Will The iPhone 5 Have NFC Technology?

Rumour has it that the next generation iPhone will come with NFC technology. The news comes from Cult of Mac, who are claiming that Apple are seriously considering bringing the short range wireless technology to the handset.

NFC, which stands for Near Field Communication, enables users to communicate and transfer data to different devices. It’s a popular technology in countries like Japan and South Korea and the new iPhone could be the handset to show off NFC in other parts of the world.

An NFC ready iPhone would be able to wirelessly transfer all your small data such as apps and settings to a Mac computer. You can then use the computer as if it were your iPhone, as long as your mobile is in range.

The new iPhone might not be the only smartphone to come with the technology in the future. A Swedish hotel is piloting a scheme that uses NFC on mobile phones to unlock doors and it’s believed that the wireless technology could be used to carry out other day to day tasks like making card payments.

Would you like to see NFC technology appear on the iPhone 5?

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Sharp 3D Handsets Arriving in Japan

Sharp has unveiled two 3D handsets which they plan to release in Japan over the coming winter months. The Sharp Galapagos 003SH and 005SH will be available on the country’s Softbank network and users won’t need to wear 3D glasses in order to enjoy the effects.

Both handsets have a 3.8 inch autostereoscopic display with a resolution of 800 x 480, run on Froyo, Android 2.2 and are powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. The handsets may seem identical based on the specs we’ve seen so far, but both have a slightly different form factor. The 003SH is a touchscreen device complete with a 9.6 megapixel snapper, capable of 720p video recording. In comparison, the 005SH is a QWERTY slider and naturally, has a slightly smaller 8 megapixel camera.

3D handsets will offer a fantastic gaming platform for users, fortunately Capcom has that base covered as their titles, Mega Man, Resident Evil and Ghosts ‘n Goblins will come preinstalled on both devices.

The 003SH will be released in December, followed by the 005SH in February 2011. They’re only coming to Japan at the moment, .

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Nokia E7 Coming in Time for Christmas?

The Nokia E7 was one of the phones revealed during Nokia World back in September and although the  Nokia N8 has stolen all the headlines since then, this exciting business device has never been far from our minds. The latest rumours suggest the E7 will be hitting stores from the 10th December, so we can all hope for one to appear in our Christmas stocking!

This news doesn’t come from one of those elusive ‘anonymous sources’ either, as it was a tweet from a Nokia account that spilled the beans.

Subsequently removed, GSMArena managed to save the wording of the offending 140-character faux pas before it disappeared. In addition to the phone being mentioned alongside the December 10th date, interested parties were told to check the Nokia site for details as availability would vary from country to country.

Heading over to Nokia’s site and you’ll still only find the E7 page accompanied by an email signup box to be notified when it’s available. This aside, the fact the tweet was rapidly removed does tip this into the realm of ‘very possible’.

If you need reminding of why you should be excited about the E7, it’s because it shares a similar look to the N8 but has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard under its 4″ AMOLED screen, making it the spiritual successor to the much-loved Communicator series of Nokia phones. It also has an 8 megapixel camera, GPS and the latest Symbian^3 operating system.

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OS Overhaul for BlackBerry Storm 3?

This is a rumour on top of a rumour, so bear with us! If RIM does go ahead and release a third version of the BlackBerry Storm model, it may introduce a new operating system at the same time, but this time it could be a QNX-based OS7.

If you’re trying to place where you heard the name QNX recently, it’s in relation to that other highly anticipated BlackBerry device, the PlayBook tablet. Well, RIM and QNX could be planning a complete overhaul of the smartphone OS too, with the Storm 3 being the first device to show it off to the world.

The Storm 3 hasn’t been officially announced, although it has apparently been given the codename of Moncao and will boast a 3.7″ screen; it’s also likely to be very important to RIM, who need a top-spec, desirable phone to attract starry-eyed consumers away from the likes of the iPhone, the Desire HD and the HTC HD7. An all-new touchscreen BlackBerry boasting a multi-tasking, super-slick new OS could be just the thing.

