Counterclockwise: smartphone battery endurance has doubled since 2010

We've looked at smartphone batteries before, but that was just the raw capacity. As you well know, the size of the battery is not the only measure of how long you can go between charges. Our battery test gives a more realistic result so let's chart that. We suspected that with each year, the Endurance rating will grow but also that newer phones will get better Endurance per mAh. As you can see from the chart below the former is true, the latter is not. Starting at around 40 hours between charges for a 2010 phone, the average 2017 phone can get double that. And it has been a fairly...

Read More

Chrome OS spotted running on an Acer tablet in the wild

Google's Chrome OS has successfully managed to carve our a sizeable market chunk for itself, primarily in the education field. Now, as the unique OS is officially enjoying growing Android app support and on its way to a new Android-inspired, touch-friendly UI update, it appears to be expanding on to tablets as well. An intriguing new photo of an unannounced Acer tablet, running Chrome OS was briefly posted online by Alister Payne - an attendee at the BETT education expo in London. Shortly after, his Twitter post was taken down, likely on Acer's request, but the original text has...

Read More

Sources claim Xiaomi won't unveil the Mi 7 at MWC 2018

As we inch towards MWC 2018, tensions within the industry are mounting, as per usual. With rumors flying left and right, it's incredibly hard to paint a good picture of company inner-working and relations, especially around this time of year. However, there has been an undeniable serge in scheduling and timing reports and issues as of late and Xiaomi is now part of that list as well. Unlike last year, Xiaomi will definitely be present at the Barcelona venue this time around. However, a high-ranking company employee has allegedly stated in anonymity that there will be no major announcements...

Read More

Another Nokia 10 sketch hints at penta-camera setup

The plot thickens regarding the eagerly-anticipated Nokia 10 and its alleged penta-camera setup. To be clear, beyond a leaked Snapdragon 845 future device list and a few crude schematics, at this point, no concrete evidence has been brought forward to prove HMD is even working on a Nokia 10, let alone one with a revolutionary camera. That being said, however, the various bits and pieces do seem to be aligning suspiciously well, forming an overall picture. The latest development comes in the form of a rather detailed sketch of the back side of the alleged Nokia 10. Its source is an...

Read More

Meizu's Flyme 7 UI rumoured to debut on February 24

It's been a little over a year since Meizu officially took the wrapper off Flyme OS 6, so the timing is right for the next major iteration of the company's custom Android UI. In fact, Flyme 7 appears to be right around the corner, as teased by a freshly leaked banner. It cites a February 24 release date and is more or less the first credible piece of info we have seen on the ROM. While a month, or so, is plenty of time for new information to surface, thankfully, the leak also features what appears to be a screen grab from the change highlights on a Flyme7v982.BETA281 update. Our...

Read More

Mysterious Nokia 7 Plus spotted in GeekBench listing

HMD Global's ambitious revival of the Nokia smartphone brand has been going strong at an impressive pace these past few months. Nokia has already promised an "awesome" MWC 2018 press event and leaks are flying left and right, so there are no real signs of slowdown either. In a new potential development, a rather interesting GeekBench listing has popped up online, originating from what appears to be a Nokia 7 Plus. Now, it is important to note that spoofing data for GeekBench and other benchmarks to pick up is not a difficult or uncommon process. Still, given the benefit of the...

Read More

New Honor V10 update brings Party Mode

The Honor V10 has started receiving a new update that brings along a handful of changes. Prime among them is a new Party Mode feature - available through an app of the same name - that lets you play same song simultaneously at parties. Basically, the feature allows you to connect several Honor V10 phones using NFC to play a song simultaneously, "producing a multi-channel sound effect for a supreme audio experience," the company says. In addition, the update also adds a third-party provided Network optimization feature in the Game Suite app (it's a paid service), and includes...

Read More