Content

1. Smartphone or laptop
2. Samsung presentation for CES 2021
3. Exynos is back!
4. LG at CES 2021
5. Conclusion
6. PS A little bit about the coronavirus

Smartphone or laptop

Somehow it so happened that a smartphone was always an additional device for me, and I did all the important things from a laptop. For example, he could search for air tickets in an application on a smartphone, but make a purchase only on a laptop, the same applies to hotel reservations (although Booking.com is the same on both a smartphone and a PC). Previously, even the Internet bank was more comfortable to use on a computer than in an application. However, now this habit has changed.

But in general, it is the laptop that remains for me the main device for consuming content. For example, I can quickly look at something on the Internet from my smartphone, but if the amount of information is large, then I will save the link so that I can look later from my laptop.

Based on these habits, the laptop is usually always with me. Even if the trip is only for a couple of days, I will still take it with me.

At the same time, I could not help but notice that friends’ computers were often supplanted by smartphones and other smart equipment. For example, a friend, going on a New Year’s trip for 14 days, took only an iPhone with her, leaving the MacBook Pro at home, where, however, it usually lies idle.

Other friends have a similar picture. Smartphone, smart TV, set-top box and smart speaker cover all needs. The laptop is neatly gathering dust on the shelf. At the same time, the work of all my friends is impossible without a computer.

And if before the computer was a multimedia center at home – it was connected to the TV, to the speakers, it stood somewhere in the center of the room, now it is a highly specialized work terminal, if we are talking about a work laptop. And the personal laptop seems to exist according to the old habit of having a computer at home.

In general, everything is obvious and reasonable. Screen sizes, the quality of operating systems and the level of applications of smartphones have long gone to the level where they can fully satisfy all the needs of users. Apple even took advantage of this and released new MacBooks that run iOS applications, and people are happy.

However, it all looks strange to me. Let us know in the comments about your experience. With the development of smartphones, has the computer gone to the far shelf? Well, in general, do you need a computer at home, or can you just get by with a smartphone?

Samsung presentation for CES 2021

On January 14, there will be a main presentation, and on January 11-12, Samsung showed new household appliances – TVs, a robot vacuum cleaner and refrigerators. The presentation was small and interesting, so I recommend watching. In general, I think it is clear that the company presented premium products that were not designed for a typical average Russian salary.

However, in my opinion, the most interesting are a couple of robots presented: Bot Care and Bot Handy. Unfortunately, these guys are far from the Boston Dynamics products that danced dashingly before the New Year.

Obviously, BD robots are too expensive, but Samsung bots even in appearance look very affordable. Prices and dates were not announced, but I would visually estimate them in the range from 3 to 000 dollars.

Of course, for now, both robots are toys for wealthy people. Bot Handy, which has a long arm, is unlikely to become an indispensable housekeeper. Although I have no doubt that any geek will watch with affection as the robot transfers the plates from the table to the dishwasher. Or how a robot will brush away dust if you give it a rainbow duster.

A hand-held robot can not only distinguish between the shape and size of objects, but can also estimate their weight. He also knows how to distinguish a number of materials from which the object is made. As you can imagine, it has no tactile sensors.

Interestingly, Samsung hasn’t said anything about whether the robot can massage. Perhaps, they decided to bypass the topic of interaction with a person, since the robot terribly resembles its counterpart from the series “The Big Bang Theory”.

The second robot is technically unable to do anything around the house. In fact, this is a small screen with wheels that will follow you around the house, keeping company and annoying with your judgments: sit at the computer for too long, drink little water, go to the store, etc.

It is not known when these robots will go on sale. The phrase “not too distant future” was used at the presentation. But in the first half of the year, there will be a new JetBot 90 AI + robot vacuum cleaner. Thanks to the camera, lidar and 3D sensors, the robot will be able to go around objects on the floor (for example, a smartphone charging cable). Also, the robot is equipped with an automatic dust collector cleaning system, and the built-in camera can be used for remote video monitoring. Of course, only tests will show the whole truth, but in general there is nothing innovative about the robot vacuum cleaner. Both LG and Ecovacs (computer vision model Ozmo T8 AIVI) have competitors.

Although it is still worth noting the not quite traditional shape of the robot. It’s hard to know if he can drive under the bedside table, but the flat muzzle hints that the robot will perfectly sweep the dust out of the corners.

The main TV of the presentation was 110-inch MicroLED. The complete absence of frames immediately catches the eye. The screen can display 4 different pictures or TV channels at once, and buyers in the US will immediately receive 160 free channels available in the Samsung Tv Plus package.

Interestingly, the TV resolution is 4K. Probably right. It will take another five years before 8K begins to widely penetrate into everyday life. The TV will go on sale in March. The price was not announced.

Exynos is back!

The second presentation was dedicated to the new 2100nm Exynos 5 chipsets. The presentation turned out to be interesting, but left a feeling of bewilderment and positive expectations (the latter are also connected with the fact that all the presenters constantly mentioned the increased energy efficiency of the chipset). I will share my perplexities and expectations.

First, the slogan “Exynos is back”, that is, Exynos is back. Questions arise: where did you return from, where did you go and why? Although, in general, such a title can be interpreted in the sense that Samsung admits that it had unimportant chipsets, but now everything will change.

Secondly, the name itself. Why Exynos 2100 and not 2200? Perhaps I am sick and have lost my attentiveness, but at the presentation, in my opinion, they did not even try to explain the logic. Rather, what is happening looks like a slightly hysterical attempt to start the year with a new leaf. They say that something we didn’t succeed before. But when was that ?! When there was Exynos 990, and now it’s 2100! Although, the name is probably tied to the current year, and the additional two zeros are a place for modified versions.

Thirdly, positive expectations about battery life and camera. The presenter of the presentation very carefully said that the team of engineers carefully approached the settings and improvements, thanks to which the energy efficiency became 2 times better. Good news, taking into account that the current flagship of 2020 is unable to produce more than 4 hours of screen time on average.

When creating the chipset, Samsung paid close attention to all aspects of the camera. So, the chipset supports cameras up to 200 MP, the total number of photomodules is 6, it is simultaneously capable of processing images from 4 modules, shooting 8K 60 frames per second and 4K 120 frames per second. The chipset also supports AV1 Decoder. The advantage of AV1 is that it can reduce bitrate by 50% at the same quality compared to H.264, which has a positive effect on energy efficiency.

Fourthly, the bewilderment associated with the event itself as a whole. Samsung hasn’t held a chipset-only event before. I will say more, the company carefully hid which chipset its smartphones work on. Going to the official site, you could only read about the number of cores and their frequency. And the company shyly kept silent about the name of the chipset. Why bashful? Perhaps this is obvious. All other smartphone manufacturers have always sought to highlight which chipset their smartphones run on. Huawei, while there was an opportunity, shouted about the advantages of Kirin, Apple flaunted its Bionics (although, frankly, it always avoided plunging into the technical jungle), Xiaomi talked so hotly about Qualcomm’s Snapdragon that it seemed that it had created it itself. And only Samsung bypassed the issue.

In the US, Samsung smartphones have traditionally been powered by Snapdragon. It is all the more interesting why the company during the American CES decided to hold an event about Exynos, that is, the chipset that is as far as possible from buyers in the United States. Well, let’s wait on January 14, and maybe something will become clear.

However, there is a suspicion that Samsung will again step on the same rake, and the whole presentation may have been started to give 15 minutes of fame to the company’s engineers. As you remember, their honor is tarnished by the fact that South Korea decided to use Qualcomm chipsets in the current flagships.

Still, holding events under such a loud slogan, implying the return of Exynos, against the will you expect a comparison with competitors. Like, this is how we hit the Snapdragon 888, and this is how we gave a light to the A14 from Apple. The same Apple, for example, is not shy and directly stated at the presentation that the A14 Bionic is the fastest chip in smartphones.

The question arises, what is the reason for Samsung’s modesty. It is widely known that a company never misses an opportunity to poke fun at competitors if there is a reason.

The last weird point that raises the question of the need for this presentation is that, in fact, there was no factual information, the presenters talked about 5% faster, 10% more energy efficient, etc. At the same time, I did not notice the asterisks and footnotes, so it is difficult to understand why the measurements were taken. And only on the official website it is written that the measurements were compared with the Exynos 990.

I don’t want to be a pessimist, but so far rumors and leaks about the new Galaxy, as well as the presentation of the Exynos 2100, hint that radical changes should not be expected.

LG at CES 2021

LG held their own CES event, which I really enjoyed. It’s hard to say how useful the presented gadgets are in real life (like, for example, a pocket air purifier), but everything looks very stylish and clearly in the trend of 2021. I want to tell you about a couple of new products.

I recommend watching the video, enjoy it. Firstly, the presentation started with the fact that it was launched, as it were, on a sliding smartphone. Already good. After all, as you remember, in 2021 LG’s mobile division should make a profit after almost a dozen unprofitable years. There is no information about a sliding smartphone from LG yet. It is only known that they promise to release it in 2021.

We have already seen a similar sliding smartphone from Oppo. You can read about the device here.

By the way, LG’s presentation was more pleasant for its practicality. So, introducing refrigerators, Samsung talked about how beautiful they are and how easy they are to customize, and LG said that their apples stay fresh for 7 days longer and a machine is built into the door that makes beautiful ice for drinks. And the faucet with water is some kind of self-cleaning and it additionally cleans the water with UV rays. For some reason, I immediately wanted a refrigerator from LG.

LG TVs weren’t overly impressed. At least in the pictures it seems that they are far from completely frameless options from Samsung. Although LG has tricks such as automatic sound conversion to 5.1 or auto sound adjustment, when the TV on loud scenes (for example, a car chase) mutes the sound itself, but increases it during dialogues. By the way, it’s interesting how the TV remote now looks like. A fairly large area is reserved for voice assistants and streaming services. And some remotes will also have an NFC zone under the buttons, which will allow you to quickly send an image from the smartphone screen to the TV or vice versa.

Whether portable air purifiers help or just make you feel more confident, I don’t know. But the mask looks promising. It weighs 126 grams, has two fans (to make breathing easier) and H13 HEPA filters. Also included is a cover that will kill bacteria with UV rays when not in use. The mask takes 2 hours to charge and lasts up to 8 hours. The price in terms of rubles is 11.2 thousand rubles. According to the official website, all Korean and Chinese influencers are already using these masks. Yes, probably, and I would not get sick if I had such a thing.

A couple of days before CES, the new 11th generation LG Gram from Intel was shown. Laptops need to be examined carefully. I think they deserve a separate material, since I noticed that the previous generation appeared on sale in Russia.

Conclusion

CES 2021 is, of course, a strange thing, incomprehensible, but, as always, interesting. I will definitely try to make thematic editions with a selection of the main things and gadgets. Still, CES is a pro for the United States too, so we have to wait on January 14 to find out what the new Samsung smartphones will be like.

PS A little bit about the coronavirus

Before the grueling 2020 ended, 2021 hinted that it would be no better. Without even giving a chance to enjoy sparkling brut, to eat with a spoonful of mayonnaise in a salad, in short, to enjoy the main holiday of Russia, the evil overseas coronavirus disease struck.

I don’t know what they call “a mild course of the disease”, but the temperature is constantly at around 38 degrees, and the cough is steadily twisting. An unusual symptom is muscle weakness, which makes you feel weak, as the muscles ache from any movement. Do not lie on your side, it hurts to sit – a feeling of aching tension, as with stretching exercises. More or less comfortable, you can only be just lying on your back. I lay down for myself, but at least it didn’t hurt.

And the cherry on the cake was the loss of smell on the second day of illness, it has not returned until now. I didn’t just smell worse. They completely disappeared from life. I can breathe ammonia and won’t even pinch my nose. And after the smells, the taste of food disappeared.

Of course, I, like everyone else, at school in anatomy learned that the sense of smell plays an important role in distinguishing tastes, since the tongue itself can distinguish only basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter (and a kind of fifth taste with umami). And all the riot of colors is born due to the fact that the molecules containing the smell penetrate the mucus in the nasal cavity, where the nerve endings of the olfactory receptors are located, which already send information directly to the brain.

However, I could not even imagine how the perception of tastes disappears with a lack of smell, when you cannot distinguish what you are eating – cheesecakes or chicken (the texture is different, but the taste is the same). And basic tastes sound dull. The vomiting acid of the lemon has turned, in fact, into a slight sourness. You chew like an apple. It is interesting that the brain at first tried to work out the agenda and slip the memories associated with eating this or that product, apparently in the hope of replacing the lack of smell, but quickly gave up and simply began to demand simple, understandable things. For example, a pomegranate or an orange, because it is sour and sweet, and the same bananas immediately received a mark as tasteless, and I don’t even remember about them, although before it was one of my favorite fruits.

Perhaps the coronavirus is the worst disease in my life. After all, most diseases follow the scenario when 2-3 days are critical, and then there is a recovery. And with this coronavirus, it is consistently bad both at the beginning and after 10 days.

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