Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung Galaxy S22 series will reportedly only feature Qualcomm chips

Samsung is reportedly taking a different approach with the processor featured in its upcoming Galaxy S22 series smartphones.

According to LetsGoDigital — which says it was tipped off by ‘Super Roader,’ a former Samsung employee — the company recently decided to forgo the use of its Exynos 2200 chip in its upcoming Galaxy S22 series.

This news means that all Samsung S22 models will be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor even in Europe and Asia. Previous reports indicated that Samsung planned to bring the Qualcomm chip variant to Africa and parts of Asia, but it looks like the South Korean company has decided to take a different route.

Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series will reportedly be very similar to last year’s handsets. Rumours indicate the S22 will sport a 6.1-inch display, with the S22+ model featuring a 6.6-inch AMOLED screen.

The top-end S22 Ultra model is rumoured to feature an S Pen compartment, alongside a 6.8-inch rounded display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a brighter display.

All three smartphones are also tipped to feature the cameras that are nearly identical to the S21 line’s shooters. Samsung’s S22 series is rumoured to launch in either February or January of next year.

Source: LetsGoDigital 

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Mobile Syrup

Xbox Cloud Gaming is now widely available on Xbox consoles in Canada

Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft’s video game streaming service, is now available to all Xbox console gamers in Canada and 24 other regions.

Some Xbox Insiders have had access to the feature since late September, but this marks an official, wide rollout to everyone.

With Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One owners can stream supported ‘Cloud’ Game Pass titles to their consoles. Doing so offers a few unique benefits. Firstly, streaming means you don’t have to download or update the games, which frees up space, especially on the all-digital Series S. This even applies if you receive an update from a friend for a game you haven’t downloaded — you can just jump right in to join them.

What’s more, streaming allows Xbox One owners to play games that are otherwise only natively playable on the Series X/S. For now, this includes Recompile, The Medium, and The Riftbreaker, but other titles, like Microsoft Flight Simulator, will be supported in the future.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is also available on mobile and web browsers as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which costs $16.99 CAD/month. This membership also provides access to Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC and EA Play.

You can also get your first month of Game Pass Ultimate for $1. It’s also worth noting that a three-month Game Pass Ultimate subscription will be on sale for $29.99 ($20 off) at GameStop Canada for Black Friday.

The console launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming comes as Microsoft is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Xbox, which fell on November 15th. To commemorate the milestone, the company added dozens of new backwards compatible Xbox games and launched Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer early. Xbox’s November system update, which adds colour filters, accessibility tags and more, is also rolling out now.

Source: Xbox

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Mobile Syrup

Save up to 50 percent with Staples’ Black Friday pricing

Staples’ latest batch of Black Friday deals have been released, with up to 50 percent off on several electronics and gadgets.

Find some notable deals below:

Laptops

PCs

Monitors

Tablets

Headphones

Speakers

It’s worth noting that demand for these products at Black Friday pricing is high, so some devices on the list might be out of stock by the time you get to them. The sale is expected to end on November 25th.

Several other product categories that aren’t mentioned in the list above, including smart home accessories, printers, video games, office furniture, cameras and drones are on sale too. Find all deals under Staples’ Black Friday pricing sale here.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.

Source: Staples

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Mobile Syrup

Spam calls no more: STIR/SHAKEN will be implemented by end of month, says CRTC chair

Canada’s telecom giants have until November 30th to help customers validate the legitimacy of a caller.

Ian Scott, the chair of the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), shared the news at the Canadian Telecom Summit on November 15th. He explained the change will allow a provider to determine if a caller ID can be trusted by verifying them.

“Bad actors who have no interest in following the rules [and] have been contributing to an erosion of confidence in the telecommunications system,” he said in his speech.

Scott told the CBC more than 25 percent of calls made are robocalls.

STIR/SHAKEN technology, a framework that authenticates caller ID, will be used.

Secure Telephony Information Revisited, or STIR for short, allows carriers to validate a caller. Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information using Tokens (SHAKEN) is the framework that’s utilized by network providers.

The deadline to implement the change has been expanded in the past. Originally set for March 2019, the deadline was extended to September 2020, and again to June 2021. The change will be effective at the end of the month.

According to the CBC, caller IDs could come up with a red or green light, showing if the ID has been verified or not.

Scott shared Bell has applied to permanently block calls the network labels as scammers so the call never reaches the customer. “Bell has been testing this technology over the past two years and it has blocked more than 1.1 billion calls—that’s billion, with a B—between July 2020 and October 2021,” he said in his speech.

Bell told MobileSyrup the company has improved its IP-enabled wireless and wireline networks and expedited the delivery and testing of authentication equipment in preparation for the deadline.

“Bell supports the CRTC’s various efforts to protect Canadians from the harmful effects of nuisance, fraud, and misidentified voice calling, including the November 30 implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, just one of many such protective measures,” said Bell to MobileSyrup in a statement.

Rogers also told MobileSyrup that the carrier is on track to roll out the feature by the end of the month.

We’ve reached out to Telus and Freedom Mobile for more information regarding if the carriers will meet the deadline.

Source: CBC

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung’s Early Black Friday Sale discounts TVs, phones, laptops, earbuds and more

Samsung’s ‘Early Black Friday Sale’ is on now, offering free Galaxy Buds Pros with purchase, $100 credits depending on what you buy and more.

