Xiaomi launches a see-through TV

Chinese tech company Xiaomi might not have a significant presence on this side of the globe, but its new television is too eye-catching not to share. Or rather should we talk about what we can't see? The company unveiled a transparent TV in time for its 10th-anniversary celebration. The Mi TV Lux OLED Transparent Edition looks just like a piece of glass when it's turned off. And when it's turned on, Xiaomi claims the images will look like it's floating in thin air.

Engadget believes the 55-inch transparent OLED panel is based on LG's 55-inch transparent 55EW5TF-A display, which has the same 120Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and 10-bit colour depth. The Mi TV Lux OLED will go on sale in China on August 16 for 49,999 yuan (around CA$9,555). It's unlikely that Xiaomi will sell the TV here, but we couldn't pass up on a chance to talk about unusual tech.

Samsung launches its 108-megapixel smartphone camera sensor

The future of smartphone cameras features hundreds of megapixels. Samsung and Xiaomi partnered to develop the 108-megapixel ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor. It's one of the largest smartphone sensors ever at 1/1.33-inches. That is about three quarters the size of the 1-inch sensor on Sony's RX100 VII compact camera and just a bit smaller than the sensor on Nokia's legendary Pureview 808 phone. The sensor will still feature small pixels. By default and with Samsung's Tetracell tech, it will gather the light from four pixels and transform this into a 27-megapixel photo. If you want to take 108-megapixel photos, you'll need to make sure the room is brightly lit, so you can get decent shots. The sensor also allows for recording 6k video at 30fps.

With Samsung's Smart-ISO mechanism, it'll automatically select lower ISOs in brighter light and high ISO in dim areas. Samsung has been criticized in the past for inferior low-light performance when compared to its competitors like the Huawei P30 Pro and other models that use Sony chips. But by putting in a bigger sensor, the company might finally have an answer. Production of the chip will start later this month.

Source: Engadget

Xiaomi teases its take on the foldable smartphone

The race to release foldable smartphones is on. Xiaomi just teased its take on the technology through a teaser video uploaded on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent to Twitter). It shows Xiaomi’s co-founder and President Lin Bin tinkering around with a double-folding phone. It’s a unique interpretation of the trend, with the sides of the phone folding in and out to switch from a tablet to a more compact smartphone. We don’t have details beyond what’s in the video. The phone, which is an engineering mode, is said to have overcome “a series of technical problems such as flexible folding screen technology, four-wheel drive folding shaft technology, flexible cover technology, and MIUI adaptation.”

There are, of course, obvious weak points to the device. Having it fold on two ends means there are more moving parts that can be damaged. Availability is also an issue, beyond the market Xiaomi caters to. We’re also curious to see if the ends when folded to the back of the device are usable. Xiaomi is known to undercut its competition while offering good value for its devices, so we’re also curious how much this device will cost. Samsung is rumoured to be revealing its foldable phone next month, ahead of Mobile World Congress. Now, we want to see if Xiaomi will try and catch up and release any news at MWC about this phone.

Source: The Verge

Report claims Xiaomi is in interested in buying GoPro

GoPro has been scaling down its business due to financial issues. The company announced back in January that it was leaving the drone business because of this. GoPro’s CEO Nick Woodman has said in an interview with CNN before that he was open to selling the company. He said, “If there was an opportunity to merge GoPro with a larger parent company that could help us scale our business and provide a better return on investment… we would welcome the opportunity…”

Now there seems to be someone interested in buying GoPro. Bloomberg reports Chinese tech company Xiaomi is looking to purchase the action sports camera company. Xiaomi is known in Asia for its affordable, feature-packed phones but it has also delved into everything from robot vacuums, laptops, electric scooters, power banks, routers, and many more. Perhaps, it wants to boost its action camera segment or possibly get into drones. Not much is known about this potential deal at the moment but GoPro is being valued at around a billion dollars, according to the report from The Information.