Tag Archives: Announcements

Huawei brings ultra-thin, ultra-light Mate X3 foldable phone to the global market

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Huawei launched the newest foldable phone HUAWEI Mate X3 in global markets alongside the HUAWEI P60 Pro. Huawei has released fold phones in different form factors in the past. There is an outward folding Mate Xs and Xs 2, an inward folding X2, and a flip P50 pocket. Adding to the wide range of Huawei’s fold smartphones, Mate X3 packs impressive features in an ultra-thin, ultra-light body.

Designer: Huawei

Mate X3 is remarkably thin and light compared to other folding phones with similar screen sizes. Roughly 21% thinner when folded compared to Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, Mate X3 is only 11.08mm thick when folded and 5.3mm when unfolded. It weighs 239g, about 9% lighter than Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Mate X3 features a big 6.4 -inch 3D OLED external display with 2,496 x 2,224 resolution and a 7.58-inch foldable OLED internal screen with 2,504 x 1,080 resolution. Both the internal and external displays support 426 PPI pixel density with LPTO 120 Hz refresh rate.

The external screen is equipped with Kunlun Glass to resist breaks and scratches. On the other hand, the internal screen sports a composite layer structure utilizing non-Newtonian fluid material for durability. Huawei claims Mate X3’s external screen offers ten times more drop-resistance than its predecessor, while the internal screen is four times more impact-resistant.

The new-generation multi-dimensional hinge allows the device to stay open from 45 to 100 degrees and close flat when folded. The hinge is made with aviation-grade aluminum alloy for durability and a smooth folding-unfolding experience.

A significant upgrade from the predecessor Mate X2 is the addition of an IPX8 water-resistant rating, which is a rarity on foldable phones, with the exception of Samsung phones.

Mate X3 packs a 50MP primary camera, a 13MP ultrawide camera with macro support, and a 12MP periscope telephoto camera capable of 5x optical zoom with OIS. And there is an 8MP selfie camera on both internal and external screens.

The camera setup is housed in a unique camera module design inspired by the portholes of space stations. The camera module with a circular bump matching the back panel and a contrasting black rectangular bar that nests the cameras gives the device a distinctive aesthetic focus.

Mate X3 comes with a 4800mAh battery and supports 66w wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 7.5W reverse charging. Huawei says the device can be fully juiced up in 37 minutes with a cable. In addition, the device adapts the cross-hinge graphene cooling system for greater heat dissipation across the screens.

Mate X3 is available in black Feather-Sand Glass and dark green Vegan leather. Getting an ultra-thin capable Mate X3 is costly, and it will cost you 2199 Euros or 1999.99 Pounds.

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Huawei’s latest flagship P60 Pro with a fully upgraded camera system hits Europe and UK markets

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Huawei is raising the mobile photography bar with its latest P-series flagship smartphone, HUAWEI P60 Pro. Released in March this year in China and now available in Europe and UK, the newest flagship smartphone from Huawei features a fully upgraded camera array, durable Kunlun glass, and premium aesthetics.

P60 Pro boasts a triple camera setup on its rear, comprising a 48MP main, a 48MP telephoto which can be used as a macro, and a 13MP ultrawide, which can also take micro photos. Flip to the other side, and there is a 13 MP selfie camera.

Designer: Huawei

The main camera is equipped with a physical aperture that can be set to ten different stops ranging from f/1.4 to f/4.0, just like HUAWEI Mate 50 Pro. Combined with a high transmittance lens group is an RYYB SuperSensing sensor with OIS. According to Huawei, P60 Pro’s main camera can capture three times more light than its predecessor, producing photos with high dynamic range.

The redesigned 48MP telephoto camera features the world’s first multi-lens groups and an f/2.1 aperture, the largest in the industry. The telephoto camera also features a RYYB sensor with OIS and is capable of 3.5x optical zoom. In addition, Huawei claims the telephoto camera with 13 MP Ultra-wide camera uses a RYYB sensor with an f/2.2.

For P60 Pro, Huawei steered away from the giant camera module trends we’ve seen from other brands’ camera-focused flagship smartphones. Instead, P60 Pro adapts a more subtle camera bump. The camera module design Huawei calls “The Eye of Light” features a rectangular camera bump that matches the back panel color. The main camera is housed in the middle of the camera module, accompanied by the ultrawide camera on one side and the telephoto camera on the other side.

For the global market, P60 Pro comes in two colorways – Rococo Pearl and Black. Rococo Pearl finish produces distinct patterns on each phone, making your device unique and elegant.

