Curves are in

Curves are in

If this year's IFA electronics showcase in Berlin can be summed up in a sentence, it would be: "Expect the unexpected."

Consumers who laugh at the gimmickry of a curved TV screen may frown on hearing that more global brands will add curved screens to even more devices. Fancy a curved smartwatch or a curved smartphone offering a dual-screen display?

And yes, more brands, aside from Samsung and LG, are also making curved TV screens.

That much is clear from IFA (in full, Internationale Funkaustellung) in Berlin.

The highly anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is also hitting the market a little earlier than expected, in the form of the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR goggles being developed to work with its upcoming Galaxy Note 4 phablet smartphone.

There is no launch date set for the Oculus Rift, while the Gear VR is expected to go on sale next month.

Having launched two wireless lens mounts for smartphones last year, Sony is adding a QX1 mount, effectively a mirrorless camera that ships minus a lens.

Here are highlights of the recent global trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, held in Berlin, Germany.

sherwinl@sph.com.sg


 TOP PICK OF THE SHOW

Creative Sound BlasterX7

Available at end of the year

Look closely at what some users have linked to their smartphones while they are listening to their music. That attachment is not a battery pack but a portable digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) with a headphone amplifier.

Turning a digital file into an analogue track is what makes listening to MP3 songs via a portable player and a pair of headphones possible. But this hardware is not a priority for most smartphone makers, which means that some devices are better built to handle digital songs.

Thus, audiophiles have resorted to portable DAC and amplifier for a better quality audio experience from a smartphone.

Having designed and made three types of portable DAC and amplifier devices, Singapore's Creative Technology is now looking at the Creative Sound Blaster X7 as a companion device meant for the living room.

With outputs for conventional wired speakers and input via traditional RCA and optical connectors, the X7 can link laptops, computers, smartphones and even game consoles directly to dedicated speakers.

The X7 has a 100-watt amplifier that does all the hard work so that tracks can be played back in their original high-definition glory, even if the music is stored in a tablet or laptop which is unable to process the content efficiently.

Homeowners can play back music from their laptops to dedicated speakers via the X7, while gamers can look forward to better sound quality coming from gaming computers and game consoles, to their headphones.

Samsung Gear VR

Available at the end of the year

A headset worn over the eyes to recreate a large screen display is not new, but how about one that recognises the motion of the head as it turns?

In this way, the headset can also alter the video to mirror the same turning motion, thereby creating a self-contained 3-D environment that responds to head movements.

Oculus, a Facebook acquisition, has been teasing gamers with its upcoming Oculus Rift virtual reality headset with just that proposition, and the developer has worked with Samsung to create the Oculus-powered Gear VR headset for users of the upcoming Galaxy Note 4 smartphone.

Users insert the entire phone into the front of the headset and lock in the device. The Note 4's 5.7-inch screen becomes the display of the Gear VR and lenses within the headset create the virtual world.

A control knob at the top of the headset focuses the image for those who wear prescription spectacles. A track pad and Back button on the right side of the screen lets users control the Note 4, without needing to touch the screen.

Such a 3-D virtual world for viewers would naturally require specialised content. Samsung says it is working with partners on this, especially for video games.

In a demo at IFA, it showed off the powerful potential of the headset in video games, a concert and wildlife videos.

One hopes the Gear VR can be linked directly to the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One game consoles, for a more realistic and immersive gaming world.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

Available from next month

There are curved TV screens that show off a manufacturer's skill in crafting a flexible display. And there is the curved smartphone screen that creates a two-sided display, each with its own menu of items.

Samsung can claim both. Both LG and Samsung launched smartphones with curved screens last year, but those screens were concave and offered only a single window of information.

The benefits of a multi-display curved screen had been promised since January last year, when Samsung showed off its YOUM flexible screen prototype. With the Galaxy Note Edge, Samsung is now the first mainstream manufacturer to produce a handset with a two-sided screen.

The Edge is a variant of its successful Galaxy Note phablet phones that support a stylus. It has an ultra-sharp 5.6-inch quad high-definition display that folds in on the right edge of the device, to cover the right side of the phone.

The thin, curved window strip on the right edge serves as a secondary display when the larger primary screen is in use. For example, an incoming SMS message can now scroll across the smaller display, while a user is busy watching a video or writing an e-mail message.

When viewing a video, all playback controls appear on the smaller window on the edge, so that they do not appear over the video and affect the viewing experience.

Samsung has tied up with Yahoo to use the curved window to display news headlines, and it has made its own apps, such as the weather one that displays the temperature for the day.

A small handful of customisable Edge window apps are available out of the box and the company is opening up the software development kit for this smaller window and leaving it to the app developers to decide if the use of the curve gives them an edge over the competition.

Those with raised eyebrows over this curved addition can breathe easy, as Samsung will also offer a regular flat screen Galaxy Note 4. The regular version will sport a 5.7-inch QHD screen, and both will use the same 16MP rear camera lens and 3.7MP front camera lens.

Among its updated features is a wide-screen selfie mode that allows more faces to be included in photos taken with the front-facing camera.

Artists and calligraphers will enjoy the updated stylus which is more sensitive to pressure.

The remaining hardware for both devices is similar and, as in earlier devices, will be available in variations that differ according to processor type and internal memory capacity.

Samsung says the phone will start shipping next month, but has not indicated if both devices will be available at the same time.

