KB-Technologies

An interesting revelation comes today regarding Nokia, both old and new. About 500 design patents have been transferred from Microsoft Mobile to HMD Global. The former is the company that made the Microsoft and Nokia branded Windows handsets following the acquisition by Microsoft of Nokia's smartphone division many years ago. The latter is the company currently holding the exclusive license to use the Nokia name for smartphones. HMD Global has already launched the Nokia 3, 5, and 6, and will unveil the flagship Nokia 8 next month. This top of the line offering may have something rather unexpected under its sleeve: the famous Lumia Camera UI, long hailed by many as one of the most intuitive in the business. This was created by 'old' Nokia for its Windows phones, and the design patent for that UI is one of the 500 transferred to HMD Global. On the other hand, the trademarks for PureView, ClearBlack, and PureMotion are still registered to Microsoft. So don...

After Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5, AMD has launched its entry level Ryzen 3 series of desktop processors. The series includes two models, the Ryzen 3 1200 and the 1300X. The $129 Ryzen 3 1300X has four cores and four threads with a base clock of 3.5GHz and boost clock of 3.7GHz. It can go up to 3.9GHz with XFR provided you ditch the stock Wraith Stealth cooler and get an aftermarket one like the new $59 Wreath Max with RGB lighting. The $109 Ryzen 3 1200 also has four cores and four threads with a base clock of 3.1GHz and boost clock of 3.4GHz. Both have 65W TDP. Both processors are based on the socket AM4 platform and compatible with motherboards using X370, B350 and A320 chipsets. The Ryzen 3 will be competing squarely against the Intel Core i3 processors, which are all dual core processors with four threads, hence AMD's push on the "true quad-core" branding. Also, both Ryzen 3 models are overclockable and all you need is a standard B350 motherboard,...

Liron Damir was once the lead designer for Pebble and WebOS. His most recent position was at Essential as head of UX (User experience) which focused on the way customers interacted with the products. After moving around a couple of startups, Damir has more recently been hired by Google to lead the design of Google Home products. Damir’s departure follows that of another executive on the Essential team, which, honestly, doesn’t look very good for the startup smartphone company. We are still waiting to see when we can get our hands on the Essential PH-1, as the company has yet to begin fulfilling pre-registrations. The last time we heard about the phone, Andy Rubin said it would start shipping “in a few weeks”. That was last week. On the Google side of things, Damir joins Google Home’s team during a time when Google is going to start integrating Home products more closely. For example, the integration of the Chromecast to work with the Google Home. Although it’s at t...

Google has been looking into some kind of unity for the streaming services that it offers. Currently, if you sign up for Google Play Music, you’ll get YouTube Red included for free (and vice-versa), which gives access to exclusive content, removes ads from YouTube, and lets you download YouTube videos to watch offline. YouTube’s head of music, Lyor Cohen, has confirmed that Google Music and YouTube Red need to be merged in order to educate consumers and bring in new subscribers. This should come in some sort of unification and/or rebranding of the subscription service. In a statement given to The Verge , Google noted: “Music is very important to Google and we’re evaluating how to bring together our music offerings to deliver the best possible product for our users…. Nothing will change for users today and we’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are made.” Honestly, the majority of people probably don’t know that Google’s Play Music service comes wi...

The BlackBerry KEYone unlocked variant was originally scheduled to arrive in Canada in June, but that didn't happen. Later that month, the company confirmed that the launch has been delayed to "later this summer." Well, the good news is that the model was finally made available in the country through Wallmart. However, there's a bad news as well - the stock depleted very quickly. A quick look at the retailer's website reveals the model - which carries a price tag of CAD 650 ($517) - is still out of stock. There's no information on when the next batch will be available. Meanwhile, those interested can register to get notified about the handset's availability. Source | Via

A new dash camera is coming soon from Motorola. While the name isn't currently known, the device has a 4-inch screen, features a wide angle lens and a microSD card slot, and is capable of recording Full HD videos. There's also a motion detection feature that'll help you park your car. Binatone Global - an IoT electronics and lifestyle products firm, which has exclusive rights to design, develop and market certain Motorola accessories - is the company behind the product. The camera carries a price tag of $99, and will be available in the United States and Europe soon - the latter will get it first. Via

The LG Q6, which was officially unveiled along with its Q6+ and Q6α versions earlier this month, will be available for purchase in Europe in August. This information was revealed by tipster Roland Quandt‏ in a tweet which said Germany will get the handset on August 21. And given the way the EU market normally works, other countries on the Old Continent should get it at about the time. The tipster also revealed pricing information for the phone: €349, which currently translates to around $410. When the device was made official, LG had said it will go on sale in “key markets” of Asia starting August, followed by Europe, Latin America and North America. Source LG Q6 launching in .de from Aug 21 at 349 Euro. 18:9 is coming to the masses! — Roland Quandt (@rquandt) July 27, 2017

The yet-to-be-announced Motorola Moto X4 is expected to be a mid-tier smartphone that'll be supported by Google's MVNO, Project Fi. The device has been the subject of several leaks and rumors so far, and now we have some pricing-related information for the phone. What the latest report says is the 32GB storage variant will carry a price tag of €350 ($410) in Europe. It's yet to be seen how much of a premium the 64GB version will command. For that price, what you're expected to get is 5.2-inch Full HD display, 3GB RAM, 12MP rear + 16MP front cameras, and Android 7.1.1 OS. Chipset could either be Snapdragon 630 or Snapdragon 660. There's currently no information on the Moto X4's unveiling date, but with the IFA fast approaching we might see the handset's official debut there. Source | Via Moto X4 32GB will have some interesting pricing it seems. ~350 Euro in eastern EU. Lower than I thought. — Roland Quandt (@rquandt) July 27, 2017

HMD Global launched three Nokia smartphones with Android and two more are on their way - the flagship Nokia 8 and the ultra entry-level Nokia 2 that appeared on Geekbench earlier this week. Based on the specs and the current design HMD implements, a digital artists published renders, which present an educated guess of what the phone looks like. The Nokia 2 is said to have a 4.5” display of HD resolution. There will be no fingerprint sensor or home button on the front - the navigation is reportedly all on-screen. The back is expected to look a lot like the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and the Nokia 6. According to the leaked benchmark scorecard, the Nokia 2, codenamed “Unknown Heart”, will have Snapdragon 212 with quad-core CPU and Android Nougat 7.1.1. The RAM will be just a gigabyte, while the storage is 8 GB. The rear camera will have an 8 MP sensor while the front-facing one could will do 5 MP stills. Source (in Chinese) | Via

Yesterday Samsung reported its record quarter results which were spearheaded by its chip business, which earned $15.7B in revenue and $7.2B in profit. That's almost twice as much compared to Intel's operating income of $3.8B on $14.8B revenue in the same second quarter of 2017 - a record quarter for Intel at that. What's interesting here is that no one has surpassed Intel in the last 24 years and Samsung did it without making a single desktop chipset - only catering to mobiles and wearables. Intel has failed to make an impact on mobile despite its various efforts with Atom and it still hasn't figured out wearables. Expect Samsung's rise to continue throughout 2017 as the giant is developing mobile chip solutions for the automotive industry as well. Via 1 | 2

According to a new report out of South Korea today, Apple is investing KRW 3 trillion (about $2.7 billion) in LG Display. The point of this is to ensure a stable supply of OLED panels for future iPhones, the ones coming in 2018 and beyond. We've already heard that Apple plans on going OLED-only for its handsets starting next year, and this sort of confirms that. The investment will basically serve as an advance payment for said OLED panels to be manufactured in the future. Apple has long been rumored to have made a deal with Samsung for the OLED screen of the iPhone 8 coming this year, but the company traditionally doesn't like relying on just one supplier for a part. Additionally, it needs to make sure that it will have enough OLED panels lined up for the next iPhone generations. Going all-in with OLED will require many more displays from 2018 onwards, compared to what's needed for the iPhone 8 in 2017. Unnamed sources claim that LG Display is likely to...

Nokia announced today its financial results. The company beat the market expectations, with earnings per share going up €0.08 instead of the predicted €0.05. Nokia Technologies scored a rise of 90% in operating profit for Q2 2017, compared with Q2 2016. A major part played a cash infusion of $2 billion by Apple over the patent license deal that the companies signed earlier in the quarter. Back in May Nokia and Apple signed an agreement to end all ongoing disputes. A multi-year patent license deal is now in effect and even though back then no details were revealed, now we learn the price of it. The Finnish company first only mentioned an “upfront cash payment of approximately €1.7 billion, part of which was recognized in the second quarter of 2017”. Later it confirmed that the transaction came from Apple indeed. Overall, Nokia reported operating loss of €433 million, 40% less than €667 million in Q2 2016. Source | Via

Last month, Google announced that its YouTube TV service will be launched in more US markets in near future. Inline with that, the streaming video service is now available in a total of 10 new locations. These locations include Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, and Charlotte. There's a free, 1-month trial before you start paying - the service costs $35/month. For the uninitiated, YouTube TV delivers live TV from major broadcast networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, alongside "popular cable networks". Source  |  Via

Although its official unveiling didn't bring any details about when it would hit the market, the Essential Phone was internally targeted to start shipping to those who pre-ordered by the end of June. This deadline was revealed by Andy Rubin himself, the co-creator of Android and head of the new Essential smartphone venture. That obviously hasn't happened, though. Following a few weeks of complete silence from Essential and Rubin on the matter, today the company's official Twitter account has published the message you can see embedded below. View image on Twitter  Follow Essential   ✔ @essential We've been working around the clock to get our first device in your hands. See this update from Andy. 8:30 PM - 21 Jul 2017     117 117 Retweets     415 415 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy So the good news is that the wait is almost over. The bad news is that it's not...

