Screens that fold and roll will arrive as early as next year

Displays that can be folded and rolled up have been shown in prototype smartphones, wearables and other devices -- but when will such products be available?

Advances in technology suggest they aren't too far off in the future. Such devices could start showing up as early as next year or 2018, said Jerry Kang, senior principal analyst for emerging display technologies and OLED at analyst firm IHS.

Manufacturers are trying to launch them in devices like tablets that can fold into a smartphone-size device. It's possible to use these displays in wearable devices, but reliability, weight and battery life need to be considered, Kang said.

Small folding screens will likely come before larger ones, mainly due to the economics of making such displays, Kang said.

The displays will be based on OLED (organic light-emitting diode), considered a successor to current LED technology. OLEDs don't have lighting back-panels, making them thinner and more power efficient.

At CES this year, LG showed a stunningly thin paper-like display that could roll up. The company projects it will deliver foldable OLEDs by next year.

There are advantages to screens that can be folded or rolled up. They could lead to innovative product designs and increase the mobility of devices, Kang said.

For example, it could be easier to fit screens around the contours of a battery and other components. It will also provide a level of flexibility in how a user can change the  shape of a device.

But challenges remain in making such screens practical, Kang said.

A display has multiple functional layers such as cover lenses, touch panels and polarizers, all made of different materials. A large number of layers could limit the ability to bend and fold. But removing layers also presents problems. For example, removing the touch panel could make such a screen useless for smartphones and tablets.

The size of batteries and circuits are of lesser concern in designing bendable screens, Kang said. The screens can be folded around components.

Displays that can fold and roll are an extension of flexible displays, which are already in wearables, smartphones and TVs. For example, some TVs have flexible screens that are designed so that they can be slightly curved.

Samsung and LG started using flexible AMOLED displays in smartphones in 2013 and are adapting those screens for wearables. Those companies are also leading the charge to bring displays that can bend and fold to devices.

The sorts of flexible displays that are used in curved products are still in their infancy, but IHS projects such screens to continue siphoning market share from non-flexible displays. In 2022, 433.3 million flexible displays will ship, compared to 3.6 billion units of non-flexible displays.

Be An IPhone Pro With These Interesting Hacks

"I wish there was a shortcut to expand storage space in my phone." "It will be wonderful if I could copy content from one e-mail to another without flipping the screen." 

How often these thoughts strike your mind while you remain glued to your mobile for half of the day? Even when you spent most of the time on your phone, you gradually learn those tricks to use your smartphone in the best possible manner. Therefore, smartphones should come with a little guide book having all the hacks in order to help you use your phone smartly. And if you have an iPhone, here are some tips that help you use it like a pro.

1. Keyboard hack: Double tap the space bar for a period at the end of the sentence and to start a fresh sentence with a capital letter.

2. Ear plug hack: Now click a selfie without even touching your iphone. Press the + button of your ear plugs to click a picture without losing the focus.

3. Home-screen hack: Do your small hands does not reach the top of the home screen of iphone 6 or 6 plus? Don't worry. Double tap the home button (do not click it) and the menu will drop down by a few centimeters.

4. Volume hack: Often our musical experience is disturbed with annoying background noises. Now you don't have to adjust the volume time and again while enjoying music. No need to know what's happening in the personal life of a person sitting next to you in a crowded train. Go to Settings>Music>EQ>Late Night and enjoy your tunes in peace.
ALSO READ: Make Your IPhone Read Anything Out Loud With One Quick Swipe
5. Browsing hack: As you write a new mail, a realization that you have to copy content from another e-mail in your inbox strikes you. Avoid the hassle of first saving the mail in Drafts and then copying the content.

Tap in between Cancel and Send to minimize the New Message window. Now you can easily scroll through your e-mail and return to the New Message window at the bottom of the screen.

6. Keyboard hack: After typing the entire text, you notice a mistake in the sentence formation. What next? Just shake your phone to undo typing and write a fresh text without wasting a minute.

7. Reading hack: Most of the times our phone haunts us with low storage notifications. You have to cut your app list unwillingly. Here is how you can save some storage space in your iphone.

Don't install Dictionary app in the phone. Your iphone has an inbuilt dictionary. While reading, long press the word whose meaning intrigues you. Click on the 'define' option from the list of options and enhance your vocabulary.

8. Maps hack: While traveling abroad, the international data pack creates a big hole in the pocket. So, if you wish to browse maps on the go, cache maps for offline use. Zoom in the location you are about to visit, type OK Maps in the search bar and your map will be saved for further reference.

9. Browsing hack: There are times when we go too far as we scroll through the webpage on our smartphones. Now you can scroll to top in a click only. Tap the status bar (the bar which mentions time and signal strength) and you will be redirected at the top of a webpage.
ALSO READ: Use A Silent Ringtone To Quiet IPhone Alarms
10. Keyboard hack: Do you find switching to and fro numeric keypad and alphabetic keypad hectic? Press and hold '123' button on your keyboard and slide to the character you wish to input. As you will release the button, alphabetic keyboard will be resumed. 

How to Shoot 360-Degree Photos With Your Smartphone

Flat, two-dimensional photos are old news. The future is 360-degree photos that let you look around in any direction from a single standing position. You can share 360-degree photos everywhere from Facebook to Street View, and unlike 360 video, they can be easily snapped using the phone you've already got. Here'show to get started.

First, you need an app. The one you want depends on where you're sharing or storing the picture, but most platforms work with most apps. The best app for the job is Street View for Android or iOS, but you can also use the photo sphere mode in the stock Android camera or Surround Shot mode on Samsung phones.

The Street View app is a lot like the photo sphere mode offered by the stock Android camera. Tap the large orange plus icon then pick Camera, at which point the app will guide you through the capture process-basically you have to stand in one place and hit all the orange circles to fill the orb at the bottom.

Images are snapped automatically when you reach each designated position (no need to press the shutter button), and once you're done, the app does all the hard work of stitching together the images you've taken. If you've got Google Photosinstalled, that's one of the apps that will be able to show your 360-degree photo in all its glory.

If you're on a phone, you can view a photo by moving the handset around to change the view (or tapping and dragging). If you're in the browser mode ofGoogle Photos, you can click and drag using the mouse. If you want more people to see your immersive image, you can upload it to Street View or to Facebook in the same way as any other photo.

At the moment Android is more 360-degree photo-friendly than iOS, but Apple will most likely catch up. Facebook can process iPhone panorama pictures as 360-degree pictures, or you can use a third-party app (such as Street View or something like 360 Panorama). Of course you can pick up a dedicated 360-degree camera if you prefer, which will let you shoot video clips too.

iPhone 7 Base Model To Come With 32GB Of Storage And Water Resistance

Apple's iPhone lineup is expected to get a significant boost later this year in the form of the iPhone 7. As is the tradition every year, multiple news outlets have reported that the handset will have some new groundbreaking features. A report from The Wall Street Journal is now mentioning that Apple will include water resistance on the new flagship. This is in no way a groundbreaking feature as Samsung's flagships already have this feature, while Sony has been using water resistance on their devices since time immemorial.

Another crucial feature with the new iPhone is said to be the storage variants.Apple has been criticized for selling 16GB iPhones even after knowing how much storage iOS takes. It seems like the company is finally listening to its critics. Starting this year, the iPhone lineup will apparently start with a 32GB base model, ditching the 16GB version for good.

The iPhone 7 is also rumored to be using a Lightning port based headphone jack(sans the 3.5mm port) in order to keep the thickness at bay. This will be a hit-or-a-miss kind of a feature knowing how the customers might have to rely solely onApple's Lightning headphones or third-party Bluetooth headphones to enjoy media content on their devices. Perhaps there will be an adapter of some sort made available at a future date to hook up 3.5mm headphones with the Lightning port.

The report goes on to mention that there won't be any drastic design changes as Apple will reserve it for the iPhone 8, which should arrive in two years from now.

Waiting For Android Marshmallow? Here Are All The Devices Getting The Update Soon

Android 6.0 Marshmallow is expected to be sent out to the devices fairly soon. One might say that it's too late in the day, given that Google is already preparing the release of Android Nougat. But such is the nature of the Android platform where updates take an eternity to arrive, and it's not entirely Google's fault. Its Nexus devices receive updates sooner than any other device and the source code is made available to the manufacturers shortly after the announcement of the updates.

However, OEMs take time in sending them out to their devices as they have to customize it with their apps/services and other content. This leaves the users high and dry as they're still stuck on an older version of Android while Nexus users get the latest and greatest features from Android.

Then there's the question of which devices will get the update and which won't. To help you understand this aspect better, we have compiled a list below with OEMs and some of their popular devices that are on course to receive theMarshmallow update.

Apple Wants to Let You Become an Organ Donor With a New iPhone Feature

Apple plans to add a new feature to its Health app that will allow users to easily sign up with a national organ donor registry, according to a report from theAssociated Press.

The option will come in the form of a software update for iOS 10 , which is set for release this fall. Though the company initially introduced iOS 10 during this year's WWDC conference, the organ donation option has thus far stayed under wraps. It's unclear if it was planned all along, or whether it was a late addition.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the opt-in feature, which will be accessible by tapping a button within the built-in app, was prompted in part by Steve Jobs' own "excruciating" wait for a liver transplant.

According to the Obama administration, 22 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant, and a new person is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes. In May, the White House announced a new initiative to help those in need of organs, which included expanding efforts to reach potential donors. Companies like Google, Twitter, Tinder, and Facebook were included as partners, though Apple didn't appear on the list.

Currently, those interested in becoming organ donors can do so by registering with their state registry or checking the option on their driver's license registration. But considering the ubiquity of iPhones, the software update will likely make the process slightly easier.

11 iOS 10 tips you’ll use

Apple’s latest mobile OS, iOS 10, is packed with new additions and new ways to get things done, but what follows are eleven tips you’ll almost certainly use once the public beta ships later this summer or when the final OS reaches out in Fall.

Swipe different

The lockscreen has become much more useful in iOS 10, for example:

• Swipe right to left to open Camera app
• Swipe left to right to access things like music, weather, public transport info and any other app that supports this mode that you choose to add.
• Swipe down to access Notifications – Devices with 3D Touch can act on incoming Notifications without needing to launch the relevant app.

You add or remove widgets using the Edit button at the bottom of widget windows.

Safari

On an iPad, iOS 10 lets you open two Safari browser windows side-by-side (Split View). It works like this:

1. Tap the + to open a second tab, now tap, hold and drag that tab to the right of the X, your Safari browser window should shrink slightly and display a grey area.
2. Drop the second tab in that great area and the second window should open.

You can drag tabs between the two browsers, but you cannot use app multitasking while in Safari split view mode.

Raise to Wake

If enabled the new Raise to Wake feature (available in Settings>Display % Brightness) means you will gain instant access to Notifications view when you raise your device. Of course, you may not want to enable this feature if you’re accustomed to leaving your device in shared spaces.

Work together

When you write a new Note you’ll find a new Share icon at top right. Tap this and you can choose to add people to collaborate on the Note. You can also invite people to work with you using an email, Twitter and other services.

Quick response

The fastest way to respond to an incoming iMessage is to double tap on the incoming one to access some quick and easy responses: Thumbs up, a love heart, thumbs down, question mark, exclamation mark and ha-ha.

Flashlight

Pull up Control Center and tap the torch icon and your iPhone becomes a flashlight. In iOS 10 you will be able to use 3D Touch to change the intensity of the light (Low, Medium, High).

Fast Camera

Tap and firmly press the Camera icon in Control Centre and 3D Touch kicks into effect. Now you can launch your app in the correct mode to take a photo, video, record Slo-mo or take a selfie.

