Huawei P9 hands on

Huawei is betting big on photography with the Huawei P9, but not in the typical run-of-the-mill fashion we’ve come to expect with flagship successors. Announcing a partnership with legendary German camera-maker Leica, Huawei promises to revolutionize smartphone photography with the P9. Huawei has jam-packed its new device with so many camera features it feels more like a camera with a phone attached than a phone with a camera.

See also: Flashback and Forecasts: Huawei in 201610

The Huawei P9 is all about the dual-camera array on the back, co-engineered with Leica in an intriguing new collaboration. So much so that all other features of the phone were secondary during the press conference announcing the P9 and P9 Plus today in London. We’ll get on to the regular specs in a moment, but lets follow suit and focus first and foremost on that camera.

The P9 has dual 12 MP Leica Summarit lenses on the back, one with an RGB sensor specifically for color reproduction and the other purely for capturing black and white detail. The lenses are specially designed by Leica with an f/2.2 aperture and 27 mm focal length. Both sensors are 1.25-micron Sony IMX286 sensors (24% larger than the P8). So you’re all set for wide-angle and monochrome photography too.

What all this means is that the Huawei P9 promises to deliver exceptional light sensitivity: with the monochrome sensor promising a 200% increase over regular sensors and a 50% bump in contrast. Because this is Huawei, the P9 had to be compared endlessly to the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s, so to stay true to form, the P9 reportedly lets 90% more light in than the S7 and 270% more than the iPhone 6s.

There are three different focus modes on board too: laser focus, depth focus and contrast focus as well as a dedicated depth measurement chip. This means that both lenses can focus individually (along with the laser focus) and the P9’s improved ISP will automatically choose the best result. In practice it seems to work OK, but it’s far from lightning fast.

There are more camera modes on the Huawei P9 than you can shake a stick at, including a full manual mode, Bokeh effects for extreme shallow depth-of-field, selective focus, RAW and much more, but unfortunately neither lens has optical image stabilization. We’ll reserve our judgements on just how revolutionary the P9 camera is for the full review, but there’s definitely a lot to play with.

On the design side, there’s not too much new about the P9. It’s a full metal unibody with the same chamfered edges and overall look, although there’s a few relocations and redesigns. The power button is now textured, there’s only one bottom-mounted speaker grill and the headphone port has migrated south as well, sitting on the other side of the USB Type-C charging port for the fast-charging 3,000 mAh battery.

The Huawei P9 has a slightly smoother brushed metal than that found on the Huawei P8 or Nexus 6P and ever-so-slightly more rounded edges than its predecessor. Where the Huawei logo sat on the P8 you’ll now find a Class 4 finger scanner capable of identifying fingerprint ridges in 3D. One of the most surprising features of the P9 is, as always with the P series, it’s thickness. At just 6.95 mm it’s incredibly thin while still managing to avoid any camera bump at all.

Up front there’s an improved 5.2-inch IPS display, but still at Full HD resolution like the P8. The side bezel has been reduced to just 1.7 mm and the P9 now has 2.5D glass. Huawei tells us the display is capable of 500 nits of brightness and 96% color saturation. Huawei’s own 64-bit octa-core Kirin 955 SoC is powering the whole shebang, with four cores clocked at 2.5 GHz and another four at 1.8 GHz.

The Huawei P9 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, complete with Huawei’s Emotion UI 4.1. There are precious little changes to report on the software front so if you’re at all familiar with EMUI you’re in for more of the same. While the app drawerless interface won’t appeal to all, it’s a simple matter to throw a custom launcher on there.

There are a few variations on the specs front, depending on the particular model and region. For the Huawei P9, there’s a 32 GB version with 3 GB of RAM and a 64 GB version with 4 GB of RAM. Europe will apparently only get the 32 GB/3 GB version but it will include a microSD card slot, where Asian markets will get the option for dual-SIM. The P9 has a virtual triple-antenna architecture meaning connectivity should never be a problem.

