Once upon a time, Android Authority would be one of the worldâs first to buy a new device and then immediately film a drop test to see how the latest and greatest would hold up. (Hereâs a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 being dropped from back in 2012)
Also taking a robust approach to durability over the years has been YouTuber JerryRigEverything.Â
Anyway, once again, JerryRig has released awards for 2020 for smartphone durability, and thereâs a range of awards here for durability, repairability and more:
The Pixel 4a winning the most durable, despite the plastic finish and light feel, surprises a little, but it makes sense.
đ Galaxy S21 Ultra video leak offers a peek at One UI 3.1 and S Pen support (Android Authority).
đ¤ OnePlus Nord N10 and N100 come to the US on Jan. 15th, through T-Mobile: $180 for the N100 with 90Hz display (at ahem 720p), and $300 for the N10 5G. The sacrifices are many for the N100 but at least it is truly affordable for many (Android Authority).
đ¸ Honor reportedly resumes ties with chipset kingpin Qualcomm, with US regulatory approval not required (Android Authority).
đ The guy who made the first mobile phone call wrote a book about it: âCutting the Cord: The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanityâ (Android Authority).
đś Verizon puts 3G shutdown plans on hold indefinitely â first planned for December 2019, now not planned (Engadget).
đľď¸ââď¸ Tileâs fighting back ahead of Apple AirTags and Samsung Smart Tags, with a next-gen product with UWB tech to help find the stuff youâre missing. I still use my Tile Mate (TechCrunch).
đť Dell has some fresh new monitors itâs showing off ahead of CES 2021 including a 40″ ultrawide curved 5K (5120×2160) monitor with Thunderbolt 3, 90W charging, loads of ports, and a hefty old $2,100 price tag (DPReview).
đš Google confirms plans for new Nest Cam lineup this year, with the Nest Cam IQ Outdoor discontinued for now (The Verge).
đ¤ OpenAI has turned GPT-3 onto image generation from language and categorization, with two new models: DALL-E and CLIP. Theyâre completely remarkable â CLIP less so at first glance, but DALL-E is shockingly good. The end of stock images? Maybe, it depends on compute time and data (and therefore, costs) used to achieve the results, which we donât know yet (OpenAI).
đ¨ Microsoft planning a sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows according to a job listing, quickly removed. Anyone know where Windows 10X is at? Anyone? Anyone? (The Verge).
đł Trump bans Alipay, WeChat Pay, QQ Wallet, and five other Chinese apps (BBC).
đľ A 25-year-old bet comes due: In 1995, a Wired cofounder challenged a tech doomsayer to a wager on tech and civilizationâs fate. The betâs up. And you bet you can guess the outcome! (Wired).
đ¤ Here are the robots taking the virtual stage at (entirely virtual) CES 2021 (CNET).
đ This unusual star is unlike anything astronomers have seen before(Gizmodo).
đ° NASA reveals how its SPHEREx space telescope will search for big bang clues. Quite the object. (Engadget).
đ US spy satellite images from the Cold War era are being used in environmental studies(The Verge).
đ âCan you rhyme in sign language?â (r/nostupidquestions).
Hasselbladâs new $6,400 camera is weird and wonderful, writes Popular Science, and good lord, the photographs out of this thing are incredible. The sunset! The seagull! The shadows and light through glass. Wow.
The almost unbelievable quality of these images make you appreciate where weâre at with smartphones, why tiny little sensors and lenses can only get us so far. Thereâs so much work being done by some of the worldâs brightest minds to improve hardware, lenses, computational photography, but imagine if they had some Hasselblad tech to start with.Â
The physical imaging sensor size alone (at 43.8 Ă 32.9 mm) is some ten times bigger than whatâs used in the Google Pixel 5. The 50MP resolution delivers options galore. You can attach old Hasselblad glass. Itâs a whole thing, if youâve got the money.
So, to the theme of today, whyâs it weird? Itâs such an odd form factor â âit feels like youâre holding a chunky Rubikâs Cube with a lens stuck on the front,â not helped by the fact it weighs 1.6 pounds without a lens:
Cheers,
Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor