Huawei MateBook 13 review: A beautiful, premium laptop targeting Apple’s MacBook Air

Right now, Huawei’s biggest hurdle is public perception — the news is hard to avoid. However, the bottom line is Huawei also makes great products. The Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are great examples, but there’s more to the company than mere phones.

It also offers Windows-based laptops like the new MateBook 13, something you need right now. Why? Keep reading our Huawei MateBook 13 review to find out.

Huawei MateBook 13 review
Huawei MateBook 13 review

The model supplied for this Matebook 13 review includes Intel’s Core i7-8565U processor, though the company sells a second version with the Core i5-8265U chip. Complementing the Core i7 is Nvidia’s GeForce MX 150 discrete graphics chip, which isn’t in the Core i5 version. Rounding out the Huawei Matebook 13 review unit is 8GB of LPDDR3 memory at 2,133MHz, 512GB on a NVMe PCIe stick-shaped SSD, and a one-touch power button with a built-in fingerprint reader located in the top right corner of the keyboard area.

Available now through Amazon and Newegg, the MateBook 13 packing Intel’s Core i7 retails for a decent $1,299, while the Core i5 model is a lower $999. You can also purchase both versions through Microsoft’s online and brick-and-mortar stores within the next few weeks.

Let’s dig into our Huawei MateBook 13 review!

A beautiful display powering a beautiful design

Huawei MateBook 13 review
Huawei MateBook 13 review

The Huawei MateBook 13’s super-slim display measures 13 inches diagonally, with a native 2,160 x 1,440 resolution and a pixel density of 195ppi. That’s a 3:2 aspect ratio, meaning videos and games formatted for the typical 16:9 widescreen will render with black borders along the top and bottom edges.

The screen itself relies on a touch-enabled IPS panel offering 178-degree viewing angles and 100 percent of the sRGB color space. It also has a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and a maximum brightness of 300 nits, which is decent enough for working outside on an overcast day. The colors remain beautiful and vivid even at the laptop’s peak brightness setting.

Huawei MateBook 13 review

Surrounding the screen are 4.4mm black bezels on the left and right along with a slightly wider black bezel along the top hiding the 1MP camera. According to Huawei, the new laptop boasts an 88-percent screen-to-body ratio — you’ll hardly ever notice the frame — which provide a clean, nearly edge-to-edge viewing experience. Wide frames are so 2000-late.

You won’t find legacy ports here

Huawei MateBook 13 review
Huawei MateBook 13 review

Connecting the screen to the base is a black hinge consuming most of the rear workspace, which actually looks nice. When you lift the laptop to view the hinge straight-on, you’ll barely see a sliver of space separating the hinge from the base frame. The screen’s bottom bezel even extends down beyond the keyboard area’s viewing surface, so you won’t see any visual “disconnection” between the screen and base.

Huawei MateBook 13 review

It’s a little worrisome that the screen’s bottom bezel and hinge cover the cooling system’s vents. There’s definitely enough room for hot air to escape, but when the fans are full throttle and pushing hot air from the CPU and GPU, is that narrow space wide enough to properly vent all the heat? Does this design affect performance when using the MateBook on your lap?

Huawei MateBook 13 review
Huawei MateBook 13 review

On the laptop’s left side, you’ll find one 3.5mm audio jack and one USB-C port capable of data transfers at 5Gbps and charging the MateBook. On the right you’ll find a single USB-C port at 5Gbps capable of data transfers and DisplayPort output. That’s right, even though this laptop provides two USB-C ports, you can only charge it using the the left one.

There isn’t a standard or microSD card slot for extra storage, which can be problematic for photographers and video editors on-the go. There also isn’t any USB-A connectivity, forcing you to purchase a USB-C to USB-A adapter or USB-C hub to support your peripherals and external devices. Leaving out USB-A connectivity to keep the laptop at 0.59 inches thin is understandable, but we’re definitely surprised by the lack of a card reader.

There isn’t a standard or microSD card slot for extra storage, which can be problematic for photographers and video editors on-the go.

The Core i7 model ships in a space gray finish, while the Core i5 model arrives in mystic silver. The space gray exterior on our Huawei Matebook 13 review unit is simply beautiful and complements the black screen bezels and keyboard keys. There’s nothing “cheap” about its appearance. It’s a sleek and sexy premium design pulled from Huawei’s flagship MateBook X Pro family. Consider the MateBook 13 a half-step down.

You’ll love the edge-to-edge keyboard

Huawei MateBook 13 review
Huawei MateBook 13 review

The MateBook’s keyboard mostly stretches edge to edge across the base, save for an eighth of an inch on each side. The keys are pleasantly large with a travel distance of 1.2mm, providing a great typing experience. White backlighting provides two brightness levels to illuminate each letter, number, and symbol with white light. It doesn’t include a number pad, but you’ll find controls for brightness, backlighting, media, and more tied to the function keys.

