New Qualcomm WiPower technology brings wireless charging to metal body mobile devices

Qualcomm has announced that it has developed a new technology by which devices with metal body can be charged wirelessly. The technology called Qualcomm WiPower can charge devices with metal exteriors wirelessly, thus eliminating the need for using wires, reducing the clutter.

Qualcomm WiPower complies with the new Rezence wireless power charging standard, not using the popular PMA or Qi standards. The Rezence standard has been developed by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) that includes leading brands from various industries like Qualcomm, Microsoft, Acer, Samsung, Lenovo, LG, Asus, Motorola, Intel, and many others as members.

Rezence was first demonstrated at the beginning of this year in January. With this standard, WiPower enables wireless charging of devices without any direct physical contact. You can even charge multiple devices having different power requirements when placed inside the same charge area. And not only charging, WiPower can also power devices such as wireless keyboard, mouse, digital photo frames and lamps.

Qualcomm WiPower works “at a frequency that is more tolerant of metal objects that come within the charge field”. So up till now, the charging process was not affected even if other metal objects such as coins or keys were lying inside the charge field. But now Qualcomm has added one more feature to WiPower, that the device to be charged could itself be made of metal. The new feature maintains the existing WiPower ability “to charge devices requiring up to 22 watts today, at speeds equal to or faster when compared to other wireless charging technologies”.

“Building a wireless charging solution into devices with metal exteriors is a significant step for moving the entire industry forward,” says Steve Pazol, GM, Wireless Charging of Qualcomm Incorporated.

It’s not clear when such WiPower-using mobile devices will be available in the market but we certainly hope to see them soon.

Check out the promo video for Qualcomm WiPower:

New Qualcomm WiPower technology brings wireless charging to metal body mobile devices

Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

Nokia is reported that the company has sold HERE mapping service for a figure of $3.07 billion USD to German auto consortium which consists of Audi AG, BMW Group as well as Daimler AG. The deal is expected to finalize in the first quarter of 2016 with profit of about $2.75 Billion.

One of the reasons that can be concluded on why the automakers are willing to purchase the service as such a huge amount is that they are expected to use the data generated from it for the cars that they are developing so that the cars can navigate themselves based on the data. The mapping service also expected to be available across multiple platforms.

With the deal went through successfully, Nokia is expected to concentrate on the bought over of Alcatel-Lucent which after this is finalized, it will make Nokia a world leading network technology and services business as well as licensing and innovation of Nokia Technologies as mentioned by Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia.

HERE is reported to receive about $606 million USD and had an operating profit of $30.7 million USD during the first half of 2015. This is definitely is a good news as the service suffered a loss in 2014. According to the last year’s report, the service received about $1.07 billion USD and written off certain things out of goodwill which cost about $1.33 billion USD and thus the company made an operating loss of $1.36 billion.

Moving forward, Nokia is expected to design and license smartphones in 2016 as per the agreement with Microsoft.

Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra Official Launch Considered as Selfie Smartphone

Sony has just officially launch Sony Xperia C5 Ultra earlier today among other smartphone models. The device can be categorized as a mid-range smartphone which have an almost bezel-less design as well as thin as it is measured at 8.2-mm with width of 79.6mm which hopefully not so difficult to hold. On top of that, the device offers great selfie picture results.

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra comes with a 6-inch IPS LCD display screen with resolution of 1080 x 1920. The device is running on a 64-bit octa core MediaTek SoC which is clocked at 1.7GHz, an ARM Mali760 MP2 GPU, a 2GB RAM as well as a 16GB internal storage which can be further expand via microSD card up to 200GB. Other features such as a 13MP front camera which comes with an autofocus Exmor RS sensor with focal length of 22mm and 88 degree field of view, a 13MP rear camera with also a Exmor RS sensor with slightly different focal length and degrees of view at 25mm and 80 degrees respectively as well as a 2930mAh battery size. Unfortunately, the camera does not have optical image stabilization feature and just rely on the software to keep the frame steady.

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra, unfortunately, does not come with water resistance and stereo speakers feature, unlike the other models. The device will have three color options, black, white and mint green. It will be pre-installed with Android 5.0 Lollipop as well as Sony’s own custom Android Skin which has a feature to minimize the user interface so that it can be navigated single handedly.

The device will be released in selected emerging market starting from August this year and there will be two variants of the device, one that support dual-SIM and one that only support single-SIM capability.

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra Official Launch Considered as Selfie Smartphone

Real-life images of the HTC Desire 728 appear

Earlier back in July, we heard about the Taiwanese smartphone giant HTC to be working upon its new mid-range handset the HTC Desire 728. The device was later found to make a visit to TENNA revealing its specs and exterior design. Now some of the real-life images for the handset have just appeared giving us the full-view of its exterior.

From the images it can be seen that the front frame of the handset would have a bit smaller top and bottom bezels which makes the device look a bit shorter than the lately released HTC devices. However, the device is still said to have the dual front-facing BoomSound speakers.

Looking to its specs, the handset is expected to have a 5.5inch 720p display baked with a MediaTek MT6753 chipset clocked at 1.3GHz. The device would be supported with 2GB of RAM memory and 16GB of native built-in storage along with a microSD card slot for expandable memory. To its back, the device has a 13MP primary camera while the front has a 5MP secondary camera. The device would be running the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop topped with the HTC Sense 7 UI and will also offer a good battery back-up of 2800mAh.

The HTC Desire 728 is expected to be dual-SIM handset showing up the dimensions of 7.87mm thickness and 150 grams of weight. However, few reports claim that this would most probably be a China exclusive handset. For the time being take a look at some of the real-life images that have leaked.

source: Anzhuo (translated)

Real-life images of the HTC Desire 728 appear

Samsung’s thinnest smartphone Galaxy A8 with fingerprint sensor launched in India

Samsung has launched Galaxy A8 smartphone in India with a price tag of INR 32,500 (About $508). The device was first introduced in China in the middle of July. This latest handset from Samsung is its thinnest-ever smartphone with a thickness of just 5.9mm and it weighs only 151 grams.

The Galaxy A8 features a 5.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution and 386ppi pixel density. It is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 5430 chipset with octa-core (4 x 1.8GHz Cortex-A15 and 4 x 1.3GHz Cortex-A7) CPU and Mali-T628 MP6 GPU for graphics. The Galaxy A8 model that was launched last month in China has 64-bit Snapdragon 615 SoC with octa-core 1.5GHz CPU and Adreno 405 GPU. There is a 2GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage inside. It can be expanded up to 128GB with a microSD card.

Coming to the cameras, the Galaxy A8 has a 16MP autofocus rear camera with f/1.9 aperture to give great pictures even in low light conditions. The front camera is of 5MP with 120 degree wide-angle lens, useful for selfies and video chats. Its 3050mAh battery takes care of the power and the handset comes with Android Lollipop 5.1.1 out of the box with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on top. The handset sports dual Nano-SIM slots and the second slot can be used for microSD card.

The Samsung Galaxy A8 has very thin metal side bezels. It also has a fingerprint sensor doubling as a home button. Connectivity options include LTE with Band 40 (2300MHz) and Band 3 (1800MHz) support, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and Glonass. The handset will support 4G networks in India. Airtel customers will get double data for free for 6 months along with this device. The handset is available in Black, White and Gold colors.

Samsung’s thinnest smartphone Galaxy A8 with fingerprint sensor launched in India

New mid-ranger Sony Xperia M5 goes official with just 0.25-second hybrid autofocus camera

Today, Sony went out officially announcing two more Xperia edition handset the Sony Xperia M5 and the Xperia C5 Ultra. Talking about the Xperia M5, the smartphone is being touted as “super mid-range” handset from its specs. It is basically a successor to the Xperia M4 Aqua. So let is now take a look at some of the specs for the handset.

The Sony Xperia M5 comes with a 5-inch 1080p display. Under the hood lies the 64-bit MediaTek MT6795 chipset with octa-core CPU clocked at 2.0GHz. the MediaTek MT6795 is a real power machine and belongs to the top-end Helio X10 line. Additionally, the device has got a whopping 3GB of RAM memeory, with 16GB of internal native storage and a microSD card slot. The device runs the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop with the company’s own UI over it. The handset would be available in both single and dual-SIM variants.

Its major USP like most of the Xperia handsets is its camera. The Xperia M5 comes with a whopping 21.5MP primary camera to its back with f/2.2 aperture with a maximum light sensitivity up to ISO 3200. The primary camera with a very fast hybrid autofocus with 250 milliseconds of capture. With the camera users can even record 4K resolution videos. Moreover to its front too, the handset has the 13MP secondary shooter with autofocus allowing users to record 1080p videos on the go.  

The device moreover comes with a IP65/IP68 certification that makes it dust and water-proof. The good thing is that the USB port is caprless one hence one need not to open or close the protective flap while accessing the port – a very convenient feature. The pricing for the device is roughly expected to be EUR 360 or $385. Xperia M5 will be available in white, black and gold color variants. Take a look at the promo video below.

source: Sony

New mid-ranger Sony Xperia M5 goes official with just 0.25-second hybrid autofocus camera

Alleged photos of Apple iPhone 6s display emerge depicting Force Touch implementation

Photos and some specs of the next upcoming iPhone, the iPhone 6s have been circulating for quite some time. iPhone 6s is said to be coming with the Force Touch feature where users can interact with the screen differently by using varied pressure. This feature is currently used in Apple Watch.

A set of photographs have been posted on Chinese repair firm GeekBar’s Weibo account showing the front and back sides of a display unit allegedly belonging to the next iPhone iteration, the iPhone 6s. There are no significant changes to the outside of the unit compared to the current iPhone 6 handsets. The new photos show the same general shape with similar rounded glass edges and the same positioning of ear speaker and camera as well.

The backside of the alleged iPhone 6s display unit is covered by a metal shield obscuring the LCD module and some of the other features but some changes are apparent. One change that catches the eye immediately is the rectangular cutout present on the top left side of the screen. Some component is seen sticking out through it but can’t be identified due to the poor quality of the image. Considering its relative position to the expected layout of the handset’s logic board and battery, it is speculated that the component could be the grounding insert.

Another big change seen is that Apple seems to have discarded the usual screws and clips as the shielding of the display unit shows riveting on all the four sides. It is speculated that the black dots seen on all the sides could have something to do with the Force Touch technology Apple is supposed to be using on the new iPhone 6s. The rivet fixing could compensate for the heavier touch. With Touch Force, user’s regular touch and heavy touch will trigger different actions on the iPhone.

It is said that manufacturing of components for the Force Touch feature has begun. iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are expected to be launched at a special event by Apple next month.

Alleged photos of Apple iPhone 6s display emerge depicting Force Touch implementation