Touchscreen

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo has just developed a new type of glass that could finally allow phone manufacturers to build handsets like the iPhone X or the Galaxy Note 8 with shatter-resistant back covers.

Razer is offering a free Leviathan Mini portable Bluetooth speaker worth US$179 with its Razer Phone for a limited time. The deal lasts until December 20 or while stocks last.

The Vivo Xplay 7 has been revealed as the first smartphone to ship featuring under-display fingerprint authentication technology. Clear ID, developed by Synaptics, is twice as fast as 3D facial recognition systems like Apple's Face ID.

Google has announced that it is leaving Project Tango behind for its new ARCore technology. Similar to Apple's ARKit, Google's ARCore will power software-driven AR experiences on Android smartphones.

The Samsung Notebook 9 Pen with the built-in S Pen and the two Notebook 9 (2018) models without a bundled stylus come with 8th generation Intel Core processors and should hit South Korea later this month. These new ultrabooks will be shown at CES 2018 and are scheduled to go on sale in the US in the first quarter of 2018.

Despite apparently weak sales, Essential appears to be committed to developing its Essential Phone PH-1. In its latest Reddit AMA, the company revealed it is bringing Treble, tap to wake and EIS to the device in the forthcoming Android 8.0 Oreo update.

Google is continuing its rollout of Assistant to older Android devices, including tablets for the first time. First introduced on the Pixel last year as an exclusive feature, it has been some time coming.

The Huami AmazFit Smart Sports Watch 2 is only available in China for the moment, but Xiaomi plans to launch it for the Western markets under the AmazFit Pace 2 name later on. The successor of the popular Amazfit Pace comes with a more sturdy body and upgraded processing power, along with a new Watch 2.0 version. There is a premium US$200 version that adds a leather strap, while the standard version costs US$140.

A unnamed high-end smartphone will arrive with Synaptics new Clear ID under-display fingerprint authentication tech in January. According to Synaptics, the new technology is twice as fast as 3D facial recognition technology as featured on the iPhone X.

Nintendo seems to have a bonafide hit on its hands with the Nintendo Switch. Less than three months after announcing it had crested 7 million sales, it has revealed it has just crossed the 10 million sold threshold.

The 700 nit panels of the 12.5-inch EliteBook 1020 G2 and 14-inch 1040 G4 are brighter than even the MacBook Pro 13 and over twice the brightness of the XPS 13.

Some references to what could be the successor to the MediaPad M3 have surfaced online via an UAprof.xml file. The references point to a similar display resolution as the M3 and the OS version to be Android 8 Oreo.

The new commercial showcases the capabilities of Microsoft's Paint 3D app while also driving home a message of inclusion and celebration — just the right theme for the holiday season.

Google has released three new experimental apps for both Android and iOS devices. Each utilizes experimental stabilisation and rendering algorithms to deliver fun and interesting visual effects.

A user on Reddit has posted potential evidence that Apple could be throttling older iPhones relative to the output battery voltage to prevent them from drawing too much power. Although this is not the first instance of throttling on iPhones, it surely has been a subject of much debate.

Demand for the iPhone X could be below expectations according to a report coming out of the Taiwanese supply chain. With shipping times improving dramatically in recently, the report could be accurate.

Google has revealed the list of Android Wear devices that will be getting an update to Android Oreo. The upgrade looks more about bringing the Wear base OS inline with the Android smartphone OS, rather than bringing major new features.

Google has asked developers whose apps use the accessibility permission to email them with how their app uses this permission to enhance user experience so that they can assess "responsible and innovative" use of the permission. While doing this they have put a pause on the 30 day 'modify or remove' notification they had previously given developers.

The Asus NovaGo is one of the first notebooks to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. Initial impressions of the notebook seem to be positive but performance numbers seem to be behind even low-end x86 CPUs.

The Onyx Boox Max 2 Pro is a powerful (if expensive) eReader tablet with a huge 13.3-inch hi-res E-Ink display. The reader boasts a quad-core processor, a full version of Android 6.0, and a highly responsive E-Ink display, but there are a few drawbacks.

Huawei has been steadily improving their phone cameras to compete with the best available from the competition. Now four advertising posters have leaked via the portfolio of a creative agency that works with Huawei showing that the PCE series will have a triple rear-lens setup with 40 MP sensors.

Asus has announced the NovaGo convertible — the world's first Gigabit LTE laptop powered by the Snapdragon 835 running full Windows 10. The notebook promises always-on connectivity and purportedly offers more than 20 hours of battery life.

AMD announced its partnership with Qualcomm to integrate the latter's X16 LTE modem on Ryzen APUs, thereby, bringing always-on LTE connectivity to high-performance notebooks.

HP has taken wraps of the Envy x2, a detachable notebook powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. The Envy x2 sports a premium finish and comes with the promise of Gigabit LTE and 20 hours of battery life.

A recent Samsung patent describes how the palm scanner could help users remember forgotten passwords. The image of the user's palm features embedded incomplete characters that would appear random to other people, but could juggle the phone owner's memory into remembering the correct string.

Update: The crowd-funded CoreBook has almost reached its $100K stretch goal with almost a month left to go. Details regarding connectivity options, battery life, price, and availability are still under wraps as the device has not yet entered production.

The 'Wileyfox Pro with Windows 10' Windows phone has been delayed by two weeks until the 18th of December.

Eve, the maker of the less expensive Surface Pro alternative Eve V, is offering the device in a flash sale open to the public today. Stock is limited, so head over to Eve's site if you want to secure a V of your own.

The Gemini tries to combine the best features of a smartphone and a notebook. It has a 6-inch 2160 x 1080 LCD screen and a QWERTY keyboard that hides a Mediatek X27 ten-core SoC, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage. Prices range from US$299 to US$399 depending on the network connectivity options.

The Honor V10 combines the best features from previous models such as the Mate 10 and the Mate 10 Pro and also sports a more affordable price. It is powered by the Kirin 970 SoC and comes with 4 GB or 6 GB RAM options, as well as 64 GB or 128 GB storage options. The 3.5 mm audio jack is also among the features.

An interesting Google patent points to a Pixelbook that could one day feature a self-aligning hinge. The technology would use a mix of ambient sensors

Samsung claims the micro-LEDs are better than OLEDs when it comes to larger screen TVs. The microscopic LEDs would solve the burn-in problems that come with the OLED displays, and would allow for larger screen sizes at a fraction of the cost. They can also be used to make foldable screens for mobile devices.