Inside the Galaxy S5's image sensor

Megapixels are not so important - at least not for the overall image quality. There are a plenty of other important features that make up a high quality image sensor, which is important to keep in mind when talking about ISOCELL - the newest technology of Samsung implemented in Galaxy S5.

This new technology promises increased light sensitivity and higher color fidelity even in poor lighting conditions, and Samsung bills it as the next step in the evolution of backside-illuminated (BSI) sensors.

How does ISOCELL work?

ISOCELL is essentially an evolution of existing technologies and aims to address the problems highlighted above.

First off, ISOCELL attempts to fix the problem of crosstalk by isolating each pixel with a physical barrier, hence the “iso” part of the name. These barriers ensure that the correct photons remain trapped in their desired cells and are therefore more likely to be absorbed into the correct pixel’s photodiode.

Here’s a short video:

Compared to conventional BSI pixels, ISOCELL is expected to decrease crosstalk and increase the sensor’s full well capacity by approximately 30 percent, due to the way each color pixel is isolated. That doesn’t mean that the image quality is going to improve by 30 percent, but it will result in higher color fidelity, which will be noticed as a slight improvement to sharpness and richness.

Source: AndroidAuthority (more details and samples)

Meizu MX4 will be lauched in 2 days!

Meizu has started sending out invites for its event taking place on Thursday, March 6th in Paris. The invite itself doesn’t tell us much about what to expect, but we’re betting we’ll see the MX4 unveiled at that time.

Chances are this bad boy will rely on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 801 chip, or who knows, the new Exynos 5 Octa chip. Current Meizu MX3 uses earlier Exynos 5 so they may decide to keep relying on a Samsung-made SoC.

Source: Intomobile

A new Xiaomi phone is coming - MI3S

Judging by the timing of the leaks and proximity to the annual Xiaomi festival we believe the next Xiaomi phone Lei Jun refers to in the below Weibo message will launch on April 9th.

This new phone is believed to have support for 4G LTE networks, more memory and updated camera modules both front and rear.

In addition to the Mi3S there could also be 2 new Xiaomi Redrice models launched on 9th April with the top end model sporting an octacore processor.

As always the Mi3S should cost 1999 ($325) Yuan for the base model and the Redrice phones should start at 799 ($130) Yuan. China will be getting these devices first with launches in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong occurring after.

Source: GizChina

Win a Xperia Tablet Z2 with Sony Mobile

Experience the details that make the difference with this week‘s prize – the waterproof Xperia Z2 Tablet. For your chance to win the world’s slimmest & lightest waterproof tablet* built with the best of Sony’s TV and audio technologies, just answer these two questions by 08:59 GMT on Monday 10th March, 2014.

To enter the contest you will have to answer a question by clicking on the image, and you'll be redirected to Sony Mobile's Facebook Application:

The Xperia Z2 Tablet packs some incredible specs: 

• 10.1" Full HD (1920 x 1200px) display employing Sony's latest display technologies - Triluminos display with Live Color LED plus X-Reality mobile picture engine.
• Snapdragon 800 chipset, Krait 400 cores clocked at 2.3GHz, 
• Adreno 330 graphics and 3GB of RAM. 
• Internal storage is 16GB, expandable via a microSD card slot.
• 8.1MP rear and 2MP front cameras, but the rear sensor has been upgraded with the latest Exmor RS sensor. Both cameras are capable of 1080p video recording, HDR capturing is available too.
• Wi-Fi only and an LTE-enabled. The rest of the connectivity options include NFC, GPS with GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0, IR emitter and microUSB 2.0 with MHL 3.0 support. 
• Android 4.4 KitKat with the latest version of Sony's proprietary launcher.

HTC M8 Hands On Video Leaked

Storage expansion went out of fashion over the last two years. Fortunate, then, for those of us wanting to take our music / audio book / photo collection everywhere, that HTC's upgraded One will see a return to microSD storage on its flagship series. 

Against trend, the new One also looks like it'll have an identical footprint to last year's model. In a lengthy video leak from GadgetReviews - now down, but mirrored elsewhere -- we get to see that unibody build from a few more angles (including a closer look at that brushed finish) and catch some few software tweaksto the Blinkfeed news stream However, what does that secondary camera actually do? We're getting increasingly impatient about that March 25th reveal date.

Source: phonearena

WIN a Samsung Galaxy S5 with Bitdefender and Androidauthority

You can earn entry tickets into the giveaway by completing the following tasks:

• (5) tickets to download Bitdefender Mobile Security & Antivirus
• (1) ticket to like the Bitdefender Facebook Page
• (1) ticket if you follow Bitdefender on Twitter

If you want to Enter the Giveaway, click on the image below:

Terms & Conditions

• The giveaway is an international giveaway (Except when we can not ship to your Country*)
  • If we can not ship to your country, you will be compensated with an online gift card of equal MSRP value to the prize.
• We are not responsible for lost shipments.
• You must be age of majority in your Country of residence.
• We are not responsible for any duties/import taxes that you may incur.
• Only 1 entry per person, do not enter multiple email addresses. We will verify all winners and if we detect multiple email addresses by the same person you will not be eligible to win.
• We reserve all rights to make any changes to this giveaway.
• The device will ship when available