vivo Z3 is official - Two versions with different Snapdragon chipsets

The Chinese manufacturer vivo introduced the V11 in early September in China, then renamed the phone as V11 Pro in India. Later the company issued a slightly lighter version called V11i everywhere else but had the simple V11 moniker on the Indian market. And when you thought it couldn't get more confusing, the Helio P60-powered unit with a fingerprint scanner on the back appeared as vivo Z3i in China. vivo Z3 All these phones have the same footprint, and now a new twin named vivo Z3 joined the family. It is exactly the same in size, including the waterdrop notch, but it...

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Samsung Galaxy Watch gets a new update that improves charging and music playback

Samsung's latest wearable, the Galaxy Watch, debuted alongside the Galaxy Note9 back in August. Today it's started to receive a new software update. This isn't a big one, nor does it bring with it new features. Instead, what it does is enhance the reliability of battery charging and improve the reliability of music playback. Additionally, the overall usability and experience have been improved as well, though there are no further details as to what that might entail. The update requires a 28MB download, and you can grab it through the Galaxy Wearable app on the phone that your...

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Foldable tablets are coming: Lenovo to launch one with an LG-made display

You might already be tired of reading rumors about foldable smartphones being imminent - after all, they've been in the news for years without one single such device actually shipping yet (or being announced). Well then, how about foldable tablets? Apparently those are going to exist too, at some point in the future. And the first one might be a Lenovo tablet, with an LG-made foldable screen. That is, if a new report from South Korea is to be believed. The Lenovo foldable tablet will have a 13" display when it's opened, and 8" to 9" when folded. It should be sold in China, at least...

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Upcoming iPad Pro shown inside a case, Face ID in tow

Apple didn't introduce new tablets at its September event, but now it's widely rumored to be holding a separate get-together this month for just that purpose. We should thus finally see the much-leaked 2018 edition of the iPad Pro becoming official. The new 12.9-inch model is today being pictured with its rounded screen corners inside a UAG case, as you can see below. The bezels are very slim for a tablet, and there's no Home button anywhere. That was expected, however, as this device will have Face ID - the sensors for the system can be seen in the top bezel (which is the left one in this...

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Google Pixel 3 XL teardown reveals Samsung-made screen, loads of glue

If you were dying to see some nice high-res shots of the Google Pixel 3 XL's innards, wait no more. The teardown experts over at iFixit have once again done what they do best and picked the smartphone apart. The teardown has revealed that the display Google is using this year comes from Samsung (while the touch controller is the same part used in the Galaxy S9+). That's in contrast to last year, when the Pixel 2 XL's OLED panel was manufactured by LG. The switch of suppliers isn't at all surprising, however, in light of DisplayMate's evaluation of the Pixel 3 XL's screen. The...

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Affordable vivo Y81i appears in Malaysia

vivo first introduced the Y83 with a notch and a fingerprint scanner on the back in May and a month later the vivo Y81 appeared without the sensor and with a toned-down chipset. Now we get a third installment in the series and its most affordable member yet - the vivo Y81i. All the neat features in a promo slide The new device has the same - 6.22" HD+ display with a notch, single main camera on the back and 3,260 mAh battery as the regular vivo Y81. The manufacturer tweaked the insides and this time included the MediaTek MT6761 chipset that is a toned-down version of the already...

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OnePlus 3, 3T, 5 and 5T Android 9 update delayed

If you are a OnePlus 3/3T or 5/5T owner you might want to be seated for this one. Pete Lau, company's CEO, says the developers need more time to work on the Android 9.0 Pie update for those phones. It's understandable to some extent given that the OnePlus 3 and 3T are more than two-year-old phones that weren't supposed to get the 9.0 Pie update in the first place and new phones are a top priority at the moment. But what's with the hold up on the OnePlus 5 and 5T? Unfortunately, Pete Lau didn't disclose anything more and moved on to tease the OnePlus 6T. He says that the latter will...

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RED Hydrogen One smartphone infographic reveals key specs and features

The RED Hydrogen One is a smartphone unicorn of sorts - it made some cool promises at its launch, but as it comes to terms with reality it finds itself unable to make good on them. And while we wait to see if it's going to actually go in mass production or not, here's a cool infographic from the company explaining some of its key specs. Obviously, the centerpiece of the Hydrogen One are the cameras - you can find two of them on the front and two on the back. The front ones offer 8.3MP resolution while the back ones are 12.3MP but unlike most multiple-camera smartphones, the Hydrogen...

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Get your zoom ratios right, Huawei!

