These apps shows remaining battery on AirPods when connected to Android

In the past few months, there have been at least three Android Apps that can display the remaining battery life on a pair of Apple's AirPods. At their very basic functions, each of these apps can display the remaining battery life of your AirPods and even their charging case. It's worth noting that you will only be able to see the remaining battery life of the charging case if one or both of the AirPods are in the case and battery life will be shown in 10% increments. Droidpods is the newest of the three and offers a persistent notification that will show you the remaining battery life...

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Samsung Galaxy S7 edge in Vietnam accidentally got Oreo

The guys over at AndroidU received a tip from a user in Vietnam who appears to have received the Android Oreo update on their Galaxy S7 edge, complete with the Samsung Experience UI 9.0. The update was obviously a mistake made by someone at the Samsung development team or related departments, who must have pushed a seemingly finished build of the update. It isn't possible that Samsung would purposefully release such an update to the S7 before the newer Galaxy S8. Aside from this, Samsung did not even hold a an Oreo Beta trial for S7 edge users. We don't know how many people actually...

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EMUI 8.0 update rolling out for Honor 9 and 8 Pro in France, 7X and 8 in Q2

Mid-last month, Honor India stated that the Honor 8 would not be getting Android Oreo/ EMUI 8.0 due to software and hardware limitations. Social media reps are sometimes misinformed, and that proved to be true when this piece of news was immediately contradicted not two weeks later when Honor confirmed that 9 of its phones would be updated to Oreo - Honor 8 included. Just yesterday, Honor France tweeted that two Honor phones will begin the OTA update process today, February 7: the Honor 9 and Honor 8 Pro. Tout d'abord, les mises à jour pour le passage à EMUI 8 ! 😊 Honor 9 : 7...

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Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra review

The Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra upgrades the mainstream XA2 with a huge screen and a whole bunch of selfie-taking goodies such as a high-end dual-selfie rig, OIS, autofocus, and a front-facing flash.

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Nest finally joins Google's hardware team

Google purchased Nest in 2014 and has allowed it to operate as an independent entity under the Alphabet umbrella for the past few years. The company has been churning out new smart home devices such as thermostats and security cameras during this time. But while it has obviously worked closely with Google even before, it hasn't been 100% integrated into the search giant's hardware team. Until today. Google is announcing that Nest is finally joining its hardware team - you know, the one that's responsible for "Made by Google" Pixels and Home speakers and Chromecasts. This move is long...

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ZTE to announce Blade V9 with 18:9 screen and Snapdragon 450 at MWC

ZTE managed a pretty rare feat back in December - leaking one of its own upcoming devices. The phone in question is the Blade V9, which got listed on the company's official website for Spain. That was obviously pulled quickly but we still grabbed some official images and the full specs nevertheless. According to an unnamed source speaking to Android Headlines, the Blade V9 will finally become official at MWC, when ZTE plans to unveil it for the world to see. The handset is expected to be "quite affordable", which makes sense given the Blade line's legacy and its non-flagship specs. The...

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Google is working on a gaming console and game streaming service, rumor says

According to a report from The Information, Google's latest venture has everything to do with gaming, an area that so far it's been absent from. If the unnamed sources are to be believed, the search giant is hard at work on its very own game streaming service. This will be called Yeti, or that may just be its codename for now. The service will be accompanied on the market by a "Made by Google" gaming console, but Yeti will also work on Chromecasts. Yeti will not compete with Amazon's Twitch, since it's not that kind of game streaming. Google's service will stream the games to you...

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HTC free fall continues in January, revenue hits six-month low

HTC published its financial results for January, and they do not look promising. Compared with December 2017, revenue sank 15.3%, while the fall on a yearly basis was even bigger - 27%. The consolidated income of NT$3.403 billion (or $116.12 million) marked a six-month low for the Taiwanese company. HTC's golden hen - Google Pixel 2 Analysts say lowered Pixel 2 sales and HTC U11 Eyes launch mid-January hurt the sales performance. In February, Vive Pro and the standalone headset Vive Focus VR will be available, but because of reduced work days during Lunar New Year, sales are...

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HTC U11+ launches in India, exclusive on Flipkart

Thanks to an exclusive deal with Flipkart, HTC has brought the HTC U11+ to India. And it's the top-specced model to boot, the one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. There's no choice in colors, though, there's only Amazing Silver. The price is INR 57,000, compared to INR 46,000 for the base U11 (also the 128GB model). You can get it on monthly installments between 3 and 12 months (at a price of INR 19,000 to INR 4,750 a month respectively). HTC U11+ (Amazing Silver) arrives in India via Flipkart A Pixel 2 XL (with similar hardware) is INR 65,000 for the 4GB/64GB model (and it...

