PhoneArena

The Galaxy S21 hits the same price sweet spot as the iPhone 12, but there are more challenges ahead

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 21:24:00 GMT

The is now official and while the variant is a notable upgrade over its predecessor, the standard and the Plus models have taken a step back in some areas. South Korean outlet speculates this might have something to do with the unpopularity of the Galaxy S20 range.

The S20 phones were released in March last year, just as the coronavirus was taking hold around the world. The handsets were also on the higher side of the price spectrum. Sales never really took off, which is apparently why the range is key markets.

The starting price of the new models has been reduced ...

Google Maps update makes it easier to walk through New York and three other major cities

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 20:57:00 GMT

Google Maps, once again, is being updated to include more accurate information about local streets including crosswalks and a crossing island. The latter provides a safe space where pedestrians can protect themselves while crossing a road with multiple lanes. Right now, this detailed information is available for only four cities: London, England; New York, U.S.; San Francisco, U.S.; and Tokyo, Japan.

According to Google, you can check out the new look for the streets in these cities by opening the Google Maps app on your phone. Type in directions to one of those places ...

Apple is a "lifestyle company" says incoming Intel CEO in bid to motivate employees

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 18:53:00 GMT

There was a time before the Apple iPhone and other smartphones roamed the earth when people relied on their PCs to access the internet. Back then, Intel was said to be the Gold Standard of chip makers. But that was then and these days Intel no longer has the same reputation. Intel also has had problems with its 10nm process node and delayed until 2022 the release of its 7nm manufacturing process.

There has been talk about Intel turning to contract manufacturer TSMC or Samsung Foundry to produce some of Intel's chip designs. In fact, recently Intel decided to outsource ...

Apple supplier expects to start volume production of 3nm chips as soon as 2022

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 05:34:00 GMT

This year, TSMC debuted chips made using its 5nm process node. The first smartphones released with a 5nm chip were the which features the A14 Bionic chipset. Apple also has this chip powering the . The 5nm A14 Bionic has a transistor density of 134 million transistors per square mm compared to 89.97 million transistors per square mm on the 7nm A13 Bionic. The transistor count for the A14 Bionic is 11.8 billion compared to 8.5 billion transistors for the A13 Bionic. Those additional transistors found in the A14 Bionic make it a more powerful performer and more energy efficient than the A13 ...

The Apple Watch is becoming an important tool in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 00:20:00 GMT

Suppose there were a consumer electronics device that could tell you whether you have coronavirus, and give you your results faster than a standard COVID test. , smartwatches like the Apple Watch, and those produced by Fitbit and Garmin, can tell someone whether they have coronavirus before symptoms appear and even before swab tests come back positive. This is important since a recent CDC test discovered that more than half of coronavirus cases are spread by people who are asymptomatic.

Smartwatches can determine if someone has COVID-19 faster than a standard nose swab test

The ...

Next iPhone to offer in-screen Touch ID; may be called iPhone 12S

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Apple may have started work on a , but the Tim Cook-led company is still very much focused on introducing its next-generation and iPad products in the coming months.
The next iPhone will offer in-screen Touch ID
The iPhone 12 line offered a series of important upgrades including 5G support and an updated design language. However, the next iPhone series is unlikely to match that level of change, as reported by .

Engineers inside Apple consider the 2021 iPhone lineup to be another “S” version because there will be only minor hardware upgrades. This can be partially attributed ...

Fourth time might be the charm for Samsung's Galaxy S20 FE touchscreen issues

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 22:38:00 GMT

may not have hit it out of the park with the quality/price ratio of its first three members of the high-end Galaxy S20 family last year, but then the inexpensive S20 FE arrived to give the likes of the a run for their money with a flagship-grade processor and a silky smooth 120Hz display in tow.

Unfortunately, the 6.5-inch handset was shortly after its global commercial debut, and despite its manufacturer's best (repeated) efforts, said bugs were not fixed for all users the first, second, or .

Unsurprisingly, Samsung isn't giving up on , delivering ...

Apple has started work on a foldable iPhone

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 21:59:00 GMT

Foldable iPhone concept —

Some Android manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola have been selling foldable devices for quite some time. Other brands, , are in the process of creating their own competitors.

Now, has started work too.
Apple's foldable iPhone is now under development
reports that Apple has developed prototype foldable displays for internal testing purposes, although the testing hasn’t expanded beyond the displays, so there still aren’t foldable iPhone prototypes.

The foldable iPhone launch plans haven’t been ...

For a second time, Apple extends the expiration of TV+ free trials

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:21:00 GMT

Did you receive a one year trial of Apple TV+ with the latest purchase you made of an device? Is that free trial set to expire between now and June? If so, you now have some extra time to decide whether or not to subscribe to the tech giant's streaming service. Apple has announced that it is pushing back the expiration of one-year TV+ trials to July 2021 from June.

Essentially, anyone with a free trial set to expire in the period between February and June will receive free service through June. Anyone with a paid subscription that expires between February and ...

Apple in discussions to launch subscription podcast service

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 19:22:00 GMT

Apple offers an extensive range of subscription services including the recently launched and Spotify rival Apple Music. But soon another product could join Apple’s growing lineup.
Is Podcasts+ the next big Apple service?
The information (via ) that Apple is discussing the launch of “a new subscription service that would charge people to listen to podcasts.” However, it's unclear when Apple will launch the new service, or even if.

