Xiaomi unveils a 360-degree camera with IP67 rating and 6-axis EIS

The Mi Panoramic Camera has two 16MP lenses and can shoot 7K stills.

Xiaomi rolled out a 4K action camera as well as a $330 mirrorless camera under its Yi sub-brand, and the company has now unveiled a 360-degree camera, called the Mi Panoramic Camera. The camera retails for ¥1,699 ($250), and features two 16MP fisheye lens (each with 190-degree field of view) that use Sony’s IMX206 imaging sensor.

The camera is powered by an Ambarella A12 image signal processor, which stitches images from the two lenses to create 7K stills (6912 x 3456), as well as videos at a resolution of 2456 x 1728 and 30fps. The camera can also shoot 60fps video at a resolution of 2304 x 1152.

There’s a 6-axis EIS (electronic image stabilisation) system that Xiaomi claims will allow you to shoot smooth video under “extreme sport conditions.” The camera is IP67 water and dust resistant, and has a 1600mAh battery that lets you record for up to 75 minutes. It also has Wi-Fi connectivity, four shooting modes, a microSD slot that can take in cards up to 128GB, and fast charging. It weighs just 108g and has dimensions of 78×67.4x24mm.

Overall, a great camera for its price tag, as is the case with most Xiaomi products. It’s now up for sale in China, and it’s unlikely Xiaomi will bring it to other markets. You can pick it up from third-party sellers, but you’ll have to pay a $70 premium.

OnePlus is doing everything right lately

The amazing story of OnePlus figuring out how to make great products people want.

A strange thing has happened between mid-2016 and today: OnePlus stopped screwing up.

The company that was notorious for poorly-considered marketing campaigns and forcing customers to wait months in virtual lines for new phones has improbably and wholeheartedly corrected course over the past nine months, turning into, at least from the outside, a well-run and confident machine. After releasing the OnePlus 3 in June of 2016 — a phone that our Andrew Martonik called “a downright great smartphone” — the company has begun manufacturing its phones in India to meet growing demand, expanded its profitable and surprisingly good accessories line, and ironed out its logistics enough to ship phones to order for the first time in its existence.

Then, in November, OnePlus surprised everyone by releasing an upgraded version of its then-three month-old flagship phone, and was among the first third-party manufacturers to release Android 7.1.1 only months after just hitting its target for a Nougat update.

A year ago…

OnePlus is hardly recognizable, in a good way.

A year ago, a list this breathless and expansive would have seemed impossible to anyone looking at how the company was being run. A mass exodus (or a planned consolidation, depending on who you speak to) of its software development team made apparent that the company was, at times, chasing its own tail, trying to decide how to best manage its explosive growth on a shoestring budget. But the company bore the criticism relatively well, admitting fault when necessary while doubling down on the core, early-adopter audience that gave it life back when it debuted in 2014.

Today, the company regularly releases software updates for both of its 3-series phones, and as I sit here with a newly-released Midnight Black OnePlus 3T running Android 7.1.1 Oxygen OS Open Beta 4, if you must know), I am simply floored at its uniformity, at how utterly cohesive and mature the thing feels, and how OnePlus managed to figure out how best to sell its products — that is, by doing simple and good better than any other smartphone manufacturer.

With release of the limited edition Midnight Black OnePlus 3T, it’s clear the company’s marketing machine is in rhythm with its product and logistics divisions, eking out as much goodwill and return business during the natural year-long product cycle before the whole thing begins again.

Midnight Black

Yes, it’s merely an updated color of an existing phone, itself a minor refresh of an existing phone, but the Midnight Black OnePlus 3T is a really stunning piece of hardware. Moreover, after using it for a few days, it’s hard to imagine OnePlus ever falling considerably behind the competition again in terms of industrial design or build quality, nor — despite my own public concerns — reverting to a poor state of Android software quality.

Indeed, the worst criticism one can level against OnePlus’s software is that it too quickly abandons its aging product lineup — the OnePlus 2, released in 2015, isn’t getting Nougat anytime soon — but the same can be said of Samsung, LG and many companies.

Using the OnePlus 3T is a joy; it just works. Performance is superb, and the latest beta (which will eventually roll out to all users) addresses the touch latency problems that were evident on early Nougat builds. And there are some subtle things that I really like: the haptic engine is tuned just perfectly to my taste, even at its default setting. Tapping away on the keyboard evinces the exact right feedback response. The front fingerprint sensor, which doubles as a home button if you want it to, is incredibly fast, as is launching the camera, which I have done dozens of times to use the excellent rear sensor.

