Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition Teardown Reveals It as a Galaxy Note 7 With a Smaller Battery

Photo Credit: iFixit

Earlier this month, Samsung made a major announcement as the company said that it will be releasing refurbished version of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, called Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition. While the South Korean conglomerate said that it will be using components from the Galaxy Note 7 in the new model, the iFixit teardown of the new handset has revealed that it is the same old Galaxy Note 7 albeit with a new smaller battery.

In its note regarding the Galaxy Note Fan Edition teardown, iFixit says, "Beyond batteries, we've got exactly the same phone: no evidence of the rumoured processor bumps, and no surprises."

Photo Credit: iFixit

In comparison with the 13.48Wh (3500mAh) battery on the original Galaxy Note 7, the Galaxy Note Fan Edition comes with a smaller 12.32Wh (3200mAh) battery. Notably, the new battery even weighs less than the one on original Galaxy Note 7. While the latter came with a battery that weighed 47.7 grams, the battery on Galaxy Note Fan Edition weighs in at 45.4 grams.

To recall, Samsung said that it will only sell 400,000 units of the Galaxy Note Fan Edition in South Korea and will decide later whether to release the smartphone elsewhere or not. The smartphone was priced by the company at KRW 699,000 (roughly Rs. 39,700) and was released in South Korea on July 7.

To recall, Samsung had to recall around 3 million Galaxy Note 7 units due to reported explosions later attributed to faulty batteries. We will have to see if the company will introduced the refurbished units elsewhere on the globe as well, with a recent report claiming the company had not ruled out such a move
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Google Play Music New Release Radio Will Suggest New Music Based on Your Tastes

Google is rolling out a new feature to the Google Play Music service, called New Release Radio, that offers a personalised mix of newly released songs based on your taste. The feature was first discovered last month when some Samsung Galaxy S8 users reported seeing the new station, but Google has now confirmed that the feature is rolling out for all Google Play Music customers. You can find New Release Radio throughout Google Play Music or by typing "New Release Radio" in the search bar.

The New Release Radio station "uses machine learning to select singles and album releases from the past two weeks based on your listening history and musical preferences," Google says in its blog post. This sounds similar to a feature recently launched for Apple Music, called My Chill Mix, which suggests a playlist of songs based on your listening habit, but is actually closer to Apple Music's My New Music playlist.

Back in April, Google joined hands with Samsung that would make Google Play Music the default music player and streaming service on Samsung mobiles and tablets. As part of that partnership, the Internet search giant was able to get feedback on New Release Radio from Samsung users through an early access programme, and so far the responses have been positive, Google says.

In a bid to challenge rival Apple Music, Google in May extended its 90-day free trial of Google Play Music to 120 days, or four months, for new subscribers. It also launched Google Play Music All Access back in April, that gives access to millions of songs similar to Spotify and Apple Music, at an introductory offer of Rs. 89 per month post a 30-day free trial
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Google Pixel XL 2 Tipped to Feature Always On Ambient Display and More

It seems like we are getting more and more details about the anticipated Google Pixel XL 2 smartphone with every passing day now. After the leaked renders of the yet-to-be-announced smartphone popped up earlier this month, the new information suggests that the handset will feature an Always On display mode, multiple display profiles, and ability to use squeeze features even when the screen is off.

A report by XDA Developers has claimed that the upcoming Google Pixel XL 2 will come with an 'Always On' Ambient Display feature that will work similarly to the way it does on recent Samsung smartphones and will display useful information and notifications when the handset is in idle state. The same feature was recently also spotted in the code of the Android O Developer Preview 3, tipping that a software update could bring the feature to first-generation Pixel smartphones.

Apart from this, the search giant has been tipped to include sRGB mode into the display settings. Notably, this mode was earlier accessible only via Developer options. Alongside the sRGB option, there is also a "Vivid Colours" option that will be available as well, as per the report.

A recent report tipped the Google Pixel XL 2 to come with a squeezable frame and the XDA report claims to have independently received information about the utility of this added feature. The report says that the squeezable frame will allow users to launch Google Assistant by squeezing the sides of the smartphone. Moreover, this feature can also allow users to silence incoming calls as well.

To recall, the Google Pixel XL 2 is said to sport an LG-made AMOLED panel which measures 6 inches diagonally, compared with 5.5 inches on the original Google Pixel XL. The display on the Pixel XL 2 has been said to come with an aspect ratio of 2:1 - the same as the LG G6.

Xbox One Lead Engineer: 'Who Cares About a Couple of Hundred Million PCs Anymore?'

At the Develop Conference 2017, the one-time lead engineer on the Xbox One and Xbox Live founder Boyd Multerer stated that mobile devices are driving innovation in CPUs.

“Mobile phones drive the research of CPUs, there's no question about it,” Boyd Multerer, said at Develop. Processor developers like Intel and ARM have prioritised their mobile projects because “the market is phones. Who cares about a couple of hundred million PCs anymore? This is about billions of phones.”

When desktop processors were a priority, Multerer explained that it was about making faster CPUs. Now he believes that it's all about cutting power usage.

“If they can lower the amount of power use of that instruction by a little bit, that gives them a competitive edge against other chips. [...] The phone industry says I can have 16 CPUs so that when you want to run a complicated app I can go into high power mode and I'll have all of them working at the same time and work really fast. As soon as that app goes to the background, 14 of those CPUs get turned off and sit there drawing zero power while the next app is in front.”

