Technology - Google News

New leak says Samsung will launch two distinct Galaxy Note 10 phones this year - BGR
The chat feature may soon return to Facebook’s mobile app - TechCrunch
Sorry gamers: Acer's ConceptD PCs are powerful, quiet, and cool, but made for creators - PCWorld

New leak says Samsung will launch two distinct Galaxy Note 10 phones this year - BGR

Posted: 12 Apr 2019 03:50 AM PDT

A series of leaks claimed in the past few weeks that Samsung would launch not one, but two Galaxy Note 10 devices, something the company hasn't really done with the Note line, except for the year when it used the Note series to launch an "edge" screen model. Since then, we heard that Samsung would have four Note 10 in stores this summer, including two LTE and two 5G devices. A new report seems to confirm that Samsung will launch two distinct Galaxy Note 10 versions this year and that each of them will have a 5G version.

The Galaxy Note 10 will have model numbers SM-N970 and SM-N975, SamMobile has learned. These devices should feature different sizes and features, the report notes, without revealing any actual details about the phones.

The previous report from Korea, which first mentioned the existence of four Note 10 handsets, claimed the 4G models would have 6.28-inch and 6.75-inch displays, as well as triple and quad camera setups, respectively.

SamMobile also listed two additional Galaxy Note 10 models, including the SM-N971 and SM-N976, that are probably the 5G variants of the two Galaxy Note 10 models.

Samsung is supposedly looking to increase Galaxy Note sales this year in the same way it did with the Galaxy S10. The Korean giant wants to offer differently priced versions of the same basic Note 10 device that could convert more sales than a single model. The Galaxy S10 has four distinct models, from the cheapest Galaxy S10e to the most expensive Galaxy S10 5G. All of them have the same hardware, but the more money you're willing to pay, the better features you get, including larger displays, bigger batteries, and more camera lenses.

The Note 10 series will launch at some point in August, so there's plenty of time to find out everything about it. After all, no Galaxy S or Note phone in recent history had any major secrets left by the time Samsung unveiled them.

Image Source: Zach Epstein, BGR

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The chat feature may soon return to Facebook’s mobile app - TechCrunch

Posted: 12 Apr 2019 04:27 AM PDT

Facebook upset millions upon millions of users five years ago when it removed chat from its core mobile app and forced them to download Messenger to communicate privately with friends. Now it looks like it might be able to restore the option inside the Facebook app.

That's according to a discovery from researcher Jane Manchun Wong who discovered an unreleased feature that brings limited chat features back into the core social networking app. Wong's finding suggests that, at this point, calling, photo sharing and reactions won't be supported inside the Facebook app chat feature, but it remains to be seen if that is simply because it is currently in development.

It is unclear whether the feature will ship to users at all since this is a test. Messenger, which has over 1.3 billion monthly users, will likely stick but this change would give users other options for chatting to friends.

We've contacted Facebook for comment, although we're yet to hear back from the company. We'll update this story with any comment that the company does share.

As you'd expect, the discovery has been greeted with cheers from many users who were disgruntled when Facebook yanked chat from the app all those years ago. I can't help but wonder, however, if there are more people today who are content with using Messenger to chat without the entire Facebook service bolted on. Given all of Facebook's missteps over the past year or two, consumer opinion of the social network has never been lower, which raises the appeal of using it to connect with friends but without engaging its advertising or newsfeed.

Wong's finding comes barely a month after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sketched out a plan to pivot the company's main focus to groups and private conversation rather than its previously public forum approach. That means messaging is about to become its crucial social graph, so why not bring it back to the core Facebook app? We'll have to wait and see, but the evidence certainly shows Facebook is weighing the merits of such a move.

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Sorry gamers: Acer's ConceptD PCs are powerful, quiet, and cool, but made for creators - PCWorld

Posted: 12 Apr 2019 12:24 AM PDT

ConceptD could be the gaming PC of your dreams, but it's not for gamers. ConceptD is Acer's new brand of PCs made for creative professionals who need gaming-class graphics power, but in quieter, cooler systems, better suited for corporate and studio environments.

Acer introduced ConceptD on Thursday at the company's next@acer event in New York. The brand's genesis came about after Acer discovered that 50 percent of its so-called "hardcore gamer" customers also used professional creative applications on their gaming PCs. Acer further discovered that another 15 percent of its gaming PC customers were using their systems exclusively for professional creative applications—not gaming at all. This last group simply needed the horsepower. What they didn't need were the heat, noise, and in-your-face aesthetic that come with gaming PCs.

(My take: Gamers probably would welcome cooler, quieter, PCs, but cost is surely an issue.)

It's a powerful PC, it's a lifestyle

With ConceptD, "we're talking about a new lifestyle," explained Acer CEO Jason Chen. That's apparently one where most systems (except the most expensive ones) sport cool-white paneling and woodlike accents. Where the metal AeroBlade 3D fan previously seen on Acer's gaming laptops works with what the company called "a noise reduction mechanism" to keep sound emissions below 40 decibels—a library level of quiet. And one where color matters: All ConceptD laptop displays will have 100-percent Adobe RGB color gamut, Pantone certification, and a Delta-E (a color differentiation measurement) of less than 1 percent.

A few ConceptD models will start shipping in April, with others coming later in the year. Here's a rundown of the product line so far.

The flagship model is the ConceptD 9. Like the Acer Predator Triton 900 we just saw at CES, the ConceptD9 display is mounted on an Ezel Aero Hinge—two arms that can rotate it acrobatically up and over. The ConceptD 9 has a 17.3-inch UHD (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) touchscreen display with a maximum brightness of 400 nits.

acer conceptd 9 front 3qtr — The ConceptD 9 laptop has a display that rotates on a two-armed hinge, and a Wacom EMR pen for its touchscreen.

Inside, you get an Intel 9th-gen Core i9 processor and up to 16GB of DDR4 RAM, plus an Nividia GeForce RTX 2080 GPU. A Wacom EMR Pen comes standard. The ConceptD 9 will ship in June with a starting price of $4,999 (not $4,000, as I mistakenly say in my video coverage).

ConceptD sees a PC and wants to paint it white

The two other laptops, thin-and-lights shipping in April, include the ConceptD 7 and ConceptD 5. Both have 15.6-inch, UHD displays (without touch). The ConceptD 7, starting at $2,299, comes with the 9th-gen Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of RAM, and Nvidia RTX 2060 or RTX 2080.

acer conceptd 5 midair shot1 — The ConceptD 5 has a secret sauce: Intel's Core i7-8705G processor, which marries quad-core CPU with AMD Radeon RX Vega M discrete graphics.

The ConceptD 5, starting at $1,699, pulls something special out of its hat: Intel's Core i7-8705G, a processing partnership that incorporates AMD's Radeon RX Vega M GL. It also has a fingerprint reader for security.

The two desktops will include the ConceptD 500 (available in June), which comes in white with a woodgrain-look top panel, and the ConceptD 900 (available in May), a high-performance workstation. While the 500's CPU lineup will offer options up to Intel's Core i9-9900K, the 700 offers dual Xeon Gold 6148 processors. Both will offer Nvidia Quadro RTX discrete GPUs—the 8000 for the ConceptD 700, and the 4000 for the ConceptD 500.

acer conceptd 500 wood top — Artsy types apparently like some woodgrain accents on their PCs, like the one on Acer's ConceptD 500 desktop.

Note the woodgrain-like panel on top of the ConceptD 500, which brings a suggestion of nature to a highly synthetic product.

Hang onto your hats for the prices, though. While the ConceptD 500 desktop starts at a modest $1,699, the ConceptD 700 starts at $19,999. That's not a typo. That's the actual price for a workstation-class system with all the trimmings. Maybe that's why it's painted black, too.

Acer's serious about building out the ConceptD line. Other products will include high-resolution monitors and even a VR/AR headset. Whether creators will flock to this new brand remains to be seen. As you'll learn in my interview with CEO Jason Chen, Acer plans to bring quality and value to this specialized (and lucrative) corner of the PC world.

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