Back in 2019, JetBrains launched its Academy program. Academy lets anyone who wants to learn a language do so through guided lessons and projects, with integrations in JetBrains’ IDEs. For instance, JetBrains advertises lessons in over 400 topics related to Java programming. In general, full JetBrains Academy courses cost money, while courses in beta are free. Today, however, JetBrains is launching Kotlin Basics.
Kotlin Basics
Kotlin Basics is a fully free JetBrains Academy course. As the name might imply, this course is all about getting people started in Kotlin. But this isn’t just a couple lessons on how to print text and take input. Instead, JetBrains says it will have over 90 topics, 10 projects, and over 300 challenges.
Seeing as the full Java course has over 400 topics and the Kotlin Developer course has 187 topics, 90 is quite a few. JetBrains says that the entire Kotlin Basics course will take about 10 weeks, with five hours spent on it each week.
Again, Kotlin Basics is completely free. If you’re someone who’s just starting out in Kotlin (or programming in general), this is the course for you. If you’ve already got the basics down, you can also try out the paid Kotlin Developer course.
JetBrains Academy
In case Java and Kotlin aren’t your thing, JetBrains also offers courses in Python and JavaScript. The JavaScript one is also currently in beta, which means it’s free to use.
Otherwise, if you’re interested in the paid courses, Academy costs $49.90/month or $249.00/year. If you’re a student at an eligible school, you can get JetBrains Academy for 50% off.
Conclusion
Kotlin Basics is a pretty exciting addition to JetBrains Academy. This is obviously a completely personal opinion, but I think Kotlin is a great language, and it’s nice to see an easy opportunity to learn it, straight from JetBrains.
If you’re interested in trying Kotlin Basics or any of the other Academy courses, check out the JetBrains Academy website. You’ll find more details on what’s available and how everything works, along with how you can sign up.
Introduced alongside Windows 10 back in 2015, Microsoft’s Surface Book hasn’t exactly been successful by any metric. It hasn’t been imitated by the rest of the PC market, and it hasn’t sold as well as the more popular Surface Pro. Not only is it expensive, but some would say that it’s impractical. According to a patent spotted by Windows Central, Microsoft might be redesigning the product with the Surface Book 4.
The patent shows a laptop that uses a hinge similar to what’s found on the HP Elite Folio and HP Spectre Folio. At a desktop scale, it would be similar to a Surface Studio. Here’s how it would work. You can lift the display like a regular laptop, and then if you want, you can pull it forward to set it to different angles. It should also lie flat to be used as a tablet. According to the report, it might also have a larger, 14-inch display.
This new design, while not entirely original in the Windows space (there have been tons of convertible designs), would solve a lot of problems for the Surface Book 4. The problem with having the ability to detach the display is that in order for the tablet to work on its own, all of the guts need to be in the screen. That includes a battery, the CPU, the memory, the storage, and more. The base only includes a second battery and depending on the model, a dedicated GPU. Because of this, the Surface Book tends to be very top-heavy.
Having a convertible instead of a detachable solves this problem. It means that the product not only doesn’t have to have all of the guts in the display, but you don’t need to have things like dual batteries anymore. The screen doesn’t need to have its own battery at all on the Surface Book 4. With the base being heavier and the screen being lighter, using it on your lap should be much easier.
In the six years since it was introduced, the Surface Book has only been refreshed twice, but later this year seems like a great time for Microsoft to roll out the Surface Book 4. After all, alongside Windows 11, there should be a hardware event where Microsoft can show off some hero devices. And that’s exactly the time that the Redmond firm would be likely to show off redesigned hardware.
You can treat this as a rumor for now, but we should be learning more in October. And frankly, that’s not too far away.
At Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday, Samsung unveiled a bunch of new products, including the showstopper Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3, and of course, the hotly anticipated Galaxy Watch 4 series. Samsung’s new smartwatch has everything you would expect from a flagship smartwatch: a bright, beautiful display, a powerful processor, extensive health and fitness tracking features, solid battery life, and a wide selection of apps. What it doesn’t have, though, is iPhone compatibility.
