Mobile Devices - Page 123

Google's new Marshmallow-flavored, fingerprint-toting flagship Nexus duo--the affordable Nexus 5X and premium Nexus 6P--went on sale today, and to celebrate Google is handing out instant invites to its Project Fi cellular network.

If you've been waiting to get in on Google's own Project Fi connection, now's your chance: the tech titan will answer all requests with an instant invite to join up within the next 24 hours. All you have to do is sign up here. The service normally requires an invite to get in, and not all applications for an invite are met quickly--you often to have to wait quite some time on backlists to join.

Google's Project Fi starts at $20 per month for unlimited domestic talk and text, and even lets you use your phone as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot to power other devices. Users pay an extra $10 per GB of data they plan to use after the intial $20 basic plan, and their unused data always rolls over to the next month. Project Fi is currently limited to the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and Nexus 6, but if you're in the market for a new phone, Amazon currently has a great sale on a Nexus 6 for $349.

We should expect Apple to unveil a new iPhone next year, like it does every year, but the new iPhone will be very different due to one small change: its LTE modem.

According to VentureBeat, Intel is working on its new 7360 LTE modem so that Apple can use it in their new iPhone in 2016. The company has over 1,000 people working on the chip, as it will be big business for them to get it into Apple's flagship handset. Even if Apple does use Intel's new modem in the next iPhone, it still might dual source its LTE modems from its current partner Qualcomm and Intel.

During Intel's recent earnings call, CEO Brian Krzanich said that its 7360 modem will begin shipping later this year and that new products using the LTE modem will be available in 2016. Apple hasn't officially signed Intel as the supplier of the modem, but if Intel can continue to reach milestones with its LTE modem, Apple should want it in their new iPhone.

We all know to expect some big upgrades on the Galaxy S7, but what should we expect exactly? According to the latest rumors, Samsung will include some big processor and camera upgrades, two key parts of the Galaxy S7.

Samsung's next flagship smartphone should feature its own Exynos 8890 processor, which is an impressive 8-core processor clocked at a huge 2.3GHz on the 14nm FinFET process. Apple paved the way with Force Touch on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, but these new rumors would see Samsung introducing ClearForce technology onto its Galaxy S7, something that Qualcomm unveiled a few days ago now.

The new Galaxy S7 will also receive a camera upgrade, with Samsung using a 20-megapixel rear-facing camera using their own ISOCELL technology. On top of that, the Galaxy S7 should also feature ESS' Sabre 9018AQ2M headphone amplifier solution, which includes a 2-channel D/A audio converter. It also includes harmonic distortion support of up to -120dB, lowered power consumption, and more.

The new "Removed" photography series by American photographer Eric Pickersgill aims to illustrate our addiction to technology, and the ironic social disconnection it produces. Perhaps the most disturbing of the series is pictured below; the rest can be found on his website below.

Pickersgill paints a stark picture of his inspiration: "The joining of people to devices has been rapid and unalterable. The application of the personal device in daily life has made tasks take less time. Far away places and people feel closer than ever before. Despite the obvious benefits that these advances in technology have contributed to society, the social and physical implications are slowly revealing themselves. In similar ways that photography transformed the lived experience into the photographable, performable, and reproducible experience, personal devices are shifting behaviors while simultaneously blending into the landscape by taking form as being one with the body. This phantom limb is used as a way of signaling busyness and unapproachability to strangers while existing as an addictive force that promotes the splitting of attention between those who are physically with you and those who are not."

Google's new Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X Android handsets have already shipping in India, so naturally users like Intellect Digest are sharing their unboxing videos and early impressions on the new phones.

Both phones come in stylish cases, with the larger 6-inch Nexus 6P being the premium model at $499. As far as form factor and looks, the 6P has a nice flair to it thanks to the strong aluminum-grade metal shell, with accenting all around the edges. Performance-wise the 6P is described as fast and zippy thanks to its 3GB RAM and octacore processor, and just as Google said the new 13 MP camera seems to do exceedingly well in low-level conditions.

The Nexus 5X is the smaller 5-inch handset that starts at $379, and is described as a very "compact and handy phone". Although comparatively weaker in its specs with just 2GB of RAM and quad-core Snapdragon 808 processor at 1.8GHz, the Nexus 5X still is a strong contender that maintains most of the features of the 6P including low-light video and picture capturing.

