KB-Technologies

At $159, Apple's AirPods aren't exactly cheap, yet they're quite the bargain when you consider the wireless earbuds options. If only they could come in a color to match your Black iPhone 7, Jet or otherwise. Well, now they can, sort of, courtesy of a company called BlackPods. Jackpot! BlackPods (apparently both the name of the company and the end product) will take your ordinary shiny white AirPods, subject them to a 'three-phase approach' that yields a 'luxurious scratch-resistant finish', all for the nominal fee of $99. Alternatively, you can buy the AirPods straight from BlackPods and get the BlackPods for $249 - sounds like $9 worth of savings. That is, if you don't already own a pair. Mind you, there's a waiting list you need to join at this point, so you can't order the BlackPods right away. It makes perfect sense though - Apple itself won't ship a pair of AirPods for another 6 weeks if you order today. Also, t...

If you recall, not too long ago, a number of renders leaked of successor (to be named) of the Sony Xperia XA. The easiest way to tell is the positioning of the front-facing camera, as well as the USB-C port, and those corners with the funky design at around 01:36. Paired with some interesting music, the video by TechLover HD is about 2 minutes long and shows the purported Sony handset which carries the model number 'G3121'. The video shows a prototype of the aforementioned model in various angles, and a few menu screens that show its model number, Android version, and its January 5 security patch. With a live video leak like this, it’s only a matter of time before Sony officially announces more information about the Xperia XA successor. This is expected to happen at MWC in about a month or so from today.   Xperia XA successor leak of renders The video title also mentions that the handset has a 23MP camera. Which is briefly seen in the video o...

A twitter account that’s dedicated to reporting on new WhatsApp beta builds has tweeted of a new feature that its allegedly uncovered. @WABetaInfo tweeted a couple of screenshots of a newly spotted feature in version 2.17.3.28 for iOS and version 2.16.399 for Android. Users in a group chat would be able to broadcast their live location to the others on the group chat. The feature is disabled by default, but if the leaked screenshots are true (which they pretty much do) then there will finally be an alternative way to share live location with iOS and Android users. Given that many people use WhatsApp on a global scale, it’d be much easier to share a constant location with a friend that you might be meeting in the next hour or so if both of you don't use iOS. iOS users have had this feature for years baked into iMessage, though not in the exact same way: In iMessage, users can request or begin sending location to another iMessage user. The location can be sh...

It looks like Sony isn't going to be the only company to introduce no less than five new smartphones at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The show starts in late February, and a new leak tells us that Alcatel will be present too. Not just that, but it will have five new handsets of its own to showcase. Details are scarce about them at this point, but one will apparently be modular, with a system that will allow for different functions to be achieved through replaceable back covers. So yet another take on the whole modularity thing, after LG's failed 'Friends' attempt for the G5 and Motorola's snap-on magnetic accessories for its Z line. With Alcatel's phone, you'll just buy another replaceable back module if you feel like changing things up. It's unclear what exact added functionality these modules will come with, but pictured above and below are parts of the device's back with a cover on it that has an array o...

Samsung and LG have been competing for decades now, and the two companies are always trying to one up each other in whatever way possible. This year, both will put out impressive new flagship smartphones, both of those with minimal bezels as countless rumors have told us so far. However, in the battle between Samsung's Galaxy S8 and LG's G6, the former has managed to best the latter in at least two areas. First, there's the chipset, which is rumored to be Snapdragon 835 for Samsung yet only last year's Snapdragon 821 for the LG - and that's a direct consequence of Samsung 'hoarding' all available SD835 units at launch. Another area where the Galaxy S8 will beat the LG G6 at the spec game is display resolution and size, though in both cases only just. The latter was already obvious from yesterday's huge leak about the S8, which once again confirmed that the smaller model will have a 5.8-inch screen, while the larger model will come wi...

TCL, which now makes BlackBerry-branded devices, showed us its next handset back at CES, but didn't tell us anything about it. The full unveiling will thankfully happen in less than a month, on February 25 at MWC in Barcelona. That's when we should finally find out what it's going to be called - Mercury, DTEK70, or something else. Until then, here's a new rumor about its cameras. It's said to feature the Sony IMX378 sensor on the rear, which is the same one used by Google for its Pixel and Pixel XL handsets, which take some of the best shots of any smartphones out there. So expect the Mercury's main snapper to have 12 MP resolution and support for 4K video recording. On the front, taking care of your selfies, will be either Samsung's S5K4H8 sensor or OmniVision's OV8856, in both cases with 8 MP resolution and 1.12um pixels. This camera will record 1080p videos at 30fps. Past leaks talked about the Mercury coming with a 1,620x1,080 t...

Remember the Jade Primo? One of the few non-Microsoft smart phones with Windows 10 Mobile. It was announced twice, Acer needed 6 months to actually produce the device and by the time it started shipping it, the specs were already kinda dated. Acer Liquid Jade Primo was one of the first handsets to support Continuum for phones, which was actually the main highlight for the device. Unfortunately, it now looks like Acer is dropping support for OS updates on it. A company’s spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the Anniversary Update for the Acer Liquid Jade Primo leads to instability of the OS. The current version is technically flawless and resilient, so we have decided after thorough consideration to refrain from an update.” This is quite concerning, since the main role that the update had was improving performance and stability. Microsoft is about to release the Windows 10 Creators Update in the forthcoming months but since Acer closed down their support, Jad...

HoloLens, Microsoft’s augmented reality headset has been on sale in several countries since the beginning of December. Both the Developer Edition and the Commercial Suite cost $3,000 and are sold through the Microsoft Store. At the Education technology conference BETT in United Kingdom Roger Walkden from the HoloLens team revealed, that sales of the headset are so far in the ‘thousands’, insisting that’s all the company needs. "We're not trying to sell hundreds of thousands or millions or anything, it's expensive, and it's not in huge numbers. So we're happy with the level of sales that we've got - I can't tell you anything about the numbers, but it's in thousands, not hundreds of thousands, and that's fine. That's all we need," he said. Asked about future plans of waiting the production costs to lower, Walkden assured that HoloLens is currently in its version one and the VR market is new. “There’s a roadmap we’re...

Sometimes one division in a company can drag down others - that’s what is happening at Toshiba, where the NAND flash business is booming, but the conglomerate faces a multi-billion dollar write-down over issues with the Westinghouse nuclear power plant. Analysts at Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities say Toshiba leadership is considering spinning off the memory business as soon as possible (by the end of March) and Western Digital is reportedly the frontrunner to scoop up a 20% stake. WD (which acquired SanDisk recently) is currently third in the global NAND flash market (with a 17.1% share) after Samsung (36.6%) and Toshiba (19.8%). However, WD and Toshiba combined would surpass Samsung’s market share, putting the new company in the lead. Make no mistake, Samsung’s memory business is a big part of how the company posted better than expected Q4 results even after it lost billions on the failed Note7. SK Hynix, known for its RAM chips (used in both computers and phones) ...

Alphabet Inc revealed its fourth-quarter financial results and they are somewhat of a mixed bag. During the holiday season revenue from advertising went up 17.4% to $22.4 billion. However earnings per share were $9.36, which is lower than the $9.67 expected by analysts. The CFO Ruth Porat underlined that the company broadens its business in hardware, app sales and cloud services which climbed 62% to $3.4 billion. Results could be even better but Google was hit with a higher tax rate of 22%, contributing to the dent in profitability. Google-branded hardware showed promise - Google Home, the Pixel gained traction over the holidays, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said to the media. Research companies estimate Google will hit $60.92 billion in search ad revenue for 2016, or almost 60% of the search ad market worldwide. Alphabet’s Other Bets that include Google Fiber, Nest, Waymo and the research facility for “moon shot” ventures X increased revenue to $262 million...

Verizon has started pushing out updates to the Motorola Moto Z Play Droid and Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 units on its network. Arriving as software version MCOS24.104-35-1-19, the update for the Moto phone brings along a notifications volume-related change. "The default notifications volume level has been increased to match the volume level used in the original software release," the Verizon software update page for the Moto Z Play Droid Edition says. The Galaxy smartphone gets firmware version MMB29M.T818VVRU1AQA3 and brings along the latest Android security patch (fixes for the month of January that is). Source 1 2

Microsoft has released its Q4 2016 earnings report, revealing that phone revenue was down 81% compared to the same quarter the year prior. While the company sold 4.5 million Lumia phones in the last quarter of 2015, we didn't get an exact figure for the same period of 2016. However, by all accounts the number is below 1 million. Overall, the software giant reported a revenue of $26.1 billion non-GAAP ($24.1 billion GAAP), while the company's net-income stood at $6.5 billion non-GAAP ($5.2 billion GAAP). For the complete report, head to the Source link below. Source | Via

Announced less than a year ago, Google’s Daydream platform is essentially the successor to Google’s Cardboard viewer. Daydream VR was meant to be baked into Android N and provided a new VR experience with the included motion controller. At CES, a couple of smartphone makers announced a partnership with Google to bring Daydream compatibility to its devices. Huawei’s Mate 9 lineup, Asus’ Zenfone AR, and ZTE’s Axon 7 have all announced official compatibility with Google’s Daydream VR platform, as well as the Daydream View headset. Google Daydream main menu Today, Google has announced that it is opening the platform to all app developers, so they can create VR experiences to add to Daydream’s VR app collection. Though, develoepers will need to meet a strict list of criteria before their app will be discoverable by others through the Daydream VR app finder. Designing apps for VR is substantially different than for other platforms, particularly because poorly desig...

A new experimental update pushed to the Sony Xperia X Concept firmware brings the build number up to 38.3.A.0.83 and the return of a feature that replaces the older STAMINA mode from before the days of Android’s Doze. Sony’s new ‘Battery Saver’ aims to bring some of the features left behind with STAMINA mode. Back before Android brought Doze in Marshmallow, Sony had its own battery saving solution called “STAMINAmode”. It worked software magic to reduce power consumption without a major hit to performance. When Xperia phones began updating to Marshmallow, the feature was removed to give way for Android’s Doze. Battery Saver and its settings. You can set the mode to come on when the phone’s battery drops below any level under 50%. You can control what radios turn off when you’ve enabled Battery Saver. Sony also added VoLTE support for additional carriers: Vodafone in Spain and Three/EE in the UK. Another part of the update are some new camera shortcuts in bo...

The official-looking images of the upcoming LG G6 just keep on leaking. A few days ago we saw a shot of the top half of the device and its left side, and today it's time to take a closer look at its right side. That said, it's becoming pretty odd that these pictures all leave out the G6's bottom half - is there something in there we aren't supposed to see? That's anyone's guess at this point. Anyway, today's image shows an identical design to the one from earlier in the week, so it's clearly of the same phone. Once again we get to wonder at the G6's minimal top and side bezels, as well as its rounded corners and metal construction. The SIM card tray is front and center in this depiction, and it looks way too long to house just a SIM, so we assume that it will take a microSD card too, for storage expansion. The LG G6 will be announced on February 26. It's expected to come with a non-replaceable battery, glass and metal buil...

Google's Pixel and Pixel XL aren't all that old at this point, but the rumor mill has already started discussing their successors. A new report today claims to shed some light on Google's next smartphones, but it is apparently based off of just one source, so have your grain of salt nearby for this one. Although we'll be referring to just one Pixel 2 device, we assume that Google will once again launch two, in two different sizes. The Pixel 2 is said to come with an even better camera than the original, with Google reportedly putting an emphasis on great low-light photography. The snapper won't have a lot of megapixels, but will "compensate in extra features", whatever that may mean. The original Pixel's camera has been a selling point for Google, so it's unsurprising that it would want to keep the crown when the next generation comes along. Water-resistance for the Pixel 2 is "still on the table", which makes it s...

Twitter has announced the new Explore tab, an Instagram-esque section that should make keeping tab of things happening outside of your timeline easier. Explore combines three of Twitter's existing features; search, trends, and Moments. Instead of a tab just for Moments and search and trends being in another area, the new Explore tab will bring them all under one roof. This is similar to the Explore tab on Instagram, that combines the search and suggested content from people you don't follow but may have common friends or interests with. The Explore tab is rolling out today on Twitter for iOS and will be coming to the Android version over the coming weeks. Source

If you're excited for the Samsung Galaxy S8, today is a good day for you. That's because a new, huge leak is bringing us pretty much all the details about the Korean company's next flagship, including images (see below), specs, as well as unveiling and release dates. And all of this comes from the usually reliable Evan Blass (a.k.a @evleaks ), so there's no particular reason to doubt the information. There will be two Galaxy S8 sizes, as rumored before. The smaller model will have a 5.8-inch screen, while the larger Galaxy S8 Plus will have a 6.2-inch display, both of the dual-curved Super AMOLED variety, and both with an unusual 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Thus Samsung too is ditching the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, but it's made the S8's panel even more elongated than LG for the G6 (which has 18:9 ratio). The S8's display will be pressure sensitive (think 3D Touch), but strangely only in its lower part. The small S8 will have a 3,000 mAh batt...

2013 was the year Flappy Bird was released and got a lot of people smashing their phones in frustration after yet another crash. But the game didn’t live long since author Dong Nguyen pulled it off. Now he made another challenge - Ninja Spinki Challenges. It is yet another 8-bit graphics title and is once again annoyingly difficult. The designer teamed up with Japan’s Obokaidem in his Vietnamese studio to create something that is both hard and has an actual win option. We remind you that Flappy Bird’s only goal was to get a higher score, there was no ending to the game. Now Ninja Spinki Challenges has 6 mini-games like challenges. At first they are quite easy to win and they get you hooked. Then they become progressively harder and you already hate yourself for wanting to play it one more time. Each mini-game has two modes - Challenge mode where you have a time limit to win and endless mode where you have to avoid dying. They are all played with finger ...

Yesterday we wrote of a white version of the immensely popular Nokia 6 being sold in the Philippines. Well, the Communications Director of HMD Global denied the existence of such device. We haven’t launched Nokia 6 in Philippines market. The seller is a 3rd party retailer on Lazada platform and is not an authorized seller. Now, that was pretty clear from the start, but it appears the white color has been merely a mistake in the listing. The listing on Lazada has actually already been changed to black. The price stays PHP 18,590 or about $370 (the official JD.com retail sells the phone for $247). HMD Global said that it’s possible the 3rd party retailer got its hands on a few Nokia 6 units and imported them on its own, but there's no official launch outside of China just yet. The initial Nokia 6 batch sold out in China in a minute and 1.4 million people have already registered their interest in taking part in the next sale.

Keeping to its usual schedule, MWC 2017 is now just about a month away. Excitement over at camp Sony is pretty high and the official event time is already set - February 27, at 7:30 GMT. There have been a few renders and photos floating about recently, but nothing really all that revealing. Well, a new source now claims to offer a lot of insight on Sony's future lineup, with details for a whopping total of 5 smartphones, lined up for the event. The rumor comes courtesy of a quite shady site in Georgia, so you should probably break out the whole salt shaker for this one. Spearheading the alleged lineup is the Sony Yoshino - a new 4K, 5.5-inch flagship, with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4GB or perhaps even 6GB of RAM. In the camera department, we can expect the new Sony IMX400 sensor. Up next is the Sony BlancBright . It brings the resolution down to QHD, while retaining the 5.5-inch form factor. Powering it should either be aforementioned fla...

Google and Mozilla kick it up a notch warning you about sites vulnerable to hacking. Coming with the latest updates of Chrome v56 and Firefox v51 web broswers, you’ll know when you are submitting sensitive information over insecure HTTP connections. Warnings like that were a thing before, but now they graduate from beta to stable. Firefox shows a grey lock with a red dash over it in the address bar when you are browsing a site that is asking for your password. Previous versions don’t have that though if you were in a secured HTTPS website, there was a green lock icon. Chrome also showed green lock with the word Secure when the site is okay for sharing personal information. Non-secure pages had an info icon that is now followed by a “Not secure” sign. Engineers at Google say that users do not perceive the lack of a secure icon as a warning. Chrome will show the sign not only you are requested a password, but also some more credentials like credit card de...

Flexible smartphones are shaping to be the next big thing and everyone wants in. Samsung started a program called Project Valley last year and LG showed a rollable 18-inch display. This technology has only looked possible with OLED screens so far but it appears the good old LCD might still be in the game. Japan Display announced it is currently working on a flexible LCD. The Liquid-Crystal-Display has a glass layer and that’s why all the LCD phones have a flat screen. Japan Display CEO Shuji Aruga said they already started using plastic instead of glass. While not as flexible as the OLED display, the new LCD is bendable enough to mimic the Galaxy  Edge design . Samsung Galaxy S6 edge The company declined to say which smartphone makers are interested in the new displays but we already know they supply manufacturers like Apple and Huawei. JDI also plans to broaden its displays to cars and laptop computers. Mr Aruga says that mass production is pl...

