As it's been for hundreds of years, we live in an age of excess. The next Xiaomi smartphone gives us a microcosm of what this means for us today, bringing a handset that not only slides back to reveal a camera, but also has 10GB RAM. What in the world does one person on a smartphone do with 10GB RAM? It's almost as if Xiaomi is preparing for apps that don't yet exist!
Remember that time when HP sold Palm and had a fire sale on a very rounded-corner tablet by the name of TouchPad? It's almost as if the designers of this rumored iPad Pro 2018 saw the outside edge of that old tablet and decided it'd be good for the inside of their newest slate. What we're looking at today is a set of images of what's likely our first look at the iPad Pro 12.9 for the year 2018... or 2019.
This week Huawei surprised their audience with a smartphone OTHER than the one that'd been leaked. They revealed the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, sure, but they also showed off a new Huawei Mate 20 X. This new Mate 20 X came with a 7.2-inch OLED display with a 5000mAh battery under the hood and a triple-lens camera system on its back similar to the Pro. This massive device also rolls with a new Huawei M-Pen.
This year's Kindle Paperwhite has a few new tricks to deliver e-reader fans aplenty. The device is called "the All-New Kindle Paperwhite" if you're in the public relations business or work for Amazon - but I'll be calling it the Paperwhite 2018. This version of the device is slightly thinner and slightly lighter than its predecessor, has one more LED light in it (5 instead of 4) and is now waterproof.
A lot of the advancements in smartphone technology, from multiple cameras to high-end audio output, have been made with the physically capable masses in mind. Accessibility is present but sometimes more like something tacked on. Worse, some even lock users into a specific platform or device, either by intention or by accident, leaving those with handicaps even more, well, handicapped. Hearing aid maker has had enough, waiting for platform and device makers to get their acts together. With the new Marvel line of hearing aids and its first member, the Audéo M, it is taking matters into its own hands to deliver "love at first sound", no matter what smartphone you're using.
Today Blizzard confirmed a number of changes to several new or nearly-new Hearthstone cards that've become a bit too powerful. This isn't a new occurrence - Blizzard changes the costs of cards and/or switches the power of cards every once in a while to bring balance to the force. Or the game - whichever. In this most recent set of switches, Blizzard's Hearthstone gameplay specialists took on Giggling Inventor, Mana Wyrm, and Aviana.
The brand Palm revealed a new "phone" today that looks nice and has very little reason to exist. Much in the same way the first wave of smartwatches' first job was to solve a problem that did not exist, this first Palm smartphone for the year 2018 is tiny, beautiful, and quite unnecessary. It has a 3.3-inch display and it's coming to Verizon this November!
This week the Google Pixel 3 was revealed in full by Google and, before the device hit stores, its camera app was leaked. This app includes some of the technology meant to make the Google Pixel 3 the most elite camera smartphone in the world. Not all, but certainly some. Unless you've got a Pixel 3 in your pocket, this is just about as close as you're gonna get.
Could Samsung respond to the upcoming least-expensive iPhone X with a phone that's just as impressive? If what we're seeing in the leaked Galaxy A6s is legit (and headed worldwide), Apple might have a real competitor on its hands. Not that Apple is ever competing with Samsung, but in the most basic sense, this looks like a lineup of phones that has iPhone XR written all over it.
Some might contest branding Pokemon GO as an augmented reality game. Yes, it does use your real-world location and, at least, can at least use streets and building structures in maps. But the Pokemon themselves look more like stickers superimposed on the real world when you enable AR mode. Pokemon GO’s AR+ mode took care of that last year and it’s now finally available for Android smartphones. Provided yours is one of the few dozen that supports the ARCore framework.
This week Samsung renewed its promise to bring a foldable Galaxy smartphone to market - with a few details attached to said promise. Samsung's been working on next-generation displays for the past several years, having brought devices with curved displays to market since 2013 and "bended" displays (like the Galaxy S9 with its Infinity Display edges) to market since 2014. This week Samsung's suggested that not only will they bring foldable displays to market in a phone, they'll make them more than just a concept - and more than just a flash in the pan.
It's been a long time coming, but beginning today, you can play Fortnite on Android without an invite to the beta. Fortnite fans who have been looking forward to the mobile release have been waiting for this day for a while, but unfortunately had to sit through a few different exclusivity periods before this launch. Unfortunately, even though Fortnite is now available to the wider Android audience, you still can't get it from the Google Play Store.