Category 21st Century Techniques

Audio trumps camera in smartphone buying decision

Audio quality is the most important feature consumers consider while buying a smartphone, according to a report by CyberMedia Research. The group surveyed respondents aged 18-40 across six cities in India. Consumers ranked battery life and camera quality as the next important features while physical appearance of the smartphone ranked lowest. Smartphone users consume audio mostly through listening to music on popular audio OTT platforms (94%), watching video, movies, OTT content, or videos on social networks (96%).

Consumers ranked battery life and camera quality as the next important features while physical appearance of the smartphone ranked lowest in the survey.

These consumers use smartphones for more than 20 hours a week, and are heavy users of streaming services and gaming, the report said.

More than 90% consumers use the smartphone’s audio for listening to music on popular audio OTT platforms and for viewing videos on social media.

The survey highlighted that these users expect audio to be an immersive experience while less heavy users consider voice and dialogue quality as top priority.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Tiny android 10 smartphone packs a punch

Billed as “the world’s smallest Android 10 4G smartphone”, the Unihertz Jelly 2 is roughly the size of a credit card, with a 3-inch, 326-ppi screen, an 8 MP front camera abd 16 MP rear camera, and weighs just 110 gms. It supports dual SIM cards, microSD expansion of its 6GB internal storage, USB-C charging for its 2,000 mAh battery, NFC support for contactless payment, GPS, and nearly every possible band of LTE, plus fingerprint unlocking and 128 GB storage. This mini smartphone is designed to act as a companion device to your regular cell, for times when a large smartphone would be inconvenient or when taking a break from your full-sized smartphone.

Starting at the front, we have the three-inch LCD screen, which is 51% larger than the first Jelly display. Colors look great on the display and text is crisp and clear. I was very surprised to see how readable this tiny display is and I never had a problem reading content on the display.

The headset speaker and front facing camera are above the display. Below the viewable screen we see a circle in the senter with two dots on either side, indicating where the haptic buttons are for back, home, and the task switcher. Obviously, the phone is very easy to manipulate with a single hand thanks to its size and the responsive display.

It is a great phone to take running and with many watches not supporting GPS, such as the Fitbit Versa 2 or new Polar Unite, GPS and music served up from the Jelly 2.0 is something to consider. It’s a solid emergency phone, as long as you keep a battery pack around to top off the small capacity battery for extended use.

 

Picture Credit : Google

RoboHon: This little bot acts as your smartphone

Sharp’s RoboHon is a prototype robot that doubles as a smartphone.

The RoboHon (a mix of the words robot and phone) stands just 8 inches high and packs a camera and a 2-inch LCD screen on its back. There’s also a mic, speaker and a facial and voice recognition system.

It runs Android 5.0 and supports 3G, 4G LTE and wi-fi connectivity options. It can follow voice commands to place a call, take a picture and display it through its projector. It lets you know when there’s a call for you (“Hey! There’s a call for you.”); reads out text messages and lets you reply verbally to them. It also acts as an alarm and can tell you what you have planned on your calendar.

It is basically the personification of the idea that your phone is your best friend.

 

Picture Credit : Google

One size fits all with Phazon earbuds

Phazon has created the world’s first one-size fits all earbuds.

The company says there’s an inner-ear pattern that everyone shares and that by giving the earbuds a little twist once they’re in the ear, wearers can ensure they won’t fall out while jogging, working out or even swimming. The earbuds are wireless and use Bluetooth to link to your mobile device for music streaming and receiving phone calls. Its internal rechargeable battery can be charged to 80% in only 20 minutes using a USB charger; the charge lasts upto 6 hours.

One of its most interesting features is the one that only works when they’re not being worn — if a user has misplaced their earbuds, the Phazon app can tell them how far away they are and point the user in the right direction.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is solar wind?

ANSWER 1
Solar wind is a combination of electrically charged stream of atomic particles – electrons, protons, with small proportions of heavier nuclei and the entrained solar magnetic field emitted from the sun’s atmosphere.

E. N. Parker in 1958 showed that due to the very high temperatures of the corona the pressure exerted results in an outflow of material into the interplanetary space in all directions in a phenomenon he called “solar wind”. Solar wind is an extremely radially outward at a speed of 500 kilometres per second which is variable in response to the varying solar activity.

The particles normally takes about 4 to 5 days to reach earth. The radial flow of the solar wind and the rotation of the sun, wind the solar magnetic field into a spiral which makes an angle of 45 degrees at the earth’s orbit. The study of the solar wind becomes important as it contributes to the phenomenon such as aurorae and magnetic storms.
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