Samsung has unveiled the Exynos W920, a new processor designed specifically for smartphones and wearables. It has an integrated LTE modem and is the first chip designed for wearables to be built on a 5-nanometer EUV (extreme ultra-violet) process, according to Samsung.
The new chip features dual Cortex-A55 cores, a Mali-G68 GPU and a Cortex-M55 processor dedicated to always-on displays that's designed to reduce power consumption. The company claims that it offers a 20 percent improvement in CPU performance and tenfold GPU boost over its last wearable chip. It's also the "smallest package currently available in the market for wearables," it said.
In its press release, Samsung explicitly wrote that "the Exynos W920 supports a new unified wearable platform Samsung built jointly with Google, and will be first applied to the upcoming Galaxy Watch model." That's no doubt going to be the Galaxy Watch 4 that leaked out last month and is expected to be announced tomorrow at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event.
Samsung will likely also reveal its latest smartwatch software that marries Tizen and Wear OS, developed jointly with Google. We're expecting to see navigation changes, new Tiles for third-party apps, improved battery efficiency, improved health and fitness tracking and a more open interface.
If you're an Apple user and somehow haven't gotten your hands on a pair of AirPods yet, now's a good time to grab them. Amazon has the standard AirPods with their wireless charging case for $130, which is an all-time-low price that we haven't seen often in the past. However, shipping times are delayed (likely due to the rarity of this deal) so you'll have to wait until the beginning of September to receive them.
If you don't want to wait, you can skip the wireless charging case and get the regular model for $114 — not a record low, but $45 less than their normal price. It's also worth noting that the AirPods Pro remain $60 off, bringing them down to $190.
Even if you haven't used AirPods before, you're probably quite familiar with them, especially if you use a lot of Apple products. They're the company's true wireless earbuds that, thanks to the H1 chipset inside, pair and switch seamlessly between iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices. It makes the initial setup quick and easy, and it allows you to go from taking a call on your iPhone to listening to music from your Mac with little delay. The H1 chip also improved upon the AirPods' connection range, and it enables hands-free Siri access, too.
Convenience alone is reason enough for some to invest in AirPods, but they're also a solid pair of wireless earbuds as well. Sound quality is decent (we prefer the AirPods Pro if you want the best sound quality Apple earbuds can offer) and they'll last for about five hours on a single charge. And with the wireless charging case, you can set the AirPods on any Qi-compatible pad you have in your home when you need extra juice.
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Google offered the first official details about the Pixel 6 just a few days ago, and it seems the company is gearing up to release the Pixel 5a as well. Previous leaks suggested the phone would be a revamped Pixel 4a 5G and a new report has shed some more light on the possible specs.
The device will reportedly have the same camera as the Pixel 5, as well as a headphone jack and an IP67 rating, according to Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech. The report suggests the Pixel 5a will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G 5G chipset and have 6GB of RAM. There'll be a 4650MaH battery but no wireless charging support, according to Prosser. The phone's expected to have a 6.4-inch display and a single Mostly Black color option.
If all of that grabs your interest, you might not have to wait too long to get your hands on the Pixel 5a. The report suggests Google will release the device on August 26th for $450.
Google said in April it was still making a Pixel 5a with 5G, contrary to rumors at the time. It said the device would only land in the US and Japan and that it would be "announced in line with when last year’s a-series phone was introduced." It revealed the Pixel 4a in September 2020, so an August announcement and release date just about matches up. It's unclear whether Google plans to release a non-5G Pixel 5a.
If you’re a big Samsung fan, you’ve probably already marked your calendar for August 11th, when the company is holding its next Galaxy Unpacked event. Though it has held many events already in 2021, at least this time around it’s one that we’ve been anticipating. In recent years, Samsung has unveiled new Note phones every August. But at this coming Unpacked, the company will not be showing off a new Note. Thanks to the enterprising rumor mill and.. Samsung itself… We have a very good idea of what to expect on August 11th.
Foldables: The third generation
The company published a blog post this week in which its president TM Roh teased what’s to come. First up: Foldables. Yes, that’s plural. We’ll be seeing the third-generation of the Galaxy Z series, including the next Z Flip and Z Fold. If you’ll recall, the Z Flip is the smaller, Moto Razr-style phone that looks like a regular phone that you can close in half. Meanwhile, the Z Fold is more of a tablet-phone hybrid, where a 6.2-inch device opens up to reveal a 7.6-inch screen.
