260,000 Amazon Basics power banks are being recalled for risk of overheating

Today, Amazon has issued a recall for its self-branded line of power banks that it sells. If you have any of the following power banks by Amazon Basics, you should head to the link at the end of this post to check its product ID number against the ones listed on the site. The 260,000 affected units include the following mAh capacity models: 16,100 / 10,000 / 5,600 / 3,000 / 2,000. These units have been reportedly overheating and there have already been reports of damage to property and at least one report of a chemical burn. If your power bank leaks liquid, this is battery acid and you...

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260,000 Amazon Basic power banks are being recalled for risk of overheating

Today, Amazon has issued a recall for its self-branded line of power banks that it sells. If you have any of the following power banks by Amazon Basics, you should head to the link at the end of this post to check its product ID number against the ones listed on the site. The 260,000 affected units include the following mAh capacity models: 16,100 / 10,000 / 5,600 / 3,000 / 2,000. These units have been reportedly overheating and there have already been reports of damage to property and at least one report of a chemical burn. If your power bank leaks liquid, this is battery acid and you...

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Sony Xperia XZ2 review

You don't really have to look any further than the new Xperia XZ2 and its little Compact sibling for proof that Sony is evolving even if slowly. The 2018 flagship is different in a number of ways, some of which more controversial than others.

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Android 8.0 Oreo update with EMUI 8.0 is in the works for the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus

Last year Huawei gave us a list of its devices that were to be updated to EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo, but it was quite short - only the P10, P10 Plus, Mate 9, and Mate 9 Pro were on it. Now it seems that was just the preliminary list, since the company is already working on bringing the new software version to the even older P9 and P9 Plus. The news comes straight from a Huawei product manager, posting on its forums in China. Huawei P9 Plus There's no release timeline mentioned, only that the update will be made available at some point. Currently the team is busy adapting...

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T-Mobile expanding RCS compatibility across carriers in Q2

Today, T-Mobile is announcing its expansion of the infamous Rich Communication Services, or RCS. This is important because it gives Android users a successor to SMS (iOS already has iMessage) so that customers can have a better default messaging experience. RCS features include read receipts, typing notifications, and the ability to send much larger attachments over regular messaging so photos won't degrade over MMS. Anyway, T-Mobile is announcing that it will start updating phones that it sells as of Q2 so that customers can take advantage of the GSMA Universal Profile which enables...

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vivo V9 specs leak alongside new live images, pricing, and a promo video

vivo's upcoming V9 has been leaking since last month, when it showed off its screen notch on a billboard in Indonesia. The phone will get an unveiling in India on March 27, but it will apparently be introduced in Thailand first, on March 22. Ahead of those events, some more hands-on images have leaked, showing the phone and its retail box. Furthermore, a purported list of specs originating at an online retailer is doing the rounds. vivo V9 hands-on images The vivo V9 is allegedly going to feature a 6-inch 1,080x2,160 AMOLED touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 5, the Snapdragon 660...

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Essential Phone is now receiving Android 8.1 Oreo update in earnest

Although it beta tested Android 8.0 Oreo for its first smartphone last year, ultimately Essential decided against releasing that version of the OS to every single customer (not that there are very many of those, but still). The company said 8.0 wasn't stable so it would directly send out the 8.1 variant of Oreo to non-beta testers. That day has finally come. Essential has officially announced that the rollout of Android 8.1 Oreo for its Phone is underway. You can apparently already check for the update in Settings and it should show up. If it doesn't, don't fret - the release may be one of...

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Caviar will sell you a gold iPhone X if you have a spare $4,510 lying around

The iPhone X wasn't an easy device to get a hold of when it launched last year, and the fact that it only comes in two colors, none of them gold, has frustrated quite a few would-be buyers. Leave it to Russian company Caviar to fix that, though. It's now introducing not one but two golden iPhone X variants, and as usual this isn't just a different paintjob. Instead, you're treated to a pure 24K gold coating, because if you're going to buy a gold iPhone X you deserve the real thing. Caviar iPhone X Classic Gold The two versions are called Classic Gold and Classic Liquid Gold, the...

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alcatel 1X coming to India soon with 18:9 screen, Android Go Edition

The alcatel 1X was unveiled at the MWC as an 18:9 phone for the masses. Today, the company announced its plans to start selling it in India soon. Unfortunately, it didn't go into more detail, didn't even confirm the price. The 1X runs Android 8.1 Oreo (Go edition) to make the best of its modest hardware. Its 5.3" screen has 480 x 960 pixel resolution. The brains is a MediaTek MT6739 chipset (octa-core A53) with 1GB of RAM, 16GB storage and a microSD card. As we said, modest specs. There is a version with 2GB of RAM and a 13MP rear camera, alcatel hasn't made it all too clear which...

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LG G7 could launch in May and cost €80 more than G6

The LG G7 could be in for a late April to early May release in South Korea and it will likely cost around €80 more than the LG G6, or around €700. The G7 will incorporate the LG V30 ThinQ's AI camera but will have the Snapdragon 845 chipset along with an OLED screen with a notch on the top. Rumor has it LG has a G7+ in the works as well and that it will cost €760. As is the LG norm, the plus version will not be an entirely new device, but will simply offer more RAM and storage. Source

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vivo announces AI powered Super HDR feature

vivo has announced a new AI-powered 'Super HDR' feature that would be coming to future Vivo phones. The goal here is to improve HDR performance but at the same time make the images look more natural and less processed using artificial intelligence. Super HDR captures 12 images and merges them together for a composite image. Using a higher number of images allows the camera a finer control over image processing. The camera then uses scene detection to identify different parts of the image and decides how to apply exposure to them. It can, for example, identify people and also other...

