Latest Technology

At a session on the future of 6G during Mobile World Congress, expert speakers from companies such as Samsung, the European Space Agency and Telefonica came together to give their views about how 6G will play out. The first thing to note is that it’s not arriving any time soon. The projections are that the likes of you and I will only get 6G into our hot little hands from around 2030 onwards, so it would be best to quell your ire for now. That said, the prospect of having a device streaming at least a terabyte of data into your eyeballs is enough to set our geeky hearts racing. We are talking about 100 times the capacity of 5G, with sub-millisecond latencies. Present on the panel was Kimberley Trommler (Head of Thinknet 6G, Bayern Innovativ GmbH), Yue Wang (Head of 6G Research, Samsung Research UK), Xavier Lobao (Head of Future Telecom Projects Division, European Space Agency), and Nicolas Kourtellis (Principal Research Scientist, Co-Director, Telefónica Research). Asked if they had...

Nothing’s presence stood in stark contrast to OnePlus at this year’s MWC. Whereas Carl Pei’s old company, OnePlus, put on a flashy launch event for a concept device yesterday, Nothing has largely used the event to meet with vendors and other big names in the industry. We sat down with Pei yesterday, fittingly in a meeting room inside the Qualcomm booth. Among other things, the CEO confirmed that the Nothing (2) will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 series chip — not that the topic was ever up for much debate. The conversation — which touches on the U.S. and India markets and the smartphone industry at large — began with a quick exchange about the OnePlus concept phone . Earlier teasers of the device drew comparisons to Nothing’s first handset, the Phone (1) . “People were tagging me,” Pei says, while acknowledging that the device’s illuminated cooling liquid is a distinct approach from his phone’s Glyph lighting scheme. caption this pic.twitter.com/ybnE3mCnhR — Carl Pei (@getpeid) ...

The OnePlus that was founded in 2013 was a cautious company, deliberate in its release schedule. The Shenzhen-based firm would announce one to two phones a year, not hung up on being the first to market with new features. It was a cadence that allowed the company to distinguish itself, in part, through pricing, with products often priced hundreds of dollars less than flagships from Samsung and Apple. The company’s focus on device quality hasn’t gone away — OnePlus still releases products that can compete with the biggest names in the space. Its release roadmap, on the other hand, is less measured. In January the firm unveiled its new flagship, the OnePlus 11. Earlier this month, the India-focused 11R arrived. These days, the company also offers last year’s 10T and 10 Pro, three budget Nord devices, five earbuds and a tablet. A new mechanical keyboard is on the way, ushering in a new “Featuring” series focus on product collaborations. 2023 will also see the release of OnePlus’ first ...

Three years after the debut of its wildly popular Razr phone, Motorola gave the world the Rizr. While beloved by many, the product never managed to capture the same level of cultural cache as its predecessor. The two devices shared some key design languge, with the Rizr distinguishing itself by way of a display that slid up to reveal the physical keyboard underneath. A lot has changed in the 17 years since that product’s release, but following the  Razr’s resurrection as a foldable, the now Lenovo-owned firm is bringing the Rizr back in concept form. As with the Razr, it’s clear why the company opted to kick the tires on the old brand. You could say the 2023 Rizr is a spiritual successor of sorts to the 2006 model. Image Credits: Brian Heater The new version trades the sliding action for a rolling screen (get it? “riser?”). We’ve seen proofs of concept for the technology in the past, largely as standalones. The concept is not entirely dissimilar from foldables, in that it’s ...

Drones are quickly becoming more than a flying selfie cameras. Amid growing geopolitical tensions, drone makers are seeing increased demand and acceptance as drones move farther from consumers’ hands. Skydio today announced a $230 million series E fundraising round and the construction of a new manufacturing facility in America. The company says it’s seen a 30x growth over the last three years and is now the largest drone manufacturer in the United States. The Series E round was led by Linse Capital, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Next47, IVP, DoCoMo, NVIDIA, the Walton Family Foundation, and UP.Partners. Hercules Capital, and Axon, the company behind the Taser and police body cameras, also invested in Skydio. Skydio says its drones are used in every branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, by over half of all U.S. State Departments of Transportation, and by over 200 public safety agencies in 47 states. But, of course, it helps that government agenc...

While the chatter around the metaverse has slowed down, both social media companies and phone manufacturers have been experimenting with tech that could lead to commercial AR glasses. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Xiaomi unveiled its new prototype Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, which weighs 126 grams and has a “retina-level” display. Xiaomi has used a pair of MicroLED screens with a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and free-form light-guiding prisms to recreate an image. The company said that when PPD (pixels per degree) reaches 60, humans can’t perceive individual pixels. The Xiaomi AR glass display boasts 58 PPD, so that’s close enough. Xiaomi said it is using electrochromic lenses to adjust viewing in different light conditions. The glasses also have a complete blackout mode for a fully immersive experience — kind of making it like a VR headset. The new AR glasses connect wirelessly to your phone, which should be a Xiaomi 13 series phone or any other ...

