Highlights: Corning is developing glass that truly folds, unlike the plastic displays first-gen foldable phones are using. The bendable glass will be 0.1mm thin and can bend up to a 5mm radius. Corning expects the glass to be ready in a few years, but Japan's AGC might beat Corning to it. At this point, it’s safe to say foldable phones stole the show this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Both Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X had a big presence at the tradeshow even though few were allowed touch and use them. Product videos of the devices, however, revealed the foldable phones aren’t really foldable. They’re bendable at best. The Samsung Galaxy Fold doesn’t really fold flat. When closed, there’s a glaring gap near the hinge. That’s because the Infinity Flex display on the Samsung Galaxy Fold as well as the panel on the Huawei Mate X doesn’t have truly foldable glass. In both the phones, the diplay relies on polymers or plastic which can flex multiple times, but can also get scratched or creased. The issue is expected in the first generation foldable phones. Gorilla Glass maker Corning is reportedly working on addressing this issue. According to a report by Wired, Corning is developing an ultrathin, bendable glass. Glass, mind you. Not plastic. The bendable glass will allegedly be 0.1 millimeters thick and can bend up to a 5 millimeter radius. All that while retaining it’s build and durability. However, it all seems like a complete defiance of the laws of physics. In fact, Corning admits the fact. In the report, John Bayne, Senior Vice President of Corning’s Gorilla Glass told Wired, “In a glass solution, you’re really challenging the laws of physics, in that to get a very tight bend radius you want to go thinner and thinner, but you also have to be able to survive a drop event and resist damage.” The company is not ready to make any official announcement about the development yet, but the report states Corning expects the glass to be ready in a few years. The report also claims Japan’s AGC, the maker of the Asahi Dragontail protective glass for smartphones, might be ready with a similar product even before Corning. However, this is not the first time we're hearing of Corning working on a bendable glass. Earlier, the company had showcased prototypes of the bendable displays to CNET where Corning discussed about how glass will ultimately be the material of choice for foldable devices in the future. Even while foldable phones are yet to truly arrive in the markets (we only have the official announcements and videos to go by), the race is on to make foldable phones, completely foldable, and in that process, hopefully bring the price range of the devices more affordable. Related Reads: Samsung unfolds Galaxy Fold with two displays, six cameras and app optimisations MWC 2019 roundup: Every 5G smartphone announced at the event
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Highlights: PUBG Mobile might be working on a new zombie mode. The new mode is said to enable one to play as a zombie. Zombie players might have to eliminate human players using only melee attacks. PUBG Mobile, the mobile counterpart of the Battle Royale multiplayer title for PC and consoles, was updated last month with a new Zombie mode. The Zombie: Survive Till Dawn limited time event added fresh gameplay to the title and is a result of collaboration between Resident Evil 2 and Tencent. Players need not only eliminate other players, but also survive the zombie horde that is unleashed upon them for two consecutive nights. However, there is a new zombie mode that could soon be making its way to the game and if the YouTuber MrGhost Gaming is to be believed, players might get to become zombies to attack and defeat standard players. MrGhost Gaming claims that PUBG Mobile published a Facebook post on February 28 asking users for feedback and ideas about the new zombie mode. The post apparently stated, “Do you want to see more new modes with zombies? How about new varieties of zombies? Or even...play the game as a zombie?” We did try to find the Facebook post but couldn’t. It is possible that PUBG Mobile might have, for some reason, deleted the post. However, the post does suggest that the game developers might be toying with the idea of introducing a new mode where one might be able to play as a zombie. The report further states that the new mode might be added to the Zombie mode, along with some additional modes like Call Of Duty Zombie Mode. In COD Zombie Mode, players face zombies in waves and the one that survives most waves wins. There is currently no information on when the new mode might be made available but as per the YouTuber, it could be made available with the version 0.13 or the 0.14 of the game. It might be similar to the humans vs zombie mode that is available for the PC version of PUBG. There is also said to be a possibility that the new mode might be made available in custom rooms where there are 10 humans and 90 zombies. As per the above video, there is a short gameplay of the said mode from PUBG PC. As one will observe, playing as a zombie, gamers can’t pick up any weapons or accessories and will need to eliminate human opponents using only melee attacks. Related Reads: PUBG Mobile version 0.11.1 update to add new India Bonus Challenge, enable exchange of BC for UC: Report PUBG competitor Apex Legends gains 50 million users in one month after launch
Highlights: AnTuTu releases list of top scoring phones of February. Xiaomi Mi 9 grabs top spot with an average benchmarking score of 371,849. Lenovo Z5 Pro GT gets the second position with a score of 353,469 Chinese software benchmarking platform AnTuTu has released a list of top 10 best performing phones for the month of February. The Xiaomi Mi 9 tops the list followed by the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT at the second spot and the Nubia Red Magic Mars gaming phone on the third. The list contains the phones that are launched in China, hence, Samsung’s latest S10 flagship devices are not included. The Xiaomi Mi 9, launched in the third week of February, is the new entrant and has secured the top spot with an average benchmarking score of 371,849. Launched in January, the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT gets the second position with an average benchmarking score of 353,469. Both these phones are powered by Qualcomm’s flagship processor Snapdragon 855. The Nubia Red Magic Mars gaming phone grabs the third spot by scoring 320,763 points. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. The Xiaomi Mi 9 is the company’s first phone ever to sport a triple camera setup on the back and its first to get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. Lenovo emerged as the first company to launch world’s first smartphone with the latest flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor and it also became the first device to have 12GB RAM. You can read the First Impressions of the phone here. Huawei Mate 20, which is powered by Kirin 980 chipset, takes the fourth position with a score of 306,984, followed by the Honor V20 with a score of 306,726. The Mate 20 X gets the sixth spot with a score of 304,325 points, and the Honor Magic 2 is on the seventh spot with 301,442 score. The Asus ROG Phone, Xiaomi’s Black Shark Helo gaming smartphone and Xiaomi Mi 8 Screen Fingerprint Edition, complete the list with 297,953, 297,473 and 296,953 points respectively. These phones have Snapdragon 845 chipset. Related Read: Samsung Galaxy S10, S10 Plus and S10e launched with Dynamic AMOLED display, triple rear cameras, up to 12GB RAM, 1TB storage and more
Highlights: Samsung is reportedly working on two more foldable phones. The company is also said to be working on improving the durability of the Galaxy Fold. In future, Samsung may bring phones with rollable and stretchable displays. Samsung pioneered the foldable phone technology and was one of the first OEMs to showcase a nd launch such a device. The company is now reportedly working on two more foldable devices seeking an early lead in the new, untested market segment. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports that the South Korean tech giant is said to be developing a clamshell-like device and another that folds away from the user similar to the Huawei Mate X that was launched at the recently-concluded Mobile World Congress. Samsung is reportedly planning to unveil the vertically folding phone late this year or early next year and is said to be using mock-ups to fine-tune the design. The gadget is designed with an extra screen on the outside, but the manufacturer may remove it depending on how customers respond to a similar display on the Galaxy Fold, they said. The outfolding device, which already exists as a prototype after being considered as Samsung’s first foldable gadget, will roll out afterward. It will be thinner because it has no extra screen. The sources also said that Samsung may incorporate an in-display fingerprint sensor for its foldable lineup. As far as the Galaxy Fold is concerned, Samsung is also trying to improve the durability of the Galaxy Fold’s display by eliminating the crease that appears on the panel after it’s been folded about 10,000 times. Reportedly, Samsung is considering offering free screen replacements after releasing the product in April. Digit was at the MWC where Samsung showcased the phone in a glass box. People with the knowledge of the matter also explained the reasons why the South Korean company chose to put the phone in a glass display. The Galaxy Fold’s screen imperfection develops on a protective film covering the touch sensor bonded with the display underneath, one of the people said. “That’s one reason why Samsung kept the phone inside a glass case at MWC in Barcelona last month,” the person said. Another reason why the device was kept away from the hands of reviewers was software imprefections, a source told Digit.in. Citing a Samsung spokeswoman, the report on the new foldable phones from the company said that the Galaxy Fold was displayed that way because the company wanted more attention on the Galaxy S10 phones, not because there was a problem with the quality of the foldable device. The company had announced that it will produce 1 million foldable phones this year. For the Galaxy Fold, Samsung has also worked with Google on an optimised Android operating system for a foldable screen. Samsung’s other competitors like Xiaomi, LG and Apple are also said to be working on foldable phones. Xiaomi is working on a dual-folding phone while LG has already said that it does not want to release the foldable phone because it feels there no market for it. Apple, however, hasn’t announced any plans for a similar gadget but patent published in past few months have suggested that the iPhone-maker is working in this direction as well. “No one knows what the ideal design is yet. The time is ripe for experimentation. Many of these designs won’t be successful, but industry players will learn valuable lessons along the way,” Bryan Ma, Vice President of Devices Research at IDC, was quoted as saying. Samsung also envisions smartphones with rollable and stretchable displays in the future, company’s Executive Vice President Chung Eui-suk said on the corporate website earlier this year. Related Read: Foldable phones expected to launch in 2019: The future is flexible
Highlights: Report claims Facebook lobbied against strict data laws. It targeted regulators and politicians globally. Former President Pranab Mukherjee has also been named as one of the targets. Facebook’s influence on Indian authorities cannot be confirmed. Facebook’s past is still haunting it and now a number of documents, accessed by the Observer and Computer Weekly have revealed a secret global lobbying operation by the company, targeted towards regulators in several countries, with an aim to procure influence across the world. The targets were legislators from countries, including India, UK, US, Canada, Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and all 28 member states of the EU. The documents reveal that Facebook targeted politicians around the world, including the former Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain George Osborne and former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee by promising investments and incentives “while seeking to pressure them into lobbying on Facebook’s behalf against data privacy legislation” in the respective countries. The documents reveal that the social media giant lobbied politicians across Europe to head off “overly restrictive” GDPR legislation. They even claim that the Irish Prime Minister said his country could exercise significant influence as president of the EU, promoting Facebook’s interests even though technically it was supposed to remain neutral. Facebook is even accused of using its Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s feminist book Lean In to “bond” with female European commissioners it viewed as hostile. Reportedly, Facebook threatened to withhold investment from countries unless they supported or passed Facebook-friendly laws. The documents apparently became accessible during a court case against Facebook by the app developer Six4Three in California, and they reveal that Sandberg considered European data protection legislation a “critical” threat to the company. The documents reveal the company’s “great relationship” with Enda Kenny, the Irish Prime Minister at the time, one of a number of people it describes as “friends of Facebook”. The documents centres around Ireland because the country plays a key role in regulating technology companies in Europe because its data protection commissioner acts for all 28 member states. Apart from Kenny, dozens of other politicians are mentioned by name, including Pranab Mukherjee. We cannot confirm the degree of influence that the company had on Indian authorities. Last year, Justice Srikrishna Committee submitted the much-awaited report on Data Protection and the draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The aim of the law is to ensure a free and fair digital Indian economy and it is seen as a framework which gives the Indian citizens full freedom to protect their data. The Indian privacy laws are said to have taken cues from the already present legal frameworks in different countries, such as GDPR in Europe, America’s laissez-faire approach and The Chinese Cybersecurity Law. However, the European Union (EU) in November said that the data localisation requirements that the MeitY had proposed in the draft bill are unnecessary and potentially harmful for business and investments. Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesperson reportedly said that the documents were still under seal in a Californian court and it could not respond to them in any detail: “Like the other documents that were cherrypicked and released in violation of a court order last year, these by design tell one side of a story and omit important context.” Related Read: Have responsibility for getting things right in tech: Sundar Pichai
