Software

Sony has unveiled its own foray into 5G tech at the Mobile World Congress (2019). It is a phone that, with its 21:9 aspect ratio, resembles the new Xperia 1 closely. The OEM did not offer much detail on this device, besides that it is powered by the Snapdragon 855 and runs the X50 modem.

Some time ago, the Android OEM OnePlus committed itsefl to provide an update to Android 9.0 (Pie) for its 2016 flagships, the 3 and 3T. However, it may have fallen behind in these plans recently. Now, a potentially important piece of evidence that the company has at least started on this project has surfaced.

It seems Samsung is doing more in Barcelona than MWC. The OEM has opened a Bixby Studio in the city's Plaza de Catalunya. This installation gives visitors a sense of what life would be like with Bixby-powered applicances and devices in it.

BlackBerry had an announcement of its own for the MWC19 event. It was not for a new device, however, but for a new variant of the pre-existing Key2. It is a vibrant, red, dual SIM, 128GB version of this phone.

The TCL subsidiary Alcatel has launched its new 3T 10 tablet at MWC19. This device has a 10-inch screen and runs Android 9.0 (Pie) out of the box. It also comes with a Google Assisant pre-install. The Alcatel 3T 10 is compatible with an optional "Audio Station" stand which, as the OEM claims, adds 7 hours of battery life (for some tasks) and a dedicated 'docked' interface.

Jim Harris, an author and speaker on disruptive innovations, has released a new report on consumer tech ahead of MWC 2019. In it, he claims that 59% of all the money spent in the same market in 2018 was expended on smartphones. Harris also asserts that Android is now the most popular software platform.

The LG V series has a history of including secondary displays, which are often built into their large phablet-scale screens. If a new leak is to be believed, this feature has returned to the V50 ThinQ - sort of. It consists of images showing a case that gives the upcoming LG flagship an entire extra screen.

Meizu has announced that its Note 9 is to be launched on March 6, 2019. This phone will feature a Samsung GM1 48MP camera sensor. It may also have 6GB of RAM, a 6.2-inch FHD display and the Snapdragon 675 processor.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 line continues the recent tradition of having an additional hardware button that activates the Bixby virtual assistant out of the box. However, unlike previous flagship generations, users will be able to re-assign the functions of this button. This new feature may also be transferred to the Note 9 and older phones in the future.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 line introduces the Infinity-O display to the international market. Unfortunately, it seems that some app elements are being occluded or otherwise disrupted by the 'punch-hole' found in the upper right corner of this screen type. This highlights the increasing need to account for and adapt to this new display tech in the future.

A YouTuber has asserted that Microsoft will port some games and features to the Nintendo Switch later this year. The indie title Ori has been specifically named in relation to this new purported deal to link the two platforms. This development will also apparently bring Xbox Game Passes to the Switch.

Adobe is offering a discount on the prices of all-app Creative Cloud (CC) plans. This offer applies to monthly-paid prices for CC and CC plus Adobe Stock plans only, and drops them to US$39.99 and $69.98 respectively. It is valid from now until March 1, 2019.

Microsoft's next probable major software release is 19H2, the April 2019 update. However, a build associated with a release in 2020 is the one that has most recently popped up for users in the Skip Ahead program. Despite this, the company insists 19H2 will be ready on time.

"The Challenge on Wheels" special event that has begun today will last until March 7 and comes with the chance to obtain the Panhard EBR 75 FL 10 for free — or at least a good discount when purchasing it. This is the first premium wheeled vehicle in World of Tanks and can be obtained after completing ten challenging stages.

Samsung's in-house virtual assistant, Bixby, has been historically linked to many limitations over its life. One of them is the inability to work in certain languages, German and Italian included. However, support for these languages, as well as for Spanish, is now being rolled out to its 2.0 version.

The version labeled 50 of the Opera browser for Android comes with an improved ad blocker that features a site-specific setting, picture-in-picture support for videos on Android Oreo (and later), support for dark CSS themes, as well as support for the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian languages.

The Helio P90 is an SoC that could bring augmented and mixed reality to some mid-range devices in the future. Today, MediaTek added AI to that list of possibilities. It has announced support for Google's ML Kit in conjunction with the P90. This could allow the processor to harness its APU to produce an enhanced AI experience.