The platform could charge customers for "individual podcasts," per familiar with the matter. The norm at the moment is a fixed fee ...

Starting tomorrow, the Pixel 2 series loses support for a key photographic feature

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 19:15:00 GMT

If you still use the or the as your daily driver, you might notice that the devices are slowing down tremendously. This writer used a Pixel 2 XL for a couple of years before putting it into retirement last February for the . Whenever work calls on me to write about Android 11 and I blow the dust off of the Pixel 2 XL, it seems impossibly slow. Some of this is no doubt due to the fact that yours truly is now used to the faster speed of the A13 Bionic over the Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform. Some of the lagging is just due to old age and lack of support from Google.

As ...

Samsung is discontinuing last year's Galaxy S20 range

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:04:00 GMT

Last year's Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and Ultra have been discontinued in certain regions, reports . The trio , and this could be chalked down to the fact that it was released right when the pandemic was getting going. The high prices of the phones didn't help either. Now that the new has been announced, S20's chances of success don't seem any brighter.

Galaxy S21 offer better specs than the S20 at a lower price

The new phones pack (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or the , depending on where you live) and the also gets major camera upgrades and S Pen ...

T-Mobile seems to have permanently discounted the LG Wing 5G

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:22:00 GMT

It's no big secret that has had in the incredibly competitive (and stagnant) mobile industry, failing to make any sort of a global impact with its repetitive high-end smartphones and instantly forgettable mid-rangers.

But while the company is unlikely to challenge the huge worldwide popularity of Samsung, Apple, Huawei, or Xiaomi's phones anytime soon, last year's 5G-enabled and could well kindle a creative resurgence of sorts set to be continued with .

Although the quirky LG Wing is arguably not as groundbreaking as the rollable device the company ...

The unique new Galaxy S21 Ultra features no other phone has

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 15:27:00 GMT

Samsung inundated us with information about the during its first , and it even made its own unboxing and preview videos for the new phones - you know, pandemic times don't warrant a bunch of techies ganging up on floor units in a confined space.

Even so, it's the that caught our attention the most, and not only because significantly compared to its predecessor while decking it out even more, or because it has dual tele-zoom ( has it, too).

Why? Because there are some numbers and unique which you may have overlooked during all the pomp and bombast, ...

LG CEO on if the company is exiting the smartphone business

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 15:26:00 GMT

South Korean Publication The Elec reported not too long ago that LG was going to exit the smartphone industry. The publication claimed that LG would announce the decision by the end of the month. It was also said that except for the LG Rollable, all development would be halted.

reached out to the South Korean company's global communicator for consumer tech, Ken Hong to find out if there was any substance to the rumor. Here is what Ken had to say:

Completely false and without merit. I won't even justify that rumor with a statement.

The ...

Android 11 is now rolling out to the OG Sony Xperia 1 and Xperia 5

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:42:00 GMT

It sure looks like no company can even hope to come close to for both new and , but with former software support champion HMD Global seemingly and inexplicably dropping the ball as far as its Nokia-branded handsets are concerned, is decisively moving in on the industry's coveted silver medal.

After predictably kicking things off with an over-the-air around a month ago, the Japan-based tech giant is surprisingly bringing the older first-gen and rather than treating the Xperia 5 II to the same major UI makeover.

Commercially released in the spring ...

Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus vs Galaxy S20 Plus

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:10:00 GMT

Samsung's new family is here and it mimics the 2020 line perfectly. We have the fully decked-out and its smaller siblings, . As always, there's plenty of buzz around these phones as they'll be some of the best Android phones of 2021 despite being among the first to come out.

Naturally, people are wondering what's new about them and is it worth buying them. Well, to help with that, we've created a series of 1-vs-1 comparisons that pair each phone with one of its closest competitors. The links for some of them are below, but in this article we're focusing on ...

Samsung Galaxy S series evolution

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 13:26:00 GMT

Just like Rome, which was not built in a day, it took Samsung some time to become the major smartphone manufacturer that it is today. Undoubtedly, the main driving force that kickstarted Sammy's rise to the top of the market was its flagship smartphone lineup. Indeed, ever since its inception, the pioneering Galaxy S and its successors have been the workhorses that made the company a household name.

We can't help but look back at the past and draw parallel lines between the previous Galaxy flagships ...

Hands-on photos of the Motorola Nio show off design in full

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 13:14:00 GMT

Motorola Nio is expected to launch in the coming months as the newest Moto G phone. It has leaked quite extensively in recent weeks, and today it has been photographed in full for the first time.
In terms of design, the Motorola Nio is more of the same
Published on social media platform and later shared to , the hands-on photos hint at a smartphone that’s very familiar in terms of design. In fact, it looks almost identical to the Moto G 5G Plus.

The front of the Nio houses a 6.7-inch screen that offers two punch holes for the selfie cameras and a refresh rate of at least 90Hz. As ...

Is this what Xiaomi's folding phone looks like? Leaked photos show it in use

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 12:41:00 GMT

Leaked photos of what is assumed to be 's long-rumored folding smartphone have apparently just surfaced on Chinese social media site Weibo (via ). The photographs show a person on a subway using a large folding device, which is clearly running Xiaomi's MIUI 12 custom Android interface. This suggests that the device is either a folding phone or folding tablet prototype by Xiaomi.

The device in the pictures is indeed clearly not a final product, with rather large bezels and crease, and most notably, no front-facing camera. The latter in particular could be due to the device's prototype status, ...