Samsung Galaxy F13 spotted on Geekbench with Exynos 850
It seems Samsung is going to bring a successor to last year’s Galaxy F12 soon with the aptly named Galaxy F13. The upcoming device was spotted on Geekbench bearing the SM-E135F identifier. The phone managed 157 single-core points and 587-points on the multi-core test – values that will surely increase as the device gets closer to its launch.
Geekbench revealed the phone brings the same Exynos 850 chipset that was found in last year’s Galaxy F12 alongside 4GB RAM. The phone boots Android 12 which should be joined by One UI 4 on top. Based on speculation, Galaxy F13 will be a rebadged Galaxy A13 meaning the upcoming phone should bring a 6.6-inch LCD with FHD+ resolution, a 50MP main cam and a 5,000 mAh battery with 15W charging.
From Gsmarena
Apple and LG reportedly testing 9-inch foldable displays
Apple is reportedly collaborating with LG to develop a foldable display panel. It is said to be an ultrathin cover glass for the upcoming 9-inch foldable device from the company. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also says that a foldable iPhone is unlikely to launch till 2025.
According to a report from The Elec, LG is teaming up with Apple to develop a foldable OLED panel. It is said that the display is being designed for tablets and notebooks with ultrathin glass as the cover window instead of polyimide. The news comes from the same report that says LG will be supplying 17-inch foldable 4K OLED panels to HP this year, which could make for an 11-inch display when closed.
The latest report comes after analyst Ross Young revealed that Apple is exploring all-screen foldable notebooks with displays around 20-inches in size. The upcoming foldable device is expected to unleash a new product category for Apple and result in a dual-use product. It could allow the device to work as a notebook with a full-size on-screen keyboard when folded and as a monitor when unfolded.
From Digital Trends
Angry Birds returns to iOS and Android with no in-app purchases
Angry Birds was one of the first standout games on the iPhone and early Android devices, and eventually spawned an empire of related games and movies. However, the game that started it all hasn’t been officially available for a while, as Rovio focused on newer Angry Birds spinoffs. Just in time for the game’s 10-year anniversary (anyone else suddenly feeling old?), the original Angry Birds has returned to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
The original Angry Birds game was quietly pulled from mobile app stores in 2019 — Rovio said in August 2019 that the removal was “for testing purposes” without elaborating further. However, the game has now returned with a full remaster, labelled as Rovio Classics: Angry Birds. The updated version is a close recreation of the original game, but instead of the original proprietary game engine, the new game uses the more common Unity engine.
From XDA
Samsung Galaxy A73 gets officially priced in India
About a couple of weeks ago, Samsung first unveiled the Galaxy A73, alongside the A53 and A33. That announcement was devoid of any pricing and availability information for specific markets, however, India included. Thankfully then, earlier today Samsung’s Indian arm has outed official pricing information.
The entry-level model has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and will be offered for INR 41,999, while the upgraded version doubles the storage for INR 44,999.
If you pre-reserve a Galaxy A73, you’ll be able to get a pair of Galaxy Buds Live true wireless earbuds for just INR 499 instead of the usual selling price of INR 6,990. Additionally, as a special introductory offer, you can get up to INR 3,000 cashback via Samsung Finance+, ICICI Bank cards, or SBI credit cards.
Samsung is hosting an exclusive sale event on its website on April 8 at 6PM where other extra benefits will be available. The phone will be sold in India in three colors: Awesome Mint, Awesome Grey, and Awesome White.
From Gsmarena
Samsung Galaxy M33 5G lands in India with Exynos 1280 and 6,000 mAh battery
The Samsung Galaxy M33 5G has just been announced for the Indian market as a successor to last year’s Galaxy M32 5G and should not be confused with the global Galaxy M33. The latter has a smaller 5,000 mAh battery with otherwise identical hardware.
The handset is powered by Samsung’s mid-range Exynos 1280 chipset based on the 5nm manufacturing process and is paired with either 6 or 8GB of RAM. The display is IPS LCD with a V-shaped cutout for the front-facing camera. The panel supports 120Hz refresh rate, has a 1080 x 2408px resolution on a 6.6-inch diagonal and is protected by Gorilla Glass 5.
There are no storage variants, just one – 128GB but it can be expanded via microSD card.
On the back, the M33 5G carries a 50MP main shooter with f/1.8 aperture and is winged by a 5MP, f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 2MP macro one and a 2MP depth sensor. The selfie cam is 8MP with f/2.2 aperture.
