An important part of the media streaming experience is the ability to purchase content quickly and easily. Different streaming services and operating systems give you several ways to buy your favorite content. However, Android TV introduced a new Shop tab that will let you buy content from different providers.
Android TV and other operating systems are all about curating content for you to watch. You’re given a ton of movies and shows for you to consume, and they also give you an easy way to buy them. In the case of Android TV, you’ll see a feed of content, whether it be free or paid, and if you tap on paid content, it will take you to the screen to pay for it. You can handle that all from your TV.
Android TV brings the Shop tab
While Android TV lets you buy content, the platform wants to make things a bit more straightforward. According to Engadget, Google announced this new tab in the Android TV operating system.
We see this tab right in between the Home and Discover tabs. As you can guess, this tab will have a feed of movies and shows that you can buy or rent. Instead of having to go to each movie’s respective app, you’ll just see the content all in one place.
This tab isn’t only a place to buy your movies. It’s a hub where you can access your saved content. If you buy anything across any of your Google services, you’ll be able to access it from the tab. This includes Google TV, YouTube, and mobile apps. This creates a unified experience where you can access your purchased content. If you’re using the Google TV app, then you’ll be able to download your purchased content for offline viewing.
If you’re excited about this feature, you might not have long to wait. Google is going to be rolling this feature out over the next couple of weeks.
Google is in hot water again for its online advertising business. Research has found that the company violated its standards when distributing video ads on third-party websites. As many as 80 percent of its video ad placements reportedly don’t meet the promised standards.
Google violated its standards for placing video ads on external platforms
YouTube, the Google-owned video platform, is one of the most lucrative platforms for brands to run video ads. But the company also offers a program called Google Video Partners through which brands can place their video ads on other websites and apps. It promises to put ads on sites and apps run by high-quality publishers that are carefully vetted and meet Google’s quality standards. The company also promises to show ads before the main video content with the audio on. Moreover, brands will only pay for ads that users watch till the end without skipping.
But Google isn’t following through on its promises, research has found. Adalytics, a firm that helps brands optimize their ad placements for the best results, claims that the company violates its standards about 80 percent of the time. It often places ads in “small, muted, automatically-played videos off to the side of a page’s main content,” The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports citing findings by Adalytics. On top of this, many sites where Google shows video ads of its clients don’t meet the monetization standards defined for its Google Video Partners program.
According to the new report, Adalytics observed ad campaigns from more than 1,100 brands between 2020 and 2023 during this study. Those ads cumulatively got billions of impressions. The firm worked with various ad agencies and also analyzed data collected by companies that archive the web. Johnson & Johnson, American Express, Samsung, Sephora, Macy’s, Disney +, and WSJ are among the major brands whose ads weren’t placed according to the promised standards. Google also violated its standards for ads for government agencies, including Medicare and the US Army.
Advertisers feel cheated, but Google claims innocence
WSJ independently observed similar violations from Google but couldn’t ascertain the extent of the violations. Adalytics’ research, meanwhile, highlights the opaqueness of the digital ad business. It’s difficult for brands to track whether they are getting what they paid for. Unsurprisingly, many of them are disappointed and feel cheated. “This is an unacceptable breach of trust by YouTube,” said Joshua Lowcock, global chief media officer at ad agency UM Worldwide. “Google must fix this and fully refund clients for any fraud and impressions that failed to meet Google’s own policies.”
“I feel cheated,” said Giovanni Sollazzo, founder, chairman, and chief executive of digital-ad agency AIDEM. “What I requested to buy was not what I got. This should entitle me to a refund for invalid traffic.” Since the Google Video Partners program is an optional bundle that Google sells with YouTube ads, brands don’t even know what portion of their ad purchase is going off YouTube. At least, that’s what many ad buyers claim. The research report states that more than half of the budget that the affected brands paid for video ads went to third-party websites.
However, Google disagrees. A company spokesperson said that “the overwhelming majority of the video ads it sells are served on YouTube.” Moreover, “advertisers can clearly see that their ads might run on third-party sites, and how much is spent there, and can easily opt-out.” The company also refuted the allegations made by Adalytics. It said that many claims made in the research report are inaccurate and don’t “reflect how we keep advertisers safe.” Google plans to “take any appropriate actions” based on the full report. Time will tell whether this research leads to another courtroom fight for the tech giant.
