The most striking event of this week was the presentation of new smartphones, of which there were more than ever. We were shown the new OnePlus 8 family, Honor 30 and even iPhone SE 2, which many have been waiting for for several years. And another week was remembered for the big discounts on the Google Pixel and the company's personnel policy. All this has become not only our present in the past seven days, but also remains in the history that we will someday remember. For now, let's just keep this in mind. And our weekly news digest will help us with this. Well, if you haven't followed the news, you can learn a lot by reading this article.
Google Pixel 4 and OnePlus 8. Which smartphone is cooler?
Apple, move over. Google flashed a bank card for Google Pay
Rumors that Google is going to launch its own bank card appeared last year. True, then this information did not have any other confirmation, except for the words of average insiders, who could equally be right and wrong. Now, however, the rumors have found more solid ground, indicating the search giant's real intentions to enter the financial services market. After all, Google has already started testing its own bank card, which just recently appeared in the program code of the Google Pay service.
Google decided to present its bank card by analogy with Apple Card
Judging by the available information, Google Card will strongly resemble Apple Card – both in terms of design methodology and use. A branded Google card can be ordered in the Google Pay application, where it will immediately appear in virtual format. The physical card will arrive later by mail. But, unlike Apple Card, Google Card will be a debit card, which means that many more users will be able to get it, and there will be no need to wait for a credit rating check.
It is not clear what the Google Card will be made of, but there is a possibility that it will be made of metal
It is not known if the Google Card will be made of titanium, like the Apple Card, but in the images that were found in the Google Pay app, the card has a distinctive metallic color. Therefore, it is possible that the search giant will follow the path Apple and make, if not a titanium card, then at least an aluminum or iron one. What's interesting is the orientation of the map. If all ordinary cards have a horizontal orientation, then Google Card has a vertical orientation. In fact, this is logical, given that this is how we insert it into the terminal.
Like Apple Card, initially Google Card will only work in the US. In any case, this is indicated by partner banks that will issue the card at the request of Google. This is a banking holding company CITI Group and Stanford Federal Credit Union. Yes, as you can see, two banks will serve Google Card at once. Why is not yet very clear, but perhaps in this way the search giant simply wants to share the load or offer users different terms of service, by analogy with Yandex.Plus cards from Tinkoff Bank and Alfa Bank.
Google Card is not just a card, but a whole service
In fact, Google Card will be a whole service, not just a card, even if it is embedded in Google Pay. It will allow users to track all their transactions, provide them with the ability to send and receive funds, as well as order an additional card to the account, block it or close it without having to visit a bank office. For the United States, such services are still exceptional, so there is no doubt that Google Card will be highly popular with the local population.
And as for Russia, I think that Google Card will not reach us in the near future for sure, although it would be logical for Google to start global expansion earlier Apple. On the other hand, due to the fact that Apple Card and Google Card can only be issued on iOS and Android respectively, there will be no actual competition between these financial products. . After all, even if one card offers more favorable terms of use than another, there are hardly many people willing to change their mobile platform for this. In any case, I would never go for it.
Millions of ZOOM accounts leaked to the Network
For several years now, there has been a great demand for video communication in the world. Apart from those who lock themselves in messengers, people began to love more relatively “live” communication. They no longer have enough just to speak in a voice and want to look at the other person. This is especially true when several people communicate. Therefore, recently there has been an explosive growth in communications such as Skype, Face Time and Zoom. The latter somehow most actively began to recruit its audience. The only problem with a large number of users is that they have to somehow manage to keep their data secret. The Zoom service failed to do this and allowed a large leak of user accounts.
Zoom is not bad, but not secure.
It's no secret that the more you have, the more others want you to share with them. This is especially true in relation to data warehouses. If you have a lot of user data, you will be constantly attacked and they will try to “rob” you. In the age of information technology, the most important resource is information.
For example, now everyone is sitting at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. At this time, those who work from home or simply miss their friends and family begin to look for new ways to communicate with them. American Zoom has become one of the most popular services against this background. If before the pandemic it had tens of millions of users, now it is already hundreds of millions. To be honest, before I knew about the service only that it actually exists, and now I even started using it for work.
