Xiaomi starts working on MIUI 12; expected to launch next year

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Oct 18, 2019

ZTE has announced two new phones in China. The first one is the Blade A7s that had appeared on the official My ZTE Mall in the previous week. Starting from today, the Blade A7s is available for purchase in the country with a price tag of 799 Yuan (~$113) The Blade 20 Smart Xiaoxin edition is the other phone that sports a square-shaped triple camera module and a waterdrop notch display has also gone official today. It carries a price tag of 999 Yuan (~$141).

ZTE Blade 20 Smart Specifications

The ZTE Blade 20 Smart Xiaoxin edition is fitted with a 6.49-inch IPS LCD panel that offers 720 x 1560 pixels resolution. The display offers an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The Chinese firm claims that the phone offers 91.1 percent screen-to-body ratio. Present under the hood of the device is the MediaTek Helio P60 that clock at 2.0GHz. The SoC is coupled with 4 GB of RAM. The device offers users with a big internal storage of 128 GB and it also features a microSD card slot.

Placed at the top-left corner on the back of the Blade 20 Smart Xiaoxin edition is a square-shaped module that houses a 16-megapixel primary lens, an ultrawide lens of 8-megapixel with 120-degree field-of-view, a 2-megapixel depth sensor and an LED flash. The front notch is the home for its 16-megapixel selfie camera. The handset is equipped with a massive 5,000mAh battery. A fingerprint reader is positioned on the backside of the device. Lastly, the device runs on MiFavor 9.1 UI.

Turquoise and Magic Red are the two color variants of the Blade 20 Smart Xiaoxin edition. Priced at 999 Yuan (~$141), it will be available for purchase starting from Oct. 25.

Editor’s Pick: Red Magic 3S with 90Hz screen, SD855+, 12GB RAM and 5,000mAh battery debuts for Rs. 35,999 (~$673) in India

ZTE Blade A7s Specifications

The entry-level Blade A7s is an updated edition of the Blade A7 smartphone that had debuted earlier this year. It has a waterdrop notch enabled 6.088-inch IPS LCD full HD+ display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone promises a screen space of 89 percent. The modest Helio P22 powers the phone with 4 GB of RAM. It has a 64 GB native storage and carries support for external storage.

The rear side of the Blade A7s has a triple camera system with a 16-megapixel main lens, an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens with 120-degree field-of-view and a 2-megapixel lens for adding depth effects. It has a frontal shooter of 5-megapixel. It is equipped with a 4,000mAh battery. It lacks a fingerprint scanner.

Blue and Black are the two color editions of the Blade A7s. It is now available for purchase with a price tag of 799 Yuan (~$113).

RedmiBook 14 Ryzen Edition pre-booking starts from October 21 for 2,999 yuan ($424)

By

Jeet

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Oct 18, 2019

Xiaomi-backed Redmi had launched its own laptop in the form of RedmiBook 14 and now the company is gearing up to launch a new variant of the same. The company has already announced that RedmiBook 14 Ryzen Edition will be launched in China on 21st October.

While some of the features of the upcoming laptop have already been teased by the company, Redmi has now revealed the pricing and availability information of the RedmiBook 14 Ryzen edition.

The company has confirmed that the device will be available for pre-booking from 21st October in China with a starting price of 2,999 Yuan which roughly converts to $424. Here are the variants and pricing details:

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U + 8GB RAM + 256GB storage – 2,999 Yuan (~$424)
AMD Ryzen 5 3500U + 8GB RAM + 512GB storage – 3,299 Yuan (~$466)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U + 8GB RAM + 512GB storage – 3,799 Yuan (~$537)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700U + 16GB RAM + 512GB storage – TBA

Xiaomi has also revealed that the device will come with a 14-inch display that will offer 81.2 percent screen-to-body ratio. The device is also expected to come with support for Dolby DTS audio for an immersive experience.

Recently, the company had revealed that the RedmiBook 14 Ryzen Edition will come in two variants in terms of processor — AMD Ryzen 5 3500U and AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor. The device is confirmed to pack up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Yesterday, the company has also revealed that it will come with support for a new feature on the device — support for the company’s new cross-brand file transfer feature. The feature was launched earlier this year in cooperation with Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo for transferring files between the devices from these brands. It can transfer files between laptops and smartphones without any file size limit and can transfer over 1000 images and HD videos in a blink of an eye.

Xiaomi had claimed that with the launch of this RedmiBook 14 Ryzen Edition, the company will be declaring war on the unreasonably high-priced premium laptops. The company also added that it aims to balance the price to performance ratio.

Motorola’s November invite hints foldable RAZR phone launch

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Oct 18, 2019

Motorola has sent out invitations for a launch event that will be held on Nov. 13, CNET reported. The launch event has a gif that showcases a silhouette of the yesteryear RAZR V3 phone with a foldable design. It is speculated that the Lenovo-owned company will launch the Motorola RAZR foldable phone on the said date.

There are couple of taglines for the Motorola phone that will be announced in the coming month such as “an original unlike any other”, “highly anticipated unveiling of a reinvented icon” and “You’re going to flip.” The publication has further reported that the special guests and music performers will be present at the Motorola event.

Editor’s Pick: Throwback Tech Thursday: Revisiting the Iconic Moto Razr V3, the Phone That Made You Look Cool!

Motorola RAZR Foldable Phone Specifications (Rumored)

Rumors surrounding the Motorola RAZR foldable phone have revealed that it will be sporting a flexible 6.2-inch OLED display that will carry support for 876 x 2142 pixels. Rumors are rife that the RAZR foldable phone could be sporting a clamshell design like the RAZR V3 from the past. It is expected to sport an additional exterior display that will allow users to view notifications without opening the device. Also, instead of the physical keypad, the lower portion of the display may serve as an on-screen keyboard. The inner display may feature a notch for housing a selfie camera.

While Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X foldable phones are powered with flagship processor, it is speculated that the Snapdragon 710 SoC could be present under the hood of the RAZR foldable phone. It may arrive in 4 GB and 6 GB RAM editions and storage models like 64 GB and 128 GB. A fingerprint scanner could be present on the backside of the device. The foldable phone could be backed by a 2,730mah battery. It could be available exclusively through Verizon in the U.S.

The Motorola RAZR foldable phone could be made available for purchase in December. In Europe, the device may command a hefty price tag of 1,500 euros. Hopefully, more details on the device will appear as the launch date draws near.

iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 edition renders, variants appear on reservations page

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Oct 18, 2019

In July, iQOO had launched the Vivo iQOO Neo smartphone with Snapdragon 845 chipset onboard. Yesterday, the company confirmed that it will be launching the iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 edition smartphone on Oct. 24. Starting from today, the iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 version is available for reservations on Jingdong Mall. The renders of the smartphone along with its variants have appeared on the reservations page.

iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 Electro-optic Purple

The iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 version smartphone’s reservations page reveal that it will be releasing in three color editions such as Carbon Black, Electro-optic Violet and Icelandic Aurora. The listing also reveals that the smartphone will be available in three variants such as 6 GB RAM + 64 GB storage, 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage. JD has another listing for a custom gift box edition of the iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 edition.

The images of the phone once again confirm on the design of the iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 smartphone. The frontside of the phone features an OLED display with waterdrop notch and in-screen fingerprint sensor. The back panel of the phone has a vertical triple camera system and an LED flash. The edges of the phone feature a volume rocker, a power key and a dedicated button for accessing the Jovi AI assistant.

iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 Icelandic Aurora

Editor’s Pick: OPPO & Vivo’s 5G models are reportedly getting an early release

Renders that were released yesterday by the company had revealed the smartphone also features a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microphone, a USB-C port and an external speaker on its bottom edge. The design of the phone is reminiscent with other iQOO phones that are available in the market.

iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 custom gift box edition

So far, past reports have revealed that the iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 edition’s display will support 1080 x 2340 pixels. The Snapdragon 855 chipset powers the smartphone. The AnTuTu appearance of the phone had revealed that there will be an 8 GB RAM variant with 256 GB of storage. However, the JD listing of the phone has no mentioning of it. The handset is loaded with Android 9 Pie OS.

As of this writing, there is no information available on the configurations of iQOO Neo Snapdragon 855 edition’s cameras. It is expected to house a 4,500mAh battery. The 3C listing of the phone has revealed that it will be coupled with 33W rapid charging.

Huawei AQM-AL00 (and TL00) with 48MP triple cameras certified by TENAA

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Oct 17, 2019

A new Huawei phone with the model number AQM-AL00 has received TENAA certification in China. The full specs have been published but unfortunately, there are no images which mean its design remains a mystery.

TENAA says the phone has a 6.3-inch screen and it is an OLED panel with a 2400 x 1080 resolution. The listing also reveals the phone has an in-display fingerprint scanner. The device has triple rear cameras – a 48MP primary sensor paired with an 8MP camera and a 2MP camera. The selfie camera is a 16MP sensor.

The Huawei AQM-AL00 is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core processor which should most likely be the Kirin 810. The phone will be available in 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB RAM variants with 64GB or 128GB of expandable storage. It will run Android 9 Pie and have a 3900mAh battery.

The listing says black and green are the color variants that will be available. Its dimensions are 157.4 x 73.2 x 7.75 millimeters and it weighs 163 grams.

There are reports this may be the Huawei P Smart 2020 but there is no evidence to back the claim up. Time will tell if it is indeed the P Smart 2020 or an entirely different design.

(Source, Via)

Huawei begins selling its chips to third-parties

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Oct 17, 2019

Huawei makes its own chipset but while most people are familiar with their mobile processors, the tech giant’s HiSilicon semiconductor business also makes chips for IoT devices. A new report from China says it has begun selling one of its chip on the open market.

hisilicon chip — Huawei is opening up its chips to third-parties starting with the HiSilicon Balong 711

The chip in question is the Balong 711, a 4G chip that powers millions of Huawei’s IoT devices. The chip, which was announced back in 2014 can be used in security cameras, vending machines and

Some reports say that this move may be a way for Huawei to get more revenue. The company’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, is credited as having said in an interview that it is open to selling its 5G chips to rival phone companies including Apple.

The decision for Huawei to open its silicon business to third-parties will mostly hurt Qualcomm who is a major supplier of chips to several Chinese companies such as Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi. Seeing the way the US has treated Huawei, the aforementioned Chinese companies will not hesitate to do business with a domestic alternative.

Last month, HiSilicon announced a family of chipsets for use in 4K smart TVs. The quad-core processors have Cortex-A55 cores and a Mali-G52 GPU. They support 4K@60FPS codec.

It is important to mention that Xiaomi has also taken an interest in the semiconductor business. It launched an in-house mobile processor SoC called the Surge S1 in 2017. The chipset powers its Mi 5C smartphone.

A couple of months ago, a leaked memo revealed that the company had restructured its semi-conductor business. A team from its chip business Songguo Electronics left to form a company that Xiaomi has a 25% stake in. This new company called Nanjing Big Fish Semiconductor will focus on the research and development of AI and IoT chips while Songguo Electronics will continue to develop SoC chips for phones. In July, it was reported that Xiaomi invested in a Chinese chip designer company called VeriSilicon and is now the second-largest shareholder.

(Sources: 1, 2)

Elephone PX shows up in another real photo, still sells at a promo price

By

Dimitris Economou

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Oct 17, 2019

Elephone PX made its debut in the market on October 14th at just $129.99 which was $30 off the official price and sales were pretty high. After all, this amount of money for 4GB/64GB, as well as a dual rear camera and a pop-up selfie shooter, is a bargain. Even if the low price promo came to an end on October 16th, the phone is discounted and now sells at $139.99 on Aliexpress.

All this is great but the problem is that we’ve only seen the device in renders and a photo of the real thing would be useful for someone who is thinking of buying it. The company released today a real photo showing the back cover of the device in the beautiful Crystal color. The design of smartphones has evolved so much that even smaller manufacturers are able to release amazing-looking phones as you can see for yourselves. If you want to learn more details about the budget pop-up camera Elephone PX, visit the official product page.

Moto E6 Play renders surface to reveal design ahead of launch

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Oct 17, 2019

Images of an upcoming smartphone believed to be the Motorola Moto E6 Play have just surfaced, revealing two color variants. This leak follows in the footsteps of the Moto G8 Plus and the G8 Play, whose renders recently made it online. It is now being speculated that the smartphone may go official alongside the Moto G8 series that is expected to go official on Oct. 24 in Brazil.

The latest pictures confirm that the Moto E6 Play will be available in blue and black color options. Design elements include a rear panel-mounted fingerprint scanner and a single camera setup with an LED flash module. This is hardly surprising considering the low-end placement of the E6 Play in Motorola’s lineup.