Using the OnePlus 3T is a joy; it just works.

Of course, the 5.5-inch 1080p panel isn’t the most accurate or brightest out there, and it’s framed by large top and bottom bezels that, after using the LG G6 and Galaxy S8, make the phone seem oversized and awkward in one hand. I have no doubt OnePlus plans to address this — as do most manufacturers with any aspirations of greatness — with the 3T’s successor, but the design will look increasingly dated as the year rolls on. Still, this is a good phone, mainly for the fundamentals. And for that black.

I’ve heard the term “murdered out” to describe the exact shade of black that has become increasingly common on phones like the Galaxy Note 7, Galaxy S7,
and, now, the OnePlus 3T, and I think that’s fair. This thing isn’t pitch dark — it shimmers in the light — but it carries the smooth, aggressive confidence of a much more expensive product.

Come a long way

Being just a regular OnePlus 3T in a new shade is one thing; the other part of the equation is the beta build I’m running, which should be rolling out more widely in the coming weeks.

I feel like I could hand the OnePlus 3T to anyone and not worry about the learning curve.

Open Beta 4 is still based on Android 7.1.1, but adds some major improvements to the launcher, which is quickly becoming my favorite manufacturer skin around. It now has a Pixel Launcher-like app drawer, which you swipe up from the bottom which, combined with the widely-loved ‘swipe-down-for-notifications’ gesture, brings it as close to perfect as I would want. It also supports icon packs, and comes with two excellent ones pre-loaded — I highly recommend Dives if you aren’t using a OnePlus 3/3T — that just keep everything looking fresh and clean.

Here’s the thing: I feel like I can hand this phone to someone who has never used Android before and feel confident in his or her ability to just pick it up and get to know the operating system. OnePlus has its fair share of gimmicks hidden in the settings — why would you want to draw an ‘O’ to activate the camera when double-pressing the power button does the same thing much more intuitively — but they’re few and far between, and don’t distract from the first-on experience.

A year later

I didn’t expect OnePlus to get to this point so quickly; I thought it had a couple more years of growing pains yet. But I’m incredibly encouraged by what I’m seeing, both from an end user and company culture perspective.

It appears to have found some much-needed equilibrium to balance out the frenetic momentum that kept it afloat until now. The fact that the Midnight Black OnePlus 3T is just $479, undercutting many other high-end Android phones by more than $200, further sweetens the pot. As Alex Dobie pointed out in this smart piece, it seems that OnePlus plans to depress its handset prices indefinitely, even if it takes a loss on the hardware, to further other aspects of the business.

[These peripherals, like bags and headphones], say a lot about the growth of OnePlus as a brand, and hints at how it might make the bulk of its profit further down the line. The company has admitted that it makes very little profit on sales of phones like the OnePlus One, 2 and 3. That’s no surprise when you’re shipping devices with cutting-edge specs around the $400 mark.

But look at the accessories and gear sections of OnePlus’s store. It’s packed with much higher-margin items like branded power banks, earbuds and chargers, not to mention bags and clothing. By ensuring every customer feels like they belong to the OnePlus family, they’re more likely to fork out for more expensive accessories either at the point of purchase, or further down the line. (The 3T also has a OnePlus Community app preloaded, which plays into that strategy.)

The phones, the community, the exclusivity, fosters a user base that makes people want to invest further in the brand. That OnePlus is a much more coherent, self-assured company with a working logistics arm that ships phones on time to match its ambitious sales goals is a bonus, and one that puts it in good stead for 2017 and beyond.

See at OnePlus

OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3

• OnePlus 3T review: Rekindling a love story
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Gboard update adds a floating keyboard, cursor control, and GIF suggestions

Gboard is turning into the most feature-rich keyboard around.

Gboard has picked up a significant update to version 6.2 that introduces a slew of new features. In one-handed mode, you now have the ability to resize and reposition the keyboard, allowing you to move the keyboard to a location where it’s comfortable to use. All you have to do is switch to one-handed mode, select the pop-out icon from the bottom left (or right, based on the orientation) of the keyboard, and move it around the display.

