Pixel 4

Google announced, or I should say remembered us, the Pixel 4 and 4XL. Here is the spec:

• 5.7-inch display (FHD+ resolution) in Pixel 4,
• 6.3-inch display  (QHD+ resolution) in Pixel 4XL,
• 90Hz screen's refresh rate,
• Snapdragon 855  CPU,
• 6GB of  RAM,
• 64GB or 128GB of storage,
• 12.2-megapixel rear camera,
• 6-megapixel telephoto rear camera,
• 2800mAh battery in Pixel 4 and 3700mAh in 4XL,
• Face unlock and motion sense radar.

Both versions are available in "Just Black", "Clearly White" and "Oh so Orange" colors. Pixel 4 and 4 XL start at $799 and $899 respectively.

This year Google decided to focus on face and motion recognition. They removed fingerprint reader to equivalent of FaceID called "Face unlock". What's even more interesting, Google added Motion Sense radar that can detect movement around the phone. For example,  when sensors detect reaching hand, they can increase the brightness of always-on display, or silence the alarm clock. Also, user can also control the music using gestures.

iPhone SE2

Ming-Chi Kuo shared some new details regarding new iPhone SE:

• planned to be released in Q1 2020,
• pricing starting at $399,
• form factor similar to iPhone 8,
• A13 CPU (same as iPhone 11)
• 3GB of RAM,
• 64GB and 128GB of storage,
• Space Gray, Silver and Red color options.

For the first time, we have some information about the design, and the iPhone 8 size became very controversial topic. Although I like the size of iPhone 8, I'm wondering why would Apple release a new phone, with the same size, when they still selling iPhone 8?

Interesting links

• iPhone 11, iPadOS and iOS 13 for PWAs and web development
• The Ultimate Guide to In-App Purchase in iOS Application Development: Part 1
• Visual Studio for Nintendo Switch? - FUZE4 Nintendo Switch is an amazing coding app
• Pixel 4 vs. iPhone 11 Pro: A first look at camera photo samples
• Microsoft Flight Simulator In-Depth Preview
• Photorealistic storm in Unreal Engine 4

Image credits: Google

Apple started shipping iPhone 11 & Apple Watch Series 5

Reviewers started getting their hands on newest versions of iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Apple Watch.  Long story short, if you want an iPhone, then buy iPhone 11, the Pro version is for photo enthusiast, or people who prefer smaller, OLED screen.

The always-on display in Apple Watch Series 5 is a good step forward, but if you own Series 4 you are good for another year.

By the way, now we have confirmation that all new iPhones have at least 4GB of memory. There are reports that the Pro versions have additional 2GB of RAM dedicated to the camera.

iOS 13.(1)

Together with new iPhones, Apple released iOS 13. Federico Viticci wrote excellent review of new operating systems. Overall iOS 13 is a good step forward, but is has many bugs and issues, which might force Apple to release iOS 13.1 earlier than usual. If the rumors are true, iOS 13 will be the shortest living version of iOS ever.

Pixel 4 event

On October 15th, Google is going to host an event related with launch of Pixel 4. To be honest, I don't know why Google even bother to do this. It's not like we already know almost everything.

Interesting links

• Some thoughts on GraphQL vs. BFF
• CSS Naming Conventions that Will Save You Hours of Debugging
• Serve 'Dark Mode' Images Natively
• SwiftUI & Combine: Better Together
• Apple Music playlist lists with music used in its ads
• We Recreated Every Apple Wallpaper
• Donkey Kong Arcade on 12 different platforms - Part 1 & Part 2
• 35 Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2019
  

Image credits: Timothy Eberly

Pixel 4

Google just tweeted an image of the Pixel 4, a phone that has not been officially announced and will not ship until October. This is probably Google's answer to a lot of leaks surrounding this phone. It might be unusual, but in my opinion, it is very smart move. As people already saw the phone, they might as well see it in high definition photo.

Also there another aspect of this "leak". As you can see, the new Pixel 4 has square camera bump, almost the same as new iPhone suppose to have. I'm wondering whether Google is trying to say, hey we were first.

iPhone 2020

We didn't even get this year's iPhone, but we already have rumors about its successor. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is planning to release 3 models:

• High-end 5.4' with OLED display and 5G,
• High-end 6.7' with OLED display and 5G,
• Low-end 6.1' with OLED display.

It looks like the equivalent of the current iPhone XS will be downsized, where equivalent of the iPhone XS Max will be even bigger. The XR model will be untouched in terms of size, but it will gain the OLED display.

To be honest, I don't like those changes. The current size of the iPhone XS is perfect for me, and I don't want to get neither bigger or smaller phone.  

New MacBooks

The Eurasian Economic Commission database is amazing source if you want to know what companies are planing to release. This time the information about several models of portable computers from Apple have pop up.  

As 15' MacBook Pros have already been refreshed, it means that probably the 12' MacBook, MacBook Air or even 13' MacBook Pro are going to get the update.  Also, there are rumors about brand new 16' MacBook Pro, but I personally doubt we are going to see it this year.

