Gadget

LG has reportedly delayed its first 42-inch OLED panels, extending the wait for smaller OLED TVs. The South Korean company announced that it would manufacture 42-inch OLED panels this year, but this now been delayed until 2022.

OPPO is mostly known for more conventional smartphones such as the Find X3s and Renos of 2021. However, it also had more interesting units in its history, not the least of which were the N-series phones with main cameras that could twist around to face either the front or back of the device. According to an eminent Weibo leaker, they are now on their way back and might be here soon.

OPPO is currently at the Smart China Expo 2021 to launch new additions to its VOOC line of mobile-device chargers. They are (surprise, surprise) new magnetic wireless chargers for improved attachment to their compatible phones. This new MagVOOC series consists of a slim charging puck, a power bank and a new charging stand thus far.

A marketing video for the Fitbit Charge 5 tracker has been leaked onto social media. The promo clip reveals a lot of pertinent details about the Fitbit Charge 5, including its price, release date, and key features. These include a built-in GPS, ECG app, EDA sensor, and a host of tools for keen fitness users.

The iPad Mini 6 is expected to launch this fall and a new leak has revealed some important features of the cheaper Apple tablet. Particularly notable on the spec sheet are a Type-C port and an A14 Bionic beneath the hood.

Google has reportedly developed an "Assistant Driving Mode", which will supplant Android Auto for Phone Screens with the introduction of the major 12 OS upgrade. Therefore, users with mobile devices that install this OS version will only ever find Auto on their cars' display going forward.

Realme is geared to release a slew of devices next month but the star of the show will be the company's first tablet, the Realme Pad. The Realme Pad is expected to rival Xiaomi's new Mi Pad 5, and details of the tablet have now surfaced ahead of launch, revealing some specs, dimensions, and even pricing speculation.

Microsoft has unveiled the Xbox Stereo Headset, a wired alternative to the Xbox Wireless Headset. Bluetooth and batteries are missing from Microsoft's latest headphones, but that has helped keep the price low.

Tesla has held a 2021 AI Day virtual conference, during which the company has apparently confirmed many predictions of a future in which jobs involving manual labor will no longer be a thing. This, according to Elon Musk, is because his company's Bot will take over from humans in doing them. This new machine may be one of the most convincing anthropomorphic automatons yet.

Banana Pi has revealed a new single-board computer. The BPI-M2S has an Amlogic A311D SoC containing ARM Cortex-A73 cores, LPDDR4 RAM and a 40-pin GPIO connector for compatibility with the Raspberry Pi ecosystem. The SBC has two Gigabit Ethernet ports too.

Nura has released the Nurabuds, a pair of TWS earbuds that seem fairly unremarkable. However, they are only available with a Nuranow subscription, priced at US$5 per month.

The Qualcomm Flight RB5 5G Platform has launched as the world's first reference build for 5G- and AI-capable drones. Its maker asserts that this emerging form of airborne IoT for industry and commerce makes for powerful, yet power-efficient and above all smart UAVs with mmWave connectivity. It is already on the market, although it does not come cheap.

The AYN Odin features a 5.98-inch and 1080p display, along with LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 storage. The machine will be available in three models, starting with the US$165 Odin Lite. The AYN Odin will be available in multiple colours, too.

Realme has now officially announced the upcoming release of its first tablet device, the Realme Pad. The Realme Pad 5 is expected to do battle with Xiaomi's well-received Mi Pad 5 and may already have an edge thanks to an AMOLED display.

PINE64 has introduced the PineNote, a high-quality but affordable tablet with an e-ink display. The PineNote will start shipping later this year for US$399 with a stylus and case included.

ASUS has introduced a single-board computer with an Intel Jasper Lake processor. The N5105I-IM-A follows the Mini-ITX form factor and is fanless thanks to a large copper heatsink.

It appears that Bose is on the verge of announcing the QuietComfort 45, its next-generation ANC headphones. The QC45 will launch in two colours for US$329, along with a revised design, USB Type-C charging and up to 24 hours of battery life.

Fitbit has unveiled new band options for its Sense and Versa 3 smartwatches. Nine new bands are available, including two that Fitbit has called leather scrunchies. The Fitbit Sense is now available with a silver stainless steel watch body, along with a Sage Grey watch band.

Renders of the Fitbit Charge 5 tracker have been leaked, showing off the fitness and health-related accessory in a choice of three colors. The most noticeable upgrade over the Fitbit Charge 4 is the color display, and it seems the Fitbit Charge 5 release date has also been teased in the new marketing renders.

Panasonic has launched a new version of its rugged Toughbook 55 laptop with updated specs and I/O. They include 11th-gen Intel CPUs - which also of course makes one of its ports Thunderbolt 4. However, the PC is still fully compatible with the user-swappable xPAK modules that can customize a unit to a customer's specific professional or public service needs.

Fairphone is already working on the next device in its lineup of modular, repairable phones. The Fairphone 4 has now been spotted on the WiFi Alliance website, revealing a few interesting details about the Fairphone 3 Plus's successor ahead of launch.

Razer has redesigned and re-named Project Hazel, its high-tech face mask. The project is now Zephyr, and it will arrive next quarter. Razer is recruiting beta testers for the Zephyr, too.

Samsung has unveiled the Exynos W920, its latest crack at a wearable chipset. The Exynos W920 is the first 5 nm SoC for wearables and supposedly offers a significant improvement in CPU and GPU performance compared to the Exynos 9110.

Xiaomi introduced a new Mi Mix, Mi Pad and Mi TVs during its August 2021 product event. However, the OEM also had something much less expected to unveil at the end of this show: an apparently fully-functional, well-spec'd robot dog. The company might even put this groundbreaking product on sale soon.

The Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6, also known as the Mi Band 6, has recently received a useful feature thanks to the latest firmware update for the activity tracker. Users of the Mi Band 6 wearable will be able to use the smart band as a basic flashlight as long as version 5.3.0 of the Mi Fit app is also installed.

A young Indian man has died from a suspected cardiac arrest following a device explosion while using his Bluetooth earphones. Conflicting reports about the incident have started appearing; however, it seems the fatal earphones blast could have been down to a devastating combination of shoddy manufacturing and a possible power surge.

Google might have something to debut alongside its new Pixel 6 series in October 2021: a new Chromecast. The Mountain View giant has had a new device certified by the FCC, in a leak that reveals specs most likely associated with a streaming stick of some description. Then again, it makes upgrades over the current Ultra device, if any, hard to pick out.

GoPro has announced that it has made no less than US$250 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2021 (or 2Q2021). The action-cam company has also reported it has amassed 211% more subscribers compared to 2Q2020. It has also made a net gain for this quarter, as opposed to the sizeable net loss posted for the same quarter of the last year.

Samsung may not have announced the Galaxy Buds 2 yet, but someone has already purchased a pair. Separately, product slides for the upcoming TWS earbuds have been published by WalkingCat, which outline their battery life and auto-switching between Samsung devices, among other details.

A lawyer has used Apple AirTags to demonstrate that Portland authorities have been illegally disposing of homeless people's belongings. The location tags were attached to 16 items, including a French press.

Seeedstudio has released a new carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, allowing the device to be used as a mini router. Accordingly, the accessory brings multiple physical connections to the CM4, including dual Gigabit Ethernet and USB Type-C. The Dual Gigabit Carrier Board has a built-in aluminium heatsink too, which should keep the carrier board and CM4 cool under sustained load.

PocketBook will soon start selling the InkPad Lite, a relatively large eReader with an adjustable backlight. Apparently, the 9.7-inch device will debut in the autumn for under US$300, but its display may not be up to the quality of its competitors.

A new expansion board extends the Raspberry Pi Pico with cellular and GPS connectivity. Data transfer rates should be enough for many applications, and the board even includes a small LCD screen for good measure. A 4G version is available, also.

Apple has finally started selling the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID separately, and with an optional numeric keypad. However, the new keyboard has limited compatibility, is expensive, and only comes in one colour.

The Apple Watch Series 7 release date appears to be nearing as no less than six new model references have appeared in filings for the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). While it’s expected the Apple Watch Series 7 will get a new design and an updated processor, the inclusion of a blood-sugar sensor in an Apple Watch is still likely years away.

Samsung will launch its newest TWS earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 2, later this month. Details, images, and pricing of the Buds 2 have now been revealed ahead of launch, with one notable perk being the presence of active noise cancellation.

Some details of a Xiaomi Mi Band X have leaked online, and it seems the Chinese company is looking to add something extraordinary to its hugely successful smart band lineup. The Mi Band X will apparently have a wraparound display and do without watch straps, utilizing a magnetic bracelet clasp for wearing and taking off.
Update: Xiaomi PR states the Mi Band X is a "virtual product" used in marketing training.

A potential Fitbit Charge 5 tracker has turned up in a single image that reveals the device has a color display. The overall design of the possible Fitbit Charge 5 is distinctly different to that of its predecessor. The tracker in this leaked image has the codename “Morgan” and is expected to at least feature NFC payment support.

Xiaomi has globally launched five AIoT products as part of its Smart Living for Everyone event. The announced items were the Mi Router AX9000, Mi 2K Gaming Monitor 27, Mi Smart Air Fryer 3.5L, Redmi Buds 3 Pro, and the Mi Electric Scooter 3. The new Xiaomi smart products will be made available to buy from country-specific Mi.com pages.

The Nokia 110 4G is this HMD Global brand's latest button-phone, released to the Indian market today (July 24, 2021). As the name suggests, it has 4G/LTE connectivity despite its basic feature-device nature. Besides that, it won't strain many pockets in more ways than 1 with a 1.8-inch QVGA display and 128MB of RAM.

The Maker Pi RP2040 is a particularly inexpensive developer board that is suitable for realising your own robotics projects. The Maker Pi goes for US$9.90 and features numerous connections.

Realme's application to trademark the term "MagDart" led to pretty instantaneous speculation that the OEM is preparing what amounts to an Apple MagSafe clone for release in the near future. A tech blog purports to confirm this rumor outright with "exclusive" renders showing the accessories in question. They show a potentially appreciable take on the more up-to-date end of the category in question.

The ROCK 3A is another single-board computer by Radxa, which has released the Zero, an upgraded Pi 4 Plus and the Pi X in the last year alone. The ROCK 3A features a Rockchip RK3568 SoC, up to 8 GB of RAM, and dual M.2 slots for adding an NVMe SSD and a Wi-Fi module. The Radxa ROCK 3A is relatively cheap, too.

According to ClockworkPi, the DevTerm will be delivered imminently, despite months of delays. The company has now demonstrated its portable Raspberry Pi and thermal printer in greater detail, too.

Smartwatches could soon be capable of measuring blood sugar, blood pressure, blood alcohol and hydration levels. The innovations come courtesy of Rockley Photonics, which has announced a biometric sensor that is small enough to fit within a smartwatch chassis.

A YouTuber has shown how to fix Joy-Con drift, a common issue of many Nintendo Switch controllers. A little manual skill is required, but the fix is easy to carry out and reliable.