News & Reviews:   smartphone

Samsung recently released a teaser image for their upcoming Samsung Premiere 2013 event happening on 20 June 2013 in London. They will also be streaming the event live at www.youtube.com/SamsungMobile so you can watch it here in Malaysia as well. From the text it is clear that they intend to release something Galaxy and ATIV related and the chopped up image seems to suggest a new notebook computer or hybrid tablet. However, since the text also mentions Galaxy it could also mean an announcement on new Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

We've only just scratched the surface with 4G LTE, especially here in Malaysia with only Maxis and Celcom offering it (and rumours that DiGi may be offering 4G LTE soon as well). This isn't too different in the rest of the world as well, as 4G LTE adoption has yet to gain the same acceptance as 3G. Regardless of this, Samsung are currently working on 5G technology which they hope to bring to the masses by 2020.

Samsung's Tizen mobile OS smartphones have been rumoured to arrive for quite some time. The Samsung  GT-I8805 Redwood and GT-I8800 Melius were initially estimated to arrive in September but we are now seeing the Samsung Redwood for the first time in leaked images.

Samsung recently released a new feature called SideSync that allows you to work between your Samsung Notebook and Samsung Smartphone through a USB cable. While it does work a lot like Syncing program it offers bit more by allowing you to work seamlessly between your smartphone and computer. This includes the ability to drag and drop text from your notebook computer to your smartphone and vice versa. Type an SMS on your smartphone from the keyboard on your notebook or just use your smartphone like a second display for your notebook computer.

AnTuTu is a benchmark app that posts the scores of various smartphones, tablets and similar devices online. So when a mystery Samsung device posts with the model number GT-P5200 gets AnTuTu scores of 24616, scores which are on the same level as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 based Samsung Galaxy S4, you can bet that we'll take notice. Now, bear in mind that this is a recent happening and that Samsung just don't use the GT-PXXXX naming convention anymore means several things.

When Google bought up Motorola, many people were wondering if that was just the end of Motorola's smartphone lineup. After a while it certainly seemed so, but hope has not yet died out completely as many tech watchers have noted that a Google Motorola X phone could be on the horizon. This hope became just a little more solid as leaks about a mysterious smartphone bearing not only a Motorola logo but also having a model number denoting 'XFON' on the back have appeared.

In our previous news we mentioned that Nokia was investing in U.S. Pelican Imaging with possibilities of a Lytro-like technology for Nokia smartphones. Recently, Pelican Imaging have released more detailed information on how this would be achieved, mainly through their 16 lens array smart camera and a new image that can be editted for refocusing anytime on any hardware.

By now, we've all seen the paper thin tablets that came out of CES 2013, but some people haven't just been watching, but actively working on taking these concepts to the next level. The same team who brought us the PaperTab from CES 2013 have been hard at work to create the MorePhone which is a paper thin smartphone that curls up when it receives a call or notification. Rather than vibrate, the MorePhone morphs, curling or bending depending on what alert or notification you receive.

Nokia has long been touted for their great camera sensors and lenses in their smartphone cameras. It is one of the major feature of almost any Nokia smartphone around with their 41MP PureView sensor currently being the smartphone camera to beat. Recently, Nokia has been found investing in a digital imaging company called U. S. Pelican Imaging. What makes this so interesting is that Pelican Imaging are working on a Lytro-like camera technology which could mean Nokia smartphones with Lytro-like cameras soon.

After Samsung's very interesting video on flexible screens we often forget that other manufacturers such as LG are also working on similar flexible screen technology. While this was shown off by LG at this year's CES 2013 with their curved Flexible OLED panel HDTV and e-paper solutions, recently LG Vice President of Mobile, Yoon Bu-hyun was noted as saying that they are working with LG's Display department to create a smartphone with a flexible OLED screen by the end of the year.