Microsoft - Samsung relationship deserves to be watched.

WindowsBlog

Smarthouse

Samsung and Microsoft will team up on a suite of new product integrations, combining their sizeable market powers against Google and Apple.

Microsoft Word recently became one of the rare Android apps not made by Google or Facebook to pass 1 billion downloads, thanks in part to the app often coming pre-installed on new phones.

Samsung plans to ship the Note 10 with Microsoft’s Your Phone app pre-installed too, which mirrors text messages and notifications onto Windows 10 PCs.

Microsoft head of mobile and cross-device experiences Shilpa Ranganathan announced this morning the app will also let users make and receive calls from their PC later this year, similar to a feature that allows Mac users to place calls from their computer through a connected iPhone.

Samsung a new kind of display

This patent references multiple ways of delivering data to a screen -- to projecting imagery -- which is the key part of the Microvision thesis.

There is nearly endless demand to deliver imagery to consumers. They are all hungry for data, information to be delivered to them electronically. 

People also want those devices delivering data to them to be small and portable.

Microvision's tech uses lasers --- the most efficient way to produce light --- to deliver imagery to consumers. It can be small, portable, and if you want to hang it on a wall, or conceal it in plain site, it's the ticket.

Some larger devices that can be plugged in, hardwired and focused at a fixed distance may use other technology -- that's fine, there's a lot of room in the space.

When you want it tiny, portable and energy efficiency is key... MicroVision's tech rules.

Confidence is pretty high with me that at least one Major Player will use Microvision's Interactive Display. (Amazon) and also quite high that the contract that exists to produce the display only projection is Sharp/Foxconn (the world's #1 electronics maker)


Patently Mobile

Thanks Ron


Early last month the US Patent & Trademark Office published a granted patent from Samsung relating to a new kind of portable projector that could sit on a table, like our cover graphic illustrates, or be easily attached to a wall to show slides, pictures, videos or simply watch live TV. The projection system could be controlled by a smartphone or any other kind of computer such as a tablet, laptop, desktop, wearable device like a smartwatch or even a set-top-box.

(DMD / LCOS / DLP)

Furthermore, the laser scheme may include a light source that consists of a red light emitting device, a green light emitting device, and a blue light emitting device, an optical tunnel to which laser light emitted from the light source is incident, and a display device configured to project an image onto a screen using the laser light incident through the optical tunnel. The laser scheme may also include, as a projection module, a structure including a synthesis module for performing synthesis by transmitting or reflecting some colors of the laser light emitted from the light source and a speckle remover for removing speckles by irregularly changing a phase of the laser light synthesized through the synthesis module.


The sensor module may be an array of sensors that measure a physical quantity or sense an operation state of the electronic device and may convert the measured or sensed information into an electric signal. The sensor module may include, for example, a gesture sensor; a gyro sensor; an acceleration sensor;  an ultrasonic sensor; an infrared sensor; a Hall effect sensor; a proximity sensor; 140G; and an illumination sensor.

Product Adoption...

Very few of even the Microvision investors I talk to have actually tried 3D computing.

If you read this and haven't tried it yet, go to your nearest Microsoft store and try something 3D.

Will it be successful? It has to be. It's just better in every way...

How successful will large screens (and large interactive screens) with a tiny form factor and extremely low power consumption be? (very popular)

How successful will a scanning LiDAR be, that can identify friendly people and unlock at your front door sometimes and lock it at others? It can help with security, and with all kinds of automation?

• Large screens, tiny form factor
• Large interactive screens, tiny form factor
• Scanning LiDAR (for security, automation, mapping, self driving vehicles)
• Near Eye displays for 3D computing.

Key components for multiple emerging technologies... How successful can that be?

Probably as successful as cameras have been... 

I'm going to hang on to my shares in this company for a long time... 

Nothing to Save the Smart phone market?

Thanks Joe

Then again, some of us know better than that.


Business Insider -- more at the source.




Others, like Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola, are forging ahead in the smartphone market, with bets that new technologies like high-speed 5G wireless internet and foldable screens will entice people to upgrade. Samsung alone is expected to ship this year a 5G-compatible version of the Samsung Galaxy S10, as well as the delayed Galaxy Fold foldable smartphone.

***********************
Companies including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, Google-backed startup Magic Leap, and even "Fortnite" developer Epic Games all consider AR to be the next great computing interface. Microsoft and Magic Leap already have AR goggles on the market, with Apple said to be working on "smart glasses" that could be unveiled as soon as this year.

It's pretty clear that all of these companies are looking to AR as the next big gold rush in tech, following the slow stagnation of the smartphone industry.

They may be right — it's hard to imagine it not happening, given the sheer scale of the investment that every company is making in the market.

Infinity O display?

A fair amount of rumoring about a new kind of display from Samsung.