Hugo Barra surprised everyone with his Facebook post from several days ago that he leaves his position at Xiaomi after 3.5 years in the company. He was behind the global expansion that transformed Xiaomi from a startup to one of the top tech companies in the world. And now we know where he will continue to inspire people - Oculus. Barra is joining forces with Mark Zuckerberg as vice president of virtual reality at Facebook and will lead the Oculus team. Zuckerberg himself first posted the news on his Facebook page: Hugo shares my belief that virtual and augmented reality will be the next major platform. The Brazilian shared the post with excitement, adding that his mission will be to make technology breakthroughs quickly and readily available to the widest possible spectrum of humanity. The two of them will work along with Brendan Iribe, founder of Oculus, Mike Schroepfer, CTO of Facebook and “the visionaries in the Oculus team” as put by Barra. The messag...

Google has announced that its e-mail service Gmail will soon start blocking JavaScript (.js) file attachments, expanding its list of restricted attachment types that currently includes .exe, .msc, and .bat files. The restriction will come into effect February 13 onwards. "Similar to other restricted file attachments, you will not be able to attach a .js file and an in-product warning will appear, explaining the reason why," the search giant said. The decision to block JavaScript file attachments has been taken keeping in mind security reasons (JavaScript files can easily run executables, a trick commonly used by computer hackers). However, in case you have legitimate reasons for sending such a file, Google suggests you use Google Drive, Google Cloud Storage, or other storage solutions to share the file. Source

Samsung has made it clear that it thinks AI will be the killer feature of 2017 flagships, but could desktop mode prove to be a dark horse? We’ve seen leaked slides about Desktop eXperience (DeX for short) that will turn the phone into the heart of a desktop workstation. Yes, basically Continuum, but based on a more popular OS. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus should come with USB-C ports that are just the right port for a one cable workstation - power, video out, high-speed data and so on. There are USB-C monitors that double as USB hubs so you can hook up your peripherals to them. However, it sounds like Samsung DeX will use a dedicated dock, a “DeX Station”, instead of relying on relatively rare monitors. Such things are hardly new - remember the Smart Dock for the Galaxy Note II? Here's hoping Samsung gets the software execution right this time. Here's how Samsung described DeX: Application software, namely, for projecting the screen of mobile devic...

BlackBerry has given its Passport and Passport Silver Edition smartphones a price cut for a limited time. Available in several regions worldwide, including the US, Canada, and the UK (as well as the rest of the Europe), the discount ends in a total of 48-hours. For example, in the US, the standard Passport is officially being sold for $229, while the Passport Silver Edition is listed on the company's website for $279. That's a discount of $120 for both. Similarly, in Canada, the devices are currently going for CAD 304 and CAD 369, down from CAD 449 and CAD 499, respectively. For more information on the flash sale, head to the Source link below, and select your region. Source 1 2

The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) has started receiving a new update. Arriving as firmware version XXS3BQA6, the update - which is currently being rolled out by Vodafone to units in Europe - brings along Android security fixes for the month of January. As is usually the case with OTA roll outs, it may take some time before the update notification pops up on your device's screen. Meanwhile, if you feel impatient, you can manually check for the update by heading to your handset's Settings menu. Via

If the Blade V8 and Blade V8 Pro weren't enough, it looks like ZTE is soon going to launch another phone in the series: the Blade V8 Lite. The device has received WiFi certification from the WiFi Alliance (WFA). The listing reveals that the phone is powered by Android 7.0 Nougat, just like the standard Blade V8 (the Pro variant runs Marshmallow). Sadly, nothing else about the Lite variant is currently known, although given that it has started collecting necessary certifications, we expect specs-related information and other details for the device to be revealed soon. Source

Google has updated its Translate app for both Android and iOS platforms. It's not a big update, but brings a useful feature: Instant camera English to/from Japanese translation. Image credit: Android Police This means that if you have the translation pack for Japanese, you'll now be able to point your camera at something written in that language, say a sign, and the app will easily translate it into English. Of course, the feature will work vice-versa as well. Aside from this, the update also brings along fix for Facebook Messenger sharing bug on Android and background audio issue on iOS. The updated app is available for download from the Play Store and the App Store. Play Store | App Store | Via

Just a few weeks after it was spotted on GFXBench, the Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro has now appeared on Geekbench benchmarking website as well. The listing reveals the device is powered by Snapdragon 625 SoC with octa-core processor. Other specs revealed by the listing include 4GB RAM and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. If you compare, these are all inline with what GFXBench had revealed. Some of the other key specs of the phone include full HD display resolution (screen size 5.2-inch or 5.5-inch), 64GB storage, and 16MP/16MP camera combo. The handset has already cleared TENAA and the FCC, and has also received Wi-Fi certification from the WiFi Alliance (WFA). Source

