Quick Shots-28

Amazon announces its first self-made TVs as well as a Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon is doubling down on its streaming TV business. Today, the retailer confirmed previous rumors that it will sell its own branded smart televisions with its Fire TV OS installed. One is a premium TV lineup, the Fire TV Omni series, while the other is a budget-themed model line, the 4-Series.

The Omni series will include hands-free access to Alexa voice commands. In other words, you won’t need a remote to use voice features with this TV. In fact, the Fire TV Omni series will include support for special Alexa commands later this year. It will allow owners to say “Alexa, what should I watch?”, and the TV will then show series and movie recommendations.

Read More at Android Central

Xiaomi 11T series promised 3 full OS updates, 4 years of security patches

Ahead of the release of the Xiaomi 11T Pro and 11T, the Chinese firm is promising extended support for the upcoming duo with three years of OS updates and a further year of regular security patches.

This update pledge goes beyond the current support levels already provided for the firm’s flagship Mi 11 Ultra device – which is expected to get just two OS updates and receives security patches on a 90-day schedule. Although not yet officially announced, the Xiaomi 11T series will be offered three full Android system updates up to and including Android 14. Beyond that, a further year of security patches will be offered, but Xiaomi did not confirm just how often these will arrive.

Read More at 9to5Google

Pixel 6 video teaser hypes up Google Tensor AI capabilities

The Google Pixel 5a just launched, but fans are no doubt waiting for a full Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro announcement, especially following last month’s unexpected teaser. Meanwhile, Google continues teasing its upcoming flagship with a new image that was just posted on the company’s MadeByGoogle Instagram account.

The image shows the Pixel 6 display, complete with the center hole punch and Android 12’s uniquely-styled Material You widgets. It’s not too different from Google’s earlier Pixel 6 sneak peek video showing off the Material You design.

Read More at Android Central

Realme 8i and Realme 8s launched in India

Realme at a launch today has announced two new smartphones alongside the new Realme Pad which is the company’s first tablet. The new smartphones are the Realme 8s 5G and the Realme 8i.

The Realme 8S 5G is one of the first mobile devices which comes with a new MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset while the Realme 8i comes with a MediaTek Helio G96 SoC.

Read More at Techradar

Surface Duo 2: Release date, specs, and everything we know so far

Sources tell me that the next version of Surface Duo will continue evolving the dual-screen form factor, with small tweaks the overall design of the product and bringing it more in line with other Android smartphones on the market. Microsoft tried to position the first-generation Surface Duo as “not a phone,” but that hasn’t gelled well with the market.

So with Surface Duo 2, we expect Microsoft will embrace what makes a phone a good phone, and apply those practices to Surface Duo. We expect Surface Duo 2 to ship with typical smartphone things such as NFC, a competent camera system, the latest specs, and more.

Read More at Windows Central

Vivo X70 Pro+ goes live with SD888+ and custom V1 image processor chip

Vivo unveiled the latest iteration of its camera-focused, ZEISS-backed X-series of phones. As usual there are three models with the vivo X70 Pro+ sitting on top. And not just because of its Snapdragon 888+ chipset – there are also upgrades to the display, camera and battery over the Pro+ model that came out in January.

The screen upgrade is quite big, literally. The X70 Pro+ switches over to a 6.78” Samsung E5 AMOLED panel (up from 6.56”) with 1,440 x 3,200 px resolution (up from 1080p+) and it maintains HDR support.

This new display uses an LTPO panel, meaning it can gradually adjust its refresh rate in the range 1 Hz to 120Hz (the X60 Pro+ display could only do 60Hz and 120Hz). The touch sampling rate is 300Hz. The E5 panel also uses 25% less power than the older E4 panels.

Read More at Gsmarena

Twitter is testing emoji reactions for tweets

Twitter is testing emoji reactions for tweets that go beyond a simple “Like,” the company announced today. So, over the coming days, users in Turkey will be able to respond to tweets with the “Face with tears of joy” emoji, “Thinking face,” “Clapping hands,” “Crying face,” or a simple “Heart.” The test is only scheduled to run for a limited time, but Twitter says it might expand it to users in more countries depending on the response.

Read More at The Verge

iPhone 14 leak: Welcome aboard the hole punch train, Apple

Yes, this is an Android website where you can learn all about the latest Android news and the best Android phones, and maybe even learn a thing or two you didn’t know about how your phone does stuff. But here we are, and we’re going to talk about the iPhone 14 and how Apple decided to copy borrow steal innovate copy the design of so many Android phones made by so many other companies.

First, in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, a leak suggests that the iPhone 14 — the model to be released next year — will forego the deep notch in favor of a central hole punch in the display. It will also be thicker to hide the camera bump and look a lot like a great big iPhone 4. Remember, this is a leak and not anything official. Sometimes leaks are wrong. Sometimes they are right. I have no idea if this particular leak will turn out to be true or false.

Read More at Android Central

MediaTek Kompanio 900T: specs, features, devices, and more

Chipset maker MediaTek, which has seen immense success with the new Dimensity Chipsets for smartphones, has followed the introduction of Kompanio 1300T with the launch of a new Kompanio 900T chipset.

The MediaTek Kompanio 900T is designed specifically for large screened portable devices like Tablets, Notebooks etc. offering powerful computing capabilities and low power consumption. This new chipset is built on a 6nm manufacturing process and comes with support for flagship LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage. It also supports displays with up to 2K resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Read More at Techradar

This electric car battery recharges in 10 minutes – so why isn’t it in today’s EVs?

Range anxiety is becoming less of an issue for prospective EV buyers. Battery manufacturers and automakers are developing electric propulsion systems that can deliver hundreds of miles on a charge, which makes the fear of running out of battery power seem like a distant memory. 

One thing that hasn’t changed enough, however, is charging times. There are efforts to change that, and the latest comes from an Israeli company called StoreDot, whose new 4680 battery has a claimed ten-minute full recharge time.

Read More at Techradar