“Samsung twijfelt nog tussen 2 prototypes vouwbare Galaxy F”

Het ontwerp van de vouwbare Galaxy F is nog geen uitgemaakte zaak zo blijkt uit een nieuw rapport van Bloomberg. Het bedrijf zou nog twijfelen tussen 2 prototypes; horizontaal vouwen of verticaal.

Het bericht is opvallend want het gerucht was juist dat Samsung over twee weken de vouwbare Galaxy F zou laten zien tijdens het Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco. Dat bericht moet mogelijk worden bijgesteld. Wellicht krijgen we dus alleen een presentatie te zien met ideeën hoe een Galaxy F er uit zou kunnen zien. Wellicht besluit Samsung aan de hand van de reacties welke kant ze definitief opgaan; horizontaal vouwen als een boek of verticaal als een clamshell.

Onze render van een verticaal vouwbare Galaxy F

Samsung-medewerkers zouden momenteel een lichte voorkeur hebben voor de verticale variant omdat die handiger in één hand te houden is. Het ontwerp zou hiermee overeenkomen met de Galaxy F renders die wij onlangs lieten zien. Wat wel afwijkt met het bericht van Bloomberg is een 4 inch scherm dat ook in gesloten toestand zichtbaar zou zijn. Het gewicht van de Galaxy F zou met 200 gram redelijk hoog liggen, iets wat Samsung binnen de perken probeert te houden met een iets kleinere batterij.

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Speciale Android-versie

Om ervoor te zorgen dat de interface optimaal gebruikmaakt van deze nieuwe vormgeving zou Samsung nauw samenwerken met Google die hiervoor een speciale versie van Android ontwikkelt. Dat roept wel vragen op wanneer de Galaxy F daadwerkelijk op de markt komt. Als ook Google aanpassingen aan Android moet doen is dat een extra vertragende factor. Bloomberg denkt daarom dat de Samsung Galaxy F mogelijk pas in het tweede kwartaal van 2019 verkrijgbaar is.

Anker’s new USB-C wall charger packs 27 watts, fits in the palm of your hand

At an event in New York City, Anker Innovations unveiled its latest accessory, the PowerPort Atom PD 1, the first installment of its lineup of slim and lightweight USB-C wall chargers. But don’t be fooled by its small size, the charger packs 27 watts, giving you the ability to not only power up your MacBook, but your Nintendo Switch, smartphone, and more.

For an easier visual of exactly how small the charger is, the PowerPort Atom PD 1 is only slightly bigger than the standard 5-watt iPhone charger. Weighing in at 2.2 ounces, the pocket-sized charger is also lightweight, allowing you to pop the accessory into your backpack or handbag without weighing you down.

The charger features a single USB-C port with a total output wattage of 27 watts that Anker says can charge up to two and a half times faster than stock phone chargers. It uses Gallium Nitride (instead of silicone) —  a semiconductor material that allows the charger to operate at a higher frequency for more efficient charging, while also producing less heat.

While it remains to be seen how quickly the wall charger can juice up a device, our own experience with an Anker charging stand was impressive because it, too, produced less heat. In our wireless charging pad comparison, we put the Anker PowerWave 7.5 up to the test against Belkin, iOttie, and Mophie only to find out the company’s stand took only 2 hours and 44 minutes to charge.

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We also had some hands-on time with the new wall charger and at first glance, it’s hard to believe there are 27 watts packed into such a tiny charger. Not only is it light and compact, but (as with most Anker products) it looks sleek. But we’re even more excited for the next installments in the lineup: The PowerPort Atom PD 2 (with two USB-C ports) and Atom PD 4 (with two USB-C ports and two Type-A ports) which will have an output wattage of 60 watts and 100 watts, respectively. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a little while longer for those.