Since the Galaxy Watch 4 series uses Google’s Wear OS, most of us assumed that it would be compatible with iOS. But it turns out that’s not the case. Apparently, the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic are only compatible with devices running Android 6.0 and above.
“All participants must have Android smartphone running 6.0 or above with the latest version of the Samsung Health app and a Galaxy smartwatch and/or fitness tracker,” reads a footnote on the Galaxy Watch 4 product page.
It’s not immediately clear why Samsung decided not to support iOS, especially considering that the existing Tizen-powered Samsung smartwatches work with iOS. Not to mention, other Wear OS-powered smartwatches on the market can be paired to Apple devices via the Wear OS app available on the Apple App Store. It might have to do with new changes/requirements introduced as part of the Wear OS platform redesign, but we don’t know for sure.
On the same Galaxy Watch 4 product page, Samsung mentions towards the end that the device activation is only possible if the user is connected to a device with Google Mobile Services (GMS).
Device activation is only available after connecting to a smartphone that supports Google Mobile Services(GMS).
That not only rules out iOS but also phones that lack GMS, such as Huawei phones and custom ROMs without Google apps (GApps). If you own an iPhone owner, Samsung’s shiny smartwatch is clearly not for you. You’re better off sticking with the Apple ecosystem and getting an Apple Watch.
After splitting away from Huawei, Honor made a comeback earlier this year with its new Honor 50 series. The lineup offered mid-range hardware at an affordable price point, and it came with GMS and the Google Play Store preinstalled. Shortly after the launch, Honor shared a teaser about an upcoming flagship device that would feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 Plus chip. Early last month, the company finally confirmed that it would unveil the flagship Honor Magic 3 series in August. Now, the company has officially lifted the covers off the devices.
The Honor Magic 3 series consists of three devices — the regular Honor Magic 3, the Magic 3 Pro, and the Magic 3 Pro Plus. All three devices feature the same 6.76-inch 10-bit curved OLED display that offers 120Hz high refresh rate support and 456 PPI pixel density. However, the top-of-the-line Magic 3 Pro Plus features a Nano Crystal Shield coating for extra shatter resistance, while the other two models don’t.
The base Honor Magic 3 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chip, while the other two models get the newer Snapdragon 888 Plus chip. The base model features 8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage, the Magic 3 Pro packs 8/12GB RAM and 256/512GB storage, and the Pro Plus comes with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. All three phones pack a 4,600mAh battery with 66W wired fast charging support, and the Pro variants also get 50W wireless fast charging support.
The camera hardware on the Magic 3 series is the main differentiating factor between the three devices. The base Honor Magic 3 features a triple-camera setup with a 64MP Sony IMX 766 primary camera, a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 64MP monochrome camera. The Magic 3 Pro features a quad-camera setup featuring the same primary, ultra-wide, and monochrome cameras as the base model, along with a 64MP periscope zoom camera.
The premium Honor Magic Pro 3 packs the best camera hardware out of the lot. It has a larger 50MP Sony IMX 700 primary camera, a 64MP ultra-wide camera, a 64MP monochrome camera, and a 64MP periscope zoom camera. Over on the front, all three devices feature a 13MP selfie shooter and a 3D ToF camera for 3D face unlock in a pill-shaped cutout on the display.
The Magic 3 and Magic 3 Pro feature glass and vegan leather finishes, with the base model offering IP54 certification and the Pro variant offering IP68 certification. The Honor Magic 3 Pro Plus has a ceramic back panel, and it also offers IP68 certifications. All three devices sport stereo speakers, a triple-mic setup, and a USB Type-C port. For connectivity, the devices offer 5G support, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, and NFC.
On the software front, all three devices run Honor’s Magic UI 5 skin on top of Android 11. As with the Honor 50 series, they come with GMS, and the Google Play Store preinstalled.
