Samsung Preparing Itself for Production of Flexible Displays?

Time after time, a display manufacturer will come up with some ideas for making a flexible screen, and end up showing it off at a trade expo. Over the years, we’ve seen variations on this tech keep popping up, but we still haven’t been at the place yet where anyone’s ready to produce a finished, commercial product.
That’s not to say that some of the prototypes we’ve seen haven’t been very impressive, but it seemed like the manufacturers involved may still be struggling to figure out a way to integrate these kind of systems with smartphones that feels actually useful, and not just like a gimmick.
Samsung may be preparing itself to make just such a leap and actually release a flexible display, or at least that’s the impression given by the company filing for trademark protection for the name of its latest flexible display tech.
Samsung will apparently call its OLED-based flexible screen YOUM, which gets itself a logo in addition to trademark protection. It’s not clear yet if that’s supposed to be an acronym, but Samsung has been using the name in all-caps.
YOUM basically takes a standard OLED design, and replaces both the glass substrate and encapsulation layers with flexible polymer sheets. As a result, the screens should be especially durable and even a bit lighter than existing components. Samsung goes so far as to call it unbreakable; we’ll withhold judgment on that one until we get our hands on a YOUM device ourselves; they could start showing-up as soon as sometime next year.

16:48 by Robert dawne · 0

YouTube Responds To Reply Girls, Changes Related & Recommended Videos Algorithm

Mixed-in with all the rumors we heard about the 2012 iPad in the weeks leading up to Apple's announcement, we saw plenty of chatter about the possibility for Apple releasing a scaled-down iPad mini. Just the very idea of such a product is blasphemy to many Apple fans, after Steve Jobs publicly derided the user experience you'd get with a seven-inch screen. Nevertheless, the rumors continue, and the latest to throw some fuel on the fire comes from Samsung.

An anonymous Samsung source spoke to The Korea Times regarding Samsung's relationship as a component manufacturer for Apple. Despite legal action between the two regarding their finished, commercial products, Samsung remains Apple's favorite when it comes to producing the parts that make up the iPhone and iPad. This year alone, Apple will supposedly buy $11B worth of components from Samsung.

The source discusses Samsung's interests in advancing technologies, instead of just churning-out the same things as everyone else. To that end, he referenced the company's new PLS LCD technology for cheap, high-visibility-angle displays, and claimed that Samsung was preparing such screens for a smaller iPad that's yet to be announced.

We're not sure just where they might end up, but this Samsung source says that his company is trying to become the first supplier of OLED displays for Apple gadgets. He mentions that Apple still isn't convinced that Samsung could produce the displays in the required quantities, but it's something we might end up seeing on a future Apple product.

16:54 by Robert dawne · 0

Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Android 4 Interface 

 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Edge 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Back 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 is Thin 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Stylus 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Marking up Document 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Drawing with Paint Tool 

Samsung Galaxy Note 10-1 Drawing with Pen Tool

 BARCELONA: Samsung’s newest 10.1-inch tablet, the Galaxy Note 10.1, is thin, light and powerful, but it’s also among a rather rarefied — but growing — group of stylus tablets. Like its little sibling, the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note, the new tablet features a Wacom digitizing tablet interface and stylus. Unlike the smaller notepad, the 10.1 stylus does not slip inside the slate. It’s also kind of fun to use.
We got to spend a little time with the 1.29 lb. tablet and found it comfortable to hold (it’s 8.9mm thick) and responsive. Using the stylus is not exactly like using one with an Apple iPad. The big difference here is that the Notepad 10.1’s screen is pressure-sensitive, so your line weight can vary — if you’re drawing. It’s also notable that Samsung has already updated its pen technology to recognize even more degrees of pressure than you could on the original Notepad.
Inside the Android 4.0 device is a dual-core 1.4GHz mobile CPU, a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a 2 megapixel camera on the front. The device, though, is also packed with a bunch of pen-ready software, including the just-announced Adobe PhotoShop Touch, and a bunch of S-Pen Samsung apps.
We tried out the S-Note app, where we could mark up documents and draw images from scratch. Samsung warned us that while the hardware was final, the software was not. Even so, drawing on the tablet felt good and the Notepad 10.1 had no trouble keeping up.
Other notable features include a micro-SD card slot, full HD video support and the ability to work with other Wacom digitizing pens.
Samsung execs said the tablet will ship globally with HSPA+ (no LTE for now) and Wi-Fi — as well as a Wi-Fi-only version — some time in Q2. Pricing has not yet been set.

08:08 by Robert dawne · 0