FCC lists new Sharp “Dual mode hand held Mini Phablet”,
The FCC is one amazing resource when it comes to getting little details about upcoming devices. While it isn’t the easiest place to navigate, and much of the documents that have to be made public talk a ton of jargon, a person can sometimes stumble upon something ever now and then. Liliputing came across a […]
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Here’s what you missed on the first official day of CES
The doors opened; the masses piled in; and it began: Yesterday was the first official day of CES. It’s perhaps the most frenzied day of the week, with hundreds of companies vying for attention within the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. So, what happened on the show floor yesterday? Check out the gallery below and find out.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Sharp wants to put a 120-inch 4K display on commercial walls
Every year, TVs are a big deal here at the Consumer Electronics Show. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Sharp would have a huge presence here in Las Vegas. And when I say huge, I mean huge. Just like last year, when it teased its 85-inch 8K TV with glasses-free 3D, Sharp’s now showing off a 120-inch 4K Commercial LCD display. According to the company, one day this could replace video walls in public spaces (like at Times Square, for instance), as well as projectors in classrooms and conference rooms. At the moment, there’s no word on how much one of these would cost interested parties — but it’s safe to imagine it won’t be budget-friendly at all.
Unfortunately, no image could do this display justice — you have to be in front of it to see how beautiful it is. It’s extremely, well, sharp, bright and it makes you feel as if you’re staring into a wall, living in whatever world you’re looking at. So, if you’re here at CES, it’s definitely worth checking out. And why not, maybe one day you could see one of these, or something similar, make its way into the consumer market.
Dolby Vision imaging tech is coming to Warner Bros. movies
Dolby doesn’t want to limit its Dolby Vision tech just to Netflix and other streaming services so the outfits’ partnering with film studios too. First up is Warner Bros. where flicks including Edge of Tomorrow, The Lego Movie and Into the Storm are getting the high-dynamic range treatment early this year — just in time for the launch of TVs with the tech baked in, according to the company. Additional new release movies and catalog titles are en route this year, as well. For the tech to really take off, however, Dolby’ll need to expand beyond one studio but we’d imagine WB is a pretty decent place to start. If anything, the announcement means Edge of Tomorrow‘s bleak version of the future’s going to get a little brighter sometime soon.
[Image credit: Associated Press]
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Source: Dolby
Sharp debuts next gen displays powered by Android
CES 2015 has been a busy conference so far. Sharp was not to be left out of the whirlwind that has been the first day. The company announced some pretty great things regarding their new lineup for 4K smart televisions. Sharp debuted SmartCentral 4.0 for Android along with an 85 inch 8K LCD prototype display. This announcement also came with a host of new television displays that will be sure to make a splash when they are released to consumers.
The new line of Sharp displays includes what the company is calling “the highest resolution TV” available with their new Aquos Beyond 4K UHD model. This model pacts in 42 million more pixels than traditional 4K units available on the market today and has a resolution that is reaching 8K. This model will available to the public this calendar year.
Later on at CES, Sharp will unveil their new 70 inch Class Super Slim 4K UHD TV. When they say super slim, they mean super slim. With a depth of less than half an inch and a 4K UHD resolution, this display from Sharp offers a design footprint that will definitely differentiate them from other UHD TV manufacturers in this space. It’s clear that Sharp is going full steam ahead with next generation displays. For more information visit www.sharpusa.com.
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Sharp moves on from 4K UHD with 8K LCD TV, also unveils Android TV based SmartCentral 4.0
For those of you who sit way too close to your television set, Sharp has just unveiled a prototype television at CES 2015 with a whopping 8K LCD screen. This prototype will be the world’s first 8K display with standards compliance and has a mind-boggling resolution of 7680×4320 with a 120Hz refresh rate. The 8K beast has 12 bits per pixel depth and delivers a blinding brightness of 400cd .
How big is this heavyweight television going to be, you ask? 85 inches. That’s like having a NBA basketball player laying across your wall.
Probably more important is the news that Sharp is updating its SmartCentral TV interface to version 4.0. This version will be a complete revamp for SmartCentral and will now be running off Android TV platform. This will also bring the Google Play Store to your Sharp television.
For further reading on Sharp’s new television releases, which include a number of 4K UHD televisions, follow the article after the break. To go back to Talk Android’s continuing coverage of CES 2015, click here.
Sometime in 2015, Sharp will begin selling the AQUOS Beyond 4K UHD television. This TV set will feature pixel-splitting and Quattron tech, bringing it 66 million subpixels. This pixel count is 42 million more than a traditional 4K UHD television. According to Sharp, this increase in pixel count will give the AQUOS Beyond a 167% greater resolution than other 4K UHD displays.
Sharp is also increasing the number of televisions in their 4K UHD line. It will be introducing three new series of 4K UHD TV’s: the UE, UB, and UH. It is the UB and UH series that will feature SmartCentral 4.0, which was discussed earlier. Other than that distinction, Sharp didn’t elaborate what the differences are between the three series.
