This morning the Honor 10 was revealed in full, complete with release details and pricing too. This device is the brand's self-declared flagship smartphone for 2018, and its primary aim is to bring "Beauty in AI" to the masses. This device's other major feature is its "avant-garde design" - which we've been waiting for in the smartphone industry for some time. Now, to see if they've done it.
Today I'm going to show you how to get rid of mobile notifications entirely. I'll start with a few major sources for notifications, and we'll get a little more general. I'm not going to spend much time trying to convince you to throw your smartphone down a sewer drain today - but that IS the fastest way to do away with notifications entirely. If you're unable to destroy your smartphone, continue on.
This week a set of tips from China suggested the next wave of iPhone devices may have price cuts. This would have a major effect on how iPhone-using smartphone buyers pay for new devices. Early notification of the potential for this bit of price adjustment could change the date at which many users decide to lay down their cash - so let's talk about it.
When you speak about operating system or OS, people with s bit of tech knowledge will probably think of Windows, macOS (or OS X), Android, iOS, and maybe even Linux. For the rest of the world's computer-using population, an "OS" is simply the thing that launches their apps and shows them their documents and photos and takes them to the Internet. It seems that Google, with particular attention to the latter, of course, is trying to move towards that simpler notion of an OS. And it is doing so by replacing everything with a search bar and an always listening AI.
As smartphones become more and more a common part of everyday life, so too do their potential to be used for harm. While we mostly rely on laws to protect us both criminals and less conscientious companies, sometimes the laws aren't exactly clear or up to modern standards and have just enough grey areas for some enterprising people to take advantage of. Case in point is the ability of some companies and individuals to track cellphone locations even without warrants, all thanks to a feature almost all carriers provide to aid marketing and advertising.
Valve seems to be cooking up quite the treat for mobile users while still clinging to is PC gaming focus. It recently announced the expansion of its Steam Link system that would allow Steam games to be streamed to Android and iOS devices. Now it has revealed a crucial piece of that puzzle by announcing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support for its Steam Controller. While Valve explains that this is an important requirement for its Steam Link plans, it also makes it possible to use the wireless controller directly with mobile devices.
Today we're having a peek at a mockup of the iPhone SE 2018 based on leaks from the past week. We're exploring the viability of the leaked models that've appeared - with regard to the software and the hardware that'd need to work with said hardware. This is a test. If this had been a news story based on Apple products straight from Apple, we'd be going in on all angles.
This morning we're having a peek at the battle we'll be re-addressing in just a few weeks time - that is Galaxy Note 9 vs Galaxy Note 8. These two devices will roll with extremely similar hardware with a few important adjustments made to the newer of the pair. The newer device comes with the latest in processor and camera technology with a splash of slightly-shorter body finesse.
This morning we've discovered the existence of Google's 2018 edition(s) of the Google Pixel smartphone. Wording in an official AOSP code commit suggests that more than one Pixel device will be revealed in 2018, but that Google's not quite gotten to AOSP testing just yet. Once Google developers begin testing AOSP builds on their 2018 Pixel devices, we'll see their code-names (fishy, fishy code-names) for the first time.
Google wants to make the world a better place by making it smarter and, perhaps by extension, making us lazier. All throughout its I/O 2018 presentation, AI, machine learning, and neural networks take center stage to relieve our brains of most of the cognitive workload and thereby free us to do and enjoy the more important things in life. There is, however, no such thing as a free lunch and everything comes at a price. And the price we'll eventually have to pay for Google's wonderful future is our privacy. At least some of it or maybe even all of it.
Two new apps from Steam were announced this morning - one for video, the other for playing games on your phone. The Steam Video app will be released later this summer and will feature the ability to watch Steam-based movies and shows on iOS and Android devices. The Steam Link app is a bit more revolutionary - if it works. With Steam Link, users will be able to play their PC games on their iPhone or Android device.
As expected, Google devoted a good chunk of its I/O 2018 stage and press time to Android. But unlike previous I/Os, Android wasn't just an independent, major Google product among other Google products. This time, it was part of a bigger whole. If there were one pervasive theme in Google's entire conference, it would be the use of machine learning and AI to make our lives easier and better. Naturally, that theme applies even to Android and not just in a future version but even starting very soon.