Tech News Roundup for October 5, 2020

Here are a few of the tech stories I found interesting over the last few days. This was written early Monday morning, so anything from Monday during the day will not be included.

Apple Sues Canadian Company for Selling iPhones it was Paid to Recycle

Apple makes a big deal about how old iPhones that are traded in or returned to Apple are recycled.  It has been a big part of the environmentally friendly image that company has tried to paint over the past several years.  Apple doesn’t do all that recycling itself, it contracts at least some of the work out.  Apple is alleging that a Canadian company it has paid to recycle iPhones has instead been reselling them back into the consumer channels.  If this is true, it would be a breach of contract, and potentially putting sub-par or defective devices back into the world. 

This is an interesting story about the sustainability of the electronics industry, and what happens to devices when we are done with them, or they no longer work.

https://www.theverge.com/apple/2020/10/4/21499422/apple-sues-recycling-company-reselling-ipods-ipads-watches

Nest Audio Reviews

Google’s newest smart speaker has been reviewed by several outlets, and it appears to be a winner. It is touted as having much better sound than the now 4 year old Google Home, and infinitely better than the Google Nest Mini.  At $130, it is also cheaper than the original Google Home’s launch price.  If you want a smart speaker, this appears to be the one to get.

https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/10/05/google-nest-audio-review/

Galaxy S20 FE 5G Review

A phone I didn’t highlight when it was announced was the Galaxy S20 FE 5G. (The ”FE” stands for Fan Edition. Phone names are terrible this year).  This is Samsung’s newest phone and is meant to fill the price gap between the standard S20 line and the highest end A series model, the A71.  It achieves this by cutting back in a few places, but nothing most people would miss.  The back is made of plastic instead of glass, which may actually be a plus for some people, the camera’s aren’t *quite* as good as the other S20 models, and the screen isn’t quite as good, but still very good.  It has a huge 4500 mAH battery that is actually larger than the more expensive S20, and matches the even more expensive S20+

The reviews of this phone have been universally positive.  With the highest end phones getting a significant price increase this year, thanks largely because of the expense of the 5G technology that most people can’t even really use, less expensive phones are becoming more and more interesting.

At $950, this is still an expensive phone, but it is much cheaper than the $1200 starting price for the arguably less capable S20.

With the caveat that I haven’t held it myself, the S20 FE 5G appears to be the phone to buy if you don’t want to spend the money the true high end phones demand, but want a phone that is nearly as good while making sensible sacrifices.

The Software That Runs On Spaceships Definitely Isn’t Windows

Not a lot to add here, just to say that this is a really neat read about the software that runs on spaceships and satellites, and how different it is from the software we run on our simple Earth computers.  Space is hard.

https://arstechnica.com/features/2020/10/the-space-operating-systems-booting-up-where-no-one-has-gone-before/

A $6,000 Zeiss Camera With Android…. For Some Reason

I personally just enjoy the absurdity of this.  Pre-orders have gone up in the US for a Zeiss full frame camera with a fixed 35mm lens that runs a variant of Android with built in apps for photo editing on device.

No one should buy this, it sounds absurd.  But it’s hilarious and I’d love to get my hands on it because of it.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/5/21501940/zeiss-zx1-camera-preorder-price-date