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Samsung may soon release a more affordable version of the popular Galaxy S20 FE
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+
The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE was one of the best phones of 2020, and it came very close to being the Android Police 2020 Readers' Choice Smartphone of the Year. While the US market only received the 5G variant of the phone, consumers in the UK, Germany, and India, among others, had the chance to pick up a 4G variant powered by the Exynos 990. In what seems to be a way of acknowledging the drawbacks of its in-house processor (and/or the dropping costs of last-gen silicon), the company is all set to unveil a 4G variant of the phone that's powered by the Snapdragon 865+.According to WinFuture, the phone will be available in a bunch of European countries and replace the prevailing Exynos variant. In fact, the phone (SM-G780G) has already been listed on the Swedish website. Apart from the fact that it won't support 5G networks, it is identical to its 5G counterpart. You'll get a 6.5-inch 120Hz OLED display, three 12MP cameras on the back, a 4,500mAh battery, IP68 certification, and support for wireless charging.If you're a sucker for details, you might be aware that OEM buyers of the Snapdragon 865 chip need to mandatorily purchase the discrete 5G X55 modem. So, how is Samsung shipping a 4G variant of a phone that uses the same chip?Even though modems support a wide variety of network frequencies, smartphone companies need to certify their devices to work on them. There's money involved in the process, and this is why it's common to see smartphone companies certify only those bands which are relevant in a particular market. For instance, the OnePlus 9 in India — where 5G networks don't exist yet — only supports two 5G bands, whereas the US variant supports a lot more. It's safe to assume that Samsung is resorting to a similar practice in this case.There's no word on when the Galaxy S20 FE 4G will be officially announced, but it shouldn't be too long now. It's expected to be available in four colors and have a sticker price of €750.
Qualcomm allegedly exploring a cheaper Snapdragon 888 variant without 5G
We don't know much about the rumored chipset just yet
After releasing a slightly tweaked Snapdragon 865 Plus as the Snapdragon 870 earlier this year, Qualcomm seems set to launch yet another derivative of a successful high-end processor. Leaker Roland Quandt reports that the company has a lower-end version of the Snapdragon 888 in the works for 2021.
NASA just gave Nokia millions of dollars to upgrade the moon's cell service
While carriers deploy 5G here on earth, Nokia wants to put 4G on the moon
Much like Gru, Nokia has always been obsessed with stealing the moon. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but the company has taken a very keen interest in developing technology for lunar missions. Back in 2018, Nokia was working on a system that would bring LTE connectivity to everyone's favorite lumpy gray rock. Now NASA has agreed to hand over 14.1 million dollars to help make Nokia's dream a reality.
Stadia now fully supports playing games over a cellular connection
The functionality was previously experimental
Game streaming relies on low-latency connections to offsite servers, which is why the key to a great experience with Xbox Game Streaming and Google Stadia is fast and reliable internet. Google began testing mobile data streaming with Stadia in July, and now the functionality is ready for everyone.
5G, the latest generation of wireless connectivity, is all the rage these days. Many high-end phones are supporting it, and Google is gearing up to make it accessible it at a lower price bracket with the upcoming Pixel 4a 5G. But how much day-to-day difference does 5G make for the average user? PCMag's annual network testing in the US reveals that while 4G speeds are getting better, 5G is not yet delivering on its potential.
You can try out Stadia with your 4G or 5G connection today
Mobile data streaming gets a limited, but needed first step
Google is finally letting Android phone owners use their 4G and 5G connections to stream gameplay to and from Stadia starting today. The company is calling this an open experiment and, as it may turn out, could bear significant limits.
AT&T is scaring customers into buying new phones with a misleading email
Even recent unlocked phones like the Galaxy S10e or the Nokia 6.1 are affected
Amid an economy-crushing pandemic, AT&T decided that now was a good time to send a scaremongering email to many of its customers, claiming that their phone "is not compatible with the new network and you need to replace it to continue receiving service." The email conveniently omits that this message is regarding a change that won't take place until February 2022, providing only a link that later calls out this change linked to the decommissioning of AT&T's legacy 3G network.
You might be able to buy a 4G rotary cellphone later this year
You know you want that dial in your grubby mitts
Back in February, we covered Justine Haupt's adventures in making her own "distraction-free" 3G cellphone with a rotary dial and a humble ePaper display. She even open-sourced her design and firmware and shipped out some proprietary parts to people who wanted to make one for themselves. Now, she's drafting plans and booting up manufacturing to sell a 4G version with a few more features in tow.
AT&T now says it won't get rid of 5Ge logo in status bar, doubles down on lying to customers
5Get the hell out of here with that nonsense
In a decision related to a complaint initially filed by T-Mobile, the National Advertising Review Board finally said what we all knew about AT&T's dumb "5Ge" branding from the get go: it's bullshit. AT&T is choosing to comply with the industry self-regulatory body, sort of: (over an issue, let us not forget, that it bitterly contested in an actual lawsuit) it says it will stop saying 5Ge, marketing 5Ge, but that it won't stop using the 5Ge logo in your status bar, because AT&T will do everything possible to weasel out of admitting that displaying a "5Ge" symbol when your phone is definitively not connected to a 5G NR network is and always was a lie. A big lying lie, told by liars, who lie (read: the marketing division). The update regarding the status bar icon came this afternoon in a statement given to Light Reading, with the carrier saying it would not change the 5Ge logo back to 4G or some other term, and that it would continue to be displayed.
