Nokia obtains injunction on HTC in Germany over battery saving wireless technology
Last May Nokia announced a serious patent offensive against several companies, one of which is HTC. According to FOSS Patents, today a German court awarded Nokia a patent injunction based on power saving technology it has patents for, and it claims is infringed upon by Qualcomm chips used in HTC’s phones. While some of its other cases in Germany were stayed or dismissed, this ruling could be used by Nokia against HTC even during a potential appeal. We’ll see if this is resolved in the courtroom or by some sort of license agreement, in the meantime we’ve contacted both companies for more information on the latest round of patent lawsuit bingo.
Update: Nokia has responded, mentioning that it has 30 other patents asserted against HTC in the US, UK and Germany, with a US case scheduled to start in two months. You can read its response in full after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Nokia
Source: FOSS Patents
View full post on Engadget RSS Feed
Leave a commentKorean carbon-coated lithium-ion battery could cut recharge times down to minutes
Anyone who’s had to recharge an EV — or, for that matter, any mobile device with a very big battery — knows the pain of waiting for hours while a lithium-ion pack tops up. South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has developed a conduction technique that could cut that charging time down to less than a minute. By dousing the nanoparticle materials of the battery in a graphite solution that’s then carbonized, the researchers make a web of conductors that all start charging at once; current batteries have to charge towards the center slowly, like a not-very-edible Tootsie Pop. The immediate goal is to develop a secondary battery for an EV that could provide extra mileage in a matter of seconds. Here’s hoping that the Ulsan team’s fast-charging battery is more viable than others and spreads to just about everything — we’d love to have EVs and laptops alike that power up in as much time as it takes to fill a traditional car at the pump.
[Image credit: iFixit]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Korean carbon-coated lithium-ion battery could cut recharge times down to minutes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
The Register | 
Yonhap News Agency | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Leave a commentFord, GE and University of Michigan team on sensor to track EV battery life, keep us on the road
Believe it or not, EV battery life is still something of a Pandora’s Box, even for automakers: they can tell you the battery pack’s current and voltage, but not how it’s really performing under pressure. Ford, GE and the University of Michigan are uniting to unlock that mystery through a new ARPA-E project. In its role, GE is developing a minuscule sensor array that will track the nuances of battery cells that existing technology misses; it will promptly hand the baton to researchers at the University of Michigan, who plan to both prove that GE’s data is on the mark as well as develop tricks for predicting behavior. Ford handles the last mile, almost literally: it’s planning to fit the GE sensor technology to one of its cars and test in a more realistic environment. Before you fantasize about knowing the lifespan of your Focus Electric’s battery down to the minute, however, the new alliance is stressing that it’s only just getting started — there’s another three years and $3.1 million to go before the project wraps up. If all goes according to plan, though, we’ll have electric cars and plug-in hybrids that can not only tell when they’ve seen better days but can eke out extra miles through smarter battery designs.
Filed under: Transportation
Ford, GE and University of Michigan team on sensor to track EV battery life, keep us on the road originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Nokia clarifies battery update on Lumia 800, promises audio / camera fixes soon
Nokia already came clean about the Lumia 800 battery bug, but evidently that just wasn’t enough to appease the masses. A community manager in the outfit’s own forums has just responded to pages upon pages of comments regarding the most recent update, partly to (re)set the record straight regarding the battery, and partly to address more fixes that are just around the bend. The latest update (1600.2483.8106.11500) was meant to “enhance standby time as well as to bring an improvement to the issue reported by some customers in December,” and according to Nokia, said update does indeed address those problems. However, folks that still have concerns regarding audio and camera settings aren’t being ignored; those quirks will be worked out in “a series of future updates.” Eager to learn more? The full reply is embedded just after the break.
Continue reading Nokia clarifies battery update on Lumia 800, promises audio / camera fixes soon
Nokia clarifies battery update on Lumia 800, promises audio / camera fixes soon originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink MobileTechWorld | Nokia | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Fisker Karma recall is official, 239 cars will need their battery packs swapped
The folks at Fisker are probably more excited to see the calendar roll over than anyone, as a tumultuous 2011 comes to an and with another setback for the Karma. A battery issue previously thought to affect around 50 cars will actually result in the recall of 239. GigaOM points out an NHTSA notice confirming a problem with the positioning of hose clamps on the high-voltage Li-Ion batteries. It could result in said hoses leaking coolant into the battery creating the risk of an electrical short-circuit (still not seeing how this is a bad thing) and fire (oh), which the company will resolve by replacing the batteries. The recall probably covers everyone out there rolling like Walden Schmidt, since the CEO announced December 21st that 225 cars had been shipped and its factory was producing 25 cars per day. Still, assuming the $96k~ price tag isn’t an issue, would you really let a little thing like potentially bursting into flames keep you away from such a sleek, smooth handling luxury coupe that puts 657hp of hybrid power at your disposal? Neither would we.
