magazine mobile world: current issue no.6
TRANSCRIPT
62015 No.6 Bimonthly
HANDS-ON
MOBILE MASTERY
VIP VOICE
Growing and Winning Together
Street Photography with Your Smart-phone
ZTE Blade A452：Lasting LongerZTE Blade S7：Elegant and Smart
FOCUS
Cover Product
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In January 2014, ZTE launched a smartphone project called Apollo. It is the start of big things for ZTE.
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Growing and Winning Together
VIP VOICE6
The Craftsmanship Behind AXON Mini
DESIGN & ART9
10 HANDS-ON
10 ZTE Blade A452: Lasting Longer12 ZTE Blade S7: Elegant and Smart
4 INFORMATION ROUNDUP
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Chairman: Zeng Xuezhong Vice Chairman: Sun Zhenge Consultants: Dai Wenhong, Guo Qing, Ji Zhongwei, Mao Qian, Sun Zhenge, Zhang Lei, Zhao Wei Members: Chen Duolei, Gao Dakun, Gao Feng, Huang Xinming, Ji Qin, Jiang Tao, Li Bo, Lv Qianhao, Qian Peng, Tu Yaming, Zhang Tai, Zhang Zhenyu
Sponsor: ZTE Corporation Edited by Shenzhen Editorial Office, Strategy Planning Department Editor-in-Chief: Huang XinmingExecutive Editor: Liu YangEditor: He XiCirculation Manager: Wang Pingping
Address: NO. 55, Hi-tech Road South, Shenzhen, P.R.ChinaPostcode: 518057Tel: +86-755-26776663Fax: +86-755-26775217Email: [email protected] Date: December 31, 2015Volume 8 No. 6 (Issue 40)First Issue Published in 2008
Mobile World Editorial Board
All rights reserved. The content of this magazine may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the written consent of ZTE. Every effort has been made to ensure the information included is both accurate and complete; however, ZTE cannot accept misuse or misinterpretation of the information published or implied from the content. In the case of ZTE mobile devices, the reviews are based on the products we could find at the time of printing. The product availability and descriptions may vary in different countries. Please take the actual product as the standard.
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NO.6 2015http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/publications
30 MOBILE MASTERY
Street Photography with Your Smartphone
16 FOCUS
ZTE AXON: Ushering a You-Focused Revolu-tion
32 SMART GADGETS
32 Will Solar Become the Dominant Energy Source in Your Home?34 Self-Driving Cars are Coming
14 SHOWCASE
· Perfect Size: ZTE Blade L5 · Simply Outstanding: ZTE Blade A570· Ultra-Fast Speed: ZTE MF286· Nubia Z9 3rd Anniversary Edition· ZTELink· ZTE Alighting
Mobile World for Android
INFORMATION ROUNDUP
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ZTE Gives Back to Locals with New York Knicks
ZTE Adds Bulls, Cavaliers to NBA Sponsorship RosterOn October 28, ZTE announced two new part-nerships with popular basketball teams. ZTE has become the “Official Smartphone brand of the Chicago Bulls” and a “Smartphone Partner of the Cleveland Cavaliers”.The deals come in addition to ZTE’s existing deals with fellow NBA outfits the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors, as ZTE expands its localized approach to build its presence in the US.As part of the three-year agreement, ZTE will be the presenting partner of “Bulls-Eye View”, a series of exclusive, behind-the-scenes items of Bulls content that will appear on Bulls.com. People can expect to see a lot more of ZTE’s logo around the Bulls and Cavs, too. ZTE will present the Cavaliers first ever Chinese New Year event, which will take place on February 8, around the team’s game vs the Sacramento Kings.ZTE will also support upcoming community events organized by the teams.
On December 4, ZTE had its title night with the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, New York, as the Knicks took on their rivals, the Brooklyn Nets. ZTE presented the Sweet-water Clifton “City Spirit” Award on court to the Perez Family of Brooklyn, together with Knicks legends Allan Houston and John Starks. The award is named in honor of Nat “Sweet-water” Clifton, the first African-American to play for the Knicks, and recognizes individuals who have made a significant difference in the
lives of others. Each month a winner is chosen by members of the Knicks front office staff and is honored at center court during a Knicks game with a $2,000 donation in his or her name made out to a charity of their choice. The Perez Family won the award for volunteer-ing their services to nonprofit organizations that benefit children facing life-threatening ob-stacles. ZTE also donated a Spro 2 to the family as well as an additional $2,000 to a charity of their choice.
Before the game, as one stop of the ZTE Experience Tour, ZTE Road Show Truck show-cased at the 7th Avenue, outside the Madison Square Garden, allowing customers to check out latest ZTE products. Beginning on November 13 at the home of the Chicago Bulls and running into next year, ZTE Experience Tour’s major stops include New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and many others.
Michael Reinsdorf (L), Chicago Bulls president and COO, and Lixin Cheng, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA
INFORMATION ROUNDUP
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ZTE Launches Three New Devices in Japan
ZTE Introduces Blade S7
ZTE Delivers Wi-Fi Only Spro 2
On November 4, ZTE opened a new R&D center in Tokyo to focus on the develop-ment of 5G and other next-generation network technologies.
On October 27, ZTE announced that its net profit rose by more than 42% in the first nine months, driven by increased sales of optical network products and 4G LTE solutions to carriers.
On October 27, ZTE teamed up with Rogers Communications in launching AXON, its first premium device released in Canada. (Soure: Xinhua)
Raj Doshi (R), Executive VP of Wireless Consumer Services of Rogers Communications, and Lixin Cheng, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA, display new smartphones during the official launch ceremony of AXON in Toronto, Canada.
At a Glance
On November 12, ZTE unveiled the company’s most powerful selfie smartphone to date: Blade S7. With a host of features for selfie lovers, the stylish Blade S7 is the latest device in ZTE’s afford-able premium Blade series and will initially be available in several markets across Asia Pacific.“We are delighted to confirm the availability of ZTE Blade S7, a device packed with a range of fun and innovative features,” said Jacky Zhang, CEO of Asia Pacific, ZTE Mobile Devices. “ZTE is constantly listening to its cus-tomers and we wanted to deliver a device that takes the selfie experience to a new level.”
On November 11, ZTE launched three new mobile devices in Japan, making major push in this key strategic market.At the launch in Tokyo, ZTE’s AXON mini and Blade V6, both of which will be available through electronics retailers and MVNOs, were presented. ZTE also launched the localized version of Spro 2 that is customized for users of SoftBank.
On November 9, ZTE USA announced that the award-winning smart projector Spro 2 is now available in a Wi-Fi only version for people who want the same flexibility in accessing and projecting content at work or at home but do not need mobile hotspot functionality. The Spro 2 Wi-Fi device will provide ad-ditional enhancements for the con-sumer by incorporating pre-loaded apps and technology from Sling TV, Zoom and JBL. It is available for $549.98 online at www.zteusa.com.
On October 21, ZTE USA announced two new additions to the unlocked AXON phone lineup: AXON Pro 64GB and AXON with lower-end configuration.
● By Liu Yang and Yang Yang
VIP VOICE
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Choi Cheol was one of the first Samsung employees sent to China under Samsung’s “Regional Specialist” program. Now he is the CEO of Samsung Electronics (Device Solutions) Greater China, which is headquartered in Shenzhen. He has a glittering business record and is fluent in Chinese language and culture. In an interview with Mobile World, Choi Cheol discussed his secret to success, how he sees the global smartphone market, and what he thinks about the strategic partnership with ZTE. Samsung Electronics manufactures semicon-ductors, cell phones, TVs and LCD panels and now supplies ZTE with displays, memory and camera products. In the interview, Choi Cheol emphasized the tight cooperation between Samsung and its customers.
Q: Could you briefly introduce yourself? When did you get into the industry? What has been your biggest achievement so far?
A: After I graduated from university in 1987, I joined Samsung Electronics. I could not speak Chinese then, even though I was responsible for the business in China. I was sent to Beijing in 1992 under Samsung’s “Regional Specialist” program. At that time, China and South Korea had just renewed diplomatic ties. The program was a unique talent-nurturing program in which certain employees were selected to immerse themselves in local cultures. It took me one year to learn Mandarin and visit different places in China.
At the end of the program I worked in Shanghai for five years, when China’s IT industry was just taking off. In 2001, I was sent to pursue a
two-year full-time MBA program in Tsinghua University, Beijing. After working for three years in our Taiwan branch, in 2009 I went to work in Shenzhen, first as CEO for Samsung Southeast China and then as CEO for Greater China. My personal sales have increased almost 30,000 percent since 1995, when I achieved a sales volume of tens of millions of US dollars while working in our Shanghai branch. Over the course
Choi Cheol, CEO of Samsung Electronics (Device Solutions)Greater China
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of my seven years in Shenzhen, my sales volume has increased four hundred percent. I attribute a lot of my success to our partners in the handset industry, including ZTE.
Q: Could you share with us your manage-ment philosophy?
A: From 1994 to 1999, I always solved problems on the spot because I was the only person in charge of the entire China mainland market. I feel deeply that without customers, there would be no me. I always talked with my colleagues about the importance of site management and dedication to customers. Since we are in the components business, we can only be a success if the products that contain our components are successful on the market.
Q: What is it about the culture at Sam-sung that has made you stay there for more than 20 years?
A: I have been in the semiconductor and display businesses for 28 years. In 1993, Chairman Lee announced new management, which was a transformative initiative. We all have a strong sense of crisis; we are worried about tomorrow even if we are going well today. In our drive to succeed, we prioritize quality and try to bring premium products to customers. Our culture is based on teamwork spirit, ethical management, and emotional bonding.
We view the relationship with our custom-ers as a strategic partnership. If our customer
has a problem, we discuss it with them and try to understand their needs. Under the new management initiative, we have developed a strong customer focus. Customer growth results in our growth.
Q: What breakthroughs have you made in 2015?
A: We have been in the memory chip market for 22 years. This year we launched an industry-leading image sensor that promises better cameras. We have also increased our capacity to manufacture AMOLED displays and see increased AMOLED sales in China this year.
Q: How do you innovate?
A: We can’t innovate alone. We provide com-ponents, but our customers provide the entire smartphone solution. As far as we’re concerned, we should provide products that are thinner and more efficient in power consumption. We also try to propose new concepts, such as flexible displays.
The future development of smartphones relies on components such as display and memory chip. Smartphone cameras, which are replacing standalone point-and-shoot cameras, also rely on chip and semiconductor technology.
We need to innovate in sync with our customers. We need to discuss UI, UX design and software with our customers.
Q: What are the global smartphone trends and how are you reacting to them?
A: According to a survey, smartphone shipments are expected to grow 13% in 2015 to 1.4 billion units. This is a noticeable slowdown compared to the average growth rate of 44% from 2010 to 2014. Smartphone sales will grow even slower at a rate of 6% year-over-year by 2020.
Despite market saturation, it is very common to see vast numbers of high-spec smartphones in diverse regions. Demand for high-end phones has increased significantly in China, while mid to high-end smartphones continue to dominate
the US and European market. To meet today’s market needs, handset makers are adjusting their strategies. Some makers look to increase sales in the high-end market by differentiating their design and user experience; others are targeting emerging markets with mid to low-end smartphones.
We will make sure to offer competitive products to help our customers grow. Here is an example. There is a number of smartphones featuring 2K screens nowadays adopting our display and probably a Quad HD in the future. Memory is another example. Our mobile DRAM has evolved from 1 to 1.5 GB to 2 to 4 GB and will move towards 6 GB in 2016. Our flash memory has evolved from 16 GB and 32 GB to 64 GB and even 128 GB and has a read/write speed 12 to 18 times faster than that of external memory. LPDDR4 is also two times faster than LPDDR3.
Q: Is smartphone hardware progressing too quickly for consumers?
A: Some people say that smartphone hardware development is not perceivable by customers. With mobile memory, you feel the benefit of faster speed when you use the phone. AMOLED display has more visible advantages.
Q: What are the trends in smartphone display?
A: Smartphones will have a higher resolution display. We expect wider adoption of AMOLED display in China because people prefer smart-phones that are slim, have a high-resolution display, and have a screen larger than 5 inches.
AMOLED display also has a strong competitive edge in the wearable device market, where competition is based on thickness, weight, and power consumption. The most popular smart watches all have an AMOLED display. AMOLED displays will be also used in laptops, 2-in-1 computers, head mount displays, and even automobiles.
At a time when smartphone differentiation is becoming increasingly difficult, flexible displays represent a great leap forward. Smartphones will be more versatile if the display is bendable
As far as we’re concerned, we should provide products that are thinner and consume less power. We also try to propose new con-cepts, such as flexible displays.
We all have a strong sense of crisis; we are worried about tomorrow even if we are go-ing well today.
and foldable. Bendable displays have already been commercial-ized and foldable displays will follow.
Q: What’s your message to the consumers?
A: The camera is very important to a smartphone, especially as selfies have become a big thing. We will develop new camera products that offer better performance.
People are now installing more and more apps on their smartphones, which increases the demand for capacity and speed in the RAM. Extended battery life has also become increasingly important, which is why our memory products reduce power consumption by 20 to 30 percent compared with competitor products in the same category.
A display is especially important for viewing photos. An AMOLED display has higher resolution, higher contrast, and truer blacks than an LCD.
When buying a smartphone, consumers should take into consideration the speed of the memory, display effects, camera effects, and overall power con-sumption. We want consumers to feel the convenience of digi-tal life with ZTE smartphones with Samsung technologies.
Q: What are your thoughts on the strategic partnership between ZTE and Samsung Electronics?
A: When I went to Shenzhen in 2009, we cooperated with ZTE on mobile memory. In 2014, we began to cooperate with ZTE on both display and memory. In 2015, we entered into a strategic partnership encom-passing not only development but also marketing. We are now cooperating with ZTE to popularize AMOLED displays. Samsung Electronics and ZTE will join forces to make more breakthroughs in the market and better satisfy consumer demands.
Tips
AMOLED
Both ZTE AXON mini and AXON MAX have vibrant AMOLED displays.
AMOLED and LCD are two popular screen technologies. AMOLED has three distinct features.
First is low power consumption. LCD uses a backlight whereas AMOLED is more energy efficient because it only lights up the necessary pixels. For example, a 5.5-inch AMOLED FHD screen consumes 30% less power than an LCD screen. Second is rich colors and true blacks. An AMOLED display covers 97% of the Adobe RGB color space, 1.3 times that of an LCD screen. An AMOLED display shines with its true blacks and a contrast ratio as high as 13,000,000: 1. Photos taken by the 13-megapixel camera on ZTE AXON mini are vivid on an AMOLED screen.
Third is ultra-slim structure. An AMOLED display is thin and light because it does not have a backlight layer and have only two thin layers of glass. ZTE AXON mini is very slim thanks to its AMOLED display.
LPDDR4
ZTE extensively uses the memory products developed by Samsung. ZTE AXON is one of the small num-ber of flagship smartphones that
employ Samsung’s 4 GB LPDDR4. LPDDR4 has improved capacity and performance. Fabricated using 20 nm process technology, LPDDR4 offers 1 GB on a single die. LPDDR4 transfers data at 3200 Mbps, which is two times faster than LPDDR3. At a low operating voltage, it consumes 40% less power than LPDDR3 while enabling high performance.
ISOCELL
While there is a demand for superior camera sensor even in an ultra-slim smartphone, such design is limited due to large camera module size.
Samsung’s ISOCELL, a pixel technol-ogy that isolates pixels and reduces color crosstalk, allows the adoption of the smallest 1.0μm pixel sensor, instead of current market standard of 1.12μm, reducing the height of camera module while sustaining image quality.
The ISOCELL sensor delivers better mobile photography with BRITECELL technology for low-light perfor-mance and phase detection auto focus (PDAF) for quicker focus. ZTE AXON mini and AXON MAX include Samsung’s advanced image sensors.
When buying a smartphone, consumers should take into consideration the speed of the memory, display effects, camera effects, and overall power consumption . We want consumers to feel the convenience of digital life with ZTE smartphones with Samsung technologies.
Red
YellowAMOLED has great color reproduction.
Blue
Black&White
AMOLED is more power efficient than LCD.
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● By Dang Yang
DESIGN & ART
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AXON mini is a 5.2-inch smartphone
for young professionals. We, as designers, want to
give users a warm, soothing feeling in the tense work atmosphere through the phone’s special design
and features.
An Endless Pursuit of Perfection
Products should not be decorated for the sake of it. A designer is expected to use the product to communicate with users and express different emotions using designs combining different types of modeling, details and colors. AXON mini presents good craftsmanship and embodies the designers’ endless pursuit of perfection and sincerity.
Dazzling metallic pink
As a smartphone for the young, AXON mini needs to be decorated with brighter colors than AXON. Samples in over 30 different shades of pink were made. Even slightly different metals result in widely different visual effects in reaction with the same oxidizing agents. The aluminum alloy, granular gravel, and soaking time are all key factors affecting the final output. We were strict and even nit-picking with every sensitive and delicate change to seek for an optimal color. The good news is that the final choice of the rose gold color is well recognized among users.
Not let go of even 0.05 mm
Smartphones that have a part-metal, part-plas-tic design have problems with color deviation
Heritage and Breakthroughs
Despite being a successor to AXON, AXON mini serves its target users in its own way. AXON mini has the same graceful curve as AXON but the screen size is reduced to 5.2 inches to hit the sweet spot that harmonizes real estate with one-handed operability. The phone uses the innovative pressure-sensitive touch technology. It also uses the Super AMOLED screen that presents bright colors, exquisite detail, and a wide-viewing angle.
The pressure-sensitive touchscreen
The advent of the pressure-sensitive touchscreen will fundamentally change the way people use their phones, just like multi-touch technology did eight years ago. ZTE is the first company to include a pressure-sensitive screen in its smartphone. Although it has just been introduced, pres-sure-sensitive touch technology has already shown great potential in security, entertain-ment, and interaction, providing users with more enjoyable experience.
Triangular grid pattern
The front-facing speaker of AXON mini, dec-orated with elegant and unique triangular grid pattern, follows the design language of AXON but also makes some subtle changes to the triangular elements to accommodate the display. The triangular grid pattern, together with the 0.85 mm ultra-narrow bezel and 2.5D curved display, contributes to a visually full and smooth body. Its metal surface is also processed using a grinding technique to keep the metallic texture but feel good at the same time.
and seamless stitching. Varying visual effect is inevitable no matter how small the manufactur-ing tolerance is. However, we spent great efforts solving the 0.05 mm disparity and color devia-tion problems to provide better user experience and product quality.
We developed two solutions: horizontal brushed aluminum with spray coating on both ends and aluminum anodic oxidation (AAO) with a differ-ent texture on both ends. We conducted rounds of tests and the second solution turned out to be more satisfactory, controllable in production yield, and technically mature. But there are too many possibilities for the type and size of the texture. Through computer graphics and verifi-cation by the production line, we worked out the diamond, leather, and stripe textures.
Laser engraving is used in mold texturing. Finally, the diamond texture is used for the regular version of AXON mini and the leather texture for the pressure-sensitive touchscreen version. All textures live up to our expectation by effectively eliminating the disparity caused by different materials.
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Lasting Longer
ZTE Blade A452
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Smartphones are stuck in a so-called hardware war as higher-end configurations are available. For example, some smartphones have a screen larger than 6 inches. Improved hardware can offer great benefits. However, users are coming to realize that, despite all the good things a high configuration can bring, there are battery life and heat dissipation problems that affect user experience. Thus, users are now back to rationality and ask for smartphones with easy one-handed operation and long enough battery life.
ZTE Blade A452 smartphone addresses such needs. It does not have the biggest of screens but comfortable one-handed operation. It does not pursue unpracti-cal high configurations but smooth operation experience. Let’s take a close look at this pragmatism behind its design.
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Specifications
Special ExperienceStreet PhotographyA smartphone user may take random pictures at any time. Despite only being 8 megapixels, the camera excels in focusing speed and photography effects. It allows you to capture up to 40 images per second. The built-in image stabilization function helps prevent blurry photos caused by camera shake to a certain degree. It also allows you to create a video clip when you take a photo so that you can view the dynamic scene when the photo is taken.
Standby TestBlade A452 has a 4000 mAh battery, which takes more than 3 hours for a 5V 1A charger to complete the charge, or much shorter with a 5V 2A charger. Such a large capacity battery provides much longer life. Heavy usage would make it last one day while light usage makes it last 2-3 days.
OS: Android 5.1Screen: 5-inch HD CPU: MT6735P Quad Core Memory: 1 GB RAM + 8 GB ROMCamera: 8-megapixel (rear) + 2-megapixel (front)Battery: 4000 mAh
ZTE Blade A452 24-Hour Experience Test
Mobile World Says:Blade A452 is a phone produced with pragmatism. Its comfortable one-handed operation, balanced configurations and 4000 mAh battery make it satisfactory in most users’ eyes.
1. Look and FeelBlade A452 is based on the simple and practical philosophy. Its body has a relatively traditional design: all the side and edges have rounded profiles and you could hardly find any hard angles, which, when paired with a 5-inch screen, guarantees that the phone can fit and work nicely in one hand. It has a remov-able back, covering a SIM card slot and an expansion card slot. Fewer openings on the phone body ensure high structural integrity.
2. Battery EnduranceOne of the highlights of Blade A452 is its super-large battery capacity. Although the back cover is removable, the battery is non-removable. Removing the battery is unnecessary anyway because the 4000 mAh battery is long-lasting. This, together with the optimal screen size of 5 inches and the low power-consuming MTK processor, promises a battery life longer than one day even if the phone is under heavy use.
3. Display PerformanceThe 5-inch wide-view display has a resolution of 1208 × 720, which means a high enough pixel density. The screen
consumes less power than a full HD 1080p screen due to a lower resolution. The display effects of Blade A452 are above the average standard in terms of color saturation and viewing angle.
4. Camera FeaturesBlade A452 comes with an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with a flash. The 8-megapxiel camera can be interpolated to 13-megapixel. The hardware may not seem outstanding; however, the camera software is optimized to give a great expe-rience. The viewfinder frames up the shot quickly and there is no jello effect or jitter. The focusing speed is also fast. A wealth of options are available as well, including continuous shooting of up to 40 pictures per second and auto face beautification.
5. Configuration and PerformanceThe phone uses a 1.0 GHz quad-core MTK6735P processor. When working with 1 GB RAM, 8 GB ROM, and 64-bit compat-ible Android 5.1 system, the processor guarantees smooth operation for com-mon applications and extends the battery life with low power consumption. The processor scores 19,506 in the AnTuTu test and can handle well mainstream 3D games.
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1 min Blade A452 looks shiny with the golden color. 5 mins The camera and sensor are placed on either side of the receiver. 8 mins The back cover hunches a little because of the large-capacity battery. 9 mins The side edges have a rounded shape.10 mins It has no bezels when the screen is turned off.30 mins The Android 5.1 OS looks simple and is silky smooth.60 mins The built-in apps like WPS Office are practical. 2 hrs The 5-inch screen shows sharp texts and images. 3 hrs The camera supports fast focusing and shutter speeds.4 hrs You can create a short video while taking pictures.6 hrs Apps can be opened quickly thanks to the quad-core processor. 10 hrs There is no issue when running mainstream 3D games.13 hrs 62% battery remains after half a day of constant usage.24 hrs 4% battery runs out after one night of Wi-Fi standby.
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Elegant and Smart
ZTE Blade S7
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While large-screen mobile phones prevail nowadays, some users are more concerned with portabil-ity, one-handed operation, and ergonomic comfort. ZTE Blade S7 is just what you are looking for: a 5-inch screen which bal-ances visual impact and hand-held comfort.
Blade S7 does a great job in terms of screen-to-body ratio. The phone’s body is as wide as that of iPhone 6, but the latter has a screen of only 4.7 inches. The key point lies in that Blade S6 has managed to reduce the size of the bezel to just 2.25 mm. Blade S7 allows you to maneuver your thumb to the upper-left or upper-right corner of the 5-inch display. You no longer need to change the screen reachability or use both hands for easier one-handed mobile phone navigation.
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Specifications
Special ExperienceSelfie Taking Blade S7’s 13-megapixel wide-angle front camera is good for selfies. You can select from five grades of beautification to make you look better. The PDAF fea-ture will surprise you with its 0.1-second focus time. Its front flash is also very useful for taking selfies at night.
Laser FocusThe rear camera of Blade S7 uses the laser auto focus system known for accurate and fast focus even with little light. It performs very well when capturing mo-tion, such as when people are taking part in sports or children are playing.
OS: Android 5.1.1Screen: 5-inch FHD (1920 x 1080)CPU: Qualcomm 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615Memory: 3 GB RAM + 32 GB ROMCamera: 13-megapixel (rear) + 13-megapixel (front)Battery: 2500 mAh
ZTE Blade S7 24-Hour Experience Test
Mobile World Says:Blade S7 has an exquisite design and great one-handed operation. Its front camera with PDFA is a perfect choice for selfie lovers. Its sophisticated motion and gesture sensing and fingerprint recognition technology are added advantages.
1. Exquisite DesignBlade S7 boasts an aluminum alloy frame sandwiched between two panels of 2.5D glass. This eliminates the stiff feel of edges and corners. The frame has a polished border and looks softer with a matt coating. The seamless integration of 2.5D curved glass together with the frame gives Blade S7 an ergonomic design and a smooth feel. The phone also looks and feels better at just 7.2 mm thickness.
2. An Impressive DisplayBlade S7 comes with a SHARP FHD display. The display has in-cell technology that fuses the capacitive touch layer and LCD, which makes images appear closer and improves image quality. A very narrow bezel and the LTPS-based display with a high contrast ratio create an excellent visual experience. The display features a wide viewing angle and rich colors, and there is almost no light leakage. The dis-play of Blade S7 is indeed outstanding.
3. Powerful ShootingBlade S7 has a 13-megapixel front camera. It is a powerful selfie-taking smartphone, supporting panorama selfie, gender and age detection and five-grade auto beauti-fication. A flash can be used to compen-sate for low light in selfies. The phone also supports phase detection autofocus (PDAF) that offers a focus time of just 0.1
second. The 13-megapixel rear camera is also powerful. Its laser auto focus pro-vides precise and speedy measurement and helps the camera focus on the subject in less than 0.1 second. You can get an ac-curate focus even in dark conditions.
4. Rich Motion Sensing FeaturesThe motion sensing technology on Blade S7 is an enhanced version of Smart Sense on Blade S6. Blade S7 is more responsive and requires less precision of your move-ments. It comes with a wide variety of gesture and motion controls. Take music for example. You can play music by draw-ing a V, shaking it to switch to the next song, or drawing an O to stop the music. Other motion features include shining the flash light by shaking the phone, flip mute, cover mute, auto call, auto answer, and double-tap to wake.
5. Fingerprint RecognitionBlade S7 has practical and convenient fingerprint recognition to protect and manage your privacy. It has a fingerprint sensor in its home button. It takes less than one second to unlock the phone. The sensor can provide fast and accurate readings from any angle. Moreover, you can set different functions for different fingers, such as activating the internet with your forefinger, or messages with your middle finger.
