Arm doubles down on AI for mobile devices
Why it matters: While many still aren’t that familiar with semiconductor IP stalwart Arm , most everyone knows their key customers—Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, MediaTek, and HiSilicon (a division of Huawei) to name just a few in the mobile market. Arm provides chip designs that these companies and others use to power virtually every single smartphone in existence around the world.
If you care the least bit about where the mobile device market is headed, it’s important to keep track of the new advancements that
Former HTC top exec announces a 5G-enabled social VR headset
In context: A couple of years after stepping down as CEO of HTC, Peter Chou founded XRSpace, a virtual reality startup. Not much was known about it until today when the conmpany announced a new VR headset and virtual world.
XRSpace's Mova headset is a standalone device similar to the Oculus Quest. It features hand tracking, which Oculus just recently rolled out for the Quest. Powered by a Snapdragon 845, the Mova also has support for 5G, so users can take it anywhere and still
Samsung's Galaxy Tab S7+ to ship with massive battery in tow
Bottom line: Most expect Samsung to announce the new line of tablets sometime this summer, perhaps alongside the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Fold 2. A single Galaxy Unpacked event could serve as the launch pad for all of Samsung’s new devices although with restrictions in place to slow the spread of Covid-19 lingering, we may not get an in-person launch event at all but rather, a digital version.
Samsung is reportedly gearing up for a busy second half of the year with a debit
iPhone 12 will reportedly be the last to use the Lightning connector
In brief: Apple will reportedly stick with the proprietary Lightning connector on its next-generation iPhone instead of shifting to the widely used USB-C interface according to one tech leaker. If true, it likely means that Apple will never produce an iPhone with USB-C as next year's models are expected to go portless.
On Twitter, Fudge said it was a shame that the USB-C prototype iPhone 12s weren’t making it into production. Instead, we are destined for at least one
Check out the world's first heavy-duty 4x4 off-road bus that's won a Red Dot Design Award
Editor's take: I hardly remember the Mitsubishi bus on pick n drop duty from my school days, though I suspect things would have been slightly different and a whole lot more adventurous had it been the Torsus Praetorian; the world's first heavy-duty 4x4 off-road bus.
Buses have rarely been an exciting form of transport, given their essential but mostly mundane utility of hauling people around within the strict confines of urban areas. The Torsus Praetorian , however, aims to go a different route
Got a OnePlus 8 handset? You can now play Fortnite Mobile at 90fps
Why it matters: Playing Fortnite on a smartphone does mean some compromises—instead of the high frame rates found on PC, you’re stuck at 60fps. But owners of OnePlus’ recently released 8 series will be able to enjoy the Battle Royale title at 90fps, which is more than the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro.
A lot of flagship phones now come with refresh rates higher than the standard 60Hz, including the OnePlus 8 (90Hz) and OnePlus 8 Pro
Don't mistake this cheap Switch look-alike for the real thing
Facepalm: The Nintendo Switch is one of the many products to see its manufacturing impacted by Covid-19. Combined with a surge in demand for the hybrid console, getting your hands on one remains difficult. This has led to opportunistic firms releasing inferior clones such as the PowKiddy X2, which doesn’t even play Switch games.
As reported by Nintendo Life , the Chinese-made X2 is designed to resemble the Switch. It features an ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core processor that reaches 1
Leaks for Motorola's upcoming Razr foldable suggest another mid-tier successor
In brief: Motorola's first attempt at foldables with the mid-range, yet expensive Razr phone wasn't much of a success, and leaks for the upcoming second-gen model aren't all that inspiring either, save for 5G support and some minor hardware improvements.
Motorola's reboot of the iconic Razr phone generated a lot of prelaunch excitement , but that soon damped after people came to know it was a case of form over function with the company's $1,500
The PS5's SSD shouldn't be underestimated, says Mortal Kombat creator
A hot potato: Assuming all goes to plan, the next generation of consoles are arriving this holiday season, which means we’re hearing more about their capabilities. Sony has already lauded its SSD as something spectacular, and now the co-creator of Mortal Kombat has praised the component, saying that people are underestimating what it will mean for the PlayStation 5.
Load times have been one of the biggest problems with consoles, but the Xbox Series X and PS5 will join the PC in embracing solid-state drive