Samsung partners with BuzzFeed and The Dodo to push Galaxy S9 Super Slow-mo videos

Samsung has announced a partnership with BuzzFeed and The Dodo to push Super Slow-mo videos created with the Galaxy S9 and S9+. While Sony was first to reach 960fps on a smartphone last year, Samsung seems much more intent on marketing this feature to consumers. BuzzFeed, "the world's leading tech-powered media company", will publish "fun, entertaining, and highly-shareable" Super Slow-mo videos across social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The Dodo, "the no.1 digital media brand for animal people", will do exactly the same. The videos will include the...

Read More

US bans ZTE from buying Qualcomm chipsets for seven years

ZTE can't buy Qualcomm chips anymore, following a decision by the US Department of Commerce. It punishes the Chinese company for violating the terms of a sanctions violation case, by banning all US companies from selling prohibited goods such as chipsets to ZTE. The ban will be in force for seven years. ZTE pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to violate US sanctions by illegally shipping US-made goods and technology to Iran. As part of the ensuing settlement, ZTE promised to fire four senior employees and discipline 35 others by either reducing their bonuses or reprimanding...

Read More

Huawei sells P20 and P20 Pro phones worth $15 million in 10 seconds

Huawei's latest flagship smartphones, the P20 and P20 Pro, have made quite a splash in the mobile world since they were announced last month. And that's now emphasized even more by their sales performance in the company's home market, China. P20 and P20 Pro devices worth CNY 100 million (that's more than $15 million) were sold in the country in the first 10 seconds after they became available to purchase from its online store last Thursday. That's definitely impressive, and it might predict that the duo will be successful elsewhere too. The P20 and P20 Pro are now available globally at...

Read More

Razer Phone gets Android 8.1 Oreo update and becomes available at Best Buy

At the end of March Razer promised that its eponymous smartphone would run Android 8.1 Oreo by the end of April. The company has kept its word with some time to spare. Starting today, the update is available to download and install, following a Developer Preview that was out for a couple of weeks. The rollout is staged and it will take 10 days for the new software to reach all the units that are in the wild. Razer says the update "presents a cleaner visual design and under-the-hood improvements for a better overall experience". It also packs an update for the built-in Nova launcher and...

Read More

High-res Moto E5, E5 Plus press images leave no side unseen

A new heap of official images have surfaced, uncovering the bodies of the upcoming Motorola Moto E5 and Moto E5 Plus in their entirety. This isn't the first time we've seen the Moto E5 Plus in press images - the previous ones we saw are the same as the ones below only the phone came in Light Blue. Now we can add Graphite and Gold. Moto E5 Plus in Gold The rendered images show the front that has an 18:9 tall-aspect screen and a glossy back that houses a fingerprint scanner and a camera module. The glossy finish looks like it could be glass or metal but considering the...

Read More

Vodafone launches Galaxy S9 and S9+ Red Bull Ring limited edition

Red Bull Racing had a pretty good weekend - its driver Daniel Ricciardo was minutes away from missing the qualification, but his mechanics came through and the Honey badger took home a win. Great time to launch the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ Red Bull Ring limited edition. The bundle includes a branded box and a special Red Bull Ring case (named after the Austrian Grand Prix track). The limited edition phones are available on Vodafone Netherlands starting today and lasting until April 27 (next Friday). The Galaxy S9+ will cost you €30.69 down and €55 a month for 6 GB of data and...

Read More

Nokia 6 (2018) starts its pre-orders in the US, ships on April 24

HMD has brought the Nokia 6 (2018) Stateside through Walmart. It's available on pre-order now for $276.17 and will begin shipping on Tuesday, April 24. The Nokia 6 (2018) started its retail run in the UK, on CarphoneWarehouse a few days ago - priced SIM free at £229. It will become available in the Netherlands in May. It's also already selling in India for INR 16,999. Just as a refresher, the Nokia 6 (2018) brings a few improvements over the first Nokia 6 - it ups the processing prowess with the use of a Snapdragon 630 (over the 430 of the previous gen), it moves the fingerprint...