1 min You can feel its fine craft. 3 mins Skin texture in the frame elimi-nates the cold metallic feeling. 6 mins The metal frame is stuck in be-tween two glass panels. 60 mins The 5-inch screen provides great one-handed experience. 2 hrs It has a rectangular home button and a front-facing flash. 3 hrs Its fingerprint unlock function is cool. 5 hrs You are able to see the screen even in the sunshine.6 hrs Its beautification function makes impeccable selfies.8 hrs The front camera has a very fast focus with PDAF.9 hrs Its front-facing flash provides enough light for selfies even at night. 20 hrs Its laser auto focus performs well under minimal lighting conditions.24 hrs Its motion sensing features make music enjoyment convenient.
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SHOWCASE
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Perfect Size
ZTE Blade L5 If you prefer one-handed smartphone, Blade L5 is your choice. It has a 5-inch screen that perfectly balances one-handed operation with visual impact. It is conformable to hold because the phone has a curvature on the back that fits naturally into the palm of your hand, and the texture also feels good. Its UI includes flat icon design and presents a beauty of simplicity and purity. The menu and back key can be either on left or right as you wish. All these features make Blade L5 a handy device.
· CPU: MT6572 dual-core 1.3 GHz· Memory: 1 GB RAM + 8 GB ROM· Display: 5-inch FWVGA· Camera: 8-megapixel (rear) + 2-megapixel (front)· Battery: 2150 mAh
Simply Outstanding
ZTE Blade A570Blade A570 shines with dazzling features: a 5.5-inch screen
covered by 2.5D curved glass and 8.5 mm thickness. Both the 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera
have a flash, which helps you take great selfies and shoot better in low light. In terms of performance, it is equipped
with a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core 1.2 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB ROM, and two MicroSD card slots, which guarantee a fast operating speed and more storage space.
· CPU: Snapdragon MSM8916 quad-core 1.2 GHz· Memory: 2 GB RAM + 16 GB ROM
Display: 5.5-inch HD· Camera: 13-megapixel (rear) + 8-megapixel (front)
· Battery: 3000 mAh
SHOWCASE
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Ultra-Fast Speed
ZTE MF286Current 4G LTE Cat 6 networks offer a downlink speed of up to 300 Mbps, and 4G
connectivity can be shared between multiple devices without affecting user experi-ence. ZTE MF286 is a 4G LTE CPE router that allows you to access and share your 4G LTE Cat 6 connection. It supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac at both 2.4 GHz and 5
GHz bands and is capable of delivering speeds of up to 1300 Mbps. In addition, ZTE MF286 has an embedded 3000 mAh battery that allows you to share network and
voice services when there is a power outage.
· Network: LTE-FDD/LTE-TDD · Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n/ac, 2.4/5 GHz
· Voice Service: CSFB/VoLTE via RJ11, HD voice· Battery: 3000 mAh ZTE Alighting
ZTE Alighting smart home solution is a residential platform that integrates various technologies. It consists of a smart gateway
(like ZTE MF283+), Zigbee devices and control units to improve home security,
convenience, and comfort and to achieve an eco-friendly living environment. With ZTE
Alighting, you can manage your home with your smartphone, such as locking/unlocking
the door, turning on/off lights, controlling indoor temperature and monitoring water or gas leak. It could send a warning to your
smartphone if an elderly family member falls off and needs help.
Nubia Z9 3rd Anniversary Edition
Since its debut, nubia Z9 has attracted widespread attention with its unique bezel-free design, superior performance, Frame interactive Technology (FiT), and two
panels of 2.5D glass. To celebrate the third anniversary of the nubia brand, a special edition of nubia Z9 was released. Inheriting all the good qualities of nubia Z9, this
model has replaced the rear 2.5D glass with the first layer cowhide leather that has optimum gloss and color. In addition, it comes with the iris recognition technology
and gold finish.
ZTELinkFew mobile broadband devices have a built-in screen. This holds users back from viewing
device operating information. The ZTELink app can solve this problem. After you install ZTELink on your smartphone, connect it to the mobile router, and enter the password. You can view and manage information on
your smartphone.
MF283+
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In January 2014, ZTE launched a smartphone project called Apollo. It is the start of big things for ZTE. From then until July 2015, when the AXON phone debuted, ZTE has made a number of significant breakthroughs. The device includes “dual track” -- high fidelity sound recording and
playback as well as dual-lens camera. It is the world’s first smartphone that can be unlocked with three different biometric authentication options.
As ZTE’s new flagship, AXON has been given as a gift to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić;
president of Tajikistan Emomalii Rahmon; chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency, Dragan Covic; and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe. That AXON has been given as a state gift is recognition of ZTE as one of China’s top smartphone manufacturers, as the gift must
meet the highest standards in terms of quality and innovation in order to be presented.
Mobile World will tell you something about the phone in terms of design, camera and Hi-Fi with interviews on the engineers that have worked on the project.
On October 11, ZTE held a conference for its AXON flagship device series, during which the company talked about its flagship device strategy. For the first time, ZTE discussed its AXON flagship device series, which consists of AXON, AXON mini and AXON MAX.
AXONAXON/AXON ProZTE AXON and AXON Pro were launched in the US. AXON has a 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor. It has 2 GB RAM and 32 GB of internal memory. AXON Pro has a 64-bit 2 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 4 GB RAM. It has
a 5.5-inch display with 2560 x 1440 pixels of resolution. It has either 32 GB or 64 GB of storage.
AXON EliteThe international version of AXON, called AXON Elite, was launched at IFA 2015 in September. It is available in a number of markets across Europe and elsewhere (excluding the US and Canada). AXON Elite can be unlocked with three different biometric authentication options – fingerprint, voice control and eye-scan. It uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor.
AXON mini First unveiled in July 2015, ZTE’s AXON mini became the world’s first smartphone to come with a pressure-sensitive touchscreen that recognizes different levels of touch pressure for enhanced functions and experience, such
as interactive gaming, passwords and more. AXON mini boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor and Adreno 405 GPU, a 2800 mAh battery, 3 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM. It sports a 13-megapixel camera at the back with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) that has a
focus time of just 0.1s.
AXON MaxAXON Max is a larger-screen smartphone device with a bigger battery. It targets heavy users and has longer battery life and higher playability.
AXON Line-Up
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Beautiful DesignAXON mini is a smartphone designed with beautiful look, balancing brand image and user experience at the same time. Its triangular grill pattern combined with stylish line and texture make it recognizably attractive to customers worldwide. Its 5.2-inch screen, slim body and metallic finish together provide great one-handed operation.
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Impressive TouchscreenAXON mini supports a pressure-sensitive touchscreen. Its screen senses your touch and responds as your motion varies—a light tap and a deep press. The development of Force Touch-enabled apps will improve the experience of the touchscreen and revolutionize smartphone interaction.
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AXON is a radical swerve for ZTE. Mobile World interviewed Zhu Lian, product manager for AXON. He is responsible for the end-to-end definition, planning, and business operation of AXON.
Could you brief us on the AXON project team?
ZTE’s mobile phone business started from a B2B model, while the AXON project was quite different. The product was developed entirely with customers in mind and was intended to reflect what consumers want, value and use. Our team is an end-to-end team that includes experts on user experience, design, R&D, and marketing.
What is the routine work of the project team?
We have had a morning meeting every day for almost two years. After arriving at work each day, core personnel from UE, ID, UI, R&D and marketing meet and discuss their progress and problems. We also have seminars on specific topics such as the user experience we want to achieve.
How was AXON conceived?
We wanted to enhance the ZTE brand in both the US and China while taking into consideration the forward-looking strategy in other markets. AXON was intended to help ZTE gain a firm foothold in the US market, where we are currently the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer. In the Chinese market, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have launched their flagship models, and smartphone competition is now fiercer.
How was the early-stage UE research was carried out?
ZTE has a consumer lab in the US, and we also worked with a local survey company. AXON was designed based on feedback from thousands of
surveys and focus groups. In addition, our PR team in the US also deals with consumers. In China, we have obtained feedback from consumers through various sources including our online forum.
How were the survey results applied to the final product?
One example is color. We conducted large-scale surveys of target consumers in both the US and China. Consumers helped us decide which colors or materials to adopt for the final products. The North American version has the Z-Tray interface designed for sports and fitness enthusiasts because sports are an important part of the country’s culture. We will seek more common ground between the two countries and build products that appeal to both cultures.
Why do we need to converge to a single model?
This is the result of our continuous improvement of B2C operations. Different countries have different aesthetic values, but they also have some things in common. We will take advantage of ZTE’s large global platform to find common ground.
Could you introduce to us ZTE’s Apollo project?
When US President John F. Kennedy delivered his speech on the nation’s space initiative in 1962, he said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” The Apollo program had great strategic significance for the US back then, and likewise ZTE’s Apollo project holds great strategic significance for ZTE right now.
ZTE’s Apollo project is a systematic project that spans different departments. It means
transforming our way of thinking and operation. I envision that the success of the Apollo project will change ZTE’s entire business model. The transformation has taken place gradually. ZTE now has allocated more resources to branding, distribution, and marketing. To truly transform the business model from B2B to B2C, the company must build its brand, which can only be supported by a high-quality product.
We are still far from completing our Apollo project, but we are moving towards that strategic goal step by step.
What are the major differences between this project and previous projects that you have participated in?
I have been working in the North American business group. I have participated in many terminal projects, including those with big sales. Those were customized handsets for operators, and the competition is not as cruel as that in the B2C market. With B2B projects, the operators are responsible for distribution and sales. However, B2C projects are more demanding on a company’s comprehensive capability. With ZTE’s Apollo project, we faced the challenge of transforming to a B2C business model and developing high-end flagships.
What difficulties have you encountered during product R&D?
There are many difficulties, e.g., how to control quality in the B2C market. We are capable of manufacturing products with advanced quality as the North American market has very high standards on that. In the absence of strict test procedures provided by operators, we have to define the quality standard for the B2C products by ourselves in a scientific way. Quality is cost.
In addition, fierce competition in the B2C market puts challenges on our R&D cycles. Some smartphone manufacturers would launch new features that are gimmicky rather than useful. ZTE has a great technical background but we need to make it more flexible and easier to control.
AXON has many innovative features. How did you innovate in your work?
The project team tries to have an innovation mindset. I required each team member to complete their own tasks on the premise that they could achieve the world’s best three. This applies to any new feature, experience, or app. If not, they should stop.
Starting Our Own Apollo ProjectThe Concept
Zhu Lian, product manager for AXON
We also have dedicated UE personnel involved in every link, such as design, R&D and even branding, to ensure that the product features meet customer expectations. Product highlights should be consistent throughout the entire process. Therefore, our branding sub-team was involved from the very beginning.
What changes have you experienced during the project?
From a personal perspective, I feel that my sense of responsibility has grown stronger gradually. When the project started, we did not have a broad ambition or receive as much attention as we do now. The team members were just passionate to do something that they love. However, as we carry forward the project, the goal of the entire team, including me, has gradually become higher and more specific. But we are very confident because we do make progress every day.
What is your next step?
The second generation of AXON. On the basis of the first generation, the second-generation version will definitely make a leap forward.
What do you plan to do to ensure a better user experience of the second-generation AXON?
We will put more effort into UE surveys. The first round of consumer surveys has been completed in core Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Shenzhen. For the overseas market, we also will conduct a larger-scale survey for the second generation version. We have just finished CMF-related surveys in the US.
What do you think of the future of the mobile phone industry?
First, future products will increase focus on user experience. As the future unfolds, previously unimaginable functions will be integrated into the mobile products.
Second, more smartphone-related innovations will occur. Future competition will be more about innovation.
Third, future competition will also focus more heavily on the ecosystem and industry chain. An innovative new technology may revolutionize the entire ecosystem. For example, we have launched AXON mini with Force Touch. We will collaborate with big players in the industry and build a nationwide or even worldwide developer alliance based on our innovative technology. We will open the underlying API so that global fans can develop creative apps or games based on our open platform. For those who have great creativity but don’t have the ability to put their ideas into practice, we can find or arrange development resources to help implement their creative ideas.
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Integrating Global Design Resources
AXON has great design personality and will catch the eyes of many people. Mobile World interviewed Song Yuqi, the designer of AXON. He told us how the design came to fruition.
Could you briefly introduce the AXON design team?
The AXON design team takes care of the requirements of different markets. It includes our team in Shanghai, Germany, and North America. The North American design team is the Teague Company, who has also worked for Boeing. The German team is Designaffairs, who have cooperated with ZTE for a long time. The three teams worked together and at last Teague’s solution was selected from all the proposals.
Were the three teams cooperating with each other from the beginning?
The Shanghai team got involved a little earlier than the other two teams because we are close to the R&D and planning teams. So it’s more convenient for us to communicate with them. When the entire
design requirements are finalized, we know clearly what kind of product we want. Then the German and US teams joined us.
Are you involved in the entire design process?
I take charge of cooperation among the three design teams. I collected demands at the earlier stage and participated in model selection and modification, and the final mass production.
How long has this project been going?
It has been a year and a half since the first-generation AXON was developed. What is particular about the design of AXON?
The design of a project is related to its selling points. Initially, we defined features like dual-speaker, dual-camera, and a metal body. So the design revolved around how to best represent AXON’s selling points. Take the grid of triangles for example. We wanted to give users a hint
The Design
Song Yuqi, the designer of AXON
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Tips Teague
Teague is a global design consultancy headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is particularly recognized for its work in aviation and consumer goods and has clients such as Boeing, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Panasonic. Teague’s early role in consumer culture is most popularly associated with designs such as the first Polaroid camera, the UPS truck, Texaco service stations, and the Pringles Chips canister. Xbox and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are examples of Teague’s post-2000 design work.
Tips AXON’s Design Featuresof the great audio function on AXON, and referred to the design of sound equipment. Is the triangular grid pattern a Chinese design element?
AXON was initially designed with the US market in mind. That’s why we needed to cooperate with the US team. It is similar to ZTE’s Blade series, which was initially designed for the European market and then introduced into the Chinese market after the series achieved great success. Are there any differences in the designs for different markets?
The earliest North American version does not use fingerprint recognition, but the Chinese version has. Second, since the Chinese version is more business oriented, top and bottom areas on the back have a leatherette finish. Third, for the Chinese market, AXON is available in ion gold and chromium silver. The North American version also comes in phthalo blue and the blue version has copper-colored accents in some places. The main differences lie in fingerprint recognition, color scheme, and texture. There are minor differences in the configuration.
Do you have any anecdotes to share with us during the design process?
Because our teams were spread across different timezones, there were always some people who wore pajamas at video conferences.
Triangular PatternThe signature on AXON was created after repeated research and sketch modification. It shows up in the top and bottom bezels. The design continues on the back of the device near the camera lenses. At first, only one row of triangles was incorporated into the design. The triangle size was reduced and another row of triangles was added to add texture to the phone.
World FirstsThe back of the phone – the world’s first metal/leatherette combo on a handset – is slightly curved, making it more comfortable to hold. The floating screen on the front uses Gorilla Glass for toughness and scratch-resistance, which isn’t unusual, but it’s the first screen on the market to use antimicrobial Gorilla Glass, which kills 99% of bacteria. In the quest for a phone that will survive all kinds of handling, AXON uses aircraft-grade materials such as magnesium alloy for a phone that not only feels top-class, but is 80% stronger and 30% lighter than lesser phones.
The Camera PlateThe camera plate initially had a hollowed out metal plate. To improve user experience, an NFC antenna was added to this area. To enable this, the metallic component was removed and triangular craftsmanship was retained. Finally, the glass on the camera lenses went through 11 manufacturing processes. The design strikes a balance between user-friendliness and functionality.
Building PerfectionAXON suffers more than 260 individual steps of machining, including being sandblasted and polished five times to ensure a suitably refined look and feel. Every single handset is fine-processed for over an hour and a half from 360 degrees to make certain the end result is worthy of AXON’s flagship status.
Interior AXON has a gently curved back that is comfortable to hold. If a square battery was used, the capacity could only be 2600 mAh. Thanks to the arc design that makes full use of the battery compartment, AXON’s battery capacity is 3000 mAh.
Fast ShootingAXON mini uses phase detection autofocus that has a focus time of just 0.1s, making it a DSLR-like smartphone. Its fast shooting produces good outcomes when tracking moving objects. The manual controls, which include refocus and independent metering, enable more room for creativity. Its Super AMOLED display with vivid color representation and wide viewing angle makes a solid basis for image display and processing.
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A Careful Attitude to Sound Quality
AXON can record and play hi-fi audio. The phone offers a unique voice recording solution that is comparable to top voice recorder. Mobile World interviewed Chen Qi, who designed the audio system of AXON. He has been collecting various types of sounds to increase his sensitivity to everyday sounds. When a car pulls into a parking lot, he rushes forward to record the sound with his specialized recording device.
As an audio system engineer, what are your major job responsibilities?
We mainly design audio system solutions, contact suppliers, and solve system-level problems. This year, I began to take the lead in designing audio system for the North American market.
Have you encountered any difficulties integrating Hi-Fi audio into AXON? How did you overcome them?
The main challenge was to create the proper environment for sound tuning and perform the tuning. Because there was no good recording environment, we borrowed a Sony D100 high-performance digital recorder and calibrated the reverberation chamber environment. Calibration requires careful adjustment of the frequency response and recording the compensation curve. We worked hard but fell short due to a few data errors. The following week, we built a reverberation environment for calibration again,
Hi-Fi Sound
The AKM Audio Chip The cassette player, CD player and MP3 player all used to be so popular, but they have made way for the smartphone, which is now a tool for entertainment. Audio and video effects are two of the most important features of a smartphone. The AXON smartphone is equipped with an AKM 4961 Hi-Fi audio chip. The AKM 4961 audio chip is an advanced DSP codec especially developed by AKM for smartphones and tablets. It allows playback of 32-bit 192KHz audio files as well as state-of-the-art Hi-Fi recording.
double checked each step, and eventually made it, paving the way for tuning up the recording effects.
Debugging Hi-Fi and recording puts great requirements on noise reduction. During the process, there was minor noise across the full spectrum. In order to correctly measure the noise, our colleagues in the mute chamber overcame many difficulties to fix the capacitor squealing bug.
What is the difference between ZTE’s audio solution and similar solutions from other manufacturers?
ZTE’s audio solution has a high price-performance ratio and exceeds mainstream brands in terms of both audio perception and KPIs. In addition, we offer a unique voice recording solution that is comparable to top voice recorders. AXON is the first Hi-Fi audio phone in the US.
In addition to the independent music chip, what other measures have been taken to enhance AXON’s audio effects?
