Blue Earth – The phone made from recycled water bottles

Have you heard of a phone made from recycled water bottles? That too, with all the features of the latest 3G phone sold in the market? Add a touch screen feature as well to it, if you will..  Well, Blue Earth is one such earth friendly mobile phone..

In an attempt to help consumers be more eco-friendly, Samsung has come up with the Samsung Blue Earth, a pebble-shaped, solar-powered touchscreen phone. The Blue Earth is free from harmful substances such as beryllium and phthalates, and is made out of recycled water bottles. On the back of the Samsung Blue Earth, you’ll find a solar panel designed to harness the sun’s energy and pump it into the phone’s battery. To add to the Samsung Blue Earth’s green credentials, there’s easy access to controls for screen brightness and backlight duration, as well as an energy-efficient Bluetooth mode, so that you can save power. It even features an ‘eco walk’ function that uses a built-in pedometer to show you by how much walking, instead of driving, reduces CO2 emissions. Samsung is also keen to point out that the Samsung Blue Earth’s packaging is made from recycled paper and the charger uses less than 0.03W in standby mode.

(Source: http://samsungblueearth.com/)

A few more pics:

 

Long Time No See!!

It has been really really long since I posted last..

So many things happened.. So many changes.. So many new experiences.. Started a new phase of my life.. etc etc…

First of all.. I graduated.. Yay!! I am now a M.S. degree holder .. hehe

I will explain in brief about what I have been upto. I hope to post in detail about a few of them in the near future.

July was a month full of tours.. First week, I went to the biggest theme park in Korea, called Everland and Caribbean Bay (Owned by Samsung).

A few pics from these places (taken from public domain)

Everland

Caribbean Bay

Then the following week, I happened to visit Jeju Island which is also considered as the most beautiful place in Korea. It has been two years since I came to korea, but I never got a chance to visit Jeju so far. As I have heard many stories about the place, I would be lying if i said I was not looking forward to the trip. The trip was for 4days 3 nights, and we also climbed the tallest mountain in Korea, Hallasan Mountain. It is a dormant volcano with a huge crater on the top. The total distance covered on foot was about 19km. Other than the mountain, we also went to various beaches and stayed in beach side cottages.

Jeju Island

Then in the third week of July was my trip to Japan. I thought Korea was pollution free, but after my trip to Japan (for a week), I could really feel the not-so-noticeable but still existent pollution in Korea. Japan was THAT CLEAN!! The weather was hot and humid though. We stayed in Tokyo and went to places like Kamakura (through the seaside railways), Odaiba, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Disney Sea etc.

Japanese cuisine is awesome.. Udong (Thick noodles) was the best I have ever had (after having eaten different varieties of udong from Korea). On a cultural facet, the experience was really touching. The humility of the people was something that was striking. But one thing which caught my eye was Japanese fashion sense. They had a comic-book kind of fashion idea. I believe that resembling comic-book characters is the current fashion trend among youngsters.

I will write a separate post with details and pics from Japan in the near future.

Then came the fourth week of July, I went to my home sweet home.. Spent about 50 days there and then came back to Korea on 11th September 2009.

Those were the most diverse and exciting four weeks in my entire life..

I joined Samsung in mid september and that was the beginning of a new phase of my life. I work in the WiMAX/LTE System Lab in the R&D Department of Samsung Digital Media and Communications Division. The team is pretty good and the team members are really kind. I hope that I can do my best here and work hard to have a good professional career.

Keeping fingers crossed!!

Best(est) Mobile Phone the World has EVER Seen!

First things first… let’s see what this fuss is all about.. Shall We ??? 🙂 Here you go without much more of a suspense…

By the end of this post.. You will understand why the title is so…

Hmm .. So you are here to know why is Haptic2 the best mobile phone anyone could ever have ?? 🙂 Bought today, the Samsung Haptic2 (A Computer/Mobile Phone/Television/Video and Music Player that fits in your palm) is the best mobile phone(?) ever produced by ANY COMPANY (Yes including Apple’s iPhone, which should be history thanks to Haptic2, and supposed to be a revolution because of which it is used as a benchmark)..

