Mobile Devices - Page 69

Apple is expected to unveil a trio of new iPhones on September 10, inviting the media to the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California for its big fall event taking place at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.

We should see Apple revealing new iPhones that will replace current handsets in the iPhone XS, XS Mac, and XR. We should expect the higher-end models to roll out with triple-camera rigs, as well as a rumored 120FPS-capable front-facing camera. I don't know why, but we might see it in the new iPhone.

Apple could move over to USB-C but it's expected right now that it will continue using the Lightning connector, unlike the new iPad Pro which moved over to USB-C.

Samsung has just unveiled its next-gen Exynos 980 chip, its first with an integrated 5G modem and SoC in a single chip with it made on the 8nm node.

The new Exynos 980 is a powerful 4G LTE modem but an even more powerful 5G with up to 2.55Gbps down, which would see you downloading at over 250MB/sec. Inside, the Exynos 980 also has the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, and comes in as an 8-core processor.

Samsung's new Exynos 980 has 2 x Cortex-A77 CPU cores and 6 x Cortex-A55 chips, joined by the Mali-G76 GPU for graphics and mixed reality experiences. Samsung is building in its neural processing unit (NPU) for on-board AI tasks, versus sending AI tasks to the cloud and back, it can all be done on-device.

It looks like Google will be pushing out Android 10 to all Pixel smartphones starting September 3, with what used to be called Android Q (Android 10 doesn't sound as good) spreading from the original Pixel through to the new Pixel 3a.

Google's upcoming Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL should ship with Android 10 out of the box, and should be announced any day now. We should see Android 10 eventually hit other smartphones like the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 families of phones, but there's no ETA on that just yet.

There have bene betas of Android 10 (well, Android Q) on Huawei, LG, Nokia, and OnePlus smartphones so we should see something soon. Android 10 is filled with improvements and upgrades, including my favorite (something I love on my Android Q-powered Pixel 3 XL) -- system-wide Dark Mode.

We knew that Xiaomi would be releasing a new smartphone with a huge 108-megapixel camera sensor, but now it seems we're to expect four new devices with these crazy 108MP sensors.

XDA Developers has spotted four new devices with codenames of "tucana," "draco," "umi," and "cmi" which will all reportedly feature the new 108MP sensors. Xiaomi teamed with Samsung on designed the new Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX sensors, and will be the first mobile camera sensor over 100MP.

The crazy 108MP sensor would be capable of snapping photos at a huge 12,032 x 9024 -- far exceeding anything else on the market. We should expect these new 108MP sensors inside of smartphones in the coming months, and more so in 2020 and beyond.

Samsung is ramping up in re-releasing its Galaxy Fold foldable smartphone, re-opening the pre-registrations for the Galaxy Fold in the US.

This is just pre-registering and not pre-ordering to make it clear, so you won't need to spend any money to secure yourself Samsung's new Galaxy Fold smartphone. You will pre-register to get your name into the hat, and then pre-orders should kick off on Samsung's official site soon enough.

We shouldn't have to wait too long for the re-release of Samsung's new Galaxy Fold smartphone, after its hit-and-miss launch a few months ago seeing its global launch cancelled and delayed.

Google is "aggressively" moving the production of its Pixel smartphones out of China, and into Vietnam, according to new reports from Nikkei.

The move by Google to get its Pixel production out of China seems to be over Trump's moves of slapping tariffs on the country, so Google is moving production out of the country for long-term benefits. Vietnam is also a new hot spot for cheap wages, since China can't offer the same slave labor rates it used to.

Google is looking to cut costs (from labor) the drama and risk associated with the tariffs, by moving Pixel production to Vietnam. More specifically, it looks like Google is eyeing off an old Nokia factory in the Vietnamese province of Bac Ninh. Google is reconditioning the plant, so it can crank up manufacturing there for future generation Pixel smartphones, I'm guessing beyond the about-to-be-released Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones.

Samsung didn't have the best time when it released its first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, which was met with awe and criticism -- and then quickly pulled from release and pushed into September.

The upcoming September release of the Galaxy Fold will roll directly into 2020 with Samsung not slowing with its foldable smartphone plans, and now LetsGoDigital have "come across" various Samsung patents for some crazy foldable phone designs. The site has done what it does best and offered a bunch of slick 3D renders of designs that Samsung could use with the Galaxy Fold 2 smartphone.

