Samsung launches first commercially available 8K TVs

While 4K might be all the rage now, we have also for a while heard of 8K TVs. And now Samsung is bringing its first line of 8K TVs to the market. The Q900R QLED 8K TV was unveiled at IFA in Berlin and comes in 65 inches, 75 inches, 82 inches, and 85 inches. Why would you even want to consider one? It’s definitely brighter and can produce even better image quality. It has as many as 16 times more pixels than the standard HD TV and is capable of 4,000 nit peak brightness. At the moment, Samsung’s Q9 series 4K QLED TVs can reach 1,700 nit peak brightness. It also offers high-dynamic range to provide deeper blacks and more vivid colors. 

Content will always be the main issue here and there aren’t a lot of 8K content available yet. But just like what’s been done with 4K TVs, Samsung also includes its unique upscaling technology. This makes use of artificial intelligence to improve picture quality of what you’re watching—whether this comes from a streaming set-top box, game console, or even mirrored content from your smartphone or other mobile devices. Samsung hasn’t released pricing for this just yet but if you compare it with the top-of-the-line Q9 series QLED 4K TVs start at US$3,300 for the 65 inches (approx. CA$4,300) so expect the 8K model to be quite expensive. 

Source: Business Insider 

BlackBerry teases first look of KEY2 LE

The BlackBerry KEY2 LE looks to have a similar textured back as the KEY2

TCL Communications’ BlackBerry is set to unveil the low-end successor to the KEY2 at the upcoming IFA 2018 in Berlin, Germany. And the company just released the first official teaser for the KEY2 LE, showing off what we assume is the rear of the device. It looks to have a textured, polka dot-like back and comes in a grey black colour that seems like a nod to its more expensive brother. Some of the rumoured specs of the device include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor, 4GB RAM, and either 32GB/64GB internal storage. Battery is expected to be on the smaller side at 3,000mAh.

Almost time for a new introduction. #IFA18 pic.twitter.com/9KPX5GrgvY

— BlackBerry Mobile (@BBMobile) August 24, 2018

Source: Deccan Chronicle

LG masked the aperture of the pre-release V30s to try and control its narrative

Wanting to announce a product on their terms, LG did a bit of “creative subterfuge” as The Verge describes it by tinkering around with the phone’s aperture. The company deliberately misrepresented the aperture value of f/1.6 as f/1.7 to throw off any industrial espionage and particularly nosy fans who want to know the latest specs ahead of the release. This understandably had the people who got pre-release review units question whether the phone had an f/1.6 aperture value. LG after all did announce the feature a few weeks before the device was launched at IFA 2017. But the move was seen as LG taking control of sharing its own news instead of leaks beating them to the punch.

The company does want to reassure users that the V30 retail units will ship with an f/1.6 aperture. In a statement they say, “Before unveiling a new product, LG Electronics safeguards confidential and proprietary device information by masking the true values of important product specifications. Some preproduction preview sample devices recently distributed featured non-final software, which maintained masked information with regard to aperture. The LG V30 features an F1.6 aperture camera and glass lens, an industry leading innovation.” 

Huawei set to unveil Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro on October 16th in Munich

Huawei just unveiled its new Kirin 970 processor at IFA 2017 in Berlin, boasting of the processors artificial intelligence capabilities. And soon we’ll be seeing that in two new Huawei flagships coming out next month: the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. According to Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, the two devices will be the Chinese company’s first full display mobile phones. This means we might see a similar screen-to-body ratio as what we’ve been seeing lately in a lot of flagship devices. As expected, we’re being told it’s getting a dual camera setup (evidenced by an official tweet from Huawei Australia’s Twitter account).

Not much else is known at this point but as Android Authority says, we should expect the Mate 10 Pro to have things like better resolution display, more RAM, and a boost in internal storage, among others. We just have to wait until next month to find out.