Nokia’s 3310 returns to life as a modern classic

Nokia has sold 126 million of its original 3310 phone since it was first introduced back in September, 2000. It was a time before the iPhone, and Nokia ruled with popular handsets that let you play simple games like Snake. Now the 3310 is making a nostalgic return in the form of a more modern variant, thanks to Nokia-branded phone maker HMD. Like its predecessor, it will still be called the Nokia 3310, but this time it’s running Nokia’s Series 30+ software, with a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 2-megapixel camera, and even a microSD slot.

Those specs are still fairly basic by our modern phone standards, but that’s the beauty of such a basic featurephone. Unlike the brick-like sturdiness of the old 3310, the modern variant is a little smaller, thinner, and lighter all round. It’s also a lot more colorful this time around, with glossy yellow and red colors, and matte grey and dark blue models. It’s instantly recognizable as a Nokia, and HMD has even included a modern Snake game on the handset just to play on the nostalgia.

Opera Mini is bundled for basic web surfing, but the real selling point is battery life. Just like most featurephones, standby time on the Nokia 3310 is 25 days, alongside a talk time of 22 hours. That’s a massive amount of battery life, but as the phone is so basic you’re hardly going to be wasting battery away on Snapchat or Facebook.

HMD is planning to make the new Nokia 3310 available in Q2 this year for 49 euros ($52).

PAL-V Liberty – World First Flying Car on Sale

The flying car developer announced that the PAL-V Liberty, its 3-wheel gyrocopter, is now for sale, with first deliveries expected by the end of 2018.In the air, the Liberty can climb to a maximum altitude of 3500m. Its 197hp flying engine can propel it up to a top speed of 112mph (180 kph).

The drive mode engine has 99 horsepower and a top speed of 100mph (160kph), with 0-62mph (100kph) sprint taking 9.0 secondes.

The standard Liberty Sport model starts at $399,000/€299,000. The Pioneer Edition, which comes with added options and is limited to 90 vehicles, costs $599,000/€499,000.

Both come with introductory training lessons and power heating, according to PAL-V’s website. Operators need a gyroplane pilot’s license to fly the vehicle.

To reserve a Liberty of your own, you will have to front a $10,000 or $25,000 nonrefundable deposit for the Sport and Pioneer, respectively. The company is also accepting $2,500 refundable deposits to put customers on a waiting list.

Nokia’s legendary 3310 rumored to return at MWC

The Nokia 3310 is one of the most iconic cellphones of the early mobile age. It’s known for its nearly indestructible design, indefatigable battery life, and Snake II — and it might be making a modern-day comeback. The news comes from notable phone leaker Evan Blass, who reports over at VentureBeat that HMD Global — the Finnish company that licensed the rights to produce Nokia phones — will be announcing a relaunch of the classic 3310 phone at MWC that will allegedly cost just €59 (roughly $62.61).

Along with the rumored 3310 remake, Nokia has already teased new Android phones for MWC, in addition to the currently China-only Nokia 6 that was announced late last year. According to Blass, those will be the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3, two more midrange devices running Android Nougat and rumored to cost €199 (roughly $210.87) and €149 (roughly $157.89), respectively. The Nokia 5 is said to have a 5.2-inch 720p screen, 2GB of RAM, and a 12-megapixel camera, along with the same Snapdragon 430 processor as the 6. Less is known about the Nokia 3, except that it’s meant to be the budget model of the line.

If correct, those specs are a bit of a disappointment for anyone looking for a flagship Nokia device, as it would make the 5 a step down from the already midrange 6, which has a 1080p, 5.5-inch display, 4GB of RAM, and 16-megapixel camera for €249 (roughly $263.85).

We’ll find out if resurrection of the 3310 is real, along with confirmation of these rumored Android devices, when Nokia and HMD Global have their formal event at MWC on February 26th.

The iPhone 8 will likely have wireless charging — but that could make it prone to overheating

All three iPhones expected to launch later this year will have wireless charging, according to a new forecast by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple is expected to release three new iPhones next fall — one premium model with a better screen using "OLED" technology, and two more iterative improvements to the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Apple may be concerned that the new iPhones may overheat more than older phones, according to the research. Glass casing and wireless charging are "unfavorable to thermal system operation," says Kuo.

From the note:

Adoption of glass casing & wireless charging unfavorable to thermal system operation for three new 2017F iPhone models; bigger impact on OLED model. The thermal system becomes less efficient with glass casing, as compared to metal casing used previously. Furthermore, wireless charging increases handset temperature. While we don’t expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation; this is because FPCB is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D touch sensor in OLED iPhone.

Kuo notes that the new, premium phone will have more overheating issues than the other two. Apple might have to add an insulating graphite sheet to prevent it from malfunctioning. That sheet, and other tech changes, could raise the price that Apple pays for the 3D Touch module for the new OLED iPhone as much as 50%.

The research note distributed to clients focuses on some of the parts that Apple buys from suppliers to make its screens and features like 3D touch work.

"We believe OLED iPhone will provide a better 3D touch user experience on the back of the new design," Kuo writes. Because of this, Kuo advises clients to expect shares of Apple suppliers General Interface Solution and TPK Holding Company to outperform.

The cost of cutting edge parts may be one reason why it's rumored that the premium OLED iPhone could cost over $1000, according to a recent report.

Here's what we're expecting from the iPhone 8:

• A 5.8-inch OLED screen.
• Wireless charging. 
• Sides made of "forged stainless steel" and a back made of glass.
• The home button and fingerprint sensor built into and under an edge-to-edge screen.
• A double lens camera, like on the iPhone 7 Plus.
• New 3D-sensing technology enabling "some form of facial/gesture recognition."

4K TV broadcasts are coming: here’s what you need to know

Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the FCC, published an op-ed today in Multichannel News advocating for the television industry to move forward with implementing ATSC 3.0, the latest standard to govern over-the-air broadcast TV. Along with the editorial, Pai presented a proposal to the FCC commissioners yesterday that would allow broadcasters to begin voluntarily using the new standard by the end of the year.

Now if you're like me, chances are you read that and have questions like, "What is ATSC 3.0? What does it actually mean for the future of my TV watching life? And will I have to buy new stuff again to make it work?" Fortunately, we've put some answers together that should help explain what the new standard is and the significance of Pai's push to implement it. Read on!

Before we get into ATSC 3.0, let's first talk about the ATSC itself — the Advanced Television Systems Committee. The ATSC is a group that was founded in 1992 that established the standards for digital television, which are currently used in the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and South Korea. Its self-described goal is to "coordinate television standards among different communications media." And while you may not have heard of the group by name, you may have seen the effects of its work: it developed the standard (ATSC 1.0) for the 2009 transition from analog to digital broadcasting in the US.

ATSC 1.0 (digital TV) is best known for offering high definition resolution (at 1080i and 720p resolutions) for broadcast television, with Dolby Digital audio, dramatically improving the quality of television (along with a host of far more complicated differences on a deeply technical level). From a more practical standpoint, the changeover meant that customers had to switch over to digital TV tuners that could receive the new format.

ATSC 3.0 is the next major version of the broadcast TV format. (Version 2.0 was intended as a backward compatible update that was eventually canceled in favor of the more significant 3.0 update.) Where ATSC 1.0 added digital technology and HD video, ATSC 3.0 is planned to be an IP-based (internet protocol) system. It’s still an over-the-air system, but it’s built on the same protocols as most internet technology, making it possible to easily view broadcast TV on modern connected devices. It’ll be a huge change in the technology that's underlying our TV systems, and it should greatly expand the capabilities of broadcast TV.

Among the planned additions in ATSC 3.0 is support for HD video in up to 4K resolution, HDR (which is an entirely different rabbit hole of competing standards), high frame rate, wide color gamut, and 3D. Furthermore, ATSC says that the new standard could make it far easier to broadcast live TV directly to mobile devices, similar to what’s done with a traditional TV. The changeover to ATSC 3.0 could have some complications, however. Since the system isn't compatible with old systems, customers will have to get new tuners to receive the signals. And on the broadcasting side, the transition is also looking to be extremely complicated.

Pai's proposal would allow for broadcasters to begin using ATSC 3.0, but still require them to offer a ATSC 1.0 version of their channels, to ensure that legacy devices aren't left behind (for now, anyway). But there's still a lot of questions as to how the actual implementation will work, including the standard itself, which has yet to be finalized. But it still would mark an important first step in actually getting 4K over-the-air TV by allowing US broadcasters to begin using the format, if they choose.

On the consumer side of devices, there's not much to do or worry about yet. LG announced that it would be selling TVs this year with both ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 tuners in preparation of South Korea rolling out ATSC 3.0 broadcasts this year (the country began testing the system in December of last year, something Pai calls out as a sign that the US could be "in danger of falling behind" when it comes to broadcasting). And future TV and set-top box devices will presumably also begin to use the new standard as it gets finalized, something that Pai's push should help. And when the standard does eventually replace ATSC 1.0, as ATSC 1.0 replaced digital, we'll probably see a similar transition to the new tuner format.

You can now add a $25 fingerprint sensor to Dell's latest laptops

Dell announced today that its XPS 13 and XPS 15 laptops now can be configured with a fingerprint sensor built into the keyboard for an extra $25. The sensor is compatible with Windows Hello, Microsoft’s system for alternative, faster login methods on Windows 10, making it a useful addition to the devices. And the price is on par with external solutions, so it’s a good deal if you’re looking for the feature.

The option is available on all versions of the XPS 13 and XPS 15, including the entry level spec models, which is nice. Both the XPS 13 and XPS 15 are available for purchase with the new sensor today from Dell’s website.

GoPro's Karma drone is back on sale, three months after recall

GoPro’s Karma drone is returning to store shelves after a three-month-long recall. The company announced in a press release that it has fixed the issue that nearly doomed its quadcopter, and that Karma is going back on sale today at GoPro.com and with “select US retailers” including Best Buy, B&H, and Amazon.

Pricing remains the same: the Karma drone will sell for $799 with no camera or $1,099 with a Hero 5 Black in the US. GoPro is also offering a version with of Karma without a stabilizer for $599, since the company began selling Karma’s removable stabilizer separately while the drone was not for sale. The camera company also says shipments will be limited at first, and that Karma will be available internationally later this spring.

Karma was recalled just weeks after going on sale in October 2016 because some of the 2,500 units sold fell out of the sky mid-flight. GoPro attributed the problem to a fault in the design of the latch that holds the drone’s battery in place. This led to loose battery connections that caused several drones to power down while in the sky, resulting in some spectacular crashes. The company says the updated Karma drones have a redesigned battery latch that went through “extensive testing” that should prevent future failures.


“We’re a little bit embarrassed that it was something as basic as a battery retention issue,” GoPro CEO Nick Woodman said at a small press gathering at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. “But at the same time we’re relieved that we can show the world that we do understand drones, we do understand the technology, and that it was an unfortunate mechanical engineering slip-up that led to the recall of Karma.”

Woodman also told The Verge at CES that GoPro plans to make more drones, despite the recall. “Our existing customers and new customers are really excited about Karma’s value proposition,” he said. “The foundation has been laid for great things to come in the Karma line.”

Meanwhile, GoPro’s stock price remains low, and it laid off 15 percent of its workforce after the recall in November. It was the company’s second round of layoffs in 2016. GoPro will report on its fourth quarter earnings from 2016 later this week.