smartphone

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on NETGEAR Gigabit Class LTE Mobile Router MR1100 is Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem

NETGEAR Gigabit Class LTE Mobile Router MR1100 is Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem

Qualcomm, NETGEAR, Telstra and Ericsson have jointly announced the very first commercial Gigabit LTE modem router  with NETGEAR Mobile Router MR1100 based on Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem. The NETGEAR Mobile Router MR1100 leverages 3x carrier aggregation, 4×4 MIMO, and 256-QAM, to achieve download speeds up to a peak of 979 Mbps. The device also integrates Qualcomm 802.11ac solution with 2×2 MIMO and dual-band support for overall Wi-Fi throughput of up to 1Gbps. Qualcomm Technologies has recently conducted a simulation of a Gigabit Class LTE network, using a mix of LTE devices (LTE Category 4 to 16), and found average throughput to be between 112 Mbps and 307 Mbps for Cat.16 devices depending on traffic type, but speeds up to 533 Mbps should be possible for 90th percentile users. Beside shortening download speeds, this kind of performance will enable new applications such as 4K 360 degrees VR videos up to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Android 7.1 Developer Preview Coming Soon with Image Keyboard Support, App Shortcuts API, etc…

Android 7.1 Developer Preview Coming Soon with Image Keyboard Support, App Shortcuts API, etc…

Google will soon release Android 7.1 Developer Preview for Nexus 5X & Nexus 6P smartphone, as well as Pixel C tablet, listed some of the changes you can expect in the new dot release, and provided a timeline for other devices and the official launch. Android 7.1 developer and user visible changes will include: App shortcuts API will allow developer to set up to 5 shortcuts accessibly from app icon directly in the launcher. For example, a messaging app could have shortcuts to your favorite users and/or open a new conversation. Circular app icons support to create rounded icons similar to what is used in Pixel launcher. Enhanced live wallpaper metadata so that developers can show existing metadata such as label, description, and author, as well as a new context URL and title to link to more information. Image keyboard support will let user easily insert custom stickers, animated gifs, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Google Announces Pixel and Pixel XL Smartphones for $649 and Up

Google Announces Pixel and Pixel XL Smartphones for $649 and Up

Google used to collaborate with smartphone manufacturers for their Nexus devices, but the company is now promoting their own Pixel brand, and has just launched Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, and running Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. Both smartphones share most of the same specifications, but XL has a larger screen, a bigger battery, and a higher price tag: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996 pro AB) Quad core Kryo processor with two cores at up to 2.15GHz, two cores at up to 1.6GHz, Adreno 530 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 32 or 128 GB storage Display Pixel – 5.0″ FHD (1920×1080) AMOLED display; 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 Pixel XL – 5.5″ QHD (2560×1440) AMOLED display; 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 Camera 12.3 MP rear camera (IMX378 sensor) with laser and phase detection auto focus (LDAF + PDAF), f/2.0 aperture […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on SoftKinetic Announces DepthSense 544 ToF Camera for Mobile Devices

SoftKinetic Announces DepthSense 544 ToF Camera for Mobile Devices

SoftKinetic has recently unveiled DepthSense 544 3D depth sensing ToF camera for mobile devices, which they claim is the world’s smallest ToF camera, with the “highest level of efficiency available on the market, perfect for small form factors such as smartphones and wearables”. That’s all nice, but what does ToF mean? ToF stands for Time of Flight, and ToF cameras calculate the distance by measuring the time the light signal travels between the camera and the object as explained by Wikipedia: A time-of-flight camera (ToF camera) is a range imaging camera system that resolves distance based on the known speed of light, measuring the time-of-flight of a light signal between the camera and the subject for each point of the image. The time-of-flight camera is a class of scannerless LIDAR, in which the entire scene is captured with each laser or light pulse, as opposed to point-by-point with a laser […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on LeEco Le Pro 3 Snapdragon 821 Smartphone Sells for $270 and Up (in China)