A flaw was discovered in Progress MOVEit Transfer, a popular third-party online transfer application. By exploiting the flaw, attackers compromised multiple organizations, including U.S. Government agencies.
Honeywell is the recent victim of MOVEit Hackers as they gained Unauthorized access to a single MOVEit server.
Multinational firm Honeywell detected data that an unauthorized third party had accessed through the MOVEit app, including some personally sensitive information.
“Honeywell immediately launched an investigation upon learning of the vulnerability in Progress MOVEit Transfer, a third-party web transfer application used by many companies.
The investigation detected unauthorized access on a single MOVEit server”, Honeywell reports.
The company’s primary business sectors are aircraft, building technologies, performance materials and technologies (PMT), and safety and productivity solutions (SPS).
Around 97,000 workers worldwide worked for the company in 2022, down from 113,000 in 2019.
As necessary, the corporation is getting in touch with the impacted people, clients, and partners.
Unauthorized Access to Servers
“All of our systems are fully online, and this has had no impact on company operations. At this time, we do not expect that the unauthorized access on the MOVEit server we used will have a material impact on our business operations”, Honeywell said.
Additionally, the same Progress MOVEit vulnerability has affected certain Honeywell suppliers, and as a result, their data may have been affected.
Progress MOVEIt is the top secure Managed File Transfer (MFT) software. It is used by thousands of organizations across the world to give full visibility and control over file transfer activity.
MOVEit helps to satisfy compliance requirements, effortlessly assure the reliability of key business operations, and securely transmit sensitive data among partners, clients, users, and systems whether it is installed as-a-Service, in the Cloud, or locally.
The organization assesses the issue and takes necessary action as soon as one of these vendors reports that the data has been stolen.
The business claimed that its cybersecurity safeguards prevented the damage to this server and, before resuming service, completely patched and upgraded the Progress MOVEit app as soon as the provider’s updates were available.
“Our cybersecurity defenses limited the impact to this server and we fully patched and upgraded the Progress MOVEit app as soon as the patches were made available from the provider before restoring service”, the company said.
The company mentioned that they are in touch with certain law enforcement and regulatory agencies since the inquiry is still underway.
“We will assess and respond to any impacts as part of our ongoing investigation as we receive notification from suppliers that our data has been compromised,” the company stated.
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We take a look at why blocking adverts and tracking is one of the best things you can do to keep your devices healthy.
Online content is largely powered and paid for by advertising. Almost every site you visit, every forum you browse, and even the online stores you buy things from is an advert extravaganza, and they don’t just stop at showing cool offers for shirts at 50% off. The scaffolding the adverts sit on goes out of its way to track you, tie you to clicks, associations, and more. More adverts, tailored to your theoretical interests, then start to follow you around across other sites. Sometimes, it’s not very sophisticated: Ever searched for the one and only quarter height stepladder you’ll ever buy in your life? Congratulations, every advert is a stepladder.
Sadly, dozens of stepladder adverts are far from your only concern. We’re going to explain why running an ad blocker is a good thing for your digital health, and highlight all of the ways things can go wrong with ads enabled.
Adverts are the biggest of business, with billions of ad impressions per month. Individual companies can rack up billions of impressions just for their own ads, before you try and figure out overall tallies. Disney and Amazon had a total of 40bn impressions between them in the first quarter of 2020, and Google is pretty much powered by advertising:
Google is an attention merchant that – in 2022 – generated over $224 billion (almost 80% of revenues) from ads (Google Search, YouTube Ads, and Network sites.
If you want some idea of the scale of advertising you’re subjected to on a daily basis, things are only moving up. Recent research by Lunio claims that, on average, people might have seen between 500 and 1,000 ads a day in the 1970s. By 2007, when adware vendors dropping ad-spewing installers was common and ad affiliate networks in meltdown was a daily occurrence, it was estimated at 5,000. By 2021, it was an average of 6,000 to 10,000 per day.
You have adverts and pop ups on your phone. You have advertising on your video game console dashboard. There’s another batch of stepladder adverts on your desktop. Your IoT home hub either plays an occasional ad or is plugged into some other service you use to buy things from.
Your television? Well, it might be one of the upcoming models where the TV is free in return for built in adverts constantly playing on a smaller screen. This is probably as good a place as any to remind you to always read the small print, however:
— shoshana wodinsky (she/her) 📉 (@swodinsky) May 16, 2023
Some of the most common types of advertising you’ll encounter include:
Pay per click (PPC). Advertisers pay publishers every time an advert is clicked.
Affiliate marketing. With this form of marketing, the creator of a product avoids taking up the marketing slack. Instead, it is essentially outsourced to others in the form of unique affiliate links or clickthroughs offered by apps or programs. If a sale is made, the affiliate earns commission money. There may be additional incentives on offer depending on the product.
Mobile ads. These are hugely popular in “free” games, where ads may be served by the app itself, or through a network being used by the app. The links may also lead to additional phone installations.
You’ll bump into others, but these are the three main areas of advertising which you’ll probably experience on a daily basis. They’re also a potential goldmine for scammers.
PPC is one of the oldest forms of advertising. Bogus ad clicking tools that artificially inflate revenue have been around forever, to various degrees of sophistication. Basic forms of malware are programmed to autoclick ads detected on websites. Other enterprising individuals concoct ways of manually clicking ads in ways which would not look suspicious to the advertisers.
Affiliate advertising is where much of the ad network chaos takes place. Back in the adware vendor days, rogue ad campaigns using malware, exploits, or fake products to make adware cash would be shut down after much outrage. The adware vendor would make a lot of noise about “rogue affiliates”, and claim it wasn’t their fault. Everything would go back to this same routine the day after and adware vendors would pretend they were somehow free of blame in all of this. Sometimes they would be sued into the ground and abandon the adware life, and other times the evidence of dubious antics were on display for all to see.
Even now, in the case of rogue advertising involving malware (malvertising) there’s often an affiliate component to the “your PC is now compromised” pipeline. You’ll encounter it in many ways:
Rogue sponsored adverts which sit above organic results in services like Google and Yahoo! search engines. These links may imitate brands or other services to entice you to click
Fake adverts embedded on websites. These also mimic popular brands to drive clicks
Compromised websites which may look like a familiar service, but every link offered up is potentially harmful to your PC
The ads in search engine results which look as though they resolve to legitimate sites like Amazon can also be harmful. This is as a result of advertisers being able to display a brand’s official URL within the ad snippet, even when an ad URL has nothing to do with the brand. From here you could be sent to a phishing page, a fake tech support site, or worse. Below you can see an example of a supposedly genuine sponsored ad which actually leads to a fake Amazon login.
Exploits are often a key component of malvertising attacks, and without the right protection on board you may realise too late that something has gone badly wrong.
On top of all this, we have the previously mentioned tracking going on under the hood. Web beacons are used to monitor activity on a website. Tracking cookies shared by multiple services constantly build up a picture of what you’ve done. So-called “shadow profiles” are used to track the activity of people who don’t even use a particular service.
Finally, we have the issue of speed. Lots of ads, tracking, and page elements being served up from different points of origin can all contribute to slowing down your browsing. You’ve almost certainly experienced the “thrill” of a website serving up the ads before the content at some point. This often happens because the ads are served from dedicated content delivery networks (CDNs). Their purpose is to get the ad in front of you as fast as possible, which can mean ads are the first thing you see. While your connection is (probably) a lot better now than it was five years ago, this can still cause issues in some cases…and who wants adverts to be the first thing they see on a page anyway?
As you may have gathered, it’s the marketing Wild West out there. It’s also worth noting that sites such as YouTube are now experimenting with detecting ad blockers, and disallowing users to view videos until their ad blocker is turned off.
So what can we do about it?
Pick the right browser for your needs. Increasingly, browsers offer more options to specify a level of tracking and advertising that you’re comfortable with. Back in 2020, Safari started blocking third party tracking cookies by default. Firefox has gone down the path of individual cookie jars, called “Total Cookie Protection”, which prevents tracking across websites. Elsewhere, Google is still delaying the sunsetting of third party tracking cookies.
