vivo S1 goes on sale in India

The vivo S1 is now available for purchase in India through Amazon.in and vivo's eStore. The smartphone will also be sold through Flipkart, but the listing there is yet to appear. You can also buy the phone from offline stores if you prefer to check it out before forking over the cash. The vivo S1 comes in three memory versions - 4GB/128GB, 6GB/64GB, and 6GB/128GB. Only the base model is currently available for INR17,990 ($255/€225). The top-end model costs INR19,990 ($280/€250) and you will have to shell out INR18,990 ($270/€240) for the 6GB/64GB variant. vivo S1 in Diamond Black...

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Facebook has done it again - this time it was transcribing users' voice messages

Facebook and invading privacy - name a more iconic duo. According to Bloomberg, the company has been paying hundreds of outside contractors to transcribe audio messages from Facebook Messenger. Contract employees said they were hearing users' conversations, sometimes with vulgar content, but do not know why Facebook needs them transcribed. Facebook has confirmed it had been transcribing audio messages and said it will no longer do so, following scrutiny into other companies. The company announced that "much like Apple and Google, we paused human review of audio more than a week...

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WhatsApp beta for Android adds fingerprint unlocking support

Back in February WhatsApp for iOS added a Screen Lock feature, that, when enabled, would make the app prompt you to authenticate using Touch ID every time you wanted to enter it. Now, many months later, the same thing has finally made it to Android, although at the moment the functionality is only part of the latest WhatsApp beta build. WhatsApp 2.19.221 is available for beta testers, and if you have it you can go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Fingerprint lock to enable the new feature. After you turn it on, you'll need to use your fingerprint to authenticate every single time you want...

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LG G8 ThinQ drops to $499.99 unlocked

Another day, another LG smartphone deal. Whereas yesterday we told you that you could grab a V35 ThinQ for just $399.99 if you didn't mind that it was an Amazon Prime Exclusive device, today we have something even newer. We're talking about the LG G8 ThinQ, still the Korean company's current flagship offering, launched earlier this year. The device is usually priced at $849.99 unlocked, but right now Amazon is holding a promo that's taking $350 off that price. So you can grab a brand new, unlocked G8, for just $499.99, and it's compatible with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Boost,...

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Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro (aka Redmi K20 Pro) officially launches in Europe on August 20

Xiaomi's Redmi K20 has already arrived in some markets (including Europe) as the Mi 9T, but so far the K20 Pro (aka Mi 9T Pro) hasn't made its official debut alongside its sibling. That will all change in just a few days, it turns out. According to the official Facebook account of Xiaomi's arm in the Netherlands, the Mi 9T Pro will finally become official on August 20. The launch referenced in the post is for the Benelux markets - Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. But usually it doesn't take Xiaomi very long to roll out a new device to all of its European markets after the first...

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Snap introduces new Spectacles 3 with dual HD cameras

Snap Inc. has launched its third generation of the Spectacles. This time around, the main draw is not one but two cameras that can capture in 3D. The Spectacles 3 have two HD cameras on either side, which can capture both photos and videos in 3D. These can then be transferred on to your phone and viewed in the Snapchat app by tilting your phone around for the perception of depth. Or, you can use the bundled 3D Viewer, which is a cardboard doodad for holding your phone much like Google Cardboard and view the captured photos and videos in proper 3D. The glasses can capture images in a...

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OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro Fnatic Easter egg unlocks three new stock wallpapers

OnePlus had built an Easter egg into the OnePlus 7 Pro and the OnePlus 7 that largely went unnoticed until now. Fnatic mode is found under Gaming mode Found within the Fnatic mode settings (Settings > Utilities > Gaming mode), the Easter egg is activated by tapping on the Fnatic logo five times. Once you do that, a text box will appear wherein you have to enter the text "alwaysfnatic" without the quotes. Wallpapers can be added optionally to your default wallpaper set Once you do that, the Easter egg is unlocked with a Fnatic logo animation. Therein you will...

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Android now lets you sign into Google apps using your fingerprint

Google has rolled out an update to its Google services allowing you to log in using your fingerprint instead of typing in passwords in supported websites. The update is available to all devices with at least Android 7 Nougat. Of course, Pixel devices are seeing the upgrade sooner than most. Once you register your enroll your fingerprint in certain Google services, you will be asked if you want to use your fingerprint reader to log in from now on. The method works natively in apps and on the web. The authentication method is built on the FIDO2 standards, W3C WebAuthn and FIDO CTAP for...

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SA: Global smartwatch market surges by 44% in Q2 2019

Strategy Analytics published its report on the smartwatch market in the second quarter of this year and the numbers are looking pretty good. The whole market expanded by 44% year-over-year - total shipments grew from 8.6 million in Q2 2018 to 12.3 million in Q2 2019. Global smartwatch shipments Q2 2019 (m units) Shipments 2Q18 2Q19 Apple 3.8 5.7 Samsung 0.9 2.0 Fitbit 1.3 1.2 Others 2.6 3.4 Total 8.6 (55.4% Y/Y) 12.3 (43.6% Y/Y) Apple is still dominating the...

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Amazon leaks Motorola One Zoom price and details: S675, not Android One phone

Amazon is at it again - first it leaked details about the Motorola One Action, now it did the same with the Motorola One Zoom. There's some good news and some bad news here. The camera will feature dual OIS - the 48MP Quad Bayer sensor will be stabilized along with the telephoto camera. Based on the label on the back, the telephoto lens will be 81mm, while the ultrawide angle lens will be 13mm (the fourth camera is likely a depth sensor). In case the focal lengths don't mean much to you, the telephoto camera will offer 3x optical zoom over the main one. Motorola One...

