Samsung’s YouMake Project aims to take product customization to the next level

During its CES 2022 keynote, Samsung unveiled a host of new products, including the Samsung Freestyle projector, a new range of Micro LED, Mini LED, and Lifestyle TVs, and several new 4K monitors. In addition, the company announced the YouMake Project at the event, which will give consumers the option to personalize all products from the company from one central location.

In a press release highlighting the YouMake Project, Samsung notes that it empowers consumers to “choose and customize products based on what matters most to them, so they can enjoy a more personalized experience across devices.” The initiative takes Samsung’s Bespoke vision to the next level and will give buyers the option to customize everything from home appliances to smartphones and other products from the company.

During the keynote, Samsung said that the YouMake Project will launch on its website later this month, giving users a chance to personalize their Samsung smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, wearables, and more. The project’s website also includes a virtual showroom that helps users experience customized products before purchase.

It’s worth noting that Samsung has offered customization options for home appliances under the Bespoke banner for a while now. The company recently expanded the Bespoke range to include the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and the Galaxy Watch 4. The YouMake project aims to take things a step further and include all the other products from the company. At the moment, we’re not sure whether Samsung plans to merge its Bespoke range with the YouMake Project or not. However, that seems unlikely as Samsung also showcased a couple of new Bespoke products during the keynote, including Bespoke options for the Family Hub, French 3-Door and 4-Door refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges and over-the-range microwaves, Jet vacuum, and Washer and Dryer.

What’s your take on Samsung’s YouMake Project? Are you looking forward to customizing your own Samsung products? Let us know in the comments section below. Also, take a look at the rest of our CES 2022 coverage to keep track of all the recent announcements.

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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride Vision System will help guide self-driving cars

Qualcomm’s push into automotive wouldn’t be complete without a chipset dedicated to self-driving cars. The company’s Snapdragon Ride Vision System is an all-new software stack from Arriver paired with a 4nm SoC. It’s designed for an optimized implementation of front and surround cameras for automated driving (AD) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

Qualcomm is confident that this system is “one of the industry’s most scalable and open” systems when it comes to AD and ADAS. The company says that its flexible deployment options allow “for a common implementation of features and requirements, with functional safety/SOTIF support, across virtually all vehicle tiers and types”. Qualcomm has been working on both AD and ADAS for a while now, with the company first announcing its entrance to the space at CES in 2020.

The Snapdragon Ride Vision System can detect static road geometry such as lane markers and guard rails, dynamic objects such as vehicles, and pedestrians and cyclists. It also has traffic sign recognition for global regulatory requirements. Custom neural network architectures for the chipset’s enhanced perception is based on 8MP wide field of view cameras.

As Qualcomm puts it, it’s an open and customizable system, so car manufacturers will be able to chop and change it to fit their own needs. Qualcomm also says that it supports Over-the-Air (OTA) updates for ongoing feature enhancements.

“As we further collaborate with the automakers and Tier 1 suppliers, our latest Snapdragon Ride Vision System aims to address a growing need for a more open, adaptable and scalable platform for computer vision solutions,” said Nakul Duggal, senior vice president and GM, automotive, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Snapdragon Ride focuses on the extensive automated driving needs of our customers, ranging from scalable SoCs to integrated AD stacks and development platforms, and tools, that provide a comprehensive solution for L2-L3 automated driving, while maintain the flexibility to accommodate automakers and Tier-1 suppliers to bring their preferred solutions.  The Snapdragon Ride Vision System can offer automakers the opportunity to customize more advanced driving experiences for every vehicle class.”

The Snapdragon Ride Vision System is expected to be available in vehicle production in 2024. Qualcomm has also announced that it is working with Renault Group on some connected car features with a “Digital Chassis” package of software and hardware developed by Qualcomm.

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Honor’s first foldable smartphone is launching next week

2022 is going to be a pivotal year for the growth of foldable phones as many new players are set to join the party. Last month we saw OPPO dabble into the foldable sphere with the launch of the Find N. Now one more player will soon be bringing its own take on the foldable form factor. The Chinese smartphone maker Honor has been teasing its upcoming Magic V smartphone for the past few weeks. Today the company officially revealed the launch date for its first foldable phone.

In a press release today, Honor confirmed it will unveil the Magic V on January 10. The launch event will take place in China at 11:30 AM UTC. While Honor didn’t detail anything about the hardware, the accompanying teaser shared by the company gives us a glimpse of the phone’s design. As you can see in the image below, the Honor Magic V will sport a triple camera setup on the back nestled inside a rectangular module. We can also see the outer display with a centered hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera.

As seen in last month’s teaser, the Honor Magic V will sport an inward folding design similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and feature flat edges. The phone will most likely be powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Similar to previous Honor smartphones, the Honor Magic V will be limited to the Chinese market, at least initially. The company hasn’t confirmed whether the phone will make its way to international markets. The Honor Magic V will go head to head against the likes of the OPPO Find N, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Huawei Mate X2.

Not much is known about the Honor Magic V’s internal hardware at this point. But with the official launch just a week away, we won’t have to wait long to learn more about Honor’s first foldable smartphone.

Are you excited about Honor’s first foldable smartphone? Let us know in the comments below. 

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OnePlus 9RT and Buds Z2 are coming to India on January 14

The OnePlus 9RT and OnePlus Buds Z2 were first revealed all the way back in October, but the products still aren’t available everywhere. OnePlus is only selling the 9RT in China, while the Buds Z2 have arrived in a handful of countries (including the United States and much of Europe). Now it seems both products will be arriving in India soon, according to a new teaser from OnePlus.

OnePlus has revealed on its official forums that the OnePlus 9RT 5G and OnePlus Buds Z2 will launch in India on January 14, accompanied by a livestream at 5PM IST on the company’s Indian YouTube channel. Yes, this is an announcement of an announcement — OnePlus didn’t specify if the devices will actually go on sale on January 14. Earlier rumors indicated OnePlus was aiming for a December release for the 9RT and Buds Z2 in India.

OnePlus talked a bit about the phone, saying “the OnePlus 9RT 5G, is an extension of OnePlus 9R, and carries on the legacy of powerful flagships geared to propel you ahead of the game. On top of the impeccably robust performance, OnePlus 9RT 5G also offers uncompromising features in design, imaging performance, and display quality. Redefining the conventional performance offered by entry-level flagships, this power-packed offering delivers an enhanced experience for avid gamers and power-users alike.”

The forum post didn’t specify the differences between the India and China versions of the OnePlus 9RT, so we’ll likely have to wait until January 14 for that information. Even if the hardware is the same, OnePlus will presumably use OxygenOS 12 instead of the ColorOS software on the Chinese version (even if there’s not much of a difference between them now).

OnePlus has not yet released the kernel source code for any variation of the OnePlus 9RT. However, you can download the included wallpapers.

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Samsung Galaxy S21 FE hands on: keeping the Galaxy S21 alive

The Galaxy S20 series was one of Samsung’s largest selling phone ranges, and part of that success was down to the Galaxy S20 FE. Dubbed the Fan Edition (or FE for short) – a throwback to the rebuilt Galaxy Note 7 Fan Edition – Samsung sold over 10 million Galaxy S20 FE units in the past year since its launch in Q4 2020. At CES 2022, Samsung launched the next generation of the Fan Edition – the Galaxy S21 FE.

The Galaxy S21 FE brings the best of the Galaxy S21 range at a lower starting price than the Galaxy S21 range, and crucially, unlike its namesake series, this will be a phone that is sold for the next year at least. Available in four colorways with a premium matte textured feel, the Galaxy S21 FE will likely offer everything you could want in a Galaxy smartphone, and especially if the upcoming Galaxy S22 series doesn’t cut it for you.

At an exclusive event earlier at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, we went hands-on with the Galaxy S21 FE.

If you know anything about the Galaxy S21 series, chances are you’ll know most of the specs and features found in the Galaxy S21 FE. That said, one thing that’s immediately clear is how nice this phone feels in the hand. The matte textured rear offers grip, is ergonomically friendly, and looks fantastic, especially in the lavender color which is slightly more saturated than the namesake color found on the Galaxy Z Flip 3.

The design language of the Galaxy S21 FE is almost identical to the Galaxy S21 series, with the same contour-cut design resulting in a slightly raised camera hump – albeit, less so than the main phones in the series. The frame of the phone is an aluminum build but it still retains the premium feel that the Galaxy S21 series offered.

There are four color options for the Galaxy S21 series, and by far my favorite is the lavender. It is virtually the perfect shade of purple and it’s a better colorway than the Galaxy Z Flip 3. The other color options include an Olive green, which is very similar to the same in the Galaxy Buds 2, Black and White. If you’ve seen the Galaxy Buds 2 colors, you’ll know the Galaxy S21 FE colors.

Beyond the design similarities, the Galaxy S21 FE features many of the same specs found on the Galaxy S21 series. On paper, it’s best described as a combination of the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus, and given it’ll replace these two devices in Samsung’s ongoing lineup, it makes sense that Samsung would build a hybrid device featuring the best of these two phones.

