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Category: mobile phones

Next-gen rod LEDs could transform smartphones and TVs with ultra-bright and color-rich displays

Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) School of Engineering have cracked a major challenge in display technology by inventing the world’s brightest and most energy efficient quantum rod LEDs (QRLEDs). These next-generation QRLEDs feature optimized deep green emission at the top of the color triangle, enabling displays with unprecedented color purity and a maximized color gamut.

Boasting a longer lifespan and triple the brightness of previous models, these cutting-edge light sources deliver energy-efficient, ultra-vivid visuals for smartphones, televisions, and AR/VR devices while further enhancing color performance.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely used in electronic products for decades. Recent advancements in have given rise to quantum dot LEDs (QLEDs) and QRLEDs. Both offer narrow emission bandwidths and high color purity, surpassing traditional LEDs. Among these, QRLEDs excel with higher light outcoupling efficiency.

Android malware Konfety uses malformed APKs to evade detection

A new variant of the Konfety Android malware emerged with a malformed ZIP structure along with other obfuscation methods that allow it to evade analysis and detection.

Konfety poses as a legitimate app, mimicking innocuous products available on Google Play, but features none of the promised functionality.

The capabilities of the malware include redirecting users to malicious sites, pushing unwanted app installs, and fake browser notifications.

Terabytes of data in a tiny crystal

From punch card-operated looms in the 1800s to modern cellphones, if an object has “on” and “off” states, it can be used to store information.

In a laptop computer, the ones and zeroes that make up the binary language are actually transistors either running at low or high voltage. On a compact disc, the one is a spot where a tiny indented “pit” turns to a flat “land” or vice versa, while a zero represents no change.

Historically, the size of the object cycling through those states has put a limit on the size of the storage device. But now, researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have explored a technique to make the metaphorical ones and zeroes out of crystal defects, each the size of an individual atom, for classical computer memory applications.

UChicago researchers created a ‘quantum-inspired’ revolution in microelectronics, storing classical computer memory in crystal gaps where atoms should be.

Smartphone sensors reveal mental health patterns through daily behavior tracking

Smartphones can help people stay healthy by monitoring their sleep, steps and heart rate, but they also can help reveal issues tied to mental health, new research shows.

In a study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers from the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota and University of Pittsburgh used smartphone sensors as silent observers of daily life. These tracked simple actions, such as how much we move, sleep or check our phones but also provided surprising insights into how our psychological well-being manifests in everyday routines.

The researchers found that many different mental disorders share similar behavior patterns, like staying home more, sleeping late and not charging phones often. Such behaviors may show someone’s level of something called the “p-factor,” which links many issues.

Low-power, nonvolatile RF switch promises energy-efficient 6G and autonomous vehicle communications

A research team affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a new semiconductor device optimized for the next-generation 6G era and autonomous driving, offering low power consumption and nonvolatile operation. This innovative device can also be integrated into variable filter circuits capable of tuning the central frequency band, paving the way for more compact and energy-efficient communication equipment.

Jointly led by Professor Myungsoo Kim of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Professor Tae-Sik Yoon of the Graduate School of Semiconductor Materials and Devices Engineering at UNIST, the team announced the development of nonvolatile radio-frequency (RF) based on vanadium oxide (VOx) for next-generation wireless communication systems. The paper is published in Advanced Science.

RF switches are essential semiconductor components in modern wireless communication systems, such as autonomous systems, smartphones, VR, and AR. They control the flow of high-frequency signals within circuits by connecting or disconnecting specific pathways, enabling reliable signal routing.

Researchers demonstrate room-temperature lasing in photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser

In a first for the field, researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported a photopumped lasing from a buried dielectric photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser emitting at room temperature and an eye-safe wavelength. Their findings, published in IEEE Photonics Journal, improve upon current laser design and open new avenues for defense applications.

For decades, the lab of Kent Choquette, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has explored VCSELs, a type of surface-emitting laser used in common technology like smartphones, laser printers, barcode scanners, and even vehicles. But in early 2020, the Choquette lab became interested in groundbreaking research from a Japanese group that introduced a new type of laser called photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers, or PCSELs.

PCSELs are a newer field of semiconductor lasers that use a photonic crystal layer to produce a with highly desirable characteristics such as high brightness and narrow, round spot sizes. This type of laser is useful for defense applications such as LiDAR, a remote sensing technology used in battlefield mapping, navigation, and target tracking. With funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Choquette’s group wanted to examine this new technology and make their own advancements in the growing field.

Ukraine to be the first in Europe to launch Starlink mobile Internet

«Kyivstar» plans to launch new Starlink services this year. Their range and capabilities will be expanded over time.

Oleksandr Komarov, CEO of «Kyivstar», told the agency about the company’s plans to Reuters in Rome. According to him, messaging will be launched by the end of 2025, and mobile satellite broadband will be launched in mid-2026.

Field tests of the new communication began in late 2024 as part of an agreement with SpaceX. For its part, Elon Musk’s space company will launch the possibility of direct communication with mobile phones in the country.

Quantum Breakthrough Could Make Your Devices 1,000 Times Faster

Your days of being frustrated by a sluggish smartphone or laptop could be coming to an end: scientists have discovered a new technique for controlling electronic states in quantum materials that could eventually make our gadgets up to 1,000 times faster.

Quantum materials are those that display strange behaviors and properties governed by quantum mechanics. They provide a glimpse into a separate realm of physics, where the standard laws don’t apply.

Here, researchers from institutions across the US manipulated the temperature of a layered quantum material called 1T-TaS₂, enabling it to instantly shift between two opposite electronic phases: insulation and conduction. That ability to block or allow the flow of electricity is key to how transistors in computer chips work.

Defects in single-crystal indium gallium zinc oxide could fix persistent display instability

Many displays found in smartphones and televisions rely on thin-film transistors (TFTs) made from indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) to control pixels. IGZO offers high transparency due to its large bandgap (the gap existing between the valence and conduction bands), high conductivity, and can operate even in an amorphous (non-crystalline) form, making it ideal for displays, flexible electronics, and solar cells.

However, IGZO-based devices face long-term stability issues, such as negative bias illumination stress, where prolonged exposure to light and electrical stress shifts the voltage required to activate pixels. These instabilities are believed to stem from structural imperfections, which create additional electronic states—known as subgap states—that trap charge carriers and disrupt current flow.

Until recently, most studies on subgap states focused on amorphous IGZO, as sufficiently large single-crystal IGZO (sc-IGZO) samples were not available for analysis. However, the disordered nature of amorphous IGZO has made it difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of electronic instability.

Google reveals details on Android’s Advanced Protection for Chrome

Google is sharing more information on how Chrome operates when Android mobile users enable Advanced Protection, highlighting strong security improvements.

The tech giant recently extended its Advanced Protection Program to the device level with the release of Android 16, aimed at offering a robust, holistic security posture for high-risk individuals likely to be targeted by sophisticated spyware attacks.

Starting Android 16, Advanced Protection can be activated from the settings, strengthening security measures across the board, including on Google apps such as Chrome, Messages, and Phone.