Interesting links

• Vue 3.0: What Evan You & Chris Fritz Say You Should Expect
• Vue 3 will change Vue in a big way - Current Syntax to be deprecated - Composition functions will eventually be the only way to build Vue components
• Vue's Darkest Day
• How to Design for the Web in 2019
• Rendering SwiftUI views to HTML
• An Introduction to Flutter
• Always be closing!
• An oral history of the hamburger icon (from the people who were there)
• I turned my Tesla into a pickup truck

Image credits: Google

Google IO

Google held its annual conference this week. This year, nothing revolutionary announced,  it was rather a presentation of an evolution of the current products. You can watch a recap here. Here is the short list of more interesting news:

• Google Assistant became smarter and faster,
• AR walking directions in Google Maps,
• New Pixel 3a was announced,
• Android Q gets dark mode,
• Smart screen became Google Nest,
• Duplex is coming to the web

From all the thing that's been shown I'm most impressed by the Google Assistant. As I tweeted earlier this week, it is lightyears ahead of Bixby, Siri or even Alexa. I wish Apple care about Siri as much as Google does with Assistant.

PowerBeats Pro

Tech reviewers started getting their hands on the new Beats earbuds. First impressions are very positive. PowerBeats Pro are the best Beats ever, but they have two major issues. One is pricing and the second is ery big charging case. I have already accepted the price, but the case is humongous. It will definitely not fit to the pocket, so you either need a backpack/bag to carry it or leave it at home.

Windows Now Comes with Linux

Microsoft will ship a full Linux kernel in Windows 10. Although Microsoft added multiple Linux Bashes to Windows over the years, this is a big surprise.

New Microsoft Edge released as a preview

Microsoft has released a preview of their new browser powered with Chromium engine. Right now it is available only on macOS. I run a quick test with Tatooine.live. So far, this site worked properly only on Chrome, now it also works, without any issues, on Edge for Mac.

What's even more interesting, this is the first Microsoft's browser on the Mac since Safari replaced Internet Explorer over 15 years ago.

New Star Wars Movies

Disney has announced the release dates for its upcoming movies, including Star Wars. Right now, only new trilogy has been announced with following releases:

• Part 1 - Christmas 2022
• Part 2 - Christmas 2024
• Part 3 - Christmas 2026

So, after Episode 9, there will be no Star Wars movies for 3 years. Hopefully the new TV shows will fill the gap. Right now, we know nothing about this trilogy, but we know about 2 potential projects:

• Rian Johnson trilogy,
• D.B. Weiss and David Benioff (Game of Thrones showrunners) project in the Old Republic era.

No spinoff has been announced, which is disappointing, because I'm waiting for Kenobi movie.

Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer

Roughly two weeks after Avengers Endgame premiere, the new Spider-Man trailer hit the web. The trailer shows the aftermath of the events from the Endgame and it looks like it's opening the Multiverse  for the Phase 4.

Interesting Links

• Former Google engineer reveals the secret YouTube plot to kill Internet Explorer 6
• Minecraft Classic in a browser
• Proxx - minesweeper in a browser
• Real Time Flight Map w/ Azure Functions, CosmosDB & SignalR
• Tinder’s move to Kubernetes
• Real-time satellite imagery on your desktop with Downlink
• How Dead Cells Secretly Stops You From Dying | Audio Logs
• How Idle Heroes made $100M in a Year
• A new (and easy) way to hide content accessibly
• 99 point checklist for web designers
• 4 reasons your z-index isn’t working (and how to fix it)
• Best Practices for Mobile Payment Experiences
• The curious case of the disappearing Polish S

Image credits: Gogole

During this week I looked back on what happened this year and I decided to pick my top 3 news from each month. Here are my picks.

January

1. Bitcoin bubble burst,
2. Meltdown and Spectre discovered,
3. EA became scared of YouTubers.

February

1. SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy into space,
2. Elon Musk started selling not a Flamethrowers,
3. Apple started selling HomePods.

March

1. Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal,
2. Apple fixed buggy iPhone X ad before fixing the actual iOS 11 bug,
3. Current frequency deviations in Central Europe.

April

1. Mark Zuckerberg testified before members of Congress,
2. SpaceX reached the promised land of launching every two weeks,
3. GTA V has become the most profitable entertainment product of all time.

May

1. Google Duplex has been announced,
2. GDPR has become effective,
3. Premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

June

1. Microsoft bought GitHub,
2. Apple held WWDC,
3. Apple Pay became available in Poland.

July

1. Apple updated MacBook Pros,
2. New MacBook Pros fixed keyboard but overheats,
3. Clone Wars TV series has been renewed.

August

1. Apple became first IT company to be worth 1 trillion dollars,
2. Twitter limited access to the APIs,
3. CD Project released first gameplay of the Cyberpunk 2077.

September

1. Apple unveiled iPhone XS, XR and Apple Watch 4,
2. Google was celebrating its 20th birthday,
3. iOS 12 and macOS Mojave has been released.

October

1. LucasFilm shared details about first Star Wars tv series - The Mandalorian,
2. Apple shoved new iPad Pro,
3. Google unveiled Pixel 3, a tablet and HomeHub.

November

1. Disney announced new streaming service - Disney+,
2. Stan Lee has passed away,
3. Robert Kubica returned to F1.

December

1. Microsoft announced that it's working on a new browser,
2. YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video on YouTube,
3. Google’s Home Alone ad.

That's all folks. This was an incredible year. I hope next year will be event better.
Happy New year guys and see you soon!

Image credits: Annie Spratt.