these new batteries could be charged for hundreds of thousands of cycles before degrading. They could also provide a 20 to 30 per cent improvement in power density meaning that much more charge for whatever they are powering. And they aren’t flammable so they’re ideal for electric cars.

Nano ‘yolk’ triple capacity and charge in six minutes

MIT

Scientists at MIT have created a battery that triples the capacity of current offerings and can charge to full in just 6-minutes. It also does not degrade rapidly over time meaning it should last a long time.

The icing on the cake here is that production in inexpensive and easy to scale, so we could see the batteries appear soon.

READ: Nano ‘yolk’ batteries triple current capacity and charge full in six minutes

Aluminium graphite charges to full in one minute

Sky News

Scientists at Stanford University have developed an aluminium graphite battery that could replenish to full in a smartphone in just a minute.

Their aluminium graphite batteries are flexible, long lasting and charge ridiculously fast.

The only issue is they hold about half the power of a current lithium battery, but with charging to full in just a minute that’s not too much of a problem.

Alfa battery lasts 14 days and runs on water

A breakthrough in aluminium-air batteries means that in 2015 we will see the release of the Alfa battery that has 40 times the capacity of lithium-ion.

This battery will be able to recharge by simply being topped up with water, be it salty or normal. It should last a hefty 14 days, according to its creators Fuji Pigment and will be out later this year.

We’d expect to see these batteries appear in cars first – imagine a fuelling station being anywhere with a water tap. Hopefully mobiles will be next in line. 

While the aluminium-air battery has a whopping 8,100W/kg capacity and lithium-ion has 120-200Wh/kg it’s still lithium-air that comes out on top with 11,400Wh/kg – although when this will be available isn’t clear.

Flexible battery 

A team at Arizona State University have come up with a flexible battery using the ancient Japanese art of Kirigami.

Arizona State University

The result means smartwatches could use a flexible strap battery for longer life and smaller build. Looking a little further forward it’ll be ideal for weaving power into smart clothes that monitor our health.

The initial battery prototype is slightly larger than it could be, meaning it’s less flexible too. Despite this the scientists managed to power a Samsung Gear 2 using a flexible band with the batteries inside. This was stretchy enough to move from the wrist to the bicep, and move with flexing, while still powering the smartwatch.

The key here is that this uses current tech but just changes the way it’s developed. For that reason it could be mass-produced today. Get ready for thinner smartwatches plus clothing with brains and power built in, soon.

Skin power

Using the power of friction a device has been created that can harness electricity from a person’s skin. The result is enough power, from a finger tap on skin, to power 12 LED bulbs. The future could mean there are no need for batteries in wearables or smart clothes.

So how does it work? An electrode is used to harvest the current, so a 50nm-thick gold film is used. The gold film sits below a silicone rubber layer composed of thousands of tiny pillars that help create more surface area for skin contact, which creates more friction. Since the skin is a one of the triboelectric layers it means the device can be small.

Scientists have already shown off a wearable powered by the device. Next gadgets to use it? Hopefully everything.

Lumopack charges an iPhone 6’s worth in 6-minutes

The Lumopack is a portable battery that’s all about fast charging. The battery can fill up n just 6 minutes with enough to charge an iPhone 6 fully. Yes the iPhone will take longer to drain that power from the battery but you’ll have the Lumopack ready in that short time. 

The Lumopack, from Lyte Systems, will be fully charged in just 30-minutes. This is thanks to its charge rate at 140W, making it double the nearest competitor.

Currently on Kickstarter the Lumopack will be available from $79, which is about £50, and ships in October.

Foldable battery is paper-like but tough

The Jenax J.Flex battery has been developed to make bendable gadgets possible. The paper-like battery can fold and is waterproof meaning it can be made in clothing or wearables.

Carphone Warehouse

Imagine a battery built into the strap of a smartwatch, finally battery life on wearables won’t be such an issue while allowing the size of the devices to be shrunk down.

Another possible development from this advancement would be foldable tablets that you could fit into your pocket just like a phone. Then when you want a big screen view simply unfold the tablet and you’re all set for viewing.

The battery has already been created and has even been safety tested, including being folded over 200,000 times without losing performance.

uBeam over the air charging

uBeam uses ultrasound to transmit electricity. Power is turned into these sound waves to be transmitted and then converted back to power on reaching the device.

