Light Start – Eco-Samsung, LG G8 ThinQ, Aston’s Rapide E, and Metroid Prime 4 restarts
Brett Venter
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Samsung will substitute plastic packaging for something a bit more sustainable
Samsung has a plan to save (some of) the world. The South Korean tech giant announced that it’ll be ditching the plastic that it used to package smartphones… and everything else. So fridges, TVs, pretty much everything with a Samsung label will get more sustainable padding. For smartphone packing for example, the company plans to change “…the plastic used for holder trays with pulp molds, and bags wrapping accessories with eco-friendly materials”, as well as altering charger designs to avoid needing those plastic films that you sometimes find on shinier plastics. Elsewhere, packing materials will be replaced with paper, recycled plastics and bio-plastics “…made from plastic wastes and non-fossil fuel materials like starch or sugar cane.” Considering how many units of stuff Samsung ships annually, this sounds like a damned good move environment-wise.
LG’s Q8 ThinQ may (or may not) be turfing the earpiece in favour of a vibrating display
The thing about rumours is that it’s often hard to pinpoint whether the information received is accurate or not. In the case of the LG G8 ThinQ, that’s become a little bit harder than usual. The latest rumour going around? LG will likely drop the earpiece (the little speaker that sound comes out of during phone calls) in order to add in another front-facing camera sensor. That doesn’t mean that it won’t make calls, it apparently means that LG’s new handset will transmit sound by vibrating its display. If, that is, reports given to @OnLeaks are in fact accurate. LG’s Ken Hong has chimed in on the image leaks that have fuelled speculation, saying that they’re just er… speculative. He should know. And yet… With Mobile World Congress just around the corner, a lot of rumours should be laid to rest soon. We expect this to be one of them.
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Take a look at Aston Martin’s first EV, the Rapide E, in motion for the first time
Everyone’s going electric, from Ford to BMW to Volvo. Even the makers of James Bond’s rides are hopping on the high-torque, low-emissions bandwagon with their first EV, the Rapide E. Still in the development stages, the company’s new baby took its first steps recently. A so-called validation prototype of the Rapide E (which is supposedly based on the company’s V12 Rapide S) moved under its own battery power for the first time recently. Like any proud parent, Aston Martin got the occasion on film, except there was no moment where the vehicle misstepped and bounced off the rug. With that hurdle cleared, the Rapide E has a lot of growing up to do. It’s supposed to go on sale by the end of this year. We’re quite keen on seeing what this luxury 602HP, 250km/h EV can do when the training wheels are finally off. Watch the baby’s first steps at the link below.
Metroid fans: You’ll be waiting even longer for Metroid Prime 4 to drop
So a little bad news (of a sort) for this Monday morning. Development for Metroid Prime 4, announced back in 2017 at E3, has stalled. Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi made the announcement in a video presentation on the company’s YouTube channel, apologising for the delay and outlining why development of the upcoming sequel has been restarted. Basically, Nintendo wasn’t happy with the quality of the game up to this point and so they’ve gone back to the drawing board. In the driving seat is Retro Games, the studio responsible for the previous Metroid Prime games, with no timeline in sight. Since it’s a start-from-scratch kinda move, we’re expecting at least two (and possibly three) years before Samus hits the Switch in any significant way. Watch the apology and explanation video below.
