The next major Motorola smartphone with Android leaked this week with specifications and imagery of the device both front and back. This device looks very similar to its predecessor up front, with a nearly full-face display and a punch-hole camera. This time the hole is in the center, where with devices like the Motorola Edge+ (from 2020), the punch hole was sent to the left.
Starting today, the 23rd of July, 2021, Pokemon GO has an event running courtesy of the Ultra Unlock series during Pokemon GO Fest 2021. The first event is Ultra Unlock Part 1: Time, and it runs from today until August 3, 2021, at 8PM local time. The idea here is that Pokemon from what appear to be "various eras" will pop up in the wild, in raid battles, and in 7km eggs. That means we've got everything from Omanyte (ancient, very old), to Porygon (super futuristic).
Android users who have wanted to participate in beta testing have the opportunity to beta test Android Auto. Google has announced that anyone with an Android phone can now register to be a beta tester for Android Auto. The program will give users early access to features and updates in Android Auto before they release it to the general public.
Motorola's smartphone branding strategy seems to be all over the place. In the past, it was easy to distinguish between E, G, X, and Z lines, but these days it almost seems like Motorola is using the G brand for everything. Originally meant for its mid-range line, the company announced a Moto G100 a few months back bearing rather high-end features. That unexpected premium phone has finally made its way to the US and has an equally unexpected price tag.
The smartphone market has been trying to push for full-screen displays for a long time now, but no single solution seems to stick around for long. From cutouts to popup cameras, every year sees a new design or mechanism designed to minimize the amount of screen real estate taken up by the front camera. Ideally, the solution would be an under-display camera or UDC that's completely hidden from view. In practice, even ZTE's upcoming Axon 30 5G shows how we're still a long way from that ideal.
The very first Samsung foldable phone in 2019 looked like a marvel but easily caved in under pressure. Given its unique design, particularly its hinges, it wasn't exactly surprising to learn that the Galaxy Fold couldn't live up to its peers in terms of dust and water resistance. Since then, Samsung has worked hard to improve the durability of its foldable phones, inside and out. This year's generation will even be waterproof, according to the latest leak, but it still has one Achilles' heel common to all foldable phones.
A former darling of the smartphone market, OnePlus has recently received a lot of flak over one unpopular strategy after another. Its software commitment for some of the OnePlus Nord phones didn't sit well for fans of the company's "Never Settle" philosophy, and its "merger" with OPPO raised doubts about its future. Its biggest offense of late, however, is its secret throttling of performance on OnePlus 9 phones. Now it seems to be reconsidering its position and will offer a compromise, but probably not until next year.
Dedicated digital cameras are largely a thing of the past -- no one needs to carry around a point-and-shoot camera when they can simply whip out their smartphone and take all the images they want. There is a downside, however, which is that your phone is heavily used in ways your old digital camera likely wasn't and that means one big issue: scratches on the camera lens.
Pokemon GO revealed a new Eevee Community Day for the month of August, 2021. This event will span over two days - more than twice as long as the average Community Day event. It'll also be extra special because of the more-than-any-other number of Pokemon into which Eevee can evolve. Here in the summer of 2021, Eevee can evolve into Vaporeon, Umbreon, Jolteon, Flareon, Sylveon, Glaceon, Leafeon, and Espeon - it's wild!
The OnePlus Nord 2 5G was revealed today and released with a ship date of "within 5 days". This device isn't necessarily meant for people living in the USA, mind you, as it's part of the Nord collection launching in the UK, while the USA gets "N" line Nord phones. The OnePlus Nord 2 5G will appear in Gray Sierra and Blue Haze color options with two options for capacity and RAM: 8GB RAM + 128GB storage or 12GB RAM with 256GB storage. Both versions include a Google Stadia Premiere Edition (controller and Chromecast, for a limited time) - neat.
Chinese smartphone makers seem to have engaged in their own race to have the fastest charging technology in the consumer market. Although OPPO may have started it all, Xiaomi tried to widen the gap with its insane 200W charging technology. Of course, that doesn't come without costs, but Xiaomi may have plenty of time if it doesn't plan on actually putting this 200W HyperCharge technology into production until next year.
Many smartphone makers are working hard on features that will help users worry less about the best camera settings and just point and shoot at a person or scene. At the same time, however, they have to balance these automatic features with controls that will satisfy more advanced mobile photographers. This "Pro Mode" has actually been a staple of many premium smartphones these days, but Samsung might be finally taking it a step further by enabling that mode for its telephoto cameras as well.