Mobile Devices

The First Battery-Free Mobile Phone!

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University of Washington researchers present a world first-- a mobile phone that needs no battery to make calls, since it uses so little power it runs on a "few microwatts" harvested from ambient radio signals or light.

Battery free phoneIn fact, the phone needs just 3.5 microwatts for continuous operation, and makes both regular and Skype calls. The prototype shown by the researchers is built using off-the-shelf components, receives and transmits speech, and communicates with a base station. To achieve such power savings, the team eliminated the need to convert the analog signals making sound into digital data. Instead, the battery-free phone uses the vibrations in a microphone or speaker caused when the user speaks into a phone or listens to a call.

Even the antenna uses no almost no power, since it converts vibrations into changes in standard analog radio signals emitted by a cellular base station, encoding speech patterns into reflected radio signals. To transmit speech, the phone uses vibrations from the microphone to encode speech patterns in the reflected signals. To receive speech, it converts encoded radio signals into sound vibrations picked up by the speaker.

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Kodak Sells Tablets in Europe

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The Eastman Kodak company joins Archos to offer Kodak-branded tablets-- available in 7- and 10.1-inch models with either full black or "radiant" yellow back casing.

Kodak tabletImaginatively dubbed the Kodak Tablet 7 and Tablet 10, the tablets fall in the lower end of the market spectrum. Both carry a quad-core Mediatek processor, 1GB RAM and 16/32GB storage (expandable via microSD). The 10-inch model offers a 720p display and a 6000mAh battery, while the 7-inch model has a resolution of just 1024 x 600 and a 2500mAh battery.

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Samsung Includes S Pen With Notebook 9 Pro

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Samsung announces the Notebook 9 Pro at Computex 2017-- a Windows 10 convertible laptop with a built-in slot for the stowing of an included S Pen stylus.

Samsung Notebook 9 ProAvailable in 13.3- or 15-inch sizes, the Notebook 9 Pro features a 360-degree hinge, allowing the users to switch between notebook and tablet use modes. It carries a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor and 256GB SSD storage, with the 13.3-inch model including 8GB RAM and the 15-inch model featuring 15GB RAM and Radeon 540 graphics.

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HP Updates Elite x2 Hybrid

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HP presents the latest generation of Elite x2 notebook-tablet hybrid-- the 1012 G2, a Microsoft Surface Pro rival featuring the usual tablet-plus-keyboard form factor.

Elite x2The 1012 G2 features a 12.3-inch 2736 x 1824 resolution display complete with Gorilla Glass 4 protection and Active Pen support. Inside the aluminium chassis is a choice of 7th generation Core i3, i5 or i7 CPU (maxing out at the Core i7-7600U), up to 16GB LPDDR3-1866 RAM, up to 1TB SSD storage and a 47 watt-hour battery promising up to 10 hours of use on a single charge (with quick charging powering the battery to 50% capacity in all of 30 minutes).

Connectivity comes through UCB-C with Thunderbolt 3 port, USB-A 3.0 port, microSD reader and a SIM slot for cellular connectivity. Also included are dual-band 802.11ac wifi, Bluetooth 4.2 and various options for connecting to 4G LTE and WiGig networks. Security comes through 5MP front-facing camera with IR for facial recognition and a fingerprint reader.

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A Lighter, Simpler Light Phone

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Light PhoneStartup Light presents what it claims is a "phone away from home"-- the Light Phone, a credit card-sized phone that strips down all features making a smartphone smart, leaving a device able to solely make and receive calls.

The result of a 2015 Kickstarter project, the Light Phone is the ultimate in minimalist mobile design. An almost Apple-like slab of white plastic, it simply has a keypad, simple display, speaker, microphone, USB port (for charging), storage for up to 9 numbers and an own SIM card slot.

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