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First Samsung Galaxy Note 5 rumors hint at crazy 2K or 4K screen

Now that Samsung's Galaxy S6 is out of the gate, the Internet's attention is gravitating towards Samsung's bigger flagship: the Galaxy Note 5. Samsung typically busts out the new Note in September at IFA, but the very first rumors about the phablet are already out, and we expect to see a whole lot more of them ahead of its launch.
Here's what we know so far.

Same jumbo screen with 2K or 4K clarity

Samsung's screens are known for being very bright, colorful, and bold. The Galaxy S6 upped the ante with a super high resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, which is typically referred to as a 2K screen. SamMobile suggests that the Galaxy Note 5 may also have a 2K resolution, but Samsung could also bump the screen up to 4K.
Related: Read our Samsung Galaxy S6 review
If Samsung gives the Note 5 a 4K screen, it would be one of the very first smartphones with that kind of resolution. Of course, the higher the resolution, the more energy the screen will suck from the battery, which is something that typically upsets users. The screen will be Super AMOLED, as usual, and is likely to be the same size as the Note 4's 5.7-inch screen.
Samsung is also expected to reboot the Galaxy Note Edge when it introduces the Note 5. The curved screen is rumored to measure 5.4 or 5.5-inches, and sport two edges. It's unclear whether the edges will be substantial and useable like they were on the first variant, or if they'll be pretty, but useless, like those on the Galaxy S6 Edge.

The processor may be Exynos, Snapdragon, or both

Samsung is currently testing a variety of processors, SamMobile's source says, so it's unclear which chip the company will decide to use in the end. Reports peg Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 as the chip that may power the Note Edge 2, but there are two Samsung Exynos processors in consideration, too.
TheExynos 7422 may power the Note 5, and if it does, it will offer an all-in-one solution (ePoP), which combines the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, and modem on one chip. Another alternative is the Exynos 7430, but it sounds as though that processor isn't ready for use in a mainstream device just yet.

Camera possibilities and more

The Note 5's camera and other specs remain in shadow, but the Edge 2 may have a 16-megapixel back camera with OIS and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Of course, these are early spec reports, so it's possible that the cameras will be entirely different. Another weird spec possibility is offering a Note Edge 2 model with just 16GB of internal storage, which seems unlikely to be true.

 Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

 

Windows 10 is going to be the last major revision of the operating system.

Jerry Nixon, a Microsoft development executive, said in a conference speech this week that Windows 10 would be the "last version" of the dominant desktop software.
His comments were echoed by Microsoft which said it would update Windows in future in an "ongoing manner".
Instead of new stand-alone versions, Windows 10 would be improved in regular instalments, the firm said.
Mr Nixon made his comments during Microsoft's Ignite conference held in Chicago this week.
In a statement, Microsoft said Mr Nixon's comments reflected a change in the way that it made its software.
"Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner," it said, adding that it expected there to be a "long future" for Windows.

'No Windows 11'

The company said it had yet to decide on what to call the operating system beyond Windows 10.
"There will be no Windows 11," warned Steve Kleynhans, a research vice-president at analyst firm Gartner who monitors Microsoft.
He said Microsoft had in the past deliberately avoided using the name "Windows 9" and instead chose Windows 10 as a way to signify a break with a past which involved successive stand-alone versions of the operating system.
However, he said, working in that way had created many problems for Microsoft and its customers.
"Every three years or so Microsoft would sit down and create 'the next great OS'," he said.

Microsoft has developed the HoloLens augmented reality system for use with Windows 10

"The developers would be locked away and out would pop a product based on what the world wanted three years ago."Microsoft also had to spend a huge amount of money and marketing muscle to convince people that they needed this new version, and that it was better than anything that had come before, he explained.
Moving to a situation in which Windows is a constantly updated service will break out of this cycle, and let Microsoft tinker more with the software to test new features and see how customers like them, he added.

'Positive step'

Most of the revenue generated by Windows for Microsoft came from sales of new PCs and this was unlikely to be affected by the change, Mr Kleynhans pointed out.
"Overall this is a positive step, but it does have some risks," he said.
"Microsoft will have to work hard to keep generating updates and new features, he said, adding that questions still remained about how corporate customers would adapt to the change and how Microsoft would provide support.
"It doesn't mean that Windows is frozen and will never move forward again," Mr Kleynhans told the BBC.
"Indeed we are about to see the opposite, with the speed of Windows updates shifting into high gear."

 A Way to Get Much-Higher-Resolution Selfies

 

A startup called Light uses a cluster of small camera modules to create top-notch photos. First stop: Your smartphone. 

A rendering of what a smartphone containing a Light camera might look like from the back.

Most digital cameras are limited by a key aspect of their design: they have one lens and one image sensor. Light hits the lens and is directed at the sensor to produce a picture. A photography startup called Light is not making most digital cameras, though.
Rather than hewing to this one-to-one ratio, Light aims to put a bunch of small lenses, each paired with its own image sensor, into smartphones and other gadgets. They’ll fire simultaneously when you take a photo, and software will automatically combine the images. This way, Light believes, it can fit the quality and zoom of a bulky, expensive DSLR camera into much smaller, cheaper packages—even phones.
Light is still in the early stages, as it doesn’t yet have a prototype of a full product completed. For now it just has camera modules whose pictures can be combined with its software. But the startup says it expects the first Light cameras, with 52-megapixel resolution, to appear in smartphones in 2016.
Light plans to announce a deal on Tuesday with Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer. Foxconn is licensing Light’s technology for use in mobile devices and is investing an undisclosed amount in the company. (Last year, Light raised $9.7 million from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners and Charles River Ventures.)
Light is taking advantage of radical declines in the cost, weight, and size of optics that have happened as smartphones took over the cell phone market and, for many people, became their go-to camera. Unlike costly camera lenses that are made of glass, most smartphone camera lenses are made of plastic that’s stamped from molds. It is a much cheaper process, but the quality of images may not be as good. And you rarely see optical zoom squished onto a smartphone camera. Instead such devices use digital zoom, enlarging a portion of the image.
I got an inkling of what Light is up to in its office in Palo Alto, California, where an open-face metal box roughly the size of a rearview mirror sat on a conference table. It contained an array of 16 camera modules with focal lengths of 35, 70, and 150 millimeters, and tiny cables sticking up in the air like tadpole tails. The modules are operational, I was told, and were meant to show the kind of array the startup envisions being used in self-driving cars or home security cameras.
Each module was laid on its side, and I could see how light would come in from above, reflect off a mirror, and travel down the lens barrel to an image sensor.

An array of Light’s small camera modules could make it cheaper to fit high-resolution images into relatively small electronics, like smartphone and surveillance cameras.

The idea, Light cofounder and chief technology officer Rajiv Laroia explains, is that when you take a picture with a Light camera it’s taking several pictures at the same time from slightly different perspectives (though it won’t show them to the user). The level of zoom that the user selects determines which modules will fire when he takes a picture, and where the mirror contained in each module moves to capture light. It could aim for light straight ahead, or off at an angle, for instance. The resulting shots are then digitally combined in a way that emulates a much bigger camera lens.
The software should also make it possible to adjust the focus on photos after they’ve been taken—a trick that also is possible with a camera from Lytro (see “10 Breakthrough Technologies 2012: Light-Field Photography”). Lytro does this, however, by placing an array of lenses atop one image sensor.
Light didn’t show me any working camera arrays, though I did see an image of one of the company’s engineers that was shot with a test array of four eight-megapixel sensors and combined with software. In a close-up of her face, her hair and the background were quite sharp.
Getting this kind of clarity on a smartphone may satisfy shutterbugs, but it also would likely require the devices to be chunkier. Light says that embedding its camera module in a smartphone would make the overall device about as thick as a current smartphone in a case—running counter to the ever-slimmer trend for handsets. And it’s likely to make phones more expensive, too. Light CEO Dave Grannan expects a camera using Light’s technology to add about $50 to $60 to the bill of materials for the phone, which is much higher than the cost of the cameras on current high-end handsets like the iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
David Brady, leader of Duke University’s imaging and spectroscopy program and CEO of a camera-array company called Aqueti, says Light’s idea is a good one, though a number of companies have so far failed to commercialize similar technology.
He also points out that there’s currently no good way for the average person to share very high-resolution photos, which generate very big files. Though you may take a photo today with an eight-megapixel camera, when you post it on Facebook, your friends will see a much lower-resolution image.
Still, he says, “There’s no question what they’re doing is the future of cameras.”