Business Articles

The luxury-focused smartphone brand Vertu has adopted Web3 with the new Metavertu handset. It sports a number of 'normal' flagship-grade features such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered device and a large FHD+ AMOLED display, yet purports to augment them with features such as a "secure chip" for the user's blockchain activities, not to mention a choice of premium finishes that include an alligator leather rear panel that pushes the Metavertu's USD asking price into five figures.

The Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G3 AMD offers long battery life for a low price, has great performance thanks to its AMD Ryzen 5 CPU (Barcelo-U) and is a compelling option with its two RAM slots, low emissions and high serviceability. Unfortunately, our review unit had some stability issues.

Vivo's press conference for the next generation of flagship-grade, Zeiss-branded, mobile camera solutions of today (October 24, 2022) has met with an initial leak suggesting how they will look in devices such as the rumored X90 premium Android smartphone series. They are touted to come with upgraded low-light and portrait performance, as well as a new dedicated image signal processor (ISP).

Ulefone has just introduced a new smartphone as one that a user could throw around a construction site with impunity, yet offer a high-end experience at the same time. To this end, the Armor 17 Pro packs a number of unusually premium specs for its brand, a 120Hz display, a 108MP main rear camera and fast charging with magnetic wireless charging included. On the other hand, it also rocks a 4G/LTE-only MediaTek SoC and runs Android 12.

TCL is an OEM that describes itself as a "first mover" in terms of getting smart TVs based on cutting-edge miniLED technology onto the market. Now, the company claims that its latest, third-quarter sales figures for 2022 (or for 3Q2022) show that its industry leadership in this area has paid off. TCL's miniLED-related sales volumes are up by just over 20% year-on-year (YoY) for said quarter, and have seen "significant" growth over the year as a whole so far.

Samsung and China Telecom have just made the W23 - and W23 Flip - official. The high-end take on the existing Galaxy Z Fold4 has arrived alongside one on the latest Galaxy Z Flip for the first time. Both have been modified to have more RAM than standard SKUs, and to have a new high-end finish with more gold accents, ceramic finishes or both than usual.

Samsung has introduced the ISOCELL HPX as the latest in its steadily-growing portfolio of mobile image sensors with the current class-leading resolution of 200 megapixels (MP). It boasts the smallest pixel the OEM makes for CMOS of this caliber for recording at up to 8K/30fps, touted to deliver cinematic levels of image quality and color accuracy. It is also rated to use the Deep Trench Isolation (DTI) technique for potentially improved light sensitivity.

Although the users in some markets are not facing the new figures yet, it looks like some YouTube Premium Family subscribers are receiving notifications of drastic price changes. While Romanian subscribers still can grab a Family plan for roughly US$8, the cost went up to US$22.99 in other markets.

The smart home OEM TCL has announced that it will throw a Hallowe'en party for its public in 2022 - in the metaverse, that is. It will be held in the "Dream House" the OEM has built on the Roblox gaming platform. TCL will offer personalized avatar costumes at the door, after which a guest can visit showcases for products such as the company's "popular" TVs with cutting-edge miniLED panels.

The iPhone seems the weapon of choice for most social media brands of Apple's competitors. In the past, this happened to brands like Huawei and Samsung. Now, the time has come for Google's social media team to post on Twitter using an iPhone and, although the post has been deleted, it won't be forgotten.

The global smart TV market is estimated to attain just over US$451 billion in value by 2030 in a new market analysis report. 4K/UHD and screen sizes of 65 inches at the least are projected to be the biggest winners in terms of growth over the next eight years. The North American region is thought to contribute a good proportion of this growth until 2027.

Apple has patented its own glove for virtual reality applications. The accessory incorporates a comprehensive array of sensors that might translate hand and finger movement to a game or metaverse-like environment with high accuracy and precision. Therefore, a final product based on this IP might be unveiled alongside the Cupertino giant's long-rumored AR/VR headset.

YouTube has been running an "experiment" in which the ability to play content back at 2160p, or 4K, on its website would be locked behind its Premium paywall. However, it may have ultimately failed, as it has now officially been cancelled, leaving the setting open to all members once again.

