Tag: smartphones

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Mobile Syrup

TCL’s 30 5G and 30 XE 5G smartphones now available in Canada

TCL has announced two new mid-range smartphones, the 30 5G and the 30 XE 5G.

The TCL 30 5G is now available in Canada and features a 5,010mAh battery, 128GB of internal storage and a Mediatek Dimensity 700 chipset. The phone sports a 6.7-inch AMOLED Full HD+ panel with NXTVision technology that offers a brightness of 900 nits.

On the other hand, the TCL 30 features a 50-megapixel primary shooter with low-light HDR functionality that provides well-balanced portraits and photos with rich details. Its other two cameras sport 2-megapixel sensors for macro and depth. There’s also a 16-megapixel front shooter.

The TCL 30 XE, on the other hand, is already available at retailers.

This new phone features a 90Hz refresh rate, a 6.52-inch display with a 13-megapixel primary camera, two 2-megapixel sensors for macro and depth and an 8-megapixel selfie camera. It also sports a MediaTek Dimensity 300 processor, and both phones offer 4GB of RAM.

The TCL 30 5G and TCL 30 XE 5G are available at Bell, Fido, Fizz, Koodo, Rogers, Telus, Virgin Plus, and Videotron.  Pricing of both devices varies between carriers. The TCL 30 XE falls in the $350 range. 

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Mobile Syrup

Huawei announces new inventions as part of its ‘Top Ten Inventions’ awards

Huawei has announced several inventions as part of its biennial “Top Ten Inventions” awards at its Shenzhen headquarters.

According to a press release from the company, the award recognizes inventions that could create new series of products and become important commercial features for devices already on the market or generate considerable value for the company and industry.

Huawei won the award for inventions such as “an adder neural network that significantly reduces power consumption” and an “optical iris that provides a unique identifier for optical fibres.” The optical iris is designed to help carriers manage their network resources, therefore, cutting time and costs with broadband deployment.

Huawei now owns the patents for these two technologies, which it believes are critical to the tech ecosystem.

By the end of 2021, Huawei held more than 110,000 active patents across over 45,000 patent families. It has more patents than any other Chinese company and has filed the most patent applications with the Euopean Union (EU) Patent Office, and is fifth on the list for the United States Patent Office.

“In the past five years, more than two billion smartphones have been licensed to Huawei’s 4G/5G patents. And for cars, about eight million connected vehicles licensed to Huawei patents are being delivered to the consumers every year,” said Alan Fan, head of Huawei’s IPR department, in a statement. Additionally, Fan noted that Huawei’s patents have seen wide recognition across the industry, especially in cellular technology, Wi-Fi and audio/video codecs.

The company is also discussing joint licensing programs for 5G patents.

It’s worth noting that Canada banned Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network, so its patents can’t be used here.

And though Huawei has been blocked from U.S. technologies like Google’s Android operating system, phones with Android 13 will use a Read-Only File System (EROFS) created by Huawei engineer Xiang Gao.

Huawei says that it invests 10 percent of its sales revenue into research and development every year.

Source: Huawei

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Mobile Syrup

Pixel 7 Pro prototype live images surface online

Last week we saw the Pixel 7 on eBay, and today, we’re getting a new live glimpse of a prototype Pixel 7 Pro.

Google’s upcoming handset was shared on SlashLeaks by Piyush Bhasarkar, a leaker that doesn’t really have a great track record, but SlashLeaks rated this leak 100 percent accurate.

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This is the first glimpse of the Pixel 7 Pro’s front. In the past, we’ve seen the 7 Pro’s rear via Google at I/O earlier this year. However, the front showcases its long display and hole-punch camera. The display itself is very similar to the Pixel 6 Pro that Google launched last year.

On the rear, we can see that the handset lacks the ‘G’ Google logo, indicating that this is a prototype and not the official device. We can also see the new aluminum finish on its visor, making it more striking than the current Pixel 6 series.

The Pixel 7 Pro will launch in ‘Obsidian,’ ‘Snow’ and ‘Hazel’ colours, whereas the Pixel 7 will release in ‘Obsidian,’ ‘Snow’ and ‘Lemongrass.’ Additionally, it will come with Android 13, the next generation of Google’s Tensor chip and more. Recently, we learned that the second-gen Tensor chipset will host a 4nm process.

Google will launch the Pixel 7 Pro alongside the Pixel 7 and Pixel Watch later this fall. We expect an October launch like in previous years.

Source: SlashLeaks

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung expected to cut production of its phones in 2022

Samsung is reportedly cutting the production of its phones in 2022. The initial plan was to manufacture 310 million units. However, due to a potential downturn in the economy, Samsung is preparing to scale back to produce only 280 million units.

While the cuts may not seem overly huge, Samsung is scaling production across its entire lineup of smartphones. This results in fewer devices across the entry-level devices all the way up to the premium flagship models.

Samsung, like many other companies, expects the economy to worsen before it gets better. As a result of COVID-19, global inflation, and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Samsung is battening down the hatches so to speak. Scaling back 30 million units can be a reflection of Samsung’s expectations for the remainder of 2022.

Due to inflations hitting key markets around the globe, including North America, many companies expect consumers will be more cautious of their spending. As a result, these companies expect sales, even sales of affordable devices, to be affected in the process.

Samsung is not the only major smartphone company that is scaling back this year. Reports claim that Apple is also cutting production of its iPhone SE by 20 percent in 2022.

The landscape of the economy continues to fluctuate week to week. It’s difficult to pinpoint or estimate when larger companies will be able to regain their traction. Between supply chain hurdles and the effects of lower consumer spending, tech companies are facing a number of blockades.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Some iPhone 14 models could reportedly be delayed

At least some of Apple’s iPhone 14 series devices could be delayed due to China’s strict COVID-19 lockdowns, according to a new report from the Japanese publication Nikkei.

Citing several sources familiar with the upcoming smartphone line’s production, Nikkei says that iPhone assembler Pegatron was forced to suspend its operations in Shanghai and Kunshan earlier this year. Shanghai remains in a restrictive city-wide lockdown that’s currently in its seventh week.

Following its earnings report last week, Apple’s chief financial officer Luca Maestri warned that the ongoing war in Ukraine could also result in supply-chain issues for the company. According to Nikkei, there’s a possibility that the initial production of the entire iPhone 14 line could be affected by this issue. In years past — like with the iPhone XS/XS Max and iPhone XR, for example — specific iPhone models have been delayed several weeks, so this wouldn’t be entirely out of the ordinary for the tech giant.

Apple’s iPhone 14 line will likely release this fall. Rumours hint that the iPhone 14 Pro series will feature a pill-shaped front-facing camera cutout and that iPhone 14 devices will continue to feature a notch. YouTuber Jon Prosser recently published renders of the iPhone 14 Pro based on leaks surrounding the device, revealing a sleek design that borrows its front-facing camera from Samsung’s S10+, which launched back in 2019.

Image credit: Front Page Tech (YouTube), @ianzelbo

Source: Nikkei Via: Reuters

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Mobile Syrup

Electric vehicle batteries ate up 34 percent of global demand for cobalt in 2021

Cobalt, atomic number 27 on the periodic table is a chemical element that is mainly found in Earth’s crust.

The metal is used for a variety of purposes, including making magnets, in gas turbine generators, in smartphones and electric vehicle batteries, to name a few.

Now, according to data from the Cobalt Institute, smartphones have been dethroned as the largest consumer of Cobalt, and electric vehicles’ lithium-ion batteries have taken the number one spot, via Financial Times and TeslaNorth.

According to the report, in 2021 alone, the electric vehicle battery industry used up about 59,000 tonnes of cobalt, which was about 34 percent of the total demand, whereas smartphones consumed about 26,000 tonnes of cobalt last year, accounting for roughly 15 percent of the total demand.

Further, the demand for cobalt isn’t likely to slow down any time soon. The electric vehicle industry is expected to consume about 50 percent of the global cobalt supply by 2026, which might slow down gadget manufacturing, similar to how the shortage of semiconductors has.

“Cobalt-containing batteries are a technology of choice for many car manufacturers in Europe, North America and China,” said Adam McCarthy, president of the Cobalt Institute, in a statement given to Financial Times.

Due to increasing demand from the automotive sector and supply disruptions, the price of cobalt doubled since last year, climbing from $16 per pound to $32 per pound.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Financial Times, Via: Tesla North

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Mobile Syrup

Red Magic 7 Pro is suitable only for the most serious mobile gamers

Using Nubia’s latest flagship, the Red Magic 7 Pro, feels like an upgrade and a downgrade at the same time.

The last RedMagic device that I used was the 6R which had its own cons, including a cluttered notification tab, laggy UI, and apps like Instagram crashing. While the new RedMagic 7 Pro carries a beefier Snapdragon 8-Gen-1 chipset, it still retains some of its predecessor’s weaknesses.

On the other hand, Red Magic 7 Pro improves on aspects like its camera, shoulder triggers, battery life, internal cooling system and the overall look of the gaming phone.

One of the best-looking rear end on a phone

The RedMagic 7 Pro is a chonky phone. Weighing in at 235g, the device is about 50g heavier than the 6R, noticeably thicker, yet comfortable to grip while gaming. I would say the thicker body makes it feel more like an actual controller in my hands and adds to the overall ‘gaming phone’ experience.

The smartphone features a massive 6.8-inch Full HD AMOLED display with minimal bezels, high brightness that doesn’t fail under direct glare and eye-pleasing colour reproduction for FPS games. 600Hz higher multi-finger touch sampling rate that allows for ultra-fast response in-game when you register a touch.

Where it falls short, however, is the display’s 144Hz refresh rate. For reference, the 7 Pro’s predecessor, the RedMagic 7, has a 165Hz refresh rate, whereas the last-gen RedMagic 6R has a 144Hz refresh rate.

The RedMagic 7 Pro lags behind as it has a maximum variable refresh rate of 120Hz. That doesn’t seem like a big difference when you’re using the phone for everyday activities, but it does make a difference when gaming, and using both the phones simultaneously makes the difference clear as day.

I would have imagined the ‘Pro’ device to be excessively spec’d out, but that isn’t the case with the Red Magic 7 Pro. This seems to be a conscious decision from Red Magic, considering not many mobile games support 144Hz or higher gameplay, and the lower refresh rate helps preserve battery.

The rear of the smartphone is beautiful. I would argue that the RedMagic 7 Pro has the best-looking back of any phone I’ve used. It features a design right out of Nothing’s textbook with a transparent rear that gives you a peek into the internals and prevents the phone’s aesthetic from getting boring.

You’ll also see text like “Air Inlet,” “20,000 RPM Max Fan,” “Stereo Speaker” and “Snapdragon 8-Gen-1” to indicate where those parts are positioned. Of Course, this doesn’t improve or impair the device’s performance, it’s just cool to look at.

On the top, the gaming phone features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a stereo speaker, an air outlet and two shoulder triggers on the right, along with volume and power buttons.

On the bottom sits the SIM tray along with another stereo speaker and a Type-C charging port, whereas the left side of the phone is reserved exclusively for the ‘Game Space Slider’ that allows you to start gaming instantly.

Graphic-heavy games are no challenge

The Red Magic 7 Pro runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and features 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage.

It runs Android 12 out of the box with Red Magic’s own OS. I’m not a fan of Red Magic’s OS and UI, which I talked about in my 6R review, so this time around, I used the device with Niagra Launcher from day one.

While the launcher lets you change the way the UI looks, it doesn’t change some of the incorrect translations. Red Magic is a brand out of China, and its primary development UI is designed in Chinese. Seemingly, a bunch of typos and spelling errors are still left in, making the software side of the experience haphazard — something you’ll have to trade in exchange for a top-notch mobile gaming experience.

Toggling on the red ‘Game Space’ button from the left side of the device lets you directly access your game hub, where you can scroll through your games, check your playtime, tweak settings and control performance.

This is also where you get to customize what your shoulder triggers do, set the screen refresh rate, turn on/off the built-in cooling fan, record your gameplay, choose plugins and more.

More demanding games like Need For Speed No Limits and PUBG: Mobile work excellently on the Red Magic 7 Pro, even on the highest graphic settings, while the device feels overkill for lighter titles like Slither.io. I never had to experience choppy or laggy frames, and the responsiveness of the titles was top-notch.

The higher-touch sampling rate is also evident when playing first-person shooter games, and so is the shoulder trigger’s responsiveness.

Additionally, Game Space now has applications like Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook directly integrated into it, which means you can have these apps open in small floating windows while you are gaming, with options to move the window around and expand it to full screen (check the screenshot above for reference).

The phone doesn’t heat up even after extended periods of gaming, and that can be credited to a built-in fan and air vent, which comes with two modes, including ‘Intelligent regulation’ and ‘Fast cooling.’ As is evident by the name, ‘Intelligent regulation,’ tweaks the fan speed depending on the device’s need, whereas ‘Fast cooling’ keeps the fan running at its full pace.

Further, according to Nubia’s press release, the Red Magic 7 Pro incorporates internal materials that offer superior heat dissipation, rapid thermal dissipation and active cooling.

The device uses ‘Vapor Chamber Liquid-cooling’ technology with a wide variety of heat transferring metals like Composite Graphene, Super Soft High Heat Rare Earth, High-Conducting Gel, Copper Coil, and a Heat Dissipation Plate, just to name a few.

Battery drains quick while gaming

The Red Magic 7 Pro boasts a 5,000mAh battery, 800mAh more than the Red Magic 6R, and supports 65W GaN fast charging with the included charging brick and cable.

While the extra boost in battery does make a slight difference in everyday use, the 7 Pro’s overall battery life still depletes rather quickly when gaming at high graphic settings, high brightness or high frame rates.

With everyday use, 100 percent battery can last you about two days, but with an hour of gaming per day, you will need to charge your phone at least once per day. The in-box 65W charger can juice up your phone to about 50 percent in 15 minutes, so it’s not all that bad.

Additionally, just like the 6R, the 7 Pro also features ‘Charge Separation’ that allows your device to operate from power right out of the wall outlet.

The camera is satisfactory

The Red Magic 7 Pro features a tri-camera set up on the back and an under-display selfie camera on the front that are all satisfactory at most.

I know, a gaming phone’s selling point is not its camera, but how well it can handle heavy titles without a drop in performance. This puts the device in a niche, and falling under a niche means slow or stagnant growth for the product.

The 7 Pro’s camera setup is almost identical to the 6R with a 64-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide shooter and a 2-megapixel macro camera.

Compared to the iPhone 12 Pro, the Red Magic 7 Pro’s photos look dull and lifeless, but that could also be attributed to iPhone 12 Pro’s automatic post-processing, which is pretty evident in the images below:

The 7 Pro offers 2x and 5x digital zoom that distorts even nearby objects like no other, thanks to the absence of a telephoto lens, whereas the device’s low-light photography software does a good enough job of capturing detail and accurate colours.

To compensate for a lacklustre camera experience, Red Magic offers several ‘Camera Family’ modes, including ‘Star Trail,’ ‘Starry Sky,’ ‘Multi Exposure,’ ‘Clone’ ‘3D’ ‘Zoom Blur,’ and many more. On the video side of things, the Red Magic 7 Pro can record in HDR, with up to Ultra HD 4K at 60FPS, along with built-in anti-shake stabilization software.

With all that being said, the Red Magic 7 Pro feels like a super niche phone that won’t serve everyone well. While it’s undoubtedly one of the best gaming phones on the market with slight omissions from preceding models, the lacklustre software experience, combined with a lower refresh rate, and average quality cameras make it a no-go for the everyday user who also wants to game once in a while.

However, if you’re looking to get into mobile eSports, stream games on Twitch or YouTube, or have extra cash lying around to purchase a dedicated phone just for gaming, it’s hard to beat the Red Magic 7 Pro. It has one of the best-looking rear designs on the market, provides a top-notch gaming experience without any dips in performance, stays cool, charges rather quickly and has a big AMOLED panel that is pleasing to look at.

The Red Magic 7 Pro is available to order in 16GB+256GB and 16GB+512GB variants for $799 and $899, respectively.

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Mobile Syrup

Government tracked Canadians’ movement via smartphones amid the pandemic

A new report sent to the House of Commons ethics committee has revealed that Canadians’ movements were tracked by the government via their smartphone amid the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to The Canadian Press’ reporting, outbreak intelligence analyst BlueDot created reports for Public Health Canada using anonymized movement data pulled from Canadians’ smartphones. The public health agency then utilized this anonymized data to gain an understanding of Canadians’ travel patterns during the height of the pandemic in an effort to better manage its response.

The report goes on to reveal that the data included trips to the grocery store, visits to family and friends, time spent at home and movement outside of provinces and the country. Members of Parliament that are part of the ethics committee stated that they were surprised by the amount of detail included in the report.

“Questions remain about the specifics of the data provided, if Canadians’ rights were violated, and what advice the Liberal government was given,” said Damien Kurek, Conservative MP for Battle River-Crowfoot, Alberta, in a statement to The Canadian Press. 

Public Health Canada says that it took protecting the privacy of Canadians seriously and emphasized that the analysis of the data wasn’t focused on individual citizens’ activities and instead was focused on “understanding whether the number of visits to specific locations have increased or decreased over time.”

The data given to BlueDot didn’t include names or identifying personal information, said Public Health Canada.

The committee says that in the future the government should inform Canadian if it is collecting data about their movement and allow them to opt-out.

Source: Canadian Government Via: The Canadian Press (CP24) 

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Mobile Syrup

Vidéotron is offering displaced Ukranians six months of free mobile service

It’s been more than two-and-a-half months since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and Montreal-based Vidéotron is continuing to extend support.

After waiving off long-distance charges for calls made to the country, Vidéotron is now offering displaced Ukrainians new to Canada six months of free mobile service.

“Starting May 9, newcomers from Ukraine will be offered a free All-Inclusive 20 GB plan for six months to help them stay in touch with family and loved ones,” reads the provider’s release about the initiative. Additionally, Vidéotron will also donate about 1,000 refurbished mobile devices, which will be distributed to Ukrainian families in need.

Displaced Ukrainians new to Canada need to visit one of Vidéotron’s participating stores with a piece of ID and a proof of entry to Canada to avail the offer. Find the participating stores below:

  • Videotron Store Beaubien East — 2550 Beaubien Street East, Montreal, Quebec, H1Y 1G3
  • Videotron Store Côte -des-Neiges — 6000 Côte-des-Neiges Road, Montreal, Quebec, H3S 1Z8
  • Videotron Store Laval Center — 1600 Le Corbusier Boulevard, Laval, Quebec, H7S 1Y9
  • Videotron Store Vimont — 2133-A Laurentides Boulevard, Laval, Quebec, H7M 4M2
  • Videotron Store Lafontaine — 1950 Curé-Labelle Boulevard, Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, J7Y 1S1
  • Videotron Store Place Longueuil — 825 St-Laurent Street West, Longueuil, Quebec, J4K 2V1
  • Videotron Store Galeries Chagnon — 1200 Alphonse-Desjardins Boulevard, Lévis, Quebec, G6V 6Y8

The offer runs until July 31st, 2022, and applies to all Ukrainians who arrived in Canada on or after January 1st, 2022. Learn more about the initiative here.

Source: Vidéotron 

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Mobile Syrup

Motorola announces Moto G 5G and Moto G Stylus 5G (2022)

Motorola has announced its latest mid-tier devices: the Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) and the Moto G 5G. It’s worth mentioning that the Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) is different from the Moto G Stylus that released earlier this year.

The Moto G Stylus features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G processor, 4GB, 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and 28GB or 256GB of built-in storage that’s expandable via a microSD card.

Additionally, the phone features a 6.8-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 5,000mAh battery.

The primary shooter features a 50-megapixel sensor with an f/1.9 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle/macro vision lens, and a 2-megapixel depth shooter.

On the front, there’s a 16-megapixel selfie camera. It also offers Dolby Atmos speakers and comes with Android 12 pre-installed.

The Moto G 5G, on the other hand, features a 6.5-inch HD+ display with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 256GB of built-in storage.

Other specs include a 5,000mAh battery, a 50-megapixel primary camera sensor, a 2-megapixel maco shooter, a 2-megapixel depth camera and a 13-megapixel selfie sensor. The Moto G 5G also features a MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor.

Motorola has confirmed to MobileSyrup that the Moto G 5G and Moto G Stylus 5G are both coming to Canada but that a release date and pricing has not yet been revealed.

The Moto G 5G costs $399.99 USD (roughly $500 CAD) and the Moto G Stylus 5G costs $499 USD (roughly $620 CAD ).

Image credit: Motorola