GoPro had its most challenging year yet in 2015, after a less than successful Hero4 Session launch, a slump in share price, and a swelling product line that confused some customers. To rectify that, the company is pruning back its camera range to jus...
If you've wanted a low-cost GoPro camera so far, you've had to forego wireless. That's a big sacrifice, especially when an increasing number of competitors can do more for less. The company is finally seeing the light, however. It just unveiled the...
These super beards look super cool, but I doubt you can actually go out in public with a beard like this, much less go to work while sporting one. The beards are featured on a small series of ads that Braun did to advertise their CruZer beard and mustache trimmer. Of course, we’ll never know if they actually used the CruZer to trim these guys’ face fuzz or if the mustaches are indeed real or just Photoshopped.
Regardless of that fact, it’s still a pretty fun concept though and comes at the right time, when superheroes are just all over the place (Thor 2 and Captain America 2, anyone?)
Hit the break for two more superhero logo beards.
VIA [ Geekologie ]
E Ink -- the tech behind a large number of e-readers on the market today -- is starting to make its way onto smartphones. We've seen it on reference phones as well as devices like the YotaPhone and even the iPhone and Galaxy Note II (in the form of a case), and now a largely unknown company is rather unexpectedly seeking to harness E Ink tech for its latest flagship. That manufacturer, interestingly enough, is Alcatel OneTouch. Taking advantage of the magnetic docking ports on the back of the brand new 6-inch Hero, the company has designed a prototype flip cover with an E Ink screen on top. This offers the obvious functionality of reading e-books in traditional fashion without having the display drain massive amounts of power, but as you can see in the image above, its engineers are exploring other use cases such as a full lock screen with a dynamically changing weather widget, and we figure the sky's the limit. While press releases seemed to indicate that the accessory will see the light of day, company reps told us that it is still just a prototype and they're not certain if it will make it out to the market. Whatever may happen down the road, it's great to see E Ink coming alive on smartphones in different ways. Check out our gallery and a brief video below.
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Follow all of our IFA 2013 coverage by heading to our event hub!
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Pico projectors are swell, but they're not wildly popular. Very few smartphone manufacturers can find a way to embed them into devices without making them incredibly thick and expensive, and without sucking the battery dry in no time at all -- the Samsung Galaxy Beam comes to mind regarding all of the above concerns -- and carrying around a separate accessory is just plain impractical and expensive. (Plus, most devices can wirelessly mirror content onto TVs and monitors anyway, making the actual market even more limited.) But what if you could find a clever way of incorporating it into another useful accessory while keeping it small, simple and inexpensive? Well, we're not sure about the latter qualification, but Alcatel OneTouch is at least keeping an eye on this niche with a new docking station that doubles as an aforementioned pico projector. It's a prototype accessory that's compatible with the OneTouch Hero, thanks to its set of magnetic docking contacts on the back -- all you have to do is clip it on and the phone recognizes that it's been attached. The projector is 12Lm, which is a little dimmer than we'd prefer (we were told that the final product may actually be brighter than this, but they can't confirm for now), and the company claims it can show a screen larger than 70 inches.
Company reps tell us that this nameless accessory isn't officially coming onto the market just yet, and they're trying to determine how best to proceed (the Hero's press release suggests that this for sure will be available later, however, so we'll take it with a grain of salt at the moment). It's a clever idea that could come in handy for a number of business travelers who need to carry on impromptu presentations, but price (of both the projector and the phone itself) will be a key factor in its success. Check out a few images below that show off the prototype in all its miniature glory.
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Follow all of our IFA 2013 coverage by heading to our event hub!Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile
Okay, you have to admit: there might actually be something to this whole large smartphone business, started by Samsung two years ago at this very trade show. Not only has the trend not gone away, nearly every major OEM is hopping on the bandwagon. Alcatel OneTouch is interested in joining the party, and it's entering the field with a doozy aptly called the Hero, a 6-inch behemoth with a full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display and a few tricks up its sleeves. It's relatively easy on the hands, with a curved back and a decent thickness of 8.5mm. In fact, compared to the Acer Liquid S2 (another 6-inch smartphone announced at IFA), it's 6mm narrower, 7.5mm shorter and 0.5mm thinner -- great news, especially since we felt pretty comfortable with the S2 during our hands-on.
In many parts of the world, Alcatel OneTouch is still an unknown, despite the fact that the manufacturer has a reputation for pushing out up to a dozen handsets at one time. While this is still very much the case this week, we've noticed that the company has put a much higher amount of focus on quality. The Hero doesn't remind us of a cheap KIRF or knockoff phone. Instead, we came away much more impressed with the phone's look and feel than we originally expected. Continue past the break for more of our thoughts and the Hero's features.
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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile