Google Lens gets smart text selection and real time lookup

Google is rolling out smart text selection and real time lookup to Google Lens. Smart text selection recognizes text you've pointed your camera to and gives you more context and information. Smart lookup identifies items in front of your camera and gives you Google results about them as well as similar items. Both features come with a slight redesign of the Google Lens app. It brings a new Tap on Objects and Text menu. Among the features rolling out to Google Lens are some real-time AR capabilities. For instance you can point your camera to a popular landmark and instantly get...

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Martian Watches goes out of business

Despite the growing popularity of wearables, the market is not very profitable to most of the participants. Today another one bit the dust after failing to fulfill its Kickstarter campaign - the Martian. Founded in 2007, Martian Watches just announced that it's going to sell what's left of the company, which is primarily property rights and patents, to pay its creditors. The guys over at Martian Watches tried everything in their power by seeking out fresh investments and even help from current financiers. Unfortunately, nothing helped so Martian Watches is forced to close its doors...

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Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ now have six new "Incredibles 2" AR Emojis

The AR Emojis supported by Samsung's current top-end smartphones, the Galaxy S9 and S9+, just received an update. It adds six characters from the upcoming "Incredibles 2" animated film. Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Violet, Dash, Jack-Jack and Frozone are all part of the Incredibles family and can be downloaded from the Galaxy App Store to brighten up your day. Just open up the AR Emoji camera menu, tap on the plus icon and download the Incredibles AR Emoji pack. You can check the previous releases like Mickey, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck or you can wait for the Zootopia and...

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WhatsApp acknowledges bug that ignores blocked status

Popular messaging service WhatsApp is plagued with a major bug that allows users to message you even after you've blocked them. In addition to messaging, the loophole - which is present on both Android and iOS clients of the service - allows blocked contacts to see your status and profile details as well. The problem has a quick solution: unblock the contact and block them again. However, not many users are aware of the workaround. Obviously this is a very serious issue, so it should be fixed very soon.. but I hope WhatsApp is aware of it 😥 there are many tweets on Twitter...

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Alleged first real image of LG V35 ThinQ shows unchanged design

What you're looking at is the first image of the LG V35 ThinQ, caught in the wild. The phone looks identical to the LG V30 and LG V30 ThinQ, which is inline with the rumor mill's recent findings. LG V35 ThinQ The LG V35 ThinQ will retain the 6.0-inch 18:9 P-OLED screen of its predecessors and not move to a 6.1-inch notched 19:9 screen like the G7 ThinQ. It will have the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset with 6GB of RAM, dual 16MP cameras - one ultra-wide and one regular - and will retain the 3,300mAh battery of its predecessor. LG is expected to launch the V35 ThinQ as early as...

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Xiaomi enters Italy today, watch the announcement live here

Xiaomi is starting its official operation in Italy today, just as previously announced. It reached France two days ago when it opened its first brick and mortar Mi Store in Paris. The company also launched its French online store, where it sells the Redmi Note 5, the Mi Mix 2S, the Mi A1, the Mi Mix 2 and the Redmi 5. It's expected that it will do the same in Italy but we'll need to wait and see Xiaomi's official announcement. The livestream starts in at 4PM UTC and you can watch it right here. What most Italians will be looking forward to is Xiaomi smartphones being sold...

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Brace yourselves: EU's GDPR is coming

Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect tomorrow, on Friday, May 25. Coming downstream over the last seven years, even if you've never heard of GDPR you will have undoubtedly felt the GDPR 'bow-wave' over the last month, with your rapidly filling inbox raising awareness of the coming prelude. These emails, coming from every company you've shared your email address with, will have ranged from asking you to acknowledge new Privacy Policies to companies wanting you to opt-in to continue receiving marketing information from them. Europeans will likely also...

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Xiaomi Mi 8's specs leak reveal 6.2-inch display, in-display fingerprint scanner

Just a week before the official Mi 8 announcement, rumors started flying in. Yesterday a hands-on video leaked showcasing a gorgeous translucent back, much like the Translucent Blue variant of HTC U12+, and now we know what's peeking through the back panel. The leaked photo shows a 6.2-inch Full HD (1080x2280) display with 19:9 aspect ratio contradicting previous reports of a 6.01-inch display. We are also very excited by the in-display fingerprint scanner so we hope this one turns out to be true. Anyway, the list goes on with Snapdragon 845 chipset, which is hardly any surprise,...