Music quality is determined by our attitude. Audio engineers should check each step very carefully. System design and architecture, components, and production are also very important.
Tips A Stellar Audio Experience
The AXON audio solution has been evaluated with extreme care to keep the noise to a minimum. We have dedicated persons for tuning, and purchased the best audio measurement tool to achieve a good sound quality.
What do you think of the Hi-Fi trend on a smartphone?
Hi-Fi feature on a smartphone cannot develop independently from the form of a smartphone. It has to improve the sound quality rather than the KPIs.
Chen Qi, audio engineer for AXON
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Playback ZTE conducted a professional Hi-Fi listening test where ten music fans were invited to evaluate the sound quality of AXON. The test tracks included “Berlin Lovers” and “Radetzky March”. If you listen carefully, you have a sense of the atmosphere and depth of sound. The treble is crisp, and the midband is clean and open. The bass feels solid.
Noise ReductionIn normal cases, the recording function of a smartphone is more effective in a quiet environment. AXON employs a variety of noise reduction solutions to enhance the primary voice and suppress ambient noise during recording. The phone is comparable to a professional pen voice recorder.
Hi-Fi Sound RecordingAXON has a 24-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with dual microphones for omni-directional recording. It can achieve an SNR of up to 108 dB, which ensures high-quality audio recording. Long Distance Voice Pickup
AXON can pick up sound from up to 5 meters away. Long-distance recording, which often occurs in conferences and interviews, is a key indicator of the performance of a recorder. AXON can clearly record the voice at a normal speaking volume regardless of where the speaker is in the room.
Speech-to-TextAXON provides the speech-to-text function. Enter the recorder interface, tap the T button next to the microphone and speak. Then, your speeches are converted into a text in real time. The speed and accuracy are amazing.
Never Stop Refining
AXON has a 13-megapixel camera on the back and a secondary 2-megapixel camera that sits above it to help capture 3D depth for a refocusable photo. To get a better idea of the story behind the challenging work, Mobile World talked with two engineers from ZTE’s camera lab.
Interviewee: Zhu Yufei, responsible for the North American camera team and camera solution planning
What factors determine the quality of photos taken?
A shooting system, including hardware and software, decides the photo quality, and efforts should go to every component of the system including lens design, camera algorithms, and upper application layer.
Why did you decide to introduce a dual-lens camera into AXON? How will the smartphone camera develop in the future?
Dual-Lens Camera
The picture of Arches National Park in the US taken by ZTE AXON
Dual-lens camera technology is prospective. Photos taken by a single-lens camera are some kind of object simulation, while photos taken by a dual-lens camera are more vivid because dual-lens cameras capture more information.
A camera, as one of the most important features of a mobile phone, puts high requirements on intelligence and usability, which are the development trends of the mobile phone industry. In terms of intelligence, we improve image stabilization and low-light photography through better algorithms and relevant technologies on AXON.
Are there any differences between ZTE’s dual-lens camera and other similar products?
The distance between the two lenses of AXON is wider. AXON outperforms other dual-lens smartphones in the large aperture effect, depth calculation accuracy, and distance of objects from the camera.
What are the trends for future smartphone cameras?
Both single-lens cameras and dual-lens cameras will coexist. Single-lens cameras will dominate in the near future, and dual-lens cameras will continue to improve.
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Interviewee: Xiao Longan, responsible for the camera software development
What are the tough nuts to crack in introducing the dual-lens camera to AXON? How did you overcome these difficulties?
This technology is quite challenging, and we encountered all sorts of problems, such as hardware restriction, photo effects, performance, power consumption, and user experience. Thanks to every team member’s love for the product, we finally ironed out these problems. No smartphone project at ZTE has required so many human resources on the R&D of the camera app, and no camera app has received so much attention.
We also used a more effective way in product R&D. We have set up an agile product R&D process covering planning, requirement analysis, R&D, testing, and user experience. Every time a new or improvement idea came up, product development would begin after discussions. Testing and user survey was completed after the product was developed. The entire process was
very efficient.
How do you optimize the camera software?
Many improvements were made where users are concerned about the most. Optimizations centered on higher image quality, faster processing, and more extensive and professional features. We took full consideration of three types of users. Professional and amateur shutterbugs can enjoy the same features as DSLRs, such as the wide aperture effect and parameter settings in manual mode. Ordinary users who use a camera app as a tool to record their daily lives can make use of intelligent low light photography and better night mode. For those users in pursuit of innovative styles, the panorama mode, filters, and the panning feature are provided.
We never stop upgrading the camera features of AXON, and to support this we have set up a user communication and feedback mechanism.
Which camera feature do you like most?
Background blur and refocus. I also like manual mode, filters, 4K HD video recording, and adding filters to videos. I photographed a lot using my AXON and shared them with my friends from time to time. Users also think highly of the playability of the camera.
It is not necessary to include many features in a camera app. Our team reviewed and evaluated various camera functions on existing smartphones, removing those that are not frequently used by most users and introducing the functions that are really popular with users.
Can you explain more about how the refocus feature works?
The dual-lens camera captures and adds depth data to each object in the image. These data allows you to refocus a picture and add a blur effect to select parts of the image.
Is there anything that impressed you during the 18-month period?
I myself have taken hundreds of gigabytes of pictures using AXON ever since the camera app was created.
The company also organized outdoor photography activities in China and the US during the R&D of this app. Engineers went out of their labs and offices with AXON and captured nature photos together with professional photographers and ordinary users. We were able to spot and fix problems, update the app, and finally present to users a camera app that surprises them.
ZTE AXON allows you to take high-quality pictures but also shoot 4K videos. The 4K resolution standard is defined as 4096 x 2160 pixels. In this resolution, the audiences are able to see every detail, every close-up of the frames in 4K movies. In front of the screen, regardless of the position you’re in, 4K video will show you the pictures with wonderful sharpness and bright colors.
Tips 4K Video
A PC needs an Intel i5 2500K processor to play 4K videos while a smartphone needs a Snapdragon 800 series or the higher-end chip. AXON powered by the Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor supports 4K videos.
The Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor features four Cortex-A57 and four Cortex-A53 processor
A macro image of a flower taken by AXON
Powerful FunctionsAXON mini is powerful in many respects. Three biometric authentications—fingerprint, voiceprint and eye identification—protect your privacy and make it much more convenient. ZTE’s smart voice services, including real-time translation and assistance in driving, free your hands and allow you to live safer and smarter. Its Hi-Fi audio provides great music enjoyment, be it playback or recording.
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AXON has a 2K screen with 2560 × 1440 resolution. The display which is coated with Gorilla Glass 3 looks bright and clear.
Local HD videos are the best choices for entertainment on a smartphone. We used several 1080P and 4K videos to test the video playback capability of the phone. AXON allows easy playback of 1080 videos, delivering satisfying effects.
Easy playback of 1080P videos We also chose a roast duck video with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 (4k), and the playback was smooth. Playing, dragging, or fast forwarding or backwarding the video does not affect the playback process. Images are very clear and exquisite, and colors are bright and beautiful. Delicious food seems to be at hand.
Smooth playback when the 4k video is dragged
With the rapid increase of HD video playback requirements, the Snapdragon 810 processor that promises video capturing and playback plays an important role in high-end smartphones. At the same time, AXON provides a 5.5-inch 2K HD screens to support the 4K video playback.
cores, a 20 nm manufacturing process, the Adreno 430 GPU, Cat 9 LTE support and the ARM v7 instruction set. AXON with Snapdragon 810 processor can capture, rewind, and play 4K videos or output 4K videos to peripherals.
AXON comes with a fingerprint sensor on the rear, eye-scanning technology, and voice unlocking system onboard. The application of diverse biometric technologies has dramatically improved the security of the phone.
Fingerprint RecognitionA fingerprint remains the same throughout a person’s life and has become synonymous with biometric identification. Fingerprint recognition has been added to various flagship models as a key feature of mobile phone security.
Advanced fingerprint sensorSwipe type fingerprint sensors are prevalent in Android phones. Users have to swipe their finger across the sensor surface to acquire a fingerprint image and the experience is not so satisfying. AXON uses an advanced area fingerprint sensor that offers significant improvements in fingerprint imaging, sensitivity, and working with wet or damp fingers. The phone provides fast and accurate fingerprint recognition.
There’s a fingerprint sensor on the back of the device, and you can use the sensor comfortably with your right or left index finger. Setting up the fingerprint is easy. Just head over to the settings and find the fingerprint option. You can store up to five fingerprints.
Increased Security
Place your finger on the fingerprint reader. Lift and rest your finger on the reader six times and you will see that the fingerprint animation on the display fills up with red color as you progress. The sensor can read a fingerprint in 360 degrees, which makes it fairly robust.
Phone unlockingUsing the fingerprint to unlock AXON proved to be quite good. Without the need to turn on the screen, the phone will be unlocked instantly when you hold up the phone while touching the rear fingerprint reader with your index finger. The procedure is smooth and the success rate is 100 percent during trial. EyeprintAXON also supports eye pattern recognition to give users an additional layer of mobile phone security. It is suggested to unlock the phone with the naked eye. However, even when a user wears a pair of glass, they can still unlock the phone with their eyes. The recognition rate was almost 100 percent.
Compared with the unlock speed of 3 to 8 seconds with other mobile phones, the speed of scanning and verifying eyes on
of pressure sensitivity to suit your style of operation.