According to him, this trend is here to stay, with the shift from power efficiency "not going to happen in the next ten years."

Although, this doesn't help PC gaming directly, it does impact servers necessary for PC gaming.

Speaking to PCGamesN after his talk, Multerer said that “the effort into having lower power performance on mobile is absolutely benefitting us on the servers.” Reason being ongoing power and cooling costs are a large chunk of the expenditure needed to keep servers running.

“That's why Facebook put a data centre in the northern part of Norway,” Multerer explained, “because to cool it they just have to open the windows and the roof and it's cold.”

Nonetheless, Multerer feels that this “leaves the desktop PC as the confused, kind of forgotten platform.” The physical size of a desktop is “limiting,” he says. “The more you can take off those desktop PCs and put it on servers, [the more] you're getting power efficiencies” but there are some things that you want to keep running on your own computer to reduce lag.

Multerer points out that with programs like Photoshop, Adobe “have done the work to get it running across all the cores and getting them all going at 100%, so they've seen the benefit.” Game developers on the other hand, don't make full use of multicore processors, he opines, so we don't see the full benefit of the hardware used.

NanoPhone 'Smallest Phone in the World' Launched in India

E-commerce site Yerha.com on Thursday announced the launch of what is claimed to be the 'smallest phone in the world' - the Elari NanoPhone C. Specifically, the company claims the NanoPhone C is the world's smallest GSM phone, said to be no bigger than a credit card.

The Elari NanoPhone C price in India is Rs. 3,940, and it is available in Black, Rose Gold, and Silver colour variants. In a statement, Yerha says the NanoPhone C is a "stylish, ultra-compact, anti-smart mobile phone" that's meant for smartphone users who "wish to maintain an active lifestyle having the opportunity to completely disconnect, while staying reachable and retaining other features, when required."

The NanoPhone C weighs 30 grams, and measures 94.4x35.85x7.6mm. It sports a 1-inch 128x96 pixels TFT display. It runs RTOS, and is powered by a MediaTek MT6261D chipset, coupled with 32MB of RAM. It comes with 32MB of storage that's expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB).

The dual-SIM (Micro-SIM) phone is powered by a 280mAh battery that is claimed to last up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 4 days of standby time. It features a MP3 player, FM radio, voice recording, and phone recording functions. Apart from GSM connectivity for phone calls, it comes with a 3.5mmhead phone jack, and a Micro-USB port.

The NanoPhone C also features Bluetooth connectivity that enables it to connect with Android and iOS devices, which also lets it accept and make calls from connected smartphones. The company is also touting a Magic Voice function, which the company claims lets users prank call their friend
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Uber, Yandex Agree to Merge Ride-Sharing Business in Russia, Eastern Europe

In a joint statement, Yandex and Uber said they will join forces in Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan to create a new company operating in 127 cities, in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter.

San Francisco-based Uber has agreed to invest $225 million (roughly Rs. 1,450 crores) while Yandex will invest $100 million into a new joint company in which Yandex will own 59.3 percent, Uber holds 36.6 percent and 4.1 percent by employees on a fully diluted basis.

As part of the deal, Uber will contribute its UberEATS food delivery business in the six-country region to the new venture. Diversified internet giant Yandex is the dominant player in Web search, maps and mobile navigation in the region.

Earlier this week, Uber said it will be improving an offer to drivers and would welcome greater legal clarity about different types of employment in Britain, in response to a government review into the gig economy published on Tuesday.

The review calls for a new category of worker called a "dependent contractor" meaning that those Britons working for companies such as Uber and Deliveroo would receive more benefits.

Moto Z2 Force Launch Teased for July 25 Event

Photo Credit: Android Central

Earlier this month, invites for a Moto launch event on July 25 were sent out, but there was no mention of any devices that are about to be unveiled. Now, the company has all but confirmed that it will be unveiling its Moto Z2 Force smartphone at the event as its latest teaser for the launch stops just short of mentioning the handset's name. The Z2 Force would the successor to the top-end Moto Z Force, the first smartphone with a shatter-proof screen.

In the new invite image, shared by Android Central, the company says, "Get ready to shatter your expectations." Putting aside the odd phrasing, this is a clear reference to the upcoming Moto Z2 Force smartphone, which is expected to feature the ShatterShield Display, a shatter-proofing technology, just like its predecessor.

Moto Z2 Force specifications

The Moto Z2 Force, which was earlier spotted on AnTuTu, has been tipped to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with Adreno 540 GPU and 6GB of RAM. The screen resolution on the handset is expected to be QHD (1440x2560 pixels) and the inbuilt storage is pegged to be at 128GB. The smartphone has been said to run Android 7.1 Nougat out-of-the-box. In terms of optics, the Moto Z2 Force is expected to come with a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel shooter at front.

Previous leaks have also suggested that the Moto Z2 Force will also sport a dual camera setup and a dual LED flash at the back. It is further expected to support Gigabit LTE speeds and Moto Mods. The design aesthetic is expected to be similar to the Moto Z2 Play.

It is possible that the company might launch Moto Z2 smartphone alongside Moto Z2 Force at the event as well. Earlier leaked Moto X4 has also been speculated to launch at the event. However, we might have to wait till July 25 to get further confirmation from the company
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