AMD announces plans to break Nvidia’s grip on the notebook GPU market

Why it matters to you

Following the successful launch of its Ryzen processors, AMD’s new GPU lineup could introduce some much-needed competition to the notebook GPU market.

At the AMD Tech Summit in Beijing this weekend, AMD vice president Scott Herkelman took the stage to discuss the upcoming Vega-powered graphics cards. While we didn’t get a release date, Herkelman did discuss AMD’s plans to stay competitive in the notebook GPU market.

According to VideoCardz, AMD plans to decrease the overall footprint of the upcoming mobile GPUs by stacking VRAM dies and freeing up more internal space without sacrificing performance. Size is an important consideration for notebook manufacturers, but this announcement was light on details.

More: Speaking of performance, Intel hopes to juice your aging hard disk with its new Optane memory

It’s unclear whether or not AMD’s new Vega architecture will be rolled out to discrete mobile GPUs — the kind found in premium and gaming-oriented systems — or if it will be included in AMD’s “APUs” — a CPU/GPU combo that delivers a smaller overall footprint but a lot less graphical performance.

Herkelman did mention that AMD hopes the new Vega-powered mobile chips will provide notebook manufacturers with the horsepower they’ll need for their products to drive virtual reality and “the latest and greatest AAA games,” which strongly suggests that we’ll see discrete GPUs powered by the new Vega architecture. It’s unlikely even a next-gen onboard GPU would have the headroom necessary to drive any but the least demanding VR experiences.

More: Is Mass Effect: Andromeda really that bad? Customers in the U.K. sure think so

AMD’s previous architecture, code-named “Fiji,” never made a big splash in the notebook market, in part due to its overwhelming power demands. But Nvidia has had some success bringing the full-fat versions of its 10-series GPUs to notebooks despite their power consumption, indicating that there is a strong appetite for nearly desktop-grade graphical performance even if it impacts battery life.

Additionally, it appears that AMD’s Vega-powered GPUs will be available in 4GB and 8GB options, on account of the way the new chips will stack memory. Unfortunately, Herkelman didn’t offer a concrete timeline for when we might see those desktop and mobile GPUs hit the market, but reassured the Beijing audience that Vega-powered chips were “just around the corner.”

Live Location lets you share your real-time whereabouts in Facebook Messenger

Why it matters to you

Facebook’s Live Location feature makes it easier to track friends and loved ones when the need arises.

Facebook Messenger makes it easy to keep in touch with friends and family, but offers little in the way of finding them. But that is changing.

On Monday, Facebook began rolling out Live Location, a new Messenger feature that lets users share up-to-date location info with friends and family. For up to one hour, you can expose your real-time location to the chat participants of your choice. Contacts can track your progress when you’re on your way, or find your current location if you are meeting somewhere. They will also be able to see an estimate of how long it would take to get to your location by car.

More: Wow! Facebook now allows users to react to chats inside Messenger

According to Facebook, “How far away are you?” is one of the most used phrases on Messenger as people talk to friends and family. “Live Location is super helpful when trying to coordinate with friends, telling people how close you are when you’re on your way to an appointment or even sharing where you are with your roommate when you’re on your way home at night,” wrote product manager Selena Wang.

Facebook said Live Location won’t impact battery life — “We put a lot of time and effort into […] minimizing battery consumption to the point you wouldn’t even have to think about it,” head of Messenger David Marcus told TechCrunch. You can turn Live Location off after it’s been activated — a countdown timer lets you know how much longer your location will be shared before you need to re-enable it.

More: Google’s new and improved Maps does away with the clutter to make finding places easier

As TechCrunch points out, it’s not Facebook’s first location-sharing rodeo. Prior to 2015, Messenger shared a momentary exact location with each message. But Facebook disabled the feature after a Harvard student demonstrated that it could be used to track a users’ location histories.

“Many of use make plans on Messenger that involve finding each other, or letting friends and loved ones know we’re on the way,” Marcus wrote in a blog post. “Sharing your location will also help some of you feel safer on the way home.”

More: Google Maps lets you share your location with your besties

The launch of Live Location comes on the heels of a new Google Maps location feature release last week: “Share location.” Users can broadcast their whereabouts for a set period of time (between 15 minutes and three days) or indefinitely, and pin a person’s location to their home screen for speedier access.

Where to buy the Moto G5 Plus in the U.S.

The Moto G5 Plus is coming to the U.S. Here’s where to get it!

The Moto G5 Plus is probably your best bet for an unlocked smartphone in the U.S. under $250. It’s fast, has a great camera, decent software, and many other reasons you may want to pick one up.

If you want to buy a Moto G5 Plus, you can do so beginning March 31 in the U.S.

Which version should you buy?

In the U.S., you can’t buy the Moto G5 Plus from a carrier, so you’re going to be getting it unlocked at one of the company’s many retail partners, or directly from Motorola itself.

The two configurations are identical but for RAM and storage amounts:

• The $229.99 version comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
• The $299.99 version comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

They are otherwise identical.

Moto G5 Plus specs

Buy the Moto G5 Plus from Motorola

Motorola is the main place to buy the Moto G5 Plus in the U.S., since it comes directly from the manufacturer, unlocked and ready to go in two varieties — a 2GB RAM/32GB storage version and a 4GB RAM/64GB storage version — and two colors.

Motorola is also offering low-rate financing, and a 5% discount when you complete your order, bringing the more-expensive model down to $284.99.

See at Motorola

Buy the Moto G5 Plus from Amazon

Amazon is another great option for the Moto G5 Plus, largely because it offers the phone in four varieties: the same two models as above, plus Amazon’s Prime Exclusive versions, which bring down the price $45 and $60 respectively. In exchange for the discounts (and you must be a Prime member to receive them), you have to deal with Amazon’s lockscreen ads and a bunch of pre-installed apps, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you’re looking for the lowest price on these phones.

See at Amazon

Buy the Moto G5 Plus from Best Buy

The Moto G5 Plus from Best Buy is a good deal because it comes with a free Incipio case with each purchase.

The phone is available in either size or color (Lunar Gray or Fine Gold) and is otherwise priced the same as from Motorola — $229.99 or $299.99.

See at Best Buy

Buy the Moto G5 Plus from B&H

B&H is increasingly becoming a go-to site for buying unlocked phones, and if you live outside of New York or New Jersey the company doesn’t collect taxes, which means that you can potentially save a couple of dollars on your purchase.

B&H offers both versions of the Moto G5 Plus — the 32GB and 64GB models — at their standard $229.99/$299.99 prices.

See at B&H

Buy the Moto G5 Plus from Newegg

Newegg is also a reliable place to get your unlocked phones because it offers inexpensive shipping, and free 3-day shipping for Premier members. Newegg isn’t giving away any free stuff or discounting the phones, but if you’re already a member of the site, it’s a good option.

See at Newegg

Buy the Moto G5 Plus from an alternative carrier

The Moto G5 Plus doesn’t have any official carrier presence in the States, but it will be sold through a few alternative carriers, also known as MVNOs.

See at Ting

Ting and Republic Wireless will all offer the phone when it’s available on March 31, and if you’re looking to bundle a phone with some service, they may be good options, especially if you want to get it with financing.

See at Republic Wireless

What big carriers won’t tell you about prepaid alternative carriers

Being informed is great for us, but big carriers would rather keep you in the dark when shopping for phone service.

There are plenty of reasons to use an MVNO instead of one of the four major network providers here in the U.S. We have talked about many of them and most center on the service to cost ratio and how an MVNO can usually be a better value for most people. We think that value is a big consideration — who doesn’t love paying less without getting less?

There are a few little things that carriers won’t mention about MVNOs that can make using one even more attractive. Here are a few things you won’t hear about when you see a commercial from the Big Four.

These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.

They are MVNOs themselves

All four carriers have at least one MVNO that is part of their corporate entity. They can incorporate them individually and appoint someone else as a company CEO, but when you follow the money back to the bank it’s going to the same account in the end.

All four carriers run one or more MVNOs.

They have several reasons for doing this. One is that if they didn’t, they would risk losing more customers to smaller companies that operate independently as MVNOs. For example, Virgin Mobile USA and Boost Mobile are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Sprint Corporation. Together they have about 11 million subscribers. Sprint can’t afford to lose revenue from 11 million accounts, and the revenue from Boost and Virgin USA goes directly to Sprint.

What is an alternative carrier?

Sprint also has its own Sprint-branded prepaid service. It doesn’t try to hide the fact that it owns Boost or Virgin USA, but it lets them act as if they were their own MVNO because they can offer different plans at different prices marketed to all types of customers. You can feel good about saving money on Boost instead of paying more for a Sprint plan, even though you are on a Sprint-owned plan and network.

Advertisement

Sprint counts everyone with a Sprint postpaid plan and one of its MVNO subscribers in its subscriber count every quarter because it’s all the same company. It sees the value in an MVNO for the same reasons we see the value: to get more for less. It’s not just Sprint: AT&T and T-Mobile both run their own MVNOs for the very same reasons. (Verizon offers prepaid service, but only as part of its main brand. It also sells its service to other alternative carriers.)

You are paying for things you don’t need or use

If you have a post-paid account with one of the four major operators in the U.S. you are paying for things you don’t use. You don’t use them because you don’t need them.

Customer service, international “extras” and other plan perks aren’t free. Neither is the cost to develop and maintain extra services the companies offer like live TV broadcasts or cloud storage accounts or NASCAR sponsorships. The cost of all these things, as well as corporate facilities and accountants and lawyers, come from you and me. It’s part of our monthly bill and a big reason why you pay more for a data plan than you would through an MVNO. Many of us make use of some of these services, but think about the ones you don’t use and are still paying for.

An MVNO buys bulk data from these same carriers at a highly discounted rate. It can pass those savings on to you because it isn’t building billion-dollar corporate headquarters or paying millions of dollars to be an internet television service provider. It deals in phone calls and data plans. That’s what it sells you and that’s what you are paying for.

Hardly anyone needs huge data plans

Someone is going to comment that he use hundreds of gigabytes per month on his unlimited data plan. I’m sure that’s true, and it’s great that there’s an option to do it. But the simple fact is that most of us don’t use very much data, and the smaller 1GB or 2GB plans are all we would ever need. We still want to help save you money if you need unlimited data, though.

Which unlimited plan should you buy: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon?

This doesn’t diminish anyone’s need for 100GB of data per month. If you need that much, stick with one of the Big Four and their unlimited plans. But if you don’t need a shared family plan with 10GB of data for your family, you don’t have to pay for it. An alternative carrier usually offers small data packages or services that can be maintained by paying for calls and texts that you can top up with data as you need it. This can mean substantial savings over the course of a year compared to even the smallest “smartphone” data package from a postpaid carrier.

Advertisement

They use the same wires as an MVNO

T-Mobile (for example) has the same network footprint as MetroPCS (which is an MVNO that’s really part of T-Mobile like we talked about earlier) or any other MVNO that uses T-Mobile’s network. It doesn’t split the network into different areas when it sells wholesale data to another company.

A carrier only has one network and it’s the one it also sells to MVNOs.

If it tells you it has a bigger network footprint it’s because is paying another carrier to use its data network in some places. This is more common that you think, and even the U.S. telecom giants that are AT&T and Verizon have agreements with other carriers for places where their networks needs some help. If you are in one of these areas, some features of the plan you pay for aren’t going to work, and your data speeds may be diminished, but it’s still better than a dead spot. And cheaper than network expansion.

This isn’t a bad thing. Plenty of people travel all over the place and need service to follow them, and roaming agreements between companies help make that happen. But for the majority of its network coverage map, the service and data connection is the same as an MVNO that uses its network.

They love MVNOs as much as we do

Selling bulk data to an MVNO is very profitable for a big carrier. It doesn’t need to do anything extra when selling wholesale data to an MVNO so it means it is getting more (money) for less (work).

Alternative carriers have to maintain the network for their own customers. They have to expand the network for their own customers. They have to improve the network for their own customers. These are real costs, and selling data to an MVNO helps the bottom line because there isn’t anything they need to do after they sell it.