The uBeam concept was stumbled upon by 25-year-old astrobiology graduate Meredith Perry. She started the company that will make it possible to charge gadgets over the air using a 5mm thick plate. These transmitters can be attached to walls, or made into decorative art, to beam power to smartphones and laptops for example. The gadgets just need a thin receiver to be added in order to receive the charge.

Expect to see uBeam as a viable upgrade to your gadgets this year or early next.

Water dew powered batteries

This one is still in the early stages but MIT scientists have found a way to harvest power from water dew.

The device uses interleaved flat metal plates to produce power from the water dew in the air. Initial tests have produced small amounts of power, at 15 picowatts, or trillionths of a watt. But this can be tuned easily, says postdoc Nenad Milijkovic heading the project, to produce at least 1 microwatt.

While this small amount of power isn’t going to replace your charger, or keep it powered all day, it will be useful in more remote locations where no other power source is available and time isn’t too much of an issue. A charger the size of a coolbox lid should be able to fully charge a phone in 12 hours.

StoreDot charges mobiles in 30 seconds

The StoreDot charger, which works with current smartphones, was developed by StoreDot, a start-up born from the nanotechnology department at Tel Aviv University. The demo was made using a Samsung Galaxy S4 with a standard battery.

The superfast charging time was achieved using technology StoreDot has been developing. This includes biological semiconductors made from naturally occurring organic compounds known as peptides – short chains of amino acids – which are the building blocks of proteins. Similar to those used by body builders to grow bigger faster.

StoreDot also plans to release a charger capable of replenishing an electric car to full in just three minutes.

StoreDot will cost about £20 to make and should arrive in 2017.

Transparent solar charger

Alcatel has demoed a mobile phone with a transparent solar panel over the screen that would let users charge their phone by simply placing it in the sun.

Although it’s not likely to be commercially available until 2015, the company hopes that it will go some way to solving the daily issues of never having enough battery power.The phone will work with direct sunlight as well as standard lights, in the same way regular solar panels.

Energous WattUp

Revealed at CES 2015 the Energous WattUp is a router-like device that also uses radio waves to transmit but rather than data it dishes out power. A small adapter chip on the receiver device will allow it to harvest the energy from over the air at up to 20-feet away. 

Engadget

The catch? This won’t be available until 2016. But that could be a good thing as it gives gadget manufacturers time to include the charging chips in phones and the like so you don’t need to add that on.

Shawn West’s 26-second charge batteries 

Normal batteries use chemicals alone to hold charge in a battery, but Shawn West’s battery uses lithium-ion capacitors to store electrical energy. Previously these didn’t work so well as they dissipated too quickly. He’s managed to overcome that issue.

The battery is able to stay charged and continue holding that charge over long periods of time. So if you were to dig it out of a drawer it would be good as new and ready to go. And then to recharge it you only need plug it in for 26-seconds and it’s full again.

The project has broken its Kickstarter goal and should get made meaning you can own these very soon. Finger crossed it makes it to mobiles soon after.

Aluminium-air battery gives 1,100 mile drive on a charge

A car has been tested that managed to drive 1,100 miles on a charge. The secret to this super range is a type of battery technology called aluminium-air. This uses oxygen naturally occurring in the air to fill its cathode. This makes it far lighter than liquid filled lithium-ion batteries to give car a far greater range.

Aluminium-air batteries drain turning the metal into aluminium hydroxide which can then be recycled to make new batteries. That will mean swapping out batteries every few months. But since it’s so much lighter and cheaper than current efforts it should offer huge mileage and be affordable.

With the car industry throwing money at battery developments it might not be long before we see this tech under our bonnets.

Urine powered batteries

The Bill Gates Foundation is funding further research by Bristol Robotic Laboratory who discovered batteries that can be powered by urine. It’s efficient enough to charge a smartphone which the scientists have already shown off. But how does it work?

Using a Microbial Fuel Cell micro-organisms take the urine, break it down and output electricity – to put it simply. On a scale large enough to charge a smartphone there are several cells into which the urine is passed via tubes. The unit creates electricity and also expels a broken down version of the waste making it safer to dispose of.

With Bill Gates working on re-inventing the toilet we’re expecting the porcelain throne to become a source of power in the home soon.

