The SD Association, the non-profit organization responsible for setting SD memory card standards, today announced the latest iteration of the popular SD memory card. SD Express brings a maximum data transfer rate of 985 MB/s, and increases maximum storage capacity to a capacious 128 TB. Part of the SD 7.0 specification, SD Express adds PCI Express and NVMe interfaces to support the speeds and capacities needed for ever more demanding applications, such as 8K video capture and playback, 360-degree cameras, IoT devices, mobile computing devices, cars, and drones. Whereas data transfer rates for the SD 6.0 specification topped out at 624 MB/s and storage was limited to 2 TB, SD Express substantially improves on these numbers – in cards with either micro or full-size form factors. SD Express will initially be found in SDUC, SDXC and SDHC memory cards, which will also be backwards compatible with existing devices. "SD Express' use of popular PCIe [3.0] and ...
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While not something that's likely to be used every day, portable projectors are great for easy set up movie nights at a friend's house, impromptu presentations in the boardroom or quick photo sharing while out and about. But if you want to catch up with the latest episode of Luke Cage on Netflix while at the campsite, most portable picture throwers just won't do. The FuntaSee over on Kickstarter is being billed as the first one with 4G capabilities, making streaming on the go a real possibility. "The FuntaSee is the first-ever 4G portable projector that runs on Android OS," is the proud boast at the beginning of the project's Kickstarter campaign page. Well, not quite. ZTE's Spro2 Smart Projector from a few years back is certainly one model that came before the FuntaSee, there may be more. But, aside from that minor quibble, this latest mobile movie machine looks to be a decent enough offering. Mobile connect...
Does the smartphone world need a BlackBerry keyboard in 2018? That's the biggest question posed by the arrival of the new BlackBerry Key2 , an otherwise unremarkable handset running Android 8.1. New Atlas has been playing around with the phone for a week, and here's what we think. Any appraisal of the Key2 really has to focus on that physical keyboard down at the bottom. Once upon a time considered the gold standard for putting text into a phone, it's since been superseded by the far more convenient and flexible touchscreen keyboard. So what's it like trying to use one in 2018? In short, rather awkward. Pecking away at individual letters is smooth enough, but as soon as we needed a number, or a special character, there was a good five seconds of trying to find it and then working out the key combination to bring it up on screen. Admittedly, some of this might be muscle memory – a decade of touchscreen tapping takes a long ...
Dropping your smartphone is never a good thing. That's why people have experimented with protective measures such as auto-deploying airbags . The spring-loaded ADcase, however, looks like it could be a much more practical solution – and you may soon be able to buy one. The award-winning device was invented as a thesis project by Philip Frenzel, a 25 year-old mechatronics master's student at Germany's Aalen University. Essentially, it's a relatively slim case for iPhone models 6 and up (it protrudes just 4.9 mm from the back of the phone) that's equipped with sensors that detect when the phone is in free-fall. Those sensors automatically trigger pairs of metal-spring curled dampers to pop out from each corner of the case, cushioning the phone's landing – the AD in the name stands for Active Damping. Frenzel has now partnered with Aalen economics grad Peter Mayer, founding a startup to develop the technology commercially. The duo are plan...
At a glance, the smartphone market looks dominated by Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy. If you don't want to buy into the big players' ecosystems, there are alternative flagships from decent brands, which usually offer similar specs. Here New Atlas rounds up the specs and features of five of the best alternative phones: Sony Xperia XZ2 , LG G7 ThinQ , HTC U12+ , Huawei Mate 10 Pro and OnePlus 6. Note that this list is by no means exhaustive – there are plenty of other worthy flagships from different companies, as well as other phones from the brands we've included here. But many models aren't readily available in the US, so for simplicity's sake we've picked out our five favorites that are easy for North American customers to get their hands on. Size These five phones are all roughly similar in height and width, and are within the realm of most of the market nowadays. The U12+ ...