Mobile Devices, Tablets & Phones News - Page 1

Technology companies such as Facebook, Google, and many others are currently in talks with the United States government about using mobile location data to track the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.

A new report has come out from The Washington Post, which claims that Facebook and Google are discussing with the U.S. government terms for using everyone's mobile location data to track the spread of the coronavirus. Just last week, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Twitter had a meeting with the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Michael Kratsios. The contents of the meeting weren't disclosed to the public, but it's assumed that this meeting was in regard to the mobile location data.

The United States wouldn't be the first country to implement this strategy of tracking the coronavirus, as Israel has just done the same thing. Many American's could feel uncomfortable if this decision went ahead, and the government began openly tracking everyone's location in real-time as it could pose a privacy violation in many people's eyes.

Countries are doing everything they can to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and one of the ways that the spread if hindered is to have accurate monitoring of the infection.

According to a recent New York Times article, Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, has been given the power to use everyone's mobile data to help battle the coronavirus. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel has given the security agency the new power which will involve the use of mobile users' location. The thinking behind this is that the security agency will be able to retrace the steps of infected person/s and identify other people who should be quarantined.

The new power has been granted to the security agency for the next 30 days, and throughout this 30 days the security agency will be sending text messages to individuals that will be required to quarantine themselves. According to Netanyahu, "We must preserve the balance between individual rights and general needs, and we are doing so." While the use of everyone's data is definitely a violation of privacy, it will be interesting to see whether or not this tactic to speed up the isolation process will be effective or not.

The outright panic over COVID-19 coronavirus is shutting cities down and seeing retailers with empty shelves, schools and mass gatherings banned -- but what about your smartphone?

There are some tips on keeping your smartphone safe, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers your smartphone a "high-touch surface" and thus, makes it a hot spot for coronavirus. You need to clean your smartphone properly, so here is a quick guide on keeping what is most likely your most-used device clean.

What You'll Need

• Water
• Soap
• MagicFiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloths, 6 PACK - $8.99 (Buy from Amazon)

Iron Man and The Avengers star Robert Downey Jr. has been spotted with the unreleased OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone, but there's something important to remember: he's a brand ambassador for OnePlus. Robert Downey Jr. was recently deepfaked into Back to the Future with fellow MCU actor and Spider-Man, Tom Holland.

The actor recently "spotted" in a photo on a photographer's Instagram account, with the new OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone in his hand. But then a Robert Downey Jr. fanpage account re-posted the photo, which shows off the new OnePlus 8 Pro that the actor "accidentally" (in reality: paid endorsement) of the new smartphone.

We're expecting the OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone to rock a 6.5-inch display with a super-slick 120Hz refresh rate, new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, and 5G connectivity. The rear-facing camera system, now thanks to the photo from Iron Man, shows a quad camera setup. We're expecting a high-end main sensor, telephoto lens and ultra-wide lens that will be joined by a Time-of-Flight sensor.

Apple has changed its App Store guidelines, granting apps the ability to send push notifications that contain advertising.

Originally, Apple banned apps from sending notifications to users that contained any form of advertising. Now, the company has altered its App Store guidelines, and now apps can send through push notifications that contain advertisements if the user agrees to it. Apple says that app developers can send marketing notifications when "customers have explicitly opted in to receive them."

This new change has opened the door for iPhone users to be spammed with advertisements from already downloaded apps. Apple doesn't specify if users will have to enable advertisement push notifications from already downloaded apps. An example of this could include Amazon sending push notifications for an upcoming sale. 9to5Mac also found that Apple has set its deadline for when 'Sign In with Apple' will be implemented. This feature is a replica of Google's single system sign-in that allows users to get into new apps quickly.

Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S20 family of smartphones last month at its Unpacked 2020 event, with the new Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra all detailed and showed off to the world. But now? Now we have some teardown action:

The fine folks at iFixit have ripped apart (very carefully), Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone. The teardown video is a nerds BFF, showing off the massive 108-megapixel camera sensor that just on its own is impressive -- it takes up twice the surface area of the 12-megapixel sensor inside of the iPhone 11 series from Apple.

Most of the space inside of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is used up by the required chips -- Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon 865 processor and Snapdragon X55 5G modem, as well as the huge array of camera sensors, circuit boards, and more. Joined in that space being used is the huge 5000mAh battery, too.

Xiaomi has just unveiled the latest and greatest smartphone in its Black Shark family of smartphones, with the introduction of the new Black Shark 3 and Black Shark 3 gaming smartphones.

Inside, they are a powerhouse of mobile greatness -- packing Qualcomm's latest and greatest flagship Snapdragon 865 processor and up to 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 memory.

What the new Black Shark 3 Pro does differently to all other smartphones is that Xiaomi has included two physical pop-up shoulder buttons that are called "Master Buttons". In gaming situations, you can use the 2 x 21mm-wide buttons that raise up from the Black Shark 3 Pro by 1.5mm from the body of the smartphone itself.

Samsung's new Galaxy S20 Ultra has had some testing that I don't think I've ever seen before: a private investigator has used the Galaxy S20 Ultra's flagship 100X Space Zoom camera technology, and really put it to the test.

Michael McKeever, a private investigator, has used Samsung's new Glaaxy S20 Ultra and its 100X Space Zoom feature against the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, Sony HDR-CX190, and a Nikon P100. McKeever has been a private investigator for 30 years, where his go-to for 125x zoom shots was the Nikon P100, but the new Galaxy S20 Ultra is providing some great pictures with 10-30x.

Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S20 Ultra easily beats Apple's iPhone 11 Pro Max in this private investigator testing, as Apple only has 2x optical zoom with its latest flagship smartphone. If you want some great zoom goodness on a new smartphone, Samsung has your back and McKeever provides the goods with this different level of testing.

Walmart is teaming with Verizon to make some big changes to their stores, with the two companies to pack 5G services into two Walmart stores this year. Why? Digital health services.

The faster 5G speeds would allow for Walmart to push digital health services that would include in-store video chats with doctors, and real-time medical data. It would improve your in-store experience by auto-registering you when you arrive, pulling medical data from your file online, and informing staff to restock any products you grab when you're there.

It wouldn't only benefit Walmart and its digital health services push, but it would also be able to provide faster internet speeds to those in the store. I guess you'd be able to walk around on your smartphone with super-fast connection speeds, while it will double as super-fast internet for its digital health services push. Weird flex by Walmart, but alrighty.

LG Display has stopped production at one of its smartphone display factories in Gumi, South Korea -- after a bank worker near the facility itself was tested positive for coronavirus, or COVID-19.

The company is aiming at resuming production at its factory on March 3, but the company hasn't said how much this stop in production will hurt its output of smartphone displays. LG will have its own phones impacted by the temporary production halt, but LG doesn't just make displays for its own smartphones.

LG makes panels for some of Apple's current iPhones, so we might expect some ripples in iPhone supply because of it. Although, it's only a few days so we shouldn't expect too much from this, but it's yet another production issue that coronavirus, or COVID-19 is placing on the technology industry.