OnePlus is expected to launch a more affordable smartphone under its new Nord line, and now a recent certification has revealed a key spec of the upcoming phone.
TÜV Rheinland has certified a OnePlus charger that supports 5V 2A (10W) and 9V 2A (18W ). OnePlus doesn’t have any phone that supports 18W fast charge; even the OnePlus Nord supports 5V 6A (30W, Warp Charge 30T). It is safe to presume that this new charger is for an even more affordable phone since it supports 18W and not even the faster but retired OnePlus’ 20W (5V 4A) fast charging.
The charger was certified last week on August 13 and it is the first OnePlus charger that uses a voltage higher than 5V.
There are reports of a OnePlus phone powered by the Snapdragon 690 5G processor which is yet to appear in any phone. There is a chance that the new 18W charger will be bundled with this device.
Earlier this month, a OnePlus phone (or two) with the codename “Billie” sort of leaked. Billie is actually two phones – one with triple rear cameras and another with dual-rear cameras. We want to believe one is a lite version of the other and the lite version might come with support for 18W fast charging.
Anyways, these are speculations but the existence of this charger means it will be bundled with a more affordable device.
A new affordable device from Cubot is launched with some decent specifications. Cubot Note 20 Pro houses several new advancements over Note 20 which was launched a few months ago. The new smartphone primarily features a quad-rear camera, 6 GB RAM + 128GB Storage, an Helio P60 chipset, and a full HD 6.5-inch waterdrop display. It is a value-for-money device and is retailing at an excellent price of $99.99 via AliExpress brand activity.
Cubot Note 20 Pro packs magnanimous 6.5-inch super large size HD display with narrow bezels offering 90.3% screen-to-body ratio. The front side of the device is designed to provide a better viewing experience. It is powered with an octa-core MT6771 Helio P60 SoC, 6GB RAM, and 128GB internal storage. The powerful chipset is efficient enough to maintain a smooth operating experience while playing games and doing any power-intensive tasks.
In the camera department, the smartphone offers an 8-megapixel AI beauty front camera which is encased inside waterdrop notch. It can take quality selfies and further enables HD video calling. There’s a quad-rear camera on the rear side of the smartphone featuring a Sony IMX486 12MP primary camera, a 20MP depth sensor, and a 0.3MP photosensitive lens with 1A flashlight. The smartphone can take high-quality images even in the low-light environment.
Cubot Note 20 Pro packs a massive 4200 mAh battery which is efficient enough to bring you back uptime of over a couple of days upon normal use with a single full charge. It runs on stock Android 10 with features like better privacy controls, system-wide dark mode, and much more. The smartphone is available in three color options of Black, Green, and Blue.
Moreover, you can easily make contactless payments using its NFC chip via any payment gateway like Google Pay. A USB Type-C port is present with a 3.5mm headphone jack for flawless connectivity.
Cubot Note 20 Pro Pricing and Availability
Cubot Note 20 Pro’s actual retailing price is $119, but for a limited time period discount and you can get the smartphone from AliExpress for $99.99 using a coupon code. The discount will be applicable for the first 1000 units starting fro August 24.
The company is also hosting a Cubot Note 20 Pro Giveaway where 10 interested users have a chance to win the device. You can head over to the official website to join the Cubot Note 20 Pro giveaway.
Tuoniu (Townew) is a Chinese company known for its smart automatic trash cans. The first model called T1 initially debuted in 2018 on Xiaomi’s Youpin crowdfunding platform. Then, it made its way to Indiegogo and was finally made available in the US and Europe by Knectek Labs. Now, the company behind this product crowdfunds a new model called Touniu Smart Trash Can T3 on Youpin for 299 yuan ($43).
Since Tuoniu is hard to pronounce, the company changed its name to Townew for global markets and therefore, we will use the latter name going forward in this article.
The new Townew Smart Trash T3 retains all the features of the original model with improvements. According to the listing (via MyDrivers) on Youpin, which is the official crowdfunding platform of Xiaomi in China, the new model is elliptical in shape. For those unaware, the first model was squircle.
The company claims the new T3 model to take 30% lower space because of its new shape. Further, it features the firm’s ASAR 3.0 patented technology to seal the garbage bag and pull down new bag from the refill.
It said to be 100% faster and 120% more efficient than the previous generation. Also, the response time in detecting movements at a range of 35cm to open the lid has been reduced to 0.3s.
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The battery powering it is still the same 2,000mah unit cell (not bad for a trash can), which the company says to offer 60 days of standby time. Buts sadly, it still charges via MicroUSB port.
That said, the Townew Smart Trash T3 is priced at 599 yuan ($86) but it is available for a crowdfunding price for 299 yuan ($43) on Youpin for a limited time. There’s no word on international availability but it might be made available like the first model.
Foldable screen phones are gradually gaining grounds as we expect a number of new foldable phones to be released in the coming days. However, the durability of the display has often been a cause for concern.
LG Foldable display patent
South Korea’s two major display panel manufacturers LG and Samsung are reportedly advancing their foldable display technology. This is in a bid to outwit the competition as durability is looking to become a key competitive factor.
According to the industry sources, LG Display recently applied for a patent for a ‘flexible display manufacturing method’. It is a technology that minimizes wrinkles that occur when a foldable display substrate is bent repeatedly. The purpose is to increase durability by reducing the stress applied while the substrate is deformed.
In general, various components including a film supporting a substrate make up a foldable display. When the substrate is bent, stress (bearing force) is generated as a force is applied to these components, causing the substrate itself to be deformed.
LG Display patented method involves applying a ‘control layer’ to reduce the stress on the substrate. The so-called stress absorbing layer acts as a cushion and reduces the occurrence of wrinkles.
Samsung Foldable display patent
In the same light, Samsung Display has applied for a patent for a ‘foldable display design’ which utilises a new display manufacturing technology for foldable displays. Like LG Display, the purpose is to prevent panel damage by reducing the bending stress that occurs when the foldable substrate is deformed.
Samsung Display paid attention to the adhesive used for the hinge part. A member whose adhesive force changes according to the folding force of the foldable display is used. For example, when the panel is folded, it loses its adhesive strength and separates from the support, and when unfolded, it recovers its adhesive strength.
In the patent application document, Samsung Display is said to have explained, “ It utilises a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA ) that is bonded or separated by low pressure, thus increasing the durability of the panel by relieving the stress.”
An industry insider disclosed that the demand for foldable displays is expected to increase as 5G foldable phones are being released. This will, in turn, lead to competitors working on new technologies that will outwit the competition.
Micromax used to be one of the popular smartphone brands in India but has now been relegated to the sidelines by Xiaomi, Realme, and other Chinese brands. On August 15, India’s Independence Day, the manufacturer revealed it will be making a comeback.
The announcement was made on Twitter and includes a 90-second long video about how India has been dependent on other countries and how the dragon (China) has been bigger than the elephant (India) for 73 years.
Micromax’s co-founder, Rahul Sharma revealed that they will be announcing multiple smartphones and we expect a handful of them will belong to the entry-level and mid-range category. Digit.in reports that these phones will be powered by MediaTek processors which should be the current Helio G series we have seen in a number of smartphones from Realme and Xiaomi/Redmi. However, Micromax has boasted they are going to change the game.
Hi Kushal. We are going to change the game. Are you ready to join us?
Mr. Sharma also added that they plan to invest INR 5 billion in R&D by the end of 2021. Research and Development is actually very important for any company especially those in a competitive market like the smartphone industry.
The last Micromax phone was the iOne Note and it was launched last October. We expect the first set of these smartphones will be announced as early as next month.
Lenovo has unveiled a new ThinkVision display with a 27-inch screen which would go on sale tomorrow in China. The smart display is an affordable screen which features 2K resolution and will retail for 1,899 yuan ($274).
The Lenovo ThinkVision 27-inch display adopts a full-screen design with almost zero bezels. The ultra screen ratio of 92%. The display also comes with 99% Rec.709 cinema-level color rendering, 99% sRGB+85% DCI-P3 multi-color gamut, and factory color calibration ΔE< 2.
In terms of design, the ThinkVision 27-inch full-screen display supports Type-C first-line expansion and transmission as well as reverse power supply. It is also equipped with a rotatable and liftable ergonomic stand which makes adjusting the screen as desired easy.
The ThinkVision display carries a groove at the base that can also be used to hold a mobile phone.
The Nokia 5.3 was announced in Europe back in March before going on sale in April. The phone also appeared on the Nokia India website in March but is yet to get an official launch. HMD Global has now sent out invites for an August 25 virtual event.
The invite says it will be a virtual briefing session ahead of their product announcements. The virtual session will be done on Microsoft Teams and will begin at 10 AM IST. It is believed the Nokia 5.3 (and possibly other devices) will be announced on that day.
The info comes from NokiaPowerUser who first revealed the Nokia 5.3 will be launched this month. They have also reported that the 2020 models of the Nokia 125 and Nokia 150 may be announced on that day since they have both been certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards since June.
The Nokia 5.3 has a 6.55-inch display with an HD+ resolution and a waterdrop notch. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 665 processor and has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.
Sporting a cookie-like rear camera design, the phone has a 13MP primary camera, a 5MP ultrawide angle camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro camera. The selfie camera is an 8MP sensor. You also get a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 4000mAh battery, and support for 10W fast charging.
HMD Global has also included a dedicated Google Assistant button on the left side of the phone, a notification LED buried under the power button, a USB-C port at the bottom, and an audio jack at the top. It runs Android 10 out of the box and will get updated to Android 11 and Android 12.
As for its price, the Nokia 5.3 launched for €189 in Europe which is about INR 16,770. HMD Global will have to bring down the price if it intends to make sales in India.
With its new Galaxy M series, Samsung improved its budget smartphone offerings by a high margin to compete with Chinese OEMs in India. The newly launched Galaxy M31s is arguably one of the best Samsung budget smartphones in years. Now, it seems like this handset will be soon making its way to Europe as well.
Galaxy M series smartphones debuted in India last year. This series is primarily targeted for this region but some devices occasionally launch in other countries as well.
Following the trend, the Galaxy M31s may soon launch in a number of European countries as the support page for the same has gone live in multiple regions. According to them, Samsung’s new budget smartphone will be available in the following EU nations.
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Czech Republic
Slovenia
Hungary
The Galaxy M31s retails for ₹19,499 in India for the base 6GB + 128GB variant. Whereas, the higher 8GB + 128GB version is priced at ₹21,499. This translates to €220 and €242 respectively.
For this price, the Samsung Galaxy M31s offers a 6.5-inch FHD+ Infinity-O Super AMOLED display, Exynos 9611 SoC, 64MP Sony IMX682 primary sensor, 12MP 123° ultra-wide-angle camera, 5MP macro camera, 5MP depth sensor, 32MP selfie camera, dual SIM + microSD card slot, One UI 2.1 based on Android 10., 6,000mAh battery, and 25W fast charging.
Unfortunately, the exact launch date and price are unknown at the moment. Hopefully, the South Korean tech giant announces this handset sooner than later.
ASUS launched the ROG Phone 3 as its third generation gaming smartphone worldwide last month. Now, the company quietly schedules Zenfone 7 series launch event for August 26. However, this launch will be limited to its home country Taiwan. The live stream for the official announcement is already live on the firm’s Taiwanese YouTube channel.
The upcoming ASUS Zenfone 7 series is one of the least leaked smartphones of 2020 so far. Though the devices have passed through multiple certifications, the details about their design and specifications are scarce.
Anyway, according to previous reports, the Zenfone 7 is expected to retain the flip camera from its predecessor Zenfone 6 aka ASUS 6Z in India. Also, it is said to feature a larger 6.7-inch display compared to 6.4-inch on its predecessor.
Further, it may be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 instead of Snapdragon 865+ (Plus), which is present inside the ROG Phone 3. Like any other flagship these days, it will also feature a massive battery, 5,000mAh to be exact with support for 30W fast charging as per TÜV Rheinland certification.
Whereas, according to NCC, it will come with WiFi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, and 512GB internal storage. However, there could be variants will lower storage configuration as well.
Unfortunately, nothing else is known about this smartphone, especially its design. That said, since we are still a week from the launch, the handset may leak in the coming days as it might have probably shipped to retailers and media by now.
In 2020, we have been impressed with a bunch of true wireless earbuds. Just when we thought the list of 2020 recommended wireless budget earbuds should come to a close, EarFun Air changed our mind, completely. The EarFun Air is the latest Earbuds product designed by EarFun HK. The company has brought quite a few budget audio products with impressive industrial design and high-quality sound.
Compared with other budget earbuds, the $59.99 EarFun Air offers a variety of improvements, from in-ear comfort design to a 4-way microphone for clear ambient-sound-canceling calls; from IPX7 waterproof to longer battery life.
Design
Whether you are a design enthusiast who’s interested in the good looking electronic products or an audiophile seeking convenient high-quality audio devices, the EarFun Air could probably catch your eyes in both aspects.
Comparing the EarFun Air with many well-known brands’ earbuds, the biggest highlight at first glance should be the industrial design. Many of these accessory-type earbuds present a highly recognizable identity to the brand but share poor design as an independent audio device. And design seems to be its specialty as the EarFun Air has won the IF Design Award 2020 and CES 2020 Innovation Award. Even as a common consumer, we also can feel the refinement in use.
EarFun Air’s in-ear design has the best fit that we’ve ever experienced. It’s comfortable and secure as we tried most ears in the office with 4 pairs of silicone tips in various sizes and did not hear any complaints about the fit.
However, when compared to other earbuds, the Air’s controls are much more complicated. But if you can get past the learning curve, the touch controls offer a wider range of hands-free audio controls. The round sensitive panels on both ears work as follows:
Playing music:
Play/Pause
Tap twice (L/R)
Next track
Tap triple (R)
Volume up
Tap & hold (R)
Volume down
Tap & hold (L)
Hands-free conversation:
Answer/End a call
Tap twice (L/R)
Reject a call
Tap & hold for 2s (L/R)
Answer the second call and hold current call
Transfer two calls
Tap triple (L/R)
Reject the second call
Tap & hold for 2s (L/R)
Wake the Voice assistant (Phone):
Voice assistant
Tap triple (L)
So make sure that you could remember all the above so well if you are having a lot of calls. Otherwise, for music play, it’s much easier to just use the basic L/R bud controls.
The charging case is well-designed and it is not just shaped like a boring cube. Although it’s made of plastic, the smooth surface with a matte finish leads to a mismatch of elegant design and inexpensive pricing. Another surprise is that the case not only can be charged with the included USB-C cable but also supports wireless charging, which is really not a necessary feature for a pair of inexpensive earbuds. An LED on the front face roughly indicates the battery state in different colors: Green for a full charge, orange for halfway, red for empty.
Connection
The EarFun Air supports Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity (No AptX codecs). The connecting process is intuitive and simple for various devices. No matter you are going to use it for PC, Android, or iOS devices, the Air has stable signals with clear audio within around 15M distance. But in different uses, a slight latency (about 0.2s) sometimes could be perceived, which may lead to an uncomfortable feeling for someone who requires accurate Sound & Picture sync during gaming.
Performance
The Air’s sound quality and music performance are also not bad at all. Especially on the lows such as tracks with strong bass, the Air covered good bass depth, and presented a better feeling of its general sound signature, which emphasizes strong bass.
On tracks like songs, the Air delivered the singing part clearly and naturally without pushing instrumentation too far forward. However, the treble is still not as outstanding as the bass. At high-volume listening levels, the bass sometimes may run over the mids and highs but it’s still far away from being muffled.
IPX7 waterproof
Another highlight should be the excellent IPX7-rating waterproof. It means that the earbuds are able to work well with sweat, rain, and getting completely submerged under shallow water.
But pay attention here: the charging case, however, is not waterproof.
Battery and charge
There is a 55mAh battery in each earbud, which in daily use, could last for around 5-7 hours. Putting the Earbuds back to the charging case, a full-charge requires 1.5 hours. The 500mAh charging case is estimated to provide around 4 full-charges for the earbuds. so generally, if you prefer to use dual-buds at the same time, you can squeeze out a day’s usage.
The case can be fully charged with the USB-C cable in 2 hours, while it needs 4 hours if you charge it in a wireless way.
4-microphone Noise-canceling call
The 4-microphone offers great ambient sounds canceling when we have phone calls. Recording with the 4 microphones, it did sound much better than I’ve experienced on other budget earbuds. And I eventually got positive feedback from my call partner since he used to complain about the sound of my microphone. But it’s still not able to guarantee a perfect conversation quality because of poor phone or Bluetooth signals.
Conclusion
We’ve tested a lot of inexpensive earbuds and decided not to give full reviews for some of them. The reason is pretty simple: they did not bring a lot of value for their pricing. On the contrary, the reason that we admired EarFun Air is simple: the product value exceeds its price. Besides good sound quality and excellent waterproof, we are more impressed by its identifiable industrial design, which is really a rare attempt for budget earbuds.
Samsung officially announced the Galaxy Watch3 and Galaxy Buds Live at the virtual Galaxy Unpacked event on August 5. Now, after almost two weeks, these two products launch officially in India. They will go on sale starting next week in the country.
Galaxy Watch3 Price and Availability – India
The new Samsung Galaxy Watch3 is the direct successor to the original Galaxy Watch from 2018. It retains the same physical rotating bezel but comes with a smaller battery and updated Tizen software.
Samsung launches all the four variants of the Galaxy Watch3 in India and their prices are as listed below.
Variant
Price
Galaxy Watch3 41mm Bluetooth
₹29,990
Galaxy Watch3 41mm LTE
₹34,990
Galaxy Watch3 45mm Bluetooth
₹32,990
Galaxy Watch3 45mm LTE
₹38,990
Talking about colors, the smaller 41mm model will be available in Mystic Bronze and Mystic Silver. Whereas, the larger 45mm model will come in Mystic Silver and Mystic Black.
Pre-orders for all the variants of Galaxy Watch3 are live in India and it will run till August 26. It can be pre-ordered from Samsung Opera House, Samsung online store, retail stores, and leading online portals. It will be available for purchase from August 27.
Galaxy Buds Live Price and Availability – India
Galaxy Buds Live, one of the uniquely designed TWS in the world is priced at ₹14,990 in India. It will be available in three colors namely Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black, and Mystic Black.
For comparison, the Galaxy Buds+ (Plus) debuted at ₹13,990 earlier this year but with the launch of Buds live with better features like ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), the former currently retails for around ₹11,000 in the country.
That said, the Galaxy Buds Live will go on sale starting August 25 across retail stores, Samsung Opera House, Samsung online store, and leading online portals.
Galaxy Watch3 and Galaxy Buds Live Launch Offers – India
Customers pre-ordering the Galaxy Watch3 LTE variant (41mm/45mm) between August 17 and 26 from Samsung online store and retail stores will be eligible to purchase the Galaxy Bus Live for only ₹4,990.
On the other hand, customers who pre-order the Galaxy Watch3 Bluetooth variant (41mm/45mm) from Samsung online store, Amazon India, and Flipkart during the same time period will be eligible for an instant cashback of ₹4,500.
While you may have seen printers at home, shops or offices, they generally follow the same design of a box shaped product. However, the Xiaomi Youpin platform is crowdfunding a new handheld printer that can print anywhere on the go.
The PrinterPods handheld DIY printer is essentially a product made for users that want the ability of personalized customizability. It can be used on various different surfaces, with users being able to print on cups, computers, clothes, and even skin. In other words, the handheld DIY printer is not limited to just paper like a traditional printer, and offers a variety of other possibilities as well.
It uses a special ink which can be used on skin, food, and clothes as well to cover them with distinctive logo or patterns. The surface or object that is being printed does not have to be completely flat either, making the product really versatile. This means that you can also print on curved surfaces like cups. The length of the PrinterPods handheld DIY printer is just 95mm, which is smaller than many smartphones as well.
The body contains an integrated ink cartridge that is built into a sleek and streamlined design that is easy to grip. Its primary selling point is the fact that you can print anytime and anywhere on the go. The printer also offers skin friendly, invisible, edible, and even permanent ink options to choose fro mas well. So it is safe to use it on yourself or on food. One can use the accompanying apps default fonts and patterns or just add your own by uploading pictures. It is currently being crowdfunded for 499 Yuan (roughly 72 US Dollars) on the Xiaomi Youpin platform.
Huawei is going through difficult times but the company continues to launch new products, at least in its home market where it is stronger than ever before. Also, it keeps on patenting new designs like the recently published smartphone design patent with a secondary display alongside camera module at the back of the phone.
This Huawei patent was unearthed by LetsGoDigital. The Chinese telecom giant applied for it earlier this year but it only got published on August 14 by CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration) after approval.
The concept of this design is about integrating a small display with the camera module. The pictures from the documents only showcase it displaying time but the description mentions other use cases as well.
This is a second such smartphone design by Huawei. The previous model looked like a Mate series device with a better use case of the circular display around the camera. Whereas, this one resembles a P series handset with little information about this secondary display’s use.
As for the design, the phone sports a quad-curved display like the HUAWEI P40 series but without a punch-hole or notch. There’s nothing at the top but the right side houses the power key and volume rockers. Whereas, the bottom features a USB Type-C at the center flanked by speaker grille on either side.
Talking about the secondary display placement, the first design is symmetrical with the display at the center of the device’s back surround by four cameras. Whereas, in the other two designs, the quad-camera module is placed on the top left corner of the handset’s rear panel with the secondary display on top and below.
This design will probably never see the light of the day but it does look intriguing. Personally, I would prefer that Mate series circular display patent to come into life.
The Pentagon has managed to receive a brief waiver from the Trump administration regarding a government wide ban on contractors that use Huawei, or other Chinese made telecommunications equipment.
According to a Defense News report, an obtained internal memo has revealed that the Pentagon has received a weeks long reprieve, until 30th September 2020, for doing business with the Department of Defense. The request for the waiver arrives after the firms were still reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The original provision was to take effect on 14th August 2020.
At the moment, the administration is finalizing regulations that would prohibit government contracting with companies that have their supply chains contain products from certain high risk Chinese vendors. These include Huawei as mandated under of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The government has considered the Chinese tech giant as an espionage threat.
John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence, granted he Pentagon a temporary waiver, citing US national security interests. This brief reprieve will also offer time to further assess a broader waiver request from the Department of Defense. The move arrives as a temporary win for firms and trade associations representing them, who lobbied against the ban.
There are three unannounced Realme phones with model numbers RMX2121, RMX2176, and RMX2200 / RMX2201 have been certified by TENAA authority of China. TENAA has full specs and images of the RMX2176 and RMX2200 / RMX2201 phone. However, the Chinese telecom regulatory body has only a few information on the specs of the RMX2121. A reliable tipster from China has revealed some information on the upcoming Realme 8 series of smartphones. Hence, it appears that two of the above-mentioned phones could end up as Realme 8 series handsets. A reliable tipster has shared key details of the upcoming Realme phones for China.
According to the tipster, the upcoming Realme series has a standard model and a higher model. The former has a 4,300mAh battery and the latter has a 4,500mAh battery. Both phones carry support for 65W fast charging.
The mysterious Realme phones do not weigh more than 200 grams. Also, they flaunt a slim profile of 8.Xmm. It is unclear whether the tipster is talking about the Realme X lineup or V5 series. The RMX2200 / RMX2201 does not seem to be one of the phones that the leakster is talking about since it houses a larger 4,980mAh rated battery.
The RMX2176 has an AMOLED display with a punch-hole design. It supports Full HD+ resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by a 2.4GHz octa-core processor and 6 GB / 8 GB of RAM. The handset may arrive in China in 128 GB and 256 GB storage choices. It has a 32-megapixel front camera and a 64-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel quad-camera system. The handset Is loaded with Android 10 OS and is expected to release in blue, white, and symphony colors.
