Is this the cheapest calling tablet?

Available at ebay for Rs. 3200/- approximately, The DOMO  Slate S5 is the first tablet to be launched from the Slate S Series Range. It is  a 7" Dual SIM 3G Calling Tablet PC capable of performing a range of feats.  With Network Connectivity  option of 2G and WCDMA 3G network, equipped with WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS,  capable of connecting external pendrives and other usb devices via OTG, smart  features such as 3G Internet Surfing and Video Calling, Call Recording, FM  Radio, DUAL SIM Voice Calling, WiFi Hotspot, WiFi Direct, USB Tethering,  Bluetooth Tethering, USB Internet Sharing from PC and a range of other features,  the Slate S5 is sure to surprise you with the punch it packs in its sleek 7"  housing. It even houses DUAL camera which are interpolated to 2MP and 3MP, front  and rear respectively.

With an internal storage of 8GB and expandable storage capability of 64 GB, you  can ensure the DOMO Slate S5 will store enough data to suffice your multimedia  needs and still have enough to store work files. The MTK processor of the DOMO  Slate S5 has decent power with 2 Cores and houses an internal Mali 400 GPU. The  DUAL SIM Card Slot, Memory card slot and Antenna Extensions are smartly tucked  behind a removable flap on the back, while the 3.5mm Audio Jack and MicroUSB  port, which charges the tablet and is also capable of connecting external USB  devices via OTG, is placed on the top to eliminate interruption while docked in  stand. The Android Operating System is tuned to perform optimally with the given  hardware and it does the job fairly well.



Key Features:
 

•  DUAL SIM SLOT - 3G UMTS 2100(HSPA+), 2G GSM/EDGE 900/1800
• Video Calling via 3G SIM Card
• Android 4.4.2 Kitkat
• DUAL Core MTK ARM Cortex-A7 CPU @ 1.0 GHz
• Mali-400 MP1 GPU @ 400 MHz
• DUAL Camera - 2MP Front and 3MP Rear with LED Flash
• Inbuilt GPS Chip and Antenna
• 8GB Storage and 64GB Expandable
• Multi Touch 5 Point Capacitive Touch Screen (Glass)
• 7 Inch 1024*600 LCD
• Inbuilt FM Radio
• Bluetooth Connectivity
• WiFi Connectivity
• Call Recording
• MicroUSB Port
• WiFi HotSpot Tethering
• WiFi Direct
• USB Internet Sharing (Internet from PC)
• USB Tethering
• Bluetooth Tethering
• Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse Support
• OTG Support
• Supports 480p, 720p and 1080p HD Videos

Xiaomi Mi 5 specifications revealed

Xiaomi co-founder and VP, Liwan Jiang, has finally confirmed that the company’s next flagship, the Mi 5, will launch in February and will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 SoC. In his personal Weibo account he said, “The Xiaomi Mi 5 with the latest Snapdragon 820 processor is ready and in volume production. It will be released after the Spring Festival to have enough time for stocking up.” The Spring Festival is when China will celebrate the new year and will be held on February 8.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is expected to come with a 5.2-inch Quad HD display with 3GB or 4GB of RAM. It has been tipped to come with at least 32GB of storage and a 3600mAh battery. The device may comes with a 16MP camera at the back with a 13MP front facing camera. Leaked renders suggest that the the phone will comes with a thin strip of a Home button which will supposedly be the fingerprint scanner. Reports have also suggested that the Mi 5 will comes with 2.5D glass on the display as well as a USB Type-C port.

More at digit.in

Flash sale for Lenovo Vibe K4 Note

Flash sale for Lenovo vibe K4 Note begins today, i.e. Wednesday 20th January 2016 on amazon in India.   The offer price will be Rs. 11,998/- instead of Rs. 13299/-.

The handset has 3GB RAM and 16GB internal memory which can be expanded upto 128GB with micro SD card.  The 5.5 inch display with 1080p and 3300 mAH battery is on par with competition.

More specifications :

• TheaterMax technology – Virtual Giant Cinematic Experience
• Vibrant 13.97cm (5.5) Full HD wide-view display
• Twin Dolby Atmos® enabled speakers
• 3GB RAM and 16GB ROM
• Fingerprint reader with gesture support
• 13MP rear and 5MP front camera

 

Future batteries

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.

