LG officially announced the high-end V10 smartphone with secondary display and a duo of front-facing cameras. The Korean manufacturer’s latest flagship phablet will hit the shelves in Korea this month in five different color schemes – Space Black, Luxe White, Modern Beige, Ocean Blue, and Opal Blue.
Just as the leaks suggested, the defining feature of the LG V10 is an secondary display located above the handset’s 5.7” QHD unit. The 2.1” additional screen has a resolution of 1040 x 160 pixels and can display app shortcuts and other relevant information in always on mode.
In addition to ints rather unique display setup, LG V10 packs a duo of 5MP front-facing cameras. One of the units has a standard angle lens, while the other on offers a wide angle solution for easy group selfies.
LG V10 features a body with 316L stainless steel frame and display covered by dual-layer Gorilla Glass 4.The removable back cover of the device is made of silicon-like material dubbed Dura Skin.
Specs-wise, LG V10 packs Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of expandable memory via microSD card slot. A fingerprint sensor that’s embedded in the power button, Hi-Fi DAC, full connectivity suite, and 3,000mAh removable battery are also on board. The handset boots Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.
The main camera of the smartphone is the same 16MP unit with f/1.8 lens and laser autofocus found in LG G4. This time around, LG has brought manual controls even to the smartphone’s camcorder. Users can even adjust the sound volume of the clips they record.
Physical measures of the LG V10 are 159.6 x 79.3 x 8.6mm. Its weight tips the scale at 192 grams.
LG V10 will also launch in the United States, China, as well as other markets in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Specific launch details about each market will be announced in the near future.
Apple has announced that it has set a new sales record for the new iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus during the opening weekend. The two phones combined have sold more than 13 million units in the first three days of launch in the 12 countries they were available in, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK and the US.
To put the number into perspective, the previous iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sold 10 million units combined, the the 5s and 5c before that sold 9 million units combined.
Apple has reiterated that it will be bringing the 6s and 6s Plus to additional 40 additional countries worldwide.
Starting October 9, the phones will be available in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Starting October 10, the phones will be available in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Starting October 16, the phones will be available in India, Malaysia and Turkey on Friday, October 16 and in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
Just like the rumor-mill has predicted, Apple at its media event in San Francisco this morning announced a pair of new iPhones: the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus.
“What we have to show you today is really awesome,” said Tim Cook.
Although the design hasn’t changed over the present-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as is the norm for S-upgrades, the new devices pack in some major hardware improvements.…
There is a brand new rose gold finish and the devices use a stronger Series 7000 aluminum alloy. And yes, there is a pressure-sensing screen that they’re calling 3D Touch, not Force Touch as previously thought.
3D Touch
3D Touch works on both the Home screen and inside applications themselves, providing user interface shortcuts and making possible all-new gestures such as peek, pop, mini tap and full tap. You also get distinct tactile feedback.
3D Touch users capacitive sensors that are not integrated in the backlight. The sensors pick up the force between the cover glass and the backlight. That data is combined with input from the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to increases the accuracy and precision.
3D Touch shortcuts are implemented across all stock apps, including Messages, Maps, Safari, Phone, Music and more. Actually, you can just press firmly on the Phone icon and a brand new menu pops up right on the Home screen with shortcuts to your favorite contacts.
Or, you can press firmly on the Facebook app icon on the Home screen to update your status. 3D Touch can be also used to navigate between apps. If you apply just a little bit of force to screen sides, you can flip between active apps, which looks similar to iOS 9’s new app switcher.
And of course, games developers have shown a few games that take advantage of 3D Touch. As for tactile feedback, they have actually built a new version of the Apple Watch’s Taptic Engine that achieves even richer tactile feedback while consuming less energy.
A9 chip
The new iPhones are powered by the all-new Apple-designed A9 processor, the company’s third-generation 64-bit mobile processor. The A9 sports a new transistor architecture and consumes less energy than the A8 processor inside the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones.
The A9 is up to seventy percent faster in CPU tasks and approximately ninety percent faster in graphics tasks, providing “console-level performance” in graphics-rich apps and games. And for the first time, the A9 chip embeds a new motion coprocessor dubbed ‘M9′ with always-on performance. The new A9 with M9 allows for new features like the always-listening ‘Hey Siri’ feature.
12MP iSight camera
The back shooter has finally been upgraded in terms of the number of pixels.
Now with a twelve-megapixel sensor that has fifty percent more pixels than the previous-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the new iPhones can capture more detail so you can crop out and zoom into them without quality degradation.
