Items tagged with 5G
2020 is the year of 5G wireless connectivity for smartphones, and Qualcomm is looking to blanket all sectors with its Snapdragon chipsets. At the high-end, we have the Snapdragon 865 with its separate Snapdragon X55 5G modem. In the "premium" mid-range sector, we have the Snapdragon 765/765G/768G with their integrated Snapdragon X52 modems. Now, Qualcomm is looking to go further down-market to bring 5G connectivity to the masses with the Snapdragon 690 SoC. This isn't just a case of Qualcomm slapping a 5G modem onboard and calling it a day; the company has made some significant changes compared to other 600-Series chips that makes it stand out. For starters, it still features a big.LITTLE...
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A 5G "blocking" device called 5GBioShield is being sold in Europe for £339, which is about $418 here in the United States. The device claims to block 5G signals that some people fear contribute to the spread of COVID-19, among other things. The bizarre device claims to use a "holographic nano-layer catalyzer" to block the alleged dangers of 5G using mysterious quantum technology. If your BS detector isn't completely pegged, it should be. Stephen Knight, operations director for an organization called London Trading Standards, recently told the BBC that "we consider it to be a scam." Knight is currently working with the city of London Police's Action Fraud squad and is seeking a court order...
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Samsung is fleshing out its family of home brewed processors with 5G connectivity, though its latest addition is not aimed at the flagship market. Instead, the new Exynos 880 has mid-range handsets in its sights. It is also similar in design the Exynos 980, though there are some key differences between the two SoCs. The Exynos 880 is an octa-core processor. Two of the cores are high-powered Arm Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.0GHz, while the other six are Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. It also features a Mali-G76 GPU and an integrated neural processing unit (NPU). If we stopped there, it would be easy to mistake this for a Exynos 980 at first glance, because the specifications are so similar....
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Motorola had hoped to take the smartphone market by storm with a nostalgic nameplate and a sleek design with its reimagined Razr, but the device instead landed with a thud. Early complaints revolved around its high price tag ($1,499), hinge durability concerns, and its lackluster Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC (given the price tag). However, Motorola is looking to right those wrongs with the release of a Razr 2 later this year – September to be exact. That’s a rather quick turnaround for a refresh given that the first-generation device just launched in early February. According to new reporting, the Razr 2 is being developed under the model name XT2071-4, and will come with...
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Smartphone makers are in a constant bid to outdo one another and develop unique features that will set their offerings apart from the competition. This has led to the advent of folding phones, like Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X. Not quite following in those footsteps, LG has something else in mind for a dual-screen device. LG is apparently working on a device it is calling "Wing" due to the design of the second screen. It sits behind the primary display and can be flipped to the front in a horizontal position, created a winged (or T-shaped) form factor. It is sort of like what you see in the image above, though that is not an actual product render of the Wing. According to a Korean-language...
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Given that Qualcomm is the dominant force in the Android realm when it comes to mobile SoCs, it’s easy to forget that there are other competitors out there like Samsung’s Exynos family and offerings from MediaTek. MediaTek raised eyebrows last year with its flagship Dimensity 1000 flagship SoC that offered an integrated 5G modem, and today, the company is announcing an update to that chip called the Dimensity 1000+. While this is not a complete architectural overhaul, its “+” suffix does bring with it some welcome enhancements over the standard Dimensity 1000. For starters, there is now support for 144Hz displays, which should make the SoC more appealing to smartphone...
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Believe it or not, it actually bears repeating that 5G cell towers do not contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Seems obvious, right? Some people just aren't hearing it, though, and are not only intentionally damaging cell towers over the perceived threat, they are threatening telecom engineers with bodily harm. The situation has gone from laughable ridiculous to frighteningly stupid in a very short time period. It was reported around the beginning of April that conspiracy theorists were setting fire to and otherwise vandalizing cell towers in the United Kingdom over false claims there is some sort of link between 5G radio transmissions and the spread of the Coronavirus. This spread of misinformation...