Extend your options. On the subject of browsers, most will allow you to install extensions to increase your blocking capabilities. Some browsers like Opera include their own ad blocker by default which can be enabled in two clicks. You can also try Malwarebytes Browser Guard, which filters out ads and scams as well as blocking trackers that spy on you.
Beware shady blockers. You’ll sometimes see fake blockers riding on the coat tails of legitimate products. You may also run into websites or services which claim to dodge ad blocker detection, but serve up spam or surveys. Always do some research on anything you plan to install. Reviews and store rankings can help with this.
Tackle the scripts. It’s not “just” ads on the surface level. You also need to consider the tracking scripts, cookies, and everything else happening invisibly. Ensure your setup allows for taking care of third party ad tracking.
Things will break. A note of caution: Blocking scripts or other functionality can break some websites. You’ll need to customise your settings in these situations. Some products integrate ads into the actual structure of a product, so removing or blocking will break the product. Tablet games where you’re granted a new life by watching an ad, for example. There may not be much you can do when this happens. Use the product as is, or cut your losses and move on.
Malwarebytes protects against annoying ads and scams while blocking trackers that spy on you.
Nothing is furthering its plans for an expansion into the US market with a freshly secured round of funding. Nothing, which makes the Phone1 and is set to launch the Phone 2 on July 11, has yet to launch a phone in the US.
It would be a big leap for the company, but also a big step up. As the US market provides the company and its co-founder Carl Pei with an opportunity to land many more customers. According to a recent report from CNBC, Nothing has secured $96 million in funding to further its US expansion goals. The money likely won’t be used just for propping up Nothing’s US operations. Which Pei said earlier this year is “off to a good start.”
It is likely though that a majority of it will be for investment into the company’s US segment. As well as helping to launch the Phone 2 in the US. Which Nothing has already confirmed would be happening.
Nothing is “confident” the US expansion will help with the Phone 2 launch
Speaking to CNBC, Nothing co-founder Carl Pei says that he and the company are confident they’ll make headway with the launch of their first phone in the US market.
With the phone launching on July 11, Nothing will be looking to ramp up production. In a tweet on June 28, the company says it’s excited to scale its product and technology portfolio. This latest round of funding, Nothing confirms, was led by Highland Europe, with funding also coming in from GV, EQT Ventures, and Swedish House Mafia.
Swedish House Mafia has also collaborated with Nothing on creating a special Glyph ringtone sound pack for both the Phone 1 and Phone 2. It’s expected to be available for users later this year following the Phone 2 launch.
We’re excited to share that we’ve recently closed a $96M financing round, led by Highland Europe, with participation from @GVteam, @EQTVentures, C Capital and @swedishousemfia alongside others.
As we’ve just crossed 1.5M products sold, this marks a new milestone on our journey… pic.twitter.com/ObmJwUIHuh
Android operating systems (OS) have come a long way in development. Since it was introduced to the public in 2008, the innovation has continuously enhanced user experience. The Android OS went from not having a web browser to containing multiple user interfaces that can even create websites on some gadgets.
Despite these improvements, could the software be lacking in some areas? In this article, we’ll look at what these absent features could be.
Fortified Security
Android OS security has yet to attain its peak. While we experienced significant improvements over the years, the degree of desired protection has yet to be hit.
The constant evolution of technology brings numerous benefits and threats, posing severe issues to users’ data and valuable information. Developers of this widely used software should then implement strategic advancements to curb this.
They can achieve this through several ways, such as promoting regular security checks, ensuring secure boot processes, detecting malware, and taking necessary precautions. Fortifying security features would enhance the user experience and ensure you are protected.
Better App Permissions Management
Whenever you install an application on your device, the app may request various permissions to access certain features. The tools in an operating system control the privileges that an app refers to as permissions management.
The Android OS excellently integrates this feature but lacks wholesomeness. When you open most Android apps, you must allow all permissions simultaneously. Most users are usually eager to get into the app without reading too much into it, so they allow all permissions.
This may reveal information you don’t want to disclose, such as your location. However, if the OS had a special permission per request basis, this would grant you a much smoother experience. Additionally, you gain more control over factors such as your privacy.