As for the PowerPort Atom PD 1, it will be out at the end of November. You will be able to purchase it from Amazon for $30.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Nimble’s battery packs and wireless chargers are eco-friendly
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• The best wireless phone chargers for your iPhone or Android
• How to fast charge your iPhone

“Samsung Galaxy S10-serie krijgt 3e voordeliger model”

Naast de gebruikelijke S10 en S10 Plus zou Samsung ook een derde voordeliger model willen uitbrengen. Dat doet denken aan de Mini-variant van vroeger al heeft het sinds de S5 mini geen opvolger meer aangekondigd. Daarnaast werkt Samsung ook aan een versie met 5G-internet.

Het is nog even onduidelijk of het goedkoper S10-model ook kleiner is of dat het verschil alleen in de prijs zit. Het zou wel slim zijn want aartsrivaal Apple heeft momenteel geen nieuwe kleine iPhone meer in het assortiment. Daar zou Samsung marktaandeel van af kunnen snoepen door een high-end S10 uit te brengen van rond de 4 inch al ontbreekt het momenteel aan berichtgeving daarover.

Samsung test al sinds 2014 met 5G

Volgens een nieuw bericht op Bloomberg zou de Galaxy S10 en S10 Plus een vingerafdrukscanner achter het scherm krijgen. Samsung hint al langer op deze plek maar wist dat tot nu niet voor elkaar te krijgen. Het wisselde daarom de plek van voren naar achter en inmiddels hebben we zelfs Samsung-telefoons gezien waar de vingerafdrukscanner aan de zijkant zit. De plek van de selfiecamera blijft nog even onduidelijk. Het bericht spreekt over selfiecamera die “zichtbaar is en weggestopt zit onder het scherm”. Wat daar precies mee bedoeld wordt is nog even onduidelijk. Samsung werkt volgens een opgedoken verslag aan het verwerken van de selfiecamera onder het scherm waardoor hij juist onzichtbaar is. Tegelijkertijd werkt Samsung met de Galaxy A8s aan een toestel met volledig scherm waarin een klein rondje mist. Precies genoeg voor de selfiecamera.

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Ook versie met 5G

Zowel de Samsung Galaxy S10 als de grotere Galaxy S10 Plus zouden een afgerond AMOLED-scherm mee krijgen met achterop drie camera’s. Hierin verschillen ze met de kleinere S10 die over een recht scherm beschikt. Ook de vingerafdrukscanner zit hier niet achter het scherm maar mogelijk aan de zijkant. Of de drie modellen zijn uitgerust met een koptelefoonaansluiting valt nog te bezien; ook Samsung zou serieus overwegen de poort weg te laten om zodoende een volledig draadloos toestel zonder poorten te krijgen. Daarnaast zou er ook een variant met 5G uitgebracht worden maar mogelijk is die alleen voor het Amerikaanse Verizon bedoeld.

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Anker Unveils Miniature 27-Watt USB-C Charger, Premium Smart Speaker, and Pocket Cinema

Anker announced several new hardware devices at an event in New York City today. Best known for its quality mobile charging accessories, the company continued its push into other consumer electronics markets by unveiling a pocket cinema, a premium smart speaker, and a new line of minuscule USB-C wall chargers.

Starting with the chargers, the PowerPort Atom PD 1 is the smallest 27-watt USB-C power plug that Anker has come up with to date. It’s about the size of the 5-watt charger that comes with an iPhone, but pumps out enough juice to power larger devices like a 12-inch MacBook, a Chromebook, and a Nintendo Switch.

Anker says it has used Gallium Nitride components in the charger instead of silicon, which has allowed the company to maximize efficiency while minimizing size. The PowerPort Atom PD 1 weighs 2.2 ounces and fits in the palm of the hand, measuring in at 1.61 x 1.37 x 1.49 inches The PD 1 is just the first in the Atom line, with a 60-watt two USB-C port PD 2 charger and a 100-watt four-port (2x USB-C, 2x USB-A) PD 4 charger also on the way.

The Anker PowerPort Atom PD 1 will be available exclusively on the Amazon website from the end of November for $30.

Meanwhile, Anker announced the Soundcore Model Zero+, a new Bluetooth and Wi-Fi smart speaker that sports a unique radial purse-like design with a built-in handle. It’s the first portable speaker from Anker to feature integrated Dolby Audio, and includes drivers designed by Scan-Speak for optimal audio performance.

The Model Zero+ speaker comes with Google Assistant and also supports Google Chromecast, for streaming playing media directly from mobile devices and computers. The unit offers 10 hours of battery life when streaming over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and will cost $250.

A more affordable $200 version of the speaker called the Model Zero was also announced that has fewer features but better battery life. Both units will be available at select retailers from the end of next month.

Anker also unveiled the Nebula Capsule II, a next generation pocket cinema with Android TV built in. The soda can-sized cylindrical unit projects a 1280 x 720 resolution screen onto walls, auto-focuses in about one second.

Anker says the Nebule Capsule II will offer up to three hours of video playtime or 30 hours of Bluetooth audio output on a single charge. It also supports Google Assistant, and can be charged in around two and a half hours using the included USB-C charger.

The Nebula Capsule II is launching as a Kickstarter campaign and will be available for early adopters, with plans to ship early 2019. Super Early Bird supporters can order the pocket cinema for $349, with other tiers costing $369 or $399.

Lastly, Anker today announced a home security camera under its Eufy branding. The wireless camera offers one year of battery life and features face recognition, base station battery backup, free local storage. Pricing and release date have yet to be announced.

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Apple Pay Promotion Offers Free Bonus Credits With $10 TouchTunes Purchase

Apple’s latest Apple Pay promotion, which is Halloween-themed, offers Apple Pay users three free bonus credits when making a purchase of $10 or more in the TouchTunes jukebox app on iOS devices.

TouchTunes is designed to let users play the jukebox at more than 65,000 bars and restaurants across the United States. To get the credit, users will need to download TouchTunes and make a $10+ credits purchase to receive the free credits. Credits within TouchTunes are used to play songs at local jukeboxes.

According to the fine print of the deal, it will last from October 24 to 11:59 Pacific Time on October 31 in the United States and Canada. Only one reward is available per person and per Apple Pay account.

Apple’s promotional email also highlights several other apps designed for party planning, including Party City, Pizza Hut, and Walgreens, along with Lyft, Postmates, and Uber for avoiding Halloween traffic.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Uh-oh. Somebody taught drones how to team up so they can open doors

There are plenty of drones designed for flying indoors. You know what those drones can’t do, however? Open doors. At least, that’s true in 99 percent of cases. Fortunately, the diminutive Flycrotug microdrone is the exception to the rule — and all it needs is a partner drone and its trusty lasso.

In a proof-of-concept demonstration, Flycrotug’s creators showed how two drones could attach their onboard cables to a door handle, anchor themselves to the floor using adhesive feet, and then pull the door open using on-board winches. This is only one example of how the drones could interact with their environment. Other examples might include removing a piece of debris blocking their path. The objects the drones are able to pull can weigh up to 40 times their own weight.

“We came up with a design for micro air vehicles that allows them to anchor onto their environment — similar to insects — and tug loads much heavier than what they can fly with,” Matthew Estrada, a graduate student at Stanford University, who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “This addresses one persistent limitation with small, air vehicles: They are very mobile, but can only exert forces about twice their weight with thrust from their propellers. It is exciting progress because it could allow them to accomplish tasks that we usually send in larger robots to tackle.”

Kurt Hickman

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Estrada said that an application for these tiny, scenery-manipulating drones might be in search and rescue tasks. They could be especially useful when these involve confined or remote environments, where other robots would struggle to fit or reach. That might mean slipping through a crevice or the window of a partially collapsed building to clear a pathway or retrieve an item of interest for rescuers.

