Asphalt 9: Legends game review for iOS and Android

The Asphalt series will be familiar to anyone who has played mobile games. Started out back in 2004, the original game was launched on the Nokia N-Gage platform, the OG smartphone gaming platform that people often forget about these days while talking about gaming smartphones. The original game was an absolute blast. With stunning 3D visuals (for the time), an eclectic collection of licensed tracks and fun handling meant I sunk an ungodly number of hours playing it on my N-Gage QD. The later games took the series further in terms of visual quality and having even more, newer...

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Fortnite for Android won't be available on the Google Play Store

Epic Games, creators of the incredibly popular battle royale style game 'Fortnite', have announced that the Android version of the game won't be available through the Google Play Store. Instead, it will be distributed through the developer's own website, confirmed CEO Tim Sweeney. The primary reason here seems to be financial. Like Apple, Google takes a 30% cut of every transaction that takes place on its store, whether it's the initial purchase or the in-app purchases. In return for that cut, the company provides the app developer with a platform to distribute its title, server...

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Samsung Galaxy S8 getting August 2018 security patch

Surprise, surprise! Samsung is super fast with the monthly security patch this time around and it's rolling out Google's August security fix for the Galaxy S8 and although the report doesn't say anything about the Galaxy S8+, we are pretty sure the latter isn't left out and it's getting the OTA update as well. The patch has been spotted in Germany with build number G950FXXU3CRGH and it requires a 418MB download. Aside from the security patch, the changelog mentions improvements for the Game Launcher. In any case, if you still don't see the update prompt, we recommend scanning for...

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Motorola Moto Z3 hands-on review

We've been waiting for the flagship model ever since the Moto Z3 Play was announced. Well, the wait is now over and the Moto Z3 is here. Announced last night as a Verizon exclusive, for the time being, the Moto Z3 doesn't bear the Force moniker and there are no claims of shatterproof glass. Moto has instead opted for a more conventional Gorilla Glass 3. The compatibility to the MotoMods as we know them is still in place, and as it turned out, they even have a brand new 5G Moto Mod in the works.

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Huawei looking to become top smartphone manufacturer next year

Huawei is coming in strong this year with record-breaking market share in China for Q2 2018 according to various analysts. All of this comes amidst falling Chinese market, which is downright impressive. With climbing shipments, Huawei is adjusting its target. Initially, the company aimed to ship around 180 million units this year, but with 95 million moved in H1 alone the company is now expecting to reach 200 million. Let us remind you that Huawei's Mate 20-series are still yet to come later in the Q4 2018. According to the CEO, Richard Yu, Huawei's excellent performance is mostly...

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Asus ZenFone 5z gets major camera-improving update

Asus is rolling out a major OTA update for the new ZenFone 5z smartphone. Most of the improvements in it are about the camera and its app. The following is the complete list of changes in this update: Enabled RAW file support Enabled Panorama feature Added on/off button for EIS Enabled flash feature in Pro mode Filters upgraded to Real Time Filters Improved HDR functionality Improved camera stability Improved auto exposure Improved photo sharpness Improved autofocus functionality Improved slow motion quality and file size (720p) Increased audio...

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Sharp enters smartphone OLED panels market

Samsung dominates the OLED market for portable devices with 90% of all sales - LG struggles is a very distant second with just 7.7%. How the entry of a third major player will change this is an interesting question and one Sharp has decided to find the answer to. Sharp is a renowned Japanese display maker and it's been supplying its own Aquos brand of smartphones with in-house made OLED panels but according to the executive vice president, Katsuaki Nomura, the firm wants to start exporting its screens. Reportedly, Sharp has already started mass production of its OLED panels back in...

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Galaxy Note9 retail box reveals key specs and features

After today's leaked intro video of the Galaxy Note9, it's time for some real numbers and detailed specs. They come from an official retail box for the Russian market. It holds almost everything we would want to know about the Note9's exciting new features. The Note9 boasts a 6.4-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED display confirming what was previously speculated but more importantly, the specs sheet mentions Galaxy S9+'s dual camera setup on the back - 12MP main lens with adjustable aperture (f/1.5-2.4), Dual Pixel PDAF support and a secondary telephoto one with 12MP resolution and f/2.4...

