Essential rolls out Oreo Beta 8.1

Essential has just announced on Twitter that those on the Oreo Beta on the Essential Phone can update to Android Oreo 8.1 Beta. Those of you with Android 7.1 will also be able to participate by sideloading the update. Essential is working on posting the update to its website, so the only way to get Oreo 8.1 Beta at the moment is via an OTA update. We just started rolling out Oreo Beta 8.1 through OTA. This update includes February security patches, dynamic calendar and clock icons, a slow-scrolling jitter fix (beta), and more. 😍 #EssentialPhone— Essential (@essential) February...

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LG USA giving away 30 Raspberry Rose V30s on Twitter

LG USA is running a sweepstakes where 10 lucky winners can grab one of ten exclusive Raspberry Rose colored LG V30 in honor of Valentine's Day. LG will be making two extra drawings, so there are a total of 30 Raspberry Rose V30s you might win. All you have to do is retweet the following post from LG USA and you'll be eligible to win the #BeMineLGV30 Sweepstakes. Valentine's Day means 2x the love and 2x the LG V30 phones in the #BeMineLGV30 sweeps. We're giving away TEN exclusive LG V30s in the new Raspberry Rose color! RT by 2/15 for a chance to win, and come back for more giveaways...

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Apple updates HomePod support page, warns about marks on wood

A number of HomePod owners have started noticing rings left on wooden surfaces, particularly those with oil-based finishes. The silicone in the base of the HomePod can react to oil on a molecular level, causing these marks or rings. This type of problem is not specific to the HomePod, in fact, all kinds of speakers (or anything with a silicone base like an Amazon Echo Dot) can cause these kinds of marks on wood. Because of this, Apple has updated its HomePod support page with the following information regarding the HomePod and wooden surfaces. It is not unusual for any speaker with a...

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Apple iPhone 8 Plus long-term review

This is our fourth article in a series of long-term reviews - a format which we hadn't attempted previously. While our regular reviews are focusing on assessing every aspect of a device's performance in the most objective way possible, the long-term review is where we will give you a more subjective look - an outline of what it's like to live with a specific smartphone every day.

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Android 8.0 Oreo beta program for the ZTE Axon 7 debuts in the US

ZTE's Axon 7 has been pretty successful in the US, at least as far as any handset sold unlocked can claim to be. To appease owners who've been asking for an Oreo update for a while, the Chinese company announced back in December that the update would roll out this April. Not only that, but ZTE is giving up on its MiFavor UI in favor of something called Stock+. And now you can beta test that purer interpretation of the OS if you want. ZTE is inviting owners of the A2017U version of the Axon 7 (running the current build B35) to apply for a spot in a new Preview Program. The first group will...

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Samsung has apparently halted the rollout of the Oreo update for the Galaxy S8 and S8+

After a long beta testing period, Samsung finally sent out the update to Android 8.0 Oreo for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ last week. Since then the new version has only managed to reach a handful of markets, such as Turkey, Norway, the UAE, India, Belgium, Germany, France, and Poland. Today a report claims that the company has unexpectedly stopped the rollout. Samsung has pulled the firmware files for the two smartphones from its servers, so you can no longer grab them in any way. This obviously won't affect you if you've already updated your device, but if you weren't that lucky it's...

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KGI: Apple to ship 100 million 6.1-inch LCD iPhones in 2018

iIf you're not acquainted with KGI Securities' analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, he's the one that projected that Apple is readying three new iPhones for 2018 - two OLED ones with 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch panels, and one LCD iPhone with a 6.1-inch screen. Well, the same market analyst now says that Apple could ship up to 100 million 6.1-inch LCD iPhones before 2018 is over and at $700-$800 a pop. If the predictions are true the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone will replace the iPhone 8 as the cheapest option, while the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone will likely be the same size and weight as the iPhone X, and the...

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Qualcomm announces X24 (2 Gbps) and X50 (5 Gbps) modems

Last week a report from Qualcomm stated that nearly 50 phone manufacturers and carriers are working with the San Diego towards commercializing 5G mobile devices by 2019. Today a step towards this direction was made with the unveiling of Snapdragon X24 - the first 7 nm process chipset that can support up to 2 Gbps LTE speeds. The promised speeds are nearly twice as high as the predecessor, the Snapdragon X20, embedded into the Snapdragon 845. Qualcomm confirms that the first phones with the new modem will arrive in H1 2019. The X24 supports "up to 7x carrier aggregation on...

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More specs of Moto G6 family surface: chipset, battery and price

Yesterday, we caught our first glimpse of the Moto G6 family, which will feature 18:9 screens. Today, we get three more pieces of the puzzle: chipset, battery and price. The Moto G6 Plus, the top model, will sport a Snapdragon 630 chipset powered by a 3,250mAh battery. It will allegedly cost $265/€250. The base Moto G6 scales back a bit with a Snapdragon 450 and a 3,000mAh battery. This one is projected to cost $234/€190. Both the G6 and G6 Plus will have 1080p+ screens. Motorola Moto G6 If you want a large battery, however, the Moto G6 Play will boast 4,000mAh capacity....

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Samsung Galaxy S9+ with Snapdragon 845 hits AnTuTu with 6GB of RAM

The Samsung Galaxy S9+ (SM-G9650) - the one with a Snapdragon 845 chipset - was spotted by AnTuTu in its database. Surprisingly, this version has 6GB of RAM rather than 4GB like the Exynos 9810 version we saw on Geekbench yesterday. The rest is a familiar story, starting with an 18:9 screen with resolution defaulting to 1,080 x 2,220px (of course, that's set in software, the hardware will be QHD+). The OS is Android 8.0 Oreo as expected and there is 64GB of built-in storage. Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon 845) specs and score on AnTuTu The benchmark score is interesting too. It...

