3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

Swiss Post Looks to Implement Drone Deliveries
UMi Hammer 64-bit Android Smartphone Exhibits Toughness
Huawei introduces the P8 and P8 Max

Swiss Post Looks to Implement Drone Deliveries

Posted: 23 Apr 2015 01:50 PM PDT

Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery system is still in development, and on the other side of the pond the Swiss Post is looking to deliver mail and small packages using such flying robots.

Switzerland’s postal service doesn’t work alone on this matter, as it’s getting plenty of help from Matternet, a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles who has made a purpose from turning drone deliveries into a reality. In order “to clarify the legal framework, consider local conditions and explore the technical and business capabilities of the drones,” Matternet will start testing the drone delivery system this summer.

The drone manufacturer will surely have several drone models in its portfolio by the time the system gets the green light from the local authorities. In the meantime, though, there’s only ONE. Arguably, they could have chosen a better name for their first UAV, but more important than the name is the actual functionality.

The ONE can carry packages of up to 1 kg over a distance of 20 km without needing a recharge. Considering that in most cities post offices have a range of action that’s much smaller than 10 km (the drone would have to return, wouldn’t it?), there shouldn’t be any problems in delivering envelopes and light parcels, provided they’re not too voluminous.

“Our product is vertically integrated into a complete transportation solution. Swiss Post comes to us, we supply them all the technology (drones, landing pads, batteries, charging stations, cloud software) and they just focus on operations,” explained Andreas Raptopoulos, co-founder of Matternet (the other one being Paola Santana). “Quadcopters may be the biggest invention in vehicle technology since the internal combustion engine. They allow us to build vehicles that are extremely simple mechanically and are 90%+ software which is bound to improve dramatically over then next 3-5 years. Things like weather performance, performance in GPS-denied environments, ‘sense and avoid,’ etc. will make these vehicles way more robust and useful by the end of the decade. This platform will allow software to eat transportation”

I’m fairly certain that drones will get to play a major role in our lives that goes well beyond mail delivery. It would be great if there were charging stations for drones, so that they can cover greater distances without having to fear that they might not make it back.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the biological drones that could explore the surface of Mars, or the Zano selfie drone.

UMi Hammer 64-bit Android Smartphone Exhibits Toughness

Posted: 23 Apr 2015 01:10 PM PDT

Chinese smartphone manufacturer UMi has concluded that releasing only a few devices and focusing on providing a good software experience is much better than launching an endless number of phones with minimal software support.

UMi likes to think things through and to build a community around its devices, with people that discuss ways of improving the software, and so on. To prove that it is not locked onto a single ROM, UMi worked on creating alternatives, and even developed RootJoy, a piece of software for Windows to enable people to flash new ROMs to their UMi phones with greater ease. Last year, it launched UMi Zero, a device that provided excellent value for the price, despite lacking 4G LTE. Now, the company looked to correct its mistakes by launching a sturdy 64-bit smartphone that can withstand pretty harsh use conditions.

The durable alloy chassis, combined with the Corning Gorilla Glass-protected screen, hint at why this smartphone is named Hammer. The dual glass and the aluminum frame make the device not only very durable, but also very good looking.

Under the hood, this dual-SIM Android 4.4 smartphone packs Mediatek’s MT6732A 64-bit chipset that includes a quad-core CPU running at 1.5Ghz and a Mali-450 GPU clocked at 700Mhz. The 2GB of RAM Hammer comes with are enough to ensure smooth multitasking. In terms of storage, the phone packs 16GB of internal memory that are furthermore expandable via a microSD card of up to 64GB.

While most of the other Chinese manufacturer are going for 5.5″ HD displays these days, UMi is convinced that a 5-inch screen is better, from several points of view. First of all, the pixel density is higher, and secondly, there’s a much smaller pressure on the 2250mAh battery. Sure, that capacity could’ve been larger, but with proper optimization, it could still provide juice for more than just a day.

As far as the cameras are concerned, the Hammer sports a 13MP camera on the back, along with dual LED flash, and a 3.2MP camera in the front. These might represent the main drawbacks of this otherwise good smartphone. The decent performance and the prospect of a future update to Android 5.0 Lollipop should determine most people to overlook this aspect, though.

UMi Hammer is currently available on 1949deal for $126.99, if you apply the coupon code 1949deal0808 at checkout.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Bluboo X550, an Android 5.1 smartphone with a 5300mAh battery, or the Elephone P3000S with 3GB of RAM.

Huawei introduces the P8 and P8 Max

Posted: 23 Apr 2015 12:14 PM PDT

Huawei have released their flagships for this 2015, and seem to be ready to take the big guys at Apple and Samsung head on with their P8 and P8 MAX.

The Huawei P8 and P8 MAX were introduced in London, where the company explained their vision and philosophy of putting these bad boys at the top of the performance and design departments – learn more about them in this feature!

The P8 possesses a 5,2 inches screen, and can work with two 4G LTE SIM cards - an option that seemed to be appearing only in mid-tier phones, but Huawei seem convinced it will be a hit in their flagship. There exists a prototype that carries only one SIM, though, but it would only be released in case operators refuse to sell the first model

This device sports a 64 bit HiSilicon Kirin 930/935 procesor with 8 cores. Also, runs on 3 GB RAM, and uses the same camera as the previous model, with a 13 Mpx rear one and a 8 Mpx front one – same as the Huawei P7. The main camera in the set, though, includes an independent processor for images and optical stabilization software running on it – all of this feeding on a 2600 mAh battery that allows for the best performance.

The Huawei P8 is retailing for some 500 Euros for its 32 GB version, and 600 for the 64 GB one – but we don’t know as of now whether or not this is arriving to the Americas. The one final detail of note is that, in order to compete with the iPhone 6 Plus or thee Galaxy Note 4, Huawei introduced the P8 MAX, a 6,8 inch monster with a 4360 mAh battery, capable of going without recharging for a couple of days of regular use, according to what the company promises. Running on the same hardware as the regular P8, the P8 MAX will cost either 550 Euros or 650 depending on storage capacity.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Huawei Might Be Making the Next Nexus Phone and Huawei's new gadgets from MWC 2015.