From The Verge.

While most phone makers work hard to ensure their products don’t start fires, Oukitel made a phone that starts fires on purpose. This week on The Vergecast, Dominic Preston joins Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel to wrap up all the weird and wonderful phones he and the team saw at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Then, Sean Hollister takes us through Google and Epic’s enemies-to-lovers saga: A secret $800 million deal, a non-disparagement agreement, and something about the metaverse for some reason. Plus: Nilay just had the best home movie experience of his life thanks to the Kaleidescape 8TB solid-state server, Dom’s charging his smart phone on a mini racecar, and Sean delivers some disappointing news about the Lego smart brick we were all rooting for. And Brendan Carr is still being a dummy. #Vergecast #Technology #Podcast

Season 3 of Version History starts March 8th! Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/4rRS30p

0:00 Welcome And Lineup
00:44 Big Week Preview
01:33 World News Note
02:29 Version History Teaser
04:08 Kaleidescape First Impressions
09:00 Why Bitrate Matters
12:41 Price And Quirks
16:33 MWC Phones Get Weird
17:24 Camping Phone Lighter
21:12 Honor Robot Gimbal Phone
25:48 Gimbal Versus Software
29:15 Tougher Foldables Talk
30:40 Xiaomi 17 Goes Global
31:37 Leica Phone Gimmicks
33:07 Leica Fans and Logos
35:12 Vivo Cinema Rig Push
38:33 Tecno Magnetic Modularity
41:29 Lenovo Port Modules
44:01 Nothing Phone Design Shift
52:22 Google Epic Settlement
57:49 Fees Billing and Metaverse
01:04:05 Android Definition and Aluminum
01:08:01 US vs World Argument
01:08:34 Google Control vs Apple
01:10:10 Android Fragmentation Revisited
01:11:18 MWC Google Absence
01:15:08 Lightning Round Begins
01:15:40 Brendan Carr Call Centers
01:21:18 Plastic Brick Compactor
01:25:36 Racing Car Charger
01:29:49 Kobo Remote Surprise
01:31:34 Lego Smart Brick Reality
01:37:02 War Footage as Gameplay
01:40:28 Ticketmaster Monopoly Trial
01:42:54 Wrap Up and Subscribe

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