Huawei confirms Mate Xs 2 will be announced April 28
This morning Huawei published a teaser video for the Mate Xs, its flagship foldable. The Mate Xs 2 will be launching on April 28 with the tagline “Folding flagship and the latest product launch event” (machine translated). The Weibo post leads with “The “face” worth seeing”.
The event will take place at 7PM on the day of the launch event in China. Based on the teaser poster posted by Huawei. Huawei may update the hinge mechanism in Mate Xs’ successor. Huawei may address a few of the issues raised in our Mate Xs Review, such as improving battery life and making it feel more polished.
Huawei Mate Xs (2020)
MyFixGuide mentions that a recently listed Huawei 4G phone PAL-AL00 may be the Mate Xs 2. This listing showed a Kirin 9000 chipset and Harmony OS.
The Huawei Mate Xs was launched almost two years ago, and it will be fascinating to see what improvements Huawei has made to its foldable flagship device. However, it is possible that this device will not be launched outside China.
Data shows Android losing ground to iOS, but Google’s platform still dominates the market
Android, which is available on many devices, is the most widely used mobile operating system. However, data from StockApps shows that iOS has been taking Android’s market share in recent years – although Google’s platform still dominates the market.
As of July 2018, Android dominated 77. 32% of the global mobile operating system market share. However, four years later, that number has dropped to 69.74%. At the same time, global iOS adoption rose from 19. 4% to 25. 49% over the same period, representing a 6% growth over four years.
While the reason behind the numbers is unclear, Apple has worked hard to expand its product range in order reach more customers with the iPhone SE as well as the entry-level iPad. However, this won’t suffice to claim the Android top spot.
As noted by finance expert Edith Reads, Android still has an advantage due to its open-source nature. While iOS is only available on Apple devices, there are many devices out there running Android, not just smartphones and tablets. The price of electronic devices is another reason why Android will remain on top.
StockApps research shows that Android is the dominant operating system in many regions, such as South America or Africa. This is because Apple products tend to be more costly than those of other competitors. In South America, only 10% of mobile devices run iOS, while Apple’s operating system has more than half the market share in North America.
But even so, Apple’s strategy of introducing less expensive devices to gain more customers has been showing good results – and the company is likely to keep introducing a few entry-level devices in its lineup.
Vanilla OnePlus 10 specs leaks with 150W charging and a MediaTek Dimensity 9000
With the launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro, we were left to wonder what was going to come (if at all) of a base model OnePlus 10. According to an exclusive report by Digit India and OnLeaks, the OnePlus 10’s spec alleged spec sheet shows the device will feature 150W charging, and it may also be the first OnePlus flagship model to drop the beloved alert slider.
RAM and storage should mirror that of the 10 Pro: either 8GB or 12GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. The 10 would also have an identically sized 6. 7-inch LTPO2 AMOLED screen, though with FHD+ resolution. This display would also be able to support 120Hz refresh rate.
OnePlus 9
The 10 would pack a respectable 4,800 mAh battery capacity but may support 150W fast recharging. The OnePlus 10 Pro’s 65W and 80W SuperVOOC chargers can fully top up the battery in just over 30 minutes. A 150W charger may shave that time down to well below 20 minutes.
According to the report, there are two variants of chipsets currently being tested. The OnePlus 10 could be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ or the MediaTek Dimensity 9000. Performance between the Dimensity 9000 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 are neck-and-neck, but the 8 Gen 1’s successor has yet to show what kind of boost in performance we can expect.
The 10 Pro has a triple camera setup with dual 50MP cameras and an 8MP telephoto. The 10 will reportedly feature triple cameras with the Hasselblad branding as well, consisting of a 50MP main camera a 16MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro shooter. The front-facing selfie camera is expected to be a 32MP snapper.
Alert slider on OnePlus 9
According to the report, the 10 will be the first flagship to drop the alert slider. It is a physical toggle that alters the smartphone’s settings and is possible without unlocking the phone.
The OnePlus 10 isn’t expected to arrive until the second half of the year.
This horticultural light + watering system takes 360deg care of your indoor plants
CURA is an all-encompassing plant-growth apparatus that takes care of the light and water requirements for any plant. Its automated systems can be programmed to suit the light requirements for flowering plants, air-purifying plants, herbaceous plants, or decorative plants, and when CURA’s halo-shaped lamp isn’t nourishing your plant, it can be turned into an ambient light that adds a pop of color to your space!
Available in 3 sizes and across floor-standing, tabletop, and wall-mounted varieties, CURA is a halo-shaped horticultural light that’s designed to activate and promote plant growth. The lamp is powered by OSRAM LEDs and can produce different wavelengths to help different kinds of plants. CURA has presets that can be used to grow herbs and fruits, flowers and fruits, indoor garden plants, and other plant stages.
CURA does this using two types of full-spectrum, white LEDs. The LEDs produce the correct wavelength of light for various plants depending on their preset. CURA’s automated system switches the light on around sunrise, and automatically powers off post-sunset. The lamp can either be programmed to work automatically or can be configured using CURA’s smartphone app, allowing you to effectively play horticulturist with your indoor plants.
Stimulates photosynthesis and promotes biomass growth, essential for reproductive functions.
Grow anything all year round.
When the lamp isn’t active in growing your plants, an Ambient Mode turns it into an ambient light ring that glows any color you choose to illuminate your home. Ambient Mode allows the lamp to respond to musical sounds, so humans can have the CURA experience!
The CURA light is easy to install and sits on a mount that’s height-adjustable and can also swivel 180deg. The ring-shaped LED light connects to a power source, and can even be daisy-chained together to create a system of CURA lights for multiple plants. However, the light’s halo design serves two crucial functions. First, it creates a space for plants to grow in (especially if they are large or fast-growing). Second, you can attach a CURA pump that automatically waters your plants.
CURA comes from the folks at Altifarm Enverde, the same guys who created the Herbstation and the Pico Planter that collectively raised over $2 million and shipped to more than 20,000 backers. Pico and Herbstation were planter-based devices. CURA, however is the first lamp to be planter-agnostic. It can work with all potted plants.
Its 3 sizes and mounting capabilities give you the flexibility to literally install it anywhere and with any plant you’ve got, and the companion CURA app lets you remotely control multiple lamps around the house. The CURA light can also be used to control your smart home via voice commands. Who knew we’d finally see voice-controlled plants in 2022??
You can order your CURA lights through the Kickstarter campaign. Each CURA light comes in 3 premium finishes with an aluminum construction along with a durable polycarbonate front cover. The CURA lights are USB-C powered and run on a 5V power supply. The light comes with a brass suspension kit and an adaptor to the CURA pump. The mounting systems and the CURA pump are available as add-ons to your pledge.
Obamas’ podcast company seeking deal with other platforms as it leaves Spotify
Back in 2020, Spotify announced a new partnership with Barack and Michelle Obama to bring new, exclusive podcasts to the platform. However, two years later, the Obamas are now reportedly seeking deals with other podcast platforms as they’re leaving Spotify.
According to Bloomberg sources, Higher Ground Productions – which is the Obamas’ podcast company – will not renew its deal with Spotify in 2022. According to Bloomberg sources, Higher Ground Productions – which is the Obamas’ podcast company – will not renew its deal with Spotify in
.
Higher Ground is currently in negotiations with a number of potential partners including Audible.com and iHeartMedia. Apple may also be able to make a deal to allow their podcasts on the Apple Podcasts platform, even though it’s not mentioned in the report.
However, the report also points out that there are some disagreements between the Obama’s company and the podcast platforms when it comes to the content to be produced.
The Obamas are each willing to appear in an eight-episode program, which for some bidders isn’t enough of a commitment to justify a deal comparable to those for shows like “SmartLess,” “Call Her Daddy” and “My Favorite Murder.” Those shows appear weekly, or with a frequency to close to that, while Higher Ground’s programs featuring the Obamas have been limited series.
Apple is slowly investing in podcasts that can compete with Spotify or other platforms. The company has also introduced a new podcast subscription program so that creators can charge for their shows. A partnership with the Obamas would certainly be a huge opportunity to attract even more users to Apple Podcasts.
vivo S15 Pro certifications reveal some of its specs
vivo’s upcoming S15e has already been teased by the company, and saw its full specs leaked just a couple of days ago, but the S15 family is rumored to have two additional members: the S15 and S15 Pro. Of these, the latter has recently been certified by both 3C and TENAA in China, so we finally know a few details about it.
