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      Motorola’s fourth swing at a foldable Razr launches June 1

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 22 May, 2023 - 17:20 · 1 minute

    Motorola is still not giving up on the whole idea of a flexible-display Razr phone, and the company actually has a fourth generation of the device coming up. The launch date is already official, set for June 1 . The new Razr line comprises all new-school flip phones that are about the size of a normal smartphone when open, but when you're done with them, the whole device, including the screen, can fold in half, giving you a smaller square to fit into your pocket.

    There are two models of the upcoming device, called either the "Razr 40 Ultra" or "Razr+, and a cheaper model that might end up being called the Razr 40. Legendary leaker Evan Blass has been all over the release of this phone, sharing press images and other details , while MySmartPrice has leaks of the cheaper model. We don't necessarily know every tiny difference between the two models, but the big difference will be the cover display.

    These foldable devices are closed a lot of the time, so an outer display is very useful for the 100-plus times a day you check your phone—it's nice to just quickly look at it without needing to open up the phone. The Ultra model is going for about as big of a front display as possible, including wrapping around the two primary cameras that live in the bottom-right corner of the front of the phone. Working around all that dead space is going to make for some interesting software design decisions. The cheaper model, meanwhile, has a much smaller display, similar to the first-generation Galaxy Flip. It's a tiny little thing to the left of the camera array and can only show smartwatch-style widgets.

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      Huawei’s foldable is thinner, lighter, and has more battery than Samsung

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 28 March, 2023 - 21:56 · 1 minute

    Giant Huawei logo onstage.

    Enlarge (credit: Huawei )

    Huawei is still making phones, even if the US-China trade war puts most of the stalwart Android component vendors in a complicated relationship with the Chinese tech company. Huawei's new phones are the flagship Huawei P60 Pro slab phone and a flagship foldable, the Huawei Mate X3 .

    The trade war makes these phones unique in the world of Android. First, it has a Qualcomm chip, but Huawei isn't allowed to use the latest technology from Qualcomm, so the chip in both of these phones is the "Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G Mobile Platform." Besides being last year's chip, this is a special, Huawei-only version of the chip that is branded as "4G." It has had the 5G bands stripped out of it—both mmWave and sub 6 GHz.

    The other oddity is the lack of Google Play apps internationally. Huawei isn't allowed to ship the Google apps due to the export ban. While that's normal in China (where Google Play isn't available), internationally it means the phone is missing standard Google apps like YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, the Google Assistant, Docs, Search, Photos, and other apps that make Android a competitive consumer OS. Instead of the Google ecosystem, you'll be getting the OS with Huawei Mobile Services , which includes the Huawei AppGallery, Huawei Petal Maps , the Huawei Assistant (which appears just to be a search tool and some widgets, not a voice assistant), Huawei Pay, and Huawei apps for books, music, and video.

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