Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft resurrecting Skype with new features and a design refresh

After a year that saw Skype blowing its several-year headstart to the likes of Zoom and Google Meet, Microsoft is finally giving the video chat platform a much-needed redesign.

Microsoft has revealed plans for an “improved, faster, reliable, and super modern-looking Skype,” curated thanks to feedback from the OG video conferencing platform’s users.

Skype intends to improve the ‘call stage,’ which it considers the most essential part of the platform. The app will soon feature new themes and layouts and changes to how Skype displays a grid of video feeds. Further, the grid that appears during calls will include everyone on the call, whether or not they have enabled their video. This places all participants side by side in the main interface, including your own video.

Moving forward, the app will also offer a custom backdrop to those who join without video, and the custom backdrop will be the same virtual background that the user would have previously selected, allowing for consistency and familiarization.

Skype will also enhance chat headers, add fluent icons, and offer additional colour possibilities to customizable themes along with customizable notification sounds.

Apart from visual changes, Microsoft is also focusing on increasing performance in critical scenarios by 30 percent on desktops and over 2,000 percent on Android devices, along with support for all browsers.  “We would like to make sure that no matter which device, platform, or browser you’re using, Skype will always give you a great experience,” reads Skype’s blog.

Lastly, Microsoft is working on a new Skype feature dubbed TwinCam, which would allow users to add a smartphone to a video call for a different camera angle.

Microsoft didn’t share a precise timeframe for Skype’s new features or app improvements. However, the blog post indicates that the changes will be implemented sometime later this year.

Image credit: Skype

Source: Skype

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Mobile Syrup

Google wants you to turn your iPhone 13 into a Google phone

Google has published a new blog post focused on turning your iPhone 13 series device into a Google-powered smartphone.

If I were Apple CEO Tim Cook right now, I’d be firing interns or breaking weird Apple Pizza trays in the cafeteria over the blatant disrespect.

The post comes from Google’s head of iOS, Luke Wroblewski, who by all accounts seems like a massive fan of Apple’s products based on his Twitter account, but somehow works for Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s house of AdSense.

Right off the top, the article explains how Google offers several iOS widgets that show off Google Photos highlights, Google Fit updates, what’s playing on YouTube Music or a quick search on Google Maps. The real slap in the face, though, is that in this screenshot, Google placed Gmail and Google News on the homepage and used a default Apple wallpaper.

Don’t even get me started on the three pinned apps in the bottom bar — seriously, don’t.

After the unholy hypocrisy that is the first 153 words of this so-called blog post, we get to a second screenshot filled with so many Google widgets that it makes the Android user inside of me more than a little perturbed given the widgets featured in Google’s mobile operating system still look they’re stuck in 2015 — at least for now.

When I started writing this story, I assumed Google had some insightful improvements for iPhone users who prefer Google apps, but nothing in the blog post is actually new.

At one point, the post even outlines to users how to create iOS Smart Stacks, and at the very end, it explains how to set Chrome as your default web browser. It also mentions that Chrome then integrates into Spotlight search, which might help you default into Google’s apps instead of Apple’s a little more.

Source: Google

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Mobile Syrup

Telus expands 5G network to seven locations in British Columbia

Telus announced that seven communities in British Columbia can now access its 5G internet network.

This news affects residents and businesses in the following B.C. locations: Bulkley-Nechako, Fort St. James, Houston, Parksville, Port Hardy, Qualicum Beach, and Richmond.

Telus made the announcement in a series of back-to-back press releases shared on September 27th, which we’ve linked to at the end of this article.

A $13 billion investment from Telus is funding all seven of these expansions. The investment is aimed at improving Telus’ internet services in B.C. specifically, from now until 2024.

Other B.C. communities recently targeted by this investment include Maple Ridge and Burnaby.

Meanwhile, in Quebec, Telus also substantially expanded its 5G network this month in Outaouais, Lanaudière and Laurentides, as well as in the Greater Montreal region (including Montérégie).

The Vancouver-based company is investing $9 billion towards growing its 5G infrastructure in Quebec.

Source: Telus, (2), (3), (4), (5)

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Mobile Syrup

TikTok hits 1 billion active users while battling pandemic misinformation and government scrutiny

The social media platform that everyone loves to hate, TikTok, has hit 1 billion active users at a pace much faster than its main competitor, Facebook-owned Instagram.

For reference, Instagram launched in 2010 and hit the one billion mark in 2018. On the other hand, TikTok launched in 2016 and achieved the feat in a little over five years.

@tiktokcanada

✨ 1 billion✨ people on TikTok! Thank you to our global community 🎉

♬ original sound – TikTok Canada

What makes the milestone special is that the platform reached the one billion mark while facing significant government scrutiny around the world and the app’s banned status in India, a massive market for the short-video platform.

The rapid success has seen TikTok’s core concepts adapted by other platforms, notably Instagram’s Reels, Youtube’s Shorts and Snapchat’s Spotlight. Despite the increasing competition, TikTok continues to expand rapidly, and its parent company, ByteDance, reportedly recently purchased VR company Pico, suggesting that the platform might be delving into the VR market.

Image credit: TikTok

Source: TikTok

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung reportedly looking to completely cancel S21 FE

Samsung’s Galaxy S21 FE might be entirelly cancelled, says South Korean publication DDaily. 

