Xiaomi Mi 8 SE now available with 128 GB storage

Xiaomi announced the Mi 8 SE back in May and later the phone was launched with 64 GB storage and two RAM options - 4 GB or 6 GB. Now the company adds a third version to its Mi Store - one with 128 GB storage. The phone does not differ in any other way from the Mi 8 SE that we just reviewed. It runs on Snapdragon 710 with octa-core CPU and boots Android Oreo. The screen is a 5.88" AMOLED panel with a notch on top that houses all the traditional sensors and comes with the basic Android Face Unlock feature (the high-end face-scanning tech is reserved for the Mi 8 Explorer). Initially,...

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Alto's Odyssey now available on Android

Popular game Alto's Odyssey is finally on Android. The game is available to download worldwide for free on the Google Play Store unlike the iOS version, which is paid. However, the Android version has ads, which you have to pay to remove. Alto's Odyssey is the successor to Alto's Adventure by Noodlecake Studios, who also make other awesome games like Chameleon Run, FRAMED 1 and 2, Lumino City, and more. Like Alto's Adventure, Alto's Odyssey is an 'endless runner‘ style of game, where you ski down a slope and perform jumps and wall slides, while collecting coins, completing...

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Samsung to announce Galaxy Tab S4 at next month's Unpacked event

For a while, we've been saying that we'll likely see the heavily leaked Samsung Galaxy Watch launch alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note9 at Samsung's Unpacked event in NYC. However, sources told TechnoBuffalo that the Galaxy Tab S4 will debut in NYC and the Watch's fate is still undecided. So it's not known if it will wait until IFA or launch in New York. Both the Tab S4 and Note9 solidly surrounds the S Pen focusing on productivity, so launching them together would certainly create more noise for Samsung and the S Pen. Before this, it was generally speculated that the Galaxy Tab S4 would...

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Apple patents a way to wirelessly transfer power between devices

Today, a patent was published at the USPTO from Apple that describes an interesting way to charge Apple devices. The patent describes a wireless charging coil that could transmit current bi-directionally. Thus, a theoretical iPad or MacBook with the same wireless could transfer a charge to an iPhone X or iPhone 8 with a depleted battery. We know that there is currently no such thing as an iPad or MacBook with induction coils for the purpose of wireless charging. However, should Apple put the idea into fruition, it could be an interesting last-alternative to charge a dead iPhone...

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HMD is hiring a team to expand presence of Nokia phones in the US

HMD's Nokia phones have a limited presence in the US - a few mid-range to entry-level phones - but LinkedIn postings reveal that the company wants to hire a new team to help it grow. It needs an e-commerce lead to deal with HMD's online distribution partners like Amazon and Best Buy. It needs a product lead, too, to talk to carriers and decide on a roadmap, anticipating trends in the market. And it needs a technical account manager to handle customer requirements (both consumers and operators). HMD's job postings on LinkedIn The US market can be a tough nut to crack for phone...

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Moto E5 Plus and Moto Z3 Play specs and design revealed by TENAA

A number of Motorola devices surfaced on TENAA hinting at nearing Chinese launch. The devices in question are the already introduced Moto Z3 Play and Moto E5 Play. Moto Z3 Play In a plot twist, the Moto Z3 Play for the Chinese market might come with better hardware. According to the listing, the device will sport a Snapdragon 660 instead of Snapdragon 636 and also receives a slight bump in the battery department - from 3,000 mAh on the original model to 3,300 mAh on the Chinese version. The rest of the hardware remains pretty much the same with the available memory configurations...

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Oppo Find X fails bend test

The Oppo Find X with its innovative motorized top section that houses the cameras took the world by storm since it was announced, but there have been concerns about the durability of at least the sliding mechanism itself, if not the entire phone. These concerns are definitely not going to be put to rest by the video below, in which Zack from JerryRigEverything performs his usual battery of tests on the Find X. The motorized top section, when out, does wiggle a bit, moving all over. This means there's space for dust and other particles to be caught down inside the moving...