Huawei is reportedly planning on launching HarmonyOS 2.0 (also known as HongMengOS in China) later this year. The second iteration of the company’s proprietary operating system is said to arrive for the Chinese tech giant’s smartwatch, PCs, and even tablet offerings soon.
The news arrives from a blogger @勇气数码君 on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website. According to the social media post, HarmonyOS is arriving soon, but might not be available for smartphones this year. Furthermore, the launch arrives with HMS Core 5.0 (Huawei Mobile Services), which has been in development for more than a year and has exceeded 700 million monthly active users from across the globe, with over 80,000 applications and 1.6 million registered developers.
The new HarmonyOS iteration is said to arrive for PC’s this year, in other words, Huawei notebooks, like the Matebook X, which would mark a departure from Windows. Notably, the company’s CEO, Yu Chengdong, had previously revealed that smartwatches and other IoT products will be equipped with HarmonyOS in the future. Unfortunately, this report is still unconfirmed and we will have to wait for an official announcement, so take it with a pinch of salt for now.
A couple of months prior, we had reported on AutoX and Alibaba’s Amap partnering to launch a RoboTaxi ride service in China. Now, AutoX has officially launched this service in Shanghai, just shortly after its successful pilot.
The RoboTaxi ride hailing service is now open to the general public, marking a transmit milestone for China’s largest city. AutoX RoboTaxis are booked via Alibaba’s AutoNavi (also known as Amap, Gaode, or 高德) smartphone app. Furthermore, its launch also arrives after AutoX entered into a strategic partnership with Letzgo, a major taxi based firm in Shanghai. In other words, the RoboTais can also be hailed through Letzgo’s smartphone app as well.
Letzgo currently operates over 16,000 vehicles in more than 18 cities including Shanghai, in China. The company will also employ trained staff to operate RoboTaxis. This partnership will have AutoX provide its AutoX Driver platform while Letzgo will operate its daily fleet operations. Notably, the company is also taking various precautionary steps to keep customers safe during this time of crisis.
Before starting a trip, riders will have to say the last four digits of heir phone numbers to a voice recognition system within the vehicle. While on the way, passengers can also monitor their progress through a display. Additionally, this screen will also showcase the objects around the vehicle and display information that reveals how an autonomous vehicle views the world and makes decisions.
OPPO officially launches Reno4 Pro Artist Limited Edition in collaboration with James Jean after teasing it for a few days. It is priced at 4,299 yuan ($619) and comes in a single 12GB + 256GB storage configuration. As for availability, it can be only purchased in China from the company’s official online store and selected retailers.
The specifications of the newly launched OPPO Reno4 Pro Artist Limited Edition remains the same as the regular version. The only difference is the new paint job with engraved art.
James Jean is a well-known Taiwanese-American artist known for his cover art for Marvel Comics and DC Comics. He even painted posters for movies like mother!, The Shape of Water, and Blade Runner 2049.
For Reno4 Pro, he created an art depicting “Summer Carnival of Dreams” with mystical creatures like unicorns. This painting is etched on the phone’s rear AG glass with a “SoleLuna” logo at the centre as it was the name of this project. The smartphone also ships with two dedicated themes based on this painting
Further, the special edition of the phone comes in silver color, which is different than the other four colors of the handset. This helps in reflecting the engraved painting very well. Even the box contents such as earphones, case, and the 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 charger are themed after the painting.
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That said, if you wish to get his variant of OPPO Reno4 Pro, you will have to import one as there’s no word on international availability
Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO and Chairman, has brought in 4 new senior executives to the company’s partner board. These new executives will affect the Chinese tech giant’s future direction and development and will help push the company’s AI and IoT portfolio.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun
The CEO sent a letter to his staff, announcing the appointment of four new executives onto its senior management board. The newly hired individuals include Xiaomi president Wang Xiang, Xiaomi senior vice president Chew Shouzi, Xiaomi vice president Zhang Feng and Xiaomi vice president Lu Weibing. This including the five founding partners, makes the team consist of nine partners at the moment.
