Fresh renders show the Honor Magic 2 in three gradient colors

Honor, Huawei's sub brand, is gearing up to release the Honor Magic 2 on October 31 but there will not be that much left to reveal by the time the announcement comes. The latest leak leaves almost nothing to the imagination. It features press renders of the Honor Magic 2 in three gradient colors - Silver, Blue and Pink - and from all sides, showing the slide out mechanism of the phone. We can clearly see the triple camera on the rear - expected to consist of a regular 16MP camera, a black and white 24MP camera and a 16MP telephoto camera. Sliding out, on the front, there's another...

Read More

Google discontinues Android's Nearby Notifications feature

A few years ago, Android got a new feature that showed you notifications based on your location and what was around you. For example, today, I went to the barber shop to get a haircut and received a notification with information about the Walmart across the street. Okay, so that example was not good. That's because the feature often sent me notifications about a location nearby or the nearest store when I was visiting a friend's house. However, the main reason that Google is discontinuing Nearby Notifications is that developers began abusing the platform and used it to send spammy alerts...

Read More

Huawei erects AI-powered Rubik's Cube in London to celebrate the Mate 20 launch

Huawei announced the Mate 20 Pro last week in London and to celebrate, Huawei has erected a large, digital version of a classic puzzle game: the Rubik's Cube. The idea is to demonstrate the power of Huawei's NPU, which minimizes the energy and time required to make large calculations. To solve the puzzle, a player must use the app on a Mate 20 Pro in front of the giant Cube. "Each move is passed through the AI model and algorithms to give the user hints, via the app, about what the best next move is." Puzzle cubes have caused debate amongst mathematicians for decades, with numerous...

Read More

Xiaomi updates its Android update rollout schedule

Xiaomi just published a list of devices that are getting Android Pie or Android Oreo in Q4 this year. The phones in the list will be receiving at least the beta version of the software and with enough luck, will get the stable release until the end of 2018. First to get you up to speed - most of the handsets from this list are already on Oreo while the Mi Mix 2S, Mi 8 and Mi 8 Explorer are running Pie. What's important here is that the Mi 5s Plus' Oreo update appears to be delayed due to unresolved software issues while the Redmi 5, 5A, 5 Plus and Mi 5X are due for an Oreo update...

Read More

Mobvoi TicWatch C2 unveiled: $200 Wear OS watch with almost everything

Mobvoi just unveiled the TicWatch C2, a sequel to the TicWatch 2. It's a Wear OS timepiece that includes most of the features you might want from a smartwatch while keeping the price in check. You can pre-order it right now at $200/€200, it will ship on December 6. The TicWatch C2 has a 1.3" AMOLED screen (360 x 360px), which fits inside a fairly small case - 42.8mm. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Watch has a similar 1.3" screen in a 46mm case. It's a stainless steel case, by the way that measures 13.1mm or 12.8mm. The Rose Gold version is the slimmer one and it also uses 18mm...

Read More

Realme to release a Helio P70-powered phone soon

The Helio P70 has its first customer - Realme has reportedly picked the new AI-focused chipset for upcoming models. The original (launched just a few months ago) used the Helio P60. The P70 adds 100MHz to the clock speeds of the four big Cortex-A73 cores and also the Mali-G72 MP3 GPU. It also claims 10-30% faster AI performance and improved camera hardware - for example, it can render bokeh at 24fps. It has more advanced power-saving features as well. Helio P70 infographic The second crop of Realme phones - used Snapdragon 450 (Realme 2 and Realme C1) as well as Snapdragon 660...

Read More

Meizu Note 8 unveiled with a 6" screen, dual camera and a 3,600mAh battery

The Meizu Note 8 was just unveiled as an affordable alternative to the X8. It offers the same dual camera on its back, a slightly smaller screen, slightly bigger battery and the price tag was cut down by a third. You can reserve a Note 8 today at CNY 1,300 ($185/€165), sales will start on November 1. The phone has a metal body available in four colors. It houses a 6" notch-free screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio and 1,080 x 2,160px resolution. It should deliver 450 nits of brightness and 1,500:1 contrast ratio. Meizu Note 8 in four colors The Meizu Note 8 has a dual camera on...

Read More

Razer Phone 2 gets scratched, bent and burnt, lives to tell the tale

In his latest durability test, Zack from JerryRigEverything gives the Razer Phone 2 the scratch, burn and bend test and the blocky phone passed without losing its structural integrity. There wasn't anything surprising in the video. The screen scratched like all other Gorilla Glass screens out there - at a level 6. The razor revealed the Razer Phone 2's silver aluminum skin underneath the black anodization. And finally the phone barely budged when it was exposed to the bend test. When the LCD came under the lighter's flame it turned off but recovered fully within seconds. Here's the...

