Recent reports have revealed HTC is planning to launch the Desire 20 Pro smartphone in Taiwan. The smartphone had received approval from the National Communications Commission (NCC) in Taiwan. Yesterday, it was certified by the Bluetooth SIG and Wi-Fi Alliance authorities. The key specs of the phone had surfaced through its appearance at Google Play Console and Geekbench. The Taiwanese company has sent out media invites for a launch event that will be held on June 16 in Taiwan. The smartphone teased in the launch poster resembles with the upcoming Desire 20 Pro. Hence, it appears that the Desire 20 series of midrange smartphones will go official on June 16.
The silhouette of the smartphone shown in the launch poster suggests that it is equipped with a punch-hole display and an elongated camera module on its back. The design seems to match with the schematics of the Desire 20 Pro that appeared in April. The Desire 20 Pro will be HTC’s phone to feature a punch-hole screen and it will also be the first smartphone from the brand to arrive with Android 10 OS preinstalled.
Recent reports have claimed that the HTC Desire 20 Pro is fitted with a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display that produces a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The Snapdragon 665 chipset is said to be present under the hood of the device.
The SoC is likely to be paired with 6 GB of RAM. It has a rear-facing fingerprint reader and it is said to be equipped with a 3.5mm audio jack. The other specs of the device are under wraps. Also, it is unclear whether the Taiwanese firm will be announcing the vanilla Desire 20 phone along with the Desire 20 Pro.
Amazon opened its first cashier-less store in December 2016 which allows customers to enter the store by scanning a barcode on their smartphone app. From there, Amazon tracks the customer as they move around the store, and it bills items they take off the shelves directly to the account that was used to scan in, bypassing the need for a check-out cashier or counter. Currently, Amazon Go has 21 stores in four locations: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle.
One of the stores in Seattle was reportedly not spared from the onslaught of protesters who swooped on the chaos created by the “Black Lives Matter” protests that swept across the US in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by the police. A report on Reddit claims the Amazon Store was attacked by protesters who carted away several items. But it turned out the scanning system installed in the store isn’t just about scanning barcodes.
The protesters were reportedly automatically billed for the items they looted. The report offered no further details which make this likely a joke. Since the protesters may have bypassed the aspect of scanning the QR code on their Amazon app by jumping over the barrier, we can’t figure how they were automatically billed. Nah, technology hasn’t been deployed up to that extent currently.
Sony has officially announced a new date for its expected PlayStation 5 event. The event was initially scheduled to hold on Thursday, 4th June 2020 but was postponed at the 9th hour due to the protests that rocked several cities in the US following the death of George Floyd in the hands of police. The event is now scheduled to start at 1 PM PDT / 9:00 PM BST on June 11.
Sony had earlier revealed that the event will give us a look at “the games you’ll be playing after PlayStation 5 launches this holiday”. Thus, the company may actually just unveil the console and showcase some of the games coming to the PS5. However, it may still be a while before the Playstation 5 will be available on store shelves.
However, an earlier report says Sony is not expected to reveal details about the next-generation gaming console. The company is expected to hold a few more such events in the coming weeks and months, leading up to the official launch of the PlayStation 5.
Sony has confirmed that the PS5 includes AMD hardware with Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU, along with super-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD and new data-transfer architecture. The DualSense gamepad has motorized triggers that can provide variable resistance depending on the in-game context and has modern haptics for players to “feel” the games.
Back in May 2019, Vivo launched the Snapdragon 710 powered Vivo Z5x phone. A new variant of the Vivo Z5x featuring the faster Snapdragon 712 SoC has gone official in China. It has arrived with a starting price of 1,098 Yuan (~$155).
Vivo Z5x specifications
The Vivo Z5x is the company’s first smartphone to feature a punch-hole display. The 6.53-inch IPS LCD screen produces a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
The 2.3GHz Snapdragon 712 SoC of the Vivo Z5x is coupled with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 storage. It comes in three options such as 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage. The 5,000mAh battery of the Vivo Z5x supports 18W fast charging.
The Vivo Z5x is loaded with Android 9 Pie OS along with FunTouch OS 9 UI. It has a rear-facing fingerprint reader. The triple camera setup of the Vivo Z5x features a main camera of 16-megapixel, an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The other features that are packed inside the phone include microSD card slot, dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, MicroUSB, 3.5mm audio jack, and face unlock. The smartphone ships. Its dimensions are 162.39 x 77.33 x 8.85mm and it weighs 204.1 grams.
Vivo Z5x price
The 6 GB and 8 GB RAM variants of the Vivo Z5x have arrived in China with respective price tags of 1,398 Yuan (~$197) and 1,598 Yuan (~$226). Both models will be available for 1,098 Yuan (~$155) and 1,198 Yuan (~$169), respectively during the 618-shopping festival in China. Phantom Black, Aurora, and Symphony are the three color variants of the Vivo Z5x.
The Huawei P Smart S has gone official in Italy. It is a rebadged version of the Huawei Enjoy 10s phone that went official in China back in October 2019. The Kirin 710F powered mid-ranger comes with a tall aspect ratio display, a big battery, and a 48-megapixel triple camera setup.
Huawei P Smart S specifications
The Huawei P Smart S has an OLED screen of 6.3 inches. The dewdrop notch screen produces a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a tall aspect ratio of 20:0. The OLED panel is integrated with an in-display fingerprint reader. The EMU 10.1 based Android 10 comes preloaded on the smartphone. It tags along the Huawei AppGallery. However, the device lacks native support for Google apps and services.
The 12nm Kirin 710F drives the Huawei P Smart S along with 4 GB of RAM. It offers with a large internal storage of 128 GB and it has a NM card slot for more storage. The handset is equipped with a 4,000mAh battery with support for 10W charging.
The rear-facing triple camera setup of the Huawei P Smart S has a primary lens of 48-megapixel followed by a 120-degree ultra-wide sensor of 8-megapixel and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. It has a front camera of 16-megapixel. The P Smart S smartphone comes with other features like dual-SIM slot, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, USB-C, and 3.5mm audio jack. The device measures 157.4 x 73.2 x 7.75mm and it weighs 163 grams.
Huawei P Smart S price and availability
The Huawei P Smart S is now available for purchase in Italy with a price tag of 249.90 euros. Breathing Crystal and Midnight Black are the two color variants of the smartphone.
If you want to pick up the ¥199 (~$28) charger, you will still have to wait a few more weeks but the good news is that it is now on pre-sale ahead of its eventual release on June 18.
The Meizu GaN charger has two USB-C ports and a USB-A port. Each port has a maximum output of 65W and can be used to charge a variety of devices including the new MacBook Pro. Meizu even adds charging support for devices that require micro-currents such as fitness trackers, smartwatches, and Bluetooth headsets.
The charger supports multiple charging protocols including Quick Charge 3.0, Power Delivery 3.0, Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging, Programmable Power Supply (PPS), Huawei’s Fast Charging Protocol (FCP) and MediaTek’s Pump Express 2.0.
Below are the various supported power outputs of the charger:
USB-C Port 1 – 3.3.V-21V/3A, 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 20V/3.25A
USB-C Port 2 – 3.3.V-21V/3A, 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 20V/3.25A
Xiaomi is known for its Walkie Talkies which are launched under its Mijia brand as well as those of its other ecosystem companies. The Bluetooth SIG website has revealed Xiaomi has a new one coming and it will launch as the Mi Walkie-Talkie Lite.
The device was certified late last month and has model number XMDJJL01. The description says it is an “entry-level walkie-talkie that is extremely cost-effective”. It adds that alongside the intercom function, it also supports “power query“, “APP editing channels and settings”, and “batch configuration”.
The Mi Walkie-Talkie Lite will support Bluetooth 5.0 which should come in handy in case you want to connect your earphones to it.
There is no info on when Xiaomi will announce it but it will be nice to see it launch outside of China too. Quite a number of folks have had to import its previous walkie-talkies to their respective countries, so a global launch for this inexpensive model will be welcome.
LG’s smartphone division may not be as famous as it used to be but they sure deliver good smartphones with excellent overall performance. The brand ventured into dual-screen technology with the launch of the G9 ThinQ. The V50 ThinQ and V60 ThinQ were also launched in 2019 and 2020 respectively packing a dual-screen design.
LG V50 ThinQ 5G
The technology behind the Dual-screen case used of the phones has now been revealed. Turns out LG didn’t directly manufacture the Dual Screen case but they brought in a firm called Keyssa to develop a sort of “wireless connector” to get the secondary display to connect and work in unison with the primary one. Keyssa calls its technology “Kiss Connectivity.”
In an interview with DisplayDaily, Keyssa Marketing VP Steve Venuti talked about the technology in devices like the LG V50 ThinQ. He spoke of the company’s wireless connector technology and how it enables two screens to “connect” without actually having wires running back and forth.
“Keyssa designs, markets, and sells what we call a wireless connector. Wireless, in that it uses RF to transmit and receive data between two devices. But, a connector in that it is designed for near-field, device-to-device applications where a mechanical connector may not be the most effective method for connecting two devices,” Venuti said in the interview.
Essentially, the technology is designed to work in a way that’s similar to a wire, but in situations where a cable wouldn’t be possible. The products offered by Keyssa are designed to emulate the characteristics and properties of wire without the physical connection. Even though it’s wireless, there are no needed firmware updates, so it does work as a wire.
The technology used for linking the secondary display to the rest of the phone is called mmWave, which — just like mmWave 5G — has a line of sight limitation. That ends up not being a disadvantage for Keyssa, as the company needed a near-field, device-to-device connection to accomplish its goals.
Vivo iQOO 3 5G was launched in February this year packing a Snapdragon 865 chipset. There are indications that the company will be launching another Snapdragon 865-powered model soon. The model has just been spotted on GeekBench. where the results are in line with the rest of the Qualcomm-powered flagship.
The model appeared as vivo V2024A and is rumoured to be the iQOO 3 Pro 5G. It is listed as running on the “Kona” platform which is the codename of the Snapdragon 865. The phone will boot Android 10 out of the box and pack 8GB of RAM.
The iQOO 3 Pro will be a higher variant of the iQOO 3. The phone will likely pack a similar design as the iQOO 3. The present model features an HDR10+ compliant 6.44-inch S-AMOLED display with a punch-hole at the top-right corner. The 20:9 aspect ratio supporting display produces full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, 800nits of full screen brightness and 100 percent P3 color gamut. The screen of the iQOO 3 is integrated with an in-display fingerprint reader that unlock in just 0.31 seconds. The rear glass panel of the phone curves towards the edges.
Realme released several flagships in the last months and it is easy to make confusion for those who do not know this brand very well. The latest flagship killer released by the company is the Realme X3 SuperZoom. Right before, we saw the Player Edition of the most expensive flagship from the brand: Realme X50 Pro, which carries a more affordable price but is still 5G-enabled. But in the same price range, there is also the first flagship killer from the Chinese company: Realme X2 Pro. Which is the device with the highest value for money and which is the best for your needs? Find it out with this specs comparison from which we excluded the vanilla Realme X50 Pro due to its higher price tag.
Realme X3 SuperZoom vs Realme X2 Pro vs Realme X50 Pro Player
Realme X3 SuperZoom
Realme X50 Pro Player
Realme X2 Pro
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT
163.8 x 75.8 x 8.9 mm, 202 g
159 x 74.2 x 8.9 mm, 209 g
161 x 75.7 x 8.7 mm, 199 g
DISPLAY
6.6 inches, 1080 x 2400p (Full HD+), IPS LCD
6.44 inches, 1080 x 2400p (Full HD+), Super AMOLED
Despite it comes with premium materials (including an aluminum frame and a glass back), Realme X2 Pro is not the device we would recommend if you are seeking the most elegant design. That position of the logo on the rear side is all but amazing and its waterdrop notch makes it look like a more outdated device. Instead, you should go for the Realme X50 Pro Player which sports a minimalistic look, a dual punch-hole display while still guaranteeing premium materials like the Realme X2 Pro. The Realme X3 SuperZoom has a similar design to the Realme X50 Pro Player, but it replaces the aluminum frame with a plastic profile. That is why we recommend the Realme X50 Pro Player, which is also more compact.
Display
Realme X3 SuperZoom provides the highest refresh rate with 120 Hz, but despite that, it has a lower-end display panel compared to Realme X2 Pro and Realme X50 Pro Player. Its two rivals come with the same display specifications, including a Full HD+ resolution, the Super AMOLED technology, the HDR10+ standard and a 90 Hz refresh rate. They differ for the size: Realme X2 Pro has a slightly wider 6.5-inch panel, while Realme X50 Pro Player stops at 6.44 inches.
Hardware/Software
The best hardware department belongs to the Realme X50 Pro Player since it comes with a better processor: the Snapdragon 865 mobile platform, while Realme X3 SuperZoom and Realme X2 Pro are both powered by the Snapdragon 855+. In each case you get up to 12 GB of RAM, but the Realme X50 Pro Player is the only with a UFS 3.1 internal storage (even though it offers max 128 GB instead of 256 GB). An important detail: Realme X50 Pro Player supports 5G connectivity, while Realme X2 Pro and Realme X3 SuperZoom do not. Realme X2 Pro is the only which does not come with Android 10 out of the box, but it already rolled out and can be installed through a software update.
Camera
The weak point of the Realme X50 Pro Player is the camera department: it is way inferior to both Realme X2 Pro and Realme X3 SuperZoom. The Realme X3 SuperZoom is the best camera phone as it comes with better zoom capabilities (up to 5x optical zoom and 60x digital zoom) and a better (and ultrawide) front camera including a 32 MP main sensor and an 8 MP ultrawide lens. Note that in each case we are not talking about top-end camera phones.
Battery
Their specifications are different, but Realme X3 SuperZoom, X50 Pro Player and X2 Pro offer more or less the same battery life. Naturally it depends on the usage scenarios, but there is not a big difference between these devices. Realme X2 Pro has a smaller battery, but unlike the Realme X50 Pro Player it does not support 5G and unlike the Realme X3 SuperZoom it has an AMOLED display, so it is less energy-demanding. Realme X50 Pro Player has the fastest charging speeds with its 65W fast-charging tech, but it takes more or less the same time as the X2 Pro to fully-charge since it has a bigger battery.
Price
You can find both Realme X3 SuperZoom (12/256 GB) and Realme X2 Pro (12/256 GB) for €500/$565 globally, but there are lower-end configurations for the Realme X2 Pro with more affordable prices (up to 6/64 GB sold for €399). Realme X50 Pro Player is priced €442/$499 in China and it did not go global, at least for now. We believe that, unless you need a great camera department, Realme X50 Pro Player is the best choice. Between Realme X3 SuperZoom and X2 Pro, the former wins (unless you need the best display), but you can find the latter at more affordable prices.
HMD Global will soon launch the Nokia 5310 for the Indian market. The company has started teasing the imminent launch of the feature phone. A tweet by Nokia says the Nokia 5310 is coming back soon. The tweet makes reference to the original classic Nokia 5310 XpressMusic which was first launched in October 2007.
HMD Global is yet to reveal the exact launch date but the phone is already listed on the company’s India website. Thus, it may likely go official in a couple of days time.
To recall, the Nokia 5310 packs a polycarbonate body as well as a 2.7-inch display with 240 x 320 pixels resolution and curved glass design. The dual-SIM handset only supports 2G connectivity. It is powered by a MediaTek MT6260A chipset and has a 16MB internal storage. There is a microUSB port for charging the device.
The Nokia 5310 (2020) has dedicated buttons for controlling music on either side of the display. The phone is flanked with dual front-blasting speakers and it also comes with wireless FM feature.
— Nokia Mobile India (@NokiamobileIN) June 8, 2020
The feature phone also features a VGA camera along with an LED flash at the rear. While a 1,200mAh removable battery that promises a standby time of 20.7 hours and a talk time of 7.5 hours keeps the light on. The phone supports Bluetooth 3.9 connectivity. It runs on Nokia Series 30+ operating system. There is a microSD card slot for expanding its storage as well as a 3.5mm audio jack.
The feature phone retails in Europe for 39 Euro (~$44). We expect the India price to be in the same range.
Chinese display manufacturer, Visionox, announced today that its under-screen camera display solution is ready for mass production. The Suzhou-based company also released a video showing off the technology.
Called InV See, Visionox said they had to improve the transparency of the camera area by using new organic and inorganic film materials with higher transparency for the main screen. The new materials not only have improved transparency but also reduce diffraction.
China’s display manufacturers, Visionox, has just announced the world’s first mass-produced under-display camera solution. The world’s first under-display camera phone will be released. pic.twitter.com/QWkQioy2LZ
Visionox also revealed they created an “industry-first drive circuit and pixel structure design” that minimizes interference.
It is important to know that hardware is only one half of the technology as the software will also play its part. Visionox says it is working with manufacturers to develop a special algorithm for the technology. This software algorithm will handle glare, brightness, and fogging effect so photos and videos captured with the selfie camera turn out great.
At the moment, it appears Visionox’s InV See will be exclusive to AMOLED displays. So expect LCD displays to keep having notches and punch holes for the foreseeable future.
InV See is ready for mass production but it is still unknown when the first commercially available phone will be announced. We are still in the first half of the year, so there is still a chance we may see it appear in phones before 2021.
Which manufacturer do you think will be the first to launch a phone with an in-display camera?
OPPO first launched the OPPO A12 in Indonesia back in April. Last week, noted tipster Ishan Agarwal hinted that the Chinese company will launch the A12 alongside the A11K and A53 in India to take on Samsung’s Galaxy M series. Indeed, the OPPO A12 has gone official in India. The phone comes with a decent specs lineup which includes a waterdrop screen, dual rear cameras, and more.
OPPO A12 sports a 6.22-inch LCD display with a 720 x 1520 pixels resolution. There is Gorilla Glass 3 on top of the display to protect against scratches. The phone is powered by a MediaTek Helio P35 chipset. Buyers will be able to choose between a 3GB RAM version with 32GB of storage and a 4GB RAM version with 64GB of storage. The phone has support for storage expansion (up to 256GB).
For optics, the A12 has a dual-camera system on the back that includes a 13MP f/2.2 primary camera and a 2MP f/2.4 secondary camera with a portrait lens. The selfie camera is a 5MP sensor.
The phone packs a 4230mAh battery and has an audio jack. It also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and support for face unlock. OPPO ships the phone with ColorOS 6.1 based on Android 9 Pie out of the box.
The OPPO A1 3+32GB variant is priced at Rs. 9990 (~$132) while the 4+64GB variant is priced at Rs. 11,490 (~$152). The phone will be available across offline stores and on leading e-commerce portals starting 10th June 2020.
Motorola has announced its second phone with a pop-up selfie camera. If you loved the Motorola One Hyper, then the Motorola One Fusion+ should appeal to you too.
The pop-up selfie camera design means there is no distracting notch or punch hole on the 6.5-inch screen of the Motorola One Fusion. It is not an AMOLED display but the FHD+ IPS LCD panel has HDR10 support. Oh! The phone is actually made of plastic and not glass + metal.
Inside the device is the Snapdragon 730 processor. This is a more than capable chipset and one of the choices for manufacturers still churning out 4G phones. You get 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that can be expanded up to an additional 1TB.
