Samsung reportedly working on two more foldable smartphones

Last month Samsung unveiled its first foldable smartphone - the Galaxy Fold, and it appears the company is now working on two more foldable smartphones with a different design. The Galaxy Fold comes with an inward notebook-like design, but one of these upcoming smartphones will fold similarly to the Huawei Mate X - a screen that will wrap around the device instead of folding inwards. The other foldable smartphone will be similar to the upcoming Motorola RAZR. It will come with a vertically folding display with a smaller one placed outside. However, Samsung may remove the extra...

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Honor Tab 5 launches with 8-inch screen and 5,100 mAh battery

Honor has announced a new entry-level tablet called the Honor Tab 5. It has an 8-inch display with Full HD resolution (1200x1920 px) and it runs a Kirin 710 CPU. The tablet itself looks nice and consists of a metal rear cover with plastic bumpers. This design language reminds us of the Honor 6x. There's a front-facing shooter right above the display which is an 8MP fixed-focus camera. Meanwhile, around back there's an 8MP camera with autofocus. It's worth noting that this tablet does not have an LED flash. There are dual speakers on the tablet as well which are optimally...

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Xiaomi Mi 9 receives its first OTA with camera improvements

Xiaomi's Mi 9 is now receiving its first MIUI 10 stable update. The new build brings MIUI version 10.2.12.0.PFAEUXM as per a tweet posted with screenshots by @RQuandt. The stable release brings optimizations to the UI for phones with a notch. In addition, there are a few improvements to the camera. There's a new Moon Mode in the AI camera, presumably for capturing nightscapes that feature the moon. The video camera will also track focus on moving objects and we should see overall improved image quality with still pictures. My Xiaomi Mi9 just got this lovely little update......

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Huawei Mobile posts P30 teaser video

Huawei Mobile posted a video teaser of the upcoming Huawei P30 Series launch. Just earlier today, it was confirmed by Huawei Mobile's VP of marketing that the phone would feature a periscope-style zoom camera that would be able to achieve some insane long-range capabilities. An image of the moon's surface was also posted to the Chinese social media site Weibo back in mid-February which marketing VP Clement Wong confirmed was taken handheld and processed in-device. Interestingly, the moon makes an appearance in today's teaser video. The other thing in the teaser video appears to...

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Deal: Grab a certified refurbished Pixel 3 for just $499.99, 3 XL for $549.99

If you want a Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL but you've been holding back because of their prohibitive prices, here's something for you. For a very limited time, you can grab a certified refurbished Pixel 3 from $499.99 unlocked, over at DailySteals. If the bigger device is more interesting to you, then you can have the 3 XL starting at $549.99, unlocked as well. Considering that the normal selling price for the Pixel 3 is $799, while the 3 XL goes for $899 new, this is quite a big amount you can be saving. Keep in mind that you need to apply the promo code CHPSKTPXL3 upon checkout to get these...

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Honor 8X, Huawei Mate 20 lite and nova 3i get Android 9 Pie update with EMUI 9 in China

A few days ago Huawei made the update to Android 9 Pie available to the Mate 9 family as well as the nova 2s in China, and today it's back with three more handsets set to receive the latest software, topped off with EMUI 9, the newest version of its skin. These are the Honor 8X, Huawei nova 3i (known elsewhere as the P Smart+), and the Mate 20 lite that's been sold in China as the Maimang 7. Hopefully these updates will soon make it to every other country in which they haven't been released yet. EMUI 9 comes with performance improvements all-round compared to its predecessor, being...

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Xiaomi is giving away 100 Redmi Note 7 Pro units in China

Xiaomi's Redmi Note 7 Pro is already official in India, and it's expected to land in China on March 18. To get ready for that occasion, the company has decided to give away 100 units of the upcoming smartphone to some of its eager fans in the mainland. You're apparently expected to test some aspects of the device if you do end up being lucky enough to receive one for free. This includes gaming, video, images, movies, and so on. To apply, log in to your Mi account and send a message to Xiaomi that you are interested in this contest. You need to send details like name, gender, mobile...

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Figgers F3 is first 5G smartphone made in America with 5-meter wireless charging

Figgers is a telecommunications company founded in 2009. The company currently offers smartphone calling and data plans including a flat-rate unlimited $165/month plan for Unlimited global roaming, calling, and data for 80+ countries. In 2014, the company launched its first smartphone - the Figgers F1. This phone would detect vehicle movement above 10 miles per hour and automatically enter a safe mode that would prevent texting while driving. This month, the Florida-based telecom company announced the first 5G smartphone "made in America" - The phone's manufacturing is based out of...

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Samsung Galaxy S10 teardown reveals the ultrasonic FP reader, a beefy heat pipe

We saw the Galaxy S10+ get torn apart, now it's time for the Samsung Galaxy S10 to experience the same. This time, however, the teardown is performed by none other than Zack from JerryRigEverything. Interesting finds from inside the phone include a massive heat pipe - significantly chunkier than the one the Galaxy S9 had. Also, the new Wireless PowerShare feature works with just a regular coil, no special hardware seems to have been added. Removing the fingerprint reader leaves a transparent rectangle. The proximity and the ambient light sensors also live behind the display, the selfie...

