Mobile Devices - Page 110

Samsung is dealing with the Galaxy Note 7 issues, leading the South Korean electronics giant to halt production of its 5.5-inch phablet, and now Apple is going through some of its own issues.

Apple's latest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are reportedly experiencing storage-related issues, with the smaller 32GB models radically slower than their 128GB counterparts. The new iPhone 7 Plus 32GB is capable of writing at ~4MB/sec, while the larger 128GB model is capable of flying at ~30MB/sec, for comparisons sake - the iPhone 6S Plus 64GB pushes ~20MB/sec.

When it comes to read speeds, the iPhone 7 Plus 32GB model pushes ~7MB/sec, while the 128GB model is capable of ~9MB/sec and the older 6S Plus 64GB model is pushing around ~6MB/sec. Basemark's Pass Mark benchmark was used, transferring a 3.3GB file which took 52 seconds on the iPhone 7 Plus 32GB, the iPhone 7 128GB does it in a super-quick 17 seconds, and the older iPhone 6S Plus 64GB in 60 seconds.

Last week we reported Pixel phones bought through Google partner Verizon would receive updates through Verizon, with the assumption they'd be late as is typically the case. Verizon however has assured that updates will occur simultaneously.

"All operating system and security updates to the Pixel devices will happen in partnership with Google. In other words, when Google releases an update, Verizon phones will receive the same update at the same time (much like iOS updates)," a spokesperson for the company said. "Verizon will not stand in the way of any major updates and users will get all updates at the same time as Google."

Verizon also notes their version is carrier unlocked and sports just three pre-installed apps, all of which are easily uninstalled.

A stunning video emerged last week showing the video capabilities of the Pixel XL camera. As noted in the previous article, there was a chance the video is fake, and now it has been confirmed that video is indeed fake.

Ron8it user thought it would be fun to steal a video originally posted on Vimeo by Ruben Sanchez and try to sell it as his own shot with a Google's Pixel XL. The video is indeed stunning, but it doesn't show how good the Pixel XL camera is. Instead, it shows the capabilities of the Panasonic GH4.

As stated under the original video, it was shot in 4K UHD on a Panasonic GH4, with Lumix and Nikon lenses. The YouTube user that "borrowed" the video has removed it in the mean time. It also poses questions about his other videos, allegedly showing the wonders of the iPhone 7 Plus camera.

Samsung has confirmed that it is permanently stopping the production of the Galaxy Note7 devices. The announcement comes not even a day after they stopped the sale of its smartphone Galaxy Note7 and invited all of their users to turn off the devices until they investigate the new reports of the replacement devices blowing up.

The South Korean company confirmed their decision to stop the production for the sake of consumer safety.

"Putting consumer safety as the top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of the Galaxy Note7."

The South Korean company has stopped the sale of its smartphone Galaxy Note7 and invited all of its users to turn off the devices until they investigate the new reports of the replacement devices blowing up.

Leading American and Australian mobile operators have stopped the sale of replacement Galaxy Note7 devices on Monday, while airlines reiterated that they prohibit passengers the use of these devices, after last week's evacuation of a Southwest Airlines flight when a Galaxy Note7 blew up.

The world's leading smartphone manufacturer announced on Monday in a statement asking all global operators to stop selling the Note7 devices and users to exchange the device for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge until they investigate this problem.

Google spent a lot of time talking about the amazing camera on their new Pixel phone, calling it the "best smartphone camera ever made."

The camera of the Pixel and Pixel XL features a 12.3MP sensor with f/2.0, and during the presentation, they showed some amazing photos and videos adding that the speed of the camera and incredible video stabilization technology are very important.

One lucky user supposedly got to test the Pixel XL camera, and he posted an amazing 4K video which shows the possibilities of Google's new phone. He shot the video in two days and according to him, "Pixel XL blows the door of the iPhone 7 Plus when it comes to 4K video", which is quite an accomplishment. He added that the image stabilization needs some work, but overall, the result is amazing, which you can check out in the video below.

Samsung has reportedly pulled an unprecedented move, halting the production of its explosive Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, according to rumors from sources within The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The rumors state Samsung has suspected production of the Galaxy Note 7.

Just recently, an owner had his Note 7 turn into a puff of smoke and heat and accidentally breathed in the smoke, where he later coughed "black stuff" up - his Note 7 was a replacement phone from Samsung that was meant to not have these battery-related issues - and he's not the only one. Another replacement Note 7 caught fire on a Southwest flight in the US, and burnt through the carpet and melted into the floor.

Now we have rumors that Samsung has halted production of the Note 7, so this is big... really big. If the rumors are true, Samsung could expect some serious fallout from this in more ways than one. First, the company is sure to be hit pretty hard with Samsung shares surely dropping harsly if the rumor is comfired by the company. Secondly, the trust in Samsung is now broken for some people - hurting their reputation in consumers' eyes as well as profits and revenue from lost future phone sales.

Things are about to escalate for Samsung, with yet another Galaxy Note 7 exploding and hurting someone, with this one being another replacement Note 7 that are meant to be fine.

WKYT reports that on Tuesday morning at 4am, Michael Klering and his wife were woken by a hissing sound coming from within the bedroom. Klering said: "I was scared to death for a minute. The whole room just covered in smoke, smells awful. I look over and my phone is on fire".

Klering said he had the replacement Galaxy Note 7 smartphone for just over a week before it fried, adding: "The phone is supposed to be the replacement, so you would have thought it would be safe. It wasn't plugged in. It wasn't anything, it was just sitting there". Later in the day he said he was feeling sick, so he went to the ER. He said: "I was vomiting black so it was very scary. It was a lot of black stuff and it didn't look right".

Google really did make quite the impression when it announced its new Pixel smartphones, a first for the company in premium all-Google smartphones with some nice surprises like the near-perfect voice assistant in Google Assistant - oh, and Google claiming Pixel has the best smartphone camera ever.

Well, you're not going to push all of those points along with the fact that Pixel and Pixel XL ship with Android 7.1, with Google putting a massive load of optimizations and tweaks to the Android operating system. Because Google isn't a known manufacturer of hardware products, the company wants to make a splash. Rachel Pasqua from a New York-based advertising firm said: "This is the first time they are in the position of selling themselves to people, as opposed to selling themselves to brands".

Mario Queiroz, Vice President of Product Management for Google said that the company was about to start its major advertising power on Pixel, we didn't get an exact dollar amount. We were teased that Google would be buying ads during Thanksgiving football games, which we all know are very lucrative - thus, very expensive.

Google has already sold out of its new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, with the larger 128GB models of both handsets selling out quickly, followed by the 32GB version.

The Google Store ran out of the 128GB models first, most likely because there's no 64GB option - so people like myself will jump to the larger version, as we have a lack of expandable storage. Google is selling its first premium smartphones in two sizes: 5-inch and 5.5-inch with the Pixel, and Pixel XL respectively.

Pixel pricing:

It seems to be common these days for smartphones to blow up, and it's not just limited to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, with an iPhone 6 Plus owner in Fresno, California having her iPhone 6 Plus blow up next to her... while she slept.

Yvette Estrada was sleeping when she heard a flash and then flames leaping from her bed, coming from her iPhone 6 Plus which was on charge. She explained: "I heard a sizzling, then we heard the pop and the whole fire was coming out of the screen", adding that her husband put the fire out by throwing the phone into a sink, adding: "He put water on it and told me to call 911".

The fire and heat from the iPhone 6 Plus got so hot that it damaged the nearby dresser, a pair of glasses, and two Apple Watch stands.

Today, the technology is affordable and accessible to almost everyone. But not so long ago things were different. Just a decade can make a huge difference in technology. In 2014, the number of active mobile phones was higher than the number of people on Earth.

The progress in the field of technology is evident and fascinating, so we decided to compare how the devices have changed over the past decades.

In 1979 Sony's Walkman was a big hit. Suddenly the music was portable. The average tapes contained 60 minutes of music. Compare that to today's gadgets like the iPod, which is transformed into a slim device that can contain thousands of songs. There are also streaming services, like Spotify, so you don't even have to use a special device to gain access to music.

Just like its competitors at Cupertino, Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL flagship duo carry a premium price tag.

Google's new Pixel phones carry some hefty specs, with 4GB of onboard LPDDR4 RAM, a snappy quad-core 2.15GHz Snapdragon 821 processor, and roomy storage. Google is clearly taking a jab at Apple with a powerful handset duo, but like the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the new Pixel phones carry a hefty price tag: the Pixel XL with 128GB of storage costs a staggering $869, with the base 32GB option starting at $769.

Now if you're used to upgrading to flagships every year or two, you won't really be deterred by this cost, and Apple's probably conditioned your wallet. This is new territory for Google, however. As a quick price comparison, Google's previous premium handset, the Nexus 6P, cost $649 for the 128GB variant.