Apple has released the first developer beta of iOS 10.3, and it comes with some important changes that you wouldn't expect from a point release. One of the major changes is the switch to APFS or Apple File System. This was announced last year and has been in development since but is being deployed in iOS for the first time. It is Apple's new file system that will soon be available on all Apple platforms, including iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It is built from the grounds-up for flash storage and will offer improved performance and future-proofing compared to the current HFS. This will retain your files when you update but you will not be able to go back after updating, so only update to the beta if you must and a backup is highly recommended. The other useful addition is Find My AirPods. Clearly the paranoia surrounding losing one or both your AirPods has gotten Apple thinking hard. With this feature, you will be able to send a beeping sound through one...

The upcoming BlackBerry Mercury with a physical QWERTY keyboard and Android on board is certainly getting one of the weirdest introductions we've seen in recent years. Following many months of leaks about it, TCL showcased the device at CES earlier this month. But here's the twist: even though we already went hands-on with it, its specs are still a mystery. Not to mention pricing or a release date. So, despite the fact that we know what it looks like already, everything else about it still needs to be properly announced by TCL, the company now making BlackBerry-branded handsets. Thankfully though, that will finally happen later this month in Barcelona, at a pre-MWC event. BlackBerry's press conference will take place on February 25. At CES TCL officials did tell us that they were aiming for an actual unveiling of the phone at MWC, and it's good to see that's going to pan out after all. The device may be called Mercury, or DTEK70, or even somethi...

Vertu has finally unveiled a new luxury smartphone today, and it's the latest to be branded Constellation. Oddly for luxury mobile devices, this one comes with actual high-end specs, as well as dual-SIM functionality (the latter being a first for Vertu). The new Vertu Constellation has a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED touchscreen, a 12 MP main camera with 1.55um pixels and 4K video recording, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset at the helm, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, NFC, a USB Type-C port, and a 3,220 mAh battery with support for wireless charging. It unfortunately runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, with absolutely no mention of an upcoming update to Nougat - so don't hold your breath on that one. Then again, the average Vertu buyer probably couldn't care less about such things. Vertu says the Constellation's display is protected by "a solid section of scratchproof, 140 carat 6th generation sapphire crystal". The handset has front-facin...

Today Google has launched the fifth and final Developer Preview for Android Wear 2.0. Its next generation wearable platform will be out for everyone in early February, according to the search giant. Past rumors have said the actual release date is February 9, but that's still not official. Either way, after many months of beta testing, it's nearly done. Google announced Android Wear 2.0 at its I/O conference in May of last year. The new OS version was initially supposed to arrive last fall, but got delayed - first until 'early 2017', then until 'early February'. The last developer preview brings with it iOS support for Android Wear 2.0. This wasn't in previously for the new version, even though Android Wear 1.x has supported pairing with iOS devices since 2015. Apps compiled by developers with this preview are ready for final submission in the Play Store, so Google is urging them to publish their apps as soon as possible. Source

At its press conference on February 26 at MWC in Barcelona, Huawei might unveil more than just the oft-rumored P10. It turns out that we could see a new smartwatch from the company becoming official at the same time (although such plans may still change). The Huawei Watch 2 would thus be outed almost exactly two years after the original, which was first introduced to the world on March 1, 2015. According to a new rumor, the second generation of Huawei's wearable will come with a "sportier" look than the first one, whatever that may mean. The Huawei Watch (pictured above) has been one of the best looking Android Wear devices ever since its launch, with its classic non-smart watch-like design, so hopefully its successor won't give all that up in the name of appealing to fitness fanatics. The only other detail about the Huawei Watch 2 that has been leaked today is that it will come with optional cellular data connectivity, including the ability ...

Samsung is reportedly preparing for the next step in the chip miniaturization process. The company already began producing 10nm chips last November, while the 14nm process has moved onto the mid-range hardware. Now, Samsung is planning the next big step in the chip production - a switch towards 7nm manufacturing process. The report has the managing director of Samsung's LSI Division saying that the company "will maximize the advantages of EUV (extreme ultraviolet exposure equipment) in the 7-nanometer process and secure competitiveness in terms of performance and power consumption" . The 7nm production should be ready in early 2018, so the new chips will arrive in time for next year's Galaxy S flagship. TSMC is also planning to upgrade to 7nm process in 2018, while the testing is expected to begin sometime in Q2 this year. If everything goes to plan, TSMC too will be ready to supply Apple, among others, with high-end and energy-efficient chips i...

