Tablet

Airplane mode is an ever-present setting on mobile devices that is effectively an instant kill switch for all radios, those for wireless connectivity included. However, this setting can be considerably less convenient for those who depend on Bluetooth for audio. There are now signs that an Android 10 successor may allow more granular control over what it does.

Samsung has reportedly trademarked the name "Hideaway Hinge" with the EU's intellectual property office, EUIPO. This name, as it may sound on the tin, is a component relevant to smartphones and tablets. Therefore, it seems the Galaxy Fold's successors may be less obtrusive in the crease-region.

Some subscription-based streaming platforms have become huge for a number of reasons, the total lack of ads being one of them. However, there are emerging alternatives that reinstate this potential disadvantage back in return for no monthly fee. Research has shown that their uptake in the United States has increased by nearly 10% over the last 12 months.

Google is pushing a new update in which its SMS app will gain the ability to tell between 'real' and 'fake' corporate messages. This will be done in line with the search giant's new "Verified" initative, by which businesses register with Google so as to prevent their communiques being automatically labelled as a form of spam and never reaching their customers.

Lepow has announced a 30% discount on its portable monitor as of tomorrow (November 30, 2019). This product is a 15.6-inch display with a built-in stand-cover and dual speakers. It has USB type C and mini HDMI ports so as to be compatible with mobile devices, PCs and consoles.

Recently, reports of Twitter's intentions to delete inactive accounts, starting December 2019, came to light. However, the company has come up against resistance to this idea from more vocal users. Their main objection appears to be that the move would result in the removal of the timelines of the dead.

Having invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its foldable Infinity Flex Super AMOLED display technology, it makes sense that Samsung is keen to deploy it in the marketplace where it feels it can gain some traction. Enter a patent for a foldable Galaxy Tab that is very similar to the Galaxy Fold smartphone, but larger and without a secondary display.

Google introduced Ambient Mode for the Assistant at I/O 2019. It is a kind of alternative interface for Android devices that makes them take on the functions of a smart display. This can involve a revolving series of screens showing calendar information, photos or other content.

Huawei has unveiled the MatePad Pro today (November 25, 2019). It is a 10.8 tablet with a resolution of 2560x1600 and a punch-hole selfie camera. This new slate comes in 6GB or 8GB RAM SKUs and has LTE or Wi-Fi only options. It can be pre-ordered from today, but only in its home country.

The Google Pay app has been updated so as to display a message should a given phone be ineligible to conduct transactions using this method. This notification would apply to users who have rooted or otherwise modified their devices in a way that causes it to fail SafetyNet requirements. In addition, upcoming updates to this app will also be able to PIN-protect online shopping done through it.

Google's updated Android Security Rewards Program now offers up to six-figure rewards for reporting potential severe exploits that affect its Titan M security module. It applies to such discrepancies that can affect the Pixel 4, 3 and 3a smarphone series. Other similar bounties include up to US$250000 for Secure Element or Trusted Execution Environment hacks.

Microsoft has announced that it has secured a license from the US government that allows it to sell its products to Huawei again. This will, for example, enable the OEM to put Windows on future generations of its MateBooks. The Redmond giant is among the 25% of the companies who have had their applications to work with the Chinese company approved.

Lenovo has posted a promo clip of the foldable ThinkPad X1 on YouTube that was filmed at the company’s recent Tech World event. A rendered marketing video for the folding laptop was already released earlier this year, but this latest clip shows the actual device going through a thorough hands-on workout. The foldable PC looks impressive but is clearly in an unfinished state.

Huawei has officially acknowledged the MatePad Pro product name in full. Its latest Weibo video shows this tablet in action, showcasing some features such as split-screen apps and M-Pen support. The new promo also reveals that the first MatePad has dual rear cameras and will have a keyboard cover accessory.

Qualcomm has announced that its next Snapdragon Tech Summit will take place from December 3 to 5, 2019 in Maui, Hawaii. This year, the company will showcase its growing 5G expertise, as well as other facets of its mobile device business such as the appropriate SoCs. Each of the event's keynotes will also be livestreamed from a dedicated site.

Even though the gaming tablet market is not that big right now, TCL is gearing up to release 10.8-inch 240 Hz tablet displays for 2020. Gamers may find the included punch-hole selfie cam a bit annoying, but tablet OEMs will surely like this feature for slim bezel models. The new displays also come with 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, 2 ms GTG response time and HDR capabilities.

The MatePad Pro is rumored to be the name of an upcoming tablet from Huawei. It is thought to have premium specs, including the Kirin 990 processor and 5G variants. A new Geekbench listing appears to agree with the first of these, if not the second.

Websites are capable of asking to send notifications in a number of browsers, Chrome included. In this case, they may be particularly capable of disrupting the app's experience as they are markedly large and obtrusive, especially on mobile devices. The latest update to Chrome Canary for Android adds options to restrict or block them.

CPU performance can be all over the place on the Surface Pro 7 Core i5. When at its best, multi-thread performance will be most similar to the Ryzen 5 3580U on the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3. But if at its worst, performance can be about 10 percent slower than the average Core i7-8565U.

All those Iris Plus-related bug fixes Intel have been releasing over the past three months have yet to arrive on the Surface Pro 7 despite the fact that this is supposed to be Microsoft's latest flagship Windows tablet. Though we don't know when the update will arrive, Microsoft says they are working on a solution.

BOE has made an announcement on Weibo claiming that it supplied Motorola with flexible displays for the new Razr. Furthermore, it now asserts that it has done the same for the Huawei Mate X - and for the foldable Lenovo ThinkPad X1. Therefore, those interested in this upcoming notebook could look to the Razr for advance indications of its screen quality.

