PSA: HTC One X+, five other devices from ASUS, HTC, Novatel and Samsung on sale at AT&T

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/16/psa-asus-htc-samsung-novatel-at-att/

American carriers love to launch their device lines in bundles, and AT&T just proved the rule in style. Forget the LTE iPad mini -- six other devices have shipped in one day, covering just about every category Big Blue offers. Want a Windows tablet? There's a $500 ASUS VivoTab RT waiting for you. Smartphones? HTC's $200 One X+ covers the high-end, while its $50 One VX and Samsung's $100 Galaxy Express target the more frugal among us. Even shutterbugs and cutting-edge networkers can pick up a $500 Samsung Galaxy Camera or Novatel's $50 MiFi Liberate hotspot. There's no doubt that AT&T is cramming the channel full of new gadgets in the hopes of scooping up all the Black Friday sales it can, but we'll forgive the slightly cynical strategy for the sake of a wider device selection.

Filed under: Cellphones, Ca meras, Tablets, Networking, Mobile, Samsung, HTC, ASUS, AT&T

PSA: HTC One X+, five other devices from ASUS, HTC, Novatel and Samsung on sale at AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo's upcoming five-inch 1080p phone to feature dual-SIM connectivity

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/17/lenovo-1080p-5-inch-phone/

By now you should already know that HTC, Sharp and Oppo share a common theme: 1080p display on their five-inch phones. As it turns out, Lenovo also wants in on the VIP list. Spotted on Sina Weibo earlier this week (but have since been deleted) are the above three screenshots showing off Lenovo's customized Android UI in 1080p glory. As with many phones in China these days, the device in question supports dual-SIM connectivity -- the screenshots indicate that it's connected to China Telecom's CDMA2000 network and China Mobile's 2G network simultaneously.

Our own source wouldn't directly confirm that it's a five-inch display on this mysterious phone, but we were told that it'll be somewhere between 4.5 inches and 5.5 inches -- we'll take that as a yes, especially since the only 1080p mobile panels available right now are the five-inch, 440ppi ones from Sharp and JDI. Our source also said the phone's entered DVT (Design Verification Test) phase for some time, so it might not be long before we hear an official announcement in China. As always, stay tuned.

Gallery: Lenovo's upcoming five-inch 1080p phone to feature dual-SIM connectivity

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Lenovo

Lenovo's upcoming five-inch 1080p phone to feature dual-SIM connectivity originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 02:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG F240 possibly spied in benchmarks packing 1080p screen, Snapdragon S4 Pro

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/16/lg-f240-possibly-spied-in-benchmarks-packing-1080p-screen/

LG's Optimus G (and Nexus 4) might have been the resolution champion among non-phablet Android phones for only a brief moment before the HTC Droid DNA arrived, but there's clues surfacing that LG may fight its way back to a draw. Following hints through browser profiles, a set of results on GLBenchmark have appeared for an unconfirmed LG F240 wielding a 1080p screen resolution; given the allusions to Korean phone carriers like KT and LG's earlier decision to back away from tablets, we suspect that it's something pocketable. The F240 could otherwise be more of an evolution, if it's real -- the Adreno 320 graphics and 1.5GHz clock speed allude to the Optimus G's Snapdragon S4 Pro sticking around, and the biggest leap beyond the screen could be an upgrade to Jelly Bean (4.1, not 4.2). While benchmarks aren't entirely trustworthy without a tangible device to match, there's enough here to imply that HTC will have at least one major competitor in a very young category.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

LG F240 possibly spied in benchmarks packing 1080p screen, Snapdragon S4 Pro originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FYI: What's The Lightest Metal On Earth?

Source: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-11/fyi-what-lightest-metal-earth

This material is 100 times lighter than styrofoam--but it's also really strong!

The lighter a structure launching into air, the better. That's one of the reasons why ostriches can't fly--because their bones are solid instead of hollow. It's also one of the reasons why researchers at HRL Laboratories created the lightest metal known to man.

The researchers collaborated with scientists at Caltech and UC Irvine to design metallic microlattice, a mesh lighter than styrofoam, for aerospace structural components. The material is so light, it can sit atop a dandelion without crushing it.

But that doesn't mean it isn't strong. The material can handle a strain exceeding 50 percent in compression tests and still resume to its original shape and 98 percent of its height once the load is removed.

Other materials that fall into the ultralight category (below 10 mg/cm3), such as silica aerogels, carbon nanotube aerogels, metallic foams and polymer foams, have very random cellular architectures. This means that while these low-density materials retain benefits such as high specific surface area (total surface area for a material per specified unit), they lack the stiffness, strength, energy absorption and conductivity of heavier materials. HRL researchers created a material that is both ultralight and structurally robust.

The key structural component is a series of hollow tubes. In a study published last November in Science, the researchers exposed a light sensitive liquid to UV light through a patterned mask, which created a three-dimensional photopolymer lattice. They then deposited a layer of nickel-phosphorous onto the polymer lattice, which was then etched. The remaining structure was a macroscopic material with hollow tubes as the base structural elements. The resulting m! aterial had a density of .9 mg/cm3. By comparison, ultralight silica aerogels are 1 mg/cm3.

Though metallic microlattice is the lightest metal developed to date, it held the title of lightest material for less than a year. Aerographite, a carbon material developed by researchers at the Technical University of Hamburg and University of Kiel (and first reported in an Advanced Materials article in June 2012), weighs in at just .2 mg/cm3.

Have a burning science question you'd like to see answered in our FYI section? Email it to fyi@popsci.com.

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MIT-Made Metamaterial Focuses Radio Waves, Could Yield Up-Close Views Of Molecules

Source: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-11/new-mit-material-could-give-us-more-detailed-views-molecules-and-stars

The lab-built material focuses radio waves better than anything that occurs in nature.

When nature's materials can't do the job scientists want done, it's time to head into the lab and get creative. That means entering the impressive, strange genre of metamaterials--stuff with a designer molecular structure that gives it unique properties. The latest entry in that field: a metamaterial lens from MIT that can bend and focus radio waves, which could be used to bring us higher-resolution images--of outer space or of molecules on Earth.

The metamaterial is fashioned into a concave lens made with help from 3-D printing. Usually a concave lens works by radiating waves out, like a speaker sending sound out into a room, but with the new material those rays get focused from the ends of the lens into a single point. Researcher Isaac Ehrenberg compares it to the Death Star focusing lasers to take out a planet, which is 1) awesome, 2) accurate, and 3) an excuse to use this clip.

The lens is actually made up of 4,000 "unit cells," tiny shapes that all bend radio waves slightly. Put enough of those together and you get the focused wave. When the MIT team tested out the process they found that the waves didn't get slowed down much by the material, either. That focus and efficiency, combined with the lens's light weight (less than a pound), means it could be ideal for use in imaging processes. The metamaterial might send radio waves to zero in on molecules, or go on top of satellites to guide the waves into the cosmos.

[MIT]

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