Monday 3 September 2012

03/09/2012

Is this the new Nokia 'charging pad' and are those NFC headphones?

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   Last week we saw two leaked devices from a Twitter account called Evleaks and it seems that the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 weren't all the account creators have got their grubby mitts on! The photo above is supposedly a picture of the upcoming wireless charging stone that will grace Nokia's new Windows Phone 8 devices.


   On thing that's quite noteworthy is that the image above features both the Lumia 820 and the 920, so it would seem that Nokia has made a smart move here and created an accessory that'll work with more than one of it's line-up! Another bonus is that this technology complies with the Qi standard so just in case the Nokia accessory is extortionate, there might be an influx of viable alternatives soon!

   Wireless charging was one of the most popular components of the Palm/HP phone line before that got the axe last year and we are certainly hoping that Nokia will be able to make this stick this time!

   Nokia's second leaked product is a group of NFC connected headphones. So no wires here and they're made by Monster and yes, there is the same collections of insanely bright colours! These will be called Nokia Purity Pro wireless stereo headsets, catchy name eyy?

   This essentially confirms that Nokia will be installing their new WP8 devices with a little NFC chip, which will pair the headphones and phone. Once paired, the Purity Pro headphones use Bluetooth for streaming audio, and also function as a hands-free kit for calls. There’s active noise cancellation on board, which uses a combination of technologies to smooth out not only persistent ambient noise but percussive noise too, such as knocks and bumps.

   Both noise cancellation and Bluetooth are turned on and off by folding and unfolding the headset. These things will go on sale in Q4 and look away if you've got a limited budget as these things are priced at €299 ($376).

Samsung investigates their factory conditions and has some findings for us!


      There's been quite a lot of concern in the tech world lately around device production and the unfair hours, child labour and dangerous conditions for workers. People and the big companies have started to see for themselves the impact their contractors terms of work have had on people.

   Apple was the first to take steps to ensure their contractors workers had better welfare, perhaps spurred into action by an explosion caused by a build up of aluminium dust in one of their iPad producing factories. Tim Cook has since implemented measures that protect workers from working for too long and ensuring that their workplace will be safer.

   Samsung has yet to go under the same microscope, but back in August there were allegations flying around that Sammy's contractors were forcing workers to go about their jobs in harsh conditions. Naturally Samsung dispatched a crack team to get to the bottom of their case.

   Samsung's findings didn't appear to be too bad. What they did find were statutory overtime expectations and the threat of fines for misdemeanors like turning up late, the former shouldn't really be there. On top that there were poor working conditions, and HEG Electronics did not conduct health screenings for employees. But, the China Labor Watch organization claimed to have discovered at least seven people working at the plant who were under the age of 16, Samsung didn't find the same issues on the days it investigated. Which is good news for HEG because Samsung has a very strict rule that they will not employ child labourers and would terminate HEG's contract immediately if they were.

   Samsung has now said they will push on with the inspection of 100 more sites just in case HEG has been moving their child labourers around to dodge Samsung officials. We'll have to see how the comprehensive inspections go! But, it's good to see Samsung are genuinely concerned for their workers!


In other news:

  • Nokia's dominated the news today with leaks left, right and centre but their much anticipated Lumia 920 PureView will reportedly only pack an 8MP camera with the PureView tech as a small bonus, which is slightly disappointing if you ask us!
  • It's been reported that Asus will be delivering a 3G version of the popular Nexus 7 tablet in the very near future!
  • Sony has been widely praised for managing to roll out ICS to their 2011 line up of phones, but unfortunately UK service provider O2 has put the handbrake on the ICS roll out for the Sony Xperia ray, arc and neo! The company claims that the update negatively impacts performance to such an extent that they'd rather see the handsets remain on Gingerbread. What do you think about this unlocked device owners and O2 customers alike?
  • Cambodian police have today arrested ThePirateBay co-founder, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, after he failed to report for his year-long jail sentence in Sweden as ruled in February. Cambodia  today confirmed to AFP that there is no extradition treaty in place with Sweden, instead they said "we'll look into our laws and see how we can handle this case."






And finally, have Apple redesigned their headphones for the upcoming iPhone 5 and will they look like this?!?!



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