It’s been a while since we last heard about Qualcomm’s Mirasol display, but it’s still alive and the company has showed off their MEMS-based reflective display at SID Display Week. Included in the demo were a 5.2-inch panel with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 and 577 ppi on a smartphone and a 1.5-inch panel on a smartwatch, although the displays were just mock-ups.

According to a representative, the display is expected to come out with third-party devices. The main advantage of the Mirasol screen is its energy efficiency, having 6 times power advantage over LCD and OLED displays, which means you if a smartphone arrives with Mirasol tech it could go without charging for quite a number of days. But Mirasol requires an external light source (not backlight like an LCD).More R&D is still required for the tech so don’t expect it to show up on any devices anytime soon. For now, Sharp’s IGZO tech seems to be the best thing out there.

About the Mirasol technology, Ars Technica’s Jon Stokes explains:

“Each Mirasol pixel is composed of three subpixels: red, green, and blue. Each subpixel is a simple structure made up of two films that are separated by an air gap. When the air gap is open, the subpixel reflects light at a specific wavelength; when current is applied to the two films, they pinch together and the air gap closes, turning the pixel nonreflective (black).

Like an E-Ink pixel, each Mirasol subpixel is bistable, meaning that it’s stable in either the “open” or “closed” states, and it requires power only to switch states; this bistability gives it its low-power characteristics. State switching is fast, on the order of a few microseconds, which is why Mirasol can do video”.

Check out the video, which comes to us courtesy of Engadget, to take a closer look at Mirasol.

The post Qualcomm Mirasol Display (Hands-On Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

At CES Samsung has been busy showing off a prototype Android phone which features a curved glass display, tech that some are claiming will soon be available to buy in the next generation Samsung Galaxy S4 and possibly even the Note 3.

In addition to Samsung’s own phones devices, LG are also reportedly looking into using flexible screens on some of it’s own devices which might also include tablets, TV screens and laptops.

It’s still unclear just how much the Youm display from Samsung can bend, and how the curved areas will be used to enhance users experience, but judging by the state of the current hardware we won’t have long to find out.

[ Source ]

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There’s a lot of high-tech stuff going on in the recent Avengers movie, but perhaps even more interesting is the glimpse we get inito the future of computing through those user interfaces.

We’ve seen the inside of Iron Man’s helmet before, showing us the heads-up display that Robert Downey Jr. uses to monitor the status of his suit and to target all the bad guys. There’s a lot of information being flashed at him all at once and you almost get the sense that they represent the evolution of the homescreen widget.

You’ll also notice that a lot of the displays are transparent. That’s already happening, to a certain extent, by Samsung and other companies. And again, we get those fancy blinking widgets again. You might also remember the scene where a window can be “swiped” over from one workstation to the next.

There is a lot of detail going on with these user interfaces. You can thank freelance visual artist Jayse Hansen, who was responsible for that work in The Avengers. It does make me wonder if these UIs are closer in scope to the future of Windows, Apple, or something else entirely.

I also wonder if the menu at the shawarma place is going to look like this one day…

[Source]

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When Apple wanted to bump its way to Retina territory for the new iPad, there was really only one company that was capable of doing it: Samsung. You see, Apple has very high standards for quality and it was only Samsung that was able to meet these standards for the new iPad’s Retina display.

And it’s not for lack of competition either. When Apple started the development cycle, it looked at other suppliers. Both LG and Sharp were in the running, but neither was able to live up to the quality control standards set out by the team in Cupertino. That looks like it might change in a couple of months, but only if they can improve their standards to live up to what Apple demands.

Samsung isn’t only supplying the display panel for the new iPad. You know that new A5X chip? That’s Samsung too. Considering how integral Samsung has been to the iPad’s success, it only makes sense that Samsung is pretty much tops when it comes to Android smartphones and tablets too.

[Source]

The post The Reason Why the New iPad’s Screen Is Still Made by Samsung appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

NEC started working on organic radical batteries back in 2001 and the company has just introduced their latest development, a 0.3mm super-thin prototype organic battery that appears to be a perfect fit for future integrated circuit cards and may be the world’s thinnest battery yet.