I have no idea what it might be, but the basics of the rumors is that there's a bezel-free display with a hole cut in the corner for the camera. (I'd regard that a lot of buzz-building for no particularly good purpose.)

It is curious that Microvision's PicoP touts "infinite focus"

Who knows... something to watch.

sammobile.com

FCC Testing 3 new Samsung Phones

Infinity-O display assembly possibly revealed in new leak

Samsung teased a device with such a display panel even before it revealed the Infinity-O. It teased the Galaxy A8s during the launch event for the Galaxy A9s and Galaxy A6s in China. The teaser showed that the display doesn’t have a notch. It was mentioned in subsequent reports that the display would actually have a hole to accommodate the front camera.

The display silhouette that Samsung revealed at SDC 2018 essentially confirmed that to be the case. It has developed a new type of display with a hole in the corner for the front camera. This would allow the company to maximize screen real estate even on devices that don’t get the New Infinity display (New Infinity is the all-screen version with an under-screen camera). That would likely be reserved for the premium handsets.

Samsung Foldable phone?

People are taking this seriously at $1700?

Projection that's less bulky with a much larger screen at half the cost seems pretty easy by comparison.


engadget

 the "Galaxy F" -- a name that's been floated about before, along with "Galaxy X" -- and will debut in March, around a month after a 5G-enabled S10. But it won't come cheap: Yonhap believes the bendy phone will be an exclusive device that could cost as much as $1,770, though it adds the company hasn't "settled" on a price.

Galaxy Beam 5

First time my searches have hit on one of these in a while.

I would take this with a good deal of skepticism for the time being.

Yes, Foxconn does business with Samsung, and does assemble phones for them.

This isn't a mainstream publication, but doesn't have disreputable qualities...

Digital Overload

The users’ attention will definitely be drawn by Galaxy Beam 5’s stainless steel body and built-in projector. Buyers can choose from various colour options – Black and Midnight Blue. Besides, they will be happy to find out that the phone has extended autonomy: it can function for 25 hours without being charged even of the user plays movies. This is possible thanks to the 5,350 mAh massive non-removable battery.

These specs will turn Samsung Galaxy Beam 5 into one of the most wanted smartphones in 2019.

Edge computing, Sensors AI

So, we've heard about AI and edge computing.

Some really cool stuff can happen when devices "talk" to each other directly.

...suddenly the importance of AI and computing at the source becomes obvious.

AndroidHeadlines

Northland Capital Call....

Call with Northland Capital yesterday

Heard some excellent stuff here.

I'm liking the way they're talking about markets, upgrade cycles, making money for customers, price points.... and product volumes. (7 figure and 8 figure product volumes.)

That coupled with acknowledging that there are limited companies that do this... ans we're working with all of them. (Specific mentions of Amazon, Google and Samsung's "Bixby.")

To make it easier to find....

What Mentioned	Who Mentions	TIME
Amazon (echo)	PM	3:23
Amazon, Google, Samsung (Bixby)	SS	3:49
Amazon voice services (just the beginning)	SS	4:46
Nvidia	SS	12:50
Alexa Skills	SS	14:00
Amazon business	SS	14:30
We're talking to all of them	PM	19:50
iRobot	ML	22:15
iRobot (cloud mapping)	SS	23:50
7 & 8 figure volumes	PM	26:35

An edge computer. Before the computer can infer something.... The computers / voice services need more input. Visual and touch. Subset of machine learning in the modules which

Saving sending lots of of stuff up the connection.
Point Cloud
Predictive travel (relatively low power analytics at the device)
Automotive environment / Latency advantage
Lean, launchable, right price point

We can now detect motion, and focus the engine on the motion.

Is the platform we're creating scalable?

Seamless interaction between the user and projection.

If you're a busy person can you order $100 in groceries in 4 minutes?
Can you order an Uber without seeing where it is?

Smart speakers 50 million installed / Benefits of display

Those companies have invested huge in this technology, this is how they will monetize this.

Competing solutions, better with lower cost

Component costs: "Any components that are too high priced?"

Leverages standard processes and components, and a working with a world-class supplier.

7 figure and 8 figure volumes is how they define success.

Goertek Smart speaker with laser projector

From Goertek.

This is the kind of installation I've been looking for. A speaker with a projector that can be focused on the counter top or the wall (or ceiling.) One projector that can be aimed at multiple surfaces is where MVIS technology will shine.

I still have more reasons to believe that the 10 million partner for projection only is Sharp/Foxconn. It is still possible that they could build this and use remaining inventory, and purchase engines elsewhere. (Or use the interactive engine and build it themselves.)

I'm a firm believer that having one or two engine suppliers for the broad consumer electronics market is going to be the most efficient method to get this technology to the masses.

Many of these large electronics manufacturers have customers who are also their competitors.