“This is really a beginning, and there are many interesting questions in making this a practical method in unknown environments, where they would encounter a variety of different attachment surfaces and obstacles they would need to interact with,” he continued. “Planning maneuvers for manipulation tasks and generalizing the hardware to attach onto ever-more varied surfaces are two interesting thrusts for future work.”

A paper describing this research was recently published in the journal Science Robotics.

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• Awesome Tech You Can’t Buy Yet: A.I.-powered cat toys, wallets, food containers

Lenovo Smart Display review

Google Assistant is awesome. It’s everywhere we go, knows just about everything, and helps us keep track of our lives. We use it in our phone multiple times a day and our homes are starting to fill up with Assistant-powered smart speakers and connected devices.

If you thought talking to Google was really cool, wait until you’ve interacted with it visually. That’s the basic premise of the Lenovo Smart Display, one of the first products of its type to hit the market which is powered by Google Assistant.

Available in 8-inch and 10-inch configurations, the slate is everything your kitchen or home office ever needed. Well, that might be just a slight exaggeration. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine a future without something like this in every room.

What is the Lenovo Smart Display?

The Lenovo Smart Display runs a different, but increasingly interesting operating system in Android Things. It’s not the full-blown Android experience that you get with a phone or tablet; it doesn’t have any apps or access to the Google Play Store. In essence, it’s a canvas that compliments your lifestyle using anything and everything possible from your Google account.

When not in use, the Smart Display defaults to a digital picture frame or clock. Walk into a room and you’ll see it cycling through a Google Photos album or simply offering up the current time. Prompt it with “Hey Google” or “Okay Google” and it gets down to business.

Think of all of the things you do with Google Assistant today. Whether it’s asking for the weather forecast, a glimpse into your day, or querying Search for some random statistic, you’re tapping into it quite often. If you’re like us, we’re using more with each passing week.

Once you have the ability to literally see what Google knows, it changes the game. Now, instead of hearing how tall a particular building is, you get a picture and a readout of the stats, too.

If you ask for a timer on your phone, you get a countdown that can run in the background. If you ask to watch a video, your phone hands you off to YouTube. Music? Here’s that playlist with album artwork on Google Play Music. How about a recipe? Ask Google how to make a raspberry Danish and your phone pulls up neatly organized results with easy-to-read ingredients and directions.

The Lenovo Smart Display takes all of that stuff you get on your phone and reconfigures it for the kitchen. Or home office. Or bedroom. It works no matter where you put it, and it works in so many facets of our lives.

This isn’t simply taking the same results and actions and expanding them to a larger display. No, Google does an excellent job of taking advantage of a bigger, portrait orientation.

Design

We’ve already talked quite a bit about what the Smart Display can and does do. Let’s back up and discuss how it’s designed as well as how it looks, and sounds.

First, and foremost, it takes up a fair amount of space. It’s not the same as a 10-inch tablet as there’s a speaker grille to the left with a curved, angular back with bamboo finish. It’s a unique design that lets the Smart Display sit in both landscape and portrait orientation.

There are rubber feet on the bottom and left end, meaning it is meant to fit your environment. That’s physically, at least. For not the software does not allow for any portrait stuff just yet.

In a crowded kitchen, on a smaller nightstand, or on a cluttered desk the portrait mode would work best. With that said, if there’s room for it, the landscape looks awesome and it compliments pretty much any decor.

The 10-watt speaker, and two passive tweeters are fairly nice, but it’s not what you want to use for really diving into music or starting a party. It gets loud enough, sure, but it doesn’t have the range you get from other Bluetooth speakers.

We’ve enjoyed playing music, casting YouTube TV, and other audiovisual media if, for no other reason, than to have an extra place to consume content. If you’re using the Smart Display for recipes, timers, alarms, and other daily needs, the sound experience is great. The same goes for taking in a podcast. You can easily fill a room with a respectable sound.

Unlike the Google Home Hub, the Lenovo Smart Display houses a front-facing camera. Don’t be alarmed, though, as you can slide a shutter over it to block it out. This was the sort of peace of mind we hoped for as we moved the device to the bedroom for a few days. Similarly, there is an option to toggle the microphones, too. Rest easy knowing Google isn’t listening to you talking in your sleep.

The two microphones do an excellent job of recognizing voices, particularly those you’ve set up with Google Assistant. As you may already know, it behaves differently when different people use it.

Google replies with specifics when you ask your phone how your day looks or to remind you of upcoming appointments. But, that doesn’t mean your spouse can’t pick up the phone to use it for other, broad purposes. That’s the same situation with the Smart Display.

Setup

Setup is surprisingly easy. If you’ve ever used a Google Home or Google Home Mini, you know what it’s like. In essence, you use the Google Home app and follow a few steps as the device is found and registered on your network.

We’ve moved it from home to the office and found it really simple to set up. The only thing we’d caution is to go into the settings and have the device “forget” the current Wi-Fi network before taking it to another location. Once off the registered network you’ll not be able to communicate between phone and device.

Once you’re up and running, you are able to tap into Google Assistant right away. Ask Google whatever questions you have, direct it to play a video, or look up a recipe. This is where the fun begins.

Usage and Features

Having a display for Google Assistant is pretty damn cool. If you’ve ever asked to broadcast “it’s dinner time”, you know it’s accompanied by a dinner bell. Here, you get visual representations, too. So, when mom tells you to come downstairs to eat, and you’ve got your headphones on, your Smart Display will show fun, attention-getting animations.

When used for recipes, for instance, you get sharp, large text with a standardized format and photos. Tap the button to get going and you’ll get prompts to preheat the oven with a nice large readout of 350 degrees.

We found that we’ve significantly increased our usage of Google Assistant in the time we’ve spent with the Smart Display. Instead of setting reminders on our phone or putting in a cooking timer on the oven we simply said, “Hey Google, set a timer for 15 minutes”. Doing so gives us large clock which counts down until zero when it rings and flashes an image.

While much of what we do with the Smart Display is done via voice, the screen does reply nicely to touch. What’s more, navigation is intuitive hassle-free.

Swipe from the left and you find it acts like a “back” button. If you’re listening to a podcast, you can swipe back to the home screen or ambient screen saver. Swipe up from the bottom and you can adjust volume and brightness.

You won’t find very many screens to go through, which we found to be refreshing. Too much stuff tends to feel like clutter and leads to a confusing experience. It takes all of a few minutes to figure out how things work here and what you’ll see.

The Google Home app gives you control over what you get to see. Let’s say you don’t want to see your personal photos splashed across the screen or show your calendar appointments. That’s all really easy to change and you’re never stuck with any particular settings.

One thing we’d like to see in Google Home is the ability to add merge more than one account. It would be nice to see both our personal and work calendar but that’s not a shortcoming of the device.

Making and receiving calls via Google Duo is pretty interesting, and is probably the most compelling reason for the service yet. We could imagine having these throughout the home or office so it makes sense that contacts can reach us as easily as they would through a phone.

Thinking more broadly, it doesn’t seem a stretch to consider an update which allows room-to-room calls or video chat from one office to another. The more we outfit our homes with smart displays with cameras, the more helpful they become. A mom can ask to see a baby’s room regardless of where she is in the house. A co-worker can go over the TPS report with management without leaving the cubicle.

We love using the Smart Display as a screen for casting our apps. Whether that’s from our phones with YouTube TV in the kitchen, or Google Play Music from a web browser in the living room, it’s a seamless experience.

It might only be 10-inches, and sound really small, but catching up on the news is awesome when putting dishes away. Forget about pausing live TV or recorded shows because you have to hang up laundry. Cast to your Smart Display and make sure you catch that touchdown drive.

Conclusion

The Smart Display might be manufactured by Lenovo but it is Google through and through — and that’s awesome. We use its services for search, Chrome, Gmail, calendar appointments, YouTube, and much, much more. This is a piece of hardware that ties many of those things together, and it does it in a uniform and interesting experience.

