News
Nokia XR20: Rugged smartphone with 4 years of updates
Launched alongside the budget C30 and a 6310 remake
Fancy a smartphone that could withstand extreme conditions? Well, Nokia now has one — and with guaranteed four years of updates too. The Nokia XR20 is the company’s first rugged smartphone, complete with a host of features.
The design, for a start, is something that you would expect from a rugged smartphone. It’s a bit chunky and for a good reason: the phone is MIL-STD certified, surviving drops from 1.8 meters. The ruggedized casing also helps in shock-proofing the phone. For a peace of mind, the phone also has an IP68 water and dust resistance along with Gorilla Glass Victus on the front.
Now, some people would equate rugged smartphones with outdated specs. This is not the case for the Nokia XR20, as it rocks features on par for the mid-range market.
First up, it has a sizable 6.67-inch IPS FHD+ display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. One unique thing about this display is that it has a maximum brightness of 550 nits, and it can even operate with gloves. It’s also worth mentioning that the front bezels here don’t have any “Nokia” branding at all — a first for the company’s recent smartphone lineup.
The camera on this phone is also par for the course. Up front, there is an 8MP selfie camera located on a centered punch hole. Meanwhile, the rear cameras are made of a main 48MP wide-angle lens and a 13MP ultra-wide-angle lens.
On the performance front, there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 chipset powering the device. It is a mid-range chipset at its best, and fortunately, it has 5G built-in for future-proofing. By default, it comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It also has plenty of support — four years of security updates, plus three years of major OS updates.
For connectivity, it has a lone USB 3.0 Type-C port with Bluetooth 5.1 built in. There’s even a 3.5 mm headphone jack included into the mix. However, Nokia also integrated dual speakers on this device if listening out loud is your jam. Finally, the device can keep up for two days thanks to its 4,630mAh battery.
The device will retail on August 24 for a price of US$ 549. Buyers can get it in two color configurations: Ultra Blue or Granite Grey.
Nokia C30 and 6310: budget and nostalgic pairs
Aside from the rugged XR20, the company also announced two new devices — the Nokia C30 and 6310. The former is a budget device that adds to the fledgling Nokia C-series line-up. It has a big 6.82 HD+ display, complete with a V-notch housing the 5MP selfie camera. The back houses the two rear cameras with a 13 MP wide-angle lens and a 2 MP depth sensor. Nokia is using an Unisoc processor here, along with the trimmed-down Android 11 Go. Furthermore, it comes with a 6,000mAh battery which is humongous for its class.
Meanwhile, the Nokia 6310 is revived and modernized 6310 that many people know from the past. Just like you would expect, it features the classic design of the long-gone feature phone but with a twist. It has a curved 2.8-inch display, a rear-facing 0.3MP camera, and Series 30+ OS. Strangely enough, there is Bluetooth 5.0 here yet 4G is nowhere to be found.
The Nokia C30 will retail for EUR 99 while the 6310 will go for EUR 40.
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.
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.
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.
Enterprise
NVIDIA CEO admits to having an affair with alleged Chinese spy
The company is currently investigating the allegations.
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.
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