Pressure sensitivity setting System ShortcutsAXON mini provides two types of Force Touch shortcuts.
1. Deep press shortcutsEach preinstalled app has certain shortcuts. You can access particular functions by pressing an app on the home screen that brings up a special option menu. You no longer need to start the app and select one menu after another. An API will be open to third-party developers so that they can put the key features of their own applications in the special options menu.
For example, you can press the music icon to access the function that allows you to quickly find the source of a new song. You can also press the dial icon to directly call the person you contact most often.
A deep press on the icon on the home screen brings up a special option menu.
AXON mini features smart voice control. You can press down hard on the voice assistant or driving assistant to activate the voice service.
AXON is less than 1 second. Such excellent performance can be attributed to the Snapdragon 810 processor and 8-megapixel front camera. AXON has also greatly optimized its eye image input and recognition algorithms.
Eye vein verification can be divided into iris recognition (the iris is the colored part of the eye) and sclera recognition (the sclera is the white of the eye). AXON uses sclera recognition.
Eyeprint recognition currently available works on the basis of sclera recognition. EyePrint ID authentication technology was developed by
EyeVerify, a biometric security technology startup launched in 2012. With any existing 2-megapixel camera, EyePrint ID can image and pattern-match the
unique blood vessels in the whites of the eye and other micro features in and around the eye.
Although human eyes may become bloodshot due to allergies, ophthalmias or staying up late, these conditions do not affect the blood vessels in the sclera. An eyeprint is relatively stable and cannot be replicated. Moreover, it contains much more biometric data than a fingerprint, making it very suitable for biometric recognition.
Tips Eyeprint Recognition
Tapping touchscreens has always been a smartphone user’s most instinctive movement. What new interactive experience will Force Touch, a pressure-sensitive multi-touch technology, bring to smartphone users? As the first Android smartphone to use Force Touch technology in its touchscreen, AXON mini smartphone incorporates the following Force Touch functions.
Secure PasswordAXON mini with Force Touch allows you to set a two-dimensional password that combines digits with pressure. The smartphone can tell the difference between a digit that you tap lightly and the same digit that you tap heavily. Using Force Touch to enter a four-digit password results in a password that is 16 times more secure than it would be without Force Touch. Even the simplest password becomes largely uncrackable.
Setting a pressure-based password
Determining the ForceHow much pressure does AXON mini determine to be light or heavy? Unlike iPhone, which defines three levels of pressure, the phone allows you to define your own level of pressure. You can test how much strength is required for your own deep press, and then set the critical point
Force Touch
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You can browse a video with a long press.
A hard press on a video enables fast-forwarding or rewinding.
Force Touch StylusIn ZTE notepad, how the words are displayed can be adjusted based on how much pressure is applied to the screen.
Force Touch stylus enables you to show your extraordinary calligraphy skill.
Third-Party AppsIn addition to the default Force Touch-enabled apps, there are also third-party Force Touch-enabled apps that provide you with a richer entertainment experience. In the perfect piano
2. Deep press on the notification bar While pressing down allows you to control internal functions of an app directly from the home screen, pressing down on the notification bar allows you to return to the home screen from any screen. With the back arrow on the title bar, you can navigate even without the virtual navigation bar.
A deep press on the notification bar allows you to return to the home screen.
Multimedia ManagementHow do you switch one picture to another if you have numerous pictures? Swipe them continuously one by one? With AXON mini, you can press the right edge of a picture to preview the next picture or press the left edge of a picture to preview the previous picture. Picture switching speed depends on the amount of pressure you exert on the screen.
You can browse the pictures by pressing the edge of a picture.
The first long press on a picture allows you to preview it, and the second allows you to open it. This also applies to a video. To find a picture or video, you no longer need to swipe numerous pictures or videos back and forth.
There are two versions of AXON mini. Only the premium version comes with a pressure-sensitive screen. ZTE has not only developed apps for the pressure-sensitive screen independently but also collaborated with third parties for app development. From a technical perspective, ZTE’s pressure-sensitive screen is virtually the same as those developed by other companies. The differences lie in apps, user-friendliness, and interaction.
app, you can give expression to the music played by varying the force to the screen.
Tips
With ZTE’s Apollo project, ZTE is moving towards a user-oriented development process and product strategy that evolves around flagships. Relying on its deep technical accumulation, ZTE will continue to innovate in order to revolutionize life. Moreover, ZTE will build its own smartphone ecosystem to give users more applications and better experience.
AXON flagship device series is the initial results of the Apollo project and is only the start. There will be more acts worth waiting for in the future.
Conclusion
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Street or portraiture photography has long been the domain of the DSLR camera. However, as built-in smartphone cameras advance, you can take such photos as long as you use the camera properly.
Street photography features the chance encounters and random accidents within public places. A public environment usually contains different people or objects. As such, lenses with large apertures are required in street photography to create a relatively shallow depth of field (DOF), emphasizing the subject while relegating the foreground and background. This helps create a layered photo.
It is easy to understand that a larger aperture causes more blurring of the background. However, the effect varies with the lens used and depends on the optical structure of the lens and the number of aperture blades. Many
amateur photographers purchase expensive prime lenses in order to give their photos a dream-like feel.
It is difficult to create an appealing DOF effect with a smartphone camera because it has limited focal length, image format, flange focal distance, and lens diameter. However, things have changed with the advent of the dual-lens smartphone camera. Two lenses contribute to quicker focus and wider maximum aperture. Some smartphones support apertures with F-numbers smaller than 1.0, even wider than those of many DSLR lenses. Although post-processing algorithms are involved, the dual-lens camera system can achieve DOF and bokeh.
In addition, some smartphones have powerful algorithms that enable you to adjust the focus or aperture after shooting, making it easier to take snaps at a decisive moment.
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ZTE AXON comes with a dual-lens camera.
As smartphone makers race to release their flagship models, smartphone cameras have become more powerful. Smartphone cameras support high-speed autofocus, F/1.0 and even wider apertures, and can simulate a bokeh effect (blurring in out-of-focus areas) that only fixed focal length DSLR lenses can provide. They also have manual control and special effects to make smartphone photography more flexible.
Street Photography with Your Smartphone
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Create a Blurry BackgroundA key aspect to portraiture photography is to artistically blur the background and make the subject stand out. The degree of blur can be adjusted by setting different apertures. The larger the aperture, the more blurred the background will be. How to make the best of blurring effect requires the skills of a photographer. If you are not doing well now, practice makes perfect. However, if you have a smartphone with a dual-lens camera, things will be much easier. Take ZTE AXON for example. It allows you to shoot with a shallow DOF and adjust the aperture after shooting a photo. If you feel that the photo background is too blurry, you can reduce the aperture by a factor of 2 so that the background becomes clearer. In this way, even if you are not experienced, you can fix your photos still.
Manual Metering is KeyA public environment usually has diverse lighting, and the contrast of brightness and darkness is often utilized by shutterbugs in street photography. When shooting a scene with very bright and very dark parts, you may get a photo with little or no details in the shadows or highlights. This problem is more prominent in
black-and-white photos. Of the smartphone settings, separating metering from focus can help. You can manually set your meter to some mid tone in the scene to balance the exposure between the highlights and shadows of the photo. What if the contrast is so strong that it exceeds the exposure latitude of a smartphone? That is where HDR comes into play. HDR images can represent a greater range of luminance levels, which is often achieved by capturing and then combining several different narrower range exposures of the same subject matter.
Make Good Use of RefocusingTiming is very important in street photography. DSLRs are suitable for street photography mostly because they focus and shoot fast, which smartphones usually cannot do. However, a smartphone with a dual-lens camera is different. ZTE AXON has fast auto focus and refocusing. You can change what’s in focus after you capture your photo. This feature is very useful in fast shooting. You do not have to think about focus accuracy, and directly take out your smartphone and press the shutter button when that decisive moment comes. You can play with the focus after that, which could be hardly imagined before.
When shooting a scene with strong contrast, the HDR mode can be enabled to reveal more of the shadow details.
A dual-lens smartphone can achieve an aperture of F/1.0 via software to produce a bokeh output as good as a DSLR does.
You can rest assured if you are not sure about the aesthetic quality of blurring when taking a photo. The dual-lens smartphone allows you to manually set the aperture afterwards to present the background properly.
The refocusing function comes in handy for portraiture photography. You can choose your focus points after you take the photo and make any area you want clear or blurry.
In this photo, the focus is not on the human figure. You can open the refocusing function and adjust the focus by touching the corresponding area on the display.
When the focus is put on the human figure, the figure becomes clear and the plants in the background are blurred.
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Will Solar Become the DominantEnergy Source in Your Home?
In 2015, Tesla released the Powerwall home battery, which uses electricity generated from solar panels. Tesla founder Elon Musk said 2 billion Powerwalls could meet the energy needs of the entire world. Is it feasible to use solar power as the sole power supply for the household?
Except for the small gasoline generators for emergency use in remote areas, almost all the electricity we use is purchased from the power grid. Most of the electricity comes from thermal power plants and hydropower plants. Although only a few centralized power plants, they generate huge amounts of electricity for all residents in a city. Coal-fired thermal power plants cause environmental pollution and the electricity generated goes through long transmission lines before being used by us, leading to substantial electricity loss. The huge electricity consumption in peak hours also exerts a high load on transmission lines and generator sets.
