We have all been there, those days when you are out of network signal on your phone and you are looking to make an urgent call or browse the internet, and you think to yourself “What wouldn’t I do for a connection now”.
Well that might be a thing of the past if Thuraya has its way. Thuraya a major player in satellite phones have found an ingenious way of keeping up with the “smart” world we live in today. They have found a way to turn your smart phone into a satellite phone so that your phone can boast smartness even in the most remote places on our planet, with a steep price of course.
Meet the SatSleeve
Now you don’t have to worry about taking that adventurous trip while being in touch with the rest of the world. You can read more about this technology here.
“Hey Siri, did you know you now have a younger sibling?” Siri might not give you an answer to that but it does have a sibling, called Viv, and everyone is talking about it. Viv was debuted weeks ago in New York and it seems to know how to do a lot more when asked for assistance!
Viv was made to be different from Siri because it doesn’t just spew out internet search results at you, or perform basic tasks, it actually works out what you want and help you get things done! The very makers of Apple’s Siri sat down to create a new virtual assistant – as they are now called- and came up with a software that can rewrite itself to find solutions. Another step towards the personification of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
You can see a demonstration of Viv at work in the video below. if you are more interested in the full talk, you can restart the video from the beginning.
According to one of Viv’s and Siri’s makers: “We’re going to use this technology to breathe life into the inanimate objects and devices of our life through conversation,” This statement sounds scary at first, especially with all the talk of AI taking over the world or our jobs. However we believe this types of technology, when perfected, can be more beneficial than harmful to help machines, i.e electronic devices, better understand and represent our needs!
Smartphones have definitely brought about change in the way we interact with each other and the environment. We should also acknowledge that many companies are now raking in on our love for these little devices destined to take over and control our day to day activities.
One big use of smartphones is taking pictures! it is estimated billions of pictures are taken a day all around the world, helping us to document our world as we know it. Hence, smartphones are vying to be the best in recording our lives.
Most smartphone users will agree selfies have always been dull because of the low end camera on the face of these phones used to record or take our self-taken pictures. Many phones have tried to up the front facing camera to increase the quality of these pictures but this is not easy as they need to strike a balance between price and functionality to sell more!
Meet the Honor 7i by Huawei. Huawei, a communication giant has finally got the balance right. With the swivel camera, your selfies can finally come to light with flash and a high quality camera to impress even you yourself and your social media site profile readers. This innovation definitely gets a thumbs up from us at the Computer Potato
If you thought this was an X rated post, you are out of luck! Nikola Labs have created a case for the iPhone 6 that can charge your phone by converting your phone’s emitted radio waves to electrical current.
Nikola Labs RF to DC Converter Case
Radio waves are everywhere nowadays, from your home WiFi signal, to your mobile phone network, and of course your old FM radios all use the same technology. This means the potential for this device is vast, as there is no end to how much radio waves are around us at every point in seconds and all of it can be harvested and converted into electrical power.
We at The Computer Potato wish the new start up company all the funding needed and more brain juice to be able to make this technology an everyday use for everyone, all phones and mobile devices.
You know those times when you pick up your phone and you realise you have it upside down? There is a phone from the tech giant Alcatel that will help you solve that. You would remember Alcatel from the glory days of “normal” mobile phones. Even then, they have not ceased to be pioneers in anything mobile or technology.
Meet the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3! With this smart phone, you can pick your calls with the phone upside down, yes, upside down! No the guy in the picture is not crazy!
Another idea that will make life easier for the phone enthusiasts that we at Computer Potato think may sound useless but prove useful in many mobile devices! Okay that is not the only feature of the phone, it is like most smartphones and the insides is as good. See below
Yes you read the title correctly. A startup company StoreDot from Israel has developed a battery that can charge in approximately 26 minutes. Of course you will be sceptical to hear this as we are used to the hours of charging. To put away any doubt, this was demonstrated by charging a Samsung S4 in seconds.
StoreDot Battery Test
As always Computer Potatoe brings you computer innovation news without the technical mumbo jumbo. We can tell you the batteries are very big much bigger than the normal smartphone batteries we have nowadays. Because they are bigger than than the normal batteries, they don’t last as long as the current batteries we have if they were in the same size. A bit of work is still needed here and because they are made from organic material, they are cheaper to make.
StoreDot Battery
I know what you are thinking, this will give us a lot more time for our 21st century busy schedule, but don’t be bringing out the champagne yet as these batteries are still under development. They are stated for commercial release sometime in 2016. We could also see more of researches like this like the one we posted weeks ago (click to read).
Computer Potatoe thrives in bringing you the latest innovation and technology and again we have got one that caught our eyes. A group of researchers -obviously- have managed to develop a Lithium battery that takes 2 minutes to charge and could last up to 20 years.
This is an exciting and great achievement as the current Lithium batteries can be charged and drained about 500 times and usually last about 2 years of continual use. This is the reason why after 2 years, your battery operated devices seem to last a little less after a full charge. The newly developed generation of batteries by scientists in Nanyang Technology University in Singapore could go 10,000 times and last 20 years.
As always, Computer Potato brings you the latest technology in its simplest form so we won’t be discussing the technical details. However, the materials inside the newly developed batteries are different and cheaper compared to the current generation of batteries. This could mean we will be seeing these batteries in the market soon.
Don’t get your hopes up too soon though, as this research is much more for batteries in electric vehicles than your smart phones. If history is to repeat itself – like it always does- mobile devices will be getting it a shortly after!
Have you been on the road and your phone ran out of battery? There is no charging point around and you really need to use your phone? Well do not worry, there are chargers that you can take around with you called power banks that will boost your phone’s battery without actually connecting it to a power point. You will need to charge these mobile power banks though.
How do they work? They simply have batteries inside that are capable of charging your mobile devices, some are so powerful they can even charge your laptop.
See below some of the acclaimed mobile power banks
Fancy making your own phone? Yeah, you read right, make your own phone. Not to worry you will not be buying your own factory to create the phone, rather you will be able to customise your own phone thanks to a project named Project Ara by Google. Project Ara is looking to provide a build-your-own smartphone with which users can mix and match features themselves. Users will get an empty phone frame with a screen, and can add or remove modular parts of the handset to make up the phone of your dreams. You don’t get it? Think of it as a Lego box and from the pieces you are making a fully functional phone.
Making Your Own Phone Like A Pro
History; Project Ara was started by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility with the goal of offering a highly customizable smartphone based on open hardware. Motorola Mobility was later acquired by Lenovo, but Google retained the Project Ara effort, which is now part of the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division.
Finished Phone
Production; Google has said the snap-on modules (or Lego like bricks) will be mass-produced via 3D printing. 3D Systems is Google’s exclusive printing partner for Project Ara. 3D Systems has said Project Ara’s success could depend on the modular parts available, and the ability to mass produce those components in time.
How it will work; Ara phones are going to be built using modules inserted into metal endoskeletal frames known as “endos”. The endos will be the only component in an Ara phone made by Google. It acts as the switch to the on-device network linking all the modules together. You can then upgrade your phone by changing the modules connected to it and viola; you have a new powerful phone.
You Decide What Is In Your Phone
This is a great idea as you spend less to keep a new phone, you can decide to change the screen, or the processor, the battery or all of it without buying the whole phone. If it is ever commercial, it is the best idea ever! Gone will be the days of losing that phone case you are sentimental to because a newer model of your phone is out. You will be able to hold on to your “old-new” phone until it actually gives up or you decide to change it yourself, not forced to.