Huawei MateBook 13 review
Huawei MateBook 13 review

Meanwhile, the MateBook provides a rectangular precision touchpad, a rising standard for Windows-based laptops. Unlike the touchpads of old, which relied on hardware drivers, Windows now does the heavy lifting when manufacturers install specific touchpads. Ultimately, this means Microsoft will continue to improve support long after hardware vendors would have stopped issuing driver updates.

In our testing, the MateBook 13 touchpad was smooth and highly responsive. The wide, smartphone-like surface is ideal because there’s more room to completely push the cursor across the screen without lifting a finger. It also supports two methods of selection: Double-tap on a shortcut / link or push down on the touchpad twice for a tactile-based approach. Left- and right-click inputs are unmarked in their typical designated corners.

Decent audio despite speaker placement

Huawei MateBook 13 review

This laptop relies on a pair of two-watt speakers on the bottom, projecting sound away from your ears. The ideal scenario is having speakers mounted in the keyboard area, but since the design includes a discrete graphics chip, a two-chip cooling system, a 0.59-inch form factor, and an edge to edge keyboard, the bottom was likely the only place engineers could mount the speakers. Had Huawei taken the MacBook Air route and shortened the keyboard width, facing speakers may have been possible.

Still, the sound isn’t bad. Audio not only bounces off your lap or desktop surface but pushes through the keyboard area with surprisingly very little metallic interference. In other words, what you hear isn’t full like speakers blasting audio into your face, but it isn’t horribly muffled either. Even at full blast, audio is stable, rich, and untouched by vibrating components and metal.

Processor performance rivaling the Road Runner

Huawei MateBook 13 review

Intel’s Core i7-8565U is an eighth-generation “Whiskey Lake” four-core chip that launched during the third quarter of 2018. Its base speed cruises at 1.8GHz  and tops out at 4.6GHz. Drawing an average 15 watts of power, this chip targets thin and light notebook designs providing loads of performance without generating loads of heat.

Intel’s latest Core i7 CPU scored a 5120 in the Geekbench single-core test and a 16983 in the multi-core test, higher scores than most tests performed on this chip. It clearly beats the Core i5-8250U processor in Acer’s recent Chromebooks, and even surpasses the Core i7-6820HK processor in our Alienware 17 R4, indicating we might need to refresh and re-test the gaming laptop in the near future.

Another benchmarking method is using Handbrake to convert video. Here the Core i7-8565U fell behind our Alienware’s sixth-generation Core i7 processor, converting video in 248.87 seconds versus the Alienware at 231.09 seconds. Just for giggles, we ran the same conversion on a 2017 HP Notebook 15 with a Pentium N3540 chip. It converted the same video in 1,383.72 seconds. Ouch.

Backing the CPU is crazy-fast storage provided by a Samsung NVMe PCIe SSD. It has an average sequential read speed of 3,521MB per second and an average sequential write speed of 1,884MB per second, faster than the stick-shaped SSD installed in our Alienware laptop, and both Acer’s Chromebook Spin 13 and clamshell Chromebook 13.

The combined CPU and SSD enable programs and apps to load near-instantly.

The combined CPU and SSD enable programs and apps to load near-instantly. The laptop itself reaches the Windows 10 login screen in just over five seconds after powering on. Touch the power button and Windows Hello logs you in just under another second.

Overall, if you want a zippy Windows 10 laptop, the MateBook 13 is the perfect solution. If you want a thin and light notebook capable of playing games at 1440p, you’ll need to look elsewhere, despite this laptop’s standalone GeForce graphics chip.

Take a break from work with the MX 150

Huawei MateBook 13 review

Nvidia’s discrete GeForce MX 150 graphics chip includes 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 video memory. It’s the mobile version of Nvidia’s budget-oriented GT 1030 graphics card for desktops. The chip is definitely good to have for video and photo editing, along with 3D animation. You can play games too, just don’t expect high resolutions and details.

The MX 150 generates high framerates in Rocket League. With a 1080p resolution, we experienced an average of 61.18fps using the “performance” preset, and a slightly lower 57.68fps using the “high” preset. Increase the resolution to the laptop’s native 1440p resolution, and the average dips down to 49.88fps using the “performance” setting and 40fps using the “high” setting.

For something new like Far Cry 5, the best you’ll see is a 23fps average running at 1080p on the “low” graphics preset. Crank that resolution up to 1440p and the average framerate drops to 13fps. In comparison, the GTX 1080 in our Alienware laptop manages a 76fps average at 1080p and a 71fps average at 1440p using the “low” setting.

Huawei doesn’t pitch the MateBook 13 as a gaming laptop, but Rocket League is a good example of what this device can do.

The Windows Edition of Final Fantasy XV is just as brutal on the MX 150. Using the “lite” setting at 1080p, the laptop managed framerates between 18fps to 30fps. Increase the details to “standard” and you’ll see the framerate drops between 13 and 21fps. Don’t even attempt to run the game on “high” or crank the resolution to 1440p.

Of course, Huawei doesn’t pitch the MateBook 13 as a gaming laptop, but Rocket League is a good example of what this device can do if you need a break from work. Lightweight games are fine but heavy-hitters like Far Cry 5, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and Destiny 2 won’t run very well. Get a notebook from MSI or Alienware if that’s what you want.

Battery life could be better

Huawei MateBook 13 review

Rounding out the Huawei MateBook 13 review is its 41WHr battery. Huawei says you can get up to 9.6 hours on a single charge while playing local 1080p video. We tested that claim and looped the recent Aquaman 1080p trailer until the laptop switched off. With the display set at 50 percent brightness, we hit nine hours and 19 minutes, nearly reaching Huawei’s reported duration. When we cranked the brightness up to 100 percent, the battery lasted seven hours and 20 minutes.

With the display set at 50 percent brightness, we hit nine hours and 19 minutes, nearly reaching Huawei’s reported duration.

However, our web browser test — we put a web browser in a page loading loop until the battery died —revealed slightly lower numbers. With the screen brightness set to 50 percent, you can search the web up to four hours and 41 minutes. Increase the brightness to 100 percent and battery longevity falls back to three hours and 44 minutes.

We saw better numbers with the Lenovo Chromebook C330 and the Acer Chromebook 13 across both tests, though they have slightly bigger batteries. Given you’ll do more than binge-watch local video all day, mixed usage could land you six hours or more on a single charge at 50 percent brightness. To get the best battery life, make sure Windows automatically changes screen brightness once you unplug the laptop.

Huawei MateBook 13 review

The battery life could have everything to do with the laptop’s overall portability. It’s extremely thin, after all, and weighs a mere 2.86 pounds. It’s the ideal solution for on-the-go workers. It’s not horribly bulky and doesn’t weigh your shoulders down in a backpack during long treks through airports and convention halls. The only drawback is you’ll need to carry that extra USB-C hub or adapter if you have peripherals.

A surprisingly clean Windows 10

Huawei MateBook 13 review

The Huawei MateBook 13 review unit shipped to us with the Signature Edition of Windows 10 Home Build 17134. That means Huawei provides a “clean” Windows 10 installation, unlike other well-known PC manufacturers. The only out-of-the-box “bloatware” we found were the typical junk apps pre-installed in Windows 10 like Candy Crush Saga, Cooking Fever, Royal Revolt 2: Tower Defense, and a few others. We didn’t even find McAfee’s dreaded “trial” present gobbling up system memory.

However, the MateBook 13 isn’t without proprietary software. Huawei supplies its own PC Manager tool for checking the laptop’s overall health. With the click of a button, you can test the hardware for any issues and update any out-of-date driver. PC Manager also provides the user manual and a link to Huawei’s online troubleshooting database.

Huawei MateBook 13 review: Final thoughts

Huawei MateBook 13 review

The MateBook 13 has nothing to do with with what you’ve heard about Huawei in the news. It’s a great thin and light Windows 10 notebook packed with loads of power, making it a great on-the-go solution for professionals and media editors. It’s decent for gamers, though playing the latest titles like Far Cry 5 and Final Fantasy XV — even at 1080p — isn’t ideal.

The two real big complaints about this laptop relate to connectivity. The MateBook 13 really needed at least a microSD card so photo and video editors don’t need to juggle hubs and adapters. A full USB-A port for standard mice and keyboards would be ideal too, though given the slim form factor, that’s not physically possible. In both cases, customers will need to purchase and carry adapters and hubs to support their external devices.

Huawei MateBook 13 review

Outside those two gripes, we love this notebook. Just like Huawei’s two Mate 20 phones, it’s sexy and powerful. You’ll fall in love at first sight and want hold it close and feel its cold metal against your cheeks.

Okay, maybe not.

Regardless, you simply can’t go wrong with Huawei’s MateBook 13. It’s definitely a great Windows-based alternative to the latest MacBook Air.

See also:

Source: Android Zone

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Save over $700 on this professional photography training bundle

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Source: Android Zone

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What is 5G, and what can we expect from it?

The world’s first 5G networks switch on this year, promising faster data speeds and lower latency to consumers. In addition, 5G opens up avenues to new industrial applications and is a critical element to build widely connected “smart cities.” 5G is the next step to provide better networking in our increasingly technological world.

Read Next: Forget mmWave, Wi-Fi is the real 5G

Around the world, companies and governments are ironing out the finer points of how to bring 5G mobile communication to the masses. If you’ve been wondering what is 5G, this is the current state of the industry and what to expect.