Sound powered

Researchers in the UK have built a phone that is able to charge using ambient sound in the atmosphere around it.

The smartphone was built using a principle called the piezoelectric effect. Nanogenerators were created that harvest ambient noise and turn that into electric current. Effectively the phone can be powered from waste noise found around us all the time.

Impressively the nanorods respond to the human voice meaning that those chatty mobile users out there could actually be powering the phone as they talk. Maybe this will cause a resurgence in phone calls over messaging.

Tag Heuer Meridiist Infinite solar charged phone

Tag Heuer has announced a new version of its Meridiist luxury phone that uses solar to power the device.

Wysips Crystal is a transparent photovoltaic component placed between the screen’s and the LCD screen. It is invisible to the naked eye but the thin layer of cells charge automatically when exposed to light from the sun or artificial. They then power the battery.

Tag Heuer is yet to reveal the price of the self-charging device, but considering that the current Meridiist costs 3,900 euros (£3,221) you can expect to pay a fair bit more than that for one.

Twenty times faster charge, Ryden dual carbon battery

Power Japan Plus has already announced this new battery technology called Ryden dual carbon. Not only will it last longer and charge faster than lithium but it can be made using the same factories where lithium batteries are built.

The batteries use carbon materials which mean they are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than current alternatives. It also means the batteries will charge twenty times faster than lithium ion. They will also be hardier with the ability to last 3,000 charge cycles, plus they are safer with lower chance of fire or explosion.

Power Japan Plus has said it will begin producing 18,650 Ryden cells later this year. Hopefully we’ll start seeing these appear in mobile devices soon.

Organic battery, 97 per cent cheaper to make

One possible future of power could be in organic batteries if a recent MIT discovery makes it to production. Scientists have created an organic flow battery that costs only $27 per kilowatt-hour compared to metal batteries at $700 per killowatt-hour – nearly a 97 per cent saving.

Using quinone molecules, that are almost identical to those found in rhubarb, a battery was made that is not only as efficient as metal but that could also be made on a huge scale.

Sand battery gives three times more battery life

This alternative type of lithium-ion battery that uses sand to achieve three times better performance than current efforts.

The battery is still lithium-ion like that found in your smartphone, but it uses sand instead of graphite in the anodes. This means it’s not only three times better performing but it’s also low cost, non toxic and environmentally friendly.

Now for the science part. Scientists, at the University of California Riverside, have been focused on nano silicon for a while but it’s been degrading too quickly and is tough to produce in large quantities. By using sand it can be purified, powdered then ground with salt and magnesium before being heated to remove oxygen resulting in pure silicon. This is porous and three-dimensional which helps in performance and, potentially, the life-span of the batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries

Scientists in Japan are working on new types of batteries that don’t need lithium like your smartphone battery. These new batteries will use sodium, one of the most common materials on the planet rather than rare lithium – and they’ll be up to seven times more efficient than conventional batteries.

Research into sodium-ion batteries has been going on since the eighties in an attempt to find a cheaper alternative to lithium. By using salt, the sixth most common element on the planet, batteries can be made for cheaper and we won’t need to worry about lithium running out. With battery-powered cars on the increase it’s only a matter of time before lithium becomes too rare and expensive.

Commercialising the batteries is expected to begin for smartphones, cars and more in the next five to 10 years.

Upp hydrogen fuel cell charger

The Upp hydrogen fuel cell portable charger will be on sale in the coming months. It uses hydrogen to power your phone keeping you off the gird and remaining environmentally friendly.

One hydrogen cell will provide five full charges of a mobile phone (25Wh capacity per cell). And the only by-product produced is water vapour. A USB type A socket means it will charge most USB devices with a 5V, 5W, 1000mA output.

NTU fast charging battery

Scientists at Nanyang Technology University have created a battery that fast charges to 70 per cent in 2 minutes and has a life 10 times longer than current lithium-ion batteries.

The NTU battery should last for 10,000 charges according to its creators. 

The technology is currently being licenced by an unnamed company for production. While we’d love to see this in our phones soon the lead professor refers to electric cars when talking about the battery. “Electric cars will be able to increase their range dramatically, with just five minutes of charging, which is on par with the time needed to pump petrol for current cars,” said Professsor Chen. The longer battery life makes sense for those buying an electric car.

