OxygenOS Open Beta 3 for OnePlus 5T brings iPhone X-like gesture controls, removes Clipboard

Around a couple of weeks after the previous version went out to eager testers, OnePlus has today released the new Oxygen OS Open Beta 3 for the 5T. This addresses the controversial findings revealed a few days ago regarding the Clipboard functionality. OnePlus' solution is to simply remove the Clipboard function, based on user feedback allegedly. Interestingly, the Open Beta 3 packs new navigation gestures that are reminiscent of those employed by the iPhone X (but not 100% identical). You can turn these on by going into Settings and disabling the navigation bar. Once you've done...

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HMD Global renews Nokia's Xpress-on trademark

In an interesting and intriguing move, HMD Global has recently renewed the Nokia Xpress-on trademark under its ownership. This was used many eons ago for replaceable front and back covers, once a staple feature of a large number of Nokia handsets. The Xpress-on trademark is classified as follows: "accessories for communications apparatus, namely microphones, speakers, coloured covers, housings, cases, antennas, batteries, battery chargers". That list basically reveals what HMD Global could use it for - while we assume replaceable rear covers aren't coming back anytime soon, the company...

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Apple is postponing new iOS features in favor of reliability and performance

Apple has decided to postpone new features in iOS in favor of improving the reliability and performance of the operating system, as according to a report by Axios. According to the report, Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President, Software Engineering, announced the revised plan to employees at a meeting earlier this month. This pushes features like refresh of the homescreen and in-car user interface, improvements to core apps like Mail and camera experience to 2019. What we will get this year is improvements to AR, digital health and parental controls. Apart from that, the OS will largely...

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Component supplier says production cut to iPhone X not as severe as reported

Nikkei Asian Review reported that Apple will halve iPhone X orders, based on information from the supply chain. The predicted number didn't quite line up with other estimates and it seems that the component suppliers themselves are hearings different numbers. Murata claims "the figure sounds a little bit bigger", referring to the 20 million iPhone Xs estimate by Nikkei. Murata provides some of the wireless connectivity components for this generation of iPhones. The company has heard talks of production cuts, though it seems no one is certain of the extent of those cuts. Apple will...

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OnePlus publishes 2017 annual report: revenues and sales on the rise

OnePlus posted an infographic detailing its busy 2017. The company's revenues doubled to $1.4 billion as phone sales grew 55% compared to 2016. OnePlus sells its phones in 32 countries and supports 24 languages and it had the #1 selling phone on Elisa, Finland's top carrier. The OnePlus community boasts over 1.3 billion members with user registrations growing more than twofold since 2016. Fans met IRL in 40 pop-up events - with a combined 19,400 people waiting in line. OnePlus has 776 employees spread across 18 countries. Fueled by over 18,000 cups of coffee, they worked over...

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Xiaomi to open its first Mi store in Italy

Xiaomi is looking to open a physical store in Milan soon. The maker posted a "Ciao! Italia" picture to its global Facebook page (and subsequently deleted it) indicating its intentions. The brick and mortar store in Milan will follow those in Greece, Spain and India. By adding a local store Xiaomi will offer a local warranty service and not require people to ship the phone outside of the country. There's no official word on what Xiaomi will sell through its physical store but if its Spain operation is any indication it could sell Mi and Redmi phones as well as other tech and...

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Huawei Pay headed to Russia, to go to Eastern Europe next

The mobile payment game is heating up with a new competitor - Huawei Pay. The tech is already established in its home country of China, but now the company has signed a deal with China's UnionPay to bring the service worldwide. The first overseas market will be Russia. Ten Russian banks have issued 1.3 million UnionPay cards, which can be used on 400,000 terminals. Next in line is Eastern Europe. The competition - Samsung, Apple and Google - are largely focused on West European markets. Huawei Pay already boasts support on 20 devices (smartphones and smart watches) and that's a...

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Meizu 15 Plus live images leave nothing to the imagination

Meizu is planning to commemorate its 15 years of operation with an anniversary phone, called Meizu 15 Plus. We've already seen plenty of leaks, but now the phone arrived in its first live images. The phone will come with non-existent bezels on three sides and a tiny one on the top to make room for the earpiece and the front camera. Meizu 15 Plus front and back The back panel of the Meizu 15 Plus is occupied with a dual-cam setup and a 10-LED flash, already seen in the Meizu Pro 6 Plus. Interestingly enough, there is no side-mounted fingerprint scanner like the one in the Meizu...

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Sharp Android One S3 has a tough exterior and a soft chipset

Sharp has introduced a new Android One phone - the Sharp Android One S3 for Y! Mobile. This is a fairly compact device with a dust and waterproof body. It even underwent some MIL-STD style shock testing by dropping it from 26 directions onto plywood from a height of 1.2m. The screen is a 5" IGZO panel (1080p resolution) and has traditionally-sized bezels (a polite way of saying "big"). This is a Snapdragon 430 device after all, so don't expect too much. You do get Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, running on 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (+ a microSD slot). The Sharp Aquos S3...

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Verizon drops plans to sell Huawei phones

According to people familiar with the matter, Verizon is no longer considering selling Huawei phones in the US following pressure from the US Government to avoid the Chinese handset maker. The government is also pressing Verizon to end any collaboration with Huawei on standards for a 5G network. Huawei was pushing to be among the first to offer a 5G-capable phone. The Trump administration even considered plans to nationalize the 5G Network to 'lock-out' Chinese equipment. These programs were vetoed on Monday by both parties. Huawei's phones will continue to work on both Verizon's and...

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Kantar: iPhone X lifts Apple's market share in Spain, Germany and China

In the three months ending December 2017, Apple saw a healthy increase in market share in key markets, lead by the iPhone X. Despite slowing sales in the US, the UK, France and Italy, Apple saw an increase in Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan and mostly China, where its market share grew 10.1 percentage points to reach 28.6%. In the US Apple and Samsung accounted for 70.8% of Q4's total smartphone sales. Huawei, which was hit by a carrier deal falling through, saw its meager 0.4% market share stay flat. Samsung remained the top smartphone vendor in Q4 of 2017. In Europe, Samsung...

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Google finalizes $1.1B acquisition deal with HTC

Back in September Google and HTC announced a $1.1 billion deal. The phone manufacturer is receiving the money in exchange for some of its employees and access to its intellectual property. The agreement was approved by the Taiwanese Investment Commission in December, and today Google officially welcomed the new members of its team. The deal includes about 2000 engineers who were already working on the Google Pixel 2 smartphone and its upcoming successors. They will remain based in Taiwan and Taipei will become the largest Google engineering site in the Asia-Pacific region. Rick...

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Sharp Aquos S3 is an Android One phone with a tough exterior and a soft chipset

Sharp has introduced a new Android One phone - the Sharp Aquos S3. Despite the name, this is an entry-level device rather than a follow-up to the Aquos S3 (which was more of a mid-ranger). This is a fairly compact device with a dust and waterproof body. It even underwent some MIL-STD style shock testing by dropping it from 26 directions onto plywood from a height of 1.2m. The screen is a 5" IGZO panel (1080p resolution) and has traditionally-sized bezels (a polite way of saying "big"). This is a Snapdragon 430 device after all, so don't expect too much. You do get Android 8.0 Oreo...

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Nokia 3310 4G can make an LTE-powered a Wi-Fi hotspot

HMD unveiled its third version of the reborn Nokia 3310 - but this 4G model is an odd duck. It's LTE connectivity is a boon and it has Wi-Fi, which can be used to create a hotspot to share the data connection with other devices. It's odd, however, because it runs YunOS, an incompatible fork of Android. Don't expect to run anything but preloaded apps, though (there's no mention of Yun's app store). Probably for the best since it's working with 256MB of RAM and 512MB of storage, too little for even Android Go. Anyway, the Nokia 3310 4G is a single SIM phone with VoLTE support. It will be...

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Nokia 5 Oreo update starts seeding

HMD ticked another phone off the Oreo update list - the Nokia 5. Meanwhile, the Nokia 6 update has expanded to people with the TA-1021 model (the global one). If your Nokia 5 hasn't notified you of the update, you can check manually. Do keep in mind that this is a staged rollout and it may be a couple of days before it arrives for your exact model. Sweeter and Smoother. The #Nokia5 and #Nokia6 are officially joining the #AndroidOreo family. pic.twitter.com/7bbW3j7SOF— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) January 30, 2018 This leaves the Nokia 3 and Nokia 2, which will start beta testing...

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4-year old Xiaomi Redmi 1s gets MIUI 9, but with a catch

The MIUI 9 global rollout continues. We reported that 40 devices will get the new user interface, including some very old phones. And now one of those, the Xiaomi Redmi 1S, is updating to a stable MIUI 9.2.2.0. There is a catch though - the OS stays Android 4.4.4 KitKat and the security update is from October 2016. Xiaomi Redmi 1S MIUI 9 screenshots The affordable phone with quad-core CPU and 1 GB RAM is getting all the neat features like Split Screen, Search for Apps, Dual Apps, and the customizable Quick Cards that open with a right swipe from the Home screen. MIUI 9 brings...

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LG G6 and LG Q6 to arrive in Moroccan Blue and Lavender Violet

Just days after the information that LG G6 will hit the shelves in Raspberry Rose, two more color options were announced by the Korean manufacturer. The flagship will be accompanied by the affordable Q6 in Moroccan Blue and Lavender Violet, the latter already introduced with the LG V30. LG G6 • LG Q6 According to a representative from LG's PR Department, "the sophisticated hue of Moroccan Blue was inspired by the beautiful blue buildings in the city of Chefchaouen, Morocco." The spokesperson also added that Lavender Violet is for both men and women "who appreciate the finer...

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