Counterclockwise: periscope cameras are old news, optical zoom dates back to 2004

Periscope cameras are set to become "the next big thing" in smartphone photography, but they are not exactly new - they've been around for years actually. The history of optical zoom on mobile goes way back. Keep in mind that mobile phones have had cameras on them only since the year 2000. Not long after that in 2004 the Sharp 902 came around. Vodafone was just launching its 3G network in the UK and it claimed that this is the first phone with a 2MP camera in Europe. Even more interesting, it featured 2x optical zoom. Better yet, it did the zoom with a single camera instead of switching...

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Samsung rumored to be Huawei's OLED screen supplier for the P30 Pro

And here's another one. A new report emerged claiming that Samsung is the sole supplier for OLED panels for this year's Huawei flagship, the P30 Pro. Assuming, the regular P30 will also be getting Samsung-made AMOLED. According to a Weibo post, which in turn claims to have inside information, Huawei has struck a deal with Samsung and has tasked the latter of making all of the OLED panels for the P30 flagships. There's more than one reason for Huawei to make the switch. For starters, Samsung is the biggest smartphone OLED supplier in the industry and has the manpower to pull off the...

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WhatsApp testing in-app browsing and reverse image search features

WhatsApp, like many other companies, tests new features on the beta channel before rolling them out widely to its user base around the globe. And the latest features that this Facebook subsidiary is testing are in-app browser and reverse image search. As evident from its name, the in-app browser lets you open web pages from within WhatsApp. This way you don't have to leave WhatsApp to open links. However, do note that you cannot take screenshots or record screen when using this feature. The in-app browser also alerts users when they try to open a web page that could be harmful. And,...

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Samsung Galaxy M20 now on open sale in India

The Samsung Galaxy M20 that debuted in India in late January is now on open sale in the country. This means you can buy the phone anytime you want without having to wait for weekly sales. The Galaxy M20 can be purchased through Amazon.in and Samsung India's website. It comes in two memory configurations - 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage. The former is priced at INR 10,990 ($159) with the latter carrying a price tag of INR 12,990 ($188). Samsung Galaxy M20 The M20 comes with Exynos 7904 SoC and runs Android Oreo out-of-the-box. It flaunts a 6.3-inch...

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vivo iQOO gaming smartphone reportedly coming to India by June

Vivo sub-brand iQOO launched its first smartphone called vivo iQOO earlier this month. The smartphone is currently only available in China but it will debut in India in Q2 2019. According to a report by 91Mobiles, the vivo iQOO gaming smartphone will be launched in India by late May or early June this year. The company will also launch a second gaming smartphone in the country later on. vivo iQOO in Electric Blue and Lava Orange iQOO will price these smartphones between INR 30,000 ($435) and 60,000 ($870) and will compete with OnePlus which is very popular in this price...

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Oppo Reno to have 93.1% screen-to-body ratio and "no holes", company VP teases

Oppo's upcoming flagship smartphone called Reno shapes up to be an impressive piece of tech. Going by previous leaks and teasers, the phone will boast 10x loss-less zoom and Samsung's latest iteration of their AMOLED panels - Dynamic AMOLED. But that's not all. Today the company's VP boasted about the impressive screen-to-body ratio too. It's expected to reach 93.1% without resorting to notches, holes or other cutouts of some sort. If the number is legit, the bezels should be almost non-existent too. Additionally, the VP says there won't be any holes on the back as well, but...

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HTC makes a profit in 2018

HTC posted its financial results for Q4 2018 and the annual 2018. Surprisingly, the company did pretty well considering its current situation. It made a small profit in the Q4, which carried over to the overall profit increase in 2018 as a whole. HTC reported $143 million gross profit after tax for the last quarter of last year and about $389 for the whole year. That's a significant increase over 2017 and interestingly enough, Q4 of 2018 was actually the fourth consecutive quarter with rising revenue since Q4 2017. It seems that the re-structuring and re-organizing has done a great...

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The Huawei P30 and P30 Pro show up on new set of renders, this time in black

Well, until the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro get released, the wave of leaks is inevitable. Just yesterday, we got a good a look of both phones garnished with a full specs sheet. Huawei P30 Pro and P30 Today's leak, however, isn't all that informative but gives us a clear look at the two devices one more time and this time in Black. It is said that aside from the Black color, the vanilla P30 will come in Twilight, White and Blue while the Pro variant will get Sunrise Red, Twilight and Aurora gradients. There's not much left to be revealed during Huawei's event on March 26 but we...

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Asus will release Android Pie for three smartphones by April 15

Asus rolled out Android Pie beta for ZenFone Max Pro (M1) and (M2) last month, and now the company has confirmed that it will release the stable build of Android Pie for these smartphones by April 15. In addition to those, the ZenFone Max (M2) will also get the Android Pie stable build by April 15. All three of these smartphones were launched with Android 8.1 Oreo last year. The ZenFone Max Pro (M1) came in April while the other two came in December. If you own the ZenFone Max Pro (M1) or (M2) and can't wait to get your hands on Android Pie, you can enroll in the beta program by...

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Oppo F11 Pro review

Once a showcase of Oppo's selfie-centric tech, now the F-series has evolved into a fully-fledged mid-range lineup. And the new Oppo F11 Pro has a lot to show off starting with a notch-less edge-to-edge screen and a 48MP main camera, as well as a pop-up selfie camera and VOOC charging.

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Xiaomi's foldable phone will cost half of Galaxy Fold, launch in Q2 2019

Samsung and Huawei unveiled their foldable smartphones last month. Both of them have a different design but they have one thing in common - the high price. Samsung's Galaxy Fold costs $1,980 whereas Huawei's Mate X costs around $2,600. This price tag makes them a luxury item, but thanks to Xiaomi, you will be able to buy a foldable smartphone that will cost less than a grand. Well, $999 to be precise. 3D render of Xiaomi's foldable smartphone (Source: Lets Go Digital) According to a report by iGyaan, Xiaomi's foldable smartphone - which is currently referred to as Mi Fold and Mi...

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FCC proposes better GPS locating for 911 calls down to the building's floor level

In the United States, a carrier provides the GPS coordinates to emergency dispatchers when someone places an emergency "911" call using a smartphone. While this will help dispatchers locate the origin of the call for help, it is a bit more difficult when the call came from a multi-story building. On Friday, the FCC has proposed new requirements for wireless operators to provide 911 call centers with not only X and Y GPS coordinates, but also a vertical "z axis" location metric to help dispatchers figure out which floor of the building a call came from. To do this, the FCC would "require...

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Report forecasts wire-free earbuds sales will reach 129 million units in 2020

On Friday, Counter Point Research published a report about the future of the wireless earbuds industry. "The global market for true wireless hearables is estimated to reach a volume of 129 million units by 2020," this according to the latest research from the firm. The research firm attributes the expected growth to the anticipation of the a new-generation of AirPods that are due to be announced sometime soon and would be aggressively marketed to compensate for the recent decline in iPhone sales. At the same time, the firm estimates Apple Airpod sales somewhere around 35 million...

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