Everything Samsung announced at its Galaxy S22 event
Another year, another batch of flagship Samsung phones. At its Unpacked event today, Samsung revealed the Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra, setting the stage for the year of smartphones to come. It also announced a family of fancy new tablets in the form of the Tab S8, Tab S8+, and Tab S8 Ultra, showing that Android tablets are not quite dead yet.
From Thenextweb
Asus ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5s Pro’s India launch set for February 15
The Asus ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5s Pro unveiled last August will debut in India next week – on February 15. The smartphones will be introduced through a virtual event which will begin at 12PM local time.
The ROG Phone 5s and ROG Phone 5s Pro are the same phones specs-wise, but the former features an RGB light panel on its back cover, while the latter sports a PMOLED display and a touch sensor.
From Gsmarena
OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G confirmed, and it’s coming soon
For a while now we’ve been hearing rumors of a OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G, and now OnePlus itself has confirmed that the phone is real and goes by that name.
The company hasn’t properly unveiled the handset yet, but it has said that the phone will be fully announced on February 17 at 8:30am ET / 5:30am PT / 1:30pm GMT, or 12:30am AEDT on February 18.
But this is OnePlus, so of course the company couldn’t help but reveal some details ahead of time, saying that the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G supports 65W wired charging, has a 3.5mm headphone port, and a microSD card slot which allows for up to 1TB of storage expansion. Plus, from the name we know that it supports 5G.
The company has also shared a shadowy picture of the phone, highlighting its camera block. This lines up with leaks and shows four circles, though it’s likely that only three of these are lenses, with the other being a flash.
From Techradar
Realme 9 Pro duo confirmed to launch with Realme UI 3.0 (Android 12)
It should come as no surprise, but the upcoming Realme 9 Pro duo will launch with the Android 12 based Realme UI 3.0. The Realme 9i already runs that version and the Pro models are packing more powerful chipsets.
The Realme 9 Pro+ in particular has been confirmed to use the Dimensity 920 (6 nm, two Coretx-A78 cores, Mali-G68 MC4). It hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but the Realme 9 Pro is expected to get the Snapdragon 695 chipset (6 nm, two A78 derived cores, Adreno 619). For comparison, the 9i uses the Snapdragon 680 – another 6 nm chip, though with much older CPU architecture and a weaker GPU.
A second teaser came out today, this one in the form of a short music video. It focuses on the camera and its main attraction, the 50 MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS. Realme thinks this camera can take on flagship cams. Anyway, the video also features the chameleon back.
The Realme 9 Pro duo will be fully unveiled on February 16 (Wednesday next week), expect to hear launch dates for India and possibly Europe (though that may be part of a separate event).
From Gsmarena
Honor Magic 4 pops up in new teaser and Geekbench listing
The Honor Magic 4 (tentative name) also appeared in an early Geekbench listing comparison against the just-launched Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Tipster @RODENT950 compared the scores of the Honor flagship against the brand new Galaxy. The Honor phone comes out victorious with a 1,245-point single-core outing compared to the S22 Ultra’s 1,215 points.
Honor’s device also won the multi-core department with its 3,901-point result over the Galaxy’s 3,303-points. The source confirmed that both devices are powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip so it will be interesting to see what refinements Honor did to its device.
From Gsmarena
Realme C35 launches with 50MP main camera
Realme just announced a new affordable smartphone in Thailand, called Realme C35. It comes with a 50MP main camera, a large display and a large battery.
The 6.6” LCD has Full HD+ resolution and supports a 180Hz touch sampling rate, but nothing fancy on the refresh side. It has a waterdrop notch on top for the 8MP selfie camera.
Around the back the aforementioned 50MP main snapper is the only one of notable usability. Next to it are a 2MP macro camera and a VGA B&W sensor.
The phone has a fingerprint scanner on the side, doubling as a power key and you get a 3.5mm audio jack on the bottom.
The USB-C port can only pump in up to 18W to charge the 5,000mAh battery. It runs on a modest Unisoc T616 chipset with an octa-core CPU that goes up to 2GHz.
Realme is offering the C35 at major retailers such as Shopee and Lazada, as well as the local version of JD, in Glowing Green or Glowing Black colors. Price is THB 5,799 ($175/€155) for a 4/64 GB memory variant while doubling the storage pushes the price up to THB 6,299 ($190/€170).
From Gsmarena
Samsung keeping its phones up-to-date for 4 years is a goddamn blessing
Samsung held its Unpacked event last night, launching the new Galaxy S22 series and the Galaxy Tab S8 range of tablets.
However, the most eye-catching announcement was that the company will provide four years of software updates to selected devices, as well as five years of security patches.
Samsung’s new announcement is not just restricted to the new Galaxy S22 series of devices. It also includes the S21 range, the Z fold 3, the Z Flip 3, the S8 Tab series, and other upcoming gadgets. You can check out the full list here.
This in an increase from last year, when Samsung promised four years of support for its phones (three years of updates, and four years of security patches), as opposed to the five on offer now.
At this time, it also stated its A and M series devices were eligible for this increased support period. While it hasn’t specified anything about those handsets in yesterday’s announcement, we can hope that its pocket-friendly phones will get the same treatment soon.
From Thenextweb
AMD smashes CPU market share record – but it’s not all bad news for Intel
The CPU wars wage on, and AMD continues to eat away at Intel’s dominance, with new figures showing AMD now has its highest ever share of the market.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, AMD hit 25.6% of the overall x86 CPU market. While this may not seem like a huge number, it represents a major milestone, as this is the first time AMD has gained so much of the market, and as Tom’s Hardware reports, it beats the company’s previous record, when it hit 25.3% way back in 2006.
AMD’s comeback has been pretty remarkable to witness. Not only has it regained market share through a series of excellent releases with its critically-acclaimed Ryzen lineup of processors, but it has done so in a much more competitive marketplace. Intel, AMD’s biggest rival, remains a formidable foe, and still accounts for the vast majority of x86 CPU sales.
Normally, news of AMD doing well means it’s bad news for Intel, but it actually seems like both companies are doing well. Intel still remains the market leader by quite some margin, and it’s also increased its unit share in desktop and laptop processors. AMD has been impacted chip shortages, which has led to the company focussing on higher-margin products to keep up profitability.
This is Intel taking back some of the market share it lost to AMD in the previous year, with its Tiger Lake processors aimed at gamers and high-end enthusiasts leading the charge. It has also just launched its Alder Lake desktop and laptop processors, and early hype for these processors has been strong as well, which could lead to even more gains.
From Techradar
Tesla recalls over 575,000 EVs due to Boombox function
Tesla is recalling over 575,000 EVs over its Boombox function, which may obscure federally mandated Pedestrian Warning System sounds.
According to a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing, the electric car manufacturer’s feature, which enables vehicle occupants to play preset or custom sounds through an externally mounted speaker, can make it hard to hear the audible tone that all EVs are legally required to emit while in motion. These PWS sound signatures are designed to ensure pedestrians and cyclists can hear electric vehicles, which typically make far less noise than their internal-combustion counterparts when in motion..
From Cnet
Apple Supplier Foxconn Says Shortages Now Easing
The first quarter of 2022 is said to be experiencing a “major improvement” in parts shortages, and “overall supply constraints” are expected to ease in the second half of the year, a spokesperson for Foxconn commented at a company event earlier today. While TSMC manufactures Apple’s custom-designed chips, Apple is still reliant on many industry-standard chips, such as for power management. Display drivers and power management chips have been among the components that have constrained Apple’s manufacturing capabilities, and Foxconn added that power management chips remain in short supply.
The announcement is potentially an encouraging sign across the technology manufacturing industry, but TSMC has warned that chip supplies will remain tight throughout 2022. Major suppliers like Foxconn and TSMC are planning to maintain larger inventories in the future to ensure supply security.
From Macrumors