Read More

First Xperia XZ2 Premium promo is all about Sony's Motion Eye Dual camera

If you need a 60-second introduction to the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium then this video is just what you're looking for. It starts with the Motion Eye Dual camera and how could it not when this is Sony's first foray into double-cam shooting. It places special focus on the low-light capabilities of the camera - it can push its ISO up to 51,200 for photos and up to 12,800 for videos. Of course, the new 12 MP black & white camera with a bright f/1.6 aperture helps too. The camera can shoot 4K HDR videos which you can then watch on the 4K HDR screen - not many of those around. But you came here...

Read More

Oppo A3 leaks with a notch and an affordable price tag

Oppo quietly unveiled the A1 in China last month and now a slightly more powerful Oppo A3 is in line for a launch. The China Telecom website spilled the beans and we got to see the first images of the device. It will have a notched display but no fingerprint scanner, leaving Face Unlock as your only biometric security option. The phone has a MediaTek Helio P60 chipset that is built on the 12nm FinFET process by TSMC. It is coupled with 4 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage, although Oppo added a microSD slot for up to 256 GB more. The 6.2" screen comes with a resolution of 2280 x...

Read More

Motorola offers a permanent price cut on the Moto G5s in India

Motorola has announced a permanent price drop on last year's Moto G5s in India. The 32GB variant will now be available for INR 9,999 ($152), down from the original MSRP of INR 14,999 ($229). The phone will be available in Fine Gold, Lunar Gray and Oxford Blue at Moto Hubs, Amazon India and other offline retailers. Even though the price drop is only now official, the phone was available at the lower price for quite some time now. Flipkart, which is not one of the authorized sellers for this phone, sells it for an even lower price than the new MSRP. While the discounts are nice, we...

Read More

Pete Lau shares camera samples from OnePlus 6

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has shared some full-res 16MP camera samples from the OnePlus 6 from a recent walk around Stanford, California. The exif information has naturally been stripped from the photos but they're otherwise untainted. We get to see what the OnePlus 6 will offer in good light. The images showcase the 16MP camera of the upcoming flagship in ideal conditions - in great weather with a clear blue sky with lots of texture-rich objects peppered about - trees and buildings. OnePlus 6 16MP camera samples There's even one portrait-mode shot of the tulips...

Read More

Oppo F7 Diamond Black Edition goes on pre-order in India, ships on April 21

The Oppo F7 Diamond Black Edition has just gone on pre-order in India and will start shipping on April 21. The special edition is the maxed-out model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and will cost INR 26,990 (€330). The regular edition Oppo F7 was announced on March 26 and went on sale earlier this month for INR 21,990 (€273) for the starting 4GB+64GB variant. The Diamond Black Edition Oppo F7 has a special diamond-pattern triangle-cut finish. Underneath the uneven surface is a multi-layered glass panel that reflects light differently under angle. Oppo F7 Diamond Black...

Read More

Gold iPhone X shines luminously on FCC

Apple announced a Product Red Special Edition varianst of the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus last week. The did not reach the flagship iPhone , but it may get a Gold version instead, according to FCC listings. Gold iPhone X The model is shown to have its back and sides colored in Copper Gold, which is a bit darker than the color of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The front will stay completely black, including the infamous notch. Gold iPhone X from more sides The Gold iPhone X is expected to have the same hardware as the Silver or the Space Gray...

Read More

Samsung Galaxy J6 with Infinity Display reaches the FCC

Like a younger sibling, the Galaxy A series has been getting hand-me-downs from the S series, things like the Infinity Display. Now the junior J series is getting some too - the FCC published its report on the Samsung Galaxy J6, including a few screenshots. 18.5:9 screenshots from the Samsung Galaxy J6 These screenshots clearly show an 18.5:9 screen, the mark of an Infinity Display. Naturally, on-screen controls have taken over from the retired hardware keys. This probably means a fingerprint reader on the back as well. Unfortunately, the FCC wasn't kind enough to publish...

