News

TECNO reveals the first ever phone with coffee grounds back cover

In partnership with LOEWE.

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Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Any coffee-ddicted lovers like I am? Well, here’s a one-of-a-kind smartphone for us!

TECNO just unveiled a special collaboration to their already existing CAMON 30 Series. LOEWE. (yes, with THAT period) is a renowned German TV and audio brand. This is not to be confused with the LOEWE, the popular Spanish fashion brand.

With the skepticism out of the way, these two brands have partnered up to bring a smartphone with a first of its kind back cover made from wasted coffee grounds.

Coffee as Cover?!

In the wise lyrics of BLACKPINK’s Rosé, “everything I need is on the ground”. Fret not! TECNO and LOEWE. has come up of a clever way to make good use of discarded coffee grounds.

Just like the perfect mix of coffee and sugar, TECNO’s innovation in material technology is the perfect blend to LOEWE.’s design excellence — especially in CMF (Color/Materials/Finish). Thus, the world’s first back cover made from coffee grounds was born.

CAMON 30 Series LOEWE. Design Edition CMF Design Team

For every phone cover made, approximately 0.8g of waste coffee grounds will be used. Its coating is composed of more than 25% bio-based material and has achieved a USDA Bio-based certification status. Overall, it not only provides a luxurious touch, but also a resistance to temperature, humidity, and even the harmful UV light. 

Repurposing is not everything they have thought about. The green gradient design is actually inspired by the life cycle of leaves — which also represents its overall growth and life. This also reflects to TECNO’s commitment to sustainability as well as LOEWE.’s overall aesthetic and stylishness.

Commitment to the Environment

With over two (2) billion coffee cups being consumed around the world every single day, it also results to millions of tons of waste coffee grounds going to landfills every year.

The decomposition of these produce harmful greenhouse gases — including methane and carbon dioxide. TECNO’s small steps towards sustainability brings a huge difference to the whole world.

More so, the phone brand made this more eco-friendly by eliminating the use of organic solvents nor consume water. Even the overall manufacturing process entirely relied on solar power. This also serves as a better approach for brands to slowly steer away from the creation of both synthetic and animal leather.

All in all, this new type of material and process reduces pollution and the carbon dioxide emissions that causes global warming. Furthermore, it lessens the waste of water.

CAMON 30: ICYMI

The CAMON 30 Series includes four different models: a base 4G and 5G variant, as well as the higher Pro and Premier models.

TECNO’s CAMON 30 Premier 5G tops the list. Not only it runs MediaTek’s Dimensity 8200 Ultimate processor, it’s also the most packed in terms of cameras — four 50MP cameras to be exact. That includes the Sony IMX890 1/1.56-inch main sensor as well as a periscope telephoto lens that optically zooms in to 3x.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

More enhanced AI camera features can be found on all CAMON 30 phones such as AIGC Portrait, AI Erase, Universal Tone and Social Turbo.

Storage and memory options differ per phone. The highest configuration would be the 12+512GB found on the Premier model. Nevertheless, all CAMON 30 Series feature a large 5000mAh battery with 70W fast charging support out of the box.

Pricing and Availability

There’s no word or guarantee about the specific pricing and region availability of this limited edition phone. However, TECNO says that this will come to all CAMON 30 models.

In the Philippines, the CAMON 30 Series have varying pricing per device and configuration.

CAMON 30 5G

  • 8+256GB = PhP 11,999
  • 8+512GB = PhP 13,999

CAMON 30 Pro

  • 12+256GB = PhP 19,999

CAMON 30 Premier

  • 12+512GB = PhP 23,999

Entertainment

Max vs 100 will feature Max Verstappen race against 100 go-karters

The live event will stream at midnight on September 17.

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As a child, one of my favorite thought experiments is to imagine who would win in a fight between my favorite characters at the time and a number of other random beings. For example, will Superman prevail against 100 Magnetos? Those are the ways I kept my young mind occupied. Now, as a former child, I still do the same thing but with more realistic people, like imagining if Steph Curry can win against 100 high schoolers. This week, ESPN and Disney+ are making one of those imaginary fights real: Formula 1 legend Max Verstappen versus 100 go-karters.

In an upcoming live event streaming exclusively on Disney+, Max vs 100 will pit the four-time world champion against 100 go-karters from everywhere in pop culture. This gaggle of 100 will include popular content creators such as Twitch streamer ExtraEmily, car photographer Larry Chen, and NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews.

All 101 drivers will race around one of the most iconic tracks in Formula 1 history, Silverstone in England. The track will be reconfigured to match the special race.

Of course, this is more than just a parade of go-karts. Max Verstappen will start at the back of the grid, meaning he has to overtake all 100 racers to win. Now, the Dutch driver is no stranger to winning from the back. In 2024, he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite starting from P17 (out of 20 racers). Max vs 100, though familiar for the driver, presents a different challenge. Can he overtake 100 times to win the race?

Max vs 100 will stream live through Disney+ on September 17, 12:00am PHT.

SEE ALSO: Disney+ is moving to a global app experience

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Apps

Apple’s best feature to cure motion sickness is finally on Android

Google copies a good page from Apple’s playbook.

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As an Android user, I’ve been jealous of iPhone users for a while now, but it’s not for the reason you might think. See, I’m ridiculously prone to motion sickness when I’m not driving. So, when I discovered that Apple has a software-based cure called Vehicle Motion Cues, I wanted it immediately. Now, Android does have third-party apps that do the same thing, but they’re not as good as a fully native version. Well, those dark, nauseating days are about to come to an end. Android 17 is finally getting a similar tool called Motion assist.

Before that, let’s rewind for a bit. What do these features do? How can they cure motion sickness?

Whenever you open Vehicle Motion Cues or Motion assist, the interface spawns a series of dots on the screen. These dots respond to movement. For example, if the vehicle turns to the left, the dots also go to the left, mimicking the movement. Without cues like this, the stationary nature of the screen clashes with our brain’s perception of movement. The disparity creates that feeling of nausea. Basically, our eyes are desperately trying to focus on the static screen, but our brains are telling us that we should be seeing motion. Having moving dots reorients our brain and places the phone inside our perception of movement.

Now, you can enable the same feature on your Android 17 device through Settings > All services > Motion assist under Personal & device safety. You can also set it so that the feature turns on automatically when the phone detects that you’re in a moving vehicle. Finally, you can also tweak the shape, color, and opacity of these dots.

Android 17’s Motion assist is rolling out now to compatible devices.

SEE ALSO: These are the best Android 17 features (if you hate AI)

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Gaming

Valve unveils price of the Steam Frame

The VR headset starts at US$ 1,059.

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The trifecta is complete. Almost a year after announcing their new hardware, Valve has finally unveiled the price tag of the Steam Frame, complementing the Steam Machine and Steam Controller revealed a few months ago.

Whereas the Steam Machine is a console of its own, the Steam Frame is a traditional VR headset with a pair of controllers for both hands. Unfortunately, despite being in a different segment, the headset is not immune to the rising prices of technology. The Steam Frame will start at US$ 1,059 for a 256GB model and can go up to US$ 1,299 for the 1TB model. On the plus side, each box will come Half-Life: Alyx packaged along with the headset.

Here’s a more detailed rundown of what you’re getting. The Steam Frame will ship with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, paired with 16GB of RAM. Each eye comes with a 2160 x 2160 LCD screen, putting out images at up t0 a 144Hz experimental refresh rate. As mentioned above, the headset will start with 256GB of storage but can go up to 2TB. It will come packaged with SteamOS 3 and a rechargeable 21.6Wh battery.

This might be a hard buy for some. The industry currently has more affordable options, for one. Also, virtual reality isn’t the most thriving segment of gaming today.

If you’re still decided on buying one, however, Valve is using its lottery system. Interested customers can sign up from now until September 17. The company will then randomize the purchasing order. Those who draw the first ones in the lottery can get a purchase email as soon as September 18. Meanwhile, anyone who registers after September 17 will automatically be put at the back of the queue.

SEE ALSO: Valve announces its own console called the Steam Machine

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