Cam Bunton, Editor at 9to5Google – Cam has been passionate about tech since his dad bought the family’s first Commodore AMIGA back in the late 80’s. He’s been in the tech industry (writing and making videos) since 2010, and joined 9to5Google as the resident video producer and product reviewer in 2015. He sometimes writes news and reviews for 9to5Mac too.
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In a blog post this morning, Samsung has announced that it is mass producing the world’s first 12gigabit (not to be confused with gigabyte/GB) LPDDR4 mobile RAM. It’s based on the company’s impressive 20-nanometer process tech and will enable the company to make higher capacity, faster, more powerful chips that fit into the same space as the current crop of flagship RAM modules…
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UPDATE: BLU has officially announced the new device. The device is made predominantly from metal, like many of the current high-end phones on the market. BLU has partnered with MediaTek and claims the Helio X10 chip being used to power the new smartphone is among the fastest chips available on the market, and scores some of the highest benchmark results on AnTuTu. What’s more, the camera on the back is covered by sapphire crystal while the 8MP front camera is wide angle, to fit more in to your selfies…
In celebration of its 20th birthday, eBay has launched a brand new mobile app with a new focus on selling and a more attractive and intuitive user interface. eBay describes the app as having a “more browsable design” with much easier access to features like top deals, promotions and events. What’s more, the seller dashboard has been refreshed to offer a more personalized look at how well you’re doing and give you relevant tools, tips and guides on how to improve.
Focused on creating more vibrancy in our marketplace, we’ve elevated selling within eBay 4.0, and have designed a more personalized experience based on a seller’s level and activity. The new app offers more information to help first-time and new sellers be successful, and a new dashboard for more regular sellers with at-a-glance activity updates. We are passionate about creating a great experience for our buyers and enabling the continued success for our sellers.
eBay 4.0 offers a new Activity feed giving consumers personalized updates on the objects and goods that are important to them. Alongside that is the new Shop tab, with a bespoke feed of items tailored for each individual user. eBay 4.0 will be available to download from the Google Play Store from today.
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Bloomberg reports that Google will begin testing grocery and fresh food delivery in two US cities later this year in an attempt to directly compete with AmazonFresh. Brian Elliot, general manager of Google Express stated that the company will be partnering with Whole Foods Market and Costco Wholesale, among others, to deliver the new service. Initial testing will begin in San Francisco and one other unnamed city…
Android and Mobvoi have formed a ‘strategic partnership‘ to bring Android Wear to mainland China for the first time. This news comes days after revelations that Google is working to bring a tweaked version of Android and the Google Play Store to China. Negotiations have been difficult, and require compromises from Google, but with Android Wear officially landing, it signals the beginning of a much bigger focus on China than has been possible in recent years…
It’s no secret that Google makes the majority of its money from advertising revenue, and has done for a very long time. So, when a product comes along to threaten that major revenue stream, it has to find ways to combat it. That’s seemingly what it’s done with AdBlock Plus, a relatively well-known Chrome extension used to block out ads across the internet. This includes the ads shown before and during video playback on YouTube…
Samsung’s recently revealed smartwatch, the Gear S2, has seemingly had its European pricing outed by German electronic retailer Saturn. The Tizen-based wearable will be available as a standard and more premium Classic model – with similar pricing to the entry-level Apple Watch …
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor came under much scrutiny in its early days on the market. Early uses complained about the processor overheating too easily, specifically in the Sony Xperia Z3+/Z4. A teardown posted to Weibo clearly indicates that Sony has opted to use a dual-pipe system in the Z5 and Z5 Premium to better dissipate hit from the processor to help it last longer before overheating…
The Sony Xperia Z5, Z5 Premium and Z5 Compact have all had price cuts before they’ve even hit the market. Prices were revealed just a few days ago, and Sony has already seen fit to adjust the price points. Perhaps in response to the sense of disbelief at how expensive they would be…
If the only thing holding you back from buying the awesome and super-affordable Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is the color choices (or lack thereof), you’ll be glad to know the company is releasing a more colorful range. The Idol 3C is identical to the Idol 3 in almost every way, except you can kit it out with an interchangeable rear shell in a choice of five “juicy” colors.
As far as the major manufacturers go, Motorola is one of the few trying to push the boundaries of what we should expect to get for our money. It wants to give us the best mobile Android experience possible for each price range. The Moto G is the king of the low-end phones and the Moto X has been a wonderful high-end phone. The Moto X Play sort of sits in between, and despite not being absolutely perfect, it’s a very good phone overall.
If Motorola and OnePlus thought they could have the leather and wooden customization options to themselves, they were wrong. This morning, Alcatel OneTouch, makers of the popular Idol 3 handset, have announced a new range of affordable and highly customizable smartphones. The POP STAR range was announced alongside the rugged and sporty GO PLAY range and an enormous tablet that’s so big, we probably shouldn’t call it a tablet.
ASUS is showing itself to be a competent company at dealing with all the challenges facing traditional consumer tech manufacturers in the post-PC world. It’s released some great smartphones recently, and now it’s just released a fantastic laptop. The Chromebook Flip has won me over.
I’m sure you can imagine, as a tech-reviewer it’s not often I fall for a product just on first impressions alone. But as soon as I picked up the Chromebook Flip, I adored it. The all-metal build looks, and feels fantastic. Its rounded corners and the gentle taper of the back towards the diamond-cut chamfered edges are beautiful. On the bottom, all the edges and corners are rounded, giving it a really friendly look, and making it comfortable to grip.
What’s more, the speakers are hidden underneath two perfectly round grilles made of hundreds of tiny machined holes. But it’s the hinge that makes this unique. The screen rotates 360 degrees, and can be used in 4 different modes: laptop, tent, stand or tablet modes. Because the hinge is so firm, it holds strongly at virtually any angle.
T-Mobile, in a blog post this morning, announced a brand new communication service for its customers. Without needing to install a third party app, T-Mo subscribers will be able to place video calls from a compatible device, just by using the regular phone interface. Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 users should have the feature available already through a software update rolling out today, while Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge customers can expect the download to arrive next week. By the end of this year, three more phones will have video calling enabled, giving T-Mo a total of 7 compatible devices.
Samsung’s answer to Apple’s HomeKit, SmartThings got some valuable stage time at IFA in Berlin this morning, with the announcement of a brand new SmartThings Hub. The hardware has been revamped, and no longer needs a connection to the cloud in order to work. What’s more, it’s got a built in backup battery capable of giving you 10 hours use in the event that you have a power cut. The new Hub is available to order today and was launched alongside a handful of complimentary sensors for tracking water leaks and motion among other things.
Whether you have two smart devices or 200, all you need is one Hub to create a smart home. Like a live-in translator, the Hub communicates with all of your different connected products—regardless of their wireless protocol—so that you can easily monitor and control them from the SmartThings app.
Samsung’s new SmartThings hub has a more powerful processor enabling it to handle video streaming and sensor monitoring tasks without the cloud. With this feature in mind, Sammy also introduced its new Smart Home Monitor which lets users access a continuous vide live-stream and can trigger video recording when something unexpected happens. Only important video is saved for viewing, and early detection enables it to capture the footage before the event.
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As well as new hardware, Samsung has released a new app for Android from today. You can organize and control your connected devices by room, view live streaming from cameras and manage the routines right from the app.
SmartThings is compatible with nearly 200 products, including the Amazon Echo, and devices from manufacturers like Bose, D-Link and Honeywell. The SmartThings hub is available to buy from today for $99 from SmartThings.com or Amazon, with sensors priced between $30-$55.
Lenovo is one of the busiest companies at IFA this year. Not only has it had its Motorola smartphones and smartwatches to deal with, but also its own-brand devices. As well as announcing its new budget Chromebook, Lenovo has taken the wraps off new Android-powered smartphones: The PHAB and the Vibe series’.
After months of speculation and leaks, Motorola has officially launched the second generation Moto 360. Its first generation was easily the best-looking and most fashion-forward Android Wear smartwatch of its time, and this year’s models could easily reclaim that crown (if it ever lost it). For the first time, there’s also going to be a more fitness oriented Moto 360 Sport.