To read the full press release from Sharp, check out the source link below.
Source: Sharp
Come comment on this article: Sharp moves on from 4K UHD with 8K LCD TV, also unveils Android TV based SmartCentral 4.0
Sharp AQUOS Crystal: Hands-on with the Bezeless Phone from Boost Mobile
When Sharp announced the AQUOS Crystal Android phone it stirred some interest with me for a number of reasons. The design being a big one, but also the implementation of the audio during calls and the inclusion of some camera software to help you take better photos. As interesting as the device is, it isn’t without it flaws for the mid-range price tag it carries along with it.
It has been quite a while since Sharp got rolling with a consumer phone that found its way to the states. Sharp actually has a number of phones across the globe, but mostly they are pretty standard designs. The AQUOS Crystal carries a 5-inch edge to edge to edge screen. It doesn’t get four edged because there is a pretty hefty bezel at the rear of the phone.
Design
The device carriers its self well with a 5-inch 1280 x 720p resolution display. With the lack of side and top bezel it makes the devices physical footprint quite small, even though it is slightly thicker than the Galaxy S4. While I say it is bezeless, it still has a tiny frame around it. After all, something has to hold the screen in place. There is no ground breaking purpose behind the screen fitting in to the edges, but it certainly does make for a stunning look. One would think that you might accidentally press apps, actions, letters or anything else often without an edge on the screen, but the fact of the matter is you simply don’t. At least, I never had any issue during my time with the device.
It is interesting that the glass over the screen offers some sharp edges. Not as in they will cut you sharp, but sharp angles cut along the sides. I would lean towards these being part of the devices name as it reminds me of the looks of a natural forming crystals.
On the front of the device you have your front facing camera and a variety of sensors. They are all located at the bottom, rather than the top since there is no bezel to place them.
The volume rocker placement is slightly down from the top on left hand side of the device like many device. The power button is located on the top right hand side similarly to where HTC has been placing the power button. It is very close to the right edge of the screen which does make it a little awkward to access easily without fumbling with the device. The top left hand side is where you will find the headphone jack and on the bottom is where the mic and micro USB charging port is.
The rear of the device offers up a textured back-plate. The texture doesn’t cover the entire back-plate, which is a little odd to me. It stops just short of where the flash and camera lens are located, which is dead center and stacked. At the bottom rear of the AQUOS is where you will find the speaker grill and your external speaker.
Behind the backplate you will find your SIM card slot and micro SD card slot. The 2040 mAh battery is non-removable. Once your SIM and SD card in place, you will probably never have another reason to pull the back plate off. Which is a good thing because it is ultra thin and flimsier than Samsung’s.
Hardware
Inside the Sharp AQUOSCrystal get a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1.5GB RAM and 8GB internal storage with a touch ofver 4GB of user available storage for apps and such. It runs a fairly stock build of Android 4.4 KitKat with a few pre-installed carrier apps, in this case, a few Boost Mobile apps.
Beyond the bezzleless screen, the AQUOS has a few features that are really the more interesting selling points of the device. Unlike the more traditional phones on the market, the AQUOS Crystal doesn’t have an ear piece to hear those that call you. Rather the whole screen acts as a resonating speaker. This allows you to hear your callers no matter where your ear is placed, so long as it is on the screen somewhere. While I am familiar with the technology behind it and know that this sort of bone conduction resonating sound is quite spectacular, I was pretty skeptical on how well it work. It actually worked really really well no matter where I held the phone on my ear.
As for cameras, the device sports a 8MP rear shooter with flash and a 1.2MP front shooter. The rear camera is average for the device’s price point. It isn’t stellar, but I have certainly used worse cameras with higher mega pixels in more expensive devices. The big selling attributes aren’t for its resolution, but more so for its added features like Framing Adviser that lays a template on your screen to help you frame your shots.
You also have Night Catch that will help catch those photos in low light situations, along with Sequential Shots, Shutter Detect and Panorama.
The front shooter is a bit of an enigma if you ask me. Since there is no bezel around the top of the device, Sharp had to place the front shooting camera in the bottom of the device. A nice warning message pops up when you switch to the front camera alerting you to this fact and that you should flip the device over. Being that there is no shutter button, simply tap the screen to take the photo, there is no real issue taking photos right side up or upside down as the image in the gallery will be correctly orientated in the gallery anyways.
Little kickers
Sharp put a few little, somewhat useless, flares in the device. For screenshots you can do the usual power + volume down option that many of us are used to doing. However you can turn on ‘Clip Now’ which lets you swipe across the top edge of the screen to take a quick screen shot. it can be tricky to get correct and I ran into personal issues where it would attempt to take a screen shot when all I was trying to do was pull down the notification window. Clip Now does give you some additional functions though, like it captures and creates an embedded URL for easy sharing.