The service growth statistics are impressive.
200 million of those using Zoom are now at risk. It became clear that the American service from San Jose had become almost a tool for spying on users. Therefore, many should think about whether they want to continue using such a tool.
According to the German newspaper Heise, the US authorities are interested in the work of the service. There is information that “on the side” the credentials of users are merged, including the data of their accounts in Facebook. User data is also leaked iOS, but in this case the leak is limited to the data of the Zoom account itself.
Vulnerabilities have already been discovered in the service. For example, about a year ago, a security hole allowed hackers to join your conference and eavesdrop on your conversation. True, this vulnerability surfaced only now, in the wake of the growing popularity and wide discussion of the service.
The fact is that Zoom is installed on a computer and gets wide access to systems and accessories. This makes it easy for hackers to hack it all together and also gain access to the camera, microphone, and contents of your computer's drive, if desired.
Thus, we can say that Zoom was not ready for such an increase in popularity. And at the same time, hackers will begin to show even more interest in the service, and the public will become much more closely monitoring its errors. As a result, the company's shares almost doubled in a short period of time, and after reports of hacker attacks experienced a sharp drop.
Zoom markets itself as 'the market leader in meeting solutions'. Against the background of global isolation, it proved itself not only as a business tool, but also as an excellent means for people to communicate with each other.
The reason for its massive popularity may be that those who used this tool only from the office now use it at home to communicate with colleagues. This was the impetus for the development of popularity and Zoom went beyond just business communication.
Many people love Zoom, while others simply have to use it.
It also plays into the hands of the fact that even in the free version, up to a hundred people can connect to the conference. True, conferences are now limited in time. The limit is 40 minutes, and this was done in order to reduce the load on the service.
Another important advantage is that it is enough to send a link to the invited person to invite to the conference. He opens it and immediately joins the conversation. True, not only a guest, but also a hacker can join.
I gave the answer to the question why passwords are stolen a little higher. Nowadays, everyone needs information. At the same time, you should not think that your conversations about how you watched the TV series or prepared a new dish are interesting to someone. Serious business conversations are of real interest. These conversations may be of interest to competitors. Here it will really be unpleasant if someone else hears it. The rest of the hackers simply won't waste time, even if they accidentally connect to them.
You can use this service, but keep in mind security concerns.
From ordinary people, hackers are much more interested in getting their email and associated account data. This can be used for promotional mailings. After they build the base, they sell it. The price varies from a couple of rubles to several tens of rubles for one account. Those who buy them can already use them for their intended purpose. Someone sends ads, and someone tries to hack more serious accounts. For example, Google or iCloud. Considering that users often use the same login and password, this is an additional vulnerability.
If you still want to install Zoom, you just need to go to the manufacturer's website and download the version for your computer. After that, all that remains is to register and start using. I described how to do this in a separate article.
If you want to install Zoom on your smartphone or just don't want to search for the app in the store, here are the download links. You will also need to just download the application, register and chat. Most importantly, be careful and keep in mind everything I wrote about in this article.
Download Zoom for Android
Download Zoom for iOS
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Tab S6
The tablet computer market is something very strange and not accepted by everyone. Some adore them, buying a simple dialer to pair with them. Others hate them, preferring a good smartphone. Still others buy it and it is lying around in their box, and is used once a month. There is also a category of people who, regardless of which brand of smartphone they choose, only recognize iPad from Apple as a tablet. This is not surprising, because it was the Cupertin tablet that became a household name and has long won over many users. Simply put, objectively (almost) he's the best. It seems that Samsung has once again thought so.
Rumors that the Korean manufacturer is preparing its new tablet have been circulating for a very long time. We heard about it for the first time a few months ago and since then, loyal fans have been waiting for it.
The new tablet is very good.
Its important feature was to be its low cost. At least lower than the top-end Galaxy Tab S6. This is especially true against the background of how Apple has spread its network of tablets to all price categories, and Huawei produces devices with killer features (even if they are supported only within the infrastructure Huawei).
This week the rumors took shape and became official. Samsung has almost invisibly placed the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite in its Indonesia store. I wonder why they did this? Do they have anything to be ashamed of? Or is it the current difficulties with logistics in the world?
The rumors that circulated earlier were confirmed and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is very similar to the company's flagship tablet, but with some assumptions, if I may say so. It has become a simpler version of the flagship – so it will be more correct.
Buy the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite?
The display of the novelty has become slightly smaller than its older brother. Its diagonal is 10.4 inches. The resolution will be quite high – 2400 x 1200 pixels. The aspect ratio, as is clear from the resolution, is two to one. Another difference from the more expensive Galaxy Tab S6 is the matrix. The new version has a TFT panel installed instead of OLED.
But the support for the proprietary S-Pen stylus has not gone anywhere. Here we must pay tribute to the company that they do not sell it separately, as it does Apple, but sell a ready-made kit. Even if you don't need it, you still get a solution to fully work with all possible functions.
It will be a fly in the ointment that, apparently, the stylus of the new tablet does not have a battery and a communication module. That is, it will not work as an analogue for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.
Most likely, this stylus will be very simple.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is powered by an eight-core 1.7 GHz processor (with 2.3 GHz gain), but the chip manufacturer has not been disclosed. I hope that this is not Exynos, although the likelihood that this is it is very high.
The new product has only 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of permanent memory. Support for microSD cards is provided for expanding memory, and a USB-C port is used for charging and syncing.
The battery is reported to have a capacity of 7040 mAh. This should be enough for 12 hours of battery life. As for me, this is a very good indicator. At least it is above the market average.
Lovers of wired music will appreciate the headphone jack on the device. On the other hand, almost no one is going to end up in tablets from him. There is usually enough space in them so that there is no problem with the placement of the connector. There is no information about whether there are headphones in the kit, but most likely not.
The new tablet works naturally on Android 10 with Samsung's proprietary shell – One UI 2.1. It is not yet possible to say if the tablet has DeX support, but most likely not. All the same, with rare exceptions and some decrease in performance, the new tablet is almost a copy of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6, but it costs less.
It seems to me that if I asked you to guess the cost of a new tablet, you would do it very easily. Since we are an information portal, I will not leave this question unanswered.
The price of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is $ 400 (about 29,700 rubles) in Indonesia. At this price, it will have to compete with the base iPad for 28,000 rubles and the HUAWEI MediaPad M5 10.8 for 25,000 rubles.
There are also such colors for the novelty.
For me personally, the choice in this situation is not obvious. I would think hard before buying. Especially if I didn't have a Samsung smartphone to use the shared functions.
It is not yet clear how much the new tablet will cost when it comes to our market, but the price is unlikely to change very much. Most likely, it will compete with the above devices.
If iPad still has a minus in the form of wide borders, then Huawei is fine with this, and the price is almost a hundred dollars lower. Well, since we talked about iPad, it should be noted that the new product is almost like two drops of water similar to iPad Pro, which, however, costs more than 60,000 rubles. If you need such a design like air, then you can't find an option. One thing is clear for sure. Samsung is not firing at all and just does what people like with tablets. iPad means iPad. If it had a different design, maybe the Galaxy Tab 6S would be different.
Honor 30 Pro officially unveiled
I will not deceive myself or you. Every time I wait for a presentation Huawei or Honor with a timid hope – what if this time they say from the stage “sanctions have been lifted from us” or “now everything on Google Play is available in AppGallery ”. Even in this wording, it will be very cool. But a miracle does not happen, and every time representatives of the Chinese company report on a small victory, such as supporting a new application or service. Of course, that's good too, but it's a shame that this happens when manufacturers make really cool smartphones. It happened this time as well. New smartphones of the series Honor 30 were shown this week. The smartphones themselves are a breakthrough. The rest is a failure.
The picture is beautiful. The phone isn't bad either.
A few weeks ago Honor launched a smartphone Honor 30s. As with the Huawei P40 Lite, it was the harbinger of the upcoming flagship. At the same time, he himself is a relatively inexpensive device, but logically complements the lineup.
This week, smartphones Honor 30, Honor 30 Pro and … Yes, where without it – Honor 30 Pro Plus were officially presented. Somewhere we already saw this a couple of weeks ago.
Traditionally, the Honor 30 line puts a lot of emphasis on photo and video shooting capabilities. Sometimes it seems to me that, according to manufacturers, we don't need anything else from a smartphone. Of course, we only take out a smartphone to take a photo. Okay, for some it is, but for most it is not.
I am glad that at least a lot of attention was paid to the design. The smartphone comes in several interesting colors. Although the rear is very suspiciously similar to the Huawei P40 series.
All three smartphones have laser focusing and nearly maximum level hardware. In particular, the two older models are equipped with the Kirin 990 chipset, and the simpler Honor 30 got a simpler, but still new, Kirin 985. It is also built on a 7-nm process technology and allows working in networks 5G
Honor The 30 Pro Plus has a 50MP camera with a Sony IMX700 sensor and a two-cell yellow RYYB filter. This whole bundle should work well in the dark, but it still needs to be checked.
In addition to the main camera module, there are two more additional ones – a perescope for zoom and an ultra-wide-angle one with a resolution of 16 megapixels. As a result, the smartphone has 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom.
Interesting design of one of the models.
Honor 30 Pro equipped with a conventional sensor, periscope and ultra-wide lens. The maximum resolution is 40 megapixels. The regular Honor 30 has a similar design, but the characteristics of some modules are weaker. All three phones have a 2MP depth sensor as the fourth module.
Both Pro versions are equipped with OLED – a waterfall display. The Pro Plus has a 6.57-inch screen Full HD + with a 90Hz refresh rate. The regular Pro is the same size and resolution, but the refresh rate isn't as fast. The regular Honor 30 has a smaller 6.53-inch screen Full HD without a high refresh rate.
The battery capacity of all models is 4000 mAh. I wish there was more, but the 40W fast charging fixes things up a bit. As is the case with the previously presented OnePlus 8 Pro, fast wireless charging is available only in the top version. Here at 27 watts.
Unfortunately, the models have so far been presented only in the Chinese market. In Russia, the official presentation should take place at the end of May.
As for the prices, at the moment for the basic Honor 30 with 6/128 GB memory they ask for 2,999 yuan (approximately $ 425 or 32,000 rubles). If this is not enough for you, then the 8/128 GB version will cost 3,199 yuan (approximately $ 450 or 33,500 rubles).
These are the colors for Honor 30.
Honor 30 Pro comes with only 8 GB of RAM, and for 128 and 256 GB of internal memory they will ask for 3,999 yuan (approximately $ 565 or 42,000 rubles) and 4,399 yuan (approximately $ 620 or 46,500 rubles), respectively .
The most expensive Honor 30 Pro Plus. He only has the 8/256 GB version and it will cost 4,999 yuan (approximately $ 708 or 53,000 rubles).
These prices are much nicer than the new OnePlus 8, but there is one very big “BUT”.
The biggest drawback will be where I started this article. None of these smartphones work with Google services. This is really very disappointing, since in general the devices turned out to be quite good.
On the other hand, they will definitely find their buyer in China. First of all, due to the fact that in this country Google does not work anyway, so nothing has changed for the locals. It will be difficult for the company in the international markets, but if prices are lower and by that time something has changed in the infrastructure, the situation will be better. Unfortunately, those few months when it was possible to sell overfulfilled versions of flagships under the guise of new mid-range smartphones are over. Now it's time to show something new. But the new thing is still going different ways with Google.
New expensive OnePlus 8 Pro
We've been talking for months about what the OnePlus 8 was supposed to be and what versions it would have. The love for OnePlus in our country is not as great as in the United States, but this topic is still of interest. At least due to the fact that these smartphones still stand apart and are not like any others. I have very specific complaints against them. I have already talked about this and will tell you more than once. For now, let's just talk about the fact that the new OnePlus 8 has finally been officially shown to us. It makes a very good first impression. Moreover, some of the rumors have not been confirmed and this is a little strange. But the company may still work in this direction. Now we are interested in something else. What is he?