Here are the deals below:

Samsung has a ton more Early Black Friday deals available until November 26th. It’s worth noting that on Black Friday Samsung will probably offer even more promotions.

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Mobile Syrup

343 Industries is likely already planning to fix Halo Infinite’s battle pass

Halo Infinite’s multiplayer mode has been great so far with one notable exception — it takes forever to level up the game’s battle pass.

For example, I’ve played roughly 6-7 hours of Infinite over the last two days and I’m only at level 4 (and yes, I do the challenges). Thankfully, 343 Industries has plans to fix this, according to the game’s community director, Brian Jarrard.

On Twitter, Jarrard says that the development team is monitoring battle pass progression and will shift how it works in the future.

It’s also important to note that Halo Infinite‘s early multiplayer release and Season 1 of its $13 battle pass are still in beta. It’s possible that 343 Industries could even solve the battle pass progression issues before the game’s full release on December 8th.

With all of this in mind, we’ll likely see a significant patch for Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer officially drop in a few weeks.

Halo Infinite‘s free-to-play multiplayer mode is available on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The full version of the game, which also includes its anticipated single-player campaign, releases on December 8th.

Source: @ske7ch

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Mobile Syrup

Shaw Mobile rolls out Black Friday deals with savings on iPhone, Samsung

Shaw Mobile rolled out its Black Friday with some deals and discounts on smartphones and plans.

The only real catch with Shaw Mobile is that to get some of the best deals, you’ll need to have a Shaw internet package as well. If you do, great! You can get some excellent discounts. Check it out:

As for plans, Shaw Mobile currently offers three options: ‘By The Gig,’ ‘Unlimited’ and ‘Unlimited + U.S. & Mexico.’

By The Gig plans cost between $0 and $15 per month, depending on your internet package, and include unlimited Canada-wide calling and global texting. Data costs $10 per gigabyte.

The Unlimited plan costs between $25 and $85 per month, depending on your Shaw internet package. It includes 25GB of LTE data at full speed on Shaw’s network, with speeds throttled beyond that point. The plan includes 2GB of LTE data on the Nationwide network as well. Finally, it has Unlimited Canada-wide calling and global texting.

Finally, the U.S. & Mexico variant costs $35 to $95 per month and is the same as the Unlimited plan, but with access to data, calls and texts in the U.S. and Mexico.

You can check out all of Shaw Mobile’s Black Friday deals here. Alternatively, you can find Freedom Mobile’s Black Friday deals here, or check out our round-up of carrier sales here.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple launches DIY repair program for iPhone and Mac, starts selling official parts and tools

Fundamentally shifting how it’s approached product repairs for the past several years, Apple has revealed plans to start selling official parts and tools to allow iPhone and Mac owners to repair their devices at home.

Along with official tools, the tech giant will also offer instructions regarding how to repair its devices. Apple says that this program will start with the iPhone 12/iPhone 13 and that the next device to be added to its DIY repair list is Macs powered by its M1 chip. Regarding repairs, iPhone owners will be able to replace their iPhone’s display, battery and camera using parts directly from Apple.

Previously, official repair options were only available at Apple Stores and officially licensed third-party repair stores. Of course, the company emphasizes that the program is designed for “individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices” and that the average Apple device user should still bring their device to a professional to be fixed.

It’s also important to note that attempting a DIY repair with Apple’s tools won’t void the device’s warranty, according to TechCrunch. Last year, Apple started selling “genuine” parts to third-party repair shops.

MobileSyrup can confirm that Apple’s ‘Self Service Repair’ program will launch in the U.S. first early next year but that it will expand to “additional countries throughout 2022.” It’s currently unclear if Canada will be included in this list or how much parts will cost.

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

Freedom Mobile include big discounts on iPhones and Pixel 6

Freedom Mobile’s Black Friday deals are now live, featuring deals on smartphones and plans.

Below you’ll find some of the highlight phone deals plus a list of Black Friday plans on offer.

Note: the below prices include Freedom’s $5 Digital Discount in the price.

Phones

You can check out all the smartphone deals at Freedom here.

Plans

Note: The below list focuses on plans with added bonuses and does not include all Freedom plans.

Big Gig Unlimited

  • $50/mo 20GB with $0.05/min Talk, Unlimited Text and 500MB Nationwide Data
  • $60/mo 20GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 1GB Nationwide Data
  • $75/mo 25GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB Nationwide Data
  • $85/mo 40GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 2GB Nationwide Data

Big Gig Unlimited Canada/U.S.

  • $85/mo 30GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 3GB Nationwide + U.S. Data
  • $115/mo 50GB with Unlimited Talk, Text and 5GB Nationwide + U.S. Data

Freedom Plans

  • $35/mo 4GB with Unlimited Talk and Text
  • $40/mo 8GB with Unlimited Talk and Text
  • $45/mo 12GB with Unlimited Talk and Text
  • $50/mo 15GB with Unlimted Talk, Text and 500MB of Nationwide Data

You can check out all of Freedom Mobile’s plans here.

For more Canadian carrier Black Friday deals, check out our round-up here.

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung Canada offers massive discounts on TVs, smartphones and portable SSD in latest sale

Samsung Canada is jumping on the tech deals train and slashed the price of several items on Amazon Canada. Some of these deals seem to be a one-day drop, while others will extend into next week.

Below is a selection of the best offers: