Deal: Sony Xperia XZ Premium drops to $524.99, $275 less than its initial price

Sony took the wraps off its Xperia XZ2 Premium this week, and that means its predecessor is getting cheaper. The XZ Premium from last year can now be purchased for just $524.99. That's a whopping $275 less than the phone's initial price in the US, namely $799.99. The XZ Premium got its first price cut after only two months of availability, but even if you count from that $699.99 level, you're still getting $175 off with this deal. Previously, we've seen the XZ Premium going for $585 and $550, but never as low as $524.99. If you want a handset with a 4K screen and don't mind the huge...

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Microsoft finally runs out of Windows Phones

Last year Microsoft finally confirmed that Windows Phone is dead, but even after that point it still sold some such devices through its official online store. Not anymore, though. Today there are zero Windows Phones in stock at the Microsoft Store, and we assume the company isn't going to replenish those stocks. So it's yet another good opportunity to bid farewell to Microsoft's Windows Phone experiment, now that you can't even purchase the HP Elite x3 for $299, alcatel Idol 4s for $99.99, or the Idol 4s with VR goggles in a bundle for $169. We assume it took this long for the stocks to...

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Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ get April security update in Europe, improved stability

Samsung is now rolling out a new update (based on Android Oreo) for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in Europe. Specifically, people in Germany have received it already. It's a 570MB download that will install software version G950FXXU1CRD7 for the S8, and G955FXXU1CRD7 for the S8+. This brings with it the April security patches, both the batch that Google released, as well as Samsung's own fixes for its software. Additionally, the new release packs stability improvements for the camera, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. So if you've been having reliability issues with any of those, don't postpone applying...

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Moto E5 Plus and E5 hands-on review

Motorola made its big media day mostly about its best-seller Moto G-series, focusing on the ever more flagship-looking Moto G6 Plus, Moto G6 Play and plain Moto G6. But the E5 and the E5 Plus, which were also announced today are too well-rounded to be ignored.

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Moto Z Play receives Android 8.0 Oreo update in India

Motorola has started sending out the update to Android 8.0 Oreo for the Moto Z Play in India. It comes as a 1.12GB download, so if your data plan is limited make sure to grab it via Wi-Fi. After installation, your Moto Z Play will be on software version OPN27.76-12-22, with the April 1, 2018 security patch level. The latter is a nice surprise given how appallingly mid-rangers are usually treated when it comes to security fixes. That said, the Moto Z Play is unlikely to receive another update for some time (or ever), so hopefully no huge vulnerabilities will be fixed by forthcoming monthly...

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Sony 3D Creator update for Xperia XZ Premium, XZ1, and XZ1 Compact brings 3D selfies

Today Sony has issued an update to its 3D Creator app for the Xperia XZ Premium, XZ1, and XZ1 Compact. Once you install it, you'll get access to the features announced at MWC alongside the XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. You will be able to capture "super-fast" 3D selfies and then share them directly to Facebook or even 3D print them. Additionally, 3D Creator output is now more detailed and has more definition, thanks to the post-scan cloud processing rendering your 3D scans in 4K textures. That should make for greater realism, apparently. 3D Creator lets you capture anything, from food to...

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ZTE Nubia Z18 mini first sale is done, next one is on April 25

The ZTE Nubia Z18 mini was announced earlier this month and as promised it went on sale in China today. Price-wise, the 6GB+64B model costs CNY 1,799 (around €230), the 6GB+128GB one is CNY 2,099 (around €270) and the purple Provence Edition costs CNY 2,199 (just about €280). But there are limited available units, so ZTE has resorted to flash sales. The first one was today, and the next one is on April 25. You can sign up for the next flash sale on ZTE's Nubia website (source link below). It would be interesting to see how many units ZTE has sold today. But as of now, the maker...

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Here are the European prices for the Moto G6 and E5 families

Motorola just announced the new Moto G and Moto E series smartphones and we already have some information for consumers in Europe. Dutch retailer Belsimpel has all the new phones listed (save for the Moto E5 Play which is US only) complete with prices and availability info. Starting with the Moto G6, it's the only phone on pre-order with no set date for availability. If the availability of the other models is anything to go by, the Moto G6 will be available sometime after the end of May. The Moto G6 Plus is listead as availble in 3 weeks, which puts it sometime in the middle of...

