Welcome to In Brief, the AndroidGuys tech briefing. Today is Monday, October 22nd, and we’re taking a look at all the tech news you need to know. In this post, we want you to learn about the news the way you want to learn. We’ve embedded a podcast version of all this news below. If you don’t want to listen, you can read just like you normally would.
In today’s edition, eBay wants to pay you for your smartphone, Digital Wellbeing comes to Google Home, we get bad news about the Mate 20, and Samsung teases its foldable smartphone.
We’d love feedback on this post, so please let us know what you think in the comments. If we can improve in some way, we’d love to know!
You can now sell your smartphone instantly with eBay
It can be a pain if you are trying to quickly sell one of your “old” smartphones in order to buy a new one. While Swappa is one of the best options available, eBay is looking to bring another option to folks.
eBay has announced its new Instant Selling program for smartphones, which allows users to sell their phones immediately. However, instead of getting cash, you will actually receive a voucher which will work on eBay’s own site.
The catch with this program is that you are limited in the devices that are eligible. Currently, you can only sell Samsung devices ranging from the Galaxy S7 to the S9 Plus, provided they are either unlocked or from Verizon or AT&T. eBay plans to bring more eligible devices to the list sometime in November.
Google Home update brings Digital Wellbeing functionality
It seems that Google is really dedicating itself to helping improve the lives of its users with the new Digital Wellbeing initiative. Now that this feature is available for select Android One devices, Google is seemingly bringing it to Google Home owners.
A few Reddit users found a new section in the Google Home settings which adds a Digital Wellbeing section. From this section, you are provided with options for Filters and Downtime.
Unfortunately, there has been no mention of these features becoming available for everyone just yet. Instead, this is probably Google testing things on the backend before flipping the switch for everyone.
Huawei Mate 20 lineup will not be available in the US
Last week, the Huawei Mate 20 lineup was unveiled to the world, but it seems not everyone in the world will be able to enjoy these handsets. More succinctly, those interested in the Mate 20 here in the US will be left out of the fun.
Huawei confirmed to Business Insider that these devices will not be able to easily purchase the Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro. Instead, you will have to rely on the likes of GearBest or AliExpress if you absolutely must own these smartphones.
Finally, Huawei also revealed that pricing and availability for the new Watch GT will be announced “soon”. At least something good is coming to the states from Huawei.
Honor Magic 2 leak reveals Huawei P20 design with a pop-up camera
Hot off the heels of the Huawei Mate 20 announcement, Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor, is set to unveil a flagship device of its own. The Honor Magic 2 has not been announced just yet, but some Chinese celebrities were able to get their hands on the upcoming handset.
In some shared images, it was revealed that the Magic 2 will look strikingly similar to the Huawei P20 lineup. However, there will be a slideout section which reveals a 16MP selfie camera, along with sensors used for 3D facial recognition.
Moving to the rear, there are a total of three cameras, with dual-16MP lenses and a 24MP sensor. Thanks to previous leaks, we have learned that the Magic 2 will sport a 6.4-inch AMOLED display along with the Kirin 980 SoC and 8GB of RAM.
Honor is rumored to announce the handset sometime near the end of October.
Samsung teases release of its foldable dual-screen smartphone
For the past few years, Samsung has continued to tease everyone about a possible release of a foldable smartphone. These started back in 2012 when Samsung showed off a prototype of a flexible AMOLED display.
Unfortunately, we still have yet to see anything substantial, despite a confirmed release from CEO DJ Koh. The latest teaser comes from Samsung’s own Twitter account, which teased the reveal of a new device.
We aren’t sure that this will be the foldable smartphone, but all signs point to this being the case. This reveal is expected to take place on November 7th or 8th during the Samsung Developer Conference.
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by Andrew Myrick via AndroidGuys
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