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Nokia Q2 profit misses analysts' predictions, pins its hopes on 5G

Nokia's operating profits for Q2 missed estimates - they were €334 million (42% down from Q2 last year) while analysts were predicting €373 million. The company is banking on money from 5G to improve the second half of 2018. Nokia's largest business, Networks, brought in €4.7 billion in sales but only a tiny €69 million in operating profit. Most of the total profit came from Nokia Technologies, the patent licensing division, which made €292 operating profit on net sales of €361. That's a 27% year-on-year increase. US carriers are preparing to launch their 5G networks and Nokia...

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Huawei will spend $15 to $20 billion on R&D in 2018, up from $13 billion last year

In 2017 Huawei spent $13.23 billion on Research & Development, 14.9% of its revenue. That made it one of the biggest spenders on R&D behind the likes of Amazon ($22.6B) and Alphabet ($16.6B). A huge portion of the company's workforce - 45% - is dedicated to research. Going forward it will put even more into R&D - Huawei has pledged to spend between $15 and $20 billion. Of that, 20% to 30% will go to basic science research (even though the original expectation was for 10%). Beijing Research Center • Shanghai Research Center Huawei believes it owns 10% of the essential patents...

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Oppo R17 is coming soon, might pack 10GB of RAM

Oppo's R15 and R15 Pro premium mid-rangers only went official this March, but the company is already working on a successor for at least one of them. It is unsurprisingly going to be called Oppo R17. That has been revealed today by a Chinese leakster who shared the image below on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter equivalent. It was captured at an Oppo-sponsored media event, and as you can see the company has already started to tease the R17. No other details about the phone have come out of that event, but the same leakster has previously said that the handset will have up to 10GB of...

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Xiaomi exec says "no" to S710-powered Mi Max 3

Xiaomi's Director of Product Marketing has busted the rumor that there's a Snapdragon 710-powered version of the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 on the way. This info was posted on Weibo and fans weren't too happy about it. The Mi Max 3 Pro rumor started with info spotted on Qualcomm's website and promised to upgrade the mid-range Snapdragon 636 with the more premium 710 chip (which in our testing is pretty close to the S835). The non-Pro Xiaomi Mi Max 3 The Max's key feature is its huge 6.9" screen and that was enough for some people in the comment section. Others who wanted a large screen but...

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Huawei phones can no longer install VLC player from Google Play store

The Android OS is so diverse and stretches to so many devices manufactured by different OEMs that at some point, it becomes almost impossible for developers to keep track of all the bugs that may occur when installed on different handsets. The latest drastic and somehow controversial decision from VideoLAN's developers' team lead to blacklisting Huawei phones and not allowing them to find the app on Google Play. This is due to a growing number of Huawei users complaining about specific features not working on their devices and giving the app low ratings. More specifically, background...

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LG Q2 reports show record profit, phones still struggling

The end of July is filled with Q2 reports and now its time for LG Electronics. The Korean company achieved its highest ever global revenues, highest operating profits and its first KRW30 trillion of sales in 6 months. The black mark on the report is the Mobile Communications division which posted an operating loss and a decline in quarterly sales "due to slowing growth of the global smartphone market". Speaking in absolute numbers, sales between March and June were KRW2.07 trillion ($1.92 billion). The operating loss was KRW185.4 billion, which is equal to $171.95 million. The...

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Samsung teases Galaxy Note9's battery life, fast performance, and ample storage in new video series

Today Samsung officially started a video teaser campaign for the upcoming Galaxy Note9 smartphone, that it will unveil at a special event on August 9. Three videos are out already, and each one focuses on a specific strength of the Note9. Let's start with what will probably be most important to most people - battery life. Leaks and rumors have talked ad nauseam about a 4,000 mAh cell being built-in, and recently an official certification of the phone has confirmed that. Next up, performance. The Galaxy Note9 is implied to be very fast, which is unsurprising considering the fact that...

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Meizu sends out invites for July 30, Meizu 16 incoming

It was previously thought that Meizu is planning to release its new flagship smartphones on August 8 but the invite Meizu sent out to Chinese media clearly says July 30. And it doesn't get more official than this. Meizu invite We are also pretty certain that the Meizu is scheduling the event for the Meizu 16 and 16 Plus smartphones judging by the write-up on the box. However, we don't know what the Head & Shoulders shampoo has to do with anything. Probably there's a collaboration of some sort. Also, the previously leaked date, August 8, might refer to the devices' market...

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vivo NEX durability test shown in awesome video

The second vivo announced its NEX smartphone, many were wondering how the periscope-like camera will fare in the long run. How much beating can it take before it snaps? Well, vivo was fast to assure that the design has gone through some extensive testing and it can withstand 45 kg of load on top and about 50,000 times of opening and closing. But what about the durability when pushed from the side? The latest durability test video addresses that. They put eight devices in a circle and place a 40 kg glass on the cameras then a 50 kg ballet dancer goes on top of the glass. That makes a...

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Samsung unveils second-gen LPDDR4X chips with 16 gigabit capacity

Samsung introduced its LPDDR5 RAM, but there's still room in the market for the older standard - LPDDR4X. Today the company unveils the second generation of 4X chips, which deliver 4,266 megabits per second. These are 16 gigabit chips - that's 2GB per chip, compared to 1GB for the LPDDR5. This means only four of them are needed for the 8GB package that Samsung created, which saves on price (LPDDR5 needs eight chips for that capacity). Also, second-gen LPDDR4X uses 10% less power than the first-gen and the new 8GB package and is 20% thinner than one using the older 4X chips. This is...

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Qualcomm announces growth in latest quarter, pulls out of NXP acquisition

Qualcomm announced its results for the three-month period, ending on June 24. Both revenue and operating income have grown on a quarterly and yearly basis, but another announcement also grabbed our attention - the San Diego company is pulling out of the NXP acquisition after failing to obtain agreement from Chinese regulators. Qualcomm wanted to purchase the Eindhoven-based NXP back in February for $44 billion. The San Diego chipset manufacturer got approval from 8 key regulatory bodies, but the 9th and last one - the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation with the...

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Huawei's nova and nova 3i reach India as Amazon exclusives, launch on August 7

After launching in China, Huawei has brought the two nova 3 phones to the world's only other market with over a billion people - India. Both devices are exclusive to Amazon and will be available on August 7 (pre-bookings start later today). The Huawei nova 3 is a flagship in disguise. It has a 6.3" screen with 1080p+ resolution and a notch. The chipset is the Kirin 970 paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. So this is like a P20 with a bigger screen and more RAM. For INR 35,000 ($510/€435) you're not getting the Leica-branded rear camera, but you do get a better selfie camera than...

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Bluetooth vulnerability found on Apple and Android smartphones

According to specialists at CERT, a wide range of Bluetooth-enabled devices have a serious security vulnerability and it's not limited to just smartphones either - PCs, tablets and other devices need a fix ASAP. The issue resides within the data encryption process when information is transferred from one device to another. There's a missing check in the keys (Diffie-Hellman key exchange), so a hacker who's within Bluetooth range can intercept basically all the data that's being transferred. That includes not only notifications but also security codes for two-factor...

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Google Drive reaches 1 billion users

Google is ready to add an eighth platform with over 1 billion users to its portfolio. The cloud service Drive is joining the elite team of Gmail, Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Android, and Play Store. The company announced at the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco that the milestone would be reached "later this week," without clarifying which day exactly, but nevertheless the news is impressive. Google usually keeps it quiet about the cloud service. Last year at the Google I/O conference it was announced there are more than 2 trillion files and over 800 million active users....

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ZTE will have to re-brand its smartphone business to be allowed to enter US market

The US government gave ZTE green light to restart its business on US soil and also use US-made technologies but only if the Chinese vendor checks off a long list of obligations. The most impactful one is the required split and re-branding of ZTE. The firm needs to drop "ZTE" from its smartphone branding and split from its network infrastructure. The reason for this is that authorities can't say for sure that their network business isn't a threat to security while their smartphones use US-based technologies such as Qualcomm's chipsets and are safe to use. For the very same reason the...

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Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer will go on sale on July 30

Xiaomi will start selling its Mi 8 Explorer on July 30 at 19:30 local Chinese time at a price of CNY 3,699 or €460 converted. Xiaomi doesn't say how many units it has in stock for the flash sale but our guess is not a lot. Previously it was rumored that the Mi 8 Explorer will start selling on July 24. The Mi 8 Explorer has an under the display fingerprint scanner as well as a semi-translucent back panel. The configuration that will go on sale will most likely be the 8GB/128GB model which is currently the only one on offer. Rumor has it that 4GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB models will...

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