According to Lei Jun, “The partnership system is a collective decision-making mechanism for Xiaomi’s core corporate affairs and is responsible for passing on the company’s cultural values.” He added that the new appointments will also help shape its 10 year strategy focusing on smartphones, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Earlier this year, Lei Jun had said that the company will invest at least 50 billion Yuan (roughly 7.2 billion US Dollars) in 5G, AI, and IoT over the course of five years. This effort was to expand its electronic portfolio, which would consist of interconnected products and services that were made by either Xiaomi or its partners. So, the move can be said to be a part of its plans that were announced in early 2020.
Today, iQOO unveiled the iQOO 5 series of flagship phones in China. The lineup includes two phones such as iQOO 5 and iQOO 5 Pro. The iQOO 5 series offers users with high refresh rate display and top-notch cameras. The major attraction of the series is that the iQOO 5 Pro comes with support for 120W fast charging.
iQOO 5 and iQOO 5 Pro specifications
The iQOO 5 series has a 120Hz refresh rate supporting AMOLED display that measures 6.56 inches. The display of the iQOO 5 is flat whereas the iQOO 5 Pro features a screen with curved edges. The 20:9 aspect ratio display with punch-hole design supports 1,300nits brightness, 100 percent P3 color gamut, and HDR10+ These phones are equipped with in-display fingerprint readers. The series measures 8.32mm in thickness and weighs 197 grams.
iQOO 5
The iQOO 5 and iQOO 5 Pro phones are equipped with 16-megapixel front cameras. The rear side of the iQOO 5 series features a triple camera system. It comprises of the Samsung GN1 50-megapixel as the primary lens. It is the same primary shooter that is available on the Vivo X50 Pro+. The rear camera setup of the iQOO 5 Pro includes a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens with 120-degree field-of-view, and a 13-megapixel periscope telephoto lens. The other lenses in the iQOO 5’s camera setup include a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens and an 8-megapixel portrait lens. The iQOO 5 supports EIS and 20x digital zoom whereas the iQOO 5 Pro comes with support for OIS, 5x optical zoom, 60x hybrid zoom, and 8K video recording.
The Snapdragon 865 fuels the iQOO 5 series with LPPDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. It comes with a larger VC liquid cooling heat dissipation system with thermal conductivity gel. The iQOO 5 series runs on iQOO UI 5.0 based Android 10 OS.
iQOO 5 Pro
The iQOO 5 houses a 4,500mAh battery with 55W fast charging support. On the other side, the Pro edition is packed with a smaller 4,000mAh battery that comes with 120W fast charging. As the company has previously claimed, the 120W charging technology takes only 15 minutes to completely charge the iQOO 5 Pro. The iQOO 5 duo offers other features such as dual SIM support, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, GPS, X-axis linear motor, USB-C, stereo speakers with built-in audio chip, facial recognition, and Hi-Res audio support.
iQOO has become the global partner of the BMW M Motorsport. Hence, in partnership with BMW, iQOO has launched the iQOO 5 Pro in special color variants. The Track Version comes with a carbon textured matt glass rear along with blue accents at edges. On the other side, the Legendary Edition color variant is made out of pure leather.
iQOO 5 and iQOO 5 Pro price and availability
Here is all the pricing and availability of the iQOO 5 and iQOO 5 Pro smartphones:
iQOO 5
8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 3,998 Yuan (~$576)
12 GB RAM + 128 GB storage – 4,298 Yuan (~$619)
12 GB RAM + 256 GB storage – 4,598 Yuan (~$662)
Colors: Star Trace and Hao Ying
iQOO 5 Pro
8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage – 4,998 Yuan (~$720)
12 GB RAM + 256 GB storage – 5,498 Yuan (~$792)
Colors: Track Version and Legendary Edition
The pre-sales of the iQOO 5 and iQOO 5 Pro smartphones have started in China. The sales of both models will begin on Aug. 24.
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