There’s also a bigger, better P9 too: the Huawei P9 Plus. At 5.5 inches, the P9 Plus is marginally larger but still only offers a Full HD display, although it switches to AMOLED. The P9 Plus has 64 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM with a 128 GB version for China. The P9 Plus also gets Force Touch (I mean, “Press Touch”), a larger 3,400 mAh battery, an IR blaster and a few other upgrades.

The Huawei P9 will be available in launch markets on April 16 for 599 for the 32 GB base model, 649 for the 64 GB version and 749 for the P9 Plus with 64 GB of storage. The P9 models come in six colors: white, grey, silver and three variations of gold: rose, haze and “prestige”. The P9 is reportedly making its way to the U.S. market but we don’t have details on that just yet. The P9 Plus will be available mid-May.

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The Huawei P9 ticks a lot of boxes but somehow seems, even with the Leica camera, to lack a certain “wow” factor. Sure, it’s thin, has a decent sized battery, looks good and improves in multiple ways over its predecessor, but it feels like something is missing. Perhaps the camera is legitimately so good it will revolutionize smartphone photography, but I can’t shake the feeling that the revolution is meant to feel a little more exciting than this.

What are your thoughts on the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus?

Huawei P9: The first 7 things you need to know

Some quick hits on Huawei’s new dual-camera wonder.

The Huawei P9 is upon us, having just been unveiled to the world at its London launch event. The big focus this time around, without a doubt, is photography, as Huawei pushes its partnership with Leica in an effort to stand out in the crowded high-end Android space.

But there’s more to this phone than just the Leica brand and the aforementioned dual camera setup. Let’s dive deeper and take a look at some of the major P9 facts and features you might have missed.

It’s got two cameras — and more

OK, let’s get the really obvious one out of the way first. The Huawei P9 has two 12-megapixel cameras around the back, “co-engineered,” the firm says, in partnership with German camera-maker Leica. One sports a monochrome (black and white) sensor, the other a traditional color (RGB) sensor, and it’s this combination Huawei says lets the camera soak up three times as much light as an equivalent single-sensor setup, producing pics with 50 percent more contrast.

The dual camera system is paired with laser autofocus system, giving it multiple options for keeping its subject in sharp focus. Up close, the lasers do the legwork. For distance, the P9 uses depth information calculated based on the images from both the monochrome and color cameras. (In much the same way our eyes help us perceive depth.)

That’s all helped along by a dedicated dual-core ISP (image signal processor) specifically designed to handle depth information — the first of its kind, the manufacturer claims.

Wide aperture mode

Wide aperture mode, first seen in the Honor 6 Plus, returns in the Huawei P9. Because each photo taken on the P9 also captures depth information, it’s possible to simulate bokeh effects in software, in a similar way to what HTC introduced with the Duo camera back with the HTC One M8.

This can be done either in the camera app directly, by selecting wide aperture mode and tapping to focus, then adjusting the slider to choose anywhere between f/0.95 and f/16. Of course, this isn’t a true depth of field, but an approximation based on the depth information captured by the dual camera system. It’s mostly accurate, but can trip up when used with softer subjects or translucent objects.

Latest Huawei CPU

Huawei continues its use of homegrown Kirin CPUs in its high-end phones, and the Huawei P9 sees the debut of the new Kirin 955 chip, an upgraded version of the Kirin 950 introduced in the Mate 8. Like that chip, it’s built on a power-efficient 16nm FinFET manufacturing process, however the clock speeds have been increased — up to 2.5GHz for the four powerful ARM Cortex-A72 cores, and up to 1.8GHz for the lower-power Cortex-A53 cores.

Huawei’s new depth-sensing, triple-focusing ISP is another new addition in Kirin 955, giving it extra number-crunching hardware to compute depth based on its laser autofocus unit, or the two rear-facing cameras.

