Galaxy Note 7 teardown reveals what’s underneath the glass exterior

It’s time to see what’s underneath that Gorilla Glass 5 back.

The folks at iFixit have managed to get their hands on a brand-new Galaxy Note 7, giving us a look at the innards of Samsung’s latest flagship. The Note 7 has the same Sony IMX 260 camera sensor as the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, but we’re treated to two camera sensors at the front — one for the front camera and the other for the new iris scanner.

Looking at the internal components list, it’s easy to see that Samsung didn’t change a whole lot when it comes to the hardware on offer from the S7 and S7 edge:

• Samsung K3RG2G20CMMGCJ 4 GB LPDDR4 SDRAM
• Samsung KLUCG4J1CB-B0B1 64 GB Universal Flash Storage 2.0
• Avago AFEM-9040 multiband multimode module
• NXP 67T05 NFC controller
• Qorvo QM78064 high band RF fusion module, TQF6260 front-end module and QM63001A diversity receive module
• Qualcomm WCD9335 audio codec
• Murata FAJ15 front-end module
• Samsung 3420S7 G707A3 Wi-Fi module
• Wacom W9018 touch control IC
• Qualcomm WTR4905 and WTR3925 RF transceivers

With the Note 7 certified IP68 for dust and water resistance, you’ll find sealing gaskets for the 3.5mm jack and charging port. As for the edge screen at the front, it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to fix any display issues by yourself without causing damage to the panel. Other highlights include small copper heat pipes for heat dissipation and a wireless charging coil along with NFC antenna at the back.

Want to see more? Head to iFixit from the link below.

See at iFixit

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

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Android 7.0 brings DVR features and picture-in-picture to Android TV

Changes to the “time-shift” and multiwindow APIs for Android TV will make for a better living room.

Google didn’t forget about the big-screen experience in Android 7.0, and two new features are here that are designed to enhance the experience on your Android-powered television.

Google knows that many folks want a great media ecosystem on the biggest screen in the house — the television. They’re not alone. Apple and Microsoft see the space and are playing on their own strengths, too. Microsoft has the Home Theater PC market pretty well wrapped up, but Apple and Google still think they can offer something valuable to folks looking for more than what the cable company can deliver, and have been busy refining existing features and adding new ones to their TV offerings. This type of competition is great for us — the people buying the products.

Android TV and Nougat will make the biggest screen in your house even better.

Google offers Android TV both as a stand-alone box you can use with an existing television or as the built-in operating system on high-end TVs. For most purposes, they act the same way and do the same things, but the set-top models are a pass-through and have no TV tuner. The Live Channels app for Android TV uses an IP-based TV tuner to bring television shows to set-top boxes, while all-in-one Android TV sets like this 70-inch beauty from Sharp can use the built-in tuner. This brings us to the first new (and much-awaited) feature of Android Nougat for the telly — better DVR capabilities with TV recording.

Better recording

With Marshmallow, Android TV was able to pause, resume or rewind a live broadcast through what Google calls time-shifting APIs. These placed the video and audio from a broadcast into a buffer that was saved as a recording, and we were able to view the recording while the live stream was being added to it. Android 7.0 takes this to the next level by adding full-blown recording support.

You’ll be able to record live shows and save them for later, schedule a recording and have multiple recordings saved on your TV at once. Basically, you’ll have DVR-like capabilities built in. The new APIs also have error handling that lets an app developer save a portion of a recording if an error is encountered rather than throwing everything away. Missing three minutes of your favorite show isn’t a good experience, but it’s better than missing all of it.

Google also makes it clear in the documentation that a new Live Channels app is coming that supports these features. Developers of other apps that want to use DVR features will need to add them to their existing apps and target them for Android 7.0.

Picture-in-picture

The other new feature for Android TV in Nougat is picture-in-picture mode.

This is an extension of Android 7.0’s multi-window display that can put an application’s viewable portion into a 240x135dp (dot pitch) top-layer window, much like we have seen from traditional televisions in the past. It has several really cool differences, though.

A developer can use the PiP mode to display one view of an app while a different view of the same app is on the main portion of the display. Example use cases they give include playing the tail end of one show or video in the picture window while a summary or promo plays in the main view, or showing what’s currently playing in the picture window while a user navigates the program menu or settings in the main window. This would be great for building a queued playlist on video night, or for seeing what else in on when you’re not into the live broadcast that’s currently playing. It could also be a way to do horrible things like interrupt a video stream with an ad. Developers, don’t do that, please.

Of course, the rest of the changes and improvements in Android 7.0 apply to Android TV, too. The update should breathe some new life into Android in your living room.

Android Nougat

Android Nougat is the 12th nicknamed version of Android and will be released to the public in the fall of 2016. Here’s everything you need to know so far!

• What’s new in Android Nougat
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• Should you use the Android N Dev Preview?
• Join the Discussion

Android 7.0: Multi-window for everyone

Android 7.0’s three multi-window modes can make sure you never miss a Pokémon — even when you have other things that need doing.

Android Nougat’s biggest user-facing feature has to be the new native multi-window support. The concept isn’t new. Samsung’s been doing it for a while, Microsoft is changing the way they do it for smaller devices and even Apple is doing it on tablets. Now it’s Google’s turn.

It’s not an entirely new concept for Google, either. The basic Android framework has always allowed what you see on your screen to be drawn at almost any size, and the idea of having more than one view shown at a time was kicked around in more than one session at Google I/O 2011 as part of the “next-step” for Android Tablets on Honeycomb. Five years later, it’s finally ready.

A good part of the reason it took longer was because baking it into Android at the system level can be tricky. Android is designed to run on just about anything with a processor. It powers microwaves, washing machines, refrigerators, sprinkler systems and more. It can even solve a Rubik’s Cube with ease. The things that run Android and have a display — like your phone — also come in many different sizes. Once you change the operating system so that every app can run in a multi-window environment, it has to work everywhere.

And that’s what Google did. Android 7.0 supports three types of multi-window views natively. That means any app you download can use it unless the developer of the app writes it so that it tells the system no when you try to move it to a multi-window view. And it’s not just a split screen system — the other views make it even more complicated.

Android Nougat has three different types of multi-window mode.

Split-screen view is almost the same as what we see on Samsung phones right now. You can either long press a thumbnail in overview mode or long press the overview button and you’ll be able to have two separate windows with separate apps running in each. You can drag and drop data between them, and the dividing line is movable so you can make one app larger than the other. Developers can optimize their apps by doing things like declaring a minimum size for the window it’s in, but even if they do nothing their app will try to run in split-screen multi-window mode. Google says split-screen mode was designed for handheld devices, which means tablets and most phones.

Multi-window can also be displayed in a picture-in-picture mode. We already talked about how it works and how it will make Android TV better. When an app goes into a picture window, things like the controls and interface elements need to be hidden and the content portion shrinks to a size based on the dot pitch of the display being used. Also, apps can sprout the second view and have a picture window of one part of the app while another part of the app is in full-screen mode. The new API’s support the new window view, and a developer can use it in their app without too much of a hassle. This is designed for Android TV and the people who built the actual hardware need to enable it. An app designed for picture-in-picture mode won’t do anything if the user tries to put it in any other mode unless the developer has also included support for them.

Multi-window has a third view — freeform mode. So far it only officially exists in the documentation. It got hacked onto the first Android N preview, but since we haven’t seen it. The Android Developer website says:

Manufacturers of larger devices can choose to enable freeform mode, in which the user can freely resize each activity. If the manufacturer enables this feature, the device offers freeform mode in addition to split-screen mode.

Notice they don’t specify what a larger device is. So far it seems that this doesn’t include tablets like the Pixel C, but it could be enabled on bigger devices with 12-inch screens, or Chromebooks that run Android apps. It’s up to the manufacturer to decide if they want to include support.

The short time we had to play with freeform mode during the Nougat Developer Preview showed that it puts apps into floating windows than can be resized, moved around, minimized or maximized. This is just like the software on your laptop or desktop computer works. The apps will support drag-and-drop data sharing and every app knows when it’s been moved to the top layer and we’re actively using it. Apps can even open in a “shrunken” view provided the developer chooses to do so. The apps each run in their own process and are independent of each other, though.

If a developer targets their app for Android 7.0 they have a few options for a multi-window view. They can define the size and the layout of the app when it’s not using the full screen and make it easier to use after it’s shrunk down. Because that’s a real issue — some apps just don’t look good or aren’t very usable if they only use half of an already small display — developers can also decide to not support the feature.

If apps aren’t updated, they are forced into a multi-window view by the system itself — sometimes with bad results.

If a developer doesn’t update their app, it will be “forcibly resized” by the system after a dialog letting us know it’s an older app that doesn’t support the feature so things may be broken. If the app was written to only support a fixed size, multi-window mode is closed and that app takes the entire screen.

We already knew from hacking Samsung’s Multi-Window feature that most apps just shrink down to one side or the other without much of a fuss if they aren’t officially supported, and our time with the Nougat Developer Preview shows the same results. While the code used to do things is a good bit different as an Android native feature, the basic concept remains and apps that use best practices in the code look and work the same, only smaller. But not every app plays nice and we hope developers will soon update those to handle things gracefully even if they don’t change anything else.

Finally, if you don’t want to use multi-window on your phone, you don’t have to. All Android apps will still run full screen until you tell them to change their view.

Android Nougat

Android Nougat is the 12th nicknamed version of Android and will be released to the public in the fall of 2016. Here’s everything you need to know so far!

• What’s new in Android Nougat
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• All Android Nougat news
• Should you use the Android N Dev Preview?
• Join the Discussion

T-Mobile gives all plans unlimited data in latest Uncarrier move

What is Uncarrier 12 and why is T-Mobile offering unlimited data?

T-Mobile’s latest Uncarrier move is less about thanking you and more about increasing its monthly revenue.

The company has announced that it is moving all postpaid plans to a so-called T-Mobile One scheme, getting rid of data buckets in favor of a single account type that includes unlimited, calls, text, and data, along with all the other Uncarrier benefits previously announced such as low-cost roaming, weekly perks, and low-friction carrier switching.

Starting at $70 per month for the first line, $50 for the second line, and $20 for all others up to a total of eight per account (amortized to about $40 per person for a family of four), T-Mobile One lets users consume as much data as they want without incurring overages. While T-Mobile already offers rollover data (an earlier Uncarrier promotion) of up to 20GB per month, this gets rid of all that bean counting. Customers can also add a tablet to their accounts for $20 each (at 4G LTE speeds), and a cellular wearable such as a smartwatch for $5 per month (at 2G speeds). The above prices are also limited to customers paying with pre-authorized credit cards; add $5 per month if you want to pay manually.

There are some caveats here, though: slow tethering, and low-quality video

There are some caveats here, though: T-Mobile One doesn’t extend to video, at least not in the high definition sense. As part of another previous Uncarrier move, T-Mobile already zero-rates video from a number of providers, including Netflix and YouTube, but only at a resolution of 480p. This still stands: video being the bulk of a network’s capacity at peak hours, T-Mobile is charging an additional $25 per month per line to lift that 480p limit. It appears that all video will be streamed at SD quality while over 4G LTE under T-Mobile One, with no option for a toggle to lift that restriction. Higher-quality video will be available on Wi-Fi.

The other issue is that T-Mobile One only offers Wi-Fi hotspot support at 2G speeds. This is understandable, as the company doesn’t want users blasting high-speed wireless to dozens of other devices and gumming up the network. High-speed tethering is possible — at $15 per month per line for 5GB of LTE data. Previous T-Mobile plans included LTE tethering, including the former incarnation of the (albeit more expensive) unlimited plans, up to a maximum of 14GB per month.

Finally, T-Mobile will still be throttling the top 3% of data consumers which, according to an in-house data sheet, is those using 26GB of data per month. Once that level is hit, a user will be throttled to 2G speeds.

T-Mobile One rolls out starting September 6, and existing customers will have the option of transferring to the new plan with no penalty — but for the inevitable price increase.

AT&T ditches monthly overages for reduced data speeds

AT&T has announced that the carrier will be ending overage charges in favor of reduced data speeds once you’ve used your allotment. The carrier will offer plans ranging from 1GB to 200GB of high-speed data so you can pick the correct amount for what you use. Some customers will actually get more data in their allotment under the new plans without paying any more money. Instead of charging per gigabyte, AT&T is offering on some plans to bump up your data, like 10GB more for just $20 a month.

