Mobile World Congress 2013

Most anticipated MWC 2013

Hola Again !

 Seems like everyone's anticipated to hear about the new releases from the major smartphone producers.

  The Mobile World Congress(MWC), is in Barcelona, Spain. The event begins Sunday (24.02.2013) and will continue on till Thursday(28.02.2013).

 There have been so many leaks way before the event itself, mainly from LG and Samsung. LG has revamped it's Optimus line, introducing it's L II-series, F-series and the new addition of the Optimus G Pro.

                                         Source:GSMArena.com

HTC's One failing in the camera department

 

Seems like HTC's new camera technology on the One isn't that amazing after all, since CNET Asia got their hands on the new HTC One. They compared the new HTC camera sample's with the all new iPhone 5 & trust me there were ups and downs.

  Even though the new technology with all the ultra pixeling, trust me the Finns are really good at that, the Pure View and the Lumias are there to prove. Just wish that HTC had retained to it's normal camera like it's competitors with the 13MP modules.

Check out CNET Asia for the camera samples from both smartphones.

Stay tuned for more updates from Major Vulkin's tech Blog.......

New updates to the smartphone industry

Good to be back.... 

 So start off first, I have been busy lately & just started my holidays. 

   Seems like a lot has happened since my lost post, so forget the past and let's all just skip to the future. So smartphones are the current market trends, there are so many releases by many manufacturers, but only a few stand out like Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Apple, Sony (Formerly Sony Ericsson), LG, Blackberry(Formerly RIM). 

   These companies have released so many new devices, but then only a few are left to battle on till the next flagship of the companies are released. Like Samsung's flagship device is SIII, but then SIV's gonna be released in a month or two's time, so end of life for the SIII.

 So the current major releases are Blackberry Z10, HTC Butterfly,  HTC One, Oppo Find5, Sony Xperia Z.... 

Black Berry Z10

Blackberry has gone through some major changes to both it's firm and it's production line. They have introduced a new OS built from scratch, and majoring in swiping. Swipe gestures is so common since android entered the market. So now it's time for BB to take it's chance. 

 It may look a lot like it's predecessor the BB Storm, trust me it's nothing like that plus with the new OS BB users have been taken to a new level, though it may take some time before you get used to the new OS.

But in overall, it's a great thing that BB came up with since the begging and hope they capture their current BB market around the world mainly the Middle East.

HTC Butterfly

  

This is one of the very first announcements made from HTC and other major companies for the all new 1080p screen and yet the phone's not released and it has gained so many negative reviews. 

HTC One

 This is the latest release from HTC, guess it's gonna be their next flagship device plus it's got HTC's latest Ultra Pixel camera, which is great at shooting low light pictures and with a f/2.2 aperture.

Oppo Find 5

A great phone from the Chinese, great specs with a proper andriod UI, and has a great prize. Unfortunately it's only available in the Asian countries, hopefully they market it worldwide. It's famous as it's the first company to release a phone with the new 1080p screen, way before HTC's release.

Sony Xperia Z

  This is the latest hits from all smartphones due to the various new feature plus the IP57 certification for dust and water. this mobile is able to withstand a pressure of 3m underwater.

Sony released a 3 minute footage shot from Xperia Z underwater and it's microphone's even recoreded the underwater sounds.... how cool is that ?


 Stay tuned to Major Vulkin's Tech Blog. More updates on the way.......

IKEA unveils new disposable camera concept

Furniture giant IKEA, apparently has changed the disposable camera concept. The company has unveiled a digital camera housed in a cardboard body, which it plans to sell in its stores around the globe.

   
The cardboard IKEA 'digicam' or so called 'Cardboard Cam' can store up to 40 pictures and has a USB port for transferring them to your computer. As you can clearly see it runs on two AA batteries and is really as basic concept is. Plus, it's way more environmentally-friendly than those plastic disposable cameras.

There’s no word on pricing yet, I suppose it won’t set you back too much, 'cos it's IKEA and they are perfectly known for overcharging their customers. The design's pretty cool for a disposable camera.

Samsung's adevertising has affected Apple yet again...

Samsung's been advertising against Apple lately and these ads get offensive by the day. The company took aim at Apple fans who wait in line for each new iPhone with an ad campaign earlier this year. The first ad for the year, was a group of Apple fans waiting for the launch of the I Phone and Samsung trumped them with the new Galaxy. They also tried to stop Apple selling their iPads by saying that their 4G figures were in fact misleading and Samsung achieved a great success in it's Galaxy Tabs. These guys are real cunning, when it comes to rival advertising.

 The Sydney Apple Store recently got the attention of a mob of protesters. The protestors pulled up in a giant black bus with the words 'Wake Up' printed on the side and were dressed all in black. When they got out of the bus, the people immediately started chanting 'Wake up!' over and over again, and shook signs bearing the same slogan. Amongst them one had a megaphone (It ain't a protest till someone starts screaming over a megaphone). It's not clear who's responsible for the protesters, word on the street is that Apple's rival Samsung.

