While the Samsung T7 SSD has been on sale for a week or two, the T7 Touch portable drive has now joined it in being discounted. The palm-sized SSD in 1TB is down to $140, or 26 percent off its normal price. Only the black model is this low — if you really want the silver version, it'll cost you an extra $20 — but now's a good time to grab an extra drive and save $50 at the same time.

Storage gadgets can get expensive, especially when you want a 1TB or more of digital space, so we always recommend waiting for a sale like this one before buying. Samsung's T7 series has become one of our favorites in the portable SSD space for their pocket-friendly yet durable designs, fast performance and extra features like Dynamic Thermal Guard, AES 256-bit encryption and optional password protection. On top of all that, the Touch model has a built-in fingerprint reader for an extra layer of security.

The T7 Touch comes with both a USB-C to C and a USB-C to A cable, so you can use it with nearly any device you have — smartphone, tablet, laptop, some game consoles and more. If you have a tighter budget, you can still grab the 1TB Samsung T7 — which is identical to the Touch model, with the exception of the fingerprint reader — for $110, which is 35 percent off and the best price we've seen. And if you're looking for an internal SSD that will work with the PS5 you just got your hands on, Samsung's 980 Pro in 2TB is down to an all-time low of $280 right now, too.

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Ukraine isn't just relying on foreign government aid to finance its defense against the Russian invasion. According to Reuters, Elliptic reports the Ukranian government has raised over $13 million ($13.6 million as of this writing) in cryptocurrency from more than 18,000 contributors after it launched a crowdfunding effort on February 26th to bolster its fight. The country has raised a total of $20.9 million since the invasion began, but got its biggest lift when it published wallet addresses for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether on Saturday.

The nation's digital transformation ministry told Reuters it would use the crypto to "destroy as much [sic] Russian soldiers as possible." Unofficial efforts like Come Back Alive and Support Ukranian Sovereignty have also raised cryptocurrency to support the Ukraine military and local charities.

The actions come as cryptocurrency exchanges have partially clamped down on Russia. Finbold and Reuters note Binance has already restricted crypto accounts affected by sanctions against Russia, while Kraken is warning Russians their accounts might be frozen if there's a "legal requirement" to do so. Both exchanges have ruled out blanket bans for all Russian users despite Ukranian Vice Prime Minister Mykhalio Fedorov calling on major exchanges to "sabotage ordinary users" in addition to addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians.

The cryptocurrency donations are tiny compared to the conventional aid Ukraine has received so far. The US government alone contributed $350 million in military support this past weekend. The amount is still significant, though, and it's a novel concept — a country is directly requesting crypto to fuel its military and defend its existence.

Panasonic aims to start mass production of a higher-capacity battery for Tesla by March 2024. The company is building a production facility for the battery at its Wakayama Factory, where it will create two more production lines and make structural improvements.

Development is continuing on the 4,680 lithium-ion battery. It's expected to be around twice the size of current batteries and have a fivefold increase in energy capacity. While fewer of them would be required for each car (which will reduce costs and potentially lower EV prices), the batteries could boost the range of an EV by over 15 percent.

Panasonic's announcement lines up with previous reports suggesting it could start making the battery next year. The company was said to be investing approximately 80 billion yen (around $694 million) into production equipment. It started working on the battery following a request from Tesla, though it may sell the 4,680 to other automakers.

While most OnePlus phones had been made available globally before "reaching" China, that wasn't the case with the OnePlus 10 Pro, which has so far been China-exclusive since its early January launch. That's about to change, as the company announced at MWC that its latest flagship phone will finally be headed to the US, Europe and India "by the end of March."

But what's more interesting is that OnePlus appears to have reversed its decision — at least for now — to share a unified OS with Oppo. In today's announcement, the company confirmed that "global OnePlus devices will continue to run OxygenOS," whereas their China counterparts will stick to ColorOS after their switch from HydrogenOS since last year's OnePlus 9 series. In the case of the global OnePlus 10 Pro, it will launch with OxygenOS 12.1 but will soon receive the OxygenOS 13 update. No word on the model after that, though, except for the fact that it'll launch with Oppo's upcoming 150W SuperVOOC fast charging some time in Q2 2022.

OnePlus stressed that both OxygenOS and ColorOS already share a "clean and lightweight" unified OS codebase, with the main differentiation being the "lighter" stock Android experience on the former to cater to global users. That said, the company acknowledged that some users weren't happy with OxygenOS 12, not to mention the OnePlus 9 rollout which was so buggy that it had to be temporarily suspended. OnePlus will have to prove itself worthy with OxygenOS 13.