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Fitbit Versa unveiled: Pebble Time Steel's spiritual successor

Fitbit unveiled its second smartwatch - the Versa. It runs the same software (Fitbit OS 2.0) as the Ionic, but costs $100 less. The more rounded design should be giving you Pebble Time Steel flashbacks (Fitbit acquired Pebble a while back). The Fitibit Versa promises 4 days of battery life, the battery takes just two hours to charge fully. The color touchscreen promises 1,000nits of brightness for stellar sunlight legibility. The watch is waterproof up to 50m so you can take it swimming. It has a heart rate tracker built in (same as the Ionic) and offers 15+ exercise modes. You'll get...

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Xiaomi teases Mi 2s camera with clapping hands

Xiaomi has been doling out info about the Mix 2s, building up to the March 27 unveiling. The latest is two images of clapping hands, with vague text teasing new camera features. An earlier hand-based teaser was for the Snapdragon 845, could the two be related? The chipset supports AI camera enhancements (there's a teaser image for that as well), though clapping suggests speed. Maybe 4K at 60fps is considered fast or (more likely) the 720p at 480fps slow-mo feature. Clap for the AI-powered camera of the Xiaomi Mi 2s Or maybe it's about the speed of the autofocus? A leaked ROM...

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Lenovo S5 will have 18:9 screen and a dual camera on the back

The second official teaser for the Lenovo S5 is out, touting a metal unibody, a fullscreen display, dual camera with bokeh effect and Face Unlock. The teaser comes straight from Chang Cheng, the same Lenovo exec who announced that the S5 will arrive on March 20, with a humongous 6,000mAh battery. Chang Cheng has also teased some sort of AI smart engine on the Lenovo S5, but we can only guess its applications. Cheng has said that the Lenovo S5 will be better than the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5, which means we can expect an 18:9 screen, Snapdragon 625 (or better), the dual camera with Portrait...

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Oppo F7 teasers desperately want you to like the notch

Oppo is building up hype for the March 26 launch of the Oppo F7. The company tweeted more teasers that focus on the notched "Super Full Screen". While Oppo is stingy with the details, according to the rumor mill this refers to a 19:9 notched screen with a 6.2" diagonal and 1080p+ resolution. The screen to body ratio will allegedly be an impressive 89.09%, surpassing the best on the market right now. The Oppo F7 is coming (on March 26) Being part of its "Selfie Expert" phones, the Oppo F7 will sport a 25MP selfie camera with AI enhancements (of course), similar to what we saw on...

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Huawei teases P20's triple camera in new videos

Huawei will announce the P20 on March 27 in Paris and is actively teasing its triple camera now with a set of promo videos. The first one is called See Brighter and is teasing the low-light camera capabilities, while the second is dubbed See Closer, hinting at the zoom snapper. The videos see a Protog armed with thousands upon thousands worth of camera gear face an average person with a triple-cam-equipped Huawei P20. Check them out. The Huawei P20 will have a 5.84-inch screen with a notch on the top, a home button on the bottom and a lovely paint job.

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Presidential order bans Broadcom's proposed acquisition of Qualcomm

The Broadcom-Qualcomm deal is dead, forbidden by a presidential order. It is a permanent ban that forbids any future acquisition, merger or deal with similar consequences. Broadcom's nominee's for the Qualcomm board of directors have been disqualified by the same order. The presidential order cites "credible evidence" that the deal might threaten national security. It does not go into detail, but the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) said that Qualcomm's leadership in wireless patents for 5G are key to national security. If Qualcomm is impeded in its R&D, Chinese companies...

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Poster confirms the Huawei Nova 3e is the P20 Lite's Chinese name

Just hours ago we reported that Huawei will unveil a new phone - the Nova 3e - in China on March 20 and that that new phone will likely be a renamed Huawei P20 Lite. Today we got more proof of that thanks to a promotional poster for the Nova 3e that you can see below. The design perfectly matches the leaked P20 Lite renders from earlier. If the rumor is confirmed then we can expect the Huawei Nova 3e to share the rumored specs of the Huawei P20 Lite - a 5.84-inch screen of 2280x1080px resolution, 16MP+2MP dual camera, 4GB of RAM and a Kirin 659 chipset. A hat tip to Steve for...

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Oreo update starts rolling out to Asus ZenFone 4 Pro

Asus has started pushing out a new update to its ZenFone 4 Pro smartphone. The update, which arrives as version V15.0410.1802.34, is a major one, as it brings along Android 8.0 Oreo. In addition to the standard Oreo goodies, the update also includes changes like power consumption improvements, addition of a "Long screenshot" function, more friendly setting UI design, and substitution of Cast function for PlayTo function. For the complete change-log, head to the Source link below. Asus says it will take around one week for the system to complete the update auto-push. Source

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