Special Editions are back, baby

iPhone SE 4 rumored specifications:
– Size and weight: 148.5 x 71.2 x 7.8mm, 166g
– Appearance: 7000 series aluminium alloy, right-angled frame, front and rear glass (no Ceramic Shield). Front looks like iPhone 13, with Face ID support; back looks like Xr, with one camera.

— Nguyen Phi Hung (@negativeonehero) April 7, 2024

According to a leaker by the name of @negativeonehero on X.com, a prominent Apple tipster, spotted first by NotebookCheck, the next iteration under the Special Edition umbrella may have had all its specs aired out more than a year out from the expected launch date. There’s no word yet on pricing, though it’s expected to follow in the footsteps of the $430 (R8,000) launch price attached to the SE 3 in 2022.

Read More: Exploring the walled garden: First-time iPhone setup tips

For a budget phone, the SE 4’s specs appear to be surprisingly competent. On its front is a 60Hz 6.1in LTPS OLED display and includes Face ID unlock features lacking in the SE 3. Inside is 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM, Wi-Fi 6 capabilities and an A16 Bionic chip powering it all. Battery life seems to have taken a beating to fit all that in, reportedly featuring a 3,279mAh battery with 20W wired charging and 12W wireless.

All that, covered in a layer of 7000 series aluminium alloy that’ll supposedly make the whole affair look like an iPhone 13 from the front and the iPhone XR from the back.

Source

WhatsApp is finally extending what was an already-limited trial to more countries, and South Africa is included. While reports seem to indicate that Indian users are receiving the lion’s share of the trial, Stuff can confirm the feature has reached a limited number of users around the country. Despite Stuff being enrolled in WhatsApp’s beta programme, we have yet to receive the update, confirming that the trial rollout is seemingly random.

AI for the Hoi Polloi

While there’s still no word on when the Meta AI-powered chatbot will begin rolling out in a more official capacity, we’re guessing a global launch can’t be too far away. Until then, however, we’ll have to make do with watching the feature from afar, using screenshots of the feature provided to Stuff (pictured above).

Meta AI, which uses the company’s Llama model to make itself artificially intelligent, takes up residence right on WhatsApp’s home page, with a search bar appearing above a user’s chats. Don’t fret. Meta’s AI states that it does not have access to your personal messages, and will only train itself off messages sent directly to it.

Read More: Absa launches ChatWallet to let you bank on WhatsApp – here’s how to use it

Hitting the “Ask Meta AI or Search” bar at the top will instantly offer up a selection of basic prompts to give users an idea of how the feature works. Ask it for “Horror TV show recs” for instance, and it’ll open a new chat with its recommendations for what it considers the best in the genre. Seriously? No The Haunting of Hill House?

The AI can also generate “unique images to share with anyone you want,” similar to the app’s AI stickers feature (which we proudly peer-pressured into making Mario and Sonic smoke). We’ve yet to see just how competent the chatbot is, though we’re doubtful it can hold a candle to dedicated AI image generators. Still, it’s better than nothing.

We’ll keep you updated on the feature’s trajectory into a global rollout.

You might have thought the ‘dumbphone’ was dead and buried, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Just the other day we spent time reviewing Nokia’s 2660 Flip — a phone that deals in megabytes rather than gigabytes when it comes to RAM. And that 0.3MP camera? Lovely.

Music to our ears

It’s worth mentioning that these aren’t exactly ‘new’. They’re rehashed classic Nokia devices. The Nokia 6310 (2024) for instance, is riding the coattails of the model from 2021 (which itself is derived from the original Nokia 6310 from 2001), though Nokia’s thrown in a larger 1,450mAh battery and a USB-C port. See, Apple? It’s not that hard.

Everything else… has been kept the same. It still sports a 2.8in QVGA display, 8MB of internal storage, dual SIM-slot, and a 0.3MP camera on the rear end we saw during the re-release in 2021. There’s even a 3.5mm audio jack — something plenty of today’s smartphones can’t brag about.