Mobile carrier AT&T has one sweet deal for its customers who travel abroad more often. The Internationa Day Pass plan costs $10 a day and gives unlimited text and talk plus access to your data plan. The plan is available when traveling to more than 100 countries, neatly listed by the company in the list linked below. To use it, you just need to contact Customers Service and activate it. It will be active until removed and kicks in the moment you turn on your device after landing in the desired location. AT&T's fair use policy says that if the international text, voice or data exceeds 50% of total data for two consecutive months, it may need to disable it for your number. Via | Countries list

Lawmakers in five US states have introduced legislation that would give you the “right to repair” electronics, including smartphones. This means manufacturers will have to sell replacement parts to independent repair shops. The monopoly, created by companies themselves with their “authorized repair” shops will be disrupted in Nebraska, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Kansas, if passed. The bill says that you can go to third parties for your electronics such as TVs, smartphones and even washing machines and refrigerators. Legislators from New York say that "limited authorized channels result in inflated, high repair prices and high overturn of electronic items. They also added that “another concern is the large amount of electronic waste created by the inability to affordably repair broken electronics.” The bills will be voted in early summer but the political battle is tough with Repair.org, representing independent repair companies on the ...

The increasing wireless market and the data breaches at Yahoo! took a toll on Verizon earnings in the last quarter period of 2016. Carrier’s earnings per share fell to 86c from 89c in the same period last year. Net income fell 20% to $4.6 billion compared to $5.4 billion from 2015. Revenue also went south with $32.3 billion compared to $34.3 billion for the previous fiscal year. At least Verizon kept gaining customers, bringing the total to 114.2 million after 591,000 net subscribers for Q4. The number didn’t mean much, since the retail postpaid average revenue per account fell 5% to $141.89 from $148.3 a year earlier. Source

Raspberry Pi managed to do an incredible amount of good for the entire realm and kick-start a veritable single-board computer revolution. Over the years the small PC-on-a-chip has become recognized as the founder of a whole new tech niche. This hasn't gone unnoticed by Google, which is now trying to board the creative train and empower future tinkerers and developers. "Hi, makers!". That is how the online titan has affectionately chosen to address all those interested in matters Raspberry Pi in a new survey, which could determine future development paths. Google has quite a few things to offer enthusiasts along the lines of machine learning, AI and powerful online services. The survey in question is a sort of probe so Google can decide what range of tools would be most beneficial for its development. Hi, makers! Thank you for taking the time to take our survey. We at Google are interested in creating smart tools for makers, and want to hear fr...

Following Samsung's statement as to the cause of the Galaxy Note7's untimely death, the company's battery and energy storage subsidiary Samsung SDI has announced measures it's already taken and plans to implement in the future to ensure the unprecedented high-profile recall doesn't happen again. Samsung Galaxy Note7 Samsung SDI is going to invest KRW 150 billion ($128 million) in expanding infrastructure for improving battery safety. The company has already installed an emergency situation room at the Cheonan plant and also established a task force to deal specifically with battery safety immediately after the recall was announced in September. The task force team includes 100 people from three divisions - development, production and technology, and quality and verification. The safety measures start from the development process where design precautions are being taken to prevent the compression of electrolytes. At the production stage X-ra...

Everyone thought 2016 was not good for Samsung following the Note7 troubles. But the Korean company has numbers to prove us wrong. Today it revealed that the IT & Mobile Communications (IM) division had KRW23.61 trillion in consolidated revenue ($18,8 billion) and KRW2.50 trillion ($2 billion) in operating profit for the last quarter of 2016. The fourth quarter saw higher market demand for smartphones and tablets on year-end peak seasonality. Samsung kept high sales numbers of the flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as well as improved profitability in the mid-to-low end segment. Samsung’s newsroom tells us: Samsung will look to reinforce its market leadership and drive growth in the premium smartphone segment with differentiated design and innovative features. This might be a hint that we will see the first Galaxy flagship without a physical home button and a lot of new features, including the Bixby assistant, all of which features we already reported. Th...