Video settings

You can now set video to download in best available or a more compressed setting in order to reduce bandwidth consumption.

Maps improvement

Maps now at last lets you see a dynamic view when you’re following a route. This means you can easily pan out to see what the journey ahead might be like. (A boost to side seat navigators everywhere). Another key improvement? Apple Maps can now surface places you’ve recently viewed in Google Maps, making it much easier if you happen to click on a Google Maps link online for a location you want to navigate to using Apple Maps.

Mail

Threaded messages make it easier to keep track of conversations, but do remember that in Settings>Mail you get to choose whether to show the oldest or newest message first, or to switch the feature off altogether. A new filter button lets you apply filters (such as ‘Show Unread Messages’) to a Mailbox, while the Move feature is smart enough to try predicting which folder you might want to move a messages to.

Cool Futuristic/Concept Gadgets That Really Inspire

About 10 years ago, we didn’t really expect the 1.4mb 3.5 inch floppy to evolve into flash drives 10x smaller with storage capacity as big as 32gb. The interesting thing about technology is; it’s just going to get more and more high-end but the size, is just going to get smaller and slimmer.

              

These concept gadgets you see before you today, have extremely high chance of getting into production anywhere in the future. For example, Microsoft’s Surface Computing Technology certainly tells us they are for real. Here’s some really cool concept gadgets, just concepts for now but we really hope it’ll be implemented, that inspires. If we happened to missed something impressive, please let us know in comment. Full list after jump.

B-membrane Laptop/Desktop

Concept computer designed by Korean designer Won-Seok Lee. No bulky monitors, just a UFO shape system that displays screen like a projector. [viayankodesign]

                 

Nokia Aeon Full Screen Concept Phone

The most prominent design feature of aeon is a touchscreen that stretches over the full surface area of the phone. [via engadget mobile]

                

Napkin PC

The Napkin PC is a multi-user, multi-interface, modular computer designed for creative professionals to collaborate and bring their greatest ideas to life. [viayankodesign]

                

Cellphone Code

This phone uses haptic technology to provide physical feedback for making a call. To turn it on…twist a section, to dial a number…twist a bunch of sections, to make an international call…break your wrist! [via yankodesign]

                 

Virtual Goggles

Designed and conceived by Franz Steiner, he wondered what the personal assistant might look like in the future. [Blutsbrueder Design via Gizmodo]

                 

New dSLR?

Concept of a digital camera which can be used in one hand. [perezprada viayankodesign]

               

Future Internet Search

All you need to do is point the tablet at any object and you should get search results as good as Google’s, just more interactivity. [petitinvention viabehance.net]

               

Sunshine Pillow

We arent sure if it’s warm enough, but it’s good to own one. [Rei Gallery viagizmodo]

              

Capsule Radio Clock

Not rocket science, but definetely cool to get one. [sequoia-studio via tuvie]

              

Info-Live Watch

INFO Live is an data organizer for connected internet world. It is able to transfer data information to any hardware and person any moment in time of need. [vianextgendesigncomp]

                

Jive for the elderly

Jive is a range of 3 products that were designed to get elderly technophobes connected to their friends and family. [jive via tuvie]

                

LifeMap

Touch screen digital photo storing and organization product. [via tuvie]

                

Microsoft Arc Mouse

When you go advanced in all your computer equipments, the next best thing is to get a futuristic mouse. [via geekandhype]

                 

Pebble Key Port

Designed with many slots so that user can easily group their keys into categories such as car keys, home keys or office keys. [via tuvie]

               

Pixel Perfect Hour Glass

Title says it all. A perfect gadget anyone wants to own, I suppose? [Pavel Balykinvia yankodesign]

                     

Calliper Style Radio

Like a precision calliper tool, 08 Radio by Mikael Silvanto lets you precisely find the station you want by sliding the entire radio unit up and down the scale. [viayankodesign]