Nokia’s 5310 (2024) is yet another refresh, being the third iteration in the 5310 family. Modelled after the 2020 refresh, the 5310 first came to power in 2007 as an “XpressMusic” phone. Don’t worry. We had to look it up too. As for the specs of the 2024 model, it packs a larger 1,450mAh battery, a larger 2.8in QVGA display, and a Unisoc 6531F chipset. Oh, and the USB-C charging hole is also new. Everything else…

Read More: Random Access Memories (2003) – Nokia N-Gage

And finally, we have the Nokia 230 (2024). Being the youngest of the bunch, having only released in 2015, it was only entitled to the bare necessities to turn this into a usable phone for 2024. That means the same 1,450 mAh battery upgrade and USB-C port on the bottom. It’s got Bluetooth 5.0 too thanks to the Unisoc 6531F CPU. The 2MP camera, 8/16MB of RAM and storage, and 2.8in QVGA display remain untouched.

At the time of writing, Nokia is yet to officially announce prices, nor a strategy to launch these locally in SA. We’re not worried about that last bit — Nokia’s a fan of South Africa and always has been. No, what concerns us most is that these devices are 2G capable and only 2G capable — which is reportedly getting the boot come 2027. Whether that’ll actually happen is a different story altogether.

Source

By the time EA Play reached South Africa’s shores, it rocked up with a fee almost worthy of consideration: R50/m or R200/year. Aside from the aforementioned library of games, a subscription also offers a minimal 10% discount on upcoming titles and in-game titles, appealing most directly to folks who eagerly await the company’s next FIFA or Madden title every year.

EA Play(ing us for fools)

EA began warning subscribed customers of the change via email yesterday, noting that new prices will come into effect from 10 May 2024, according to GamesIndustry.biz, or “until your next renewal date that occurs on or after X” date. Thanks to u/ssa17k on Reddit, we’ve got an idea of what the email being sent to customers looks like.

And we haven’t even mentioned EA Play Pro, the company’s higher-tier subscription service, which is also included in the price hike. The difference here appears that Pro members can secure new titles instantly, rather than waiting for them to shrivel up and be passed onto the cheaper subscription package.

Read More: Dead Space (2023) PC review – We’re crossing the Event Horizon here

In South Africa, the monthly price of EA Play is being hiked up to R90/m (R40 increase), while a year will now set customers back R650/year (R400 increase). Step up to EA Play Pro, and you’ll pay R305/m (R105 increase), whereas a year of the service now costs R1,700/year (R500 increase).

EA’s email doesn’t mention the reason behind the massive price hike, though according to GamesIndustry.biz, the FIFA-maker is looking to “reflect changes in currency value and to bring fees in line with market value.” Translation? “We’d like more money, please and thank you.”

Source

Let’s first address the elephant in the room. The pinnacle of the Note series, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ has had a massive price jump. What once used to cost R11,000 for the best that the Note series had to offer in 2023, will now set you back R16,500. And honestly, it’s worth it — even more so if you get creative with where you purchase the device. From some places, it can be had for R4,000 less than Xiaomi’s official figure. Jus’ saying.

Slippery slopes

There’s no denying that Xiaomi’s assembled a decent-looking phone. While most mid-rangers in the category settle for the bare minimum, Xiaomi put in real effort to help the Note 13 Pro+ stand out from the rest of the crowd. Whether it’s the curved display — a first in the Note family — or simply the Moonlight White coating our review model turned up wearing, there’s something for everybody here. And we haven’t even got to the important bits yet.

Those curved edges aren’t only for show. Disagreeable as you might be toward the idea of a phone without ‘proper’ edges, the Note 13 Pro+ uses them to its advantage, offering a generally more comfortable fit in hand. Sure, those metal-looking rims and a generous coating of Corning Gorilla Glass (Victus) are doing a lot of heavy lifting to up that premium (if [very] slippery) feel, but we’re not condemning that. Team effort and all, you know?

Under that slathering of toughened glass is a gorgeous 6.67in AMOLED display that’s quite capable of hitting a silky-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and a brightness level touting a splendid 1,800 nits all weave together for a display that we found difficult to put down — day or night. That’s saying something.

Don’t expect anything special in the way of ports. Xiaomi has stuck with the basics, such as a USB-C charging hole, SIM slot, and a singular speaker vent adorne the phone’s bottom. Running along the right-hand side is the volume rocker and power button, while the top is home to the speaker’s better half and a lonely IR blaster. A 3.5mm audio jack is sadly absent from the Redmi Note series for the first time. RIP.

Dime-piece Dimensity

If you’re picking up the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ in South Africa, you’ll be “stuck” with the best of the lot, meaning 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Internationally it’s a different story so you’ll need to look in the creative spots if you’re after something a little less capable and lighter on the wallet.