P60 Pro sports a 6.67-inch OLED display with 1-120Hz adaptive LTPO, ensuring smooth image during intensive tasks while conserving battery during less demanding workloads. New to the P series is the Quad-Curve Display with Huawei-exclusive Kunlun Glass. Weigh a mere 200g, P60 Pro’s slightly curved four sides wedded with more round edges provide a more comfortable grip and immersive display. In addition, the device has an IP68 dust and water-resistant rate.

A slight upgrade from its predecessor, P60 Pro packs a 4815 mAh battery which supports 88W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 7.5W reverse wireless charging. Not the biggest battery or fastest charging speed, but it should last a whole day easily. And if you need to quickly top-up, Turbo mode can charge the device to 50% in just 10 minutes. Huawei does not cut corners with the charger either. P60 Pro comes with an 88W dual-port charger that lets you charge devices via USB-C or USB-A.

P60 Pro runs the latest EMUI 13.1 operating system out of the box. Improved UI for the software includes a zoom scroll bar and an easily accessible camera menu, making it easy to shoot photos with one hand.

Black will retail for 1,199 EUR or 1199.99 GBP and comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Rococo Pearl is priced at 1,399 EUR or 1,299.99 GBP and comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

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Winners of the 2023 Design Intelligence Award: Here’s a look at the most innovative designs of the year

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Established in 2015 by the China Academy of Art, the DIA Award is not just about recognizing good design… it is about cultivating it. Serving as both an awards program and a product accelerator, the DIA Award has celebrated innovation and entrepreneurial spirit for nearly a decade. The free-to-enter program has a three-stage judging and evaluation process, with the aim of developing products that uniquely benefit humanity. In doing so, the DIA Award also seeks to create a platform for accelerating international trade, increasing connectivity, and opening up commercial opportunities that help propel the Global East in the West-heavy Design Industry. Effective design is only truly impactful when it reaches and benefits a wider audience. With this in mind, the awards program has created a prize fund of ¥5 million RMB, equivalent to $728,000 USD, to support the development of exceptional ideas into exceptional designs. This initiative aims to incubate and nurture innovative concepts that have the potential to make a significant difference in the world of design.

The Design Intelligence Award undergoes a rigorous judging process, consisting of three stages. A panel of 550 design experts evaluates entries based on three criteria layers. The first layer focuses on the fundamental “Principles of Design”, including functionality, aesthetics, technicality, user experience, and sustainability. The second layer emphasizes the “Direction of Design”, considering its contributions to humanity, industry, and the future. The third and final layer highlights the “Impact of Design” on social influence and industrial development. The judging process culminates in a hands-on final round, ensuring that only the most exceptional designs are recognized.

Comprising 550 experts and judges from 37 countries and regions around the world, the elite DIA Jury Panel thoughtfully chooses 30 remarkable projects that exhibit innovation and positive impact. These fortunate winners gain access to the DIA’s prize fund of ¥5 million RMB ($728,000 USD), with the highest-ranked project receiving ¥1 million RMB. Additionally, winners are invited to the prestigious DIA Award Ceremony, where they can network with global representatives from diverse sectors such as design, academia, and media. Winners also have the opportunity to attend the D-WILL expert lectures, sponsored by the Zhejiang Modern Intelligent Manufacturing Promotion Center and Design Innovation Center of China Academy of Art. These lectures aim to foster innovation and connectivity by featuring education experts, industry leaders, and pioneers who share their knowledge and accomplishments with the next generation. Finally, winners benefit from media exposure through a coordinated PR campaign, further promoting their work to a broader audience. In fact, you can scroll down to see a few winners and honorable mentions from last year’s Design Intelligence Awards!

Click here to view all the winners of the 2023 Design Intelligence Award

HiPhi Z by Human Horizons

Designed as China’s answer to Tesla, the HiPhi Z is an all-electric sedan with a futuristic design and impressive capabilities. The model’s electric powertrain features two rear-mounted electric motors, one for each wheel, producing over 600 horsepower and 605 pound-feet of torque. It can accelerate the sedan to 62 miles per hour in a mere 3.8 seconds and travel up to 438 miles on a single charge. Moreover, the Z provides an engaging user experience, not just for the driver but also for passersby, thanks to the unique LED matrix under each headlight and taillight that can display text, emojis, and more!