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DJI launches Osmo Mobile 3 - a smart, foldable gimbal for smartphones

DJI just announced its latest smartphone gimbal - the Osmo Mobile 3. This one offers a couple of cool features - software and hardware. First and foremost, the Osmo Mobile 3 folds to take less space. It also offers a couple of dedicated modes like Sport Mode, Story Mode, ActiveTrack 3.0 and supports gestures. The ActiveTrack 3.0 can track fast-paced moving objects, while Story Mode applies a template of your choice turning the video into an edited short clip with music and everything. Hyperlapse Hype and Timelapse are also supported features along with 180-degree panorama and...

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Realme is working on its own OS, coming by the end of the year

Realme is working on its own OS, revealed CEO Madhav Sheth. So far, the company has been using Oppo's Color OS for its phones, but that prevents it from delivering features that fans have been asking for. There are not details available about Realme OS. The platform should become available by the end of this year or early next year. It's not quite clear which (if any) of the existing Realme phones will be updated to the in-house software. The OS is believed to be based on Android Q, but Sheth did not confirm that. Will it be close to stock like Oxygen OS or heavily skinned like...

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vivo NEX 3 will retain its audio jack

Even though the vivo NEX 3 shapes up to be an innovative powerhouse with a waterfall curved screen and perhaps an under-display front-facing camera, the handset will also carry the beloved 3.5mm audio jack. vivo's product manager, Li Xiang, officially confirmed that the handset won't be ditching the legacy audio port - something even Samsung did with its latest Galaxy Note10+. We expect the device to be announced later this year and we can't wait to see what vivo has been cooking. Source (in Chinese)

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HTC Q2 report marks fifth consecutive quarter in the red

To say HTC's mobile business has been facing a tough time lately would be an understatement. The company has recorded several quarters of net losses and was recently banned from selling its devices in the UK market over a patent dispute. Now the HTC's Q2 earnings report is in and it brings more bad news. This time around the quarterly net loss after tax comes in at TWD2.3 billion ($73 million) which is slightly better than its Q1 results which showed a TWD2.4 billion ($76 million) money bleed. HTC's earnings per share was negative TWD2.71 ($0.09). Operating profits also shrunk from...

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HTC Q2 report marks fifth consecutive quarter in the red

To say HTC's mobile business has been facing a tough time lately would be an understatement. The company has recorded several quarters of net losses and was recently banned from selling its devices in the UK market over a patent dispute. Now the HTC's Q2 earnings report is in and it brings more bad news. This time around the quarterly net loss after tax comes in at TWD2.3 billion ($73 million) which is slightly better than its Q1 results which showed a TWD2.4 billion ($76 million) money bleed. HTC's earnings per share was negative TWD2.71 ($0.09). Operating profits also shrunk from...

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Motorola G8 images show a display with no notch or punch hole

Recent Motorola models have switched between notches and punch holes for their selfie cameras, but something else is on the horizon - the Moto G8, which will most likely have a pop-up selfie camera. Check out these two images below, posted by @evleaks. There's no selfie camera, not even an earpiece, just a uniform bezel on the top and the sides. However, the bottom bezel is thicker than expected. Motorola G8 It's early for a new G-series phone - the Moto G7 lineup was announced in February this year. The G6 before it came out in April 2018. The "Moto G8" name was...

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Xiaomi's foldable phone will have a triple camera, EUIPO filing reveals

Xiaomi has filed a design for its foldable phone with the EU Intellectual Property Office. The technical drawings show the familiar dual-fold design but also reveal a triple camera on the back. How will that work? Official design schematic of Xiaomi's foldable phone Xiaomi posted two videos of the phone. They show how the phone is divided into three segments - the left and right segment fold behind the center segment. And in doing so, they will cover the camera on the back. That isn't shown in the video, but there's no other way this will work. It will be hard to spin this as...

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Samsung Galaxy A30s and A50s certified by Wi-Fi Alliance

With the official announcement of the Galaxy A10s yesterday it's evident that Samsung's strategy for the A-series going forward will bring "S" upgrades to its popular devices about six months after their release. The Galaxy A30s and A50s appear to be next in line for this strategy as they just popped up on the Wi-Fi alliance site bearing the SM-A307FN/DS and SM-A507FN/DS model numbers. Samsung Galaxy A30s and A50s Wi-Fi certifications While we don't get much details about the devices apart from them running Android 9 Pie and having dual-band Wi-Fi capabilities, we have previous...

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Samsung Galaxy Note10+'s 25W charger aces charge speed test, beats OnePlus 7 Pro

There was some grumbling that Samsung didn't bundle a 45W charger with the Galaxy Note10+, even though the phone supports it. Instead, you get a 25W charger in the box - and as it turns out, this is still enough to beat the competition from 0% to 100% battery charge. YouTube channel Gadgets Portal pitted the Galaxy Note10+ (4,300mAh) against the Note9 (4,000mAh, 15W charger in box), OnePlus 7 Pro (4,000mAh, 30W charger) and Apple iPhone XS Max (3,174mAh, 5W charger). You can watch the video first or read on below it for spoilers. The Galaxy Note10+ finished charging in 1 hour and 5...

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Huawei's 5G modem is larger and less efficient than Qualcomm's, a teardown reveals

IHS Markit has done some extensive research on early 5G adoption using six early 5G-capable smartphones and looked inside. The teardowns revealed that Huawei ended up with a larger, less efficient and more expensive 5G chip than the competition. Since the Kirin 980 chipset comes equipped with a 4G/3G/2G modem of its own, the Balong 5000 5G modem is added externally leaving the original 4G modem unused and taking a lot of space. Having two modem chips on the SoC is not only ineffective in terms of energy and space, it's also costlier. