Samsung: Galaxy S5 out by April, may scan your eyes

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Samsung says its Galaxy S5 phone will be released by April


• Vice president says it may have eye-scanning tech


• New Galaxy Gear smartwatch will come at same time, Lee says


• The Galaxy S5 will have a different design

(CNN) -- Samsung's Galaxy S5, the next generation of
its flagship smartphone, will be released by April and may include
innovative eye-scanning technology.

An executive for the Korean tech giant confirmed to Bloomberg
that the phone will hit stores this year on roughly the same time table
as previous iterations of the device, which has emerged as the chief
rival to Apple's iPhone.

The Galaxy S4 was announced last March and released in April.

Lee Young Hee, executive
vice president for Samsung's mobile business, also told the news service
that a new version of the company's Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be
released at the same time as the new phone.

The new phone is expected to look different from Samsung's popular Galaxy S4, shown here.

"We've been announcing
our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March
and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time," Lee
said. "When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear
successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also
be improved."

Speaking at the
International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Lee wouldn't say
whether the eye scanner -- presumably an effort to one-up Apple's iPhone
5S with its fingerprint security feature -- is a sure thing.

"Many people are
fanatical about iris recognition technology," she said. "We are studying
the possibility but can't really say whether we will have it or not on
the S5."

She did say the S5 will
look and feel significantly different than its predecessor, which some
felt wasn't different enough from the Galaxy S3.

"When we moved to S4 from
S3, it's partly true that consumers couldn't really feel much
difference between the two products from the physical perspective, so
the market reaction wasn't as big," she said. "For the S5, we will go
back to the basics. Mostly, it's about the display and the feel of the
cover."

In November, Samsung released the Galaxy Round,
with a curved, 5.7-inch screen. That release was only in South Korea,
and analysts have speculated the company isn't done with curved-screen
technology on its phones. At CES this week, Samsung rolled out a massive, 105-inch television with a curved screen.

Released in September, Galaxy Gear
helped push the growing wearable tech trend forward but, like some
other smartwatches, met with mixed reviews. Some felt the watch was too
bulky and had limited functionality.

All hail the phablet! Jumbo phones finally going mainstream While there were only a handful of phablets at the Consumer Electronics Show, they're poised to have a more substantial presence in the market this year.

The ZTE Iconic Phablet will be heading to the US eventually.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- It seemed like only yesterday that we mocked the idea of holding up a 5-inch smartphone to your ear for a call.

Now, we're not even batting an eye at 6- and 7-inch displays on smartphones.

Such is the quick ascent of the "phablet," the official name for jumbo
phones that lie between a traditional smartphone and the larger
tablet.
Phablets are no longer a niche product: Accenture found in a recent
survey that more than half of people who were asked about their next
smartphone said they would prefer the bigger phone.

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At the Consumer Electronics Show here, three phablets popped up: the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G, the Asus ZenFone 6, and the ZTE Iconic Phablet.

In a show where phones often take a backseat to other consumer
electronic products such as televisions, speakers, and now wearables,
having three of the higher-profile mobile devices be phablets says a lot
for how the category has grown, and the increasing tolerance for larger
sizes.

"With television and movies, a larger screen size seems more
appropriate," John Curran, a consultant at Accenture, said while at CES.


Accenture, which surveyed 6,000 people from six countries, found 52
percent of respondents preferred a phablet for their next smartphone. In
the US, where phablet adoption has been slower, the number drops to 45
percent. It's a lower number, but fairly significant.

Curran said he was surprised by the response to phablets, and named it
as one of his six top categories for early this year. He added his
survey didn't even ask about phablets last year, a testament to the
quick rise in the popularity of the category.

Credit Samsung Electronics for getting phablets into the mainstream. The original Galaxy Note,
which had a 5.3-inch display, was widely slammed for its large size,
and ended up as a niche product. But Samsung aggressively pushed the
product, readily handing out review units and marketing it heavily, and
only doubled down with the Galaxy Note 2 and a larger 5.55-inch display.

With the
Galaxy Note
2, Samsung got even more aggressive in seeding the units to the media
and high-profile fans, throwing a number of lavish launch events,
including one in Manhattan in which it rented out the old Post Office
headquarters so Kanye West could hold a concert.

When the Galaxy Note 3
came out with an even bigger 5.7-inch display, no one even batted an
eye, with CNET editor Brian Bennett calling it the most compelling case
for a supersize phone.

The three smartphones announced at CES are all even bigger, with the
ZenFone 6 rocking a 6-inch display, the Ascend Mate 2 4G coming with a
6.1-inch display, and the Iconic Phablet with a 5.7-inch display. Of the
three, only the Iconic Phablet is coming to the US, although it's
unclear whether it will be through a carrier or unlocked.

These devices follow high-profile launches from late last year, including the HTC One Max and Nokia Lumia 1520. LG's curved G Flex, which has a 6-inch display, will launch on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile later this year.

More jumbo phones are likely on their way, with Mobile World Congress
kicking off at the end of next month, and increasing chatter that Apple
is considering different larger screen sizes for its next iPhone.

The phablet trend doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon, and indeed, looks to be ramping up.

Pretty soon, we're all going to have a massive phone mashed up against the side of our head. And it will be the new normal.

When iPhone met world, 7 years ago today

Steve Jobs introduces the first iPhone.

(Credit:
CNET)

Steve Jobs was right when he declared the iPhone a revolutionary
product. It redefined the smartphone category and put a powerful
computer in the hands of more than a billion people around the world.

Seven years ago, on January 9, 2007, the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs
took the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to introduce the
first iPhone. "Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone," Jobs
proclaimed:

This is a day I've been looking forward to for
two-and-a-half years. Every once in a while, a revolutionary product
comes along that changes everything. And Apple has been -- well, first
of all, one's very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in
your career. Apple's been very fortunate. It's been able to introduce a
few of these into the world. 1984, introduced the Macintosh. It didn't
just change Apple. It changed the whole computer industry. In 2001, we
introduced the first iPod, and it didn't just change the way we all
listen to music, it changed the entire music industry. Well, today,
we're introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first
one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a
revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet
communications device. So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch
controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet
communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator.
An iPod, a phone...are you getting it? These are not three separate
devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple
is going to reinvent the phone, and here it is. No, actually here it is,
but we're going to leave it there for now.

He wasn't kidding. The iPhone, like the Macintosh and
iPod
before it, redefined the category. The smartphone revolution started by
the iPhone has put a powerful computer into the hands of billions of
people around the world.

"iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone," said Jobs said in the press release.
"We are all born with the ultimate pointing device--our fingers--and
iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since
the mouse."

The iPhone didn't ship until June 29, 2007, however. On January 9,
the iPhone was still buggy and prone to crashes. Even after several days
of rehearsals, Jobs was walking a tightrope on stage, using prototype
iPhones set up with workarounds to avoid glitches and crashes.

"It's hard to overstate the gamble Jobs took when he decided to
unveil the iPhone back in January 2007. Not only was he introducing a
new kind of phone -- something Apple had never made before -- he was
doing so with a prototype that barely worked," wrote Fred Vogelstein in
his book, "Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution."

The crowd at the Apple store in San Francisco on June 29, 2007.

(Credit:
CNET)

But Jobs managed to get through the demos without embarrassment, and
Apple's engineers managed to eliminate the critical bugs over the next
several months. Nearly 1.4 million iPhones were sold in the first three
months of its existence. For its fiscal year ending September 29, 2013,
Apple sold more than 150 million iPhones worldwide and generated over
$90 billion in sales.

Despite a horde of worthy competitors and declining worldwide market
share, the iPhone still has a 40 to 50 percent share of the U.S.
smartphone market, led by the success of the
iPhone 5S. And, the
iPad,
which followed the iPhone as another breakthrough, category-redefining
product, maintains a strong market position. Whether Apple can continue
its streak of reinventing product categories remains to be seen, but
Jobs' January 9, 2007 introduction of the iPhone will remain one of the
important milestones in computing history.

Sony Xperia Z1 Mini “Amami” to Give Best Android Phone in Small Pack

In recent years size of a smart phone has become one of the quality
standards. And if you are really not happy with a giant smart phone and
really want to own best of mobile tech, there is a hope for you because
this trend is about to change by none other than Sony. New anticipated
Xperia from Sony is bringing latest and greatest of smart phone
technology in to an ideal size.


The said device is famous as Xperia Z1 mini for the time being
despite several code-names are assigned to it and is in rumors yet, but
those rumors never stopped surfacing since Xperia Z1, one of large, most
powerful of Sony smart phones. Xperia Z1 carries 5 inch screen, also
offer relatively larger camera unit with 20.7mp. Every bit of Xperia
Z1′s goods are ported to smaller body that will fit a 4.3 inches screen.


Xperia Z1 mini or “Amami” drop numbers in battery count compare to Z1
but once again Sony give this mini more juicer battery than any other
4.3 inches smart phones in market.


Using slightly less resolution for smaller screen size will boast
battery life, smoother performance to heavy gaming and sharper viewing
experience to its users.


Xperia Z1 mini is not compromising Z1′s massive 20.7mp camera at all
and fit the same mega pixel count with larger camera module into the
said Mini.


Just like massive Z1, the mini is water and dust resistance with
IP55/58. Xperia Zs’ are already beautiful and elegantly designed
handsets without letting down build quality and the mini will be an
ideal, small power house hundreds of users have been waiting for.

HTC has proclaimed variety of recent merchandise together with the need 601 and 300...

HTC has proclaimed variety of recent merchandise together with the need 601 and three hundred, blue One and One mini, furthermore because the HTC BoomBass.

The HTC need 601, that was antecedently codenames the HTC Zara, can sit below the HTC One mini in terms of specs. However, it'll feature several of the Sense software system enhancements of the flagship line together with BlinkFeed, BoomSound and Zoe Camera.

It options a four.5-inch show with a resolution of 960 x 540, a 5-megapixel device with f/2.0 aperture and 28mm lens, furthermore as LTE support, front-facing twin stereo speakers and a dual-core one.4GHz Qualcomm flower four hundred processor.
The HTC need three hundred, antecedently reported as HTC Zara mini, can sit underneath the need 601 and need five hundred. it'll sport a four.3-inch 800 x 480 screen, 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of storage, which might be enlarged up to 64GB with the microSD card slot.
You will additionally get a number of the HTC One options together with BlinkFeed however the plastic-shelled need three hundred misses out on front-facing speakers and BoomSound.
Alongside the blue edition of the HTC One and HTC mini, the corporate additionally launched BoomBass, a subwoofer for your HTC One.
BoomBass may be a new accent to reinforce the sound of the HTC One family's BoomSound speakers. Put simply, it's a Bluetooth-enabled subwoofer with a frenzied electronic equipment.
The device is can are available a two-toned gray and red, connecting to your HTC phone via NFC and doubling as a stand. It comes with a 1200mAh battery, that guarantees nine hours of life from one charge.
The Desire three hundred is predicted to launch in Oct, as is that the BoomBass.