Mobile World Congress 2013 continues!
1. LG buys webOS
webOS lives! Really! Well, almost.
After Hewlett-Packard spent billions of dollars on a mobile operating system it used for six months, canceled, open-sourced then forgot about, Korean technology giant LG has bought poor webOS for use in TVs.
According to USA Today, LG will first merge webOS into Internet-connected televisions, then home appliances if the OS catches on.
How far the mighty has fallen. webOS was a legitimate iPhone-killer and an almost unanimous “Best In Show” at CES 2009. But shoddy hardware, little support from carriers and the sudden rise of Android stalled the promising OS’ growth.
While it’s sad to see webOS reduced to televisions, it can’t be treated any worse, right?
2. Touch-less touch screen
Love your iPhone, but tired of fingerprint smudges?
STMicroelectronics showed off a display that allows users to control his or her smartphone or tablet without actually touching the screen.
Instead of observing physical pinches, taps or swipes, the screen’s controller chip observes an electrical field above the display. When a finger comes in contact with the field, the chip recognizes it as a touch.
While it’s just a tech demo for now, there’s a chance this could gain traction and become the next big thing.
3. E-Ink Smartphone at MWC
Fact: one of the easiest ways to save battery on your phone is to turn off your display. Lighting up all those tiny LEDs sucks up a lot of juice.
But e-ink, the display commonly found on e-readers like the Kindle and Nook, uses much, much less battery power for similar-sized displays. That’s why the Nook Simple Touch has battery life of a little less than one month. Plus, it’s a lot cheaper than traditional displays.
Which is why an affordable e-ink smartphone is a fantastic idea, if you can accept monochrome displays.
While only prototypes were shown at the conference in Barcelona, each device ran a heavily skinned version of Android, had a 1GHz processor and basic apps like email, calendar and a text-only web browser, in addition to phone and messaging applications.
Plus, the screen can be backlit for night viewing.
It’s a really cool device, even if it’s simply proof-of-concept for now. TechCrunch has a nice story about it on their site.
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That’s all the news for this week! Make sure to check back every Monday and Thursday for the latest and greatest in tech.
