TECH NEWS

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TECH NEWS

Xiaomi made a 150-inch $2,000 laser projector exclusively available at Walmart

Xiaomi has a couple of new products out in Walmart and gave press the rundown today at an event in New York City. The first is a 150-inch laser projector going for $1,999.99 at Walmart doubles up as a television with Android TV. It may seem overpriced for what it is, but it also marks one of Xiaomi’s infrequent expansions into American offerings.

There are a couple of things to break down here, namely that projector is oddly expensive for a 1920 x 1080p screen. Xiaomi says it has no concrete plans to bring a 4K version to the US, and that this is the same model it’s sold in China. You could have found cheaper 1080p projectors back in 2016.

Still, the laser projector has a number of positives including an ultra-short throw, so it can be placed 20 inches from the wall and still display a bright, colorful image, in contrast with other projectors that might need to be placed at the back of a room and show a more faded image. There’s also a detector on top of the projector so if you get too close to the laser, the projector will shut off its light automatically to prevent you from damaging your eyes. The device also comes with a corresponding remote control with which you can summon Google Assistant.

There are three HDMI 2.0 ports, two USB ports, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatibility. It also has four speakers that support Dolby audio. The sound coming from the Mi Laser Projector is relatively decent, with minimal bass. It’s enough to enjoy your average pop song, but probably not great for listening to finely tuned orchestral music or bass-intensive dubstep.

Verizon will launch RCS text messaging in early 2019

At a small, business-focused GSMA event in New Jersey, Verizon’s SVP of consumer products, Aparna Khurjekar, announced that Verizon will launch support for RCS messaging in “early 2019.” The move is potentially significant as RCS is the new texting standard set to replace SMS just as soon as carriers around the world update their systems to support it.

More specifically, RCS Chat will replace SMS if carriers update their systems to support the “Universal Profile,” the version of RCS technology that allows messages to interoperate cleanly between carriers. Currently, very few do; in the US, that list includes Sprint, US Cellular, and limited support on T-Mobile. Other carriers like AT&T and Verizon use a proprietary texting system. Redditors have been maintaining a spreadsheet of carriers that do and don’t support the Universal Profile.

I’m told by the GSMA that Verizon’s RCS will support Universal Profile 1.0, but we spoke to Verizon, and the company wouldn’t confirm that the RCS launch will support it, nor would it nail the timeline down more specifically. Hopefully, Khurjekar is referring to full, Universal Profile RCS. If so, it would be a significant step toward supporting Google’s plan for next-generation texting on Android phones, RCS Chat. It’s a system that turns basic carrier texting into something more full-featured, with support for typing indicators, group chats, high-resolution media, and read receipts. It also, unfortunately, will be unencrypted.

The New Jersey event was focused on Business Messaging, which seems to be the thing driving carrier interest, instead of creating a coherent and robust messaging system for consumers. Whatever works to make it happen! 3C, a mobile marketing company that has produced chatbots like this one for Walgreens, believes that RCS will reach 147 million users by the end of 2019.