Google announced today that it would be holding a special event at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) next month on March 19th. The announcement offers few details, but many are guessing that Google will announce something related to Project Stream, the search giant's in-browser game streaming service. Google has been working on Project Stream for months and might be developing the service to compete with the likes of Nvidia, Sony, Microsoft, and Amazon.

The latest corporate acquisition in the AI field for Apple is San Francisco-based PullString, a company that was founded in 2011 by former Pixar executives and has been working on "shaping the future of voice applications" ever since. The value of the deal is rumored to be around US$30 million.

MyDrivers has reported that Xiaomi intends to announce a crowdfunding project for a new product: a smart sports watch. This device will apparently support real-time GPS tracking, so that a user can generate and maintain maps of their fitness-related activities (e.g. runing routes and so on).

The February 2019-dated Android security patch comes with the software version G930FXXS4ESAE and seems to be only available for Samsung Galaxy S7 users in the United Kingdom and Austria for now. The Galaxy S7 lineup receives this month's patch after the Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy S9, and Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung rolled out the Android Pie-based One UI update to the Galaxy S9, S9 Plus, and Note 9 a while ago. The latest device to receive the update is the Galaxy Note 8, the company's last-gen flagship.

According to data from Sensor Tower, Facebook was the top app publisher in the world for Q4 2018, with over 800 million app installations. It was also the number one publisher on Google Play, amassing nearly 700 million installs. The App Store champion publisher was Google, which managed close to 200 million installs for the quarter.

The LG K40 is one 2019 device that may launch at MWC 2019. However, this exciting attribute is somewhat tempered by its direction at the budget end of the OEM's business-to-business devices. Then again, it may be supported for 3 years under Google's Android Enterprise initiative.

Microsoft's Visual Studio 2019 will launch on April 2 during an all-day event and comes with quite a few changes. The most noticeable one is the new start screen that has been redesigned to work with Git repositories, but there are a lot of minor under-the-hood changes as well — mainly performance optimizations.

The native dark mode in the latest MIUI 10 beta covers most areas of the operating system — Phone, Contacts, Gallery, Screen recorder, Updater, Messaging — as well as the notification shade, volume slider, and the Recents menu. Xiaomi confirmed a month ago that MIUI 11 is in the works, so the stable MIUI 10 with dark mode should come out soon.

CNBC has reported that JPMorgan Chase has developed a new cryptocurrency that will be called JPM Coin. The digital currency will apparently be used in the banking company’s “wholesale payments business.” The JPM Coin will adopt the stablecoin concept, in that its price will not change as one JPM Coin will be worth one US dollar.

A popular dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel, has revealed that it has suffered from a major data breach. Apparently, over 6.1 million accounts were affected by the hacks, which took place in late 2017 and again in May 2018. Coffee Meets Bagel users were informed of the cyber attack on the worst day possible for those looking for love: Valentine’s Day.

SamMobile has reportedly spotted security updates for the Samsung Galaxy S6, which should bring its patch level up to January 2019. This is not hugely unusual, except for the fact that this phone is now nearly 4 years old. It joins a very short list of devices this age to still receive official software support from its OEM.

A new report from the NBD Group shows that smartwatch sales in the US increased by 51% from November 2017 to November 2018. Wear OS only accounted for a maximum of 12% of all of these wearables sold. The rest of the sales were those from the top 3 in this market: Apple, Fitbit and Samsung.

How can spam messages be detected in end-to-end encryption? WhatsApp uses other tools and can already track 75% automatically using AI. Through this process, two million WhatsApp accounts are blocked per month.

Samsung had been rumored to be preparing a February security patch for the Galaxy S8, sparking speculation that it would also come with the official update to Android 9.0 (Pie) for the 2017 flagship. This patch is now reportedly arriving on the devices in question, but it is still based on Oreo. Therefore, fans of this phone still have another month to wait for their major OS upgrade.

The Surface Pen is Microsoft's answer to the Apple Pencil. It has been described as an effective stylus, albeit one that could produce more accurate digital writing. A new patent may help improve on this with changes to both the Pen and the screen used.

