CES 2018: Qualcomm claims its newest SoC fixes issues plaguing wireless earbuds

Wireless earbuds makes things easier for users but it isn’t without fault. Qualcomm hopes to fix the issues plaguing these tiny wearables have. The new QCC5100 chipset claims to offer three times the battery life of previous devices and it comes with more wireless transmitting power, meaning it’ll most likely not cut out as much even when it encounters interference.

When compared to its predecessor, it’s said to have twice the processing power. This means, manufacturers can introduce better noise cancelling as well as integrate smart assistants and other smart features. The possibility of getting zero-delay fast translation like those in the Pixel Bud might head your way. We can’t say yet though when we might see manufacturers integrate this chip into their audio accessories.

Source: Engadget

CES 2018: ASUS brings high-capacity battery-toting ZenFone Max Plus to North America

If having a smartphone that comes with a high-capacity battery is something that’s high on your list of priorities, Taiwanese company ASUS is giving you that option. The company is bringing the ZenFone Max Plus (M1) to this side of the world. It packs in a 4,130mAh battery, which offers up to 26 days of standby time and can even be used to charge other devices. It sees ASUS joining the 18:9 display aspect ratio for its 5.7-inch screen. ASUS is also introducing Face Unlock technology with this device.

When it comes to the cameras, the front-facing camera comes with either 8-megapixel/16-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture for your brighter selfie needs. It also has a dual-rear setup with a 16-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a secondary 8-megapixel shooter with 120-degree wide-angle lens. The Max Plus is said to run on a MediaTek 6750T 64-bit octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM and Android 7.0 layered with ASUS ZenUI. It comes with 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 256GB via microSD. It’ll retail for US$229 (around CA$285).

Source: CNET

CES 2018: Samsung brings S Pen to its new Notebook 9 Pen laptop

Edgar Alvarez/Engadget

If you’re a fan of Samsung’s S Pen and want to bring that experience to your laptop, you’re going to be interested in one of Samsung’s newest laptops. The Notebook 9 Pen is an ultralight laptop made with a magnesium alloy called Metal-12, which keeps the 13.3-inch laptop at 2.2 pounds. It won’t turn heads looks-wise but that isn’t its selling point anyway. The Notebook 9 Pen, as we mentioned, supports the S Pen, making this a good tool for artists who want to use this convertible laptop for sketching or if you prefer jotting down notes by hand. The S Pen now offers 4,096 pressure levels and has a 0.7mm nib. The laptop also comes with a new Voice Note feature that captures conversations around you and lets you take down notes as the app records audio. You can also make GIFs by using the S Pen to capture snippets from the video it sees on your screen.

Specs-wise, the Notebook 9 Pen is powered by an 8^th-generaion Intel Core i7 processor with up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB SSD. It has a 1080p display and unfortunately a limited number of I/O ports (one USB-C port, one USB 3.0 port, a microSD slot, and an HDMI out). No word yet on pricing and availability of this device.

Source: Engadget

CES 2018: LG’s new 65-inch OLED TV concept can be rolled up like a poster

LG showed off is Wallpaper TV at last year’s CES. This time around, the company is going thinner and is showing off a new concept that makes that TV look bulky. This new concept is a 65-inch 4K OLED TV that is basically like a giant poster. It comes with a giant, block-like base where the TV rolls back into when not in use. Why would anyone want a TV like this, you ask? LG argues that this will be a space saver and boost portability (not that we’d want to lug around a 65-inch TV, but we get the idea). We don’t know when this concept might actually be seen in stores but as BGR points out, it does give us hope that those “electronic newspapers” that you can stow away might be in our future sooner than we think.