patents

LG kicked off its new Project Explorer line of smartphones with a bang. But while the LG Wing's swiveling screen is definitely a novelty, some of the brand's remaining fans are still curious whether it will be able to take on Samsung in the foldable phone arena. Rumors claim that it will be doing so via a different route, with a rollable phone rather than a foldable one. A recently awarded patent now offers a glimpse into one of the many potential forms of this phone, one that admittedly makes more practical sense.

Continue Reading

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 undoubtedly fixes a lot of the complaints and problems users had with the Galaxy Fold. It now has a stronger flexible screen, a more durable hinge, and a bigger external cover screen. That said, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement and a recent Samsung patent may hint at what the company may have planned next at least as far as that hideaway hinge goes.

Continue Reading

Ford's all-electric F-150 pickup could settle range anxiety with a cunningly disguised mobile generator, a newly published patent suggests, with the automaker designing a gas backup for EVs. While we've seen range extenders added to electric vehicles before, Ford's idea distinguishes itself by being more modular.

Continue Reading

The upcoming Sonos headphones have broken cover, with a newly-granted patent for the wireless headphones detailing their potential design and functionality. Rumored since early in 2019, the headphones are designed to integrate with Sonos' wireless speaker system, as well as potentially include voice control.

Continue Reading

Apple has long been trying to woo the Chinese market, its second-largest after the US, even going as far as making compromises it would not even consider doing for any other region. Given the tensions between the US and Chinese governments, however, the Cupertino-based company might feel like it's walking on eggshells. It doesn't help that it is constantly bombarded with lawsuits, the most recent of which could see it not only pay billions of dollars to the plaintiff but also temporarily halt the sales of almost all its devices in China.

Continue Reading

Apple's prospective plans for a "modular system for head-mounted device" were revealed in a newly-public patent posted to the USPTO. The United States Patent and Trademark Office showed this document with inventors Paul X Wang and Dinesh C Mathew, as first filed in April of the year 2019. This could, possibly, point to part of Apple's design language for their eventual release of a pair of smart glasses, imbued with augmented reality abilities and tipped to be called Apple Glass.

Continue Reading

Social or physical distancing, while not an assurance, is one of the simplest ways to keep the COVID-19 coronavirus from spreading. It isn't, however, one of the easiest as people have realized after months or even just weeks of being deprived of close social interactions. That's one of the reasons why video chat platforms are on the rise but that doesn't solve one important social activity, taking group selfies. Fortunately, Apple apparently has an idea on how to solve that though it remains to be seen if it actually has any plans to.

Continue Reading

Of the three major gaming platform makers, Nintendo has long been considered the most traditional, most reserved, and, sometimes, also most archaic. It was slow to jump on the latest gaming trends, especially mobile, and even then it would distance itself from things likes loot boxes and mobile gaming addiction. Those business practices have given it a more wholesome and family-friendly image and its latest patent reveals just how much it values quality of life practices, especially if it could be tied to a game and new products to sell.

Continue Reading

The urge to banish all bezels around the screen has resulted in a few casualties while manufacturers try to figure out how to best put back what they have kicked out. We're still waiting for the day that under-display cameras finally become a thing but, until then, we'll have to settle for notches and cutouts. The latter, unfortunately, has led to even less hardware, like LED indicators. Samsung may have a solution for the latter and it's something that third-party apps have already tried implementing quite a while back.

Continue Reading

Smartphones have become so powerful these days that you can use it for almost everything. You can even use a desktop on it, either through remote access or some Linux-based magic. Smartphones, however, will always be limited not just by the hardware they have inside but also their size. You can, of course, always attach a peripheral like a keyboard but one of OPPO's latest patents means you won't have to carry around a separate one with you. Presuming, of course, you're willing to bulk up your phone with a case.

Continue Reading

DxOMark's verdict on the Galaxy Z Flip phone is out and its message is pretty clear. It's good enough but not what you'd expect from a $1,400 phone. Of course, Samsung never really splurged on the foldable phone's cameras and left it rather ill-equipped to compete with other high-end flagships. The next Galaxy Z Flip might rise up to the challenged by adding another camera and a Samsung patent may reveal how it plans to solve its problem of fitting all of those on a small phone.

Continue Reading

Toyota has designed a special vehicle specifically for COVID-19 patients, with the tailor-made transportation taking into account the highly-contagious nature of coronavirus. The special ambulance was developed for Showa University Hospital in Japan, based on requests from medical facilities in the country, and includes a number of unusual features.

Continue Reading