We would love to see how this works in portrait mode and hope that an update is not far away. Upright could change things quite a bit and force us to reconsider how and where we use it.

We’ve already increased our Google Assistant use with just one of these devices. A second one, or one in another location such as work, feels like the next move.

Although Google Home and Google Assistant have been around a few years, we’re just starting to kick things into gear. Devices like the Lenovo Smart Display make us giddy with anticipation over where we might be a year or two down the road.

As of the time of publication we were not able to use the Home Hub features or add the Smart Display to a group. Both of these issues will be resolved in an update which should arrive in the coming weeks.

Availability

You can purchase the Lenovo Smart Display in 8-inch and 10-inch options for $179.99 and $249.99, respectively. It’s available at lenovo.com as well as through retailers like Best Buy, Office Depot, and Newegg.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 hands-on: The bezel-less slider phone

Slider phones are back and I couldn’t be happier. Nothing beats that satisfying snap as the phone clicks back into place. Xiaomi has updated the form factor for 2018 though, with a large bezel-free display, four cameras and premium ceramic build material. This is our Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 hands-on.

What strikes you when you see the Mi Mix 3 is its screen. A 6.39-inch Full HD+ AMOLED panel from Samsung with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 600-nit peak brightness occupies 93.4 percent of the phone. There’s no notch and only the smallest chin beneath the screen, which is covered in Gorilla Glass 5. You can enable an always-on display in the settings and you can adjust the color temperature of the display.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 delivers a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with 93.4% screen-to-body ratio and no notch.

Pick up the Mi Mix 3 and the first thing you’ll notice is its weight; it is easily among the heaviest phones I’ve ever used. At 218 grams, it’s 10 percent heavier than either the Vivo Nex (199 grams) or the Galaxy Note 9 (201 grams). The Mi Mix 3 is a little slimmer and shorter than the Note 9, but has a more aggressive curve on the ceramic back panel so it feels a little less “edgy.”

The manual sliding mechanism is the standout feature here, with neodymium magnets used to lock the slider in place when open or closed. As you start to push the display in or out you encounter slight resistance as the magnets interact and then get that nostalgic click as the screen pops into place. It feels great and Xiaomi claims it can withstand 300,000 cycles. Unlike other phones with hidden cameras, the mechanism is fully manual, so no motor is required. This is a much better solution and much less likely to suffer from failure.

The manual slider mechanism uses neodymium magnets to lock the screen in place. It’s cool, nostalgic, and infinitely satisfying.

The default slider action is to launch the front-facing camera, but it can also be customized to answer incoming calls or launch certain apps. The slider sounds can be swapped out too, so adding a lightsaber noise is easy as pie. Speaking of pie, the Mi Mix 3 launches with MIUI 10 and Android 9 Pie out of the box. When the Mi Mix 3 is in landscape mode while gaming, sliding the screen over will reveal an in-game menu to hide notifications, record the screen, or take a screenshot.

The slider isn’t just for fun. Like other bezel-free phones including the Oppo Find X and Vivo Nex, the front-facing camera only pops up when required. If you’re not using the face unlocking sensor or the front-facing camera, the phone can stay in its default state. So it’s only when you want a selfie or need to unlock your phone that you need to slide the screen down to reveal the cameras. The extra layer of security adds some peace of mind.

The front-facing camera only pops up when required and there’s no motor to worry about.

Those front-facing cameras are a 24MP Sony IMX576 with 1.8-micron pixels and f/2.2 aperture lens and a secondary 2MP camera for portrait mode and bokeh effects. The main sensor uses pixel binning in low-light situations to combine light data from four adjacent pixels, dropping the resolution to 6MP and then upscaling the image back to 24MP. AI-supported portrait mode, studio lighting effects, and AI beautify settings round out the selfie options. I noticed some lens flares at the bottom of the frame, presumably from the overhead light bouncing off the edge of the screen section which sits right below the camera lens.