USB Type-C

We’re still in the awkward transition phase between microUSB and the new USB Type-C. The P9, however, stands out as the first Huawei handset to use the new reversible USB port. In theory that enables faster charging, however the bundled charging brick maxes out at 5V/2A. We’re told the regular P9 doesn’t “officially” support quick charging at higher voltages, a la Qualcomm Quick Charge, but we’ll be investigating in the days ahead to find out whether it can charge at up to 3A with the right charger, like Huawei’s own Nexus 6P.

It’s also unclear whether the phone supports USB 3.1 or not — if it does, Huawei neglected to mention during the P9 press conference.

As is often the case, USB Type-C is a bit of a mixed bag. But hey, at least you don’t need to worry about plugging it in upside down anymore.

There’s a P9 Plus, too!

In addition to the regular P9, the Huawei P9 Plus will also launch later in May across Europe and Asia. As the name suggests, it’ll ship with a larger display — a 5.5-inch AMOLED panel at the same 1080p resolution — along with a bunch of other notable hardware upgrades. The Plus boasts 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, up from the 3GB and 32GB of the base model P9. And there’s a stereo speaker system hidden away inside, too.

What’s more, the battery has been cranked up to an ample 3,400mAh, and Huawei has crammed an IR blaster into the top bezel for controlling your TV.

Around the back, there’s the same dual camera and fingerprint sensor from the smaller model, encased in a slightly different aluminum frame, this time with a brushed metal pattern and a slightly glossier finish.

There’s a 720p mode for saving power

If you’ve used a Huawei phone before, you’ll be aware of the company’s many power-saving features, including the ability to set a “power plan” to adjust the phone’s balance between performance and longevity. The P9 includes a neat addition to this feature set — “ROG Power Saving.” This lets you run your 1080p phone in 720p mode to conserve battery power without rebooting — although switching this feature on or off will require closing any apps that are running.

The difference is noticeable — you’re halving the number of pixels on-screen. But it doesn’t look terrible, and if you’re after another way to claw back battery power on days when you’re pushing the P9 to its limits, ROG Power Saving is a decent option to have.

Coming to Europe and Asia later in April

The regular Huawei P9 will land in Europe and Asia — no U.S. launch plans were announced today — later this month.

The 3GB P9 will go on sale on April 16 for €599, while the more capable 4GB version will run you €649. If you’re looking for the larger P9 Plus, Huawei plans to make it available on the same day for €749.

As far as carriers go, Vodafone UK and O2 UK have confirmed they’ll range both the P9 and P9 Plus, while Three UK and EE say they’ll offer the regular Huawei P9.

Are you planning on picking up the Huawei P9 or P9 Plus? Shout out in the comments!

Huawei P9 and P9 Plus

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Samsung predicts strong growth in Q1 2016 earnings guidance

Samsung has announced its earnings guidance for Q1 2016, forecasting an operating of $5.7 billion (6.6 trillion won), which would be a solid bump of 10% over the same period a year ago. Samsung has also predicted its consolidated sales will come in at $42.3 billion (49 trillion won), which would be an increase over the $40.7 billion (47.1 trillion won) won the company generated in Q1 2015.

This quarter’s guidance is notable because Samsung has signaled it expects to beat analyst forecasts, most likely due to strong sales of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. Samsung has had a rough go of things the past two years as competition has continued to heat up from agile rivals like Xiaomi and Huawei. The Korean tech giant has started to see things turn around in recent quarters, however.

In any case, we’ll see if Samsung’s predictions pan out when the company reports its final Q1 2016 sales figures later this month.

Video game clip-sharing service Plays.tv has 10 million users.

Plays.tv, a video-sharing platform for gamers, today revealed a major milestone: 10 million active users per month. That’s an astonishing number on its own, but it’s particularly notable considering the service has only been around for about three months. It’s not surprising, though, given the amount of gamers who love streaming content on Twitch. As a refresher, Plays.tv lets you make quick clips from broadcasts, which you can then easily share with other people on the internet. And gamers, including professional ones, seem to love it — Plays.tv says there are 1.6 billion minutes of video being produced every month on its platform.