Next Page for other DL Picks

Other DL Picks

SMARTPHONE

Sony Xperia Z3

Available later this month

Sony's Xperia line of well-designed smartphones have helped the company move up the handset ranks, so it is not unexpected that the upcoming Z3 bears several hallmarks of the earlier two outings with the Xperia Z name.

The 20.7MP camera remains, and the waterproofing and dust proofing has been beefed up. Design-wise, Sony has done away with the flat edges to give the Z3 more well-rounded sides.

But it has added an extra feature that no other smartphone has. The Z3 line of devices, which includes the Z3 Tablet Compact, can be used to play PlayStation 4 (PS4) games using the PS4 controller.

Previously, this "Remote Play" feature of projecting a game running on the PS4 onto another screen was limited to Sony's PlayStation Vita portable console.

This allows gamers to continue playing their favourite games, even when family members want to watch a show at the same time.

Given the relative small size of the phone, there is a bracket that mounts the phone onto the PS4 controller, making the set-up seem like an oversized portable game console.

SMARTWATCH

Samsung Gear S

Availability not confirmed

The third version of Samsung's premiere smartwatch line also marks a few firsts for the Korean tech giant.

The cumbersome camera from the earlier versions is gone and Samsung has added two long- sought-after features. The first is a SIM card slot that allows the user to make a phone call with the watch, without first pairing the watch with any Samsung phone.

The revised Gear S watch, which is the second to run Samsung's own Tizen operating system, has finally been fitted with a GPS sensor. This means you can just wear the watch on a run and still be able to track the full activity, without needing to take the phone along just for the sake of its GPS chip.

Gear S owners can also reply to SMS and e-mail messages directly off the 2-inch Super Amoled screen, although its small size does make typing rather difficult.

In fact, much of the new Gear S acts like a smartphone.

Perhaps such minor quirks - the small screen and scant day-old battery life - will work to the benefit of users, as one assumes they will be tempted to hold off using the phone, except in an emergency.

And people can go back to having proper face-to-face interactions without being distracted by their smartphones.

SMARTWATCHES

Asus Zen Watch

Available at the end of the year

If LG is taking a more sporty, sleek look with its G Watch R Android wearable device, then Asus can be seen as going the opposite route - of opting for a classier and more elegant approach.

The Zen Watch has a hefty aluminium chassis flanked by leather straps that wrap the device nicely around your wrist. As an Android wearable, the interface does not depart greatly from the standard blueprint, although Asus, known for taking liberties with Android device designs, has added a few special ingredients.

Once the companion app is installed on a phone, users can use the watch as a shutter remote to activate the phone's camera and also to reject calls. The good news is that Asus has made the app publicly available and is not limiting its use to just Asus smartphones.

This next part requires a further look, though. Asus representatives say the app is capable of displaying a user's mental health as well. It uses the same set of sensors to track a user's overall well-being.Sensors around the watch can track a user's heart rate, which the app can monitor on a daily basis.

This will surely be one of the first things to be put through intensive testing when the watch is launched by year's end.

LG G Watch R

Availability not confirmed

As the only other round-faced Android Wear watch in the market, the R might looks like a copy of the circular Moto X Android Wear watch. But the R does better than the Moto X on several scores.

Users get to see a full all-round display on the R, whereas the bottom part of the Moto X is blocked, giving users a smaller 270-degree display.

LG had two models on display. The all-black version is the one that will be sold, but the titanium version was merely a mock-up for IFA attendees to view.The R is modelled on an actual watch and bears the minute markings on the bezel, as well as a crown on the side.

CAMERA

Sony ILCE-QX1

Available from next month

Sony's attempt at putting a better set of lenses on any smartphone with its QX lens accessory is growing. The new QX1 lens mount transforms any smartphone into a mirrorless camera, thanks to the use of the larger 20.1 APS-C imaging sensor.

The QX1 stands out against the DCS-QX30 which has a 20MP 25-750mm zoom lens because the QX1 has no lens of its own. Instead, it comes with an E-mount meant for existing lenses in the Sony alpha camera series.

So if you already own several E-mount lenses, the QX1 is the mirrorless camera you need.

This adaptor offers wider ISO ranges and full manual controls. It simply uses your smartphone, Android or iOS, as a screen.

MORE CURVED SCREENS

Critics of LG and Samsung's curved TV sets may want to dial back the vitriol. The "bent" displays seem to be catching on.

Sony unveiled its first curved screen TV, the Bravia S90 (photo), in Berlin, with 4K resolution available for its 65-inch and 75-inch models. The sets come with 4.2 channel side speakers, for home users who would rather not buy additional speaker systems.

Sony described its TV as having a subtler curve than its competitors' but did not reveal the radius of curvature.

Luxury electronics brand Loewe also showed off a 65-inch ultra high- definition curved reference TV at its booth. Known for sleek eye-catching designs, Loewe uses Samsung glass panels in its curved screens, so their radii must be the same as those of Samsung's curved screen TV sets.

Toshiba and Philips also showed off curved TV sets at IFA.

For those undecided whether to pursue the curve, Samsung offers a bendable TV that goes from flat screen to curved at the touch of a button. It had unveiled this at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

And it should come as no surprise that LG has also chosen to go the same flexible-TV route.

This article was published on Sept 10 in Digital Life, The Straits Times.

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