In this render, we can see the Galaxy Fold 2 possible folding vertically -- which would be very different, and very awesome. As long as there is no big crease in the middle, we could have it not being too thick and still feeling like a normal smartphone in your pocket.

Google is ramping for the release of its next-gen Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL handsets, and now we have a tease of the purported Google Pixel Watch from the good folks at LetsGoDigital.

The company filed the above patent back in mid-2017, but on August 27, 2019 the patent was published on the official USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) database. The patent includes a bunch of details on the 'smartwatch with built-in camera' giving away the most obvious thing -- it has a built-in camera.

We can see the round watch face style case with what appears to be analogue hands, which is an interesting style. The built-in camera would be an interesting thing to see, which could have Google using an under-screen camera or maybe have a slight gap in the screen at the top for a small camera. I wonder what applications and use cases there would be for that? Face recognition for payments on-the-go?

Qualcomm is expected to unveil its new Snapdragon 865 processor later this year, its new SoC to power next-gen flagship 2020 smartphones, but Snapdragon 875 will be right around the corner in 2021.

The latest on the Snapdragon 875 is that TSMC will be handling the manufacturing on its new 5nm node, compared to the upcoming Snapdragon 865 that will be made on the 7nm EUV process over at Samsung. We are to expect an integrated 5G modem on the new Snapdragon 865, something that we'll be detailed on in the coming months.

Snapdragon 875 on the other hand should be an all-5G chip on the new 5nm node from TSMC, so we should expect an insane 171.3 million transistors per square millimeter, which kinda blows my mind.

Huawei is expected to unveil its next-gen Mate 30 Pro smartphone on September 19, alongside the standard Mate 30 -- with a big tease for the higher-end Mate 30 Pro and its purported 4 rear-facing cameras.

According to the new leaks on Chinese social network Weibo, we can expect a quad-camera rig on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. The post says (when translated) to the Mate 30 Pro rolling out with a Kirin 990 processor, super sensitive to light with four cameras, and double fast recharge.

So we can expect a kick ass camera setup, a new Kirin 990 processor, and super-fast recharging. That is all OK with me, and brings Huawei up to the level of Samsung and its just-arrived Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ smartphones.

Samsung has released its new Galaxy Note 10+ 5G handset into the market, with iFixit already tearing down Samsung's latest and greatest 5G-powered smartphone.

The new Galaxy Note 10+ 5G won't be easy to repair, with Samsung positioning the motherboard at the top half of the phone -- just like Apple does with the iPhone X. Samsung secures more room to make the battery wider (as the Note 10+ 5G has a 4300mAh battery) but requires cables between the motherboard and daughterboard.

This move blocks access to the battery, and while they can be moved to the side, iFixit notes it'll be harder to repair broken Galaxy Note 10+ 5G handsets.

Samsung might have delayed its first foldable smartphone until September, with the re-release of the Galaxy Fold but that doesn't mean the South Korean giant is not forging ahead with more foldable smartphones.

In a bunch of newly-surfaced patents we see a new foldable smartphone with a 'sliding mechanism' shown off by Samsung, which the great folks at LetsGoDigital turning them into color renderings. These renderings give us a bet ter look at what to expect, with that sliding mechanism looking like it could be a real game changer for foldable smartphones.

It seems you will be able to adjust your display height in multiple stages, depending on the task at (or is that in) your hand. You can have it in half like a clam shell, down a little lower if you're listening to music and want to use the rear-speaker (this is a kick ass idea on its own).

Huawei has announced that its Mate X foldable smartphone has a new release window of November and "ideally not any later", after the slip during its launch a few months ago.

Mate X was meant due in in September after being delayed from its June release, but now TechRadar said that at a press event at Huawei's Shenzhen HQ that it is coming in November. Furthermore, the site found out about the next Mate X and that it "could have more screens, and it might come out as soon as next year".

More displays on a Mate X 2.0 would see Huawei replacing the steel rear cover with a glass back, that could see touchscreens deployed. Now that would be quite insane, a foldable smartphone with double-sided displays. Yikes. If there were this many issues and delays in the first foldable smartphone launch, how would that go with dual, double-sided displays?

Xiaomi has teased that its next-gen phone will use Samsung's exciting new ISOSELL GW1 64MP sensor in an upcoming phone, as well as a beasty new 108-megapixel sensor that will shoot at incredible resolutions.