LeEco Le Pro 3 Snapdragon 821 Smartphone Sells for $270 and Up (in China)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 is possibly the fastest mobile application processor available today, and a few smartphones have started to launch with the processor including Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe selling for about $575 in Taiwan, and the phone I’m going to cover in this post – LeEco  Le Pro 3 – has just launched in China starting at 1799 CNY ($270) with 4GB RAM and 32GB flash, and up to 2999 CNY ($540) with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. LeEco Le Pro 3 smartphone specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad core Kryo processor with Adreno 530 GPU and Hexagon 680 DSP System Memory/Internal Storage – 4GB/32GB, 4GB/64GB (Zhang Zimou Edition), 6GB/64GB, or 6GB/128GB (Zhang Zimou Edition); Storage devices are all UFS 2.0 flash. Display – 5.5″ FHD (1920×1080) LCD display Cellular Connectivity 2G – GSM：2/3/5/8; CDMA: BC0/BC1 3G – WCDMA: B1/2/4/5/8 TD-SCDMA: B34/39; EVDO:BC0/BC1 4G – FDD-LTE: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20; TDD-LTE:38/39/40/41 2x […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Receive Android SMS & Call Notifications in Ubuntu 16.04 with KDE Connect (or Not?)

Receive Android SMS & Call Notifications in Ubuntu 16.04 with KDE Connect (or Not?)

I often miss calls, and I may be slow to answer SMS on my Android phone, but I’m often in front of my computer, so I decided to look for solutions to show SMS and call notifications on my computer running Ubuntu 16.04. I first found LinConnect, but it does not seem to be developed anymore, and after some more research I discovered that KDE Connect should do the job. The developer just released KDE Connect 1.0 a few weeks ago with add encryption, the ability to reply to SMS from your computer and more… One person posted instructions for Kubuntu 16.04. There’s just a problem it won’t work with Unity desktop, only KDE Plasma, due to a lack of support for Qt 5.6. You can still use the older version without encryption and other new features by “simply” running:

However the installation failed for me:

An “apt […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on ZTE CSX Crowd-sourced Project Gets to Concept Phase with Eye-tracking Phone, Robotic Glove, Submersible VR Headset

ZTE CSX Crowd-sourced Project Gets to Concept Phase with Eye-tracking Phone, Robotic Glove, Submersible VR Headset

ZTE launched CSX Project last month in order to design a smartphone or other consumer product based on input from the community. People submitted ideas last month, and voted for the best ideas at the beginning of September, and the results are now in. There used to be a popular proposal to make a ZTE Ubuntu phone, but for some reasons since they may make one anyway, this has not been selected by the jury, and instead the three winning ideas are: Self-Adhesive Smartphone with Optimized User Interface via Eye Tracking System and Split Screen Technology Powerglove (Android application control of hands) VR – Interactive diving mask The first solution had by far the most votes, and the main purpose is to use the phone without touching it. Two laser-focused front cameras would track the eye movement to let the user scroll the screen with eye, while it’s been stuck […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Vernee Apollo Lite Helio X20 Smartphone Review – Part 2: Android 6.0 Firmware

Vernee Apollo Lite Helio X20 Smartphone Review – Part 2: Android 6.0 Firmware

I’ve already taken pictures and shown Antutu benchmark in the first part of Vernee Apollo Lite review, an Android 6.0 smartphone powered by Mediatek Helio X20 deca-core processor. Now that I’ve had time to play with the phone for over 10 days, I’ve ready to report my experience and write the second part of the review about performance, features, and issues I encountered with the phone. General Impressions First, the build quality feel pretty good, the phone is light and slim. I’ve only called once or twice, and voice quality was good, but I mostly use my phone over WiFi to browse the web, check emails, watch YouTube, and access social networks. More rarely, I also use GPS while running and during trip, and play some games. To be honest, the first few days did not work as expected, as many apps would either be much slower than last year […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC