Year: 2019

Word around the rumor mill suggested Samsung was about to announce a phone with a ridiculous one terabyte of storage built right in, and sure enough: it did.

Samsung announced four different variations of the Galaxy S10 today — the S10e, the S10, the S10+, and the S10 5G. That third one, the S10+, is the one that can come with 1TB of internal storage.

I say “can”, here, because even after you choose between the four aforementioned S10 variations, you’ve got choices. The S10+ comes with three different storage options: 128GB (with 8GB of RAM), 512GB (also with 8GB of RAM), or one terabyte (with a sufficiently wild 12GB of RAM).

Oh, and it has a microSD slot that supports up to 512GB of additional space if carrying around 1TB of data in your pocket isn’t (stressful) enough.

Here’s the rest of the specs:

• 6.4″ Quad HD Curved AMOLED display
• Ultrasonic, in-display fingerprint sensor
• Three cameras on the rear: a 12MP Telephoto lens, a 12MP dual pixel lens, and a 16MP ultra wide lens
• Two cameras on the front: one 10MP dual pixel lens, and one 8MP RGB depth lens
• Dimensions: 74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8mm
• Weight: 175g for the standard model, or 198g for the ceramic models
• 4,100mAh battery
• Runs Android 9.0 (aka Android Pie)
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax

Samsung hasn’t yet mentioned how much the 1TB S10+ might cost, but it’s probably safe to say the answer is “lots”. We’ll update this page when we hear something more specific than that.

You can find all of our coverage from Samsung’s Unpacked event here.

Samsung’s S10 lineup features a whopping four models, the S10e, the S10, the S10+ and the S10 5G. Unsurprisingly, one of the features that differentiates these models is the camera system. Gone are the days, after all, where one camera would suffice. Now, all the S10 models, except for the budget S10e, feature at least three rear cameras and the high-end 5G model even goes for four — and all of them promise more AI smarts and better video stabilization.

All models get at least a standard 12MP read wide-angle camera with a 77-degree field of view, a 16MP ultra-wide-angle camera for 123-degree shots, and a 10MP selfie camera. The standard S10 then adds a 12MP telephoto lens to the rear camera setup and then S10+ gets an 8MP RGB depth camera. The high-end S10 5G adds a hQVGA 3D depth camera to both the front and rear setup.

The ultra-wide lens is a first for Samsung’s flagship S10 series, though it’s a bit late to the game here given that others have already offered these kind of lenses on their phones before. Still, if you are planning on getting an S10, this new lens will come in handy for large group shots and landscape photos.

On the video front, Samsung promises better stabilization, UHD quality for both the rear and front cameras and HDR10+ support for the rear camera.

These days, though, it’s all about computational photography and like its competitors, Samsung promises that its new cameras are also significantly smarter than its predecessors. Specifically, the company is pointing to its new scene optimizer for the S10 line which uses the phone’s neural processing unit to recognize and process up to 30 different scenes and also offer shot suggestions to help you better frame the scene. Since we haven’t actually used the phones yet, though, it’s hard to say how much a difference those AI smarts really make in day-to-day use.

In what may well be the most Samsung move in Samsung history, Samsung just introduced four new Samsung S10 models. For the 10th anniversary of the flagship line, Samsung is going all in on this thing. And with more information expected on Samsung’s upcoming foldable, well, that’s a lot of Samsungs, Samsung.

Before we dive in to what’s bound to be a lot of words about a lot of phones, here’s the basic breakdown of the line:

S10: The flagship. 6.1 inch. Starts at $900.

S10+: A little bigger, a little better. 6.4 inch. Starts at $1,000.

S10e: The [E]ntry level or [E]conomy or [E]gads that’s a lot of new phones. The Galaxy’s take on the iPhone XR. 5.8 inch. Starts at $750.

S10 5G: All the bells, all the whistles and whistles with bells on them. 6.7 inch. Starts at $?!?!?!?!?

And hey, look, Greg made a handy chart of all of the specs:

As for what’s new beyond the sheer number of devices, the top-line features are as follows: edge-to-edge display with pinhole cutout, three rear-facing cameras and Wireless Powershare, which uses the phone to wirelessly charge other handsets and the company’s new Galaxy Buds. Of course, some of those features vary by SKU.

Unlike the 10th anniversary iPhone a couple of years back, the S10 isn’t an attempt to rethink the product on the occasion of the line’s own first decade. Instead, the device finds Samsung adding more flagship features atop of what is already a pretty massive pile.

Those who’ve followed the Galaxy line with even passing interest will find that the S10 looks pretty familiar.  The most distinguishing bit of design language this time out is, naturally, the “Infinity-O” display. One of several screen technologies the company highlighted at last year’s developer conference, the “O” is exactly what it sounds like — a hole punch up top for the camera to peek through.

Unlike most of the rest of the industry, Samsung just skipped over that whole notch business, in favor of even more screen. Of course, the S10’s not the first handset with a pinhole — hell, it’s not even the first Samsung with one. That designation, interestingly enough, belongs to the A8, a mid-range handset introduced late last year for the China market — surely an indication of a company dealing with increased pressure from companies like Huawei and Xiaomi. 

The company says the feature was designed with a “precision laser,” leaving the phone with an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 93.1 percent. This is helped along with the addition of an under-display fingerprint reader. Again, the S10 isn’t the first handset with an in-screen fingerprint sensor (OnePlus, among others, brought one to market last year), but the company is among the first to use Qualcomm’s new technology.

Announced in December at the Snapdragon summit, the reader adds an extra level of security beyond some of the already available options. The ultrasonic technology gives the system a fuller, more three-dimensional look at the fingerprint, making it more difficult for would-be thieves to spoof. Fingerprint info is stored on-device in a secure Knox folder.

It can be activated without turning the screen on, for quicker access, though, notably, may have some difficulty with thicker screen protectors. Samsung — and, likely, everyone else who utilizes Qualcomm’s new tech — will be working with accessory makers to market ones that play nicely with the tech.

The most fun feature here is, no doubt, Wireless Powershare. It’s another spot where Huawei beat the company to the punch, but it’s a compelling feature nonetheless  — and hey, it definitely beat Apple to the feature. Closest you get for iOS devices is the new iPad Pro’s ability to charge handsets via USB-C.

Here, all of the charging is done on contact — which means, granted, that you won’t be getting much use out of the phone while using the feature. It’s still handy, particularly when traveling. Plug in the S10. Plop it down and charge up another handset while you charge it up. The tech is compatible with Qi, so it will play nicely with third-party charging pads. It also, naturally, works with the Galaxy Buds, Samsung’s newly announced Bluetooth earbuds that beat Apple to the punch with a wireless charging case.

All of this is powered by some pretty beefy batteries, at 3,100 mAh for the S10e, 3,400 for the S10 and 4,100 for the S10+. Samsung notably began loosening up a bit on battery size last year, with its Note 7 woes now safely in the rear-view. As a matter of fact, the 5G packs a whopping 4,500 mAh battery to help offset drain from cellular usage and that massive display.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a new Galaxy without some camera news. Once again, the leaks were true. The base-line sports three cameras, configured horizontally, along with a flash. Honestly, the cutout looks a bit like a Microsoft Kinect camera configuration. What, precisely, the three lenses do wasn’t clear until now, however. After all, handset makers are using multiple camera setups for all manner of different reasons.

Here, the different cameras are being put to use to offer different focal points. There’s an ultra-wide lens offering 123-degree shots (16 megapixel), a standard wide lens with 77-degree shots and a third that does 2x optical zoom  (both 12 megapixel). Rear-facing video gets improved digital image stabilization, while the  front-facing can now do 4K, for ultra-high-res selfies, I suppose.

Of course, most of the camera upgrades we’ll be seeing in the foreseeable future will be powered by software, and as such, there are a number of improvements on that side, as well. Most notably is the use of neural processing to identify up to 30 different scenes and offer shot suggestions accordingly. Again, similar to much of the AI applications currently in use with various different Android handsets — as ever, I’m excited to get my hands on the damn thing to take it through its paces.

All of the above are, naturally, 1P68 — and yes, the headphone jack is still on-board. Samsung has done a good job turning that one-time ubiquitous port into a feature and differentiator from an increasing number of competitors. All sport the latest Snapdragon 855, and the S10 offers up to 1TB of storage.

Pre-orders for the S10e, S10 and S10+ start February 21. The handsets go on sale March 8. The 5G, meanwhile, is set to arrive at some point in Q2, as a Verizon exclusive. Sprint and T-Mobile versions will follow later.

Samsung just announced a lot of phones — four major variants of the Galaxy S10, as a matter of fact. The S10e is the most interesting of the bunch — or at least the most interesting one that doesn’t sport 5G.

The handset is the budget variant of the flagship. In other words, it’s sort of like Samsung’s take on the iPhone XR. At $750, it’s not cheap, cheap. The company’s got plenty of phones that fit that bill, if you’re on a budget. Instead, it’s a reasonably affordable alternative to the ever escalating price of flagships — and a way to get a version of the S10, without breaking the bank.