No matter where you’re getting your device, it’ll come stock with MediaTek’s 4nm octa-core Dimensity 7200-Ultra SoC, including the Mali-G610 MC4 GPU. It’s no flagship chip, but that’s alright. We never once struggled to get the Note 13 Pro+ in the gaming mood, hitting a consistently smooth 120Hz after we’d enabled the feature in the settings.

Having already proved itself a capable gamer, you’d be right to think it’s great just about everywhere else. Multitasking? No problem. Jumping from app to app like an iPad kid looking for his next fix? Easy. The only real cause for concern is a slight tendency to get a little warm around the edges roughly an hour deep into a gaming session — 45 minutes under more duress. Bring on winter, we guess?

Don’t expect anything more intensive than a simple Android 13 affair with Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 skin thrown in to distract you from that fact. The company’s new and flashy HyperOS is absent, but we’re hoping that’s nothing more than an oversight that’ll be fixed by the time the Note 14 arrives. Right, Xioami? In the meantime, you’ll need to put up with a fair amount of bloatware and some settings fiddling to get it un-MIUI-fied.

Battery life was about as standard as it gets. There’s a 5,000mAh battery shoved in there, somewhere, and it’s about as consistent as you’d expect. Pretty damn consistent, then. Keep its tasks simple, and it’ll stretch to accommodate roughly a day-and-a-half’s worth of life. Squeeze in some gaming while you’re at work, and you’ll be lucky to have 10% at bedtime. More exciting is the 120W charger which is about as excellent as it sounds.

No gimmicks here 

The Redmi Note 13 Pro+’s camera bump may not look particularly extraordinary, but the tech it’s packing in the three-sensor array definitely is. You’ve probably heard Xiaomi shouting about the 200MP main sensor from the rooftops, or you’ve got a bit deaf. Either way, it worked so well last time around, so why not now?

Xiaomi hasn’t put all of its eggs in one basket. That 200MP camera is one of three, with 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro sensors filling the gaps. ‘Round the other end is a perfectly capable (often more so) 16MP front-facer. If you were hoping for a depth sensor, you won’t find it here. That’s fine. There’s a whole 200MP sensor to mess around with to comfort you through the loss.

And comfort us it did. You’ll fare better with images in the daytime, providing clear and fairly detailed snaps — even without switching to the dedicated 200MP mode inside the phone’s camera app. Colours can occasionally appear washed out, with a hint of pink overshadowing the image. It’s not constant and felt like an almost random occurrence — seemingly depending on the light levels.

Those secondary cameras are about as average as you’d expect from a mid-ranger who has blown the budget on its main sensor. Still, we didn’t hate the variety. The 16MP front-facer on the other hand was the star of the non-200MP show, pulling some half-decent, Instagram-worthy selfies out of the bag, even if the AI-touting software beautified our faces a little too much for our liking.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5g verdict 

Xiaomi’s taken a rather big bet by setting the launch price as high as it has. R16,500 is certainly a lot to stomach, especially when it doesn’t have what the top billing companies like Samsung or Apple can bring to the table. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the price — it is — with that excellent camera set-up, gorgeous displays and fashionable coating. But we can’t in good faith have you spending R4,000 more than is necessary. The creative avenues aren’t that hard to find.

There’s just one problem. Like the shinobi-clad Neo GT 3, Redmi is reserving the right to purchase one of these glorious devices for residents in the company’s homeland; China. Unless you’ve got an in with someone in China, we’ll have to make do with gaping at the thing from afar.

Yer a smartphone, Harry

Round the back of the Turbo 3 is where you’ll find most of the Harry Potter branding that knocks this phone up in price. The livery puts the Hogwarts crest front and centre, with a wand found up around the camera’s real estate. And, just in case any buyers forgot why they purchased the phone in the first place, Redmi’s stuck some handy Harry Potter branding down the bottom end.

Xiaomi didn’t just slap a skin on their phone and call it a day, though. The box it arrives in is equally Harry Potter-fied, with a special edition phone charger and case — with a few other accessories to complete the set. The same goes for the Redmi Pad Pro, which dons a simpler Hogwarts crest right in the middle, but arrives with a protective case that’ll turn the thing into a massive 12.1in-sized Hogwarts admission letter.

