81: Red Star's R&D Department

Shen Rou's words left the several people in the research lab a bit dazed.

Does it matter how many sound holes are on the speaker?

This President Chen actually specifically asked Assistant Shen to check how many sound holes there were.

Isn't this just looking for work when there's nothing better to do?

Who would care about how many sound holes are on it?

"President Chen, why check this? There were 9,527 sound holes when the mold was made; is there some special meaning?"

Facing Professor Cheng's inquiry, Chen Chen didn't say it clearly, only smiling slightly.

When it comes to research, a hundred of me couldn't compare to you.

But when it comes to promotional copy, a hundred of you might not be able to beat me.

"There's a lot of knowledge behind the number of sound holes. You'll find out when the product is launched."

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

At Chen Chen's call, the speaker emitted a crisp electronically synthesized voice.

"I want to hear 'Carrot Whiskers' by Wu Gao."

"Okay, now playing 'Carrot Whiskers' by Wu Gao." Immediately, Wu Gao's singing came from the speaker.

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"Stop playing."

Chen Chen turned around and said to Cheng Wenfei:

"The recognition rate is decent; it recognized me every time just now."

Cheng Wenfei also smiled, "That's because President Chen's Mandarin is standard. If it were me, the success rate wouldn't be that high."

This Cheng Wenfei, if nothing else, Chen Chen quite liked the way he spoke. Last time he let Chen Chen name it, and now he was quietly sucking up a bit.

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"Turn on the air purifier and set it to automatic mode."

"Okay, operation complete."

Chen Chen nodded. Regardless of whether it was smart enough, at least these basic things were done.

Continuous dialogue was out of the question for now; it definitely couldn't be done yet. Every command required saying the wake word once.

"Like this: later we need to add various different timbres and allow for custom wake words. As for this version, let's leave it as is for now. There's still some time before release, so keep optimizing. If there's anything regarding production, contact CEO Lu Weiqi or just go to Assistant Shen."

"Mhm, CEO Lu has already contacted the factory; production can start at any time."

Although this smart speaker was under the name of a research lab, it was different from the fast charging and battery labs; it could be considered a separate Artificial Intelligence department.

Chen Chen intended to continue increasing investment in this department in the future. No one knew better than him how much influence AI would have on the future.

"Assistant Shen, take that line 'We are far ahead' I said at the previous press conference, clip the audio, and have Professor Cheng write this audio into the system."

"If a user asks what Chen Chen says, play this 'We are far ahead' line."

Several Engineers in the lab who heard Chen Chen speak looked like they wanted to laugh but didn't dare. Fearing they might burst, Chen Chen said directly, "It's fine, laugh if you want. This counts as an easter egg."

"Believe it or not, users will definitely ask this after they buy it."

After saying that, he started laughing first.

It was his own fault for not releasing an album. If he had an album, he could just have this little star play it, and he wouldn't need this 'We are far ahead' line.

"Hahaha, haha, President Chen is too funny."

"Haha, 'What does Chen Chen say', that's so interesting."

Several Engineers laughed out loud and asked Chen Chen, "President Chen, will users really ask that?"

"How could it be fake? There's nothing users won't ask that you can't imagine."

"So our large model needs to go online as soon as possible, so that little star doesn't get stumped by any random question from a user."

When leaving the Artificial Intelligence lab, Chen Chen began to ponder the future of these labs that were growing larger and larger in personnel.

Red Star mainly had eight major research departments.

First was the processor department. Previously, this department was under the R&D department, but after Chen Chen arrived, it was established as a separate department reporting directly to Chen Chen and Lu Weiqi.

But looking at it now, it was still far from enough. The entire department now had about 300 people, making it the one with the most people and the strictest site requirements among Red Star's many research departments.

Now, the entire Red Star campus had no suitable place to build a new site for this department. It might really be necessary to spin off the chip department, just like Huawei did.

To establish a new semiconductor company.

The second was the Artificial Intelligence lab he just left, which would be mainly responsible for AI research and development in the future.

The third and fourth were the original fast charging group. Since the Yangtze River Battery came out, Chen Chen split this group into two specialized departments, responsible for fast charging and battery R&D respectively.

This year, the fast charging lab had already successfully pushed the fast charging power to 120W and began adapting chargers for the latest charging technology. This was currently the only technology where Red Star Mobile Phone led the world, and their development was very important to Chen Chen.

Now this department was also developing existing wireless charging technology, which had reached 5W. However, Chen Chen felt that 5W was too low; it would take nearly ten hours to fully charge a phone, which had no practical significance.

It wasn't like Red Star was the first manufacturer to use wireless charging technology; it had existed for decades, even tracing back to Tesla's time.

In his view, if your wireless charging power wasn't at least 20W, you shouldn't even show it to anyone. Otherwise, with wired at over 60W and wireless at 10W, it would be embarrassing and detrimental to the promotion of wireless charging.

Chen Chen knew that in the future, phone screens would get bigger, processor performance stronger, and various functions would appear, and of course, they would consume more power. This placed higher demands on charging and batteries.

The fifth was the Xingyao OS system department. After Chen Chen started the self-developed operating system project, this department ballooned from a few dozen people to over 400 now.

This department was not only responsible for the R&D of the new system but also for the adaptation, maintenance, and development of Xingyao OS for new models.

The sixth lab was the camera department, mainly responsible for refining sensors and adapting camera algorithms.

This was also a new department formed by Chen Chen integrating the original camera algorithm optimization department from the system department after he arrived.

Mobile photography, isn't it just computational photography? Excellent sensors and excellent algorithms are both indispensable. Otherwise, if you only have a good sensor, what does it matter how realistic the photos are?

They aren't pleasing to the eye!

Now the camera department's main task was to optimize various algorithms to make photos pleasing to users first, before thinking about other things.

Of course, besides algorithm optimization and sensor refinement, this department also had to handle the development of camera functions, giving mobile cameras more features and ways to play.

Another department that used to be part of the unified Red Star Research Lab was the screen lab.

Initially, Red Star didn't have this department because the phones they made were low-end, and the screens were whatever the suppliers provided.

After Chen Chen brought out that 1080p screen technology, he established a separate screen research department, mainly responsible for optimizing mobile screens.

Last year, the Kunpeng 2nd Generation had the lead with the first 1080p screen. This year, everyone was using 1080p screens, so with the same screen, Red Star's software optimization and refinement through the screen lab would naturally make it slightly better than other companies' 1080p screens.

This department also had the responsibility of developing mobile screen panels, with a branch at Huaxing Optoelectronics, serving as a joint lab.

Besides that, like the phone development department, as a mobile phone company, this department was definitely indispensable.

Finally, there was Red Star's materials and structure department.

This department's work was also very important, involving the use and refinement of external screen materials and the selection of back cover materials.

Like the Kunlun Glass and Dragon Crystal Ceramics that would be praised to the skies in later generations, they were all masterpieces of the materials and structure department.

Of course, whether Dragon Crystal Ceramics was actually ceramic or glass, Chen Chen didn't know.

However, the ceramics used by Red Star in the future would definitely be real ceramics, because the materials lab was currently co-developing Microcrystalline nano-zirconia ceramics with suppliers.