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Huawei Mate 10 and 10 Pro software update fixes camera and wireless woes

The Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are getting an important update - version 8.0.0.127 (SP1C00). The change log is a laundry list of optimizations and fixes. The bug where the camera would occasionally fail to open or display a black screen has been squashed. The Beautify feature has been improved with "special touches" based on the subject's gender. Wireless connectivity got some major fixes too. You can now connect to hidden Wi-Fi networks without issue and you can pause audio when playing over in-car Bluetooth. Related, SIMs from carriers in countries with multiple time zones no...

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Apple now accepts Alipay at physical stores in China

Apple will allow payments with Alipay in all its 41 stores in mainland China, Financial Times reported. The partnership between the manufacturer and the Alibaba affiliate marks the first time a third-party mobile payment platform makes its way in any of the 500 Apple stores globally. Apple sold 41.1 million smartphones in China in 2017 and generated net sales of $44.7 billion, but still struggles to to push its own Apple Pay platform. Alipay, on the other hand, is a market leader in China, where along with its rival WeixinPay accounts for $11.4 trillion of payments in 2016. Eyeing...

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Telegram adds streaming and auto-night mode on Android

Telegram has added streaming support on the Android app. Videos can now be watched without downloading them first. Clicking on the video will start streaming and you can watch it instantly. Telegram video streaming • auto-night mode The update also adds auto-night mode on Android. The app can now automatically switch to the night mode at night or in a dark environment. These changes are available in the latest v4.8 of the app. Telegram also announced a new login widget for websites. Websites can now have the Telegram widget to authenticate new users, similar to Facebook,...

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Samsung Galaxy S9+ in Coral Blue swims to the surface

According to @evleaks, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will come in four colors: Midnight Black, Lilac Purple, Titanium Gray and Coral Blue. Yesterday we saw the duo in purple, today comes the blue version of the S9+. We think we have the complete set. Renders by dbrand do a good job of portraying the black S9 duo. Then there are these renders (with a transparent case) that show off the gray one (courtesy of MyTrendyPhone.no). And for completeness sake, the purple color from yesterday. Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ in Midnight Black, Titanium Gray and Lilac...

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Huawei P20 Lite with a notched 19:9 screen goes through the FCC

Screen notches - not just for expensive flagships anymore. FCC certified (and described in good detail) what could be the Huawei P20 Lite (model name ANE-LX1). It will have an extra tall 19:9 screen, including the notch. The screen has a resolution of 2,280 x 1,080px and (if we're reading the schematic right) the diagonal should be around 6.1". The phone itself will measure 148 x 70mm. On the back of the phone is a dual camera (vertically oriented). Of course, the FCC doesn't list the camera resolution. A fingerprint reader is not included in the schematic. Additional info...

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Apple: iPhone X and 8 come with "hardware update" to avoid throttling issues

Apple responded to US Senate in a letter on the issues with throttling the CPU in older iPhones, prices of battery replacement and similar eventual scenario with future devices. The company acknowledged it failed to communicate the problem and is considering a refund for those who paid the full price of $79 for a battery replacement. Apple also said that iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus have hardware updates so they will not experience massive CPU-throttling like older iDevices. In response to Senator John Thune, head of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and...

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Apple's second Beta of iOS 11.3 introduces Battery Health Beta

Last night Apple released the second Beta of iOS 11.3 to developers. It's notable in that it lets us have a first look of Apple's proposed solution to how we can monitor our Battery Health and control what Apple is calling the 'Peak Performance Capability' of our iPhones. Apple has been very verbose to label this 'Beta' within the release so expect things to change, but see what we have. For iPhone 6 and later, iOS 11.3 adds new features to show battery health and a recommendation if a battery needs to be replaced. These can be found in Settings > Battery > Battery Health...

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Sony Xperia XZ Premium gets patches for "Meltdown" and "Spectre"

Sony Xperia XZ Premium owners started receiving the latest firmware update for their phones. The build number moves from 47.1.A.12.34 to 47.1.A.12.75 and brings February security update that fixes "Meltdown" and "Spectre" CPU vulnerabilities. Sony Xperia XZ Premium security update The new firmware is version 47.1.A.12.75 and it doesn't mention any other changes, so chances are you won't notice much difference in terms of user experience. The 120MB size also suggests no major changes. The upgrade is now seeding to dual-SIM phones, but single-SIM versions should be getting it...

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Samsung Galaxy C10 Plus shows up on AnTuTu

A upcoming Samsung smartphone just appeared on AnTuTu's website, sporting the model number SM-C9150, being powered by a Snapdragon 660 mated to 6GB of RAM and running Android 7.1.1. At the time of writing it's most probable that this device will prove to be the Samsung Galaxy C10 or C10 Plus for China, although it could be named under the J series elsewhere as the Galaxy C7 (2017) before. The screenshot from the device's profile in AnTuTu doesn't give out much information and some of the information it does is a bit questionable. First, the 1920x1080px resolution indicates an 16:9...

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