Huawei unveils its first Windows PC; to rival Apple iPad Pro, Microsoft Surface

Chinese electronics giant Huawei on Sunday unveiled its first personal computer, a convertible tablet aimed at the premium business market that will compete with Apple's iPad Pro and the Microsoft Surface.

The thin MateBook has a 12-inch pixel display, weighs just 640 grammes (1.4 pounds) without the keyboard although it looks heavier, and has a battery life of ten hours under standard use.

"Business people need a long lasting battery," said Richard Yu, Huawei's consumer devices chief, as he unveiled the new device in Barcelona on the eve of the start of the Mobile World Congress, the top annual trade show for wireless devices.

The tablet fastens to its keyboard case using magnets and it features a fingerprint reader.

The entry-level model with 128 GB storage starts at 799 euros ($890) in Europe with the top model coming in at 1,799 euros.
Yu said last month that Huawei hoped to overtake US rival Apple and Korea's Samsung to become the world's leading maker of smartphones in "three or four years."

It is seeking to shed its budget supplier image to target higher-margin premium models.
The firm became the first Chinese handset vendor to sell more than 100 million smartphones in a year in 2015, as it defied a market slowdown thanks to strong sales domestically and in Western Europe.

Huawei, founded by former Chinese army engineer Ren Zhengfei, boosted its global smartphone market share to 7.7 per cent in the third quarter behind Samsung and Apple, according to research firm Gartner.

It launched its first Android device in 2009 to complement its main business of making networking equipment.

Flexible Camera Developed That Can Be Wrapped Around Objects

A team led by an Indian-origin professor at Columbia University has created a novel sheet camera that can be wrapped around everyday objects to capture images that cannot be taken with one or more conventional cameras. "Cameras today capture the world from essentially a single point in space. While the camera industry has made remarkable progress in shrinking the camera to a tiny device with ever increasing imaging quality, we are exploring a radically different approach to imaging," said Shree K Nayar, computer science professor at Columbia University. "We believe there are numerous applications for cameras that are large in format but very thin and highly flexible," added Nayar who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, in 1984. Nayar's team designed and fabricated a flexible lens array that adapts its optical properties when the sheet camera is bent. This optical adaptation enables the device to produce high quality images over a wide ...

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo back Apple in its fight over encryption with FBI

The nation's leading tech companies joined security experts, independent programmers and civil liberties advocates who filed court papers backing Apple in its fight with the FBI over an encrypted iPhone used by an extremist killer. Several law enforcement groups, meanwhile, filed briefs in support of federal authorities who are seeking Apple's help in hacking an encrypted iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino mass shooters. These "friend of the court" briefs come in advance of a March 22 hearing in which Apple is asking U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym to reverse an order requiring Apple to create a software program that overrides iPhone security features. That program would let authorities try to unlock Farook's phone by guessing its passcode; Apple says it would make all other iPhones more vulnerable to future attacks. Relatives of five people who were killed, along with one survivor of the December 2 attack, also filed a brief saying the FBI's ...

Samsung Galaxy S7: 5 Features That Stand Out

Klutzes of the world should rejoice Friday, as Samsung officially starts sales of its new water-resistant Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The phones, which the company first unveiled last month, are now widely available in all their dunkable glory. The latest two Samsung's high-end smartphones are supposed to be able to withstand submersion up to five feet for as long as 30 minutes. So you're in luck if you drop your phone in the drink - as long as you fish it out reasonably fast. Samsung provided me with a review unit of the Galaxy S7, a 5.1-inch smartphone. Once I opened the box, I duly dropped the high-performance, expensive phone into my sink while doing the dishes. Apart from the mild palpitations I gave myself, there was no damage at all. The phone's touchscreen didn't work under water, but it continued on without a hiccup and was unharmed and still working perfectly when I pulled it out. It was just as impressively zippy as ever and no worse for ...

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