Leaked specs suggests LG Q9 is indeed LG G7 Fit

LG Q9 appeared in a render last week with a striking similarity to the already revealed LG G7 Fit. Further info, unveiled by Google Android Enterprise website showcased the same front with the same specs, but with the LG Q9 moniker. A phone with a model number LM-Q925S was also certified in South Korea, suggesting the phone is nothing but a renamed device for the domestic market. The LG Q9 will be released with a 6.1" notched display. RAM will be 4 GB, and there are two storage options - 32 GB and 64 GB. The OS out of the box will be Android 8.1 Oreo which is hardly a surprise...

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Android introduces new Wear OS update version "H" with new power save feature

Today, Google Support has released a post announcing the latest version of Wear OS "H". We're not exactly sure what the letter H stands for as we've not seen Google use this sort of naming scheme for Wear OS versions. We've been working on updates to help you get more time out of your #WearOSbyGoogle watch. See what's rolling out: https://t.co/eAw5qTGPMh pic.twitter.com/KWkjOvIvpg— Wear OS by Google (@WearOSbyGoogle) November 15, 2018 The new H update includes a few new features for Wear OS: Battery Saver Mode Update: Battery saver will automatically kick in when battery...

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Samsung may have narrowed down the Galaxy S10's design

The Samsung Galaxy S10 will be a drastically different device from the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S9. The phone has been rumored for months and we've only heard that Samsung's next flagship smartphone might have a hole cut-out for a selfie camera. Today, a patent from Samsung depicts possible designs for future models that all adopt the Infinity-O model that Samsung announced during its recent developer conference: this model is a full display with rounded corners and a single circular cutout to let the camera see through the glass. The patent was filed with WIPO (World Intellectual Property...

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Our Honor 8X video review is up

Huawei and Honor's lineups can be a bit confusing (even for us), with a myriad of devices that have minor differences between them. The Honor 8X mid-ranger is definitely a part of this strategy. It was unveiled in September and it went on sale in China then. Now that it's made its way to international markets, we've put it through our usual intensive review process. What if you just want to find out the main selling points of this handset, what's great about it and what isn't? Well then, our video review, embedded below, will oblige. It's short and sweet and jam-packed with...

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Google announces new Wear OS update with improved battery saver mode

Today Google has announced yet another update for Wear OS (formerly known as Android Wear). It's calling it "H Update" although once you get it your watch won't display that, instead just telling you it's running Wear OS 2.2. It's unclear why this confusing naming was needed, but it is so nevertheless. Anyway, the new software packs a new Battery Saver Mode that will automatically turn on and only display the time once the level falls below 10%. This should further improve battery life, of course. When you're not wearing it, your watch will go into deep sleep mode after 30 minutes...

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Google Pixel Slate will start shipping well in time for the Holidays

Google will start shipping the Pixel Slate pin two to three weeks, depending on the model. This would pin point the estimated delivery time at as early as December 11. At the time of writing the $799 model with an Intel Core m3 with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and the $1,599 Intel Core i7 model with 16GB of rAM and 256GB of storage are expected to start shipping in 2 to 3 weeks time while the entry-level $599 Celeron model with 4GB + 32GB and 8GB + 64GB, and the Core i5 model with 8GB + 128GB are estimated to ship within 3 to 4 weeks. And if you want to pair the Pixel Slate with...

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Apple starts selling SIM free iPhone XR in the US

Supplies of iPhone XR units were pretty slim early on and as usual Apple chose to prioritize carriers in the US. The SIM free option just went live on Apple's site, so if you haven't jumped on T-Mobile's "free" XR offer, you can go skip the new contract. You'll have to pay the full price up front - that's $750 for the 64GB model, $800 for 128GB and $900 for 256GB. Delivery is listed as "1 business day", so an online order should arrive pretty quickly. Or you could pick one up from Apple's retail stores. There are still no official cases for the iPhone XR, Apple is just selling a...

