Review: Alcatel A50

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

At a time where smartphone prices are at an all-time high, it is refreshing to see an affordable smartphone which also brings modularity and innovation to the market. Alcatel's A50 may seem a little plain at first sight, but this smartphone has multiple personalities which can be changed easily thanks to SNAPBAK cover accessories.

The Alcatel A50 is unapologetically an entry level phone. But, you wouldn't know this from the build and the materials that Alcatel has employed and which make quite an impression. There's solid plastic and a metal backplate which make it feel more premium than some of the LG-made Nexus devices from a few years ago.

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Two new Amazon Fire TV devices are reportedly headed our way

A new report from AFTVnews claims we’re getting more Amazon Fire TV options this year. There will be two new devices, supposedly, and one is coming next month. Both devices will have 4K HDR video support at 60 frames per second. The “mid-tier model,” which looks like a square Google Chromecast is the one we’re expecting in October and will reportedly be priced within the US$60 to $80 range.

Meanwhile, the more exciting model, which is expected to come out later this year or early in 2018, is considered the high-end Fire TV. It’ll reportedly have far-field microphones and an integrated speaker, meaning it might be able to support remote voice commands. With an LED light bar, it might mean this model gets Alexa support. The estimated price for this model is over $100.

Google’s Safe Browsing anti-malware software looks after over 3 billion devices

You might or might not know about Google’s phishing prevention tool. If you haven’t seen it work for you, then it means it’s doing its job. The search giant announced that the Safe Browsing program for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox has protected over a billion more smartphones, desktops, and laptops compared to last year. Safe Browsing is also enabled for popular social media app Snapchat. How do you know Safe Browsing is working for you? You’ll get the big red warning page.

The tool was created a decade ago for personal computers but has seen growth with more mobile devices out on the market. "Over the last few years, we've rethought how Safe Browsing delivers data," Google's Stephan Somogyi and Allison Miller wrote in a blog post. "We built new technologies to make its data as compact as possible: We only send the information that's most protective to a given device, and we make sure this data is compressed as tightly as possible."

Patty Jenkins officially signs on as ‘Wonder Woman 2’ director

Warner Bros.

Wonder Woman’s sequel is getting its director back. Patty Jenkins has just signed on to the second film of the highly successful superhero film Wonder Woman. We’ve known for a while that Gal Gadot has coming back as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. But Jenkins was initially brought on to direct the first film only. It’s been reported that she was negotiating with Warner Bros. over her pay. Jenkins’ reportedly expects she be paid more than the first time around. She has leverage in this regard after Wonder Woman became the highest-grossing, live-action film directed by a woman. And it looks like she got what she wanted.

The exact number wasn’t unveiled but Variety’s sources say the number should be around the US$8 million dollar range to direct, write, and produce the film, making her the highest paid female director of all time. A substantial backend of box office grosses is also part of her contract. Jenkins is reportedly working on the sequel’s script with DC Comics President Geoff Johns. The sequel is set to premiere on December 13, 2019.