mobile phones
KaiOS, the feature phone platform startup, raises a modest $3.4M to train its sights on growth in Africa
Smartphone shipments have been declining in what has been a rough year for mobile handsets, and that’s meant even more pressure on an already-precarious sliver of the mobile market: feature…
Lynk may beat Starlink and Apple to the punch as FCC approves its space-based texting
SpaceX and T-Mobile may have hogged the headlines with their flashy pre-announcement about Starlink connectivity last month, and Apple last week, but Lynk has been putting in the work and…
Huawei offers satellite SOS in China where Apple’s is unavailable
A day before Apple unveiled its highly anticipated satellite-powered SOS feature for iPhone 14, Huawei announced its own equivalent. The Chinese telecoms equipment and smartphone giant said its flagship Mate…
As promised earlier this year at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company today confirmed it’s broadening access to its Apple Fitness+ service to users beyond Apple Watch owners. At…
Varjo, an early mover in building XR headsets and software for enterprises, taps $40M
Applications in the metaverse often feel like more of a marketing gimmick than something that a critical mass of consumers would use, let alone pay for. But turn to the…
Spotify and Samsung expand their partnership in 2022, with more pre-installs, integrations and free trials
Spotify is again expanding its 2018 partnership with Samsung in 2022, the company announced. This year, Samsung and Spotify are working together on a number of cross-platform integrations involving Samsung…
Apple adds the battery percentage icon back in the latest iOS beta
Apple is on the cusp of introducing a tiny change with an outsized impact on the quality of life of iPhone users everywhere who are tired of helplessly watching as…
Congress probes period tracking apps and data brokers over abortion privacy concerns
The U.S. House Oversight Committee is probing a collection of period tracking apps and data brokers in light of emerging concerns about how private health data might be weaponized in…
Solana launches web3-focused smartphone Saga to improve crypto-mobile relationship
The co-founder and CEO of Solana, Anatoly Yakovenko, had a Steve Jobs moment when he stood in front of an auditorium in New York City and announced the launch of…
UK’s antitrust watchdog finally eyes action on Apple, Google mobile duopoly
The U.K.’s competition watchdog has published its final report on a comprehensive, year-long mobile ecosystem market study — cementing its view that there are substantial concerns about the market power…
If you’re the particular kind of person who played Pokémon Crystal on your jailbroken iPhone 3 during your high school math class, then there’s even bigger news coming out of…
Apple is improving its webcam on the shiny new M2 MacBooks, but for those of us still chugging along on our existing MacBooks, we’ll be able to use our iPhones…
Primitives wants to turn your crypto wallet into a social network
Only a handful of “whales,” or big spenders, still own the majority of NFTs. While the digital assets have piqued widespread consumer interest, the user experience associated with actually minting…
Zoox shared a close-up of its commercial electric robotaxi at the TechCrunch Mobility 2022 conference in San Mateo, California, on Wednesday. The Amazon subsidiary’s four-passenger, fully autonomous vehicle features a cubelike…
Featured Article
Bitcoin’s bid to become the ‘one chain to rule them all’
The Bitcoin 2022 conference brought over 25,000 attendees to Miami last month to discuss the future of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The event, which attendees have described as “extravagant” and compared to a bacchanal, featured a now-notorious keynote speech by Peter Thiel in which the venture capitalist rallied Bitcoin supporters against a list of people…
European Union lawmakers have taken a step closer to agreeing on rules to standardize how a range of mobile gadgetry is charged. Today MEPs in the European Parliament’s internal market…
PayU doubles down on LatAm fintech, acquires Ding and leads $46M investment in ‘superapp’ Treinta in Colombia
PayU, the fintech business controlled by Prosus with operations in 50+ countries — it’s been described as the PayPal of emerging markets — announced a double-deal today to expand its…
Europe lays out expanded ecodesign rules with plan for digital product passports
The European Union has announced a new bundle of sustainability-focused policy proposals that will expand existing ecodesign rules on energy efficiency by encouraging longer product lifespans, supporting the growth of…
Migrante steps on the gas of vehicle leasing for gig workers in Latin America
The company develops secured loans for motorcycles, cars and trucks so borrowers can improve their income.
Android development these days runs on a monthly cadence, so it’s no surprise that about a month after Google announced the first developer preview of Android 13 (code-named “Tiramisu,” as…
Hello readers, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week, I talked about the future of this newsletter and what’s coming next. The short of which is that in…
Sikur touts a new secure Android phone for enterprise, gov’t comms
It’s been many years since the BlackBerry was the corporate phone du jour. Touchscreen phones and the “bring your own device” trend put an end to all that. But the…
MWC to bar some Russian companies from next week’s show
The GSMA, which puts on the world’s largest annual mobile connectivity show (aka Mobile World Congress) has confirmed it will ban some Russian companies from exhibiting at the Barcelona-based conference…
The first developer preview of Android 13 has arrived
Right on schedule, Google today announced the first developer release of Android 13. These very early releases, which are only meant for developers and aren’t available through over-the-air updates, typically…
EVs are fun. They are superbly connected, constantly updated and offer a great user experience, but they are cars, not mobile phones. Hacking into vehicles endangers driver safety and privacy.
Meta’s Workplace will integrate with WhatsApp later this year to expand communication with front-line employees
Workplace, the app owned and originally built by Facebook (now Meta) as a version of the social network for enterprise employees to communicate with each other, has signed up upwards…
Fairphone hits software support longevity akin to Apple’s iPhone
Fairphone, the Dutch social enterprise dedicated to making consumer electronics (more) sustainable and ethical, including by supporting repairability so that users can hold onto their hardware for longer, has announced…
DJI’s latest GoPro competitor is a stunner, but can’t handle the heat
DJI’s second-generation GoPro killer couldn’t look better… on paper. The stunning little Action 2 is compact and boasts a full-featured list of specs with a fascinating modular design which allows…
Unity launches Unity Gaming Services to simplify development of cross-platform, multiplayer games
Unity, the platform that enables creators to develop 2D and 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles and augmented and virtual reality devices, launched a beta version of Unity…
Google introduces Pixel Pass, an all-in-one subscription combining phones and premium services
Alongside the launch of the new Google Pixel 6 smartphones, the company also introduced a new way to purchase them: Pixel Pass. This all-in-one subscription service allows consumers to purchase…