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Blind test sees Google Home Max beat the Apple HomePod

The Apple HomePod has been getting rave reviews since it launched last week. Its limitation to Apple Music has been largely criticized but its sound quality was universally praised and many called it the best-sounding smart speaker out there. But Yahoo Finance' David Pogue decided to test that by making a blind shootout between the $150 Amazon Echo Plus, the $200 Sonos One, the $350 Apple HomePod and the $400 Google Home Max. Spoiler alert: the Apple HomePod finished second to last. The test involved a panel of five people, among which a sound technician and a professional violinist,...

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Check out the first Redmi Note 5 Pro camera samples

Earlier today Xiaomi announced the Redmi Note 5 Pro as the first Redmi Note with dual-camera setup. The phablet has a 12 MP primary sensor with f/2.2 lens and a secondary 5 MP with f/2.0 aperture for background blurring. After the event ended, we got a unit to see how it performs. Without drawing any final conclusions as it's too early for that, the photos seem to come with realistic colors and impressive detail levels.

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Official Galaxy S9 promo videos tease slow-mo camera, 3D emojis

Samsung Mobile Korea just unleashed three teaser videos for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. They are short (15 seconds each), but contain less than subtle hints about the key features of the upcoming flagships. The first video is all about speed. But pay attention to the end of the video - the second the "9" appears, time slows down to a crawl. That's clearly a reference to a slow-motion camera. The second video is shot in the dark. That is until the "9" appears and the image brightens up considerably. Samsung has been pushing low-light performance for several generations, but...

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Gmail Go for low-end devices arrives on Google Play

Google keeps releasing versions of its apps taileored for smartphones with less than 1 GB of RAM. After YouTube, Gboard and Google Assistant, now Gmail also gets a Go version. The app is available on Google Play, but can be downloaded in a limited set of countries and only by devices running Android 8.1 Oreo. There is also an link shared by APKMirror if you want to try and side-load it. Gmail Go screenshots Gmail Go does almost everything the regular mail app can. It uses less RAM and loads images on demand. When combined with Gboard Go, for example, the data...

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HTC smartphone chief resigns, no replacement in sight

After six years at HTC, Chialin Chang - current President of Smartphone and Connected Devices Business has resigned, citing a "personal career plan". Rumor has it he plans to start an AI company. What's troubling is that HTC CEO Cher Wang hasn't named a successor for Chang and that he has left the company on the eve of the HTC U12's launch. The resignation also comes under a month after HTC sold off the Pixel design team to Google. HTC has been struggling to make a buck from its phones, finalizing its 10 consecutive losing quarter. We hope HTC manages to turn things around, but...

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CIA, NSA, FBI chiefs warn against buying Huawei and ZTE phones

Huawei attempted to enter the US market by partnering with US carriers but the US government pressured AT&T and Verizon to drop the deal. Now CNBC reports that US security chiefs are recommending against buying Huawei phones but also ZTE phones. The heads of the CIA, FBI, NSA and other agencies unanimously expressed their concerns about the China-based companies. "We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don't share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks," stated FBI...

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Deal: LG offering free projector on V30/G6 purchase

LG fans in the US might want to check out the deal the company is offering on T-Mobile variants of V30/V30+ (and G6) smartphones: free Minibeam projector with each purchase. The offer is valid until February 22, and will see eligible owners getting the freebie by mail. The projector (model PH150G) usually carries a $349 price tag, but is being currently sold for $249.99. For more info on the promo as well as the projector, head to the Source link below. Source

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TrendForce: Global smartphone sales growth will slow down in 2018

TrendForce published its predictions on the global smartphone market in 2018. According to the analysts, the growth of sales will slow down to 2.8% - manufacturers will sell 1.498 billion devices, compared to 1.458 billion in 2017. The reason behind the minuscule rise is the continuous rise of costs and fewer replacement purchases. Samsung will remain the market leader, TrendForce predicts. The Korean giant will rely mostly on its success with the A and J series and will ship around 300 million phones, which is a 5% decrease compared to 2017. Apple and HMD Global are two companies...

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Xiaomi launches 55" smart Mi LED TV 4

Xiaomi has launched the Mi LED TV 4 in India, its first television on the Indian market. The TV will be available through Flipkart and Mi.com online and across retail partners for INR39,999 (€503/$623). The smart Mi LED TV 4 has a 55" panel of 4K resolution that runs Android TV OS with Xiaomi's in-house Patchwall - a deep learning AI system that understands your preferences and classifies content automatically for personalized recommendations. Specs-wise, there is 2 GB RAM and 8 GB storage while the system is powered by 64-bit quad-core CPU. Slides from Mi LED TV 4...

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Xiaomi launches Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro

Xiaomi has officially launched the new Redmi Note 5 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The event held in India revealed that prices start at INR9,999 (€125/$155) for the Redmi Note 5 and INR13,999 (€176/$218) for the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Both phones will be available online through Flipkart and Mi.com and offline through retail partners. The Redmi Note 5 Pro is a brand new device making its global debut in India. It has the same 5.99-inch display as the Redmi Note 5 but a new Snapdragon 636 processor with 4+4 Kryo 260 CPU clocked at 1.8GHz and Adreno 509 GPU. You get a choice of 4GB or...

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