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Honor 7A and 7S: Price and availability in the Philippines

Two new budget phones for the masses

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Honor 7S and 7A | GadgetMatch

Honor continues to brave the Philippine smartphone market. After bringing its flagship Honor 10, the Huawei sub-brand is now taking on the budget segment with two new affordable phones: the Honor 7A and Honor 7S.

The top model of the two is the Honor 7A with its 5.7-inch FullView display. Its 18:9 aspect ratio is already ahead of other budget phones in the market. It’s powered by an octa-core processor from MediaTek accompanied by 2GB of memory and 16GB of expandable storage.

Honor 7A

Camera-wise, it’s equipped with a 13-megapixel rear shooter and an 8-megapixel selfie camera complete with a front-facing LED flash. The front camera also supports facial recognition for face unlock — an added security option apart from the rear fingerprint scanner.

The phone has a sizeable 3000mAh battery and runs Android Oreo with EMUI 8.0.

The Honor 7S, on the other hand, is a true budget phone. It’s got no rear fingerprint reader, but has all the basics of a modern smartphone covered. It owns a 5.45-inch FullView 18:9 display, quad-core MediaTek processor, 2GB of memory, and 16GB of expandable storage.

Honor 7S

It also has a large 3020mAh battery, 13-megapixel rear camera, and 5-megapixel shooter with its own LED light. The phone boots Android Oreo with EMUI 8.0, so you have the latest Android version available out of the box.

The Honor 7A will retail for PhP 6,990 in the Philippines while the Honor 7S is priced at PhP 5,490. If you want to get the 7A at a much cheaper price tag of PhP 5,990, Honor will have a flash sale on Shopee Philippines on July 14.

SEE ALSO: Honor 7A hands-on review: Back to budget

News

Apple reportedly gives up on the Vision Pro

But Apple will continue to sell the current model.

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When they unveiled the Vision Pro in 2023, Apple touted the wearable as the next big thing after the iPhone. Now, almost three years removed from the launch, the Vision Pro hasn’t really taken over the coveted spot occupied by the iPhone. Apple, according to a report, is allegedly canning the short-lived wearable.

According to MacRumors, Apple has reportedly given up on making the Vision Pro a thing. The team handling the wearable has supposedly been subsumed by other teams within Apple.

If true, the wearable’s end is unfortunate but not surprising. Despite being out for years, the Vision Pro has sold only a little more than half a million units with numerous returns from customers. Most recently, Apple updated the wearable with the M5 chip, but the move hasn’t revitalized the device’s status in Apple’s lineup.

Most of the complaints about the device stem from its exorbitant price or its cumbersome battery pack. Besides costing a whopping US$ 3,499, the Vision Pro is also difficult to move around with, especially because of its total weight and a battery pack that can get in the way.

To be clear, Apple has not officially discontinued the Vision Pro yet. The company continues to sell the version with the M5 chip. Apple can also restart development in the future.

However, the meantime retirement on future development does coincide with the recent restructuring inside the company. Tim Cook recently decided to step down as CEO with John Ternus as his replacement. Canning the Vision Pro might be Ternus’ first step in redefining Apple according to his plans.

SEE ALSO: Apple Vision Pro gets M5 chip upgrade

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Apps

YouTube makes picture-in-picture mode free for everyone globally

The update is rolling out globally now.

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Picture-in-picture (or PiP) mode is a godsend for multitaskers. The feature lets users watch videos in a tiny floating window while doing other tasks. However, the feature isn’t readily available for all users. Or wasn’t, at least. YouTube is now rolling out PiP mode for free globally.

Previously, PiP mode was exclusive to YouTube users who pay for Premium or Premium Lite. It was also exclusive to the United States.

Now, YouTube is making the feature completely free for users all over the globe. It will be available for both iOS and Android versions of the app.

There’s still a catch, though. The free version is available only for “longform, non-music content.” The same goes for Premium Lite subscribers. Music is still an exclusive feature for those who pay for the regular version of Premium. Basically, there is no change for paying users or users in the United States.

Using PiP mode is simple. All you need to do is load up a video you want to watch in the background. Then, just exit the YouTube app and go about your other tasks. The video will be inside a floating, resizable window while you look at other things.

There’s no timeline on when the update will reach your device. However, YouTube has promised that it will roll out globally within the coming months.

SEE ALSO: YouTube remains top PH video platform; advertisers urged to continue investing

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Enterprise

OnePlus has reportedly merged with realme

Both brands were previously rumored for restructuring early this year.

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OnePlus 13

OnePlus has a problem. For a while now, rumors have swirled about the company’s dissolution. For their part, the company has continued to deny the reports, citing business as usual. Likely to their dismay, the reports just keep coming. Today, sources have hinted that OnePlus has merged with realme.

Back in January, it was rumored that OnePlus would be closing up shop this year. Since the company very quickly denied the rumors, the report hardly made waves. However, a suspected merger with realme is more difficult to debunk.

For one, realme is itself in a very interesting position. Also back in January, realme was reportedly moving back into being a sub-brand of OPPO. Coupled together with the OnePlus debacle, all this internal restructuring seems par for the course.

According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, OnePlus and realme have already concluded the merger. The two brands have reportedly united their Chinese and international operations under one roof. Likewise, their marketing will be the same. Pete Lau will still be the main head for this new division.

As with anything of this nature, take this with a grain of salt. OPPO, OnePlus, and realme have not issued any official statements concerning a merger or a shutdown for any brand.

SEE ALSO: realme is reportedly going back to being an OPPO sub-brand

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