Organic radical batteries are incredibly thin, have a very high energy density and use no heavy metals (therefore no problem of proper disposal). ORBs of 0.7mm thickness were standard until now. The newly developed NEC organic battery is ultra thin and can be printed directly onto a standard IC card of 0.76mm thickness.

And we will be able to add circuit boards with tiny components like a display and antenna onto the surrounding polymer film. According to the company, the new technology will allow us to incorporate features such as a display and data communications to next-gen smart cards.

But for now, all those things that could be incorporated will depend on the battery which comes with a capacity of 3mAh. The company says that this is good for refreshing the integrated display (unspecified) up to 2000 times or for transmitting data via the antenna 35 times before there is a need for a recharge. The incredible thing is that it will take only around 30 seconds for recharging the battery fully. And after 500 recharges, its capacity will be reduced by only 25%.

The post NEC’s Organic Battery Is Just 0.3mm Thick appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We have seen it in many spy movies, but there’s a possibility that you might play with one sometime in the near future. At this year’s CES, we saw the Lumus transparent wearable AR display and the company revealed a new optical engine at the Mobile World Congress. The Lumus OE-31 see-through wearable display can be integrated in regular glasses. As you can see above, the eyewear in the picture comes with an embedded MP3 player; the OE-31 is on its left side.

As you might know, Google is also reportedly developing something similar. Their AR glasses will provide you with information as you gaze upon the world. But, while that design is said to involve an opaque display over one eye, the Lumus OE-31 will add an image layer (with nHD resolution) on top of what you see through the glasses.

The possibilities for the new technology are certainly endless. For example, athletes can use eyewear with OE-31 for getting info such as speed, lap time, and heart rate while jogging or biking. Or you will be able to connect it with a smartphone and, using GPS, see the directions to a place on the display while you are walking on the road.

Of course, a lot of developers will be needed to bring out interesting applications. But we are not quite sure whether it will be fun to have a display in front of our eyes like this; we will be taking a closer look at this in the very near future to see how it’s like. In the meantime, you can take a peek at the clips below to see what the OE-31 has to offer.

The post Lumus OE-31 Transparent Wearable Display (Video) appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

There are already tons of rumors about the much anticipated Apple iPad 3 launch circulating. Of course, we know from previous years experience that we can expect something new from Apple, most likely in March again. Since the Cupertino company has scheduled a big media event for the first week of March, AllThingsD says its the iPad 3.

The back panel that you see in the above image is supposed to be that of the iPad 3. And when compared to the rear housing of the iPad 2, the new device appears to be coming with some changes.

According to available info, the new housing has been designed to fit a smaller logic board. The additional space might be there for a larger battery. From the looks of things an updated camera (rumored to be similar to the one on the iPhone 4S) is also coming, and the mystery housing also features a different LCD mounting system.

If indeed this is the iPad 3 rear panel, its arrival at this time suggests that the device is very close to being unveiled. A release in March or April is most likely, especially when considering hints from casing and accessory makers who showed off their products at CES 2012.

You might know that a longer battery life is one of the iPad’s strongest points. So the rumored bigger battery will be much needed if the company fits a 2048×1536 Retina Display, a quad-core processor and 4G LTE support into the next iPad. Customers won’t welcome a device with good specs but poor battery life.

And speaking of the Retina Display, there are rumors that the iPad 3 might feature Sharp’s IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) display. Besides delivering a high resolution of up to 330 dots per inch, these displays cost less to produce and there is no need for LED backlights. The display will also be thinner.

The latest info suggests that Sharp’s factories have increased the production of the IGZO displays. And there haven’t been any reports about the displays being available commercially. So where are they headed? Apple is certainly a possibility.

But there are also rumors about a dual light bar design for supporting high-resolution IPS display from Samsung and LG.

Is your head aching after all these speculations and rumors? Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to hear an official announcement from Apple. But then the iPad 4 talks will start.

The post iPad 3 Unveiling In March appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

*** Grain of salt alert ***

We have seen a lot of iPhone 5 rumors earlier, but this new one seems to be pretty trustworthy. It comes to us courtesy of the folks over at 9to5Mac who appear to have got the latest info on the next generation iPhone, tentatively called iPhone 5, via a Foxconn worker.