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Editor’s Pick: Motorola One Macro with Helio P70 and macro lens launched in India for Rs. 9,999 (~$140)

The smartphone is likely to feature a capacitive touchscreen with an aspect ratio of either 16:9 or 18:9. The smartphone features a conventional design, sporting solid bezels on three sides with a thick chin below. All three buttons are positioned on the right edge of the device while the bottom edge houses the microUSD port.

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The top edge houses a 3.5mm headphone port while the front camera is placed within the top bezel. The rear panel is composed of plastic, which is the material of choice for budget smartphones. The fingerprint scanner is embedded into the Motorola logo, which adds a nice touch to the design. The device presumably runs on Android 9.0 Pie out-of-the-box. There is no information on the specification of the smartphone.

Motorola will probably showcase the E6 Play alongside the Moto G8, Moto G8 Plus and Moto G8 Play phones on Oct. 24. Additional details regarding the prices and specifications of the smartphone are yet to arrive. The smartphone may go on sale shortly after launch.

Nokia 8.2 5G to be fueled by forthcoming Snapdragon 735 and up to 8GB RAM

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Oct 17, 2019

While the race is on to offer flagship performance along with 5G spectrum, HMD Global is silently working on bringing 5G capabilities to the masses. Despite being a mid-ranger, the Nokia 8.2 5G still offers a lot of performance for its price. According to the good folks over at NokiaPowerUser, an anonymous source revealed the powerhouse behind the upcoming Nokia 8.2. The report claims that the phone is fueled by the forthcoming Snapdragon 735 by Qualcomm

The SD735 succeeds the SD730 and sits directly below the upcoming SD865, which is another next-generation powerhouse scheduled to arrive in 2020. The leak makes sense since HMD and Qualcomm have already revealed their plans of launching a 5G-compliant mid-range smartphone powered by an unreleased Snapdragon 7-series processor. The SoC features an upgraded AI Engine and is built using a 7nm architecture.

Editor’s Pick: Nokia awarded more than 2000 patents that deal with 5G

The report further reveals that the Nokia 8.2 5G is rumored to launch in three variants with 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, 6 GB of RAM and 12 8GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM with 256 GB of storage. It appears that the Nokia 8.2 5G could be the first phone from the Finnish firm to arrive with 8 GB of RAM. Previous leaks have revealed that the smartphone features a higher screen-to-body-ratio, pop-out selfie camera and a 64-megapixel quad camera setup housed in a circular module at the rear.

HMD Global is expected to showcase the 8.2 5G at Mobile World Congress (MWC) tech trade show in Barcelona, Spain in February 2020. Rumors are rife that it will be an affordable 5G phone priced around $500. The smartphone is also expected to come in LTE only version.

New ThinkPad X1 line is a foldable PC, will it beat the Surface Neo?

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Oct 17, 2019

It looks like the latest addition to the ThinkPad X1 line will be a foldable PC, and it’ll come out before the Surface Neo. No name is confirmed yet, but the PC is expected next summer following a short preview at the Canalys Channels Forum in Barcelona.

The strange introduction saw Lenovo‘s Milanka Muecke, director of global commercial comms and brand, pull the 13″ OLED screen device out of her handbag to demonstrate its bendiness. “I have it right here and you can have it in your purse,” she said. “It looks like a leather bound notebook that you can carry with you all day long, but it is a full performance PC that fits in the palm of your hand.”

As for when the ThinkPad X1 will ship, the device “will start shipping probably Q2 next year.” The COO explained that “hardware is ready, but we need to still fix certain things from a software point of view, and that doesn’t depend 100 percent on us.” Lenovo did not expand on which software development is holding the device back.

There’s a good chance that it is related to Windows 10X, the version of Windows 10 that is specifically designed for foldable devices. If the company does successfully manage to hit their deadline however, they’ll beat the upcoming Microsoft Surface Neo to market, with the Surface planned for ‘Holiday 2020’.

Unfortunately, no concrete price was given, though we wouldn’t expect it to be low. Generally right now it seems that foldable tech can’t be done cheaply, yet. On top of this, ThinkPads tend to sit on the higher end of the price spectrum, so expect the new foldable ThinkPad to cost quite a lot at launch.

(Source)

Live photos of the Moto G8 Play reveal design and specs

By

Download Pixel 4 Wallpapers

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Oct 17, 2019

It is raining Motorola leaks this week, and if you have missed them, then you should check out these leaked renders and specs of the Moto G8 Plus as well as the alleged renders of the standard Moto G8 first. When you are done, you can finish up this post that covers the Moto G8 Play.

The Moto G8 Play is the latest device in the Moto G8 series to leak and this time around live photos of the device itself have leaked. First reported by Brazilian tech blog, Tudocelular, the photos show the front and rear of the phone. There is even a sticker that reveals the specs of the device.

[envira-gallery id=”283633″]

Starting with the design, the Moto G8 Play looks a lot like the Moto G8. It has the same waterdrop notch and thick bottom bezel. It also has triple rear cameras and a fingerprint scanner. on the back

The sticker on the display reveals the phone has a 6.2-inch HD+ Max Vision display. It is powered by a 2.0GHz octa-core processor stated to be the Helio P60 from MediaTek. It will draw power from a 4000mAh battery which is good news since the Moto G8 Play also gets a bigger battery to go along with its bigger display. There is also support for rapid charging.

Just like its siblings, the Motorola Moto G8 Play is getting triple rear cameras which is a big upgrade from the single rear camera on the Moto G7 Play. The sticker says the cameras are supported by artificial intelligence and one of the sensors is a 117° ultrawide angle camera. What hasn’t changed is the selfie camera which is still an 8MP sensor.

The Moto G8 Play is expected to cost R$1099 which converts to about $264. It should be cheaper when it launches in the US.

(Source)

Download Pixel 4 live wallpapers on any Android device

By

Simranpal Singh

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Oct 17, 2019

Last week, Google unwrapped the Pixel 4 series featuring various astonishing features such as motion sensing, smart camera, and high-end specifications. Along with the beautiful design and features, Google also packed it with some excellent live wallpapers. Thanks to some third-party developers who have extracted these Pixel 4 live wallpapers and made them available for any Android device.

A senior XDA developer – Pranav Pandey who also pulled Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 wallpapers for other devices is again at work. He has successfully ported all the Pixel 4 live wallpapers into a modded APK. A new Slice Viewer app also allows the users to customize some of the wallpapers by adding new objecting, controlling animation speed and color.

Pixel 4 Specifications

Google launched two new smartphones – Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL carrying the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. However, the Pixel 4 comes with a 5.7-inch Full HD+ OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It is coupled with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The device comes with a 2800 mAH battery with facelock and Titan M security module.

In optics, Pixel 4 carries a dual camera module with a 12MP primary sensor and a 16 MP telephoto lens. There’s an 8MP sensor on the front for selfies and video calling. It is available in three different colors of Just Black, Clearly White and Oh So Orange. It measures 5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches and weighs 5.7 ounces.

As far as the Pixel 4 XL is concerned, then it carries a 6.3-inch 90HZ display with the resolution of 3040 x 1440 display. It is available two different storage variants of 6GB + 128GB and 6GB + 64GB internal storage variants. It is powered with a 3700 mAH battery.

Download Pixel 4 Live Wallpapers

Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL carry several live wallpapers but the most dynamic are the Doodles, Compass, and Sights of the Sun. The new Doodles are customizable with some new objects and animation speed with the help of the Slice Viewer app. The wallpapers work perfectly on all Android devices. The Compass theme also looks good with the needle pointing towards the north. Some nature-inspired wallpapers refresh minds with animated birds, waves and clouds.

These will drain more battery, so don’t complain if you’re using the Pixel 4 live wallpapers. To check out the wallpapers you can download the apk from the link below. If you want to customize the wallpapers, don’t forget to install the Slice Viewer app from the wardrobe.

Download Slice Viewer App

Steps to Customize the Doodle live wallpapers?

Set the Compass, Doodle or Sights From The Sun live wallpapers.
Now open the Slice Viewer app and Enable Do it yourself.
Now, edit the wallpaper by selecting the color location and animation speed of the respective wallpapers.
Wallpapers will show changes in real-time.

The new wallpapers are only working on Snapdragon devices, the devices running on Exynos and Kirin are left in the lurch. We hope in the coming few days, other devices will also start supporting Pixel 4 live wallpapers.

Samsung Goofed up with S10’s fingerprint real bad: Anyone can unlock it!

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 17, 2019

Samsung has acknowledged the existence of a security flaw on the Galaxy S10 which allows any fingerprint to unlock the phone. The company also promised to push a software patch that would fix the issue pretty soon.

The software flaw was first reported by a British woman whose Galaxy S10 unit was successfully unlocked by her husband’s thumbprint after fixing a cheap screen protector on the device. The lady had bought a £2.70 gel screen protector on eBay and then noticed her left thumbprint, which was not registered could also unlock the phone. Both of her husband’s thumbs could also unlock the phone. The same scenario played out when the screen protector was added to another relative’s phone which we believe is also a Galaxy S10.

The Galaxy S10 was launched in March this year and it came as the company’s first phone to feature an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor was touted to be a “revolutionary” piece of tech. But the fingerprint authentication feature has been unarguably the most controversial feature onboard the amazing device. The scanner sends ultrasounds to detect 3D ridges of fingerprints in order to recognise users.

In January this year, before the Galaxy S10 went official, US accessory maker Armadillotek had hinted that the device was tested with a screen protector and the fingerprint sensor didn’t work. The screen protector is said to leave a small air gap that interfered with the scanning. This is likely different as the cheap screen protector was able to unlock it meaning it scanned.

It was also discovered earlier on that the screen could be unlocked using a 3D printed version of the owner’s fingerprint. This again called to question the security of the fingerprint sensor.

This is the first-gen under-display fingerprint scanner from Samsung so we may give them the benefit of doubt that it has not been perfected. So, you should know it cannot be relied upon for secure transactions and other important biometric uses. Already, South Korea’s online-only KaKao Bank has instructed customers to switch off the fingerprint-recognition option to log in to its services until the issue was fixed.

(via)

Apple patents a Smart Ring, could it replace the Apple Watch?

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Oct 17, 2019

The Apple Watch is one of the company’s most notable product success stories in recent years. So it would make sense for Apple to continue exploring the potential of new wearable accessories. And, if a new patent application published this week is any indication, Apple is probably going to be producing an “Apple Ring” fairly soon.

The title of the patent says it all, “Devices, methods, and user interfaces for a wearable electronic ring computing device.” The ring contains a processor, wireless transceiver, power supply, and a microphone. There would also be other sensors included within the ring to enable hand gestures to be detected and interpreted, along with a dial control perpendicular to the ring’s circumference that could function like the Apple’s Digital Crown.

The technology covered by the patent relates to a finger ring with a touchscreen that includes a processor, a rechargeable source of power and a wireless transceiver. With the ring worn on one finger, a finger tap, voice command or hand gesture can be used to control the action on another device like an iPhone or an iPad.

While the patent itself is dense, it’s pretty much describing an Apple Watch you wear on your finger — complete with Apple Pay, fitness tracking and the ability to communicate with other devices wirelessly. Also like the Apple Watch, it’s very much a companion device that relies on your other Apple products to work, and not a standalone product.

Might this smaller, arguably simpler interface fully replace the Apple Watch, if it connects to your phone, Siri and other smart devices around the home? Time will tell if Apple decides the devices can sit alongside each other, but we seriously doubt the company is planning to kill off their massively successful Apple Watch line.

(Source)

Xiaomi crowdfunded 17PIN Thermos features a digital temperature display

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Oct 17, 2019

Xiaomi crowdfunding brings us a brand new product to take a look at. Today, we’ve got the Xiaomi 17PIN Thermos. It’s a thermos that features a digital display. Xiaomi boasts that the thermos has long-lasting insulation as well as a glazed enamel finish. So, let’s take a closer look at the latest from Xiaomi’s crowdfunding platform.

Like we said earlier the Xiaomi 17PIN Thermos comes with a glazed enamel finish that requires a 64 steps process as well 2 high temperature burning sessions to apply a layer of enamel on the inner wall of the stainless steel. Perhaps the most interesting part of the design, however, is the little display on the top that displays the drink’s temperature.

This is a design that’s been patented by 17PIN, giving the cover of the thermos some extra functionality. To take a look at how hot or cold your drink is, just gently touch the top of the cup or flip the cup. The temperature is instantly displayed on the digital display, which is a fairly nifty little feature to include on a thermos.

