Samsung May Change Smartphone Naming; Apple Music-Possible Integration With Google Home; Energizer’s Preposterous Handset; Porsche’s Next Gen Macan Will be All-Electric

Samsung is apparently concerned that beyond the Galaxy 10, the names of their hero phones will be too long. According to 9to5google.com, the company is looking at changing the naming scheme to make things easier for consumers. Apparently, we are too dimwitted to be able to remember and say Galaxy S12 and so forth. Although they haven’t done so with their iPhones yet, Apple has dropped the numbering system on some of their products. The iPad and iPad Pro, for example, are just the latest models of those…no numbers or letters to scream ‘NEW!’ It will be interesting to see what direction Samsung takes with their change to the name of their flagship smartphone brand.

Apple Music may be available before long on Google Home Devices. MacRumors.com reports that an alert reader spotted an Apple Music listing within the Google Home App for iOS…which MacRumors confirmed…but so far, it can’t be linked to a Google Home device. Apple Music became available on Amazon’s speakers in December, and you can use Alexa commands to control the playback. With the modest sales of the great sounding but more limited (and pricey) Apple Home Pod, this may help extend the reach of Apple Music. Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, YouTube Music, and Deezer are already available on Google Home.

Energizer…yeah, the battery people…have unveiled a line of smartphones at Mobile World Congress. MacRumors.com says one stands out…REALLY stands out. It comes with a whopping 18,000 mAh battery. That’s 5 times the battery power of an iPhone XS Max. Here’s the rub….duct tape 3 iPhones together, and you have the thickness of this brick! It runs Android 9.0, weighs about a pound…and good luck getting it in a pocket. If you’re really paranoid of running your phone down to dead, this might be for you. It’s $682, and here’s a pro tip…buy the Samsung or iPhone for around $700, and just buy a power brick and slip that in your backpack!

Porsche says the next-generation Macon compact SUV will be all-electric. Electrek.co also reports that the legendary German brand will be rolling half their new vehicles on a fully electric drive system by 2025. The new pure e-Macan will be out the end of 2019.