The 10,000-cycle battery should cut down battery replacement in cars and equate to a 15-minute charge for the entire car.

Nanobatteries

Nanobatteries are 80,000 times smaller than a human hair and can offer three times the capacity of current efforts while charging in just 12 minutes and working for thousands of cycles.

The nanobattery breakthrough was made by creating tiny “nanopores” that act like lots of little batteries which, in a honeycomb structure, make a full battery. 

The research was published by scientists at the university of Maryland who said: “We were blown away by the performance.” They attributed the enhanced performance to the short distances the electricity needs to travel, making the batteries far more efficient.

Google, Apple and Tesla

It’s not just scientists and start-ups working on improving battery life in your gadgets. Google recently hired a former Apple battery expert to work on improving current batteries as well as creating new ones. 

Tesla is constantly innovating in the battery space to help improve the efficiency and performance of its electric sports cars.

Apple is rumoured to be working on batteries, potentially, for a future Apple Car.

READ: Which mobile battery charger is best for you?

Watch gamers guide a real life Hitman Agent 47 on a killing spree

The first episode and prologue pack for Hitman will be released this Friday and to celebrate, Square Enix hired innovative production company Realm Pictures to stage a real life version of the game, with players controlling the movements of Agent 47.

Realm Pictures came to fame after it recreated real life first-person shooters for people on Chatroulette. It was approached to do something similar with Hitman, but has surpassed itself with the end results.

Invite-only contestants, including a team from Outside Xbox, had to control actor David Bateson, who was dressed as Agent 47, through an intricate mansion mission.

They had an hour to assassinate a target and escape unscathed, but like in the forthcoming game there were multiple ways that could be carried out. Costumes and different murder weapons could be found, worn or used.

Contestants could direct Bateson through the mission via radio and additional actors played the target, guards and other NPCs. It’s all quite brilliant.

Realm Pictures is already working on its next project, although it is yet to reveal what that will be.

“Trust me when I say that I cannot wait to show you what we have in store for you next,” said director David M Reynolds.

Apple iPhone 7: What’s the story so far?

The Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus launched in September 2015, but rumours have already started circulating for the Cupertino company’s next smartphones, which will likely be called the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, at least for the sake of this feature anyway.

Every year, normally in September, a new iPhone is released and every year the new device is speculated upon and leaked months and months in advance of its actual release. Some rumours turn out to be accurate, while others leave us disappointed.

This feature rounds up all those leaks and rumours in one place so you can easily see what the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus could bring. We will be updating this feature for the next, well eight months, so keep checking back for the latest but bear in mind nothing is confirmed so keep your excitement at bay.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Release date

Apple of course has confirmed absolutely nothing but if the last few years are anything to go by, it is likely the iPhone 7 and larger iPhone 7 Plus will appear sometime in the latter half of 2016.

The company usually holds an event shortly after the consumer electronics show IFA takes place in Berlin, notably never attending the show or using it as a launch platform unlike competitors. This year’s IFA takes place from 2 September to 7 September 2016.

The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus launched on Wednesday 9 September, which was the last day of IFA 2015. If Apple follows the same pattern, Wednesday 7 September could be the date we need to pencil in our diaries. It’s anybody’s guess at the moment though.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Design

Apple has followed a traditional release pattern in the past when it comes to design. Every two years, the iPhone gets a design spruce up and as 2015 was the “S” year, the iPhone 7 should see some more prominent changes than the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus presented.

Rumour has it the iPhone 7 will be slimmer than its predecessors. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims it will be between 6mm and 6.5mm, which would mean slicing at least 0.6mm off the current iPhone 6S. 

A patent for a new slimmer, D-shaped headphone plug was apparently filed by Apple, which could help with allowing for a slimmer design given a smartphone can only be as slim as its largest component. That said, there are already Lightning headphones available so it would probably make sense for Apple to do away with the headphone jack altogether. Afterall, it had no problem getting rid of other ports for the new MacBook. That’s exactly what MacOtakara claims Apple is going to do, claiming the iPhone 7 will not have a headphone jack but will use the Lightning port instead.

It has been also suggested the iPhone 7 could come with a different chassis to the iPhone 6S, which is made from 7000 series aluminium. Apparently, next year’s iPhone could see a non-metal frame with waterproofing and dustproofing features, although liquidmetal has also been thrown about the speculation field. Apple hasn’t always used aluminium for its iPhones, with polycarbonate and glass backs both making an appearance in previous models. To move from the 7000 series aluminium after just a year would seem like a strange move though. 

Other claims have led to the rumour of the Home button waving goodbye for the iPhone 7 with Touch ID placed into the display instead. This button offers more than just Touch ID however, but perhaps the 3D Touch technology introduced for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be developed further for the next-gen iPhone to incorporate the other functions of the Home button. We aren’t convinced though, especially given there have been other rumours suggesting a patent was filed that would allow the Home button to detect gestures, as well as force. 

There has also been a report supporting the idea that the iPhone 7 will be waterproof, as we suggested above. Videos of the iPhone 6S surviving water submersion for half an hour are already online. It is thought Apple wanted to launch this as waterproof but wasn’t happy it would work well enough.

A patent found by Apple Insider shows a new waterproofing system that uses active electronic shutters to block off ports from water damage. The source says: “At the command of an onboard logic, these shutter mechanisms can quickly block acoustic pathways – portholes – from damaging physical contaminants, potentially saving hundreds of dollars in repair costs.”

A Weibo user called G for Games has claimed Apple is working on five different prototypes of the iPhone 7, each of which has its own hardware features. USB Type-C has been thrown about, as has wireless charging, and Touch ID moving into the display has also been speculated here.

More recently, MacRumors reported a source claims the iPhone 7’s design will be similar to that of the iPhone 6, with two differences. Apparently the antenna bands across the rear will be removed for a cleaner all-metal look, while the camera lens will sit flush rather than protrude like it does currently. It has also been suggested the iPhone 7 Plus will come with a dual-lens rear camera.

OnLeaks

Leaked iPhone 7 case photos from @OnLeaks show the usual power port and appear to show a home button. But since the case doesn’t have a front and the printed template appears to be an iPhone 6S anything is still possible. The case also shows dual speaker ports at the rear on the handset. Check out the rest of the leaked shots in the gallery above.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Display

As we mentioned, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus arrived with a new technology called 3D Touch and we’d fully expect to see this appear on the iPhone 7 next year, although it has been rumoured this could evolve to multi-force touch.

At the moment there are three sizes of iPhone available – 4-inch, 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch. If Apple update the iPhone 5S at all, this is likely to happen earlier than the other two devices, probably March. You can read more about the rumoured iPhone 5SE in our separate feature here. For September though, we would hedge our bets on a new 4.7-inch and a new 5.5-inch device at the very least. It wouldn’t surprise us too much if the 4.7-inch size increased slightly but the footprint of the device itself remained the same, which could be achieved if the rumour of the Touch ID button disappearance became a reality for example.

The iPhone 6S has a 1334 x 750 resolution display (326ppi), while the iPhone 6S Plus has a 1920 x 1080 resolution (401ppi), both of which put their pixel densities at less than competing devices of the same sizes. There have been no rumours as yet to suggest Apple will be increasing the display resolution for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, but Mac Otakara has said its sources claim the next-gen iPhone will feature a “completely flat” LCD display. This presumably refers to the cover glass, which is currently curved, leading nicely to the device’s edge. 

A 3D display has also been suggested after the Economic Daily News claimed that TPK, an Apple supply chain partner was working on a naked eye 3D screen. We would take this with a big pinch of salt though.

According to ETNews Apple has ordered OLED screens from Samsung which is may use in the iPhone 7. Samsung and LG are reportedly close to a deal where they will spend £12 billion to increase OLED production capacity. Apple already uses OLED displays in its Watch models so a move to add those to its phones makes sense. OLED offers a greater contrast ratio while using less power than LCD.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Camera

The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus saw a bump in camera megapixels, which was a long time coming and therefore we don’t expect Apple to introduce another bump for the iPhone 7. At least not in sensor size.

However, that’s not to say the iPhone 7 camera won’t see new features or functions.

Apple recently acquired a company called LinX, which makes 3D camera sensors that are said to match DSLRs in terms of performance, despite their size. Apparently these cameras have depth-sensing abilities make them useful for facial recognition, 3D scanning and post-shot refocusing, according to MacWorld.

