OnePlus launches OnePlus 3 and 3T closed beta for Android Pie

When Android Pie launched, OnePlus promised that the OnePlus 6, 5/5T, and 3/3T would all be updated to the next version of Android. So far, OnePlus has held beta programs and officially released Android Pie for the OnePlus 6 back in September, and the OnePlus 5 and 5T back in December. We are finally seeing progress on the long-awaited Android 9.0 Pie update for the OnePlus 3 and 3T. On Friday morning, a OnePlus staff member announced that it was opening registrations for a closed beta of selected OnePlus 3 and 3T users for early builds of Oxygen OS running Android Pie. OnePlus...

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Samsung Galaxy Fold appears on Geekbench, doesn't impress with scores

Geekbench got an interesting visitor - the Samsung Galaxy Fold. The foldable smartphone didn't score quite as high as its Snapdragon 855 and 12GB RAM suggested. What that suggests is that the software on the unit that ran the benchmark is far from finalized and Samsung still has plenty of work to do before the April 26 launch. Another interesting bit is the SM-900F naming, which is the international variant of the phone. If that one is using the Qualcomm chip it's a clear confirmation that we are not getting an Exynos version of the Fold. Recently, the Fold appeared in a...

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Scammers caught playing hidden video ads and draining smartphone batteries

Have you ever wondered why your phone has a drained battery in the middle of the day? It might have something to do with a faulty application, running scam ads unbeknownst to you. According to fraud detection firm Protected Media, Ad Stacking was spotted in codes, provided by an ad technology company Aniview. Ad Stacking is essentially showing you one ad, but in the background it is playing multiple videos at the same time, destroying your battery life. This type of fraud hurts not only you, your device and data cap, but also companies who pay for impressions and views, as well as...

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Huawei P30 and P30 Pro will shoot dual camera video, company confirms

Huawei might as well just call the P30 phones "announced" and get it over with. The latest leak comes from its Singaporean site and does a good job of succinctly listing the best features of the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro as well as detailing the launch promos. Buying a P30 or P30 Pro on launch day - April 6 - from the VivoCity mall will net you a free Huawei Watch GT and JBL Clip 2 speaker. These freebies are worth a total of SGD 467 ($345/€305). Europe will be getting the watch too (but perhaps not the speaker). As for the specs (as if we haven't seen them leaked a thousand times by...

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Redmi Y3 receives Wi-Fi certification, probably launching soon

It looks like the Redmi sub-brand is getting a new entry level device with the upcoming Y3, which just passed Wi-Fi certification. The phone will succeed the Redmi Y2 from last year which was known as the Redmi S2 internationally and we can expect similar naming strategy with the new phone going as the Redmi S3 globally. Little else is known about the upcoming budget phone, we can confirm that it will run on Android 9.0 with MIUI 10 on top. Pricing is expected to remain in the INR 10,000 ($140/€120) range. Yet the fact that the Redmi Y3 is already getting certified by agencies...

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Xiaomi introduces Google Lens integration for MIUI camera app

After the arrival of Mi Pay and Redmi Go in India, Xiaomi has another announcement this week. The company has launched Google Lens integration within the native MIUI camera app. This means instead of downloading an app, the platform is available with a single tap. The confirmation arrived on the Indian section of MIUI's forums. Google Lens essentially gives you context about stuff around you - animals, books, music covers, points of interest, QR scanner, recognizing landscapes, etc. It can also automatically collect info from a business card and store it, so you don't have to wear...

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Huawei Mate 30 could be the first phone with a 7nm EUV chipset - the Kirin 985

The Huawei Mate 30 could be become the first smartphone to ship with a chipset built with an Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) process. That chipset will be the Kirin 985 and will be produced at the TSMC foundries. It will still be a 7nm chip, however the EUV enhancement will allow for 20% greater transistor density. This will be marketed at 7+ nm. The benefits of EUV will become more pronounced as nodes get smaller (e.g. 5nm). The Kirin 985 will come with increased clock speeds for higher performance (and perhaps some power savings too), but the CPU and GPU architecture will be largely the...

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Two new entry level vivo phones appear on Geekbench

After releasing two midrange devices with the V15 and X27, vivo's next offerings will likely cater to the budget segment. Two new phones by the company popped up on Geekbench touting entry level specs. The first offering, the vivo 1901, comes with the budget Helio P22 SoC along with 2GB RAM and Android 9.0 Pie. The phone manages to push out a single core score of 811 and 2473 on the multi-core test, similar to the Helio A22 powered Redmi 6A. The vivo 1902 packs the Helio P35 also paired with 2GB RAM and Android Pie. Performance is almost identical to the vivo 1901 with 815...

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Two teasers and a hands-on video of the Huawei P30 Pro emerge

The hype train continues to roll and to keep the steam going, Huawei released two more teaser videos for the P30 Pro emphasizing on the camera capabilities. More precisely, the zoom and the 3D ToF sensor on the back. The videos originally appeared on Weibo and were posted by Huawei, so it's as official as it gets. Along with those, we get a newly surfaced hands-on video that once again, shows off the fast under-display fingerprint reader. We don't know what kind of fingerprint scanner Huawei used - either optical or ultrasonic - but it appears to be blazing fast. The...

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HMD Global responds to the Nokia 7 Plus user data controversy

Shortly after the news broke about the batch of Nokia 7 Plus devices sending private user data to a Chinese server, HMD Global responded with an official statement. The statement says that the company made a mistake regarding user activation for another country. The wrong software package has been installed on the batch of Nokia 7 Plus handsets. We can confirm that no personally identifiable information has been shared with any third party. We have analysed the case at hand and have found that our device activation client meant for another country was mistakenly included in the...

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Huawei Malaysia slips up, confirms the Huawei P30 lite is really the nova 4e

The flagship P30 phones have been the stars of two major leaks, but the Huawei P30 lite is not getting left behind - it leaked too. And these are leaks straight from Huawei.com mind you, it doesn't get any more reliable than this. Still, the P30 lite leak is fairly tame, in fact it just confirms something we suspected all along - the phone will merely be a rebranded Huawei nova 4e, which was unveiled last week. Huawei P30 lite, aka nova 4e Here's the proof - check the images on the official page on Huawei Malaysia for the 4e, the folder and image file names make it quite...

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Netflix testing cheaper mobile-only plan in India

Netflix is now testing its mobile-only plan in India, according to Economic Times. The company had previously started testing this plan in other countries, including Malaysia, and is now trying it out in India. With this plan, you can subscribe to the service for INR 250 ($3.6). This is half of the cheapest plan Netflix currently offers for INR 500 ($7.2), which gives you SD quality and the option to stream on one device at a time. In comparison, the mobile-only plan will also offer SD quality and one device limit but that device now has to be a mobile device. As is with the case with...

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Sony Xperia 1 screen works in 4K all the time

Sony launched the Xperia 1 with the first 4K OLED display in a smartphone. It arrived with a 21:9 ratio and the whole panel is trademarked under the moniker CinemaWide. According to moderators on an official Sony forum, it won't follow in the footsteps of the XZ2 Premium and revert to 1080p for most of the UI and apps - everything will be shown in the 4K resolution of 3840 x 1644 pixels. Screenshot of the confirmation Still, the apps that do not support native 4K and will work in Full HD until support is added. The native apps will all be updated to support the new resolution -...

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WhatsApp to tell you how many times your message has been forwarded

Last week we told you about WhatsApp's test of in-app browsing and reverse image search features on its Android app. Today we learn about two more features that this Facebook subsidiary is working on. WhatsApp is developing two new features called "Forwarding Info" and "Frequently Forwarded". Forwarding Info tells you how many times a message you sent to others has been forwarded. This information is shown in the Message Info section which is accessed by long pressing the sent message and then tapping on the info icon that appears at the top. WABetaInfo reports that this feature...

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After Huawei Enjoy 9S, the Enjoy 9e also leaks

Huawei is hosting an event on March 25 in China where it will unveil the Enjoy 9S and Enjoy 9e smartphones. Specifications and images of the 9S have already leaked, and now the 9e has also surfaced online ahead of the launch. Pictures of the Enjoy 9e show that it looks similar to the Enjoy 9S, except that it has a bigger chin with Huawei logo atop. The smartphone will come in at least three colors - Brown, Black, and Blue - with the Brown variant having a back with leather finish. Huawei Enjoy 9e The leaks also includes specifications of the Enjoy 9e - Helio P35 SoC, 3GB RAM,...

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vivo v15 comes to India, sales start from April 1

The vivo V15 that was unveiled earlier this month has debuted in India today. The smartphone is priced at INR23,990 ($348) and will be sold through Flipkart, Amazon.in, vivo India's online store, as well as brick-and-mortar stores across the country. vivo will begin the sales of the V15 in India from April 1, but it will start accepting pre-orders from March 25. Those who pre-order can get up to INR10,000 ($145) benefits from Reliance Jio and a one-time free screen replacement. vivo V15 The V15 has Helio P70 SoC under the hood with 6GB RAM. It boasts a 6.53-inch notchless...

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Xiaomi Mi A3 to come with an in-display fingerprint scanner

Xiaomi might have hit the jackpot with the latest Redmi series, but the company keeps pushing. The latest tech that it wants to bring to its midrangers, is the under-display fingerprint scanner. Reports from XDA-Developers revealed at least three new phones with the FOD technology (fingerprint-on-display) were spotted for hardware testing, two of them with codenames suggesting Android One. They are most likely the Xiaomi Mi A3 and Xiaomi Mi A3 Lite and one of their Chinese versions. The three phones are codenamed "pyxis", "bamboo_sprout", and "cosmos_sprout", with the _sprout suffix...

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Comcast launches Xfinity Flex, a $5/month streaming box

Streaming content is as popular as ever and the market is crowded with streaming device options from Roku, to Amazon's Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV. You get the picture. On Thursday, Comcast announced the Xfinity Flex streaming box. It's powered by the same OS that runs on its Xfinity cable DVR boxes. Apple is set to announce its own video streaming service very soon and Xfinity wants to make sure that folks hear about the Flex before that happens. It's a streaming box for those Xfinity Internet customers who don't have set-top TV boxes. Unsurprisingly, being an Xfinity...

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A batch of Nokia phones were inadvertently communicating with a Chinese server

On Thursday, major news firm of Norway, NRK reported about an issue where several units of the Nokia 7 Plus were inadvertently sending personal information to a Chinese server. These units were sold in the Norwegian market but quickly raised grave concern when the communication between the handset and Chinese server were discovered. The report found that personal information about the device, including GPS coordinates, SIM card number, and the devices serial number were being transferred to the server, unencrypted. This was happening whenever the phone was switched on, screen fired up, or...

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T-Mobile launches pilot Home Internet program

The future of home-internet has begun in the US. Following Verizon's recent announcement of 5G service and the eventual launch of its home 5G broadband service, T-Mobile is beating Verizon to the punch line. No, T-Mobile doesn't have a 5G network yet, but it believes it can deliver home internet via 4G LTE. On Thursday, T-Mobile is announcing a limited pilot program called T-Mobile Home Internet. The service offers unlimited internet over a 4G LTE connection, fit enough for a household. T-Mobile is only offering the pilot to specific areas where the carrier has enough capacity to cover a...

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