Samsung Galaxy S4’s Gorilla Glass 3 Survives Scratch Tests, Unscratched

One of the most anticipated smartphones of modern times, Samsung’s next flagship smartphone the S4, will be coming to the US market starting late this week.  Already, enthusiasts, fans and ‘experts’ are ordering the device and torturing it for the world to see.  It is norm to see videos of new devices being subjected to extreme physical abuse to test their strength, and you probably have seen videos of some guys dropping a phone or a tablet from a high ground to test how well it can stand the ‘drop test’.  One of a kind test, a scratch test, was yesterday subjected on the S4 and surprisingly, the phone emerged unscathed, literally.

Galaxy S4 Scratch Test

Samsung galaxy S4 comes with a Gorilla Glass 3 protection and as promised, the glass can stand protection from scratches by most metallic objects such as keys.  The original Gorilla Glass set the standards for phone durability with a difficult to scratch screen and Glass 3 takes this protection to a whole new level.  According to Samsung and the makers of the Gorilla Glass 3 Corning, the S4 becomes the first device to come with Gorilla Glass 3 which the companies say that it provides up to 3 times the protection against scratches and physical damage as its predecessor.  This may sound like a marketer’s talk that can be proved wrong, but since someone actually bought the S4, a phone the world is waiting for, and among the first things they did is try to dissect it, it is safe to say the S4’s screen is indestructible.

In the video, the S4 is put through scratch tests using knives, coins and keys, but the phone stands it all.  You may cringe to see someone exert so much force on such a precious device, but it is also a great thing to assure those who intend to buy it just what the S4 can stand.

Other manufacturers will definitely try to outdo this kind of durability and it is likely that we will be seeing smartphones that can stand all kinds of abuse.  We have already seen smartphones that can survive up to 10 feet underwater but what we would like to see now is a non-rugged high end smartphone that can be used in such extreme physical conditions.

You can watch the Samsung Galaxy S4 scratch test video on YouTube here.  I cannot wait to see how well the S4 can handle drop tests!

Sources: Droid-Life and Ubergizmo

 

 

The Droid Guy

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Uchek: A New Medical App that Tests Urine for Issues

The Uchek presented by its developer.

The Uchek presented by its developer.

This year’s Technology, Education and Design Conference, commonly known as TED was held recently in Los Angles.

Great minds gathered during the event to show off their recent inventions that could possibly jumpstart a new trend which could possibly change the world. Among them was the SpaceTop 3D transparent computer that we featured earlier.

Basically, many products introduced during the event were either very innovative or awesome. However, some of them seemed to be rather unusual.

Among the things demonstrated in the conference that definitely caught the attention of the audience and the worldwide media is the urine app called Uchek. The Uchek urine app is a product of one of the great thinkers in TED in the person of Myshkin Ingawale.

According to the program developer, the aim of such tool is to detect the 25 major health issues with symptoms that usually show up in a person’s urine. It looks for anomalies in the 10 major elements that make up an individual’s liquid discharge like proteins, glucose and nitrites. Then, it uses the data gathered to come up with a diagnosis.

Among the diseases that the urine app can identify are diabetes, cancer, UTI, liver or kidney problems and others. Aside from the program’s disease detection features, it can also be used for monitoring of a person’s general well-being on a regular basis.

How Does It Work?

Okay, this is the million dollar question now. At first I was wondering how you can test urine using just a simple app. My wild imagination took me to a scenario that you will have to either pee on the phone or soak it in that foul liquid. Luckily, it’s none of the two.

To use it, all you need is a test strip together with a smartphone where the urine app is installed. Then, just dip the strip to your urine to get a sample. After that, use the camera of your smartphone to get a photo of the strip soaked in urine. From there, the liquid will be automatically analyzed by your device to determine whether you are suffering from a certain sickness or not.

One particular highlight of this tool is that it can study the photo regardless of the lighting on environmental effects that are present in the picture.

Its Compatibility

So far, the only device capable of running the Uchek urine app is the iPhone. But Ingawale is looking to develop a version for the Android too in order to make it available to many individuals.

Market Release

Based on BBC News, the urine app will be available for $ 20. Its release to the market is set on March. Another good thing about the application is that the price already includes a pad and around five test strips.

The Droid Guy

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Upcoming Linux Hardware Tests, Benchmarks

Here’s a look at some of the interesting Phoronix articles, open-source Linux benchmarks, and other coverage coming up in the next few weeks on Phoronix…
LXer Linux News

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