The Motorola One Fusion+ has four rear cameras – a 64MP f/1.8 primary camera, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide angle camera with a 115° FOV, and a 5MP f/2.4 macro camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Keeping the cameras company on the back is a fingerprint scanner. The pop-up selfie camera is a 32MP sensor.
Motorola has added an audio jack alongside the USB Type-C port. There is no NFC but you get an FM radio and a dedicated Google Assistant button. The battery capacity is 5000mAh with support for 15W TurboPower fast charger which is slower than the 27W fast charge support of the Motorola One Hyper. It runs Android 10 out of the box with Motorola’s new UI called My UX.
The Motorola One Fusion+ will go on sale in Europe later this month for €299. Buyers will be able to choose from two color variants Moonlight White and Twilight Blue in single-SIM and dual-SIM versions.
Last year, Xiaomi showed off its 100W Super Charge Turbo wired fast charge technology. The fast charging technology allows for a 4000mAh battery to be charged from empty to full in just 17 minutes.
Xiaomi said the 100W Super Charge Turbo technology should appear in a commercially-available device this year. However, when the phone launches, it may arrive with an even more powerful charger.
A video has surfaced on Weibo that shows an alleged Xiaomi charger with a power output of 120W. The charger is bigger than the average phone’s charger and looks heavier too. It has a white body with an American plug that is not foldable.
The specs printed on the charger, albeit misaligned, show the charger supports 20V 6A, 20V 5A, and 11V 6A power ratings. Redmi GM, Lu Weibing, already revealed that the 100W Super Charge Turbo fast charges use a high voltage, so the power rating above sort of checks out.
There is no way to know if the charger in the video above is genuine but seeing as Xiaomi has already demoed a 100W fast charging technology, we can’t rule out the existence of a 120W charger.
The OnePlus Z (previously OnePlus 8 Lite) has been leaking for months. But apart from the 3D CAD renders by @OnLeaks and the branding reveal, most of the leaks were mere speculations. But now, somewhat concrete proof for the specifications have emerged in the form of a survey. Additionally, the launch date for India has also been tipped for July 10.
OnePlus has been hiking the price of its smartphones gradually for years. But this year, it will be breaking the trend by launching a mid-range smartphone. The last such phone from the brand was the OnePlus X.
But now, the company is all set to launch its budget smartphone in 5 years. According to an alleged survey, the forthcoming OnePlus Z will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G as tipped earlier.
It will sport a 6.55-inch Super AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate and a centred punch-hole at the top. For photography, it will feature a 64MP (primary) + 16MP (probably ultra-wide) + 2MP (either depth or macro) triple camera setup and a 16MP selfie snapper.
Other features of the handset will include an in-display fingerprint sensor, 4,300 mAh battery, 30W fast charging, and 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM. Most importantly, the survey also hints the price of the OnePlus Z to be ₹24,990 ($331), which is a stellar deal if it happens to be true.
Earlier today, OnePlus scheduled an event for July 2 to launch its budget smart TVs in India. Hence, the OnePlus Z was also expected to be unveiled at the same event. But now, according to Android Central, it will have a separate launch on July 10.
It has been two years since Samsung launched the first Galaxy Watch. Its spiritual successor has been under the leaks radar for a while now. It was recently spotted on Thailand’s NBTC certification, which has also revealed its branding to be Galaxy Watch 3, in addition to its size.
The last time Samsung skipped a generation turned out to be disastrous (Galaxy Note 7). Hopefully, that does not happen this time since the scenario is different.
The South Korean tech giant is probably naming its upcoming smartwatch Galaxy Watch 3 since it did not launch any model in the series last year. Thus, we can expect it to offer a much better experience than its predecessor from 2018.
Further, the NBTC certification portal also exposed the size of this wearable to be 41mm. That means it will come in two sizes just like the previous model. For the unaware, the larger 45mm was spotted on FCC listing a few days back.