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The Meizu M8c if official with a 5.45-inch 18:9 display, Snapdragon 425 chip

The successor to the Meizu M5c is here and it's launching in Russia first. The Meizu M8c is built around a 5.45-inch 18:9 1440x720px display, a Snapdragon 425 chipset with 2GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of expandable storage. Meizu M8c It lacks a fingerprint scanner but uses Face scanning thanks to its 8MP f/2.0 front camera. The main camera is a 13MP f/2.2 unit. The battery on the Meizu M8c is a 3,070mAh unit. Meizu M8c The Meizu M8c is available in Red, Gold, Blue and Black and is priced at RUB 9,990 (€140). We're still waiting on the word for availability...

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Xiaomi's MIUI 10 closed beta is open for registration

Xiaomi's latest version of its own user interface, MIUI 10, is set to launch alongside the anniversary edition Mi 8 smartphone on May 31 but the company just dropped the news that the closed beta program is open for registration. If you want to be one of the first to get the MIUI 10 software, you have to register before the end of today, Beijing time. After the official announcement on May 31, you will be eligible to get the new OS version. There are some requirements, though. First, you have to own a modern Xiaomi smartphone - Redmi Note 5, Mi Mix, Mi Mix 2, Mi Mix 2S, or a Mi 6...

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Huawei joins forces with Chinese display maker on foldable smartphone

It's not the first time we've heard about Huawei working on a foldable smartphone and the first indicator came two months ago when company patented a device with flexible display. Now, a Korean news outlet claims that Huawei is working closely with Chinese display maker BOE to bring the first commercially available foldable handset in November. The device is said to feature an 8-inch flexible display and rival the Galaxy Note 9 later this year. BOE is reportedly working on four different smartphone designs with two companies. Samsung could be one of those clients, but since the Korean...

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Samsung will announce the Galaxy Wide 3 for South Korea tomorrow

Tomorrow, May 25, Samsung will announce a new installment in its entry level Galaxy Wide series in South Korea. The Samsung Galaxy Wide 3 will have similar specs to its forebears - a 5.5-inch 16:9 HD screen, 1.6GHz octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in memory, expandable through a microSD card slot. It has a 13MP f/1.7 main camera and a 13MP f/1.9 selfie camera. The Galaxy Wide 3 has a 3,300mAh battery, just like its predecessor. The Samsung Galaxy Wide 3 will launch tomorrow on SK-Telecom in South Korea. It will be priced at KRW 297,000 (around €235). The...

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Energizer launches three phone lineups with big batteries

Energizer just launched its Power Max, Hardcase and Energy smartphone lineups that were intiially announced back in January. The Hardcase focuses on durability while the Power Max is mostly battery-centric, but big batteries are available across all models. Power Max P600S The first on the list is the Power Max P600S - a familiar-looking smartphone (we will let you figure out which handset it resembles) with a big 4,500 mAh without pushing the footprint too far, although it is a bit on the heavy side - 190g. It runs a MediaTek Helio P25 chipset, up to 6GB of RAM, 64GB of...

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Motorola Moto G6 to be available in US starting today

The Motorola Moto G6 smartphone will be available in the United States starting today. Carrier Verizon will be offering it for $240 outright. Of course, you can also opt for monthly payments - in that case you'll have to pay $10 per month for a period of 24 months. The G6 Play, on the other hand, is already available. Boost Mobile is selling it for $130. The G6 Plus, as already confirmed by Motorola during the official unveiling, won't be available in North America. Availability details from other carriers are awaited. Please note the Verizon page (Source 1 link below) is currently...

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platform is built on 10nm and brings AR and AI

Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 700 series back in February and it's now making the first of the two chipsets to lead the lineup official. The Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platform, as Qualcomm calls it, sits above the Snapdragon 660 and below the Snapdragon 835 and 845, aiming to trickle flagship functionality down to midrangers. The Snapdragon 710 Mobile Platform is built on an efficient 10nm process and uses the new Kryo 360 CPU. The new SoC brings a multi-core AR Engine for on-device neural network processing and a Spectra 250 image signal processor that can perform multi-frame noise...

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Nokia 8 Sirocco in for review

The new Nokia 8 Sirocco is the flagship of HMD Global's current lineup, borrows some of the aesthetics along with the name from the Nokia 8800 Sirocco. The other part of Nokia 8 Sirocco's name gives away its intention to succeed the Nokia 8. While the two share the Snapdragon 835 chipset and 16:9 aspect ratio of their screens, similarities pretty much end there. The 8 Sirocco comes with a curved P-OLED screen from LG with tack-sharp 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution in a rather small 5.5-inch diagonal. Keep in mind that diagonals aren't directly comparable across phones with...

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