China’s Huawei said on Saturday it is targeting 100,000 applications for its Harmony operating system in coming months as it seeks widespread help to achieve self-reliance.
The tech giant has more than 15,000 applications based on Harmony that can meet consumers’ basic needs, but the ecosystem requires more personalised and boutique apps, Huawei Chairman Xu Zhijun told a conference on Saturday.
Huawei unveiled Harmony in August 2019, after U.S. sanctions cut off support for Google’s (GOOGL.O). The Shenzhen-based company, which sells products ranging from smartphones to laptops, later developed an open-source version of the Harmony system.
Due to the US sanctions, “Huawei has been forced to accelerate developing its own operating system,” Xu said. Although much progress has been made, “for any operation system, no matter how advanced it is, it would be of no value if no one uses it.”
Xu expressed hope that developers could work hard to enrich app offerings and called on government agencies, state companies and social organisations to use Harmony as their operating system at work.
He asked consumers to be tolerant of the system’s immaturity, saying, “The more people use it, the more quickly it will become mature.”
Lithium batteries have become the powerhouse of energy storage in modern technology, powering a vast array of electronic devices from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles and renewable energy systems. Their lightweight design, high energy density, and long-lasting performance have made them the go-to choice for portable electronics and beyond. The use of lithium batteries has revolutionized industries by providing efficient and reliable power sources that enable our fast-paced, connected world to function seamlessly.
Unraveling The Mysteries: Understanding Lithium Battery Explosions
While lithium batteries offer numerous benefits, they also pose potential risks, most notably the risk of explosion. Understanding the causes behind lithium battery explosions is crucial for ensuring the safety of users and preventing catastrophic incidents.
These explosions can result from various factors such as overcharging, physical damage, manufacturing defects, or exposure to extreme temperatures. By delving into these causes and their mechanisms, we can implement strategies to mitigate risks and enhance safety measures in utilizing lithium batteries.
Overcharge
Overcharging of lithium batteries is a common cause of explosions due to the buildup of unstable lithium metal deposits on the anode. When a battery is overcharged, it leads to an excessive flow of current, causing lithium ions to plate onto the anode in a non-uniform manner.
This uneven deposition creates dendrites or needle-like structures that can pierce the separator between the electrodes, leading to internal short circuits. The risk of thermal runaway and explosion further escalates as these dendrites continue to grow with subsequent charge cycles.
As more lithium metal accumulates, it increases the chances of direct contact between the anode and cathode, causing a rapid increase in temperature within the battery due to uncontrolled chemical reactions. This thermal runaway scenario can result in a violent release of energy and gases, ultimately culminating in an explosion.
Physical Damage
Physical damage remains another significant culprit behind lithium battery explosions. Impact or puncture on a battery can lead to internal short circuits within its structure. When the battery casing is compromised, it exposes reactive components such as the electrolytes to air or other materials present in its surroundings.
This exposure can trigger chemical reactions that release flammable gases and heat rapidly within the confined space of the battery cell. The build-up of pressure from these reactions can cause the battery casing to rupture explosively, releasing potentially hazardous materials and leading to a sudden explosion.
Manufacturing Defects
Poorly designed or faulty batteries resulting from manufacturing defects pose a serious threat as they are prone to internal shorts or overheating. Issues such as substandard materials used in construction or improper assembly processes can compromise the integrity and safety mechanisms within a lithium battery.
Lack of stringent quality control measures during production further exacerbates these risks by allowing defective batteries with hidden flaws to enter circulation undetected. Without proper safeguards in place, such batteries may exhibit erratic behavior under normal usage conditions, increasing the likelihood of critical failures that could lead to catastrophic outcomes like explosions.
Over-Discharge
Battery over-discharge or over-current discharge (more than 3C) is easy to make the negative electrode copper foil dissolved and deposited on the diaphragm so that the positive and negative electrodes are directly short-circuited to produce an explosion (rarely occurs). Lithium battery cells should also have a lower voltage limit when discharging. When the voltage of the battery cell is lower than 2.4V, some materials will begin to be destroyed. And because the battery will self-discharge, the longer you put the lower the voltage will be, therefore, it is best not to discharge to 2.4V before stopping. Lithium batteries from 3.0V to 2.4V discharge period, the energy released only accounts for about 3% of the battery capacity. Therefore, 3.0V is an ideal cut-off voltage for discharge.
