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Mobile Syrup

Huawei launches Nova 9 globally, but not in Canada

At its in-person product launch event in Vienna, Austria, Huawei revealed its latest Nova 9 4G smartphone globally, just one month after the phone’s announcement in China.

Following that, MobileSyrup confirmed with Huawei though that the phone isn’t coming to Canada. Further, its larger counterpart, Nova 9 Pro still remains exclusive to the Chinese market.

Priced at €499 (about $717 CAD), Huawei’s latest flagship features a Snapdragon 778G processor with 8GB RAM and 128/256 GB storage options. The rear of the device features a quad camera setup with a 50-megapixel main sensor, an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

On the front, the Nova 9 features a curved 6.57-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a hole punch that houses a 32-megapixel selfie shooter. The device has a 4,300mAh battery that supports 66W charging.

Instead of running Huawei’s HarmonyOS, the device runs on EMUI 12 on top of Android 11 and has no Google services installed, including Google’s Play Store. Further, Huawei will be unable to offer apps that consumers in international markets are accustomed to without Google’s services, which limits its appeal outside China. The device is also not 5G-enabled, which is sure to hamper its adoption as well.

Additionally, Huawei announced that its Snapdragon 888-powered P50, which launched exclusively in China earlier in July, will be released globally sometime in 2022. Huawei has previously launched its P-series smartphones in Canada, including, even, its Huawei P40 Pro that featured the company’s own Kirin chipset. With the P50 launching “globally,” it’s possible that Huawei might include Canada this time.

Image credit: Huawei

Source: Huawei Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Staples, Amazon discount Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Tab S7 FE

Samsung’s 64GB Galaxy Tab S7 FE, which launched in Canada last month, is already available at a discounted rate at Amazon and Staples.

The $699 tab is currently available for $479, marking a $190 discount within a month of its release in Canada.

The Fan Edition version of the tablet features a 12.4-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600-pixel resolution. The tablet is powered by a 2.4Ghz Snapdragon 788 G chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, allowing for smooth gaming along with lag-free multitasking.

Further, the tablet features a 10,090mAh battery and sports an 8-megapixel rear shooter and 5-megapixel selfie camera. The front camera is placed on the right bezel of the tab so that when you place the tab in landscape mode for your video conferencing needs, you remain in the center of the frame.

Amazon currently has the 64GB Galaxy Tab S7 FE available in ‘Mystic Silver’, whereas Staples has the tablet in ‘Mystic Black.’

Follow the links above to purchase the tablet for $479.

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: Amazon, Staples

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Mobile Syrup

Xbox’s October update adds 4K dashboard, night mode and more

The October system update for Xbox consoles has begun to roll out.

As detailed in an Xbox blog post, the update adds features like a 4K dashboard, a night mode, and new Quick Settings. Keep reading for a more detailed breakdown:

4K dashboard

To start, Xbox Series X owners can take advantage of a dashboard that now outputs in native 4K resolution; previously, they only upscaled from 1080p to 4K.

Provided that you have a 4K display, you’ll be able to see this change reflected on Home, My Games & Apps, Guide, and many other places. Xbox says UI elements like game art and buttons will also “have increased sharpness and improved text readability.”

Night Mode

Next up is Night Mode, a suite of settings that adjusts light sources for those playing in the evening or are just generally sensitive to light. Xbox says lights can be dimmed for your connected display, the power button on your controller and even the light on the console. This is available on all Xbox consoles, but Series X and S owners also get an exclusive customizable blue light filter.

Xbox notes that these changes will apply across your Xbox system, games and apps, although they do “not impact performance, screenshots or game clips.”

What’s more, there’s also the option to create a night mode schedule so these changes will be automatically toggled depending on a given time. You can manually toggle this at any time and choose to have it apply at sunrise/sunset or based on a custom time.

These features can be found by heading to Settings > Accessibility > Night mode or Settings > TV & display options > Night mode.

Quick Settings

With the new Quick Settings menu in the Xbox Guide, you can now quickly toggle accessibility features without leaving your game or app. This menu will let you easily switch features on or off. Xbox says these changes will only apply to the particular active user profile, so families who share a console can still have their experiences tailored the way they like.

Those who want to test future Xbox updates before they go live can check out the company’s Insider program.

In other Xbox news, the company recently outlined more of its plans for the holidays, including a 20th-anniversary celebration, as well as the next batch of new Game Pass titles.

Source: Xbox

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s MacBook Pro has an SD card reader again, but only at UHS-II speeds

Apple has now confirmed the specifications for the built-in SD card slot on the new MacBook Pro. Disappointingly, the speed will max out at a little over 300MB/s.

Apple confirmed the speed to The Verge’s Dan Seifert, who posted the information to Twitter. Further, 9to5Mac shared an excellent breakdown of the various SD card standards, since it can be rather confusing.

First, there are two physical sizes of SD card — ‘full size’ SD cards and microSD cards, which are much smaller. You can get adapters to use microSD cards in full size SD card readers, however.

Next up are capacity categories, all of which the new MacBook Pros support:

  • SD (up to 2GB)
  • SDHC (up to 32GB)
  • SDXC (up to 2TB)
  • SDUC (up to 128TB)

Finally, are the speed ratings. We marked the ones supported by the new MacBook Pros with an asterisk (*) below:

  • Standard SD* – 12.5MB/s
  • High Speed (HS)* – 25MB/s
  • Ultra High Speed I (UHS-I)* – 104MB/s
  • Ultra High Speed II (UHS-II)* – 312MB/s
  • Ultra High Speed III (UHS-III) – 624MB/s
  • SD Express (HC/XC/UC) – 985MB/s or 1,970MB/s or 3,940MB/s

To further complicate all this, some UHS SD cards will show half of the speeds listed above. This is because that’s the maximum full ‘duplex speed’ where one lane each is assigned to a “downstream direction” like transferring data from the host to a card, and the other assigned to “upstream” for transferring data from the card to a host. Cards can also operate in a “half duplex” mode and use both lanes for one direction. According to the SD Association’s website, a UHS-II card could operate at 156MB/s in full duplex or 312MB/s in half duplex.

While it’s great that the new MacBook Pros brought back the SD card slot, it’s a little disappointing that it doesn’t support higher speeds. For most use cases, UHS-II is likely fine. But professional users like videographers or photographers may find themselves bumping up against that transfer speed ceiling more often than not.

Source: Dan Seifert (Twitter) Via: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Facebook adds new AR group effects to Messenger and Rooms

New augmented reality (AR) features are coming to Facebook Messenger and Messenger Rooms.

The Menlo Park, California-based company is introducing “group effects,” which allow everyone on a video chat to share the same augmented reality experience. The new effects are now available in Messenger video calls and Messenger Rooms, with support for Instagram video calls coming soon.

“Group Effects provide a more engaging and interactive way to connect with your friends,” reads Facebook’s blog about the new feature. “With this new feature, interactions will become more memorable, intimate, and exciting than ever before.”

To try the new effect, simply initiate a video call or a room, press the smiley emoji face to access the effects tray and select group effects. You’ll then be able to choose an AR experience that will be shared with everyone on the call.

 

Currently, there are over 70 group effects, including a game in which participants compete to create a virtual burger. Further, according to Facebook, developers will be able to create their own group effects using Spark AR API later this month.

In addition, Facebook is also rolling out a new “word effect” feature that will automatically trigger an animation once a specific key phrase is detected. For example, saying “Happy Birthday” will trigger an animation with party poppers flying on the screen. Similarly, saying “goodnight” or “good morning” can trigger Moon and Sun emojis to race through the screen.

Suggested ‘word effects’ are now available to all iOS users, and Android users will gain access to the new feature in the coming weeks.

Image credit: Facebook

Source: Facebook

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Mobile Syrup

Google reducing Play Store subscription cut to 15 percent starting January 1

Google will lower the cut it takes from subscriptions on the Google Play Store to 15 percent “starting from day one.”

The change marks a significant shift for the company, which previously charged a 30 percent cut of subscription revenue in the first 12 months before dropping to 15 percent for subscriptions that continue beyond that point. The change will come into effect starting January 1st, 2022.

Additionally, Google said it would change the service fee in the ‘Media Experience program,’ which will see the fee drop as low as 10 percent for ebooks and on-demand music streaming services.

However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman pointed out on Twitter that the change doesn’t apply to in-app purchases, such as for digital goods sold in games.

While the change is overall good, it’s also worth keeping in mind the likely catalyst. Google positions the change as addressing “developer needs,” but it comes as Google faces down antitrust lawsuits over its Play Store practices.

Just this year alone, lawsuits have accused Google of illegally trying to control Android app distribution, paying developers to keep them on the Play Store and attempting to keep Netflix using in-app purchases by offering the company a special deal. Google also reportedly considered purchasing Epic Games to make the “contagion” of distributing apps outside the Play Store go away. While Google says the change is to help developers, it may also be an effort to avoid scrutiny over its Play Store practices.

It’s also worth noting Apple has been dealing with antitrust allegations over its App Store in recent months as well. The Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit resulted in Apple being required to allow developers to use other payment processing systems if they wish. A similar ruling in another lawsuit saw Apple allow developers to use email to offer alternate payment methods to customers.

Both Apple and Google previously rolled out new rules that reduced the cut each company took from 30 percent to 15 percent for developers who made less than $1 million USD. The move was criticized both for poor implementation and for being an attempt to stave off regulator scrutiny.

Source: Google

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Mobile Syrup

Nvidia launches new RTX 3080 subscription tier for GeForce Now

Nvidia’s latest low-latency RTX 3080 GeForce Now membership improves the performance of the cloud gaming service.

Nvidia is using one of its most powerful consumer graphics cards (GPUs) to give GeForce Now users plenty of performance and power on the company’s cloud gaming servers. The new RTX 3080 subscription, which costs $129.99 for 6 months, is almost double the cost of the ‘Priority Membership’ and gives access to 1440p gaming at up to 120FPS on a Mac or PC, 4K HDR at 60FPS on Nvidia Shield and up to 120FPS on select Android devices.

Each member subscribed to the new tier will get access to a dedicated RTX 3080 GPU in the cloud, which will give a substantial performance boost over other GeForce Now subscription tiers. However, don’t let the previous sentence fool you. Retail RTX 3080 cards aren’t being plugged into data centres by Nvidia. Instead, it’s the comparable performance of a server-friendly Ampere GA102 processor. The servers are equipped with eight-core AMD Threadripper CPUs, 28GB of DDR4 memory, and a Gen4 SSD, with an expected GPU performance of 35 teraflops. For reference, a PlayStation 5 has 10.3 teraflops of power.

Further, the new subscription tier claims to offer a “click-to-pixel” latency of 56 milliseconds, surpassing competing services and even local dedicated PCs, owing to techniques like adaptive sync, which reduces buffering by matching your game’s frame rate to the refresh rate of your display. Nvidia claims that the RTX 3080 membership provides seven times greater performance than the most popular home PC configurations and 13 times better performance than an M1 MacBook Air.

A six-month subscription to GeForce Now RTX 3080 will set you back $129.99. The new tier is available to pre-order for GeForce Now Founder and Priority subscribers and will be available in a broader capacity later in November.

Image credit: Nvidia

Source: Nvidia

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Mobile Syrup

Among Us to release on PlayStation, Xbox and Xbox Game Pass on December 14

Developer Innersloth has confirmed that its massively popular multiplayer game Among Us is coming to PlayStation and Xbox consoles on December 14th.

Specifically, the game will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox Game Pass for Console. Cross-play will also be supported between all of these platforms. It’s also worth noting that the PlayStation version of the game will have exclusive Ratchet & Clank-themed content.

The social deduction party game originally launched on mobile and PC in 2018 but saw a significant surge in players in 2020 as streamers picked up the game amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A Nintendo Switch version launched last December.

A few physical collector’s editions have also been revealed — more information on those, including pre-order links, can be found here.

Source: Innersloth

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Mobile Syrup

Apple and Ubisoft’s Mythic Quest has been renewed for two more seasons

Apple has renewed Mythic Quest for a third and fourth season.

Rob McElhenney, the video game comedy’s co-creator, co-writer and star, announced the renewal in a video on social media.

Amusingly, the news came during an exchange between McElhenney and Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins, who narrated the show’s second COVID special, “Everlight.” Jason Sudeikis, the co-creator, co-writer and star of fellow acclaimed Apple TV+ comedy series Ted Lasso, also makes a fun appearance in the video.

Mythic Quest‘s second season wrapped up in June, although it hadn’t been clear until now whether the series would be returning. In the video, McElhenney confirms that Mythic Quest Season 3 will premiere sometime in 2022, before the third season of Ted Lasso.

Co-produced by video game publishing giant Ubisoft and Lionsgate Television, Mythic Quest follows a game development studio as it works on an expansion to its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Several of McElhenney’s creative partners on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, including Megan Ganz and Charlie Day, also work with him on Mythic Quest.

Image credit: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

Seagate’s new 2TB Storage Expansion Card costs almost as much as an Xbox Series X

Seagate has revealed new 2TB and 512GB Xbox Series X/S Storage Expansion Cards.

Since the Series X/S’ release, only a pricey 1TB ($299) variant has been available. Canadian pricing remains unclear, but in the U.S. the 2TB storage card costs $399.99 (about $493 CAD) and the 512GB card costs $139.99 (roughly $171.40).

While the 512GB card is a little more reasonably priced, the 2GB Expansion Card costs nearly as much as the $599 Series X.

Both cards will launch in mid-November in the United States. We’ll likely see the new Storage Expansion Card sizes in Canada during roughly the same period. MobileSyrup has reached out to Microsoft for more information regarding Canadian pricing.

Series X/S Storage Expansion Cards are compatible with Microsoft’s Xbox Velocity Architecture, enabling fast loading of Series X titles thanks to its 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, a number 40x the original Xbox One.

While playing last-gen games on the Series X with a standard USD HDD or SSD drive is possible, current-gen titles need to be installed on the consoles’ internal drive or on an Expansion Card. Further, if you play a last-gen game on the internal drive or expansion card, you’ll get improved load times.

While a Storage Expansion Card is far from necessary, the Series X’s 1TB or Series S’ 512GB built-in SSD can fill up after installing just a couple of games.

On the other side of the console war, though Sony’s strategy of allowing owners to install any compatible SSD in the PlayStation 5 is far more open, M.2 SSD drives remain relatively expensive.

Source: Microsoft