LG’s latest flagship uses your hand veins to unlock

{rss:content:encoded} LG’s latest flagship uses your hand veins to unlock https://ift.tt/2IAXIXC https://ift.tt/2VioYMc February 24, 2019 at 07:45PM

We’ve already known about the G8 ThinQ for some months now. And a few weeks back, LG made the whole camera rig official, announcing that the handset would be getting a ToF image sensor on its front-facing camera, bring, among other things, advanced face unlock technology.

The company did manage to save a few tricks for the product announcement, including a strange little biometric addition. LG says the phone’s Hand ID tech is the first to use “advanced palm vein authentication” — which could well be accurate. Certainly it’s not a mainstream feature yet.

And I’ll give it to LG, Hand ID is a much catchier name than “palm vein unlock,” which is one of the creepier sounding smartphone features in recent memories. Still, the underlying technology is actually pretty cool here, once you’re down shuddering from how weird the whole thing is on the face of it.

From the company’s press materials, “LG’s Hand ID identifies owners by recognizing the shape, thickness and other individual characteristics of the veins in the palms of their hands.” It turns out, like faces and fingerprints, everyone’s got a unique set of hand veins, so once registered, you can just however your hot blue blood tubes over the handset to quickly unlock in a few seconds.

The Z camera also does depth-sensing face unlock that’s a lot harder to spoof than the kind found on other Android handsets. LG’s also put the tech to use for a set of Air Motion gestures, which allow for hands-free interaction with various apps like the camera (selfies) and music (volume control).

I played around with the feature, and if I’m being totally honest, it takes some getting used to. You’ve got to train yourself to get things just right, which could well dissuade most users from any sort of long-term adoption of features that can pretty quickly with accomplished with a tap.

Other notable features for the new flagship include a 6.1 QHD+ OLED display and a new video portrait mode, which lets users adjust bokeh on the fly.

The handset will hit the States “in the coming weeks.” Pricing is still TBD, but I anticipate that it will cost around the same a previous LG flagships.

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Need cameras? The Nokia 9 PureView has lots

{rss:content:encoded} Need cameras? The Nokia 9 PureView has lots https://ift.tt/2EtYCkE https://ift.tt/2E6LgJF February 24, 2019 at 04:30PM

You want camera? The Nokia 9 PureView has them — more than you could ever possibly need, really. The latest premium device from HMD sports a five camera hexagonal array, along with the flash and color sensors. The two front-facing cameras, meanwhile, bring the total up to seven.

Overkill? Yeah, probably. But the device certainly maintains the Nokia brand’s legacy of pushing mobile imaging to its limits. What’s most interesting here, is how it all works. Rather than, say, switching between different focal points, the the device takes shots on all five at on, fusing them together into one big picture.

Working in tandem, the cameras capture more than 60-megapixels worth of data. The system builds on the expertise of Light (they of the even more silly nine-camera array) and Qualcomm two process the information into one complex photo that allows for tremendous editing leeway and deep depth maps. Users can shoot in RAW format and edit those images with the mobile version of Lightroom, made available through a partnership with Adobe.

The phone’s design is nice — certainly one of the newly reborn Nokia brand’s nicer to date. Though the rest of the aspects are fairly middling, including a 5.99 inch pOLED display and a Snapdragon 845.

The price is right. At $699, it’s a decent mid-range phone with a heck of a gimmick. HMD, however, seems to be keenly aware that this one will have a relatively niche appeal. The company says it’s a limited edition device with a “defined production run.” No word what that means in terms of numbers, and it seems pretty reasonable to expect HMD to make this manner of device more widely available should it sell.

No word on timing, but HMD says we should expect the product to be available in the States.

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HMD keeps feature phones and Snake alive with the Nokia 210

{rss:content:encoded} HMD keeps feature phones and Snake alive with the Nokia 210 https://ift.tt/2VfqjmT https://ift.tt/2SY9cco February 24, 2019 at 04:30PM

HMD was something of an instant success when it launched at Mobile World Congress two years back. That rapid rise owed to a few key things: price, familiar branding and its predecessor’s long time commitment to the feature phone.

Those who’ve been following the industry for some time will recall that the original Nokia mobile wasn’t particularly quick to adopt the smartphone lifestyle, but the company maintained marketshare by catering to the low end of the market. HMD has continued to embrace the category by re-releasing some familiar designs and creating altogether new non-smart phones.

While it shares a number with the QWERTY-sporting Asha, the Nokia 210 is more burner than BlackBerry. The Palm-sized handset sports a small screen, surrounded by thick casing and some big buttons. The handset can access the internet via Opera mini, so users can do some light social network.