Continue reading Fisker Karma recall is official, 239 cars will need their battery packs swapped
Fisker Karma recall is official, 239 cars will need their battery packs swapped originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink GigaOM | NHTSA | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
AMD refreshes E and C-Series Fusion APUs, adds DDR-1333 support, better battery life
Looks like AMD is finally ready to spill the (official) beans on that 1.65GHz E-450 Fusion APU we heard about at Computex, today announcing refreshed chips for its Fusion E and C-series APUs. The updated “Zacate” and “Ontario” APUs sport DDR-1333 and HDMI 1.4a support, snaring bragging rights to faster memory and 3D output for 3D-enabled televisions. The new chips also promise an increased resting battery life — up to 10.5 hours for the E-Series, and a staggering 12 hours on the C-Series. Although it didn’t name any specific manufacturers, AMD says that machines rocking the new APUs are available starting today. Hit the break for the full PR.
AMD refreshes E and C-Series Fusion APUs, adds DDR-1333 support, better battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Stanford researchers create transparent battery, dream of a see-through iPhone (video)
We’ve had about all of the transparent displays we can handle. Besides, what good is a screen you can see through if the electronics behind it are as opaque as ever? Thankfully, the fine folks at Stanford are working hard to move us towards a future filled with invisible gadgets. Yi Cui and Yuan Yang led a team that have created a lithium-ion battery that appears transparent. In actuality, the cells are composed of a very fine mesh of electrodes, approximately 35-microns wide, that are small enough to appear invisible to the naked eye. The resulting power packs are cheap and flexible but, currently, can only store about half as much energy as a traditional Li-ion battery. Cui has a particular destination in mind for creation, as he told the college paper, “I want to talk to Steve Jobs about this. I want a transparent iPhone!” Check out the video after the break.
Stanford researchers create transparent battery, dream of a see-through iPhone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Stanford University News | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Leave a commentMophie Juice Pack Plus ‘more than doubles’ iPhone 4 battery life
Fan of the original 1,500mAh Mophie Juice pack for the iPhone 4? Sure, we certainly were when we reviewed it a few months back. So let us introduce you to the new Mophie Juice Pack Plus featuring a bigger 2,000mAh battery that more than doubles the life of Apple’s non-removable iPhone 4 battery. Unfortunately, the extra oomph bumps the price from $79.95 to $99.95 and adds another 1mm of bulk to the pack — not that a minor size bump should matter too much when you’re already strapping your svelte phone to a battery sled. It’s available now in black with yellow, Engadget Mobile magenta, and classic Engadget cyan coming soon.
Continue reading Mophie Juice Pack Plus ‘more than doubles’ iPhone 4 battery life
Mophie Juice Pack Plus ‘more than doubles’ iPhone 4 battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Apple sues HyperMac battery maker for using patented MagSafe and iPod connectors without approval
Most Mac-wielding Engadget editors have had huge crushes on their HyperMac batteries ever since Apple moved to sealed-in MacBook Pro cells across the line, but there’s a chance the party is over: Cupertino filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against HyperMac manufacturer Sanho earlier this month, claiming that it’s using the patented MagSafe power connector and 30-pin iPhone / iPod dock connector without a license. Ouch. What makes this all the more interesting is that Sanho’s always said it’s using original Apple MagSafe connectors, which would theoretically defeat Apple’s patent claims — once a patent holder sells a product that contains a patented technology, it can be difficult to claim that the patent is being infringed by the use of that product, even if there’s modification involved. (Legal nerds might want to look up “patent exhaustion” here.)
The iPod connector claims might be a little easier for Apple, since we don’t know if Sanho’s using original parts in those cables — and whatever savings it might have accrued by using knockoff connectors are probably going to be wiped out by the costs of this lawsuit. If we had to guess, we’d say Apple’s simply unhappy that Sanho hasn’t joined the lucrative Made for iPhone / Made for iPod / Made for iPad licensing programs that govern use of the connector, and that the MagSafe claim is just additional ammunition to force a settlement — we’ll see what happens, but we’d predict things come to a quick end once Sanho’s lawyers send in the first bill.
Apple sues HyperMac battery maker for using patented MagSafe and iPod connectors without approval originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink AppleInsider | Complaint (PDF) | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