You will ask why ??? Here goes the answer…

Green => This feature is better than (or absent in) iPhone

Red => This feature is better in Apple iPhone

Here comes an incomplete overview of the some of the wonderful features in this “small” package called Haptic2:

Cost: 30% Cheaper than Apple iPhone 8GB Model

Screen: 3.2 Inch (240 x 400 resolution) 262K Color TFT LCD Touchscreen Display. (Touchscreen: Use your hand or use a stylus, choice is up to you, Size: Slightly smaller that of IPhone which stands @ 3.5 inches)

Design: Slim and Sleek Design boasting levels of elegance never seen before (See for yourself with more pictures coming in my next post)

3G Enabled: Yes with HSDPA Support with 7.2 Mbps max. download speed (Refer Wiki for more Details 🙂 .. )

Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0, No WiFi (but supports internet via 3G.. I have been using it and its pretty good as well)

Camera: 5 Mega Pixel Auto-focus Camera with Flash and Image Stabilization

Memory: 4GB internal Memory in SCH-W550 and 16GB Flash memory in SCH-W555 model (Expandable by a maximum of 8 GB by a Micro SDHC Card by spending about another $25)

Mobile Telivision: T-DMB with TV recording (For the uninformed – This enables us to watch and record the regular TV channels on the phone)

Radio: FM Radio, DAB with recording (I fail to understand why Apple doesnt include such a trivial feature as FM, in their products)

Music: MP3 playback

Recording: Voice, Video and TV Recording

Video Support: Support for all major kinds of video formats.

Input Specialities: Handwriting Recognition for SMS, MMS and Dictionary

Widget Support for customizable desktop about 50 widget applications supported (Can be seen in the video in my next post)

G Sensor (Gravity Sensor) – Senses the orientation of the phone. This feature is pretty useful, for example you want to browse through a list of pictures, instead of dragging, just ttil the phone in the desired direction and the pics will automatically scroll. Suppose you want to play a game of dice, Just shake the mobile phone, the dice get randomized (See examples in the videos below). The g-response is much better than iPhone (I have used both and tested them for this feature)

Personalized Vibration : Touch feedback makes the mobile phone user experience more sensory, intuitive, useful, and fun. With this feature, users feel exhilarating force feedback in mobile games, similar to that found in console games, unmistakable confirmation in response to touchscreen, keypad, and button presses, as well as unique caller IDs with distinct vibrations that reveal who is calling even when the sound is turned off.

From its “My own haptic” menu, Haptic 2 allows users to create personalized haptic effects through a graphical user interface based on the conventions of Immersion’s VibeTonz Studio authoring tool for developers. Users can touch and drag icons representing wave shape, duration, and intensity to create distinctive vibrational patterns. These creations allow them to personalize their phones with unique haptic experiences, such as assigning them as non-audible ring tones that signal incoming calls. (Quoted from: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Samsung-Haptic-2-Is-the-First-Phone-to-Use-VibeTonz-System-96336.shtml)

On-Demand Speak Out Translation: The mobile can speak for you when you go to other countries. Select the conversation you want to be translated from a huge list of possibilities, then select the target language and press a button.. The phone speaks for you .. It cant decode the reply yet.. Probably a firmware upgrade would fix that as well ..

Others: GSM/CDMA/3G (with USIM) equipped, Video Call, Multi-touch Touch Screen, Dictionary, 125g weight, VOD, MOD, Subway Map search (Really useful, finds out who to go between two points, where to transfer, shortest door to transfer, time taken for journey, cost … ), Mobile Banking, Mobile Printing, 3.5mm Headset Jack (Now on.. You can use your fav headset with this phone and not depend on the ridiculously expensive and flimsy ones that should be bought from the same company)

Now you know why .. I have tried to be as fair as possible in listing the features.. If you think any of the wonderful features of iPhone has not been included, then thats because I did not know it. Write it as a comment and I will include it appropriately…

I will post some pictures and videos with UI in the next post so that you could see Haptic2 in action .. 🙂

Signing off as the happiest man on earth … 🙂

Kiran

What Samsung Employees Do in their “Break Time”!

Absolutely no words necessary.. The videos below would explain everything. And trust me, the participants are not professional artists. They are the regular engineering and management guys (yes including the ones in coats and suites) who just likes to have some fun. I wish i could join it next year when I become a regular employee here. It seems like a lot of fun.. See and you will know why…

Li’l more info:

How? The employees take one month break for the preparation for this event. Daily practice morning to night.

Venue? A Holiday Resort

Budget? Some Million of Dollars.

When? July-August every year

Why? To promote unity and to welcome freshmen (How much more can a fresh entrant expect as a welcome party?)

The audio is in Korean.. Just enjoy the Visual feast ..:)

Would appreciate your comments on this one.. What say ??

