Yes, yet another week has flown by so it’s that time again to round up the top articles we’ve posted on the site. We’ve seen Google accidentally leak the details of its new Pixel 4a smartphone, Oppo revealing new 125W charging tech, plans for the UK removing all Huawei 5G kits by 2027, amongst much more. We’ve also posted some more investigative pieces focusing on areas such as Digital Minimalism and whether blue light glasses are helping your eyesight or actually hindering it.
Looking first at the bigger news stories of the week, surprise surprise Google has been at the forefront. The highly anticipated Pixel 4a, essentially an iPhone SE competitor, was leaked by Google themselves seemingly by accident. The leak was seen on a Canadian online store header which was meant to entice shoppers to purchase the Nest Wifi System but a picture of the Pixel 4a was shown in its place, implying that the rumored imminent release was in fact true. The general consensus is that the device will now be available to purchase from August 3rd. In other Google news, they’ve teamed up with other tech giants like Microsoft, Facebook, and Spotify to back a lawsuit against ICE. This lawsuit is in aid of international students of universities who were moving classes online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, would have been deported to their home countries. This would impact both potential future employment at the tech firms as well as potentially having a huge effect on the already dwindling economy. Finally, in the annual Google for India event, CEO Sunda Pichai announced that they will be investing around $10 billion into India over the next seven years. This investment will be injected into equity investments into local businesses, partnerships, and infrastructure spending via the India Digitization Fund and will hopefully bring the less tech-enabled areas up to speed with the rest of the country.
Moving to other big industry news, Oppo revealed a brand new piece of charging technology that could potentially charge your phone from zero to full in just 20 minutes. The tech they are calling Flash Charge utilizes a 125-watt charger alongside a new 6C-cell battery approach that’s never been used before to create lightning-quick charging. In testing, Oppo saw charge times of five minutes to get a 4000mAh battery to 41 percent, beating their previous record by 10 minutes. I’m sure many of you out there will benefit from a smartphone that charges so quickly but unfortunately, Oppo hasn’t announced when this tech will be hitting mainstream devices.
While there’s been a buzz around Oppo, fellow Chinese conglomerate Huawei has seen further setbacks. It was announced that the UK will be removing all Huawei 5G infrastructure by 2027 due to continuing concerns over data leakage and privacy issues. This move will “cost hundreds of millions of pounds,” but the British government deemed the threat of spying to be far greater.
These were the larger stories of the week but we also published articles around Zoom moving into the hardware market, Microsoft Suduko getting a big update, ads being banned on most stalkerware apps, and Amazon showing off their supermarket Dash Cart. Check those out also if you want to know more.
We’ve showcased the big news stories but what about all the other content we’ve been publishing? Well, as previously mentioned, we’ve made some more investigative pieces live on the site. We looked at if blue light glasses are worth a purchase, focusing on the tech behind them and if even the cheapest of options does the job. Moreover, we also showcased the practice of Digital Minimalism where in which you provide yourself with a bit of digital detox which could prove to be a necessity for your mental health in the pandemic we’re all currently living in.
Finally, as alluded to in last week’s update, we published some stuff around working at home essentials in an effort to again, keep you afloat during the current crisis. Additionally, we provided some interesting information around how to mine Bitcoin because I think we all know, a digital currency will eventually take over in the future.
Next week on PCGuide we’ll provide you with some more tips and tricks to help you work from home as well as the latest and best news in the tech industry so be sure to check back for that!