Like the iPhone XR, the S10e is a tacit acknowledgement that flagship phones have been priced out of the reach of many users. It’s also an attempt to appeal to developing markets, while reacting to slowed upgrade cycles and increased pricing competitions from companies like Huawei, who have demonstrated that flagships don’t need to cost an arm and a leg.

The handset sports a 5.8 inch display and a 3,100mAh battery. It’s up for pre-order February 21 and goes on sale March 8.

You saw this one coming, right? Last year Samsung announced that would be launching not one — but two — 5G phones. It only follows then that the first one would be a 5G variant of its flagship (a Note 5G, only imagines, is on the way for the second half of the year.

Never mind the fact that 5G is still ways away in just about every market — Samsung’s taking an educated gamble that some percentage of its early adopting/cost is no object will want to get in early on the next generation of cellular technology. Samsung, for its part, has always been keen to jam as many features into a handset as possible, and the S10 5G is, without question, the most Samsung phone to date.

With the sole exception of storage (which goes up to an utterly insane 1TB on the S10+), the 5G is the smartphone for that discerning Galaxy fan who wants the biggest and best of everything, regardless of price. In fact, the company didn’t bother mentioning price at today’s event, which is not a particularly great sign for those hoping to pick up the handset without taking a mortgage on their home.

Considering the fact that the S10+ starts at $1,000, it doesn’t take an industry analyst to extrapolate that this thing is going to be pricey. Samsung likely doesn’t expect to move a ton of these things, but when it comes to the company’s place in the industry, the optics of demonstrating that it can be first — or at least one of the first — to market with a next gen tech is also important.

The 5G sports a whopping 6.7 inch display, putting it well above the S10+’s already massive 6.3 inch display. This is a device designed for showing off. As such, it sports a massive “5G” logo on the year, just so there’s no mistaking it for a lowly S10 Plus. Of course, that massive screen and the on-again-off-again 5G is going to be a heck of a power drain (though Samsung says it hasn’t run — or at least published — those tests).

So, naturally, the device also has a massive battery. 4,500mAh, to be exact. At very least, that should be enough to ensure that the phone gets a full day of life.

The Samsung S10 5G will be arriving as a Verizon exclusive in Q2 and will hit AT&T later that quarter. Sprint and T-Mobile models will arrive later this year.

Google Maps for iOS will now allow users to follow their favorite businesses right in the app, the company announced today. The feature, which positions the platform as a challenger to Facebook Pages, lets users keep track of a business’s news and updates — like their sales, promotions or events, for example — through a new “For You” tab in the mobile app.

The feature was previously available on Android.

This past fall, Google rolled out the “Follow” feature on Google Maps on Android with little fanfare, beyond a brief blog post about the launch. But the feature’s significance shouldn’t be understated. Google Maps is one of the most-used apps in the world with more than a billion users. Over the years, it has steadily expanded its feature set beyond just place search and navigation to become a tool to seek out new businesses, find restaurants and shops, read reviews, browse photos and much more.

Now, Google is giving businesses a way to directly communicate with their customers, much like Facebook does today.

Through a revamped My Business app, also launched last fall, business owners can post content updates to their business profile on Google. These are the same sort of updates that, previously, would have been published exclusively to social media — like the dates of a big sales event or a grand opening, for example.

Businesses can also use the My Business app to track their customer reviews and respond to messages from Google Maps users in a centralized fashion.

However, before today, the ability for Google Maps users to follow their favorite businesses’ updates was something that was only available on Android. Now, iOS users can join in, too.

Starting this week, Google is rolling out an update to the Google Maps app. Now, iOS users can search for a place — like a restaurant, store or anything else — then tap the “Follow” button to keep up with the place’s news within the “For You” tab.

And on the other end, businesses will now be able to see all their customers — not just those using Android devices.

The Follow button is rolling out today, but releases reaching this large of a user base take time. You may not see the changes immediately, but should soon.

Tesla’s general counsel, a veteran trial lawyer, has been replaced with a company insider just two months after taking the post.

Dane Butswinkas, who was named Tesla general counsel in December, is leaving the company, Tesla confirmed. Jonathan Chang, who was most recently vice president of legal at Tesla, has taken over the general counsel position.

Butswinkas is returning to the Washington D.C. law firm Williams & Connolly, where he had worked for nearly 30 years. Wednesday is his last day at the company. Before Butswinkas joined Tesla, he was co-chair of the Williams & Connolly’s commercial litigation and financial services and banking groups. Butswinkas had worked with Musk and Tesla as outside counsel for several months before taking the internal position at the automaker.