The virtual reality (VR) industry seems to have developed a distinct predilection for OLED as a display material going forward. However, according to an industry blog, Samsung now concludes that augmented reality (AR) has different requirements, and that microLED is a better fit for them. Therefore, the OEM is allegedly working on a new type of panel for the AR-optimized headsets of the future.

The Dimensity 9200 will be MediaTek's next-gen flagship chipset and is expected to rival the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The MediaTek SoC has now been tipped to win the launch race at least, with word from typically reliable quarters tipping it to debut before Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit.

With its 4K/UHD resolution and form-factor, LG's new Smart Monitor 32SQ780S has clearly launched as a challenger to the Samsung M80B. The new external display combines features such as streaming app support, webOS-based UI and a "Magic" Remote with an orientation-switching ErgoStand and a USB type-C port with 65W charging. It has appeared on Amazon.com with one colorway and a competitive price.

After leading the global mobile DRAM market for over a decade, Samsung unveils the industry's fastest LPDDR5X DRAM solution. With a speed of 8.5 Gbps, up from a previous record of 7.5 Gbps, established in March, the Samsung LPDDR5X DRAM was validated for use on Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile platforms.

TCL has gone to the Broadband World Forum 2022 to unveil its latest pieces of consumer premises equipment (CPE). The LINKHUB HH512 and HH512L are router-like devices that support potentially multi-gigabit 5G speeds, whereas the new LINKZONE MW513 is more of a MiFi-like device with similar connectivity.

Google's newly released source code for the Pixel 7 series has now made direct references to two unreleased Pixel models. The first is the upcoming Pixel Fold, the second, however, is more interesting and appears to be a smaller, likely compact Pixel phone.

Apple has announced that its Card's app now supports a new Savings account. This new service has been designed to store money accrued through its Daily Cash spending incentive. The new account type, which will apparently be maintained by Goldman Sachs, has been promised "high-yield" growth, although the Cupertino giant has yet to specify the rate of interest involved.

After the recent failure of the entry-level B650 series mainboards to start at the US$125 price promised by AMD, it looks like the tech giant is now planning to lower the production figures of the Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 CPUs. The two main reasons for this are probably the global PC market decline and the poor reception of the AM5 platform.

Sony pitches the new ZV-1F as a camera for those who want an edge for their content creation and would probably be using a smartphone otherwise. It improves on its Exmor RS 1.0-type predecessor in that it has a new stock lens with an improved wide-angle perspective and easy bokeh. The ZV-1F also packs a number of vlog-friendly features such as Shot Mark, Active Mode image stabilization and Product Showcase.

DOOGEE launched its new GT variant of the S96 Android smartphone some time ago. Now, it has finally revealed that its release will start in earnest tomorrow (October 15, 2022) with some special discounts for its "limited" gold edition. The GT features an updated chipset and selfie camera in addition to the "extreme" durability ratings of the original S96 Pro.

SpaceX has sent the Pentagon a letter of request to start paying for Starlink's satellite Internet service over Ukraine. Earlier in the conflict there, Elon Musk answered the call of Ukrainian officials and provided indispensable coverage, but SpaceX says that next year it would have to spend up to US$380 million to keep things going.

Although the decision is not final and Apple will fight back, a Brazilian court has decided to fine the Cupertino-based tech giant with the equivalent of roughly US$19 million for selling phones without chargers. Even more, the court ruled that chargers must be bundled with new iPhones sold in the country.

Introduced in June 2022, Samsung's digital wallet platform is already very popular in major markets such as China, France, Germany, Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By the end of the year, Samsung Wallet will reach 13 new markets, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The latest NVIDIA driver package, namely the 522.25 Game Ready driver, was released yesterday. Inside the nv_dispig.inf file that came with it, three unreleased RTX 3000 series cards were spotted: the GA102-based GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with GDDR6X, and the GeForce RTX 3060 with 8 GB of video memory.

