BlackBerry Motion gets the scratch and bend test

JerryRigEverything has performed another one of his durability tests on the BlackBerry Motion. We reviewed the BlackBerry Motion and praised it for its excellent build quality and sturdiness. Starting off with the scratch test: BlackBerry's website does say that the phone does use a different kind of glass called DragonTrail Glass, which features a "nano-diamond anti-scratch" coating to resist against scratching. As fate would have it, the DragonTrail glass scratched at around the same hardness scale as any 2017 flagship with a Gorilla Glass display. Perhaps if we see the display over...

Read More

Samsung Experience 9.0 will have better, more standardized Emoji

If you owned a Samsung phone in the past few years, chances are you used an emoji that looks totally different on an iPhone and might not convey the same message you wish to get across. A perfect example of this is the "rolling eyes" emoji, which. is exactly what it sounds like: someone rolling their eyes at something showing disapproval or disgust. But, how can anyone roll eyes at something with this emoji? It looks more like optimistic smile than an eye roll. Along with the new release of the Samsung Experience 9.0(Android Oreo) update for the Samsung Galaxy S8 are a set of...

Read More

IDC: Google shipped 3.9 million Pixels in 2017, Essential Phone sales under 90,000

During its earnings call earlier this month, Google revealed that its device shipments doubled in 2017 compared to 2016, but as usual the company didn't give us any hard numbers. Thankfully, that hasn't stopped IDC, one of the big analyst houses, from releasing its estimates. According to Francisco Jeronimo, IDC's Research Director, Google shipped 3.9 million Pixels last year. The analyst also confirms Google's own report saying that shipments have indeed doubled. That said, Google is still very far from being anywhere near a market leader in this regard. Given that its distribution...

Read More

Android Pistachio Ice Cream to embrace the notch, integrate Assistant even more

This year's Android update is reportedly codenamed Pistachio Ice Cream internally, though Google may choose to go with another moniker when it launches. Android P is expected to better accommodate handsets with an iPhone X-like notch at the top of the display, according to "people familiar with the situation". Google Assistant will be even more integrated into the OS and emphasized by it, as developers will be able to use it inside of their apps. The Google search bar widget may also finally integrate with the Assistant, but apparently these two features are so complicated to implement...

Read More

HTC U11+: re-testing the retail unit

We published our HTC U11+ review last November, and while we liked a whole lot about the fancy flagship, it generated some controversy around the display and battery test results. The article was based on the only retail unit available at that time - the Taiwanese one - and while it should have been representative of the pack, we were not blind to all the doubt to follow. Fast-forward a couple of weeks and the HTC U11+ is available pretty much everywhere. So, we decided to grab the European retail unit, repeat our tests, and hopefully address those unresolved doubts. Unboxing the...

Read More

Xiaomi to launch the Mi TV 4 in India alongside Redmi Note 5

Xiaomi will be launching the Mi TV 4 in the Indian market on February 14. The tv announcement will be made at an event alongside the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro announcement. The Mi TV 4 is the company's newest smart television. "Newest" in this case really just means the company hasn't announced anything since, as the Mi TV 4 was announced at CES last year and is anything but new. However, to the Indian market, this will be a brand new series of products from Xiaomi as this will be its first television from the company since it set up shop in India. Both Xiaomi and...

Read More

Samsung to launch a new wireless charger with Galaxy S9

Samsung is about to announce its next flagship the Galaxy S9, and a new fast wireless charger is expected to come along. According to a leaked user manual, the new pad will have two charging coils and will support fast charging up to 9V/1.67A, 9V/2A or 12V/2.1A. Renders & leaked image of wireless charger The charger is similar to the current standing pad - it has a USB-C on the back for power input and a fan on the back to dissipate the heating from all the Qi charging. There is also an indicator light with various modes for better access. Red means charging, green means...

Read More

Sony Xperia L2 review

E turned into L in Sony's smartphone lineup last year and now comes generation two - the Sony Xperia L2. A year later, the new entry-level model comes with a few hardware improvements and an aesthetic to match the current company trends.

Read More

Analyst: more Nokia phones were sold in Q4 than HTC, Sony, Google or OnePlus phones

Counterpoint has revised its numbers and now says HMD sold 4.4 million smartphones in Q4 of last year. Neil Shah, an analysts at the company, says the 1% market share puts it just outside the Top 10 - Nokia is in 11th place. To put that in perspective, more Nokia-branded phones were sold in the last three months of 2017 than the following companies (individually): HTC Sony Google Alcatel Lenovo OnePlus Gionee Meizu Coolpad Asus The brand is seeing a resurgence in some markets. Nokia smartphones were #3 in the UK for the quarter and in the Top 5 in...

Read More

Sprint HTC 10 units now getting Android Oreo

The HTC 10 for Sprint in the US is now starting to get the Android 8.0 Oreo update. The information was brought by HTC VP of Product Management Mo Versi. The HTC 10 launched on Android Marshmallow, was subsequently updated to Nougat and is now getting Oreo, although not without issue. HTC released the Oreo update for unlocked HTC 10 units back in January but after a bumpy, issue-ridden start it was pulled just days later. The update was re-issued a week ago and unlocked HTC 10's are still receiving it. Sprint HTC 10 customers! We have received the Oreo OS approval from the...

Read More

Render shows Redmi Note 5 is different than Redmi 5 Plus

A new computer-generated image has surfaced and it's claimed to be of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5. Like the first one it shows a dual camera and a fingerprint scanner on the back and an 18:9 screen on the front with unbelievably-slim bezels. We use that word on purpose as we expect those bezels to be a tad thicker on the actual device. Earlier today we reported that the Redmi Note 5 might have a Pro version with a Snapdragon 636 that will launch in India on February 14 alongside a tamer Snapdragon 626-yielding Redmi Note 5. However some believe that the Redmi Note 5 will be a single device...