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After weeks of speculation and leaks, Huawei has finally announced the Ascend Mate S, what many see as a direct competitor to the likes of the iPhone 6 Plus and HTC One. It has a bunch of flagship staple features as well as a couple of unique selling points which will get you talking, if nothing else.
Huawei has finally confirmed officially where and when we can get our hands on its Android Wear smartwatch. The Huawei Watch was originally shown off at MWC in Barcelona, back in February. Now, at long last, you can pre-order it with prices ranging from $349 to $799. Huawei confirmed in a press release this morning that its devices are going on pre-order today. Customers in the US can purchase them from Amazon, Google Store and Best Buy.
Huawei Watch will come in stainless steel, black and rose gold-plated case options. The smartwatch features a 42mm metal case with standard 18mm lugs and a round face. What’s more, the physical button (much like the upcoming Moto 360) is placed at the 2 o’clock position. It’s built from 316L stainless steel and the 1.4-inch, 400×400 AMOLED display is coated in sapphire crystal.
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Two last minute leaks seemingly confirm the Sony Xperia Z5‘s existence, and show off the smartphone in some of the best quality images we’ve seen yet. A retail store poster appears to reaffirm previous rumors that we’re going to see Sony announce a small, medium and large version of the Xperia Z5 at IFA a little later today.
ASUS gave us an early sneak peak at its next generation ZenWatch a couple of months back, and today at IFA in Berlin, the company officially announced pricing and availability details. ASUS has stated that the ZenWatch 2 will be available in two sizes from October, with pricing in Europe starting at roughly €149 (approx $170) for the large 49mm model while the smaller, 42mm model will seemingly cost more at €169 (around $190). Screen sizes are 1.6-inches and 1.45-inches respectively and they’ll be available to buy from October.
Although different in size, both 49mm and 43mm watches will feature the same resolution 320×320 AMOLED display with a pixel density of 277ppi. What’s more, they both ship with Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi support, a Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. It also ships with a redesigned magnetic charger in the packaging and could last up to two days on a single charge.
You get a choice of three metallic colors: rose gold, gunmetal gray or silver, and the cases are compatible with standard watch straps, meaning you’ll be able to attach standard 22mm watch straps to the large and 18mm watch straps to the small model. We don’t know US-specific pricing yet, but will update once it’s available to buy in the States.
Both Acer and Lenovo have updated their Chromebook lineups at IFA 2015 in Berlin today, and both are looking to offer decent products at attractive price points. Acer announced the new R11 Chromebook in a bid to compete with the convertible ASUS Chromebook Flip, while Lenovo unveiled the budget-friendly Chromebook 100S.
Acer unveiled a range of ‘Predator’ branded products at its conference this morning, including a quick teaser of an incredibly powerful smartphone. While that was only teased, the company has officially announced the Predator 8, a small, but powerful 8-inch tablet running Android 5.1 Lollipop. It’ll be available in 2-3 weeks time. From first impressions, it sure seems like a lot of bang for your buck …
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As part of its IFA announcement this morning, Acer teased an upcoming product which could have any spec-hungry smartphone fans drooling with desire. It didn’t give all the details, but what it did share is enough to get us to stand up and pay attention.
Acer’s Predator 6 smartphone will feature a ridiculous deca-core (10 cores!) MediaTek Helio X20 with 4GB RAM and four front-facing speakers. This is designed to be a mobile gaming power-house. Its internal specs are made to handle even the most intensive gaming, while the four speakers will create an immersive experience. If that wasn’t enough, it also has a 21MP camera on the back, because why not?
No other details were shared. We don’t know pricing or availability. We don’t even know for certain if it’s going to run Android, they didn’t say. It’s safe to assume that it will be an Android device given the specifications and that the Predator 8 is launching soon, and definitely runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. We’ll keep you updated once the phone gets an official announcement with all the important details. Update: It definitely runs Android.
Image via: GearDiary on Twitter.