LG asks Reddit for feedback on "the Notch"

There has been a lot of contriversy over "the notch" in the past several days, particularly with Huawei's announcement of the P20 and P20 Pro (though you do have the option of turning it off in the software), which both have notches. More recently, there was outcry on Twitter when Carl Pei, founder of OnePlus, was quoted saying that we should "learn to love the notch". Having this notch in the display was the only way that Apple could get away making a phone (mostly) all display without technically having a bezel. This design choice is now trickling into other smartphone manufacturers and...

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Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact are up for pre-order in the US

Sony's latest flagship smartphones are now up for pre-order in the US, at B&H specifically. The retailer wants $799.99 of your hard earned cash for the XZ2, and $649.99 for the XZ2 Compact. In both cases, $0 tax is collected outside of NY and NJ. Unfortunately B&H doesn't list a shipping date for either model. The XZ2 and XZ2 Compact will become available in Europe on April 5, but it's unclear if they will be in stock in the US around the same date or not. Anyway, what you're getting if you pre-order is an unlocked phone that will work on GSM-based carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and...

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Razer Phone jumps straight to Android 8.1 Oreo by the end of April

The Razer Phone launched in late 2017 on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and the company's fans have been patiently waiting for an update to Oreo ever since. Today we found out that this is closer than you may have expected. In fact, a Developer Preview of the new software is available to download right now. Needless to say, you probably shouldn't approach that unless you're okay with living with bugs. Oh, and note that installing it will erase all data from the handset. What's more, there will be no over-the-air update path to the official Oreo release. Alongside the preview, Razer has...

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Apple outs iOS 11.3 with Battery Health tool, watchOS 4.3, tvOS 11.3

Today Apple is releasing iOS 11.3, watchOS 4.3, and tvOS 11.3 to everyone with a compatible device. iOS 11.3 iOS has gone through a few beta builds recently, and now version 11.3 is finally ready for primetime. It includes the self-explanatory Battery Health tool that the company promised following the iPhone throttling scandal. This tells you whether your device has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. When that happens it will apply "performance management" (don't call it throttling) to prevent such things...

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Huawei has patented a phone with a foldable display

Huawei has worked hard to stay at the forefront of camera innovation, but it hasn't forgotten about displays. The company has patented a foldable smartphone that opens and closes like a book. The patent was filed with WIPO on September 19 last year and published today. The mechanism looks similar to the Microsoft Surface Book, but seems to leave a much smaller gap. The display - a single panel, rather than two like the Axon M - and should be tablet-sized when fully open. The patent doesn't address how the device will be used when it's closed. There needs to be some way to check...

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Brazilian agency reveals the battery capacity for the Galaxy J8 and J8+

The Brazilian agency was right about the Galaxy S9 battery capacities, now it has published photos of batteries for the Galaxy J8 and J8+, aka J800 and J805. We've seen these in benchmarks with Snapdragon 625 and Exynos 7885, chipsets known for their efficiency rather than speed. The batteries in question are 3,000 mAh for the J8 and 3,500 mAh for the J8+, mirroring the capacities of the S9 duo. That's 11.55 Wh and 13.48 Wh respectively. Batteries for the Galaxy J8 (left) and Galaxy J8+ (right), photo by Anatel These will be the first Galaxy J8 models, the series previously...

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Huawei P20 Lite now available at Vodafone UK

Huawei might have announced the P20 and P20 Pro at a glamorous event in Paris, but in the meantime, Huawei P20 Lite was already appearing on retailer shelves around the world. The latest to stock them is Vodafone UK, which just announced the lite flagship is available for purchase. Huawei P20 Lite Customers can get the Huawei P20 Lite only in Black color. There is an offer called 250 MB Essentials that gives you the cheapest monthly payment for a two-year contract - just £18 (with £99 upfront payment). A more lucrative deal would be the 4GB Red Extra plan that comes with...

