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HTC ain’t done yet, announces U19e and Desire U19+ midrangers

Only in Taiwan for now

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HTC U19e | Image credit: HTC

As expected, HTC unveiled new smartphones. While the company’s releases aren’t exactly as popular as before, HTC still believes that they have a grip on their home market in Taiwan.

HTC is not venturing into the flagship market, for now, so they created two midrangers to keep their presence alive. The first one is the HTC U19e and it’s a 6-inch phone with a fair amount of bezels, but it doesn’t sport a notch.

The phone has an OLED display with a Full HD+ resolution. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 710 processor paired with 6GB of memory and 128GB of storage. It’s sustained by a 3930mAh battery and runs Android 9 Pie with HTC Sense out of the box.

HTC U19e | Image credit: HTC

As for the cameras, it has a dual rear setup including a main 12-megapixel f/1.8 shooter and a 20-megapixel telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom. In the front, it has a 24-megapixel selfie snapper and an IR camera for iris recognition.

The HTC U19e comes in either green or purple with translucent effect color options. It goes on sale in Taiwan starting today for NT$ 14,900 or roughly US$ 475.

Additionally, there’s the HTC Desire 19+ which is the company’s first phone with triple rear cameras. It also sports their biggest display at 6.2 inches with a dewdrop-style notch for the 16-megapixel front camera.

HTC Desire 19+ | Image credit: HTC

The Desire U19+ is powered by a MediaTek Helio P35 processor with up to 6GB of memory and up to 128GB of storage. The phone also runs Android 9 Pie out of the box and has a sizeable 3850mAh battery.

The cameras on its back are a combination of a main 13-megapixel shooter, an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. The phone’s back also has a capacitive fingerprint reader.

HTC’s new big phone will go on sale in Taiwan as well for NT$ 9,990 (US$ 320) or NT$ 10,990 (US$ 350) depending on the configuration. It’ll be available in early July.

Source: HTC, ePrice

SEE ALSO: HTC finally gives an update about its Android 9 Pie plans

Apps

Canva teams up with SB19 to turn A’TIN’s passion into creativity

Campaign lets fans access assets, editable templates, more

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Canva Philippines has joined forces with SB19 and Sony Music Entertainment to launch the “Kaya sa Canva” campaign.

This first-of-its-kind initiative is aimed at transforming the popular Filipino boy band’s fanbase into creators by giving them access to official design assets, exclusive templates, and powerful creative tools.

That’s of course as fans have a way of creating artwork, banners, and more outputs to honor their idols.

As such, the partnership enables the A’TIN (SB19’s fanbase) to access the Canva-exclusive SB19’s Creative Hub.

This dedicated space lets fans access assets, including SB19-inspired sticker packs, custom typography, and editable templates inspired by the group.

Fans around the world will initially have access to templates for photo-booth strips, wallpapers, posters, and videos.

The campaign will then expand with Canva-exclusive assets celebrating the group’s New Era, as well as their latest single, “Lawless”.

Meanwhile, the original song “KAYA” is accompanied with an upbeat music video, doubling as a love letter to A’TIN and a masterclass in Canva’s tools.

Every visual and animation is fan-inspired, a celebration of the creativity, passion, and dedication that’s defined in the community from day one.

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The iPhone 18 might sell out for an unexpected reason

The ongoing shortage might play a part in the phone selling out earlier than expected.

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An iPhone selling out is not news. Because of how popular the phones are, it’s within the realm of probability that Apple runs out of stock at some point. According to a new report, this year won’t be any different… but it’s for an entirely different reason.

First reported by analyst Tim Culpan, Apple is reportedly struggling to meet its demand for semiconductors for the iPhone 18 and the foldable iPhone. The ongoing memory shortage is cutting off Apple’s ability to deliver the required supply of smartphones in a timely fashion. The report even claims that TSMC, which helps produce the iPhone, is sitting on a shipment of processors, worth US$ 1 billion, that don’t have memory chips.

Now, Apple is still confident that it can weather the launch. However, if the shortage persists, the iPhone 18 generation will likely sell out much more quickly than expected.

It’s an interesting time for Apple to experience such a shortage. It’s been heavily rumored that the company will launch its very first foldable phone next month, creating a new market for the brand. Apple definitely wants this attempt to succeed after the tepid response to its last new product, the Vision Pro.

SEE ALSO: Did Tim Cook just confirm that iPhone prices are going up?

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These “smart” glasses just sold out in under a week

DuckDuckGo touts that these glasses have zero AI, zero cameras, and an infinite battery life.

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Smart glasses are in a weird place right now. While a chunk of the population views them as cool and innovative, another significant chunk sees them as a privacy nightmare. If you’re in the latter group but want to see what life is like on the former, DuckDuckGo has a new product: a pair of anti-surveillance glasses with no camera or AI, otherwise known as just normal sunglasses.

If it’s not obvious, yes, it’s a troll product. DuckDuckGo is a search engine famously known for pushing privacy as a priority, opposing Google’s penchant for advertising and AI. Now, the search engine is taking on the smart glasses market.

Partnering with Knockaround, DuckDuckGo released the Paso Robles, a pair of sunglasses touted as having zero cameras, an always-offline mode, and a battery life of infinity.

It’s a statement piece. The rims have a logo mark, similar to the Meta’s glasses. The packaging also states that the glasses are “designed to block the sun, not send data to the cloud.”

Now, if you want a pair, they cost only US$ 35, as opposed to Meta’s US$ 299 price tag, but they are already sold out.

Which says quite a bit about today’s sentiment against AI and for privacy. Of course, to be fair, DuckDuckGo’s supply is certainly less than Meta’s stock for their smart glasses. It does, however, prove that the sentiment is there.

As of now, the world is slowly realizing that unimpeded smart glasses aren’t such a good idea, leading to people concerned about their privacy. In fact, some states have already started banning the technology in certain public spaces.

SEE ALSO: New York becomes first state to ban smart glasses

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