Adios…

Maiden Experience @ Samsung Electronics HQ

Last Thursday I started my Internship @ Samsung Electronics, Suwon, Korea. The work starts at 8 am and we were asked by the HR to be there at that time for the orientation. As I am the biggest sleeper anyone could ever see in this mortal world, I was really really not happy about the timings. Adding to this herculean task of waking up early, the distance from my home to Samsung (about 1 Hr 15 minutes) added to the “torture”. Essentially.. I had to wake up around 5:30 am, go to the bus stop in SNU by 6:20, meet other interns from SNU, take a bus to the Nakseongdae Subway Station, then a subway to Sadang and from Exit 1 of Sadang Subway Station, take the samsung shuttle bus to Suwon. In the evening, start from samsung around 6 pm after dinner. Reach SNU around 7, go to gym and come to room around 9 and sleep around 10:30. This is my daily schedule these days.

Anyhoo, post forewords, let me get into the my first day @ Samsung. We reached Suwon at about 7 30 am and got down in front of the main gate. From there we walked to Building R-3 where we were supposed to meet Ms. Lee Woo Jin (an SNU Business Administration Graduate herself). We met her and got our ID cards and were allotted into separate divisions. Since my boss was busy in the morning, I was requested to go to the Samsung Library for passing time. Without a word of opposition (Why would i? 🙂 ..) i went to the library and whiled my time reading magazines. I remembered the time i spent in IIIT library, where i would go for supposedly studying, but in the end find me spending time either sleeping or reading misc. magazines. 🙂

After a not-so-great-but-not-so-bad-either indian lunch, I was guided to meet my labmates and my mentor. I met my mentor, greeted him and started talking about my background. I guess my lab contained about 100 – 200 people divided into various teams. After a while, my mentor asked his friend to introduce me to all the team members (about 40). Post, he took me to my table. I was given a seat next to another Indian (from Orissa). Contrary to the “myths”, inspite of me being in the Engineering Division, i was able to find a fair proportion of males and females. All my team mates were friendly and I guess i was the youngest in the whole lab of 100-200 people. Hence I was given the youngest-student treatment. While i was making myself adjusted to the environment, my mentor came with a wet cloth and started cleaning my table. I objected to that and requested him to give it to me and i started cleaning my table myself. You know, i suck at cleaning.. 🙂 Hence my mentor mocked me (with humor) and told “you dont know how to clean a desk.. give it to me.. I will do it.” and he took the wet towel and cleaned my desk.

The next thing i did was to go to my mentor’s table which is in the same room, just a few rows away. I saw that he had a very similar setting to what I or for that matter anyone else has. Similar chair and he was just another engineer among all of us (Atleast i thought so at first.)

Then came the lightning strike. I came to know that he was my boss. WOW! I was so surprised and flattered. Where i had expected a diabolical (metaphorically speaking) character, he was much much nicer. My boss, helped me clean my table. My boss sits among all the others, without a special cabin with all extra facilities (as i had seen in companies in India where we could know whose the boss by the air around him.. Please correct me if this is not the general case back home). I was really surprised at his humility. He was such a nice person and a wonderful individual. Never even once did he have the “i-am-the-boss” air around him and many times i saw him joking around with others. The division which i was working in is one of the most profitable divisions in the whole of Samsung Electronics. and now i know why! 🙂

After giving me some work, he asked me if i had time in the evening to join them for a group dinner (outside Samsung, in a restaurant) and around 5:30 pm, we went to the restaurant which was followed by a social drinking party. In the meanwhile, i was introduced to my boss’s boss as well. I must say.. I was flattered by his simplicity as well. Even him, the boss’s boss sat among all us “lesser-mortals” and did not seem to demand those “extra-luxuries” like an own cabin, flamboyant amenities etc. which he actually, in all rights, could have had under his grasp. He was among us and wanted to be treated like us. This way he gains true respect, even from me who was just one day old in my job. Truly remarkable. I am continuously impressed by one character in people around me here, thats Humility.

People always think, that in such companies, people work from 7 am to midnight. I wont say that it is completely false but from what i see, here the bosses lead from the front and they lead by example and not load by example. This really motivates us to work like him and the harmonious family-like environment is the delicious topping. He comes early and he goes late. Not kidding, I am really happy and lucky to be here!

And yeah .. none of the websites are blocked here. All websites and chat clients are accessible at all times. 🙂 They trust you and expect you to live up to their trust that you wont waste much time surfing. They don’t make you work by imposing restrictions on various aspects of your work-life, rather motivates you by leading you from the front. Am really looking forward to be a regular part of this team from September next year when I would be absorbed into Samsung Electronics Mainstream. I am sure that there are more companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo etc. who treats the employees similarly but i just wish how great it would have been, if ALL the companies followed suit. The productivity would then simply soar into the clouds exceeding predictable limits!