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vivo celebrates India Independence day with $30 NEX S and V9 sale

India is celebrating Independence Day on August 15, and as part of the celebrations, vivo is launching a series of promos on its online store. For the 72nd holiday, vivo is bringing 72 hours of special offers between August 7 and August 9, including flash sales of bestsellers vivo NEX S and vivo V9 for the symbolic amount of INR1,947 (no more than $30/€25). Commemorating India's 72nd year of independence, vivo is also offering earphones and USB cables from its online store for only INR72. There is also up to INR4,000 cashback on all credit and debit card transactions for select...

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Oppo will be first to release Gorilla Glass 6 phone

Corning introduced its latest iteration of the Gorilla Glass two weeks ago and manufacturers are fast to take advantage of the new glass. The company says that Oppo is going to be the first OEM to integrate it into its new smartphone. Corning adds that more smartphone makers are looking to take advantage of the protective glass and it's working closely with them. The Gorilla Glass 6 is said to be two times more durable than its Gorilla Glass 5 predecessor. This means that the material can survive 15 drops from 1 meter and it's considerably more resistant to pressure. The results are...

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Huawei Mate 20 Lite specs shine on TENAA

Huawei is preparing to launch the Mate 20 lineup this Fall, and the Lite version is now much less of a mystery. Yesterday its photos were published by TENAA and today specs were filled in. The Mate 20 Lite will have an unusually tall screen, massive battery and the latest Kirin 710 chipset. Huawei Mate 20 Lite TENAA photos The SoC of the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is not listed, but the octa-core 2.2 GHz CPU clearly points to the Kirin 710 that appeared in the Huawei nova 3i as well. The display measures 6.3" and has a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels, which has a ratio of...

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Samsung Galaxy Note 4 gets a battery life-boosting update

The Galaxy Note 4 is a 4-year-old phone so it's nice to see Samsung still taking care of it. The update is minor, though, so don't expect a new OS version at this point. The OTA update has been spotted in the Netherlands and it's 224MB big. The changelog points to improved security, but users say it still shows February 2018 security patch. Our best guess is that Samsung just applied a critical security fix without implementing the latest one from July. In addition, the update brings better power management, performance and stability although, no specifics are givene. Since it's...

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Deals: 10% off anything from eBay UK

Usually, eBay offers discounts for items from select sellers only. Today eBay UK is casting a wider net - 10% off anything you buy. The promo will run until later today at 20:00 local time. You are limited to two redemptions, but you could use the discount code PICKANY even if you have items from multiple sellers in your cart. You need to spend at least £20 and can get up to £50 in discounts. There are some other conditions, e.g. you need to be a registered eBay UK user, pay with PayPal, credit or debit card and a few others. The most important detail is that you can't stack the 10% off...

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Xiaomi launches Qin featurephones for $30

In a somewhat shocking move Xiaomi just announced a featurephone series called Qin. It is a crowdfunded device, designed by Xiaomi, and arrives with some AI capabilities and 4G radio. The project was backed up by over 23,000 people alreadyt. At time of writing pre-orders total CNY6,5 million. The Qin series shares the name of the famous Chinese dynasty, but in English, it sounds more like "chin." The first two phones are similar in looks - 2.8" screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, tucked along with the keypad in a 132 x 53.8 x 8.5 mm body. There is a dual slot for micro...

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Samsung accidentally outs the Galaxy Note9 intro video

Less than a week remains until Galaxy Note9's launch on August 9, but it appears that Samsung's official New Zealand YouTube channel didn't get the date right. A full-blown intro video of the device was uploaded and judging by the name and the fact that it was quickly taken down afterwards, it must have been an accident. The video is all about the updated S Pen and its enhanced functionality, the expandable storage and all day battery life. The S Pen appears in yellow and the Galaxy Note9 itself is in Coral Blue. The "all new powerful S Pen" references Bluetooth and additional...

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Google Pixel 3 XL flexes SD845 muscles on Geekbench

The upcoming Google Pixel 3 XL has had its fair share of leaks over the past two months but they are mostly photos and we still know relatively little about its specs. We've already confirmed the single camera setup on the back, the notched display design and we even got to see one in white. Today's leak, however, is more about the internals. A Geekbench listing shows Google's Pixel 3 XL running the benchmark with Snapdragon 845 chipset, 4GB of RAM and Android 9.0 P. The chipset isn't really a surprise since the SD845 is a logical upgrade over the SD835 on last year's Pixel 2 XL but...

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