Read More: Xiaomi TV Box S (2nd-gen) review – It’s what’s on the inside that counts

Should you get your hands on either of these, you’ll nett some decent specs. The Turbo 3 is not only rocking Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, but also 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 6.67in OLED screen.  The Pad Pro’s largest feat is the 10,000mAh battery lodged in its innards. We suppose you could make a case for the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 SoC powering the whole Hogwarts letter, too. Must be how it keeps going even on weekends.

Source

Should the CEF’s predictions come true, it’ll be the country’s petrol drivers forced to bear the increased prices by the time the first Wednesday of the month (1 May) rolls around. That’s when the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the government branch responsible for officiating the fuel price, adjusts prices at the pumps around SA.

May the Force be with you

Fortunately, it’s not all bad news. The CEF’s predictions are, well, predictions. It arrives at the figures we’ve got below by studying the same data the Department of Mineral Energy and Resources does daily, rather than an average at the end of the month.

This offers the most accurate representation of the country’s waning or growing fuel price costs before the official changeover date — 1 May 2024.

The CEF examines data such as the current price of refined oil globally and the current Rand/US Dollar exchange to best determine the fluctuating petrol and diesel prices. These predictions unfortunately cannot account for the Department’s regular changes to the slate levy, or any pending failures on Eskom’s end that could send both sets of prices skyrocketing before the month’s end.

Read More: Here’s how Ford is living in a mixed reality

Here are the petrol and diesel price predictions (so far) for May 2024:

• Petrol 93: increase of 38 cents per litre (R0.38)
• Petrol 95: increase of 36 cents per litre (R0.36)
• Diesel 0.05%: decrease of 34 cents per litre (R0.34)
• Diesel 0.005%: decrease of 38 cents per litre (R0.38)
• Illuminating Paraffin: decrease of 27 cents per litre (R0.27)

While Twitter/X is still considered the king of text — an area TikTok will likely try and invade with an app called ‘TikTok Snap’ or something similar — Meta’s Instagram still rules the photo-sharing realm. It’s here that Notes will have to make its stand if it has any hopes of breaching the cultural zeitgeist. Considering the app’s posting strategy, it might just work.

Taking on the big dogs

What is Tiktok notes?
byu/killranker5 inTiktokhelp

Neither TikTok nor its parent company ByteDance has yet announced its new Notes app in any official capacity, though according to screenshots from some users, an in-app notification has begun appearing and foretells that “TikTok Notes, a new app for photo posts, is coming soon.” (Thanks, TechCrunch). A TikTok spokesperson later confirmed to TechCrunch that it was working on the app, noting that it wasn’t yet available.

“As part of our continued commitment to innovating the TikTok experience, we’re exploring ways to empower our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch.

While taking on one of the biggest companies in the world might be a daunting task, TikTok Notes isn’t turning up to the battle empty-handed. Judging by the notification the internet has since scoured, “your existing and future public TikTok photo posts will be shown on TikTok Notes.” The experience opts users in automatically and those unwilling to participate will need to turn it off manually.

Read More: The Titanic never sank on TikTok

Considering the somewhat scummy opt-in tactic and the fact that users have been able to post images to TikTok for more than a year and a half, by the time TikTok Notes does launch, it’s sure to have a sizeable catalogue of users and images to flaunt. Whether it’ll be enough… remains to be seen.

Source

Canal+, unlike its forebears, isn’t backing down. It’s desperately looking for an ‘in’ to Africa’s content scheme, and it’s hoping to do that through a total buyout of MultiChoice, owners of DStv and SuperSport. Despite turning down the French firm’s initial offer in February, Canal+ returned with a vastly improved offer that, by the look of it, MultiChoice is deeply considering.

According to MyBroadband, MultiChoice has informed shareholders that an independent board has been established to seriously consider Groupe Canal+’s offer to purchase the remainder of shares it does not already own, valuing the broadcaster at roughly R55 billion. The deal, a cash buyout, would be worth around R35 billion.

MultiChoice in a statement issued on Monday noted that it had selected Standard Bank as the deal’s independent expert, allowing the bank to review the terms, provide an opinion on Canal+’s offer, and recommend a course of action to its shareholders.

Separate from the deal, Canal+ has continued to dig itself deeper into the company, MultiChoice confirmed on Friday, 5 April. Canal+ now owns 36.6% of the company, up from the 35.01% it held when it upped its bid to R125/share in March, though should the share price rise to above R125/share before the deal closes, Canal+ may be forced to up its offer.

