iFixit’s teardown of the Galaxy foldable scrutinizes its IP48 rating.
We’re ready for some bad jokes during Google’s celebrity-packed live show.
A person on Reddit says their friend’s phone added craters to the Sun during yesterday’s solar eclipse. The poster doesn’t say what phone this was captured on, but it’s definitely something we’ve seen before.
Sales dropped 64% year-on-year in Q2, according to research from Counterpoint, as manufacturers raised prices or simply stopped shipping cheaper models. Samsung and Motorola have been the only brands to benefit, as smaller companies became unable to undercut them on price. That helped both grow their market share in prepaid phones.
We live blogged almost 90 minutes of a show that was, honestly, better than expected. Our video team cut it down to eight.
Samsung’s online-exclusive “Pistachio” version of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks great, and has apparently been selling well. But I’m a much bigger fan of Google’s Pixel 11 finish by the same name. It looks a lot closer to the color of a good pistachio gelato, unlike whatever minty nonsense Samsung is up to.
More helpful features, less AI slop.
After an hour of testing the Robot Phone, I’m surprised but impressed.
It’s still a stomach-clenching moment, though. He also did a cool teardown.
Windows Central shared photos showing what appears to be a prototype of a rumored, unreleased Windows phone “that was expected to ship in 2014 under the Surface moniker.” It even has a design similar to a Surface laptop and reportedly included a Qualcomm chip and a 720p display.
As Android Authority points out, a couple of leaks for the next repairable Fairphone have popped up, with NewMobile’s giving us a look at the device in blue, with matching accessories just like the Fairphone 6 has, and 12GB of RAM specs to go with the 256GB storage.
Meanwhile, this Dealabs post indicates it will have a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chip and come in Black, Blue, and Green for €649 in France, compared to the 6’s current €549 price.
8
Verge Score
It doesn’t quite feel ‘Ultra,’ but it’s a comprehensive improvement on last year’s phone.
Srini Gopalan in response to SpaceX saying it plans to “acquire quite a few” of T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon’s customers by turning Starlink dishes into tiny cellular base stations using the limited spectrum it acquired from EchoStar:
You’ve got to ask the question of ‘What is the gap in the market that they’re looking to serve? I always prefer starting these conversations back from the customer: Why would a customer buy a new cellular service? Where do they go? What’s their differentiation? It’s clearly not having a broad network.
[Financial Times]
Co-founder Akis Evangelidis told Times Now Tech that the company may double the number of phones it launches next year while “expanding its product portfolio across multiple categories,” including audio. He also says Nothing’s “looking at different ways” to launch a new CMF Phone next year, after this year’s was cancelled.
It’s still too early to discuss individual products, but I can say we’ve launched three smartphones (Nothing Phone 4a, Phone 4a Pro and Phone 4b) this year, and we’re looking to launch twice that number next year. We’ll share more details closer to launch, but the idea is to have a wider range of smartphones.
9to5Google uncovered code in the Google Contacts app that suggests you’ll be able to give your favorite contacts a “glow color” that appears on the Pixel 11’s built-in light when they call. Based on the code, you might get to choose from blue, cyan, green, orange, pink, purple, teal, white, or yellow.
[Android Authority]
Leaker Evan Blass shared what appears to be marketing materials for the Pixel 11 Pro XL, and it shows the upcoming device in a peachy shade of pink. If the leaks are true, the Pixel 11 might come in a bunch of fun colors this year.
A report from ET News suggests that Samsung is planning to ditch the 10-megapixel 3x telephoto lens on its next-gen flagship, leaving it with a 50MP 5x telephoto lens and third camera. Samsung is reportedly making the change to cut costs amid surging chip prices.
In a new video on Monday, you can catch brief and shadowy glimpses of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, which is set to be fully revealed at an event on August 12th.
But the phone’s design has already leaked, if you want to see it ahead of time.
Folding screens are no longer novel, but they’re finally good enough for an iPhone.
The company that showed off a working modular concept phone at MWC is teasing a bezelless concept for the IFA show in September. It looks nice, and attracts attention, but don’t expect to buy it (from Tecno) anytime soon.
8
Verge Score
The Z Fold 8 looks unusual at first, but you get used to it fast.
The outage, which started on Monday, seemed to affect people all over the US and even some customers on MVNOs. In a 12:10PM ET post on Tuesday, the company finally said that it had “fully restored service for all customers.”
World Cup cameo aside, we haven’t heard much since MWC, but Honor is gearing up to release the gimbal-equipped phone in China soon. It’s teasing the camera’s capabilities, including a 200-megapixel, f/1.6, 1/1.2.8-inch-type gimbal camera, and a separate 200-megapixel, f/2.6, 1/1.4-inch-type periscope. The gimbal itself will support automatic subject tracking and six different shooting modes.
[Weibo]
Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell service continues to evolve beyond basic SMS/messaging to provide light data connectivity in cellular dead zones. Telstra customers in Australia with compatible phones can now use it for apps like Apple Weather, Google Maps, AllTrails, and WhatsApp. T-Mobile users in the US have had similar app support since October.
The outage seems to be affecting many places across the country, as users from areas like New York City, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Berkeley, CA all recently reported problems with their T-Mobile service in a Reddit thread that has more than 6,000 comments and 2,000 upvotes.
The outage also appears to impact customers on MVNOs, too. One NYC-based Verge staffer on Google Fi, which runs on T-Mobile’s network, has no service.
Vertical video has been taking over for years, and David Pierce says the conquest may now be complete. It didn’t have to be this way.
gregorsmith:
I’m old enough to remember when Google Camera app put a rotate device icon on screen if you tried to shoot vertically
Every day we stray further from gods light
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If you missed Samsung’s event today, you can watch all the highlights here, including the redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 8, the new Z Fold 8 Ultra, and an updated Z Flip 8. You can also check out today’s episode of The Vergecast to hear more about everything Samsung announced.
