Smartphones Kill Switch California

To curb crimes involving smartphones and cell phones, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a historic bill last Monday August 25, 2014 that mandates all phones and smartphones sold in California to be equipped with a “kill switch”, that will turn it inoperable if lost or stolen.

Under the new law, it states that smartphones or other connected devices sold in California must have a method to remotely lock and erase information from a phone, that will render the device useless if stolen. The law will take effect on July 1, 2015. It was passed to curb the rising number of smartphone theft in the California.

If the owner of the phone recovers the device, the owner will still have the capability to restore the functionality and data of the device.

The law will also require the makers to develop a technology that will prevent the device from being requiring for the owner’s identification. It will also require the phone makers to educate and inform the consumers about this new technology.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha

The new Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a very thin, metal-framed Android smartphone it is Samsung's thinnest Android phone.

Samsung's sales is struggling despite the smartphones sales growing by about 27%, this time Samsung wanted a more elegant and more sturdy casing for their Samsung Galaxy Alpha. The smartphone casing is a metal frame and it is 6.7mm thick making it the thinnest Android phone of Samsung. Samsung's Galaxy S5 is 8.1mm thick. The phone is also light weighing just 115 grams.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has a 4.7" HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. It is powered by an Exynos processor with four ARM Cortex-A15 cores that runs at 1.8GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.3GHz, or quad-core 2.5GHz processor.

It runs on Android 4.4.4 (KitKat). It has a 12 megapixel rear main camera and a 2.1 megapixel front camera. It is equipped with a 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, but the storage is not expandable with a microSD card slot. The LTE connection supports download speeds up to 300Mbps, as long as there is a network that can handle it as well. You can also connect through WiFi, USB, and Bluetooth. The smartphone is also equipped with a fingerprint scanner.

The battery is not that impressive, it has a 1,860 mAh battery.

The back panel is removable with a tactile pattern. The colors available are Charcoal Black, Dazzling White, Frosted Gold, Sleek Silver, and Scuba Blue.

The Samsung Galaxy Alpha will go on sale on September.

Asus Transformer Pad TF103

Asus Transformer Pad TF103 is designed to have the mobility of an Android tablet and the function of a small notebook. It is a slick hybrid which has a 10.1-inch display that has a keyboard with a hinge which makes it foldable like a notebook. You can also unhinge the keyboard using a quick release button to transform it into a tablet. It weighs 545 grams and ist 9.9mm thick. It weighs at 985 grams and 19.8mm thick with the keyboard attached.

Asus Transformer Pad TF103 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat with a very clear 1280x800 IPS LCD screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio, vivid colours, wide viewing angles and amazing contrast.

It is powered by a 64-bit Intel Atom 1.3GHz quad-core processor with a 1GB of RAM. It is also equipped with a full-sized USB port for the detachable keyboard. You will also find a micro-USB port on the tablet itself which is also use for charging. It has a plastic body. It has  Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi at 2.4 and 5GHz.

The storage is 16 GB Embedded MultiMediaCard and expandable using a micro-SD slot. Max Supported Capacity is up to 64 GB.

If you are looking for very mobile notebook that can act as a tablet this is a very attractively and affordable choice. It has a low starting price at $299.