Author: Danielle

Phone manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung have already launched foldable phones this month, and joining them is now battery manufacturer Energizer.

At MWC 2019 in Barcelona, the company launched a slew of new phones including the Power Max 8100S which looks intriguing. That said, it probably won’t pose much competition to the Samsung Galaxy Fold or Huawei Mate X.

• Check out all the latest announcements from MWC 2019
• These are all the foldable phones we’re expecting to see in the future
• Which upcoming 5G phones are you excited for?

The Energizer Power Max 8100S comes with a dual-lens rear camera consisting of a 48MP main sensor and 12MP secondary snapper. There’s also a selfie-cam of 24MP. All of the cameras are visible on the same side of the device – the inside tablet screen therefore has no cameras.

Energizer’s phones are unique for their massive batteries. The Power Max 8100S launched alongside the Power Max 18K Pop, which has a huge 18,000mAh battery. 

Energizer’s foldable doesn’t have that much power, but its 10,000mAh power pack is still likely to lap both the Samsung Galaxy Fold’s 4,380mAh or the Huawei Mate X’s 4,500mAh cells.

The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, and has 8GB RAM as well as 256GB internal memory, which makes it just as powerful as its foldable rivals but with a little less storage.

The Energizer Power Max 8100S was unveiled behind a glass case, and so we couldn’t get hands-on with the device to see how it runs. For now we can’t tell if it’ll totally suck or not.

Energizer doesn’t always bring its phones to every market either. For example, last year’s Power Max 16K Pro was an intriguing solution to solving your battery life woes, but it never arrived in the UK.

Curiously we weren’t shown a glimpse of the larger foldable screen on the new device. Only the normal screen and rear of the device were visible. This 6-inch 18:9 display had no notch and the camera sits inside the top bezel, but the screen we saw was likely a sticker (judging by other phones Energizer had on display) so we can’t really tell the quality of it. The unseen screen is a 8.1-inch 4:3 Full HD foldable display.

It may be a while until we can get our hands properly on the Power Max 8100S too as this is almost certainly a prototype on show at MWC.

MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world’s largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting live from Barcelona all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated MWC 2019 hub to see all the new releases, along with TechRadar’s world-class analysis and buying advice about your next phone.

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If you’ve been looking for that golden offer to make your new Samsung Galaxy S10 that little bit more affordable to pre-order, Carphone Warehouse has the perfect reward for you right now.

Offering a £25 Curry’s PC World voucher with any deals on the S10, S10 Plus and S10e, Carphone offers are suddenly looking a whole lot stronger. Now, that might not sound like a lot but in the world of mobile phone deals, all of these little freebies add up. 

When you consider the fact that you also get Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds free with your phone and have the option to save a few hundred quid through trade in with Carphone, this Curry’s voucher is the icing on the cake.

Want to grab this offer? You can find all of the details down below along with our favourite deal for each device.

The best Samsung deals from Carphone Warehouse

If none of these deals manage to win you over then check out our deals pages for each device but remember, you can only get the voucher with a Carphone offer.

– Samsung Galaxy S10 deals
– Samsung Galaxy S10e deals
– Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus deals

These are favourite S10 deals from Carphone Warehouse at the moment BUT PLEASE NOTE that you will not be able to claim your voucher if you click through and buy from the below links. In order to ensure that you get your Currys reward, you must register at this link first.

If you would rather go with a slightly different retailer, Mobiles.co.uk is running a very similar offer, although it is only available on Samsung Galaxy S10 deals. You can Click here to see how to claim your £20 Currys voucher with Mobiles.co.uk

How to claim your Currys/PC World gift card:

Step 1

Click on this link to the Giftcloud website – you won’t be eligible if you head straight to the Carphone Warehouse website. Then sign up for the promotion by entering your email and pressing ‘Get Reward’. Giftcloud will send you an email on Carphone Warehouse’s behalf to confirm it has received your registration. You can also find the full terms and conditions of the offer on that page.

Step 2

Click ‘Buy now’ to go through to the Carphone Warehouse website. It’s at this point you get to pick out your ideal tariff and complete the purchase. You can get it for as little as under £40 per month!