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Moto E5 Plus has a 5,000 mAh battery, is joined by the Moto E5 and E5 Play

Motorola unveiled three affordable E-series phones, which in many ways mirror the new G6 trio. All three phones will launch "in the coming months" with Android 8.0 Oreo and even the most affordable model has a fingerprint reader hidden in the Motorola logo along with water-repellent coating. Also, the selfie cameras have LED flashes and your photos can be stored at full resolution at Google Photos for free. But don't think of these as the junior team, we think this first one might actually be a better phone than the Moto G6 Play (and at a lower cost to boot). Moto E5 Plus The Moto E5...

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Moto E5 Plus has a 5,000 mAh battery, is joined by the Moto E5 and E5 Plus

Motorola unveiled three affordable E-series phones, which in many ways mirror the new G6 trio. All three phones will launch "in the coming months" with Android 8.0 Oreo and even the most affordable model has a fingerprint reader hidden in the Motorola logo along with water-repellent coating. Also, the selfie cameras have LED flashes and your photos can be stored at full resolution at Google Photos for free. But don't think of these as the junior team, we think this first one might actually be a better phone than the Moto G6 Play (and at a lower cost to boot). Moto E5 Plus The Moto E5...

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Moto G6, G6 Plus, and G6 Play hands-on review

Motorola hasn't exactly enjoyed a smooth ride on the smartphone scene, over the past few years. Still, amid all the profit turmoil, ownership changes and shifting branding strategies, the legendary Moto G family of devices managed to survive. In fact, it did one better, managing to remain pretty consistent in its high-value features and affordable pricing strategy.

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Moto G6, Play, and Plus unveiled with 18:9 screens, clean Oreo

Motorola has just unveiled a trio of mid-rangers - meet the Moto G6 family. Each of the three models has its own strengths, but they share many similarities too. All three will launch with a clean Android 8.0 Oreo, they have 18:9 screens with fingerprint readers below them and while their cameras are different. All three have LED flashes for their selfie cams and get free high-quality storage on Google Photos (for both photos and videos). The Moto G6 trio will be available from the first week of May, except in Brazil where it launches immediately. Moto G6 Plus Of the three new...

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Xiaomi's Black Shark gaming phone scores 1 million registrations

Announced just yesterday, the Xiaomi Black Shark has already reached 1 million registrations. The gaming phone will launch soon - midnight today in fact. It seems that really resonated with fans - it's the most affordable way to get a Snapdragon 845 chipset, just CNY 3,000 ($480/€385). And we suspect that even non-gamers are looking at the 4,000 mAh battery with interest. Xiaomi's Black Shark scores 1 million registrations in a day Do gaming phones have a future? Well, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how many of those registrations are converted to sales, but with...

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That Samsung Galaxy S9+ mini will actually be called Dream-Lite

The Galaxy S9-like phone with dual cameras will not be part of the S-series after all, instead it will be called the Samsung Galaxy Dream-Lite. At least one version of it, SM-G8750, the previous info from TENAA was for the SM-G8850. Unfortunately, the early indications that this device will be exclusive to China seem to be confirmed by the "CN China" label in the Bluetooth certification. Anyway, the G8750 model can be seen over at Geekbench, which points to a Snapdragon 660 chipset instead of an 845 as reported originally. AnTuTu says the same thing. Plus, the screen has 1,080 x...

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Xiaomi releases amazing-looking portrait selfies taken with the Mi 6X

The Xiaomi Mi 6X is now only a few days from becoming official so naturally, queue in the official teasers. The latest one is a post on China's Weibo showcasing a few hand-picked portrait selfies taken with the Mi 6X's 20MP front-facing camera. The selfies look great on their own but when you factor in that they were taken with a phone's front camera, they move into incredible territory. Seriously, some of us here even think that they were taken with a dedicated camera and not a phone. Portrait selfies captured with the Xiaomi Mi 6X The selfie camera on the Xiaomi...

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Nubia Red Magic gaming smartphone announced, RGB LED extravaganza in tow

Nubia has just announced the Red Magic - a dedicated smartphone for gaming. Just like Xiaomi's Black Shark, the Red Magic has been designed with gaming in mind - its edgy shape is inspired by a battleship, while some configurable LED strips impress from the back. The Red Magic packs a 6" LTPS display of 2,160 x 1,080 px resolution. The whole thing is covered by a piece of NEG Dinorex T2X-1 glass. While the design and flashy strips are probably the phone's highlights, the chipset to power those games is also of utmost importance. In the case of the Nubia Red Magic that is the...