There’s an included case in the Mi Mix 3 box that has a cutaway at the bottom, so you can still slide the screen down with a case on. The USB Type-C cable in the box also has a kind of scalloped sheath so you can charge your Mi Mix 3 and still use the slider (other USB Type-C cables don’t let you do this). There’s a free 10W wireless charger in the box and 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A charging brick (with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0).

The battery is a diminutive 3,200mAh cell, with the slider mechanism to blame for the smaller battery capacity. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ if you want to buy an optional additional charger, as well as the regular Qi standard.

Flipping the phone over, the familiar ceramic build material and camera layout remain intact, with a stylish MIX logo towards the bottom. A capacitive fingerprint scanner provides options if you don’t want to use the face unlocking on the front. The Mi Mix 3 includes NFC for contactless payments.

The bottom edge has twin speaker grilles but only the one on the right is a speaker, the other just conceals a microphone. It gets decently loud and doesn’t sound terrible either, but it’s a far cry from excellent. It goes without saying there’s nowhere to include a headphone jack on a slider phone and I’d do my best to keep the Mi Mix 3 away from water as it’s not IP rated. You’ll find a 3.5mm-to-USB-Type-C adapter included in the box so you can easily use your existing wired headphones.

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The dual cameras on the back are both 12MP sensors. The main sensor is a Sony IMX363 with 1.4-micron pixels and dual pixel autofocus. An f/1.8 aperture lens sits on top with four axis OIS. The secondary sensor is a Samsung S5K3M3+ with 1-micron pixels and a 2x optical f/2.4 aperture lens in front.

Both cameras support various AI modes, but the main Sony sensor is the one handling 960fps slow-motion video (at 1080p or 720p). It’s not true 960fps like you’d find on a Galaxy Note 9 though, as the IMX363 doesn’t have built-in DRAM on which to store such high frame rates before offloading them to the image buffer. The Mi Mix 3 uses frame interpolation to achieve 960fps, meaning it won’t be as high quality as that found on a device with built-in DRAM on the sensor.

Xiaomi made a big deal about the Mi Mix 3’s low-light performance via night mode, posting side-by-side images with the Huawei P20 Pro showing the Mi Mix 3 to be superior. Some of the differences were pretty minimal, and we’d have to put the Mi Mix 3 up against the latest from Huawei, the Mate 20 Pro, to see if Xiaomi has truly outpaced its Chinese competitor in the low-light stakes. I don’t have a Mate 20 Pro with me in Beijing, so you’ll have to wait a little longer for that comparison. The Mi Mix 3 achieves its low-light results via multi-frame noise reduction, AI light metering, and AI image stabilization and calibration.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 specs top out at 10GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with the Snapdragon 845 for ~$720.

The rest of the specs of the Mi Mix 3 are top notch, with the Snapdragon 845 mobile platform with Adreno 630 GPU running the show. There are several variants of the Mi Mix 3: 6GB with 128GB of storage, 8GB with 128GB, 8GB with 256GB and a special limited-edition “Forbidden City Palace Museum” version with 10GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Prices are as follows: 6GB/128GB 3,299 yuan (~$475); 8GB/128GB 3,599 yuan (~$520); 8GB/256GB 3,999 yuan (~$575); 10GB/256GB special edition 4,999 (~$720). All versions use UFS 2.1 flash memory and LPDDR4x RAM.

Xiaomi’s voice assistant, Xiao AI, can be accessed via the dedicated assistant button on the left of the phone. It will likely be replaced by Google Assistant on the global version but I couldn’t get this confirmed. 5G support will be coming on the limited edition version but not until next year. As always, take any claims of “5G” with a pinch of salt. You’ll need your carrier to support it at any rate. The Mi Mix 3 thankfully features global bands.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 comes in three colors – onyx black, jade green, and sapphire blue – the most Xiaomi has ever offered at launch. It will be available in China on November 1, with select global markets to follow. There are currently no confirmed launch markets or prices outside China.