And yes, it runs Snake.

HMD promises an impressive month of battery life, packed into a handset that should run around €30 ($34).

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Accurx raises £8.8M Series A for its messaging app for medical teams and patients

Accurx, the U.K. startup and Entrepreneur First alumni that has developed a messaging service for doctor surgeries, has raised £8.8 million in Series A funding, TechCrunch has learned.

According to multiple sources, London venture capital firm Atomico has led the round, with participation from LocalGlobe and EF. We first heard a term sheet had been put on the table as far back as mid-January, while it is thought the investment only closed last week.

I also understand the round was highly contested, potentially pushing up Accurx’s valuation. One source tells me that Accel was in the running but didn’t end up investing.

Both Atomico and Accurx declined to comment.

Co-founded by Jacob Haddad and Laurence Bargery, who met and subsequently founded the company at Entrepreneur First in 2016, Accurx initially set out to develop a data-set and tools to help tackle the problem of inappropriate use of antibiotics, which is a major contributor to the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics. Since then the startup has pivoted to focus on creating a broader communication platform to bring medical teams and patients closer together.

(Given Haddad and Bargery’s backgrounds, I dare say that the use of data and machine learning to help improve healthcare delivery is still very much front of mind for the company).

As it exists today, Accurx’s main product is Chain SMS, a messaging app for use by doctor surgeries to communicate with patients. It has been designed to support nurses, administration staff and practice managers etc., as well as GPs. Typical use-cases for Chain SMS includes sending advice to patients, notifying a patient of normal results, and reminding them to book appointments. All communication is saved back to a patient’s medical record to ensure a more joined up approach than might otherwise happen using arcane communication methods such as telephone calls and sending letters in the post.

(Somewhat related: this weekend, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has called for the use of pagers for communications within the NHS to be phased out by 2021. The outdated technology costs the U.K. taxpayer-funded health service £6.6m per year, apparently).

To that end — and no doubt not gone unnoticed by investors — I gather that Chain SMS is already in use by 20 percent of GP practices in England, from close to zero when it launched in February 2018. The conventional wisdom is that startups find it difficult to penetrate the NHS, when in practice this is starting to change, whilst GP surgeries, although funded through the NHS, are actually run as independent businesses so arguably easier to sell into.

A fun fact: A quick spelunking of Companies House records reveals that prominent Conservative Party politician and former Army officer Tom Tugendhat — who is also the current chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and tipped by some to be a possible future PM — is an early investor in Accurx.

Separately, I’m told that Wendy Tan White, the former EF General Partner who recently joined Alphabet’s X (formerly Google X) as Vice President, has also invested as part of this latest round. Meanwhile, I understand that recently recruited Principal Irina Haivas led on behalf of Atomico. Haivas is a former surgeon and former surgical fellow at Harvard Medical School (yes, you read that correctly!) and has previously worked at healthcare investor GHO Capital Partners.

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Accurx raises £8.8M Series A for its messaging app for medical teams and patients https://ift.tt/2GIzk4K

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This is what a foldable phone case looks like

{rss:content:encoded} This is what a foldable phone case looks like https://ift.tt/2IwKawk https://ift.tt/2BRzYbV February 24, 2019 at 03:27PM

Foldable phones are having their moments at this year’s Mobile World Congress. A few days after Samsung debuted the Galaxy Fold on stage at an event in San Francisco, Huawei has just shown off its solution, the Mate X.

On the face of it, the device looks like it may well be a step up from the Galaxy device, right down to its three large screens. Of course, all of that display real estate presents some key new challenges, beyond the underlying technology. Namely, how to avoid getting those surfaces scratched to hell.

Huawei’s got a solution for that, too — albeit not quite as elegant as the phone itself. In one of the earliest examples we’ve seen indicating what foldable cases may look like, going forward, the company quickly showed up a slip case.

The accessory opens to accept the folded up phone, snapping shut to protect both sides of the device. That means it doesn’t unfold to product the eight-inch display — which, to be fair, won’t be exposed when you’re carrying the device around in your pocket.

Of course, this is just an early solution developed in house. No doubt future cases will be every bit as varied — if not more so — than the devices themselves. This, at least, probably won’t run $2,600. 

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Huawei unveils its 5G consumer solutions built on new 5G chipset

{rss:content:encoded} Huawei unveils its 5G consumer solutions built on new 5G chipset https://ift.tt/2GHiyTy https://ift.tt/2U607La February 24, 2019 at 03:26PM

Today at MWC Barcalona Huawei launched its first consumer 5G products. Aside from its 5G Mate 20 X, the company also updated and new products that will bring 5G to people’s homes and devices through routers and connectivity options. Most consumers will first taste 5G not on a dedicated device like a phone, but through broadband-like services and these devices are aimed at that market.