According to the new rumor, the iPhone 5 is ready for production at the moment and the company is planning a summer launch for it. The source has also revealed that there are many sample devices, each differing slightly from the others. So it’s impossible to tell which device will be final.

But all of these samples are equipped with 4-inch or larger screens, with one of them being made by LG. None of the samples have a MacBook Air-inspired teardrop shape (we don’t think that rumor is coming up again). They are symmetrically shaped and not a single one is having the same compact form factor as the iPhone 4 or 4S.

If the device is indeed coming with a larger screen, that will finally put the iPhone in the same display league as many of the competing Android handsets such as the Droid RAZR.

And we don’t think too many grains of salt are needed for this new rumor. Unlike many other rumors which bring out a device’s specs and tons of speculations, this new one is very vague. We have not got any exact display size, no blurry pictures of the handset and nothing about what’s under the hood. If it was made up, it won’t be too difficult for someone to pick a few possible specs.

And there is also the mentioning of the samples. As you might know, reviewing samples before selecting the final model is a standard procedure.  And to add to all that, this is the same source who tipped on the iPhone 5 last year that the device was not coming and suggested we should expect the iPhone 4S. The rest is history.

The post Overworked Foxconn Employee Outs iPhone 5 Release Date appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Corning is the maker of  ”Gorilla Glass” which is used in many newer generation consumer electronic gadgets such as smartphones and tablets.  Corning plans to show off a new version of its Gorilla Glass next week at the consumer Electronics Show, the new version is super-thin and chemically-strengthened. Not many details have been released about the new version at this point, but the company claimed last year that this is the next big thing in glass and we can expect it to be in the iPhone 5. The company is staying pretty quite about exactly how much lighter or stronger the new glass will be, but not to worry, we will soon find out what Corning has in their hat next week at the annual Consumer electronic Show.

According to Corning, Gorilla Glass is currently used in more than 575 electronic products across 30 major brands totaling a whopping 500 million devices across the globe.

At this time it is unclear if Apple is using Gorilla Glass Displays on the latest iPhone & iPad. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs notes that Steve Jobs put his “reality distortion field” to get Corning to bring its speciality glass to the market just in time for the first iPhone launch.

Gorilla Glass also aims to be used in other devices that are slightly bigger than a typical tablet or a smartphone. The company is working on an impressive 82-inch touchscreen for the show.  If you are going to this years CES be sure to check out the Gorilla Glass booth, for readers that cannot be at the show, keep your browsers locked onto Mobilemag as we will bring you all the breaking developments right here.

The post Gorilla Glass 2 at CES, Coming to iPhone 5? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We are seeing new 3D smartphones, displays, portable game consoles and a variety of Smart TVs that make entertainment all the more immersive. Now, Acer has introduced their new display, the Acer HR274H.

What’s so different about another new display?

The HR274H, which is a 27 inch 1080p 3D display, comes equipped with a chip-based system which converts 2D to 3D and there is no need for any additional hardware or software.

The new system simply pushes the moving objects to the front of the scene while the background will appear as if it’s further away.

As for the other features of the LED-backlit display, it supports a native 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution, and comes with a 2ms response time (GTG), 250 cd/m2 brightness, and 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio (dynamic).

It measures in at 25.5″ x 18.5″ x 7.6″ and weighs 13.2 lbs. It also features two HDMI ports, a VGA port, integrated speakers, Energy Star Certification, and an angle adjustable stand.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to enjoy this 3D technology without a pair of glasses. A set of lightweight polarized glasses are included in the package, which differ from the more commonplace battery-based glasses. Both the display and glasses use film-patterned retarder (FPR) technology, which will supposedly enable a flicker-free 3D viewing experience.

The new monitor is now available for US customers at leading retailers and it comes with a price tag of $599.

While the display sounds pretty cool, keep in mind that turning most 2D content into 3D doesn’t necessarily mean that converted images will look any good and so expect mixed results.

The post Acer HR274H 27″ Display Converts 2D Content To 3D appeared first on Mobile Magazine.