The smartphone will be available in both Europe and India. You can check out the specifications and features of the Edge 30 Pro below.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro specifications

The Moto Edge 30 Pro features a 6.7-inch Full HD+ 10-bit P-OLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a 144Hz screen refresh rate. It’s powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 coupled with 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB UFS3.1 internal storage.

As for the camera specifications, the Edge 30 Pro has a 50MP main sensor with OIS and f/1.88 aperture, a 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture, and a 2MP depth lens. The smartphone will also feature a 60MP snapper selfie camera.

Inside the smartphone, you get a 4,800mAh battery which supports 68W Type-C fast-charging. Motorola Edge 30 Pro will be based on Android 12 and is eligible to get Android 13 and 14 alongside the quarterly security updates for 2 Years.

The phone is available in two color options — Cosmos Blue and Stardust White. The back of the smartphone is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Other features include IP52 certification for water resistance, 15W wireless charging, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, ThinkShield for Mobile, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Moto Edge 30 Pro in Europe with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage costs €799. Sales are expected to begin soon.

The smartphone will be available in India starting from March 4 on Flipkart and in Offline stores. The handset will cost INR49,999 for users in India.

Are you excited about the Motorola Edge 30 Pro? If so, are you planning to buy it? Sound off in the comments section below.

Motorola Edge 30 Pro offcially launches: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, 68W fast charging, 144 Hz display, and more

Reddit today introduced a new Discover tab feature for the official Reddit iOS and Android apps. The new feature curates pictures, GIFs, and videos in a scrollable grid to help Reddit users find new content and communities that they may be interested in, in a way that’s reminiscent of Instagram’s explore page or Pinterest.

 

The Discover tab replaces the Communities / Subscriptions tab in both iOS and Android as the second icon on the bottom, represented by a compass icon. While this means that now you can’t access a list of your subscribed communities from the bottom, fret not — you can still get to your subscribed community list by swiping in a drawer from the left (and yes, r/all is still there). There’s also a new slide-over from the right for your profile, where you can change your online status, look at your posts, and more.

 

“The corpus of content and communities on Reddit is pretty vast,” said Jason Costa, Reddit’s director of product for community and content. Costa described Reddit as traditionally having a heavy emphasis on text-based expression, yet Costa believes that there was an opportunity to showcase the rich multimedia content within communities as context. “(i)n particular, there’s not really a place on Reddit where you can go and easily discover great video content, great imagery content, great GIF content,” Costa said. Reddit was evaluating the use of the Communities button, and Costa said that’s how the location of the Discover tab came to be. Since the profile slide-over from the left already existed, the subscriptions list and favorites were moved there. “We think the community drawer is a real improvement over the existing tab,” Costa said.

 

 Discover tab helps you find new communities using pictures / videos. You can scroll through topics on the top from left to right.

Image: Reddit

“I personally think users are going to discover and join more communities as a result of this. And I think the old and new Redditors alike are gonna find really interesting and compelling content that resonates with them.” Costa said. In testing, users that tried the Discover tab subscribed to at least one additional community vs. those that didn’t use it, “which is exactly what we were hoping for,” Costa explains “they would discover, and... traverse the breadth of the corpus of content communities on the site. So you know, that alone, as a signal, gets us really excited for you know, what old and new users are going to do with [it].”

 

The Discover tab kind of feels like a replacement for r/all, but it turns out the longtime cumulative subreddit of all subreddits is sticking around. Costa confirmed Discover is not a replacement for r/all and that they will continue to coexist, saying, “I think Discover tab is a pretty unique and differentiated experience.” The Discover tab adjusts to your current interests, so If you subscribed to a lot of football subs and spend a lot of time in baseball subs, you’re going to start seeing more sports-related content in the Discover tab.

 

 

 

Finally, with regards to third-party Reddit clients like Apollo, Relay, and BaconReader, it looks like the Discover feature won’t make it there: “You know, I think we’re thinking through more broadly this year, what our developer platform strategy could look like. But for the Discover tab, specifically, no plans to expose an API at this time,” Costa said.

Reddit’s new Discover tab pushes the app into the modern social media era

Apple will add fifth US English Siri voice in iOS 15.4

Pixel 7 leaks show Google finally has a consistent phone business

Alongside letting more iOS and Android users enjoy Facebook’s TikTok clone, Meta has also announced that they’re expanding tests for overlay ads in order to help creators earn money from Facebook Reels.

These new overlay ads will appear in two different forms, banner ads, which are a “semi-transparent overlay at the bottom of a Facebook Reel,” and sticker ads, which are a “static image ad that can be placed by a creator anywhere within their reel.” According to Facebook, these ads will allow creators to earn a “portion” of the ad revenue while being “non-interruptive” to users.

As if that wasn’t enough of an incentive from Meta to start making content, the social media giant also announced “Stars” which can be purchased by users in order to directly support their favourite creators while giving Facebook that all-important revenue-generating cut. 

Thankfully, the rollout of Reels isn’t all about flooding the platform with ads, as Meta also announced new editing features for creators around the world to utilize. These new features will allow creators to make reels up to 60 seconds long, while also clipping the content they make before saving it as a draft. 

Meta is also debuting a new “Remix” feature, which, just like TikTok’s Duet feature, allows creators to make a reel alongside an existing publicly-shared reel on Facebook, opening the floodgates for a tidal wave of reaction content. 

Meta has launched Facebook Reels globally with plenty of ads

Lite Mode, which Google launched as Data Saver back in 2015, was designed to improve the loading of webpages in Chrome by tunneling traffic through Google servers on slow connections. Google launched the Data Saver extension for Chrome in 2015 for desktop versions of the browser, and integrated Data Saver natively in Chrome for Android in 2016.

The company deprecated the Data Saver extension for desktop versions of Chrome in 2019, but kept Data Saver under the name Lite mode in Chrome for Android. Engineers improved Lite Mode in the same year in Chrome for Android by introducing support for Lite Pages.

A new message by Chrome Support Manager Craig on the Google Chrome Help website confirms that Google is retiring Lite Mode in Chrome for Android when the stable version of the browser hits version 100. The release is scheduled for March 29, 2022.

On March 29th, 2022, with the release of Chrome M100 to the stable channel, we’ll turn off Lite mode, a Chrome feature for Android that we introduced back in 2014 as Chrome Data Saver to help people use less mobile data on their phones and load web pages faster.

Craig explains the reasoning behind the decision. Data costs have gone down considerably in many regions and Google has integrated improvements in Chrome that help reduce data usage.

In recent years we’ve seen a decrease in cost for mobile data in many countries, and we’ve shipped many improvements to Chrome to further minimize data usage and improve web page loading. Although Lite mode is going away, we remain committed to ensuring Chrome can deliver a fast webpage loading experience on mobile.

Google does not reveal the number of users that have used Lite Mode in Chrome for Android. Those who have used it may consider switching to a browser with an integrated content blocker or extensions support to speed up the browsing significantly.

Now You: have you used Lite Mode in the past? (via Caschy)

Sources:

https://stadt-bremerhaven.de/chrome-lite-mode-wird-eingestellt/

https://www.ghacks.net/2022/02/23/google-ends-lite-mode-data-saving-feature-for-chrome-on-android/

The growing popularity of foldable phones is mainly driven by Samsung, but the South Korean tech giant may not be able to claim the top position for a very long time as more big brands are laying the groundwork for their first-ever foldable phones.

"Big brands" also include Apple as rumor has it that the company is working on a foldable iPhone phone. Previous rumors, however, suggested that Apple would bring the foldable iPhone to the public eye in 2023. But according to a recent report from Display Supply Chain Consultants(DSCC), which is run by Display Analyst Ross Young, the foldable iPhone is unlikely to arrive before 2025.

According to the display firm, Apple "does not appear to be in a hurry to enter the foldable smartphone market, and it may even take longer than [2025]."

Apple, however, seems to be quite optimistic about the potential of the whole foldable display technology, so much so that the company is interested in introducing it to its future notebooks.

As described by the analyst, it can be a notebook with a full-sized keyboard when folded and an external monitor when not folded, thus making it a dual-use product. The analyst wrote:

"This size could create a new category for Apple and would result in a true dual use product, a notebook with a full-size keyboard when folded and for use as a monitor when not folded and used with an external keyboard."

The display analyst also predicts that the notebook display could be around 20-inch and that it might allow for UHD/4K resolutions or higher.

Young has an excellent track record of leaking accurate information, but there're many instances where he updated his previous claims. The same may also happen with this leak too, so hold your horses until other reliable sources confirm the leak.

Source: DSCC; via Apple Insider

Apple's foldable iPhone may be coming in 2025, foldable MacBook could soon be a reality

Twitter user Golden Reviewer has compiled a couple of synthetic GPU benchmarks where they have compared the AMD Xclipse 920 GPU alongside several other mobile graphics chipsets including the last-gen Exynos 2100.

The two graphics tests are:

• GFXBench 3.1
• 3DMark Wildlife Extreme

The performance for the AMD RDNA 2 mobile APU is unimpressive, to say the least, as it barely beats the Mali GPU inside the Exynos 2100. Compared to its main rival, the Snapdragon (SD) 8 Gen 1, the AMD Xclipse 920 GPU inside the Exynos 2200 is very underwhelming as the former is 20-30% more efficient. Many were speculating this was the case after Samsung, oddly, kept mum about its initial January 11 launch event.

The GPU performance and efficiency comparisons are given below:

On the Exynos 2200 page, Samsung writes "Playtime is well and truly over" and seeing the efficiency result above we do wonder if Samsung means the thing literally. The company is also promising console-quality graphics from this chipset. Here's the full write up:

Console quality graphics now on mobile with the Exynos 2200 mobile processor. The Samsung Xclipse GPU sets to usher in a new era and completely change the way we experience mobile gaming. Playtime is well and truly over.

For those wondering if it's the processor that is holding the AMD Xclipse RDNA 2 back, this doesn't seem to be the case. The Cortex-X2 cores in the Exynos 2200 CPU itself seems to be performing as expected almost up there with the SD Gen 1.

The main apparent advantage that the Exynos 2200 has right now over its immediate rivals is ray-tracing on mobile. Samsung showed that off back in October last year.

Source and images: Golden Reviewer (Twitter)

Playtime over indeed: AMD RDNA 2 inside Samsung S22's Exynos 2200 fails to deliver

The Galaxy S22’s 45 W charging doesn’t actually improve charge times

In a Reddit post, the LineageOS team revealed that LineageOS 17.1, based on Android 10, has now reached retirement. That means new builds of LineageOS 17.1  won’t be developed moving forward. The team says they had to take this step because of the storage restrictions of their build servers.

Android 12 Custom ROM List: Unofficially update your Android smartphone!

As per the announcement, the following devices are being dropped from the LineageOS 17.1 build roaster:

If you’re running LineageOS 17.1 on any of the above-mentioned devices, you can continue to use the ROM as it is but note that there won’t be any new updates. That means you will miss out on important security patches and other improvements. Your best bet is to upgrade to LineageOS 18.1, assuming it’s available for your device, or switch to another custom ROM which is in active development.

At the time, LineageOS 17.1 builds are still listed on the LineageOS download page. The team notes that builds and recoveries will eventually be removed from the website.

As for the Android 12 release, the team says they have started testing build systems to support LineageOS 19.0. However, no exact timeline has been provided for when the new version is officially coming out.

Source

On the bright side, the official launch event has revealed important details such as price, availability. According to the company, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G will go on sale from February 22 in India. The smartphone will also make its debut in Europe. Users in Europe will be able to buy Nord CE 2 5G from March 10.

OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G starts at INR 23,999 and goes up to INR 24,999. You can see the specifications of the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G below.

OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G specifications

OnePlus Nord CE 2 features a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a screen refresh ratio of 90 Hz. Powering the smartphone will be the MediaTek Dimensity 900 processor coupled with anywhere between 6GB and 8GB of RAM.

Rumor has it that Nord CE 2 5G has a triple rear camera setup. We’re talking about a 64MP (f/1.79) (Omnivision), an 8MP (f/2.25) (FOV – 119°) (EIS) Ultra-wide, and a 2MP (f/2.4) inside a rectangular camera bump at the back of the smartphone. The smartphone also features a 16MP (f/2.45) (EIS) (Sony IMX471) front camera. The selfie camera is located in the punch hole camera cut out.

The new OnePlus Nord 2 CE packs a 4,500 mAh battery and supports fast charging up to 65W. It comes with Android 12 out of the box. The smartphone will be available in two color options — Bahama Blue, Grey Mirror.

OnePlus Nord CE 2 makes its debut in India, and here is how much it costs

Samsung also confirms that the users in India will be able to pre-order the Galaxy S22 series from February 23. It’s also worth noting that all the models in the S22 series will be available for pre-orders.

As for the pricing, Samsung Galaxy S22 will start at Rs. 72,999(~$973), while the 256GB costs Rs. 76,999(~$1,026). Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus model starts at Rs. 84,999(~$1132) and go up to Rs. 88,999($1186). Meanwhile, the Galaxy S22 Ultra model set you back Rs. 1,09,999($1465) for the base model, while the 512GB model costs Rs. 1,18,999($1585).

SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 SPECIFICATIONS

The regular Samsung Galaxy S22 will feature a 6.1-inch display with support for 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game mode and support for up to 120Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy S22 Plus model will also support a 120 Hz refresh rate and 240 Hz Sampling Rate in Gaming Mode, while the display size will be 6.6 inches.

Talking about the camera, they both feature a 12MP Ultra-wide camera, a 50MP Wide camera, and a 10MP Telephoto Camera with 3x Optical zoom. For selfies and video calling, Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus will use a 10MP camera.

The Galaxy S22 has a 3700 mAh battery with support for up to 25W fast charging, while the plus model has a 4,500 mAh battery with support for up to 45W fast charging.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, on the other hand, features a 6.8-inch QHD+ display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game mode. The ‘Ultra’ model features a 12MP Wide camera, 108MP Wide camera, 10MP Telephoto Camera with 3x Optical Zoom, and 10MP Telephoto camera with 10x Optical camera. For selfies and video calling, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will use a 40MP camera. It will pack a non-removable 5000 mAh battery with support for up to 45W fast charging support.

Samsung launches Galaxy S22 series in India

Young says the rumored Pixel foldable is not canceled as many thought it was. In fact, the CEO of DSCC claims that the Google Pixel's foldable panel production will start from Q3 of 2022 with the official launch happening in Q4 of 2022. More specifically, the much-awaited Pixel foldable could see the proverbial daylight in October this year.

While replying to some of the queries related to the alleged Pixel foldable on Twitter, Young has also given us some tidbits about what we can expect from the new device. He confirms that the foldable phone will feature a display with a screen refresh rate of 120Hz, similar to what you get in Samsung's latest foldable phones.

Moreover, Young reveals that the outer display of Google's new foldable phone could be smaller than that of the current Galaxy Z Fold3. However, he has given us no other details related to the display beyond that.

Previously, Young had told that the purported foldable Google Pixel would cost higher than the Galaxy Z Fold3 in the US and Europe, and therefore, it would not be as competitive as Samsung's. He believes its lack of competitiveness was one of the reasons why Google didn't release it last year.

Rumor has it that the stable version of the new Android 12L operating system will be ready to roll out to the general public before the end of Q1'22. And if that happens, it's quite likely that the foldable Pixel will be based on Google's new operating system, which is designed specifically for tablets and other large-screen devices like foldable phones.

Google's foldable Pixel may not be dead after all

Android 13 preview shows how Pixel phones could stream apps to your PC

“We are thrilled by the consumer response to our new Galaxy Tab S8 lineup,” Samsung unsurprisingly told XDA Developers, who first spotted the pre-orders for the tablet being pulled,  as if immense demand would ever be a bad thing.

“Due to the overwhelming demand in the last 48 hours, we will be pausing preorders at Samsung.com for the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S8. We are working quickly to meet consumer excitement and demand. Please stay tuned for more updates,” a spokesperson for the company continued. 

It’s currently unclear just when the Galaxy Tab S8 preorders will open up once again, or whether customers in the US will be waiting until the launch of the tablet on the 25th of February. 

With many manufacturers still suffering from the effects of the global chip shortage, it’s hardly the biggest surprise that some companies are having to temper expectations and limit just how many devices they can sell, lest they overwhelm manufacturers and end up causing delays. 

With a brand new S Pen, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, and up to a 14.6″ Super AMOLED display in the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, Samsung has packed an impressive amount of tech into their latest line of tablets which are just 5.5mm thick, so it’s no wonder that people want them.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 preorders paused due to overwhelming demand

We recently reported that the new Moto Edge 30 Pro might give some tough competition to the Samsung Galaxy S22 series. And now, after hearing the details about the box price of the new Edge 30 Pro in India, there is no iota of doubt that it poses some serious threats to the S22.

