Apple’s trying a different tactic in its battle with Qualcomm — asking for the chipmaker’s patents to be declared invalid. The iPhone maker on Thursday filed petitions with the US Patent and Trademark Office, asking for the four Qualcomm patents be canceled, according to Bloomberg. Those patents are at issue in a fight between the …
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When it comes to choosing an Android phone, it may seem like the go-to option is the Samsung Galaxy S9 (or S9 Plus). But there are plenty of others that don’t cost as much, including the Google Pixel 2 from 2017 and the OnePlus 6, which was released in May. The Pixel 2 is Google’s marquee phone, and starts at …
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UPDATE: Read the full BlackBerry Key2 review. In my mind’s eye, I’m a savvy career phone reviewer who can fluidly pick up and use any phone without breaking stride. In reality, the BlackBerry Key2 is kicking my ass. It’s the only new choice in 2018 for a fan of physical keyboards (you could also buy last year’s BlackBerry KeyOne), but …
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JPEG turns 25 this year, a remarkable achievement when you think about how the latest smartphone becomes ho-hum in a matter of months. But to celebrate JPEG’s birthday, we might finally be seeing something better. That’s because the Joint Photographic Experts Group has begun work on a successor, called JPEG XL that at a minimum should cut photo file sizes …
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Virtual and augmented reality headsets need to get cheaper and better to woo buyers beyond hardcore gamers and tech geeks, and the $200 Oculus Go is a step in the right direction. The current generation of Microsoft’s own headset, the HoloLens, starts at $3000. Sure it’s intended for developers and other commercial applications, but obviously the next generation could use …
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Embattled Chinese telecommunications manufacturer ZTE may be alive after all. The company has agreed in principle to a settlement that would lift the Commerce Department ban preventing US companies from doing business with ZTE, according to a Reuters tweet on Tuesday. In exchange, ZTE would have to pay a total of $1.7 billion in penalties, according to the the report. The …
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Former Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs has started a company focused on wireless technology — but that doesn’t mean he’s giving up on his plans to take Qualcomm private. The startup, called XCOM, will work to tackle issues related to next-generation mobile communications, including 5G. Qualcomm’s former president, Derek Aberle, and former chief technology officer, Matthew Grob, also have joined …
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Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 850 platform was announced at Computex 2018, along with the news that Samsung is the latest partner to plan a device around it. Devices based on the 850 should ship in time for your holiday purchasing pleasure, according to Qualcomm. Whether you call them by their marketing moniker, “always-connected computers,” or their more technical description of “Windows on …
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Arm, the influential designer of mobile processors, wants your Android phone to run faster — and maybe your ultralight Windows laptop, too. On Thursday, the company announced a new chip generation, the Cortex-A76, that it said will be 35 percent faster than today’s models when it arrives in 2019 phones. That’s a big jump for one year, and perhaps enough …
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Is it better to have a self-contained pair of smart glasses, or something that simply uses your phone to do the heavy lifting and battery power? Kopin, a manufacturer of microdisplays and smart glasses components, is betting on the latter. The Kopin Golden-i Infinity isn’t really an AR device, so much as it is a smart screen that plugs into …
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