Wait. Here they are!
During a special event this week, OnePlus officially unveiled its two newest smartphones – OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. The devices bring some completely new features to the OnePlus ecosystem, and they also bring new experiences from using familiar things.
The design of the novelty can hardly be called unique. Some of the elements were borrowed from the OnePlus 7. For me, that's good, because something, and I really liked the design and ergonomics of last year's device.
It is frustrating that the new flagship is worth … Like a flagship. Now it is a full-fledged device, which can no longer say that it is inexpensive, but good. Good – yes, but inexpensive is no longer about OnePlus.
If you remember, last year OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro were very different from each other. The OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro look very similar, although the Pro is clearly larger and has better specs.
The waterdrop notch that was on the OnePlus 7T last year and I loved it is gone. Now, instead of it, the hole is left aligned. The notch is quite small at just 3.8mm, which is only slightly larger than the notches in the display on the Samsung Galaxy S20 series (3.6mm).
The hole in the screen is bad.
The back of the OnePlus 8 houses a triple-lens camera, not in the circular module we saw on the OnePlus 7T, but in an elongated one. We can say that OnePlus changed its mind after a failed experiment.
As for the OnePlus 8 Pro, its design is almost the same as the OnePlus 8, but the display is slightly larger (6.78 inches versus 6.55 inches). Since the company has ditched pop-up selfie cameras, the device has gotten a bit lighter at 199 grams compared to 206 grams in last year's pro version. Another difference between the Pro version and the simple “eight” is the additional camera module.
Plain back wall.
The OnePlus 8 comes in several new colors (Onyx Black, Glacial Green, and Interstellar Radiance), as does the OnePlus 8 Pro (Onyx Black, Glacial Green, and Ultramarine Blue). At least this is the literal translation of the name of the flowers. However, not all configurations are available in each of these colors. If you want to buy this smartphone, you have to make a compromise.
Both the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro received the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset paired with the X55 modem 5G. This provides both smartphones with support for fifth generation networks. However, one must be careful, since when buying models that are wired for operators, some types of connection may not be supported.
The OnePlus 8 Pro, unlike the regular OnePlus 8, also received two very noticeable updates that OnePlus fans have been asking for for years: wireless charging and the official IP68 certification (water and dust resistant).
Wireless charging has a power of 30W, which corresponds to the power of wired charging. However, to get the fastest charging speeds, you'll need to buy the official Warp Charge 30W wireless charger for $ 69.95. Regular QI charging will be supported, but the speed will be significantly lower.
In order not to list all the specs now, just look at them in the table below.
Consolidated specs of two OnePlus models.
OnePlus phones are getting more expensive every year. This is logical, because they are always equipped with a top processor. This alone makes the price rise. And the fact that the company has gained weight and can already afford to set high prices. Even at this price, its smartphones will still be bought.
OnePlus 8 price:
- $ 699 – OnePlus 8 in Glacial Green (8GB RAM & 128GB)
- $ 799 – OnePlus 8 Interstellar Glow (12GB RAM & 256GB)
- $ 899 – OnePlus 8 Pro in Glacial Green (8GB RAM & 128GB)
- $ 999 – OnePlus 8 Pro in Onyx Black or Ultramarine Blue (12GB RAM and 256GB storage)
In the US, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will be on sale starting April 29, with pre-orders already being accepted. It is too early to speak about the terms of availability in Russia.
Have you already wanted one?
In addition to the smartphones themselves, the company showed the Warp Charge 30W wireless charger, which is the OnePlus 8 Pro wireless charging dock. This charging station will also be available starting April 29 for $ 69.95.
I would love to use such a charge. Moreover, in principle, I love them and have already talked about it. The only pity is that it will reveal its full potential only with the OnePlus 8 Pro, which I do not want to buy for that kind of money.
More from this week's news:
Google has cut the price of the Pixel 4 by almost half. What happened?
Google got nervous: Pixel 3A also sells at a good discount
To hell with all of it! I went to buy iPhone SE 2.