They can even make more money by offering things like billing services and in-store sales for an MVNO as an extra service. And after all that, your MVNO can still offer service cheaper than the company it is buying it from. Makes one wonder just how much profit is in every megabyte of data the Big Four sells, doesn’t it?

An MVNO isn’t making deals with hardware companies

At least not as many deals and not the same kinds of deals.

For a long time, AT&T was very interested in getting you to buy an iPhone every year. That’s because it had a special deal with Apple, and for that deal to be profitable it had to sell a whole lot of iPhones. That’s great for Apple and AT&T, but not so great for you and me.

A Galaxy S7 works great on an MVNO, but nobody is pressuring you to buy one.

That hasn’t changed now that everyone can use a Galaxy S7 on any network (it’s awesome on an MVNO, by the way!). Apple, Samsung, LG and everyone else works with the major carriers to find ways to make even more money, and employees are directed to do certain things to help make it happen.

Advertisement

When you sign up for service from an alternative carrier, you might find a deal on an older model phone or a refurbished phone, but nobody is there to steer you towards a specific brand or model. MVNOs are interested in selling you good, cheap phone service. Not the next big thing from Samsung or Apple.

And that next big thing from Samsung or Apple will work just fine if it’s what you really want.

Alternative carriers are businesses and designed to make money. They aren’t out to be our friends or to operate at a loss. But there are plenty of reasons why they can make money by selling the same service for a lot less, and the Big Four carriers don’t really want to talk about them.

Alternative carriers (MVNOS)

• What is an alternative mobile carrier?
• What are the advantages of going with an alternative carrier?
• How to make sure your phone works on a prepaid alternative carrier
• 8 Important Considerations When Switching To An MVNO
• These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.
• Mint SIM vs. Cricket Wireless: Which is better for you?

Samsung is planning to offer the Note 7 as a refurbished device

Samsung unveils plans for recycling and reusing recalled Note 7 phones.

As the world waits for the Samsung Galaxy S8 release, Samsung has announced its plans for recycling — and refurbishing — the millions of recalled Note 7 devices.

Back in February, Samsung denied it had plans to sell refurbished Note 7s in India and Vietnam but it has since changed its tune, stating “applicability is dependent upon consultations with regulatory authorities and carriers as well as due consideration of local demand.”

Given that the batteries were to blame for the Note 7’s spectacular fiery failures, the plan for refurbishing the device would likely require installing a smaller battery before offering them as refurbished or rental units in select markets. No word on release timelines or which markets will see the refurbished Note 7.

Meanwhile, the remaining recalled devices will be sent to electronics recycling companies where they will be stripped of components such as semiconductors and camera modules which will be reused for test sample production purposes. The remaining components will be sent to eco-friendly companies that specialize in extracting precious metals from the devices.

Would you buy a refurbished Note 7? Let us know in the comments!

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall and cancellation: Everything you need to know
• Survey results: Samsung users stay loyal after Note 7 recall
• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

How to enable night mode on the Galaxy Tab S3

Avoid messing up your circadian rhythm with the built-in blue-light filter.

I love to read late at night, but doing so on a backlit tablet display isn’t the best idea before settling in for some shut eye. Studies have shown that the blue-hued light emitted from screens are detrimental to keeping the circadian rhythm functioning as it should.

Samsung equipped the Galaxy Tab S3 with a yellow-hued night mode so that when you’re using the tablet before bed – reading digital magazines or e-books, for instance — you aren’t surreptitiously telling your brain you’re avoiding rest. You can set it up to automatically switch on after sundown, or toggle it on from the Quick Settings.

How to enable night mode on the Galaxy Tab S3

From the Quick Settings, tap and hold the Blue light filter option.
Tap to Turn on as scheduled.

Tap to select Sunset to sunrise.

Tap on Custom schedule if you’d rather customize your start and stop times.

After setting up your schedule, you can adjust the opacity of the Blue light filter by tapping Turn on now in the same menu screen and using the slider above to adjust as you see fit.

Questions?

In need of more help navigating around your S Pen-equipped Samsung Galaxy Tab S3? Let us know!

You can now interact with Cortana from your phone’s lock screen

Microsoft continues to flesh out Cortana’s functionality on Android phones.