According to the report, the device’s mid-October release has been cancelled, and Samsung is “reviewing the smartphone launch itself.”

The report states that the ongoing global chipset shortage is the reason behind the often-rumoured handset’s cancellation. Further, DDaily says that Z Flip 3’s great sales is one of the reasons why Samsung is considering this decision. The Z Flip 3 is selling too well and production can’t keep up with the onslaught of orders.

While the report indicates that the S21 FE might have been cancelled, some leakers don’t think that’s actually the case.

Notable leaker Max Weinbach believes the Galaxy S21 FE will still launch at some point. With the S22 series’ rumoured February release fast approaching, we likely won’t need to wait long to learn more about the S21 FE’s true fate.

Source: DDaily Via: Android Authority 

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s redesigned MacBook Air might not arrive until late 2022

If you were holding out on upgrading your MacBook Air in hopes that the rumoured significant refresh would drop soon, you’re about to be disappointed.

According to often-reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), Apple’s redesigned MacBook Air — which is rumoured to feature a more squared-off design and an upgraded M1 chip — won’t hit mass production until the third quarter of 2022. In the past, Kuo has predicted that this announcement would take place in the middle of 2022.

Along with a more powerful processor, rumours point to the lightweight laptop featuring a mini-LED display, MagSafe and two USB 4.0 USB-C ports. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that the new design will be “lighter and thinner” and that Apple plans to release it in several colours, similar to the 24-inch M1 iMac.

The M1 MacBook Air is an absolutely killer machine when it comes to power and battery life, so it will be interesting to see how Apple builds on the laptop’s established foundation with a new, more colourful look. With that in mind, we might still get Apple’s rumoured MacBook Pro redesign later this fall if past rumours are to be believed.

Source: MacRumors, Bloomberg Via: Digital Trends 

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Mobile Syrup

Pay for your plan and get a Pixel 4a for free with Zoomer Wireless

Rogers’ flanker brand Zoomer Wireless’ new promotion can get you a Google Pixel 4a for free on a two-year term.

The device comes with Zoomer’s unlimited Canada-wide smart plan with 7GB of data per month along with unlimited calling and texting for $50 per month.

Under the promotion, you only pay the plan cost for two years and get the Pixel 4a at no additional cost.

Zoomer Wireless has other devices under the same promotion too.

Check them out below:

Learn more about the promotion or find all devices under it here.

Source: Zoomer Wireless

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Mobile Syrup

Anyone can request access to Tesla’ Full Self-Driving beta

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has created a button.

This new button allows any Tesla driver to request access to the company’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ (not technically full self-driving) beta. Musk says that new entries to the beta program will need to have their driving style assessed by the car for a week to ensure they’re not too aggressive.

I’m not sure what a driver’s aggression has to do with letting them sit and watch a car try to drive itself, but at least Telsa has added a way to keep people out of the beta, right? Well, not really. If you don’t make it in the beta the first time, you can still try to qualify again.

Some users have even reported that more aggressive driving in some instances has resulted in them receiving an overall higher safety score.

On the other hand, it could be helpful to have more people in the beta to feed a wider sample of data back to Tesla. Ideally, this would help refine the software faster. On the other hand, since cars are inherently dangerous, there’s still an argument to be made against just letting anyone test self-driving software on public roads.

It’s unclear if this button is coming to Canada, but judging by previous Full Self Driving beta updates, I don’t expect to see it here any time soon.

Source: @elonmusk Via: Engadget

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Mobile Syrup

Koodo customer gets 10GB for $40 with 1000-minute international long-distance in Richmond, B.C.

A Koodo customer in Richmond, British Columbia was able to get a pretty sweet deal in-store.

The customer secured a $10 discount for 24 months off the $50 for 10GB Koodo plan, with unlimited Canada-wide calling, unlimited international messaging, bring your own device with a free 1000-minute international long-distance add-on.

This amounts to roughly $265 in savings over two years.

The customer posted the deal on RedFlagDeals and states that it’s for new customers only. Additionally, the $50 one-time connection fee was waived and rebated in the first two months.

Finally, the customer says that some stores they called only offered $10 off for 12 months and others insisted are charging an extra one-time store activation fee of up to $45.

Source: RedFlagDeals

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Mobile Syrup

Forget the iPhone 13 — Wendy’s has a phone now

Wendy’s Canadian Twitter account has done what only a few tech giants have been able to accomplish in the past: it’s created a phone. Will it go the way of the Fire Phone, or is this the next iPhone?

No, I’m only kidding. The Wendy’s phone is just a reskinned Android phone of some kind, and it’s hard to tell what it actually looks like since a lot of the renders on Wendy’s website have a case on it.

From what we can see, there’s a three-camera array on the rear and a fingerprint sensor. While the product description says that the phone has front and rear cameras, the renders all core up the front-facing one, but I’d expect it to be a small hole punch or a notch.

MobileSryup has reached out to Wendy’s Canada for more information regarding the device.

On the software side of things, the phone has a digital assistant that responds to “Hey Wendy.” It’s unclear if this is proprietary Wendy’s software or if this is just a custom wake word for Alexa or some other voice assistant.

The only way to get this phone is to win one. To do this, you need to post a screenshot to Twitter saying something like, “Hey Wendy, give me a #Wendysphone” with the hashtag #Contest.

You can learn more on the official Wendy’s contest website.