Butswinkas left Tesla because it was a poor cultural fit and a desire to return home to his family and law practice, a source familiar with the situation told TechCrunch.

Other sources familiar with the situation said (without elaborating) that Chang taking over the top spot had been in the works for sometime.

Butswinkas said in an emailed statement that he will continue to work with Tesla in an outside counsel role. “I have observed and have tremendous confidence in Jonathan’s leadership skills and in the Tesla team. When I joined the company, I said it would be hard to identify a more timely or essential mission than Tesla’s—that’s as true today as it was then,” Butswinkas said.

Tesla’s general counsel directs the company’s legal and policy teams around the world and reports directly to Musk. It’s a key position at the company that was once held by Todd Maron, who joined Tesla in 2013 after working as Musk’s divorce lawyer. Maron, a confidante of Musk’s, became general counsel at Tesla in 2014.

Chang’s appointment comes as the company continues to ramp up its Model 3 program, specifically by pushing into Europe and China.

Chang has worked with Tesla, as an employee and outside counsel, for more than a decade. He first began working with Tesla in 2006 at Latham & Watkins. He joined Tesla in 2011 following Tesla’s IPO and purchase of the NUMMI factory in Fremont . Chang was named vice president of legal in 2017.

During his tenure at Tesla, Chang has steered the company through numerous legal challenges, notably fighting state laws that prohibit automakers from selling cars directly to customers. He also oversaw the legal organization’s corporate securities, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, compliance, and sales and distribution functions in the United States and across Europe.

The recent rapid turnover in the general counsel position highlights more than a year of high-profile executive departures, including Dave Morton, the company’s chief accounting officer, who resigned a month after taking the job, Gaby Toledano, who joined Tesla in May 2017 after 10 years at video game publisher Electronic Arts, and Doug Field, who left the top vehicle engineering post to return to Apple. Most recently, CFO Deepak Ahuja announced he was leaving the company.

The last time we saw Samsung’s foldable on-stage, it was, quite literally, shrouded in darkness. The company debuted a prototype of the upcoming device at a developer conference, showing its folding method and little else.

As promised, the Galaxy Fold (not to be confused with the Ford Galaxie, mind) got a lot more face time today. The device was hardly the centerpiece of today’s news, of course (that title undoubtedly belonged to the S10 and all its variants), but the Fold is a clear attempt for the company to assert its place at the forefront of mobile’s future. In fact, the company kicked the event off with a promo video, complete with a Willy Wonka soundtrack. 

Samsung was beat to market by Royole, but early feedback of the handset has been less than stellar feedback, instead be regarded as something more akin to a developer device. When Samsung announced the imminent arrival of its own device, the company certainly lent credibility to the notion that the form factor could, indeed, be the future for a flagging mobile industry.

When folded, the handset sports a measly 4.6 display that only takes up about 3/4ths of the front. Unfolded, it turns into a 7.3 inch tablet. Naturally, the company had to customize the software for this one (with help from the Android team).

The Fold sports a feature called “App Continuity,” so you can open an app on the small screen and pick up where you left off on the big one. The OS also allows for users to have three separate app windows open at once, when the device is in tablet mode.

At the center is a customized hinge, capable of opening and closing hundreds of thousands of times. There are two batteries inside, one on either side of the phone, making for 4,380mAh, combined/ You also get an impressive 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage in there.

The design is actually pretty damn slick on this thing. It’s clear Samsung took the time to ensure the product is every bit as the rest of its long-standing Galaxy line. The device wouldn’t look out of place along side the S10. Granted, we’ve only seen it on-stage, so far. I will say that the phone’s crease was visible on the display when the phone catches light. How much that actually impacts viewing, however, remains to be seen.

There are not one, not two, but six cameras on the Fold. The thing is covered in ’em. That’s three on the back, two on the inside and one on the front, so you never don’t have have access to one.

That premium design comes with a premium price tag, naturally. Premium and then some. Remember when $1,000 phones seemed insane? Yeah, well, this is double that, STARTING at $1,980. So, twice the phone at twice the price. As far as the pricing on the 5G version, well, your guess is as good as ours — but it might be time to start looking into a second mortgage.

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The device launches April 26. It will be available in black, silver, green and blue, with customizable hinge colors. More information is coming soon — though, honestly, the product is a lot further along that I’d anticipated going into the show. I’d expect to see even more face time with the product next week at Mobile World Congress.

