Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft Surface Duo 2 will be available in Canada and Canadians seem excited

There are upsides and downsides to covering tech news in Canada. One of the biggest downsides is that hot new technology sometimes doesn’t come here.

Thankfully, that won’t be the case with Microsoft’s new Surface Duo 2. Unlike the company’s first attempt at a dual-screen Android smartphone, the new Duo will arrive in Canada at the same time as other countries.

That’s great news for those interested in trying out what looks to be an all-around improvement. Thanks to its high price tag, mediocre cameras, and frustrating software, Microsoft’s first Surface Duo didn’t receive much love from reviewers.

This time around, Microsoft kept the high price but has done more to justify it with a flagship CPU, 5G support and an all-new camera experience that, hopefully, significantly outperforms the original Duo.

While it seems Microsoft has addressed nearly every major complaint about hardware with the Surface Duo 2, it remains to be seen if the company has improved the software experience. If it has, the Duo 2 could be a real contender in the foldable space.

However, one main drawback with the Surface Duo 2 in Canada is that the phone isn’t available through carriers. At least, not yet — it’s unclear if it will be available through carriers in the future.

In other words, that means Canadians who don’t want to drop $1,899.99 at once for Duo 2 are, unfortunately, out of luck. However, that doesn’t seem to have stopped anyone so far — at the time of writing, the Surface Duo 2 pre-orders appeared to be out of stock. Microsoft’s website no longer lists any of the ‘Obsidian’ Duo 2 options, while ‘Glacier’ is only available in one storage config.

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Mobile Syrup

Telus announces $60 million investment to bring gigabit fibre to Maple Ridge, B.C.

Telus has announced that it is investing $60 million to connect the city of Maple Ridge to its gigabit-enabled fibre optic network, which should increase wireless and internet speeds throughout the region.

The investment is part of a bigger $13 billion infrastructure and operations fund to “support the province throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recovery,” reads Telus’ post.

According to Telus, development for adding its PureFibre network is already underway, and the majority of homes and businesses in Maple Ridge will be able to access its services by the end of 2023.

Telus says it’s invested more than $5 billion since 2013 into connecting 137 communities and 62 First Nations communities across B.C., Alberta and parts of Quebec to its PureFibre network. The company says it has the largest pure fibre-to-fibre (FTTP) network in Western Canada.

Source: Telus

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Mobile Syrup

Apple says it won’t allow Fortnite back in the App Store yet

The ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple isn’t over yet.

Following the ruling that Apple must allow App Store developers to direct users to alternative payment methods, the tech giant has denied Epic’s request to reactivate its developer account.

In a string of recent tweets, Tim Sweeney, Epic’s CEO, revealed court documents outlining that Apple has denied Epic’s request. Apple’s legal team says that it won’t allow Fortnite back in the App Store until the ruling is final and Epic has exhausted all of its appeals.

Though it’s still unclear, the appeal process can take up to five years, according to Sweeney.

Epic’s CEO goes on to say that “just last week, Epic agreed with Apple that we would play by the same rules as everyone else.” Sweeney claims that Apple isn’t allowing the popular battle royale title back in the App Store because the company “won” the court battle, statements Epic has made over the last few weeks and because the game developer/publisher launched its direct payment system back in 2020.

It’s unclear when or if the game will return the iOS App Store, but it’s clear Epic feels it was misled by Apple regarding Fortnite’s return to the App Store.

Sweeney says that this is yet another “extraordinary anticompetitive move by Apple” that reveals its “power to reshape markets and choose winners and losers.”

Source: @TimSweeneyEpic

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Mobile Syrup

Eastlink invests $26 million to improve its mobile network in New Brunswick

Eastlink is growing its Maritime mobile services with a new $26 million investment in New Brunswick.

The Halifax-based cable and telecommunications company announced that the project will roll out over several years and improve its existing service in the province.

Eastlink customers along New Brunswick’s eastern coast, from Shediac to Miramichi, can expect to see network improvement starting in 2022, with Bathurst and the Acadian Peninsula to follow.

