Category: Electronics

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Electronics news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

Apple 12 Is Likely to Arrive Much Later
Over the years, we have come to expect that each new generation of Apple products usually comes sometime in September. Everyone thought that the same thing would happen with the upcoming Apple 12 lineup.

If you tend to follow the news regarding Apple phones, you might already know that the new Apple 12 models are set to be released within the usual September and October timeframe, with slight differences depending on location.

However, this might not turn out to be the case if the latest rumors are to be believed. According to MacRumors.com, the forthcoming iPhone 12 models are likely to arrive a little later. They are basing this on the production schedules for the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Max and iPhone 12 Pro, which have the two phones set for production in July and August.

Production schedules influence the release date greatly, and these seem to show that Apple won’t have enough time to release the phones in September. However, even if they were able to release these two phones in the usual timeframe, it seems that the smaller iPhone 12 with the 5.4-inch display and the massive 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max are set for production in August and September.

Looking at these rumors, it seems likely that Apple will release all four models at different dates. The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Max could come out in the usual timeframe, while the base model, iPhone 12, and the most expensive one, iPhone 12 Pro Max, could come out in November, or later.

If that were to happen, it would be the first time for Apple to release its main models later than usual. In fact, it would be the first time in almost an entire decade.

The displays are the likely culprits for the delay. The new iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Max are supposed to have separate touch screen layers that are easy to acquire from suppliers, but the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Max are likely to feature a different technology called Y-OCTA.

Even though this is the likely reason for a later release date, it’s still good news because the technology will allow for thinner panels. This will likely result in more accurate colors and thinner bezels. More importantly, it could result in a 120Hz display. Many smartphone manufacturers are already using 120Hz displays as they create a much smoother user experience.

For example, if you are an avid gamer or an online casino aficionado, you would have a tremendously improved experience. This would be akin to what PC gamers tend to get from monitors with higher refresh rates. That way, if you were to play slots found on Japanslots.com, the experience would be a lot smoother than if you were using a standard 60Hz display.

So, that one extra month of waiting could end up being a good thing. Naturally, the release dates are still only rumors and we could still get all the new Apple models much sooner. Only time will tell.
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June 1, 2020
Since Huawei can’t use the top video sharing service

A bit over a year ago, the U.S. Commerce Department placed Huawei on its Entity List preventing the company from accessing its U.S. supply chain. This prevents the manufacturer from licensing Google Mobile Services and installing core Google apps on its phones. The company also cannot install apps like the Play Store, Gmail, Search, Maps, and Drive. This doesn’t matter inside China where most of Google’s apps are banned anyway, but it could affect demand for the global versions of the company’s handsets.

Huawei has been using an open-source version of Android and debuted its own Huawei Mobile Services with the recently released P40 series. HMS features Huawei’s own AppGallery app storefront which includes the Petal Search app. The latter has a cool feature that allows users to search for a particular app. If an app cannot be found in AppGallery, Petal Search will find a third-party app store that lists the app and provides a link to install it. This will also work with apps developed by U.S. companies such as Snapchat and Instagram giving owners of Huawei phones a way around the Commerce Department’s ban.

Another one of Google’s popular apps that is not allowed to be installed on Huawei’s phones is YouTube. Google acquired the video streaming app in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in Google stock. As with everything else that the U.S. Commerce Department bans Huawei from, the Chinese manufacturer has been searching for a replacement that is out of reach of the Trump administration. The video-sharing tech platform located in France has signed a deal with Huawei Video. Through this new partnership, DailyMotion’s video player technology has been integrated with the Huawei Video app. Dailymotion, for those unaware, is the second-largest video sharing platform in the world behind YouTube.

The technology package includes a robust white-label video player, a large volume of international and local video content via Dailymotion’s API as well as a strong monetization solution of the video inventory. In other words, Huawei users will have access to a large selection of videos that can be monetized by including ads with a video. The decision about monetizing content is up to Dailymotion’s video creators. Dailymotion says, “Committed to supporting renowned global publishers like Huawei Video, Dailymotion believes that its video technology solutions will continue to enrich the content of publishers, to expand their digital footprint and reach a global audience.” It might not be the same content found on YouTube, but the Dailymotion app might include plenty of European content that should find favor among owners of the global variants of Huawei handsets.

The international and local content available from Dailymotion is expected to broaden the audience for the Huawei Video app. Stéphane Godin, Dailymotion’s, Chief Content Officer said, “Thanks to all our premium partners, Dailymotion is able to distribute a large amount of videos and playlists to third-party publishers. We are proud to collaborate with Huawei to make all of our content catalog reach new premium audiences.” A Huawei executive also chimed in; Jervis Su, Vice President of Mobile Services, Huawei Consumer Business Group stated, “We’re pleased to offer our Huawei Video service so that people across the globe can easily explore thousands of videos and movies available from our partners, including Dailymotion, anywhere and anytime. We are committed to bringing more choice to consumers. We also hope it will bring some joy to all of their lives at this time.”

The U.S. considers Huawei to be a national security threat due to a perceived tie to the communist Chinese government. Administration officials believe that Huawei’s gear contains backdoors that collect data from consumers and corporations and sends it to Beijing. Huawei has repeatedly denied these allegations.

May 29, 2020

Samsung together with Facebook help Indian SMEs go live online

Samsung and Facebook have partnered up in India to train retailers to expand into e-commerce via social media platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp.

More than 800 retailers have undergone training sessions, with many more expected to participate in the near future.

“Our partnership with Facebook is helping a large number of our retail partners go digital in a big way,” said Samsung India senior VP mobile business Mohandeep Singh. “By leveraging the Facebook training, our retail partners will be able to discover and target local consumers digitally.”

The training by Samsung and Facebook most specifically targets offline retailers of Samsung products to set up business pages and accounts on Facebook’s various platforms.

“The presence of local Samsung retailers on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp will help consumers reach out to their local retailers for more information about their desired Galaxy smartphone, and shop for Galaxy smartphones on the platform of their choice,” read an official statement from Samsung.

May 27, 2020

HTC U Ear true wireless earbuds seen on FCC’s website

HTC is gearing up to join the insanely competitive wireless earbuds market. The company’s debut wireless hearables, the HTC U Ear have been spotted on FCC, implying that they could be here anytime.

In addition to revealing the name of the wireless earphones, the listing also contains images that give us a good look at them. Design-wise, they bear a lot of resemblance to the Apple AirPods. They have a glossy black finish and come in a cube-shaped box. Although the USB-C charging port can be seen in the images, we don’t know if wireless charging will also be supported. It also looks like they will ship with a USB A-to-C cable.

The true wireless headsets market is currently dominated by Apple. However, just cloning AirPods wouldn’t necessarily work for HTC. Back in 2010, HTC acquired a major stake in Beats Electronics to help with smartphone sales. However, nothing much came out of the deal, and by 2013, the company had sold back its stake.

Later on, Apple bought Beats, and the acquisition totally paid off. In fact, it’s believed that the takeover helped Apple gain an insight into the Bluetooth headphones market trends, which ultimately resulted in the birth of the AirPods and the jack-less iPhone.

The success of AirPods has led rivals to create similar products of their own. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all jumped the bandwagon, and OnePlus is also expected to follow suit.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google also use their software to their advantage. For instance, the Surface Earbuds offer Office 365 integration, and the Pixel Buds 2 provide hands-free activation of Google Assistant and live language translation. Amazon’s Echo buds feature always-on Alexa and are priced aggressively.

Thus, unless the HTC U Earbuds offer something that makes them stand out and are priced competitively, they will be just another pair of wireless earbuds.

May 19, 2020

Apple to reopen 25 U.S. Apple Stores this coming week

Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s Senior VP of Retail + People, published an open letter today on Apple’s website. In the letter, O’Brien notes that nearly 100 Apple Stores around the world have reopened. First, let’s have a little recap. The company was one of the first insides of China to take action right away, and by using social distancing Apple was able to slow the spread of the virus. Apple has continued to develop a set of rules that it has stuck within China and elsewhere, and this has allowed it to safely keep its stores open for months. It plans on bringing over these rules to the U.S.

On March 13th, Apple reopened its retail stores in China, and on April 18th it opened its one location in South Korea. Last Monday, an Apple Store in Idaho became the first in the states to turn the lights back on again and as of today, there are 99 brick and mortar Apple Stores open for business. In the coming week, there will be 25 more U.S. stores re-opening along with 12 in Canada and 10 in Italy.

O’Brien says, “Our commitment is to only move forward with a reopening once we’re confident we can safely return to serving customers from our stores. We look at every available piece of data — including local cases, near and long‑term trends, and guidance from national and local health officials. These are not decisions we rush into — and a store opening in no way means that we won’t take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant.

You can check the status of any Apple Store by going to this website and typing in the store’s zip code. Each reopened store will limit the occupancy and make sure that everyone has sufficient room. The Genius Bar will focus on one-to-one personalized service. Team members and customers will be required to wear face masks and those without a mask will be provided one by Apple. Customers will have their temperatures taken at the door and posted health questions will screen for those with a fever or a cough, or who had recent exposure to someone affected. During the day Apple will allow the stores to be deep cleaned with “special emphasis on all surfaces, display products, and highly trafficked areas.” And many Apple Stores will provide curbside pick-up and drop off. Online orders can be picked up from an Apple Store or shipped to a home address. As O’Brien wrote, “you can continue to find the same excellent standard of customer service and support online and over the phone to help you with any questions you might have.”

The executive in charge of the Apple Store, Deirde goes on to add, “The response to COVID‑19 is still ongoing, and we recognize that the road back will have its twists and turns. But whatever challenges lie ahead, COVID‑19 has only reinforced our faith in people — in our teams, in our customers, in our communities. Down the road, when we reflect on COVID‑19, we should always remember how so many people around the world put the well‑being of others at the center of their daily lives. At Apple, we plan to carry those values forward, and we will always put the health and safety of our customers and teams above all else.

Thank you for all you’re doing to support the COVID‑19 response — whether that’s volunteering, donating, sharing gratitude for our medical workers, or maintaining social distance to protect the health of our communities.”

Apple has 510 Apple Stores worldwide with 271 of them located in the United States.

May 19, 2020

Microsoft plans to add mouse and trackpad support to Office app on iPads

Microsoft has decided to unify its Office apps on Android and iOS last year, so they’re now functioning under a single, smaller app. A couple of months ago, Apple revealed something that took many by surprise: cursor support for iPadOS.

Now Microsoft wants to add a similar feature to its Office app for iPad. According to TechCrunch, Microsoft is already working to bring cursor support to Office for iPad, which the media outlet claims it’s “expected to ship in Office for iPad this fall.”

However, a new report coming from The Verge mentions that Microsoft might add cursor support by the fall, which means it should arrive earlier than the original report claims. Unfortunately, beyond the new timeframe, Microsoft did not share other details about cursor support for Office on iPad.

Since Microsoft will keep individual Office app like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, in addition to the unified app, there’s a high chance that cursor support will come to each of these apps as well once the main Office app gets it.

May 11, 2020

France says that Apple won’t allow the iPhone to work with its “StopCovid” app

European countries have been upset at Apple for making it harder for them to get their own contact tracing platforms up and running on the iPhone. These countries want to use Bluetooth to keep track of the phones that pass by the vicinity of other devices. This way, smartphone users will know if they have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

The problem with using Bluetooth is that it would require Apple to change the settings on the iPhone. Currently, Apple blocks apps from using Bluetooth if the latter is running in the background and data from that particular app is going to be removed from the device. Since the Europeans want the data collected by contact tracing through Bluetooth to be sent to a centralized server, that would violate Apple’s rules. France, for example, wants Bluetooth to keep running in the background even though the data collected would be sent to a centralized server. For that to take place, Apple would have to change some iPhone settings which it is loathe to do. Allowing Bluetooth to run in the background for contact tracing will drain the battery on a user’s iPhone.

France’s minister for digital technology, Cedric O, said during a television appearance, “Apple could have helped us make the application work even better on the iPhone. They have not wished to do so. I regret this, given that we are in a period where everyone is mobilized to fight against the epidemic, and given that a large company that is doing so well economically is not helping out a government in this crisis. We will remember that when time comes.” While O could not venture a guess about what could be behind Apple’s decision not to make the necessary changes, the minister added, “We consider that oversight of the healthcare system, fighting the coronavirus, is a matter for governments and not necessarily for big American companies.”

The minister also stated that France’s “StopCovid” contact tracing app will be ready to go on June 2nd regardless of what Apple does. Testing will begin next Monday, May 11th. That happens to be the date when the country will officially start to reopen from its lockdown. In the country, Android is the leading mobile operating system with a 78.8% share. Apple’s iOS is next with 21.1%. Since Android phones don’t have the same restrictions, France feels confident to go ahead with its plans anyway.

