| Qualcomm Snapdragon BatteryGuru 2.0 app now offers more feedback Oct 30th 2013, 06:51, by Juan Carlos Torres Battery life has been and still is the biggest source of headache among mobile device users and one of the most important concerns of manufacturers. But while we wait for that almost perfect battery, the best we can do is to wisely manage our resource usage in order to curb battery drain. Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon BatteryGuru app, now at version 2.0, seeks to help users do just that by not making them think about it at all. 
Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon BatteryGuru last May as an intelligent app that helps users reduce battery usage by automatically tweaking the system and its settings depending on the time of day or location. The app learns from the user’s usage pattern and habits for a few days before it begins doing things on its own, without any prompting from the user. It can, for example, automatically turn off WiFi when the user leaves the house or learn that the user doesn’t use certain features during certain hours and turns them off. Even after the initial training period, BatteryGuru continues to learn from the user and adjusts its settings appropriately. Snapdragon BatteryGuru 2.0 still does all of those things. The improvement in this new version comes from the various notifications and feedback offered to the user. For example, the battery percentage is now periodically displayed on the notification bar. The notification area now also shows the the remaining battery life in hours and minutes. Users will also be reminded to charge the device if it determines that there is not enough juice left until the next regular charge time, which, of course, it has learned based on the user’s habits. These latter two features are only available after BatteryGuru’s 7-day learning period. Here’s a short video that Qualcomm released during launch that shows the intelligent features of the app. The latest Snapdragon BatteryGuru version is now available for free on Google Play Store but is only compatible with devices running Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. Fortunately, manufacturers and other third-party developers also offer their own battery management apps and tools as an option for those devices running on other processors. Download: Snapdragon BatteryGuru on Google Play Store
VIA: the::unwired |  | Samsung Galaxy Round finds an ally in DisplayMate Oct 30th 2013, 06:18, by Juan Carlos Torres If Samsung and LG are to be believed, the next smartphone battleground will be around flexible or curved displays in hand-sized proportions. But for now, it all sounds too much like a gimmick. That, however, may not be the case, at least based on some hands-on experiments done by DisplayMate Technologies, a company that specializes in display calibration, optimization, and consultancy. 
On a purely manufacturing level, the Samsung Galaxy Round is said to push the limits of smartphone displays by making use of flexible OLED screens, similar to the YOUM display that the company teased last year. Although the smartphone itself is rigid, DisplayMate says that the Galaxy Round makes use of a flexible OLED that has been bonded to a curved cover glass. Interestingly, they claim that the Galaxy Note 3 actually uses the same flexible screen technology but bonded to a flat cover instead. One immediate practical benefit of the Galaxy Round’s horizontally concave shape is the addition of some small amount of privacy thanks to the slightly raised edges that makes it harder for people to glance at the screen’s contents. Then there’s also the supposed more natural feel of holding an object with that curvature that Samsung is also promoting in its official TV ad for the Galaxy Round. The bulk of DisplayMate’s arguments for believing in curved displays deals with an aspect that is near and dear to the hearts of display manufacturers and, consequentially, end users as well: that of screen readability in ambient light, especially in bright environments. At the moment, the most common solution to deal with bright ambient lights is to pump up the screen’s brightness, which, except in some cases, also increases power draw and drains battery quickly. According to DisplayMate, the Galaxy Round resolves this more efficiently due to its specific curvature. The first way it does so is by reducing the amount of reflected ambient light that gets in the way of screen readability. The second way involves a magnification effect that is produced because of the display’s concave curve which is being likened to that of a magnifying mirror. When held directly in front of the user at a normal angle, the effect magnifies the user’s head shape, which is supposed to have a darker shade than the ambient light around the head. This causes a slightly darker image to be cast on the display, once again reducing the amount of bright light being reflected from the display, thereby increasing readability. Interestingly, DisplayMate is quite silent about LG’s recently announced G Flex curved smartphone and doesn’t mention whether the same beneficial effects can be derived from a vertically curved display like that on LG’s version. DisplayMate does note one negative side effect of the display’s magnification. The darker and magnified face reflected by the Galaxy Round makes it, and other curved smartphones like it, unusable for personal grooming. SOURCE: DisplayMate | | Cisco DX650 melds Android with your office phone Oct 30th 2013, 05:28, by Juan Carlos Torres There is no doubt that Android is almost everywhere, powering a wide variety of smart devices ranging from the usual suspects of smartphones and tablets to the more multimedia-centric boxes and TVs. Android has even appeared in some traditional landline situations, as an add-on tablet, a dedicated cordless home phone, or, in this case, a fixed display for an office phone. Make no mistake, though, as Cisco‘s DX650 phone is all about business and very little about entertainment. 
The Cisco DX650 sports the usual design you’d expect on a no-nonsense office phone, phsyical buttons, speaker phone, handset receiver, and all that. The similarities, however, end when you notice the conspicuous display sitting on top running Android. One might wonder what such a contraption would be doing on a business device. Quite plenty, it seems. One would naturally think about video calls and conferencing, and indeed the DX650 supports that with a webcam that can make 1080p video calls at 30 fps . But the phone cum tablet also has a bevy of features that, in Cisco’s words, can boost productivity by simplifying workflow. The device integrates well with a lot of Cisco’s enterprise services, such as file sharing with Cisco WebEx, instant messaging with Cisco Jabber, virtual private network (VPN) with AnyConnect, and much more. With access to Google Play Store, users can also install and use other Android apps. It also has some rather interesting features as a communication device, such as sharing contacts and call logs with users’ smartphones over Bluetooth and seamless transferring audio calls from smartphones to the desk phone. The Cisco DX650 is powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460, the same chip on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and 1 GB of RAM. It has 8 GB of internal storage and runs an old Android 4.0.1. Fortunately, at least for management, the 7-inch 1024×600 capacitive touchscreen display cannot be detached and used as a standalone tablet, otherwise the promise of increased productivity might very well fly out the window. VIA: The Droid Guy | |
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