Garmin's HUD makes sure your eyes stay focused on the road ahead
Garmin is once again bringing luxury technology to the masses with its latest advancement in portable navigation systems.
Dubbed the Heads-up Display (HUD), Garmin's new device will work in conjunction with your smartphone navigator to provide turn-by-turn directions right on your windshield.
With HUD, gone is the clunky display unit you might be using to hold your current navigation system in place, and in its stead will be an overlay of where you're supposed to go next right in front of your eyes.
"HUD redefines the navigation experience by allowing drivers to find their way without taking their eyes off the road," said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of worldwide sales.
"Head-up displays currently have their place in select high-end cars, but HUD makes this technology available as an aftermarket accessory for any vehicle, at an affordable price."
Keep your eyes on the road
The HUD communicates wirelessly with your smartphone's compatible Garmin or Navigon app, and displays information like distance to next turn, which direction to turn, and your estimated time of arrival on a transparent film on the window, or on the attached reflector lens.
The turn-by-turn audio navigation is still handled by your smartphone, though you'll no longer need to look to its screen if you happen to miss what's been said.
Should you need to take a phone call, HUD will continue displaying instructions for the current route uninterrupted.
HUD also tracks speed limits (when available) and your car's speed, and will notify you when you are driving above the limit, and can even inform you of where traffic safety cameras are located.
Since it's connected to your smartphone, and isn't relying on a default map program, HUD can also update you with traffic delays, and can advise you when to change lanes for you next maneuver.
Garmin's latest gadgetry
Garmin's device is compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8, and HUD's power adapter also includes a USB port so you can charge your phone while using the device.
The smartphone's audio directions can be set to play through your car via a Bluetooth connection, and any music playing in the car will be dialed down when a new direction prompt occurs.
HUD will be available this summer for $129.99 (UK£129.99), and the Garmin website claims orders will be fulfilled in 5-8 weeks.
For what it's worth, Garmin's site also makes note the HUD hasn't been approved by the Federal Communications Commission yet, and can't be sold in the U.S. until such approval is granted.
The point-and-shoot market is bleeding sales, according to Nikon
Sales of point-and-shoot cameras are falling thanks to the rise of camera-equipped smartphones, but Nikon is not about to go down with that particular ship.
Its expensive digital SLR cameras are doing just fine, after all, Nikon President Makoto Kimura told Bloomberg last week.
More importantly, Nikon's got big plans that will "change the concept of cameras," the president said.
Whether that means a Nikon smartphone or something else entirely for now remains a mystery, but Kimura had a little more to say.
Change is hard
"We want to create a product that will change the concept of cameras," said Kimura. "It could be a non-camera consumer product."
A "non-camera" product that "will change the concept of cameras?" If that's not a Nikon smartphone he's teasing then we wonder what other consumer products Nikon engineers are busy strapping cameras to in a secret lab somewhere.
"Rapid expansion of mobile devices is a change in business environment given to us," Kimura further teased.
"Our task going forward is to find an answer to that change."
Low expectations
Nikon is probably not alone in that struggle; Kimura believes point-and-shoot camera sales in April and May of 2013 fell a full 25 percent across the industry from the same time in 2012, and that the compact camera market will shrink 12 percent this financial year.
Nikon does not divulge quarterly specifics, but its estimates for the first quarter this year were reportedly "fairly low."
With a mysterious ace up its sleeve, could Nikon turn things around?
A Nikon smartphone with a high-end camera inside might struggle to make a mark, especially with devices like Nokia's rumored Lumia 1020 - with its 41-megapixel camera - on the horizon. That might end up being the phone to own for photophiles.
According to Bloomberg, Nikon may expand further by following Canon, Sony and Olympus into production of medical devices.
Reports emanating from Samsung's South Korean homeland have claimed the company will launch four versions of the forthcoming Galaxy Note 3.
ETNews suggested the range, expected to arrive in September, will launch with various spec options; from a high-end, limited edition model, to a budget model with a scaled back LCD screen.
Top of the range, the report claimed, will be a Galaxy Note 3 featuring a 13-megapixel camera, constructed from "high-quality materials" and boasting an "unbreakable" AMOLED screen.
This may mean Samsung has listened to the masses and moved away from its reliance on plastic in favour of a new material that could challenge rivals like the iPhone 5 and HTC One in terms of build quality.
Cameras and screens
ET News said the rest of the models will keep the plastic body with the second in line also offering a 13-megapixel camera, but rocking a traditional AMOLED screen.
Next up would be a device with 13-megapixel camera and an LCD screen, while cheapest of all would be a device with an 8-megapixel camera.
The report mentions not whether processors, RAM and other specs could vary with each model, but it would be relatively safe to assume there'd be options in that department too if the reports came to fruition.
Spoiling the broth?
While we're treating this report with a healthy dose of scepticism at the moment, it would certainly be no surprise to see Samsung flood the market with Galaxy Note 3 variants.
The company has released multiple versions of its flagship Galaxy S4 handset in recent months, including the outdoor-themed S4 Active and a Frankenstein's monster-style Galaxy S4 Zoom cameraphone.
Vodafone has angered its UK customers by announcing a switch from per-second to per-minute call charges, which are likely to cost subscribers more money.
From August 1, the Guardian reports, if a Vodafone pay as you go customer makes a call to a landline or mobile lasting, for example, 1:02, they will be charged for the two minutes.
In real terms that means a call that previously cost 26p will now cost 50p - a 92 per cent price hike.
The struggling operator is, of course, dressing this up as a benefit for its subscribers, claiming the simplified charges will help users know exactly how many minutes they have left in their accounts.
Gee. Thanks, guys!
Straightforward price hike
A post on the Vodafone website reads: "Calls on Pay as you go are getting simpler from 1 August 2013. No more complicated pricing by the second – just clear, straightforward per minute charges.
"So if your call is a minute and 37 seconds long, it'll be charged as two minutes. That way, you'll always know exactly how many minutes you have left."
Posters on the Vodafone support forum called the move "patronising," while others accused the network of insulting the intelligence of its customers.
One post read: "Please don't patronise us. This is being introduced to make more money for Vodafone, pure and simple. It doesn't make anything simpler other than the fact that PAYG customers will essentially pay more for calls."
Are you a Vodafone customer affected by the transition to per-minute call billing? Feel free to vent your spleen in the comments section below.
Photos snapped by Windows Phone VP Joe Belfiore seem to confirm that the 41MP Nokia Windows Phone we're all expecting to arrive in New York this week will indeed be called the Nokia Lumia 1020.
Some light detective work revealed that at least two pictures within the photo stream from June 29 have "Nokia Lumia 1020" listed as their source in their EXIF data.
One of the discovered photos has a resolution of 2947 x 1658 pixels (almost 5 megapixels), and the other 2352 x 1568 (3.7 megapixels), suggesting that like the Nokia 808 PureView, the camera is able to shoot at multiple resolutions, as well as following the PureView's tendancy to oversample.
A flickr of truth
The name of Nokia's PureView successor has been the subject of much back-and-forthing, with the Nokia 909, Nokia Lumia 1020 and Nokia EOS all being thrown around as potential monikers.
The data could, of course, be fake, but the fact that the pictures are now hidden from Belfiore's main page makes us suspect otherwise.
TechRadar will be at the July 11 Nokia event, where Nokia promises "41 million reasons to zoom in", so keep all eyes on the site for the news as it breaks. Oh Joe Belfiore, you were so close too.
The Samsung Galaxy Fame is a phone that comes with a celebrity name, but certainly no celebrity price tag. Available SIM-free and unlocked from around £180/US$200 and free on UK contracts starting as low as £10 per month, the Samsung Galaxy Fame will certainly not drain your bank balance.
It is unsurprising that Samsung has the most prolific smartphone sales figures. With Galaxy devices as numerous as stars in the night sky spanning every corner of the market, from the highest end Samsung Galaxy S4 and announced Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, the super-sized Samsung Galaxy Note 2 right through to the ageing Samsung Galaxy S3 before hitting the lowest ends with the Samsung Galaxy Fame and the Samsung Galaxy Young.
Samsung has clearly got a design ethos in mind, one that has been apparent since the Galaxy S3. The Samsung Galaxy S3 was far curvier than its predecessor, with its successor following very much in its footsteps.
With the Samsung Galaxy brand all very much in line, the Samsung Galaxy Fame is positioned at the very bottom, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Young.
