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from the When-are-they-going-to-hold-one-in-Mobile-AL? dept.
Huawei Mate X vs. Samsung Galaxy Fold: Ask the Press
The folding hybrid phone-tablets are probably the biggest story to come out of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019.
Smartphones
Energizer 'thick boi' phone gives 50 days of battery lifeThe F(x)tec Pro 1 is a love letter to your old QWERTY keyboard phones
Oppo Demonstrates 5G Smartphone at MWC 2019
The Sony Xperia 1: A Long 21:9 HDR 4K OLED Smartphone
People Say a Weird Aspect of Nokia's New Smartphone Is Triggering Their Trypophobia
(It's a spider.)
Other
Related: Royole Beats Samsung and Others in Race to Create the First Foldable Smartphone
More on Royole's Foldable Smartphone, the FlexPai
Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 8cx, an ARM Chip Intended for Laptops
Samsung Announces the Galaxy Fold, a Phone-Tablet Hybrid Device
Micron and SanDisk (Western Digital) Announce 1 TB MicroSD Cards
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday February 27 2019, @08:12PM (6 children)
And then went ridiculously overboard, with the 18mm super-battery phone:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/energizers-beastly-smartphone-has-an-18000mah-battery/ [arstechnica.com]
I'd rather get a 13mm version with a 10k battery and none of the odd design tradeoffs, but it's nice to see someone is ditching the slim trend...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Wednesday February 27 2019, @08:29PM
18000 mAh is NOT going overboard depending on the accessories you want it to have.
On Amazon similar sized batteries [amazon.com] have cables with red/black clamps to jump start your car.
That would be a cool phone accessory connector.
But would they also take the cowardly route and include a headphone jack, compared to Apple's "courage" to omit the headphone jack?
Stupid people exist because nothing in the food chain eats them anymore.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:16PM (3 children)
On one hand, I don't feel 18mm or 18Ah is at all unreasonable, as my current phone (Note3 with Zerolemon 10Ah extended battery) measures 17mm through the screen, and 19mm where the edge of the case lips over the phone. And my previous phone (N900 with Mugenpower extended battery) was right around the 3/4" mark as well. The thickness isn't a problem, and I wouldn't want any less capacity; with the ability to use it as a power bank, more would be in order.
On the other hand, as that article points out, the P18K Pop is an astonishingly lazy chop job to claim a "world record". Does nothing to disturb my expectation that my next "smartphone" will be a Dragonbox Pyra tethered to a dumbphone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:50PM (1 child)
Just curious as to why the dumbphone? Why not simply get the Pyra model with the phone module in it?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 27 2019, @10:00PM
I do expect to get that version anyway, but my understanding is it probably won't be allowed to work on Sprint's network, and T-mobile's network was (last I checked) awfully spotty around here. (I use Ting, an MVNO that resells both Sprint and T-mobile service.)
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday February 28 2019, @08:20AM
Married With Children is returning in 2019? Cool! Mind you I'm not sure how they'd cast it, Kelly is close to 50 by now. Al Bundy would work as a cranky old granddad... maybe Kelly as a 50-ish slapper, and Bud who's turned into another version of Al.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:29PM
Well according to the article, the 16000mah model they announced last year never really made it to market.. so this could just be vaporware. Never knew there were energizer branded phones until now, looks like their marketing campaign worked.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 27 2019, @08:31PM (9 children)
I watched a YouTube video just yesterday evening of Samsung unveiling its folding phone.
Bottom line, price is over: $1900.
(I think it was $1950, but I could be mistaken.)
Stupid people exist because nothing in the food chain eats them anymore.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Wednesday February 27 2019, @08:42PM (1 child)
A perfect example of: how to extract lots of money from people for something they do not need.
At some stage, you will have <fill in absurd feature> for <fill in absurd overprice>. It is a natural marked development.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:42PM
Or maybe extract money from developers who will customize their applications to the device in hopes of a big payday.
Stupid people exist because nothing in the food chain eats them anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:15PM (5 children)
It's an early adopter price.
Maybe Samsung can't make millions of units right now. So they launch it at an absurd price to sell to early adopters who will beta test the product. People are paying $1k for other phones, so it works out.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:41PM (4 children)
I recently paid just over $1K for a Pixel 3 XL. But I'm not sold on a folding phone. Maybe I'll give it a look one day when it's time to upgrade phones.
Stupid people exist because nothing in the food chain eats them anymore.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday February 27 2019, @11:42PM (2 children)
It'll be really good in 4, 5 or 6 years. I will get one then and it can replace both my phone and tablet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 28 2019, @01:02AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 28 2019, @03:08PM
A cloth bag. Better than a basket. Cloth bag offers the same well known kind of protection as a scrotum.
Stupid people exist because nothing in the food chain eats them anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 28 2019, @02:31AM
I really wish I could justify spending the $$$ on a CAT S61 phone. It's about AU$1200.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 28 2019, @02:13AM
I expected what is basically two screens with a hinge reinforced to prevent cracking.
How many times can that plastic hinge flex?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by arslan on Wednesday February 27 2019, @09:32PM
Looking at the comments of attendees, they can't really touch or test the folding toys - only the staff are allowed to. So i wonder what the durability of these are..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 28 2019, @01:08AM (2 children)
It's a genuinely interesting story, perhaps more than HP genesis I would say.
IBM? Well, Apple doesn't have the historical Nazi connection, notwithstanding Steve Jobs' Syrian heritage (and being a total asshole).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 28 2019, @01:14AM (1 child)
WTF are you on about?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 28 2019, @01:24AM
Thought it was MacWorld Conference (MWC). Nevermind, carry on.