Luckily Blogger Nate "Blunty" Burr was at the Apple Store at the time of the scene at Sydney and he managed to capture the whole thing on film. Check the video below:

Panasonic previews massive 145inch 8K resoultion Mega monster

The Japanese, more specifically Panasonic has been busy lately, teaming up with the Japanese broadcaster NHK to produce the 145-inch, 8K resolution prototype plasma display.
 This super-sized TV is the world's first self-illuminating Super Hi-Vision TV,  it doesn't require a back light. A new drive method has been introduced, the TV scans the pixels vertically to achieve a uniform picture quality, eliminating high-resolution flicker. 

The current movie & video capturing technology isn't so familiar with the super-high resolution, for instance Hollywood is still struggling to upgrade from 1080p and 2K (2048 × 1080) resolutions to 4K (4096 × 2160). However NHK has been experimenting with an 8K image sensor which can natively output to the new prototype. The new drive method retrain's the resolution despite the TV's massive size.

NHK has reportedly been working on Super Hi-Vision (SHV) for a number of years. Both Panasonic and NHK developed the monster TV to promote the research and development of SHV, and plans to film the upcoming Olympics in this super hi-def mode to preview the sharpness and get an impressive experience. The team plans to demo the new tech in Japan, the United States and the UK starting in May, showcasing images and videos shot with the NHK 120 FPS 8K sensor.

According to the specs, the prototype measures 145-inches, or 1.8m (L) x 3.2m (H). The actual resolution is 7,680 x 4,320 while the frame rate resides at a solid at 60 FPS. The pixel pitch is 0.417-mm horizontal, 0.417-mm vertical, the aspect ratio is 16:9 and the phosphor array is a RGB vertical stripe.

Panasonic stated on Friday that the new 145-inch Super Hi-Vision TV will make an appearance at the Institute of Technology from May 24 to May 27, and at the SID International Symposium international conference from June 3 to June 8. No other dates and locations were provided.

Yo followers of Major Vulkin...... Ssup ??? It's been so long. I'm pretty sure u are all excited to hear about the latest news of gadgets & tech. So hold on fans the updates are on the way.

Enjy ur day Major Vulkin's Tech Blog fans.... :D

A look back at the life of Android [INFOGRAPHIC]

In the short time that Android has been around, it’s evolved at an unprecedented rate to become one of the leading smartphone and now tablet OS’s out there.

With its confectionary-themed branding as of version 1.5 (Cupcake), it also stands out as the more lighthearted alternative amongst its main rivals e.g. iOS, Symbian and BB OS, but make no mistake, Android is not to be trifled with and under the owner ship of Google it’s got a whole lot more to dish out (OK, I’ll stop now).
Mobile app developers [x]cubelabs have chronicled Android’s rise to greatness since its humble beginnings way back in October 2003. So cast your eyes over the history of Android and let us know what you think. Does the direction the OS is taking make it a recipe for success, or are things soon going to turn sour?

Razer announces Electra gaming headset for smartphones...

Got fed up with the headset that came bundled with your phone? Razer has now launched a new pair of headphones targeted specifically at mobile phone gamers. The Razer Electra boasts of a powerful bass response that will bring your mobile games to life.

It comes with dual detachable audio cables, one of which has a built-in microphone that works with iPhone, HTC and BlackBerry devices. It combines the headphone and microphone input in a single cable so it won’t work with computers unless they have a combined jack like some of the MacBooks. If the microphone does not work with your device you can just use the headphones with the other cable but then that will sort of defeat the purpose of buying these headphones.The Electra boasts of passive noise cancellation thanks to their replaceable sound-isolating leatherette ear cushions, which cocoons you from the surrounding so you can use them with your phone while travelling without being disturbed by ambient sounds. They come in Razer’s traditional black and green color combo
     The Razer Electra will be priced at $59.99 when it goes on sale in October.

Russian scientist aims to save lives with telephone... with a new phone design

Vladislav Oleschenko, a name synonymous with the mobile world. Oh what’s that you never heard of him?

       Well OK, he’s not actually famous, yet, he’s more of an ‘unknown quantity’, a Russian inventor who thinks that his latest creation could take him from mad scientist to technical-telephony genius and with the evidence he brings to the table, it’s pretty compelling stuff.

 
Mobile phones all have a SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), which is a value pertaining to the amount of radio frequency(RF) absorbed into the users body when using a mobile phone. There are safe limits, set in place by organizations, such as the FCC in the US for example (where the SAR value must be less than 1.6 watts per kilogram). However low this value is of course, it still means that you’re bombarding your body with small quantities of radiation on a regular basis and in the worst case scenarios, this can contribute to illnesses such as cancer.
This is not to say using a mobile phone will undoubtedly make you unwell in the long run, but following on from an article recently published by WHO (The World Health Organization) on the harmful nature of mobile phone use, Vladislav’s invention really does show potential to counter this.
Through some techno-wizardry (and a lot of scientific theory), Vladislav demonstrates the difference his device makes on radio frequency emissions, without compromising on signal strength. Assuming everything checks out with the official channels and he gets enough publicity for the project, phone manufacturers could potentially be implementing Vladislav’s technology in their future handsets, making it that much safer to use your mobile phone.

This is EPIC !!! Lasers used for sensing guitar pitches

What could be more dangerous than a rockstar with a guitar? How about a rock star with a guitar with freakin' lasers attached to it! Okay maybe these lasers don't exactly burn through things, but the Laser Pitch Detection Pickup system utilizes lasers mounted on the guitar in order to detect the pitch of a string before it is even plucked.

 

By detecting the pitch before the string is played, the latency when recording could become significantly lower. This allows a musician to transform their six string guitar into an efficient MIDI synthesizer using an interface or special pickup. By reducing the delay between the musician's plucking and the resultant tone, the MIDI recorder is able to better synchronize its sound. According to Gizmag, even the fastest of conventional MIDI systems could experience a latency of 12ms.

Angry Birds: Summer Pignic Retreat....

The Angry Birds Seasons episode – Summer Pignic got its final level unlocked yesterday and if you’re already feeling sad to see it end you can watch this cool trailer made for the episode by creator RovioMobile.

The video shows the typical birds-vs-pigs battleground situation, a slingshot and the eggs being held hostage. It looks as though the pigs will prevail until the boomerang bird swoops in to save the eggs seconds before it’s too late.
Here's the vid:

11″ and 13″ MacBook Air now official... brings backlit keyboards, Thunderbolt ports and Sandy Bridge CPUs

Just as expected, Apple today announces the update to the MacBook Air. Most of the rumors came up true and the 11″ and 13″ ultra-portables now sport backlit keyboards by default and a selection of i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge CPU. 

The 11″ MacBook Air starts at $1,000, just like its predecessor, and for that kind of cash you only get a measly 64GB of flash storage and 2GB of RAM. However add a couple of extra Benjamins and you have 128GB of storage and 4GB to compliment that 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge CPU. Doubling the storage once more will set you back an additional $300.
$150 is what 11″ MacBook Air potential buyers will have to shed for a 1.8GHz Intel i7 CPU with even more oomph than the stock unit.

         If 11″ doesn’t cut it for you, for $1299 you can get the 13″ MacBook Air, which has a base model with a 1.7GHz i5, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Once again, there’s the option to bring the SSD size to 256GB for $300, while a CPU upgrade to a 1.8GHz i7 costs the steep extra $100.
Both new MacBook Air versions are available at the Apple Store website right now, so if you are interested, follow the source link to configure yours.

In the same time, it seems Apple had dropped the vanilla MacBook notebook entirely. Now, it’s either MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

Center-of-weight-shifting phone looks cool...

Now here’s an interesting concept for you – a smartphone that is able to change its weight-balance on command, giving you another way to interact with it and thus enriching the user-experience.

This idea was introduced by Fabian Hemmert, who used a moving battery on an axis to change not only the center of gravity, but also the shape of the gadget. Check out an early (and we mean really early) prototype in the following video shot as part of an TEDx event in Berlin.

Of course, a device that would allow a smartphone or a tablet to shift its center of weight would increase weight and thickness by quite a lot and we imagine it would need quite a lot of power to work.
So this idea will probably never make it to the market, but if we are lucky it might land on some other portable devices like game consoles or SatNav units.

The all new Mac Book Air

A couple weeks ago we heard this particularly juicy rumor about the Apple MacBook Air duo getting i7 CPUs and much faster storage. Well according to some more recent information that we stumbled upon, we are just about to find out if that’s true next week.

 Plus we got a couple of new items on the rumored specs sheet list. Apparently the cellphone-like 64GB storage option won’t be available with the next gen Airs, but there will be a new 256GB option even for the 11-incher. And the new ultra-portables should feature Thunderbolt ports for ultra-fast data transfers and bets of all, the illuminated keyboards from the previous generation Airs will be back.

7 most important games of 2011....

If you are a gamer, you probably start salivating at the sound of names like Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Unfortunately, there is still some time for these games to arrive. But we have something to keep you busy till then.

Now I know these are just the game trailers and you have probably seen them before anyway. But this is just something to pass your time till you wait for the real thing. And we have tried to include gameplay videos wherever we can instead of just trailers, so they are all the more exciting to watch. So, let us begin then. Head past the break to watch all the trailers we have collected for you.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Mass Effect 3 :

Batman: Arkham City:

Uncharted 3:Drake's Deception(Only on PS3)

Need For Speed: The Run

 
Assassin's Creed: The Revelations

 
Far Cry 3