From AT&T’s announcement:

The new Mobile Share Advantage plans are available August 21. Consumers and businesses alike can gain a wireless experience, without overage charges. Instead of overage charges, after customers use all of their high-speed data amounts, all data usage will be reduced to a maximum of 128 kbps for the rest of their bill cycle.

These new plans include all the value-added benefits of our previous Mobile Share Value plans: unlimited domestic talk and text, Rollover Data, sharable data, multiple international perks and mobile hotspot capability.

It’s great to see AT&T ditch overages in favor of lower data speeds once you reach your allotment, but is it competitive with T-Mobile’s new One plan with unlimited data? Are you excited about the new plans from AT&T or will you be sticking with your current one? Let us know in the comments.

IFA 2016: Everything you need to know

Wearables dominate a busy week of Android-related announcements in Berlin.

IFA is an annual consumer electronics show held in Berlin, Germany, which often serves as a launch event for mobile products heading into the holiday buying season and the beginning of the following year. It’s one of the major events of any given year for mobile tech, right up there with the Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress.

In previous years, IFA was dominated by the Samsung Galaxy Note line, which has since relocated to early August. And so he past couple of shows have played host to a more diverse set of news in tablets, smartwatches, mid-range phones, accessories and more.

This year’s event officially runs from Sept. 2-7, with the official media days leading up to it — so look for our coverage to really kick off from Aug. 31. The main venue is the enormous Messe Berlin complex in the west of the city, with other press conferences and gatherings throughout Berlin.

IFA 2016 looks like being as busy as ever for Android-powered gadgets. Let’s take a look at some of the broad trends we’re expecting to see.

Nougat and Android Wear 2.0

The LG V20 may be the first phone shipping with the new Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box this September, but that doesn’t mean some sneaky phone makers won’t be able to stick pre-release Nougat code on phones or tablets ahead of the V20 reveal. (Though that said, LG seems pretty confident in actually making it to market ahead of rivals.) In particular, look for Huawei to show off its new EMUI 5 interface, likely based on Android 7.0.

Expect three new Android Wear smartwatches.

The next major Android Wear release will be a major highlight for Android fans, with the likely arrival of at least three new Android watches running the new, revamped, circle-friendly OS. Recent FCC leaks have all but confirmed the existence of a circular ASUS ZenWatch 3. Lenovo has a press conference scheduled where we could well see a third-generation Moto 360. And a year on from the Huawei Watch, the Chinese firm might also have a successor waiting in the wings.

Expect all these watches to be slimmer than their predecessors, thanks to the more efficient Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor announced back in February.

Samsung Gear S3

Samsung will unveil the successor to the Gear S2 on Aug. 31 at an event at Berlin’s Tempodrom concert venue. That’s the same place it took the wraps off the S2 a year ago. (And before that, it was the place we got our first look at new Galaxy Notes.)

The current crop of rumors point to another circular design with a rotating bezel (no surprises there), as well as standard and “Classic” variants. On the software side, expect new fitness functions to augment Samsung’s growing S Health ecosystem.

A big show for Huawei

Huawei has raised its profile in Western markets considerably since the start of 2015, and this year the quality of its products has improved dramatically, particularly in terms of software. In addition to a second-gen Huawei Watch, we’d expect the Chinese firm to use IFA to show off its new EMUI 5 interface, which promises a completely overhauled design, stock Android-style notifications and an end to many of the software quirks that’ve plagued EMUI 4 and 4.1.

That’s thanks to the work of Huawei’s new design center, and its aim to offer software experiences better tailored to Western audiences.

As well as a second-gen Huawei watch, expect revamped software from the Chinese firm.

So what about products themselves? At the very least we’d expect a new phone to show off this new software, perhaps a new member of the Huawei Mate family — a Mate S2 or Mate 9. We’ve seen two larger Huawei designs doing the rounds lately — one Nexus 6P-like slab, with a camera “visor” up top, and another with a more traditional camera bump housing two lenses. It’s unclear which might break cover at IFA, however one executive at the Chinese firm has apparently poured cold water on suggestions that the Mate 9 will be ready in time for IFA.
(That being said, it’s unclear where a smaller Mate S2 might fit alongside the P9 Plus.)

In either case, expect software improvements to take center stage, backed up by an improved (likely Leica-branded) camera setup, building on the solid showing of the P9.

A new Sony phone of some description

Sony just can’t help releasing phones every six months. Even with the Xperia X and X Performance being just a few months old, there’s a decent chance we’ll see some sort of upgraded model at IFA. The first leaked shots of the new Xperia model, known by the model number F833x pointed to a larger model with improved camera hardware (including laser autofocus and dual-LED flash.) However more recent reports suggest it’ll be an upgraded Xperia X Performance variant in roughly the same 5-inch form factor.

Sony too is among the potential partners with new Android Wear 2.0 hardware, though we have no specific info on any plans for new Sony smartwatches at this year’s IFA show.

Surprises!

IFA as a whole is about much more than a handful of phones and watches, and we’ll surely see weird and wonderful new things from brands both familiar and unfamiliar. Particularly, expect Germany’s Telekom (T-Mobile) and Vodafone networks to show off their new ranges from a variety of manufacturers.

There’s a chance we could get a look at some of the first Chromebooks to run Android apps out of the box. And with Android now powering diverse and varied types of gadgets, there’s a chance Google’s OS could show up in unexpected places.

What we’re not expecting

• Those new HTC-built Nexus phones. Don’t expect anything until later in September, after the LG V20 — the first phone with Nougat out of the box — has done its thing.
• The LG V20 itself. Although the next big thing from LG will technically debut during IFA, it won’t be announced publicly in Berlin. Instead, look for our coverage of the V20’s San Francisco launch event.

What are you most looking forward to from IFA 2016? Shout out in the comments!

ICYMI: Goat-inspired robot design and apple picking

Today on In Case You Missed It: A researcher at Carnegie Mellon created the GOAT leg for robots that moves much like a pogo-stick and posted a video of its tests to YouTube. Meanwhile a robot to harvest apples might still be in prototype, but it’s miles more advanced than the thing that just shakes trees violently until all the apples fall off.

The mechanized sushi chef video can be found here, the boy who swallowed a dog toy here, and Joe Biden not being able to let go is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

Spotify’s first documentary recalls the early days of Metallica (updated)

We first heard about Spotify’s Landmark series back in May and today the first installment is debuting for Android and iOS users. Landmark — Metallica: The Early Years is a documentary-style look at the iconic heavy metal band’s origins and the move from performing in dive bars to taking the stage in stadiums. During the course of four chapters, the series recounts the formation of the band through the release of 1984’s Ride the Lightning.

One of a dozen shows the streaming service has planned, Landmark will examine key events and figures in music history with interviews, rare footage and, as you probably guessed, playlists that serve as an audio companion to the visuals. Starting today, all four parts of the Metallica documentary will be available for streaming. There’s a catch though: Landmark can only be streamed with Spotify’s Android and iOS apps. The company didn’t offer any indication as to when or if it would be available on desktop or the web at some point in the future. Yes, you’ll have to watch it on a mobile device. What’s more, the videos are only available in the US, UK, Sweden and Germany. The good news? Users of both the free and paid tiers will be able to stream all four chapters of the documentary.

Spotify announced plans for a lot original video content this year and it recently debuted an animated series that offers a bit of music education. Details on the other projects remain scarce except for a tease of Rush Hour: a show where two DJs have a remix battle in the back of a van. The video push mirrors similar efforts from Tidal and Apple Music in regards to original video, with news of Apple’s documentary project with Cash Money Records surfacing yesterday. As music streaming services try to attract new users, and woo others from their current subscription, it looks like original video will be one tool they employ to try and achieve that goal.

As far as Spotify’s Landmark is concerned, you can watch the trailer for the first installment down below.

Update: Despite the announcement stating that Landmark would only be available inside the mobile app, the first chapter has been poster to YouTube. We’ve reached out to Spotify to confirm if the others will be added later. You can watch Chapter 1 right here: