Honor Magic 2 appears on Geekbench two days ahead of official launch

Huawei's subsidiary Honor is launching the Magic 2 slider on October 31. There might be two days until the launch, but the device has already appeared on Geekbench, revealing the Kirin 980 potential. The listing also revealed specs like Android Pie and 8 GB RAM, which were expected, but now are finally confirmed. The 3316 single-core score and the 9534 multi-core score are likely from a demo unit that is not ready for sale, but the results are pretty much the same as the ones Huawei Mate 20 Pro yielded in our review. The Kirin 980 chipset is currently available only in the latest...

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Week 43 in review: Xiaomi unveils two flagships, HTC bets on crypto

October continues to bring exciting hardware as this week Xiaomi stepped under the spotlight and announced not one but two flagships. We got the gaming-oriented Black Shark Halo and the super cool slider Mi Mix 3. HTC unveiled another interesting device - the Exodus 1 is targeted at crypto fans and can only be purchased with Bitcoin or Etherium. Qualcomm refreshed its mid-range offerings by adding the Snapdragon 675 to its lineup, while Samsung announced its first ODM phone (that is, it's manufactured by another company) - the Galaxy A6s. We also got a bunch of leaks and teasers for...

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OnePlus 6T rumor roundup

OnePlus is bringing its next flagship tomorrow - dubbed OnePlus 6T. Being a "T" upgrade to the OnePlus 6, initial hopes for more than skin-deep changes were low. However, with every turn of the rumor mill excitement for the company's latest flagship builds up. OnePlus isn't shy about what it's going to launch next week - the company has been teasing OnePlus 6T features for the past few weeks and combined with all the rumors lately we get a pretty complete picture. What's new? For one, the new flagship will retain the same design language as its predecessor but will introduce some key...

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Sony 1000XM3 vs Bose QuietComfort 35 II

For the longest of times, if you wanted the best noise canceling pair of headphones on the market, your option would be the Bose QuietComfort. Regardless of what your opinion might be about the audio quality on Bose headphones, no one could deny the company made the quietest pair of headphones money could buy. Couple of years ago, however, Sony launched the 1000X, the company's flagship pair of wireless headphones that also featured active noise canceling. These competed with the then available Bose QuietComfort 35, Bose's own flagship wireless headphones, which were the industry...

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Weekly poll: does Xiaomi Mi Mix 3's unique design do it for you?

Foldable phones may resurrect the flip phone, but sliders may be the next big thing in the shorter term. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 doesn't have a keypad, instead the slider reveals the dual selfie camera - a solution to the notch problem while pursuing the all-screen front. A pop-up camera requires a mechanism that takes up quite a bit of space. And in the case of the Find X, the top of the frame was cut off, which reduced rigidity. Plus, the slider allows for interaction with the phone - you can answer calls, for example, or launch the selfie camera. It makes a ton more sense than squeezing the...

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The Twilight Zone: stories of mobile phones and the supernatural

With the proliferation of cameras - especially phone cameras - supernatural beings seem to have all but disappeared. A blurry black & white photo may or may not show Nessie, but the sharp image taken with a modern smartphone leaves little room for ambiguity. That's not to say that phones have completely banished such strange beings. In fact, they are responsible for a few X-files themselves. Put your brave faces on, we're about to explore the unknown. UFOs in focus Look at the images below and tell us what you see? Mysterious orbs with glowing dots that are either a part of the...

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Top 10 trending phones of week 43

And the streak lives on - we've got an eight different phone leading our popularity chart in eight weeks as the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 shot straight to the top after its announcement. After last week's invasion of Mate 20 devices this week the interest towards the new Huawei flagship family has died down a bit and we only get two in the top 10 - the Mate 20 Pro in second and the Mate 20 X in ninth. The podium is completed by Samsung's Galaxy A7 (2018) triple-cam mid-ranger, which edged the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro. In fifth we have another new entry - the Xiaomi Black Share Helo gaming...

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Counterclockwise: Samsung's featurephones came in all shapes and sizes

We've gone over Samsung's smartphones, but their success was built on the work the company did during its featurephone era. Some of the later models blurred the line between feature and smart phones, not just with the feature-full Touch Wiz but with their hardware as well. But today's story begins in 1988 with a bit of a dud. The Samsung SH-100 was available only in Korea and it only sold a few thousand units. The company did not give up, however, and in 1999 found success in Europe with the Samsung SGH-600. Samsung SGH-600 The Samsung M100 was one of the first phones that could...

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