Read More

Xiaomi Mi A2 with 6GB/128GB memory appears in India

Xiaomi's Android One-powered Mi A2 launched in India back in August but the beefed-up version with 6GB of RAM and 128GB only now makes it to the sub-continent. Xiaomi silently listed the smartphone on the official Indian online store with a price tag of INR 19,999 ($273) and without the Rose Gold color option. Actual shipment dates are yet to be confirmed, but you can sign up for a notification email when the phone is in stock. Chances are it's not going to take long now. Source | Via

Read More

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 hands-on review

Until web content can be beamed directly into our brains, we'll need screens - the bigger, the better. The 6.39" screen of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is certainly pretty big, almost as big as the original. But size isn't the only thing that makes it "good".

Read More

Counterpoint: OnePlus was the best-selling $400+ phone in India in Q3

For the second consecutive quarter, OnePlus came out on top in the Indian premium smartphone market with 30% share in the above INR 30,000 ($400) segment beating Samsung and Apple. The top three manufacturers secured 83% of the overall premium sales, which is 5% down from last quarter and the new players in town are to blame - Oppo Find X, vivo NEX S, Asus Zenfone 5z, LG G7 ThinQ and Huawei nova 3. The new exclusive offline and online store deals, the effective marketing campaign and the positive word of mouth propelled OnePlus to the top position with great OnePlus 6 sales....

Read More

Cases reveal Sony Xperia XA3 and XA3 Ultra with dual rear cameras

Rumors about the Xperia XA3 and XA3 Ultra started coming in a few months ago but we got a clear look at both just this month revealing a dual-camera setup on the back and fairly thin bezels all-around. Today's renders come from a Chinese case maker that also confirms that both handsets will offer dual cameras. Xperia XA3 Ultra • Xperia XA3 There are a couple of listings on AliExpress for cases for the phones, suggesting that their launch may not be too far now. Of course, cases makers only have dimensions and places of functional elements to work with so the design might be...

Read More

LG Q3 report: profits increase as smartphones lose less money

LG kept its tradition to introduce its financial results on the last Thursday of the month, following the end of a quarter, and the numbers look good. The Korean company made a profit KRW748.8 billion ($668 million), which is the best quarter in 2018. The black sheep in the family is the Mobile Communications division which keeps bleeding money and is the department that had the most significant operating loss - KRW146.3 billion ($130.5 million), after recording sales of KRW2.04 trillion ($1.82 billion). LG recognized its mistake this time last year and changed its Mobile...

Read More

OnePlus 6T to arrive as Souq Exclusive in the Middle East

OnePlus and Souq.com announced today their partnership for the upcoming sales of the OnePlus 6T UAE. The new phone will be Souq Exclusive, similar to what the parent company Amazon will offer to OnePlus customers in India. The event was held by Pete Lau, CEO and founder of OnePlus, who confirmed some of the specs like Snapdragon 845 chipset, the in-built fingerprint sensor under the AMOLED screen and Android Pie out of the box. The official unveiling is on October 29, while the phone will be up for pre-order on the retailer website on October 31. Souq.com currently delivers to...

Read More

Nokia and Samsung extend their patent license agreement

Nokia just announced that it's renewing its patent license agreement with Samsung and will be allowing the latter to use its patents for multiple more years. The current agreement will expire at the end of 2018 as it was signed 5 years ago. The period of the new contract hasn't been specified as all terms of the agreement remain confidential between the two parties. According to Nokia's Chief Legal Officer's statement, this time around, the license agreement doesn't just cover phone patents but 5G network-related cellular standards as well. Samsung is a leader in the smartphone...

Read More

Lenovo's VP confirms - the Lenovo Z5 Pro coming on November 1

Lenovo is looking to redeem itself with a true flagship smartphone after the Z5 debacle and will be announcing it on November 1. This is as official as it gets because it comes for the company's vice president. In a Weibo post, Chang Cheng published a teaser poster confirming the slide-out camera mechanism and a full-screen display. The sketch is accompanied by Lenovo's mobile division new slogan. The Lenovo Z5 Pro is still one big mystery - the only solid intel we have on the handset is its quad-camera setup on the back capable of 2x telephoto zoom and a few camera samples...

Read More

nubia teases the Red Magic 2 with Snapdragon 845 and 10GB of RAM

ZTE's sub brand nubia has posted an official teaser for its upcoming Red Magic 2 smartphone, detailing key features such as the Snapdragon 845 chipset and 10GB of RAM. That's a bump from the original Red Magic's Snapdragon 835 and 8GB of RAM and a match for Xiaomi's Black Shark Helo, announced two days ago. Other improvements include the use of both air and liquid cooling in the smartphone to help keep temperatures down during gaming and the inclusion of 3D surround sound (implying the Red Magic 2 will have stereo speakers). We'll also get what nubia calls 4D gaming enhancement, but we...

Read More

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 slider debuts with 6.4" screen, four cameras and 5G version

After numerous rumors, leaks, and teasers, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is finally official. The new flagship comes with a magnetic slider for its selfie camera, flagship internals and quartet of cameras - two on each side. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is built around a 6.4" AMOLED screen and the company claims a massive 93.4% screen-to-body ratio and Full HD+ resolution. The rear part is mounted on a magnetic slider that reveals a 24 MP + 2 MP front combo when slid out. The main sensor here is the Sony IMX576, which the company claims can achieve 1.8µm pixel size by 4-pixel binning in low-light...

Read More