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Ivan Petkov

The technological exhibition IFA 2013 in Berlin started so intensely that it will literally inundate us with events and news. It seemed that all the companies had conspired to present on the very first day of the exhibition the latest, innovative and discussed products that consumers have been expecting for months. Rumours had raised expectations to the highest possible level. Some presentations by Sony and Samsung were broadcasted all over the world, while we received information about others from bloggers and enthusiasts who were attending the event. Meanwhile in China, the Xiaomi company, which is described as "the Chinese Apple" presented its flagship, which boasts the same features as those offered by the largest companies producing smart phones. A month ago, LG introduced its flagship at an event in New York. Thus, we can say that flagships of the biggest companies that produce smart phones with Android operating system are now available. Let me present you the most interesting and exciting innovations made by Android, which is supported by more than 1 billion smart phones and has proven to be a convincing leader worldwide.

Clash of the Titans

Samsung introduced its Note III in Berlin. The Korean company has created the segment of "fablets" which combine functionalities of both smart phones and tablets. The screen of this type of device is quite large and is intended for viewing visual content but mostly plays the role of an electronic notebook. A feature of this type of device is the availability of an electronic pen with the help of which very interesting things can be done: keeping notes or making sketches and collages, which are suitable both for personal and professional use of the device.

Samsung presenters accentuated more the appearance and capabilities of the new "pad" rather than the purely technical characteristics of the device. I will list only the most important ones. The screen has grown to 5.7 inches, which provides even more space for movies, pictures, notes and sketches. It is made under the SuperAMOLED technology of Samsung, which is reserved for flagships of the Korean company. The screen offers users vivid colours and reduced energy consumption. It impresses with its Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), which ensures a detailed picture and smooth gradation of shapes. The phone is 1 mm narrower than its predecessor and 15 grams lighter, which is an impressive feature, bearing in mind the larger screen and more powerful battery. The battery has a capacity of 3,200 mAh and provides up to 4 hours more video content watching compared to the previous model.

In terms of design, the Korean company prefers a more classic appearance which makes the device resemble traditional paper notebooks with leather covers. The back cover imitates artificial leather with stitching, while additional accessories complete the product. As if you have a small and discreet notebook, which hides a lot of features. The phone is equipped with the latest generation of powerful processor that runs on 2.3 GHz and to which 3 GB RAM memory have been added. All these features ensure sufficient power of the tablet. Improvements in terms of the audio, as well as capabilities of playing a quality sound further contribute to the good multimedia experience. The camera can record video with a resolution of 4K and has software calibration against vibrations. The new S Pen, in combination with the improved features of applications that are used, makes using the new Note 3 very pleasant.

Note 3 will be available in three colours - white, black and pink, while the additional type of notebook accessories that protect it from mechanical damage and scratches will be offered in a variety of colours. The pink colour did not appear accidentally, since the device became a favourite of quite a few ladies, perhaps because of the fact that the tablet which is not small at all can easily fit in handbags with no problems.

Find out more from the promotional movie that Samsung released a few hours after the presentation on the phone:

Enthusiasts should watch the entire presentation, which includes more mobile gadgets that are yet to be discussed:

Sony Xperia Z1 is the new flagship of the Japanese company in the segment of smart phones. Sony bets on cutting-edge technical features, combined with the use of expensive and luxurious materials such as tempered glass and aluminium. Z1 follows the design presented by Sony Xperia Z, which was defined as beautiful and stylish. In addition, an aluminium frame appeared which gives the smart phone an even more classy and luxurious appearance. A distinctive feature of the Xperia Z1is the fact that it is shock-, dust-and waterproof.

The phone’s camera is the most discussed feature of the smart phone. The reason for this is the fact that it has a 20.7 MP sensor that includes many of the technologies used in the company’s cameras.

As distinctive features, Sony has introduced the option for a live broadcast on Facebook (Social Live) and the Info-eye application, which gives information about everything you capture, for example, a landmark, while being on tour.

Xperia Z1 has been improved in every way compared to the previous generation. The phone offers a more powerful 3,000 mAh battery, which will last even if you use the phone all day long. Special attention has been paid to the screen, which again includes popular technologies which Sony uses in their TVs. This ensures a better contrast and visibility in bright light, as well as more realistic colours.

You may check out Xperia Z1’s promotional trailer by Sony:

Again, enthusiasts should watch the entire presentation of the phone:

We mentioned the presentation of LG G2 and the new flagship of Xiaomi. I will not go into great detail. I will just mention that the LG G2 which was presented a month ago surprised users with the transfer of all the hardware buttons to the back side of the phone.

The smart phone of the other technology giant from Korea definitely surpassed its competitors in terms of performance and managed to impress users with its characteristics. I suggest that you watch its commercial and presentation:

3 years ago, Xiaomi was an unknown start-up company with great ambitions and its own vision for the development of mobile technologies. Today, it is a company worth billions which has millions of loyal followers and which provides exceptional quality and smart phones that are equipped with the latest hardware components. It is not surprising that the company is compared to Apple (Xiaomi itself does not like this comparison), not only because of its loyal fans, but also because of the model on which they are working. They offer their phones at a low cost, and profit from sales of phone software and services. We can say that Xiaomi has realised the vision of the late Steve Jobs to a great extent, who believed that the hardware will be less important in the future while the main things will include the content and services that will be offered through it. Let me present you the Mi3, the new flagship by Xiaomi, which uses its own version of Android, named MIUI:

For the moment, Xiaomi smartphones are only available in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Recently, the company has managed to attract one of the main contributors to Android - Hugo Barra. His task will be to put the company on the global market. But do we need another company for smart phones? Since its products are bought in seconds on the Internet, I think that the answer is predetermined. However, judge for yourself:

Smartwatches - gadgets of the future

I have recently presented the innovation which is emerging in the segment of watches: smart watches. This of course was just a warm-up, since we saw 3 offers in Berlin: Sony SmartWatch 2, the long awaited smart watch Samsung - Gear, and Qualcomm’s offer - Toq.

Samsung’s Gear offers a camera and good technical characteristics. The watch can also serve as a hands-free device after being connected to your phone. An annoying limitation is the fact that it is only compatible with Samsung phones.

Unlike Gear, Sony's SmartWatch 2 can be used with all smart phones.

The interesting thing in terms of the Toq smart watch by Qualcomm is its screen, produced by the company Mirasol, which is a version of the e-paper, but with the ability to display colours. We know that the screen consumes the most battery and e-paper screens are the most effective in terms of consumption.

All three offers will be available in the price range of 250-300 dollars.

Accessories, Accessories, Accessories

We have been using various small accessories for our smart phones for a long time, such as various protectors and cases, docking stations and wireless chargers, joysticks, etc.

Now the time has come for lenses that will turn your phone into a not bad amateur camera. Anyway, no matter how hard companies are trying, cameras in phones are limited in terms of features because of the small space they occupy. It is a fact that a cheap amateur camera can take pictures of better quality than the most expensive smart phone. In Berlin, Sony introduced two lenses that can turn any smart phone into at a decent photo camera: DSC-QX100 and DSC-QX10

Alcatel, which we have known since the dawn of mobile phones, presented a few interesting smart phones, but their accessories seem more interesting to me:

A portable protector

A protector which has a built-in LED backlight which reports missed calls, new emails, messages or date and time.

A protector, which is also an e-paper screen. In this way you will not have problems with direct sunlight, and battery consumption would be minimal.

I wanted to show you a lot more interesting offers and new products. The fact that there are so many things for presentation implies that mobile technologies and everything associated with them are currently enjoying a boom. Everything is developing at high speed.