There are three constants in the universe - mass, energy, and Qualcomm being engaged in legal battles. The latest complaint comes from Intel, which claims the San Diego company is charging five times more for its licenses while at the same time is offering lower prices for chips for phone manufacturers. Intel has urged the ITC to investigate Qualcomm, as it feels it hasn’t licensed its tech under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms and is charging absurdly high rates. Qualcomm on the other side said Intel uses patents in certain LTE modems unlawfully and has demanded Apple replace the parts. Intel’s claims come just a day after the news that four companies that provide parts for iPhones and iPads accused Qualcomm of over-excessive charging for patents. The company is also investigated by the FTC and was already slapped with a fine by the South Korean government. And let’s not forget Qualcomm already claimed that Apple artificially made it...

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is edging closer and closer. In fact we know have an exact date on when it will arrive - August 23. And while we're waiting for Samsung to officially show us the device the people over at  BGR have obtained renders of the Galaxy Note 8 based on industry insiders' information. The renders may be our best look yet of Samsung's upcoming flagship. And as was to be expected they confirm the Galaxy Note 8 has a higher screen to body ratio than even the Galaxy S8+.     Samsung Galaxy Note 8 renders Alongside the renders we've come across a few pictures of the Galaxy Note 8's S Pen, though it looks mostly unchanged.     Samsung Galaxy Note 8's S Pen If you can't get enough of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8's looks there's are a bunch of  renders  to  choose   from . Source 1  |  2

The Nokia 8 leaks are piling up. The latest features a series of photos of a copper-gold unit working in the wild. The images show the screen working, the fingerprint reader and two capacitive keys on the front as well as the dual camera and LED flash on the back. There's no Zeiss logo though so this may be a pre-production unit.         Nokia 8 in gold-copper We've already seen the Nokia 8 in Blue and Steel and we've heard the gold/copper color mentioned too.         Nokia 8 in gold-copper We expect the Nokia 8 to have a 5.3" 1440p display, a Snapdragon 835, Zeiss-branded dual camera (probably each a 13MP snapper) and a price range of around €550-€600. Souce  |  Via

We might be expecting the iPhone 8, but reports about the iPhone 9 already started surfacing. According to sources, Apple had reached an agreement with LG Chem for the battery of the 2018 iPhone. The power cell will be L-shaped with a bend at the bottom and is expected to increase the battery capacity without making the whole device bigger. Source: iFixit According to sources, LG has invested tens of millions dollars in facilities and plans to start mass production early next year. Along with the battery, the display size might also be new to the 2018 iPhone. A 5.28” OLED and 6.46” OLED panels are expected to be seen on the iPhone 9 or whatever it's called. Source   (in Chinese)  |  Via

Facebook is looking to develop a modular phone and - gossip we've heard before now got more solid backing. A patent application filled by the company revealed it is trying to build a device that can be used as a phone. This is the second time we hear about such idea after Project Ara. That one was Google's attempt at a modular phone that went under before making any significant impact. Most of the team behind Ara went to Facebook, though and now they work at Facebook Building 8 - the lab that is responsible for the patent application. Officially Facebook declined to comment, but according to sources, the Building 8 crew is heavily focused on developing cutting-edge camera and machine learning tech. The device can be used as an Alexa speaker or a phone, but the patent also notes that “millions of devices” connected to a server could be loaded with different software based on components that are swapped out. Source  |  Via

Unofficial preliminary specifications. Product image for illustrative purposes. NETWORK Technology GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE LAUNCH Announced Not announced yet Status Rumored BODY Dimensions 143.5 x 71 x 7.5 mm (5.65 x 2.80 x 0.30 in) Weight - SIM Nano-SIM   - IP67 certified - dust and water resistant - Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes - Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified) DISPLAY Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 5.1 inches (~70.4% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 750 x 1334 pixels (~300 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes Protection Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating   - Wide color gamut display - 3D Touch display & home button - Display Zoom PLATFORM OS iOS 11 Chipset Apple A11 CPU Quad-core MEMORY Card slot No Internal 32/128/256 GB, GB, 3 GB RAM CAMERA Primary 12 MP, f/1.8, 28mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, quad-LED (dual tone) flash Features 1/3" sensor size, geo-tagging, s...