Smartphone Battery Breakthrough

A new battery technology, which is soon to enter production, may be able to double the battery life on your smartphone by early next year.

Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - who spun out and created a start-up called SolidEnergy - have created a new type of lithium metal battery, which comes anode-free and allows for twice the density in charge.

The technology has proved safe and is almost ready to be used in electric cars, smartphones, wearables and other portable devices; it's even set to launch in drones by November this year.

Qichao Hu, CEO of SolidEnergy, said "With two-times the energy density, we can make a battery half the size, but that still lasts the same amount of time, as a lithium ion battery. Or we can make a battery the same size as a lithium ion battery, but now it will last twice as long."

It works by switching graphite - a traditional battery material - for a very thin lithium-metal foil, which as well as being smaller can even hold more ions than normal cells.

 

Courtesy of TechRadar

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Oppo's 7in prototype with folding display

Samsung and LG have explored this format over the past years, offering us glimpses into flexible devices like Samsung Youm or the LG G Flex series. In the end they didn’t evolve further. Oppo’s invention has been in development since August 2015 and the first prototype was ready in February 2016. The concept shown here feels like a Nintendo 3DS and it’s not very clear if there’s one large screen folded in the middle, or two screens joint up with a special hinge.

We do seem to be spotting a hinge or something that looks metallic and the bezels are rather big. If this model reminds me of any device, that’s the HTC Flyer and considering its front camera and USB port placement, it’s more of a tablet than phone.

Courtesy of TabletNews

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Low Battery??

A number of devices now exist to provide extra power to mobiles and wearables, such as power packs, mobile hand generators and solar cells. But although external power packs have become popular, they add size and weight, and mobile hand generators and solar cells produce only limited amounts of power.

Instead, an invention called PowerShake allows mobile and wearable devices to wirelessly charge other mobile and wearable devices on the go, even when those devices are being held or worn. Wireless-charging technologies are becoming more prevalent, but many of these stations are fixed, and do not account for devices near or in contact with skin.

The researchers experimented with a variety of power transmitter and receiver coils. They also devised electromagnetic shielding made of ferrite plates and copper tape on the back of coils in order to prevent any transmitted energy from reaching human tissue. They noted flexible coils were also possible, and potentially embeddable in watch straps.

In experiments, PowerShake fit into small devices, met wireless power transfer safety guidelines, and performed about as well at power transmission as commercial alternatives, such as the Qi wireless charging pad, transferring about 3.1 watts of power, the researchers said. They estimated that about 12 seconds of charging would support 1 minute of additional talk time, while 2 minutes of charging would support about 4 minutes of video watching.

For information check out LiveScience

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Wearable tech and "Band Aid Batteries"

Wearable tech might actually be the future if only low battery life wasn't keeping it down. Most developers of wearables rely on advances in processor efficiency than hoping for a new battery life. A new development might be the advancement wearables really need —in fact, they can be worn just as easily as the wearable tech they'll power.

These are batteries that can be applied to the skin like a Band-Aid and could even recharge with exposure to sunlight.
A team cut a regular lithium ion battery into very thin tiles, and then tied those tiles together  with wires to make them all a singular power source. These were then embedded within multiple rubber layers, creating a battery that is stretchable, mobile, rechargeable and even waterproof.

Beyond integration into clothing, there's the potential for "chip-scale microelectromechanical technologies, radio devices, mechanical/thermal energy harvesting" and other devices which would need tiny, flexible batteries.

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Courtesy of Popular Mechanics 

Samsung foldable phone to launch in 2017?

Samsung has been focusing on its innovative edge display technology for the last few years to make some handsome-looking phones, but it may soon take things to the next level with foldable tech.

Rumors of the Samsung foldable phone – codenamed Project Valley – have been building for a few years, and the latest leak suggests it'll be ready for a release next year, under the name Galaxy X.

A post on Chinese social networking site Weibo suggests the Samsung Galaxy X will feature a foldable 4K display to keep the resolution high when the device is bent – which would be a fantastic achievement if it really does have the ability to fully fold.

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Courtesy of TechRadar