Google is once again modifying its services in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company has confirmed to Reuters and Vice World News that it temporarily disabled some live traffic data in Ukraine, including the general live traffic layer as well as activity info for stores and other locations. The move is meant to protect the safety of locals and follows consultation with Ukranian authorities, according to Google. The data is still available during turn-by-turn navigation sessions.

While Google didn't outline the exact reasons for deactivating the features, it follows discoveries by Middlebury Institute professor Jeffrey Lewis and others that live traffic info reflected troop movements as civilians were stuck at roadblocks. While that could help pinpoint Russian incursions, as Lewis noticed, the Russians could potentially use the traffic info to spot Ukranian military actions or a fleeing population.

The initiative comes as other tech giants have taken a series of actions in response to the Russian invasion. Meta has restricted the Facebook accounts of Russian state media in Ukraine, while Twitter has temporarily halted ads in both Russia and Ukraine to curb the spread of misinformation. Russia has retaliated in some cases, such as limiting access to Facebook. The actions show how relatively innocuous internet services can pose serious risks during a conflict, whether it's to distort reality or provide military intelligence.

Noise cancelling headphones can make all the difference if you're tired of working in a noisy environment or want your public-transit commute to be a bit more peaceful. Bose's QuietComfort 45 ANC headphones are some of the best out there right now, and they're back down to their Black Friday price on Amazon. You can pick up the cans in either black or white for $279, which is $50 off their normal price.

The QuietComfort lineup has been around for a long time, and Bose essentially took the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" route with the QC45. These wireless headphones look much the same as the previous version — they don't have the slickest design, but they are super comfortable and they have handy onboard controls for playing/pausing music, adjusting volume and switching between ANC and ambient sound mode. They charge via USB-C and have an impressive 22.5-hour battery life, so you can wear them all day long without missing a beat.

The sound quality is what you'd expect from a pair of high-end Bose cans. The QC45 pump out clear and balanced audio, and the active noise cancellation is some of the best we've tried. Bose's ANC was already great to begin with, but the company improved on it here with a "proprietary digital chip" that helps detect and silence more mid-range frequencies.

There are a few downsides to these cans, including their somewhat antiquated design, but more importantly, the QC45 don't have automatic pausing. Also, their multi-device connectivity can be a bit finicky because they don't automatically reconnect to a second device after you take a call. If those features mean a lot to you, you'll want to consider Sony's WH-1000XM4. But otherwise, the QC45 are excellent ANC headphones that are even better when you can get them on sale like this.

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Apple continues to release findings from its ongoing Women's Health study, and is announcing updated results today ahead of International Women's Day (March 8th). The report, published on Harvard's website, reveals some insights on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and cardiovascular health, based on data from more than 37,000 participants. 

Apple and Harvard found that its participants who had received PCOS diagnoses tended to be diagnosed between ages 14 and 35, with the median age being 22 years old. They were also more likely to report a family history of the syndrome and have unpredictable menstrual cycles after their first periods.

According to the report, more than 70 percent of participants without PCOS diagnoses said their menstrual cycles became regular within four years of their first period, while just 43 percent of those with PCOS experienced the same. In fact, 49 percent of participants with PCOS diagnoses never had regular menstrual cycles or only got regularity after using hormones. 

The study also looked at the health conditions related to PCOS. It reported that participants with PCOS diagnoses were four times more likely to have pre-diabetic conditions, three times more likely to have Type 2 diabetes and twice as likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It also said irregular heartbeats or arrhythmia was more common among participants with PCOS diagnoses than those without. 

Apple Women’s Health Study - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Apple did caution that these were preliminary insights. Data was gleaned from medical history surveys completed by more than 37,000 participants enrolled from November 2019 through December 2021. Of those who completed the medical history surveys, about 30,000 also filled out reproductive history surveys and answered questions about their menstrual cycles over time. 

According to co-principal investigator Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah, "The Apple Women’s Health Study is one of the first studies where we can look at the connection between menstrual health, polycystic ovary syndrome, and heart health at a population level.”

Mahalingaiah also said "Despite the association between PCOS and heart-related conditions, historically, research studies about heart health have not included information about menstrual cycles," adding that the study "is important for having a better understanding of PCOS and its health impacts, including for people with PCOS and those that might have PCOS, but do not know.”

Looking forward, Apple and Harvard want to "create a larger foundational data set on PCOS, with self-tracked variables, and its connection with heart health."

"Our hope is that by expanding the understanding of the public health burden of PCOS, we can create research models that can be applied to further scientific understanding of other health conditions and the burden of other diseases,” Mahalingaiah said.

Every now and then, a phone maker comes up with a new charging speed claim. The latest company to do so is Oppo, which unveiled its 150W SuperVOOC flash charge — a leap from the 80W version on the recently launched Find X5 Pro and OnePlus 10 Pro — at MWC. This will offer a mere 15-minute charge time for a 4,500mAh dual-cell battery, but a quick five-minute charge can already get you back up to 50 percent. If you like the sound of this, you may look forward to it on the next OnePlus flagship phone, which is due in Q2 2022. At the same conference, Oppo's sister brand Realme even announced that its upcoming GT Neo 3 will be the world's first phone to support 150W SuperVOOC, so chances are OnePlus' next phone will arrive after Realme's.

Oppo's 150W SuperVOOC is a tad faster than the current 120W offerings from the likes of Xiaomi and Vivo iQOO — ranging from 17 to 20 minutes, depending on the battery size. But it's not just about speed. This fast charge tech is supported by Oppo's "Battery Health Engine" (or "BHE" in short) which claims to double the battery lifespan, and this is already available on the recently launched Find X5 series. In a nutshell, "BHE" comprises of a dedicated battery management chip, smart battery health algorithm and some sort of battery healing tech — mainly by way of improving the cells' electrolyte formula. 

Oppo

According to Oppo, the industry standard for conventional flash charge is 800 charge cycles before reaching the 80-percent battery health deterioration threshold. With the "BHE" enhancements, however, the battery lifespan can be prolonged to 1,600 cycles — or as long as four years for a phone with daily recharging. The company added that "BHE" will be a standard feature for all flagships from Oppo and OnePlus (and likely Realme as well) moving forward, irregardless of their charging speeds.

It's also worth noting that this new 150W SuperVOOC charger is almost just as compact as its 65W counterpart. The latter has been bundled with most flagship and mid-range phones from Oppo, OnePlus and Realme over the past two years.

With Oppo setting a new benchmark in terms of both charging speed and battery lifespan, it'll be interesting to see how its competitors respond. Xiaomi had already demonstrated 200W fast charging which achieved an eight-minute charge time for a (smaller) 4,000mAh battery, but as we've seen on its latestflagships, it has yet to offer anything beyond 120W to its users. To stay further ahead of the game, Oppo will be showing off a "200W+" SuperVOOC demo at its MWC booth, so stay tuned for more details on this.

Over the past few years, Qualcomm has announced 5G modems that have consistently pushed download speeds to new heights, culminating with the X65 in 2021, the company’s first 10-gigabit 5G modem. In 2022, the company is taking a different tack. The X70, its latest modem, is fast, but it’s also more consistent and power-efficient, and it’s all thanks to AI.

The X70 isn’t the first Qualcomm modem to use a machine learning algorithm to improve performance. Last year, the company leveraged the technology to make its X65 modem better at adapting its antenna tuning to changing hand grips. But what makes the X70 different is that includes a dedicated 5G AI processor – a first for a cellular modem, according to the company.

In addition to improving average speeds, Qualcomm claims the processor makes the X70 better at mmWave beam management, allowing it to establish a more robust link when using the notoriously finicky spectrum. It also utilizes that processor for network selection and antenna tuning, leading to better coverage and link strength. Qualcomm claims all of that makes the X70 capable of making the most of whatever spectrum resources a device has available to it at any one moment.

Naturally, the X70 is fast too. It’s capable of theoretical download speeds of 10Gbps. That said, you’re unlikely to see X70-equipped devices achieve those kinds of speeds in real-world use. A lot of that will depend on your carrier and the state of their 5G network.

Qualcomm expects to start providing Snapdragon X70 samples to commercial customers in the second half of 2022. The company didn’t name customers but did note it expects X70-equipped devices to launch by late 2022, suggesting its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 successor could integrate the modem. Once it becomes available, devices that come with the X70 will carry the company’s new Snapdragon Connect branding, a badge that indicates the product you’re about to buy comes with its latest and greatest connectivity technologies.

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!

Honor is today announcing its latest flagship smartphone, the Magic4, which refines the general template laid down by its predecessor, the Magic 3. Not that you could actually buy the Magic 3, because despite the promise of a global rollout, the handset never officially left China. This, the company says, was down to the growing pains associated with escaping Huawei’s shadow after their sanctions-mandated divorce. This year, however, we’re told that things are going to be better and we might actually see these handsets here in the West.

The Magic 4 and the Magic 4 Pro are being positioned as equivalent handsets to Samsung’s Galaxy S22. Honor is hoping that you’ll appreciate the shopping cart’s-worth of features that the company has piled onto these devices in the hope of making you switch. And the Pro model has the sort of spec list that, on paper at least, would make you think twice about where you put your cash.