In the realm of standalone cameras and camera lenses (as opposed to cameraphones) a 16-80mm lens is a 5x zoom lens, simple as that. So why is Huawei not advertising the just announced Mate 20 Pro's 16-80mm equivalent optics as having 5x zoom, and the Mate 20's 17-52mm equivalent as 3x? And in similar vein, why doesn't LG list the V40 ThinQ's triple camera as 3x (3.25x, even!) in promo material, but 2x instead? In a way, Samsung's approach of avoiding the 'x' conundrum in the Galaxy A9 (2018) specs altogether makes a little more sense. Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) We've been arguing...

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HTC U12+ receives a software update in Europe

HTC U12+ units in Europe, Middle East, and Africa have started receiving the latest software update. The Taiwanese company is seeding the 160 MB package with S/N 1.30.401.2, and it brings mostly system optimizations and bug fixes. There is also a security patch dated September 2018. The package is arriving OTA and should be popping up on all phones any moment now. There's not much info what exactly is fixed, but given the short changelog it doesn't seem to add anything in terms of new features. The HTC U12+ is one of four smartphones by the Taiwanese company to receive Android...

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Samsung's Exynos chips and ISOCELL cameras coming to cars

Samsung launched its in-house chip business back in 2010, but it gained traction in recent years when the Exynos SoCs powered many of Samsung's handsets on the global market. The same goes for the ISOCELL CMOS camera sensors that make Galaxy flagships one of the best camera phones on the market. And today, the Korean giant announced that it's bringing Exynos and ISOCELL to the automotive industry. How will Samsung's mobile technologies benefit today's car makers, you may ask. With the push for smarter and safer cars, the industry needs more advanced sensors and computational...

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First Realme 2 sale in Indonesia smashes record

Realme introduced its latest phones in the end of September and promised an expansion of the brand outside India. Today the Realme 2 trio finally appeared on Lazada Indonesia and the original Realme 2 phone immediately smashed the retailer's sales record. According to Realme, the first flash sale sold 15,000 units in 10 minutes, breaking the smartphone sales record in 2018 of the website. Oppo Realme 2 The Realme 2 is available in the Asia-Pacific country in two variants - 3/32 GB for IDR2 million ($130) and 4/64 GB for IDR2.4 million ($157). It can be purchased in either Diamond...

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Lenovo K9 launches in India with Helio P22 and four cameras

Lenovo just announced its next low-end smartphone from the K-series - the Lenovo K9 and it's going against the Realme 1, Realme 2, Realme C1 and Xiaomi's Redmi 6 and Redmi 6A. The Lenovo K9 features a 5.7-inch IPS panel with HD+ (720x1440 pixels) resolution and a trendy 18:9 aspect ratio. The chipset behind the wheel is MediaTek's Helio P22 coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with microSD card support for up to 256GB more. Despite its low price, the handset comes with a dual-camera setup on the back - 13MP main sensor with 5MP secondary one for depth sensing....

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7" Huawei Mate 20 X comes for gamers, Mate 20 Porsche Design is all about looks

Huawei had a "one more thing" moment at its event and it brought the largest gaming phone yet - the Mate 20 X. The Mate 20 RS Porsche Design also took the stage to bring the usual high-priced flair. Huawei Mate 20 X With a 7.2" screen, we hesitate to call the Huawei Mate 20 X a phone. Semantics aside, it's a flat OLED panel with 1,080 x 2,244px resolution and a teardrop notch. The X is a mix of Pro and non-Pro features in more ways than one. Huawei is also targeting Samsung's Note flagships with the introduction of the M-Pen. The stylus can sense up to 4,096 levels of pressure. If...

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Huawei Mate 20 phones: prices and availability

Huawei unveiled four new phones today - the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, along with the Mate 20 X and Mate 20 Porsche Design. The Mate 20 duo is available today. The base Huawei Mate 20 starts at €800 for the 4/128GB version and goes up to €850 for the 6/128GB model. If you want extra storage, you'll have to buy one of the new NM cards. We don't have any details on those yet but chances are it won't be easy nor cheap to get your hands on them. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is €1,050 and comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. The Huawei Mate 20 RS Porsche Design is also available starting...

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Huawei Watch GT goes official with 1.39" OLED screen, proprietary platform

Huawei's big October event brought us more than just phones. The Chinese maker has a brand new smartwatch, called Huawei Watch GT that packs the promise of great battery life and all the activity tracking you'd need. Based on Huawei's own LightOS platform (and not Google's Wear OS), the Watch GT is built around a Cortex-M4 chipset with low power and high power processors. Those allow for extended battery life of the Huawei Watch GT - 30 days if you only receive notifications (no heart rate tracking or GPS), 2 weeks if you use heart rate tracking and exercise for 1:30 hour per week and 22...