Overcurrent
Protection line out of control or detection cabinet out of control so that the charging current is too large to cause lithium ions to be embedded in time, but the formation of lithium metal on the surface of the pole piece, penetrating the diaphragm, positive and negative electrode direct short circuit resulting in an explosion (seldom occurs). Charge and discharge, in addition to the voltage limit, the current limit is also necessary. When the current is too high, lithium ions will not have time to enter the storage compartment and will gather on the surface of the material.
Battery Aging
As batteries are used over time, their internal chemistry may change, increasing the risk of explosion.
Excessive Moisture Content
Moisture can react with the electrolyte in the lithium battery cell to produce gas, when charging, it can react with the generated lithium to produce lithium oxide, making the capacity loss of the battery cell, easy to overcharge the battery cell and generate gas, the decomposition voltage of the water is low, it is easy to decompose and generate gas when charging, when this series of generated gases will make the battery cell’s internal pressure increase, and when the battery cell’s casing can’t withstand it, lithium batteries will explode.
Handling And Storage Guidelines
Proper handling and storage of lithium batteries play a crucial role in mitigating explosion risks.Store your batteries in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight or heat sources to maintain optimal operating conditions.Extreme temperatures can compromise battery integrity and increase the likelihood of thermal runaway.
Furthermore, protect your batteries from physical damage by utilizing protective cases or sleeves when transporting them.A minor impact or puncture can potentially lead to internal short circuits within the battery, paving the way for catastrophic consequences.
Huawei is holding a big event on November 26 to introduce the Mate 70 lineup and the Mate X6 foldable smartphone. Today, we learned that the company is also launching FreeBuds Pro 4, the first TWS earbuds with HarmonyOS Next.
The reveal came through a Weibo post featuring a single image of the FreeBuds Pro 4. The buds are quite similar visually to the FreeBuds Pro 3 but with a finer edge of the stem. It will also have Huawei Sound, which appears to be a rebrand of Huawei Histen audio features.
The most noticeable changes include grille patterns on the sides and back of the earbuds, likely added for aesthetics. The teaser also has the buds in a sleek black-metallic finish, paired with a gold Huawei Sound logo and a bold gold rim encircling the back cover stick.
Tese earbuds having a dedicated operating system means they will feature extended integration in the HarmonyOS Next environment, which should include the new Mate smartphones, Pura 70 devices in China, and the Pocket 2 clamshell foldable.
Huawei is set to launch the FreeBuds Pro 4 on November 26th at the company’s Mate Brand Festival. The event will also introduce other new products, including the Mate 70 smartphone series.
A look at the predecessor
While we are short on specs on FreeBuds Pro 4, let’s look at the specs of its predecessor.
The FreeBuds Pro 3 features advanced active noise cancellation (ANC) 3.0 and the Kirin A2 chip, which uses Polar code technology for impressive 1.5Mbps lossless audio transmission.
It also delivers improved sound quality, noise reduction, and battery life. With QuietCall 2.0, these earbuds excel at minimizing background noise during calls. In terms of battery life, the FreeBuds Pro 3 offers up to 7 hours of playback on a single charge, extending to 30 hou2rs with the charging case.
The FreeBuds Pro 4 will likely build on these features and may also introduce new AI features. After all, 2024 has been a year of AI.
If you lose your iPhone or buy an upgrade, you could reasonably expect to be up and running after an hour, presuming you backed up your prior model. Doing the same swap with an Android device is more akin to starting three-quarters fresh. That might change relatively soon,as Google has announced a new Restore Credentials feature.
Transferring your data from your old Android device to a new one will soon be less daunting, thanks to “Restore Credentials,” a new developer feature for Android which can keep you logged into your apps when you make the switch. While some apps already did this, Google is making it easier for developers to include this experience by implementing a “restore key” that automatically transfers to the new phone and logs you back into the app.
The change should help make going from one Android phone to another more like upgrading an iPhone. Apple users who move from one iPhone to another are used to having everything from email accounts to app credentials transfer to the new phone, but it hasn’t always been so seamless for Android users.
Google notes that there is “no user interaction required” on its flowchart showing signing in on one device, backing it up to the cloud, and having that key come back when setting up the new device. There is, of course, a direct device-to-device option for manually moving over app restore keys.
Restore keys can also be backed up to the cloud, although developers can opt out. For that reason, transferring directly from device to device will still likely be more thorough than restoring from the cloud, as is the case with Apple devices today. Notably, Google says restore keys do not transfer if you delete an app and reinstall it.
It’s very much in Android’s interest to reduce the friction of setting up a new phone deeply hooked into Google rather than inviting inquiries into the Cupertino-based alternatives. It’s also a quiet boon to anybody who does a full reset on their phone, whether by choice or out of frustration.
Samsung Electronics today hosted the Samsung Developer Conference Korea 2024 (SDC24 Korea), the company unveiled the second-generation Gauss2 multimodal AI model, which supports up to 14 languages and various programming languages.
During the keynote address, the company unveiled Samsung Gauss2, the second generation of its proprietary AI model, and highlighted its improved performance, efficiency and various application possibilities.
“Samsung Electronics is committed to developing cutting-edge software, including AI and data analytics, to enhance user experiences,” said Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, President, CTO of the Device eXperience (DX) Division and Head of Samsung Research. “With three distinct models, Samsung Gauss2 is already boosting our internal productivity, and we plan to integrate it into products to deliver higher levels of convenience and personalization.”
Samsung Gauss2: A Multimodal Language Model Catering to Diverse Needs
Samsung Gauss2 offers improved performance and efficiency in simultaneously handling various data types as a multimodal model integrating language, code and images. It is available in three distinct models catered to different purposes: Compact, Balanced and Supreme.
Compact is a small-sized model built for speed and efficiency and is ideal for on-device usage “by maximizing the utilization of the device’s computing resources.”
Balanced offers a mix of performance and efficiency aimed at diverse tasks that require consistency. Supreme is built for performance, and Samsung says it reduces “computational costs during training and inference processes while maintaining high levels of both performance and efficiency.”
Depending on which model is used, Gauss2 supports 9 to 14 human languages and several programming languages. Samsung says that Balanced and Supreme match or beat other AI models on tasks in English and Korean. Even better, “their processing speed per hour is 1.5 to 3 times faster”, which reduces costs and wait times for services powered by the AI model.
Customizable for Various Productivity Tasks and Product Development
Having an internal generative AI model allows easier customization so that optimal performance can be achieved for specific goals and applications.With the power of Samsung Gauss, the in-house coding assistant ‘code.i’ assists the company’s software developers.Now upgraded to Samsung Gauss2, it is being utilized by business units within the Device eXperience (DX) Division and overseas research institutes.
Since its launch last December, the monthly usage of code.i has quadrupled, with about 60% of all software developers in the DX Division are now using it. The service was expanded to overseas subsidiaries in April. In addition, starting from August, Samsung is using Samsung Gauss to call center staff to automatically categorize and summarize customer calls.
Under the AI vision of “AI for All,” Samsung will continue to expand the reach of its AI-based services across all product lines so that users can experience more convenient and enjoyable daily lives. And by integrating knowledge graph technology with AI, Samsung expects to provide even more enhanced personalization services.
Following its announcement in China last month, the Oppo Pad 3 Pro is now making its global rollout alongside the Find X8 series.
Oppo Pad 3 Pro Specifications
The newly announced Oppo Pad 3 Pro runs on Android 14 with ColorOS 14.1 and sports a 12.1-inch 3K (2,120×3,000 pixels) display with 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, 303ppi pixel density, 900 nits peak brightness, and up to 540Hz touch sampling rate. The display is certified by TUV Rheinland for Intelligent Eye Care and Circadian Friendly and has Dolby Vision support.
Oppo Pad 3 Pro runs on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Leading Version chipset with Adreno 750 GPU, along with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage. This Qualcomm chipset has up to 3.4GHz clock speed.
For optics, the Oppo Pad 3 Pro has a 13-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel selfie shooter. It has eight speakers with Hi-Res audio and Hi-Res wireless audio certification.
Connectivity options available on the Oppo Pad 3 Pro include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and USB Type-C port. Sensors onboard are an accelerometer, colour temperature sensor, geomagnetic sensor, light sensor, gravity sensor, gyroscope, and hall sensor. It supports facial recognition.
If these specs sound familiar, there’s good reason – Pad 3 Pro is a rebadged OnePlus Pad 2 with ColorOS14.1 instead of OxygenOS14.1 on the software side.
Oppo Pad 3 Pro Price
Currently, the Pad 3 Pro comes in a single Starlit Blue color option. The global launch price is set at €600 (around $632 USD) or £499 for the sole 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration.
Oppo is offering a pre-order incentive for those who purchase the Pad 3 Pro before December 31st. These early adopters will receive the Oppo Pencil 2 Pro stylus and the Oppo Smart Keyboard free of charge, adding value to the overall package.
With the development of smart phones, the technology is very mature and the price is not expensive. Therefore, almost everyone has two mobile phones now, but the charging time of smart phones is sometimes long and sometimes short. What is the reason?
There are two ways for the charger to charge the phone:cradle chargeanddirect charge.
The cradle charge is to remove the battery and charge it on the charger, and the corresponding is the direct charge, that is, the charger is directly connected to the mobile phone to charge.
USB charging refers to the use of electrical equipment with a USB interface to charge mobile phones, and currently refers to PCs and laptops. Usually, USB charging takes much longer than charger charging. In order to explain the difference between USB charging and DC charging, we must first understand the charging principle of lithium batteries.
The charging method of lithium battery is limited voltage and constant current, which generally goes through three charging stages:
pre-charge, the voltage is less than 3V at this time;
Constant current charging. After the voltage reaches 3V, it enters the fast charging stage. At this time, the current is relatively large, and the constant current charging continues until the voltage rises to 4.2V;
Constant voltage charging, when the voltage rises to 4.2V, it is changed to small current charging, while the voltage of 4.2V remains unchanged. Usually, the current at this time is 1/10 of the constant current stage.
The cradle charging and direct charging methods will respectively cause a certain impact to the lithium battery and the mobile phone, and will cause a certain degree of damage in the long run. The USB output current is smaller than the above two, which is why the USB charging time is longer than the two. This small current is manifested in the constant current and constant voltage stages. The purpose of constant voltage charging is to supplement the capacity loss of lithium-ion batteries due to self-discharge after being fully charged.
At present, the USB output voltage of the computer is 5V, the output current is 500mA, and the charging current of the charger is 1000mA. Because the USB output current is small, its current in the constant voltage stage is even smaller.
Therefore, charging with USB feels longer, of which, the more important is the longer time spent in the constant voltage phase. If you can’t wait and end the process of charging the phone with USB as soon as possible, because there is still a part of the supplementary power that has not been charged, it seems that it is not fully charged. This is actually a current problem rather than leakage and other problems that consumers are worried about.
However, the problem of “not fully charged” has little effect. Even if there is no constant voltage charging process,the battery at this time has at least 90% capacity.For lithium batteries, as long as they are not overcharged and overdischarged, they can be charged at any time. , which is the difference between it and NiMH batteries.
Remember in 2019 when Google announced that it was giving up on tablets? And then teased the Pixel Tablet in 2022 before ultimately releasing it in 2023? Well, it looks like And now it turns out that the Pixel Tablet will also be joining that list again, though not before getting one more iteration.
There is currently only the first generation Pixel Tablet available on the market. Insiders from Google claim that — though a Pixel Tablet 2 is under the works — there will be no third tablet.Multiple industry sources close to the project have confirmed that the device, internally known as “Kiyomi,” will not be moving forward.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Google made this decision last week, with internal communications and meetings taking place to inform the teams involved. The personnel previously assigned to the Pixel Tablet 3 project are being redirected to other initiatives within the company.
Pixel Tablet 2 is presumably too far into development to quit cold turkey which is why it will allegedly come out next year. However, there’s no saying how long support for it will last if Google has given up on the entire thing.
What does this mean for Google’s tablet?
The Pixel Tablet — something that sounds so appealing on paper — didn’t turn out to be the high-end Android experience we hoped for. Google’s newest tablet, while not bad per se, was nothing special either. The 60 Hz display in particular made it feel very outdated, a problem that is also present on the iPhone 16.