According to industry sources close to MySmartPrice, the box price of the Moto Edge 30 Pro will be INR 55,999(~$740) in India. Usually, the box price is higher than the street price, so we can expect the effective asking price to be slightly less than what's quoted in the box.

Previous rumors suggested the Edge 30 Pro would come with a folio case where users will find a dedicated pen slot, much like how Samsung has added a dedicated pen slot to the S22 Ultra. Although not confirmed, the S22 Ultra would probably cost more than Rs. 100,000(~$1,321) in India. And since the Edge 30 Pro offers pen support and will cost almost half of the asking price of S22 Ultra in India, the Edge 30 Pro has the potential to emerge as the winner.

For those unaware, the Moto Edge 30 Pro is said to be a rebranded Moto Edge 30X, which debuted in China at the end of last year. So, there should be a lot of similarities between the two variants. Meanwhile, you can check out some of the key specifications of the smartphone below.

Moto Edge 30 Pro rumored specifications

The Edge 30 Pro is expected to be powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 coupled with 8GB or 12GB of RAM. It's said to feature a 6.7-inch Full HD+ 10-bit POLED display with 2400 × 1080 pixel resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and a 700nits peak brightness.

Talking about the camera, the smartphone is rumored to have a triple camera setup at the back, consisting of a 50MP main sensor with optical image stabilization, a 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 2MP depth lens. For selfies and video calling, it'll use a 60MP front camera.

The smartphone will pack a 5,000mAh battery with support for 60W fast charging. It'll run Android 12 out of the box. In all likelihood, users will get the Android 13 update when it becomes available.

The Moto Edge 30 Pro is all set to go global on February 24.

Moto Edge 30 Pro India pricing leaks ahead of its global launch

After Samsung officially retired its iconic “Galaxy Note” brand, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is now the unofficial new Note flagship device. All these premium devices ship with the Samsung Knox platform, which gets its own secure processor and memory. This secure platform could be of great interest to those who buy, trade, or invest, in cryptocurrencies.

All the devices that come under the Galaxy S22 series, ship with a brand-new Samsung Wallet pre-installed. Needless to add, this virtual pocket does everything that’s commonly expected from a digital wallet on a smartphone. Samsung confirmed the presence of the new Wallet in its presentation:

The section on Samsung Wallet was very brief but it offered confirmation about cryptocurrencies support.

Our all-new Samsung Wallet will carry your digital valuables in one convenient, and secure place. You will be able to store your IDs, credit cards, passwords, keys, and even your boarding passes.

So, you not only have to carry less, but you can access them anywhere. Samsung Wallet will also let you access and explore complex digital products, like cryptocurrency, with more ease too.

If all this sounds very familiar, it is because Apple already offers this functionality within the iPhone. Both the wallets can securely hold (and retrieve when needed), credit cards, boarding passes, transit cards, tickets, rewards/loyalty cards, digital keys, vaccination records, and digital IDs.

The Samsung Wallet, however, can store “Blockchain Keys”. The company has confirmed that the Samsung Knox security suite supports the function. As revealed in the presentation, Samsung will offer Galaxy S22 owners the ability to work with crypto tokens through the devices. But, there’s no official confirmation about the types of cryptocurrencies that could reside inside the Samsung Wallet.

Incidentally, Apple iPhone devices gained the ability to work with cryptocurrencies last year. Google, on the other hand, hasn’t officially delivered the kind of crypto token support that Samsung Wallet has, presumably, out of the box.

Source: BGR

Samsung Blockchain Wallet in Galaxy S22 hints at cryptocurrency management on-the-go

Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder and chief executive, has said that the company will become the number one high-end smartphone brand in China in the next three years. In a direct challenge to Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands, the CEO also said that the company's strategic goal is to become the biggest smartphone brand in the same period of time.

"[We aim to] fully benchmark against Apple in [terms of] product and experience, and become China's biggest high-end brand in the next three years," Lei said in a post on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo on Tuesday.

In what could be seen as a move to fill the void left by Huawei, other Chinese brands such as OPPO, OnePlus, and Xiaomi are trying to make a name for themselves in the flagship category. While both OnePlus and OPPO have seen some success with their efforts to rival Apple and Samsung in the flagship segment, Xiaomi's flagships are more of what can be described as "entry-level" like the Galaxy S21 FE.

According to a report published by Canalys, Apple overtook Samsung to be become the world's largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of last year, thanks to strong demand for the iPhone 13 line. Another study by Counterpoint suggests that Apple dethroned Vivo in the fourth quarter to become China's top smartphone vendor after six years.

Apple's rise to the top position in China after so many years appears to have rattled Xiaomi, the Chinese brand that described competition as "a war of life and death."

In an effort to attract more consumers, Xiaomi is planning to open 20,000 new retail stores in China over the next three years, taking the total number of stores to 30,000.

Sources: South China Morning Post and MacRumors

Xiaomi to spend over $15 billion to dethrone Apple as the world's biggest smartphone brand

Android 13 Preview 1 is out, with themed icons, privacy changes

Samsung has officially introduced the Galaxy Tab S8 series at its Unpacked 2022 event. The series includes three devices - the Galaxy Tab S8, Tab S8+, and the Tab S8 Ultra.

The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is the most expensive and feature-packed device in the lineup, similar to what Samsung has been doing with its phones. It includes a 14.6-inch super AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz and 240 pixels per inch. It has got up to 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon Gen 1 chip, the same on the new Galaxy S22 lineup.

There are dual 12MP cameras at the front which are housed inside a notch and dual cameras at the rear as well. The Tab S8 Ultra also features three mics with support for noise cancellation and quad speakers that are sound tuned by AKG.

The Galaxy Tab S8 comes with an 11-inch display while the Tab S8 Plus has got a 12.4-inch one. Both the tablets have an LTPS display (which is basically Samsung's version of IPS) running at 120Hz refresh rates. The devices include quad speakers sound tuned by AKG as well, and have up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage which are expandable up to 1TB with a microSD card.

All three tablets come with a glass-fronted and metal-backed design with strong and robust frames made from Samsung's Armor Aluminum. The Ultra is the thinnest of the three at a thickness of just 5.5mm, about 0.4mm thinner than the iPad Pro. The thin design unfortunately means Samsung has skipped the 3.5mm headphone jack across the lineup.

The Tab S8 series supports 45W charging with the Tab S8 coming with an 8,000mAh battery, Tab S8+ with a 10,090mAh one, and the Tab S8 Ultra with an 11,200mAh battery. Each of the devices ships with an S pen while accessory support includes the Book Cover Keyboard and Protecting Standing Cover.

The tablets start at a retail price of $699.99 for the Tab S8, $899.99 for the Tab S8 Plus while the Tab S8 Ultra will start at $1,099.99. Color options for the Tab S8 and the Tab S8+ include Graphite, Pink Gold, and Silver. The Tab S8 Ultra comes with just a single Graphite color option.

You can pre-order the devices starting today, February 9. In the US, you can get a Galaxy Buds Live when you pre-order the Tab S8 and S8+ while the Tab S8 Ultra will come with a free keyboard cover and portable 500GB SSD.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series is now official

The Galaxy S22 series will offer three options to the users namely S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra. The devices are powered by Samsung's own Exynos 2200 SoC or Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. While the Snapdragon SoC comes with Adreno 730 GPU, the Exynos version with come with AMD's RDNA2-based Xclipse 920 GPU. Like with the previous Galaxy S-series devices, Samsung will be offering the Snapdragon variant in limited markets.

Apart from that, the phones will feature a 2340x1080 resolution 6.1 inches display on the S22 and 6.6 inches on the Plus variant. Apart from that, the S22 and S22 Plus will feature a 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game mode and will support up to 120Hz refresh rate. Both the phones will feature a 12MP Ultra-wide camera, a 50MP Wide camera and a 10MP Telephoto camera with 3x Optical zoom on the back. On the front, Samsung has added a 10MP camera for selfies. Both the devices are equipped with 8GB of RAM and come with either 128 or 256GB of storage. To power things up, Samsung has equipped the S22 with a 3,700mAh battery while the S22 Plus comes with a 4,500mAh battery. Both the devices will support Wireless charging as well as Wireless PowerShare. However, the S22 will support up to 25W while the S22 Plus will support up to 45W wired charging.

Samsung will be making both the devices available in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green and Pink Gold. The Galaxy S22 starts at $799.99, with the S22 Plus priced at $999.99.

