Author: batteryforpc

Why it matters: A lot of focus is on Samsung’s recently unveiled folding phone tech right now, but we’ve known for a while that other companies, including Huawei, are working on similar devices. Now, the Chinese giant has reportedly presented its finished version to Korean carriers at a private event.
According to Korean publication ET News, Huawei’s device will arrive next year. The exact date isn’t certain, but it will reportedly be unveiled at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress in February/March before launching sometime in June.
Samsung’s foldable device, which is expected to be called the Galaxy F or Galaxy X, measures 7.3 inches when opened up, but Huawei’s flexible phone has it beat with an 8-inch screen manufactured by BOE. It also appears to be almost completely free of bezels. When folded up, the screen measures 5 inches, again beating the Galaxy F/X’s 4.6-inch display, though unlike Samsung, Huawei has decided to include a notch.
An official said the phone would come with 5G support, which means it could be released in South Korea first, where many carriers already support the technology. It’s been reported that the Galaxy F/X won’t have 5G, which would be disappointing for a phone with a rumored $1800 price tag.
Back in October, Chinese firm Royole became the first company to unveil a foldable phone—the FlexPai—though it doesn’t look particularly spectacular in Ice Universe’s tweet.

Apple’s freshly launched iPhone XR and iPhone XS lines have hardware support for dual SIM configurations, but the rollout of the feature has been a bit delayed (or in the case of AT&T, rolled back) due to issues with carriers that have not been totally sorted out yet. Verizon, however, is reportedly planning on supporting the feature by next month.
In an internal Verizon memo obtained by 9to5Mac, the company told employees it intends to have dual SIM activations for eSIM and physical SIMs ready to go by early December:

Currently, the iPhone does not support high-speed Verizon service when used in a Dual SIM configuration, dropping down to the 2G CDMA network rather than LTE. This was especially problematic in certain geographies where Verizon has switched to offering LTE-only coverage.
As a result of these limitations, Verizon said it would not be activating service on any eSIM nor officially support Dual SIM activations.
At the launch last month, Verizon said they believed the software limitations would be resolved quickly with Apple’s cooperation. This latest memo indicates that it will stick to its promise and deliver eSIM and Dual SIM to iPhone XS and iPhone XR customers before the end of the year.

Note that the phones only support one eSIM and one physical SIM card slot outside of China, meaning that at least one of the lines will need to run through the eSIM slot.
9to5Mac noted that the projected early December date is likely to refer to the release of iOS 12.1.1, when a software update to make the dual SIM feature play more nicely with U.S. mobile networks may be rolled out alongside other features. However, the feature could also trickle out bit by bit via carrier-specific updates; per the Verge, AT&T and T-Mobile are still sorting out bugs with an unclear timeframe for a resolution.
If you find the idea of using two SIM cards for anything but traveling to a foreign country somewhat unfamiliar, survey data shows you’re probably not alone. As VentureBeat noted, few U.S. customers use dual SIM configurations, though it is more common in Asia and Europe, where many people use two SIM cards to toggle between work and phone lines and national or international carriers. Lack of support for dual SIMs was considered a barrier to expanding market shares in some regions, and VentureBeat reported earlier this year that dual SIM support had been under consideration as a China-exclusive feature.

Apple Support has responded to a report of an exploding iPhone X – occurring immediately after being upgraded to iOS 12.1 – by stating that this is ‘definitely not expected behavior’ …
Apple offered its response on Twitter.

That’s definitely not expected behavior. DM us, so we can look into this with you.

Gadgets360 reached out to Rahel Mohamad, who filed the report.

An iPhone X has apparently exploded in the US after being updated to iOS 12.1 on Wednesday. This development comes in from the city of Federal Way, Washington in the US where a user claims that his 10-month old iPhone X started emitting smoke and eventually exploded after it was successfully updated to iOS 12.1 […]
“This year early January I bought the iPhone and have been using it normally.” he said. The iPhone X was in process of getting updated to iOS 12.1 when Mohamad, as is standard practice, put it on charging. “Dark grey smoke started coming from the phone. The update was completed and as soon as the phone turned on it started to smoke and caught fire.”

The upgrade is almost certainly just coincidental. Mohamad says he was using the bundled Apple charger and cable to charge the phone, though the explosion took place after it was removed from charge.

When I held the phone it was very hot and I drop the phone immediately. Then it started to smoke.

Apple has asked him to ship the phone so that the company can investigate the cause.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard of an exploding iPhone. There have been a number of iPhone firesover the years, and the nature of lithium battery fires is that they can be both very sudden and extremely fierce, meaning that the ‘exploding’ terminology is understandable. Such fires are extremely rare, but will happen to any device selling in the tens of millions.
I’m sure we’ll all be relieved to know that it’s not expected behavior.

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 test build, No. 18282, adds a new fully light theme, more updating, printing and snipping options and more tweaks.
Not everyone is a Windows dark-theme fan. (Hard to believe, I know.) For those who prefer to go to the light, Microsoft is introducing a new Windows Light theme — plus a number of additional settings tweaks in its latest Windows 10 19H1 test build.
That Windows 10 test build, No. 18282, which Microsoft is rolling out to Fast Ring Insiders on November 14, adds a new light theme which turns all system UI elements light. This includes the taskbar, Start menu, Action Center, tough keyboard and more. As part of this new light theme, Microsoft is adding a new default wallpaper highlighting Windows Light.
Today’s test build includes a fix for an issue which resulted in some users not being able to set Win32 program defaults for certain app and file type combinations using the Open with… command or via Settings > Apps > Default apps.
Microsoft is making the Pause Updates feature easier to find by making that option more visible directly on the Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update page. Pause can be enabled for a pre-defined number of days or until the specific day. Microsoft also is allowing users with shifting schedules to have their Active Hours setting — which dictates when a device should not be rebooted — to automatically adjust based on a device’s activity. (Users need to turn this setting on manually.)
Microsoft is adding some new printing options with Build 18282 and is adding icons to help users find the ones they need. Today’s test build also adds the requested window snip option to its Snip & Sketch feature.
For a full list of other changes and fixes, plus known issues, check out Microsoft’s blog post about 18282.
Windows 10 19H1 is the feature update for Windows 10 which should begin rolling out to mainstream users around April 2019.
Speaking of feature updates, Microsoft is starting to roll out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update for HoloLens today, November 14, which is the day after it began rolling out the revised October 2018 Update for PCs and IoT devices.