T-Mobile's Layer3 TV acquisition completed

T-Mobile is announcing that its newest acquisition of Layer3, a small cable TV company, is completed. This means the Un-Carrier is on track to launch a competing TV service sometime this year. Back in December, T-Mobile announced that it was on track to acquire a small cable TV company in order to leverage disruption of the Satellite and Cable TV industries in the US. Cable companies are often accused of trying to pull the wool over customers' eyes by slipping extra charges into their monthly bills. What makes this frustrating is often times there is only one cable or internet company...

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Rumored 6.1-inch LCD iPhone comes with 18:9 screen

Apple is readying three iPhones for this fall's big launch, according to rumors we've heard last year. Two of those will have OLED panels like the iPhone X, and in fact one will be a direct successor to the model that's available now, featuring the exact same screen size. The third iPhone has been said to sport a 6.1" LCD display, and it's expected to become Apple's entry-level model of 2018, starting at $700 to $800. Now a new rumor out of Taiwan claims to know exactly which screen panel it will employ: JDI's bezel-starved model introduced last June. This comes with 18:9 aspect ratio,...

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Audiobooks now available on Google Play Store

After years of simply having ebooks, Google today announced that it is adding audiobooks to the Google Play Store. Audiobooks will be available in 45 countries and in nine different languages. Just like the ebooks, the audiobooks will be available à la carte with no subscription service like on Audible. Once purchased, the book will be available to listen across all Google platforms, including the web, Google Play Books app on Android and iOS, Chromecast, Google Home, Android Wear and Android Auto. The progress will be synced so you can start on one device and pick it up later on...

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Google outs new carrier-specific January security patches for the Pixel 2, Nexus 6P and 5X

As always, at the beginning of this month Google rolled out the January security updates for the Nexus and Pixel devices it still supports. Today, however, the company has published three new images for specific carrier versions of certain handsets. It's an unprecedented move, this, and we're not sure what prompted it - perhaps some carrier-related functions haven't been working after applying the original January updates, or maybe there were certain other nasty bugs hiding in there. Anyway, if you have a Pixel 2 on Verizon, a Nexus 6P on SoftBank, or a Nexus 5X on SoftBank or Telstra, you...

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Apple releases iOS 11.2.5 with HomePod support

Apple has released iOS 11.2.5 for compatible devices. The OTA update weighed in at 172.9MB for our iPhone 8 Plus unit but as usual the size will vary with device. The major change in this update is the addition for HomePod support. As we reported earlier, the HomePod will be available to order this Friday and ships on February 9. This update will allow users to setup and automatically transfer your Apple ID, Apple Music, Siri, and Wi-Fi settings to your new HomePod. Also new is the ability for Siri to read you the news. You can now ask Siri to read news across categories such as...

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Snapchat now allows sharing on other social media

Snap Inc. as announced that Snapchat users will soon be able to share their posts on other social media. What is undoubtedly a move to keep user interest and prevent more users from jumping ship to Instagram, Snapchat will give users the ability to share their story posts to Twitter and Facebook if users have their accounts linked. The posts should then be viewable directly on these platforms. Alternatively, users will also be able to send a link over email or text to someone who is no on either of these platforms, and they will be able to open the link in a web browser. The rollout...

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DJI announces Mavic Air ultra-portable foldable camera drone

DJI has launched a new drone which the company claims is its smallest and best drone yet. Called the DJI Mavic Air, the new drone is the size of a smartphone when it is folded up. Apart from the size, which is very obviously the focus of this product, the Mavic Air also improves on two things, image quality and flight performance. The Mavic Air has a 12MP 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor with a 24mm equivalent f2.8 lens. The camera can capture 4K30 videos at up to 100Mbps, the highest quality for a DJI drone so far. Also available is a 120fps slow motion option at 1080p. The main camera...

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Huawei P11 name trademarked by the company

We've had some back and forth on the next Huawei P-series phone and it's starting to feel like Huawei itself hasn't made the decision yet. First, the company trademarked P20, now it trademarked P11. The application was filed in the US, the UK, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other countries. The Huawei P20 trademark was filed in the US only and that was months ago. The company's web team was also caught preparing info pages for Huawei P11 and P12, making it more likely that Huawei will continue counting upward without skipping any numbers. The P12 will probably have to wait for next year,...

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Xiaomi kicks off MIUI 10 development

Last week Xiaomi listed which 40 devices will receive MIUI 9 and today it announced the start of the MIUI 10 development. The launch was announced at a glamorous event in Beijing, held by Hong Feng, co-founder and VP of Xiaomi. He said the main focus for developers will be artificial intelligence and machine learning. The latest stable version of MIUI right now is 9.1.1, although some phones are already getting the 9.2.1 beta. Key features of the new user interface are split screen, picture in picture mode and Game Speed Booster which we covered earlier. While all phones are...

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Apple HomePod up for pre-order this Friday, ships 09.02

Apple's highly anticipated, and delayed, HomePod wireless speaker, moved a little closer to release today as Apple announced that it would arrive in stores beginning February 9 and is available to order online this Friday, January 26 in the US, UK and Australia. Available in White or Space Gray it will cost $349, £319 and $499 respectively. The HomePod will arrive in France and Germany this spring. Designed to work with Apple Music, HomePod will be missing two critical features at launch - Multi-room audio and stereo. Apple didn't give a timeframe for when it would enable these...

