Weekly poll results: 2019 is the year of 5G

Carriers are busy launching the first 5G networks and with not a minute to spare - last week's poll shows that people are excited about the possibilities of next generation mobile data. That's the option picked by close to a third of all voters. 5G promises higher bandwidth, lower latency, improved power usage and support for many, many more users, all browsing the web and interacting with smart services of the future. Beware, though, this excitement will be exploited with some deceptive marketing. Foldable phones are a distant second with 16% of the vote. We fear those will be showroom...

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Counterclockwise: 10-year challenge

Phone makers are not immune to memes - just look at how many brands tweeted out photos of eggs. Another meme popular right now is the "10-year challenge" - posting a photo of yourself from 2009 and from today. Let's see how far phones have come. Note: we're using popular phones from 2018 as brands haven't had much time to release 2019 models. Samsung's Galaxy brand turns 10 this year. It all started with the Samsung I7500 Galaxy - look at how the brand has grown. Literally, Samsung Galaxy Note9 is massive compared to its forefather. The Notes are largely responsible for the huge...

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Android 9 in development for the vivo V11i, benchmark listing reveals

vivo launched a closed Android Pie beta program towards the end of last year in China, and it seems the time for updates is nearing. Oddly enough, it's none of the original devices enlisted that's now surfaced on GeekBench running Android 9.0. Instead, it's the V11i or simply V11, as it is known in India. While we haven't had the chance to test this particular variant of the V11 (we did review the V11 Pro), the results posted with the new OS version are very much in line with what we've gotten out of other phones powered by the Helio P60 chipset, so the update shouldn't bring any...

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Deal: Refurbished Apple HomePod for $240 in the US, today only

Apple's HomePod Siri-enabled smart speaker was never particularly affordable at $349 in the US, but at $240 you could be tempted. That's what it goes for now on Woot - or rather $239.99. Both the white and space gray color options are available. Mind you, it's not new-new, but refurbished, and comes with a 90-day Woot warranty, instead of the usual one year. Additionally, if you're in Alaska or Hawai (or anywhere outside the US, for that matter) - tough luck, it doesn't ship there. The HomePod, announced in the summer of 2017 (how time flies), is Apple's answer to the Amazon Echo...

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Exynos Galaxy S10 visits GeekBench, still behind the iPhone XS in single-core test

The Samsung Galaxy S10 has been spotted on GeekBench and the numbers are in. This time, it's the Exynos 9820 variant for South Korea (SM-G973N), and there are notable differences with the previously seen results from the S10+ in Snapdragon 855 trim. The single-core result, in particular, is far ahead of any other chip in the Android world - the current Kirin 980 (around the 3400s) and Snapdragon 845 (ballpark is in 2400s) are no match for the next-gen Exynos, and early Snapdragon 855 figures are much lower too (3400-3550 depending on who you ask). In fact, the older Exynos 9810...

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Here's an early look at the Samsung Galaxy S10 lineup

It wouldn't be a big Samsung announcement if months ahead of it we didn't have a barrage of leaks coming our way. Such is the case with the Galaxy S10 that's to be unveiled on February 20, and this time around we're treated to a side-by-side look of the three differently-sized (and likely and evidently - differently-specced) versions of it. Samsung Galaxy S10E, S10, and S10+ (L to R), encased pic.twitter.com/Pk2gpXkXxn— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 19, 2019 Left to right, it's the Galaxy S10 Lite (which may or may not be called S10E), Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+. The info that the...

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