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Qulacomm Unveils Next-Gen Reference Design For Wireless Earbuds

Qualcomm is hoping to facilitate the adoption of its latest and greatest wireless audio technologies with its newest reference design for one such product, called the QCC5141. That name does not exactly roll off the tongue, but it isn’t meant to, anyway, this is something aimed at consumer electronics manufacturers and not the mainstream market.

That does make it a good look at the future of such products, however. Almost three out of four U.S. consumers want to be completely free of wires when it comes to audio, according to recent market data, and that is what Qualcomm is trying to promote with its newest wireless technologies such as the FastConnect system announced earlier this year.

The QCC5141 reference design is based on the company’s new Bluetooth audio system-on-chip of the same name which is meant to be both the brains and the storage of modern wireless audio solutions as small as earbuds in the vein of the AirPods and Galaxy Buds from Apple and Samsung, respectively.

Though it is still too early to say who will be making use of the said SoC from Qualcomm as the company still isn’t naming any names for the time being. That should change come spring, however.

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Huawei Introduces New Wearables, High-End MateBook Laptops

“Huawei Seamless AI Life New Products Global Launch” is the elegant name of today’s online event that the Chinese company used to announce its fall 2020 lineup of consumer electronics.

The new products include two wireless audio solutions, a pair of wearables, and another couple of high-end Windows laptops from the MateBook family. The lattermost category consists of the MateBook 14 and the MateBook X, both of which feature largely bezel-free designs and pretty sizable trackpads for maximum comfort.

Then there are the Huawei FreeLace Pro wireless (but wired to each other) earbuds designed for workouts like running, as well as the more stylish FreeBuds Pro, a pretty obvious rival to Apple’s AirPods Pro. Finally, the new wrist-worn wearables are similarly divided into one that is more closely targeted toward athletes in the Huawei Watch Fit, and another general-purpose fashion statement with a chop in the form of the Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro.

With today’s announcement out of the way, Huawei is almost done with high-profile product launches for this year. The only remaining range of devices that it is yet expected to announced before 2020 comes to a close is the Mate 20 series of Android flagships. Those traditionally launch in the second half of October, so more details on the matter will probably follow very soon.

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Facebook books Snoop Dogg for Venues on Oculus Quest

Snoop Dogg, aka DJ Snoopadelic, is preparing a virtual performance for the “Venues on Oculus Quest” app.

Can a VR concert be anything like the real thing?

The famous musician teamed up with Tidal and Facebook’s virtual reality unit for this upcoming – and unconventional – performance. The announcement came earlier this week that we’ll get the chance to experience first-hand the event, taking place on February 19th, at 6 pm PT in Venus on Oculus Quest. The famous rapper will spin funk, hip-hop, and R&B records and perform some of his most famous hits. This happening is part of Oculus’ Made By collection that is focusing on the Black creatives and experiences during Black History Month. Fans will have a spot on experience since they’ll be able to interact with each other – as they would during a live performance – in the Venues lobby before, after, and during the event.

This is the second of six-concert series. The first one featured English singer-songwriter, electro-pop star Charlie XCX on October 9th last year, and it was quite a performance. In case you’ve missed it, or won’t be able to attend the new gig, you can watch the best moments later on Oculus TV and Venues.

Source: Oculus.com

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Affordable AR prescription eyewear becoming a reality this spring

Luxexcel and WaveOptics created consumer smartglasses that combine a 3D-printed prescription lens, a waveguide, and a projector.

But how will they look?

As many glass wearers know, there’s only so much of AR you can enjoy the higher your prescription goes. But Luxexcel, a tech company specializing in 3D printed prescription lenses, and WaveOptics, designer of waveguides and light engines, announced last week the showcase of their AR prescription smartglasses. Glasses integrate three important elements of AR: an encapsulated waveguide, in the curved body of a 3D printed prescription lens, and a projector. With the waveguide being completely flat, the images are fairly high-fidelity-looking, and thanks to the 3D printed structure, the projector offers perfect alignment in an optical module. Knowing that almost 70% of adults today need eyewear, this news will definitely intrigue many. Smartglasses are supposedly compact and robust enough for real-world usage, yet the provided waveguide is thin and lightweight, making it comfortable to wear.

Besides glasses being comfortable, they’ll also look fashionable, so consumers will have a chance to proudly show off their new eyewear. Smartglasses will debut at the SPIE. AR, VR, MR conference on March 18th, 2021, while the prototype samples will be available in Q2 2021.

Source: Luxexcel.com

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Razer Blade 17 Gaming Notebook Launches In The U.S.

