The maker of cell phone processors Qualcomm confirmed that the foldable smartphone Samsung Galaxy ZFold 2 will be the first to come equipped with FastConnect 6900 technology, the American company's solution to improve various aspects of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity in routers and mobile devices. 5mq4
Announced during the Galaxy Unpacked event in early August, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 2, which will come with a 6,23-inch Super AMOLED full exterior display (no top notch), 2.260 x 816 pixel resolution and refresh rate. 60 Hz frame rate, while the interior has 7,6 inches AMOLED and 2.208 x 1.768 pixel resolution and 120 Hz frame refresh — all powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus processor (the complete device configuration and launch, price and sale, you can find it further down in this article).
In addition to all the innovations already created by Samsung's engineering for the new device, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the first smartphone to bring the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 on a commercial basis. According to Qualcomm, this technology consists of a chip that s Wi-Fi 6E technology and Bluetooth 5.2. The first is an extension of the sixth generation of wireless connections to the internet (802.11ax format) that uses the 6 GHz band as signal propagation. Basically, this means that the channels through which the radio waves that make up the wireless connection move are decongested, avoiding bottlenecks and slowdowns that are already common in commonly used spectrums (2,4 GHz and 5 GHz).
See our chat with Jun-yong Song, Head of Design at Samsung South Korea, about deg foldable phones
The second allows for the Bluetooth LE Audio feature, which brings functions such as sharing and transmitting audio through several simultaneous channels (multi-point sharing and broadcasting). Qualcomm's chip also brings an interesting addition: a second Bluetooth antenna with the ability to change when it identifies problems with signal weakness or blurring. In other words: if a Bluetooth antenna has a reduced performance due to poor signal quality, the chip recognizes the problem and “switches” the use by the second antenna.
The arrival of devices equipped with the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 chip was speculated not before 2021, according to several experts. However, Qualcomm's announcement took the tech community by surprise. It is worth mentioning, however, that contrary to what many media channels have been reporting, although it s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, Samsung's foldable smartphone itself will not have these features. The South Korean manufacturer has already been questioned, but has yet to comment on why.
Galaxy Z Fold 2: what's good about it? k554w
In addition to the screen and processing layouts mentioned above, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 features configuration and engineering that denounce a high investment by Samsung in its creation: After the troubled launch of the first Galaxy Fold in 2019, which saw test units of the device breaking down for no justifiable reason before it even hit stores, the company has shown that it still believes in the future of foldable smartphones and that it has learned from it. the past. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 arrives with a tougher screen, much thinner bezels, updated hardware and a more polished look, complete with new colors.
The device's screens — both exterior and interior — will HDR10+ technology, which promises greater detail and vividness to photos taken by smartphone cameras. Speaking of them, the set of rear cameras repeats the pattern seen on the Galaxy S20, that is, a wide-angle lens with 12 megapixels and f/1.8 aperture; an angular lens (ultra wide) with the same resolution, but larger aperture to capture more open photos and, finally, a telephoto lens, which has “hybrid zoom” (mixture between “optical zoom” and “digital zoom”) of up to XNUMX times.
The front cameras, internal and external, are also the same, with both having 10 megapixels, f/2.2 aperture and 26mm lenses. They are expected to produce a result very similar to that of the front cameras of the S20 and S20+, as the specifications are the same and, most likely, the sensors are the same.
Regarding internal storage, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 will come in two versions: 256 GB and 512 GB, which shows Samsung's desire to make the device more accessible to the public: its predecessor only had one version (512 GB) — opening to a smaller version can lower the cost of one of the available models. Both versions, however, will have 12 GB of RAM and a 4.500 milliampere (mAh) battery with 25 W fast charging — the same standard as the Galaxy S20.
The device's screen fold is where Samsung seems to show its real learning: the Galaxy Z Fold 2 brings an ultra-thin design of edges and screens, improving the technology Ultra Thin Glass, making it thinner than a hair, in addition to mixing it with glass and plastic elements. This “mix” ensures a firmer touch on the screen, but without harming the fold, which has a stronger reinforced hinge and no longer leaves that “crease” in the middle of the display as time es.
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 has yet to have its prices confirmed, but Samsung's UK webshop ended up "leaking" the values ahead of time: it will cost £1.799 (£ = pounds sterling), which in a direct conversion to the our quotation is R$ 13.058,67. The device should begin to be distributed in early September.
Wi-Fi 6 and the “New Normal” of Wireless Connection 6t5q7
In its own event held yesterday (28), Qualcomm praised the sixth generation of wireless connection, announcing for it in several of its devices. During the "Latam Connectivity Roadshow 2020”, the company's director of product marketing, Hamilton Mathias, emphatically stated that the current generation (W-Fi 4) can no longer cope with the current demand for new wireless connections.
“Wi-Fi 4 doesn't meet today's needs.”
Hamilton Mattias, Director of Product Marketing at Qualcomm
The question posed by Qualcomm comes from the fact that, since 2019, studies and feasibility studies for the implementation of Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 had already been conducted, as the international community understood that the fourth generation was already it was “overcrowded”, so to speak.
The situation only worsened in March this year, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic state due to the advance of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease that derives from it, COVID-19. Because of the pandemic, many companies revised their practices and put employees in remote work, in order to respect social isolation, to this day the best practice to prevent the virus.
From here, the math is simple to understand: more people at home = more Wi-Fi being used = more congestion in the frequency bands currently used.
According to Mattias, the number of devices connected in the house and the need to stream games and movies makes it recommended that s have Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 routers. our coverage the event.
The marketing director also highlighted how 2×2 Wi-Fi technology — two pairs of antennas for signal reception and two pairs for sending the signal — makes the internet faster on cell phones, greatly improving the experience. Mattias also explored the results of a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by Qualcomm in Latin America on experience with Wi-Fi technology.
It is worth mentioning that Wi-Fi 6, although it presents itself as the ideal system for high-demand environments and a great complement to the fifth generation of mobile connection (5G), still does not have wide public adoption: a large part of the public still does not have routers that this technology, so it may still take a while before it becomes a consumer standard.