Last year, Huawei announced the 5G CPE Pro but never took it to market. Then, last month, ahead of MWC Barcelona, Huawei announced a new version alongside its new Balong 5000 5G chipset, which is at the heart of its consumer 5G products.

Huawei’s Balong 5000 brings added connectivity options over the company’s previous 5G chipsets. Huawei claims the Balong 5000 is the first chip that supports both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures for 5G allowing it connect to existing supercharged 4G networks as well as future 5G networks. It also packs the goods to support vehicle to every communication signaling Huawei’s commitment to infrastructure support.

The company says the Balong 5000 chip can achieve download speeds of 4.6 Gbps and 6.5 Gbps depending on if connected to Sub-6 GHz or high-frequency bands for extended spectrum.

The new 5G CPE Pro packs the Balong 5000 chip along with WiFi 6, which is key to serving 5G’s added speed to devices. With WiFi 6 the CPE Pro can deliver local network speeds of up to 4.8 Gbps.

The 5G CPE Win uses the same Balong 5000 chip and is being positioned as home receiver. It’s weather-proof and can be mounted to a wall, pole, or windowsill and serves network through the house through WiFi or Power Over Ethernet.
The 5G Mobile WiFi is an updated version of a product Huawei announced last year. Like the 5G CPE Pro, the product now features Huawei’s Balong 5000 allowing it connect to existing 4G networks and future 5G networks.

At this time the company did not reveal availability or pricing for any of the above products. Chances are though, giving the company’s legal issues in the States, these products likely will not be available in that market.

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Huawei is bringing 5G to the Mate 20 X

{rss:content:encoded} Huawei is bringing 5G to the Mate 20 X https://ift.tt/2IMK9ET https://ift.tt/2U2KYKE February 24, 2019 at 03:10PM

Today at MWC Barcelona Huawei announced it will bring 5G to its flagship phone, the Mate 20 X. This marks the first 5G phone from the Chinese mobile giant. Huawei joins a growing list of companies introducing their first 5G phone in early 2019.

In the past week, Samsung, Oppo, and Xiaomi announced 5G versions of their flagship phones.

The company failed revealed any more details about the upcoming handset including price and availability. Chances are the Mate 20 X will feature a version of its do-it-all Balong 5000 chipset, the company’s latest 5G chip announced a few weeks ago.

Huawei’s Balong 5000 brings added connectivity options over the company’s previous 5G chipsets. Huawei claims the Balong 5000 is the first chip that supports both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures for 5G allowing it connect to existing supercharged 4G networks as well as future 5G networks. This is key as carriers worldwide are looking to sell consumers on the benefits of 5G built on the networks of existing 4G networks.

The Mate 20 X is widely seen as one of the best phones available with an amazing camera, in-screen fingerprint reader, and a large, beautiful screen. Price and market availability

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Huawei’s 5G foldable costs $2,600

{rss:content:encoded} Huawei’s 5G foldable costs $2,600 https://ift.tt/2T9cJnN https://ift.tt/2TanINO February 24, 2019 at 03:09PM

Foldables are expense. And so are 5G phones. But foldable 5G phones? Well, um, get ready for that second mortgage. At the end of Huawei’s MWC press conference, mobile chief Richard Yu dropped a pricing bombshell, noting that the recently announced Mate X will run €2,299 ($2,600).

There’s a pricing premium and then there’s that.

The audience at the event audibly gasped as the price was revealed for the handset, which is set to launch in mid-2019. Yu clearly anticipated the reaction, noting that the company was working with carriers to help bring the price down. The executive took an almost apologetic tone for the price of innovation.

Mass production should help lower the cost as well, but if there was any doubt that this thing is aimed exclusively at early adopters, that should well be put to rest.

Like the Galaxy Fold, the Mate X will feature some beefy specs, including 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a pair of batteries that add up to 4,500mAh. And, well, for $2,600, this thing had better be top of the line.

There’s also the whole problem of Huawei not being able to sell its devices through major channels here in the States. Certainly carriers won’t help subsidize the product in this market, so if that price isn’t enough to make you reconsider, it still may be difficult to come by.

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The Mate X is Huawei’s 5G foldable

{rss:content:encoded} The Mate X is Huawei’s 5G foldable https://ift.tt/2U616v0 https://ift.tt/2tC4VfW February 24, 2019 at 02:45PM

The world’s fastest growing mobile company has long had a chip on its shoulder when it comes to Apple and Samsung. For too long, the company has had to go out of its way to remind the world that it’s capable of being every bit as innovative as those better established brands, a concept very much at the heart of the Mate X.

The device lives right at the cross section of the year’s biggest forward looking trends — foldables and 5G, and unlike some of the concepts we’ve seen to date, the product does so with panache.

It is, of course, a bit of a wild west when it comes to form factors for the burgeoning foldable space. In a quick, behind the scenes briefing ahead of today’s press conference at MWC, we were given the opportunity to see the handset in action. It was, admittedly, a little more rushed than we’d like, involving no actual hands on time with the product — it was more of a stand behind this rope and snap off a couple of photos situation.

No touching, no followup questions. The company promised to shed more light on the product today, as Richard You takes the stage, but for now, it appears to be the kind of cautious presentation one gives involving a device that isn’t quite ready to be put through its paces. Even so, it’s a heck of a lot closer and with much better lighting than we got the first time Samsung showed off its own entry.

And from these early glimpses, I’m mostly impressed with what the Chinese manufacturer was able to do here. Huawei’s brought some clever touches to the product category, and designed what looks to be a pretty slick devices from most angles.

The device is thin, as far as tablets go, at 5.4 mm, unfolded. Closed, it’s nearly double that, at 11 mm. Not thin, exactly, but still a heck of a lot easier to slip into your pants pockets than the 17mm Galaxy Fold.

More impressive is what the company’s been able to do with its displays. The screen is very much the thing on these products, and yet the Fold’s outside screen only measures 4.6 inches. The Mate X, meanwhile, sports a pair of outward-facing displays, the larger of which measures 6.6 inches at 2480 x 1148 pixels, with a 19:5 aspect ration.

The flip side is 6.38 inches, allowing for space for the camera bar — a chin that folds over to meet the display. The system features a Leica lens and the design is such that photo subjects can see themselves on the outward-facing display as a shot is taken. On the device’s side is a combo fingerprint reader/power button.

Unfolded using the proprietary “Falcon Wing” hinge (three years in the making, according to mobile CEO Richard Yu), the inside screen is a full eight inches. That’s certainly enough room to have a pair of apps open, side by side. While we didn’t get closer than a few feet away, the vantage point was enough to spot a visible crease in the middle of the phone, detectable when it caught the overhead lights.

The other key part here is, naturally, the 5G. Huawei, of course, manufacturers its own 5G network gear, which means that, unlike most of the competition, it’s been able to speed test. The company calls the Mate X “the world’s fastest 5G phone” — words that admittedly don’t mean a heck of a lot, at the moment. That said, it’s promising download speeds of “up to 4.6 Gbps, which should translate to a 1GB movie download in three seconds.

Inside are a pair of batteries that add up to 4,500mAh – you’re going to need something beefy inside to deal with all of those screens and 5G, which is a notable battery drainer. The company’s Kirin 980 processor is also on board for the device.

Update: The handset will be available mid-year, priced at, get this, $2,600. 

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Xiaomi announces its first 5G phone, the Mi Mix 3 5G

{rss:content:encoded} Xiaomi announces its first 5G phone, the Mi Mix 3 5G https://ift.tt/2NryUAm https://ift.tt/2U5l74V February 24, 2019 at 11:57AM

Xiaomi doesn’t want to miss the 5G bandwagon — the company just unveiled its first smartphone that comes with a 5G modem at a press conference in Barcelona. The Mi Mix 3 5G is a new variant of the Mi Mix 3, a phone that Xiaomi originally released in October 2018.

The company is trying to create a bezel-less phone with the Mi Mix line. Instead of a notch or a punch-hole display, Xiaomi has opted for a sliding front-facing camera. The result is a 93.4 percent screen-to-body ratio. You can find two cameras on the back of the device, which give you the ability to shoot slow-motion videos at 960 frames per second. The handset body is made of ceramic.

There are a few changes in the new device. First, Xiaomi has swapped the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 system-on-a-chip with a Snapdragon 855 system-on-a-chip — the same chipset you can find on the Samsung Galaxy S10. When it comes to the modem, the company is using Qualcomm’s X50 5G modem.

It’s always hard to grasp the advantages of 5G. That’s why Xiaomi’s Director of Product Management Donovan Sung started a video call with one of its telecom partner, Orange Spain. There was some latency and it wasn’t that convincing.

