Grab Singapore To Test Robot That Collects Orders From Different Restaurants In A Mall

Grab Singapore will be trialling a robot runner that goes around collecting orders from different restaurants in a mall. The robot will deposit the orders at a central location for the convenience of human delivery persons, who otherwise must collect each order separately.

The rationale for the robot is apparently driven by the growing popularity of Grab’s mix-and-match feature, which allows customers to order from different restaurants within a mall and pay only a single delivery fee. For delivery persons, this inevitably means longer times going through malls as multiple locations must be visited.

Fortunately, if Grab’s projections are right, the robot could shave off between five to fifteen minutes of this tedious multi-stop journey. Customers would enjoy faster delivery times and delivery persons could potentially fulfil more orders per day.

The robot itself is quite the marvel. Designed in partnership with Techmetics Robotics, it apparently learns about its surroundings through artificial intelligence (AI) and optimises for maximum efficiency.

It comes with built-in Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensors to detect incoming obstacles, an automated voice message to alert shoppers of its presence, and the ability to scan its immediate proximity in real-time to evade sudden obstacles.

To prevent tampering by passers-by, its food compartment is locked and its combination only given to participating merchants and Grab staff at the collection point.

It all sounds good, but we’ll have to see how it performs in real life. Grab has the same idea – it will trial the robot runner at Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) Mall in Singapore for a month, from the second week of June onwards, before considering expanding its use to other locations.

WhatsApp To Allow Chats Transfers To Different Phone Numbers

One of the defining traits of WhatsApp among messenger apps is that your chat is locked to your phone number. It looks like the Facebook subsidiary is looking to change that. This will be part of the larger overall chat history migration feature that includes the ability to transfer it between Android and iOS.

WABetaInfo has obtained a screenshot which shows this feature. The phone number transfer option shows up at the very bottom. But it doesn’t really explain the process of moving your WhatsApp chat history from one phone number to another.

The rest of the screenshot looks to be an expansion to the feature that allows for the migration between Android and iOS. From the screenshot, it looks like you will not be able to perform the chat transfer at any time. Instead, the process is limited to during the initial setup of WhatsApp. While the screenshot is showing the process of moving from iOS to Android, it’s probably safe to say that going the other way around is no different.

As with many WhatsApp features in development, there’s no word on when this feature will actually be available. No doubt that there are scenarios where this feature will be usefull. But we’re pretty sure the general user will find the chat history transfer between Android and iOS to be the more useful one.

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE Leaks; Allegedly Features Same Design But Different Specs

It’s been rumoured that Samsung may launch a Fan Edition (FE) of the Galaxy S21 later this year – much like its 2020 Galaxy S20 flagship, which saw the release of its FE variant back in October. Although the company has yet to confirm the phone’s existence, a recent leak by renown insider Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) may have given us a first look at its design and specifications.

According to the leakster, not much has changed in terms of design for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE. It is suggested that the variant majorly retains the look of the original model, but with some minor differences in size – making it larger than the standard Galaxy S21, but still smaller than the Plus version. Hemmerstoffer noted that the allegedly upcoming smartphone measures at 155.7 x 74.5 x 7.9mm, which is 4mm taller and 3.3mm wider than the base model. 

In terms of display, it is said that the FE will feature a larger 6.4-inch display, along with a single top-centered camera cutout. Similar to its predecessor, the Galaxy S20 FE, the new phone is suggested to come with only a flat panel.

As for its rear design, the leakster says its rear camera housing has received a slight redesign, where it is integrated and protrudes directly from the back panel. The same bump on the original models, on the other hand, is built together with the surrounding frame. The Galaxy S21 FE’s rear panel will likely feature a frosted glass/plastic finishing and surrounding it will be a shiny metal frame, Hemmerstoffer added.

Not much has been revealed regarding the allegedly upcoming phone’s specifications, unfortunately. The only information shared by the leakster is its rear triple camera setup, which is suggested to come with the same 12MP wide, 64MP telephoto and 12MP ultra-wide sensors as the original model, but is said to feature downgraded lenses for cost reduction.

Chances are, it is possible that the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE could come packaged with a Snapdragon chipset like its predecessor. While the preferred choice is obviously a Snapdragon 888, the likeliness of it featuring a Snapdragon 870 SoC for the sake of a more affordable price tag is also plausible. That, or it could instead come with the same Samsung Exynos 2100 processor featured in the original models, or maybe a tweaked version of it.

As usual, we highly advise to take this new leak with a pinch of salt. Hopefully, Samsung would reveal more details regarding this variant of its 2021 flagship sometime soon – provided that this rumour is accurate, of course.