Realme 2 Pro appears on Geekbench with 8 GB RAM

Realme 2 Pro will arrive next week and the company CEO already teased the device, saying it will have Snapdragon 660 chipset. Today the device, codenamed OPPO RMX1807, arrived on Geekbench, revealing it will also have 8 GB RAM, living to its Pro moniker. The results from the CPU benchmark are in line with other Oppo smartphones that run the same chipset - Oppo R15, Oppo R11, Oppo R11s. The single-core score is 1452, while the multi-core number is 5511, which is pretty normal for a Snapdragon 660. The phone is said to run Android 8.1, but we expect Oppo's Color OS 5.1 on top. The...

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Instagram adds GIF support to its direct message platform

There are fully fledged communication apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger that have a wide variety of functions and features like games, location sharing, stickers, and even sending payments. Then there's the "direct message" category, which is more of a supplementary messaging platform to compliment social networks like Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. Direct message isn't really something you'd want to use exclusively due to a lack of features, but Instagram is making it somewhat bearable by introducing GIF support on Instagram DMs. The Instagram app is...

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Here's a video walkthrough of Android Pie on the Galaxy S9

Just a couple of days ago, an early build of Android Pie was running on the Galaxy S9+ and XDA-Developers shared screenshots outlining some of the changes. Today, XDA-Developers shared a slightly newer build running on the Galaxy S9 and is showing the changes in a video walkthrough. The build is running on an AT&T Galaxy S9 variant and the video has the presenter walking us through the interface and going through the apps, many of which have a dark theme. The notification shade is also different with the same dark theme and rounded corners of the cards. Quick Toggles look different...

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HMD Global is holding an event in London on October 4, announcing a new smartphone

HMD Global has started sending out invites for an event it's holding on October 4 in London. As you can see from the invite below, a new smartphone will be announced on that occasion. No other clues are available in the invite, but it's easy to assume that we'll be seeing the oft-leaked Nokia 7.1 Plus make its global debut. Sure, this could also be when the much anticipated but still not real Nokia 9 sees the light of day, especially after Samsung's already revealed its storage options earlier this month. We'll have to wait and see. Although HMD Global has launched the Nokia 8...

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Amazon announces new range of Echo Companion Devices

Along with four new Echo devices, Amazon has also launched five new Echo Companion Devices. These are the Echo Sub, Echo Input, Echo Link, Echo Link Amp and Echo Wall Clock. Echo Sub is a subwoofer that is designed to work with your existing Echo devices. The Sub features a down-firing 6-inch subwoofer with 100W of power and pairs wirelessly with any existing Echo or Echo Plus. You can either pair a single Echo/Echo Plus with the Sub or two of them for a 2.1 speaker set where each of the Echo/Echo Plus become individual stereo speakers. The Echo Sub is priced at $129.99. Echo...

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Amazon announces new Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Show and Echo Auto

Amazon has announced a slew of new Echo devices, including a new Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Show and Echo Auto. The new Echo Dot moves away from the plasticky design of the previous model to a new fabric design that comes in three colors. The new model also includes a new speaker that is claimed to sound louder and richer. Rest of the functionality remains the same, as does the price at $49.99. New Echo Dot The new Echo Plus features similar upgrades, with a new fabric design and an upgraded 3-inch speaker with stronger bass and clearer mids and highs. The new model will be...

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Huawei's first foldable phone will also be its first 5G smartphone

Huawei and Samsung are in a competition to release the first foldable smartphone and Huawei's Ken Hu just upped the ante - Huawei's first foldable phone will also be its first 5G-capable phone. And it will arrive earlier than expected with a mid-2019 launch (at a previous event Huawei promised its first 5G phone for the second half of 2019). Sub-brand Honor also has a 5G phone in the works. Anyway, Hu highlighted the three major use cases for 5G: faster mobile broadband, lower latency and the Internet of Things. Samsung's CEO confirmed that a foldable phone will launch before the...

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Counterpoint: Apple earned 62% of the global phone profits in Q2

Apple recently hit the trillion dollar valuation (slightly behind schedule) and you may be wondering why. Counterpoint Research has two charts that will quickly explain it - Apple took in 62% of the global profits from phones during the second quarter of this year. That's $6 billion in profits on $30 billion of revenue. The Q2 profits of chief rival Samsung have been falling for the last three years and it took home 17% of the global profits, less than a third of what Apple made fro its phones. Meanwhile Chinese brands have been growing steadily with Huawei and Xiaomi getting a huge...

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Samsung Internet Beta Browser gets a UI overhaul

Samsung's own Internet Browser is a popular alternative to Google's Chrome on Android, especially since the company made it available for non-Samsung devices as well. Currently, the Play Store offers the app in two variants - stable and beta but the latter still appears to be a step behind the v.9.0 found on APK Mirror. The latest release brings a bunch of visual changes and appear to be more in line with the upcoming Samsung Experience 10 aesthetics. The first thing you will notice is the simplified navigation bar that now has a new menu button replacing the bookmarks...

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Apple starts shipping iPhone XS and XS Max, the Apple Watch Series 4 too

People in the US have started receiving notifications that their iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max is on the way, the same goes for the Apple Watch Series 4. That means they should arrive on schedule - September 21. But the initial supply seems all but exhausted. Apple.com says that if you order now, the phone will ship in 1-2 weeks. AT&T it can deliver units between September 26 and 28, T-Mobile between September 26 and October 2 (even later for the XS Max). Only Verizon seems ready to deliver new pre-orders tomorrow. The situation in other 29 countries that are part of the first wave...

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Asus ROG Phone late-October shipping date listed

The Asus ROG Phone was announced way back in early June and nearly four months later you still can't buy one. That may finally change, if a GearBest listing is to be believed. The site prices the phone at $1,320/€1,140 and claims that the shipping date will be between October 22 and 24. That's the 8/128GB version, the 8/512GB model will cost $1,620/€1,400. Those prices are higher than the €1,000 asked by Finland's Telia (that was a pre-order with a free ROG Delta headphones, but it has since disappeared). The carrier claimed that shipments will start in mid-September, but that...

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Cat announces the B35 - a rugged 4G feature phone

Cat briefly showcased the B35 rugged featurephone during this year's IFA and now the company is ready to reveal its complete details along with a launch time frame. It is IP68 water and dust protected meaning it can go up to 1.2 m under water for 35 minutes. The chassis is also shock-proof and Cat has says it can survive 1.8m drops on concrete. Additionally, the handset is MIL-810G compliant so it can handle extreme cold, heat, salt mist, humidity and vibration. The internals are hardly impressive, but then you wouldn't expect that from a featurephone anyway. You get a...

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Deal: Huawei P20 Pro gets a price cut to GBP 599

Huawei is about to launch the Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro on October 16 in London and the UK market is already seeing discounts on older smartphones. The unlocked Huawei P20 Pro with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage is now down to £599 both in the plain Black and the flashy Twilight colors. The triple-cam P20 Pro was launched back in March for £800 in the UK by various retailers and carriers. Price went slightly south in the past few months, but even today some stores such as Carphone Warehouse are selling it for £679, while carriers are asking for £799 if you don't sign a...

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iPhone XS teardown reveals L-shaped battery and more watertight seals

The new iPhones are hitting the shelves tomorrow, but we already get to take a peek inside thanks to FixjeiPhone's teardown. The iPhone XS and XS Max are both subjected to it and we now know more about their internals. Right off the bat, the guy disassembling the device said the screen is now much harder to pop out compared to the previous generation iPhone X due to the additional watertight seals. The new seals ensure that the device can be submerged in 2 meters of fresh water for 30 minutes without any issues - that's what the IP68 rating gives you. The IP67-rated phones like the...

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Three GoPro Hero7 cams announced, the Black model has HyperSmooth stabilization

B&H jumped the gun and revealed GoPro's three new cameras. The company is back to a three tier scheme marked by colors. The GoPro Hero7 Black is the top model with 4K at 60fps video capture. The most important addition here is HyperSmooth video stabilization, which promises "gimbal-like" smoothness. The camera's 12MP sensor can capture 30fps photo bursts and RAW photos. There's a SuperPhoto Auto HDR feature as well. The Black model offers high bandwidth video capture - up to 78Mbps in 4K/60 - and is the only one here that has an external mic input and a removable battery. Live streaming...

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Leaked Nokia 7.1 Plus (X7) renders show a notch, dual Zeiss camera

We've seen purported screen panels of the Nokia 7.1 Plus (aka Nokia X7) twice now and both times without a notch. However, the first renders of the device show a mid-sized notch - not iPhone wide, but not teardrop either. Which leak is correct? These images claim to be official renders and the other two X-series phones do have notches. Anyway, the screen in the image has a 19:9 aspect ratio (not accounting for the rounded corners) and the likely resolution is 1,080 x 2,280px. The size is unknown as the earlier reports of a 5.9" diagonal are now suspect. Nokia 7.1 Plus (aka Nokia X7)...

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Apple iPhone XS benchmarks confirm chart-topping performance

The colleagues over at Tom's Guide were able to get their hands on the new iPhone XS and XS Max and put them both through extensive testing. They even put Apple's new flagships against Android's current best smartphones sporting Snapdragon 845 chipsets and last year's iPhone X. As expected, multi-core performance isn't a big leap over the A11 Bionic from 2017 but single core performance is vastly improved. And when put against Android's current flagships, it's a clean sweep for the A12. The available synthetic benchmarks are Geekbench 4, 3DMark Slingshot Extreme and GFXBench...

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Meizu X8 joins the notch squad with a SD710 and а $235 price

Meizu unveiled the 16X yesterday, along with the affordable duo V8 and V8 Pro. A fourth smartphone called Meizu X8 is a mixture of neat specs and low cost and somehow went under the radar. One of the reasons is probably it is the first phone of the company with the infamous notch, even if the cutout was skipped in two previous flagship series from earlier this year. Meizu X8 in Black, Blue, White The phone has a 6.2" screen with Full HD+ resolution (2,220 x 1,080 pixels). There is a Snapdragon 710 chipset on the inside with an octa-core CPU up to 2.2 GHz. The memory...

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Strategy Analytics: Google Home Mini leads the smart speaker market in Q2

Strategy Analytics has just released its report on the Q2 shipments of smart speakers across the globe. The numbers revealed that over 50% of the speakers are either by Google or Amazon, with Google Home Mini grabbing the lion share with a 20% of the market. Volume in million Market share Google Home Mini 2.3 20% Amazon Echo Dot 2.2 18% Amazon Echo 1.4 12% Alibaba Tmall Genie 0.8 7% Google Home 0.8 7% The numbers reveal that although the market is...

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Official OnePlus 6T video surfaces, teases the in-display scanner

The first official OnePlus 6T promo video has surfaced, featuring Indian legend Amitabh Bachchan and the upcoming phone. The video is a short clip that teases the in-display fingerprint inside the OnePlus 6T and shows the actor handling the phone for a second. The video was reportedly planned to air during the India vs Pakistan cricket match during the Asian Cup 2018. The OnePlus 6T will have an in-display fingerprint scanner, a dual camera on the back, most likely an AI-powered variant of the current 16MP + 20MP main cameras, a slightly larger 6.4-inch 1080x2340px Optic AMOLED...

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Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) announced - triple camera and Super AMOLED display

We knew that Samsung is prepping to launch its first ever triple camera smartphone but we didn't expect it to be so soon. Behold the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) - a smartphone with three cameras on the back that should only cost a fraction of the Huawei P20 Pro's price. The Galaxy A7 (2018) in black, blue, gold and pink The Galaxy A7 (2018) accommodates a 6-inch Super AMOLED display with 1080 x 2220 pixel resolution and no notch. The phone uses an octa-core 2.2GHz CPU paired on an unnamed chipset and comes in three different memory configurations - 4GB/64GB, 4GB/128GB or...

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