Our previous first look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra came from YouTuber “Jimmy Is Promo.” Now, Jimmy is back with a short hands-on video of the device. The video features the Note 20 Ultra (model SM-N986U) in Black running Samsung OneUI version 2.5. It’s shown alongside the Galaxy Note 10.
Compared to the Galaxy Note 10, the Note 20 Ultra appears to be ever so slightly thicker. The massive camera bump is noticeably thicker, unsurprisingly. The speaker and S Pen placement on the bottom has been shifted around a bit. Interestingly, the new S Pen fits perfectly inside the Note 10’s S Pen slot. Lastly, Jimmy shows the new S Pen pointer settings that were previously teased.
The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is rumored to have a massive 6.87-inch WQHD+ resolution display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 4,500 mAh battery, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/Exynos 990 SoC, and an improved 108MP main sensor with laser autofocus. The Note series is known for getting the “everything but the kitchen sink” treatment and the Note 20 Ultra embodies that more than any previous Note. All will be revealed next month.
Google Maps is undoubtedly one of the most popular apps in Google’s portfolio, and the company often releases updates to make the service even better. Since its 15th birthday earlier this year in February, the app has received a ton of new features like Live View AR navigation, integrated menu scanning, a new real-time location sharing UI, YouTube Music integration, and much more. Now, according to a recent report from Droid-Life, Google has started testing a new feature that will show traffic lights in Google Maps on Android.
The report cites screenshots taken by a reader who lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, which show traffic lights in several intersections around the city. The traffic lights are visible both while using the traditional map view and while navigating, however, they do appear slightly bigger and more noticeable while navigating. The feature is expected to give users a heads up when they’re about to reach a traffic light and even help them plan their route ahead of time to avoid any unnecessary delay.
As of now, the feature is limited to just showing the traffic lights on the map and Google hasn’t included any additional functionality for users. However, that might change by the time the feature is released to more users. The feature currently appears to be in its early stages of development as it’s only available for a small number of users in certain regions on version 10.44.3 of the app. It’s also worth noting that Apple Maps has had a similar feature since last year which offers additional functionality like using Siri to alert users when they’re about to reach a traffic light.
Over the past few years, a long list of big companies have fallen victim to cybercrime. For this reason, many technical recruiters now expect candidates to have a good understanding of cybersecurity — and the paperwork to back it up.The Complete Cybersecurity CertificationTraining Bundle can help you acquire both, with a treasure trove of training working towards top IT certifications. You canget the bundle now for just $39.99at the XDA Developers Depot.
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Among the many additions in Android 11 is support for the new emojis included in Unicode 13, announced earlier this year. New emojis are great, but it can take a while for everyone to get them on a system level. Thankfully, keyboard apps can add support at any time, and that’s exactly what Gboard is doing.
Android 11 brings 62 new emoji (117 including variations) and these are now included in the latest Gboard beta. Some of the notable additions include Bubble Tea, a black cat, a polar bear, Mrs. Clause, and a boomerang. Gboard only has initial support for these emoji as you can’t search for them yet, but they are present.
One thing to keep in mind is some of the new emoji won’t work unless you’re on Android 11 beta. The new smiles, in particular, will not appear correctly if they are not supported by the OS. There’s only so much Gboard (and other keyboard apps) can do without support at the system level.
Regardless, if you want to get on board with the new emojis already, download Gboard version 9.6.2.319852869. You can join the beta in the Play Store or download the latest APK from here.
Qualcomm has just announced the new Snapdragon 865 Plus SoC. Following up on the announcement, the company has also announced that the very first smartphones with the new, updated SoC will be the ASUS ROG Phone 3 and the Lenovo Legion. Both of these smartphones are considered “gaming phones” at their core, so it comes as no real surprise that they will be sporting the latest available silicon from Qualcomm.
The ASUS ROG Phone 3 is expected to be launched on July 22 as the successor to the spec behemoth, the ASUS ROG Phone II. Much like the predecessor, the ROG Phone 3 will come with very impressive specifications to attract gamers who are on the hunt for the best set of specifications. Aside from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus, the device is also expected to feature up to 16GB of RAM, up to 512GB of internal storage, and perhaps 120Hz refresh rate support at a minimum. This will make it one of the most powerful Android flagships of 2020. Cameras have not really been a focus area for gaming smartphones, but the ROG Phone 3 is still expected to come with decent hardware in the form of a 64MP primary sensor.