Read More

Huawei patents MateX moniker

Huawei announced its Mate 10 series back in October 2017 and ended some rumors about eventual renaming of its flagship Mate X. The moniker appeared again during the weekend in an application on the EU Intellectual Property Office website. The trademark "MateX" was filed by UK representative of Huawei and was classified as mobile phones and smartphones. Trademarking the Mate X moniker is a surprising decision if Huawei plans to launch its next phone with that name since the Roman number for 10 is X. It could also be the name of some exclusive or extra version of the phablet. Most...

Read More

Snapdragon 845 benchmarks show an incredible GPU, faster CPU

Before phones with the Snapdragon 845 chipset hit the market, Qualcomm is offering a taste of its performance with a Qualcomm Reference Design platform. The new chip uses new CPU core designs based on Cortex-A75 and A55. There's four of each in the Snapdragon 845, but they are no longer split in two separate clusters. This is the first SoC to support DynamIQ, which allows for a finer voltage/frequency control. The max frequency was increased to 2.8GHz (for the big cores), up from 2.47GHz on the Snapdragon 835. No maker ran the 835 at max clock speed though and we expect the same this...

Read More

Xiaomi deletes Twitter poll after users choose Android One over MIUI

Last week, Xiaomi ran a Twitter poll asking people to choose between MIUI 9 and Android One. As you may know, MIUI is the ROM that majority of the Xiaomi phones ship with while Android One comes directly from Google and is what you find on the Mi A1. It seems Xiaomi expected a landslide victory for its own MIUI over Android One, but the good people of Twitter had other thoughts. At last known count, Android One was leading by 57%, with the remaining 43% going to MIUI 9. And then it happened. Xiaomi deleted the tweet. But nothing is ever truly lost on the Internet and predictably...

Read More

ZTE Axon 9 rumor points to 18:9 screen and Snapdragon 845 chipset

ZTE's head honcho confirmed that the Axon 9 is coming this year and now some alleged images and specs have surfaced on Weibo. The phone both is and isn't what we expected. A 6" AMOLED screen with QHD+ resolution - and 18:9 aspect ratio - was to be expected. A high-res AMOLED was one of the key selling points of the 7. But if you look under the screen, you'll see that this Axon 9 features capacitive keys. Then there are two dual cameras. The rear camera features a 20MP primary sensor (an upgrade over the Dual 12MP camera of the Axon 7s) while the dual selfie camera sports a 13MP main...

Read More

AnTuTu hints at an 18:9 screen for the Sony Xperia H8266

The Sony H8266 is back in the spotlight - after Geekbench, AnTuTu was its next stop. This benchmark is more detailed in the specifications it records so let's compare them to the specs we saw earlier. AnTuTu reports an 18:9 screen with 1,080 x 2,160px resolution. Now, Sony has been reluctant to make QHD phones, though its 4K-packing Premium phones default to 1080p. Alleged Sony Xperia H8266 specs by AnTuTu Anyway, a Snapdragon 845 chipset ran Android 8.0 with fairly standard memory readings - 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage (same as the Xperia XZ1). The benchmark occasionally...

Read More

Android Oreo to arrive on 7 vivo phones in April

Many manufacturers are already switching to Android Oreo and vivo is the latest company to do so. The manufacturer announced the first wave of devices to receive the 8.0 version, consisting of 7 phones from the X series - vivo X20, vivo X20 Plus, vivo X9s, vivo Xplay6, vivo X9, vivo X9s Plus, vivo X9 Plus. The updates will arrive in April 2018 and will come as a Funtouch OS upgrade. The company is expected to launch a beta program on its official forum, but is yet to reveal details. Once everything is cleared, Oreo will be pushed as an OTA update. Source (in Chinese) | Via

Read More

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro to have Snapdragon 636, comes on February 14

Xiaomi is making a phone announcement in India on February 14 that is expected to be the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5. But some sources point to a second phone announcement, parallel to the Redmi Note 5's - the Redmi Note 5 Pro. It's expected the Pro model will add more horsepower with a Snapdragon 636 over the expected 626 of the Redmi Note 5. However, yet another speculation claims that instead of unveiling new models, Xiaomi will launch the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus for India (officially, they are only available in China at the moment). If the first rumor comes to fruition and the...

Read More

Meizu E3 pops up on TENAA with all the specs

Meizu E3 is expected to arrive in three weeks but its specs already leaked on TENAA. The phone was listed in two variants - M851M and M851Q where the main difference is the network bands, while all the other specs are the same. The new midranger will come with a tall 18:9 screen, side-mounted fingerprint scanner and dual camera on the back in a similar setup to the iPhone X. Meizu E3 from all sides The 5.99" screen will come with 18:9 ratio and Full HD+ resolution. Its chipset is unnamed, but it might be the upcoming Helio P70, which ahs 8 CPU cores, clocked at up to 1.8...

Read More

Motorola Moto E5 Play renders leak, coming to Verizon and Cricket

Last month, a Motorola smartphone dubbed Moto E5 leaked. And now, leaked renders for the Play variant of the device have surfaced as well. The usually reliable tipster @evleaks leaked the info on Twitter. The leaked images only focus on the front of the device. As you can see, the fingerprint sensor is no where to be seen, so it's reasonable to assume it will be on the back, and the placement should be same as in the case of the Moto E5 - below the rear camera module, with the company logo being placed over it. As per Evan Blass, both Verizon and Cricket will be offering the device,...

Read More