Source: Plays.tv

Taco Bell wants you to order food from a chat bot

We’ve seen some clever ways to order food online in our day, but this one is decidedly off the wall. Taco Bell is testing TacoBot, a chat AI that helps you order (what else?) tacos in a Slack conversation. Think of it as a tasty text adventure — you can ask questions about the menu, customize your order and check your cart. It’s only in a private beta with a few companies at the moment, but you can sign up for a waiting list to have your Slack team give TacoBot a try. Just think — you could have tacos sent your way while you’re stuck in a planning session.

Source: Taco Bell

Facebook pays news outlets to use its live video service

Facebook really, really wants its live video service to be a success — so much so that it’s willing to offer cash to get those streams going. The social network explains to Recode that it’s offering a “financial incentive” to some partners to use Facebook Live. It’s not naming them, but tipsters say that BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post (one of our sister sites), the New York Times and Vox Media are all on the dole. The terms of the deals are unsurprisingly secret, but the fact that Facebook is offering cash at all is notable. Although the company has clearly been encouraging celebrities to do live broadcasts, it hasn’t acknowledged payments until now.

As for why? Simply speaking, the stakes are high. Live streaming on social networks still tends to be dominated by the likes of Twitter’s Periscope and longstanding services like UStream, and there may be some fierce competition from YouTube in the near future. Paying big publications to use Facebook Live could make it the go-to source for real-time video, at least for visitors interested in as-it-happens news.

Source: Recode

FBI Briefing Senators on How It Accessed San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone

The FBI has begun telling some U.S. Senators how it accessed the data on San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c, according to The National Journal (via CNET). Previously, the FBI has been coy on how it accessed the data on the phone and hasn’t communicated the exploit used to Apple.

California Senator Diane Feinstein, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, confirmed to CNET that she was briefed on the method used by the FBI. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been invited to an FBI briefing but has not yet accepted, according to The National Journal. The two Senators are co-sponsors on a bill that would force companies to comply with court orders to unlock encrypted communication services.

That bill is reportedly set to be introduced to Congress as soon as this week, and both Burr and Feinstein told The National Journal that the FBI should not tell Apple how it accessed the data on Syed Farook’s iPhone.

“I don’t be­lieve the gov­ern­ment has any ob­lig­a­tion to Apple,” Fein­stein said in a state­ment emailed to the National Journal. “No com­pany or in­di­vidu­al is above the law, and I’m dis­mayed that any­one would re­fuse to help the gov­ern­ment in a ma­jor ter­ror­ism in­vest­ig­a­tion.”

When the FBI first mentioned that it had found a “possible method” to obtain the data from the iPhone, Apple said that it would insist on obtaining the details of the exploit should the government pursue its case against the Cupertino company. However, since the case was dropped, there is little legal recourse for Apple to attain that information. The FBI reportedly turned to Israeli firm Cellebrite to unlock the phone. Shortly after the Justice Department dropped the case, Apple issued a statement saying it would “continue to increase the security” of its products.

Yesterday, FBI general counsel James Baker said that the data on the iPhone was being analyzed and that it was “simply too soon to tell” whether the information is valuable.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Sprint to raise $2.2 billion by selling and leasing back network assets

Sprint has announced a plan to shore up its financial house by striking a deal to sell portions of its network assets for $2.2 billion and then lease them back. As part of the deal, Sprint says the transaction will see network assets shifted to several remote entities (referred to collectively as Network LeaseCo) to be used as collateral for loans. From Sprint:

Network LeaseCo will acquire certain existing network assets and then lease them back to Sprint. The assets acquired by Network LeaseCo will be used as collateral to raise approximately $2.2 billion in borrowings from external investors, including SoftBank. The $2.2 billion of cash proceeds Sprint expects to receive from the transaction is scheduled to be repaid in staggered, unequal payments through January 2018.

Sprint says that the assets that are part of the transaction, which carry a net value of around $3 billion, are mostly made up of networking equipment at cell towers.

While a bit complicated, this is a pretty standard move and one that several other carriers have made over the years. Rather than owning the network equipment outright while the business is tight on free money to spend, it makes sense to sell the towers to an outside entity and lease them back, giving the carrier money up front to use for other initiatives without giving up the ability to use the equipment for the duration of the lease.

