LG’s V10 is selling well in the U.S.
In 2015, LG released two flagships to maintain consumer interest in the brand; however, little space was left between them. The V10 followed the G4 in a release that came less than six months later. There were many analysts that felt the V10, which is a bit pricy, would have no place in the market. And the handset actually got off to a poor start in LG’s homeland of South Korea. But the same cannot be said for the V10 in the United States as LG has revealed its sales of the handset in the United States.
LG is proud to announced that 450,000 units of the V10 were sold in the handset’s first 45 days of availability. What attributed to the strong start in sales for the V10, according to the company, were interest in larger phones and an active young customer base. Nearly 40% of V10 owners in the United States are 25-34 years old, indicating that the commercial featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt is working with decent effectiveness.
Source: LG
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Dear Santa, Can you please add these features to flagship devices for 2016?
The lines between budget, mid-range, and high-end phones are rapidly becoming blurred. There are many devices in every price category that perform at a high-level, so it is about time that flagships start differentiating themselves again.
With Christmas just a day away, I’m writing an open letter to Santa Claus who hopefully will grant my smartphone feature wishes for next year. I think I have been good, and hope to have stayed off of his naughty list…
Dear Santa,
Flagship phones cost a great deal of money, and it’s embarrassing to see phones that cost half as much offer similar performance and hardware for half the cost. Santa, can you help Samsung, Sony, HTC, and LG design new features into their best phones to keep the enthusiasts happy? I know some of these ideas might be a little crazy, but it can’t hurt to ask!
Optical zoom and a camera lens cover
Before smartphones, most of us used actual cameras to take our pictures. One of the cardinal rules of photography was to never touch the lens. Oil and dust can ruin any picture but no smartphone comes with built-in coverage. Almost all compact cameras come with an automatic lens cover to protect the lens from dirt and oil, so can you help one or all of these companies help protect our lenses? Most lenses come with a coating that helps keep them protected, but after a year of wiping and cleaning, that protection is gone and pictures just don’t come out as good as they did when the phone was new.
Optical image stabilization, ridiculous megapixel counts, laser auto-focus, dual LED flash and Ultrapixels are all great, but optical zoom is what is missing on smartphone cameras these days. Samsung made the Galaxy S4 Zoom a couple of years ago, but that phone was just too thick and a niche device. And Sony made the external DSC-QX30 wireless lens, but no one really likes to bring along a second device to take pictures, unless it is a real camera.
Santa, can you help the engineers come up with a revolutionary way to bring us 3-10X optical zoom to our smartphone cameras? It shouldn’t add much bulk to our devices and should be reliable too. Optical zoom would be a great way for us to enhance our pictures.
Dual front-facing speakers with full range sound
Quite a few phones have dual front facing speakers like the Nexus 6 and 6P, but many flagships like the Samsung Galaxy Note5 and LG V10 still have a mono speaker on the bottom of the device that are anything but spectacular. Loud but tinny sound is the norm on flagships, but can you help the engineers develop fuller sound like the HTC One line has?
It would be nice to make audio an important feature on all flagships these days and we shouldn’t have to settle for a huge black bar to get it. We all love to listen to music, take calls over speakerphone, play games and watch videos. Is it too much to as for full range sound?
Decently made earbuds with an inline remote and microphone
The Apple iPhone has great earbuds that come free with every purchase. Sadly many manufacturers have quietly stopped giving us earbuds and make us buy them separately. If they aren’t going to provide us with quality front facing speakers, can you help them develop earbuds that seal out excess background noise while providing decent sound while being included with every purchase?
Panasonic makes the RPHJE120K In-Ear Headphones and they retail for $6.29 on Amazon.com with free 2-day shipping! The headphones have over 27k reviews with an average rating of 4.5/5 stars which means they are excellent. It really can’t cost manufacturers that much money to manufacture these, so I beg you to help these companies add headphones back into the package.
External Memory with 32GB of base memory
There are fewer and fewer flagships with the ability to add external memory. As technology progresses, our data consumption increases right along with it and some of us need more memory. We are downloading HiFi music from Tidal, and videos from YouTube Red and need our storage space.
Some companies like HTC and LG still have external memory as an option, but Samsung recently decided people care more about looks than internal hardware. In this time of great phones, we should be able to have great builds with external memory too. And while I am at it, can you also make 32GB of memory a base option for flagships? Android software can take over 5GB of space, and that isn’t including all of the bloatware that Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T install on our phones without our permission.