It features a 6.4-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display which is bigger than the Galaxy S21 (6.2-inches) and smaller than the Galaxy S21 Plus (6.7-inches), albeit with the same resolution and display technology. Like the rest of the Galaxy S21 series, the Galaxy S21 FE display supports a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling, HDR10+, and an Always On Display. It also features the latest protection from Corning – Gorilla Glass Victus.

In the US, the Galaxy S21 FE is powered by a Snapdrag0n 888 processor whilst in some countries, it’s likely to use an Exynos processor. There are two storage and memory options; the base model comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, whilst the premium variant features 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The triple camera setup features the same wide and ultra-wide cameras from the Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus, although the telephoto camera takes a fairly substantial hit. The main camera is a 12MP wide sensor with dual pixel autofocus, Optical Image Stabilization, whilst the ultra-wide is a 12MP sensor with 120° field of view, f/2.2 aperture, and 1.4µm pixel size. The telephoto camera is cut from the 64MP sensor found previously to an 8MP sensor, albeit it still supports 30x digital zoom.

The rest of the specs are fairly standard with a 4,500 mAh battery powering the entire package, which can be topped up using either 25W wired charging or 15W wireless charging. There’s also reverse wireless charging to recharge your accessories, a range of 5G bands and sensors, and IP68 water and dust resistance. The Galaxy S21 FE also launches running One UI 4 on top of Android 12.

The Galaxy S21 FE launches next week for $699.99 for the base variant, whilst the premium variant with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage will cost you $769.99. It’ll be available from a range of carriers and from Samsung directly, and presumably, there’ll be plenty of trade-in deals to further reduce the cost of the phone.

Overall, the Galaxy S21 FE is designed to replace the existing Galaxy S21 range in Samsung’s lineup, especially as the latter is mostly out of stock already. With Samsung planning to launch its next range of phones in the coming months at a higher price, the Galaxy S21 FE is designed to be the phone that keeps the legacy of the Galaxy S21 series alive, and in this, it seems to deliver. Stay tuned as we’ll have a full review of the Galaxy S21 FE going live in the coming weeks.

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LG reveals its 2022 smart TV lineup and webOS 22 update

LG is one of the most popular manufacturers of TVs, and the company’s lineup of WebOS-powered smart TVs is usually on par (or slightly ahead of) competing options from TCL, Samsung, and other big names. It wouldn’t be a CES week without some new smart TVs, and sure enough, LG has announced its 2022 smart TV lineup and some updates for its webOS software.

First up is the LG 2022 G2 series (not to be confused with the LG G2 smartphone), which is the company’s top-tier option with OLED panels. Just like last year, there are 55-inch, 65-inch, 77-inch models sizes available, but LG is now throwing a 97-inch model into the mix. All of them have LG’s OLED Evo technology, which aims to deliver more realistic image quality.

2022 C2 77-inch TV

There’s also the slightly-cheaper C2 series, which will be available in 48-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, 77-inch, and 83-inch sizes. Some of these will have OLED Evo screens too, and all of them have thinner bezels. Most C2 and G2 models are equipped with the company’s latest “Alpha 9 Gen 5” processor, but LG didn’t specify any improvements beyond the ability to create virtual 7.1.2 surround sound. Finally, LG also has a few new QNED TVs for 2022.

This year’s TVs will ship with a new version of webOS, which LG is calling ‘webOS 22’ — the current version is 6.0, but it seems LG wants to synchronize the version numbers with the current year. The new update introduces personal profiles, so each person using the TV can set up their own favorites and content recommendations. You’ll be able to switch profiles through the TV interface, or through something LG calls ‘NFC Magic Tap.’ The new update also allows the TV to function as a controller for devices using the Matter standard, starting sometime in the second half of 2022.

LG did not share pricing or availability details on any of its new TV models.

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The new Galaxy S21 FE looks to be a better deal than the flagship Galaxy S21

After what seems like an eternity, Samsung has finally lifted the covers off the highly-anticipated Galaxy S21 FE. As we saw in numerous leaks over the last few months, Samsung’s latest Fan Edition device is a trimmed-down version of its flagship Galaxy S21. It offers quite a few of the same features as the flagship model, including a flagship SoC, a respectable camera setup, a high refresh rate display, and a big battery, at a slightly more affordable price. But is it worth getting over a deeply discounted Galaxy S21? Let’s quickly take a look at what Samsung’s new affordable flagship has to offer.