At launch, Xiaomi is partnering with Orange, 3, Sunrise, Telefonica, Tim and Vodafone. The device will be available in May for €599 ($680) in two colors — Onyx Black and Sapphire Blue. Let’s see if any 5G network will be ready by then.

Chipmaker Qualcomm’s president, Cristiano Amon, stole a little of Xiaomi’s thunder by naming the Mi Mix 3 5G first during a turn on stage at the press conference as a Xiaomi partner.

Amon took the opportunity to give a muscular sales pitch for 5G, claiming the next-gen cellular tech would come faster than the transition from 3G to 4G/LTE and bring transformative benefits for consumers — touting the likes of premium gaming on mobile to replace game consoles. That’s because 5G should greatly lower latency and improve online gaming.

“5G is here. Not in 2020, not in late 2020 – it’s here right now in 2019. 2019 is the year of 5G,” he claimed, suggesting 5G device launches would be fast-followed by commercial 5G services as early as the second half of this year.

On device AI will also get a boost from 5G, Amon suggested, arguing that “every” app will be able to leverage machine learning thanks to reduced latency.

“You can unleash the power of the cloud for every app and service,” he said.

“5G will improve substantially how we think about our phones,” he added. “Everything will get better.”

Xiaomi also used its first MWC new product launch event opportunity to announce the Mi 9 once again. The company has already unveiled its new flagship device earlier this week. It’s a more traditional phone with a waterdrop-shaped notch, a Snapdragon 855 chipset and a triple camera system. You can find a 48-megapixel camera, a 16-megapixel wide-angle camera and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera on the back of the device.

The Mi 9 will be priced at €449 ($510) for 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, €499 ($565) for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Pre-orders start from today in select European markets — devices should ship by February 28.

Xiaomi’s Mi 9 includes a triple lens rear camera and wireless charging

There are now 224 million monthly active Xiaomi smartphone users globally. While Xiaomi phones aren’t available in the U.S., you can now buy Xiaomi phones in Spain, the U.K., France and Italy in addition to many Asian markets.

Xiaomi also talked up its wider product portfolio, saying it has more than 2,000 Xiaomi-branded products in all, working with more than 200 partners. The company reiterated that it’s committed to having a dual strategy of smartphones plus A-IoT

It singled out electric scooters to say it’s shipped more than 560,000 Mi scooters to date. The Mi scooter was “probably the best selling personal transportation device in the world in 2018”, it added.

At the event it also announced the launch of another new product: The Mi LED Smart Bulb — a connected light bulb that lets users control light color and brightness via their phone. It’s priced at €19.90. The company tried to demo its smart home ecosystem but failed to turn off the air purifier using Google Assistant.

Xiaomi didn’t say a word on its foldable smartphone. It looks like there’s still some more work to do on the device.

Xiaomi teases a double-folding smartphone… ohhai digital triptych!

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Watch Microsoft unveil the HoloLens 2 live right here

{rss:content:encoded} Watch Microsoft unveil the HoloLens 2 live right here https://ift.tt/2Es6wv0 https://ift.tt/2TanINO February 24, 2019 at 11:03AM

Microsoft is set to announce a brand new hardware device at MWC in Barcelona — the new HoloLens headset. The conference starts at 6:00 PM CET (5:00 AM GMT, 12:00 PM ET, 9:00 AM PT).

If you’ve ever tried the HoloLens, you know that this it is a magical device. But Microsoft quickly realized that it had more potential for industrial use cases. It is now positioned as a B2B device.

Let’s see what Microsoft has in mind with the second-generation HoloLens. The company is also going to talk about its mobile strategy when it comes to apps and services on iOS and Android.

You can check it out live via Microsoft’s official stream above, and stay tuned on TechCrunch.com for ongoing coverage of all the news coming out of MWC.

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Watch Huawei’s MWC conference live right here

{rss:content:encoded} Watch Huawei’s MWC conference live right here https://ift.tt/2U5CHpe https://ift.tt/2TanINO February 24, 2019 at 09:01AM

While Huawei isn’t going to show the P30 at Mobile World Congress, the company says it is going to “reveal the unprecedented”. Like other manufacturers, Huawei has been trying some new designs. The conference starts at 2:00 PM CET (1:00 PM GMT, 8:00 AM EST).

Huawei doesn’t unveil its flagship devices at MWC anymore. The company usually holds its own press conference after the show. This time, Huawei will unveil the P30 in Paris on March 26.

But it doesn’t mean that the company is skipping the show altogether. So maybe Huawei is going to show a foldable phone?

You can check it out live via Huawei’s official stream above, and stay tuned on TechCrunch.com for ongoing coverage of all the news coming out of MWC.

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