Time is of the essence though, and we’re not sure whether waiting for QNX to appear on the PlayBook first is the best plan, but we have a feeling that’s what’s going to happen. The flipside is that if QNX’s new OS blows us away on the tablet, it could be all the promotion RIM need for a big, early 2011 Storm 3 announcement.

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LG Optimus 7Q Lands on British Soil

The LG Optimus 7Q (or Quantum to our American friends) has landed in the UK, over a month after it was originally due to arrive. Despite the delay, LG’s second Windows Phone 7 handset is likely to receive a warm welcome from fans as it’s shaping up to be the first QWERTY slider to hit shelves this side of the Atlantic.

The guys over at Pocket-Lint have managed to get hold of the 7Q and they’ve yet to say a bad word about it. The handset is a little smaller than the other Windows Phone 7 devices we’ve seen so far with a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen display and it is naturally a little thicker than its Optimus 7 sibling due to the QWERTY element. While we’re on the subject, Pocket-Lint report that the keyboard is easy to use and the Optimus 7Q also has an onscreen one for when the QWERTY is shut away.

The rest of the spec line up involves the standard Windows Phone 7 offering, added extras include a 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording.

So far so good and if you’re keen to get your hands on a QWERTY slider full of Microsoft OS goodness then this is probably your best bet. We don’t know a release date yet, but with the HTC Pro potentially landing near Christmas and no sign of Dell’s Venue Pro, LG could be off to a flying start with Windows Phone 7 QWERTY sales if they get the Optimus 7Q out of the gate soon.

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Acer’s ‘Soul of a Tablet’ Smartphone Unveiled

If you didn’t say ‘wow!’ when you first set eyes on Acer’s freshly unveiled smartphone, you need to question your dedication to the mobile cause; as it’s one good-looking device. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as although their Liquid models aren’t commonplace, they’ve got plenty of style.

Acer showed off the new smartphone at a press conference in New York yesterday and proclaimed the device to have ‘the soul of a tablet’, which sounds excellent, but we would have preferred they came up with a name for the phone before telling us about it! Despite it being a John Doe, they did provide a feature list:

• 4.8″ 1024 x 480 touchscreen.
• Google Android.
• 1GHz processor.
• 8 megapixel camera with LED flash.
• Front-facing 2 megapixel video call camera.
• DLNA certification.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0
• 3G with HSDPA.

The huge screen will have a 21:9 aspect ratio, minimising side-scrolling on many websites, plus multi-touch support. The exact version of Android to be used is up for debate, with some sources saying Acer hasn’t confirmed and others saying Android 3.0 will be onboard. With a screen, a ’soul’ and a spec sheet like this, Acer is obviously going for the same clientele as the Dell Streak.

What they didn’t reveal – apart from its name – was where this beauty would be launched; but we’re sincerely hoping it’ll be coming to Europe. Acer indicated the phone would be released in April next year.

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New Mobile Mountain Rescue Service – Just in Time for the Snow

The service allows hill walkers and mountaineers, who come into trouble in Scotland, to text 999 for help, handy for when there’s not enough signal to make a phone call but sufficient coverage to send a text. The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) says that this service could save lives.

The MCofS, which represents 10,500 climbers, mountaineers and hill walker’s is calling for anyone who is thinking of venturing into the Scottish mountains to register with the new text system. You can only use the new service if you have registered – so it’s something to consider before you set out hiking, or skiing. With snow set to arrive in the coming weeks, the less time you have to wait for help to arrive, the better, unless you fancy turning into a real life snowman!

If you do sign up, it only takes two minutes, just be aware that the text system doesn’t guarantee that the SMS will get through, especially with patchy signal, so don’t assume that help is on the way until you receive a text alert from the emergency services (unless of course, their text doesn’t get through either!)
The number of rescue operations in the Scottish highlands is at an all-time high, hitting a record number of incidents so far in 2010. This is expected to increase in the next few months.

With more and more people getting active to combat the couch potato lifestyle, we would like to hear if you’d be interested in using a service like this?