A dual-lens design for the iPhone 7 has also been claimed, along with better low-light performance. And that’s exactly what analyst from KGI Securities, Mind-Chi Kuo claims will appear. This has also been supported by MacRumors, although this site claims only the iPhone 7 Plus will get the dual-lens setup. It has been said the iPhone 7 will offer a more “traditional” camera, but that it will sit flush with the rear, as we mentioned earlier.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Hardware

With every new iPhone comes a new processor. We are currently on the A9 within the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, so you can expect an A10 processor for the iPhone 7, along with an M10 motion coprocessor. Rumour has it the new chip will focus on improving battery life, which we can’t see anyone complaining about. 

There have been reports to suggest Intel and Qualcomm are battling it out to win the contract for the iPhone 7’s new LTE chip, while a Weibo-based rumour highlighted by MacWorld claims the new iPhone chip will offer six cores rather than the dual-cores in the current iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

According to one report Apple will bump up the RAM to 3GB in the iPhone 7. That will make it the most RAM filled iPhone yet as the current iPhone 6S has 2GB onboard.

Wireless charging has also been discussed within iPhone 7 rumours, although this would require Apple to either do something very clever, or say bye-bye to a metal body, which we aren’t convinced it will do.

In terms of storage, we would hope to see the iPhone 7 get rid of the 16GB option and re-introduce a 32GB model instead. A report from Chinese site MyDrivers has claimed the iPhone7 Plus will come in a 256GB option and the battery capacity will increase from the 2915mAh in the iPhone 6S Plus to 3100mAh. The site didn’t detail the battery capacity expected for the iPhone 7 but suggested the larger storage would only be available in the Plus model.

Apple doesn’t do storage expansion via microSD so we don’t expect to see that change for the iPhone 7.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Software

There is no doubt that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will debut with iOS 10, which we will hear more about at WWDC in June. For now, we don’t know what it will bring, but you can expect new features and functions like every other software update.

Some rumours have suggested a gesture-based passcode system will be employed for the iPhone 7, following another patent grant, although patents should definitely be taken with a pinch of salt as many never see the light of day.

Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Conclusion

There are only a couple of things you can be almost sure about when it comes to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The first is that they will more than likely arrive in September 2016, the second is they will come with a chip called the A10 and the third is that they will debut iOS 10 software.

For now, everything else is speculation and will continue to be for the next year. We will of course keep you updated on all the rumours as we hear them, at least the ones we think are even remotely plausible, so keep checking back.

3DNes adds another dimension to classic NES games

While Nintendo and Sega have given us a handful of “3D classics” for the Nintendo 3DS, a new emulator promises to open up the field considerably. 3DNes is a Unity-based emulator that, as the name suggests, converts NES games into 3D.

Unlike SNES games, which have four background layers, NES games have a single layer for the entire background, making automatic 3D conversion tricky. According to the developer, 3DNes is based on an algorithm that analyses and separates flat backgrounds into singular, 3D objects. It’s not just simply stretching out pixels on another axis, either: round objects are rendered as spherical or tubular shapes.

Super Mario Bros. is by far the most successfully emulated title here — even if the early beta footage has the plumber stuck running backwards for part of a level. Other games with fairly simple 3D backgrounds, like Mega Man, are also pretty effective, while highly complex games like Contra and Castlevania struggle. There’s been some discussion as to whether the developer, Geod Studio, is tailoring the algorithm on a game-by-game basis, but he claims that the algorithm has been written for and tested extensively with Super Mario Bros., which is why there’s a gap in quality between it and other titles.

Geod Studio hopes to improve the number of games that work well through subsequent beta releases. “If the emulator can render decently [even one tenth of] NES game collection,” it’s already a big success for me,” Geod’s Trần Vũ Trúc told users on the TASVideos message board. He also suggests that there might be the potential for users to individually tailor the emulator for certain games, but he wants to ensure there’s “a strong emulation engine as the backbone” first.

Right now 3DNes is in a pretty sorry state. It’s available online in a WebGL Unity player, which is extremely unstable and only works in Firefox. We managed to get a test ROM to load only after switching to an AMD graphics card, but nothing else worked. Trần acknowledges that the web Unity player isn’t great, and says subsequent betas will be available in an executable format. For now, you’re probably better of wistfully watching all the videos Geod has uploaded to YouTube, and patiently waiting.