With vital statistics sitting at 113.2 x 61.6 x 11.6mm (4.46 x 2.43 x 0.46) in size and 120.6g (4.25oz) in weight, Samsung has created a handset that sits very comfortably in the hand, if a little heavier than expected.
Clues to the smaller price tag are certainly evident from the off, the smaller 3.5-inch screen with a 320 x 480 HVGA resolution and plastic body being the biggest clues.
That said, Samsung has been a fan of using plastics on its devices since the off, with its appearance on its flagship smartphones always being a talking point. On the Samsung Galaxy Fame, the plastic feel fits the phone.
Sticking with the design of the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Samsung Galaxy Fame comes in two colours, our review model coming in white, with blue also being available.
A faux metallic band surrounds the bezel, which is noticeably thicker than on premium handsets. The curved back wraps tightly round the back of the Fame, offering a reassuringly snug fit.
As with every modern smartphone, the screen dominates proceedings. The aforementioned HVGA resolution was always going to be a bit of a worry, but its diminutive size goes some way to helping.
Thankfully, the resolution doesn't greatly hinder the phone, since Samsung's screen tech keeping things vivid and a lot brighter than expected.
Elsewhere on the front of the Samsung Galaxy Fame is the traditional Home button, sandwiched between the Menu and Return soft keys. At the opposite end is a metallic speaker, the VGA front-facing camera and a couple of sensors.
Underneath this, Samsung has powered the Galaxy Fame with a single core 1GHz processor, as well as 512MB of RAM. These sit alongside a VGA front-facing camera, 5MP rear snapper (with flash) and 4GB of internal storage, of which a mere 1.95GB is free.
Externally, the Samsung Galaxy Fame comes with the standard micro USB port at the bottom, sat alongside the microphone, with the 3.5mm headphone jack at the top.
Unsurprisingly, the volume rocker is on the left and the Power/Lock button is directly opposite, on the right-hand side. Being such a small phone, every inch of the screen - as well as every button - was easy to hit one-handed, which is ideal for the younger generation that Samsung seems to be aiming the Galaxy Fame at.
Behind the wrap-around back cover, which sits reassuringly tightly to the back of the Fame, the 1300mAh battery sits over the SIM slot. Thankfully, as with all Samsung Galaxy devices, the Samsung Galaxy Fame also comes equipped with a microSD slot, which even more thankfully is hot-swappable.
The Samsung Galaxy Fame shapes up to be an interesting prospect. The budget market has become increasingly packed with Android phones, with last year's flagship devices slipping down the price scales to sit alongside newly launched tech.
The question is, will the Samsung Galaxy Fame live forever? Or will it crash into the ground while learning to fly?
A super special invitation was extended out to a very select number of journalists to visit the Google campus on July 10th and 11th. The assumption is that this group would get their first glimpse at the upcoming Moto X smartphone. Apparently, that assumption may be getting a little too far ahead of itself.
Apparently, Leo Laporte was one of the guys that got the invitation from Motorola’s Guy Kawasaki (he joined the company earlier this year as an advisor). Laporte figured that the event had to do with “the phone,” but sources have indicated to CNET that Motorola has “something else to share” at the event and they’re not providing any further details.
It’s possible that while they won’t be showing off the new Moto X smartphone per se, they could be providing a little more explanation about the whole Moto X customizaton thing. Does it mean more customization in terms of looks for different colors and engravings? In terms of components for cameras and processors? Or is this little gathering something different entirely? It might even be to reveal a new smartwatch or a Motorola-branded take on Google Glass.
LG is planning to broaden its otherwise Android-dominated horizons, confirming that the company has a Windows Phone 8 handset in the works.
LG India's managing director Kwon Soon revealed all to Light Reading India, confirming that a phone was currently at the R&D stage.
"At home [in South Korea], we are actually working on our Windows Phone 8 OS powered smartphone," said Kwon, who added that he believed the Windows platform is set to "pick up going ahead".
He also said that the company was still assessing the market opportunity, so this doesn't mean that a new WP8 handset will definitely happen - but LG is clearly more interested than ever.
Takes Kwon to know Kwon
LG has launched Windows Phone handsets in the past but hasn't yet delved into Windows Phone 8, which has been primarily pushed by Nokia, Samsung, HTC and Huawei.
Kwon did say that while a Windows Phone 8 smartphone is in the pipeline, LG will continue to focus on Android. "Android is the major platform globally, given its acceptance and penetration," he said.
LG said back in September that it was still considering the Windows Phone platform, but did not admit to plans for a WP8 smartphone at the time.
Here's yet another nod in the direction of Android 4.3 as it appears to cement itself as the next installment of Google's mobile platform, over Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.
Apart from telling us that Android 4.3 Jelly Bean will support version 4.0 of the Bluetooth standard (which is no great surprise), the listing doesn't tell us anything else about the impending update - apart from that it's nearing completion.
Who's first?
We expect the likes of the Google Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 to be among the first to receive the Android 4.3 update, but the recent addition of the Google-edition Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One means these pure Android handsets may also get treated early doors.
According to previous rumours Android 4.3 is set to be a incremental upgrade with minor differences including a refreshed camera application and better notification management.
In terms of an Android 4.3 release date it's still unclear when Google has this pencilled in for, but it should arrive in the next couple of months - so keep your eyes peeled.
The name is still anyone's guess, but the battery inside the hotly tipped Nokia Lumia 1020 (or is that the Nokia 909?) may not be up to much after a charging shell appeared online.
A snap of the accessory was picked up by Russian site Izvestia, and details which accompanied the photo suggested it would provide users with an additional 35 per cent battery life.
Apparently the Nokia-branded accessory packs a 1020mAh battery into the clip on shell, complete with sizeable porthole for that much-rumoured 41MP PureView camera.
Is that it?
That said, 1020mAh is relatively small for an external charging pack, with cases usually packing larger batteries at the expense of a bulkier design.
Credit: Izvestia
Usually these cases are produced by third party manufacturers and it seems a little odd that Nokia is making one itself. It raises our suspicions that the Lumia 1020 may struggle to see out a whole day on a single charge.
Luckily all our questions will be answered later this week as Nokia is due to reveal its next flagship smartphone - originally touted as the EOS - in New York on Thursday, and we'll be there to bring you all the latest.
The low-cost WYSIPS crystal can recharge your mobile from any light source
Mobile computing promises the world: web access, photos, music and maps, everywhere you go. And it can really deliver - for a while. But poor battery life means you'll probably soon run into problems, with some devices leaving you staring at a useless blank screen well before the end of the day.
There are some steps you can take to keep your system running longer, of course. The display is a major mobile phone energy hog, so reducing its brightness and timeout (the time a phone waits for input before turning the screen off) can make a significant difference.
Turning off GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you don't need them also helps. This doesn't always have to be as absolute as it sounds. On the iPhone, for instance, you can disable Location Services on an app-by-app basis (Settings > Privacy > Location Services). On the software side, uninstalling apps you don't use will stop them draining your battery.
There are also tools you can use to extend your battery life. JuiceDefender, for instance, is an excellent Android app which automatically optimises power use.
All of these steps can bring minor improvements but none can make the fundamental difference we need. And you might be left wondering why battery life is still so poor, and what's being done to improve the situation.
Feature overload
Perhaps the main problem with battery life over the years is it really doesn't seem to have changed that much.
Take the iPhone, for example. The original device had a claimed talk time of 8 hours; the iPhone 5 is, well, the same. Internet use has nudged up from 6 hours to 8, and claimed standby time has actually dropped (225 hours vs 250).
There are very good reasons for this, though, and the main one is that you're now getting much more for your money.
A modern iPhone has gained 3G support, a vastly better screen (480 x 320 vs 1136 x 640), GPS, and the excellent iSight camera (8 megapixel vs 2). On top of that, there's the ability to run multiple apps in the background, each of which could drain your power further at any time. The fact that the latest iPhones can power all these extra functions while also fractionally extending overall battery life is a success story, not a failure.
iPhone battery meter apps help identify exactly what's draining your power
This doesn't mean that the existing situation is good enough, of course. When, even now, many devices struggle to run for a full day without a recharge, then it's clear we need something better. Much better. And there are some promising technologies being developed right now which could point us in the right direction.
Extending Lithium-Ion
Today's lithium-ion batteries are straightforward and safe (well, mostly), but also have their limitations. In particular, the graphite anode they generally use has to be fairly large to store a reasonable amount of power, and so there's a great deal of research going on to find a less bulky replacement material.
Silicon anodes, for instance, could help increase battery capacity by up to 10 times. But the big problem is that a simple flat layer of silicon absorbs so many ions that it actually grows significantly during charging, then shrinks during discharge, creating stresses which mean it destroys itself very quickly.
Recent research at the University of Maryland, however, found that growing tiny silicon beads on a carbon nanotube allowed them to expand during charging "like flexible balloons", without cracking. UMD Professor YuHuang Wang told us: "I believe that our finding is very significant. The Si bead on CNT structure is a breakthrough."
These tiny silicon beads could be the next advance in battery power
There is still much to do - the cathode and electrolyte also need to be able to handle this extra charge - but if Wang is right then this could help to deliver vastly improved power density, as well as batteries which can survive perhaps five times as many charge/ discharge cycles as they do today.
Others are working on lithium-sulphur, lithium-seawater, even lithium-air projects, each of which has their own possible advantages. PolyPlus seawater technology could deliver four times the battery life of li-ion, for instance, while "air-cathode" research (including IBM's Battery 500) suggests the batteries wouldn't only outperform li-ion, they'd be so lightweight that they could allow electric cars to finally have the range of their petrol-based cousins.
Next generation
While some think simply tweaking lithium-ion is the way to go, others are working on rather more revolutionary ideas.
Perhaps one of the most promising areas of battery research is based around graphene. A single layer of carbon, the material can vastly outperform existing technologies, recharges in a few minutes, and is even flexible, perfect for wearable devices.
Science fiction? Not at all. The UK government has allocated £21.5 million to develop commercial applications for the material, and companies like Vorbeck Materials are working on producing graphene batteries right now.
Elsewhere, Harvard Professor Jennifer Lewis has demonstrated the use of 3D printing to build an integrated stack of electrodes, which could allow batteries to be reduced to the size of a grain of sand.
3D printed structures could shrink batteries to the size of a grain of sand
At the moment, the main benefit is the reduction in weight, Lewis told us: "We are working on the next generation design with improved electrode compositions to further enhance their performance. We certainly hope that they will outperform regular Li ion batteries, but this has yet to be demonstrated."
Another new idea goes a step further, rethinking battery technology at a much lower level. New microbatteries developed at the University of Illinois integrate their anodes and cathodes at the microstructure level, allowing recharge times to be 1,000 times faster, and batteries to be one thirtieth of their current size.
"It's a new enabling technology," said James Pikul, first author of the paper: "It's not a progressive improvement over previous technologies; it breaks the normal paradigms of energy sources. It's allowing us to do different, new things."
Power up
The future of batteries has plenty of promise, then - but mobile users need more power right now. The quickest workaround seems to be finding new, hassle-free ways of recharging. And they don't get much more convenient than Wysips Crystal, the first solar recharging technology you might actually want to use.
The system uses an ultra-thin film which can be placed behind your device screen. It's up to 90 per cent transparent, so you won't even know it's there, yet is still enough to generate a useful recharge level from any source of light.
The Wysips crystal could bring constantly replenished solar power to phones
What can you expect? The company told us: "Right now the system generates 2.5 mW/cm2 in direct sunlight, which should mean an extra 2 to 4 minutes talk time for every 10 minutes of exposure."
Only really useful in an emergency, then, but there's more. The company aims to double this performance by the end of 2014; it's also due very soon, and at a price that everyone can afford. The company explained: "Wysips Crystal adds just $2.30 to a mobile phone's manufacturing costs, and the first mobiles equipped with the technology will be on the market in early 2014."
Here in the UK, of course, direct sunlight can sometimes be hard to find, but fortunately there's another long-awaited technology which is coming very soon: wireless recharging. It's already available at a few places in the US (Madison Square Garden has 600 wireless charging spots), for instance. And the idea could be about to go very mainstream indeed, with Starbucks apparently due to introduce the technology soon, and McDonald's Europe already beginning trials.
The battery world may move very slowly, then, but finally it's beginning to change, and we should see the emergence of real, meaningful improvements in current technology as soon as next year.
