You can get iOS 12 before its September 17 rollout

During its annual iPhone event, Apple announced that it will release iOS 12 to the general public on September 17. But Apple is currently seeding the Golden Master build of iOS 12 for developers and users enrolled in the Public Beta program. This will likely be the final build of iOS 12 that will get released to everyone in a few days time. So if you're eager to get your hands on iOS 12 and you can't wait four days to do it, you can just enroll in the Public Beta Program and update to the Golden Master build. Thanks for the tip!

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LG V40 ThinQ stops by the FCC in the US, hints at nearing launch

The LG V40 ThinQ is the next flagship from the company and we've seen plenty of leaks for the past few weeks. We've have a good idea of what it would look like, especially thanks to these rumor-based CAD renders. Specs aren't a secret as well so the latest FCC listing only comes to confirm that the announcement is very close indeed. The model number is LM-V405UA and with it already getting the needed certifications, we expect to see it go official sometime in October. Source

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Sony Xperia Ear Duo can read out your notifications on iOS and Android

Sony has updated the Xperia Ear Duo software on both Android and iOS. The biggest change is that the wireless earphones can read out notifications from the phone - who's calling you or even the text you just received. Another neat trick is that you can assign one of the commands to "current time", so you can check the time without having to reach for your phone. Voice notifications on iOS • 'Current time' action • Dynamic Normalizer toggle The Ear Duo can mix the sound of your music with the sounds of the outside world so that you remain aware of your surroundings. To improve...

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Honor aims to deliver first 5G phone in 2019, make the top 3 globally by 2022

Everyone is preparing for the arrival of the 5G networks next year. Almost all major brands have pledged to deliver a 5G ready smartphone in 2019 as China, the USA and other countries are looking to launch their next-generation networks that will drive the AI and IoT to new heights. And Honor makes no exception. During an INS Conference in Hong Kong, the president of Honor, George Zhao, said that the company will be ready to deliver a 5G-capable smartphone next year. As a man who's coming from the telecommunication carrier's business and has seen the shift from 3G to 4G network, he...

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Apple will no longer provide Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with the iPhone

Apple will no longer provide the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with the iPhone. A quick look at the spec sheets on Apple's website confirms that the adapter is no longer listed among the accessories that come bundled in the box. This applies to all the iPhone that are part of the 2018 lineup, including the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. The last two iPhones that had a headphone jack are now discontinued. The Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter, as it is called, as been part of the iPhone packaging since the...

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Apple discontinues the iPhone X, iPhone 6s and the iPhone SE

Apple today announced the launch of three new smartphones for 2018, the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max and the iPhone XR. You can read more about them here and here. However, what's not on sale anymore is equally interesting. Usually, when Apple launches a new smartphone, the previous year's model gets a sizable price drop and a second tier status. This year, that did not quite happen. The iPhone X from last year has been discontinued entirely. Apple would have taken a bit of a hit on its profit margins by selling the iPhone X for a reduced price this year as the cost of materials...

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Huawei trolls Apple, thanking it "for keeping things the same"

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few hours, you know that today was a big day for Apple. The company announced the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, three new devices that look a lot like last year's iPhone X (from the front, at least). Huawei didn't take long to respond, cheekily thanking Apple "for keeping things the same" through its official Twitter account. Thank you for keeping things the same. See you in London. 16.10.18 #HigherIntelligence #HUAWEIMate20 pic.twitter.com/ZhZHj9Xg3s— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) September 12, 2018 Obviously, what the...

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Here's how Dual SIM works on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max

For the first time ever, Apple has announced iPhones with Dual SIM functionality. The new iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max have this built-in, but in most places it won't necessarily be what you might expect. See, the iPhones come with just one physical SIM slot as usual. It's just that this is augmented with an eSIM. So if at least one of the carriers you intend to use supports the eSIM standard, then you can take advantage of the Dual SIM function. Otherwise, you're out of luck. The good news is that more and more carriers should start waking up to the eSIM reality. The bad news is that,...

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Apple HomePod update adds Siri improvements and phone calls

Apple today announced new features for the HomePod home speaker system. The company improved the Siri voice assistant feature on the HomePod, which gained a few new features. One of them is 'Search by lyrics‘, which lets you say something like "play the song that goes like this..." or "play the song that goes ‘I'm a rebel just for kicks now.'" and Siri will search the iTunes lyrics database and play the relevant song. The feature is currently only available in English. Another new Siri feature is a much-requested one. Previously, you could set just one timer at a time from the HomePod but...

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iPhone XS, XS Max and iPhone XR release dates and pricing roundup

Apple just unveiled another trio of iPhones but this time all are deriving from the original iPhone X. They are called iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS and the iPhone XR and we are now going to compare their prices across various markets. Pricing Here's what the the base 64GB models will cost you depending on where you live. Country iPhone XS iPhone XS Max iPhone XR US $999 $1,099 $750 Canada CAD 1,379 CAD 1,519 CAD 1,029 Australia AUD 1,629 AUD 1,799 AUD...

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Here are the new prices of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 (and Plus models)

The new iPhone XS, XS Max and XR are official and the prices are steep. The good news is that the older models just got cheaper. Well, some of them, the iPhone X is dead - replaced by the iPhone Xs. The iPhone 8 and even iPhone 7 models live on, however, at new prices. These prices are for the base models of each device. You can check the original starting costs of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus to compare the drop. Country iPhone 8 iPhone 8 Plus iPhone 7 iPhone 7 Plus US USD 600 USD 700 USD 450 USD 570 Canada CAD...

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Apple close to shipping the 2 billionth iOS device

Apple has built stores in many countries around the world, which attract millions of customers a year. Some even serve coffee, in case you want to hang out. This has proven successful as the company's stores attract 500 million visitors each year. And they are not just there for the coffee either, Apple is on track to ship its 2 billionth iOS device. That's "billion with a B". Most of those are iPhones, but there are plenty of iPads as well. Apple Watches too. In fact, this smartwatch is the #1 watch in the world - including quartz and spring-driven watches! While Android Wear...

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Apple Watch Series 4 arrives with larger display, ceramic and sapphire back, ECG and larger displays

Three years in a row, Apple used the same design for its Apple Watches and introduced only minor hardware updates whereas this year, the company finally brought some major changes. The design concept is pretty much the same but the size grew and now allows for a larger display to fit in. Now instead of the 38mm and 42mm models, Apple offers the Watch Series 4 in 40mm and 44mm flavors accommodating 35% and 32% bigger panels, respectively. Screen size compared to last generation The new watchOS now takes advantage of the bigger screen and new watch faces show more relevant...

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Apple iPhone Xr has a tall 6.1" LCD with a notch, single camera on the back

The iPhone Xr is the last of its kind - it still uses an LCD screen. But it is a tall screen (19.5:9) so you get slightly more surface area than an iPhone 8 Plus, even when you account for the notch. Apple has a new name for this display - Liquid Retina. Name aside, the pixel density is the same as the iPhone 8 Retina display (326ppi), resolution is 822 x 1,1792px (so below 1080p). This LCD panel did gain the 120Hz touch sensing and wider color gamut of its AMOLED-based siblings. There's another holdout from previous generations - the single camera - making this more of a successor to...

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Apple iPhone Xs and Xs Max announced with 5.8" and 6.5" OLED screens

Let's say goodbye to the iPhone design that has been with us since 2014 - the iPhone X from last year is the blueprint for Apple's future models. This includes features (Face ID instead of a fingerprint reader) and design choices (the notch). Apple iPhone Xs Max The iPhone Xs Max is the largest iPhone in history with an expansive 6.5" AMOLED screen. The bezels have dissolved, giving the screen a tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio and leaving behind a notch. The new screen has essentially the same width as the 5.5" panel on the iPhone 8 Plus, but the extra height accommodates additional...

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vivo V11 Pro first sales in India kick off today at midnight

Just last week, vivo announced its new mid-range smartphone in India - V11 Pro. Pre-orders started the very same day and are still active until later today. The price is still INR 25,990 ($361) and will be made available through various offline and online retailers including vivo's official web store, Flipkart, Amazon India, PayTM Mall and Snapdeal. You can find all of the listings in the source links below. If you hurry up, you can take advantage of the available deals available with every pre-order like no cost EMIs, cashbacks, etc. Source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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Huawei Maimang 7 (Mate 20 Lite) price and launch date revealed

The Huawei Mate 20 Lite launched ahead of the pack - ahead of the premium Mate 20 models and ahead of its Chinese version, the Maimang 7. Well, that last one is now a reality as Huawei unveiled its price and launch dates. The Huawei Maimang 7 will cost CNY 2,400 ($350/€300) and will come with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage (there's no 4GB RAM option like the Mate model has). Platinum Gold, Charm Blue and Bright Black colors are available. You can register for a unit today, a process that started at 11:08 local time. The actual sales start on September 15 (this Saturday) at 10:08. Note...

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Sony Xperia XZ Premium with Android 9.0 Pie spotted at AnTuTu

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is the oldest model in the company's lineup that is on the path to an Android 9.0 Pie update. The official schedule puts the release date sometime in November. The new software was spotted taking its tentative first steps, running a Geekbench test. The single core result is lower than what the Snapdragon 835 pulled off while running Android Oreo (the score should be in the 1,900 range), so it's clear the software isn't ready for prime time. All Xperia XZ models after the XZ Premium will be updated to Pie. Also, check out Sony's official software support...

