Counterclockwise: the Apple iPhone makes history, Part 2

Last week we went through the first chapters of the Apple iPhone chronicles and now we'll bring you the rest of its story. Powers of 2 Ads for the Atari Jaguar made a big deal about it being the first 64-bit video game console. How is 64-bit better than 32-bit? The marketing department doesn't care as long as it can advertise a bigger number. That is not to say that Apple didn't have a good reason to jump to 64-bit with the iPhone 5s. In fact, given that the phone was introduced 5 years ago and is currently running the latest version of iOS, we'd say things worked out...

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Weekly poll results: the iPhone XS Max gets a few interested looks

The Apple iPhone XS Max topped its siblings in last week's poll, but it's hard to say it won - there was a strong anti-Apple sentiment with half the votes going to the "I don't want an iPhone at all" option. Has Apple finally pushed the price too high? The Max is certainly priced out of many people's budget, especially when you factor in its retail package, which is light on accessories. If you want fast charging or even just a 3.5mm adapter, you'll have to pay extra. That's not what you want to hear when the price tag reads $1,100. The two other iPhones were met with a resounding...

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How expensive is the Apple iPhone XS/XS Max? See what you can get instead

We're now past that all-important September 21 date - when the first 30 countries got the iPhone XS and XS Max the second 29 countries can pre-order them. The new duo is clearly very expensive, but we thought we'd put a bit more perspective to that. So here's what other phones you can get for the same price as Apple's iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. For this I've rounded up a few of the more popular phones - the Samsung Galaxy Note9, Galaxy S9/S9+, the OnePlus 6, the Google 2 XL and, for the heck of it, the new Xiaomi-made Pocophone F1. I've left out a few other phones from other brands as...

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Skype calls are coming to Alexa-enabled devices

Often hidden away in plain sight, there is a lot of movement currently under way in the realm of voice assistants and AI. Companies are starting to predict a pretty bright future for the technology and act accordingly to strengthen their ranks, while the space is still young and fragmented. Case and point, Microsoft and Amazon's recently unveiled collaboration, which has already seen Alexa and Cortana start to interconnect. Make no mistake, that's definitely not as far as the story goes. Fast on the heels of Amazon's latest Echo hardware refresh, Microsoft announced that it will be...

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Oppo A7 leaks with full specs sheet

All bets are pretty much off when it comes to modern smartphone naming convention, or lack thereof. Still, if you're like us and felt a slight disturbance when the Oppo A7x was announced a few days ago in the absence of a vanilla version, you can breathe a little easier. Oppo A7 specs sheet Well, kind of, since a new leak does claim to have all the specs for an upcoming Oppo A7. But, after looking at them, if that turns out to be the case, the new model won't exactly bring much sense of order to the Chinese maker's current lineup. Whereas the A7x is a slightly tweaked variant of...

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Spotify is testing personalized entries in its curated playlists

Spotify is definitely no stranger to statistical analysis, pattern recognition and meaningful recommendations. In fact, the "Discover" algorithms are what most really value in the vast platform that does a surprisingly good job of introducing users to potentially interesting artist. Leveraging that, Spotify is apparently experimenting with inserting personalized songs into its official playlists. A company spokesperson has confirmed that a test is being carried out on a limited number of users and on "mid-tier" playlists. Typically, these curated playlists tend to get updated by...

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Here's another set of Pixel 3 and 3XL renders, with plenty of resolution to go around

It almost feels like Google decided to switch over to an open development cycle for the third iteration of its Pixel phones, seeing how there's hardly any hardware mystery left to uncover. The Pixel 3 XL arguably got the brunt of the whole nasty situation, with things even going as far as actual production units being sold off on the black market and reviews coming out. Also, a Twitter user is still hard at work, posting away details from a unit, apparently in his possession, as we speak. Since you guys keep asking... pic.twitter.com/DpRqzsyRem— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 21,...

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Dual display Nubia Z18S pops up on TENAA

Nubia has a pretty solid experimental track record on the mobile scene. The gaming-inspired Red Magic and the special van Gogh edition Z18 prove that point pretty well. Still, the Nubia Z18S, which popped up in a recent video could take the experimental spirit to a whole new level. Its headlining feature, being a secondary display on the back, quite reminiscent of the YotaPhone design, which kind of slipped into obscurity. Only Nubia will, apparently, be using a full-color OLED panel, instead of an E-Ink solution. We know this with a fair bit of confidence thanks to a recent TENAA...

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Google Family Link app split into parent and child/teen versions

Google's Family Link app is a service that lets you monitor your child's or teen's location and smartphone usage remotely from your own handset. The app was originally designed to monitor children ages 13 and younger but a recent update now includes teens older than 13. Today, the Family Link app has a parent and child/teen version of the app. Monitoring activity, setting limits, and locking a device works pretty much the same with children. For teens, the parent and teen accounts must both agree to monitor the teen. The Family Link app can be disabled from the teen's end but the parent...

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Major Huawei Mate 20 Pro leak features high quality case renders

Huawei's next phablet flagship is right around the corner. If all the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro rumors didn't already make that abundantly clear, we also have an official launch date, set for October 16. Huawei Mate 20 Pro in its Silicone Cover Sorting through the sea of conflicting rumors and leaks has been a rather daunting task, but today's fresh batch of high quality case renders does re-affirm at least a few bits about the Mate 20 Pro. One, of courser, being the rectangular camera module design, which Huawei has already teased themselves on at least a couple of...

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