The latest iPhone looks almost identical to the previous two, and it is understandable that many users expected a bigger change in design.

One YouTuber decided to take the matter into his own hands. In the description of the video he posted on YouTube he wrote: "I couldn't bear another iPhone with the same, slippery design...I just couldn't. It was time to take matters into my own hands."

And that's exactly what he did. He had dismantled the iPhone 7 and then smoothed the edges with a circular saw. You can check out the process and the final result in the video posted below.

Apple has been slowly losing its lead of battery life champion with the iPhone, and it looks like this streak continues with the new iPhone 7, which gets smashed by flagship competitors from Samsung, HTC and LG.

Tests performed by Which? used custom battery tests on the Apple iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10, and LG G5 smartphones. The battery test involved normal tasks that everyday users would do, like phone calls, browsing the web, and watching videos. All smartphones were using the latest version of their respective OS, so we have the iPhone 7 with iOS 10 and the three Android smartphones with Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

In the tests, we have the following results:

The problems continue for Samsung, with a replacement Galaxy Note 7 smartphone catching fire on a Southwest Airlines flight, a smartphone that Samsung said was safe from these battery-related problems.

The Verge says it spoke with the owner of the Note 7, Brian Green, had picked his new phone up from an AT&T store on September 21. There's a sticker on the back of Green's new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone that he said had a green battery icon, indicating that it's a replacement that is meant to not have these issues.

Green said that he boarded his flight and turned his Note 7 off as requested by the flight crew, putting it into his pocket as smoke starting coming out of it. He dropped the smoking Note 7 to the floor, saying there was "thick grey-green angry smoke" coming out of the phone. The plane was evacuated, with Green's colleague getting back on the plane later to get some personal belongings, where he noticed the Note 7 has burned through the carpet and scorched the subfloor of the plane.

Today's phone market is run by Samsung and Apple but before their time other phones were popular. Just a decade ago flip phones were everywhere, we had to use mechanical keyboards to write texts, and battery life was longer. For companies like HTC, Xiaomi and Huawei almost nobody heard of and Samsung phones weren't as nearly as popular as they are today.

Today we use our phones to pay the bills, read the news, listen to music, play games, etc. They have become much more than just a communication device. Still, some phones from the pre-smartphone era have earned the cult status.

The Nokia 3310 is still one of the best-selling phones of all time. It will be remembered as an indestructible phone and many users have spent countless hours playing popular game Snake (myself included).

Google announced its new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones with a rebranding of their handsets from Nexus to Pixel, and with it the older Nexus Protect insurance program has been updated to Device Protection.

The new Device Protection initiative is available to Pixel smartphones for a small $99 flat fee, which you can tack onto your purchase at the checkout with your Pixel or Pixel XL smartphone. Device Protection covers your Pixel for accidental damage from a drop or spill, and it also covers you for general malfunctions over two years.

A one-year warranty covers pixel for defects, so the second year on top of the accidental damage cover are a big win for Pixel owners at $99. If you drop or break your Pixel, Google has your back with next-day shipping or your replacement smartphone, but you have to pay a fee for that. The smaller Pixel will cost $79, while the 5.5-inch Pixel XL costs $99. Still, you're getting a brand new phone with next-day delivery for a small cost. Not too bad at all, and you don't even have to leave the house.

Google has made its new Pixel smartphone official, teasing it will rock a 12.3MP camera that Google calls the "best smartphone camera ever made" - a huge claim, for a company pushing into a hardware in a new way.

The new Pixel smartphone features the 12.3MP sensor with f/2.0 and HDR+ technology, with some beautiful images taken on Pixel shown during the unveiling. Google said that the speed of the camera app is 'really important', with a smaller capture time than any other smartphone Google has tested.

Pixel has some incredible video stabilization technology, with some amazing results shown by Google. It was actually pretty incredible to see, almost like a 3-axis stabilization system.

Google has finally made its new Pixel smartphones official, with their new Google Assistant at the heart of the new Pixel smartphone, the first smartphone on the market with Assistant built in. Pixel will be completely unlocked on the Google Play Store.

Google is putting a big push behind Pixel, with the industrial design to the user experience has been designed by Google. The rear glass provides 'personality and character' to Pixel, with a subtle edge from t op to bottom keeping the smartphone thin where your hand grips it - oh and no camera bump, with Google making a dig at the iPhone.

And yes, Pixel rocks a headphone jack.