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Samsung Galaxy Note9 may launch early and it's Galaxy S9's fault

Is it odd that the Galaxy Note9 was spotted at Geekbench this early? It isn't if the report of an accelerated time frame is true. And apparently, it's Galaxy S9's fault. The launch of the second 2018 flagship may come as early as July or August, based on info that Samsung Display is pulling up the AMOLED production for the Note9 from June to April, says Korean publication The Investor. This is partially because the Galaxy S9 isn't selling as well as Samsung expected and also because the company wants to preempt the new iPhones. Anyway, the new screen will be slightly larger -...

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Huawei announces familiar-looking Enjoy 8 phones

Two days after the P20 event, Huawei had another party, this time in China. The company launched three midrangers, part of the new Enjoy 8 series. The phones might look like new, but we already saw two of them arrive with different monikers. The biggest one - Enjoy 8 Plus, was recently launched as Huawei Y9 (2018) in Thailand. The regular Enjoy 8 is called Y7 Prime (2018) elsewhere, with the most affordable one - Huawei Enjoy 8e being the only new face. All three phones arrive with dual camera setups and 18:9 displays. We already covered the Enjoy 8 Plus arrival and the Enjoy 8...

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HMD's April 4 event in India may bring an Amazon-exclusive Nokia 7 Plus

HMD has scheduled an event in India for April 4 with hints that it will be about Android One phones. That doesn't narrow it down much, but Twitter user @IshanAgarwal24 has dug up this image, which suggests the Nokia 7 plus will be exclusive to Amazon India. Apparently, the 7 Plus will be sold through flash sales, similar to the sales approach of Chinese companies. The Nokia 7 Plus may be exclusive to Amazon India There's a chance that more phones will be shown at the event - Nokia 8 Sirocco and Nokia 6 (2018) - but they may not be exclusive to Amazon. The Nokia 6 (the original)...

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Carl Pei deletes "learn to love the notch" tweet after outcry from fans

Yesterday, Carl Pei talked up the decision to add a notch to the OnePlus 6. He even tweeted "Learn to love the notch" with a link to his interview with The Verge. Now that tweet is gone, deleted. Pei's timeline doesn't mention even a peep about a notch. Here's a copy of the deleted tweet: Learn to love the notch 😉 https://t.co/Rd9lkcksJV — Carl Pei (@getpeid) March 28, 2018 Understandably, there was an outcry from fans - they didn't like the new design direction. Admittedly, that's not uncommon, every new design has its detractors. Still, there must have been quite the...

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Marvel Strike Force free to play RPG now on iOS and Android

Marvel Strike Force is now available on iPhone, iPad and Android. The game is a free to play RPG featuring characters from the Marvel universe. In Strike Force, you form teams from a choice of 60 Marvel characters, including superheroes and supervillains. You can choose characters including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Loki, Elektra, Captain America and Iron Man. Once you assemble your squad, you can take on the bad guys using a fairly simple combat mechanism consisting of attacks and combos. You can upgrade your characters for even more damage and unlock...

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Verizon plans to resurrect Palm smartphones

Chinese manufacturer TCL, responsible for bringing back BlackBerry to life, bought the brand Palm back in 2015. Last summer we heard rumors about a comeback and now we have some details about it. Apparently, Verizon is expected to introduce a Palm smartphone in the second half of 2018. Blast from the past - Palm Pre Information about specs is non-existent. All we know for now is the device will run Android OS, instead of webOS that powered the Palm Pre2 back in 2010. Nostalgia is something that HMD Global skillfully exploits with its Nokia 3310 (2017) and the revived banana...

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Is this the Moto Z3 Play in these case renders?

Most of the H1 2018 flagships are already out, but Motorola is yet to show its hand. The expected Moto Z3 Play just appeared in case renders, revealing the modular design will stay for the third generation of Moto Z phones. A big noticeable difference is the fingerprint scanner, finding its way on the right side, probably because there will be no room on the front where a taller display is fitted. The front of the Moto Z3 Play is shown with one camera, while the circular module on the back will house two snappers, coupled with a dual-LED flash. The mods contact module has been...

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