Step 3

Step 3 involves exercising some patience, unfortunately. It will take up to 60 days after the original purchase date for your purchase to be verified as eligible for a voucher, and you’ll be sent instructions on how to finally claim your Currys voucher.

In general, you won’t experience any problems using the Windows app. But if you are having issues connecting to servers it could be your account, the settings within the app, a problem with the server in question or something awry with the network settings on your laptop or PC.

Before trying any of the more in-depth fixes, there are some quick ways to discover where the issue lies by a process of elimination.

So, first try connecting to a few different servers. If you can’t connect to any, try the NordVPN app on a different device, such as your phone. If the connection works fine on that, the problem is with your first device or computer.

If you still can’t connect, the issue could be your network or a problem with your NordVPN account.

Another quick solution if you can’t access another device is to log out of your account (within the app) and then log back in.

No joy? Uninstall the app, reinstall it and log back in. If even that doesn’t work, temporarily disable and antivirus and / or firewall on your PC or laptop and see if that’s blocking the connection.

Finally, you can select a different connection method within the app to see if that makes any different. The connection options will vary depending upon the device you’re using, but if you head into Settings and click on ‘Show advanced settings’ you should find the heading ‘Protocol’. Pick a different one to whatever is currently selected and try connecting again.

If none of this works, the follow our advice below in order.

Account settings

Log into your NordVPN account and make sure that your account status is ‘Active’ and that your last payment was successful.

If you can verify both of those things, it isn’t an account issue. However, if there is a problem here, you can contact customer support and get it resolved. If you need to subscribe again, click here.

App settings

Open the Windows app and click on Settings at the top. Scroll down and click on Show advanced settings.

Scroll down again and click on Run Diagnostics Tool.  A new window will open in which you should click Reset app.

This will restore all the default settings, and you can try again to connect to one of NordVPN’s servers.

Control Panel Network settings

If that doesn’t work, then try disabling and re-enabling the NordVPN network adapter. Open Control Panel, and that’s the old-style one if you’re running Windows 10.

Go to > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Centre > Change adapter settings.

Here you’ll see a list of all the network adapters, including virtual ones such as the TAP NordVPN Windows Adapter.

Simply right click on it and choose Disable.

After a few seconds you can double-click on the disabled adapter to re-enable it. Now you can try to connect to a server again.

Command prompt

If the ‘turn it off, turn it on again’ trick doesn’t work, then you can run a few commands to reset your Windows network settings.

From the Start menu, find the Run app. In the text box type cmd and press Enter. In Windows 10 you can type cmd in the search box, or PowerShell. Both will have the same effect.

Now type the following commands in turn, pressing Enter after each one. If you’re prompted to restart your computer, just keep entering the commands and restart it after they have all been run.

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /renew

netsh winsock reset

netsh interface ipv4 reset

netsh interface ipv6 reset

netsh winsock reset catalog

netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Restart your computer and hopefully your connection problems will be a thing of the past. If you’re finding that the connection speed is slow, here’s how to speed up NordVPN.

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BBC and ITV are on the cusp of concluding legal agreements on a UK version of their ‘BritBox’ streaming service, according to an announcement today.

The rival British broadcasters are banding together for a “strategic partnership” on a Netflix-style platform in the UK, full of “boxsets and original series” available on demand, and brand-new series commissioned solely for the BritBox service.

Technically BritBox is already live in North America and Canada – and running up hundreds of thousands of subscribers wanting a British TV fix – though bringing the service to home turf is expected to bring changes to the quantity of content available. 

Other UK broadcasters are expected to join up with the service in due course, too.

The UK service is expected to launch in the second half of 2019, and will be priced “competitively”. Given the US pricing is $6.99 a month, around the cost of a Basic Netflix subscription, we expect something in the realm of £6.99 for UK viewers. 

It’s uncertain whether viewers already paying TV license fees to the BBC will be able to sign up for free – or whether the iPlayer service will remain for those viewers.

When in Britain

British broadcasters have long looked to the meteoric rise of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and similar streaming services with fear, as viewing habits shift towards on-demand watching.