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Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro official: Leica triple camera, Kirin 980

Huawei unveiled the Mate 20 Pro and Mate 20 today. The Pro model sets a benchmark in camera and charging technologies, but even the base Mate 20 enjoys the power of Android's first 7nm chipset and a revamped Leica camera. Huawei Mate 20 Pro The Huawei Mate 20 Pro stands apart from its sibling with a more advanced screen and camera. We start with the 6.39" curved OLED display with 1,440p resolution and HDR support. The triple camera here is descended from the P20 Pro camera. It combines a 40MP Quad Bayer sensor with f/1.8 wide-angle lens, a 20MP sensor with f/2.2 ultra-wide lens and...

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Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro hands-on review

The new Mate 20 and 20 Pro duo not only packs the first 7nm Android chipset - the cutting-edge Kirin 980 chip with a brand new NPU, but it also revamps the iconic Leica camera.

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Watch the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro launch live here

Huawei already introduced the Mate 20 Lite, but now is time for the real flagships - the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. Both phones will be announced today in London, UK, and you can follow the event live in the stream below. Since the launch date was revealed, leaks and rumors, along with official teasers, just kept coming. Huawei hinted at a three-cam setup in a square module and confirmed to no one's surprise both phones will be powered by the Kirin 980, the first Android chipset based on the 7 nm process. All the final unknowns like pricing, and availability (including a hopeful...

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Flagship Meizu Note8 to be unveiled on October 25

It has been a while since Meizu put out a new Note, over a year in fact. This dry spell is about to end as the company ramped up a tease campaign for the Meizu Note8, setting its announcement for October 25. The event will be held at the Beijing Performing Acts Center at 14:30pm local time. The teaser campaign tries the "falling star challenge", which if you haven't seen it looks like this: Meizu Note8 coming on October 25 Here are more detail shots of the swag - we assume that what it is, goodies that will be given out to those who attend the event. Meizu Note8...

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Nokia X7 goes official with S710 chipset, 6.18" PureDisplay and Zeiss dual camera

The Nokia X7 - that's what the 7.1 Plus is called in China - is official and pre-orders start today, shipping begins next week. The good news is that the phone is significantly more affordable than we expected. First, here's what you get. The Nokia X7 packs a 6.18" notched screen with 1080p+ resolution and good parameters: 500 nits brightness, 1,500:1 contrast, 96% NTSC color gamut coverage and DCI-P3 support. This is a PureDisplay like the one we saw on the Nokia 7.1 and features SDR to HDR video conversion in real time. The phone is powered by the new Snapdragon 710 chipset with 4GB...

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Xiaomi teases 5G network support and 10GB RAM on the Mi Mix 3

With the Mi Mix 3 coming on October 25, the company started teasing the handset with a cryptic message. Two notebooks with 5G and 10G on their covers popped up on Weibo's official account hinting at a set of exciting features aside from the slide-out camera mechanism and the full-screen display. It's fairly easy to guess what those refer to. 5G stands for the next-generation 5G cellular network while 10G could mean 10GB of RAM. The latter seems quite plausible but the 5G connectivity is a bit of a long stretch because we still don't have chips with proper modems available on the market...

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Honor 8X arrives in India, starting at just $200

Honor 8X has been rolling out to markets all over the globe with numerous launch events. Initially it appeared in China, later followed by Western Europe arrival, there was another party for the Central European market and now it is time for India. The phone with huge 6.5" notched display and miniature bottom bezel made its Indian debut in New Delhi in both Blue and Black colors with impressive price tags between $200 and $260. The Honor 8X has a Kirin 710 chipset, built on the 12 nm process. It is coupled with either 4 GB or 6 GB RAM and up to 128 GB internal storage. The...

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Vertu pleads ‘not dead', sends invitations to an event tomorrow

Remember when Vertu was relevant back in the days, being a premium sub-brand of Nokia? It proceeded to move away as a separate brand and that didn't really work well, with ownership changing several times. Last time we heard, its owner stroke a deal with TCL for building Vertu smartphones in the UK-based plant, but later information about liquidation and foreclosing of the manufacturing arm appeared. Well, it seems all is forgotten now and Vertu is trying to get back on board. Chinese medias received an invitation in a fancy black and golden envelope about an event in Beijing boldly named...

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Possible Xiaomi Black Shark 2 announcement date leaks

Xiaomi's rumored Black Shark 2 is still a big mystery with only a couple of leaks to work with. Yet, the company is seemingly teasing an international release on its new global website and now we probably know when's the handset arriving. What seems to be an official poster was just posted, revealing the announcement date of the handset - October 23 at 18:00 local time. Since the poster is in Chinese, we assume it will begin its global rollout from there. However, we can't be absolutely sure of the legitimacy of the image and the fact that we still haven't heard anything solid from...

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