What do you think of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3? Would you buy one if it comes to your market?

First iPhone XR Orders Begin Arriving to Customers in Australia and New Zealand

Apple customers in Australia and New Zealand are always the first to get their hands on new devices on launch day because of time zone differences, and the iPhone XR is no exception.

It’s now morning time in Australia and New Zealand and customers who pre-ordered one of Apple’s new devices are beginning to receive their shipments. New iPhone XR owners have started sharing photos of the device on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and the MacRumors forums.

There are no Apple Stores located in New Zealand, so customers in Australia were the first to be able to purchase an iPhone XR from an Apple retail location. Given that iPhone XR stock quantities remained strong following pre-orders on October 19, Apple should have plenty of stock available for walk-in purchases around the world.

iPhone XR’s are here! #iPhoneXR @MacRumors pic.twitter.com/iPaK7IOqay

— Michael Topschij 🤓 (@MichaelTopschij) October 25, 2018

Following New Zealand and Australia, iPhone XR sales will kick off in Asia, Europe, and finally, North America. Apple Stores globally are opening up at 8:00 a.m. local time to allow customers to pick up reserved devices and make walk-in purchases.

In the United States, the first new device deliveries and sales will take place on the East Coast starting at 8:00 a.m.

View this post on Instagram

#Iphonexr #2degrees #white #black #blue #yellow #coral #red 👌👌

A post shared by Kritisha Kant (@kritishak) on Oct 25, 2018 at 1:47pm PDT

Aside from Apple, other retailers including carriers and big box stores are also stocking the iPhone XR and should have supply available for launch day purchases.

We’ll be sharing first impressions of the new device from actual Apple customers in Australia and New Zealand, so make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors and if you’ve received one of the new iPhone XR models, let us know what you think.

Related Roundup: iPhone XRBuyer’s Guide: iPhone XR (Buy Now)
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Microsoft plans to overhaul a central feature of Windows 10

With Windows 10 getting major updates twice a year, the operating system is always seeing new improvements. In a new one of these updates, Microsoft is overhauling the Windows search feature, now beta testing indexing changes with Windows 10 19H1 Fast Ring build 18267.

Noted on the Windows Insider Blog, Microsoft’s search improvements involve enabling Windows to index and search all folders and drives, instead of limiting it to the default documents, pictures, and videos folders.

Currently, the feature is only available in preview testing and isn’t turned on by default. For consumers beta testing Fast Ring build 18267, it can be enabled by heading to Windows settings and selecting “Enhanced” under Windows search settings. The indexing will then take about 15 minutes and Microsoft recommends to plug in before starting since indexing can be a resource intense activity.

As the Windows Insider beta testing program often sets out to do, the change was built on the feedback of those who found that Windows search needed improvements.

“When the indexing is complete, you’ll be able to find all your files almost instantly when you use Windows Search. To exclude a folder from search, add it to the Excluded Folders list. Thanks for your feedback about search and the indexer. These improvements were made because of your input. Keep the feedback coming,” said Microsoft.

Microsoft is officially calling the new mode “Enhanced Search” and it will be interesting to see if it will make Windows searches more accurate and less painful. Regardless, the experience could still be buggy, as it is being previewed with an early beta version of the next update to Windows 10. The name can also change, too, and it might even be removed, as Windows 10 preview features have come and gone in the past.

This is just the latest set of changes coming in the next version of Windows 10 as a previous preview recently introduced the ability to remove more of the pre-installed Microsoft apps on a PC. The same Windows 10 19H1 Fast Ring build 18267 also adds in Vietnamese Telex and Number key-based keyboards, more symbols on the touch keyboard, and several improvements for Windows narrator.

There is still no solid date yet for when standard non-beta Windows users can expect these features on their PCs. Windows 10 updates are typically released around April and again around October.

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