smartphones

OPPO unveils promo for new line of Find X3 5G smartphones

All three of the Find X3 series smartphones went on pre-sale on Thursday.

In a statement, the company said it would donate $50 to the non-profit body, Reef Restoration Foundation, on behalf of each individual who purchased one of the new phones using the link on the Recolour The Reef site.

As announced on 17 March, OPPO has partnered with The Reef Restoration Foundation to build an augmented reality app to raise awareness of the necessity to save the Great Barrier Reef.

Therapist says that addiction to smartphones is equal to drug addiction

“I always say to people, when you’re giving your kid a tablet or a phone, you’re really giving them a bottle of wine or a gram of coke,” she said during her talk at the Highgate Junior School conference in the UK.

Smartphones that charge in five minutes 'could arrive next year'

The technology was first shown off in 2015, when Israeli start-up StoreDot demonstrated its FlashBattery at the CES tech show in Las Vegas.

Chief executive Doron Myersdorf told the BBC it is now expected to enter production in early 2018.

However, Ben Wood, a technology analyst at CCS Insight, said he had doubts about the claims.

Mr Myersdorf said he could not reveal which manufacturers were signed up to use the technology.

Tilting a smartphone 'gives away passwords'

Experts at Newcastle University analysed the movement of a smartphone as the keyboard was used.

They say they cracked four-digit pins with 70% accuracy on the first guess and 100% by the fifth guess.

The team of cyber-experts claim tech companies know about the problem but can't figure out what to do about it.

Dr Maryam Mehrnezhad, from the university's school of computing science, said: "Most smartphones, tablets, and other wearables are now equipped with a multitude of sensors.

Smartphone use blamed for US road deaths

The US Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that there were 6,000 pedestrian deaths in 2016, the highest number in more than 20 years.

In the last six years, fatalities have grown at four times the rate of overall traffic deaths.

The report says a number of factors are to blame, including mobile use.

Increasing resilience to disasters in Vanuatu with right tools, knowledge

He is sending the latest information on crop production back to Port Vila to guide decisions about crop availability.

Vanuatu’s Extension Officers are being equipped and trained to respond to disasters and plan for improved resilience with practical training and “know-how.”

How the smartphone became so smart

It was, of course, the iPhone. There are many ways in which the iPhone has defined the modern economy.

There is the sheer profitability of the thing, of course: there are only two or three companies in the world that make as much money as Apple does from the iPhone alone.

There is the fact that it created a new product category: the smartphone. The iPhone and its imitators represent a product that did not exist 10 years ago but now is an object of desire for most of humanity. There's the way the iPhone transformed other markets - software, music, and advertising.

Your smartphone knows who you are and what you're doing

It knows where you've been and who you were with, the birthday gift you bought your mother and who you plan to vote for.

Sex last night? It knows that too if you're using one of the applications for couples trying to conceive.

Smartphones are distracting, but users willing to accept the risks

Do you struggle to recall what life was like before receiving the all-in-one communication, entertainment and source-of-knowledge device that fits in the palm of your hand?

Could there be a connection?

Facebook testing a 'virtual reality' video app

The application is said to be independent of the company's work with the Oculus Rift headset, bringing more immersive video experiences to iOS and Android users.

Users will be able to "move around inside the video and view it from different angles" by turning and tilting their mobile device, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook pledged its commitment to bringing virtual reality to the fore last year when it shelled out $2 billion (£1.2bn) on Oculus Rift maker Oculus VR.