Today Japan Display introduced the world's first 12.1-inch 4K display. Even stretched over 12 inches the 3840x2160 pixel resolution results in the great 365ppi pixel density.
The new display unit measures 273.7 x 164.6 x 1.96mm and offers viewing angles wider than 160-degree. It uses LTPS (low temperature poly silicon) technology, which enables the high ppi and keeps power consumption under control.
The rest of the 12.1" 4K display specs include 1000:1 contrast, 500cd/m2 brightness and 3600mW power consumption with the backlight turned set at its maximum level. If no backlight is used, the display consumes just 360mW.
There is no info when these displays will enter mass production, but it seems unlikely we'll see them in actual products before the second half of next year. Japan Display is one of Apple's suppliers of screens, so who knows, this might as well turn out to be the next iPad's key feature.
There has been some speculation as to what this could be, given that it could just as easily be a variant of the Moto X.
Lets get speculating!
Everybody has their own ideas as to what it could be, Phandroid speculate that it could be a Google Play edition of the Moto X, a la Samsung Galaxy S4 Play.
What could the Moto G be?
We're a little more sceptical on that, as it would put the new handset in direct competition with the upcoming Nexus 5.
Whatever the Google owned brand has in mind, we won't know for certain until, or should that be if, Motorola officially announce the device.
Either way we might not be far off this smart phone/watch as Droid-life reveals it's spoken to a rep from US carrier Verizon who claims it's heard the Moto G is "coming soon."
Until then, we might as well say that it is a Motorola grapefruit. Now that would be tasty...
Why not let us know what you think it could be in the comments below?
LG G Flex just hanging out atop a pile of lesser phones (credit: Federico Ini on Twitter)
The LG G Flex is back and this time it's brought a camera.
LG's curvaceous handset found its way into the mitts of a journalist in Argentina who shared a few snaps of the thing on Twitter.
It looks massive, which is thanks to the 6-inch screen, and keeps its buttons on the back just like the LG G2.
Ain't nothin' but a G Flex
Specs still come with question marks all over them, but the word is of a 13MP camera that has an OLED display "that curves on a different axis" according to The Verge, which worked with Federico Ini to nab some extra shots.
Ini, who doesn't reveal where he got his information but since he has the actual phone we'd say is pretty well informed, says that the G Flex will land in South Korea next month, but there's no plan to offer the Flex in the US, Europe or Latin America.
Following the LG G Flex leaked renders last week, now the curved-screen smartphone has been shown in a talk show over at the Argentinian TV station Telefe. Journalist Federico Ini has leaked additional live photos of the G Flex for everyone to admire.
In the video, the LG G Flex gets a good amount of air time, flaunting its curved display. It's reported that the screen is 6" full HD curved OLED and as you can see from the video below it looks pretty good.
Additionally, the video shows that the G Flex sports the same back-sided button configuration as the LG G2. The Power/Lock key is in the middle of the volume rocker. Above the physical keys is located the 13MP camera with LED flash.
You can check out the video by following the first source link below. The interesting part starts at half a minute in.
Processor details of the LG G Flex haven't leaked yet, but it's all but certain that the curved smartphone is going to be almost identical to the LG G2 on the inside. This means a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800, an Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM. Here are some live photos of the G Flex courtesy of Federico Ini.
LG G Flex live photos
According to him, LG will launch the G Flex in South Korea and the company not planning to release it elsewhere. Pricing is unknown at this time, but if the Samsung Galaxy Round is any indication it won't be cheap.
Firefox OS could be considered still in its infancy but as bigger OEMs hop on the train it could gain traction faster than expected. LG is the first major manufacture to premiere a Firefox OS handset of its own.
The LG Fireweb is the Mozilla-powered smartphone a 5MP autofocus and LED-enabled camera. It sports a 4" display of HVGA resolution (480 x 320 pixels), single-core 1 GHz Qualcomm processor, 4 GB built-in storage plus a microSD card slot.
LG Fireweb
The device has gone on sale on Brazilian carrier Vivo's network. It only costs prepaid customers BRL449 ($207), while on contract it can be had for BRL129 ($59).
We'd already heard that the Galaxy S4 would see the latest version of Jelly Bean (and with it Gear support) by the end of the month and it's good to see Samsung is finally adding more handsets to the roster.
The 4.3 Jelly Bean update brings easier text input as well as enhanced graphics and multimedia to the brands ageing handsets.
It also means that they gain Samsung's Knox business solution, Smart Switch, HomeSync and Group Play 2.5.
Galaxy Gear... but not 4.3?
JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile division at Samsung said "Extending the Galaxy Gear compatibility to more Galaxy devices reflects our deep commitment to continuing to deliver our consumers enriched mobile experiences"
Unfortunately for those using any of the aforementioned S4 variants, or the Galaxy Mega handsets, there is still no word - if indeed there ever will be - on a 4.3 update.
Instead, the S4 handsets are being treated to an internal update to address lack of Gear functionality.
Samsung has said that the Gear update should land from the end of the month, although this will obviously vary depending on market and mobile network.
While Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony and every other phone brand that isn't Apple was unveiling quad core phones, Nokia's hold out was notable.
When even the likes of ZTE are making a supercharged handset for a very low price, you'd have to wonder why Nokia would swim against the tide for so long, with flagship after flagship device sailing by using only a dual core CPU.
The argument that quad core is unnecessary isn't valid, as anything that requires heavy lifting (such as photography and editing at high resolution) needs an engine to keep up – and Nokia's imaging hardware was certainly struggling with the larger files.
However, Samuli Hanninen, Nokia's VP of software program management, told TechRadar that it was a combination of having to work with Microsoft to get the platform ready as well as the right technology not being available.
Bigger makes things harder
He outlined how things like the larger sensor on the Lumia 1020 needed elements within the Windows Phone platform rewritten to support its massive pictures, and the Full HD display needed work on the OS level to support things like a third column before the Lumia 1520 could be unveiled.
"We also had to work on the apps; this led to things like the extra row in the email app to make the most of the extra space [a six inch display could offer], " said Hanninen.
He also pointed out that while it wasn't technically possible to run a quad core processor with Full HD graphics on a Windows Phone last year, Nokia wouldn't have wanted to use one anyway on its hardware.
"I don't think it took us a long time [to bring a Full HD display to a Nokia phone]," Hanninen said when asked why Nokia had delayed the decision so long.
"You only see the benefits when using a 5-inch screen and larger, anything below that the eye can't see the difference.
"If I had the possibility of having a quad core CPU last year, I'd have said that I don't want it," said Hanninen. He pointed out that while phones went down that route last year, the performance wasn't good enough in Nokia's eyes.
"You have to get the best from a quad core chip. If you do it badly then the phones get very hot," he added.
The challenger appears
The availability of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 chip seems to have changed that thinking for Nokia and Microsoft, as both had to agree on the changes to the Windows Phone platform to allow the hardware through.
But with the more power-efficient chip, as well as its enhanced ability to process large photo and video files, Nokia finally believed the time was right to use the unit in both its phone and tablet range, with the Lumia 2520 Windows tablet taking a faster-clocked version of the same chip too.
Power-fans finally thinking that Nokia will be throwing caution to the wind and plugging in the most powerful unit just to satisfy consumers, especially now Microsoft has allowed it in Windows Phone, will need to think again though.
Hanninen pointed out that things like battery life and mobility are the priority for Nokia, not headline speeds, as he believes that customers value that more in real life.