However, instead of working towards improving it and making it the Android contender we need, Google simply abandoning it.As it stands The Pixel Tablet was marketed as some “premium” tablet from Google, when in reality, it looked a lot like a cheap tablet from Five Below. It was pretty cheap compared to other premium tablets like the iPad Air and iPad Pro, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S series.And Google really can’t charge Apple prices because Android, unlike iOS, isn’t exclusive to Pixel.
This effectively means that the Pixel Tablet 2, when it launches next year, will be a lame duck tablet.
Xiaomi has started teasing the first international release of the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus. Seemingly, the IP69 certified handset will be launching alongside the Redmi Note 14 and Redmi Note 14 Pro with quite a few changes from the current Redmi Note 13 series.
For context, the company kicked off the series in September by releasing the following Redmi Note 14 smartphones:
Redmi Note 14
Redmi Note 14 Pro
Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus
Specifications Overview
The Redmi Note 14 series launched in China boasts an array of features designed to cater to various consumer needs. All three models are equipped with a 6.67-inch OLED display, offering a 120Hz refresh rate for a smooth and immersive viewing experience.
Under the hood, the Redmi Note 14 is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra chipset. Meanwhile, the Pro variants showcase more advanced configurations, with the Redmi Note 14 Pro running on a Dimensity 7300 Ultra processor and the Pro+ variant featuring the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset.
Camera and Battery Features
Photography enthusiasts can expect high-quality imaging capabilities across the range. Both the Pro and Pro+ models include a 50MP primary sensor paired with an 8MP ultrawide lens. However, the Pro+ distinguishes itself further with a 50MP portrait telephoto camera, while the Pro opts for a 2MP macro lens.
Battery performance is another highlight. The Note 14 Pro+ is equipped with a robust 6,200mAh battery supporting 90W fast charging, ensuring quick top-ups for users on the go. On the other hand, the Note 14 Pro houses a 5,500mAh battery with 44W fast charging capabilities.
Please be aware that these are all 5G models. However, recent leaks suggest that there will be 4G variants too, though, to replace the Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G. Recently, Xiaomi confirmed that it would be unveiling the Redmi Note 14 series internationally, despite having introduced predecessors only earlier this year. Now, it seems that the company is ready to reveal more details about this release.
Xiaomi has now revealed that the Redmi Note 14 series will land in India on December 9. As expected, Xiaomi will expand Redmi Note 14, Redmi Note 14 Pro and Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus availability to India first before offerign the devices to other markets.Potentially, launches in US and other markets are not that far behind, though. Xiaomi has not confirmed as much just yet, though.
Android 15 just arrived on Pixel devices last month, but the first Android 16 developer preview is set to be released today — which is significantly earlier than we would have previously expected.
For reference, the first developer preview for Android 15 was released back in February, followed by the first beta release in April. So Google is effectively running 3 months ahead of schedule.
Considering Android 15 release much later than many people had hoped, things do seem to be moving rather quickly. Google has also elaborated promising that the Major SDK release will happen in Q2 2025, complete with Behavior changes, APIs and new features. Then a minor SDK release will follow in Q4 with new APIs and features — but without any “app-impacting behavior changes”.
Android 16 developer preview’s newest features
Google has given us a glimpse at what’s coming in the next major version of Android. The first is the latest version of Android’s Privacy Sandbox, which will offer more robust safeguards around users’ data collection and sharing. This will also feature SDK Runtime, which allows SDKs to “run in a dedicated runtime environment separate from the app they are serving.”
Also the preview available today allows developers to embed Android’s photo picker — the menu that lets users select specific images and videos they want to share — directly into their apps. This should make sharing media with apps more seamless without granting them access to your entire device or cloud storage library. It also includes the latest version of Privacy Sandbox, Google’s in-development replacement for Android’s advertising ID.
Finally, a preview of the Health Connect app “contains an early version of APIs supporting health records” that “allows apps to read and write medical records in FHIR format,” according to Google. This could let apps and medical devices share information and medical records (with explicit consent from the user) the way wearables and fitness trackers already do, mirroring a similar Apple Health feature on iPhones.