Samsung has been in legal battles with Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA in recent years over the technology it uses in its mobile devices. A new development in the NVIDIA case today came about when a judge made a recommendation that means it's not looking good for the graphics company.

NVIDIA feels Samsung has infringed on its graphics patents and should not be able to sell certain devices as a result (and also pay a lot of money to NVIDIA), but administrative law judge for the US International Trade Commission Thomas. B. Pender says Samsung has not done this, and that one of the patents is invalid due to being covered in previous patents. While a formal decision still must be made, this seems like a big blow to the company. NVIDIA says they "remain confident", however.

Just Mobile has launched its TENC iPhone case line, which boasts Wolverline-like "self-healing" capabilities. Some would say the point of a case is for the case to get banged up instead of the phone, so why purchase a product like this? Well, maybe you like your case looking slick too, particularly if you're only dropping $24.99 or $29.99 on it anyway (which is what these cases are priced at). Also, TENC cases protect and heal the screen, not just themselves.

BGR's Zach Epstein says, "It works. I've seen it work. Just Mobile sent along a brass brush with the test cases I was given, and I spent a bit of time scratching up the surface of several of the cases. In most cases, the scratches I made were gone a short while later. In a few instances, some scratches were still visible on the case's surface after a few minutes. Over time, however, they faded away to almost nothing."

The cases are available on Just Mobile's website, Amazon, and possibly through other outlets.

BlackBerry's new Priv smartphone is more than just the company's first Android device: it represents a kind of final push into the modern mobile market. If the hybrid OS-powered Priv--named for BlackBerry's emphasis on user privacy--doesn't take off, then the company might stop making handsets altogether.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen delivered the news to Re/Code during the Code/Mobile event, saying that if the new Priv smartphone didn't turn a profit, executives would think about ceasing smartphone production within a year. Chen told The Verge that BB needs to sell at least 5 million phones a year in order to turn a profit.

It looks like BlackBerry has put all of its eggs in one basket, hoping that their new power-sliding Android smartphone will be enough to bolster its software earnings. Since the Priv has a dual-OS system, it's compatible with Google's slew of Android apps on the Google Play store while maintaining all of the functionality and privacy offered by th BlackBerry 10 OS. Chen also affirms that the phone will be available in physical carrier stores when it launches.

Since the new A9 CPU that powers Apple's new iPhone 6S was made by two different manufacturers--TSMC and Samsung--many users have reported varying performance like shorter battery life. This led to a controversy called the "iPhone 6S chipgate", and now it looks like some solid evidence has surfaced that proves the two CPUs are in fact quite different.

Trusted tech geeks John Morrison and Austin Evans have investigated the chipgate scandal in new YouTube videos, each running a number of performance tests that pit the TSMC's 16nm N71MAP processor core against Samsung's 14nm N71AP CPU. The findings reveal that TSMC has the superior chip, with Samsung's A9 chip running hotter and yielding lower battery performance.

The two phones were tested out in a number of real-world environments including video recording sessions, running high workload apps, and benchmarking stats. The tests showed that the TSMC-made iPhone 6S CPU kept its battery charge much more efficiently than the more compact Samsung A9. When it comes to actual CPU performance, Geekbench revealed that the TSMC model "consistently outperformed the Samsung model in multi-core performance". Austin conducted a simple battery test to see how long it took for each model to hit 50% battery, and the TSMC iPhone 6S actually lasted a full 50 minutes longer than the Samsung version.

Apple's new pressure-sensitive 3D Touch display technology is one of the major features of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, offering a unique layered interface that redefines traditional smartphone UIs. But now it looks like the tech isn't just staying in Apple's reach, and will be crossing over to Android.

Human-interface developer Synaptics is responsible for the breakthrough and fully expects the new display technology to "become the new norm" in smartphones. Synaptics plans to use its new ClearPad 3700 Display Controller to fully mirror the same variable force performance of Apple's 3D Touch and bring it to the realm of Android phones.

According to Synaptics, this new display interface will offer "new dimensions in user interfaces such as speed scrolling, zoom, gaming, and text or photo editing by applying variable force with a finger or stylus". The controller also has SideTouch, a new function that allows users to use the bezels of a phone to scroll or tap within disrupting what's on the screen.

We knew it was coming, but now it's official: the Roku 4 is here. The new media layer has 4K video playback capabilities, but it also has some unique features; like a remote finder.