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Kuo: Apple won't use ToF 3D camera in 2019 iPhones

In a note to investors, popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has disclosed that Apple will not introduce Time-of-flight 3D sensing to the rear cameras of its 2019 iPhones, and by extension its 2018 iPhones, due for announcement today. According to Kuo, Apple doesn't see current ToF 3D technology as advanced enough to enable the "revolutionary AR experience" Apple ultimately aims for. Furthermore Kuo believes that Apple's future AR plans require 5G connectivity, augmented reality glasses and a "more powerful Apple Map database" - possibly referencing the new Maps that Apple is...

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Samsung Galaxy Note9 gets September security patch

Galaxy Note9 users are reporting that they are getting an OTA update on their devices but interestingly, the firmware version N960FXXS2ARH6 is only available in the Baltic region, Romania, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. The OTA update isn't anything special, but it does fix some vulnerabilities with the latest September security patch. These include nine critical security issues and 18 additional ones for Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items. Тhe changelog also mentions stability improvements and bug fixes along with new features, but given the size of the...

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Apple.com reveals names, colors: iPhone Xs, Xs Max and Xr

We were in the dark about the names of the new iPhones and while they'll get an official introduction later today, Apple.com has already leaked both the names and the color options for the three iPhones. We start with the iPhone Xs, which will have a 5.8" screen and three storage options: 64GB, 256GB and 512GB. The color options are the familiar Silver, Space Gray and Gold. Next up is the iPhone Xs Max with a 6.5" screen 64GB, 256GB or 512GB storage. The colors are the same. The third model will be iPhone Xr. This one will have a 6.1" screen and its storage options are 64GB, 128GB...

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Honor 8X to hit Europe on October 11

A week ago Honor unwrapped the huge 8X along the even larger 8X Max at an event in China. It looks like the massive phone with a 6.5" screen is quickly going global after an invitation was slipped in our inbox. The Honor 8X first introduction outside China will take place in Prague, the Czech Republic on October 11. Since the Honor 8X is already official, we know what to expect - a device with Kirin 710 and up to 6 GB RAM, coupled with 64/128 GB storage. There is a vertical dual camera setup on the back that has a 20 MP main cam and a 2 MP depth sensor. There is one 16 MP selfie...

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Xiaomi teases the Mi 8X in Twilight Gold

Xiaomi is launching the Mi 8X / Mi 8 Youth next week in Chengdu, China. The phone already appeared on TENAA with a notched display on the front and a horizontal dual camera on the back, but now the company officially showed on of the color options of the device. The Mi 8X will arrive in Twilight Gold gradient which will likely mimic the colors of the sky in the minutes before the sun rises over the horizon. Xiaomi plans to launch the Mi 8X / Mi 8 Youth in a few other colors too. According to TENAA, it will also arrive in Black, Rose Gold, Gold, White, Blue, Red, Pink, Gray,...

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A bunch of CAD-based renders of the Samsung Galaxy J6 Prime surface

We knew that Samsung is working on a Prime version of its Galaxy J6 smartphone, and that it's nearing release and today, we can put a face on the rumors, thanks to renders based on factory CAD data and recent leaks. The renders show a device that has changed from its namesake, which was announced earlier this year. For starters the Galaxy J6 Prime (likely to be announced under the Plus name in some markets) has a dual camera on the back, where the Galaxy J6 has a single one. Another notable change is the missing rear fingerprint scanner. According to the source, the fingerprint scanner...

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Here's how to watch the Apple event live

The long-awaited Apple 2018 iPhone event is taking place tonight and the company is asking us to "Gather round" for the new devices that will be unveiled today. The iPhone Xs, the iPhone Xs Max, and the iPhone 9 will be the stars of the show and we'll tell you how to follow the full event that starts at 10 AM PT, 7 PM CEST. You can use a Safari browser on a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch and follow the Source link we provided below. There is also an Events app for all the Apple TV owners that can be downloaded from the App Store. If you are short on Apple devices or would just...

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Counterpoint: iPhone X reaches 60m shipments

The Apple iPhone X has been on sale for ten months now and in that time it has surpassed 60 million commutative shipments. In contrast, it took the iPhone 6 just six months to amass 60 million shipments and in ten months, it had already shipped 90 million units. However, thanks to its higher price, in the first ten months after its launch, the iPhone X has accumulated almost the same $62B revenue as the iPhone 6 in its first ten months. Interestingly, according to Counterpoint's data, the iPhone X accounted for more revenue alone, than each of Huawei, Oppo, vivo and Xiaomi's...

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