While Starlink Internet arrives in places like Japan for the first time in Asia, it won't be activated over Crimea despite Ukraine's requests and over China for reasons that have little to do with business plans. Elon Musk said that China doesn't want Starlink sales active over its territory, while for Crimea the sole consideration seems to be Russia.

The long-term strategic partnership inked by Google Cloud and Coinbase involves the ability of select Web3 customers to pay for their cloud services using select cryptocurrencies. The list of supported currencies has not been unveiled yet, but more information should surface in the near future.

Although AMD promised a starting price of US$125 for the B650E & B650-based mainboards, the first batch to hit the market is far from it. Prices start around US$160 and go up to over US$400, depending on the features added by the third parties involved (US$449.99 for the ASRock B650E Taichi, for example).

Sony Electronics' latest stand-alone condenser microphone is a relatively affordable new offering from its Pro Audio division; however, it has inherited design elements from higher-end and "revered" counterparts such as the C-800G. Accordingly, the OEM asserts that the new uni-directional mic will deliver high-end audio specifically optimized for voice recording at a more accessible price.

New information has now detailed the camera hardware of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Both models sport new, improved hardware, with three of the phones' four cameras upgrading to bigger CMOS sensors.

A new bill of materials (BoM) analysis for the iPhone 14 series has concluded that the unit cost of manufacturing these new flagships has grown by ~20% compared to that of its 13-series counterparts. Most of this increased expense is laid at the A16 Bionic processor's door in this new report, although the new 14 Pro and Pro Max cameras haven't helped either.

The latest business-oriented Swift Edge models sport ultra-slim magnesium-aluminum chassis with 0.51-inch profile and 2.58 lbs weight, making them the world's thinnest and lightest 16-inch laptops with 4K OLED screens. Extra security is provided via AMD's Ryzen Pro 6000 processors, along with Microsoft's Pluton chip, a fingerprint sensor and an IR 1080p webcam.

According to the data revealed by the company's preliminary earnings guidance, Samsung Electronics' operating profit took a nearly 32 percent dive in the third quarter, the first time it dropped in the last three years. This was most likely caused by the low demand for memory chips and came alongside a less than 3 percent revenue increase.

Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter, once again, for US$44 billion. The Space X CEO’s offer may be a sign that the billionaire sees himself losing the lawsuit if the case goes to trial. Both parties are reportedly in talks to reach an agreement and end the litigation process.

Happy Birthday ThinkPad! On October 5, 1992, the first ThinkPad laptop was introduced, exactly thirty years ago. For the anniversary, Lenovo is introducing a limited special edition of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon G10.

The beloved Witcher franchise will get a total of five new games, developed by different studios. CD Projekt Red also confirmed that it is working on a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel and that is plans to expand its global presence.

The TravelMate offers a Tiger Lake Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM and excellent battery life. Acer has made a great choice by giving the laptop a 14-inch display with a work-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio (1,920 x 1,200 pixels) and providing a three-year warranty on the device (two years in the US).

Twitter has confirmed that Twitter Blue subscribers in Canada, Australia and New Zealand will soon be able to edit their Tweets for up to thirty minutes after posting them. Subscribers in the United States should get the feature "soon".

Starting today, the US and select international markets get Doritos and Rockstar Energy Drink products in special edition packaging. These products come with the chance to win thousands of prizes consisting of exclusve downloadable content for popular Xbox and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate titles, as well as one free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

The government of India has announced that the country's 5G roll-out has officially begun. It projects that the services will reach their full coverage by 2024, and serve three-quarters of the nation's population. Then again, only one carrier has activated its 5G network thus far, and it works in eight cities.

After testing up to 10 unskippable ads before videos, YouTube is now apparently investigating another way to increase revenue. In the future, 4K videos could only be available for YouTube Premium users. Google declined to comment so far, so we can only hope this is just another experiment that will stay that way.

Early adopters of the Google Pixel 7 series are in line for sumptuous pre-order gifts. According to a new leak, Pixel 7 buyers will get the Pixel Buds Pro while Pixel 7 Pro early birds will receive the upcoming Pixel Watch—in the UK at least.