The two-year old Surface Pro 5 offers essentially the same display experience as the latest Surface Pro 7 down to colors, contrast, brightness, response times, and more.

Huawei's Consumer Business head Yu Chengdong has posted the date of a new launch event on Weibo. This message also contains references to the Mate line of devices, indicating that it is to get new additions at this show. They may include the rumored MatePad Pro tablet.

The blog TigerMobiles claims to have dug up a couple of patents that may show the directions in which Xiaomi intends to take the foldable trend. One shows a clamshell design like that of the new Motorola Razr, whereas the other is more like the Huawei Mate X, but with an impressively extensive pop-up camera.

Akash Palkhiwala is Qualcomm's new CFO (or chief financial officer). His appointment comes following a stint as the company's interim CFO, as well as the senior vice president and finance head of its CDMA tech division. Palkhiwala will now be in a position to help lead the chipmaker into its 5G era.

Microsoft’s Surface devices have justifiably won plaudits for their industrial designs, however their user repairability has been among the worst on the market. The new Surface 3 revealed a promising change of direction that has also carried over to the much thinner Surface Pro X, according to iFixit.

Home theaters brought in a total of US$7.7 billion last year. However, this market value is thought to be capable of growing by up to $5.7 billion more over the next 6 years. The sound bar sector may grow at the greatest rate over this period.

The Galaxy Tab S6 is Samsung's latest premium slate. The OEM has just demonstrated it is committed to keeping it that way with a new software update containing the latest Android security patch level. This upgrade has also reached Galaxy Note 10- and S10-series phones.

Qualcomm has announced the results for its fiscal year, which ended on September 29, 2019. Its revenues came in at US$24.3 billion, or 7% more year-on-year (YoY). The company also made a total of $4.8 billion in the last quarter of this year (4Q2019), although this is a 50% reduction compared to 3Q2019.

Samsung's Developer Conference (SDC) 2019 contained numerous interesting announcements, not the least that Tizen OS for TVs can be ported to third-party devices. In addition, there are now additional developer-friendly facilities for this part of the OEM's ecosystem. They include more granular user opt-outs for ads.

Microsoft isn't giving up on ARM for Windows. Much like the semi-custom Ryzen processors for the Surface Laptop 3 series, the new 13-inch Surface Pro X tablet will use a custom SQ1 processor developed by Qualcomm.

The latest LG G Pad has been revealed on the OEM's domestic website. It is a 4GB device with 32GB of internal storage, a 10.1-inch FHD display and an 8MP rear camera. These unprepossessing specs are topped off by the Snapdragon 821 processor.

Microsoft looks set finally break from its Internet Explorer past with a brand-new stylized e-shaped wave logo. The new look is undoubtedly fresh while just hinting enough at its past for those with a sense of nostalgia, but it is certainly on point for its debut using the Chromium web engine.

Riot Games has announced that League of Legends is finally getting a version for phones and tablets. This new form of the title is to be called Wild Rift, and is billed as completely optimized and refreshed for its new platform. It will start rolling out in 2020, with Android phones getting first whack at its installation.

Aukey has unveiled its new Omni-Power series of accessories. The company claims that it integrates various state-of-the-art charging technologies, including a graphene skin, GaN and USB Power Delivery. This line includes new adapters, car chargers and power banks.

WhatsApp has been working on fingerprint-based authentication for its Android app. Now, an update has added this ability to its stable version. However, a user will still be able to answer calls through the service even if the new locking mechanism is active.

Orbita, a company that makes a personal assistant-like AI platform focused on healthcare, has published the results of a study that shows this is what the US adults recruited to it want from their voice-controlled searches. It apparently concludes that 7.5% of this group has used services such as Alexa for this purpose, whereas over 50% would like to.

Evan Blass has posted an image of a new tablet with a punch-hole display and a constant, minimal bezel. As this device is shown with what appears to be an M-Pen, it may pertain to a high-end successor to the Huawei MediaPad M6. The leaker has compounded this idea by calling it a "MatePad Pro".

RISC-V processors have come a long way since their inception in 2010. Once thought to be significantly slower than the x86 and ARM counterparts, RISC-V processors like the new U84 from SiFive prove that this architecture is catching up very quickly and could become competitive in a few years.

The new 1000-nit display will be about two times brighter than the display of the XPS 15. FirstNet integration comes standard with optional Wi-Fi 6 and LTE to aid first responders with critical information.

The two leading foundries unexpectedly dropped any patent infringement claims and struck an agreement that allows both parties to license each other’s existing patents. Additionally, the agreement would also cover any other patents that would be filed by any side in the next 10 years.

The LG G Pad 5 appeared on Geekbench yesterday, but the scores suggest old silicon. The Geekbench post lists a quad-core Qualcomm CPU clocked at 2.19 GHz, suggesting the Snapdragon 821 speculated by earlier rumors. The scores are in line with other Snapdragon 821-equipped devices, meaning the G Pad 5 would be using a three-year-old chip.

The Apollo Max is a new 10000mAh power bank that, according to its maker ELECJET, integrates the emerging graphene standard as a battery material. This, it is claimed, gives it an "unbeatable charging efficiency of 96%". This new product is currently available as a reward on its Indiegogo campaign page.

As a current flagship tablet, the Samsung Galaxy S6 gets only the best hardware. This includes the Snapdragon 855 high-end SoC as well as at least 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage space. As the first tablet from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab S6 also offers a dual camera with a 13 MP resolution.