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Motorola unveils Moto Z4 as a 5G-upgradable smartphone

Still with Moto Mods

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Moto Z4 | Image credit: Motorola

Motorola isn’t letting go of its precious Moto Mods just yet with the new Moto Z4. The new smartphone inherits the features of its predecessor with a couple of new tricks under its sleeve. Surprisingly, the Moto Z4 is not Motorola’s flagship-specced phone for 2019.

The Moto Z4 is the successor to the Moto Z3 Play, not to the Moto Z3. How so? The Moto Z4 doesn’t sport the best processor available, but rather a midrange chip — the Snapdragon 675 to be exact. It also packs 4GB of memory and 128GB of expandable storage.

The phone’s new notched OLED display measures 6.4 inches with a Full HD+ resolution and 19:9 aspect ratio. The tiny waterdrop notch houses a 25-megapixel camera for selfies and the whole panel is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Also, there’s an in-display fingerprint reader for biometric security.

Moto Z4 | Image credit: Motorola

Like with most phones to come out lately, the Moto Z4 has a 48-megapixel pixel main camera with an aperture of f/1.7 and optical image stabilization. It utilizes a Quad Bayer color filter to capture incredibly detailed 12-megapixel shots. It features Night Mode and AI scene detection as well.

A 3600mAh battery cell will keep the Moto Z4 powered on for a whole day, plus it charges pretty quick using the bundled 15W TurboPower charger. Furthermore, there’s no room for bloatware on the Moto Z4 since it runs on a near-stock build of Android Pie with a few Moto apps.

Moto Z4 | Image credit: Motorola

The Moto Z4 does have a headphone jack, which should please Motorola fans. Also, it retains Moto Mods compatibility. It fully supports existing Moto Mods, which is great for those who already have a few. If you wish, you can upgrade the Moto Z4 with 5G connectivity using the US$ 200 5G Moto Mod.

Motorola’s new Moto Z4 will come in Flash Gray and Frost White colors for US$ 499. It’ll be available in the US starting June 6 and it comes with a free 360-degree camera Moto Mod in the box. Verizon will also offer the Moto Z4 starting June 13 bundled with the 5G Moto Mod.

SEE ALSO: Motorola’s long-rumored foldable phone shows up in leaked renders

Finance

HONOR, Fidesmo partner for contactless payments across Europe, Middle East

Enabling contactless payments on the HONOR Watch 6

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HONOR and Fidesmo have partnered to launch contactless payments across Europe and the Middle East on the HONOR Watch 6.

Powered by Fidesmo Pay, the integration enables users to connect an existing Mastercard or Visa card to their watch and complete contactless transactions directly from the wearable device.

This brings Fidesmo’s network of over 900 banks and financial institutions to HONOR’s customers. Users can connect an existing card to the HONOR Watch 6 instantly through the HONOR Health App, which installs a unique token directly onto the watch.

Acting as a secure reference to the payment method, this token allows customers to pay without storing their actual payment details on the device. Once installed, users can tap the watch at any
contactless terminal to pay, just as they would with a card or phone.

HONOR joins a group of device partners that already includes Swatch, Polar, and Mondaine as Fidesmo continues to build momentum across categories.

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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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