You can also rearrange the toolbar (the icons that show up when you hit the short arrow to the left of the keys) to fit your oft-used actions in the top row of the keyboard. The toolbar now has an action menu next to the voice dictation icon, and selecting it allows you to move the icons around.

Other new additions include a text editing tool that gives you fine-grained control for selecting, cutting, copying, and pasting text. You’re not going to need it for chat conversations, but if you’re editing a large document on your phone, the new utility comes in handy. The tool has arrows that let you quickly select large portions of text, and there’s also a Select All button if you want to copy the entire contents of a document to another location.

Finally, Google is bringing GIF suggestions to Gboard. You’ll now see GIF recommendations for common phrases, which will presumably liven up your conversations. The update is now live for those on the beta track, and should be rolling out to all Gboard users shortly.

The best Android keyboard

Nougat is rolling out to the Sprint Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+

Nougat for 2015-era phones, thanks to Samsung and Sprint.

The 2015-era Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ are getting their Nougat updates on Sprint today. The phones, which are still in use by millions around the world, were promised an update to Android 7.0 back in January, and it’s great to see Samsung (and its carrier partners) following through on their claim with relative haste.

The Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ benefit from the same simplification and lightening of the UI as its newer counterparts — though perhaps not to the same extent, if past years are any indication — along with the March security patch.

There’s no word on when other variants of the Note 5 and GS6 edge+ will receive Nougat, but we’ll keep an eye out.

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Galaxy S8’s Snapchat-like filters are the perfect tool for Instagram

You hate Snapchat. You wish you could get the funny effects without installing the app. This is the answer!

I see you: the Snapchat naysayers with the app icon secretly stashed at the back of the Home screen. You know you give yourself away if you post a filtered selfie to Instagram Stories, right?

Perhaps you should consider the Galaxy S8 as your next smartphone. It comes chock full of Snapchat-like filters already baked into the phone’s native camera app, and they’re just as much of a delight to use as the ones they imitate. Their inclusion is also a nice compromise for anyone who loves the idea of silly augmented reality camera effects but doesn’t want to deal with Snapchat’s often sluggish Android app.

Like the real thing

A sampling of the Galaxy S8’s filter effects.

I had a chance to play around with the Galaxy S8’s filter effects at a media briefing a few weeks back. They looked high definition in the view finder and seemed more responsive to subtle body movements, at least compared to my experience with Snapchat. Samsung’s inherent facial recognition feature is likely the reason for why tracking felt so fast. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to test the effects with another person in the picture.

The Galaxy S8’s built-in filters will be great for Instagram Stories users.

The Galaxy S8’s built-in filters will be especially beneficial for Instagram users who don’t typically have access to augmented reality effects for their Stories. They won’t have to maintain a dual app life, either, and have to switch between using Snapchat, saving and exporting to the camera roll, and then importing back into Instagram. It’s easier to do it all with the default camera app, which is also more user-friendly.

Interestingly, Snapchat users won’t be reaping many benefits from the built-in filter effects on the Galaxy S8. Any photos or videos that are not produced with the Snapchat app fail to translate. The app has an extremely clunky import mechanism, likely to discourage others from using other apps, and thus, any media imported through the camera roll is published with an accosting white border around it.

Will the kids like it?

Snapchat’s famous puppy dog filter.

Snapchat has this reputation — and rightfully so — of being the young millennials app, which is why this feels like such an obvious ploy for the youths. But this could also turn out to be one of Samsung’s smartest marketing ploys, particularly if the filters take off worldwide and the people using them are prolific on social media.

If the filters included with the Galaxy S8 were specially designed for Samsung’s devices, that means that anyone posting content made with those filters is representing Samsung, in some capacity. It’s in the same vein as Snapchat’s puppy dog filter; when people see someone posting a picture with the puppy dog filter, they immediately associate with the Snapchat app.

This could turn out to be one of Samsung’s smartest marketing ploys.

If this sort of thing catches on as a mainstream camera effect, much like how Instagram-like vintage photo filters are now bundled into most default camera apps, perhaps we should all look forward to a future abundant in augmented reality photo effects.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

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Comcast, ‘the worst company in America’, just launched cellular service

Comcast is launching cellular service through its Xfinity subbrand in partnership with Verizon.

Comcast, the enormous cable, internet and content creation behemoth, just launched cellular service despite owning no actual wireless spectrum.

