News
Sharp unveils Aquos R2 as new flagship phone with wide-angle camera
A borderless phone with a tiny notch
Sharp may not be that popular when it comes to phones, but they sure know how to create a powerful one. The company just unveiled their latest flagship phone, the Aquos R2. It’s the successor to last year’s Aquos R and it’s designed to appeal to the Asian market.
The Aquos R2 doesn’t look any different from a typical 2018 phone. It has a borderless display, a notch to house the front camera, and dual rear cameras. Its display measures six inches and sports a high-speed IGZO panel with a 19:9 aspect ratio and a WHQHD+ (1440 x 3040 pixels) resolution. The notch is way smaller than the usual though, and it’s more like the Essential Phone’s.
The phone has top-notch (no pun intended) specs with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, 4GB of memory, and 64GB of internal storage. It accepts a microSD card for storage expansion of up to 400GB.
It draws juice from a respectable 3130mAh battery and runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.
As for cameras, there are two shooters at the back and one in the front. The dual rear camera setup of the Aquos R2 is peculiar. It has a 16.3-megapixel sensor solely for video recording and a 22.6-megapixel sensor for taking photos. The video-only camera shoots 4K videos in ultra-wide angle and with the help of artificial intelligence, the other sensor can automatically shoot photos while recording video.
Check out the feature in action through the official videos below:
Sharp is also proud to introduce the Aquos R2 as the world’s first phone to have Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos together. This brings powerful imaging with superb sound quality.
To top off everything, the handset is water- and dust-resistant.
No pricing as of press time, but it’ll be available soon in Japan and neighboring countries.
Source: Sharp
Gaming
Most of the world’s PlayStations will be officially useless by 2028
PlayStation’s disastrous no-disc policy is now a lot worse than you thought.
Last week, we lamented the loss of the PlayStation disc. As we described, the loss isn’t just a major blow to nostalgia for aging gamers, but it also puts a huge question mark on game ownership. Well, there’s another wrinkle that the world is slowly realizing. By deleting physical discs, PlayStation has effectively blockaded their entire service from countries without an official online store.
If you haven’t heard, PlayStation is ceasing the production of physical discs for new games starting 2028. The console will become an all-digital platform. Now, we can blather on and on about how this sucks for ownership, but all gamers will still have access to games online at the very least. Right?
Wrong.
Not every country has an official PlayStation Store or the ability to create a PSN account. In fact, a staggering amount don’t; 121 countries (or 62 percent of the entire world) don’t have official access to the online storefront.
If you live in any of these countries, you’re likely familiar with some unofficial solutions: that is, setting your country elsewhere where the store exists. But, because it’s an unofficial solution, doing this is technically against PlayStation’s policies and can result in bans.
That being said, as noted by users on Reddit, this means that, on a very technical and legal level, these 121 countries will no longer be able to buy physical or digital games starting 2028. Because of a clarified policy, you can still play older games, but if you want to play the latest Call of Duty or NBA 2K, you are out of luck.
There’s no official list of affected countries, other than those collated by others manually. But if you’ve never been able to set your own country on the PlayStation Network, you’re a part of it.
News
FIFA World Cup: Lenovo’s Referee View received positively by fans
Unique first-person perspective brings action closer to viewers
Lenovo has revealed that technological advancements at the FIFA World Cup 2026 has made viewers “feel closer” to the action than ever before.
Surveying fans across Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Lenovo bared that 87% say technology is improving the viewing experience.
Close-to-action camera perspectives have also help 84% of surveyed viewers, making them feel they’re right on the pitch.
Of course, Lenovo AI has introduced Referee View throughout the World Cup. This AI-powered technology gives viewers a first-person POV of the match from a referee’s perspective.
Lenovo Referee View has been featured on an average of three times per match across the tournament in over 220 countries and territories worldwide, according to preliminary FIFA data.
Through a lightweight camera mounted on the match official, the technology gives a first-person POV of the match.
And while raw footage is fast-moving and sometimes unstable, Lenovo’s AI-powered video analytics platform automatically transforms the clips into smooth, broadcast-quality video in real-time.
Other findings from Lenovo’s research include:
- 76% of viewers have seen or heard about Referee View
- 91% say the close-to-action Referee View POV is appealing
- 88% say smooth and stable footage is an important part of viewing sports footage
- 98% say clear picture quality has been important when watching the FIFA World Cup 2026
- 91% are interested in seeing more technology that creates immersive or close-to-action sports experiences
Over the weekend, a report emerged about Disney+ allegedly considering a new tier offered to users for absolutely free. Apparently, Disney isn’t the only one. Netflix is now resurrecting its free trial program in select countries.
Back in the day, it was easy to get into Netflix. With a 30-day free trial, you can watch the shows you’ve always wanted to catch. If you liked what you saw, you can pay the monthly fee to access the entire library without constraints. Eventually, the platform got rid of this system to favor a cheaper ad-supported tier.
Perhaps not seeing the benefits of ad-supported tiers, Netflix has suddenly resurrected its free trial program. Spotted online (via Android Authority), some countries, including Brazil and India, are experimenting with the program again. New users can get 30 days of free Netflix access.
Because only regular users are spotting this (rather than an official announcement), we don’t have a list of where the free trials are available.
Still, it’s an interesting move. Cable isn’t a thing anymore so “cutting the cable” isn’t a popular phrase anymore, but people are definitely cancelling subscriptions over rising prices. Some even rely on short clips from YouTube to catch up with their shows. Having a free trial opens up more possibilities for users, but it remains to be seen whether it’s enough for users to return to Netflix.
SEE ALSO: Netflix expands its cheaper ad-supported tier to Southeast Asia
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