The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 5 leaked in detail earlier this month, now WinFuture has some additional information. The rugged phone will reportedly be available only to businesses initially. It will support features like mPOS – mobile point of sale – which are aimed squarely at companies rather than consumers at large.
This model will have a smaller screen than the Xcover Pro from last year – a basic 5.3” LCD, down from 6.3”. Also, the resolution will be downgraded to 720 x 1,600 px, this is a device built to a budget.
A budget of just under €300, specifically (the Pro costs €500). To get there, the phone will be powered by the Exynos 850 – an 8 nm chipset with eight Cortex-A55 cores and a Mali-G52 GPU. It will be equipped with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB storage, plus a microSD slot if a particular application requires more memory.
Samsung’s Knox Capture is an enterprise-grade barcode scanning solution
The Xcover 5 will run Android 11 out of the box with corporate-friendly Knox features. Last year Samsung announced Knox Capture – an enterprise-grade barcode scanning solution that uses the camera.
Connectivity includes 4G LTE Cat. 7 (300 Mbps down) and NFC, which is a key part of the mPOS functionality as it allows the phone to act as a terminal and accept payment with credit and debit cards.
There will be a 16 MP camera on the back (f/1.8), which will probably be used for scanning barcodes more often than taking photos. A 5 MP (f/2.2) camera will be available on the front if there’s an occasion for a selfie.
The 3,000 mAh battery will be user-replaceable. Inside the phone it will charge over USB-C at 15W and we wouldn’t be surprised to see pogo pins for charging on a car mount. Also, Samsung usually releases a cradle that can charge a spare battery, so that there’s no downtime when an Xcover phone’s battery dies.
KOAMTAC charging cradles for one phone + spare battery or multiple phones (shown with Xcover Pro)
Naturally, the phone will be IP68 dust and water resistant (no IP69, seemingly) and it will carry a MIL-STD-810G qualification. An LED flashlight is a neat addition that comes in handy sometimes.
It’s not clear when Samsung will unveil the Xcover 5 or how long it will be after that before regular consumers can get their hands on one.
MONTREAL – Lightspeed Commerce Inc. says it is conducting a review of its business and operations including talks relating to a range of potential strategic alternatives.
The Montreal-based payments technology company made the comments after reports concerning a potential transaction involving the company.
Lightspeed says it periodically undertakes a review of its business and operations with a view of realizing its full potential.
A strategic review is often seen by investors as a prelude to a sale by a company.
Lightspeed says its board of directors is committed to acting in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.
Company founder Dax Dasilva returned to the role of chief executive officer earlier this year and has been working to return the company to profitability.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
OTTAWA – Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says there is a lot of uncertainty around how artificial intelligence could affect the economy moving forward, including the labour market and price growth.
In a speech in Toronto at the Economics of Artificial Intelligence Conference, the governor said Friday that the central bank is approaching the issue cautiously to get a better understanding of how AI could affect its job of keeping inflation low and stable.
“Be wary of anyone who claims to know where AI will take us. There is too much uncertainty to be confident,” Macklem said in prepared remarks.
“We don’t know how quickly AI will continue to advance. And we don’t know the timing and extent of its economic and social impacts.”
The governor said AI has the potential of increasing labour productivity, which would raise living standards and grow the economy without boosting inflation.
In the short-term, he said investment in AI is adding to demand and could be inflationary.
However, Macklem also highlighted more pessimistic scenarios, where AI could destroy more jobs than it creates or lead to less competition rather than more.
The governor called on academics and businesses to work together to shed more light on the potential effects of AI on the economy.
“When you enter a dark room, you don’t go charging in. You cautiously feel your way around. And you try to find the light switch. That is what we are doing. What we central bankers need is more light,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines has struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to offer satellite-based Starlink WiFi service on flights within the next several years.
The airline said Friday the service will be free to passengers.
United said it will begin testing the service early next year and begin offering it on some flights by later in 2025.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The announcement comes as airlines rush to offer more amenities as a way to stand out when passengers pick a carrier for a trip. United’s goal is to make sitting on a plane pretty much like being on the ground when it comes to browsing the internet, streaming entertainment and playing games.
“Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do on board a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” CEO Scott Kirby said in announcing the deal.
The airline says Starlink will allow passengers to get internet access even over oceans and polar regions where traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals may be weak or missing.