Darwin Bucky by Darwin Projects & Andblack Design Studio

Darwin Bucky is a lightweight, multifunctional exoskeleton that challenges the permanence of conventional architecture. Designed to be an exhibition or performance space with a large canopy, it can be easily assembled and dismantled in a few days, stored, or transported in a shipping container. Its conical shape and triangulated planes offer structural stability, excellent acoustics, and require half the materials compared to traditional buildings, while the space underneath is perfectly versatile to serve as an exhibition gallery, town hall, performance arena, or even a nightclub.

Paper Razor by Kai Corporation

The Paper Razor is a sustainable alternative to disposable plastic razors, made entirely out of paper with a metal blade. The razor is flat-packed and can easily be folded into a rigid and ergonomic shape. Its origami-inspired design minimizes the use of plastic by up to 98%. The razor is designed for travelers as it is lightweight, weighing only 4 grams, with a thickness no more than 5mm. It can withstand water temperatures of up to 104°F and comes in five different colors. Designed ideally for travelers, the Paper Razor offers an ecologically conscious alternative to disposable all-plastic razors.

Kreis Recycled Coffee Cups by Coffee Kreis

Meet the Kreis Cup, a coffee cup that’s sustainable, durable, and designed to enhance your coffee-drinking experience. Available in cup and travel-mug styles the Kreis ditches plastic, steel, and ceramic for a much more unconventional yet pretty impressive material – coffee grounds! Made from discarded coffee grounds and plant-based binders, the Kreis cups are heat-resistant, reusable, shatter-proof, and actually help keep your coffee hotter for longer. They’re designed to be biodegradable too, just in case you want to dispose of them, and the only perceivable disadvantage of the Kreis Cups is that they give off a delicate coffee aroma, so you can pretty much only use them to drink coffee!

VT-30 by EHang

Designed by one of China’s most prominent eVTOL manufacturers, the VT-30 is a “lift and cruise” aircraft aimed at inter-city travel. The two-seater, fully autonomous aircraft is capable of traveling up to 300 km (with flight times of up to 100 minutes) on a single battery charge, and can take off and land on both runways as well as helipads. Unlike other major players in the sector working on air taxis, EHang’s two-seater has a design that’s surprisingly compact and slick (in part thanks to its smaller cockpit), which also helps give it its surprisingly higher range.

Welme by Camex Wellnest Ltd. & Oro Innovations Pvt. Ltd.

The Welme is a discreet wearable device that’s designed to rehabilitate cramps and pains associated with periods by relying on TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) technology. By stimulating nerves without any side effects, drugs, or chemicals, TENS technology blocks the pain signals and prevents them from reaching the brain. Helping relieve pain without medication, heat-packs, or burning balms/sprays, the Welme is a wonderfully compact device that’s slim enough to be worn even when outdoors. The body patches attach to your abdomen (and can even be used on the back to relieve back pain), with the Welme hub itself being a simple, intuitive, puck-shaped module that clips right to your pants or pocket lining.

Sustainable Shopping Bag by Lim Sungmook

Cleverly cut out of a sheet of durable, waterproof Tyvek material, the Sustainable Shopping Bag offers a biodegradable eco-friendly alternative to the single-use plastic shopping bag that goes right into a landfill after it serves its purpose. What the Sustainable Shopping Bag rather remarkably does is rely on an efficient net-based design that’s strong while requiring less material. The cuts in the bag’s design help it expand to fit a wide variety of products from groceries to clothes and even the one-off wine bottle, and the bag’s patented design comes in a variety of sizes as well as color/pattern options.

Bamboo Pencil by Zhangyan

Inspired by the bamboo-based scrolls found in Confucian-era Chinese culture, these ‘Bamboo Pencils’ are made from regular wood, but come in a similar scroll-shaped design that allows you to easily bundle a bunch of pencils together in a cluster so they don’t get lost or stolen. The pencils can be individually separated during use, and each pencil comes with words of wisdom from Confucius, paying a hat-tip to the culture while also acting as a rather wonderful symbol of Chinese history in the modern era!

U-Lab 001 Guitar by Unknown Galaxy Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd. & inDare Design Strategy Ltd.

Although it looks like a conventional guitar from afar, the U-Lab 001 is far from the traditional Spanish-style guitar you’ve come to love. For starters, it has a hollow cutout, doesn’t have any strings, and folds in half during travel. Designed for novices who have little to no formal training in guitar playing, the U-Lab 001 provides the perfect launchpad for strumming, chords, fingerpicking, and mastering musical theory. The right-hand rocker switches can emulate the act of strumming all strings, and the fretboard under the left hand comes with a touch-sensitive light-up surface that teaches notes, chords, and overall music theory, along with a companion smartphone app. The ULab 001 also features a built-in speaker, a rotary knob to control volume, a single knob to change a guitar’s scale on command, and a headphone jack for silent, personal jamming!

Oto Hugging Chair by Alexia Audrain

The Oto Chair, also known as the Hugging Chair, is a therapeutic piece of furniture designed for people with sensory integration disorders, especially individuals with autism. The chair aims to recreate the sensation of being hugged or compressed, which has a soothing effect on the person sitting within the chair. The Oto Chair comes with a cocoonlike shape sporting a beechwood frame and plush upholstery that absorbs sound. The chair also has a self-compressing feature via a resistance foam cushion that can be activated by a remote control.

Click here to view all the winners of the 2023 Design Intelligence Award

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YD x KeyShot Inspiration Hub Design of the Week #1 – AirShock Inflatable Controller

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We kick off the YD x KeyShot Inspiration Hub’s first Design of the Week with this absurdly innovative PlayStation controller that opts for an inflatable design as opposed to those hyper-ergonomic solid forms. Blow air into the controller and it puffs up into a lightweight handheld device that conforms to the shape of your hand the way an inflatable neck pillow adjusts to your body’s contours. Would such a device even be feasible? We’d have to try it out to really have actual answers… but there’s no denying one thing. That this concept from Running Guy Studio is refreshingly different and catches the eye with its unique style and brilliant rendering.

Click Here to view all designs on the YD x Keyshot Inspiration Hub website!

If you don’t know what the YD x KeyShot Inspiration Hub is, it’s best to think of it as the ultimate destination to find the most inspirational design work, as well as to have your own work featured, so it can be seen by a global audience of thousands of designers and creatives… an ever-expanding encyclopedia of good design and great rendering

The hub helps fulfill YD and KeyShot’s broad goal of recognizing exemplary work from a distance and helping amplify it without having to rely on an algorithm, unlike with portfolio sites and social media. It relies on YD’s 20-year history of curating great ideas, concepts, and case studies and ties it to KeyShot’s powerful position as the design industry’s most powerful and preferred rendering software.

The Inspiration Hub’s jury panel will hand-pick and highlight an outstanding design each week, also awarding a ‘Design of the Month’ and ‘Design of the Year’, featuring them at the top of the hub’s page while giving winning designs a permanent badge and entering them into the Inspiration Hub’s ‘Hall of Fame’. Hall-of-Famers will also be featured on Yanko Design’s Instagram page and will win exciting prizes from KeyShot. Learn more about how to participate by visiting the hub, and also get your hands on a free trial of KeyShot 11.

Click Here to view all designs on the YD x Keyshot Inspiration Hub website!

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Huawei ‘Watch Buds’ with built-in TWS earbuds begins its global rollout, starting with the EU and UK

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Ever stepped out of the house and realized long after that you left your TWS earbuds at home? Or into a video meeting and just suddenly tried looking for your earbuds but they’re nowhere to be seen? It seems like an edge case, but it’s enough to be an absolute drag. The problem with TWS earbuds is that they’re small and that humans are forgetful… although Huawei hopes to solve that problem with the HUAWEI WATCH Buds – a rather avant-garde smartwatch with earbuds built into them. Pop the lid/screen open and you’ve got yourself a pair of earbuds that you can now wear to listen to music or podcasts, and even use with voice and video calling applications. The TWS earbuds are designed to be incredibly compact and space-efficient, as is the smartwatch that houses them, giving you a product that’s multi-purpose without being huge or clunky. Moreover, the earbuds are also designed to be completely identical and can automatically detect whether they’re being used in the right or left ear. This clever detail makes it more efficient and foolproof to wear and charge the earbuds without figuring out which one’s the left one and the right one. The earbuds sit within their charging case, which also doubles as a highly precise and capable smartwatch that’s designed with zero empty space and zero compromises. The watch itself packs a bright 1.43-inch AMOLED screen that sits under luxurious 3D curved glass. You’ve got a Clouse de Paris detailed crown at the 3 o’clock position, and full-grain leather straps that would make any watchmaker proud. Although announced in China in December 2022, the HUAWEI WATCH Buds makes its official global debut today, starting with the EU (€499 EUR) and the UK (£449 GBP).

