Smartphones

A shot of two world-weary shepherds has won this year’s iPhone Photography Awards, the world’s longest running iPhone photography competition. In its 14th year, the contest well and truly showcases impressive modern smartphone camera technology.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has demonstrated a new Hypercharge system that can charge phones at a monstrous 200 W through a wire, and 120 W wirelessly. Just three minutes on the charge cable is enough to get a large phone battery to 50 percent.

A new study testing smartphone night modes that eliminate blue light wavelengths is suggesting they make no difference to overall sleep outcomes and the only way to improve sleep at all is to completely abstain from screen use before going to bed.

Established in 2011, the Mobile Photography Awards is a unique contest; as much as chronicle of smartphone camera evolution as a celebration of the art of mobile photography. In its 10th year it presents an indisputable case for the power of modern mobile photography.

All of the major smartphones of 2020 are out – but which is best for you? New Atlas compares the specs and features of the iPhone 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, the Google Pixel 4a, 4a 5G and 5, and the Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra.

A new study, published in the journal Chaos, is suggesting tracking changes over time in the way multiple sclerosis (MS) patients type on their smartphone touchscreens could be a useful method to monitor neurological degeneration.

At its annual developer conference last week, Xiaomi announced an upcoming wide-aperture lens that retracts into the body of a smartphone when not in use, promising long optical zoom without increasing the girth of our ubiquitous mobile companions.

A pair of studies are showing how passive smartphone data can be used to predict relapse episodes in schizophrenia patients. The research used machine learning to analyze behavioral data and predict schizophrenic relapses up to one month before they occurred.

Sometimes, one touch display on a smartphone just doesn't seem enough. LG has recognized this and announced the Wing, where the main screen swivels on a hinge to reveal a half-size second one.

One area where the modern smartphone has come to show incredible amounts of promise is in medical diagnostics, where they could soon reshape how we detect diabetes, gauge female fertility, spot skin cancers, and much more.

Four years after abandoning the realm of smartphones, Microsoft has thrown its hat back into the ring. This time the company is gunning for a piece of that double-screen pie with the Surface Duo, a hinged phone that has a focus on multitasking.

In its 13th year the iPhone Photography Awards continues to show how rapidly smartphone cameras are evolving. The assortment of winners features incredible images from the newest iPhone but also shows older models can take award-winning photographs.