Pricing & Availability
The Honor Magic 3 series comes in a variety of colorways. The Magic 3 and Magic 3 Pro have two synthetic leather finishes — Golden Hour and Blue Hour — along with two glass finishes — Black and White. The Honor Magic 3 Pro Plus comes in two ceramic back panel finishes — Black and White. The Honor Magic 3 series will go on sale in China soon and Honor plans to launch it globally in the near future. It is priced as follows:
HONOR is holding its first global launch event in over two years, and this one is particularly special because not only is this HONOR’s return to the global stage as an independent company, the launch is also for the HONOR Magic3 Series!
Those who follow smartphones should be aware that the Magic series does not follow a traditional annual release cycle — the last Magic device was released in 2018 — because HONOR wants to ensure each new Magic bring meaningful innovations, and the HONOR Magic3 Series is set to do just that.
We at XDA are excited to partner with HONOR to celebrate this event with a live stream watch party. Our team – including Editor in chief Mishaal, Senior Editor Ben and Video Host TK – will watch the HONOR Magic3 Series launch event in real-time and provide commentary and insights. Best of all, there will be giveaways for HONOR fans who watch with us.
Although the launch is still days away, HONOR has over the past few weeks teased some exciting details about the HONOR Magic3 Series: it will be one of the first phones in the world to run on the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ SoC, and it will also introduce never-before-seen capabilities in the area of cinematic videography. There’s a lot more information that won’t be revealed until the launch event, so tune in to see what HONOR has in store and win some giveaway prizes!
This post is sponsored by HONOR. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.
Last month Google rolled out Chrome 92 on the stable channel for Android and desktop. The new release brought improved site safety controls, support for new Chrome Actions, better phishing detection and site isolation, and more. As always, the latest version was also made available to iOS, which added features like support for full-page screenshots, improvements to Tab Switcher, and small UI tweaks on Discover, Settings, History, and Bookmarks pages. In addition to these improvements, Chrome 92 for iOS also added a nifty feature: the ability to lock incognito tabs behind your lockscreen. Currently, this feature remains exclusive to iOS, but it looks like Google might soon bring it to Android.
Chrome for Android is preparing to add biometric authentication for incognito tabs. A new commit has been merged to the Chromium Gerrit, adding a flag for a feature called “Incognito Reauthentication.” The flag description reads: “When enabled, a setting appears in Settings > Privacy and Security, to enable reauthentication for accessing your existing Incognito tabs.”
When enabled, this feature will likely use the BiometricPrompt API to show a system-provided authentication prompt when someone attempts to access any already-opened Incognito tab.
The flag for the feature has already been added to the Canary branch, and you can access it by pasting the following URL in the address bar: chrome://flags#incognito-reauthentication-for-android. However, the feature appears to be a work-in-progress as enabling the flag doesn’t surface the setting yet. Once the feature goes live, it will be accessible under Settings > Privacy and Security.
As mentioned above, the ability to lock incognito tabs isn’t live in Chrome yet. It will most likely roll out first to the Chrome Canary branch before making it to the stable version. If you want to be one of the firsts to try it out, you can download the latest version of Canary from the link below.
Recently, TECNO has launched its first premium flagship phone called the PHANTOM X. It’s a milestone for TECNO, a global expert dedicated to bringing the latest technology and innovative designs to consumers in emerging markets. Let’s take a close look at TECNO’s Breakthroughs in “Premium” with PHANTOM X.
““With PHANTOM, rules are challenged, broken, and redefined.””
The Pursuit of Beauty in Design
PHANTOM X represents great breakthroughs in design with exquisite details. PHANTOM X features a 3D borderless screen and uses this unique arc design at the right angle of 36.5° to fit perfectly in the user’s hand. This phone is on the larger side with a 6.7″ display, making it a perfect device for consuming media. TECNO has put a big focus on making this display “borderless” by having the screen continue to bend at the edges, up to 70° of an angle. This creates an unbounded visual experience where images and videos bend off the side of the phone, into infinity.
PHANTOM X in Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Monet’s Summer color options.
Flip the phone around and you’ll see the new innovative silk glass back cover. This material was created based on a series of complex tests and manufacturing procedures, which resulted in this “silk delicacy” and “glass sparkle”. This etched textured design shows vertical refined lines, giving a fantastic and premium look to the design of the phone. The intensified efforts on exquisite design details are totally worth it due to the premium flagship quality that TECNO has promised to meet for its users.
