Weekly poll results: the Huawei Mate 20 X feels the love

The Huawei Mate 20 X is emerging as a fan-favorite gaming phone, if the comments in last week's poll are anything to go by. The phone got a strongly positive result, 75/25 in favor. Many commented on its size - it sure is huge with a 7.2" screen - and the 1080p+ resolution is great for gaming. But perhaps not so great for use as a graphics tab, the M-Pen stylus didn't get many supporters, anyway. Many complained about the NM cards, but that's not an issue limited to just the Mate 20 X. We're willing to bet that the upcoming P30 flagship will use NM too (perhaps that can bring some...

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Counterclockwise: the story of 5G and the Gs that came before it

As the first 5G smartphones are nearing launch, we thought it was the right time to trace back the various "Gs" - the generations of mobile telephony and data. Note: we'll focus on the GSM side of things, GSM and CDMA converged on 4G technology, anyway. 2G: Circuit Switched Data CSD was the earliest digital method to deliver Internet connectivity to a mobile phone (1G or AMPS was an analog system). Data speeds were fairly slow, typically 9.6Kbps on GSM and 14.4Kbps on CDMA networks. Still, it was more than fast enough to handle the tiny WAP sites, send and receive email and even...

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Google Home Hub and Chromecast Ultra bundle goes for $119, saves you $99

A pretty nice Google bundle deal is live on BuyDig.com, netting buyers $99 in savings. If you're after a Home Hub plus Chromecast Ultra combo, you can grab those now for a total of $119 as opposed to the $218 combined list price. Effectively, you're buying a Home Hub at $30 off (its list price is $149) and getting a Chromecast Ultra for free in the process. Or whatever rationalization is needed to justify your consumerist habits. Interestingly enough, there's no mention of the deal on the site - add them to the cart and the discount is applied automatically. The Hom Hub and...

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Chrome OS build 72 brings native Assistant integration and PIP

Chrome OS version 72 is now rolling out, having moved from beta to official release. It brings native Google Assistant integration, Picture-in-Picture video playback, changes to the Cast UI and security improvements, plus wider Android Pie adoption. Assistant will now be natively available on all Chromebooks. Instead of being sidelined in the bottom left corner (like on the Pixelbook), it takes center stage and is treated to a larger window (like on the Pixel Slate below). Otherwise, it does the same Assistant-y things as on any other device, responding to 'Hey, Google', answering...

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Instagram will now show IGTV videos on your timeline

Instagram has realized not enough people care about its IGTV feature. Naturally, the company decided to put the videos directly on your timeline. Starting Thursday, users will now see IGTV videos from the people they follow appear directly on their main timeline. These will appear as regular posts but will have a tag to differentiate them. You'll only see videos from the people you follow and not random celebrities the way you currently do elsewhere in the app. A glimpse at the absolute top-notch quality content you can expect to see on IGTV IGTV was a long-form video feature...

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Hypothetical Moto RAZR 2019 rendered on video, looks cool

The rebirth of the Moto RAZR has been an ongoing topic recently. The schematics of a hypothetical Moto RAZR 2019 were spotted in a patent filing last month and were quickly followed by an artist's rendition showing us what the follow-up to one of the most iconic mobile devices could look like. Another crack at it comes in today in the form of a concept video by Waqar Khan. The clip is full of Moto RAZRs opening up and closing, there are several color schemes the author has come up with, and there's also a few UI solutions suggested like the notifications handling on the outer...

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The Oreo update for Nokia 2 to go live soon, beta testing has ended

The Nokia 2's software fate is a bit odd - the entry-level smartphone launched in 2017 on Nougat, and with just 1GB of RAM on board, it was deemed problematic to boot the more demanding Oreo once it was time for update. So Nokia came up with the idea to make the update optional - you either stay on Nougat for faster user experience, or you go Oreo and lose some UI snappiness. Well, the Oreo build is now apparently almost ready for release. Members of the beta program have received emails that the testing phase has concluded and the update is close to being official. It'll bring Android...

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Samsung Galaxy M30 dimensions and layout leaks

Soon after Samsung announced the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 in India, there is a third M-series device in the pipeline. A new leak from PriceKart.com shows a Galaxy M30 on a schematic diagram akin to one that you'd see in a user manual. Like the other two Galaxy M phones, the M30 will have a gradient finish in both black and blue. There's a fingerprint scanner on the back like the M20, but the clearest difference between the M20 and the M30 is one additional camera. This triple camera is said to be made up of a 13MP camera, and two other 5MP sensors, with presumably a wide and a telephoto...

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