Qualcomm announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that multiple phone makers including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Motorola, Nothing and Honor are bringing satellite communication capabilities to their phones. However, manufacturers didn’t provide details about what devices will first have these features and when the companies would launch them. Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon Satellite tech in partnership with satellite service provider Iridium at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month. Using this solution, smartphones can have capabilities of two-way texting and other messaging applications using satellites in emergency situations. The chipmaker said that Snapdragon Satellite will be available across upcoming RF modems and multiple models of 8 and 4 series processors for smartphones. “ By incorporating Snapdragon Satellite into next – generation devices, our partners will be able to offer satellite messaging capabilities thanks to a mature and commercially available ...

The Xiaomi 13 Pro flagship made a global debut today at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) being held in Barcelona. With this device — which was launched in China in December — the company is banking on a 1-inch main sensor, Leica lenses, and 120W fast charging to make it a Samsung Galaxy series competitor. With Android devices cutting close to each other in performance and display sections, the camera has been a major differentiating factor in today’s flagships. Xiaomi is using a massive 1-inch Sony IMX989 50-megapixel sensor with f/1.9 aperture to get the best and brightest photos in all lighting conditions. A couple of phone manufacturers including Xiaomi, Vivo, and Sharp have included this sensor in a few devices. The camera is capable of video recording in 8K resolution — 4K resolution at 60 fps if recording in Dolby Vision. There is also a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with a “floating lens” element, which results in a 3.2x lossless zoom. Plus, the device has another 50-megapixel ...

The PlayStation VR2 is a simultaneously exciting and disappointing development in the virtual reality space. Well-specced, easy to set up, and reasonably light and comfortable, Sony’s latest still can’t shake the fundamental issues that have prevented VR from going mainstream: a lack of compelling content and despite a brand new 4K OLED display, distracting image fidelity. It’s the best VR has ever been, and I still can’t bring myself to recommend it to anybody who wasn’t already on board. The PSVR was one of the first really consumer-accessible VR headsets, and was simple to set up for its time, but also relied on outdated controls in the instantly obsolete Move controllers and a TV-mounted camera. Still, it demonstrated that VR had a future in gaming, and that Sony was approaching it with an eye to accessibility and ease of use. Last year the PSVR2 was announced , and based on specs alone it generally led the pack, with a few exceptions here and there. With a retail price of $550 ...

In a word: “telecom.” Network and enterprise have long played a key part in Barcelona’s big mobile show, but more than ever, such topics are going to have an outsized role at the event. The consumer element appears to be taking an increasing back seat at the event, which kicks off in earnest next Monday. The truth of the matter is that Mobile World Congress was never a consumer tech show, per se, but the participation of various smartphone makers transformed it into a handy launching pad. CES (held back in January) is the place where every other category, from smart home and wearables to automotive and robotics, gets their time to shine, while MWC happily adopted the monitor of the big smartphone show. Of course, a lot has changed since 2019, the last time TechCrunch attended the show in person — both for the industry and the world. Seems a million years ago now that we were all waiting with bated breath for the GSMA to finally pull the plug on the 2020 show. That year’s CES had mana...

Traeger’s latest pellet smoker brings welcomed innovations to a new price point. The company just unveiled its latest Ironwood design, which offers a handful of features that debuted on the more expensive Timberline product line a few months ago. As a longtime Traeger smoker owner, I’m excited about these updates as they make using the grill more manageable and cleaner. I’ve been using the $1,999 Ironwood XL grill for the last week. So far, I’ve cooked a large batch of competition chicken thighs, a couple of whole chickens and a tray of Brussels sprouts. I expect to publish a full review on the smoker in the coming weeks; I need to cook a few more things first. So far, the smoker has made a good impression, though I have some reservations about build quality. [gallery ids="2487655,2487658,2487656,2487657,2487660,2487659"] The major innovation involves the grease trap. It’s so much easier in the new Ironwood and Timberline grills. In previous Traeger models (and nearly all ...

Apple took a big PR hit as news spread that its item tracker the AirTag was being used for stalking and car thefts , which led the company to retool its software with a closer eye on user safety. AirTag’s competitor Tile is now introducing its own plan to make its device safer, with the launch of a new feature called “anti-theft mode,” which prevents the tracker from being detected by anyone but its owner. But it’s taking things a bit further, and will now require users to register using multi-factor authentication, including biometric data, and a government ID to use this new protection. Users will also have to agree to new terms of use that allow Tile to provide their personal information to law enforcement at its discretion when a criminal investigation is underway, without having to wait for a subpoena. And it’s threatening to sue anyone who uses Tile to commit crimes that violate its terms of service. The goal of this new agenda is to serve as a deterrent toward criminals who ...