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Huawei confirms Oreo update for 9 Honor phones

Huawei announced which devices will get Oreo-based EMUI 8.0 back in October when the Mate 10 series were launched with the new OS and user interface. Now its subsidiary Honor also published a list of all devices that will get the latest EMUI. Although the upgrade is still in development, we now know it's eventually coming to these nine phones: Honor 7X • Honor 8 • Honor V8 Honor Note 8 • Honor 8 Lite • Honor 9 Honor 9 Lite • Honor 8 Pro/Honor V9 • Honor View 10/Honor V10 Although an Honor representative confirmed the update in the Huawei Club online...

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Nokia 8 now getting beta version of Android 8.1 Oreo

With Android 8.0 in the bag, the Nokia 8 has turned its attention to version 8.1 of Oreo. The beta version has started seeding - it's a 1.55GB download that will only go through Wi-Fi. The changes are relatively small and seem mostly battery related. An overdue perk is the Bluetooth battery percentage display. Settings and Power menus have been redesigned. Also, the Android security patch was bumped up to January. Oh, and the hamburger emoji has been fixed. Juho Sarvikas even tweeted about it, cheese on top of patty (not the other way around) is a big deal. Nokia 8 update screen...

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JDI creates transparent fingerprint reader

JDI is primarily known for its display, but the company is diversifying - it just announced its first fingerprint reader. Based on its capacitive touch technology, this fingerprint reader is transparent and could be used in future smartphones. Traditional fingerprint readers are made out of silicon and are not transparent. Recently, work has been done to put them behind a screen, but this is a new approach. It uses JDI's Pixel Eyes tech, which builds the capacitive touch sensor into the LCD panel. The company has improved the sensitivity to the point where it can detect the ridges of...

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Canalys: Apple ships 29M iPhone X units in Q4 2017

Apple shipped 29 million iPhone X phones in Q4 2017, making the flagship the best-selling device over the holiday season. The $999 model was mostly bought in carrier-centric markets where Apple has a big user base that can afford the cost. An interesting outtake of the report is that almost a quarter of all shipments, 7 million, were in China. Canalys says although the numbers are impressive for a phone with a $999 price tag, they are still lower than the industry and the Cupertino company expected. Apple struggled with supply in the first weeks in November but managed to catch up...

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Integral unveils 512GB microSD card, coming this February

A 512GB microSD card was unveiled as far back as mid-2015, but that never came to market. Maybe this new one will work out better - Integral Memory promises it will arrive in Febuary (but there's no price yet). The new 512GB card is rated class 10, UHS-I U1 meaning it guarantees a minimum of 10MB/s sequential writes. That should be enough for 4K shooting and plenty of it - it half a terabyte of memory! That's sustained sequential speed, the card tops out at 80MB/s. Integral is not worried about the rise of cloud storage and says consumer preferences are clear enough. On phones (or...

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Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus review

So, no more Redmi Notes eh? The Redmi 5 Plus should clearly have been the Note 5, a successor of the Redmi Note 4, but Xiaomi wanted a fresh start. The fifth generation is trying to shake things up and the new look obviously called for a new name. So, Xiaomi retired the Note brand promoting the Plus from a mere qualifier to a proper name. The phablet lives on regardless, and goes all-in with a wide 6" screen.

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Some ZTE Axon 7 phones in the US now running test version of Android Oreo

So you want an affordable but powerful phone with unmodded Android? "Affordable" means not a Pixel. "Powerful" dismisses Android Ones. And "Unmodded" discounts the likes of Xiaomi. A surprising answer to this question might be the ZTE Axon 7, a phone that is (unfortunately) no longer in production. Launched in mid-2016 with Marshmallow, the phone is on track to receive Android 8.0 Oreo in April. And better yet, the company is dropping the MiFavor custom ROM to something much closer to stock - in fact, it's called Stock+. A test version of Oreo is currently running on some Axon 7 phones...

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Gboard Go arrives for Android Oreo 8.1 devices

We've already told you that Google launched the "Go" program for its apps. They use less memory and mobile data and are aimed at those in emerging markets. YouTube Go is already a success with over 10 million downloads and the next app in the spotlight is the Google keyboard - Gboard Go. The app is currently available for Android 8.1 devices. RAM usage comparison Gboard Go looks almost the same as the regular app, but lacks some features like GIF search, stickers and one-handed mode. According to users, the Gboard Go uses almost half as much RAM as the original Gboard app, which...

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Certification reveals Galaxy S9 and S9+ fast charging capabilities

Certifications are painting a familiar picture of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, at least as far as the power supply is concerned. The Brazilian agency revealed that there will be no increase in capacity and now China's 3C has detailed the fast charging support. Which will be the same as on the current models - this means up to 15W of power (9V @ 1.67A). The SM-G960x models are the S9, the SM-G965x is the S9+, where the "x" designates the country (e.g. 0 is China, 8 is Taiwan). Anyway, this kind of 15W Adaptive Fast Charge dates back to at least the Galaxy S6 so there hasn't...

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Xiaomi to announce Surge S2 chipset at MWC 2018

Xiaomi announced the Surge S1 with the Xiaomi Mi 5c back in February 2017. One year later a successor is on its way, according to industry sources from China. The Surge S2 will be built on the TSMC 16 nm process and will power the Xiaomi Mi 6X, also expected to debut in February. Xiaomi Mi 5c, the only Surge S1-powered phone The Surge S2 will have an octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A73 cores running at 2.2 GHz and four Cortex-A53 at 1.8 GHz. The GPU will be Mali-G71 MP8, a massive improvement over the Mali-T860 from the Surge S1. According to the report, Xiaomi is looking to par...

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