(Samsung, for example, sells screens and components to Apple, as does Sharp. Foxconn seems to manufacture for everyone, while making it clear recently that they wish to come out with their own phone to compete with Apple -- even though they make something like 80% of iPhones.)

Thanks Joe and several others.

Goertek Industrial Design

Apple joins Thread Group

Another very interesting puzzle piece...

"Mesh communication," low power connectivity & making devices not reliant on wall plugs, sounds like where we belong.


Apple Insider

Thread Network Protocol

SecurityBaron

Thread is a networking standard in a mesh system much like Bluetooth, Zigbee, or Z-wave technologies. The IP system can connect to a number of devices and common household objects from Philips Hue lights to Yale locks.

Apple is competing with a number of companies for smart home supremacy including its perennial rivals, Amazon and Google. Amazon is a Thread member while some of Google’s newest Nest products already incorporate the technology. Apple has been making a push for its HomeKit to compete with Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Nest ecosystems and it may not want to lose out on participating in the initial stages of this new technology. A cursory glance at Thread’s membership reveals that large companies such as Samsung and LG, along with smaller companies like TDK and Ubilogix, have all entered into association with the organization.

In describing their technology the organization states:

“Thread addresses the need for a new and better way to connect products in the home. Built on open standards and IPv6 technology with 6LoWPAN as its foundation, Thread offers numerous technological advantages over other wireless standards including secure and reliable networks with no single point of failure, simple connectivity and low power.”

Low power is of particular concern to Apple and other companies actively promoting their products in the Internet of Things because of the demands of battery life in smart home devices. Apple currently has HomeKit products that are powered solely through batteries while others require a constant source of external power. Furthermore, companies across the board are attempting to make fewer and fewer appliances reliant on wall plugs.

Good Morning!

Sudden traffic spikes make me wonder why.....




Largest Manufacturing Base for Samsung?
"Vietnam, a nation of 93 million, is the largest smartphone production base for Samsung Electronics. "

One in 10 Smartphones made in Vietnam

Wave of New Nokia Handsets?
BKAV

5G Much Sooner than Expected

Samsung Hosting 5G commercialization. 



SiliconRepublic

Samsung has already received approval from the FCC in the US for an end-to-end fixed wireless solution, which is expected to debut with Verizon in the US in the final quarter of this year.

“The 5G era is approaching much sooner than the industry initially anticipated, which was the year 2020,” said Dongsu Shin, vice-president and head of the planning group for networks business at Samsung Electronics. “We will drive the supply of 5G equipment so people across the globe can experience services generated by this new technology at the earliest opportunity.”

Verizon's First 5G installation will be in Sacramento

Getting much closer to reality for all of us.


From 5G

The fixed 5G equipent -- using Verizon's own "5GTF" specification -- will provide a wireless 1-Gbit/s connection over-the-air for homes to surf the web, stream video and make live virtual reality (VR) connections, according to Samsung.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) says it will launch three to five fixed 5G by the end of this year. Sacramento is the only market that Big Red has announced so far. (See Verizon Says 'Up to 5' Fixed 5G Markets Will Go Live in 2H18 and Is Atlanta the Next 5G Market for Verizon?)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has now approved Samsung Corp. 's indoor 5G router. Previously, it has approved Samsung's access unit and outdoor 5G router. Samsung says this now means that its "end-to-end system" is ready for Verizon to use.

This 28GHz system will likely be the first commercial millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G system ready for use in the US. "The indoor 5G home router is a small consumer device that receives and transmits the 5G signal to provide ultra-high speed broadband wireless service," Samsung says, in a statement, this shares this 5G signal to multiple devices via WiFi. (See Samsung Supplying 5G for Verizon's First Market and Verizon's Fixed 5G: Are You Ready for the Wireless Gig Rush?)

Original premise still solid

When I originally noticed MicroVision in 2006, a very simple and powerful premise presented itself, and it still stands. It's more valid now than it was then. The ecosystem is much improved since then.

The phone is at the bottom, the projected picture is the rest.

I spoke to a friend the other day about the concept of "hope" in his life, as in hoping things would go well for his business that day, or that week or this year.

He's in a business that is more reliant on hope than most. Service is held out to the public; when people want the service they come. Sometimes, for no particular reason (beyond things you "hope" about) business will be booming, maybe unexpectedly. Sometimes it will be pathetically slow -- without explanation. People call, or they don't, and from the viewpoint of a small business, it's difficult to predict. They "hope" for a good outcome on any particular day.

With larger audiences, "hope" is much less of a factor. When you have an enormous audience, you hope you can get a large part of it. You can count on -- you can depend on -- getting a small fraction of it.

There are more people on earth with smart phones than there are people on earth with flushing toilets -- what most of the world regards to be basic sanitation.