The higher-resolution camera takes 63-megapixel panorama photos, up from 42-megapixel panoramas on the previous generation. In terms of video capture, the camera can now capture video in 4K resolution, up from full HD 1080p video capture on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
5MP FaceTime HD camera
The front-facing camera, which Apple refers to as FaceTime HD, has received a major resolution upgrade so it’s now five megapixels instead of a paltry 1.3-megapixel shooter on the previous generation.
The FaceTime camera lacks LED flash, but uses a software trickery to achieve the same effect. If you turn on the flash feature in the stock Camera app, the new iPhone takes advantage of a custom display chip to flash the screen with three times the intensity to illuminate your face in low-light situations.
Live Photos
The new iPhones support motion wallpapers via a new feature called Live Photos.
You just pick one of Apple-designed Live Photos and set it as your background. Additionally, you can take your own Live Photos. You don’t have to do anything different than you would in order to take a Live Photo.
As you take pictures, the iPhone does that automatically provided you have flipped a new switch in the Camera app. Doing so extends the capture moment just before and after you took them. Live Photos are not animations, they are still twelve-megapixel still images each animated to look great.
Faster wireless, new accessories
The new phones feature faster LTE with an additional 23 bands and with support for upcoming 300Mbps cellular networks. Wi-Fi on the new iPhones has been upgraded, too, and now supports data transfer speeds at up to 866Mbps.
To go along with the new iPhones, Apple has designed brand new charging docks. There are also new leather covers in five finishes and new silicon covers in eleven colors, including Product(RED).
Availability
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are available in Silver, Gold, Space Grey and Rose Gold at $199/$299/$399 for 16GB/64GB/128GB versions after a contract with your carrier. The previous-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been discounted by a hundred bucks and now cost $99/$199/$299 for the same 16GB/64GB/128GB models and after a contract with your carrier.
The iPhone 5s has become Apple’s new entry-level iPhone. The device, which has replaced the iPhone 4s, will be available free on most carriers with a contract.
You can pre-order new iPhones starting Saturday, September 12, ahead of their release on September 25 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Greece, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy and Puerto Rico.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in more than 130 countries and over 400 carrier partners by the end of this year. As for iOS 9, it will release next week on September 16.
New iCloud storage pricing
In a surprise announcement, Apple said it’s cutting iCloud storage upgrades in half. So starting today, you can upgrade your entry-level iCloud account with just five gigabytes of free storage to fifty gigabytes for a monthly fee of 99 cents.
If you need more than 50 gigs, $2.99 per month will upgrade your iCloud storage to 200 gigabytes. The flagship tier with one terabyte of storage is now $9.99 per month.
The Sony Xperia Z5 and the Xperia Z5 Compact are now official. The new generation “mainstream” flagship and its pocket-friendlier brother were just announced at a press event two days before the IFA expo opens to the public.
The regular-sized Xperia Z5 comes with the familiar 5.2-inch diagonal established with the Z2, and the Z5 Compact retains the 4.6 inches of the last Z3 Compact. The Z5 has a FullHD panel with a 428ppi density, while the Compact sticks to 720p resolution, resulting in 323ppi. Both displays are IPS units with the TRILUMINOUS and X-reality technologies inside and undisclosed make chemical tempered glass on top.
Sony Xperia Z5
The mighty Snapdragon 810 powers both smartphones with a dual quad-core CPU, ticking at up to 2GHz, and Adreno 430 GPU. You get 3GB of RAM on the vanilla model, but only 2GB on the Compact. Both models will have 32GB of built-in storage, though the Compact may ship with half than in certain markets. The microSD slot is universally available, though. The entire Xperia Z5 family will run on Android 5.1.1 upon launch.
Number one on the new features list is the 23MP camera. It uses a custom-made sensor, exclusive to Sony, housed behind a 24mm-equivalent f/2.0 lens. The sensor’s effective area is actually larger, as we’ll try to explain, and you’ll be able to shoot 23MP images in 4:3 aspect or 20MP in 16:9. The camera app has been thoroughly redesigned as well for a more contemporary look and improved usability.
The Xperia Z5 bears a strong resemblance to the previous model, but a few new design elements clearly set it apart. Chief among those is the reworked power button, now doubling as a fingerprint sensor. The now aluminum frame has an Xperia logo engraved on the side, while a frosted back panel replaces the glossy predecessor, aiming to put an end to smudgy backs and to achieve a more unified look between front and sides.
Measuring 146mm x 72mm x 7.3mm, the Z5 is identical to the Z3 in terms of dimensions and thus marginally thicker than the Z3+. Weighing in at 154g it’s heavier than either of the two older generations, but its battery is smaller, at 2,900mAh. Both have IP68 certification for the lineup’s signature dust and water resistance.
Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
The Xperia Z5 Compact shares the fingerprint sensor and the Xperia logo in the frame but looks a lot chunkier. It measures 127mm x 65mm x 8.9mm so it’s not really thin, it’s just that the Z3 Compact did a much better job at masking its waistline. The 138g of heft are justified here by the 2,700mAh cell capacity.
The Sony Xperia Z5 will be available in the more formal White and Graphite Black, but also Gold and Green, while the Z5 Compact spices things up with Yellow and Coral. The smartphones will be on store shelves globally starting in October, but pricing remains to be detailed.
Xperia Z5 Premium
Capturing and displaying true to live images has long been close to Sony’s heart and today they revitalized that passion. The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is the first to reach the next benchmark in display smartphone technology – 4K resolution – and comes with a much-improved camera to match.
The 4K Triluminos display is an IPS panel has 3,840 x 2,160px resolution, that’s four times 1080p or just over 8MP. It puts 806ppi pixel density in the palm of your hand for crystal clarity of 4K footage from Netflix, YouTube or some that you’ve shot yourself.
You can do that with the brand new camera, the first major upgrade since the Z1. The Xperia Z5 Premium packs a new 1/2.3″ Exmor RS sensor with 23MP resolution (shared with the other Z5s). The sensor sits behind a Sony G Lens with an f/2.0 aperture and tech borrowed from Sony’s α line of lenses.
The camera captures 4K videos with improved Intelligent Active Mode and SteadyShot technology for smooth, sharp videos at day and at night. ISO for videos goes up to 3,200, for photos the maximum jumps to 12,800.
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has a stainless steel frame (unlike the other Z5s, which are made from aluminum). It’s painted in Black, Gold or the unique Chrome option (a mirror finish). The body is IP65/68 rated – dust-tight and waterproof with a cap-less USB port.
A new addition to the Z family is the fingerprint sensor on the redesigned Power key. Things naturally flow from waking the phone with the key to unlocking it with the sensor, which also supports the FIDO standard for online payment services.
The phone runs Sony-flavored Android 5.1, naturally, powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset with 3GB of RAM. You get 32GB of storage out of the box and can add up to 200GB more with a microSD card if you need extra room for those 4K videos.
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium will launch globally in November, pricing will be revealed around that time. It will come in single and dual-SIM versions, both of which support Cat. 6 LTE.
Instagram is updating its Android and iOS apps to enable native support for full-size landscape and portrait photos and video inside the app. They’ll run alongside the traditional square photos, which will remain the default for photos shared on Instagram.
When you access your photo gallery from within the updated app, you’ll now see a format button above the camera roll. You can use this button to toggle between square and full-size images. From there, you can zoom in and out to choose the best crop for your photos.
Initially, Instagram adopted square photos as a way of distinguishing itself from other photo-sharing apps. But they were also a practical choice. They helped provide a more consistent look as you scrolled down the feed, and they also looked better on smaller phone screens.
But as screen sizes have increased, and the platform has evolved to host more serious photography, the restrictive format has left many of the app’s 300 million monthly usersfrustrated. According to Instagram’s own research, 20 percent of uploaded photos have been modified to fit into the square frame, often using a third-party app that adds a “letterbox” effect to enable the sharing of landscape pictures. “For the average person, one in every five stories in their feed looks like it’s natively supported in our app,” says Ashley Yuki, an Instagram product manager. “Which is not great.”
Even as third-party apps like Square Sized and Squaready have gained popularity, they leave dead space on the edges of photos, making them smaller and harder to see. It can also be annoying and time-consuming to have to use a separate app to prep your photos beforehand.
Members of Instagram’s large fashion community will likely be among those celebrating the freedom this update brings, as will anyone who has experienced the trauma of having to choose whether to crop out either their new haircut or their new shoes. But square photos, as the signature of Instagram, will remain the default mode.
The update also unifies Instagram’s photo and video filters, so now any filter can be applied to your post regardless of its format. It will be available to both iOS and Android users today.
LG officially announced the high-end V10 smartphone with secondary display and a duo of front-facing cameras. The Korean manufacturer’s latest flagship phablet will hit the shelves in Korea this month in five different color schemes – Space Black, Luxe White, Modern Beige, Ocean Blue, and Opal Blue.
The Xperia Z5 Compact shares the fingerprint sensor and the Xperia logo in the frame but looks a lot chunkier. It measures 127mm x 65mm x 8.9mm so it’s not really thin, it’s just that the Z3 Compact did a much better job at masking its waistline. The 138g of heft are justified here by the 2,700mAh cell capacity.
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Elie Chahine 