The new Roku 4 has a quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM (up from the 512MB on the Roku 3). This means the Roku 4 is more than capable of playing back 4K video streams at up to 60FPS. Inside, the Roku 4 features 802.11ac MIMO WI-Fi, optical audio out, Ethernet, HDMI, a microSD card slot, and a Wi-Fi Direct powered remote with voice search, a headphone jack and the awesome remote finder.

The remote finder works by pressing a button on top of the box, which will make a sound come out of the remote so you can find it. If you constantly lose your remote, or like me have little ones at home who are always moving them around, this will be a killer feature.

With Continuum, Microsoft essentially wants to turn Windows 10 phones into portable PCs. The tech giant showcased a live Continuum demo at their New York event, revealing just how potent and revolutionary the feature actually is.

Along with a slew of cross-device functionalities like Windows Hello biometric authentication, Continuum is supported on Microsoft's new flagship Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL duo. Continuum represents a new shift in PC dependence, moving away from the traditional tethered desktop environment to a more free, unified ecosystem powered by Windows 10.

But how does it work? Continuum harnesses the Lumia 950's octacore processor to simulate a PC-like experience, making the phone the central heart or brains of the operation. This lets you completely circumvent the PC altogether. Just hook up a Lumia phone, a keyboard, mouse and monitor to the Display Dock hub to simulate a fully-fledged PC-like work environment.

It seems like everyone wants to get in on the success of Microsoft's Surface hybrid: Google has the new Pixel C tablet, and Apple has the transforming iPad Pro. In order to stay on top, Microsoft had to push the bar even further, leading the Redmond tech giant to create the Surface Pro 4.

The new Surface Pro 4 is an all-around improvement over the previous Surface line: it's thinner, lighter and much more powerful thanks to the onboard Intel Skylake CPU. It has a 12.3-inch display that utilizes new PixelSense technology. Microsoft actually fashioned a dedicated G5 chipset to run the new optical stack, which powers PixelSense to bring dramatic improvements to latency, parallax and palm detection for fluid writing and drawing with the new Surface Pen. The pen itself has 1,024 levels of pressure sensitive and comes with an eraser (an obvious jab at Apple's iPencil), and doesn't need to be recharged more than once a year.

Microsoft's new Surface tablet is just 8.4mm thin and features a laptop-class keyboard designed for performance input. Under the hood the Surface Pro 4's silicon soul is powered by a sixth-generation Intel Skylake CPU. Full Windows 10 Pro integration gives access to a slew of cross-platform apps as well as full stables like Office, Outlook, Skype and even Cortana voice-searching with a single button press of the stylus.

At its Windows 10 event in New York, Microsoft unveiled the new Lumia 950 flagship line with the 5.2" Lumia 950 and 5.7" Lumia 950XL. Since these handsets were already leaked beforehand the specs aren't too surprising, but Microsoft had some extra tidbits up its sleeve.

With the new Lumia duo, Microsoft wants to "put Windows in your pocket", and to keep up with that ethos the Lumia 950 and 950XL have been overhauled to fit right into the Windows 10 ecosystem. One of the most impressive features is the Glance Screen tech, which lets users check onscreen information without using any battery life, avoiding the need to actually turn on the phone.

Under the hood the 950 sports a hexacore CPU, with the Lumia 950 XL has an octacore processor. To mitigate heat, Microsoft actually has put in "tablet class" liquid cooling into both handsets. A dual-antenna array that automatically picks the best connection around you, and also has USB Type-C for 5GB/S data transfer rates and rapid battery charging. The Lumia duo have 20MP cameras that support 4K video capture and excels in low-light environments, and a dedicated camera button.

We've all joked about the future of IoT wearable technology, especially with the audacious idea of "smart jewelry". But Apple is pretty serious about pushing the limits of wearables and now for the first time we have a glimpse of what may very well become the Apple iRing.

The patent for Apple's smart ring tech has just been published, revealing rough abstracts and schematics of the small wearable. According to the patent, the "iRing" is an "external electronic device with a finger-ring-mounted touchscreen that includes a computer processor, wireless transceiver, and a rechargable power source".

The ring's form factor is quite curious. One configuration of the device has a pressure-sensitive display (hinting at layered 3D Touch support) with haptic and tactile feedback on the front, with a slider dial, buttons and a built-in microphone underneath the screen. Other variants don't have a screen at all, Some variants come with an onboard camera for photos and video recording.