The vivo S15 Pro will have 66W fast charging support for its 4,400 mAh battery. Rumor has it the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC will be running the show, aided by at least 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage.
vivo S15e
The phone is said to sport a 6. 62-inch AMOLED panel with 90 or 120 Hz refresh rate, and it will run Android 12 out of the box with Origin OS Ocean on top. On the rear a triple camera setup is rumored, with a 50 MP main snapper, an 8 MP ultrawide, and a 2 MP macro cam. These are all the outed details so far, but surely the S15 Pro will leak even more in the coming days and weeks.
The S15e is expected to become official on April 25 alongside the X80 family, but the S15 and S15 Pro are likely to be announced at a later date.
Frame.io now offers a companion app for Apple TV and FiLMiC Pro integration
Frame.io is now part Adobe and offers a number of improvements for users. For instance, the platform now has a companion app for Apple TV as well as integration with FiLMiC Pro.
For those who aren’t familiar, Frame.io allows video editors to work together in groups using comments, annotations and approval requests. Adobe now brings that Frame.io experience to Apple TV through a brand new app.
With the app, professionals can now easily watch 4K HDR clips on TV with just a few clicks. You can also review and approve video clips directly through the tvOS App.
Open your secure Frame.io Enterprise Inbox in the new Apple TV app and start watching 10-bit 4K HDR content on any big-screen television. You can use your Apple remote to play clips from the inbox or loop them to see a close-up, and autoplay through entire folders of dailies.
This is just one feature that has been added to Frame.io. Frame.io is now compatible with the popular mobile camera app FiLMiC Pro, so users can film and upload videos directly to the cloud platform using a lightweight codec. A similar feature has also been announced for selected DSLR cameras from ARRI, Panavision, RED, Canon, and Sony.
Following Adobe’s acquisition, Frame.io has been fully integrated in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro. It’s not clear if the platform will continue to support Apple’s Final Cut Pro.
With an enormous amount of apps on the App Store, it’s sometimes hard to decide which ones are worth downloading. I’ve been a college student off-and-on for some time now, and I’ve come to realize that certain apps can really make your life easier.
These are my top favorite free apps as a graduate student. This is a mix of Apple and non-Apple apps.
Reminders
I use Reminders to make to-do lists each week for studying, assignments, and other important items. Reminders is useful because I can assign due dates, times and set priorities. It also allows me to add subtasks and other tasks. I use Reminders across my iPhone, iMac, iPad, and Apple Watch. Whenever I think of something to add, it’s simple to add to my list or remove when finished.
I also use Reminders pretty heavily for both work and personal use. It helps me manage my time and makes my hectic days more efficient. I have a guided tutorial on the Reminders app if you’d like to learn more.
OneNote
While not the most widely used note-taking application, I’m serious. OneNote is a great option for students who have a mixture of Apple and non-Apple devices. For example, my current tech setup is nearly all Apple. However, I have a Windows laptop that I’ve had for years and sometimes use.
Because I have a class notebook on OneNote, I can easily pull up my notes on either computer. It doesn’t matter if the app is only compatible with Apple devices. Students who use the iPad for note taking but do not have access to a Mac would be most likely to recommend this app.
OneNote is available as a standalone download or in conjunction with a Microsoft Office subscription that many universities and colleges offer to their students. Additionally, if you don’t want to download another app, you can opt for the web version.
PDF Expert
The iPad is a great tool to annotate PDF files. I use PDF Expert free on iPad and I can mark up presentations, documents, and more right from my iPad. It connects with the Files app automatically, so you can easily pull up documents from your iCloud. It can be connected to your Windows phone and cloud storage services like Google Drive and OneDrive. PDF Expert allows you to create new PDFs from scratch, as well as convert images and documents into PDFs.
I use an Apple Pencil alternative from XIRON with my iPad to mark up notes on PDFs, and I love it.
Google Chrome
While I love Safari, for my general browsing needs on the iPad and iPhone, I prefer Google Chrome to meet my education-related needs. Chrome is a great tool for saving bookmarks, shortcuts and extension information across multiple Google accounts. Again, it’s convenient to use a student who has both Apple and non-Apple devices. It helps keep my workflow organized no matter which device I’m on.
Notes
While I don’t use a lot of paper for school anymore, sometimes I still need to scan. Back when I had an Android smartphone, I used to have a separate app to scan papers. However, with an iPhone, that’s not necessary. The Notes app is perfect for scanning purposes. After scanning, you can email, scan, save, markup or AirDrop your file. It is amazing how easy it is to do all of this with one app.
If you want to learn more on how to better use the Notes App, you can read my guided tutorial.
Which apps do you use as a student?
Which apps make your life easier as a student? Let me know which apps work for you. Please leave your comments.
Sonos ‘Fury’ budget soundbar leaks ahead of expected June launch
The next new product from Sonos may arrive as soon as early June. Thanks to renderings and details from The Verge, the next launch will be a budget soundbar priced below the Sonos Beam. It may also be used as Dolby Atmos surround speaker paired with Sonos Arc soundbar.
The Verge shared exclusive details on the yet to be announced Sonos soundbar today including renderings based on images it has seen. Codenamed “Fury”/model “S36” internally, the latest speaker from the company is a bit smaller than the existing Sonos Beam by about 4-inches in length.
It’s allegedly going to land with black and white finishes and a price around $249 – $200 below the gen 2 Beam – and cut out some of the niceties like Dolby Atmos support, HDMI, and built-in mics.
The new budget soundbar connects via an optical audio cable that is the primary I/O. But The Verge says it will work to expand the new soundbar to a 5. 1 surround setup with other compatible Sonos speakers wirelessly.
Sonos budget soundbar interior design via The Verge
Notably, other details discovered include a vertical mount for the new soundbar that would allow it to act as Atmos surrounds for the flagship Arc soundbar. The Verge also highlights that Sonos has a smaller, more affordable subwoofer in the works codenamed S37 – but launch and price details aren’t known.
The new Sonos soundbar is expected to launch on June 7, so it shouldn’t be too much longer before we hear official details from the company like the real name, specs, and more.
And as we learned last month, Sonos is also working on its Home Theater OS. We’ll have to wait and see if more will be revealed about that effort along with the new soundbar.
CIRP: iPhone 13 best-selling lineup in recent years (despite tiny interest in iPhone mini)
A new report by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows that the iPhone 13 lineup is delivering “some of the best results in many quarters,” although the two mini version launched so far still account for as little as 3% of all sales on the second quarter of 2022.
The new iPhone 13 models enjoyed some of the largest share we’ve seen in many quarters,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder. “The four models, including 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, and 13 mini, accounted for almost three-quarters of sales in the March quarter. Last year at this time the then-new iPhone 12 models had 61% of sales. Also this quarter, iPhone 13 had the highest share for a single model, at 38%, that we’ve seen in some time. Post-pandemic buyers flocked to Apple’s newest phones, even though they had only incremental improvements over previous models. iPhone mini continues to have low share, with 12 and 13 mini each accounting for only 3% of sales.
The key findings of this report show that the iPhone 13 had the largest share for a single model in several year with 38% while the iPhone mini models continue to attract only a very small share of buyers – only 3% in total. In addition, buyers now keep their previous phone for a shorter period of time, reversing a long-time trend.
Older models also keep attracting sales. The two-year-old iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2020, and the three-year-old iPhone XR account for 15% of sales in this quarter.
Since the market shifted to unsubsidized phone sales on installment contracts, the age of old phones climbed as owners enjoyed using their paid-for phones. Mike Levin (CIRP Partner and Co-Founder) said that this trend has reversed recently, possibly because there were more options to trade-in phones of high-value.”
In Q2 2022, 20% of buyers reported having their previous phone for three years or longer, compared to 34% in Q2 2021. It’s also important to note that the iPhone 13 lineup brings nice improvements when compared to its predecessor, such as a smaller notch and camera, 5G, and battery improvements.
Another key factor could be the rumors pointing out that the regular iPhone 14 models will remain similar to the current iPhone 13 — even using the same processor – thus impacting decisions by customers for whether to buy a new iPhone now or wait for a successor.
How do you like the iPhone 13 series? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Huawei Mate Xs (2020)
