Five Questions Apple Should Ask Before Entering Original Programming Business

You may have seen the news that Apple, in addition to the reboot of Apple TV, is now considering entering the original programming business, taking on its digital confreres Netflix and Amazon (not to mention Hulu and Crackle). Yikes! Has Apple gone Hollywood? I’m trying really hard to get out of my head the image of Tim Cook being besieged by Ari Gold, who tells him “Tim, baby, enough about me! What do you think of me?”

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Western Digital Offers New Ways To Protect And Sync Your Files — Unless Your House Burns Down

Berlin: Western Digital’s MyCloud series of network attach storage systems offer consumers and businesses faster and potentially cheaper cloud storage. But instead of the “cloud” being on a remote server somewhere, their cloud is on a device in their home or office.

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Qualcomm Discloses More Snapdragon 820 Kryo CPU Details

Qualcomm has been slowly releasing details here and there about their Snapdragon 820 SoC due out next year. Until then, the company is giving the market little bits of information here and there to keep the market interested and perhaps paying attention. Just a few days ago, Qualcomm announced that the Snapdragon 820’s Smart Protect would fight malware in the mobile space through machine learning thanks to the Zeroth technology inside of the Snapdragon 820. Zeroth, which my colleague Patrick Moorhead wrote about here, is technology which is capable of real-time, cognitive computing. We also know quite a bit about the Snapdragon 820’s GPU thanks to their Adreno 530 disclosures at SIGGRAPH this year. These new disclosures today, disclosed in a blog post,  for the Snapdragon 820 are focused around the Snapdragon 820’s next generation CPU cores, named Kryo, which Qualcomm first mentioned at Mobile World Congress.

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Huawei announces the Mate S flagship, gives details on the Huawei Watch

Huawei is a fast-growing company and more than ever, it seems like it’s is on the verge of a huge breakout. At IFA 2015, Huawei just announced its latest flagship, the Huawei Mate S. The company is touting the phone as the first phone to feature Force Touch, even beating Apple to the game. Force Touch allows the display of the phone to recognize how hard you’re pressing on the glass. The technology is so new that it doesn’t have much for use at the moment, but that should quickly change.

As for specs, you’ll find a 5.5-inch 1080p display covered in 2.5D Gorilla Glass with curved edges, an octa-core Kirin 935 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS and an RGBW sensor, 8-megapixel front-facing camera, 2700mAh battery and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with Huawei’s EMUI 3.1 overlay, which reportedly offers loads of customization. Other things of note include a fingerprint sensor that is 100% faster than the one found on last year’s Honor 7, as well as four color options of gold, grey, silver and pink.

Huawei will open pre-orders for the Mate S on September 15, with ordering available through its Vmall online store.

Huawei Watch

Huawei also took IFA 2015 as the perfect time to announce details on its much-anticipated Huawei Watch, which is an Android Wear smartwatch designed with class in mind. The company has packed the Huawei Watch with a 1.4-inch circular 400×400 AMOLED display that’s covered with sapphire crystal, for stronger scratch protection. It also brings in a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor, 512MB RAM, over 40 pre-installed watch faces and a heart rate sensor which Huawei is calling the “world’s most advanced”.

The company is selling three different models of the Huawei Watch with different design materials and pricing. The starting model is a gorgeous 316L stainless steel watch case with a leather band and it will sell for $349. The next up is a ceramic black watch case with a metal link bracelet that’s priced at $449. The final and most expensive model features a stainless steel case plated with rose gold and paired with a metal strap made of similar materials. That model will sell for $799. As a note, all of the bands are a standard 18mm size, so they can easily be swapped out.

Pre-orders are now open for the Huawei Watch, with standard orders opening on September 17.


Huawei Mate S

Huawei Watch

Huawei Mate S (7)

Huawei Mate S (6)

Huawei Mate S (5)

Huawei Mate S (4)

Huawei Mate S (3)

Huawei Mate S (2)

Show Press Release

[BERLIN, Germany – September 2, 2015]: Today at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, the Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled the Huawei Mate S smartphone, the new flagship product in Huawei’s Mate series of mobile devices. Its ergonomic, luxurious design and innovative technology deliver a premium Android experience that surpasses industry expectations once again.