16GB of base memory is unacceptable for flagship devices.
USB type-C and Qi Wireless charging
Many devices are switching over to USB type-C, like the Nexus 5X and 6P which is a great thing. One of my favorite features, albeit a very simple one, is that you can insert the plug in any orientation. Even though it is a huge pain in the rear to have different charging cables(micro USB and USB type-C), the benefit of not having to look at a small plug before inserting to charge is a nice feature to have.
Santa, can you help all companies adopt this standard?
Sadly while Google brought USB type-C to the Nexus 6P and 5X, they decided to leave out wireless charging. It’s kind of ridiculous that we need to sacrifice one feature for another. Can we just have both? Wireless charging is a great feature that many of us take advantage of. Once you get used to wireless charging, it is really difficult to go back to using a standard plug to charge your device.
48-hour battery life
I’m not sure why phone manufacturers have set a 24-hour limit on battery life, but most flagships barely can make it through a full day of heavy usage. Before smartphones, our flip phones used to last a couple days on a full charge. One would logically think that battery life on smartphones would get better as time passes, but as efficiency improves manufacturers just make the batteries smaller. The Samsung Galaxy Note3 and Note4 both had larger batteries than the Note5, but all three get roughly the same amount of usage on a single charge.
The Note5 can last a full day on a single charge with a 3000mAh, battery, but it’s time to give us a 4000-5000mAh battery found in unlocked devices. We want more time away from our chargers. Is this something you can help us with?
4k Display
I know having a 4k display seems a bit ridiculous at this point. 2k displays commonly found on flagships are so clear that you cannot see pixels without magnification. But as virtual reality(VR) expands in popularity so does the need for increased resolution. VR magnifies your display in a viewer, like the Google Cardboard, making pixels on 2k displays easy to see.
The Elephone Vowney is an unlocked Android smartphone and comes with a pixel busting 2k display with 535ppi. It also comes with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of memory, an octa-core processor and even a 2k display. It also costs just $299. Paying top dollar for a Samsung, LG, HTC or Sony flagship just doesn’t make sense when you can get so much hardware at a mid-range price.
4k resolution may be a bit over kill for most, but it will help future proof our investments since our devices should last us two years or more.
Case and Screen protector
I have now purchased two unlocked budget devices from Gearbest.com, and both phones came with a screen protector installed with a clear hard case covering the back too. Sure this has never been apart of any flagship, but most of us do want added protection for our devices. When we pay $800, it won’t cost much to throw in a case and screen protector.
Amazon.com lists many cases and screen protectors for less than $10. I’m sure cases and screen protectors cost a fraction of that amount, so start including them with our purchases. Instead of giving us fewer accessories, while giving us software features we don’t need, can you help the manufacturers redirect their investments and put them towards things we do need? A simple case and screen protector would be fantastic, and is probably the most reasonable things on my wishlist for 2016.
Budget devices come with them installed out of the box, so the big manufacturers like Samsung and LG shouldn’t have an issue with this.
I think I have been good this year…
Santa, I think the things I am asking for are not too unreasonable. Android manufacturers like HTC and Samsung are getting killed when it comes to smartphone sales and are frequently turning over senior management. They have lost sight of what makes their phones great, and 2015 was a year that lacked in true innovation. Mid-range and budget devices have caught up this year, and are set to do even more damage for 2016.
I ask for the things listed above, because the current sales figures for 2015 represent our growing dissatisfaction with what the major smartphones offer us, and I really want to see a comeback for smartphone flagships in 2016.
I may or may not be granted some of my items from my wishlist, but I am taking part in the spirit of giving on my own anyways. I will be selecting one winner from the ultimate giveaway package that can be entered with a simple comment.
Have a safe trip delivering gifts around the globe Santa. I will be tracking you using Google’s Santa Tracker.
The post Dear Santa, Can you please add these features to flagship devices for 2016? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
LG unwraps a new G Pad ll 8.3 LTE variant with a stylus
The LG G Pad II 8.3 was unveiled earlier this year. Now we have a glimpse of a new LTE variant with an included stylus.
The LG G Pad II 8.3 LTE was unwrapped earlier today and includes all the same specifications as its counterpart the LG G Pad II 8.3 Wi-Fi. Included in the name is a 8.3-inch Full HD display. Powering the tablet is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 620 processor containing an octa-core CPU paired with the Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB of RAM. An 8MP rear-facing camera is present along with a 2MP front-facing camera. 16GB of onboard storage is included that’s expandable via the tablet’s built-in microSD card slot, which is a common find on LG devices.
Other sensors include a 4,800mAh battery, 4G LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, and GPS. Most notably is an included stylus for those looking to take notes and make precise drawings. The device runs Google’s Android 5.1.1 straight out of the box.
Pricing has not been specified, although the device is said to go up for sale in South Korea tomorrow. Hopefully a U.S. rollout will follow.
Source: LG
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LG to launch high-end appliance lineup at CES
You wouldn’t usually associate LG with luxury appliances, but that could change with the introduction of its new lineup. The Korean company is preparing to launch premium home appliances at CES 2016, and the products will be released under a distinct brand called “LG Signature.” It’s keeping details hush-hush as of now, but it did reveal that the first appliances out of the lineup are a television, a refrigerator, an air purifier and some washing machines.
The company’s blog post says LG formed a team within the company to create those devices with input from “leading design experts.” Also, the upcoming appliances have apparently been “stripped of all features that detracted from the brand’s spirit,” which could mean sleek, minimalistic designs. CES 2016 is only a couple of weeks away, but if high-end appliances get you going, you can view some vague silhouettes of the upcoming products on the new brand’s website.
Source: LG, LG Signature
LG introduces the G Pad II 8.3 LTE, stylus included
LG launched a new variant of the G Pad II today, which is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 SoC. After launching 8-inch and 10.1-inch variants earlier this year, the Korean company has introduced an 8.3-inch tablet dubbed LG G Pad II 8.3 LTE. Wow, that’s quite a mouthful.
The new G Pad II 8.3-inch variant is equipped with a Full HD (1920 x 1200 pixels) display, which is easily driven by the octa-core processor and Adreno 405 GPU running under the hood. LG has paired the 64-bit chipset with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and a non-removable 4,800 mAh battery.
See also: 10 best Android tablet apps that all tablet owners should have
The G Pad II 8.3 LTE has an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front shooter, which is kind of odd since most people use the front camera of tablets, say for video calling, more than its rear camera.
Measuring 216.8 x 126.5 x 8.8mm, the G Pad II 8.3 LTE weighs at a not-so-heavy 366 grams. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, and 4G LTE. The tablet comes with a built-in stylus, which is sure to make many users cheer. Microsoft Office apps come pre-loaded with the software, which is essentially a lightly skinned version of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.
Local carrier LG U+ will begin selling the tablet G Pad II 8.3 LTE in South Korea from tomorrow, i.e. December 23. Pricing details are not known as of yet.
LG wants to make using smart TVs easier with webOS 3.0
LG debuted its webOS-powered HDTVs back in 2014, bringing HP’s mobile technology to the living room and making for a smart TV that mostly succeeded in being simpler and faster. Last year the second edition focused on speed, and for 2016 — in world where dongles, set-top boxes and videogame systems are all competing to manage your streaming TV apps — LG says it’s working on usability and control. There are three new “Magic” features this year, with Mobile Connection that lets users toss apps up from their phone to the big screen, a new remote that’s supposed to control more set-top boxes, and Zoom that can blow up parts of the picture without ruining the quality.
LG has also partnered with a new company called Xumo for a feature called Channel Plus, that lines up video from the internet in a guide that’s as easy to search as live channels. The IoTV app is supposed to make it easy to control compatible LG boxes or other compatible hardware, there’s Multi-view to watch more than one channel or even input at once, and a music player that can keep working while the screen is off. The first two rounds with webOS have left us impressed, and we’ll find out at CES in a couple of weeks if this edition keeps the trend going.
Source: LG
HOM-BOT Turbo+ is the phone controlled vacuum cleaner of your domestic dreams
If there’s one downside to the holiday season it’s knowing that you have to clean up all that shredded wrapping paper and the fallen pines from the tree. Fortunately next year our gadgets will be able to handle that for us too, as LG will be showing off its HOM-BOT Turbo+ robotic vacuum cleaner at CES 2016, which you can control using your smartphone.
The HOM-BOT Turbo+ heads up an upgraded range of CordZero vacuums that LG will be showing off early next year. The little robot’s flagship feature is the world’s first augmented reality view which you can observe through your smartphone. From there, you can issue real-time commands for the bot to go and clean a particularly area just by tapping on your screen.
The vacuum cleaner also uses its vision system to find its way through your home without crashing into obstacles and can also keep track of which areas it has already cleaned. If you’re into your vacuum tech, LG states that its new Smart Inverter Motor is 76 percent smaller, 65 percent lighter and 24 percent more efficient on average than conventional vacuum motors.
The HOM-Bot Turbo+ also pulls a double shift as your home’s security guard. It can send pictures from inside your home straight to your smartphone, if it senses any movement while you are out of the house.
LG will be unveiling additional details about its robot vacuum cleaner at CES 2016, which is scheduled to run from January 6th to 9th.
LG will show off a vacuum with augmented reality features at CES 2016, for some reason
You know what would make vacuum cleaners cooler? Augmented reality. That’s what LG thinks, anyway, as they’ll be showing off a new version of their Cordzero vacuum at CES 2016 that has some AR features baked in, called the Home-Bot Turbo+. Yep.
It’s not quite as dumb as it sounds, as the vacuum will be able to take orders from someone with a smartphone in a new feature called Home-Joy. You’ll simply point towards which areas need cleaning with your smartphone camera, and voila; the Home-Bot vacuum will go clean that specific area.
Thanks to several cameras on the vacuum, it will also record where it has and hasn’t cleaned. The cameras onboard are also used for some security features, including Home-View, which allows you to stream live video of its cameras to your smartphone, and Home-Guard, which sends a photo of your house to your smartphone whenever the device detects movement. It’s officially the most talented vacuum cleaner in the world.
If you’re interested in Skynet’s first home appliance LG’s ridiculously fancy vacuum cleaner, you’ll be able to see more of it at CES in a few months.
source: LG
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Report: LG Nuclun 2 SoC heading to the V10’s successor, not the G5
LG has reportedly begun work on its second in-house mobile application processor, which could reduce the company’s dependence on Qualcomm’s mobile chips and help set LG up as a rival to Samsung. However, the chip may not end up in LG’s main 2016 flagship.
The custom chip is expected to appear in commercial products next year and the latest sources state that the chip will be similarly as powerful as Huawei Silicon’s new Kirin 950 SoC. This suggests that the LG Nuclun 2 will be based on ARM Cortex-A72 and A53 CPU cores and rumors point to TSMC’s 16nm FinFET process for manufacturing. However, the expected H2 2016 launch time frame suggests that the chip won’t be ready in time for the LG G5.
Furthermore, the latest source claims that LG doesn’t think this chip is going to be quite powerful enough for its flagship LG G5 that will appear in the first half of next year. Instead, the Nuclun 2 might début in LG’s successor to the V10, which will likely hit shelves in the second half of 2016.
While the CPU rumors certainly sound powerful enough for a flagship smartphone, it may be that the GPU or RAM configuration in LG’s chip doesn’t quite match up with Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship Snapdragon 820 mobile SoC, which LG will presumably be looking to use. Furthermore, LG may not be willing to take a risk on using its mostly unknown Nuclun brand of chips in its main flagship smartphone.
LG’s Nuclun 2 SoC is still being kept tightly under wraps for now, so we should probably sit tight for some official details before making too many assumptions.
LG’s robotic vacuum is both janitor and security guard
LG has launched its latest Hom-Bot robotic vacuum, the Turbo+, and is trying a few techie gimmicks to make it stand out from the latest models by Roomba and Dyson. The main new feature on the Turbo+ is “Home-Joy,” a quasi-augmented reality (AR) function that takes advantage of a smartphone app. All you need to do is point your smartphone’s camera at a region of the floor you want to clean and the Turbo+ will go to town on it, eliminating the need for any tedious mapping.
Meanwhile, the device’s three cameras and the “Home-View” feature let you monitor a cleaning cycle via a live feed, even when you’re not in the house. Most intriguingly, the Turbo+ acts as a movable security camera, transmitting photos to your smartphone if it detects movement. It’s not a first for such a feature, but is possibly a premiere for mainstream robotic vacuums. LG will reveal the new device (along with two other regular vacuums) at CES 2016, which is coming up in a couple of weeks — yep, it’s that time of year already.
Source: LG
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