If what you're producing a product that has applications to an enormously popular other product. You don't need hope.

If you're producing a product that answers the largest desire for an improvement in that product you need even less hope.

If you're producing a product that answers the two largest desires for improvement in a hugely popular product you can count on positive results.

When the two biggest desires for improvement of a popular product are directly contradictory to each other and you can still deliver BOTH improvements. You're made of gold.

Everyone wants two things from a smartphone: something that's smaller and easier to carry, with a much larger display.

Mobile companies MUST use PicoP... 

1.4 Billion smartphones are produced and sold annually.

I have asked many people, after showing them a PicoP powered projector: "when it's readily available, what percentage of the smartphones made will incorporate a projector like this one?" The most common answer is "All of them."

With answers like that we can count on 10% -- no hope required. (What price?)
(Which is 140,000,000 units per year)

Of course, MicroVision also has or has added:

• LiDAR (A massive up and coming demand for this. Backup cameras were just introduced as a requirement for vehicles, what happens when LiDAR is required?)
• Near Eye Displays (Augmented Reality? Mixed Reality -- Talk of the town in Tech Circles.
• Some other something that isn't any of the other things... (the black box)

It is very much a bleeding edge company. (Was perfectly capable of being problematic for 10 years.) But all indications are that now we are very close.

How much would you pay for a phone like that? (More for this than any iPhone)

Thanks Christian!

I wonder what STM has that the others do not?

Good Morning Malta.

CNBC

A bunch of Apple suppliers — Samsung, Corning, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Teradyne, and SK Hynix — have reported financial results that hint at slowing smartphone orders. That's reflected badly on Apple and its other suppliers, leading Wall Street analysts to slash expectations for the stocks. Sales in China — Apple's third-largest market after Americas and Europe — might also be weak, third party data indicates.


Reuters

PARIS, April 25 (Reuters) - STMicroelectronics on Wednesday delivered an upbeat assessment on second-half demand for its smartphones-focused products, brushing off investor anxiety over the soft takeoff of Apple’s iPhone X.

The Franco-Italian chipmaker, whose customers range from carmakers to industrial groups and makers of new connected devices, said sales should grow in the first half, offsetting a seasonal smartphone dip in the first three months of the year.

Dual Screen Flip Phone?

There are a couple of ways you could imagine this. One as the artists rendering in the article.

Or maybe the old rendering from Microvision.....

IBTimes -- more at the source. (including aggravating ads.)

The highly-rumoured Samsung Flip Phone 4 bearing model number SM-G9298 has allegedly entered the testing phase as per the latest tweet originating from China.

Monitorless

Interesting stuff from Samsung. 

This has an interesting parallel to Microsoft's statement that it's about Opacity.... 


Samsung News Room



Monitorless is a remote-control VR/AR solution that enables consumers to use devices such as smartphones and PCs without a monitor. The solution consists of a special pair of glasses that resemble regular sunglasses. They are used to view content from other devices such as smartphones and PCs and can be used for both Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality functionality thanks to the electro chromic glass featured on the glasses. Monitorless addresses the fact that there isn’t enough AR and VR content currently available and also enables users to play high-capacity PC games on a mobile device.

Mobile Ecosystem

Mobile Ecosystem Forum (More at the source)

Today’s phones do everything: take pictures, give directions, play music. So why can’t they project movies? Seven years after writing about phone projectors, Tim Green is still waiting to own one…
Two years ago my family had a dream. We would build a cinema in our back garden.

OK, not a real cinema with seats and ushers and exorbitant popcorn. But somewhere we could sit on summer evenings and project movies in the muggy darkness.

In nine years, the smartphone has taken control of everything – alarm clock, diary, camera, camcorder, satnav, map, MP3 player. The projector remains out of reach.

If only there was a solution. If only I could stream Italian realist cinema to my 4G enabled iPhone and throw the pictures on the wall. No long wires. No connectivity issues. Well, I can’t. Which is disappointing because I was writing about projectors coming to phones seven years ago.

In 2009, pico tech was shrinking enough to sit inside handsets, and the phone makers were all over it. The breakthrough projector phone was the LG Expo, but even smaller OEMs like Micromax and Spice were trying it.

Flip Phone?

A Samsung Flip Phone with something very strange about it.

Something to watch

SM-G1600

Phone Specs:

Expected to be announced next month.

Display 400*800

Records 1080P video

MKV (from DiVx 10) 

MKV is a flexible, open standard video file format that has quickly become the preferred file extension for high definition video on the Internet. The MKV container can include video, audio, and features such as alternate audio tracks, multilingual subtitles and chapter points, as well as rich metadata including cover art, ratings, descriptions and more. MKV offers a richer media experience than any other current format, and that’s why we chose it as the file container for DivX Plus® video.