Moving onto the highlight of the show, the Galaxy S22 Ultra which takes design cues from the Galaxy Note series. The device will feature a 6.8-inch QHD+ display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game mode. The device will come with a 12MP Wide camera, 108MP Wide camera, 10MP Telephoto camera with 3x Optical zoom and 10MP Telephoto camera with 10x Optical camera. On the front, the S22 Ultra will have a 40MP camera for selfies. The device will offer 8GB+128GB, 12GB+256GB, 12GB+512GB and 12GB+1TB options. Finally, the device will support up to 45W charging and will have a 5,000mAh battery. Moreover, the device will support 15W wireless charging and will also support Wireless PowerShare. Samsung is also adding the S-Pen to S22 Ultra and unlike last year, the S22 Ultra will have space to store the S-Pen without having to buy a separate case.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will be priced at $1199 and will come in Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Burgundy

Samsung officially unveils the Galaxy S22 series

Google’s latest Pixel 6 update breaks things, again

Dismissed as gimmicks at first, gadgets with flexible screens are starting to feel truly mature.

Love Them or Hate Them, Folding Phones Are Sticking Around

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The February patch is also the first on-time release for the Pixel 6.

The February Android security patch is live, marking both the first on-time patch for the Pixel 6 and the last patch ever for the Pixel 3.

 

The Pixel 3 launched in October 2018 to lukewarm reviews, thanks to a giant camera notch on the XL model and a worrying dearth of RAM across the lineup. Google only offers three years of major OS updates (even on the Pixel 6), so the phone's last regular update was the Android 12 launch in October 2021. Pushing one of the biggest Android launches ever as the final update is a little scary (there are bound to be some bugs), so Google promised one last wrap-up update before it said goodbye to the Pixel 3. The device ended up with two more updates: one in January to patch that wild 911 bug and this final update. Google hasn't posted any release notes for the last Pixel 3 update, but the February update should cover all the security issues up to today, and from now on, you're out of date.

 

The Pixel 6's update plan is promoted by Google as "five years of Android security updates," but that still includes only three years of major Android version updates. The Pixel 6 will be obsolete in October 2024, but it will continue to get security updates until October 2026. We've long seen Android companies blame SoC vendors for the short support times compared to the iPhone's six years of updates, but with the Google Tensor, Google is its own SoC vendor now, so it could support the Pixel 6 for longer if it wanted.

 

The Pixel 6's Tensor SoC was built in collaboration with Samsung, marking a break from the Qualcomm-based Pixel 1-5 devices. Google's vendor switch and the rough holiday timeline for the Pixel 6 have resulted in a sloppy initial rollout, with the device missing the first few security patches while bugs get worked out. After getting a big patch in the middle of January, this is the first on-time security patch.

 

Besides a passing of the baton for Pixel devices, the security update fixes what sounds like a nasty remote escalation vulnerability, CVE-2021-39675. The bug is still undisclosed, but Google gave it a special shoutout in the security bulletin, calling it "a critical security vulnerability in the System component that could lead to remote escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation." Google has only updated Android 12 to fix this bug, either because it does not affect older versions or because fixes for older versions are still in the works.

 

The updates should roll out to all users over the next few weeks, but if you know what you're doing, you can manually apply them from Google's developer site.

After three years, Google ends Pixel 3 support with February patch

The company said that despite the app being pre-installed, it won’t force people to use the app and they are free to use other phone apps instead. By coming pre-installed the firm hopes to reach less tech-savvy people who would otherwise be uncomfortable downloading a third-party app like Truecaller. It’s these people that Truecaller could help most by flagging up possible scammers before they even answer the call.

Commenting on the news, Alan Mamedi, CEO and co-founder of Truecaller, said:

“Truecaller remains one of the most downloaded apps in several large countries. However, not every smartphone user is tech-savvy enough to download an app. Anecdotally, we often hear how first-time smartphone users in emerging markets take the help of shopkeepers or friends and family to download Truecaller. This move is in line with our global ambitions to make it available for everyone, but also aims to make Truecaller easier to use for millions of new users.”

Unfortunately, the company has not said which Android manufacturers it’s going to partner with over the coming years so hopefully, we’ll hear more on this front soon.

Truecaller will come pre-installed on 100 million devices by 2024