“Our goal in designing the Huawei Mate S was to develop a smartphone that offers a personalized experience, rather than a commoditized one,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG. “The Huawei Mate S is based on insights we gathered about human interaction – most notably that touch is a natural action we take to understand our world. The Huawei Mate S redefines how we incorporate touch technology into our smartphones, breaking through the conventional way of touch screen control and ushering in new imagination for human-machine interaction.”

The beauty of a curved surface: innovative design from inside out

The Huawei Mate S’ touch screen control technology offers an unconventional design that strikes a balance between the phone’s brilliant capabilities and its stunning visual appearance.

Building on the revolutionary Huawei Mate 7 smartphone, the Huawei Mate S features a 2.5D floating screen lens and a 5.5 inches screen. It is 7.2 millimeters thick, with side edges that are just 2.65 millimeters. The arched back fits perfectly into the palm of a hand, while its curved surface features solid pressure and weight, making the phone less likely to be dropped. With the AMOLED screen, Huawei Mate S presents a perfect curve.

The curved unibody of the Huawei Mate S encapsulates a laminated ladder battery and a staggered height printer circuit board layout design. Nanometer technology is being used to seamlessly connect the phone’s antenna and metal, resulting in a smooth feel. Additional cutting-edge technology, including diamond cutting, CNC carving, nanotechnology and a camera with a sapphire lens are part of the phone’s seamless metal body.

Revolutionary controls redefining user experience

Touch is a core of the Huawei Mate S, creating a new experience for users that enhances their interaction with the device.

The phone is equipped with Fingerprint 2.0, an upgraded version of the advanced chip level security and one-key unlock technology in the Huawei Mate 7. Fingerprint 2.0 improves recognition speeds by 100 percent, with more accurate self-learning functions. It can also be used to control the notification bar, double-click to erase unread notifications, slide to preview pictures, and hold and take phone calls. All of these options improve the one hand operation of the phone.

Knuckle Control 2.0 – first introduced in the Huawei P8 – simplifies how users switch between app operations and take screenshots. The feature offers users a new way to interact with their phone: drawing a “C” with their knuckle activates a camera, while double-clicking the screen with a knuckle records the screen in the form of a video. With these options, every type of touch provides an opportunity to be innovative.

A camera designed for beginners and professionals

The Huawei Mate S is equipped with a camera that considers users’ needs in everyday life: a professional camera and settings that incorporate contrast, texture, and distinctive tonality. The 13 mega pixel rear camera features a RGBW sensor, optical image stabilizer, Dual color-temp LED flash lights, and an independent image signal processor camera unit, which combine to capture higher quality pictures faster. The Huawei Mate S takes camera capabilities one step further by offering an 8 mega pixel front camera with soft front light to improve selfies. This algorithm ensures users capture the clearest, most beautifying images possible.

The professional camera mode allows manual adjustment for ISO, exposure compensation, exposure time, white balance and focusing, and functions such as the grid, and flash-assisted focusing. The real time black and white filter mode provides multiple levels of density and real-time intensity adjustment.

Technology that adapts to every environment

The Huawei Mate S takes regular recording functions to the next level by creatively implanting three microphones that support Huawei’s smart direction algorithm. The Huawei Mate S’ beam-forming algorithm allows all three mics to focus on the sounds coming from where the phone is facing, enabling a clear recording with minimal background noises.

For consumers on the go, the Huawei Mate S also supports Mopria printing general protocol, which includes 700 printer types across 29 leading brands.

Today Huawei also introduced its new Huawei G8, which is equipped with a 5.5 inch FHD screen and 3000mAh battery compatible for super low-light photo taking.

Availability

Additional to other distribution channels, the HUAWEI Mate S will also be sold via the company’s own online sales channel Vmall, starting in Western Europe. As of September 15, the phone will be available for pre-order at http://www.vmall.eu.

Via: Engadget

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Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime gets Android 5.1.1 Lollipop

The first Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime smartphone to get the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop firmware was the Verizon’s SM-G830P model. Today, the regular American flavor – the SM-G830W is also getting the update.

The Canadian users are the first to get the new firmware. It is available both OTA and via Kies and weights about 590MB. In case you are impatient for the update – you can download it by hitting the source link below and install it via Odin.

While the G530W and G530P have been granted access to the latest available Android OS, the G530F and the rare G530BP (TV) models are still waiting for the regular 5.0 Lollipop updates. Unfortunately we don’t know any further details on their updates…

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