What is 5G? It’s all in the details

5G, just like 4G technology, is an evolving standard, which is planned for and created by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ITU’s IMT-2020 preparations and 3GPP Release 15 specification lay the foundations for early 5G technology and rollouts.

The specification outlines 5G technology required to build these futuristic networks. High-frequency mmWave base stations, sub-6GHz WiFi-esque small and medium cells, beamforming, and massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) are just some of the more common technologies talked about. But there are also major changes to data encoding and infrastructure network slicing that are seldom talked about. These are all new technological introductions compared to today’s 4G LTE networks.

Editor’s Pick

The 5G standard is split into two key parts – Non-Standalone (NSA) and New Radio (NR). Today’s first 5G networks will be based on NSA, and are planned to eventually transition over to SA once that part of the specification is finalized in the coming years. Complicating the situation further, U.S. carrier Verizon has its own version of 5G to accelerate its rollout. However, Verizon plans to adopt the mainstream 5G later.

5G networks are built from a wide range of technologies

5G technology explained

The most commonly talked 5G technology is mmWave, but carriers will also be utilizing new spectrum in the sub-6GHz WiFi region, low bands below 1GHz, and existing 4G LTE bands too. There is currently lots of unused high-frequency spectrum, known as millimeter wave. The higher the frequency the more bandwidth is available, but the trade-off is that this technology has a shorter range than lower frequencies used in 4G LTE.

The overall idea is to greatly increase the amount of spectrum available by combining the pros and cons of all these different frequencies. Combining more spectrum with carrier aggregation (sending data over multiple pieces of spectrum) allows for more bandwidth and much faster speeds for consumers.

5G spectrum and technologies, mmWave, sub-6GHz, and LTE

5G greatly increases the amount of spectrum used to send and receive data.

Here’s a breakdown of the key 5G technology terms that you need to know.

  • mmWave – very high frequency between 17 and 100GHz and high bandwidth for fast data. Most carriers are targeting use in the 18-24GHz range. Reasonably short-range technology that will be used in densely populated areas.
  • Sub-6GHz – operates in WiFi-like frequencies between 3 and 6GHz. Can be deployed in small cell hubs for indoor use or more powerful outdoor base stations to cover medium range much like existing 4G LTE. Most 5G spectrum will be found here.
  • Low-band – very low frequencies below 800MHz. Covers very long distances and is omnidirectional to provide blanket backbone coverage.
  • Beamforming – used in mmWave and sub-6GHz base stations to direct waveforms towards consumer devices, such as bouncing waves off buildings. A key technology in overcoming the range and direction limitations of high-frequency waveforms.
  • Massive MIMO – multiple antennas on base stations serve multiple end-user devices at once. Designed to make high-frequency networks much more efficient and can be combined with beamforming.

Although lots of carriers like to talk up fancy advancements in mmWave technology, 5G networks will actually be a combination of everything. The various technologies can be thought of in three tiers, which Huawei explains neatly in many of its papers.

Low bands that can be repurposed from radio and TV make up the “coverage layer” at sub 2GHz. This provides wide-area and deep indoor coverage and forms the backbone of the network. There’s the “Super Data Layer” made up of high-frequency spectrum known as mmWave that suits areas requiring extremely high data rates or population coverage. Then the “coverage and capacity layer” sits between 2 and 6 GHz, which offers a good balance between both.

In a nutshell, 5G allows consumers to connect to and leverage the benefits of this wide range of spectrum for faster, and more reliable coverage.

Combination of 5G networking technologies will provide comprehensive coverage.

5G Non-standalone vs standalone

The key to understanding the differences between 5G NSA and SA lies in the network backend. The first 5G networks based on the NSA standard use existing 4G LTE infrastructure to handle the Control Plane. The Control Plane handles the signal traffic, managing how user devices connect to base stations, checking subscriptions, etc. Meanwhile, the data plane is what you and I actually use to send and receive data.

In a sense, 5G NSA can be thought of as just having an extra fast data pipe attached to existing 4G LTE infrastructure. The adoption of the 5G Standalone (SA) specification sees the control plane transition over to the 5G Core and marks much bigger changes for the way that networks operate.

Diagram of differences between 5G NSA and SA

TVS 5G Standalone implements the 5G Core and Control Plane.

In addition to introducing the Control Plane over 5G radio technologies, Standalone supports more flexible Network Slicing and subcarrier encoding.

Network Slicing is a form of virtual networking architecture enabling greater flexibility to partition, share, and link parts of the back-end network together. This will allow network operators to offer more flexible traffic, applications, and services to their customers. This idea is seen as key to realizing ideas such as autonomous vehicles and smart cities.

The changes to subcarriers are a little harder to explain. Technologies encompassed by this include scalable OFDM and sub-carrier spacing, windowed OFDM, flexible numerology, and scalable Transmission Time Intervals. Put simply, frames that carry data can be bigger and faster when higher throughput at high efficiency is required. Alternatively, these frames can be made smaller in order to achieve much lower latency for real-time applications.