While UK viewers have had to make do with BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub catch-up services, the joint BritBox platform looks set to be a one-stop platform for the biggest British shows and programmes, and will be increasingly crucial for the long-term survival of these British broadcasters.

Both iPlayer and ITV Hub – the broadcaster’s respective catch-up services – may face an uncertain future as BritBox gains momentum. 

Until BritBox becomes more of a global service, though, both BBC and ITV will likely still be reliant on Netflix and other middle-man streaming platforms to bring their content outside of the UK and US. But BritBox is already looking like the start of something bigger.

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Google’s video chat service, Google Duo, is now available to web users in the US, having been previously restricted to iOS, Android, and Chromebook devices. 

To use Google Duo in your web browser, simply head to duo.google.com – if you already have an account and are signed in, you should see a box containing your contacts. 

New users will need to sign up and verify their mobile number before gaining access to the video chat service. 

Right now, there’s no word on when this feature will come to users outside of the US; if you’re in the UK for example, heading to the Google Duo website will just take you to a landing page for the mobile app. 

Move aside FaceTime

Having recently started testing a group video calling feature, it looks like Google is upping the competition against the likes of Apple’s FaceTime.

However, some users that have tested the group calling feature have been left disappointed by it’s limit on group chat members; Google Duo allows up to seven users per chat, which pales in comparison to FaceTime’s 32 users per chat.

Still, as the feature is still in its testing phase, it could well change before it rolls out to the public, so we could have huge group chats in Google Duo after all. 

Via CNet

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OnePlus only has a small presence at MWC 2019. It’s showing off a 5G prototype but not making any full product announcements, but that hasn’t meant there’s not new rumors and news about the OnePlus 7.

First up, if you were hoping the OnePlus 7 would support wireless charging, you’re probably going to be out of luck.

This is a feature that OnePlus has so far resisted and that looks set to continue, as in an interview the company’s CEO Pete Lau told CNET that “OnePlus charging is one of the best” and “wireless charging is far inferior.”

He didn’t appear to outright deny that the feature would land on the OnePlus 7, but those comments certainly suggest it won’t.

One day there may well be a OnePlus phone with wireless charging though, as the company is known to be working on it. But OnePlus doesn’t seem interested in supporting it until it’s faster and conducts less heat.

In other, less official news, it seems that despite the company’s 5G prototype seemingly having a 21:9 screen, the final handset – which may or may not be the OnePlus 7 – apparently won’t.

That’s according to Roland Quandt, a leaker with a strong track record, so while it’s just a rumor for now there’s a fair chance that he’s right.

Depending on how you feel about the 21:9 Sony Xperia 1 that could be good or bad news for you, but we should know for sure what aspect ratio the screen has soon as the OnePlus 7 is likely to land in mid-2019. 

If the 5G prototype ends up being a different device from OnePlus, we’d expect that to land fairly soon as well.

• Can’t wait for the 7? See what we thought of the OnePlus 6T

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Facebook’s ‘clear history’ feature will launch later this year, according to the social media network’s CFO David Wehner.

The feature was first announced at the F8 conference in 2018, with Mark Zuckerberg describing how feature as “a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook – what you’ve clicked on, websites you’ve visited, and so on.”

The ability to control what Facebook shares about you with other sites, as well as being to see what apps and websites you’ve interacted with using your Facebook account, is a feature that many users have been asking for, especially in light of several high profile privacy controversies that have plagued Facebook recently.

As CNBC reports, Wehner revealed that the feature is coming later in the year at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2019 in San Francisco.

Ad tracking implications

While the ‘clear history’ feature will be broadly welcomed by users and privacy advocates, it will have implications on what adverts are shown to you.

As Wehner explained, the feature is “going to give us some headwinds in terms of being able to target as effectively as before.” With Facebook unable to use data collected by third parties, it could struggle to target relevant ads.

However, for most people this will be a price worth paying for greater control over the information Facebook shares about them. Plus, the social media network has plenty of other methods for harvesting user data to supply relevant adverts.

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