01. Android 5.1 Lollipop Update Reportedly Rolling Out To Nexus Devices This Week: Improved Battery Life And More Fixes

  Android 5.1 Lollipop may be heading its way to Nexus devices in the very near future, according to the founder of Android news website Android Police, Artem Russakovskii.

Rusakovskii posted on his Google+ account that Google is preparing to push out Android 5.1 Lollipop to the first Nexus devices, with the estimated timeframe of as soon as this week.

"The Lollipop MR1 (Android 5.1) will start rolling out to Nexus devices starting with the N7 (probably 2013) this week, barring anything unexpected," Rusakovskii wrote.

  Rusakovskii is referring to the second-generation Nexus 7, which could be among the first devices to officially receive the update for the Android operating system.

  The rumor for the Android 5.1 Lollipop launch, Rusakovskii said, comes from trusted sources.

  While there is no official detail on what advantages Android 5.1 Lollipop will have over the previous version, Rusakovskii said that the update will make the operating system run "buttery smooth" once again. Specifically, Android 5.1 Lollipop could improve the battery life that has dissatisfied users, along with provide for a smoother overall experience.

Source:

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/37757/20150306/android-5-1-lollipop-update-reportedly-rolling-out-to-nexus-devices-this-week-improved-battery-life-and-more-fixes.htm

07.What's Samsung thinking? Four things we learned at MWC

   BARCELONA -- Samsung's annual Unpacked event is more than just a flashy coming-out party for its flagship smartphones and wearables. It also gives us great insight into the highly competitive market for mobile devices, and Samsung's place in the constellation.
You might call it the State of the Union address from Samsung Mobile CEO President JK Shin.
   So what did we learn this year? What's important to Samsung?
   Battery life is still critical. We're still pining for our smartphones to last an entire day on a single charge, and Samsung has made it clear that it wants to help. Last year, it introduced its own Ultra Low-Power Mode, which, like a government shutdown, slashed all non-essential services so that the phone could limp along with basic communications until you find a power outlet. It was a great idea that didn't pan out.

   This year, Samsung tacitly admitted that it has no silver bullet for the all-day battery conundrum. Instead, it focused on making charging as painless as possible. It added Quick Charge to juice up the Galaxy S6 faster -- twice as fast, the company says, as the iPhone 6. And it also built in new wireless charging capability, a technology that gained a lot of momentum at the show.

   Mobile payments. Last year, Samsung dabbled with an early form of mobile payments on the Galaxy S5. It let you charge stuff to your PayPal account, which protected it with its all-new fingerprint scanner. Now it appears that Apple Pay, which quickly has emerged as a force in mobile payments, is motivating Samsung to double down.
Samsung Pay, coming this summer, will be built around LoopPay, a recent Samsung acquisition. It will use NFC, or near-field communications, just like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. But it can also mimic magnetic stripes, which could help it leapfrog competitors by supporting older payment systems as well.
   Better cameras. That's plural -- the front-facing camera as well as the rear-facing unit. The Galaxy S5 enjoyed a major camera upgrade, with 16 megapixels, HDR capabilities and editing enhancements. For the Galaxy S6, Samsung bumped the oft-ignored front-facing camera to 5 megapixels from 2 MP in the S5 -- and it also added HDR for better selfies in high-contrast settings. And it improved low-light performance.

More@
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/03/04/samsung-mobile-world-congress-jk-shin-apple/24414173/

Samsung Galaxy S6 battery seen in the flesh

The pieces of the puzzle are coming together for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6 flagship. After theExynos 7420 was confirmed as the chipset of choice, and the matter of dimensions was settled, we could now be looking at the proof of the battery capacity rumor.

The model number EB-BG925ABE of the battery units goes in line with the expected SM-925 internal designation of the upcoming flagship. A manufacturing date of only a couple of days ago adds further credibility to these images.

We witness a slight reduction in capacity, compared to the 2800mAh battery on the Galaxy S5, brought about by the constant push for thinness. However, advancements in chip technology and Google's optimized Lollipop OS, should hopefully mean that the hit in capacity won't result in poor endurance. Add to that a possible wireless charging capability and things don't look all that grim.

Source:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s6_battery_seen_in_the_flesh-news-11252.php

Samsung has made a battery so bendy, it’ll wrap around your wrist

Samsung SDI, the mega-corporation’s division dedicated to all things energy and battery related, has shown off a thin, rollable, and bendable battery during the InterBattery 2014 convention in South Korea. It’s calling it the world’s first truly flexible battery, and claim it’s so versatile, it could be rolled around the side of a cup and still operate normally. Or, as is more likely in the future, a wrist. Designed with wearable hardware in mind, the battery is also shown bending into a U shape.

The flexible battery’s announcement comes several months after Samsung revealed the curved 210mAh cell which eventually found its way inside the Gear Fit fitness band. At the time, it stated smart bands would eventually take up 25 percent of the wearables market, making them the number one product in the emerging industry.


Full article:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/samsung-flexible-battery/

New aluminum air battery could blow past lithium-ion, runs on water

As battery technologies go, the world has a love-hate relationship with lithium-ion. On the one hand, breakthroughs in Li-ion designs and construction are responsible for the Tesla Model S, new installations, green energy research, and the modern smartphone. On the other hand, lithium-ion limitations are the reason why most EVs have a range of 40-60 miles, the Model S costs upwards of $80,000, and why your smartphone can’t last all day on a single charge. For all its promise and capability, lithium-ion has limited long-term utility — which is why a new announcement from Fuji Pigment is so interesting. The company is claiming that its new aluminum-air batteries can run for up to two weeks and be refilled with normal water.






How an aluminum-air battery works

First, some basics. The problem with battery technology isn’t whether or not we can build better batteries — as the chart below shows, we can build batteries that blow traditional lithium-ion out of the water. Keep in mind that the chart below is exponential, meaning that fuel cell technology has 10 times the energy density of a typical cobalt-Li ion battery.


Source:
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/198462-new-aluminum-air-battery-could-blow-past-lithium-ion-be-refilled-with-water