The company, which owns NBCUniversal along with its massive Comcast Cable division, will offer 4G LTE service under the Xfinity Mobile brand, in partnership with Verizon, which powers the actual cellular part of the proposition. The other part is automatic access to Comcast’s 16 million wireless hotspots peppered around the country, which will be open to all Xfinity Wireless customers through a simple authentication process that uses the other Xfinity apps and services to verify a customer’s identity.

But Xfinity Wireless will not be available to everyone; it’s a bundle-only deal for existing Xfinity cable or internet customers (pdf), and will differ in price per line depending on how much one already spends with the company.

“Xfinity Mobile benefits customers by bundling wireless service with Comcast’s other Xfinity experiences. With Xfinity Mobile, customers only pay for the gigabytes they use, with the flexibility to easily switch back-and-forth between data options using the Xfinity Mobile app at no cost.”

The idea is pretty straightforward: existing Xfinity customers can sign up for unlimited wireless service for $65 per line, up to five lines. Top-tier Xfinity X1 customers, though, get the service for $45 per line, but at this point it’s not clear what that minimum spend is. But despite being called unlimited, wireless service is throttled after 20GB per line, which is lower than Verizon’s own unlimited throttling policy.

The other way to get service is by the gigabyte: each line can spend $12 per gigabyte, which works out to be cheaper if the user stays under 5GB per month. Users can go back and forth between the two options, so if it appears that one line is going to spend more than $65 per month in a la carte data, it can switch to the unlimited option with no penalties.

The offering is, technology-wise, very similar to Google’s Project Fi in that Xfinity Mobile is acting as an MVNO, facilitating a mix of wireless and easily-accessible Wi-Fi hotspots around the U.S. The major difference, though, is that Comcast is generally disliked by most of its customers (it was voted “the worst company in America” two years ago), and plans to bundle its bevy of entertainment options with each phone:

When using Xfinity Mobile, you’re already signed into your other Xfinity apps – whether it’s watching up to 200 live TV channels and 40K On Demand movies and shows with the Xfinity Stream app, or controlling your home devices from the road with the Xfinity Home app.

Comcast says that customers will be able to manage all of their mobile services, including adding and removing lines, buying more data or switching plans, or cancelling service, through the Xfinity Mobile app.

And while the company is entirely a wireless MVNO right now, working exclusively with Verizon, it has bid in the now-closed 600MHz wireless auction, so it’s possible it could launch 4G LTE service of its own in the near future, at least in some parts of the country.

When it launches in the coming months (no word on a specific launch date yet) it will offer a range of phones, including the latest devices from Samsung, LG and Apple, according to a press release.

Are you into this at all? If you’re an Xfinity customer, are the prices preferable to your current plan, unlimited or not? Let us know in the comments!

ICYMI: Zip lines for astronaut emergencies

Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers at Aalto University have found a way to make clothing truly recyclable via a process called Ioncell. An ionic solvent dissolves the cellulose found in natural fibers, leaving behind the synthetic parts of the blend. The dissolved material can be extracted, reconstituted, then respun and woven into cloth which can then be reused. It’s not perfect since it doesn’t work on those synthetic weaves, but it could make the fashion industry a lot less wasteful.

Meanwhile, Boeing and United Launch Alliance (ULA) recently discovered a new use for the zip lines: Emergency egress systems for astronauts. While passengers of the CST-100 Starliner already have an emergency procedure for after the rocket’s engines have fired up (standard ejection system that parachutes them safely away), NASA requires there also be a solution for before the engines are lit. The modified zip lines would be mounted on the crew access tower so that astronauts can navigate to the exit hatch and control the brake-controlled handles by touch alone.

As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @Dameright.

Zunum Aero’s hybrid planes could halve the cost of US flights

Boeing and JetBlue have backed a little-known company called Zunum Aero — and for good reason. The startup is three years into the development of small planes powered by hybrid-electric propulsion, which it says can “pave the way to a golden era of fast and affordable electric air travel.” Zunum’s planes promise to make local flights a more feasible alternative to traveling by car or high-speed trains. The 10-to-50-seater aircraft will cut travel time by 40 to 80 percent, so if you’re flying from Silicon Valley to LA, it’ll only take around two-and-a-half hours instead of five. Thanks to the planes’ lower operating costs, seats will cost 40 to 80 percent below current prices, as well.