The first 5G networks will be based on the non-standalone specification, before bigger changes with the full standalone specification after 2021.

Network slicing can already be done with 4G networks, but 5G aims to improve on the range of flexibility and standardize support. The yet to be finalized 5G Standalone (SA) specification (3GPP Release 16) will divulge more detail on the back-end technologies which will power next-gen networks.

Read Next: Don’t believe the carriers, the 5G revolution is still years away (SA vs NSA)

KT Telecom 5G radio equipment

What does 5G mean for consumers?

More important than the question “what is 5G”, is how it will actually affect consumers. Bottom-line, if you have a need for speed, 5G will help open up new doors.

IMT-2020 5G radio base stations will have to offer at least 20Gbps download and 10Gbps upload speeds to consumers. This refers to a shared link, so actual speeds will be lower. The specification states individual users should see a minimum download speed of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps. Some of you might be lucky enough to see these speeds on your LTE-Advanced network already, but this will become a baseline level for all consumers on 5G networks.

Editor’s Pick

5G base stations will have to cover stationary users all the way up to vehicles traveling up to 500km/h (310~ miles), so your data connection hopefully won’t drop out on the train in the future. Fifth generation networks should offer consumers a maximum latency of just 4ms. There’s mention of a 1ms latency for ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) too. For comparison, my 4G LTE connection in London has a questionable 82ms latency, while the U.S. average is around 61 ms.

5G also wants to enable simultaneous connectivity to thousands of low power internet of things (IoT) devices and support device-to-device (D2D) connectivity for low latency connections between nearby devices.

5G vs 4G – key differences

Compared to 4G LTE, 5G networks will be consistently faster. Minimum user rate speeds increase from just 10Mbps to 100Mbps, a 10x increase. Latency is set to fall by a similar amount, from 10ms to just 1ms when compared to LTE-Advanced. The big increase in bandwidth also means that 5G will be able to handle up to one million devices per square kilometer, another 10 fold increase over LTE-A, all with a 10x boost to network energy efficiency.

5G vs 4G LTE speeds

  5G New Radio
(Release 15)
LTE-Advanced Pro
(Release 13 & 14)
LTE-Advanced
(Release 10 to 12)
User Data Rate > 10 Gbps > 3 Gbps > 1 Gbps
Latency > 1ms > 2ms ~10 ms
Frequency Support Up to 40 GHz Up to 6 GHz Up to 6 GHz
Channel Bandwidth Up to 500 MHz Up to 20 MHz Up to 20 MHz
Max carriers 16 (LTE + NR) 32 5
Max Bandwidth 1000 MHz 640 MHz 100 MHz
MIMO antennas 64 to 256 32 8
Spectrum Sharing mmWave & NR
Dual Connectivity
NR-based LAA+
NR MulteFire
LTE-U
LAA / eLAA
LWA
MulteFire
CBRS / LSA
LTE-U
LTE-U (Rel. 12)

As we have covered previously, the range of networking technologies greatly increases too. LTE has undergone many improvements over the years. From the introduction of 256QAM and carrier aggregation with LTE-A to support for wider use of unlicensed spectrum through LAA, LWA, and Multefire with LTE-A Pro. This is why today’s 4G network is much faster than those built during the initial rollout all those years ago.

5G advances another step further, mandating the use of 256QAM and improving carrier aggregation technology to support more flexible carrier bands across unlicensed spectrum, sub-6GHz, and mmWave frequencies. The image below from Arm all the way back in 2016 explains this core difference rather succinctly.

5G networks around the world

The world is gearing up for the launch of 5G, both network operators and device manufacturers. As with the adoption of 4G LTE networks, 5G will be a staged process and some countries will launch their networks well ahead of others.

Mid-2019 is the date to keep an eye on, as both 5G smartphones and networks will be available to the first wave of consumers. However, deployment is not expected to ramp up on a more global scale until 2020 and 2021. Even by 2023, it’s anticipated that just 50 percent of consumers will have a 5G smartphone and network connection.

U.S. 5G rollout

The U.S. will be the first country to flick on its 5G networks across a number of carriers and in a decent selection of cities in the first half of 2019. U.S. carriers have been some of the biggest advocates of millimeter wave technology. Verizon is already the first with consumer 5G via its fixed wireless access service, but Sprint and T-Mobile are close behind with rollouts planned for mid-2019.  We’re actually waiting for 5G smartphones to arrive so that consumers can start using these networks on the go.

However, one of the country’s carriers has already been caught out playing fast and loose with the 5G term. AT&T’s “5G Evolution” is not a 5G network in any sense of the word, it’s simply an evolution of today’s LTE-Advanced networks.

If you want to keep up with all the latest deployment details as each U.S. carrier carries out their 5G rollout, check out the links below.