Since the Galaxy S21 FE is essentially a more affordable Galaxy S21, we’ll start with taking a look at their hardware. Check out the table below for a quick comparison of the new Galaxy S21 FE and the flagship Galaxy S21.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE vs. Galaxy S21

Specification	Samsung Galaxy S21 FE	Samsung Galaxy S21
Build	Plastic back Metal frame	Plastic back Aluminum mid-frame
Dimensions & Weight	155.7 x 74.5 x x 7.9mm 177g	151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm 171g
Display	6.4-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X flat display 2340 x 1080p 120Hz refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate in Gaming Mode	6.2-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X 2400 x 1080p 120Hz refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 888	International: Exynos 2100 USA: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
RAM & Storage	6GB + 128GB 8GB + 256GB	8GB LPDDR 5 + 128GB 8GB + 256GB
Battery & Charging	4,500mAh 25W wired fast charging support 15W wireless charging support Reverse wireless charging support	4,000mAh 25W fast charging support 15W wireless charging support Reverse wireless charging support
Security	Optical in-display fingerprint sensor	Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 12MP f/1.8, Dual Pixel AF, OIS Ultra-wide: 12MP f/2.2, 123° FoV Telephoto: 8MP f/2.4, 3x optical zoom, 30x space zoom, OIS	Primary: 12MP f/1.8, Dual Pixel AF, OIS Ultra-wide: 12MP f/2.2, 120° FoV Telephoto: 64MP f/2.0, PDAF, OIS
Front Camera(s)	32MP f/2.2	10MP f/2.2, Dual Pixel AF
Port(s)	USB Type-C	USB 3.2 Type-C
Audio	Stereo speakers Dolby Atmos	Stereo speakers tuned by AKG Dolby Atmos
Connectivity	Sub6/mmWave 5G 4G LTE Dual-band (2.4GHz + 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth	Sub6 5G 4G LTE Dual-band (2.4GHz + 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth 5.1
Software	One UI 4 based on Android 12	One UI 4 based on Android 12
Other Features	Samsung Pay with NFC	Samsung Pay with NFC

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As you can probably tell from looking at the spec table above, the Galaxy S21 FE isn’t all that different when compared to the flagship Galaxy S21. It offers pretty much all the features found on the flagship device, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, up to 8GB RAM, up to 256GB onboard storage, and the same connectivity features. However, the two phones aren’t exactly the same. In fact, the Galaxy S21 FE does a few things better.

For instance, the device has a larger 6.4-inch FHD+ 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, which some people might prefer over the vanilla Galaxy S21’s 6.2-inch FHD+ 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It even has a larger 4,500mAh battery that offers the same fast charging capabilities as the flagship model. On top of that, the new phone has an arguably better 32MP selfie shooter. But while the Galaxy S21 FE looks to be better than the regular Galaxy S21 in these three areas, Samsung has cut some corners to keep its price low.

Speaking of cutting corners, the new Galaxy S21 FE doesn’t get the same telephoto camera as the flagship model. While you do get a 12MP primary camera and a 12MP ultra-wide camera on the device, you don’t get a 64MP telephoto camera. Instead, the device features a more modest 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and 30x space zoom.

The Galaxy S21 FE also doesn’t get the same ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner as the flagship model, and it opts for a more mainstream optical in-display fingerprint scanner. But that might actually be a good thing because my experience with the ultrasonic fingerprint sensors on other Samsung devices hasn’t been all that great. They’re a bit too sluggish compared to the optical fingerprint scanners that the company offers on cheaper devices.

Since Samsung hasn’t shared the complete RAM, storage, and USB specifications for the Galaxy S21 FE yet, we’re not sure if it offers the same hardware as the flagship model. It is possible for Samsung to have opted for slower components on the Fan Edition model to keep its price low, but you’ll have to wait for our full review to know if that’s the case or not.

All in all, the Galaxy S21 FE packs some impressive hardware at its price point and it has the potential to replicate the Galaxy S20 FE’s success. However, since it’s hitting the market after a long delay, Samsung might not get the same results as last year.

One good thing about the delay, though, is that the Galaxy S21 FE ships with One UI 4 based on Android 12 out of the box. This means that it will get an additional Android OS upgrade and an extra year of security updates, which slightly increases its chances of attracting buyers. Another thing that we’re sure will pique your interest in the Galaxy S21 FE is its price. Check out the section below for more details.

Pricing & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE will be available in four colorways — Black, White, Olive Green, and Lavender — and it will go on sale starting January 11. Although it offers pretty much all the features that you get with the $800 Galaxy S21, it starts at $699 for the base 6GB + 128GB model. If you’re wondering if the Galaxy S21 FE is worth the given price or not, make sure you stay tuned for our full review.

What do you think of the new Galaxy S21 FE? Would you get it over other similarly priced phones? Let us know in the comments section below.

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