Explore latest innovations on the verge at pocket-lint.com

Nikon D5 and D500 announced

The newly announced D5 is Nikon's top-of-the-line professional DSLR, with a 20.8MP full frame sensor capable of shooting at up to 12fps with AF and 14fps without (with the mirror locked up). The headline feature, though, is arguably the new 153 point AF system with 99 cross-sensors. AF tracking with this new system will also benefit from the doubling in resolution of the RGB metering sensor used for scene analysis, and the D5 is the first Nikon camera capable of 4K video.

 The biggest news though may be the long-awaited replacement of the D300S. The 20.9MP APS-C D500 is Nikon's 'best enthusiast DX offering', and the term 'enthusiast' might be an understatement. With continuous shooting speeds of 10 fps and a 200 shot buffer for Raw images, the camera is aimed squarely at action and fast-paced photographers who don't mind the smaller sensor, or even benefit from its extra reach. It features the same 153-point AF system and 180k-pixel RGB metering sensor of the D5, along with the EXPEED 5 processor. It can also capture 4K/UHD video and also features 'SnapBridge', a constant connection to a smartphone using Bluetooth.

Preview at dpreview.com

Sony Corp developing batteries to replace Li-ion batteries

Sony Corp disclosed that it is developing new batteries to replace lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, aiming to commercialize them in 2020.

The company plans to increase energy density per volume by 40% from the current 700Wh/L to 1,000Wh/L by using a sulfur (S) compound as an electrode material. Compared with an existing battery having the same volume, the new batteries can increase battery life (capacity) by 40%.

Sony intends to commercialize the batteries as laminate batteries for smartphones first and, then, target them at other applications. The company aims to exploit the large capacity of the batteries and have them employed for various devices including mobile devices and robots.

Sony is a company that led the commercialization of Li-ion rechargeable battery. It aims to respond to new demands for highly-functional smartphones and robots by commercializing a new battery that can replace Li-ion batteries.

Aiming at commercialization in 2020, Sony is developing a lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery and magnesium-sulfur (Mg-S) battery. The Li-S battery uses a sulfur compound for the positive electrode and metal lithium, etc for the negative electrode. Though the sulfur-based positive electrode has a low voltage, the theoretical value of its current capacity per electrode weight is very high, potentially realizing a battery cell with an energy density higher than 1,000Wh/L.

Metal lithium, which is used for the negative electrode, is called a "material of dreams."

Though there have been many technologies researched for using metal lithium and many prototypes, it has hardly been used for rechargeable batteries due to the high difficulty.

When metal lithium is used for a rechargeable battery, the battery generates dendrites (branch-like lithium deposits) at its negative electrode as it is repeatedly charged and discharged. If the dendrites cause a short circuit by breaking through the separator that insulates the positive electrode from the negative electrode, it can cause heat generation or ignition. This problem has not been solved yet.

Despite such difficulties, Sony considers that it is a promising technology to realize an energy density of 1,000Wh/L in about 2020. Manufacturers other than Sony are also actively engaged in the development of batteries using sulfur as an electrode material. So, major manufactures will probably compete against one another in the commercialization of such batteries.

via [nikkeibp.co.jp]

Camera sensor sizes explained

Confused about Four Thirds, 1/1.7, full-frame and APS-C format and why it matters? Don’t worry, here’s everything you need to know about camera sensor sizes.


Sensor size is important in photography because it has an impact upon image quality. If you have two cameras with the same pixel count, but one has a physically larger sensor than the other, the one with the larger sensor will usually produce better quality images.
This is because the photo receptors, which are commonly called pixels these days, are larger on the bigger sensor.
The main purpose of a photo receptor is to receive light and generate an electrical signal that is converted into a digital image signal. The more light that the sensor receives, the stronger the image signal will be.
A strong signal requires less amplification and this means there’s less opportunity for image noise to introduced or enhanced.

more at digitalcameraworld.com

MI Redmi 3 announced on sale in China

Low price points and impressive hardware is strategy of Xiaomi. The just-announced Redmi 3 takes things to a new level, though. At just $106 (RMB 699) that is around Rs. 7100 in India, you get a phone with a brand new Snapdragon chip, a metal chassis, and a massive 4100 mAh battery almost double of the previous model.  This is on sale in China already. 

Hope they follow it in India, another big market in coming months, or should we expect a Redmi Prime 3 for India.  Only let down is hybrid SIM slots, which are disappointing for the dual SIM users with additional storage requirement.


Here's the full spec sheet for your perusal.

• 5-inch 720P HD display
• Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage with microSD card slot (supports up to 128GB)
• 4100mAh battery with 5V/2A fast charging
• 139.3 x 69.6 x 8.5mm; 144g
• 13-megapixel, F/2.0 rear camera with PDAF for fast 0.1s autofocus - 5-megapixel F/2.2 front camera
• Dual SIM (second slot doubles as microSD card slot)

Tech Insights: Panasonic's DFD autofocus technology

With the GH4, Panasonic has introduced an all-new autofocus algorithm that eliminates many of the drawbacks of contrast-detect autofocus, and delivers AF speeds approaching those of traditional SLRs. DFD stands for "Depth From Defocus," and to understand what this is all about and why it's such an impressive innovation, let's first take a quick look at how camera AF systems work.

more here from imaging-resource.com.

Key features of Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Androidpit.com explains key features of Android 6.0 Marshmallow --




Android Marshmallow isn't an overhaul of everything you thought you knew about Android. Rather, it's a refinement and extension of the core features and functionality of Android Lollipop. In this Android Marshmallow review, I take a look at the major features of Google's latest OS version to let you know where it hits, where it misses, and where it has room to improve.

more...

Fascinating science behind film and electronic camera sensors

A small 13 minute video explains it nicely.

Smartphones technology predictions for 2016

Smartphones: Pro-like photography and faster networks to be a big focus in 2016.

Can you believe it’s only been 15 years since the first camera phone came out, with a whopping 0.1 megapixels? Fast forward to today, and smartphones like the 16 megapixel LGV10 are giving consumers enhanced photo and video capabilities that could rival their DSLR brethren, and as much capacity as some of laptops.

As we move into 2016, we will see major strides made towards a radically new smartphone camera market. Camera makers are pushing the boundaries of technology and exploring new areas, such as 3D cameras, massive megapixels (80MB), cameras that can take 360 degree panoramic images and video and cameras that can shoot 1,000 frames a second. 4K Ultra HD for mobile is another move to watch in 2016. Not just for video streaming, we’ll see users take advantage of this extreme resolution in new ways as they shoot and create their own content on their smartphones.

Networking speed is another area where we will see companies start to push the envelope in 2016, such as new creative strategies for caching, spectrum hopping and managing the Internet of Things. This needs to happen to support user expectations for downloading larger files for apps, movies, photos, videos and other materials, more frequently and more quickly. Global Internet traffic will grow by three fold over the next five years, according to some predictions. Users will begin to download movies that could take up to 80GB. Average Internet speeds, meanwhile, may only climb from 5 mbps today to 11.3 mbps by 2019, according to Danny Kaye, executive vice president, Global Research and Technology Strategy at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. We will need gbps speeds to exchange GB-sized files painlessly.

In addition to the changes smartphone experience the smartphone market itself also promises to evolve. We will continue to see a globalization of the mobile landscape in 2016, as new China brands shake up the smartphone markets with new designs and business models. Expect continuing growth from China brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei, which was the fastest growing smartphone maker in the second quarter, according to research firm Gartner.

2015 was exciting year for smartphone buyers, and they have more to look forward to as we move into 2016.

—Christopher Bergey is the vice president and general manager of Mobile and Connected Solutions, SanDisk Corporation

[via eetimes.com]

A guide to smartphone camera hardware

Good article from Techpost on smartphone camera.



"One of the most important features of smartphones is the camera. Whether it’s for photographing people, landscapes, flowers or food, buyers nowadays demand a good quality camera on the back of their handset. As they get better each year, for many they've replaced standalone point-and-shoot cameras as the go-to device for everyday photography, as they're easier to access and more compact to carry with you. The front-facing camera is increasingly important too with the trend of ‘selfies’ across social media and services like Snapchat."

more here