PHANTOM X in Van Gogh’s Starry Night
PHANTOM X comes in two different color options which include Van Gogh’s Starry Night Blue and Monet’s Summer. Both color options have a very unique look, emphasizing the silk glass material used on the back of the phone.
PHANTOM X in Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Monet’s Summer
The camera is a vertically stacked row of lenses housed in a sleek metallic rising. Placed in the direct center of the device, it creates a symmetrically balanced design. The power and volume buttons share the same color as the camera bump and are placed on the right side of the phone.
A Big Leap in Camera Performance
To create a powerful photography experience on the PHANTOM X, the phone was fitted with a back camera made up of three sensors. The front camera has dual sensors to capture large images that bring out the best details in your selfies.
TECNO PHANTOM X
PHANTOM X adopts an industry-leading 50MP Ultra-Night Camera with a 1/1.3-inch ultra-large sensor, enabling users to capture crisp large resolution images, even in difficult lighting. The sensor can take in 33% more light from the environment compared to cameras featuring a 108MP camera with a 1/1.5-inch sensor.
Even the selfie camera supports super-high-resolution images, with a 48MP sensor. Your selfies can now have the same quality as many other back-facing cameras. The selfie camera is perfect for both individual or group selfies, with the AI-assisted 105° ultra-wide angle lens. The camera is able to detect when your selfie includes multiple people and will suggest you switch to the ultra-wide lens. It’s a helpful and convenient software feature that ensures your selfies are taken with the proper sensor.
As for the important portrait photo performance, PHANTOM X uses a 50mm focal lens to present the Golden Portrait natural images without distortion, capturing and enhancing the quality.
With PHANTOM X’s Super Night Mode, night photography is now effortless, even for casual photographers. When you’re shooting in dark environments, even with light as low as 0.1 lux, PHANTOM X is able to bring more vivid details than the naked eye with the algorithm-enabled camera by utilizing AI segmentation and night protection. Also, you can have elegant portraits in the glorious night view with the help of Super Night Portrait.
Powerful Performance and Extraordinary Care
Users who rely heavily on mobile phones, no matter for work or play, will be able to take full advantage of the large storage capacity, powerful battery, as well as an efficient UI and OS design from PHANTOM X. The phone comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The battery has a large 4700mAh capacity, ensuring that you’ll be able to use your device all day. When it’s time to charge your phone, 30 minutes of charge can get you up to 70% battery life, with the 33W flash charger.
TECNO believes the premium flagship should also differentiate with its exclusive care and service for users, apart from the unique design and powerful performance. For example, TECNO accurately identified and provided a premium service in data security and privacy protection via PHANTOM X. It provides safety measures like Peek Proof and App encryption hiding to protect privacy. The anti-theft function can help alert and remote lock the device when users accidentally lose the phone. The ultra-thin under-screen fingerprint allows users to unlock PHANTOM X in less than 0.4s, which is an optimum unlocking speed without compromising on security.
PHANTOM X offers an exclusive service, covering a 100-day Accidental Screen Damage Protection Warranty. Users can access the official website www.mobile-phantom.com which is tailored for PHANTOM X customers to take full advantage of the after-sales service.
TECNO PHANTOM X
PHANTOM X
Specs
Display
6.7″ FHD+ AMOLED
Chipset
MTK G95
RAM
8GB
Main Camera
50+13+8MP
Selfie Camera
48+8MP
Battery
4700mAh
Storage
256GB
OS
HiOS 7.6 Based on Android 11
PHANTOM X
We gave PHANTOM X our recommended award this year because it has an impressive list of specs with elegant and modern design and powerful camera performance.
The PHANTOM X from TECNO is a bold move for the company and a fresh edition to the smartphone marketplace. This new phone is set to be the leading device to bring innovative features like the 3D borderless display and silk touch glass design to the industry. We are very excited to see what TECNO has in store for the future.
We thank TECNO for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.