Anyway, the specifications of Galaxy Watch 3 is still a mystery which is a good thing in today’s world of leaks. However, it has been allegedly confirmed to feature a physical rotating bezel similar to the original. Also, it is expected to come with these model numbers – SM-R845, SM-R855, SM-R840, and SM-R850.
We can expect Samsung to officially unveil the Galaxy Watch 3 at the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Fold 2 launch event which was recently tipped to take place on August 5.
Xiaomi has lately been focused on launching new products through crowdfunding, especially when it is not a consumer electronics product. Continuing the same, the company has today announced a new smart home product — Mi Smart Curtain.
The new Mi Smart Curtain from Xiaomi will be available for crowdfunding in the company’s home market China from 10th June, starting at 10:00 AM local time. Although the retail price is 799 yuan (~$113), it will be available for 699 yuan (~$99) during the crowdfunding campaign.
The Mi Smart Curtain offers three meters long magnesium-aluminum alloy rail which comes with a built-in motor to open and close the curtains and a magnetic remote control to manage the functions.
It seems that the company will also be offering the installation service for free and in that case, the customer only needs to prepare the curtain after placing the order. While users can manually choose to open or close the curtains, it can also be done automatically based on the sunlight.
Similar to all the other smart home products from the company, this one too can be controlled using the Mi Home application as well as voice commands, thanks to the support for XiaoAI smart assistant.
The company says that the curtains can be operated manually as well, in a situation when there’s a power cut. The DC motor used makes noise of less than 30db, says Xiaomi. It comes with a 1.5 meters long power cord and is rated at 20W.
Oppo is a well-known smartphone maker, at least here in Asia. The company has been lately expanding its business to Europe and even became one of the top 5 brands in the region in Q1 2020. Now, according to a recent post on Weibo, the company might soon venture into smart TVs as well.
In December of last year, at the Oppo Inno Day conference in China, the company revealed its new strategy of launching products across different portfolio. Some of these devices are already official and are available for purchase.
A day after the launch of Reno 4 series, Oppo shared a picture celebrating the first anniversary of 5G commercialization in China. This image includes all the achievements of Oppo in 5G technology.
The bottom part of the image is interesting since along with the already announced AIoT products, the company deliberately teases the arrival of its smart TVs. For those who are wondering when Oppo announced AR Glasses, you can check our coverage from late last year.
Talking about TVs, Oppo will be not the first smartphone manufacturer to sell them. Xiaomi has been doing it for years and even Oppo’s sister brands OnePlus and Realme have their own TV lineup.
In fact, just earlier today, OnePlus announced to launch a new affordable $200 smart TV in India. Since these brands share resources as well as manufacturing facilities, it will be easy for Oppo to develop smart TVs.
Having said that, we are not sure when Oppo will be launching its smart TVs. Even if it does, they will be perhaps limited to China and might make their way to India later.
Samsung is one of the leading smartphone brands when it comes to foldable smartphones. The South Korean giant has already launched two foldable smartphones and is gearing to launch the third one.
Now, a new patent for foldable smartphone from Samsung has surfaced online. The patent shows a smartphone that has two folding lines in a clamshell pattern — each from the top and the bottom of the device.
The bottom part can be folded to the front while the top part can be folded towards the back of the phone. However, from the images, it seems that the device cannot be folded into a completely flat design.
The patent was applied by Samsung Display in 2018 and it took about one and a half years for it to get approved and published. Once Samsung Display completes the development of such a screen, Samsung Electronics will make a smartphone using the technology.
But do note that the patent approval doesn’t necessarily mean that the company will make a smartphone using the same design. In this case, we doubt if the company is planning to launch a smartphone with such design, especially given that the phone cannot be bend into a flat design, making it difficult to use and carry.
However, we do expect to see foldable smartphones in the near future that can be folded twice and give a much better user experience compared to the one showed in this patent application.
Samsung has so far launched Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip in the market and the company is gearing up to launch the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 in the coming months, as a successor to the company’s first foldable smartphone.
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UP NEXT: Vivo Y50 sale starts in India on June 10