UWB

A recent discovery in the Play Services app indicated that the Pixel Watch 3 may enhance its Active Unlock feature with ultra-wideband (UWB) technology. The upgrade aims to improve the accuracy and speed of unlocking nearby Pixel phones with a paired Google Pixel Watch. Strings from the Play Services app imply UWB integration for Pixel Watch 3 Code snippets within the Play Services app discovered by 9to5Google, reveal a shift from Bluetooth to UWB connectivity for the ‘ActiveUnlock’ feature. The observed strings include…

Last year, we reported on an upcoming feature related to Android phone unlocking with your smartwatch. However, the so-called Watch Unlock is still just a rumor and now we may know why. According to 9to5Google, Google is preparing to launch the feature alongside the Google Pixel Watch 3, which in turn will offer UWB connectivity. This would allow faster and more secure phone unlocks without having to use your fingerprint reader or face unlock. Hidden deep inside the Play Services app source code, is a reference to…

Since 2020, you’ve probably seen a new spec on the spec sheet of a lot of flagship smartphones (not just Android smartphones either). And that’s UWB or Ultra Wideband. Apple was actually the first to put it in their devices, starting with the iPhone 11 in 2019. Samsung began adding it to its smartphones in 2020, with mostly only its “Ultra” devices getting this spec. But the real question here is, what exactly is “Ultra Wideband”? Is this a must-have feature on my next smartphone? And what can I use it for? We’re going…

Tesla has rolled out a new update iPhone users will love, adding Ultrawide band support for Phone Keys so that you can lock and unlock your EV using your iPhone. As reported by Not a Tesla App, all owners of the new Tesla Model 3 and the 2023 Model X can now enable Ultra Wideband support for Phone Key on their vehicles to “drastically improve how Tesla phone keys work.”  Apple’s own iPhone range supports Ultrawide Band, the short-range technology that powers AirDrop and interactions like hand-off between iPhone and…

Maria Diaz/ZDNETUWB -- short for ultra-wideband -- is a low-energy, short-range radio technology that's been around for a couple of decades (it went under the name "pulse radio" for a while).UWB makes use of super-fast signal pulses (anything up to over a billion a second) broadcast across a wide swathe of the radio spectrum (from 500MHz to several gigahertz). This allows it to avoid the interference issues that plague other technologies, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.Also: The best phones to buy: ZDNET editors' top…

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETZDNET's key takeawaysBlackview BV8900 Pro, which is the world's first ruggedized smartphone to feature UWB. On the surface, the BV8900 Pro looks like many of the other Blackview handsets I've tested and reviewed. It's a chunky smartphone that's encased in black rubber, with a toughened glass display. The rubber and 10000mAh battery add bulk to the handset, but the tradeoff is that the battery offers around 13 hours of video-watching time, and over a month of standby. Adrian…

Apple will open pre-orders for the Vision Pro on 19 January 2024. With two days to go for that, the FCC has certified the mixed-reality (MR) headset, which reveals some interesting (and disappointing) details about the product that Apple hadn’t told us about (via 9To5Mac). Apple Vision Pro lacks Wi-Fi 6E According to the FCC certification of the Vision Pro, the Wi-Fi connectivity on the mixed-reality headset operates on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. There’s no mention of the 6 GHz frequency band, which is required…

Over the past few weeks, Samsung has picked up several regulatory certifications for the Galaxy S24 series. We have seen the Plus model on the BIS (India) website, while the Ultra model has received approvals from the BIS, NBTC (Thailand), and KTR (South Korea). The FCC has now joined the list. The American regulatory agency recently certified the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+. The Ultra model should also soon receive the FCC certification. The Galaxy S24 series picks up another important certification The FCC certified the…

Samsung's flagship Galaxy S series of smartphones has been quite popular since its inception and there is a high level of anticipation for next year's Galaxy S24 lineup. Like the Galaxy S23 family, the upcoming lineup is expected to include at least three models — Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. Ahead of any official announcement, high-quality renders of the vanilla Galaxy S24 have surfaced online. The images show the handset in a light blue shade with a flat display. Alleged renders of the Galaxy S24 were …

Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup is expected to be unveiled early next year. The South Korean smartphone brand is yet to provide any details about the next Galaxy S series smartphones, but ahead of it, CAD (computer-aided design) renders suggesting the design of the Galaxy S24+ have leaked online. The upcoming model seems to follow a similar design language to that of the Galaxy S23+. The display of the handset is seen to have a hole-punch cutout, and it is shown to have a triple camera setup at the back.The CAD renders of…