The Razer Blade 17 is how Razer is calling its latest high-performance Windows laptop, officially unveiled for the United States earlier today. This is a new edition of the most popular laptop lineup from Razer to date, which refers to the 17-inch display category.

As that tends to be the most popular combination of screen real estate and portability among consumers interested in no-compromise ultrabooks, highly compact computers that are still suitable for carrying around without much effort. The Razer Blade 17 uses Intel’s 8-core i7 processor line up to the 10th-generation i7-10875H CPU.

It pairs this processor powerhouse with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics card in its most expensive configuration, as well as a 17.3-inch display offering an insane, 300Hz refresh rate, also courtesy of the said NVIDIA tech. Of course, don’t expect a 300Hz refresh rate from any 4K mode, but 4K 120Hz functionality isn’t anything to scoff at – we are still talking about a laptop, after all.

Now, for the worst part – the fact that this thing, in all its high-tech glory, will indeed cost an arm and a leg to acquire. Razer already confirmed U.S. pricing starts at $2,599.99, and that is before any sales tax you might be required to pay.

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ASUS Unveils Two Slim Powerhouses In U.S.-Bound M415, M515

ASUS has taken the wraps off a pair of new slim ultrabooks in the form of the M415 and M515, both of which are bound for the United States and Canada in the coming weeks. The duo primarily differs by screen real estate as the ASUS M415 offers several 14-inch LED configurations, whereas the ASUS M515 is equipped with a more traditional 15..6-LED panel.

Both boast screen-to-body ratios just short of 85% and support for resolutions up to 1080p. While the default configurations will be sold with one of several available Windows 10 versions, ASUS also intends to do a limited release of Windows-less M415 and M515 models which will run one of today’s most bizarre Linux distros in wide circulation called Endless OS. Both notebooks will be offered with AMD Radeon Graphics GPUs in either the RX Vega 8 or the more higher-end RX Vega 10, though ASUS is also working on one entry-level variant without a dedicated graphics for each form factor.

The 14-inch M415 weighs approximately 1.5kg (3.3 Ibs) in total, which makes it one of the most portable workstations at this performance level money will soon be able to buy. Speaking of which, a concrete release date with specification options and detailed pricing structure are all expected to be publicized by ASUS before the end of the year.

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Apple overtakes Samsung in Q4 2020 smartphone sales

There’s no doubt 2020 took a heavy toll on the smartphone industry, but it seems nobody notified Apple about that ordeal, a new IDC report suggests.

Does Apple have a non-zero chance to retain this lead in Q1 2021?

The analytics firm estimates the global smartphone market shrunk 5.9% year-over-year, dropping by about 80 million device shipments to 1.29 billion. At the same time, Apple moved 15 million smartphones more than in 2019, shipping 206 million units in total. That’s a 7.9% improvement largely fueled by the iPhone 12 which allowed Apple to easily overtake Samsung in Q4 shipment volumes, as the figures attached herein illustrate. In the meantime, Samsung’s mobile businesses declined at a much faster rate, losing out on around 29 million product sales, or 9.8% annually. Note that for the purposes of IDC’s report, the term “shipments” is used interchangeably with branded sales. Meaning it doesn’t denote the actual, physical movement of inventory between manufacturers and their distribution chains.

It goes without saying that Apple’s fourth-quarter lead is all but guaranteed to dissipate during the opening three months of 2021. Primarily because the Cupertino-based tech giant isn’t putting out any high-margin smartphones in the coming weeks. Whereas Samsung will be kicking off this year’s flagship race in under 24 hours, seeing how the Galaxy S21 series is scheduled to go on sale tomorrow – both in the U.S. and abroad.

Source: IDC.com

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HMD Pledges To Bring More 5G Nokia Smartphones To The U.S.

HMD Global will start bringing a proportionally larger volume of its new Nokia smartphone models to the United States, the company announced in a prepared statement issued just earlier in the day. The main focus point of the partnership will be 5G. That is to day: 5G smartphones, something HMD’s R&D department has been working on quite intensively in recent years.

The company itself revived the Nokia Mobile brand in 2017 after former owner Microsoft exited the investment. But up until now, it hasn’t released that many devices in the U.S. At least not officially, though importing them was never too big of a challenge seeing how many EU retailers are still more than happy to ship internationally via Amazon.

Either way, it would appear at least half a dozen or more Nokia Android smartphones compatible with 5G networks will be releasing stateside in the immediate future. To that end, the company just secured a massive $230 million investment from major tech industry names such as Google and Qualcomm. The Finnish Nokia also participated in the round, HMD said in today’s press release.

Moving forward, the company will try to establish a relationship with wireless carriers across the country instead of just selling unlocked units via Amazon and similar storefronts.

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