Our editors talk: MWC 2019 highlights

As the MWC 2019 dust settled we took the time to look back and see what impressed us, what disappointed us and what implications all this has for the future of the smartphone market. Yordan: The future is closer than we think. I finally managed to wrap my head around the most eventful Congress in Barcelona for many many years. We saw pretty much everything we could've seen from smartphone companies - new form factors, new chipsets, new battery solutions, 5G being slapped everywhere, and plenty of other innovations. The Huawei Mate X is clearly the most interesting device from...

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Apparently some Qualcomm chipsets support up to 192MP cameras

With the new wave of 48MP mobile camera sensors and devices like the Nokia 9 PureView and its five or even six, depending on how you count, snapper setup, it is pretty clear that the mobile industry is still actively experimenting and pushing camera boundaries. In keeping with this trend Qualcomm decided to be extra diligent with its ISP specs sheets. The change, done without any real fanfare was first spotted by the guys over at XDA Developers, which frankly makes a lot of sense. Developers and tinkerers, especially those working on projects like ports of the Google Camera app and tech on...

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Lenovo Z5 finally up for an Android Pie update. Soon.

Lenovo's obsession with the Z5 leading up to the phone's release was definitely a sight to behold back in June. Clearly strong enough to fan the flames, sell-out initial stocks in the blink of an eye and top JD's top selling list. And then, just as quickly as it started, the hype train ground to a halt and Lenovo moved on to other projects, like the Z5s and more-recently the Z5 Pro GT. Each one seemingly giving way in the spotlight to the next and then slipping into obscurity. Change log While Lenovo clearly failed to deliver on the promise of a quick update to Android Pie and ZUI...

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Samsung's One Hand Operation + gesture navigation app released on Play Store

Android devices have come a long way. They first relied on physical buttons for navigation which were later replaced with on-screen buttons. And we now have navigation gestures. However, with the increasing display sizes, controlling a phone with one hand can be difficult for many. Well, to make things easier, Samsung has released its One Hand Operation + app on the Play Store. This app makes navigation easier on phones with one hand. It lets you perform different actions with different swipe gestures from the edges of the screen. You can customize swipe gestures for different functions...

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Pocophone F1 gets MIUI 10.2.3.0 stable update with February security patch

The Pocophone F1 - known as POCO F1 in India - is receiving MIUI 10 stable update with February 2019 Android security patch. This update carries version number 10.2.3.0.PEJMIXM and weighs more than 550 MB in size. We don't know what else this update brings to the phone because the developer team "didn't have time to write the full changelog". But what we do know is that it doesn't bring 4K 60 FPS video recording support that was rolled out through a beta update earlier this week. However, Alvin Tse, who's the Head of Pocophone Global, has said that the company will release another...

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vivo X27 teaser videos surface online

The vivo X27 is hardly a surprise at this point, since most of its specs were already spilled by TENAA last month. That was quickly followed-up by sightings in the wild and an official announcement date, set for March 19. Today brings a couple of teaser videos for the phone. Both pretty short and not really particularly impressive or revealing in any way. Still, they do seem to share a common theme - high fashion and style and that's likely the angle vivo will be going for with the X27 marketing campaign. We can't really fault them for accenting on looks, since the company and the...

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Instagram might let you co-watch videos with friends

Facebook introduced a feature called "Watch Party" for Facebook Groups last July that lets users watch videos together. The company was later found testing a similar feature on Facebook Messenger, and it now seems that its subsidiary Instagram might also allow video co-watching. Instagram was spotted working on a video co-watching feature by reverse-engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong. Wong says this feature would be available in Instagram Direct in video calls, and the snapshots she shared reveal that you would be able to co-watch videos from a playlist or the ones suggested by...

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Samsung Galaxy A8+ (2018) gets Android Pie update

The Samsung Galaxy A8+ (2018) that was launched back in December 2017 with Android Nougat is getting the Android Pie update with February 2019 Android security patch. The update is currently only available in Russia and there's no word on when it will be rolled out in other markets. If you live in Russia and don't get an update notification in a week or two, you can check for it manually by heading over to the Settings > Software update menu. The update is also available through Samsung Smart Switch. The Galaxy A8+ (2018) is powered by Exynos 7885 SoC and comes in two memory...

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Huawei continues its P30 teaser campaign with some impressive zoom photos

Huawei's upcoming P30 and P30 Pro flagships have been leaking left and right over the past few months. So much so, in fact, that the Pro variant can even be spotted in at least two sets of hands-on photos, with the latter one actually coming from a media outlet, complete with impressions. Huawei P30 posters Even so, we still have little confirmed info on what will apparently be the spotlight feature of the new flagship - its periscope zoom camera. Even the photos we do have, like a 5x zoom from Barcelona or a photo of the Moon, published by Huawei themselves can't be...

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Samsung Galaxy A40 gets FCC certified with 5.7-inch display

The Galaxy A40 that was recently listed on Samsung UK's website has received FCC certification hinting at its imminent launch. The smartphone was spotted on the FCC's website bearing model number SM-A405FN/DS. The FCC listing doesn't tell us much about the A40 other than revealing its display size and wireless connectivity features. The A40 will sport a 5.7-inch display which is smaller than the displays on A10, A30, and A50. Connectivity options on the A40 include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 5.0 LE. The A30 and A50 both come with USB Type-C, so it's safe to say that the...

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Samsung Galaxy S10 pre-orders break record in US

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is doing very well in sales and the phone just launched on Friday. Following today's earlier news about the Galaxy S10 breaking the UK's Samsung pre-order record, the US is also seeing record pre-orders for the Samsung flagship. Power users lead the pack in the U.S., with the Galaxy S10+ accounting for over 57% of pre-orders. - Samsung spokesperson We don't have the statistics on which colors were the most popular, but the US appears to be very fond of Prism White. In the UK, it was Prism Black. Interestingly enough, the most expensive model, the Galaxy S10+, made...

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