The inner liner is wrapped with a 304 stainless steel double-layer vacuum cup body. It’s built to be durable and has a high vacuum heat-breaking design and three-layer insulation.
The inner lining is smooth and easy to clean, as the thermos is fairly easy to disassemble and cleaned.

There are two variants of the 17PIN Thermos, a standard variant, and a digital temperature display version. As you can probably guess, the standard doesn’t have the nifty little temperature display, while the other one does. Pricing begins at 69 yuan ($10) for the standard, and 99 yuan ($14) for temperature digital display.

Oppo Reno 10X Zoom starts recruiting users for Android 10 beta testing

By

Jeet

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Oct 17, 2019

Today, OPPO has announced that the company has started recruiting users for the beta testing of the new ColorOS 6 update which is based on the latest Android 10 operating system. The company has also revealed that it will start rolling out the new update to internal users from 25th October.

The official changelog for the ColorOS 6 beta version based on Android 10 operating system mentions the following:

Dark mode: The new system-wide dark color scheme not only gives you a more focused and comfortable screen experience at night but also saves battery.
Control Center: The drop-down notification page can display more switches to optimize the one-handed interactive experience, and the quick switch is more convenient to use.
Camera optimization: The company has completely updated the camera experience, making operations more intuitive, and the common function settings are now more convenient to use.
File Management: File Management adds a “Recent” view, displays the last 30 days of files in the order of timeline, has a new memory storage rights management system, and more complete privacy protection.
Cloud disk: The cloud adds support for storing documents, videos, audio, compressed files, and other files, and important data to be carried around via cloud storage.

Along with these features, the company has also mentioned a few more features, including Focus Mode, Random Mac Address, among others.

To get this update, make sure that your device has model number PCCM00 and the phone version is PCCM00_11_A.42. To register for this beta program, go to “Settings” > “Software Update” > Click on the upper Right Corner Settings Icon and then click “Upgrade Early Adoption” and you are done. The company is reportedly taking 800 users for the beta testing of Android 10.

Last month, Shen Yiren, Vice President of OPPO had confirmed through a Weibo post that the Reno 10X Zoom smartphone will be getting the upcoming ColorOS 7 update. This was also the first confirmation from the company about the existence of ColorOS 7.

The smartphone features a 6.6-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. On the front side, the smartphone has a “shark fin” shaped pop-up camera module that houses a 16-megapixel selfie snapper with an LED flash.

There’s a triple camera setup on the back where the sensors are placed vertically. It features a 48-megapixel primary lens with optical image stabilization, a 13-megapixel periscope-type telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and OIS and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens.

The phone is powered by a 4,065mAh battery and comes with support for 20W VOOC 3.0 Flash Charge fast charging technology. The smartphone comes running Android Pie-based ColorOS 6.0 out-of-the-box.

Xiaomi’s Cottonsmith 3-in-1 heated down jacket is ideal for summer, winter and spring

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 17, 2019

Xiaomi has today announced its 422nd product under the Youpin crowdfunding platform. The product is yet another smart down jacket design that would take you through the winter without stress. Just that this time around, the jacket isn’t just designed for winter but has a three-in-one design which makes it equally suitable for use during spring and summer

The down jacket is developed by Cotton Smith just like the heated goose don jacket and uses the same graphene heating technology as its sibling. This version comes with a crowdfunding price of 599 yuan (~$84) but will retail for 649 yuan ($91) after the crowdfunding exercise.

The jacket comes with several innovative features which include multi-zone heating at the front and back. The two heating zones can also be controlled independently as it has independent dual switch control. The jacket uses a graphene-carbon nanotube heating material which is efficient and heats up very fast. The jacket gets heated up in just 1 second after it is switched on.

There is also a safety feature in place which prevents the skin from getting burnt as the jacket automatically powers off after it is left on for 3 hours. You’ll have to turn it on again to continue using. Also included is a colour-coded button which shows the temperature (53 ° C -red, 48 ° C -purple, 43 ° C- green, 38 ° C- white).

Further, the inner jacket is accompanied by an outer liner which can be detached and worn on its own. The goose down jacket which has a honeycomb design can equally be used separately. The material is said to be highly effective against cold weather while the fabric is water repellent. The jacket can be powered using a power bank as it comes with a USB interface. There is a separate compartment for the power bank.

The jacket is available in black and polar blue.

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