Improved Gaming Features
When it comes to gaming, specific requirements need to be met. Android devices have evolved over the last decade to improve in this section.
However, dynamic changes continue to demand constant improvement. Additionally, the advent of online gaming involving sports such as First Person Shooter (FPS) games, football, and poker tournaments requires more resources like faster internet connection. This also applies to online gambling in modern slot machines, table games, and live poker.
Before signing up at an online casino using an Android device, check the reviews to ensure the site is reputable. For example, Aussies can rely on GambleOnlineAustralia’s unbiased casino reviews to gain more insights into the best-trusted sites in 2023.
Android device developers must improve features like processing speed and frame rate quality to enhance the user experience. Additionally, adding elements like game spaces that improve the quality of the gameplay is an added advantage.
Enhanced Privacy Controls
Privacy is vital in this technological era where your information is loosely put out there. We currently have apps like Google that store sensitive information that could cause harm if it lands in the wrong hands.
Hackers now have the upper hand because they can access information stored in previous Android versions. Technological advancements shift the field, and developers should cover up these creeks early enough.
The Android OS has taken specific measures to prevent this, but there is room for improvement. For instance, in some applications, users should be able to restrict access to data more often. Developers can achieve this by ensuring that privacy management is less complex to smoothen the process.
Enhanced Battery Life
The Android OS has certain features that help increase battery life. These power-saving features include auto-brightness, ultra power-saving mode, and killing background apps to save data energy.
These advancements continually refine power management algorithms that prevent applications from running in the background, which properly distributes power, reducing the amount of power drained.
Additionally, gadgets like power-efficient chipsets and low-power display technologies save battery life. The invention of smaller efficient batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries which are small in size but have a large storage capacity, are being input in modern phones to promote efficiency.
Streamlined Fragmentation
One huge element that holds back the Androids’ efficiency is the fragmentation of the software. Multiple software manufacturers use different versions of customized designs. Different device manufacturers use customized designs of the OS with multiple versions that are in use simultaneously.
This system of operation might have been influential in the start but currently produces a lot of bottlenecks in the whole system. Android developers can, however, use this to their advantage by encouraging faster and more streamlined updates.
Similarly, they can make it easier to update all their devices at a go. This move will help ensure the gadgets are similar while integrating vital features such as security breaches on earlier Android versions.
Conclusion
In the past decade, Androids have undergone significant advancements in terms of technological advancement. They have made headway, currently characterized by high-end features that rival their most considerable competitor, the IOS. However, there are some sectors that the software still lacks. However, we hope these devices will continue to improve with technology diversification.
A newly emerged ransomware known as Akira expands its operations to target Linux-based platforms which add the “.akira” file extension to each compromised file.
Akira ransomware mostly operating since April 2023, and actively targeting numerous organizations, compromising their sensitive data.
The Akira ransomware specifically targeted a wide range of industries during its attacks, encompassing sectors including Education, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Manufacturing, Professional Services, and more.
The group has already compromised 46 publicly disclosed victims, most of whom are in the United States, according to Cyble report.
Technical Analysis of Akira Ransomware:
The execution of the attack was achieved through the malicious 64-bit Linux executable Linkable Format (ELF) file.
In order to execute the Akira executable, specific parameters need to be provided.
The required parameters for running the Akira executable are as follows:
“-p” / “–encryption_path” – Path of files/folder to be encrypted.
“-s” / “–share_file” – Path of the shared network drive to be encrypted
“-n” / “–encryption_percent” – Percentage of the files to be encrypted.
“-fork” – Creating a child process for encryption.
Upon execution, the Akira ransomware loads a pre-determined RSA public key to encrypt files in the system.
Once the public key is initialized, the Akira ransomware loads a list of predetermined file extensions it intends to target and encrypt.
Figure: File Extensions Targeted by the Akira Ransomware
The ransomware incorporates routines associated with multiple symmetric key algorithms, including AES, CAMELLIA, IDEA-CB, and DES.
When encountering a file with an extension listed, the ransomware proceeds to encrypt the file and leave the ransomware note on the infectious machine.
The ransomware notes detailed how to reach the group to negotiate ransom and guidance to decrypt their data.
Akira Ransomware, which was initially focused on Windows systems, has now expanded its target range to include Linux platforms.
During attacks, Akira uses a combination of AES and RSA encryption to render the victim’s files inaccessible.
In addition to encrypting the victim’s files, Akira will also remove the Shadow Volume copies of the files.
This is done to prevent users from recovering their files using alternative methods.
The proliferation of ransomware and shift in tactics reflects a growing trend among ransomware groups.
Europol has published the results of an infiltration operation on EncroChat, a secure communications system set up by and for criminals.
In 2020, we reported on how law enforcement managed to compromise a secure communications system set up by and for criminals.
Now, Europol has published a progress report showing the enormous impact the infiltration of the encrypted communications tool EncroChat made.
EncroChat, a company based in the Netherlands, advertised its services as safer than safe, stating that no messages were saved on its servers, which were located “offshore.” However, Dutch law enforcement figured out the EncroChat servers were located in France and got to work, hoping to catch criminals in the act. And they did.
The EncroChat system was well organized and had gained a lot of trusting users over the years. Criminals felt secure enough to chat freely about everything: Names of customers, drug deliveries, and even assassinations. And their trust was understandable, given what EncroChat promised to offer:
Phones were dual boot, so users could alternatively start the Android operating system and their phones would look like a normal, old-fashioned model
The phones had a “wipe all” button that would delete all the stored conversations in case of an arrest or other emergency
No messages were stored on servers so they could not be seized and decrypted later
The service used OTR which is a cryptographic protocol that provides both authentication and end-to-end encryption for instant messaging. This protocol ensures that session keys will not be compromised even if the private key of the server is compromised. Even when a server is seized, the conversations cannot be decrypted or lead back to the participants
EncroChat users paid hefty fees for this service— thousands of dollars per year, per device. The exorbitant fees may explain why the majority of the EncroChat clientele could be found on the wrong side of the law. Other parties that might have a vested interest in keeping their chat messages secret include government parties, journalists, security professionals, or lawyers. However, there are cheaper, if somewhat less sophisticated, alternatives for legitimate secret-keeping that law enforcement does not target.
According to Europol, most EncroChat users were either members of organized crime, or performed drug trafficking. The rest engaged in money laundering, assassinations, and firearms trafficking.
EncroChat users divided by crime area, courtesy of Europol
Three years later the harvest of the operation stands at:
6,558 suspects arrested, including 197 high value targets
7,134 years of imprisonment of convicted criminals up to now
EUR 739.7 million in cash seized
EUR 154.1 million frozen in assets or bank accounts
30.5 million pills of chemical drugs seized
103.5 tonnes of cocaine seized
163.4 tonnes of cannabis seized
3.3 tonnes of heroin seized
971 vehicles seized
271 estates or homes seized
923 weapons seized, as well as 21,750 rounds of ammunition and 68 explosives
83 boats and 40 planes seized
All this was possible thanks to the analysis of 115 million conversations between the roughly 60,000 users of the EncroChat platform.
Similar operations like the one against Sky ECC, and a fake secure chat service set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) called AN0M, have shown that despite being unable to break secure encryption, law enforcement agencies have found ways to eavesdrop on the criminals that feel safe using them.
We don’t just report on encryption—we offer you the option to use it.
Privacy risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep your online privacy yours by using Malwarebytes Privacy VPN.
This time around we’re comparing two clamshell foldables, the Motorola Razr+ vs Huawei P50 Pocket. The Motorola Razr+ (also known as the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra in markets outside of the US) actually launched rather recently, while the Huawei P50 Pocket has been around since the end of 2021 (though it didn’t arrive to global markets until February 2022). Still, Huawei did not launch a second-gen clamshell foldable, and some of you may be looking into getting the P50 Pocket, so… here’s a direct comparison between these two phones.
These two phones do look similar when they are unfolded, and when you look at the from the front. As soon as we flip them around, though, things change drastically. We’ll first list their specifications, and we’ll then move to compare their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio performance.
Both of these foldables have a frame made out of metal, and glass backs too. The bezels around their main displays are thin, while both devices also have a centered display camera hole on the main display. That’s basically where similarities end. When you flip them over, you’ll see plenty of differences. The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra has a large 3.6-inch cover display back there, which goes around the rear cameras too. The panel on the Huawei P50 Pocket looks minuscule in comparison, as it measures only 1.04 inches.
Having said that, the cover display on the Huawei P50 Pocket is also round, while you’ll notice a round camera island above it, hosting three cameras. There are two cameras on the back of the Motorola Razr+. It is worth noting that the Motorola Razr+ also comes in a variant with vegan leather on the back. The most expensive Huawei P50 Pocket model, the gold one, has an interesting pattern on its glass back, which does protrude on the back. It offers an interesting feeling in the hand thanks to that. The Huawei P50 Pocket is a bit heavier, but the difference is minimal.
The two phones are almost identical in terms of height, while the P50 Pocket is a bit wider. They’re also very similar when it comes to thickness, the difference is negligible. The Motorola Razr+ does come with a water-repellent coating, unlike the Huawei P50 Pocket, which does not offer any type of water protection. Both phones are quite slippery in the hand, but they also feel quite premium at the same time.
Motorola Razr+ vs Huawei P50 Pocket: Display
The Motorola Razr+ has a 6.9-inch fullHD+ (2640 x 1080) Foldable LTPO AMOLED main display. That panel can project up to 1 billion colors, and it has a 165Hz refresh rate. That display can also project HDR10+ content, and it goes up to 1,400 nits of brightness at its peak. The cover display, on the other hand, measures 3.6 inches. It has a resolution of 1056 x 1066, and we’re looking at an AMOLED panel here. It can also project up to 1 billion colors, and has a 144Hz refresh rate. HDR10+ content is supported, and the brightness goes up to 1,100 nits. Gorilla Glass Victus protects this panel.
The Huawei P50 Pocket, on the flip side, has a 6.9-inch fullHD+ (2790 x 1188) Foldable OLED display. That panel has a 120Hz refresh rate, and can show up to 1 billion colors. It has a 21:9 aspect ratio. There is a second display on the back, a 1.04-inch panel. That display has a resolution of 340 x 340, and it’s quite small in comparison to the Razr+’s.
The main panels on both smartphones are great. The Razr+’s does have a higher refresh rate, but you won’t be able to use it in most situations, nor should you. Both displays are more than sharp enough, have good viewing angles, and have good touch response. The colors are vivid on both, and the blacks are deep. The cover panel on the Motorola Razr+ is much better than the one on the Huawei P50 Pocket. It is much larger, sharper, and has a higher refresh rate. That display also allows you to use any app on it, while you’re limited to only some widgets on the P50 Pocket, in addition to some system functions.
Motorola Razr+ vs Huawei P50 Pocket: Performance
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 fuels the Motorola Razr+, while the Snapdragon 888 is included inside the Huawei P50 Pocket. The former is a 4nm chip, while the latter is a 5nm processor that is a bit older Both companies included LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 flash storage in these smartphones. Both of them actually come with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.
The Motorola Razr+ does have a more powerful processor, but the performance is really good on both smartphones. For the majority of tasks, they’ll offer rather similar performance. You may notice slightly faster app launches on the Motorola Razr+, but for the most part, they’re quite similar in that. The difference in the SoC strength does come to show during gaming, though. Only if you’re playing more demanding titles, however. The Motorola Razr+ will have the edge in such cases. The Huawei P50 Pocket still holds its own, though, the Snapdragon 888 is still a great chip.
Motorola Razr+ vs Huawei P50 Pocket: Battery
There is a 3,800mAh battery inside the Motorola Razr+, while the Huawei P50 Pocket includes a 4,000mAh battery pack. Despite the fact the Huawei P50 Pocket has a larger battery, and a smaller outer display, it still cannot beat the Motorola Razr+. That’s mainly due to its SoC, probably. The Motorola Razr+ delivered well over 7 hours of screen-on-time during our testing, it even showed to be capable of pushing that to 8 hours. The Huawei P50 Pocket was closer to 6-6.5 hours.
One thing to note is that I was forced to use the Huawei P50 Pocket’s main display a lot more often. The cover display doesn’t allow you to do much, unlike the one on the Motorola Razr+. Also, your mileage may vary, as per usual. Your usage will likely differ quite a bit, plus you’ll use different apps, and have different signal strengths. If you’re a gamer, that will have a considerable impact on battery life too.
The Motorola Razr+ supports 30W wired and 5W wireless charging. The Huawei P50 Pocket offers 40W wired, and 5W reverse wired charging. Both smartphones do come with a charger in the box, but that doesn’t apply to all countries in the case of Motorola Razr+. In the US, for example, you won’t get a charger.
Motorola Razr+ vs Huawei P50 Pocket: Cameras
The Motorola Razr+ includes a 12-megapixel main camera, and a 13-megapixel ultrawide unit (108-degree FoV). The Huawei P50 Pocket, on the other hand, has a 40-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV), and a 32-megapixel wide-angle camera.
During the day, these two phones did provide rather different photos. The ones from the Motorola Razr+ were a bit more muted in terms of representation, while the Huawei P50 Pocket balanced things out really nicely, without turning up the saturation too high. Neither phone goes too far with sharpening, while the Huawei P50 Pocket did better with HDR during the day, most of the time. It did misrepresent colors at times, though. Both ultrawide cameras did a good job, but the ones on the P50 Pocket did offer a bit more lively photos, and a wider FoV.
In low light, both do a good job, actually. The Motorola Razr+ fared better when it comes to neon signs and street lights, but other than that, both were really good. They managed to light up scenes quite a bit, while not allowing noise to creep in. They’re nowhere near the best out there for low light photography, but both are good enough.
Audio
Both the Motorola Razr+ and Huawei P50 Pocket have a set of stereo speakers. The ones on the Motorola Razr+ are considerably better, however. They are quite a bit louder, while the sound quality does come out more too.
Neither phone offers a 3.5mm headphone jack. If you want to connect your headphones via a cable, you’ll need to use a Type-C port. That goes for both phones. The Motorola Razr+ is equipped with Bluetooth 5.3, while the Huawei P50 Pocket supports Bluetooth 5.2.
Samsung‘s big hardware launch event next month may not bring a new pair of wireless earbuds. Industry insiders suggest that the company won’t unveil the rumored Galaxy Buds 3 at the Galaxy Unpacked event on July 27. It may separately launch the new earbuds later.
Samsung has already sent out press invites for its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. According to Twitter tipster SnoopyTech, the company recently provided retailers and carriers with infographics about the new devices it has in the pipeline. Those materials contained information on the Galaxy Tab S9 series flagship tablets and the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 foldables. But there was no mention of new audio products.
This, coupled with the fact that there has been hardly any leak or rumor about the Galaxy Buds 3 so far, suggests Samsung doesn’t plan to launch the new earbuds next month. The same has been confirmed by another noted tipster Max Jambor. He claimed that the Korean firm has “no new audio products” in the pipeline, at least not for July’s Galaxy Unpacked. Max didn’t confirm whether the Galaxy Buds 3 will debut at a later date.
It’s worth noting that Samsung is also readying a couple of new smartwatches with plans to unveil them at Galaxy Unpacked next month. Leaks about the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic have been coming fairly regularly over the past couple of months or so, though not as frequently as the upcoming foldables and tablets. The latter category of devices usually gets more media attention, so that isn’t surprising.
However, it’s unclear whether Samsung has shared information on the new wearables with retailers and carriers. If it hasn’t, then the company will probably send out a second round of infographics in the coming days. While the chances are slim, we can’t completely rule out the possibility of the Galaxy Buds 3 featuring those materials. We will let you know as soon as we have more information about Samsung’s upcoming products.
If not in July, the Galaxy Buds 3 could arrive alongside the Galaxy S23 FE
Samsung may not be rushing to launch new earbuds because its last pair are still incredible. Launched in August 2022, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro can hold its own against rivals even today. The company may offer the pair at a discounted price once the new tablets and foldables are official. As far as the Galaxy Buds 3 are concerned, Samsung could launch them alongside the Galaxy S23 FE. The new FE phone is expected to arrive in October in some markets.
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EncroChat users divided by crime area, courtesy of Europol