The huge 108-megapixel sensor will snap images at a crisp AF resolution of 12032 x 9024... yeah, just let that sink in for a while. Before we get to that, the 64-megapixel sensor will take high-quality 16MP photos in low-light conditions, while the larger 108MP sensor will snap surely-gorgeous 27MP photos in low-light.

Xiaomi's next-gen Mi MIX 4 is the smartphone expected to use the 108-megapixel sensor, and should be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 processor and pack a QHD+ display with an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Important Battery Message

Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery. Health information not available for this battery.

This is what yo u'll see now thanks to an update that Apple has for iOS, which will stop people using aftermarket batteries inside of their iPhones. iFixit says that Apple has activated a "dormant software lock" in iOS that will stop features like Battery Health in Settings to work, but it will work if you have a genuine Apple battery.

Samsung has launched its new Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ smartphones, but there were also a few surprises along the way, something that includes the Galaxy Book S -- the world's first with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx.

Both of the new Note 10 handsets feature Samsung's new Exynos 9825 SoC on the 7nm node, while the Note 10+ will have 5G support, and both have an "all-new" S-Pen stylus. The smaller Note 10 features a 6.3-inch display with a native 2280x1080, which is a lower resolution than the Note 9 from last year, but the larger Note 10+ packs a huge 6.8-inch display with a native 3040x1040 OLED panel.

Samsung's larger Galaxy Note 10+ doesn't just have a larger and higher-res display, but it features the Snapdragon X55 modem from Qualcomm for 5G connectivity, a quad-camera rig, and a huge 4500mAh battery. The smaller Note 10 has a much smaller 3500mAh battery, so the Note 10+ is definitely a huge upgrade in many areas.

Samsung launched its new Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ smartphones with a surprise announcement of the new Galaxy Book S, the company's new premium, ultra-portable laptop powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx platform.

The previous iterations in the Galaxy Book and Galaxy Book 2 were 2-in-1 designs, but Samsung has changed it up with the Galaxy Book S making it into an ultra-portable laptop. The big ticket here is that the Galaxy Book S is the first laptop powered by Qualcomm's exciting new Snapdragon 8cx, made on 7nm.

We have the Snapdragon 8cx and its 8-core CPU at up to 2.84GHz joined by 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, either 256GB or 512GB SSD with up to 1TB thanks to a microSD slot. Samsung's new Galaxy Book S has a 13.3-inch 1080p touchscreen display, a 720p webcam, 2 x USB-C 3.1 ports, a microSD card reader, and 3.5mm audio jack.

ASUS, OnePlus and Razer are already up in the 90-120Hz refresh rate on their smartphones, but it looks like they will be joined by Google with its next wave of Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones.

According to "a reliable source" of 9to5Google, the new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones will have 90Hz displays which Google will call 'Smooth Display'. We should expect the Pixel 4 to have a 5.7-inch Full HD+ display while a 6.3-inch Quad HD+ display will find a home in the Pixel 4 XL -- both will be OLED panels.

Google is expected to use Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip, 6GB of RAM (in both) and will each come in 64GB and 128GB flavors in the US. Google will use the latest Android Q on the new Pixel 4 phones, somethign that I'm thoroughly enjoying the beta of on my Pixel 3 XL at the moment.

Huawei has been on somewhat shaky ground as directives have been handed down by the administrative branch of the USA pushing US-based companies to stop working with Huawei.

Huawei has been caught in several scandals which led to a temporary trade ban which was later rolled back mostly. Now speculation/news is coming from the Global Times, which is a Chinese run state media. They have stated that Huawei will have the Hongmeng OS ready as early as Q4 2019 to go along with the Mate 30 series of phones.

Huawei as of recent is still 100% onboard with using Android, or at least it seems so on the surface. Huawei has made it apparent that they intend for Hongmeng OS to be an IoT solution at least at first. But, that is not to say that if push comes to shove, it could not end up being their version of an Android replacement. It is reported that Huawei has been testing several Android apps for compatibility should the US trade ban rear its head again.

Many of us have gotten used to the fingerprint sensors on various locations on our smartphones.

Over the last year, many manufacturers have started placing fingerprint sensors into their phone screens with varying levels of success. While we will see this improve on Android-based handsets as time goes on, Apple is choosing a more refined (slower) approach as they commonly do.

While many Apple fans would be delighted to see in-screen fingerprint sensors on their newest iDevices now, Apple tends to take the more 'when its ready' approach. This is good as it in many cases can ensure the bugs get worked out. But if its anything like wireless charging, let's hope Apple is not last to the races.