Read More

Samsung patents notched and full screen designs

Samsung is among the few makers yet to release notched displays, but the maker might be about to succumb to the peer pressure. A new set of listings revealed that the South Korean company has patented a design featuring a screen with a prominent cutout. It will house a proximity sensor, earpiece, and a selfie camera, while the screen stretches to all four sides, leaving minimal bezels. The back, though, is pictured with various camera setups, one of them suspiciously close to the one on the iPhone X. Looking at the images, it seems Samsung has patented all the designs just in...

Read More

OnePlus is teaming up with the Avengers, but not for a phone

When we first heard about a collaboration between Marvel and OnePlus we were a little dubious. But here it is now, straight from the horses mouth - the collaboration is real. We're still not sure it's an Avengers-themed OnePlus 6, however. What we could glean from the Google Translated post sounds like a competition to win two tickets for the Shanghai premiere of Avengers: Infinity War. To win, you have to post cosplay photos on Weibo before April 17. You also need to mention your favorite Marvel superhero and OnePlus phone in the post. Avengers: Infinity War poster It's more...

Read More

Oppo patents underscreen fingerprint scanner

The first company with a fingerprint scanner under the display was vivo with the X20 Plus UD, swiftly followed by the Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design. Oppo is expected to be the next Chinese manufacturer to jump on the bandwagon after receiving a patent for the technology from the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO). The documents were coupled with plenty of images that reveal the scanner might be used not only for unlocking the device but also for authorizing payments. Images from the patent documents The patent images show the sequence of entering your...

Read More

Xiaomi confirms Mi 6X will be the star of April 25 event, 20MP cameras on board

Xiaomi had already sent out invites to an April 25 event but it wasn't crystal clear what it will unveil nor where it will hold the event. Well, the next teaser clears both of those - Xiaomi will unveil the Mi 6X (and Mi A2) in the province of Wuhan's capital city of Hubei. The place is dear to Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun who obtained his Computer Science degree in Wuhan back in 1991. The official teaser confirms the Xiaomi Mi 6X's dual 20MP cameras while the recent rumors add that it will have a 5.99-inch 2160x1080px tall-aspect display, a Snapdragon 626 chipset and 4GB of RAM with 64GB...

Read More

Nokia X coming on April 27, posters reveal

It seems HMD may have a new device dubbed Nokia X in the works and it could make it official as early as April 27. The news was broken by some moviegoers who saw digital posters for the Nokia X, over in China. There hasn't been anything in the rumor mill concerning a Nokia X which leads us to believe that this will likely be a low-profile device and not the expected Nokia 9 (or 10) flagship. Posters for mysterious Nokia X Given that the original Nokia X was an entry level device we expect this one to follow suit. Of course this could turn out to be some marketing ploy by...

Read More

Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium arrives with dual cameras and 4K HDR screen

It is still Monday but Sony already delivered what will likely be the biggest announcement of the week. The Japanese company just introduced its first phone with dual cameras - Xperia XZ2 Premium. The phone has a 4K HDR screen, Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6 GB RAM and the ability to capture photos and videos in extremely low-lit environments. The TRILUMINOS display is 5.8" with a resolution of 2160 x 3840 pixels in the standard 16:9 ratio. Wrapped between a 2.5D Gorilla Glass 5 and a glass back, the phone follows the Ambient Flow design that was introduced with the Xperia XZ2 and Xperia...

Read More

Honor 10 specs confirmed by TENAA

Specs of Honor 10, expected to arrive globally on May 15, already appeared in the wild 10 days ago. Now we have double confirmation on most of them thanks to the Chinese regulatory TENAA. The next Honor flagship will have a Kirin 970 chipset, a tall notched screen and latest version of the Android OS. Honor 10 appeared in four different configurations under the following model numbers - COL-AL10, COL-TL10, COL-AL00, and COL-TL00. The SoC is built by Huawei-owned HiSilicon and comes with an octa-core CPU, clocked at 2.36 GHz. RAM will be 4 or 6 GB, and storage is also in two sizes -...

Read More