News

Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro now official

Now this is a flagship

Published

on

When Huawei said they’re rethinking possibilities with the Huawei Mate 30 series, they weren’t kidding at all. Unveiled in Munich, Germany, the Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro’s hardware do not disappoint.

A modern design

The Huawei Mate 30 series features an edge-to-edge screen that the company is calling the Horizon Display. It curves at an angle of 88 degrees deliver the most screen it can despite still having a notch — which Huawei says is ultra-narrow.

The edge-to-edge display on the Mate 30 Pro created the need for the Side-Touch Interaction feature. It replaces the physical volume keys. This also lets you customize the virtual button’s position giving you more control on how you want to interact with your device.

These are all very similar to the tech implemented by vivo on the NEX 3. Groundbreaking stuff. We’re quite surprised the invite wasn’t by innovation only. 😏

Rethinking the cameras 

Flip over the Huawei Mate 30 and you’ll see the phone’s triple camera module now enclosed in a circle. The cameras are as follows: A 40MP SuperSensing Camera, 16MP Ultra Wide-angle Camera and an 8MP Telephoto Camera.

On the Mate 30 Pro you’ll get a quad camera system: the 40MP Cine Camera, 40MP SuperSensing Camera, an 8MP Telephoto Camera and a 3D Depth Sensing Camera.

Huawei really pushed the boundaries on these cameras. The Cine Camera features a large 1/1.54-inch sensor size with a high maximum Video ISO of 51200 to capture videos with an extended dynamic range at 4K/60fps as well as ultra slow-motion at the highest 7680 fps.

The Mate 30 Pro also offers what Huawei calls pro-bokeh capabilities on video recording. We’ll have to test the feature if it’s any better than the bokeh effect found on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+. Video also has a combination of Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and AI Stabilisation (AIS) for superior stabilization.

The cameras also have a sensor larger than the ones found on other flagships today. This lends nicely to taking night shots. And the samples Huawei showed on stage was pretty impressive.

Shanghai at Night. Taken with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro Night Mode

Fast and powerful

We already know that the Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro is equipped with the Kirin 990. It’s a chip specifically designed to support 5G. In various graphs throughout the presentation, Huawei pointed out how they have built the most advanced 5G tech and put all of it in the Huawei Mate 30 series.

Of course, having 5G means larger power consumption. Fret not, the Huawei Mate 30 sports a 4200mAh battery while the Mate 30 Pro has an even bigger battery capacity with 4500mAh.

It also won’t take long to charge those batteries as the Huawei Mate 30 series supports the 27W Wireless Huawei SuperCharge and the 40W Huawei SuperCharge. The Reverse Wireless Charging feature that was introduced on the Mate 20 series is now also three times faster.

New materials, new variants

The 6.53-inch Huawei Mate 30 Pro and 6.62-inch HUAWEI Mate 30 come in various colour variants and materials: Emerald Green, Space Silver, Cosmic Purple, Black.

Huawei also introduced a new material — vegan leather. They say it’s also water and dust resistant. The vegan leather variants will come in two colors: Forest Green and Orange.

Pricing and availability

Pricing are as follows: Huawei Mate 30 with 8GB+128GB will retail for EUR 799, the Huawei Mate 30 PRO with 8GB+256GB will retail for EUR 1099. The 5G version of the Mate 30 Pro will retail for EUR 1199. Also announced at the event was the Huawei Mate 30 RS Porsche Edition with 12GB+512GB and it will retail for EUR 2095.

Update as of October 28: The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro are now also available in the Philippines. The Mate 30 will retail for PhP 34,990 while the Mate 30 Pro will sell for PhP 50,990. Pre-order period is from October 28 to November 8. Those who pre-order will get freebies worth up to PhP 5,580.

News

St. Peter reunited people with their deceased loved ones through tech

The new “If Heaven Could Write” campaign generates letters from the imagined perspectives of loved ones.

Published

on

Grieving can take many forms. Sometimes, it manifests through a desire to hear a loved one again. We look at their old clothing, a gust of wind, or a butterfly, and imagine them talking to us one more time. This year, St. Peter, through the power of technology, gave 11,000 people that chance through its new “If Heaven Could Write” campaign.

During St. Peter Deathcare Week, which ran from October 27 through November 2, the deathcare provider started the “If Heaven Could Write” campaign, an interactive digital experience that offered participants a chance to reunite with their deceased loved ones. It was available in 37 St. Peter Chapels and 76 cemeteries nationwide.

Upon scanning a QR code which took them to a portal, participants answered questions about their loved ones. Then, the portal generates a personal letter from the imagined perspective of the participant’s loved one, giving them one more chance to converse.

Of course, an imagined letter can’t replace someone who passed away. Still, the experience affords us a way to grieve and process the loss. No, the letter isn’t really from your loved one, but you can imagine what they would have said while reading through it. And sometimes, that’s all we need.

Though St. Peter Deathcare Week has already come and gone for the year, those interested can still participate in the campaign through its link.

Continue Reading

News

Next iPhone might get rid of the Action Button

Both functions will be in one button instead.

Published

on

In a world with a love-hate relationship with extra buttons on a phone, Apple has gone to the deeper end and included two buttons in the latest iPhones: the Action Button and the Camera Control. Next year, Apple might consolidate the two buttons into one, ridding itself of the Action Button.

According to a Weibo leak from Instant Digital, Apple will merge the two buttons starting with next year’s iPhones. Though technically a new button in itself, the merged version will, based on the leak, retain more Camera Control than the Action Button.

Of course, both functions can coexist in the same button. The Camera Control activates with a single press, while the Action Button needs a longer press. In the merged button, a single press can still open the camera and a longer press can activate whatever the user sets it to.

Both buttons have had a storied past. The Action Button came in 2023, replacing the Ring/Silent Switch. Meanwhile, the Camera Control debuted a year later, offering control over the camera with a capacitive button. The current iterations retain both buttons on the same phone.

Personally, as someone used to creating content, the Camera Control button is ultimately a boon to get those shots quickly while in the moment. Retaining that functionality is definitely worthwhile.

Continue Reading

Enterprise

NVIDIA CEO admits to having an affair with alleged Chinese spy

The company is currently investigating the allegations.

Published

on

In one of the craziest headlines this year, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to having an affair with an alleged Chinese spy.

Over the weekend, a heavy allegation claimed that the NVIDIA CEO had a relationship with a person actively involved in Chinese intelligence. Since Huang is involved in business globally, the accusation isn’t a light one. In fact, it’s serious enough that Huang admitted to the affair late this past Sunday.

In an internal letter reported by Associated Press, the CEO acknowledged the existence of the affair with a business executive. Of note, Huang did not confirm the executive’s ties to Chinese intelligence. NVIDIA, however, will conduct its own investigations regarding the allegations. Despite the allegations, Huang will remain as the company’s CEO. The company is also confident that the alleged spy did not compromise NVIDIA’s secrets.

According to The New York Times, the executive, Alice Huang, was reportedly feeding information back to Beijing, despite being an executive of the Singapore-based Megaspeed, which is already a serious customer of NVIDIA.

Now, NVIDIA is currently in a prime position when it comes to the industry today. Formerly a huge proponent of gaming peripherals, the company is now one of the biggest names in AI hardware, allotting a lot of its products for data centers. Huang’s allegations come at an interesting time.

Continue Reading

Trending