Designer: Huawei

Design & Engineering

The watch and earbuds are a collective marvel of engineering, with 21 layers of technology perfectly sandwiched together with absolutely no wasted space. More than 20 of the watch’s internal components are seamlessly laser welded together to connect them without using screws and other fixtures, and components are assembled with tolerances of as little as 30 microns. This allows the watch itself to be as thin as 15mm, while housing everything on the inside from an SoC, a battery, other components and sensors, the display, Huawei’s latest TruSeen™ 5.0+ heart sensor array, and not one, but two rather powerful earbuds that sit snugly under the hood, accessible by pressing a button that causes the lid to flip open.

The TWS Earbuds

Measuring around 0.8 inches long, the TWS earbuds are surprisingly compact for what they’re capable of. They’re designed to be agnostic of left and right orientations, and can be used in either ear (with the buds automatically detecting where they’re placed). They’re 50% smaller than your average earbud, but pack a punch with their full-range planar speakers that output higher than 104dB with a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. In short, they’re compact, loud, and have balanced audio. Dual microphones on the earbuds give them ANC features, while the earbuds themselves have dynamic EQ, ear canal adaptation, wear detection, and a patented wind noise-suppressing design. Being rather tiny (and weighing a paltry 4 grams each), the earbuds don’t offer much in terms of touch controls, although to circumvent that, Huawei designed a system that lets you tap your ear itself to control playback. You can tap twice to play/pause music or answer/reject calls, or thrice to enable or disable noise cancelation, while the watch itself lets you customize controls for each individual earbud.

The Smartwatch

Quite remarkably masking the fact that it has two TWS earbuds inside it, the HUAWEI WATCH Buds smartwatch measures 47 x 47.5 x 15 mm (1.85 x 1.87 x 0.59 in) with a stainless steel frame, a curved glass front, and leather straps that secure this marvel of engineering to your wrist. The smartwatch works just as you’d expect, offering a slew of features including music playback, AI noise cancellation and Dual Mic + VPU (Voice Pickup Unit) for things like calls and video chats, and extensive health and fitness tracking features that support as many as 80 different exercises including running, hiking, cycling, HIIT, etc. The TruSeen™ 5.0+ sensor array on the bottom adopts eight photosensors in a circular layout and a newly upgraded algorithm, which improves the accuracy of dynamic heart rate monitoring, especially during workouts. The watch intuitively pairs its TWS earbuds with the device you’re connected to, whether it’s a phone or tablet (it supports both iOS and Android devices), and even helps you find your earbuds if they ever get misplaced by letting you remotely ‘ring’ them.

Battery & Durability

The earbuds, being rather small, have a battery life that maxes out at 4 hours (without ANC) and 3 hours (with ANC) when listening to music. Pop them in their case, however, and it instantly begins charging them, thanks to the platinum-plated charging rings on the earbuds, and 360° magnets that allow the earbuds to simply snap into their charging enclosures built inside the watch. The watch itself has a battery life of 3 full days, double what the Apple Watch Ultra boasts of (36 hours). You can even bump it up to 7 days on low-power mode, giving you limited functionality but a much longer battery span.

The watch itself has an intricate hinge detail that’s engineered and tested to consistently open and close over 100,000 times, offering years’ worth of rigorous use. The watch and the earbuds are also designed to offer water resistance, with the earbuds being IPx4 water (splash) resistant and the watch being IPx7 water-resistant (even with the buds securely placed inside them).

Availability

The HUAWEI WATCH Buds will be up for pre-order in the EU and UK on February 15th, and will officially go on sale on March 1st. Customers in the EU can grab their WATCH Buds for €499 EUR while UK patrons can buy the device for £449 GBP.

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Acer starts CES 2023 with a bang with new Swift laptops and Aspire All-in-One PCs

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Focusing on productivity and ease of use, Acer is rolling out a range of laptops and PCs for the whole family. Comprising models with top-of-the-line 13th Gen Intel Core processors and OLED displays, the Swift series laptops are here to give Windows users something more interesting than average to explore. Alongside the Swift series, Acer is also releasing Aspire all-in-ones and laptops that include something for every type of user.

Well, the new Acer Swift Go and Swift line comprise the Swift Go 16 (SFG16-71), Swift Go 14 (SFG14-71), Swift X 14 (SFX14-71), and Acer Swift 14 (SF14-71. The first two models are 16 and 14-inch respectively, and come powered by 13-gen Intel Core H processors and have OLED displays. Keeping the temperatures maintained is the TwinAir dual fan system onboard, while the Swift Go 16 boasts 500-nit brightness. Both variants feature a range of ports including a MicroSD card reader.

Designer: Acer

Slightly premium here is the Swift 14 which comes in an aerospace-grade aluminum chassis and has diamond-cut edges. With OceanGlass touchpad complementing the premium design, the laptop along with the Swift X 14 is powered by 13-gen Intel Core H-series processors. The latter features NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU and touts color accurate 2.8K OLED display. The Swift 14 has WQXGA (2560×1600) display topped with Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla glass.

The highlight still is the slim yet powerful Acer Aspire S all-in-one PCs that come with Windows 11. Provided in 32 and 27-inch variants, these are also powered by a 13-gen Intel Core processor with Intel Iris and Inte Arc series graphics. Offering seamless computing, the PCs feature a sleek aluminum chassis with a near-borderless screen and are designed for better viewing with a tiltable display. For the work-from-home generation, the PCs provide additional convenience with a magnetically mounted 1080p FHD webcam.

Efficient multitasking is the need of the hour, which Acer intends to cater to with the Aspire 5 series notebooks drawing power from intel’s 13-generation chipsets. Built-in with Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics, these machines made for multitasking are content creators’ best pal. Running on 1TB SSD paired with 32 gigs of RAM, the notebooks have advanced AI technology for raytracing and feature a 1080p FHD webcam. TwinAir cooling keeps these machines cool inside out, while a host of ports cater to all your peripheral needs.

If you’re someone in the market not for a laptop or PC but for a smart speaker, Acer has got you covered with the Halo Swing Smart Speaker with Google Assistant. Featuring DTS Sound and LED dot display, the speaker guarantees durable form factor with IPX5-rating for water and dust resistance.

 

 

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GMC reveals a custom VanMoof E-bike drop in the run up to its Sierra EV announcement next week

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As the company approaches the launch date for its highly anticipated Sierra EV, GMC is partnering with livestream shopping platform NTWRK for a series of ‘drops’ or limited edition merchandise sales that include products, artwork, NFTs, and even a one-off custom version of the VanMoof electric bike, designed in collaboration with fashion designer Dao-Yi Chow. The Van Moof will exist as a single piece and can be bought during GMC and NTWRK’s Days of Drops event, which will be held on the 20th of October.

Priced at $1,000, the custom Van Moof E-Bike will boast automatic electronic gear shifting, anti-theft tech, and a removable power bank, among other high-tech innovative features.

Designer: Dao-Yi Chow for NTWRK and GMC

The VanMoof bike comes with a minimal-yet-robust-looking frame and catches the eye with its red and black colorway. Although GMC hasn’t mentioned which model this is, just by the looks of it and its feature list, it seems like a custom version of the e-bike company’s Red Dot Award-winning S3 model. This new colorway, however, comes from the mind of Dao-Yi Chow, a New York-born-and-raised designer who co-created the street-savvy fashion brand Public School in 2008, which has received high acclaim with several major fashion awards (CFDA’s Swarovski Award for Menswear & Menswear Designer of the Year, US Woolmark Prize for Menswear). “His collections continue to be sold in boutiques and department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Harvey Nichols, Maxfield, Isetan, Boon The Shop, and Mr. Porter”, mentions GMC in their press release.

NTWRK’s Day of Drops will also include a range of highly sought-after art and collectibles. Other creators involved include Hoop Dream Studios, a curated BE@RBICKS drop, and a luxury art drop featuring designers such as HAROSHI, Cristina Martinez, MATT SENNA, and more.

The Day of Drops will culminate in a special live episode, where GMC will reveal the first-ever Sierra EV at 5:00 pm ET on October 20th

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JBL unveils the Tour PRO 2 TWS Earbuds with an actual touchscreen display on the charging case

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Is that the new iPod Nano?? Nope… it’s a pair of JBL TWS earbuds with a screen on the case.

Announced just before IFA 2022 kicks off in Berlin, the Tour PRO 2 are JBL’s upcoming flagship TWS earphones. Their latest gimmick feature? A touchscreen display that shows you music-related information so you don’t need to pop your phone out to navigate Spotify or Apple Music while listening to tunes and podcasts. It has the potential to be an incredibly clever idea (I’ll explain myself shortly), but it isn’t the kind of idea JBL is capable of pulling off, so we’re probably stuck with one more screen on our person… although it does offer a more music-centric experience. After all, nobody wants to scroll through their music playlist while also seeing angry messages from their boss about why they haven’t sent that mail yet.

Designer: JBL

To just get the facts out of the way, the Tour PRO 2 are JBL’s latest flagship pair of TWS earbuds priced at $249.44 USD. They come with 10mm audio drivers and are Bluetooth 5.3 compatible, have active noise-canceling, and last 10 hours alone, and 40 hours with the charging case. However, their most impressive little upgrade lies in plain view in the form of a 1.45-inch touchscreen LED display on the front that lets you toggle features like ANC, make adjustments to your music-listening experience, or answer/reject calls without taking your phone out. JBL’s idea with this seems to hark back to the original days of the iPod – to provide a clean, uncluttered music experience.

Honestly, I find myself a little conflicted with the idea of a display on my TWS earbud charging case because there are as many cons as there are pros. There are also as many unexplored potentials, which I promise I’ll get to in a bit. For starters, the Tour PRO 2 does, to a degree, give you the benefit of a phone-free experience. You can control playback, seek through songs, see what’s playing, and even toggle earbud features without needing an app or even needing to unlock your phone. However, this doesn’t quite work as well for other earbud-aided experiences, like watching videos or attending video calls/conferences. JBL also somewhat shoots itself in the foot by using that screen to show you phone notifications. So there’s still that likelihood of stumbling across angry texts from your boss/client. Effectively, this makes you end up taking your phone out, which completely destroys the premise of a phone-free music experience in the first place. Not to mention that yet another screen on a device means more battery woes. It also results in a thicker product.

Here’s what gets me excited about this idea, though. The TWS earbuds are essentially wearables, and a screen on the case now has the unique ability to offer a wearable-grade fitness device experience that matches, if not overtakes a smartwatch. Here’s the data you can capture through your earbud – your body temperature, and your pulse (two data points that your smartwatch already tracks). Pair this with music hardware and you’ve got yourself the ultimate fitness device. Imagine if these earbuds could track your heart levels alongside the music you listen to. It knows when you’re exercising and how effectively you’re exercising, it also knows whether you enjoy a song because of changes in your body temperature and heart rate. Moreover, the earbuds can also help with routines like meditation, just because they’re audio devices with bio-tracking abilities. I’ve long believed that if Spotify wanted to absolutely obliterate Apple at the music game, they’d launch smart earbuds that could do the aforementioned things. Sadly though, it seems like JBL isn’t quite the company that’s up for the task… and now I’ve given up my idea for free.

The JBL Tour PRO 2 will only be available in Europe for now, starting January 2023 (that gives JBL enough time to really fine-tune their product). This isn’t the first time we’ve seen screens on TWS earbud cases, though. Just last month, a Teenage Engineering TWS earbud concept showcased something quite similar!

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Yanko Design and KeyShot announce the winners of the Material Design Challenge

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With hundreds of entries over the 3-week competition time period, the YDxKeyShot Material Design Challenge finally came to a close with the winners being announced this week. The three winning entries showcase an incredibly versatile approach, proving exactly how capable KeyShot 11’s Material Graph and material designing abilities are.

The three winners distinctly stand in three separate categories. The Gold winning entry from Shahin Fathi explores the ability to put a realistic froth of bubbles on top of products, the Silver winning entry from Colin Ginn explored a unique parametric ‘chocolate chip cookie’ material with a lot of versatility, and the Bronze winning entry came from Nacho Riesco, who created an alluring cracked gold-leaf on wood texture that has great potential in furniture, interior, and even fashion rendering applications.

The judges declared Shahin the unanimous Gold Winner, but there were a few strong contenders for Silver and Bronze positions. Ultimately, the judges rated the entries on creativity as well as potential to be used across various industries. We congratulate the winners and are extremely grateful to everyone who participated!

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Gold Winner – Shahin Fathi


Shahin Fathi (also known on Instagram by Predexign) was unanimously selected as the winning entry for its sheer creativity and impeccable execution. Jury member Sarang Sheth said, “Loved the idea and execution. This is exactly the kind of material I was expecting to come out of this competition.” The bubbles really push KeyShot 11’s textures to the limit. They’re incredibly realistic, and a simple drag and drop of the material onto a 3D object turns it into a foamy mass that has tonnes of applications in bathware, drinkware (think beer froth it coffee crema), and potentially even outdoor water scenes!
View Shahin’s winning entry below.

 

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A post shared by Shahin Fathi (@predexign)

Silver Winner – Colin Ginn


Colin Ginn secured the silver prize for his unique parametric chocolate chip cookie material. While the jury definitely found the material unique, they were impressed by the execution, the fact that it’s entirely parametric, and even the development animation that Colin created on his IG post. Jury member Janis Sne mentioned, “Collin did an outstanding job on this material challenge. I am very impressed by just looking at Collin’s Keyshot node material setup. He also made a great presentation, with a short animation of the texturing, that I highly appreciate. I think this designer really thought through everything and you can feel this love & passion into each 3D image.” The jury collectively also agreed that there was immense potential to adapt this material into a rocky, muddy ground material.
View Colin’s winning entry below.

 

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A post shared by Colin Ginn (@colin_ginn)

Bronze Winner – Nacho Riesco


The bronze prize was awarded to Nacho Riesco for his ‘cracked gold leaf on wood’ material. The material combined the best of both worlds, a realistic wooden texture and a cracked gold film on top. Jury member Preeti Jesudoss appreciated the “worn edges and organic-looking cracks” on the material and the jury collectively believed that the material also could potentially be used in creative art direction and even in fashion design applications.
View Nacho’s winning entry below.

Click Here to know more about KeyShot 11

The post Yanko Design and KeyShot announce the winners of the Material Design Challenge first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Nothing phone (1) launch event was an oddly informal alternative to Apple’s polished keynotes

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This keynote could have been an email…

After leaking the entire design online and giving tech YouTubers a first look, there was little left for Carl Pei to tell us about the phone… and that’s precisely what he did. First, he sat at a local cafe, and then moved to a tiny empty auditorium, seated for a majority of the event unlike any executive from your typical Silicon Valley keynote event. All this, Carl said, was Nothing’s way of challenging the status quo by being more ‘authentic’ (the event, he claimed, was also filmed entirely on the phone (1)). The cameras then moved to a corporate/community event in London, where the focus went from the phone itself to the company partners and design/development team. With as many as 80,000 people watching online, this was an odd way to reveal a product they hyped for so long. One person in the comments said, “Can’t believe we waited this long just to be told what we already knew about the phone”.

Back last month I predicted that the phone (1) design leak would put a lot of pressure on the company to have a grand slam launch. After leaking first the glyph, then the design, then the features, and then the tech specs, there was ‘nothing’ left to say about the phone. Heck, people even roughly knew what this thing was going to be priced at and where it was going to sell. However, I present to you, the Nothing phone (1).

Pei described the phone (1)’s glyph interface in detail, highlighting (quite literally) how it instantly set the smartphone apart from the sea of existing phones out there. The frame comes made of aluminum, making the phone (1) feel significantly lighter than the iPhone pro series, which comes with a stainless steel frame. Pei mentioned that the aluminum used in the frame was entirely recycled, and half the plastics used in the phone (1) were bioplastics too. The phone (1) is also the first known smartphone to also recycle all the tin used in its internal soldering, but whether the phone (1) is easily repairable wasn’t really discussed at all.

The front and back panels are both Gorilla Glass 5, although there was no official mention of how durable the phone is, and what degree of waterproofing it has (it would be a shame for water to leak into the back and condense around the glyph interface. The phone comes outfitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G+ processor, and Pei was especially eager to fire shots at other companies for their bloated OS, pointing how lightweight the Nothing OS was (although that’s available as a launcher for regular Android phones too). The OS also is built around interoperability and interconnectedness, as Carl mentioned the company worked with Tesla to allow the phone (1) to remotely operate your EV, letting you remotely blink its headlights or switch the AC on. This does leave us desiring for more, given that Pei’s boasted so much about how Nothing is creating its open ecosystem.

All in all though, the phone (1) is an objectively good phone on paper and remains to be proved by reviewers in the coming weeks. The screen has uniform bezels thanks to the use of a flexible OLED (something that even top-notch Android phones today don’t offer) and comes with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth buttery transitions and usage. It also supports 10 million colors with HDR10+ rivaling the Dolby Vision in the iPhone. The phone (1) as is clearly evident, comes with two cameras on the back, although Pei mentions they’re both built to be ‘primary cameras’ with 50MP Sony sensors behind each (one of them is a 114° ultra-wide camera, slightly lesser than apple’s own 120° ultrawide shooter… but the most understated yet important feature on the phone (1) remains its price, which starts at £399 GBP (or $475 USD). While this won’t put a dent in the iPhone sales (the phone (1) won’t even sell in USA), it’s definitely going to make other Android companies bleed… mainly OnePlus. I’m sure that’ll make Pei smile just a little bit.

The post The Nothing phone (1) launch event was an oddly informal alternative to Apple’s polished keynotes first appeared on Yanko Design.