Author: Brett Venter

Man, Samsung really likes to have all of the attention to itself. Despite a stripped-back Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year, the company’s presentation was entirely devoted to One UI Watch, Samsung’s new wearables operating system. Not hardware, not phones, just the OS — and a promise that we’ll see it in action on something at the company’s next Unpacked event. Which will probably take place in July this year, now. One UI Watch what I can do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfSZvIqYDSM You can watch the entire event, in the event that you missed it the first time around, or you can just…

Vodacom has had VodaPay, a payments system backed by Chinese-owned Alipay, in the works for some time now. From the beginning the company has referred to the application as a ‘super app’. Now, finally, Vodacom is launching the app into the wild where we can get a closer look at it. VodaPay wants to be your VodaBankingInstitution The app, when we first heard about it, didn’t have a massive amount of detail. Now, though, you can explore it for yourself. It’s designed to allow anyone (using the app, obviously) to make or take payments (we’ll get to that in a…

This year’s main Mobile World Congress event might be subdued (and rather late) but there’s still news coming out. The Snapdragon 888 mobile processor, which was supposed to be the most powerful chip in smartphones for the year 2021, has just been supplanted. Meet the Snapdragon 888+. Wait, did Samsung develop the Snapdragon 888 Plus? Announced at MWC, Qualcomm’s newest processor is an update of the standard 888. This isn’t the first time the company has updated a flagship processor but it does throw a bit of a wrench in the works for those who were expecting the most powerful…

In perhaps the purest illustration of exactly how capitalism works, Facebook has become the latest company to hit a $1 trillion valuation. That’s according to Yahoo Finance, which lists the company’s market cap at $1,008 trillion. This is the first time Facebook has crossed the fabled barrier, and you can expect it to make the trip back and forth a few times before it becomes large enough that only a catastrophe will drop its value any lower. Facebook joins the big-time The social network has joined several other tech companies, including Google’s Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, which have all…

Samsung may have a closer look at its new smartwatches coming to MWC this year but there’s also a chance that we’ll see the Galaxy Buds 2 turn up as well. It’s a small chance, considering Samsung loves to launch its new headphones alongside new smartphone hardware, but it’s a chance. Check out the Galaxy Buds 2 Whenever the reveal does happen, we’ve already got a fairly accurate idea of what they’ll look like. Website 91Mobiles got its hands on what it says are official renders of Samsung’s newest in-ears, and the images show hardware that looks quite similar to…

It’s not just space agencies exploring the space beyond our skies — private companies have a hand in it too. Both SpaceX and Virgin Galactic have seen their missions take a step or two forward, in some very different ways. SpaceX has set a tentative date for the first orbital test of its Starship rocket (which will probably end with it exploding on contact with the Hawaiian ocean), while Virgin Galactic officially has permission to take passengers to the edge of space. SpaceX is going up The private spacefaring company making all the headlines at the moment is “…shooting for…

It’s a very good time to be a taikonaut. China’s space program has gone from a standing start to a gallop, with the Zhurong Mars rover performing admirably for the country’s first Mars exploration robot. First, it made it to the ground in one piece, then it took photographs of itself. And now there’s video (and audio) of the rover’s decent onto the red planet. Say ‘Zhurong’ to Mars https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1409020026619891712? The folks at NASA might be able to get away with a live-stream but they’ve had practice. China’s rover actually captured video of the descent to Mars, including a spectacular…

Skyworth’s got another TV for you to check out this year and this one’s a monster. Actually, they refer to the 86in SUC9500 TV as a beast, but that’s a little bit because of their celebrity partner — SA rugby player Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira. And also because this R35,000 TV set is 86in in size. R35k (though you can find it for cheaper than that online already) isn’t much at all for a 4K TV of this size and, in keeping with previous releases, it’s also got a whole bunch of Google tech inside. The SUC9500 doesn’t… er… suck The…

Samsung’s MWC event is just around the corner but most of its surprises seem to be spoiled. We already knew much about the Galaxy Fold 3 and the Galaxy Flip 3, but we weren’t properly sure what they’d look like. That’s changed. Spying on the Galaxy Fold 3 https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/1408107239903223808? A couple of much more official-looking images have dropped online, thanks to Evan Blass (otherwise known as EVLeaks on Twitter). The Galaxy Fold 3 looks about how you’d expect, in that it’s a flat slab with a hinge in the middle. A follow-up image shows an S Pen and a more…

China plans to send its first crewed missions to Mars by 2033, as part of a series of missions intended to establish a long-term human presence on the red planet. Reuters reports that Wang Xiaojun, the head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country’s main rocket construction company, explained as much at a Russian space exploration company. You’re going to Mars, China? According to Wang, China is eying manned missions to Mars in 2033, with followup missions in 2035, 2037 and then in 2041 — quite a specific timeline for the country to establish a presence on…