Both devices come with a 6.81-inch LTPO (Gen 3) display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, although the Magic4’s 1,224 x 2,664 (430 ppi) screen looks inadequate compared to the Pro’s 1,312 x 2,848 (460 ppi) equivalent. Both are offering a backlit brightness of 1,000 nits, with 1,920Hz Pulse-Width Modulation dimming, HDR10+ and 100 percent DCI-P3 color. The company says that the benefits of LTPO over OLED include more efficient power usage, better refresh rate control and a reduction in eye strain.

Honor is also dumping a bucket-load of sensors into its “Eye of Muse”-branded camera setup, with both handsets getting two 50-megapixel cameras. An f/1.8 wide lens is sat across from a f/2.2 ultra-wide lens with a 122-degree field of vision. But while the vanilla edition gets an 8-megapixel periscope telephoto lens, the Pro is packing a 64-megapixel beast with a 3.5x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. The more expensive unit also gets an 8x8 Direct Time of Flight (dTOF) sensor to help with focusing and improving image quality.

But, in all honesty, the company would much rather talk about its work harnessing “Multi-Camera Fusion” computational photography to blend together snaps from each of these lenses for sharper, better pictures. For instance, a shot taken between 0.6x and 1x zoom will likely be a composite of shots taken with those 50MP wide and ultra-wide lenses. Between 1x and 2x zoom will be the wide camera on its own, while anything after that will use the telephoto as well. Once you get to 3.5x and beyond, you’ll get “Multi-Frame Fusion,” mashing all of the lens inputs for, it’s hoped, far better zoomed images.

In terms of video, please forgive me for not wanting to repeat a chunk of what I wrote last year about the Magic3. Last year, Honor made a capital-B big deal about that model’s ability to shoot cinema-quality video in a custom, mobile-friendly version of (pro film standard) Log: MagicLog. This year, Honor says that MagicLog will crank out 10-bit 4K video running at 60 fps, which if accurate, would make this phone one hell of a tool for hobbyist filmmakers. The company adds that stills taken while recording video will be of far better quality than previous generations of handsets.

Both handsets are toting Snapdragon’s 8 Gen 1 SoC, the same 4nm 5G chip that you’ll find inside the Galaxy S22. Both come with an Adreno 730 GPU and the option of either 8GB or 12GB RAM, while storage options include 128GB, 256GB or 512GB on the Magic 4 and 256GB or 512GB storage on the Pro. There’s also a custom “dedicated security chip” designed to hold biometrics, passwords and payment data, although it’s not clear what security this offers over what Qualcomm already promises.

Rounding out the important news is at least one quality-of-life tweak for the Magic 4 Pro called AI Privacy Call. This, as the name doesn’t entirely suggest, is designed to dynamically adjust the volume of a call depending on the ambient noise. If you’re in a busy, noisy environment, it’ll boost the volume of the loudspeaker to help you hear what’s going on. If you’re in a pin-drop quiet elevator and would rather your fellow passengers not hear your most intimate conversations, it’ll dial it down.

Honor

Another feature reserved for the 4 Pro exclusively is 100W SuperCharging which, if you have the right charger, will rejuice that 4,600mAh battery up to 90 percent in just half an hour using wired or wireless charging. The Magic4’s 4,800mAh battery, meanwhile, will accept up to 66W charging through the correct Honor SuperCharge equipment.

As part of its split from Huawei, Honor pledged to produce its own range of hardware products to mirror its former parent’s strategy. This time around, the company is releasing a new pair of earbuds and a new watch, but promises that we can expect routers, displays and smart TVs to pop up at points further down the line.

Honor

The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro come with quick charging and a total playback time of 24 hours. They are also equipped with active noise cancellation and body temperature monitoring to help you keep an eye on your overall health. The Watch GS3, meanwhile, looks like Honor went all-in on making it look a little less agricultural than its predecessor. An eight-channel “Heart Rate AI Engine” is the headline feature, which the company promises will offer far more in-depth analysis of your ticker.

Sadly, we don't know yet the Magic 4 series, earbuds and watch will be available, but the company has released initial European prices for all of them. The Magic 4 Pro, with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage will cost €1,099 ($1,230) on that side of the pond. Similarly, the Magic 4 with 8GB/256GB will cost €899 ($1,006), while the Watch GS3 will start at €229 ($256) in midnight black and €249 ($278) in blue or gold. Finally, the earbuds will be priced at €199 ($222). 

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2022 right here!