guyanatimesgy.com
november 03, 2019
Sunday Times Magazine 13
Tech
Samsung unveils new YouTube Music gets Siri and foldable flip phone concept desktop web app support
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amsung has teased a new foldable phone concept onstage at the company’s developer conference today. The new concept, which Samsung didn’t name, looks more like a traditional flip phone thanks to a foldable display that allows the device to fold in half. “This brand-new form factor that we’re now exploring will not only easily fit in your pocket, but it also changes the way you use your phone,” explained Hyesoon Jeong, head of Samsung’s framework R&D group, onstage at Samsung’s Developer Conference. The idea behind the concept is to take Samsung’s foldable smartphone technology and push it to “become more compact,” and extend to new device form factors. Samsung didn’t spend much time detailing the device, nor when the company plans to make this available. There was no mention of the hardware involved, and whether Samsung has improved its foldable display technology from last year. The company did use this mysterious device as a bridge to discuss an upcoming update to its One UI efforts with Android. “As a pioneer in the foldable category, we understand that every innovative form factor requires an equally innovative user experience,” explained Jeong. Samsung has been working on improving its Android user interface since it debuted the Galaxy Fold device earlier this year, and the company is now working on One UI 2. which looks like a more refined version of the changes the company introduced with the S10 and Note 10 this year. One UI 2 includes more glanceable information, better reachability for one-handed use, and “more vibrant hues” throughout the OS. Animated icons will be available too, and a full dark mode. Overall, it looks like minor but useful changes to the customization Samsung offers today with its Android handsets. Software aside, this new clamshell / flip phone foldable hardware looks like the future of devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. While the Fold started off life with a lot of screen issues, it is clear Samsung isn’t ready to give up on foldable display technology. Samsung didn’t provide solid details today, but the company is teasing that the future of foldable phones might look like the popular Motorola Razr of the past. (The Verge)
Apple’s 5G iPhones will reportedly be powered by its first 5-nanometer chips
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ouTube Music is getting a pair of small but helpful updates today: full support for Siri, and support for being installed as a desktop web app. If you’re on an iOS device, you’ll now be able to ask Siri to play songs straight from YouTube Music. For the longest time, Siri only supported Apple’s own music sources. But in iOS 13, Apple added the ability for Siri to tap into third-party apps with a long-overdue update. Spotify added support for this feature earlier this month, and now YouTube is following suit with support from its own music streaming service. The other new feature, desktop web app support, means you can now have a standalone YouTube Music app on your computer, instead of having to visit the site in your browser. Since it’s a web app, there isn’t much of a difference from just visiting the website, but it can be nice to have your music player living in its own window, without the browser’s interface around it. It’ll be able to have its own icon to launch from, too. If you want to install the web app, your browser will likely add a small icon to the right side of your address bar when you visit YouTube Music. The web app doesn’t appear to be available for everyone yet, but YouTube says support is rolling out. The features put YouTube Music just a bit closer to being on par with Spotify when it comes to native platform support. Spotify, in addition to having a web player, also has a desktop app (though it’s far from perfect). YouTube Music’s app isn’t native, but it’s a step in the right direction toward feeling at home on each platform. (The Verge)
Sony is shutting down its live TV service PlayStation Vue in January 2020
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hree of Apple’s phones will release with 5G connectivity next year with Qualcomm’s X55 5G modem, Nikkei reports. This modem will reportedly be paired with a new Apple chipset — likely to be called the A14 Bionic — that’ll be the first from the company to be built using a 5-nanometer process. In general, moving to smaller manufacturing processes makes chips more efficient while allowing more processing power to be packed into a smaller space. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumors that Apple is planning on releasing its first 5G phones in 2020, nor is it the first time we’ve heard there’ll be three of them. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made a similar prediction back in July. What’s new are the reports of the exact Qualcomm modem Apple plans to use after the two companies settled their ongoing legal dispute back in April. In the longer term, Apple is thought to be working on its own inhouse modems having acquired the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business in July. The report also corroborates previous rumors that Apple is planning to switch to a 5nm fabrication process for its chips next year, moving away from the 7nm process that it’s used since the A12 Bionic chip debuted in 2018. Apple rival Huawei is also thought to be working on a 5nm chip of its own that’s set to launch in a similar period next year. As well as 5G connectivity and a new chip fabrication process, next year’s iPhones are also expected to be Apple’s first redesign of its flagship phones since 2017, and could feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. In addition to its three flagship devices, Apple could also release a low-cost successor to the iPhone SE towards the beginning of the year. (The Verge)
ony is shutting down its live TV streaming service PlayStation Vue on January 30th, 2020, the company announced on Wednesday. The sudden announcement of the shutdown comes just a week after a report published by The Information saying Sony was looking for a buyer for the service, which has continually lost money for the company since its launch in March of 2015. Sony has repeatedly raised the price of Vue to try to offset its rising costs, most recently by $5 across all plans back in July. “Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected. Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business,” Sony said in a blog post announcing the shutdown. “PlayStation fans can continue to access movie and TV content through the PlayStation Store on PS4 and via our partnerships with top entertainment apps.” PlayStation Vue launched four years ago as an early competitor in the so-called payTV market, which is a restructured form of cable made popular by companies like Sling. Like most other vendors, Sony offered a skinny bundle of channels with the option to add more premium ones, like sports and entertainment channels, by paying a higher monthly subscription fee. After the price hike, the entry-level Vue plan cost about $50 a month. At its height, Vue amassed about 500,000 subscribers, which is far less than competitors like Sling and YouTube TV, The Information reported last week. Ultimately, it looks like Sony couldn’t make the economics work, as the cost of licensing cable channels far outweighed the money Sony could recoup on subscriptions. Vue’s demise is also a signal that customer interest in traditional cable bundles, skinny or otherwise, continues to shrink. As a result, major players in the entertainment industry are throwing immense resources toward building out proper, on-demand streaming services to compete with Amazon and Netflix. That includes Disney with Disney+, Apple with Apple TV Plus, AT&T with HBO Max, and NBCUniversal with Peacock, among others. (The Verge)