Via: Eurogamer, Reddit

Source: 3DNes, TASVideos

ICYMI: ESA’s Mars mission, amputee touch and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: The European Space Agency is sending a probe to Mars to, among other things, detect whether the atmosphere detects gas to indicate ‘biological activity’ on the planet. Researchers at the EPFL have designed a sensor that can detect texture on surfaces, raising the potential that people with amputated limbs could get feeling back in the limbs that are gone by connecting devices on their arms, then syncing it to their new sensor finger. DIY electronics makers will be into the soldering with room temperature metal.

If you have kids, you already know connected plush toys are a trend. The Toymail Talkie is the latest option that also has the craziest video. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

Bezos’ Blue Origin wants to fly tourists to space by 2018

Blue Origin could be offering commercial suborbital space flights as soon as 2018. Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder, has revealed his team’s plans for the coming years during an event that showed off Blue Origin’s headquarters to the press for the first time. Bezos’ space company wasn’t making as much noise as, say, SpaceX, until it successfully launched, landed and then actually reused a reusable rocket before anyone else. Clearly, that did wonders for the team’s confidence.

To prepare for future space tourists, Blue Origin will build six New Shepard (its reusable rocket’s name) vehicles. Each one will be able to carry up to six passengers 62 miles above the Earth for a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the planet only astronauts can see in person at the moment. In fact, the company’s next two vehicles, which it’s already putting together, will already have windows people can peek through.

According to Bezos, the once-secretive company will fly test pilots next year and will push through with its goal of taking paying customers to suborbital space in 2018 if all goes well. Since there’s always a chance that something won’t go well — Virgin Galactic lost SpaceShipTwo when it crashed in 2014 — the company could still adjust its timeline. Bezos hasn’t announced a ticket price yet, but he did say that it’ll be able to compete with what other private companies charge. Virgin Galactic started selling tickets for SpaceShipTwo flights years ago for $250,000 each, so expect Blue Origin’s to be in the six figures, as well.

Source: Reuters, The New York Times

Early iPhone 7 Case Has No Headphone Jack and Stereo Speaker Cutouts

While the iPhone 7 is not expected to launch until September, French leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer has shared photos one of the first cases prepared for Apple’s next-generation flagship smartphone.

The case has a larger cutout for either a traditional camera and LED flash setup, or possibly dual cameras. There are also two openings for stereo speakers in lieu of a 3.5mm headphone jack on current iPhones.

iPhone 7 case with larger cutout for dual-lens camera (Image: OnLeaks)
The aftermarket case’s form factor closely resembles an iPhone 6s overall, with cutouts for a possible all-in-one Lightning connector, pill-shaped volume buttons, and side-facing power button in their traditional places.

Early case leaks have historically been fairly accurate indicators of new iPhone designs, though there have been a few notable exceptions. The first cases for Apple’s purported iPhone SE surfaced last week ahead of its expected March 21st launch.

The case also has openings for stereo speakers on the bottom (Image: OnLeaks)
Multiple rumors have also claimed the iPhone 7 will feature a dual-lens camera system. The hardware could be based on technology Apple acquired from LinX Imaging, which could lead to brighter and clearer DSLR-quality photos and several other major advantages for the iPhone 7 cameras.

Meanwhile, Barclays analysts believe the iPhone 7 will have dual speakers supplied by Cirrus Logic, an Austin-based provider of analog and digital signal processing components for consumer electronics. Stereo speakers could be louder and route audio signals through two channels to simulate direction perception.

Update: A previous version of this article said the case has a cutout for dual cameras, but the opening may only be large enough for a traditional single camera and LED flash setup. Some rumors claim the dual camera setup may be exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus, which reportedly may be called the iPhone Pro.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Huawei plans to ‘change the way you see the world’ next month in London

Huawei has sent out invitations to the media for an upcoming event, which is set to take place next month in London. With the tagline “Change the way you see the world,” the world’s number three smartphone manufacturer is expected to announce the P9.

According to recent leaks, we’re looking at a handset that will be powered by an octa-core Kirin 950 processor and 3GB of RAM. It is also said to have 32GB of internal storage (no word on expansion), a 3900mAh battery, as well USB-C connectivity.

