Tag: hardware

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Mobile Syrup

Save over 50 percent on Starlink hardware right now

Image credit: Starlink https://www.starlink.com/

For a limited time, Canadians can get SpaceX’s Starlink hardware for half price.

According to a notice on the Starlink website and in an email from the company, Canadians can save over 50 percent on their Starlink Kit, getting it for $350 instead of the regular $759.

Screenshot of the Starlink discount

Screenshot of Starlink’s hardware discount for Canadians.

The email notes that the offer is valid for both Residential and Roam services but isn’t available for waitlisted areas.

The standard Starlink Kit includes the rectangular antenna and base, as well as cables and a router. You can learn more about the hardware here.

Getting started with Starlink is pretty expensive in Canada, but this offer goes a long way to reduce that cost. Typically, customers need to pay $759 for hardware as well as $140 for the first month of service, a $129 deposit, and shipping, handling, and taxes.

You can learn more on the Starlink website.

Header image credit: Starlink

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Mobile Syrup

Apple reportedly still plans to launch hardware subscription service

Apple unveiled a lot at its ‘Far Out’ fall event, from new iPhones to a crazy new Apple Watch designed for extreme sports. Despite all the announcements, there were quite a few things the company didn’t announce — one notable missing item was the company’s long-rumoured hardware subscription.

Apparently, it’s still coming.

According to Bloomberg’s reliable Mark Gurman in the latest Power On newsletter, Apple could launch a hardware subscription as early as this year in a big push to secure automatic, recurring sales:

“The company is indeed still working on a hardware subscription service that will integrate with its Apple One bundles. Apple is actively testing this new service, and I do expect it to launch either later this year or next year.”

That builds on previous information revealed by Bloomberg in March about Apple’s plans for a hardware subscription. Per the details we had before, the subscription will differ from installment programs by charging customers a monthly fee based on the device they choose, and it would allow customers to swap out their phones for new models when Apple releases them.

Moreover, the hardware subscription could tie into Apple’s other subscriptions as part of its Apple One bundle and Apple Care. Those currently exist independently from each other.

Supposedly, Apple chose not to announce the subscription service at the ‘Far Out’ event to “reduce launch day complexity.” Apple is rumoured to have another event in store later in the fall, possible for iPads and Macs. That could be the perfect time to announce an iPhone subscription service heading into the holiday season.

Source: Bloomberg Via: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Stadia code change hints Google is prepping Nvidia GPU support

Google might be working to add Nvidia GPU support to its servers for Stadia and/or Immersive Stream for Games.

As reported by 9to5Google, a code change from last month shows that Google added a way to include necessary drivers for Nvidia GPUs:

“Add support to the kokoro job script to generate a disk that contains the UMD/KMD NVIDIA modules and corresponding support files required for instances that use a NVIDIA gpu.”

Google’s game streaming services — Stadia and the underlying Immersive Stream for Games tech Google opened up for companies to use — have so far relied on custom AMD GPUs to power games. Researchers have said that Stadia’s servers run on AMD’s Radeon Pro V340, or something similar in power.

The main reason for this is that Stadia uses a modified version of the Linux kernel and, until recently, Nvidia hasn’t offered open-source GPU drivers for Linux.

In other words, with Nvidia offering open-source GPU drivers, it looks like Google is prepping to support the company’s hardware for use in Immersive Stream for Games and Stadia. While Nvidia GPUs aren’t available for the services yet, the inclusion points to intriguing possibilities.

As 9to5 notes, Stadia games are optimized to run on the current AMD hardware. If Google swapped Stadia to Nvidia, it would likely introduce issues for the current lineup of games unless developers similarly optimized for the new hardware.

That said, it’s certainly a possibility. 9to5 says Google might have plans for a Stadia ‘hardware upgrade’ to make it more competitive with other game streaming options from Microsoft and Nvidia. Alternatively, it could just be a way to give developers building Immersive Stream experiences more options.

For now, it’s not clear how this will play out, or what it means for Stadia users. The change could herald a significant upgrade, or could mean little — only time will tell.

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon X70 5G modem

Qualcomm has announced that the 5G version of its Snapdragon X70 modem will make its way to mobile devices by late 2022. The company made the announcement at its 5G summit.

The chipmaker says that the X70 5G harnesses AI power for 10 gigabit 5G downloads as well as fast upload speeds, low latency, coverage and power efficiency. The modem sports Qualcomm’s 5G AI Suite, Ultra-Low Latency Suite, PowerSave Gen 3 uplink carrier aggregation, standalone mmWave and 4X sub-6 carrier aggregation and more.

Additionally, Qualcomm’s Smart Transit 3.0 technology features an upgraded license that extends support to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transit power management. It can transmit power across 2G-5G, mmWave, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, 6, 6E and 7 and Bluetooth radios.

“Snapdragon X70 gives operators the ability to deliver extreme 5G capacity, multi-Gigabit data speeds, and new use cases across devices from smartphones to laptops, fixed wireless access equipment, industrial machines, and more,” said Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager of cellular modems and infrastructure at Qualcomm, in a press release.

Qualcomm says it will work with smartphone manufacturers to implement the X70 modem 5G modem in new smartphones. It’s likely we’ll see the X70 5G on high to mid-range tier handsets.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s next big subscription could be for the iPhone itself

Apple may launch a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware products.

The news comes from Bloomberg‘s reliable Mark Gurman, who often details Apple’s plans and products before the company reveals them. Gurman cites “people with knowledge of the matter” who say Apple’s subscription could make owning an iPhone “similar to paying a monthly app fee.”

Gurman writes that the subscription service would be Apple’s biggest push yet into automatically recurring sales. It’d also mark the first time customers could subscribe to Apple hardware, not just digital services.

However, the project is still in development, and Gurman’s sources asked not to be identified because Apple hasn’t announced the initiative.

In a tweet, Gurman also suggested that Apple could tie the subscription into its ‘Apple One’ bundles and into the Apple Care protection plan.

However, The Verge notes that Apple offers an iPhone Upgrade Program in the U.S. that allows customers to split the cost of an iPhone over 24 months. The program does allow customers to trade in their iPhones after 12 months of payments to get a new one. It remains unclear how the new subscription would differ from the existing program.

On that note, considering the existing iPhone Upgrade Program isn’t available in Canada, it’s not clear if a new subscription service would be available to Canadians.

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro could sport significantly improved camera hardware

It looks like Google will finally offer improved camera hardware in a smartphone with the upcoming Pixel 6 and 6 Pro.

Don’t get me wrong — Pixel phones have always had great cameras. But Google has used the same 12.2-megapixel IMX363 sensor since the Pixel 3. As good as Google’s software wizardry is, that sensor has started to show its age.

However, according to details from XDA Developers, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro could bring a significant camera hardware improvement. The publication obtained an unreleased version of Google’s Camera app and details about the new Pixel camera system.

Starting with the main camera, the hardware will leap significantly to Samsung’s ISOCELL GN1 50-megapixel sensor. The ultra-wide camera will use a 12-megapixel IMX386 sensor, while the 4x optical telephoto camera on the 6 Pro will use a 48-megapixel IMX586 sensor. The phone will reportedly support up to 20x zoom in photos and videos (except 4K, where zoom is capped at 7x) and 4K/60fps video recording.

Although certainly some exciting hardware, it wouldn’t be a Pixel camera without software enhancements to match.

The Pixel 6 cameras will reportedly allow for manual white balance, giving photographers more control over how their images look. There’s also a ‘magic eraser’ feature, which sounds like it could be a tool for removing objects from an image. Android Police points out that this could be a version of the object removal promised (but never delivered) for Google Photos.

XDA highlights a few other possible camera features, including a ‘face deblur’ feature already confirmed by Google. It works to deblur faces in HDR images by capturing multiple photos with the main and ultra-wide sensors and combining the information to fix faces.

Finally, there were mentions of ‘motion blur,’ ‘portrait spotlight,’ ‘nima aesthetic’ and ‘baby mode,’ which might work as follows (based on the limited information we have so far):

  • Motion blur: in-development feature will add “creative blur effects to your photos.”
  • Portrait spotlight: Not entirely clear what it is, but XDA notes the feature is enable in Pixel 6 and 5a configuration files.
  • Nima aesthetic: Appears to be related to existing ‘Top Shot‘ feature, but unclear what it does.
  • Baby mode: Possibly a feature meant to detect babies and capture photos of them, but unclear.

All in all, it sounds like the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro could have really powerful camera hardware and software, a welcome change for the Pixel line. Of course, it’s essential to keep in mind that these are leaks, and some of the information may be inaccurate or could change in the future.

Source: XDA Developers Via: Android Police