According to the press release, Eastlink has spent over $270 million to expand its mobile services since the company started in 2013.

This past summer, Eastlink launched four new data plans, where unused data is automatically rolled over to the next month.

Source: Eastlink

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Mobile Syrup

SharePlay and Apple Wallet vaccine records to be available with iOS 15.1

One of the major highlights from Apple’s WWDC 2021, apart from new hardware, was the introduction of iOS 15 and its unique features. Now that iOS 15’s stable build has officially been released, some core features, including SharePlay and Apple Wallet vaccination records, still haven’t arrived.

SharePlay was not initially accessible in the iOS 15 beta build, but it was eventually added in a later beta. However, Apple disabled this functionality in the iOS 15 Beta 6 release, and the stable release didn’t include the feature either.

Now, according to 9to5mac, new iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 beta releases include SharePlay, suggesting that Apple intends to make the update public soon.

SharePlay is basically real-time screen sharing baked into iOS 15 that lets you watch movies, listen to music or consume any other type of content with your friends and family via FaceTime — it’s a watch party that doesn’t require third-party software.

Further, according to MacRumours, iOS 15.1 beta allows iPhone users to submit their COVID-19 vaccination status to the Health app and subsequently obtain a vaccination card in Apple Wallet. While the current iOS 15 stable build lets users download and save verified health records, such as COVID-19 vaccines and test results, the upcoming 15.1 build will allow users to “add verifiable COVID-19 vaccination records as a vaccination card in Apple Wallet to present to businesses, venues, and more,” according to Apple.

Image credit: Apple

Source: Apple Via: 9to5mac, MacRumours

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Mobile Syrup

Ford invests in battery recycling company run by ex-Tesla exec

Ford has jumped into a new partnership with the battery recycling startup Redwood Materials, which is known for being run by Tesla’s ex-chief technology officer, JB Straubel.

The startup also works with Nissan and the bike company Specialized to recycle batteries from those two companies. The Ford partnership is looking to go a little deeper.

The automaker has invested $50 million into the battery recycler and is hoping to partner to find new ways to not only tear down and recycle EV batteries but to re-purpose them as well. On top of all that, the company is also going to help Ford make batteries out of salvaged scrap lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper.

It’s unclear if this partnership will be a big business for Ford in the future. Still, the more EV-related companies that the automaker associates with, the more it will likely learn about EVs as it moves further into the space over the next few years.

This is likely a smart move for Ford since it’s expected that everything related to EV batteries will boom in the next few years.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Canadian pricing and availability for Microsoft’s new Surface products

Microsoft announced several new products at its Surface event on September 22nd. From a revamped Surface Duo 2 to several small but important spec bumps, there’s plenty to be excited about.

Any Canadians out there interested in picking up new Surface devices will be interested to know that everything Microsoft announced is available for pre-order starting September 22nd. Customers can place order through Microsoft’s website and through major retailers like Best Buy and Amazon.

Almost all the new products will be available for purchase starting October 5th — conveniently, the same day that Windows 11 will launch. The exception is the Surface Duo 2, which won’t be available for purchase until October 21st.

You can find the pricing for all the new Surface products below:

You can find all of MobileSyrup’s Surface Event coverage here.

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft announces extremely minor Surface Pro X hardware refresh.

Microsoft has announced a very minor update for its ARM-based Surface tablet, the Surface Pro X.

The refreshed tablet will feature better LTE service with support for Gbps LTE data speeds, and Microsoft will start selling a cheaper Wi-Fi-only version for $1,150. The lowest costing option in Canada before was closer to $1,250.

The company also says that the Surface team has made headway in porting apps over to the ARM system. It highlighted Photoshop, Lightroom and several other apps on stage, but compared to Apple’s transition to ARM with the M1 lin, this remains a lacklustre effort.

Hopefully, the switch to Windows 11 will help Microsoft accelerate this transition, but beyond now allowing for x64 app emulation, it doesn’t seem like Windows 11 is really going to change the tablet that much — at least for now.

Like the Surface Pro 8 and the Surface Studio Laptop, the Surface Pro X is also getting support for Microsoft’s new Slim Pen 2, which includes a small feedback motor so it feels more like using a real pencil.

While I don’t want to be that hard on Microsoft’s transition to ARM since I think it’s an important move for the company, it’s a little boring to see such a minor update come to the most forward-thinking Surface device. Further, the fact that Microsoft didn’t really highlight its transition to ARM very much during its Surface event, makes me wary of what the company hopes to accomplish with the Pro X.

In case you missed the Surface show, the highlights from the event are the new Surface Duo 2 smartphone and the Surface Laptop Studio, an interesting laptop that folds into a unique design. You can read our review of the Surface Pro X from 2020 here.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro X starts at $1,149 in Canada and releases on October 5th.

You can learn more about all of Microsoft’s Surface announcements here.

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung’s next Galaxy S series phones might be Note-like replacements

This is our first year in a while without a Note-series smartphone, and it seems like that won’t change.

Well-known tipster Ice Universe tweeted that “Note is over, but it’s not over. S becomes Note!” This likely means that some S series smartphones will be a bit more Note-like.

The tweet doesn’t reveal anything else, though, so all we can really do is guess.

Perhaps this means that the S22 Ultra will actually have an S-Pen docked next year. The S21 Ultra worked with the S-Pen, but users had to buy it separately. It could also mean we might have a more square-shaped Note smartphone this year, compared to previous years.

It’s likely that the S22 and S22+ won’t feature S-Pen compatibility, similar to 2021’s S21 and S21+.  

It makes sense that the S22 Ultra would replace the Note. Samsung would still want Note money, but this is definitely more affordable than launching another handset.

Source: Ice Universe

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft unveils revamped Surface Duo 2 with 5G and triple rear cameras

As expected, Microsoft unveiled an update to its Surface Duo dual-screen smartphone at its September Surface event. The Surface Duo 2 sports many improvements, including a faster processor, 5G, revamped cameras and a new ‘Glance Bar.’

Overall, it really seems like Microsoft took the criticisms from the original Duo and made those improvements accordingly. And, it has me very excited to try out the Duo 2.

First up, the Duo 2 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which should help significantly improve performance over the original Duo. Additionally, that means the Duo 2 will support 5G. Overall, this is a huge change and should go a long way to making the Duo competitive with other flagship foldable devices from Samsung.

Like its predecessor, the Duo 2 sports two ‘PixelSense Fusion’ 5.8-inch AMOLED displays that can be used together as one 8.3-inch screen. This time around, however, the screens offer a 90Hz refresh rate, which should make scrolling and gaming smoother. Microsoft also boosted the battery to 4,449mAh split across two cells — it’ll be interesting to see how this battery life holds up given the original Duo’s surprising longevity with a smaller 3,577mAh battery.

The ‘Glance Bar’ is another exciting enhancement with the Duo 2. Based on the pictures, it looks like the edge of the display has a subtle curve along the edge of the hinge. When closed, it allows users to see a small strip of the screen, which displays the time and lights up with notification bubbles to show how many calls, messages and other notifications are waiting for you when you open the phone.

Another major area of improvement is the camera. Microsoft added a new triple rear camera array with 12-megapixel wide, telephoto and 16-megapixel ultrawide cameras. That alone is a significant bump over the single selfie camera on the original Duo, but how well these new cameras perform remains to be seen. Speaking of the selfie camera, it also got a slight improvement to a 12-megapixel sensor.

Finally, the Duo 2 will be available in two colours — ‘Glacier’ like the original Duo and a new ‘Obsidian’ option. Microsoft says the Surface Duo 2 will cost $1,899.99 in Canada and will be available for pre-order on Microsoft’s website starting today. The Duo 2 will be available for purchase starting October 21st. That means the Duo is still quite expensive, but with the significant overhaul Microsoft has done, it might actually be worth the money this time around.

You can learn more about all of Microsoft’s Surface announcements here.

Image credit: Microsoft