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Honor Magic 2 teardown: a look at the triple camera and the slider mechanism

The Honor Magic 2 is only the second of the new wave of slider phones - a form factor reborn from the ashes. The way it's designed is less complicated (which in turn may mean less prone to breaking) than the powered pop-ups of certain other phones that tried to eliminate the selfie camera notch. PC Pop has published a step-by-step disassembly that shows how it's done. Taking apart the Magic 2 starts off as usual - apply heat to unglue the glass back. You can see the metal heat spreader, below that is the brain of the phone. Opening the back of the Honor Magic 2 But before that,...

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Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium receiving Android 9.0 Pie

A month has passed since we saw the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium on Geekbench running Android 9.0 Pie and now the update is finally rolling out. Screenshots from the System update menu The build number of the new software is 52.0.A.3.84 and interestingly enough, it's just 210MB big. Like the other Xperia phones that got the update last week, the XZ2 Premium won't be getting the gesture-based navigation that usually comes with the Pie, but you can benefit from Xperia XZ3's camera UI. Supposedly, it can also improve the overall camera quality. For now, we don't know what regions are...

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Realme seeds firmware update to Realme 2 and Realme C1

Oppo's sub brand Realme is seeding a new firmware to the Realme 2 and Realme C1. According to Realme the firmware, number RMX1805EX_11_A.19, brings the November 2018 security patch along with general fixes. Spare no effort to meet your needs. The latest update for #Realme2 and #RealmeC1 is rolling out. Don't miss it, enjoy it. pic.twitter.com/1s72YC5koa— Realme (@realmemobiles) November 15, 2018 The update should appear over the air gradually - currently only a number of Realme 2 and Realme C1 owners have a notification for it. Unfortunately the update is still based on Android 8.1...

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HMD event on December 5 to bring as many as 3 new models

HMD has booked a stage in Dubai for December 5. This announcement comes with a shadowy image that shows three phones and the #ExpectMore tagline. Naturally, Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas gives no further clues which devices will be unveiled. Boosting the brightness of the image shows that the left and center phones have notches, the one on the right does not. A Nokia 8.1 is expected with a notch and the Nokia 7.1 Plus is still to make its way west (currently, it's available as the X7 in China). There's also a Nokia 2.1 Plus on the horizon (likely to sport a notch as...

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Motorola One Power to get Android Pie in the following days

We had a heads-up from Geekbench two weeks ago about the Motorola One Power running Android 9.0 Pie and now we have official confirmation coming straight from the maker. A reader of ours just shared a screenshot showing a notification from Motorola saying that the phone will be receiving Android 9.0 Pie in the next few days. That's a pretty prompt update considering that the Motorola One Power has been on the market for less than a month. Thanks, Meherban Shekh for the heads-up!

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Deal: Refurbished Apple iPhone 7 for £265; iPhone X for £585 on eBay

Black Friday is right around the corner, and deals are already starting to fly in. eBay's retailers are offering refurbished iPhone 7, iPhone X and iPad Air 2 for sweet prices that go as low as £265, £585, and £260 respectively. TBboth unlocked and carrier-bound variants of the iPhone 7 are on sale, but to reach the low price of £264.99, you better go for the unlocked device with 32 GB storage in good condition. You can get the iPhone 7 in Black for £10 less, but that version is locked for Vodafone, so choose wisely. The situation with the iPhone X is similar. There are plenty...

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All phones launching with Android Pie will be Treble-compliant

Last week the Android Dev Summit took place and Google's Project Treble team demonstrated the Generic System Image (GSI) engine, running on various phones from different manufacturers. Today the company posted on its blog that all future smartphones, shipping with Android Pie out of the box, will be Treble-compliant for faster upgrades. Google said the aim is to "see more devices from OEMs running Android Pie at the end of 2018, as compared to the number of devices that were running Android Oreo at the end of 2017". The GSI is built on the latest AOSP source code, including all...

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Android 9.0 Pie beta rolls out to Galaxy S9 and S9+ in South Korea

It's starting - Samsung is rolling out a beta version of the One UI update to Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ phones in South Korea. This update brings with it Samsung's revamped interface built on top of Android 9.0 Pie, plus several other improvements. Samsung DeX is free from the dock and can be used with any USB-C to HDMI adapter. Another neat change is that you can tune the camera's color rendering to your liking. Change log for Galaxy S9+'s Android 9.0 Pie update (in Korean) Note that some of the Samsung apps will need to be updated through the Galaxy App store. They have new...

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Huawei is building its own AI voice assistant for outside of China

As of now, Huawei's AI-powered virtual assistant Xiaoyi is available only in China through the AI Cube and its smartphones, but the company has some big plans for it. In an interview with CNBC, Huawei's Consumer Business CEO, Richard Yu, said that the company is planning on releasing its voice assistant outside of the country without specifying which languages it will support. Huawei uses Google's Assistant and Amazon's Alexa for its products outside of China with the AI Cube being the latest device from the company launched during this year's IFA in Berlin. And Richard Yu says that...

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The Sharp Aquos R2 compact is the first dual-notch phone

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." No, this isn't about dinosaurs but something equally unnatural - the Sharp Aquos R2 compact, officially the world's first phone with two notches. Joking aside, it's actually a pretty good, fairly compact phone. It has a 5.2" "freeform" display with one notch housing the 8MP selfie camera and another one for the fingerprint reader. The screen is an IGZO panel with 1,080 x 2,280px resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, Sharp is the company behind Razer's high frame rate...

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Moto G7 with Snapdragon 660 and 4/64GB memory on board passes FCC

That's not the first time we see the Moto G7 at FCC, but it's a more complete listing now. And it appears that this time around, the devices have different model numbers XT1965-3 and XT1952-2 - perhaps designated for different carriers or markets. More interestingly, the listings feature a Snapdragon 660 paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of memory. There's also a schematic of the phone itself revealing NFC support and dual-camera setup - not all that surprising, to be honest. According to the sheet, the Moto G7 will be offered worldwide with no significant difference between...

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Xiaomi to launch Redmi Note 6 Pro in India on November 22

Xiaomi started sending out invites for an event in India on November 22. Later a follow-up with the same visual revealed the Redmi Note 6 Pro will be the star of the show and, better yet, that the phone will make an immediate market appearance on November 23 for Black Friday. Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro ticks plenty of right boxes for its price segment, as we stated in our review last month. It is a new neat Redmi Note for all the fans of the brand with few cons and India is lucky to finally get it. It is coming with 6.26" notched screen, Snapdragon 636 and three memory configurations,...

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Oppo A7 to arrive on November 22 for $230

Oppo A7 specs sheet appeared last month, revealing striking similarities with the Realme 2. The phone will be the cheaper alternative to the Oppo A7x and now we have an arrival date of the handset. MrGizmo reports November 22 will be official launch of the Oppo A7 and the phone will pop up in at least three colors - Glazing Blue, Dazzling Gold, and Rose Pink. Oppo A7 Looking at the renders, Oppo A7 will indeed have a 6.2" screen with a waterdrop notch. Reportedly it will come with a 720p resolution of the screen and it will be protected by a Gorilla Glass 3. If the specs sheet...

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Snapdragon 8150 hits AnTuTu, beats the Kirin 980 and A12 Bionic

With the potentially nearing launch of the Snapdragon 8150 we begin to gather the pieces of the puzzle and the recent AnTuTu score helps a lot. The chip scored a whopping 362,292 overall points smashing the Kirin 980 (273,913) and overtaking Apple's A12 Bionic (353,210) by a small margin. But that's not all. The leaked AnTuTu score sheet is coupled with information about core configuration and clock speeds. Supposedly, the leakster who posted the screenshot on Weibo has some inside intel regarding the chipset. He claims that the Snapdragon 8150 comes in an unusual core configuration...

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