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The OnePlus Pro 8 has leaked numerous times over the past few months, and the company's CEO has even "teased" certain aspects of the device including first-ever (for the company) wireless charging support. Today, however, the OnePlus 8 Pro is finally official, and it offers quite a lot of bang for the buck. As you might expect for a 2020 flagship, the OnePlus 8 Pro is powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 865 SoC, which is paired with the Snapdragon X55 5G modem. 5G availability in the United States is pretty spotty right now, but it is expected to quickly expand in 2020 with wide penetration in 2021. Of course, OnePlus isn't new to 5G, as the company offered the next-generation wireless...
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People with too much time on their hands and a penchant for conspiracy theories have set ablaze or otherwise vandalized dozens of cell towers in the UK, over the unsubstantiated fear that 5G wireless is somehow responsible for spreading COVID-19. In addition, technicians for telecoms have faced harassment while on the job. Sadly, it is not just random people on the Internet who are perpetuating the conspiracy theory. Actors Woody Harrelson and John Cusack have both posted about it online. "A lot of my friends have been talking about the negative effects of 5G," Harrelson wrote on Instagram, accompanied by a screenshot of an article drawing links between the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and 5G...
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Over the years, conspiracy theorists would have us believe the moon landing was faked, there are aliens at Area 51 (I'm not entirely willing to rule this one out), and that Elvis Presley is alive and well, perhaps reminiscing with Tupac about living in the spotlight. Here's one more to add to the pile—5G cell towers are somehow responsible for spreading COVID-19, according to the latest ridiculous conspiracy theory making the rounds. Even worse, it seems some people are setting 5G cell towers ablaze in a horribly misguided, dangerous attempt to end the Coronavirus pandemic. We're not making this stuff up. This is happening in the United Kingdom, and there is a video of a burning cell tower...
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After a few false starts over the years, T-Mobile has finally completed its merger with Sprint. Sprint was the fourth place U.S. wireless carrier, with T-Mobile sitting in the third-place position. As a combined company -- which will simply be called T-Mobile -- it will remain in third place behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T in total subscriber numbers. With the announcement that the merger has been completed, enthusiastic (and often times foul-mouthed) CEO John Legere is stepping down. This executive change was first announced last year, so we knew it was coming. What was unexpected, however, was that the transition would happen a month early. It was previously stated that...
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2020 is shaping up to be the year of the 5G smartphone. Thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, nearly every flagship smartphone launching this year with have 5G capabilities. Even new mid-range smartphones have the opportunity for some 5G lovin' thanks to the Snapdragon 765/765G. With this in mind, T-Mobile is rolling out a new low-cost 5G plan for smartphones that will surely get your attention due to its price. T-Mobile Connect, which is launching this week earlier than T-Mobile had previously announced, will cost just $15 per month. For that price, you'll receive unlimited talk and text and just 2GB of high-speed 5G data. The paltry 2GB data cap is giving us a bit...
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Back in late April 2019, the Nubia Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone launched with some pretty stout specifications -- for the time -- including a Snapdragon 855 SoC, up to 12GB of RAM, a large 5000 mAh battery and a 90Hz display. Now, ZTE is back with its 2020 edition gaming phone: the Nubia Red Magic 5G. As you might expect from a flagship smartphone released in 2020, the Red Magic 5G is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 SoC, which means that it also features the Snapdragon X55 5G modem (hence the "5G" in its name). There are a number of RAM configurations available including 8GB, 12GB, and a staggering 16GB (a spec that we've seen recently with the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra). To keep...
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Quick, someone fetch a sweat rag for Samsung, because it suddenly has some competition in the ultra-high end Android smartphone space with what looks to be a worthy rival to its Galaxy S20 lineup. During a press event in China, Oppo unveiled its flagship Find X2 series consisting of the Find X2 and Find X2 Pro, both with premium features and 5G connectivity. "To deliver a holistic 5G experience to our users, Oppo is constantly innovating all aspects of our products—from screen, photography, charging, battery life, and design. The clear, smooth, and professional display of the Oppo Find X2 series sets a new standard for flagship smartphones, bringing mobile interaction and display experience...
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Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon XR2 5G platform for next-generation extended reality (XR) headsets back in late 2019. At the time, Qualcomm touted the platform's 11x uplift in AI performance and 2x improvement in CPU/GPU performance along with support for up to seven concurrent cameras on flagship headsets. Today, Qualcomm is showing off its reference design for headsets that use the Snapdragon XR2 5G platform. The current reference design maxes out the hardware capabilities of the chipset with seven cameras -- two internal for eye tracking, four exterior cameras (two of which are used for head tracking), and an additional camera for tracking facial/lip movements, or controller tracking....