Press Release:

Sprint signs $2.2 billion deal for the sale and lease-back of certain existing network assets

Attractive cost of funding in mid-single digits

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), April 06, 2016 – Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) entered into a transaction with several bankruptcy remote entities (collectively “Network LeaseCo”) for the sale and leaseback of certain existing network assets, which is expected to close next week and provide the company with $2.2 billion of funding. When closed, the transaction will immediately improve the company’s liquidity position at an attractive cost of capital in the mid-single digits.

“Sprint and SoftBank have worked together again to create a unique structure that provides Sprint with an attractive source of capital,” said Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati. “This transaction is an important first step in addressing upcoming debt maturities and allows us to stay focused on our corporate transformation, which involves growing topline revenues and aggressively taking costs out of the business to improve operating cash flows.”

Network LeaseCo will acquire certain existing network assets and then lease them back to Sprint. The assets acquired by Network LeaseCo will be used as collateral to raise approximately $2.2 billion in borrowings from external investors, including SoftBank. The $2.2 billion of cash proceeds Sprint expects to receive from the transaction is scheduled to be repaid in staggered, unequal payments through January 2018.

For accounting purposes, Sprint will consolidate Network LeaseCo and Sprint’s consolidated financials will reflect the cash proceeds it receives and the underlying debt of Network LeaseCo. The network assets involved in the transaction, which have a net book value of approximately $3 billion and consist primarily of equipment located at cell towers, will remain on Sprint’s consolidated financial statements and will continue to be depreciated. In addition, Sprint will record interest expense incurred in connection with the debt of Network LeaseCo.

As of December 31, 2015, Sprint had total liquidity of $6 billion with an additional $600 million of availability under vendor financing agreements that can be used toward the purchase of 2.5 GHz network equipment.

Safe Harbor

This release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. The words “may,” “could,” “should,” “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “target,” “plan,” “providing guidance,” and similar expressions are intended to identify information that is not historical in nature. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future — including statements relating to this sale and leaseback transaction and statements expressing general views about future operating results — are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management’s judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, ability to recognize the expected benefits of the sale and leaseback transaction; availability of various financings, including any additional financing transactions; and the timing of various events. Sprint believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date when made. Sprint undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our company’s historical experience and our present expectations or projections. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Sprint Corporation’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.

About Sprint

Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served more than 58.4 million connections as of December 31, 2015 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at http://www.sprint.com or http://www.facebook.com/sprint and http://www.twitter.com/sprint.

Huawei P9 unboxing — you’re gonna Leica this

Opening up Huawei’s latest for the first time.

The Huawei P9 was finally unveiled after a good bit of teasing from the Chinese manufacturer, and today at the event we walked away with an untouched, in-box P9 to unwrap for the first time.

Huawei is well known for doing up some of the nicest packaging for its phones, and while the P9’s isn’t exactly mind-blowing it is nicely executed. Check out the video above to see what’s inside!

More: Read our Huawei P9 and P9 Plus hands-on!

Android N Developer Preview might expand to non-Nexus phones

While the current Android N Developer Preview is restricted to Google’s own Nexus phones (just as in years past), Google may be looking to expand testing to OEM partner phones as well. Spotted in a bit of hidden HTML code on the Android N Preview site (via FUNExtreme on Reddit), a bit of text intended for the “What’s New” section hints that more devices will be supported in the future, including those from OEM partners.

As is usual with things of this nature, it’s best to take this information with a giant grain of salt until we hear something official from Google itself. However, the prospect of a publicly available Android N Preview for phones from Samsung, LG and others is intriguing.

Would you be excited to give the Android N Preview a shot on your non-Nexus phone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Android N Developer Preview

The Android N Developer Preview is just that — a developer preview. It is not intended for daily use. That doesn’t mean it’s not cool, and that you shouldn’t poke around. But know that things will break. Tread carefully. (And have fun!)

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