Folding Microsoft Surface that can run Android apps is tipped to launch in the Q1 of 2020

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Microsoft reportedly showed off a folding Surface laptop at a recent internal event. Now, we’re getting hints that this device will be launching in the coming year. According to Jeff Lin, associate director for consumer electronics at HIS Markit, this folding device will reportedly hit the market in either the first quarter or the first half of 2020. The analyst cites sources from “supply chain info.” This device will reportedly have two 9-inch displays with a 4:3 aspect ratio. It’ll run on Windows Core OS with a dual display UI, and it’s expected to run Android apps as well as offer iCloud services. Intel’s 10nm Lakefield processors are expected to power this LTE/5G device. Now, all we have to do is wait for Microsoft to confirm that this device will be heading to the market. Right now they’re declining to comment on future products.

Source: Forbes

Rumoured Samsung smartphone with 110% screen-to-body ratio is no more

On top of the upcoming Galaxy Note 10 and the still stuck in limbo Galaxy Fold, a rumour was going around that Samsung is developing a smartphone that comes with a 3D curved display, which would’ve allowed the company to achieve a 110% screen-to-body ratio. But according to Ice Universe—the same leaker who tipped us about the initial information—this project has been scrapped. It was said to be a special 10^th-anniversary device with all the latest tech Samsung has to offer. But for now, we’re going to have to settle with the Galaxy Note 10, which is expected to have some great features.

Source: MSPowerUser

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo teases Super FlashCharge tech that can charge a 4,000mAh phone in 13 minutes

Vivo might not be a familiar brand in this part of the world, but it’s one of the Chinese smartphone companies that have been pushing the boundaries in terms of what phones look like and how they perform. You might be more familiar with its sister brand: OnePlus. (Vivo, OnePlus, and OPPO are all owned by Chinese multinational corporation BBK.) But we digress, our focus is on the latest technology Vivo is bringing to the market, which blows what its sister company OPPO has done with the Find X Lamborghini Edition. A Vivo product manager posted on Chinese blogging site Weibo its new Super FlashCharge 120W technology. It promises to fully charge a 4,000mAh phone battery in just 13 minutes. As we mentioned, the special edition Find X, with its Super VOOC charger, can fill up its 3,400mAh battery in 35 minutes.

The video only shows a phone charging from around 10 to 14 percent in 16 seconds, so we can’t say yet how true the claims are. But the company is set to go into detail about this technology at next week’s Mobile World Congress Shanghai, where it’ll also unveil its first 5G device.

Source: The Verge

Netflix Hack Day project brings phone vibrations to action sequences

One of the newest projects that came out of Netflix’s recent Hack Day event lets you feel the action right in the palm of your hands. If you watch shows with a smartphone, that is. Hans van de Bruggen and Ed Barker created Project Rumble Pak, which explores how haptics can be used to enhance the Netflix viewing experience on smartphones. It reminds us a bit of what Sony did with a setting on its phone that caused the device to vibrate while playing games or watching videos. The creators made use of Voltron: Legendary Defender to demonstrate how this feature can work. Using technology from Immersion Corporation, they synchronized the content with haptic effects so that “every explosion, sword clank, and laser blast, you get force feedback to amp up the excitement.”

Hack Days at Netflix are a big thing at the company because it helps bring together employees from its different departments to “explore new ideas and experiment with emerging technologies.”