Still waiting for your phone to receive Google Assistant? Perhaps you’ve considered downloading Microsoft’s own personal assistant, Cortana to your phone. With its latest update, Microsoft has added some interesting features including the ability to interact with Cortana without having to unlock your device.

In a previous update, Microsoft added lock screen functionality that let you see your daily schedule via Cortana on your lock screen. This latest update now gives you the option to ask Cortana questions, add reminders, and more without needing to unlock your phone. Microsoft has improved other aspects of the app, adding dedicated buttons for creating reminders and lists as well as improving reminders in general as well as location-based triggers.

Cortana is a compelling option for a mobile personal assistant, especially if you regularly use a Windows 10 PC. Its cross-platform functionality means you can quickly set a reminder to pick something up at the store while working on your PC, then Cortana will remind you on your phone when you arrive at the store.

Previously only available in the U.S. and UK, Microsoft has also extended Cortana for Android and iOS to Australia. Microsoft says they plan to continually improve the Cortana experience on Android, so if you plan on using it be sure to send any feedback you have in a Google Play Store review.

Keep the party rolling all night with the UE ROLL 2 for just $55

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time saving you 45% on a UE Roll 2 speaker!

Looking for a portable Bluetooth speaker that looks cool and sounds great? If so, you won’t want to miss out on this deal at Amazon which scores you a UE ROLL 2 for $54.99, which is a savings of $45 from its regular price. The speaker is waterproof so you can use it out by the pool, on your boat, or anywhere else it may get wet, and it can maintain a connection from a distance of nearly 100 feet away. Per charge you’ll get around 9 hours of playback time, so you can keep those late nights going with ease, and the aux audio input lets you connect older devices without using Bluetooth.

Best Buy is also running a deal on the speaker and offers the discounts on a few more colors. This is one of our favorite Bluetooth speaker options, and odds are it won’t last long at this price, so be sure to grab one right now!

See at Amazon

For other great deals on tech, gadgets and more, be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Android creator Andy Rubin teases his new smartphone

The creator of Android, Andy Rubin, is building a new smartphone — and today, he shared the first image of his mysterious hardware. It’s just a tease, revealing only the corner of the phone, where battery, time and network information is displayed in tiny white text.

I’m really excited about how this is shaping up. Eager to get it in more people’s hands… pic.twitter.com/LRzQCFSKTm

— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) March 27, 2017

The new device comes from Rubin’s company, Essential Products Inc., which is focused on creating tablets, smartphones and mobile software. Essential’s flagship phone will serve as the foundation for a lineup of connected products, according to early reports about the company’s movements. A handful of its smartphone prototypes are larger than an iPhone 7 Plus, featuring bezel-free screens and ceramic backings. Rubin and co. are apparently working on a proprietary version of Apple’s 3D Touch and they’re playing around with magnetic charging accessories.

The image Rubin shared today is reminiscent of Xiaomi’s Mi MIX concept phone, which has an edge-to-edge 1080p LCD and a ceramic body. However, with such a small portion of the hardware exposed in this single tweet, it’s hard to say where the similarities truly begin (and end).

Essential’s flagship smartphone is expected to drop in mid-2017.

Source: @Arubin

Apple Adds iPad Support to Apple TV Remote App

Apple today updated its Apple TV Remote app to introduce iPad support, allowing the Remote app to be used on the iPad for the first time. Prior to today’s update, the Apple TV Remote interface was only designed for the iPhone.

For those unfamiliar with the Apple TV Remote app, it’s designed to be used with the fourth-generation Apple TV and functions similarly to the hardware-based Siri Remote. It includes support for navigation via touch gestures, Siri commands, gameplay, and more.

On the iPad, the control interface is similar to the iPhone interface, but there’s more screen space to display features like the Now Playing window alongside broader controls.

Along with support for the iPad, today’s update introduces an enhanced “Now Playing” experience that includes lyrics and playlists for music and chapters, audio tracks, and captions selection for movies and TV shows.

General performance and stability improvements have also been baked into the update.

Apple TV Remote can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Don’t Buy)
Discuss this article in our forums