Frameless Effect is another interesting feature. This feature gives you a few settings to toggle for some on-screen visuals. You can choose from three different light visuals that will display around the edge of the device’s screen when you turn the screen on. You can also activate the Flashing Alarm, which flashes a white light around the edge of the screen when you alarms are going off. Finally you have a wave light of sorts that goes across the screen when you plug it in to charge.
Personal experience, wins and loses
For the price tag on Boost Mobile and Sprint, the Sharp AQUOS offers a fairly smooth experience thanks to Sharp keeping the Android OS very minimally modified. It won me over with the clarity of the screen and sound quality from the glass. Couple that with the Harmon Kardon audio add-on for Bluetooth and headphone connections and you have a great audio performer.
The devices 2040 mAh battery is adequate enough to get your through a day of usage. The standby by time cleared 2 days with me only checking emails and clearing notifications with anywhere between 2 to 3 hours of screen on time. Attempting to use it as often as my primary device I easily got through 14 to 16 hours of medium usage.
There were a number of things that got under my skin a little. keeping the price point in mind they are fairly minor. Getting the notification shade to pull down was sometimes tricky due to the lack of bezel at the top of the screen. It is something you learn to work with and eventually get better at dragging it down. Items that need touch action near the top corners or edges of the screen are also sometimes tricky to appropriately hit. Again, something that I eventually got used to.
I feel the power button placement should not have been at the top of the device, or at least the top right hand side. It would have been better suited, for me at least, in the top middle or on the sides. Its current location works well if you use your left hand and index finger, but if you are right-handed it is awkward to press and you might find yourself pressing the volume keys and squeezing the sides harder than normal to reach it.
The only other gripe I have, which could be due to design or potential defect with the review unit I have in hand, is the light bleed around the screen in low light situations. It isn’t blinding nor does it appear to washout any of the screens color, but it is a bit annoying and noticeable on all three sides. You can see it in the image below with the device held at slight angle.
Final thoughts
This is the first phone from Sony to hit the US in a very long time. It isn’t being targeted are a high-end device so I didn’t expect that caliber of functionality or build quality. At $150 out-of-pocket (on Boost Mobile) it is quite the fun and interesting device to use. It handles your apps, games and more quite easily and does so with crisp clear images on the 720p screen. While I wish the camera was slightly better, I can’t fault it considering the price tag. Even with the light bleed that I had,the touch issues and the awkward power button placement, it performed well. It is easily worth picking up if you are on a budget and looking for a solid device with some perks for Sprint, Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile. I think Sharp could take this to the next level and go mid-ranged and follow-up with a high-end variant in a year or two if that is their goal.
Check out the Sharp AQUOS Crystal at Sprint, Boost Mobile and soon to be on Virgin Mobile.
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Sharp shows off extremely battery-friendly smartwatch
It seems like just about every technology manufacturer is throwing their hat in the smartwatch ring, and Sharp is no exception. They’ve recently showed off their take on a wearable device, and it takes a much more conservative approach to what we’ve been seeing lately. Instead of offering tons of bells and whistles, the Sharp watch tries to give you something with extraordinarily long battery life.
The smartwatch uses a reflective layer instead of a backlight for its LCD display. The reflective layer uses light that hits the face of the watch to illuminate the screen, drastically cutting power consumption. There’s a pretty big drawback here, though; a reflective layer means the watch can’t be used in the dark. It would have excellent viewing angles in direct sunlight, however.
The LCD is pretty lackluster for the sake of saving battery, too. It’s an LTPS display, or low temperature polysilicon, and it only displays 8 colors. It definitely wouldn’t be the prettiest screen to look at it, but it would barely use any battery.
If this device ever makes it to the market, would you be interested in one? Is extreme battery life worth sacrificing so many features and display qualities?
source: Padnews
via: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: Sharp shows off extremely battery-friendly smartwatch
Sharp’s night vision camera records color even in total darkness
Say goodbye to the days of monochrome night vision footage, folks. Sharp recently unveiled an infrared security camera that captures color 720p video, even in absolute darkness. The trick is an imaging sensor that uses near-infrared for illumination; unlike virtually every other competitor, this camera doesn’t have to resort to conventional lights (and thus give itself away) to get a vivid picture. The device will likely be limited to corporate and government customers when it goes on sale in late November, but it could have a big impact on your safety. Building managers will soon have an easier time identifying intruders, not just spotting them — while the technology might not stop a break-in, it should increase the chances of catching thieves before they strike again.
Filed under: Cameras
Engadget Daily: AQUOS Crystal review, the August smart lock and more!
What’s that? A brand-new phone from Sharp? Yep, it’s called the AQUOS Crystal and it looks good. That’s not all we have on deck though — read on for our news highlights from the last 24 hours, including the August smart lock, Google’s ongoing licensing battle with Oracle, and more. Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
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