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Energizer's big battery smartphone is almost three iPhones thick
Energizer has teased a huge array of smartphones for a while. The company that makes the devices, Avenir Telecom, has used that branding to showcase dummy phone models at MWC with stupidly-high capacity batteries several times but I never got to see one of them working. That is, until this chunky azure thing showed up. The P18K Pop (as it's known) is probably thicker than any battery pack you currently own. It's basically an 18,000mAH battery with a smartphone stuck on it.
Here's what you missed over the weekend at MWC 2019
While you're enjoying a cup of coffee or tea to kickstart your week, there's a lot of MWC news to catch up on from over the weekend. Huawei, LG, Microsoft and others all hosted events in Barcelona yesterday to show off their wares, ranging from foldable phones to 5G handsets and mixed reality. We realize you may have snoozed Sunday away, so we've summed up all that you might've missed so far in one handy spot.
Samsung's foldable phone is officially the 'Galaxy Fold'
To the surprise of absolutely no one who paid attention to Samsung's hype-building for Unpacked, it had more to reveal about its foldable phone. The device is now officially known as the Galaxy Fold, and much like the prototype we saw back in November, we're looking at a 4.6-inch secondary AMOLED display on the outside, followed by a much larger 7.3-inch Infinity Flex AMOLED screen when the device is unfolded.
Netflix officially cancels 'Jessica Jones' and 'The Punisher'
You knew Netflix's remaining Marvel shows were living on borrowed time after it cancelled Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist within weeks of each other -- and sure enough, the remaining productions are on the way out. Netflix has cancelled Jessica Jones and The Punisher, putting an end to the Marvel partnership that started in 2013. Jessica Jones' third season will still launch on Netflix later in 2019 as a last hurrah, but that's as far as it goes.
China wants to put a solar farm in space by 2025
Humanity uses a lot of energy, and while solar power here on Earth is doing a reasonable job of contributing to the electricity mix, scientists have long hypothesized that gathering the sun's energy from space would be a lot more effective. And now China says it's going to be the first to do exactly that, announcing plans to build an interstellar power station that will orbit the Earth at 36,000 kilometers.
The 'Link's Awakening' remake could be the start of something special
I never beat The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, but not for lack of trying. It's one of my favorite entries in the Zelda series, and I played it over and over as a kid. I got stuck on the same bit every time, one puzzle I couldn't get past. It vexed me for years, but eventually I forgot about it. But now, more than 20 years later, I get another shot at it: Yesterday, Nintendo went deep into its back catalog to show off a remake of Link's Awakening for the Switch. The 1993 title debuted on the Game Boy and changed what we thought Nintendo's humble handheld console was capable of. Indeed, the game was nearly as deep and vast as A Link to the Past on the Super NES.
NASA admits the Mars Opportunity rover is dead
If you're a fan of Mars exploration, you're probably in mourning right now. NASA's Opportunity rover has effectively been declared dead after the agency's last attempt to contact the storm-struck rover was met with silence. Officials held a press conference at 2PM ET to discuss the outcome, and as expected NASA confirmed that it is saying goodbye to Opportunity. The machine doesn't stand a chance if it doesn't have power -- Martian winter is coming, and Opportunity needs working heaters to survive the chilly conditions.
IBM AI fails to beat human debating champion
After suffering defeat to AI at Go and Dota 2, the battle between man and machine was starting to look a little one-sided. But a human has finally notched up a win against our future robot overlords. Champion debater Harish Natarajan triumphed in a live showdown against IBM's Miss Debater AI at the company's Think Conference in San Francisco on Monday. The 2012 European Debate winner and IBM's black monolith exchanged quick retorts on pre-school subsidies for 25 minutes before the crowd hailed Natarajan the victor. You can watch the debate in full below.
Mars One is dead
The company that aimed to put humanity on the red planet has met an unfortunate, but wholly-expected end. Mars One Ventures, the for-profit arm of the Mars One mission was declared bankrupt back in January, but wasn't reported until a keen-eyed Redditor (and a Swiss newspaper) found the listing. It was the brainchild of Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, previously the founder of green energy company Ampyx Power. Lansdorp's aim was to start a company that could colonize one of our nearest neighbors.
Elon Musk shares footage of SpaceX's latest Mars rocket test
Elon Musk has taken to Twitter to celebrate the first-test fire of the SpaceX Raptor flight engine, which will be used on its next-gen rocket. The company's head honcho shared footage of the thunderous, two-second test conducted at its McGregor, Texas facility, the site where the Raptor was first put through its paces back in September, 2016. SpaceX followed up with an Instagram post confirming that the Raptor performed the "highest thrust ever" from a SpaceX engine, despite operating at 60 percent power.
'Captain Marvel' will be the first Disney movie exclusive to Disney+
Disney is pushing through with its plan to stop offering superhero flicks on Netflix after Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp. In fact, the next entry to Marvel's Cinematic Universe will mark the end of Disney's relationship with the streaming platform and the beginning of a new era. Company chief Bob Iger has confirmed that Captain Marvel will be the media giant's first title that won't be available on Netflix -- and that's because it's earmarked for Disney+ that's launching later this year.
Chrome can tell you if your passwords have been compromised
Given the frequency of hacks and data leaks these days, chances are good that at least one of your passwords has been released to the wild. A new Chrome extension released by Google today makes it a little easier to stay on top of that: Once installed, Password Checkup will simply sit in your Chrome browser and alert you if you enter a username / password combination that Google "knows to be unsafe." The company says it has a database of 4 billion credentials that have been compromised in various data breaches that it can check against.
Samsung's Galaxy S10 phones will support next-generation WiFi
Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S10 phones are set to support next-generation WiFi amid a broader expansion of WiFi 6 (802.11ax) availability this year. Three versions of the phone, including an S10+ and cheaper S10E, should be compatible with the standard, according to FCC filings Droid Life unearthed.
Samsung develops the first 1TB storage chip for phones
In the future, Samsung's phones will have a whopping one terabyte storage capacity... and that time might come sooner than you expect. The tech giant has started mass producing what it says is the industry's first one terabyte embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) technology for smartphones. It will give the company's mobile devices PC-like storage without the need for large-capacity micoSD cards. It'll be incredibly useful if you use your phone to take tons of photos and HD videos -- Samsung says it's enough to store 260 10-minute videos in 4K UHD.
Samsung says its new 8K TV chips will eliminate bezels
A simple chip could help bring 8K TVs into the mainstream and make them more awesome at the same time. Samsung has unveiled a single display driver IC chip with enough bandwidth (4 Gbps) to allow true 8K images to be transmitted to 8K display panels without the need for other components. That will eliminate the need for a bezel (where electronics are normally hidden), allowing for true all-display TV sets.
Apple may be working on a game subscription service
Apple could be joining the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and EA in launching its own games subscription service. It opened talks with developers over the last few months about such an option, according to Cheddar.
Samsung Galaxy S10+ leak shows off its dual 'hole-punch' camera
Samsung's Galaxy S10 smartphones have leaked again before their official February 20th unveiling, and this time, we're getting a good look at the dual front cameras on the Galaxy S10+. A leak from the site All About Samsung clearly shows the Galaxy S10 and S10+ from the front and back, showing the "Infinity-O" display, with next to no bezel other than a tiny chin, a USB-C port and (yay) a headphone jack.
Xiaomi's flexible phone concept folds on both sides
Xiaomi truly is working on a foldable phone, company president and co-founder Lin Bin has confirmed in a teaser he posted on Weibo. In the video, you'll see the executive using a tablet-sized gadget -- until he folds its sides and uses it like you would any phone. Its UI even automatically resizes itself to occupy just the middle part of the screen, so you won't have to flip the device to look at the folded parts of the display.
The Pixel 3 and Galaxy Note 9 top DxOMark's new selfie camera scores
We use the selfie camera on our smartphones up to 40 percent of the time, yet most testing puts the emphasis on the rear camera. To address that issue, DxOMark has introduced scoring for front-facing smartphone cameras based on criteria like skin tone and color accuracy, sharpness, contrast, exposure and more. A number of cameras have already been tested, and the models on top, by a wide margin, are Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 and the Google Pixel 3, both with overall scores of 92. Rounding out the top five were Xiaomi's Mi Mix 3, the Apple iPhone XS Max and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, with scores of 84, 82 and 81 respectively.
Motorola's next RAZR revival could be a $1,500 foldable phone
Motorola's RAZR flip-phone is reportedly set for a $1,500 foldable makeover. The new handset could arrive exclusively through Verizon as soon as next month, per The Wall Street Journal's sources. You can blame that massive price tag on the expensive components required to build a foldable phone (just ask Samsung, which apparently has its own $1,500 flexible handset slated for a February 20th reveal).