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Xiaomi details features coming to MIUI 10 and MIUI11

Xiaomi devs have created a unified thread for all the features currently in development for MIUI 10 and MIUI 11, as well as a table of features that are under consideration. There aren't many groundbreaking features included, but at this point it's more about refining something already good. The system-wide Dark Mode, introduced in the Mi 9 will make its way to all MIUI 10 devices. A new setting will allow you to view the lockscreen after an authentication, instead of going directly to the homescreen. Xiaomi will allow face unlock and fingerprint unlock to work simultaneously. There...

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Nokia 9 PureView is already getting a software update

HMD Global introduced the five-cam Nokia 9 PureView at MWC and it is already available for purchase in the United States. The company has issued an update in the first day of the market launch, bringing camera app improvements and the latest security patch, dated March 2019. Nokia 9 PureView Changelog The arrival of the update was confirmed by Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer at HMD Global. He said the package started rolling on Monday, so it should be available to most Nokia 9 PureView already. Thanks to screenshots from various users across the globe, we know the package...

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Sony gives you a free case with the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus in Europe

Sony's new premium mid-rangers are available in Europe and if you buy them through the Sony eStore, you get a free Style Cover Stand. The deal ends on March 10 and is available in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. So, whether you get the Sony Xperia 10 or Xperia 10 Plus, a complimentary case will be automatically added to your order. Here's what that case looks like: Style Cover Stand for the Sony Xperia 10 and 10 Plus It's a flip case that protects the screen and can also act as a kickstand so you can enjoy video on the 21:9 screens. You can have it in any...

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Samsung Galaxy S10 review

Step by step and year by year, we're now at 10 - the Samsung Galaxy S-series have matured over the past decade with big and incremental upgrades alike bringing us closer to that elusive 'perfect smartphone'. The Galaxy S10 is by definition the best one ever, so let's see just how good the best is.

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Nokia 2 gets much-awaited Android Oreo update

The Nokia 2 that was launched way back in October 2017 with Android 7.1.1 Nougat is finally getting the Android 8.1 Oreo update. This entry-level Nokia smartphone was initially supposed to get Android 8.0 Oreo update, but the company later decided to skip that and go straight to 8.1 Oreo. HMD also promised to include Android Go memory management improvements with the update because the phone only has 1 GB RAM. The Nokia 2, however, couldn't be moved to the Android Go program because it wasn't launched on it. Nokia 2 got Android 8.1 Oreo through the beta program last June, and those...

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The Huawei P30 Pro confirmed to have a periscope zoom camera

The Huawei P30 Pro will have a periscope zoom camera - Huawei's VP of Global Product Marketing, Clement Wong just officially confirmed this to Android Central. That would be the square-ish camera seen in hands-on photos and renders. Wong didn't say if it will be a 5x or 10x zoom camera. Earlier, we saw potential 5x zoom photos from Barcelona, which went up to 10x with digital zoom. And even before that Huawei posted a photo of the Moon, which was taken handheld. Zoom numbers are pretty arbitrary, of course, as it depends on whether the manufacturer includes the ultra-wide angle camera...

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HTC reportedly considering a brand licensing deal for India

HTC bailed out of the Indian market in July last year, but the brand may return. Just the brand, though, the company is reportedly negotiating a licensing deal with Micromax, Lava and Karbonn. In short, HTC wants to pull an alcatel/BlackBerry and give its brand to other manufacturers of smartphones and tablets. The idea is that people's familiarity with the HTC brand will give these makers an edge, while HTC itself will earn money via royalties. This is a move against the rising popularity of foreign brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, vivo and Samsung. Micromax, Lava and Karbonn have retreated...

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Xiaomi Mi 9 becomes the new AnTuTu performance leader

The nubia Red Magic Mars has finally been dethroned as the fastest Android smartphone in the monthly AnTuTu ranking. The arrival of Snapdragon 855 gave us a new leader - the Xiaomi Mi 9, closely followed by the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT, running the same Qualcomm chipset. The previous leader is down in third, but still way ahead of the following four Kirin 980-powered devices - two of them being Huawei, the other two from the sister brand Honor. The list is completed by the gaming devices ROG Phone and Xiaomi Black Shark Helo. Since the list consists only officially available...

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Nokia 9 PureView promo videos highlight the advantages of the penta-camera

The Nokia 9 PureView is already available in the US and HMD is stepping up its promo campaign to drive those early sales. Three new videos highlight the best feature of the phone - the world's first penta-camera on mobile. We'll start with the video that shows the camera's low-light capabilities and the control afforded by Manual mode, all in a short 15 second clip. Next up is the more accurate depth of field rendering that is made possible by the five different perspectives. Each time you hit the shutter button, all five cameras (2 color, 3 B&W) snap a photo). For more details,...