Things are still up in the air and we recommend you take the leaks with at least a spoon-full of salt until we bring you the latest from the Huawei event in April.

HTC could make Google’s Nexus phones for the next three years

The Nexus smartphone for 2016 could be manufactured by HTC. That’s a rumour that has been circulating for some time, but it could be the beginning of a new partnership spanning the next three years.

According to sources of Chinese site MyDrivers, HTC has signed a contract with Google’s parent company Alphabet that makes it the Nexus smartphone manufacturer for the next three years. The deal, said to last three years, may involve HTC manufacturing more than one phone a year.

What’s unclear is if HTC will be the sole manufacturer. In 2015 the Nexus 6P was made by Huawei while the Nexus 5X was built by LG and we’ve seen other manufacturers lining up Nexus tablets too. From the MyDrivers wording it appears HTC has the entire Nexus contract, but that could easily be a mistranslation or misinterpretation.

HTC kicked off the Nexus programme with the Nexus One and has been struggling with smartphone sales of late. A longer-term Nexus deal could be a welcome relief for company and give HTC time to regain form.

The future of the Nexus programme has seen a lot of debate recently – not only surrounding the next device manufacturer – but also the nature of the programme itself. It was reported that Google wanted to move it from a partnership with a manufacturer, to an arrangement more like the Pixel programme, where it directly designs the device itself.

HTC would be a good choice: inking a three-year deal would provide some consistency, and HTC has a long history in OEM manufacture. This could be the future of the Nexus programme and it could be very different to how it has operated in the past.

READ: Next Nexus (2016): What’s the story so far?

The Division: Crazy goings-on and how to stop the safehouse trolls

The Division has only been out a day and already it’s throwing up some bizarre memes and talking points.

As soon as the servers went live at 0.01am in Australia on Tuesday, 8 March, players could jump into the most hyped game on the planet right now and it only took some a matter of minutes to realise that they could do things that were either funny, interesting or simply made other players’ lives Hell.

The biggest issue that was discovered was that, although for the vast majority of time in the game you never see other players unless you invite them into or are invited to be part of a team, when you are in one of the several safehouses dotted around Manhatten (and Brooklyn at the start of the game) you will be joined by others that are online at the same time. And some of the more troll-like of them have found that when they stand in a doorway, other players can’t get round them and out to the action.

READ: Tom Clancy’s The Division review: First five hours and our first impressions

Sadly, that’s thanks to a rare feature that was clearly added to improve the game experience rather than hinder it.

The Division issues

Unlike other MMORPGs, with which The Division shares a lot of DNA, Ubisoft chose to give each player model collision detection. That means you cannot simply pass through another player if you are in a safehouse or base. Usually, in games like Elder Scrolls Online, you phase through other players so they cannot get in your way.

By making everybody solid, that has presented a few issues. The doorway can be blocked by idiots. And areas in the safehouses that you need to access, such as the laptop for matchmaking with other gamers, can only be used by a set few at a time.

The doorway issue is the most annoying, but the laptop one has created some funnier moments – not least, queuing. As seen on posts by Twitter user @ncbjd and several YouTube clips like this…

We suspect Ubisoft will be looking to push a solution for both problems, maybe remove player collision detection in safehouses altogether, although you would still need it in the PVP areas in the Dark Zone, for example. For now though, some Reddit users have found what they claim to be solutions for getting in or out of a doorway blocked by a griefer.

How to stop The Division doorway trolls, here’s a fix

According to inaudible101, if you run rather than walk at the other player you will phase through them after a few seconds. You must keep going though until you phase through. Turning will reset the process.

It’s a trick confirmed by one of the developers at Ubisoft’s Massive studio.

Apparently, it also works in the Dark Zone to prevent players trapping each other in corners.

We haven’t tried the fix ourselves as we’ve not been able to find any griefers in the last couple of hours. Maybe they’ve all got bored and wandered off. Oh, we should be so lucky.

Another fix apparently works on the first safehouse you encounter. Reddit user Zaphrell suggests that by highlighting the wall behind the troll on the outside of the room, you can run through them as part of the cover routine. We haven’t been able to get that to work anywhere else however.

The Division tips, tricks and hilarious moments

Whenever we find anything else in the game that we think is noteworthy or makes us giggle like school children, we’ll post them here in updates.