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Showing posts from September, 2018

Samsung Galaxy Watch 'Golf Edition' now on sale in South Korea

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Do you like to go golfing? Is  the normal Samsung Galaxy Watch  just not doing it for you? If so, Samsung has the solution - a special 'Golf Edition' of its latest smartwatch. It's pre-loaded with the Smart Caddie application, which displays geographical information about a desired course. Samsung says the watch was developed in collaboration with Golfzon Deca, a golf rangefinder manufacturer in South Korea. It can keep track of your shots, and the battery should last long enough for three rounds of golf (54 holes). Unfortunately, the watch is only available in South Korea at the moment - a heartbreaking loss for golf-lovers in other parts of the world, no doubt. The 46mm and 42mm models cost 409,700 won (US$367) and 389,900 won ($351), respectively.

New Huawei Watch with 'scientific sleep tracking' passes through the FCC

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The original Huawei Watch was one of the best Wear OS devices ever produced, but  its successor was a disappointment by comparison . Huawei said earlier this year that  a new smartwatch "won't be released anytime soon,"  but it appears a new model is now in the final stages of development. A new watch with the model number 'FTN-B19' just passed through the FCC. The filing is extremely sparse on hardware details, unless you're super interested in wireless transmissions.  One document  reveals that the watch will both NFC (for Google Pay) and GPS. There doesn't appear to be any mention of cellular connectivity - only Bluetooth. The charging dock will also connect to a power source via USB Type-C, so you'll have one less power brick to lug around. The  SAR evaluation report  states the watch will have heart rate monitoring, a 410mAh battery, and "scientific sleep monitoring." Finally, the  label ID document  shows a single screenshot of

Lenovo teases bendable phone - again

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Not content to let others have all the fun in October, Lenovo has decided to tease an announcement of its own, showing off a flexible phone. If you feel like you’ve heard this story before, it’s probably because you have; Lenovo introduced us to  a bendable wrist-phone in 2016 . That concept device never made it to market so the latest news might seem like a similar PR stunt. In a  video originally posted to the company’s Weibo account , what seems to be a working, bendable phone is briefly demoed. The device continues to scroll and allow touch input as it is folded into roughly an 80-degree angle. A couple of dark spots are seen on the screen. While they could simply be a result of demonstration abuse, one spot is clearly centered directly on the bend. Lenovo's post on Weibo showing the flexible phone. The translated post reads “Let’s see you in October,” with no mention of a particular date. There’s also the mention of something about a fork and being "very bad

Google posts September's Android platform distribution numbers, still no Pie

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SERIES: ANDROID PLATFORM DISTRIBUTION UPDATES This article is part of our  Android Platform Distribution Updates  series. PREVIOUS ARTICLE SHOW ALL NEXT ARTICLE 74 62 71 37 88 In what is becoming a tradition, Google has published  new Android platform distribution numbers  for September before the month is even over. In fact, Google bumped the numbers once in the middle of September, which is a bit peculiar. Whatever the motivation, it wasn't to show off the impact Android 9 Pie has made, as the latest version of Android is still apparently sitting below the 0.1% threshold for inclusion. The numbers below were gathered from the Play Store over a 7-day period ending on September 28th. Android version stats, September 2018 Android version Previous data (%) Current data (%) Change (pp) 2.3 0.3 0.3 0 4.0 0.3 0.3 0 4.1 1.2 1.1 -0.1 4.2 1.8 1.6 -0.2 4.3 0.5 0.5 0 4.4 8.6 7.8 -0.8 5.0 3.8 3.6 -0.2 5.1 15.4 14.7 -0.7 6.0 22.7 21.6

Samsung Galaxy Note9 gets camera quality improvements in latest update

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The Galaxy Note9, arguably one of the  best (and most expensive) Android phones  you can buy right now, recently received an update. Despite getting bumped to the September security patch, the Note9 also received some camera quality improvements, including brightening faces in backlit conditions and HDR control accuracy. Here's the changelog: What's new Security patch level: September 1, 2018 Camera picture quality has been improved Brightness of faces in backlit conditions has been improved Day/Night HDR control accuracy has been improved Low light brightness and SNR (signal noise reduction) has been improved The Note9 already boasts a very good camera, so any improvements to it only serve to make an excellent thing even better. Unfortunately, none of us at AP have received the update, so we haven't had the opportunity to get some before and after comparisons for you all. So, we'll just have to take Samsung's word for it. Screenshot: Hank

Weekend poll: Do you subscribe to YouTube Premium?

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Almost everyone watches YouTube — if not regularly, at least occasionally. The service is a functional monopoly when it comes to online video. It's also ad-supported, and while those advertisements aren't anywhere near as annoying or ridiculous as contemporary television, they are a noticeable part of using YouTube. With benefits like offline use, background playback, YouTube Music, and no advertisements, I'm curious how many of our readers have elected to pay for  YouTube Premium . It runs $11.99 a month here in the US, though many of us have slid by on pre-Premium grandfathered plans. The ad-free subscription used to go by the humorously salacious name of YouTube Red at $9.99 a month, and early bird subscribers to Play Music All Access are still only paying $7.99 a month for service which includes it — though later folks had to pay $9.99. YouTube Premium also has a handful of  exclusive content . I'll be honest, I've never actually watched any of it or

Leak reveals Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Pro 6 might lack USB-C ports

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Microsoft is holding a Surface hardware event on Tuesday (October 2nd) in New York City, and a new leak reveals the company will announce a Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Pro 6. We’d been expecting Microsoft to refresh both these devices at the event, but we’d also been assuming the new hardware would come with modern USB-C ports. Germany site  WinFuture  claims  that neither the Surface Laptop 2 or Surface Pro 6 will include USB-C ports. Instead, Microsoft is said to be sticking with its trusted mini DisplayPort and Surface Connector combo for connecting to displays and charging the device. If the report is genuine then this would be a surprising move from Microsoft, and it would also match rumored  leaked photos of the Surface Laptop 2 . The software maker has introduced USB-C on both the Surface Book 2 and Surface Go devices, and to not refresh its flagship Surface Pro and Surface Laptop with the same connector seems like an odd choice. WinFuture  also claims the base model of

How to delete Facebook

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If you’ve finally given up on the world’s most popular social media network — be it from the Cambridge Analytica scandal or today’s news that unknown hackers stole access to 50 million accounts — it’s not too complicated to remove yourself from the service. But before you delete all of those pictures, posts, and Likes, you should download your personal information from Facebook first. Your Facebook archives contain just about  all of the pertinent information related to your account , including your photos, active sessions, chat history, IP addresses, facial recognition data, and which ads you clicked, just to name a few. That’s a ton of personal information that you should probably maintain access to. To download your archive, go to “Settings” and click “Download a copy of your Facebook data” at the bottom of General Account Settings, and then click “Start My Archive.” After you’ve finished downloading your archive, you can now delete your account. Beware: once you delete y

Huawei's latest update for the P20 Pro disables the camera's Master AI feature by default

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Huawei is proud of the fact that the P20 Pro sits atop the DxOMark Mobile rankings. The company attributes that feat in large part to its Master AI feature, which basically detects scenes via the viewfinder in real time and adjusts camera settings accordingly. In theory, it's a nifty innovation; in reality, the results are mixed. Huawei has apparently received enough unfavorable feedback about Master AI to compel the company to disable the feature by default in its latest update for its flagship smartphone. Huawei's latest update for the P20 Pro, build number CLT-L29 8.1.9.156(C432), notes that Master AI is now disabled by default, though it can be re-enabled manually by going into the camera settings and toggling it back on. The 525MB update also brings the August 2018 security patch. A screenshot of the latest P20 Pro update (via GSMArena) Android Planet , an Android news site based in the Netherlands, reached out to Huawei Netherlands and received this response