While James Alonso has worked at big law firms for much of his career, he’s been working with startups the entire time. He’s also an engineer by training — and by practice. He recently founded a new startup-focused law firm (Magnolia) that incorporates document automation software (Docasaurus) that he built himself and also licenses to other law firms.

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On startup law

“It just kind of is who I am. I’ve been a programmer and have worked on my own companies since before I was a lawyer, so I naturally gravitated towards representing this kind of company. Being part of the startup community and helping founders navigate high-stakes issues is just fun and I’m lucky that this is what I get to do.”

On his approach

“It’s all based on understanding the client’s perspective. They want really expert legal advice, but the way most firms provide and package that advice is just not what the clients need. It’s not just the outrageous fees, but even the way they communicate and overcomplicate things.

I want to be the lawyer who you’re not afraid to call (or text or slack) because you’re worried that every minute is building up to a crazy bill. And on the technology side, I really do believe that if it can be automated, it should be automated and I put that into practice. That means that for typical deals like formations or early stage financings, I spend hardly any time actually drafting the documents. Which is great for everyone because the client gets the high quality advice they want without being forced to pay for a side of unnecessary drafting. ”

On common startup legal problems

“Maybe half of the advice I give early stage companies is about how to avoid mistakes that will slow down or threaten your next round of financing. Most mistakes are fixable, but you are just so much better off if we address them early on rather than waiting for your investor’s counsel to find them in the middle of a round. The really bad ones tend to have to do with stock options or anything with irreversible tax consequences like missing an 83(b) election.”

Below, you’ll find more founder reviews about James, the full interview, and more details about his pricing and fee structures.

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Longtime investor Keith Rabois is joining Founders Fund as a general partner, the firm let us know today. He brings its total number of partners to nine.

According to Founders Fund, Rabois will invest across sectors and stages, like all members of its investment team.

The move is wholly unsurprising in ways, though the timing seems to suggest that another big fund from Founders Fund is around the corner, as the firm is also bringing aboard a new principal at the same time —  Delian Asparouhov —  and firms tend to bulk up as they’re meeting with investors. It’s also kind of time, as these things go. Founders Fund closed its last flagship fund with $1.3 billion in 2016.

Rabois, like the founders of Founders Fund, is a member of the so-called PayPal mafia, working an EVP of business development, public affairs and policy at the payments company between late 2000 and late 2002.

Others to launch Founders Fund include Peter Thiel, who’d cofounded PayPal and served as its CEO, taking it public in 2002: Luke Nosek, who’d cofounded PayPal and was its VP of business strategy; and Ken Howery, who’d cofounded PayPal and was its CFO from 1998 through 2002. The firm’s fourth cofounder, Sean Parker, left in 2014. (Parker was not part of PayPal’s earlier days, as he was busy running Napster, then a short-lived contacts management company Plaxo, at the time.)

The men had met as Stanford students, working together at times at the Stanford Review, a rightwing student newspaper that was cofounded by Thiel and supported by fellow classmates Rabois, Ken Howery, and numerous others, including entrepreneur-investors David Sacks and Joe Lonsdale.

Rabois joins Founders Fund from Khosla Ventures, where he has spent the last six years. He also logged 2.5 years as the COO of the payments company Square. Rabois said he resigned from that role due to accusations of sexual harassment made against him by a Square employee that he denied. (Square said at the time that it hadn’t found evidence to support any claims but that Rabois “exercised poor judgment” nevertheless.)

At Khosla, Rabois helped take public the money transfer firm company Xoom (later acquired by PayPal) and Yelp, whose founder, Jeremy Stoppleman, was also an early PayPal employee who’d served as its VP of engineering.

In fact, Rabois had resigned from a director role with Yelp in 2014 to focus on the privately held startups he was working with at Khosla, ultimately leading the Series A round of the lending company Affirm (started by yet another PayPal cofounder, Max Levchin); participating in the seed round of the food delivery company DoorDash (currently trying to secure a $6 billion valuation); and coming up with the idea of and seed funding the real estate company OpenDoor, which is reportedly raising a new round at a $3.7 billion valuation.

Longstanding friendships aside, Founders Fund might need to strengthen its ranks after losing some key members in recent years.

Nosek left in 2017 to start a new firm called Gigafund in Austin, Tex., whose initial focus was reportedly to fundraise for SpaceX and SpaceX alone. Geoff Lewis, who separately spent five years as a partner at Founders Fund, also left in 2017 to form his own firm. Called Bedrock, the New York-based firm focuses on companies at the A through C stages.

Howery looks to be out the door soon, too. In October, Donald Trump nominated him to become the U.S. ambassador to Sweden. He’s still awaiting his Senate confirmation hearing.