The Lenovo Legion is expected to follow along on the same path as other gaming smartphones. This will be Lenovo’s first gaming smartphone, so there’s less of a precedent to build upon, other than this confirmed information of it coming with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus. But from previous leaks, we do know that the Lenovo Legion will come with 90W fast charging, two USB Type-C ports, a 5000mAh dual-cell battery design, and a pop-up camera that sits on the side of the phone instead of the top. Further, the device is also expected to come with a 144Hz refresh rate FHD display, as well as a 64MP primary camera. It will also run on Android 10 with Lenovo’s ZUI 12 customizations on top. The Lenovo Legion is also expected to launch this month.
These aren’t the only smartphones expected with the latest Snapdragon SoC, though. We should hear from other OEMs on their Snapdragon 865 Plus adoption plans soon.
At the 2019 Snapdragon Tech Summit, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 865, its flagship mobile platform for 2020 flagship Android mobile devices. The system-on-chip has turned out to be the best smartphone SoC so far in 2020, beating the Exynos 990, Kirin 990, and the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L. It has been featured in acclaimed flagships such as the OnePlus 8 series, the Xiaomi Mi 10, the Snapdragon Galaxy S20 variants, and many more. Even though the Snapdragon 865 remains best-in-class in the Android smartphone market, Qualcomm has launched a mid-cycle refresh in the form of the Snapdragon 865 Plus. This follows the template of previous Snapdragon mid-cycle refreshes such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus in 2019 and the Snapdragon 821 back in 2016.
The Snapdragon 865 Plus is a follow-up to the Snapdragon 865. The Snapdragon 865 has powered more than 140 devices (announced or in development), according to Qualcomm. The number is the highest number of individual premium-tier designs powered by a single mobile platform this year (although we haven’t seen most of these designs come to market just yet).
A reference design of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus.
The new Snapdragon 865 Plus is mostly the same as the regular Snapdragon 865 with the exception of three points. Firstly, the Kryo 585 (ARM Cortex-A77) CPU’s Prime core is now clocked at up to 3.1GHz, up from the 2.84GHz clock speed of the regular Snapdragon 865. The 3.1GHz top clock speed finally matches ARM’s ideal projections regarding the Cortex-A77. Last year’s Snapdragon 855 Plus had increased the clock speed of its Prime core (ARM Cortex-A76-based) to 2.96GHz. The 3.1GHz clock speed of the Kryo 585’s Prime Core is the highest seen in any Snapdragon SoC so far. The rest of the CPU cores’ clock speeds are unchanged.
Secondly, the Adreno 650 GPU features 10% faster graphics rendering. This makes it apparent that Qualcomm has increased the clock speed of the GPU, but the specifics on this weren’t provided in the press release. Last year’s Snapdragon 855 Plus also featured 15% graphics performance improvements over the regular Snapdragon 855, so the level of incremental improvement is similar. It should be noted the 10% increase in GPU performance won’t be enough to match the Apple A13’s GPU, for example, as the delta in peak and sustained GPU performances will still remain too big for a 10% improvement in the Adreno 650’s performance to overcome. The upcoming Apple A14 is also set to widen Apple’s lead over Qualcomm here. On the other hand, the 10% increase in GPU performance will widen Qualcomm’s lead over its SoC competition strictly in the Android market, as none of the other SoC vendors have even matched the regular Adreno 650’s GPU performance so far. The Mali-G77MP11, the Mali-G76MP16, and the Mali-G77MC9 featured in the Exynos 990, Kirin 990, and the Dimensity 1000L respectively have all fared worse than Qualcomm in GPU performance benchmarks, showcasing inferior performance-per-watt as well.
Finally, and most importantly, the Snapdragon 865 Plus features Qualcomm’s new FastConnect 6900 mobile connectivity system for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This was announced in May 2020, and the headline features it brings are support for Wi-Fi 6E (Wi-Fi 6 extended to 6GHz) and Bluetooth 5.2. The FastConnect 6900’s top Wi-Fi speeds reach up to 3.6Gbps—the fastest in the industry, according to Qualcomm. The speed improvements have been achieved thanks to the U.S. FCC freeing up 1200MHz of 6GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi. For more information, check out our launch article on the FastConnect 6900.
The Snapdragon 865 Plus also carries over the regular Snapdragon 865’s features, such as the full arsenal of Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, global 5G, and “ultra-intuitive” AI. It’s said to deliver desktop-quality gaming with first-to-mobile features such as updateable GPU drivers and desktop forward rendering, 5G gameplay at up to 144fps, and true 10-bit HDR gaming. Like the regular Snapdragon 865, the Snapdragon 865 Plus features Qualcomm’s Hexagon 698 with Hexagon Vector Extensions and Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, 5th-generation AI Engine, Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP, Snapdragon X55 5G modem-RF system, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ charging technology, and more. It’s produced on TSMC’s second-generation 7nm DUV (N7P) process.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus will be featured in the next wave of flagship phones, including the ASUS ROG Phone 3 and the Lenovo Legion. Qualcomm says commercial devices based on the Snapdragon 865 Plus are expected to be announced in the third quarter of 2020, and we know that the first announcements will happen this month.
Thunderbolt is a cross-platform data and power transfer standard developed by Intel. The protocol is often found in laptops and PCs and can be used to connect DisplayPort-compatible devices including external monitors as well as PCI Express (PCIe) peripherals including external graphics cards, hard drives, Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectors, over a USB-C port. The current generation of the protocol – Thunderbolt 3 – supports upstream or downstream bandwidths of up to 40Gbps and serves as the basis for USB4 specifications. Thunderbolt 3 was announced in late 2015 and an update has been long due. Intel spoke of the Thunderbolt 4 while unveiling its Tiger Lake mobile processors at CES 2020 but without revealing any details. Now the day has come and Intel is finally announcing the Thunderbolt 4 connectivity protocol along with new 8000 series controllers for backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 (and upwards) devices.
The new protocol doubles down on the minimum video requirements as compared to the previous generation and requires support for at least two 4K monitors or a single 8K monitor. The standard also requires a minimum data transfer rate of 32Gbps supported via PCIe and 3,000Mbps for storage transfer speeds.
Intel Thunderbolt 4 branding
Although Thunderbolt 4 delivers data, power, and video signals over a single cable with the same transfer rate as Thunderbolt 3, it does bring improvements over the previous generation. More specifically, Thunderbolt 4 is set to bring improvements in terms of versatility and security and with this, Intel desires to set a new standard for USB connectivity across the PC industry.
Benefits of Thunderbolt 4
Versatility
One of the biggest improvements with Thunderbolt 4 is that it will now support USB extension hubs and docks with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports as compared to just one with Thunderbolt 3. This essentially means that any PC or laptop with a single Thunderbolt 4 port can support up to four enhancements like external SSDs, external GPUs, monitors, etc. powered by the protocol. To achieve that with previous versions, users had to “daisy chain” Thunderbolt accessories – i.e. connect them in series – one after another.
In addition to these improvements, Intel now requires compatible PCs to support at least one Thunderbolt 4 port capable of charging. In addition, a connected accessory like a keyboard or mouse must be able to wake the PC from a state of sleep.
Security
Intel necessitates OEMs or developers adopting Thunderbolt 4 Intel’s Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) technology to fend off any physical direct memory access (DMA) attack. This basically requires tailored capabilities built into the processor to block any unauthorized access to the system memory. This defense is vital as the system memory is shared across a host of PCIe devices – including the ones connected externally via hot-swap plugs (or ports in this case), making the memory vulnerable to physical interception or sabotage.
Thunderbolt 4 uses hardware-level protection supported by kernel-level DMA remapping (DMA-r). The latter means that each peripheral gets access to an isolated block on the system memory such that it is not shared with other devices. This prevents other devices from accessing or reading/writing the memory blocks of other devices. Intel’s VT-d and DMA-r technologies are supported on operating systems including Windows 10 versions 1803 (RedStone 4) and upwards, macOS 10.8.2, and on Linux since Kernel version 4.21.
Expandability
Last year, Intel opened up Thunderbolt 3 as a royalty-free protocol. It was later adopted as the basis for USB4, the upcoming USB transfer protocol that is aimed at replacing standard USB ports with USB Type-C ports for the sake of simplicity and uniformity. As expected, Thunderbolt 4 is also fully compliant with USB4 but increases its minimum performance requirements.
However, Intel says that Thunderbolt 4 will also work without Intel CPUs, thanks to the new 8000 series controllers launched by Intel. These include Intel’s new JHL8540 and JHL8340 host Thunderbolt 4 controllers for OEMs and JHL8440 device controller meant for accessory makers. With the help of these controllers OEMs using non-Intel chips on their PCs and laptop, including AMD and potentially ARM chips for laptops.
This means Apple might still be able to offer Thunderbolt 4 support on its MacBook models even if commences using its custom silicon, as confirmed during the online WWDC event last month.
Thunderbolt 4 Availability
Even though the Thunderbolt 4 is projected to be available across devices with processor by different chipmakers, Intel will reserve the bragging rights for the first PC that comes with support for the protocol. The first set of laptops with Thunderbolt 4 will be powered by Intel’s Tiger Lake processors and available later this year. The catalog will include laptops based on Intel’s innovation model called “Project Athena,” which was announced at Computex 2019 and is essentially a successor to the “Ultrabook” branding. Project Athena presents a set of features and performance indicators for the OEMs to target for a rich and efficient mobility experience.
Thunderbolt 4 developer kits are now available while Intel has also opened certification testing which is mandatory for consistent performance across all devices.