Europe trails the leaders

Europe is trailing behind the U.S. and the continent’s first 5G networks aren’t expected to switch on until late 2019 at the earliest. Although wider deployments aren’t scheduled until 2020 or later.

The UK is likely to be first with 5G available in major cities. EE is planning to launch its service in 16 cities this year. Meanwhile, O2, Vodafone, and Three still look set for a 2020 5G launch date. On the continent, operators have brought forward some of their plans, but major players Orange, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica have only committed to a 2020 launch timeframe.

Part of this delay is that the European telecommunications ministers only unveiled their 5G roadmap for the block at the end of 2017.

Technical harmonization across spectrum bands isn’t scheduled to begin until 2019, with low-frequency 700MHz assignment scheduled for 2020 and availability expected even later in 2022.

Ambitious Asia

Japan and South Korea have been leading infrastructure tests throughout the 5G development cycle and will be right up there with the U.S. when they deploy.

In South Korea, major carriers are expecting commercial 5G deployment in the first half, if not the first quarter of 2019. A nationwide rollout is expected to be complete by 2022. In Japan, the 2020 Olympics are the next target for 5G millimeter wave trials in dense urban areas, and an agreement between Nokia and NTT DoCoMo will see commercial services begin later that year.

China is quickly becoming a major 5G player, tipped to accelerate past its Asian rivals and compete with the U.S. for deployment time. The country is home to major telecom infrastructure companies like Huawei and ZTE, which will provide equipment to carriers around the world. China has also invested $180 billion into mainland infrastructure, four times Japan’s investment. China Mobile is trialing its services in major cities this year and plans a full commercial launch in 2020.

5G signal on Galaxy Note 8

What about 5G smartphones?

There currently aren’t any smartphones built for 5G networks on the market. Unless you count the 5G Moto Mod available for Motorola’s Moto Z3. Still, a number of smartphone manufacturers are talking up 5G smartphone releases for 2019. Most of which will likely appear around the halfway point of the year.

There currently aren’t any smartphone processor chips with integrated 5G modems inside them. Instead, phone manufacturers have to pair up existing processors with external 5G modems, along with the required radio antenna modules. So we shouldn’t expect the first 5G phones to be any more powerful than their 4G LTE rivals. In fact, they may require bigger batteries to cope with the extra 5G power drain.

The first Samsung 5G smartphone is likely to be a dedicated variant of the Galaxy S10. The expected release date is presumed to be Spring 2019. Likewise, Huawei is expected to have its first 5G phone ready for the second half of 2019, but recently that estimate moved to Q1 2019. OnePluswill  launch a 5G phone in 2019. And of course a number of other major manufacturers, including LG, HTC, and Oppo, are all confirmed to be working with Qualcomm’s X50 modem for upcoming phones.

5G frequency bands

Just like with 4G, networks and smartphones will support different frequency bands for data transfer. In addition to the existing LTE bands, 5G New Radio standardizes a number of new ones for upcoming networks. 5G is split into two ranges, the first for frequencies between 400MHz and 6GHz. Range 2 accounts for mmWave bands between 24 and 53GHz.

5G Band Uplink Frequency Downlink Frequency Bandwidth Channel Bandwidths Type
n1 1920 -1989 MHz 2110 – 2170 MHz 60 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n2 1850 – 1910 MHz 1930 – 1990 MHz 60 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n3 1710 – 1785 MHz 1805 – 1880 MHz 75 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 MHz FDD
n5 824 – 849 MHz 869 – 894 MHz 25 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n7 2500 – 2670 MHz 2620 – 2690 MHz 70 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n8 880 – 915 MHz 925 – 960 MHz 35 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n20 832 – 862 MHz 791 – 821 MHz 30 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n28 703 – 748 MHz 758 – 803 MHz 45 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n66 1710 – 1780 MHz 2110 – 2200 MHz 90 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 40 MHz FDD
n70 1695 – 1710 MHz 1995 – 2020 MHz 15/25 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 MHz FDD
n71 663 – 698 MHz 617 – 652 MHz 35 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n74 1427 – 1470 MHz 1475 – 1518 MHz 43 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz FDD
n38 2570 – 2620 MHz 2570 – 2620 MHz 50 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz TDD
n41 2469 – 2690 MHz 2496 – 2690 MHz 194 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 MHz TDD
n50 1431 – 1517 MHz 1432 – 1517 MHz 85 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 60, 80 MHz TDD
n51 1427 – 1432 MHz 1427 – 1432 MHz 5 MHz 5 MHz TDD
n77 3300 – 4200 MHz 3300 – 4200 MHz 900 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 MHz TDD
n78 3300 – 3800 MHz 3300 – 3800 MHz 500 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 MHz TDD
n79 4400 – 5000 MHz 4400 – 5000 MHz 600 MHz 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 MHz TDD
n75 1432 – 1517 MHz 85 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz SDL
n76 1427 – 1432 MHz 5 MHz 5 MHz SDL
n80 1710 – 1785 MHz 75 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 MHz SUL
n81 880 – 915 MHz 35 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz SUL
n82 832 – 862 MHz 30 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz SUL
n83 703 – 748 MHz 45 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz SUL
n84 1920 – 1980 MHz 60 MHz 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz SUL
n257 26.5 – 29.5 GHz 26.5 – 29.5 GHz 3 GHz 50, 100, 200, 400 MHz TDD
n258 24.250 – 27.5 GHz 24.250 – 27.5 GHz 3.250 GHz 50, 100, 200, 400 MHz TDD
n260 37 – 40 GHz 37 – 40 GHz 3 GHz 50, 100, 200, 400 MHz TDD

