Category: New

Nubia Releasing a Smartphone You Can Wear As a Watch

by David Ruiz, posted in New, Under Development

Chinese phone manufacturer Nubia has begun teasing a new phone concept where the smartphone is also a hybrid smartwatch as well.

Renders of the Nubia Alpha. Photo credits: Digit

The hybrid phone was originally demoed at IFA in Berlin 2018 as a prototype but Nubia is now going to fully unveil the Alpha on February 25 at MWC in Barcelona.

So far not much is known about the Alpha in terms of display resolution, battery, or performance specifications. The phone is meant to replace a regular smartphone since it is able to call and even take pictures. It has a flexible OLED screen and sits in a metal watch strap with a plastic case around the phone as per the prototype.

The Verge even says that it will be priced around the same price as a regular smartphone when their writer asked the Nubia representative at IFA.

  • Nubia Alpha prototype images. Photo credits: The Verge

The unique design from the Nubia smartphone leaves me astonished. This risky design from Nubia will potentially inspire other electronic manufacturers to build a product based off of this layout, which will in turn bring even more interesting and unique products down the road.

I am not too confident that this watch-phone will break into the market like other smartphones. It has a very long screen, which means that mobile-app developers will have to plan to accommodate for the unique screen aspect ratio. By knowing software developers, many of them will not put in the time and money to work on adopting support for the elongated screen unless there is an overwhelming demand for it. Aside from that, I am confident that this device will revolutionize the future of how we will imagine our electronic products.

Nubia Alpha. Photo credits: Nubia

Apple Is Finally Refreshing The iPad Mini

by David Ruiz, posted in New, Under Development

Exciting rumors have been spread stating that Apple may be releasing a new iPad mini relatively soon.

iPad Mini 4th generation. Photo credits: TheVerge

This refresh for the iPad Mini lineup is long overdue to say the least. The iPad Mini 4 was released far back in September 2015, which means that Apple has been selling this same exact product for over 4 years now.

Even then, Apple has been selling this now-ancient iPad Mini 4 for $399, which is $70 more than their newer 9.7 inch iPad, with prices starting at $329. This is ridiculous since the 9.7 inch iPad has both a 1.8 inch larger screen and an Apple A10 processor, which outperforms the iPad Mini’s outdated A8 processor by miles. But, somehow the iPad Mini is still deemed more expensive than the newer iPad by Apple’s pricing standards.

Current 9.7 inch iPad. Photo credits: Pocket-Lint

Now back to the rumored details of the iPad Mini 5. The iPad Mini 5 will potentially support the Apple Pencil, still keep the headphone jack and fingerprint scanner, but is surprisingly going to also keep the lightning connection port rather than moving to a USB-C port, which is strange because USB-C had now become the standard for all the new iPads. It will also utilize the Apple A10 chip and keep the same 7.9 inch screen dimension.

Now after hearing all these speculations, I am very curious to how this revised product will sell compared to the other iPads. I personally feel like many will prefer to go up to the larger-screened iPads as opposed to the smaller Mini. That is unless the Mini shows a significant price difference compared to the larger models. Only time will tell about these sales and I am excited to see that Apple is finally starting to refresh their old designs now like the Mac Mini and the MacBook Air, which were both refreshed last fall.

Left: iPad mini. Middle: iPad Pro. Right: iPad. Photo credits: iMore

Raspberry Pi Has Opened Its First Physical Store

by David Ruiz, posted in New

On Friday, the Raspberry Pi brand has opened the very first Raspberry Pi Store, where they plan to sell Raspberry Pi merchandise and accessories.

Image taken inside the Raspberry Pi Store. Photo Credit: Raspberry Pi.

For those who are unsure of what a Raspberry Pi is and think it is probably a delicious pie, sorry to get your hopes up but it is not. The Raspberry Pi is a neat device that fits all the components of a computer, plus some more, within a space the size of a credit card. Very impressive to see:

Image of a Raspberry Pi 3 on top of a MacBook. Photo Credits: Naoki Shibuya

The store is found in Cambridge, England, which is the home country of the Raspberry Pi. Using this store allows guests to get their Raspberry Pi in their hands immediately instead of having to buy it from a third-party vendor, which is the only way to get a Raspberry Pi, and waiting for it to ship and get delivered. An interesting quirk about the store is that it is cashless, meaning that they only accept credit and debit cards.

Outside of the Raspberry Pi Store. Photo Credits: Raspberry Pi.

I find this store to be very helpful for those who are into DIY and coding since they can walk in and walk out with a fully-working portable computer for around $35, ready to work on a project. I’ve had my Raspberry Pi 3 for some years now and I love experimenting with it since there are lots of project ideas to complete using it. I believe this store will catch some eyes of those window shopping in the mall and it will expose them to the wonderful world of coding.

Video tour of the Raspberry Pi Store

Another Foldable Smartphone?

by David Ruiz, posted in New, Under Development

A small mobile tech company, Royole, has announced late last year their upcoming flagship, the Royole FlexPai, which demos a fascinating feature where it can be folded in half.

FlexPai showing off its unique feature. Photo Credits: Royole

Phone Features:

This particular flagship developer phone has phenomenal specifications and carries just enough power under the hood after taking a look at the official product specifications online:

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, an OctaCore processor rated at a 2.84GHz clock speed
  • A 7.8 inch Flexible AMOLED screen paired with a beautiful 1920 x 1440 QHD resolution display.
  • 6GB RAM base, 8GB RAM max
  • 128GB storage base, 256GB storage max (SD cards are accepted for up to 256GB of additional storage)
  • 2 digital cameras: 16MP + 20MP
  • A 3970 mAh battery

To describe these mobile phone specs that the FlexPai offers, is to say that they are very competitive with other well-known smartphone manufacturers. But it all comes at a cost for this one-of-a kind feature:

It starts at $1300 or $1500 for the top model

The specifications do look tempting but the price tag will hold many potential buyers back. Now, I wouldn’t ever justify spending that amount of money for a phone that is still under testing, unless you are a developer and really want to experiment with it. And since it is a developer product, The Verge has reported during the phone’s demonstration that


The software seemed extremely sluggish, apps continuously opened accidentally, and the orientation kept changing randomly when one of the Royole representatives was demonstrating the folding process.

Nick Statt, The Verge

After hearing this I would suggest to all of you who would consider a phone like this to wait on it. New technologies and trends like this will take time to polish. So it would be indefinitely safer to wait and buy a stable phone as opposed to one like this. This phone will simply only get frustrating to have the phone do what it should, and trust me, I’ve unfortunately had my fair share of dealing with phones like that, and it is not a road I recommend taking.

Photo Credits: Royole