T-Mobile is about to boost LTE speeds by renting unused 600MHz spectrum
Dish, Comcast, and investment firms are just sitting on these licenses
COVID-19 is disrupting daily life in unprecedented ways. T-Mobile has already opted to close many of its retail locations, and now it wants to speed up your data. People may be relying on their mobile connections more than ever, so T-Mobile is renting some unused band 71 spectrum around the US.
Qualcomm might be leading the charge towards 5G with new chipsets for premium and "Premium B" phones this year. But in many parts of the world where the transition from 4G will be especially slow to start, the chipmaker will also need to cater to people set to stick with LTE for the next while. It's at this juncture that the company introduces the Snapdragon 460, 662, and 720G SoCs.
Getting a 5G-enabled phone right now is likely to cost you an arm and a leg, given the tech’s exclusivity to premium models. That’s set to change as Xiaomis of the world are leveraging the recently announced Snapdragon 765 series to bring 5G connectivity to cheaper handsets. Following its last week’s teaser, Xiaomi today announced the Redmi K30 5G in its home market for under $300 along with a 4G variant that’s even cheaper.
LG's smartphone division is known for quirky, gimmicky devices that often don't quite live up to expectations, but the company still does have extensive patents concerning LTE and 4G communication software. The Korean conglomerate aims to protect these assets and has thus decided to file a lawsuit against TCL in Germany, alleging it's infringing three of its patents.
TicWatches are among the only compelling Wear OS smartwatches not made by Fossil Group, but none of them have offered sleep tracking before, not even the flagship TicWatch Pro (reviewed here). Mobvoi is now rectifying that with the launch of a new app called TicSleep, and it's offering some discounts on its watches in celebration.You can download the app from the Play Store as of today, with sleep tracking being activated for the TicWatch Pro and TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE model. This includes the ability to automatically detect when you are sleeping and commence tracking. The TicSleep app will be able to use your heart rate readings to give you an in-depth sleep cycle analysis, and you'll be able to get an overview of your most recent data on the watch itself to compare each night against the last.As with similar solutions on other smartwatches, a gentle, vibrating alarm can be used to wake you up when you're in light sleep so you can get out of bed feeling refreshed, and this can be personalized to your liking. Sleep tracking is only available on the TicWatch Pro series as they're the only models with good enough battery life to handle it, according to Mobvoi.To celebrate the new feature, the TicWatch Pro is down to 0 on Amazon (previously $250), with the LTE version dropping to 0 (from £300). Don't forget to check the box below the price to apply the money-off coupon before adding the watch to your basket.[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobvoi.wear.sleep.aw[/EMBED_APP]
With the latest Android 10 October security patch, some people using Pixel phones in the US have seen their LTE icon switch to 4G. This change is also visible in network settings, where it says 4G instead of LTE when you're choosing a connectivity preference. Since there's a lot of confusion about what exactly the difference between the two standards is, people used to seeing LTE instead of 4G have been concerned that their connection may have been downgraded. As it turns out, the whole gallimaufry was an unintended change of terminology, not a switch of the actual network, and Google has both a workaround to offer and a proper fix in the works.
[Update: 4G can now be activated] Mobvoi launches a revamped version of the TicWatch Pro with 4G/LTE
Wear OS smartwatches are seen as sub-par compared to the competition, mainly because most of them still use outdated processors or lack key features. With the TicWatch Pro, Mobvoi managed to design one of the most attractive intelligent timepieces powered by Google's OS on the market. However, despite its good selling points, the product lacked LTE connectivity, which prevented owners from using all their watch's features on the go. Thankfully, the manufacturer is announcing the TicWatch Pro 4G/LTE, which builds up on its predecessor's specs and adds 4G functionality on top, confirming the leak we reported last month.
As the wireless industry likes to say, "5G is here" — from manufacturers with 5G capable phones, carriers with 5G networks, and the users who want to feel like they're on the bleeding edge because they're enjoying super-fast speeds. But that little "5G" icon in the status bars on their shiny new phones may not represent all the progress they've been promised.
It looks like the roll-out of 5G phones is hitting consumers much like the early days of 4G did, at least in South Korea. Galaxy S10 5G owners have complained to Samsung about connection troubles when their devices attempt to switch between 5G and 4G radios.
Most of you are probably familiar with AT&T's very misleading initiative to dub an enhanced version of 4G LTE "5G Evolution." As the top comment on that post predicted, the "5G E" icon has begun to roll out very quickly, already hitting both the LG V30 and Samsung Galaxy S8 active less than two weeks after the announcement.
Technology is complicated enough for the average consumer, but carriers have a long and storied history of manipulating terminology to make it even harder to follow. Years ago, carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T jumped the gun on 4G by rebranding their 3G HSPA+ networks as "4G." Now, AT&T is doing the same thing as we move on toward 5G. After announcing 5G Evolution branding earlier this year, it's going to use a fake 5G icon on LTE phones.