Related

Source: Android Zone

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YouTube is banning dangerous pranks and challenges including Bird Box and Tide Pod

After the Netflix Original Bird Box became a viral hit, people around the world uploaded videos to YouTube showing them compete in the Bird Box challenge. While some of the clips showing people stumble around their homes were funny, others involved dangerous stunts such as driving while blindfolded.

After receiving demands from the community to not allow these types of dangerous videos, YouTube has announced that it is banning all harmful challenges and pranks.

YouTube announced its policy changes yesterday in a blog post (via Ars Technica):

Dangerous challenges and pranks: Reminder – content that encourages violence or dangerous activities that may result in serious physical harm, distress or death violates our harmful and dangerous policy, so we’re clarifying what this means for dangerous challenges and pranks. YouTube is home to many beloved viral challenges and pranks, but we need to make sure what’s funny doesn’t cross the line into also being harmful or dangerous. We’ve updated our external guidelines to make it clear that we prohibit challenges presenting a risk of serious danger or death, and pranks that make victims believe they’re in serious physical danger, or cause children to experience severe emotional distress. Read more in this Dangerous Challenges & Pranks FAQ.

YouTube’s official policy on harmful or dangerous content has also been updated. The following items were added to the list that already included instructional bomb making, hard drug use, and other acts that may result in serious injury.

  • Challenges that encourage acts that have an inherent risk of severe physical harm
  • Pranks that make victims believe they’re in physical danger
  • Pranks that cause emotional distress to children
Editor’s Pick

Many worry that YouTube’s guidelines are too ambiguous and will lead to some content being deleted while others are left untouched. As YouTuber Philip Defranco discusses, will this only remove videos involving dangerous stunts such as the Bird Box and Tide Pod challenges or will it also wipe the platform free of everything that includes upsetting a child such as Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween Candy challenge?

To enforce these new policies and deter creators from uploading harmful videos, YouTube is using its community guidelines three-strike rule. After the channel has been stricken three times, the video platform can choose to shut it down completely.

YouTube is giving creators who have previously uploaded this type of content a pass. Over the next two months, any videos that were already uploaded involving harmful pranks or challenges will be deleted without striking the channel.

Source: Android Zone

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10 best Disney apps for Android!

This is the featured image for the best disney apps for android
Disney is quite the large media property these days. They own ABC, ESPN, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and, soon, Fox. That means there are a bunch of ways to interact with Disney stuff. However, we think that people looking for Disney apps want the more classic Disney characters and experiences. We can definitely help with that. Disney is, again, massive. They have movies, TV shows, and music across plenty of genres. We can help you find what you’re looking for. Here are the best Disney apps for Android!


DisneyNow

Price: Free (with TV provider login)
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
DisneyNow is Disney’s current streaming service. You log into the service with your existing TV cable provider info and gain access to a bunch of Disney TV content. That includes kids shows, cartoons and live action stuff, classic and new Disney characters, and even Radio Disney. This is, admittedly, kind of holding the slot here until Disney+ comes out sometime in 2019. That will definitely be the streaming app to get from Disney. Until then, as long as you have cable, DisneyNow should be good enough to stream current shows to your smartphone. The app itself is otherwise free.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
DisneyNow

Fandom by Wikia Disney apps

Price: Free (with ads, usually)
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Fandom by Wikia is a community of enthusiasts that create these little wiki pages for various media properties. You can find Fandom apps for Disney (linked at the button), Star Wars, Marvel, and tons of other stuff as well. They generally provide information about characters, movies, TV shows, and even some games. It’s a neat way to learn some trivia about basically any Disney movie, show, or character. Of course, it’s a bit of a niche product. Not everybody wants to read about Aladdin, they want to watch Aladdin. We’ll cover that shortly, but trivia buffs should definitely start with the Fandom Disney apps.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Fandom by Wikia Disney apps

