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Alongside the slate of new phones Huawei announced today was an interesting addition: a new type of expandable storage the company is calling Nano Memory (NM), which replaces the traditional microSD card in the newly announced Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. Huawei says that NM cards, which are identical in size and shape to a Nano SIM card, are 45 percent smaller than a microSD card, and come in at least a 256GB storage and 90MB/s transfer speed version that the company showed off onstage. On the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, the NM Card goes in one of the slots on the dual-SIM tray, with users having to choose between extra storage or a second SIM card. As of now, it seems that the NM Card is exclusive to Huawei, both in terms of phones that support the memory cards and storage companies manufacturing them (apropos of nothing: remember Sony’s Memory Sticks?) Things will be far more interesting if NM Cards expand out to other companies as a new standard for storage — especially as … [Read more...] about Huawei’s Nano Memory Cards are replacing microSD on its latest phones

Lexar announced its new JumpDrive Fingerprint F35 USB 3.0 flash drive today, which uses fingerprint authentication to protect your data. It works with speeds up to 150 MB/s, and it can recognize fingerprints in less than a second. You can set it up to recognize up to 10 different people, and it’s protected with 256-bit AES encryption to keep your files safe. 9to5Mac reports that the 32GB variant is available to preorder on Amazon now for $32.99, but it’s not clear when the flash drive will ship. There are also 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB variants, which will cost $50, $90, and $170, respectively, and they will ship in the next few months. Although Lexar says the JumpDrive is compatible with Mac and Windows PCs, Mac owners without a USB 3.0 port won’t be able to use the flash drive without a dongle. Perhaps the company’s next move should be to focus on making its fingerprint sensors available for USB-C flash drives. … [Read more...] about Lexar’s new USB 3.0 flash drive can save up to 10 fingerprint IDs

Home security system company SimpliSafe launched a new smart standalone doorbell today with heat sensors and motion detectors. It’s the company’s first product that’s technically not inside the home. The SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Pro has a wide angle 1080p camera that supports HDR with a 162-degree field of view, that’s just short of seeing everything front of it. It has two-way audio equipped with noise and echo cancellation that’s supposed to minimize background noise. The camera also supports heat signature detection and human motion detection. (The latter will be activated as part of an update in the coming weeks and could make identification more accurate.) Camera recording is available on a subscription-based plan for $5 a month for a single camera or $10 a month for unlimited cameras. The doorbell could serve as a decent introduction to SimpliSafe’s products if you haven’t tried them. It’s a standalone product that can work on its … [Read more...] about SimpliSafe releases a new smart doorbell with a wide angle camera

Earlier this month, Facebook announced Portal, a camera-equipped smart device that’s meant to compete with Amazon’s Echo Show. But the company’s hardware ambitions apparently go far beyond that: Cheddar is reporting that Facebook is working on a TV camera that would offer Portal-like video chatting on a bigger screen and allow users to stream content from Facebook Watch. If the device — said to be codenamed “Ripley” — makes it to market, Facebook would enter into another massive smart home battleground, facing off against Amazon, Apple, Google, and Roku for valuable set-top box space. Facebook’s addition of a camera, which essentially turns your entire TV into a massive Facebook Portal, would be a differentiator for the current marketplace. (Microsoft already tried this exact thing with Skype for the Xbox One’s Kinect camera, down to the in-room tracking.) If Facebook is making a play for the TV, it’ll need to shore up its … [Read more...] about Facebook is reportedly working on a TV camera that can stream video

At a grand event in London today, Huawei is unveiling the latest members of its Mate smartphone series, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. The Mate 20 is the larger device, featuring a 6.5-inch, 2,244 x 1,080 LCD display with a peculiar 18.7:9 aspect ratio. It also has one of the smallest screen notches we’ve yet seen, accommodating only the selfie camera, with the earpiece positioned at the very edge of the phone. With 820 nits of brightness, Huawei claims this is an extremely power-efficient display, so you’ll get lots of brightness without compromising on battery life. The Mate 20 achieves a screen-to-body ratio of 88.08 percent, beating the Mate 20 Pro’s 86.90 percent, which is hampered by the wider notch that houses a more sophisticated 3D face unlock system. Huawei proudly proclaims the Mate 20 has only a 2.6mm side bezel, and its screen notch is just 8.9mm in width. So yes, the “our notch is smaller” contest keeps escalating. Huawei is announcing the full … [Read more...] about Huawei announces Mate 20 with 6.5-inch display and tiny notch