CES 2022 hasn’t officially begun quite yet, but that hasn’t stopped Samsung from announcing a pack of new MicroLED, mini-LED and QLED TV models.
At the highest end of the range is the new MicroLED TV model that Samsung says uses 25 million micrometer-sized LEDs to perfectly control the screen’s backlight. It’s a continuation of The Wall that Samsung announced a few years ago at CES, and will be available later this year in 110, 101 and 89 inches for more money than most of us can afford.
Stepping down to a more reasonable level, Samsung is also debuting a number of new mini-LED TVs as part of its Neo QLED TV lineup. The big changes for this year are a new feature called Shape Adaptive Light Control that allows the TVs to have better control over blooming and an upgrade to a 14-bit backlight for more luminance points.
Inside the TVs will be using Samsung’s Neo Quantum Processor that has an Object Depth Enhancer feature that will better separate objects from the foreground and background and the updated New Home Screen UI that has a number of changes including… er, an NFT store for some reason.
In addition to its bound-to-be-successful NFT store, the New Home Screen UI also has a section for cloud game-streaming services (GeForce Now, Stadia and Utomik) – a potential precursor to Samsung’s cloud gaming service that was announced at Samsung Developer Conference 2021 – and a continue watching section that will help you get back to what you were watching when you turned the TV off.
Speaking of gaming, Samsung says its latest crop of flagship screens will be able to support 4K/144Hz for next-gen GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce 30-Series cards that came out last year. Samsung won’t help you get your hands on one, unfortunately, but its TVs will support the higher framerate for folks lucky enough to get their hands on one.
Want something more sophisticated? The Frame 2022 has you covered
While the MicroLED and mini-LED TVs will soak up the majority of the news cycle during CES, it’s worth noting that Samsung’s most sophisticated screen is also getting a facelift for 2022, too.
To wit, the next version of The Frame TV will offer a new matte display with anti-glare, anti-reflection and anti-fingerprint properties that will counter bad lighting and errant children who want to touch the TV when your back is turned.
Like previous years, the Frame will be available in sizes from 32 to 85 inches with final pricing and release date details to be announced later this year.
That being said, we wouldn't be surprised if this is all Samsung is going to announce this week so make sure to check back with us Tuesday after Samsung's opening press conference.
New Nokia G21 and G11 might have the best battery life of any smartphones
HMD Global has just unveiled two new budget Nokia-branded phones , dubbed the Nokia G21 and the Nokia G11, and while some budget phones struggle to stand out, these two have at least one obvious selling point – they both promise up to three days of battery life.
In a world where even many flagship phones struggle to get beyond one day, that’s an impressive stat – though we haven’t yet put these phones to the test, so we can’t verify it.
Still, they have decently large batteries, with both phones including a 5,050mAh battery. They also support charging at up to 18W, though only a 10W charger comes in the box.
The company is also keen to point out that these phones will get twice as many security updates as the competition does on average, with 36 updates promised – presumably meaning three years of updates. Actual Android updates will be limited to two years though.
Beyond that, the Nokia G21 has a 6.5-inch 720 x 1600 screen with a 90Hz refresh rate, a Unisoc T606 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a microSD card slot, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 3.5mm headphone port, and Android 11.
There’s a triple-lens camera on the back, with a 50MP main sensor, a 2MP macro one, and a 2MP depth sensor. There’s also an 8MP camera on the front. So this is a basic phone in many ways, with its plastic build and lack of 5G further highlighting that fact.
The Nokia G11 is even more low-end, if only slightly. It too has a 6.5-inch 720 x 1600 90Hz screen, a Unisoc T606 chipset, Android 11, a microSD card slot, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a 3.5mm headphone port, and it’s also made of plastic and limited to 4G connectivity.
Where it differs is in the camera, with the Nokia G21’s 50MP main one replaced with an 8MP one, though the other lenses have the same megapixel counts. It also has lower RAM and storage, at 3GB and 32GB respectively.
If you want to buy the Nokia G21 and you’re in the UK, then you can grab it now for £149.99 (around $200 / AU$285) in Nordic Blue or Dusk shades. The Nokia G11 meanwhile is landing in the UK in March, for £119.99 (roughly $160 / AU$230). There’s no word yet on US or Australian availability.
Analysis: a small upgrade from the Nokia G20
While the battery life of the Nokia G21 sounds impressive, it’s worth noting that the company made the same claims about its predecessor, the Nokia G20, so this isn’t a new feature for the range.
That said, HMD Global has experience of delivering strong battery life, so we’d expect it to be good here, anyway.
The Nokia G20 is also a similar phone in a lot of other ways, with the same screen size and resolution, the same price, and the same storage, RAM, and battery capacity.
The main actual upgrades for the Nokia G21 appear to be the charging speed (though only if you use a different charger to the one that comes in the box), the refresh rate, and the chipset, which is a MediaTek Helio G35 in the Nokia 20.
The main camera also has slightly more megapixels on the new phone, but on the other hand, there’s no ultra-wide lens, which there is on the Nokia G20, so it’s not all upgrades.
Final Morbius trailer teases even more ties to the MCU
After one of most protracted release date schedules in cinematic history, Morbius will finally land in theaters in April – and Sony has released one last trailer to celebrate.
The Spider-Man spin-off movie, which was originally set for release in July 2020, has been delayed six times due to the ongoing pandemic. Now, though, the Jared Leto-starring comic book flick is ready to fly into theaters, with Sony releasing one final teaser to whet our blood-soaked appetites for its arrival.
Check out Morbius' final trailer below:
Morbius' newest trailer is packed with material we've previously seen in other teasers, but there are some intriguing new snippets of footage. Namely, how it ties into Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Cast your mind back to its first trailer, which landed way back in January 2020, and you'll remember that Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/Vulture made a surprise cameo in the final few seconds. His curious appearance lit up the internet, with many observers wondering how Morbius fits into both cinematic universes, particularly as Vulture was the main villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming, aka the webslinger's first MCU movie .
Now, though, it seems that Vulture will try to manipulate Morbius into becoming a supervillain, with Toomes telling Morbius "it's time to let go of who you used to be and discover who you really are". Unless the Spider-Man antagonist has had a sudden change of heart over his villainous ways, we suspect he'll be one of those trying to persuade Morbius to join the light or dark side.
As for those of you who need a refresher on Morbius' upcoming film: the supernatural superhero movie stars Leto as Doctor Michael Morbius, a scientist with a rare blood disorder that's slowly killing him. However, after an experimental blood treatment involving vampire bats goes awry, Morbius is granted superhuman abilities – alongside an insatiable thirst for human blood. Matt Smith ( Doctor Who ), Jared Harris ( Foundation ), and Adria Arjona (6 Underground) are among the film's supporting cast.
Morbius will swoop exclusively into theaters on Friday, April 1.
Analysis: will Morbius suck at the the box office?
Spoilers follow for Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom.
That's difficult to determine right now.
On the surface, it should be another hit for Sony Pictures. After the huge success of Spider-Man: No Way Home , which massively benefitted from its ties to previous Spider-Man live-action universes, it's clear why Morbius' final trailer leans heavily into its multiverse-led material. Showing Toomes/Vulture off in this latest teaser does just that, and it's sure to lead to plenty more fan speculation online in the lead-up to release.
Sony's other successful Spider-Man spin-off franchise – Venom – is another feather in the studio's cap. The 2018 Tom Hardy-starring film, and last year's Let There Be Carnage sequel, cumulatively earned $1.36 billion at the global box office. Couple that with Sony's desire to create its own MCU style universe with a whole heap of Spider-Man characters – which Sony owns, remember – and it's understandable why movies like Morbius, Kraven the Hunter , and Madame Web have been (or are currently being) developed.
The big question, though, is whether there's an appetite among audiences for more Spider-Man spin-offs. And, more specifically in Morbius' case, if anyone's still interested in seeing it.
Given that it was supposed to launch nearly two years ago, cinemagoers may not be as excited for Morbius' arrival. Prior to the final trailer's release, Morbius' previous two trailer only amassed 21 million and 15 million YouTube views respectively. Compare that to Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage's main trailers, which lands 85 million and 48 million YouTube views, and fan anticipation for Morbius clearly isn't as strong as Sony may have hoped.
Then there's the fact that Morbius will be competing with two other potentially heavy hitters for audience attention (and, more importantly, cash) in early April. Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are set to release one week after Morbius on April 8, so cinema aficionados may save their money to catch one of those instead. The Batman , which arrives on March 4, will surely still be doing well at the global box office by the time Morbius arrives, too.
Of course, we won't know if Morbius will succeed or fail theatrically until it's actually released. But, with some cinema fans already stating that they'll wait for its video on demand (VOD) or streaming service launch, it's looking increasingly likely that Morbius will struggle to bleed the box office dry.