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Oppo F11 and F11 Pro are official - one has a notch, the other a pop-up selfie camera

Today Oppo announced its F11 and F11 Pro to the world, starting with the Indian market. The phones were heavily teased for weeks and we knew about their key specs in advance. The key difference between the Oppo F11 Pro and the F11 is that the vanilla has its selfie camera in a waterdrop-styled notch in the screen while the F11 Pro has an all screen front and a pop-up mechanism. The F11 and F11 Pro have 6.53-inch 1080x2340px IPS LCDs, which Oppo claims have their own RAM to preserve energy. Regardless of placement, the selfie camera is a 16MP f/2.0 snapper. In the F11 Pro it's elevated...

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Samsung announces partnership with Calm

Calm was among the top apps in the Apple Store for 2017 and the success did not remain unseen by Samsung. The Korean smartphone manufacturer has just announced through a press release a partnership with the wellness platform which will bring the guided meditation and sleep programs to the Samsung Health app. The interface of Calm The setup begins from the Mindfulness icon in the Samsung Health app. Then you have to create an account with Calm, if you don't have one already, and you get all the personalized features designed to help reduce stress and improve sleep. The...

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Some Samsung Galaxy S10 pre-orders are shipping out already

Samsung started accepting pre-orders for the Galaxy S10 from February 21 and promised to deliver them by March 8. But, some lucky buyers might get them early as the company has already shipped out some units. Some customers who pre-ordered the Galaxy S10, S10+, and S10e - either unlocked or carrier-branded - have received notification from Samsung about the shipment of their pre-orders. Some pre-orders are expected to be delivered today, while most should be with their new ownerss on March 6. Either way that's a few days earlier than the initially expected date. Those who didn't...

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USB4 announced with 40Gbps bandwidth, it's based on Thunderbolt 3

Intel and the USB-IF have announced the next evolution in "do it all" cables - USB4. It will double the available bandwidth over the newly-renamed USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 to 40Gbps. With that much throughput, a single cable can handle multiple simultaneous display out and data streams. It can drive two 4K displays at 60Hz, for example. USB4 isn't entirely a new protocol, however. It builds on Thunderbolt 3, which Intel just contributed to the USB group and made available for royalty-free implementation. USB4 will still be fully backwards compatible with the older USB 2.0 and 3.2 standards. Note...

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Spotify racks up 1 million users in India in a week

Spotify finally made its debut in the Indian market last week. And in less than a week the music streaming service has clocked 1 million unique users in the country. These numbers include users across both the free and premium tiers. Spotify's premium plans in India start at INR 13 for a day and go all the way up to INR 1,189 (around $17) for a year. The streaming service also has weekly, monthly, and quarterly plans in its catalog. And it also offers 50% discount to the students. Those who are not willing to pay can continue to use the ad-supported version for free. Spotify's...

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Black Shark 2 to have Liquid Cool 3.0

Xiaomi Black Shark 2 is expected to come in the next month or two, and we now know the phone will have new liquid cooling technology, simply called Liquid Cool 3.0. The information was confirmed by the Weibo profile of the gaming sub-brand, along with the first promo video of the incoming smartphone. The Black Shark 2 moniker was also confirmed, probably because it is the second-gen smartphone by the gaming division. A previously leaked benchmark revealed it will come with Snapdragon 855 chipset and at least 8 GB RAM. The phone has a model number SKW-A0 and it looks like it will...

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Samsung Galaxy A60 images leak to reveal Infinity-U display and triple rear camera

Samsung announced the Galaxy A30 and A50 last week. A Galaxy A40 should be joining them soon as well as a Galaxy A60 - the latter's Specs leaked yesterday and today we are treated to its renders, which confirm its design. The Galaxy A60 looks similar to the A50. It has the Infinity-U display on the front with triple cameras stacked vertically in the top-left corner on the back. However, edges on the back of the A60 seem to be flatter than those of the A50. The render also shows a USB Type-C port at the bottom of the smartphone which is flanked by a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a...

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Samsung Galaxy S10 pre-orders in Korea fall behind Galaxy S9, Galaxy Note9

Samsung is betting a lot on its anniversary Galaxy S series, but the pre-order numbers in its home market South Korea failed to impress. According to The Korea Herald, only 140,000 units of the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and Galaxy S10e were booked on the first day. Samsung is planning to launch the Galaxy S10 5G in South Korea later this month, while the Galaxy Fold is expected to arrive mid-May. Industry officials said consumers are currently waiting to see how the whole scene will unfold before deciding to purchase a smartphone. To put the 140,000 units in perspective, last year...

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Dark Mode officially comes to Facebook Messenger

Facebook confirmed Dark Mode for Messenger last October, and this past weekend, the company allowed some users to unlock the feature with a crescent moon(🌙) emoji. Now, the social media giant has officially announced the arrival of Dark Mode on its messaging app. Dark Mode on Messenger can be currently unlocked by sending the crescent moon emoji in a chat. After that, you can head over to the Settings menu to turn it on. However, Facebook has said that this a "limited-time only experience" so you may not be able to activate Dark Mode after some days with a moon emoji. Dark...

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