Still, Germany gave in to Apple and decided not to use a method of centralized storage called Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) for its COVID-19 contact tracing. Britain started testing its contact tracing app today and it has decided to go the centralized route like France is.

Last month more than 300 professors from around the world signed an open letter that said while Bluetooth based contact tracing is strongly preferred, the centralized approach could lead to unprecedented government surveillance. In the letter, the professors wrote, “Some of the Bluetooth-based proposals respect the individual’s right to privacy, whilst others would enable (via mission creep) a form of government or private sector surveillance that would catastrophically hamper trust in and acceptance of such an application by society at large. It is crucial that citizens trust the applications in order to produce sufficient uptake to make a difference in tackling the crisis. It is vital that, in coming out of the current crisis, we do not create a tool that enables large scale data collection on the population, either now or at a later time. Thus, solutions that allow reconstructing invasive information about the population should be rejected without further discussion. Such information can include the “social graph” of who someone has physically met over a period of time.”

May 7, 2020

First European Apple Store to reopen on Tuesday

Apple’s sole retail location in Vienna, Austria will resume operations on May 5. The company’s CEO Tim Cook had earlier indicated that the store would reopen by mid-May. Since infection rates have decreased, the country has started relaxing lockdown measures already. Per the German outlet Heute, the re-opening will be cautious, with many measures in place to ensure the wellbeing of consumers and employees.

An Apple spokesperson has confirmed the news. The Apple Store in Austria will be the first one in Europe to resume activities after a weeks-long lockdown.

The store will be operational for limited hours, from 11 am to 6 pm. It will remain closed on Sundays.

Social distancing will also be practiced, which means that only a limited number of visitors will be allowed in at any given time. Others will have to queue up outside.

The report also alleges that customers will be required to wear a mask and their fever will be checked at the entrance. Devices on display as well as the premises itself will be disinfected regularly.

For now, the emphasis is on the provision of service and support for hardware owners experiencing problems. Consumers looking to make a purchase are advised to shop online.

Outside of China, the Vienna Apple Store would be the first one to reopen after the company’s only store in South Korea.

Cook has also said that a few stores in the US could reopen in the first half of May.

May 6, 2020

Datalogic Magellan 1500i delivers high-performance scanning for retailers

Datalogic’s Magellan 1500i merges imaging excellence with innovative design in a high-performance presentation scanner ideal for retailers.

Uniquely user-friendly and powerful, the Magellan 1500i is suitable for all types of retail store, including pharmacies, customer-service counters, kiosks, pop-up stores – and even self-checkouts.

A compact footprint and discrete cable routing ensure the scanner takes up as little space on counters as possible, maximizing the area left for serving customers.

Yet, despite it compact size, the Magellan 1500i has a large reading area and a fast sweep. It can read at distances of up to 25 cm and with 1D-sweep speeds of up to 1.5 m/s. This makes scanning 1D, 2D and Digimarc barcodes from printed labels, packaging or mobile phones easy and intuitive.

Datalogic technology built-in includes soft-red adaptive illumination, minimizing light when it is not needed and adjusting the depth of field to suit the operating environment. And the scanner comes with multiple mounting options, including magnetic, allowing it to be used by both cashier and customer.

Powerful decoding algorithms provide unmatched performance on a variety of 1D and 2D labels, including hard-to-read, truncated and damaged codes.

The Magellan 1500i can be used in hands-free stand mode or hand-held mode. When the scanner is placed on a counter, items can be swept past or presented to the scanner. But if an item to be scanned is too large to lift, the Magellan 1500i can also be used as a hand-held scanner.

When picked up from the counter, Datalogic’s Motionix motion-sensing technology detects the movement and activates an LED aimer. Users simply place the aimer on the target bar code, depress the trigger and Datalogic’s patented ‘Green Spot’ technology provides good-read confirmation. When the scanner is returned to the counter, the scanner automatically returns to stand mode.

Remote management is supported for OPOS, JavaPOS, Toshiba Remote Management with IBM Systems Director® and Wavelink® Avalanche®. Additional capabilities are available with the value-added features included in every Magellan scanner.

May 5, 2020

Chinese phone manufacturer caught using a backdoor but it’s not Huawei or ZTE

Last year, Xiaomi was the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world after shipping approximately 125.5 million units. The company has done an amazing job in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market. That’s because Xiaomi produces handsets priced appropriately for the developing country; using a value for money retail strategy, Xiaomi has done very well in India.

For years now, we have been waiting for Xiaomi to invade America, but year after year such a move has never come. And outside of OnePlus, Chinese phone manufacturers aren’t exactly being greeted in the U.S. with open arms. Even ZTE, which was the fourth-largest smartphone shipper in the states in 2018, dropped out of the top five after being banned from accessing its U.S. supply chain. And no Chinese smartphone manufacturer wants to get the same treatment that the U.S. has given Huawei.

While Xiaomi has always tried to give the impression that it was “China’s Apple” and above the fray, the company has now found itself accused of using a backdoor to send user information to a server. A cybersecurity expert named Gabi Cirlig discovered some strange behavior on his Xiaomi Redmi Note 8. He found that Xiaomi’s default browser was recording all of the websites he visited. Even searches made with the privacy-first search engine DuckDuck Go and websites he visited while in the incognito mode were being tracked by the browser. Even worse, all of this data was being sent to servers in Singapore and Russia that used web domains registered in Beijing. These servers are being used by Xiaomi according to Cirlig.

Other researchers discovered that Xiaomi’s browsers on the Google Play Store, the Mi Browser Pro, and the Mint Browser, were guilty of the same behaviors. Together, both browsers have been installed over 15 million times. And Cirlig found the same browser code on other Xiaomi handsets including the Xiaomi Mi 10, Xiaomi Redmi K20, and Xiaomi Mi MIX 3; that leads him to believe that these phones have the same privacy issues as his Redmi Note 8.

Xiaomi has responded by saying that the data it was sending to the servers was encrypted. But Cirlig said that he was able to crack the code in seconds. The cybersecurity expert also said, “My main concern for privacy is that the data sent to their servers can be very easily correlated with a specific user.” That’s because the data being sent to the servers included metadata associated with a specific device including its unique ID number and the Android version that it runs. Cirlig says that this data can “easily be correlated with an actual human behind the screen.”

The manufacturer contradicted itself saying that the research claims weren’t true and that the company “strictly follows and is fully compliant with local laws and regulations on user data privacy matters.” But a spokesman for Xiaomi admitted that it was collecting data that was anonymized to prevent it from being tied to specific individuals. When Forbes showed Xiaomi a video that confirmed the behavior of the browser claimed by Cirlig, the company responded by saying, “This video shows the collection of anonymous browsing data, which is one of the most common solutions adopted by internet companies to improve the overall browser product experience through analyzing non-personally identifiable information.”

Yesterday Xiaomi published a blog post in which it said that it collects the data to check the compatibility between the operating system and apps. Xiaomi claims that the information is harvested by permission and consent from its users and is anonymous and encrypted. “The collection of aggregated usage statistics data is used for internal analysis, and we do not link any personally identifiable information to any of this data.”

Today, the company wrote that it will send out an update to its browsers that will prevent a user’s internet travels from being sent through Xiaomi’s servers. There also will be an option in incognito mode to toggle on or toggle off data collection. Xiaomi said, “We believe this functionality, in combination with our approach of maintaining aggregated data in a non-identifiable form, goes beyond any legal requirements and demonstrates our company’s commitment to user privacy.”

May 5, 2020

Apple & Samsung face tough times as global smartphone shipments set to drop 15%

The smartphone market has been struggling for the past couple of months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, although the situation is expected to improve in the second half of the year, a huge decline is still predicted. The latest report by DigiTimes Research claims smartphone shipments are now expected to decrease by a whopping 15% this year to 1.15 billion units. That is slightly more pessimistic than earlier forecasts and can be attributed to the worsening situation. Smartphone brands with large presences in the United States and Europe, which have implemented strict lockdown measures and are likely to experience an economic recession, are expected to feel the biggest impact this year.

Those competing in the premium segment will face extra pressure too. After all, customers are starting to live on tighter budgets, and smartphones aren’t typically high on the list of priorities, especially not high-end ones. DigiTimes believes Apple has already lowered orders for the iPhone 11, which is the best-selling iPhone device globally, for the second and third quarters. The newly released iPhone SE should help soften the near-term impact, but Apple itself is still expecting a noticeable decline.

So much so that it has reportedly decided to cut its internal iPhone shipment target for the entire year. There has yet to be an official comment on the matter, but the first indications of this should arrive later this week. Apple is scheduled to announce its results for the January-March quarter on Thursday, April 30. These should be accompanied by an official revenue guidance for the current quarter, which will provide a clearer indication of how Apple is battling shrinking global demand.

The final quarter of the year should be more positive for the Tim Cook-led company, but it will be far from plain sailing. Apple is reportedly facing severe iPhone 12 delays and recent reports suggest the company has cut its orders for the second half of 2020 by 20%. Samsung is another company that has reportedly lowered its internal smartphone shipment forecasts for the year. The poor reception of the Galaxy S20 series is one of the main reasons for this outcome.

The COVID-19 pandemic combined with significantly higher prices has led to significantly lower demand than predicted. The Galaxy S20 Ultra is understood to be performing slightly better than expected, but the smaller and cheaper Galaxy S20 & S20+ have missed sales targets.

If the situation fails to improve, the Galaxy S20 series could become the worst-selling Galaxy S lineup in years or perhaps ever. That would massively impact revenue, profit, and valuable market share on a global scale. To make matters worse, the next-gen Galaxy Note 20 series will apparently resemble the Galaxy S20 lineup very closely. If true, Samsung may struggle to sell those flagships too.

More worrying for Samsung is the fact that it is also losing market share in the crucial Indian market. The company was number one only a few years ago but dropped down into third place during the first quarter. That was before COVID-19 had heavily impacted the market, which means the second quarter could be particularly bad for the company.

April 29, 2020

Google launches app for the Pixel Buds

Google announced that the long-awaited Google Pixel Buds are now available today from the Google Play Store. Unlike the first-generation version of the accessory, which was wireless but featured a cable connecting the left and right earbuds, the second-generation version has individual left and right earbuds. That makes the new Pixel Buds more in line with the Apple AirPods and the Samsung Galaxy Buds.

One feature, Adaptive Sound, adjusts the volume of the Pixel Buds to compensate for new and louder sounds in the background and returns the volume to normal once that sound has ended. UX engineer Frank Li says that “It works kind of like auto-brightness on your phone screen: It momentarily adjusts to the world around you to make the experience of using your device a little simpler.” Basheer Tome, Senior Hardware Interface Designer says that “Adaptive Sound is perfect for those moments like when you’re steaming milk for a latte, or when you’re washing your hands or the dishes. Those noises can eclipse your audio experience for a bit, until the laundry or your dishes are done.”

To improve the user experience, sensors inside Pixel Buds can detect when your jaw is moving which means that you are on a phone call (or chewing bubble gum). This helps the device know when you’re talking, and when combined with beamforming mics, it allows those using the Pixel Buds to hear the person on the other end of a phone call even when it is windy and noisy outside. And with so many people working from home, this is an important feature to have these days.

Google Assistant can be activated on the new Pixel Buds by saying the “Hey Google” or “OK Google” hot word. The Assistant will control music streaming on the Pixel Buds and can also read your notifications. If you need to reply to a text, Google Assistant will do it for you; all you need to do is ask. And if you’re in a situation where a translator would be of some assistance, conversation mode provides translations in real-time. This is a big help when you’re on vacation or a business trip overseas.

If you’re concerned about losing one or more of your Pixel Buds, Google has a way to find them as long as they are nearby and still paired to your phone. On the Pixel Buds app, you can elect to have the Pixel Buds ring. You can choose to ring one earbud at a time to help you find the missing one. The noise must be pretty loud because Google warns that if you have one or both Pixel Buds in your ear and choose to have the ring, it could lead to hearing damage. The ringing won’t stop until you touch the missing earbud.
The Pixel Buds are now available today from the Google Store in Clearly White for $179 and will run for five hours on a single charge; with the carrying case, you can use them for up to 24 hours without running out of battery life. With an IPX4 rating, the accessory is protected from sweat and splashes.

Google today launched a dedicated app in the Google Play Store for the Pixel Buds. The app allows users to toggle on or off certain settings including in-ear detection. The latter, when toggled on, will automatically play audio when the Pixel Buds are in the ear and pause it when the Pixel Buds are out of the ear. Other settings that can be customized in the app include controls for Google Assistant, Touch controls, and Adaptive Sound. The app also lists the battery level on each of the earbuds and the carrying case.

The app can be installed on any device that is running Android 6.0 or higher and can be found in the Google Play Store.

April 29, 2020

Qualcomm reveals faster, more efficient Quick Charge 3+ technology for the masses

Apple releases a new TV ad for its latest iPhone