What’s new
Samsung takes fight to Apple with Mobile Wallet Strategy
Smartphone leader Samsung Electronics has for years been a spectator as Apple built a services “ecosystem” supporting its products. But now, as the two develop the market for mobile payments, the Korean tech giant is taking the fight to its U.S. arch rival.
And Samsung Pay has an extra technological weapon in its armory.
Apple Pay only works with sales terminals equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, but phones compatible with Samsung Pay use both NFC and the older technology Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), which mimics the magnetic strip on traditional payment cards. That gives Samsung an edge in countries like the United States, where NFC terminals are far from ubiquitous, said Thomas Ko, Vice President of Samsung’s Service R&D Team, Mobile communications business.
You can read about it here.
A new, cutting-edge bendy solar cell that’s both thin and flexible enough to wrap around a pencil
What makes this technology particularly exciting is how flexible it is. In studies, researchers discovered that the cells were capable of wrapping around a radius as tiny as 1.4 millimeters. This flexibility could make the technology well-suited for future wearable devices: a market that is rapidly growing.
Of course, the next-gen solar technology must still undergo a variety of tests, while cautiously-excited observers will also want to see how it fares in terms of cost.
More about the ultra-thin solar cells can be found here.
New products
Lenovo Vibe K5 is available starting today
The Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Vibe K5 sports a 5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) display, and is powered by a 1.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 415 SoC that’s coupled with 2GB of RAM. It bears a 13-megapixel rear camera with flash, and a 5-megapixel front shooter for selfies.
The phone bears 16GB of inbuilt storage that can be expanded via microSD card (up to 32GB). The Lenovo Vibe K5 runs on a 2750mAh removable battery, measures 142x71x8.2mm, and weighs 150 grams.
You can read more info about the new phone here.
Pantech launches first smartphone in 20 months
Pantech, South Korea’s third largest smartphone maker, has launched the mid-tier Sky IM-100 smartphone.
The IM-100 weighs 130g, is 7mm thick, and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430. It comes with Qualcomm’s latest audio codec chip, the WCD9326, which supports Qualcomm’s APT-X codec and allows for quality sound on Bluetooth earphones and speakers. It packs 2GB RAM and a 3000mAh battery.
More details about the phone are available here.
You might want to know about this
Samsung is investing $1.2 billion in the internet of things
The company it’s going to invest the whopping sum of money in the U.S. over the next four years on research and development into connecting everyday devices.
According to Samsung, that $1.2 billion will be split evenly between internal research and development, and investing in related startups, proving that Samsung is becoming increasingly partner-friendly.
It will certainly be interesting to see what Samsung comes up with over the next few years, especially considering the rate of growth of the internet of things market.
For now you can read about it here.
Facebook splashes $50 million on Live streaming deals with celebs and media
Facebook has signed nearly 140 deals, including with CNN, the New York Times, Vox Media, Tastemade, Mashable and the Huffington Post, the Journal reported on Tuesday. Also, comedian Kevin Hart, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, wellness guru Deepak Chopra and NFL quarterback Russell Wilson are among the celebrities that Facebook has partnered with.
Given this, Facebook is evidently building a live-streaming network with a diverse range of content that is more akin to YouTube than its closest competitor, Twitter’s live-streaming app Periscope.
More info about this subject here.
Fun stuff
Mozilla’s next logo will be shaped by the users
Mozilla is kicking things off with a “Creative Strategy” phase, during which it’s inviting ideas for directions to “present itself anew to the world”. While it may be looking to the public for feedback, Mozilla clarified that it is not crowdsourcing the redesign. It will invite comments and ideas, but only the agency and designers the company hires will actually work on the new identity.
You can read more about this here.