Solar energy is abundant, and solar power will not have transportation problems because the sun is for everyone, everywhere. In addition, compared with power plants, solar power is a distributed energy source. Such distributed power supply is more efficient and environmentally friendly. If solar power for household supply becomes popular, people will be able to generate energy in their houses or offices and share this energy via the "internet of energy".
Tesla’s Powerwall is a home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar panels. It sounds a little bit like the traditional uninterruptible power supply (UPS). UPS provides emergency power to a load when the input power source fails. However, Powerwall not only fortifies your home against power outages but also recharges in a smart way. It powers homes during peak evening hours when rates are high and draws energy from the electrical grid during off-peak hours when rates are low and stores it for future use. It solves the key challenge facing today’s power grid utilities: electricity must be consumed as soon as it’s generated, and there might be insufficient electricity to
meet peak demand and wasted energy in off-peak hours.
Before the emergence of Powerwall, solar power also faced the same challenge of reconciling power generation and demand. The average home uses more electricity in the morning and evening than during the day, when solar energy is plentiful. Without a home battery, excess solar energy is often sold to the power company and purchased back in the evening. Powerwall bridges this gap between renewable energy supply and demand by making your home’s solar energy available to you when you need it.
Why do We Need Solar Power?
Why Telsa’s Powerwall is a Big Deal?
SunJack Solar ChargerIf it is not feasible to install a solar panel in your house, you can also try SunJack, a powerful portable solar charger. The 14 W model holds enough charge to power up four phones. The 20 W model holds enough energy for up to eight phones. When completely opened, the lightweight SunJack systems can be securely attached to a backpack and fully replenish its batteries in about 5 hours of direct sunlight.
XD Design Port Solar ChargerSolar chargers are also needed by business travelers. This trendy item is perfect to use at home, in the car or on the train. The suction cup makes it very easy to attach the solar charger to any window. For example, while travelling by train just stick it on the train window and let it collect solar energy. Then just plug your phone charging cable in the USB output and charge your phone. This port solar charger comes with an integrated USB charging cable that folds into the side of the body. Harvested solar energy is stored in a 1000 mAh rechargeable lithium battery.
Although major technology companies are continuing their efforts, solar power for household supply seems still a long way to go. Solar is not a bad choice for business people and backpackers to charge low power gadgets.
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In addition to Tesla, many other well-known industry giants have invested in clean energy projects. In recent years, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have all announced wind power projects with the capacity of more than a hundred megawatts, and even home furnishings retailer IKEA has begun to make a profit from investing in wind power. In February, Apple announced a massive new investment in solar energy: an $850 million installation in California, partnering with First Solar, America’s biggest utility-scale installer, which will produce enough power to supply 60,000 Californian homes. From this project, Apple will obtain 130 megawatts under a 25-year deal. In China, Apple is partnering with SunPower to build two solar power projects totaling 40 megawatts in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefectures in northwest Sichuan province. When completed, the solar projects will provide an estimated 80 million kWh a year, equivalent to the power consumption of 61,000 Chinese households, and far more than needed to power all of Apple’s offices and retail stores in China.
Investment in the renewable energy sector creates a win-win situation, since it enables environmental sustainability and helps companies reduce their utility bills.
Solar power has limitations for large power requirements in households, factories, and schools.
First, the energy payback time of solar panels is still too long. Simply put, a solar power system needs to operate continuously for two to five years to recover the energy for the system itself. It seems to be a cost-effective investment if the product lifetime is 10 years. However, considering associated generation of pollution and CO2 that went into making the system, whether the investment is economic and truly green is still debatable.
Second, a large roof space is needed for installing solar panels. Populous urban areas do not always have such conditions. Solar energy seems to be more suitable for rural houses and villas. However, rural residents use less energy overall. Therefore, like Tesla Roadster, Powerwall hits only a niche market.
Third, even if the aforementioned problems can be solved in the future, centralized solar power stations will certainly be much more efficient than residential solar power generation.
Smartflower POP Solar SystemIf you have a yard or a roof to install a solar system the size of a radio telescope, smartflower POP is the best choice for you. It is called the world's first all-in-one solar system which boasts an easy setup and up to 40% more energy output than regular rooftop solar panels. The secret lies in its shape and smart tracking system. The astronomical control system allows the solar modular fan to track the sun in all weather conditions like a sunflower, even when it’s very cloudy outside, during the entire day. The solar panels will fold up at night, and open in the morning automatically.
Who Else in Addition to Tesla?
Is Solar Power Home Realistic?
Recommended Solar Power Equipment
Why do We Need Self-Driving Cars?
Hands-free and feet-free. With self-driving cars, we can nap rather than stressing out behind the wheel.
1. Time-saving. Much time is wasted getting lost. This can be avoided with a smart self-driving system.
2. Safety enhancement. Self-driving cars will strictly abide by traffic regulations and help reduce crashes. Moreover, if most cars are equipped with cameras and sensors, they can learn road conditions and even know where to drive and how fast to drive through cloud orchestration.
3. Congestion-easing. When self-driving vehicles learn from each other or are coordinated by the cloud, they maintain a safe following distance and choose the optimal route.
4. Car-sharing made popular. After self-driving cars take passengers to their destinations, they can go to the next destination to pick up other passengers as scheduled, which improves vehicle utilization.
5. Cost-saving. Self-driving vehicles reduce fuel consumption and parking fees. Fewer traffic accidents translate into lower insurance premiums. More importantly, they save labor costs as the human drivers are eliminated.
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Self-Driving Carsare ComingSelf-driving cars may seem futuristic. However, they are hitting the road. We are moving towards self-driving cars because they are safer and save you money.
Self-driving is designed to provide much safer and more enjoyable driving experience for people.
In 2010 VisLab undertook a drive from Parma, Italy to Shanghai using four autonomous electric vehicles and a caravan of support vehicles. The team faced extreme and unknown environments on their 15,000 km trip. The electric vehicles’ autonomous piloting systems were powered by solar cells.
In May 2014, Google unveiled the design of its own self-driving
car, which forgoes the steering wheel, mirrors and pedals. When a passenger selects their destination on a Google map screen, they only need to press start for the vehicle to take off. In the following December, Google unveiled the fully functional self-driving car prototype. It began public tests of its self-driving cars in June 2015.
At the CES 2014, Induct presented Navia, the world’s first intelligent, electric, driverless shuttle. The vehicle can learn driving routes automatically. It can also scan barriers through a laser radar sensor. However, it operates at a maximum speed of 20 km per hour, and is more appropriate for
diving in campuses.
A video from 1971 shows one of the first ever driverless cars driving around a test track. The car was created by the British Road Research Lab and could drive on its own through electronic impulses relayed to the car through a special receiving unit affixed to the front.
In 1998 VisLab, company of the University in Parma, Italy, tested the ARGO autonomous vehicle over more than 2000 km. Ninety-four percent of the 2000+ km was driven autonomously. The car was able to perceive the environment through the use of micro cameras, analyze the surroundings and plan a trajectory.
At the CES 2015, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a new concept car—the F015 Luxury in Motion. It features a pod-like interior with swivel seats and video screens in the doors, making it a mobile entertainment center.
How Safe is Self-Driving?While self-driving cars are efficient and comfortable, safety is a key issue. Is it really safe to hand over your life to a computer?
Many studies reveal that computer-aided driving is safer than manual driving. According to a statistics, 4.4 percent of accidents are caused by drivers falling asleep and 2 percent sudden epilepsy or heart attacks. A much larger proportion of traffic accidents are caused by violation of traffic regulations or un-concentrated drivers. All of these can be avoided with self-driving cars; thus self-driving cars drive better than you.
Obstacles Lay AheadThere are many obstacles to overcome before self-driving cars become popular. These obstacles are mainly technical and legal. The technical issues include sensor performance, laser radar costs, and software adaptation, which, one can say, will eventually be solved. The real challenges for self-driving cars are legal and regulatory, especially when they face the risk of being maliciously used by terrorists or hackers.
Who are Making Efforts?The first commercial self-driving vehicle is likely to be launched between 2017 and 2020, when there is rapid development of transportation infrastructure. High-tech companies really promote the R&D process of self-driving vehicles. Google has already been testing self-driving vehicle prototypes, and Apple may have already joined the queue. Apple hired Tesla's senior engineer Jamie Carlson and other professionals for its closely guarded autonomous vehicle project. Meanwhile, Uber has partnered with the University of Arizona to develop optical systems for its self-driving car. In early 2015 it opened its own self-driving car lab in Pittsburgh. With the joining of these tech companies, it is believed that self-driving vehicles will come into our daily life.
Toyota Wants It to be a Guardian-AngelUnlike tech companies, traditional car manufacturers bet on artificial intelligence. For example, Toyota has been researching more intelligent vehicles with $1 billion endeavor to establish its foothold in Silicon Valley and function under the new company Toyota Research Institute. Gill Pratt, a former MIT professor and former official at the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) and the CEO of the institute, envisioned a car equipped with a “guardian angel” in the form of sensors and software to protect human drivers rather than remove them from the picture altogether. These vehicles will correct human errors during driving and even take emergency measures to avoid accidents at critical moments.
The Driver-Free Journey
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