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Part of the migration into 5G territory involves upgraded hardware on the consumer side, and to date, there is a spattering of devices equipped with first generation and second generation 5G modems. That is not where the road ends, however. Taking the next step in the ongoing 5G revolution, Qualcomm announced a 5G modem-to-antenna solution called Snapdragon X60. This is not something consumers will buy directly, but a high-tech solution that will find its way into upcoming smartphones. The Snapdragon X60 is the first 5-nanometer based 5G modem-RF system, and also the first to aggregate mmWave and sub-6 spectrum using frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). The general...
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Motorola may be looking to turn heads with its reimagined Razr folding smartphone, but the company also has some other interesting products in the pipeline for 2020. One of the most high-profile launches will be the Motorola One 2020 Series, which will be unveiled in late February at MWC 2020. According to information obtained from XDA-Developers, the devices will stand out from the crowd -- and other lesser Motorola smartphones -- with a waterfall display. According to the publication, the curvature is described as "80% waterfall" and is akin to what you'll find on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and Vivo Nex 3 5G. But that's not all with respect to the display; it is said to have a hole punch...
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The new year has just begun, which means that rumors concerning the next-generation iPhone are already kicking into high gear. The latest news coming from Apple's supply chain revolves around the iPhone's Face ID software and the inclusion of additional time-of-flight sensors. On the Face ID front, a report from CNBC claims that the hardware is being "refreshed" which means that Apple is likely using an upgraded TrueDepth camera sensor with faster response times. Face ID has already gotten dramatically faster since it was first introduced on the iPhone X, so we'd be eager to see how much quicker device unlocking can get with the iPhone 12. There's also the possibility that Face ID will...
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Qualcomm isn't the company looking to take over the mid-range to premium segment of the smartphone market with a new 5G mobile platform. MediaTek is also stepping into the ring with the Dimensity 800 Series, which is a lower-cost version of the Dimensity 1000 Series that was announced late last year. When it comes to performance, MediaTek has outfitted the Dimensity 800’s CPU with a big.LITTLE arrangement featuring four high-performance Cortex-A76 cores paired with four Cortex-A55 efficiency cores. Both sets of cores can operate at up to 2GHz. MediaTek has also added a Dimensity 1000-class, 4-core GPU along with its in-house APU 3.0 AI processing engine (up to 2.4 TOPs compute...
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Back in mid-May 2019, Lenovo gave us our first glimpse at the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which was billed at the time as the world’s first PC with a foldable display. At the time, the company provided a high-level overview of its specs including its 13.3-inch OLED display, unnamed (at the time) Intel processor, and Wacom pen support. Today, Lenovo is giving us a lot more details on the 2.2-pound ThinkPad X1 Fold, including the revelation that it will feature Intel Core Processors with Intel Hybrid Technology. That leads us to believe that the folding wunderkind will be powered by Intel 10nm Lakefied SoCs, which will also underpin Microsoft’s Surface Neo dual display...
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CES 2020 is currently underway, which means that there are thousands of companies that have descend upon Las Vegas to show off their latest and greatest gadgets. We're expecting to see some great technology breakthroughs from companies both big and small, but there are a number of themes that will be pervasive throughout the week. Folding Smartphones and PCs Folding smartphones first made their big debut last year with the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X. We expect that trend to continue this year, and we're bound to see some new entries from smaller players at CES this week (along with some hands-on time with the recently announced Motorola RAZR). But it's not just smartphones that...
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The 5G revolution has begun, though not necessarily in earnest—5G connectivity is still the exception to the norm, for the most part. Samsung is doing its part, though. The company has revealed it sold a staggering 6.7 million 5G-enabled Galaxy smartphones in 2019, which gives it the lead on the hardware side. According to Samsung, it rose to a 53.9 percent share of the global 5G smartphone market in November 2019. It's not clear which company is the next closest, but the fact that Samsung's hardware accounts for half of the market is an achievement worth bragging about. Whether Samsung can hold onto its lead throughout 2020 is something that will be interesting to watch. "Consumers can’t...
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