smartphone News - Page 14 of 74 - CNX Software

October 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

F(x)tec Pro1 Android Smartphone Comes with a Sliding Keyboard

Phones with a sliding keyboard used to be pretty common several years ago, but they all be disappeared in recent times. If you don’t like the software keyboard on the touchscreen and find carrying a Bluetooth keyboard cumbersome, I have good news for you. F(x)tec Pro1 smartphone with fairly decent specifications (Snapdragon 835, 6″ display, 6GB RAM, 128 GB storage) has launched for $699 with a sliding keyboard. F(x)tec Pro1 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (MSM8998) octa-core Kryo 280 processor with 4x higher performance cores @ 2.45 GHz, 4x low-power cores @ 1.9 GHz, Adreno 540 GPU System Memory – 6GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB flash, MicroSD card up to 2TB Display – 5.99-” 2160 x 1080 (FHD+) AMOLED display with curved edges; Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Camera 8MP Front-facing camera 12MP + 5 MP rear cameras with dual colour, dual-LED flash Video Capture up to 4K @ 30fps […]

October 24, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Samsung Exynos 990 SoC, 5G Exynos Modem 5123 Leverage 7nm-EUV Process

Samsung Electronics has announced two silicon products manufactured using a 7-nm process and extreme ultra-violet (EUV) technology with namely Exynos 990 mobile processor for premium smartphones, and 5G Exynos Modem 5123. Samsung Exynos 990 Preliminary specifications: CPU – Octa-core, tri-cluster CPU structure 2x Exynos M5 custom cores 2x high-performance Cortex-A76 cores 4x power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores GPU – Arm Mali-G77MP11 GPU with Valhall architecture AI Accelerators – Dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) and digital signal processor (DSP) that can perform over 10 TOPS Memory I/F – LPDDR5 data rates of up to 5,500 Mbit/s Display – 120Hz refresh-rate display driver Camera – Up to 108MP in total thanks to an ISP that supports up to 6x image sensors with concurrent processing of three Media – 8K30 / 4K120 encode & decode of H.265/HEVC, H.264, VP9 The GPU is said to improve graphic performance or power efficiency by up to 20 percent, […]

September 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PUCK 2 Bluetooth to IR Bridge Allows you to Control Appliances from your Android or iOS Phone

We’ve already seen there are several solutions to control IR appliances such as air conditioners or (dumb) televisions via your smartphone thanks to solutions such as ZaZa Remote that adds an IR transmitter to your 3.5mm audio jack or more recently via your USB-C port. If you don’t quite like having extra hardware connected to your smartphone WiFi to Infrared bridges such as the compact and omnidirectional Broadlink RM Mini 3 are cost-effective solutions, although you’d need one in every room where you wish to control appliances. I’ve recently noticed an even smaller “smartphone to IR” solution with PUCK v2 Bluetooth to IR bridge. The full technical details about PUCK 2 have not been made available, but we do know it’s a Bluetooth 4.2 to infrared remote bridge that transforms any iOS or Android device into a remote. The infrared LED has a range of about 4.5 meters, while Bluetooth […]

September 21, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Samsung Exynos 9611 SoC Targets AI Powered Smartphones with a Pro-grade Camera

Silicon vendors are all launching new mobile processors with “advanced AI capabilities”, and Samsung has just announced another one of those processors with Exynos 9611 that upgrades on Exynos 9610 introduced last year. The company claims “the Exynos 9611 mobile processor brings intelligent performance for the next-generation experiences from artificial intelligent applications to pro-grade camera”, but I’m actually unable to find any differences between the two processors, except the Cortex-A53 cluster’s maximum frequency has been boosted to 1.7 GHz instead of 1.6 GHz, and possibly support for 64MP single cameras. Exynos 9611 key features and specifications: CPU – Up to 2.3GHz quad-core Cortex-A73 cluster and up to 1.7GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 cluster. GPU – Mali-G72 MP3 Memory – LPDDR4x Storage – UFS 2.1, eMMC 5.1 Display – Up to WQXGA (2560×1600) Camera – 24MP single camera (up to 64MP), 16+16MP dual camera Video – 4K UHD 120fps encoding and decoding with […]

September 12, 2019September 13, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Fairphone 3 Gets a Perfect 10 in iFixit Repairability Score

Launched just a few weeks ago, Fairphone 3 is a socially responsible phone that aims to be modular, easy to repair, and manufactured in a way that’s kind to mother nature and worker as much as possible. In terms of ease of repair, there’s very little competition, as most phones manufacturers don’t design their phone with that goal in mind, and iFixit, a wiki-based site that teaches people how to fix almost anything, often ranks phones from mediocre (iPhone X: 6/10) to really poor (Samsung Galaxy 10 Note+ 5G: 3/10) in their repairability score. Fairphone 3 is supposed to be very easy to repair, but it’s always good to have a third party verify such claims, and iFixit got hold a sample to tear it down. They only have to use four tools to completely disassemble the phone as shown in the photo above: T5 Torx and Philips screwdrivers, their […]

September 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Librem 5 & Pinephone Linux Smartphones to Launch This Fall

There are too highly anticipated Linux smartphones currently in development namely Purism Librem 5 and Pine64 Pinephone. The first one, based on NXP i.MX 8M processor is fairly pricey ($699) partly because of better specifications, but mostly because the company handles software development internally, while Allwinner A64 Pinephone has somewhat lower specifications, but a much lower $150 price tag as software development is done by the community. Neither phones are available, and until a few days ago there were no clear launch dates. This has now changed as Purism announced Librem 5 would start shipping on September 24, while Pinephone first batch is scheduled for mid-October, which should also be the date for the launch of pre-orders, and shipment will start in November. This sounds great, but be warned the first phones will be for enthusiasts who do not mind having a few defects and missing hardware/software features, and the […]

August 27, 2019August 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Fairphone 3 Socially Responsible Android Smartphone Launched for 450 Euros

Most phones today are disposable items, and if yours stops working for whatever reason it’s hard to repair it yourself work, and repairing it at the shop may prove to be too expensive. They are not really expandable either, so if you want a new feature, you may have to buy a completely new phone instead of simply adding a module with the functionality. The difficulty in repairing the phone and the lack of modularity leading to electronics waste. Finally, consumer products are cost-optimized, and that’s great for your wallet, but it may come at the cost of being made by slave labor either directly at the factory, or indirectly through the mining of materials. Aren’t you already feeling bad being complicit in destroying the planet and sponsoring human suffering while reading this on your device? Good! But luckily there’s a solution with Fairphone that aims to be an ethical […]

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Your Smartphone Totally Needs a $15 Cooling Fan

2019 is the year of (silly) cooling fans for SBCs and smartphones! After ICE Tower cooling fan for Raspberry Pi 4, and ROG AeroActive Cooler II for ASUS’ latest gaming smartphone, you’ll be pleased to know you can now add a USB powered cooling fan to most smartphones to keep up working optimally in all conditions. You can get this beauty for just $14.99 shipped on Banggood. The cooling fan just clips to your smartphone and is compatible with mobile phones with a 62 to 85mm width since it’s adjustable. It’s made of ABS plastic and measures 80 x 68 x 49 mm. The mobile phone cooler ships with a USB cable to power it. This will quickly deplete your battery though, so they recommend using a power bank instead. Most people will find a smartphone fan to be a ridiculous idea, but a few years ago, I had a […]