All that hardware sips from a big 6,000 mAh battery with support for 25W fast charging and runs on Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top.
Since the device uses an LCD panel, the fingerprint reader is side-mounted. The 3.5mm audio jack is in place, while the system has Dolby Atmos audio tuning.
The Galaxy M33 5G will sell in Ocean Blue and Green colors and will ask INR 17,999 for the 6GB option whereas the 8GB variant will ask INR 19,499. Sales begin on April 8 through Amazon.in.
From Gsmarena
The foldable iPhone might not show up until 2025 at the earliest
With Samsung, Motorola and others pushing ahead with new versions of their foldable phones, we’re patiently waiting for Apple to unveil a foldable iPhone – but it seems we might still have to wait a good few years for it to make an appearance.
Seasoned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is usually an accurate source of Apple information ahead of time, says that he’s revising his earlier prediction of a foldable iPhone launch in 2024. Kuo now thinks it’ll be 2025 at the earliest before such a device shows up.
While that’s going to disappoint those of us waiting for the iPhone to adopt the latest in smartphone innovation, it fits in with Apple’s previous approach of waiting for a technology to be refined and perfected before adding it to their own products.
From Techradar
Android 13 may allow two carrier connections on one eSIM
According to Esper, Google is working on an Android 13 feature that would potentially be a game-changer for people using two SIM cards on a single phone. And maybe leave some extra room for smartphone manufacturers to utilize too.
Through a feature called Multiple Enabled Profiles (MEP), the search giant wants to assign two carrier profiles to a single eSIM and easily switch between networks. Google is reportedly basing the new feature on a patent filed in 2020, which describes a splitting of the existing SIM interface into two digital connections. There have been reports in the past that Google is testing it on an engineering Pixel hardware.
In turn, this could allow manufacturers to get rid of the SIM card slot as a whole leaving room for some extra hardware. We could see the return of microSD cards or we could see slightly bigger batteries too.
Even though the source believes that the feature will debut with Android 13, it’s actually not intrinsic to Android. It can be implemented on iOS and even Windows.
From Gsmarena
Phones could one day identify you by your grip
Your phone might one day stay safe from thieves by identifying you by your grip.
Researchers at Louisiana State University have found a way to use artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help phones analyze how users are holding them. The method could help determine if the phones are in the hands of their owners or someone else’s, according to a new study.
“A.I. has a strong capability to learn and identify a user’s biometric features, especially when there are not many dedicated or high-fidelity sensors available on mobile phones,” computer science professor Chen Wang, one of the study’s authors, said in an interview.
From Digital Trends
Google Found to Unfairly Block Rival Payments on India Store
Google’s billing system for app developers is “unfair and discriminatory,” India’s antitrust regulator said in the initial findings of an extensive investigation, paving the way for potential penalties in future.
The Competition Commission of India found Google discriminated against developers in its Play store billing policy, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News. The findings come after a months-long investigation triggered by protests from developers, who’ve complained the U.S. internet giant charges an unfairly high fee in return for using Android app stores and its proprietary payments service.
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent, and Apple Inc. have come under pressure from regulators around the world who accuse the twin mobile giants of forcing developers to use their payment systems, then taking an outsized cut of revenue. In South Korea, Google was forced to provide an alternative billing system after regulatory action. In that market, Google said it was reducing app makers’ fees by 4%.
“Google is imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions in violation” of regulations, the Indian agency said in its preliminary report dated March 14.
“Google’s conduct is also resulting in denial of market access to competing UPI apps since the market for UPI enabled digital payment apps is multi-sided, and the network effects will lead to a situation where Google Pay’s competitors will be completely excluded from the market in the long run,” it said, referring to the Unified Payments Interface or state-backed payments infrastructure.
From Bloomberg
Oops! Apple and Facebook Gave Personal Data to Hackers Claiming to be Police
Hackers have been forging fake emergency legal requests to get personal information from both Facebook parent company Meta and tech giant Apple — both of which have on many occasions agreed to these requests, Bloomberg reports.
It’s a troubling phenomenon that goes to show how easy it is for hackers to obtain sensitive user data.
According to the report, both Apple and Meta gave out basic subscriber details, including addresses, phone number, and IP addresses. Since they were filed as “emergency dat requests,” they didn’t require search warrants or a court-ordered subpoena.
Meta, however, claims it did its homework.
“We review every data request for legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse,” a spokesman told Bloomberg. “We block known compromised accounts from making requests and work with law enforcement to respond to incidents involving suspected fraudulent requests, as we have done in this case.”
