Samsung is reportedly working on its own GPU for Exynos chipsets

Going by job listings on LinkedIn, Samsung has decided to build an in-house GPU. The company reportedly sniffed around AMD and Nvidia as potential GPU suppliers, but nothing came of it. Now it may follow in the footsteps of Apple and have design the second major component of a chipset in-house. A California-based design team is pulling talent from Qualcomm, AMD and Nvidia to design alternative graphics cores to ARM's Mali, which Samsung is using in its Exynos chips. Samsung will aims to build flagship GPUs but will start from the more affordable segment so that it can gain...

Read More

Google invests $550M in Chinese retailer JD.com

Google announced on Monday a new key partnership with the Chinese online retailer JD.com. According to the official Google blog, the Mountain View company would invest $550 million. To return the favor, the retailer will allow results to appear in the Shopping section of Google's search engine. Karim Temsamani, President of the Asia-Pacific Operations at Google, said the deal would is expected to "accelerate and deliver consumer experiences that are helpful, personalized and offer high-quality service in a range of countries around the world, including in Southeast Asia". Jianwen Liao,...

Read More

Case for Pixel 3 XL supports the notch rumors, has single camera hole on the back

There's mounting evidence that the Google Pixel 3 XL will have a notch on the front and will not have a dual camera on the back. The latest leak joins live photos (and more) and a screen protector. This time it's a render of a case that includes an image of the front as well. The good news is that the arrival of the notch is not the end of the front-firing stereo speakers. And it's not a particularly wide notch either (by the way, Android P natively supports notches). Early rumors suggest that the screen diagonal will be 6.2" (up from 6.0" in the 2 XL thanks to the notch). A Pixel 3...

Read More

vivo will launch the NEX A and NEX S in India in the second half of July

According to sources, vivo will launch its NEX A and NEX S in India in the third week of July. The price of the range-topping NEX S will be INR 40,000 (€500) and while there's no mention of a price for the NEX A, we expect it to be around €400. The vivo NEX S and NEX A share most of their specs, but the NEX S has the faster Snapdragon 845 (710 for the NEX A) and more RAM - 8GB over the NEX A's 6GB. The NEX S has an under the display fingerprint reader while the NEX A uses a conventional rear-mounted reader. Otherwise the specs read as follows - 6.59-inch 1080x2316px Super AMOLED...

Read More

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium come to UK and 17 other countries

Today Google is launching YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in the UK as well as 12 other countries. The service initially launched in May in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. The new markets include Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. YouTube Music YouTube Music offers music videos, albums, singles, remixes, live performances and covers as well as curated playlists for mood, genre or activity. The app features a Smart Search that finds songs by name or by lyrics (even if they are not...

Read More

Asus ROG Phone will hit Indian market in September

After the surprising launch of the so-called ROG Phone by Asus during this year's Computex, the company is looking to release the device on the Indian market as well. According to unnamed sources, the phone will debut in India sometime in September but no specifics were given. Technically, this will be the first gaming-centric smartphone to be sold in India - even Xiaomi's Black Shark and ZTE's nubia Red Magic didn't make it there. This comes as a big surprise because the ROG Phone wasn't supposed to exit Taiwan, yet this is an opportunity for the company to cash in on the Indian...

Read More

No small iPhone this year - the iPhone SE 2 won't be coming around

The famous case maker, Olixar, just came out with some disappointing news regarding the smallest variant of the 2018 iPhone X. There were plenty of rumors and even renders based on the iPhone SE 2 schematics, but the latest piece of information goes out to say that the latter won't see daylight anytime soon, or ever. The case maker has a solid track record of accurate leaks so far, so there's a good reason to trust them on that In fact, the first detailed renders of the iPhone SE 2 came from Olixar themselves and we are disappointed to see the phone being cancelled. There are still a...

Read More

Samsung Galaxy J7 Top gets Bluetooth certification

Samsung expanded its J-series in the past few weeks first with introducing the Galaxy J4 and the Galaxy J6, followed by the Galaxy J3 (2018) and the Galaxy J7 (2018). Once the primary devices are outed, it is time for the market-specific ones like the Galaxy J7 Top that just received Bluetooth certification. The phone, listed with a model number SM-S757BL, will have Bluetooth 4.2, meaning no high-end chipset that supports BT 5.0. This is far from surprising, knowing that Samsung positions its Galaxy J devices at the affordable end of the price spectrum. A Korean version of the...

Read More

Xiaomi MI 8 goes global, now available in France and Russia

The Xiaomi Mi 8 was made official late last month, with China becoming the first market where the flagship device went on sale. While it's safe to say the list of other launch markets is already known, there has been no information on when the launch will happen in these regions. Well, turns out the handset is already available outside of China. According to a 'Super moderator' on the Chinese company's official online user forum, the Mi 8 has made it way to a few non-Chinese markets, including France and Russia. A quick look at Xiaomi's online stores in Russia and France doesn't...

Read More

Xiaomi Mi A2 appears on Swiss site, sales start in August

When the Mi 6X was unveiled in late April there was no mention of an Android One version. Now a Swiss online store has put the Xiaomi Mi A2 on pre-order with a choice of three storage capacities and three color options. Sales will begin on August 8, nearly two months from now. The 32 GB model is CHF 290 ($290/€250), then there's a 64 GB model at CHF 330 ($330/€285) and a 128 GB one at CHF 370 ($370/€320). The color options are Black, Blue and Gold. Xiaomi Mi A2 in Black, Blue and Gold As for the specs, the only change from the Mi 6X is that MIUI gives way to Android One....

Read More

Meizu 16 will feature an in-display fingerprint and impressive screen-to-body ratio

Even though the Meizu 15 is still fresh on the shelves, the company's founder started teasing the Meizu 16 and 16 Plus flagships. The firm is expected to launch both devices sometime in August with in-display fingerprint and a modern screen-to-body ratio. The exciting details come directly from Meizu's founder and CEO, Jack Wong, so we consider the info solid. He said that it will have thinner bezels than the iPhone X and the Mi 8, but as we know, neither of those devices are leading the exceptionally high screen-to-body ratio race. They are both around 83% so we can expect the Meizu...

Read More

Motorola is currently running soak test for Android 8.1 Oreo on the Moto G5S Plus

The budget Motorola devices don't usually get the much-needed updates as fast as they should so when an OTA pops up on a Moto device, users rejoice. The latest device to get the Android 8.1 Oreo is the Moto G5S Plus but don't get too excited, though, as the OEM is currently running a soak test in some countries. And apparently, the update will skip over the Android 8.0 Oreo. Reportedly, the first country to get the update is Brazil shortly followed by some parts of Europe and India. The OTA itself is pretty hefty - about 1.2GB so we expect plenty of changes under the hood. Just make...

Read More

Moto XT1920 pops up on FCC, looks like an Android Go phone

Motorola is preparing the One Power device that should arrive as the successor of the Moto X4 with Stock Android. According to a listing by FCC, the company is also preparing a phone with Android Oreo: Go Edition that has a model name XT1920. Of course, this might be a standard low-end device, but the phone is listed with 1 GB RAM, meaning it will most likely sport the lite version of Android Oreo. FCC listing details The listing shows the XT1920 will also have 16 GB storage and a 2,000 mAh battery. Size-wise the phone will be tall 147.88 mm and wide 71.22 mm, but...

Read More

Motorola granted patent for foldable smartphone with heating hinge

Motorola has been granted a patent for a foldable smartphone with a thermal element in the hinge. The element heats up the place where the screen has been deformed from being folded and straightens it. Using this design Motorola could make a flexible OLED smartphone that flexes both inward and outward and it could even have more than one hinge (to fold even tighter). Image courtesy of LetsGoDigital Motorola filed the patent application way back in 2016. The technology is very clever. There's a temperature sensor that works even when the phone is off and when it's folded. If the...

Read More

Samsung Galaxy Note9 512GB variant to be available in Korea

Last month, there were reports the Samsung Galaxy Note9 will also be available in 8GB/512GB memory configuration. And now, we have some info on the markets that will get this model. Korea seems almost confirmed as the 512GB model was found listed on the website of KT Olleh Store (the listings have been pulled though). Then there are rumors that China (and possibly some other markets) will also get the 512GB storage variant, but Europe is not on the list. Galaxy Note 9 will come with 512 GB ROM to selected markets (Korea, China and maybe more)— SamsungMobile.News...

Read More

LG X5 (2018) goes official with 4,500mAh battery

LG has silently announced a new smartphone. Dubbed X5 (2018), the device is powered by Mediatek's MT6750 chipset with octa-core 1.5GHz processor, and comes with a 5.5-inch HD display. RAM is 2GB, while internal memory is 32GB. There's a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front shooter. Measuring 154.7 x 78.1 x 8.9mm and weighing in at 171g, the device runs Android 8.0 Oreo and packs in a large 4,500mAh battery. The device also features a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, supports LG Pay, and comes in Morokan Blue color option. South Korea is the first country to get it, where the...

Read More

Oppo Find X to have a 93.8% screen to body ratio

Oppo is introducing the long-awaited true flagship tomorrow under the name Find X. The phone was teased several times by the company on Weibo, but the latest image gives us some information on the display. According to the post, the Find X will have a massive 93.8% screen to body ratio with practically non-existent top bezel. According to a video ad that appeared during the weekend on CCTV1, the phone will not have cameras on the front or back. Instead, the whole top side of the rim will rise and that's where the dual camera setup, including the LED flash, will be hidden. If...

Read More

Is LG working on an Android One phone that will be a T-Mobile exclusive in the US?

LG may be working on an Android One smartphone. Evidence related to this have been found in the kernel source code for the yet-to-be-launched LG Stylo 4. The device - codenamed 'cv5a' - may be a T-Mobile exclusive in the United States. The confirmation that 'cv5a' is an Android One device comes from the suffix 'sprout,' which you'll find in the codename for almost every Android One device released so far. As for specifications, based on the information dug out from the kernel source code, the handset is powered by Snapdragon 450 SoC, and features a 5.5-inch FHD+ (1080×2160) 18:9 LCD...

Read More