Zunum Aero CEO Ashish Kumar says:

“The shift of the industry to large aircraft and long ranges driven by gas turbines has concentrated almost all air traffic to just two percent of our airports, creating a massive transport gap over regional distances where there is no high-speed alternative. As a result, door-to-door times for most journeys are no better than they were 50 years ago. Hybrid propulsion is an industry-changing solution, enabling mid-sized aircraft on regional routes to have better cost efficiencies than airliners.”

The company’s planes will only sip fuel only when they have to, leading to 80 percent lower emissions than comparable vehicles. As battery tech improves, they’ll consume less and less fuel until they produce zero emission. Both of these are possible since the vehicles will use hybrid-electric propulsion, a promising technology that even NASA is developing for its own electric planes.

Zunum Aero is currently working with the FAA to develop certification standards for electric aircraft, which could be ready next year. It expects to start operating its first planes in early 2020s, though those initial units will only be able to fly 700 miles. The company’s goal is to create hybrid-electric planes that can fly up to 1,000 miles by 2030 to make fast and affordable regional flights even more accessible.

Source: Boeing, Zunum Aero

Jeff Bezos pumps his personal fortune into Blue Origin

Every year, the US government grants NASA a budget of tens of billions to fund its terrestrial and extraterrestrial research. Just last month, President Trump signed an order confirming it would get $19.1 billion in 2018 in what he called a “national commitment” to “human space exploration.”

Space is expensive, and it’s the main reason why the agency has stepped back from its own rocket launches. However, a number of private companies have stepped up in its place, all of which are financed, in part, by billionaire businessmen. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, for example, has revealed that he is selling about $1 billion in Amazon stock each year just to fund his personal race to space.

Bezos owns Blue Origin, which is currently developing a reusable rocket that could take passengers on commercial suborbital space flights from as early as next year. “My business model right now for Blue Origin is I sell about a billion a year of Amazon stock and I use it to fund Blue Origin,” Bezos said at the Space Symposium conference in Colorado on Wednesday. “So the business model for Blue Origin is very robust.”

Last week, the spaceflight company released the first interior photos of its New Shepard capsule, revealing a spacious cabin with enormous windows. As passengers will be asked to hand over as much as $300,000 for a ticket to space, Bezos and co. believe comfortable recliners — at least in comparison to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule — and expansive views will make the cost worthwhile.

Bezos isn’t alone in his dream, though. Both Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic are working on reusable crafts that will reduce the cost of taking people into space. At the same conference, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell revealed that the company spent “substantially less than half” the cost of a new first stage for the Falcon 9 re-flight and that costs are only likely to fall as future spaceflights will require less maintenance between launches.

Source: Bloomberg

The Ubuntu mobile dream is over

Ubuntu-powered phones and tablets never quite took off the way Canonical, the Linux-based platform’s creator, expected. Now the company is finally admitting defeat and ending all its mobile projects. In a blog post, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth has revealed that the company is killing its mobile software efforts and ending its investment in the Unity interface as a whole. Michael Hall, the developer’s community manager, also confirmed to Ars Technica that Canonical is stopping all “work on the phone and tablet,” putting an end on “the whole convergence story.”

Canonical created Unity as a unified interface for desktops, phones and tablets. It allows Ubuntu-powered mobile devices to act as computers when docked and attached to the right peripherals. Think Microsoft Continuum and Samsung’s spin on it for the Galaxy S8. Shuttleworth admitted in his post that he made a mistake when he thought the company’s work on “convergence” would be appreciated:

“I took the view that, if convergence was the future and we could deliver it as free software, that would be widely appreciated both in the free software community and in the technology industry, where there is substantial frustration with the existing, closed, alternatives available to manufacturers. I was wrong on both counts.

In the community, our efforts were seen fragmentation not innovation. And industry has not rallied to the possibility, instead taking a ‘better the devil you know’ approach to those form factors, or investing in home-grown platforms.”

Since Canonical is stopping all work on Unity, it’s also switching the default Ubuntu desktop back to its old interface called GNOME. The company chief said this was a very hard decision to make, but it was “shaped by commercial constraints.” Canonical can’t keep sinking money into something that was dead on arrival, after all, and it’s better off investing more in areas where it’s doing well, such as the cloud and IoT.

Source: Ubuntu, Ars Technica