Phones 2014 Galaxy updates from Samsung. Higher screen resolution, 16 MP cam, 64-bit.

Samsung in 2014 and beyond: 560 ppi, foldable displays, custom 64-bit processors, 16MP Isocell sensors




Samsung just held its first Analyst Day event in eight years, offering us a glimpse of its plans for 2014 and beyond. Some of the most interesting tidbits coming out of the event concern the advancements in mobile technology that the Korean conglomerate expects to make starting with next year.



Displays

Starting with displays, Samsung revealed that, next year, it will manufacture AMOLED panels with pixel densities of up to 560ppi, beating the current record held by the HTC One, at 469ppi.



If everything goes to plan, Samsung will move from the current high-end resolution standard, Full HD, to WQHD or 2560 x 1440. A bit of speculation: punching these numbers in a DPI calculator suggests that Samsung’s upcoming high-density display would be approximately 5.25 inches across, a size that wouldn’t be out of reach for the Galaxy S5.




Peering further into the future, Samsung hopes to have UHD (also known as 4K) displays on the market sometime in 2015. While the benefits of such a high resolution display are debatable, Samsung and other display manufacturers are clearly going to push the envelope in this area as much as they can.

Another exciting development in display technology is the launch of bendable and, eventually, foldable displays, which Samsung pegs for the 2014-2016 period. The Galaxy Round, the first curved screen smartphone, is just the first step in that direction, and hopefully we’ll see more interesting designs coming soon.





Camera sensors

Moving on to the other area where electronics manufacturers are engaged in a resolution war, Samsung revealed that, over the next two years, it will launch 16MP Isocell sensors for smartphones.



Isocell is a technology that reduces the amount of light that “bleeds” to neighboring pixels, thus improving sensitivity and image quality in extreme lighting conditions. The first Isocell sensor, an 8MP model, will hit mass production by the end of the year, said Samsung in September.




Application processors

Perhaps the most interesting news coming from the slides that Samsung’s executives used during their Analyst Day presentations concerns Samsung’s processor business. The company will launch a 64-bit SoC application processor based on ARM’s core design sometime next year, but will follow up with an in-house CPU core, similar to Qualcomm’s Krait designs.



This is the first time we get official confirmation that Samsung is moving to custom cores for its Exynos line, though we’ve heard rumors before.



Software

Samsung’s hardware timeline is impressive, but the company is also planning to improve its position in software, the area where it’s been lagging until now. To do so, the conglomerate set aside a massive 50 percent of its R&D budget for software development. To improve its software offerings, Samsung has been hiring software experts and establishing R&D centers around the world, to better address the needs of users in target regions.

The Korean company is the biggest Android manufacturer, but it’s also developing its own operating system, Tizen, and is investing heavily in attracting developers to its own platform, including by holding its first Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Obviously, Samsung’s interest is to project an image of confidence and success, but even so, the sheer scale of its technology development efforts is amazing. The company had a $10.6 billion R&D budget in 2012, and, judging from today’s revelations, it’s not going to lose steam anytime soon.

http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-mobile-technology-2014-314684/

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Samsung is really going stepping up. I love my Galaxy S4, but I will be upgrading to the S5. That display should look really sweet. More storage than my current 16 GB model, OIS cam, higher ram, faster processor and possibly a 5.2 to 5.3 inch screen

JaySoul said:

Interesting read!

The key bit of that for me was "Tizen" - if they are making their own OS, you can tell they are readying to ditch Android and go all out at replicating Apple.

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That would truly be a downer for me and I won't buy the Galaxy S5 if it only had Tizen. If they would allow the phone to dual boot between Android and Tizen, that would be fine, but not if I'm forced to only have have Tizen. No idea if I will like it and I truly doubt that it would be better than Android.

JaySoul said:

I was just reading about Tizen.

Basically, it's the kind of thing that could become a reality in a few years - Samsung and a few other companies are behind it, throwing money at it too.

But that's a BIG call to make, considering how established the App Store and Google Play are.

Apparently that's the trouble Tizen is having at the moment - and any app store is only as good as the developers creating for it.

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Oh I see. Samsung may have more luck putting Tizen in all there very low end smart phones and flood the market with Tizen that way. Then down the road, they can introduce it on their flagship devices.

I'm just happy with the way things are going. I can understand that Samsung wants more control, but this may alienate some of their customers.

ipodlover77 said:

Im curious on how the increase in pixels will translate into everyday usage.

Even right now, the perceivable difference between a iPhone screen, 720p, and 1080p screen is pretty negligible unless you actively try to spot pixels (this is disregarding the fact that 1080p can show more content). If we go WQHD and UD, will there be anything truly noticeable other than how much content the screen could fit? Would the "smoothness" of the pixels be increased or has it already reached a point where we can't even tell anymore.

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Well it's not only about trying to spot the difference in pixels, the increased resolution from 720p to 1080p screens on phones are as noticeable as the the difference between qHD and 720p, even through the increase in resolution is lower.

Once we see the screens with WQHD or UHD, we'll then see what we were missing. Things will be extremely sharp and highly detailed.

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PollyK said:

My next TV will be a 4K TV. My Note 3 already records in 4K. I say bring on the 4K mobile displays. I'm currently recording videos in 4K for when I get my 4K TV in the new year.

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That's the way to do it . Even if you can't see it now, you save the 4k videos, and you can downconvert them to 1080p to see them on your current set up. Then when you get your new UHD TV, you will have a lot more to see. Better to record those moment now in the best quality possible.