Babe, wake up: there’s a Barbie phone coming
The world’s largest brands are turning up in droves to show off their products for the year at Mobile World Congress — and HMD is no different. The Nokia-makers haven’t brought anything tangible with them, only news of a partnership with Mattel and something it calls “HMD Fusion” which should make for an interesting 2024.
That partnership with Mattel will present itself in the form of a retro, Barbie-themed flip phone later this year. Neither HMD nor Mattel is wasting the Barbie brand after the year it had, with HMD designing an entirely new product to fit the partnership, rather than rebranding an old piece of tech from the vaults. Actual specs are still a mystery, but we reckon it’ll function like something straight out of the 2000s. That’s, like, HMD’s whole thing at the moment.
If you’re not enveloped in the Barbie wave, ‘HMD Fusion’ might be of more interest to you. The company describes it as “a radically new and innovative approach to smartphones and what they can do.” It’s essentially a DIY smartphone that’ll need the owners to assume the role of manufacturer and programmer. It’ll give you the basics of a shell, screen, and battery, running Android with an unlocked bootloader.
HMD’s whole idea here is to give consumers and developers a blank canvas to customize their devices to suit their needs. The examples it was spouting at MWC include the potential to turn what the company calls “smart outfits” (those are the devices) into barcode scanners, game controllers or even blood testers with the right hardware.
X is finally making voice and video calls free for everyone
If the idea of spending even more time on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter doesn’t have you audibly groaning, this one’s for you. X.com announced this morning that its audio and video calling feature would be rolling out to everyone soon — even the people who don’t pay to get a little tick next to their name.
It’s probably not a feature you’ve been clamouring for — WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord and Messenger already exist, after all — but it’s a must-have feature for a platform that hopes to one day call itself an ‘everything app‘. Linda Yaccarino, X’s chief officer, announced the feature’s expansion over the weekend, though X developer Enrique Barragan said the feature would slowly roll out to non-paying users.
Slow is right. We redownloaded the app to test the feature and were promptly told to subscribe to Premium or get lost. When it does eventually reach your device and you’d like to give it a go, just head to a DM with another user (you have to have messaged each other at least once) and a call symbol should appear at the top of the screen. If you’d rather receive calls from just about anyone, that’s a setting now too.
We can’t imagine anything worse.
Meet the Zephyrus G16, Asus’ latest and greatest (in South Africa)
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Asus. We’d be bigger fans if the company managed to get more of that international stock to South Africa’s shelves, but we digress. Asus South Africa is doing just fine of late, recently announcing the R43,000 Zenbook Duo UX8406MA and Zephyrus G16 laptops for the braai-loving demographic.
It’s the G16’s sleek, CNC-machined aluminium body that initially caught our eye when it stood in a bright spotlight at this year’s CES last month. It’s the “pinnacle of gaming innovation,” apparently — but we’ll wait for a review unit before we pass judgement. It’s touting a far more refined body, without the usual chunk you tend to find on its ROG siblings.
Don’t let the thinner chassis fool you, the G16 is still sporting a massive 16in 2.5K OLED panel that’ll hit 240Hz when necessary and just about all the RGB you’d ever need. It’s also rocking the latest innards with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor that’s backed up by “dedicated AI support” (because of course it is) and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 doing the heavy lifting in design work or playing Crysis.
Tecno’s in the doghouse
You probably know Tecno as one of South Africa’s budget smartphone and laptop providers. But internationally, not only is it a purveyor of half-decent and well-priced folding phones, it’s now getting into the realm of AI companions, specifically, artificially intelligent canines. As if OpenAI’s Sora didn’t scare us enough already.
Robo-dogs aren’t anything new, Boston Dynamics has spent more than a decade working on perfecting its robot dog Spot. But it makes the news when Tecno is getting in on the robotic AI action. Meet Dynamic 1, the company’s “German Shepherd-looking” robot that we’d have no trouble believing was here to clean up the timelines and save Sarah Connor.
Tecno’s gone to great lengths to ensure this is as dog-like as possible, but without any of the annoying features we’d usually have to deal with. It’ll climb stairs, shake your hand and the four microphones embedded in its head will help it understand audio prompts, and adjust its head accordingly. We’re not exactly sure why, but we guess it’d be a great companion for those not fit to look after a real dog.
Except, it probably won’t. Tecno said this was more to show off its prowess in the robotics and AI departments, rather than something it’s looking to commercialize. That might be an avenue the company explores later if Dynamic 1 proves popular but we doubt you’ll be throwing digital sticks for it any time soon.