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Huawei Nova Youth steps up to Android 8.0 oreo with EMIUI 8.0 update

The Huawei Nova Youth is receiving the EMUI 8.0 update in China. The update is a major one, moving the Nova Youth from Android 7.0 Nougat to 8.0 Oreo and bringing along with it a host of features. The Huawei Nova Youth is the Chinese version of the Huawei P10 Lite, which started receiving the same update about a week ago. All two of the Nova Youth models (WAS-AL00 and WAS-TL10) are getting the update but users need to be up to the B240 version of EMUI to see the update on their phones. EMUI 8.0 brings the new AI engine optimizations which promise to rejuvenate the performance of...

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The Honor MagicBook is a 14" ultrabook with 8th gen Intel processors

Huawei expanded the Honor line into ultrabooks. The inaugural laptop - the Honor MagicBook - takes some design cues from the MacBook Air and its aluminum body measures 15.8mm thick and weighs 1.47 kg. Not too bad for an 'affordable' 14" laptop. The screen (fitted in the body of a 13" laptop) is a matte IPS panel with 1080p resolution and 45% coverage of the NTSC color space. It promises 800:1 contrast and 250 nits of brightness. The Honor MagicBook has a sleek aluminum chassis The MagicBook comes with 8th generation Intel processors - an i5-8250u version and one with...

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Oppo F7 in for review

Exit Oppo R15, enter Oppo F7. The Selfie Expert vibe is strong with the new F7, which boasts one of the highest-resolution front snappers we've seen - a 25MP camera with a variety of modes, effects, and stickers. The Oppo F7 is all about the selfies, but it's made to impress, too. While not relying on gradient paint jobs like its R15 sibling, the F7 is still as flashy with those Solar Red, Moonlight Silver, or Diamond Black color options. The F7 looks like any other glass phone we've seen lately - mesmerizing at first and smudge fest after a while. But looks can be deceiving,...

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Honor 10 unveiled with Kirin 970 chipset to power the AI of the dual camera

Huawei just unveiled the Honor 10 and put it on pre-order straight away. The phone sets out to be a slightly more affordable version of the Honor View 10, though not quite as cheap as expected - it's priced CNY 2,600 while the View 10 is CNY 2,800. Huawei Honor 10 The Honor 10 is built around a 5.84" screen with a notch on top and an aspect ratio of 19:9. It's an IPS LCD panel with 1,080 x 2,280px resolution (432ppi pixel density). The fingerprint reader below the screen is a Huawei tradition. The phone packs a high-end chipset - the Kirin 970 used in the P20 flagships. And...

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Carphone Warehouse lists Moto G6 Plus and G6 Play ahead of today's launch

It looks like the Motorola Moto G6 Plus and Moto G6 Play are close to becoming official as the pair have been listed by UK retailer Carphone Warehouse. The listing offers the names along with a brief description but the links themselves have been taken down. Luckily the guys over at Android Police managed to procure a few official press renders of both phones. The photos are inline with what we've seen from case renders. The Moto G6 Plus offers a 5.9-inch 18:9 display and a dual camera that recognizes landmarks and offers more information about them. From the images below we can see...

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Regulatory filings suggest new iPhones incoming

Published on Tuesday, a regulatory filing in the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) database details a slew of previously unreleased iPhone models. Russia requires that companies register all products containing encryption and/or cryptographic tools with the EEC. The EEC has been a reliable indicator of past Apple launches including AirPods, MacBooks and more recently, the 2018 iPad. Image courtesy of Consomac Apart from the model numbers and the fact that they're running iOS 11, the filings don't give away any additional information. However, given the early timing, it's...

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Meizu 15 caught on Geekbench with a Snapdragon chip

Yesterday, the Meizu 15 Plus appeared on AnTuTu, revealing that it will use the Samsung Exynos 8895 chipset, and today we get closer to finding out what the smaller Meizu 15 will use. The latter has been spotted on Geekbench testing a Snapdragon chipset. The model isn't listed but judging by the score it could be a 660 or the 635. The tested model comes with 4GB of RAM but we expect there will be a model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The Meizu 15 will have a 5.46-inch display with a conventional 16:9 1080p screen (possibly AMOLED), a 2,940mAh battery and run on Android...

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Job listing reveals Facebook aiming to design its own chipsets

Looks like Facebook now has plans to design its own semiconductor chipsets. There's a job listing on the social-networking company's corporate website that says Facebook is looking to hire a manager in order to build an "end-to-end SoC/ASIC, firmware and driver development organization." For those who aren't aware, SoC stands for System on Chip. It's basically an Integrated Circuit that contains all components of an electronic system on a single piece of semiconductor, called chip. ASIC, on the other hand, stands for applications specific integrated circuit. As the name suggests,...

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