Both MultiChoice and Canal+ intend to post a combined circular to MultiChoice shareholders by 7 May 2024, according to TechCentral.

Source

Spotify’s fiddling with AI again

It was only a matter of time before Spotify got ’round to throwing generative AI onto their platform. It’s been toying with the idea of artificial intelligence for ages, first doling out X, the AI DJ, to users before saddling them with a whole lot of other AI-powered features, Now, however, the platform will allow users to hit a couple of keys on their keyboard (typing) and have an entire playlist spat out back at them. Say hello to AI playlists.

Spotify announced the feature yesterday, although it’s reserved for customers in the UK and Australia for now. When it eventually reaches South Africa, users can type in prompts such as “a playlist that makes me feel like the main character,” or “relaxing music to tide me over during allergy season.”

Get creative with those prompts. Spotify reckons the intelligent platform will understand references to places, animals, activities, movie characters, colours and “even emojis”. Describe your moods and the decades of music you’re after to get the best results. As for when the feature will see a wider rollout, there’s no way of telling. We’re hoping it’ll be sooner rather than later.

Eskom is dropping R67 billion to pollute less

When South Africa’s state-owned power utility, Eskom, isn’t load shedding the country, it’s unfortunately burning more coal than your uncle on a Sunday afternoon. It’s now looking to fix that, according to Bloomberg, by spending billions of rands to cut emissions down to a healthier figure.

Specifically, Eskom is committing to a plan that will see the utility spend R67 billion from now until 2035 to cut its most dangerous emissions by 70% in that timeframe.

Why now? Last week, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said that the government’s idea of delaying the closure of certain plants could result in the death of tens of thousands of residents.

“Eskom has developed station-specific recovery plans for each station and these include emission-improvement plans which are being implemented and are beginning to show success,” the company said in a response to queries.

Unfortunately, Eskom provided nothing more than ambitious promises and vague sentiments on how it’s planning to cut down on those emissions.

Source

Elon Musk wants a Tesla robotaxi, is getting a robotaxi

According to a new tweet from Elon Musk, the auto-automobile manufacturer is currently working on the long-promised robotaxi, which will be revealed to the world at an event (presumably streamed exclusively on X) on 8 August 2024.

The robotaxi’s unveiling announcement came the same day as a Reuters report noting that Tesla had shelved plans to develop a cheaper car, costing roughly $25,000, with company head Elon Musk telling employees that he’d rather focus on an autonomous vehicle that would make other vehicles “obsolete.”

The idea of a Tesla robotaxi isn’t entirely new. Musk first teased the vehicle at a 2023 event while unveiling the company’s third ‘Master Plan’, though the car was under a cover and left to the imagination. Even earlier, Musk had brought up ideas of a vehicle that would allow customers to earn money from their car by sending it out to complete passenger pick-ups and drop-offs.

Whether the idea of a Tesla robotaxi will all play out how Musk imagines remains to be seen. It will require considerable faith from customers and passengers, a difficult feat after the bad press the company’s FSD (full self-driving) feature has received in the past few years.

Source

Disney’s finally cashing in

This shouldn’t come as a big surprise. The House of Mouse first began notifying customers in the US of their greedy hearts in February, and now it’s time to pony up.

In an interview with CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that the lemming-killing company (no, really) would be “launching [its] first real foray into password sharing,” in June of this year. The plan is to test the waters in “just a few countries,” during the initial rollout in June, before targeting a wider release in September this year.

“Netflix is the gold standard in streaming,” Iger said in the interview. “They’ve done a phenomenal job and a lot of different directions. I actually have very, very high regard for what they’ve accomplished. If we can only accomplish what they’ve accomplished, that would be great.”

Disney’s never tried to hide its contempt for password sharing, with rules in the books that discourage exactly that, though it was never one to enforce those rules too strongly. That won’t be the case much longer following the release of a new batch of subscription tiers to combat the issue.

Read More: Disney to use artificial intelligence to make advertising suit the ‘mood’ of what you’re watching

Those new tiers include a more expensive package that allows the main account holder to share their password without reprimand, though pricing details are still by-the-by, local or otherwise. Netflix charges an additional $8 per new account hopping onto the main one. Our guess? Disney will target a cheaper add-on price — roughly $5-6 — in an attempt to start earning back some of that massive expenditure.

Source