What might Samsung bring in new versions of these devices? Based on the leaks floatingaround the internet, the Z Flip 3 will possibly have a 1.9-inch outer screen, with a 6.7-inch internal flexible display. That external panel is significantly bigger than the 1.1-inch sliver on the older Z Flip, which could make it more useful when the device is shut. We’ve also seen reports that the inside screen will run at 120hz and sport dual 12-megapixel rear cameras and a 10-megapixel selfie shooter.
Chris Velazco / Engadget
Meanwhile, the Z Fold 3 is rumored to have a similar setup to the existing model, with a 6.2-inch exterior panel and a 7.6-inch version inside. It’ll probably have triple 12-megapixel cameras and two selfie cameras on either side. Both models are reported to be rated IPX8 for water resistance, though dust-resistance clearly still remains a challenge. These are all educated guesses based on what’s been leaked, so I’d take the details with a grain of salt.
What has been confirmed is that the foldables will support Samsung’s S Pen. The stylus has been a hallmark of the Note series and the company enabled support for it on its flagship S series earlier this year. In his blog post, Roh said the S Pen was specifically designed for its foldables.
A stylus made for the pliable screens on foldables has been a widely requested feature, and would make the larger, opened up displays more useful. Of course, Samsung shared little else about this S Pen besides the fact that it's coming, so there are plenty of unknowns at the moment. How will it avoid damaging the softer, flexible screen? What size is its nib, what is its pressure sensitivity and will the foldables have onboard slots to house it? Will it have Bluetooth support for remote control actions? Clearly, these are things we'll have to wait till Unpacked on August 11th to learn about.
Wearables: New headphones and Wear OS watches
Samsung also already spilled the beans on its upcoming Galaxy Watch running the new Wear OS that it co-engineered with Google. We’ve also seen plenty of leaked renders of the purported Galaxy Watch 4, which is likely to come in an Active and a Classic edition. The latter might be available in three sizes instead of just two, and appears to feature the popular rotating bezel Samsung’s watches are known for. Expect to see more details about the hardware and the UI at Unpacked, in addition to pricing and availability.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
That’s not the only wearable that will make an appearance. We’ve also seen leaks indicating new Galaxy Buds 2 might show up at Unpacked. The company’s next wireless earbuds appear to have a more refined design and more color options. One report based on a beta version of an upcoming plugin on Samsung’s update server also indicated the possibility of active noise cancellation, touch controls and a simplified battery interface.
That’s pretty much all we know so far, though I wouldn’t put it past Samsung to have something else hidden up its sleeve for the event. Will Blackpink show up? I wish. But as for actual hardware, this is already a pretty long list of things to expect come August 11th. Samsung’s launch kicks off at 10am Eastern that day, and you should come watch it with us on Engadget’s YouTube channel. We’ll be starting at 9:40AM Eastern with a pre-show and hanging around after Samsung wraps to answer your burning questions. I hope to see you then!
Samsung is releasing the 12.4-inch Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G, a cheaper sibling to its flagship Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, on Thursday, August 5th. The "FE" stands for "Fan Edition," a term that was also used with the Galaxy S20 FE smartphone, and is essentially a roundabout way of saying this is a less flashy alternative.
In terms of specs, that boils down to a less powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset, compared to the S7/S7 Plus' 865+ processor. Here, you get an LCD instead of the Plus' AMOLED display with 2,560 x 1,600 resolution versus 1,752 x 2,800 pixels. Samsung hasn't mentioned if the refresh rate will match the 120Hz on the S7 range.
Samsung
Another area where it falls short is the camera: 8MP on the back and a 5-megapixel one for selfies. Comparatively, the S7/S7 Plus feature a dual camera setup, with a main 13-megapixel camera accompanied by an ultra wide 5-megapixel offering, with a front 8-megapixel snapper. The FE also poaches the S7 Plus' 10,090 mAh battery and supports quick charging. Its metal unibody design should still feel as lavish.
Samsung
Prices for the 5G tablet start from $669, which gets you the base model in black with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage (expandable to 1TB with an SD card). Samsung previously said the slate would also offer a 6GB/128GB configuration, though that is likely to cost more. The FE 5G will initially be available at Samsung.com, AT&T and Verizon, and will arrive at T-Mobile, UScellular and other retailers in the coming days.
A $530 WiFi model is also available to pre-order today, ahead of a September release date, in three extra colors including pink, green and silver. Both tablets come with an S-Pen stylus out of the box.