Google only just unveiled the Nexus 6P a couple of days ago, but we didn't know who made the 5.7-inch QHD panel. Well, Samsung has come out and confirmed it has provided the WQHD panel for the Nexus 6P, on a post on Reddit.

The post reads: "It has a Samsung WQHD AMOLED panel. We have spent a lot of time tuning the white-point and color gamut for these panels - hope you will enjoy the accuracy of the display. Yep, confirmed: Nexus 6P has the latest generation panels from Samsung. One of things we deeply care for is the quality and accuracy of the display through which all of us connect with the stuff we care about. We created a very tight spec (white-point temperature, delta-E variance, color-space accuracy, etc) for the 6P WQHD AMOLED panel, so it was important that we use the most cutting edge panel technology available".

LG has just unveiled its latest smartphone, the V10, which is the company's new premium 'V' line of handsets. The V10 is the first of LG's new 'V' line of smartphones, which loses the plastic feel for premium materials, and that's just scratching the surface.

The V10 looks like the G4 from the outside, but you'd be wrong to think that. We have the same 3000mAh removable battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, and 16-megapixel rear-facing camera that are found in the G4, but we have 4GB of RAM versus the 3GB in the G4. The V10 has a flat 5.7-inch QHD display with an 'always-on' screen at the top that looks like it could be useful.

The smaller screen is found just above the actual 5.7-inch display, which is capable of displaying the weather, time, date, and battery levels when the main display is off. When the main display is on, the second screen can be used for quick-launching apps, accessing your favorite contacts, or displaying notifications.

Samsung today announces that its new Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic smartwatches will launch in the United States starting Friday, October 2 across retailers like Best Buy, Amazon and Macy's. Users will be able to go hands-on with the Gear S2 at Best Buy and Macy's when it releases, and again on October 16.

The Gear S2 smartwatches sport a 1.2" circular AMOLED face with a pixel density of 302ppi and 360x360 resolution. A 1GHz dual-core processor makes the watches tick, accompanied by 512MB of RAM and 4GB onboard memory. Tizen OS powers the wearable's software. Battery life is a big concern for smartwatches, but Samsung affirms the Gear S2's 250mAh battery can last up to 2-3 days with typical usage.

What makes the Gear S2 unique is its rotating bezel, which matches the functionality of an iWatch crown. Users simply turn the bezel facing left and right to navigate menus and the like, while tapping the touchscreen for activation. What's more is the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic aren't locked to Samsung devices, and can be synchronized to any Android phone running Android 4.4 or above. This provides a great deal of flexibility for users who still enjoy their Nexus devices.

Microsoft has inadvertently outed its new flagship Windows Phone duo in a new listing on the UK's Microsoft Store, confirming a few leaked specifications in the process.

According to the listings, the Lumia 950 XL will sport a 5.7-inch 2560x1440 WQHD display, a beefy 20MP camera fitted with Zeiss optics, 32GB of onboard memory with support of up to 2TB of expandable microSD memory, and will run Windows 10. The Lumia 950 is almost exactly the same as the 950XL, except the second-tier model sports a smaller 5.2-inch QHD screen and doesn't have the triple-LED flash found in the 950 XL's camera.

Leaked specs suggest that both phones will have USB Type-C for rapid charging, display, and data transfers as well as Qi wireless charging support.

To compliment its new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P smartphone duo, Google unveiled a new and improved Chromecast that tops the previous streaming stick while maintaining the $35 price tag.

Notable enhancements packed into the new disc-shaped Chromecast 2.0 include dramatically upgraded Wi-Fi functionality, with support for 802.11ac 5Ghz connections. What's more is that the new Chromecast has three built-in antennas that automatically find and attune to the best connection, pretty much ending the days of clumsy, slow Netflix streams. It's still locked at 1080p and won't support 4K video streaming.

To accompany the new streaming disc, Google has rolled out a completely overhauled Chromecast App that's fully optimized with a number of different intuitive features. Fast Play is a kind of digital soothsayer that can predict what you want to watch and actually caches and pre-loads an app, meaning it can pre-buffer a Hulu stream before you hit play. Google also touts that "thousands of apps" can now be casted with the device including Sling TV and Netflix.