Giphy

Price: Free
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Giphy might seem like a weird pick for Disney apps, but hear us out. Disney has a GIF app with a bunch of reaction GIFs. It’s a fun little app, but it lacks some really basic features and it makes the app hard to use. Thus, we recommend Giphy instead. It has a great search, tons of Disney GIFs, and the app is very easy to use. It’s much better than Disney’s GIF app. Other than that, there isn’t much else to talk about. You simply search for the reaction GIF you need and the app finds it. It has non-Disney stuff too in case you want that. It’s otherwise completely free to use.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Giphy

iHeartRadio Family

Price: Free / $9.99 per month
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
There are a few different versions of iHeartRadio. However, for Disney stuff, we recommend iHeartRadio Family. It has 80 stations of family-friendly music from a bunch of popular kids’ shows and movies. Of course, that includes plenty of Disney content. You can go with a station dedicated to Disney princess songs or just hit up the standard Radio Disney for a big mix of music from Disney. Of course, the full version has all of these stations as well so current fans of iHeartRadio just need to hit up the search button to find these stations. The premium version adds unlimited skips and a bunch of other features as well.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
iHeartRadio Family

Internet TV (Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV, etc)

Price: Free / $7.99-$39.99 per month
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
It’s easier (and cheaper) to watch TV than ever before. TV services like Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV, PlayStation Vue, and DirecTV Now all have a bunch of excellent child-friendly content. Consequently, they also all have access to the Disney Channel along with a bunch of back-logged Disney content. For instance, on Hulu, if you subscribe to the live TV service, you get the Disney Channel, but also access to movies like Pocahontas. The amount of Disney content per streaming service varies, but you can at least get the actual channel on all of them. Honestly, this is probably better than cable for Disney stuff because you do get those on-demand titles as long as you’re subscribed to the live TV service. You can go with whatever one you want. We simply linked Hulu because Disney owns 30% of it.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Internet TV (Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV, etc)


Movies Anywhere

Price: Free
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Movies Anywhere is probably the best app for movies on Google Play. It isn’t its own standalone streaming service. It’s actually a collection of other movie streaming services. You sign in with your iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, or Google Play. All of the movies you purchased on all of those services are now available in one spot. The service boasts over 7,500 movies and that, of course, includes tons of Disney movies along with basically every Marvel and Star Wars movie as well. Disney is likely going to have all of those movies on Disney+ when it comes out. Until then, though, this is probably the best place to actually buy a Disney movie and watch it. The app is occasionally buggy, but it’s otherwise quite good. It also comes with Chromecast support.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Movies Anywhere

My Disney Experience / Disneyland

Price: Free
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Disneyland and Disney World are two of the most popular vacation spots in the world. They also both have official apps. The My Disney Experience app focuses primarily on Disney World. You can use it to plan your vacation, as an interactive map of the park, and you can even buy your tickets and merch there. The Disneyland app is much the same way. The app shows you information like estimated wait times, browser restaurant menus, and interact with the park’s map. There are apps for all of Disney’s parks individually, including the ones in Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Those headed to Disney World or Disneyland should definitely have these apps on hand.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
My Disney Experience / Disneyland

Reddit

Price: Free / $5.99 per month
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
Reddit is good for a lot of fan bases and Disney fans are no exception. The site has dozens of subreddits for Marvel properties, Star Wars movies, and, of course, classic Disney properties as well. You can talk to other people who like the stuff that you like and post stuff that you care about. The Reddit app keeps everything under moderate control, although people who haven’t used Reddit before may have a tough time acclimating at first. In any case, this is a great way to read up on news about Star Wars, Marvel, or other Disney properties and discuss those things with other fans. The premium subscription removes advertising and gives you some additional features as well.
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Reddit

Official apps for Disney media

Price: Free (usually)
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
We’ve said it over and over again that Disney is a huge company. As it turns out, there are a variety of official Disney apps for most of those properties. Some examples include the official Star Wars app, the official Marvel app, the ESPN app, ABC’s official app, and the list goes on and on. These official apps are among the best ways to interact with Disney’s massive list of media companies. For instance, you can watch ABC’s programming on the ABC app or read about the latest Star Wars news in the Star Wars app. You can even read old Marvel comics in the Marvel app. It really depends on what kind of content each property makes, but it’s all still Disney.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY

YouTube

Price: Free / $12.99 per month
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
YouTube is an excellent, albeit obvious, choice for a great Disney app. You can find basically any Disney song ever made there along with a ton of clips and memes from various movies and TV shows. That’s also the place to see trailers for upcoming movies or shows, reviews of various toys or games, and basically anything else you can think of. Disney has an official VEVO channel with over 11 million subscribers. But, again, you probably already knew all of this so this part of the list is really just some confirmation bias. Yes, YouTube is among the best apps for Disney fans. You can optionally pay $12.99 per month to remove ads, download videos for offline use, and you get a few other features.
DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY
YouTube

10 best video streaming apps and video streaming services for Android

10 best kids games for Android

If we missed any great Disney apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!

Source: Android Zone

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