That really leaves you to decide whether you want the FE or last year's Tab S7 ($650/$850) or Tab S7 Plus ($850/$1,050). Of course, if you're after something even cheaper, you can always settle for the $159 Tab A7 Lite.
When will see the end of the notch or the hole-punch camera? The fight continues to make in-screen smartphone cameras a viable option. Last year's ZTE Axon 20 5G was the first phone to attempt the hidden selfie camera, but it struggled with image quality. It’s a predictable issue: The camera has to face out through the screen, affected by whatever the pixels are displaying.
Oppo has announced its third-gen under-screen camera which, based on a sample shot, shows a lot of promise. Even if it’s a company’s own sample, there’s no noticeable haziness nor glare. The company explains this is possible through a combination of electronic engineering and AI smarts. Oppo says it trained its own AI engine "using tens of thousands of photos" to achieve more accurate corrections on diffraction, white balance and HDR.
Then there’s the display. Earlier designs lowered the pixel density in the area above the camera to let more light into the sensor. This, however, made a noticeable patch above the camera. But now, Oppo — or whichever company is making its smartphone displays, possibly Samsung — figured out a way to boost light transmittance by shrinking each pixel's geometry. In other words, it keeps the same pixel density, but more light can reach the camera sensor.
Oppo hasn’t mentioned a date — or new phone — for the under-screen camera, but ZTE claims to feature an improved version of its under-screen camera in its new Axon 30 5G, which launched in China last week. The timing is all a little too coincidental.
While it’s no Mac Pro with in-house silicon, Apple has updated the Mac Pro with new high-end GPU options. AMD's Radeon Pro W6800X, W6800X Duo and W6900X cards tout 50 percent improved performance per watt over their Vega II predecessors. All of them include four Thunderbolt 3 ports and an HDMI 2 connector, with support for Infinity Fabric Link that lets up to four GPUs (such as two W6800X Duo modules) talk to each other five times faster than PCIe.
That performance will, of course, cost you: $2,400 extra to configure a new Mac Pro with the W6800X inside, $4,600 for the W6800X Duo and $5,600 for the W6900X. Go all-out and you can spend $9,600 on two W6800X Duos or $11,600 on two W6900X modules. Continue reading.
Boeing will have to wait yet again to test its Starliner spacecraft. The company and NASA had planned to launch the capsule on Tuesday on top of an Atlas V rocket at 1:20 PM ET yesterday, but the company had to delay the launch due to "unexpected valve position indications in the propulsion system" that engineers spotted during pre-launch preparations. Continue reading.
As promised, we bought Krispy Kreme’s celebratory Xbox donut, with powdered sugar nexus design. Do we own an Xbox? No. But do we like donuts? Yes. Continue reading.
For a limited time, but probably until ‘Halo Infinite’ actually arrives.
Microsoft and 343 Industries have partnered with Waze to bring the Master Chief and Escharum, his Banished foil in Infinite’s upcoming story campaign, to the navigation app. It’s also possible to change your car’s live map icon to either a Warthog or Ghost and update your profile “mood” to feature the visage of the Spartan or alien war chief. Continue reading.
The retailer's contactless payments system is available at 53 of its physical stores.
Amazon is offering $10 in promotional credit to get people to sign up to its palm print payments system, according to an offer spotted by TechCrunch. The retailer launched Amazon One last fall as a contactless way of authenticating purchases and allowing entry into stores using a biometric device. The sign-up process is the only part that requires you to touch the device. After that, you just hover your palm over the scanner to enter a store and complete purchases.
Amazon is aware of privacy concerns and promised to secure palm data using encryption and dedicated secure zones with restricted access controls. For those worried their data could be monetized, Amazon also committed to keeping palm data separate from its other customer data. That said, a $10 voucher may not sway those already put off by the horror stories around the company’s facial recognition tech and Alexa voice recordings. Continue reading.
After going down briefly earlier today, Apple's website has returned with a new design that reintroduces a "Store" tab not unlike the one it removed nearly six years ago, MacRumors has reported. That leads to a dedicated buying section where customers can select from its product lineup, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. With the new tweaks, you'll no longer need to visit each product page and track down the "buy" button to see options or make a purchase.
Along with a horizontal list of products, the Store page shows the latest products, promotions, accessories and more. It now more closely resembles the Apple Store app, as MacRumors pointed out.
Clicking on a category like "iPhone" in the Store tab takes you to a carousel that shows all the current models available, like the iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, iPhone SE and iPhone XR. Once you select a specific model like the iPhone 12 Pro, it takes you to the buy page for that item where you can start to select color, storage and other options. Previously, you would have needed to click on the iPhone product page, scroll down to find a specific model and click on the "buy" button.
Apple's website had a Store tab before the 2015 redesign, but it essentially shunted you to a completely different domain. The new design works differently: You still remain on the Apple.com site, and the Store tab simply gives you a different way of navigating to the buying section. A subtle change, but significant considering the enormous worldwide traffic to Apple's website.
Ever since Apple's MagSafe made its grand return by way of the iPhone 12 series, it was only a matter of time before other phone makers came up with similar — and maybe better — solutions. Realme, the sister brand of Oppo and OnePlus, has announced its very own "MagDart" magnetic wireless charging system as part of its latest concept phone, the Flash.
Realme
Not only is MagDart the first of its kind in the Android world, it's also more powerful than Apple's MagSafe, with its maximum output rated at 50W instead of just 15W. This 50W magnetic charger leverages Realme's speedy 65W SuperDart charging tech — a rebranded version of Oppo's SuperVOOC and OnePlus' Warp Charge 65 — and has its own air-cooling system for maximum performance. Realme claims that the charging speed here is almost on par with its 50W SuperDart wired charger. Specifically, for the 4,500mAh battery inside the Realme Flash, it'll go from zero to 100 percent in under an hour.
The downside of this 50W MagDart charger is its bulkiness, but Realme will also offer a slim 15W MagDart charging pad — one that's a tad thinner than Apple's MagSafe charger. This design is mainly thanks to having the circuit board tucked away in the plug, which also keeps the charging coil cooler for higher efficiency. For the same phone, this will take about 90 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent.
Naturally, the MagDart ecosystem offers a few other snap-on accessories as well. There's a MagDart power bank which one-ups the MagSafe Battery Pack by doubling as a wireless charging stand, so you can charge or grab both the phone and the power bank simultaneously.
Realme
There's also a MagDart Beauty Light, which is a flip-up ring light — consisting of 60 mini LEDs, with adjustable brightness and color temperature — to keep your selfie game strong. Interestingly, this kit is powered by the phone's reverse wireless charging feature.
Another handy accessory here is the self-explanatory MagDart Wallet, which holds up to three credit cards in its vegan leather pockets. Though unlike the MagSafe version, this one adds an aluminum kickstand to your phone as well.
Last but not least, existing Realme GT users can get a special case to make their phone MagDart-compatible, though this will add a slight bulge near the bottom on the back side.
There's no word on when we will see the first MagDart-compatible devices on the market just yet, but when that happens, chances are future products from Oppo and OnePlus will get to share the love with Realme (unless Apple gets in the way, of course). But if you use a pacemaker, then you'll probably want to avoid those also.
Smartphone launch season is typically in the fall, but Google has unexpectedly early news to share today. The company just announced that not only is the Pixel 6 coming this fall, but it’ll feature the very first system-on-chip designed by Google. The chip is called Tensor and it leverages the company’s AI expertise to enable more powerful and better integrated machine learning on devices. At a demo event to show off Tensor’s prowess, I was able to check out the Pixel 6 with the company’s chief of hardware Rick Osterloh. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures or video, and Google hasn’t shared all of the phones’ specs, but I can tell you about a few new features.
First, there will be two lines: Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Google hasn’t shared the actual dimensions yet, but the Pro, which is larger, felt similar in size to a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. They both look like the leaked renders we’ve seen, except shinier and three-dimensional. There’s a band about an inch tall on the rear in black, lime green or peachy red, and below that sits a horizontal camera bump that stretches across the case. According to Google's blog post, the sensors and lenses were improved and "are now too big to fit into the traditional square."
Yes, when you place the Pixel 6 on a table there’s still a slope because of the bar, but since it’s not off to a corner like on prior Pixels (or Galaxy phones or iPhones), the phone won’t wobble from side to side. The rest of the back is black, pastel green or pastel peach correspondingly.
For the Pro line, the colors are more subtle with less contrast between the sections, but they have what Osterloh called “high gloss metal accents” along the edges. The camera bump also gets this shiny treatment on the Pros, which come in black, white and sort of a light orange. The regular Pixel 6 has a matte finish on its sides. All the phones I saw appeared to have glass on their backs, with screens that are slightly curved along the edges. Google also moved the selfie camera from the top left corner to the middle of the display.
Google
I loved the peachy pastel version of the Pixel 6, though the mostly black version would suit those who prefer something less flashy. (Google doesn’t have names for the colors yet, though Osterloh said their marketing team has fun with them.)
More importantly, Google’s upgraded the cameras themselves. It’s not sharing specific megapixel or sensor size information yet, but did say these are sharper and larger sensors than before. Osterloh said the Pixel 6’s main camera will let in about 150% more light than previous Pixels. There’s also an ultrawide lens for both models, and the Pro gets an extra telephoto option as well with 4x optical zoom.
In addition to the actual camera hardware improvements, the Pixel 6s promise better photo processing thanks to Tensor. At our meeting, Osterloh highlighted changes coming in how Google will process images and videos for clearer, better exposed images of moving subjects. The company was also able to apply things like an HDRNet to video as it’s recording a scene to ease tricky situations like shooting a campsite with the phone pointed at the sun.
Google
Google also redesigned its speech software, with a new platform called SODA (Speech On Device API) that lets apps leverage Tensor for data-center-level speech recognition. Better yet, Osterloh said this all runs at half the power it used to on prior Pixels. He showed me a new Live Caption with Translate feature that subtitles all audio playing through your phone’s sound system. With Tensor, the device can both transcribe and translate what’s playing at the same (ish) time, without needing to use the cloud for processing.
Dictation is also getting some major upgrades. In GBoard on the Pixel 6, you’ll be able to hit the microphone button in the compose field, narrate your message and use hotwords like “Send” or “Clear” to trigger actions. You can also edit typos via the onscreen keyboard while the mic is still listening for your dictation.
We don’t have all the details on CPU and GPU cores or clock speeds, RAM and battery life yet — those will come later. But Osterloh did say Google knows “users expect to get a day’s worth of battery life,” and that it’s aiming for that mark but to also “offer them a lot more capability in that period of time.” The devices will also support 5G, which “in the US means supporting all the different bands we have here,” Osterloh said. He declined to name any brands of 5G modems, though.
Though it’s not an official launch for the Pixel 6, this preview has shown us a lot. There will be new cameras, new design, new UI (in Android 12) and a new chip, among other things. Osterloh said he’s excited about the launch. “We kind of see this as The Google Phone,” he said. “This is what we set out to build several years ago and we’re finally here.”
Huawei has revealed the P50 and P50 Pro, its first flagship phones that use HarmonyOS 2 from the outset. The company started rolling out the operating system to its existing devices in early June.
The switch to HarmonyOS was made in part due to US sanctions that have hit Huawei. Along with slowing down manufacturing and hobbling the company’s ability to source components with American technology, the restrictions led to Google shutting off Huawei from official Android updates. Huawei switched to an open-source version. It was also prevented from using Google apps and services on its most recent phones. There have been suggestions that HarmonyOS is actually a fork of open-source Android.
The sanctions also seem to have impacted Huawei's choice of processor in the latest handsets, too. The P50 and one of the P50 Pro variants boast Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 4G chipset with Adreno 660 graphics. Qualcomm received permission in November to sell some chips to Huawei. The other models use Huawei's own Kirin 9000 processor, but there's no mention of 5G support for any of the devices.
Pick from the Cocoa Gold, Charm Pink, Golden Black, and Pearl White colourways & see your vision brought to life with the #HUAWEIP50Series.
The P50 and P50 Pro, which are aimed at the Chinese market, boast 6.5-inch and 6.6-inch displays, with 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates respectively. Both devices use the same hole-punch front-facing 13MP camera.
The P50 Pro's rear camera array includes 50MP color and 40MP mono True-Chroma lenses, a 13MP ultra-wide and a 64MP telephoto camera. The P50 has a 50MP True-Chroma camera, a 13MP ultra-wide and a 12MP telephoto lens. The devices are IP68-rated for their splash, water and dust resistance.
The phones both support 66W super-fast wired charging, and the P50 Pro offers 50W wireless charging. The P50 has a 4100mAh battery, while the P50 Pro has a 4360mAh capacity.
The P50 starts at 4,488 yuan (approximately $695) for a model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It'll be available in September. The P50 Pro, meanwhile, will be available broadly on August 12th, starting at 5,988 yuan (about $927) for the same memory and storage capacity as the base P50. Huawei hasn't clarified if or when it'll sell the devices outside of China.