Those who missed the private beta stage of Ubisoft's upcoming title The Division 2 can join the open beta, which is scheduled to begin on March 1. Sadly, the open beta will only run for three days and the trial will end on March 4. The game will launch on March 15 on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

Despite its critical and commercial failure, the PlayStation Classic may be an attractive retro gaming device, especially given Walmart's latest price cut. The PlayStation Classic can be found at Walmart for a mere $40, 60% less than its original retail price. Additionally, those willing to hack or modify their PlayStation Classic may find the mini-console to be a suitable emulation box.

The Xiaomi M365 electric scooters is popular with ride-sharing companies such as Bird in the US. They can hire out such vehicles online thanks to the ability to remotely lock rental units as and when they need to. The research group Zimperium has claimed to be able to hi-jack this mechanism due to vulnerabilities found in Xiaomi's Bluetooth authentication procedure for the M365.

Reddit has just secured a large-scale investment in the form of round D funding to the tune of US$300 million. Tencent - a company whose home nation has blocked the social media platform - has contributed 50% of this figure. The move has sparked speculation that Reddit's new part-ownership may lead to adversity such as increased censorship on the popular website.

Razer has notified us that it has investigated a number of issues impacting a limited number of retail Blade Stealth units. If you're experiencing any of the following, then this new BIOS and EC update should do the trick.

The OEM OnePlus had previously announced that it would release a 5G phone this year. Today (February 11, 2019), the company has apparently released a confirmation that this device would feature at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. It will showcase the device at Qualcomm's booth during the event.

According to some recent leaks, Apple may resurrect the iPad Mini name this year. A new post on MacOtakara has suggested that this tablet may be even more budget-friendly than usual. It claims that the 5th generation of the device could use the A10 Fusion - the chipset found in the iPhone 7.

A few good months after its introduction, the Augmented Reality navigation feature is finally rolling out for Google Maps users in the wild. However, this is only a test run that includes a limited number of users and there is no official date for the general rollout of this next-gen feature.

Working with all major internet providers in the country, Russian authorities are planning an interesting - and quite disturbing - experiment that involves disconnecting all local users from the internet. The purpose of this experiment is to get feedback and maybe provide modifications to a law proposed back in December 2018.

Market intelligence analyst Sensor Tower has estimated that Fortnite has amassed over US$500 million in revenue in less than a year on iOS alone. The battle royale smash hit from Epic Games has been making about US$1.53 million a day since it was released on the App Store. Android gamers have contributed another US$100 million on top of that.

A Redditor claims to have access to a Canadian database in which the upcoming LG G8 ThinQ is shown alongside the number 1199. Assuming this figure is its price in the country, this means the phone could cost about US$900 at launch. Considering LG's typical release strategies for its mobile devices, this is more or less plausible.

The latest stable version of Chrome OS (72) brings a considerable re-design for the Assistant interface on this platform. It also updates the version of Android used within it to 9.0 (Pie), which adds the ability to search for apps and use new Assistant settings. Chrome OS redirects Cast set-up to the Google Home app, and adds picture-in-picture video to webpages.

Thanks to the votes of The Steam Community members, PUBG is now holding the Game of the Year Award for 2018. However, CD PROJEKT RED, the Polish company behind the successful Witcher franchise, was crowned as The Best Developer. PUBG competed for this prize against Monster Hunter World, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Hitman 2, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.

Opera has introduced a new beta version of its Android mobile browser with a built-in VPN. Even better, it is a free feature inclusion that doesn’t log user data that travels through Opera’s servers.

Respawn Entertainment’s Vince Zampella has posted some news on the Electronic Arts website to share information about how the new battle royale game Apex Legends is doing. Apparently, over 10 million people have now tried the game within its first 72 hours of release. Apex Legends is set in the Titanfall universe.

Many Skype users may be reluctant to take a call due to how messy or inappropriate their surroundings may be. Now, however, the app's latest update adds a toggle that blurs everything but the caller out of a camera's shot. This new 'background blur' option is generated by AI, and should function on most PCs.

Recently, Facebook had gone public with its intentions to merge user data from its own Messenger app with that of WhatsApp and Instagram. Yesterday, the German federal corporate trust-monitoring office ruled against Facebook's license to do so in the country. It cited the fact that Facebook can only pool data as it wishes if the user of each respective app consents to this activity.