The Nokia 2.2. Nokia Here you can see a closeup of the camera notch, which has the earpiece just above it. The back is plastic and removable. This side has the power and volume buttons. Notice the extra button on the side here, which launches the Google Assistant. How cheap do you like your smartphones? […]
Gears & Gadgets
Dealmaster: All the best Amazon Prime Day 2019 tech deals we can find
Enlarge Ars Technica Greetings, Arsians! Your friendly neighborhood Dealmaster is back and reporting for bargain-hunting duty—and boy, is he going to need some extra coffee. That’s because today marks the start of Amazon Prime Day 2019, the increasingly misnamed sales event that sees the nation’s largest online retailer discount products beyond number to Black Friday-level […]
The Snapdragon 855 is getting an upgrade to the Snapdragon 855+
Enlarge Today Qualcomm announced a mid-cycle upgrade for the Snapdragon 855, called the “Snapdragon 855+.” As a mid-cycle upgrade, there aren’t huge changes here. It’s still an eight-core, 7nm SoC, but the CPU and GPU are a bit faster thanks to higher clock speeds. First up: the CPU, which sees the 855’s “Prime” core clock […]
Dealmaster: Amazon discounts almost its entire product lineup for Prime Day 2019
Enlarge Valentina Palladino Prime Day is nearly upon us, and Amazon has already pushed out a bunch of deals on its own devices. Like Prime Days past, Amazon has discounted most of its devices and services in the hopes that more people will take the plunge and try Echo speakers or other Alexa-enabled devices, Kindle e-readers, […]
The latest barrier to 5G speeds? The summer
Enlarge / 5G is here, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy into it. Thermal throttling is a fact of life for smartphones. SoCs generate a lot of heat, and when this heat can’t be dissipated, processors react by slowing down and thereby generating less heat. Usually this is just an issue for heavy […]
OurPact returns to App Store, reviving debates about Apple’s impartiality
Tim Cook on stage during an Apple event in September 2018. Valentina Palladino Software may come and go from the App Store, but this week marks a return that could have some real significance for Apple. OurPact, an app that lets parents monitor and limit their children’s use of technology, has returned to the App […]
Teardowns and benchmarks: All the details about Apple’s newest 13-inch MacBook Pro
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, torn down. iFixit A peek inside. iFixit The logic board. iFixit The revised keyboard mechanism. iFixit As is tradition, repair guide site and parts vendor iFixit tore down the latest Mac to see what’s different inside and to assess its repairability. This time it’s the new, […]
Microsoft Teams is now officially bigger than Slack
Enlarge / A Microsoft office (not to be confused with Microsoft Office). Julien GONG Min / Flickr Microsoft Teams may have only been around for two years, but the group-chat platform is already larger than one of its main competitors. Microsoft announced that Teams has more than 13 million daily active users. The amount rises […]
Google workers listen to your “OK Google” queries—one of them leaked recordings
Enlarge / The Google Home Mini, the original Google Home, and the Google Home Max. Google Google today defended its practice of having workers listen to users’ Google Assistant queries, following the leak of 1,000 voice recordings to a media outlet. Google also said it will try to prevent future leaks of its users’ voice […]
Android Q’s gesture navigation won’t support custom home apps at launch
Enlarge Android We don’t have any Beta 5 pictures yet, but here’s what the gesture navigation system looked like in earlier builds. Ron Amadeo Correctly set-up apps get a transparent nav bar. Ron Amadeo With a transparent bar, Android will continuously sample the background and change the color of the gesture indicator. (The whole rest […]
Third parties confirm AMD’s outstanding Ryzen 3000 numbers
Enlarge AMD AMD debuted its new Ryzen 3000 desktop CPU line a few weeks ago at E3, and it looked fantastic. For the first time in 20 years, it looked like AMD could go head to head with Intel’s desktop CPU line-up across the board. The question: would independent, third-party testing back up AMD’s assertions? […]
Dropbox Transfer tests direct sharing of files up to 100GB
Enlarge / Send copies of files with Dropbox Transfer. Dropbox Dropbox is adding a new option for how its users can share files. Dropbox Transfer introduces a way to send files between people rather than simply sharing access for collaboration. Files can be dragged and dropped directly from your computer or from within Dropbox storage. […]
Apple updates entry-level MacBook Air and Pro, discontinues MacBook
Enlarge / The 2018 MacBook Air is 10% thinner than the old MacBook Air and weighs 2.75lbs. Valentina Palladino Today, Apple refreshed much of its entry-level laptop lineup in time for a “Back to School” push that includes slashed prices for educators and students as well as other perks, like a free pair of Beats […]
Microsoft releases Windows 1.11 throwback app as a Stranger Things tie-in
Enlarge / Eleven and the gang face down weird dangers yet again in the third season trailer. YouTube/Netflix If you were one of the many people confused and curious about Microsoft’s apparent time-traveling social media blitz last week, wonder no more. As several astute fans guessed, the retro throwback was part of a collaboration with […]
In renders, the Pixel 4 trades a giant notch for a giant forehead
OnLeaks’ Pixel 4 XL render. The notch is gone, and so is the bottom front speaker. @OnLeaks x Pricebaba Another angle of the render. @OnLeaks x Pricebaba This shows the bottom edge, which has no headphone jack, and two speaker grills. Most likely there is one speaker, and one is just there for symmetry. @OnLeaks […]