TCL is one of the world’s largest and best-selling electronics brands. Now the company has announced that it will sell Android TV models for the first time in the United States. The company has sold Roku TVs since 2014, and now it will add Android TV to its TV sets, allowing users to enjoy their devices and content the way they prefer.
“It is no secret that TCL’s rapid growth coincides with the increasing adoption of smart TVs, but this resounding success is largely due to our innovation, vertical integration, massive business scale and of course, strong relationships with partners like Roku.”
“Our award-winning TV lineup helped propel us into America’s second-largest TV brand just five years after we introduced our products in the U.S. and with those significant achievements, we believe this is the perfect time to deliver another option for consumers with Android TV.”
“Since the first day TCL launched in North America, we’ve been focused on becoming one of the most popular TV brands by paying close attention to what our users value. Consumers desire options and our mission is to serve them with our latest multi-OS strategy. We’re excited to introduce new customers to TCL with our expanded television assortment and smart solutions in additional categories like TCL-branded home appliances, audio products and mobile phones – a broad offering that will further establish the company as a clear leader in the electronics space.” Chris Larson, Senior Vice President for TCL North America
You can now get your own TC Android TV on Best Buy.com. The 40-inch Class 3-Series 1080 HDTV is available for $19.99, while the 32-inch inch Class 3-Series 1080 HDTV can be yours for $129.99.
Apple Watch Series 3, Lenovo’s smart Tab P10 and more products on sale today
Deals. We have some new deals for you starting off with Pixels, the Pixel 4 is currently $154 off, leaving it at $645 for the 64GB variant. The Pixel 4 XL also has an $81 discount which leaves it at $818 shipped but, hurry because they’re somewhat low in stock. Moving on, the Apple Watch Series 3 is $20 off from its usual price, leaving it at $179 shipped for the 38mm GPS variant. If you want an Android Tablet, for some reason, the Lenovo Tab P10 is $100 off, leaving it at $200 shipped. We have more deals on Sony TVs, sleep trackers, microphones and more.
HTC may finally deliver a device with Android 10 with the HTC Desire 20 Pro
Does anyone remember HTC? Well, earlier this year we heard that the company was under new leadership and we were expecting them to get back to their roots and launch some sort of flagship. An HTC Desire 20 Pro just popped up on Google Play support and now we get some of the specs. It’ll apparently be powered by a Snapdragon 665 SoC, 6GB of RAM and will run Android 10 out of the box. We got schematics for the design of this phone back in April, and now it was also certified by the NCC so we should see it some time soon. Thing is, fine that you wanna use the roots thing to bring a classic name like Desire, but where are the flagship elements in those roots HTC?
There is now a video of the upcoming Google Android TV streaming device
Yesterday we got some images of Google’s new dongle for Android TV which is codenamed Sabrina. Our friends over at XDA now have a recovered video that shows the device and the UI. The device will apparently be announced along with the Pixel 4a and it will allow you to Cast from your devices and control it with a separate remote that also allows for voice controls. It’s not exactly a Chromecast and it will work more like an Apple TV where it has it’s separate UI that you can control with the remote without the need to cast to it from your phone. It will also bring some features from their Smart Speakers like letting you answer your door from it or ask it different questions, we should be hearing more about it in the next few weeks.
Apple may be working on services bundle
Apple is apparently working on a bundle for their different services. 9to5Mac just found new files in the iOS 13.5.5 code that reference a “bundle offer” and a “bundle subscription”. The files are said to be related to the “management system of Apple’s own services subscriptions like Apple News+.” We’ve heard rumors of this since 2018 and it looks like it might happen, merging Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple News+ into the same bundle offering. If you combine the current prices of these services it amounts to $25 so we hope it’ll be somewhere around the $15 mark.
The Moto Razr 2 could arrive with larger displays
Recently we heard that Motorola was working on a successor for last year’s Moto RAZR and it looks like things are on track for that September launch. According to the Display Supply Chain Consultant’s CEO, both of the RAZR’s displays will be growing in size. He didn’t specify on the outer display but apparently the main display will adopt the same size from the Galaxy Z Flip, meaning a 6.7in display which is half an inch larger than the current RAZR. Other leaked specs include the Snapdragon 765G, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Android 10 out of the box and a 48MP main camera.
Story of the day:
Apple could give us iPhones with low-power LTPO OLED displays in 2021
iPhone 13 prototype shows an under-screen camera, in-display Touch ID and a USB-C port
And finally the hottest news today have to do with iPhone, but we’re not exactly sure which one. If you remember last week we talked about lightning sticking around for another year because the next iPhone is going portless. Yeah hold on to that. Let me summarize it. Back on Monday we got some dummy units for the iPhone 12 which looked kinda sketchy since they’re pretty much a showcase of footprint and that’s it. Now we have some iPhone 13 dummies from the same source. We know that Apple is notorious for prototyping and we recently got some leaks that hinted to a port-less iPhone. These new leaks don’t follow on that and we should take this with a considerable amount of salt considering the timeline but, these do show a notch-less iPhone coming, which also brings a USB C port and a weird camera array that doesn’t really tell us anything about the cameras. Speaking of this notch-less display, a new DigiTimes report claims that Apple’s supply chain partners are developing OLED displays using LTPO backplane technology for the 2021 iPhones. LTPO is the technology that allows for a more power efficient display, paving the way for better battery life and that ProMotion display that we’re expecting for the upcoming iPhones. Most of the leaks we’ve covered from reliable sources hint to the 2020 iPhones bringing ProMotion features, but other sources claim that LTPO is essential for that and we might get it until 2021. I know, it’s all a mess..
Yesterday we saw some images that gave us an idea of what the next Google Android TV dongle would look like. The guys over at XDA developers have now posted a video, where they mention the device’s features and more.
For the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing rumors of a new streaming device from Google that might come with its own remote, unlike the Chromecast lineup. Now, XDA-Developers has unearthed what appears to be official product renders of the upcoming streaming device from Google that will be based on the Android TV platform and is codenamed Sabrina.
The new streaming device from Google looks like an oblong pebble and will reportedly come in black, white, and a light pink color similar to the one we saw on the Pixel 3. It is said to pack an Amlogic chip and will also support Dolby Vision. The price is rumored to fall somewhere around $69, but details about a release date are still under the wraps.
As for the remote, it has a clean candy bar design with rounded buttons, although we only see the top half of it in the leaked renders. The upcoming streaming device might debut under the Nest branding and may introduce a few UI changes as well, such as YouTube TV integration in the Live section, a new Google Assistant interface, and support for Nest home cameras and doorbells alerts.
Today’s deals include the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple Watch Series 5 and more
Deals. Let’s start with the fact that Visible just confirmed that they have inventory for the iPhone SE, meaning you can get the phone for as little as $184. Watch our review for details on how to get the deal while supplies last. Speaking of Apple, with the 16in MacBook Pro which is currently $209 off for the Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage variant, leaving it at $2,190. The Apple Watch Series 5 is also $50 off, leaving the 40mm variant for $349. The Fitbit Versa is $50 off as well, leaving that for $150 shipped. Finally, the Jabra Elite 65t are also $50 off, leaving them at $99.99. We have more deals on Beats headphones, Bose headphones and Fitbits and more.
The new Chromecast could arrive with a new name and Android TV
A new report claims that the Chromecast might be going through some changes soon. Apparently it will now be called Nest Cast and it will run full blown Android TV. Instead of having the content cast directly from your phone or other device, users would be able to use a remote to interact with the interface, just like TVs with Android TV. It will also be able to stream games through Stadia, sources aren’t certain when we are getting this but we might see it at Google I/O. Oh and other reports say that Android TV is gonna now become Google TV as well. Stay tuned.
Apple could give us a foldable MacBook or MacBook Pro in the future
Apple has put out several foldable patents over the years for both the iPad and the iPhone and now we have a new one for the Mac. The ‘Planar Hing Assembly’ patent shows a design for a MacBook Pro-style device which would have a ‘single piece body with a seamless appearance that includes a bendable portion, capable of having a smoothly curved shape’. The biggest problem is that in this bendable portion you still have mechanical components that have to be in communication with the rest of the device, doing things like connecting the keyboard to the display. Apple would fix the problem of having this bendable piece work by stacking layers that can transition from an uncompressed to a compressed state. This bendable hinge could be even more reliable than current hinges if done right, but we’ll see if we ever get it.
Xiaomi sends launch invites for Poco F2 debut on May 12: Reports
Yesterday we discussed how we should be getting a POCO F2 Pro soon and according to Android Authority, they got an invitation from Xiaomi’s Spain PR agency to an Event on May 12th for a ‘second generation’ product. We also have a leaked invitation on Twitter for an event on May 12th at 2PM in Madrid, with the invitation looking like the teaser we showed yesterday. We’re expecting the phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 865, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, reportedly starting at €649.
Microsoft’s new Surface Headphones 2 are coming with improved battery life
Microsoft Surface Earbuds finally arriving on May 12 with a lower $199 price tag
Microsoft Surface Book 3 is official: 10th Gen Intel CPU, new NVIDIA GPUs, and up to 32GB RAM
Microsoft Surface Go 2 with slimmer bezels, more power goes official for $399
Microsoft just announced a substantial list of products today, starting with the Surface Go 2 and the Surface Book 3. Starting off with the Surface Go 2, it features options from a Pentium Gold to a Intel Core m3 with slimmer bezels in the same chassis as the older model. Specs go from 4 to 8 Gigs of RAM, 64 Gigs of eMMC or 128 Gigs of SSD storage and price starts at $399, going up to $879 for the maxed out variant. Now, the Surface Book 3 brings a similar design as well but with way better internals. It brings Intel’s latest 10th gen processors, it goes up to 32GB of RAM with what Microsoft claims to be the fastest ever SSDs. You get to choose the graphics between the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max Q, GTX 1660Ti or Quadro RTX 3000 on the business model. It comes in two sizes, 13.5in and 15in with a promised 15% boost in performance. The 13.5in starts at a hefty $1599 while the 15in will cost you $2299. They also announced the Surface Headphones 2 which now offer a darker color option along with the ANC it’s known for, letting you manually adjust the level of Noise Cancellation you want through 13 different levels. The interesting thing is that they now cost $249 instead of $349. Oh and the Surface Earbuds that look like gages.. Yeah those are finally available and ugly as ever.
Story of the day:
These could be the new Samsung Galaxy S21 camera specs
We have a new report from Taiwan that hints to Samsung testing some interesting camera specs for the Galaxy S21. The report claims due to the Galaxy S20 being notorious for its focusing issues, that’s gonna be a major priority. It also says that one of the development models is rumored to bring a 150MP main sensor, a 64MP telephoto, a 16MP wide angle and a 12MP macro sensor. The report even mentiosn that the company might drop the ToF, which is quite interesting at a time when there’s so much bet for AR. Apparently two versions of this model are being tested, one with Optical Image Stabilization on the main sensor, the telephoto and the selfie camera. The other one has OIS for the main sensor, the telephoto and the wide angle. Samsung is also reportedly working on ramping up their work on higher resolution sensors to make room for the 150MP sensor.
The OnePlus 7T wasn't the only product introduced by the company at yesterday's special event. After weeks of teasing the OnePlus TV is finally official.
After being silent about the project, last week the company revealed that the name of the product will be OnePlus TV, and now Lau is offering more details.
