Yesterday, Huawei revealed its major H2 flagships, the Huawei Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro (Android Authority). As expected, they arrived without Google services.
This marks a turning point for the company, and perhaps Android itself, as the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world launches phones without Apple or Google app store access. Here’s what we saw at yesterday’s event.
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro
Display: 6.53-inch curved OLED (with notch), 2,400 x 1,176 resolution
Chip: Kirin 990
RAM: 8GB
ROM: 128GB / 256GB
Rear cameras: 40MP f/1.6, 40MP f/1.8 ultra-wide, 8MP f/2.4 3x telephoto, 3D depth sensor
Front camera: 32MP, 3D depth sensor
Battery: 4,500mAh
OS: Android 10 (and EMUI 10)
From a hardware standpoint, it looks like a beast. There’s just one problem…
The app situation
What about the standard Mate 30?
Will anybody buy these phones?
📱 iOS 13 is here and you can download it now for iPhones going all the way back to 2015’s iPhone 6S. It’s coming with a revamped photos app, system-wide dark mode, and more — here’s a full feature rundown (MacRumors). You might want to wait for version 13.1 before installing, though: there are bugs galore (Wired).
⌚ Also from the Mate 30 launch event, Huawei announced the Watch GT 2 smartwatch, which it claims has a two-week battery life. More in this hands-on (Android Authority).
⚡ Google to invest record-breaking amount in renewable energy (Engadget). 18 deals worth more than $2 billion, apparently.
🏞 Meanwhile, Amazon plans to hit climate goals ten years ahead of Paris agreement schedule (CNET). It’s ambitious, but should we expect less from Bezos?
🤖 And in other billionaire stories, Alibaba founder Jack Ma says AI could help bring us to a 12-hour workweek (CNBC). Ma highlighted how the development of electricity helped give people more free time so they could, among other things, “Go to the karaoke in the evening.” It's what I do.
🏨 Airbnb says it plans to go public in 2020 (New York Times).
💵 Comcast promised not to raise prices — guess what happened next (Ars Technica). Did it raise prices? Yes, according to a new lawsuit.
📦 Google offshoot Wing is teaming up with FedEx and Walgreens for drone deliveries (The Verge).
🐱👤 Silicon Valley is terrified of California’s privacy law. Good (TechCrunch). On January 1, 2020, California’s Consumer Privacy Act will go into effect. “For California residents, these are extremely powerful provisions that allow consumers access to their own information from companies that collect an increasingly alarming amount of data on their users.” Many major tech companies are against the measures.
📺 Android TV to receive Android 10 update before the year’s end (Android Authority).
🎮 Switch Light reviews are live with most agreeing its an excellent, cheaper Switch model for those who don’t care about playing on TV. Here’s one of the reviews (Kotaku).
🤔 Which bad films could be remade into great films? (r/AskReddit). What do you think? I reckon Avatar: The Last Airbender should be among them. Fantastic source material, while the movie has a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was trash.
For this week’s Friday Fun, let’s head over to the comedy wildlife photography awards.
Have a great weekend,
Scott Adam Gordon, Editor.
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