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More Tegra 2 Excitement: LG Star Benchmarked and Motorola Olympus Out Soon?

Two snippets of Tegra 2 news have recently hit the wires and although neither pieces reveal a new device for us to get excited about, they do bring us updates on the two Tegra phones we know about; namely the LG Star and the Motorola Olympus.

Appearing on an Android forum, the LG Star has apparently made it our into the world, as one member showed some pictures of the device and its OS before putting it through a benchmarking test. Aside from the 8 megapixel camera and LED Flash on the rear panel, the images also show an HDMI socket ready to make use of the Tegra 2’s HD video streaming capability.

The benchmarking test highlighted the strength of the Tegra 2 chip, easily beating all the other listed Android devices, including the Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy S. This particular model disappointed in one area though, as it’s seen running Froyo, although we hope the final production phone will make use of Gingerbread instead.

The Motorola Olympus is the other Tegra 2 beast on the block, and it could be coming out sooner than you may expect. An AT&T employee answered a question regarding the release date of the phone via the US network’s Facebook page, saying the Olympus ’should be available in December or January’. Of course, the post was quickly deleted, but it was already too late.

This could indicate the Olympus will be headed to the US initially, with a European launch under a different name later on. This seems to be Motorola’s preferred method recently, so it’s probably not going to be any different here.

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LG Star Makes its Hollywood Debut…in Israel

The LG Star has appeared in front of the camera in Israel. The lucky folk over at GSM Israel managed to get their hands on the world’s first Tegra 2 handset and gave it a good showing off for the world to see, making us ever so slightly jealous in the process!

The Star is really making itself known at the moment, as we last encountered a spy shot of it yesterday. This is the first time we get to see the 4 inch dual core beauty in action though, and it certainly looks like speed demons will be in for a treat once the Star hits the market as it seems to zip through Android 2.2 effortlessly.

The 7 minute long video gives us a great look at the design too, showing off a smart looking exterior and a rather interesting metal strip along the back panel with Google imprint. The 8 megapixel camera and HDMI port have reappeared, although we don’t have a clue what the guys were actually saying about any of it! GSM Israel also pitted the Star up against the iPhone 4 in a web browsing speed test. Naturally the 4” display won in the ‘better viewing platform’ round, but the accelerometer didn’t seem so keen to flip back into place in one instance – we’ll put it down to stage fright for now.

Since this latest leak doesn’t leave much to the imagination, we hope LG will be making it official soon .

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Acer Windows Phone 7 Handset On The Way

Acer boss, Gianfranco Lanci has confirmed that the company is working on a Windows Phone 7 mobile. He shared the news with All Things D, explaining that although they’ve been focusing on Android lately, a handset running on Microsoft’s revised operating system will be joining their smartphone line up soon.

During the interview Lanci revealed “we saw a lot of limitations on Windows Mobile a few years ago and moved to Android because of the user experience. If we look at Windows Phone 7 today, I think we see the same opportunity you can see on Android in terms of customisation.”

While Microsoft has previously expressed that they don’t want Windows Phone 7 devices to have custom skins, we’re interested to see how Acer interpret this concern. Lanci didn’t say anymore on the matter, so what the handset will look like or when it will be released is up to our imagination for the time being. Seeing as the Android handsets they unveiled last week aren’t due out until the spring, we wouldn’t be surprised if their Windows device lands at a similar time.

It sounds like 2011 will be a big year for Acer and hopefully their exciting new range of devices will be worth the wait.

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Power Your Phone By Talking To It

One of the biggest challenges in the mobile phone business is battery power. We need phones with longer lasting batteries but we want to keep things as green as possible. One solution that is being explored by Texas A&M University researchers is technology that would convert sound waves into energy. In other words, merely talking into the mobile would generate power to keep it running. What a cool idea!

The science behind this relies on a material known as piezoelectrics. The name sounds complicated but it’s the same form of technology used for the cigarette lighter in a car. A voltage is generated when a mechanical stress is applied;  a certain type of piezoelectrics has been found to have the ability to convert energy at a 100% increase if it is manufactured in a very small size, measurable in nanometres. Many of the important components in a mobile phone are also measured in this way. In this case, sound waves can serve as the mechanical stress necessary to generate voltage. This can lead to advances where sound will be utilised to generate energy inside mobile phones.

The implications for this technology are huge. It would mean that we would no longer need to rely on phone batteries and their chargers to use mobile phones. It would also work for other devices such as mp3 players and tablets (although talking to those might seem a bit weirder than talking on a phone!). And who knows, we might even see a resurgence in the use of voice services on mobile phones (which have recently given way to other phone data usage).

In all likelihood, this technology would become a backup option used in addition to regular mobile phone charging rather than a sole method of charging, but only time will tell!

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HTC Aiming for First 3D Android Phone

HTC is working to bring the first Android smartphone featuring a full 3D screen by the end of 2011. The speculation comes after the Taiwanese firm recently put out a job advert for a display and camera design engineer who has “familiarity with 3D displays and imaging technologies.”

The new handset wouldn’t be the first 3D effort we’ve seen from HTC, as they showed off 3D devices at Mobile World Congress in February. While the company was demonstrating the capabilities of their smartphone chips rather than the displays themselves at the gathering, it’s thought that next year’s event may see HTC bringing handsets showing off their latest tech project with them.

3D displays aren’t the only new technology on the manufacturer’s radar right now. They’re also looking at the latest developments in e-ink and AMOLED tech which are reported to be key focuses for their new R&D centre in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.

We can’t wait to see the end result of HTC’s 3D effort, but with Sharp due to bring out two 3D Android handsets in Japan in the near future, it looks like the race is on to see who will cross the finish line first.

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Introduction of Free Mobile Phone Applications for Children with Special Needs by Fujitsu

Fujitsu has developed a new application that provides educational and social support for children with special needs, including the ones with learning disabilities and autism, and their parents. The new application comes with TIMER function helping with understanding time through visual graphics, PICTURE CARD, in helping with communication as well as scheduling, as well as HANDWRITING to show the correct order in which to write characters in Japanese through animation.
Furthermore, the new software modules use special phone functions which have been designed with special attention to the nature of learning disabilities, such as a color filter and the mobiles phone’s vibration function. Currently the number of children requiring special assistance due to developmental or learning disabilities is about 600,000 in regular schools and nearly 100,000 more in special needs schools and classes. In collaboration with Kagawa University’s Faculty of Education, Fujitsu conducted field tests of its software applications from May to September 0f this year.

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Launch of EVERLEDS Lithium-ion Street Light by Panasonic Electric Works

Panasonic Electric Works and Sanyo Electric announced the launch of “EVERLEDS Lithium-ion Solar Street Light. The new light is a solar light combining solar cells and lithium-ion batteries. The new light comes with Sanyo’s HIT solar cell, a single crystal hybrid type of solar cells with the highest class conversion efficiency in the industry. In addition to this it has a thin “integrated solar cells and storage unit using Sanyo’s lithium-ion batteries.
In the new product, electricity is produced from solar energy through high efficiency solar cells and then stored in the lithium-ion batteries which is attached to the back of the panel. The light can then be used to power the high effiency LED lights for about 15 hours during the night

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Release of Industrial Videoscope with World’s First Laser Light Source by Olympus

Olympus has announced the release of IPLEX YS industrial videoscope featuring air articulation and industry first laser light source. The new IPLEX YS features an extra long 30m insertion tube. Further to this, the new IPLEX YS industrial videoscope comes with high-tech optimization for long-tube operation, including gravity sensors to indicate orientation. The new IPLEX YS is a new addition to IPLEX Series industrial videoscopes for non-destructive inspection in a wide range of maintenance situations, including aircraft engines, plant facilities, as well as pipes in commercial buildings and condominiums.
The new IPLEX YS overcomes the earlier drawbacks of earlier models with limited tip articulation, weak illumination and the inability to ascertain the orientation of the scope from the screen image. The new IPLEX YS will be launched on November 10th, 2010.

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Introduction of New LIFEBOOK Tablet PC featuring 3-Way Input and 4-Point Multi-Touch technology by FUJITSU

Fujitsu PC Asia has announced the release of LIFEBOOK T580/TH550, a comprehensive tablet PC with sophisticated 3-way input of Touch, Write and Type, plus 4-point multi-touch technology along with powerful dual digitizer for enhanced writing offering users with flexibility of writing via bi-directional auto-rotating touch screen.
The new table PC is powered by Intel® Core™ i3-380UM/i5-560UM/Pentium U5400 processor as well as the Intel® HM55 express chipset. The new LIFEBOOK T580/TH550 comes with a 10.1-inch SuperFine HD TFT display and runs on the Intel® CULV platform. The new LIFEBOOK T580/TH550 weighs 1.4kg

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Introduction of New IPS LCD Modules for Medical Applications by HITACHI Displays

Hitachi Displays has developed a 21.3-inch high resolution 5 Mega pixels monochrome LCD modules and a 29.9-inch WQXGA color LCD module based on IPS-Pro technology, featuring an improved brightness, contrast and viewing angle. The monochrome LCD module uses high-transmission IPS, featuring a high resolution, resulting in a maximum brightness of 1200cd/m2 and a contrast ration of 1200:1. In addition to this, the use of 10-bit display drivers on the module plus 3 sub-pixels allows presentation of details in such application as reading mammograms.
The widescreen color LCD module, offers medical professionals with display of larger volume of information on a single screen, for easy comparison of data, plus the 10-bit display drivers allow detailed images in 1 billion colors.

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Release of New Vehicle Navigation System by Sanyo

With an aim to take over the global competition in car navigation system, Sanyo in cooperation with TomTom of Netherlands has introduced a new built-in car navigation system which will be installed on new Mazda5 form the beginning of 2011 in Europe. The new car navigation system comes with an integrated 5.8-inch touch screen plus Sanyo’s audio video solution and communication module. The new navigation system features TomTom’s navigation technology and its LIVE Services which includes HD Traffic™, combining world’s most accurate traffic information with dynamic route guidance technology, according to company.
The new navigation system provides drivers with up-to-date speed camera information on both fixed and mobile cameras en route, as well as live weather updates and local search. Among some of the features on this newly introduced car navigation systems are map of 45 countries in Europe, voice control for navigation system, CD and MP3 capability, USB cable and front AUX, Bluetooth hands-free dialing. One of the nicest features on this system is that you can download the new software and new map information at anytime.

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Development of a New 9-inch Quarter High Definition Color TFT LCD Module by Mitsubishi Electric

Mitsubishi Electric has announced the launch of a new 9-inch color TFT LCD module in quarter high definition (QHD) (960 x 540) format, horizontally and vertically. The QHD format provides an easy conversion from Full HD, making it ideal for such application as video monitoring for broadcasting. The new module is due for launch on December 1st, 2010. The new module features high response speed, super-wide viewing angles of 170-degree as well as high contrast of 1000: 1, requirement by broadcaster in producing high definition videos.
The LED backlight on this module has an operating life of 100,000 hours with inverter-free white LED backlight unit. The module comes with built-in LED driver in 9.5mm-slim design. The module is fully compliant with RoHS.

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Development of Cybernetic Human by AIST

It measure 151 cm and it weighs 39 kg, this latest version of HRP working humanoid robots by AIST, the HRP-4 has been developed based on high-density implementation technology, giving the new humanoid a total of 34 degrees of freedom, including 7 degrees of freedom for each arm to facilitate object handling. The new HRP-4 control system operates based on software platform OpenRTM-aist and Linux kernel with the RT-Preempt patch. One of many advantages of the platform is that many domestic and international software assets for robot systems, including OpenHRP3, an open-source robot simulator, can be used.
The new robot has a low power motors operating at 80 W or lower for all its joint shafts. The payload for each arm is just 0.5 kg. Development of HRP-4 was with an aim to make a cost efficient working robot for purpose of research at universities and research institutes around the world.

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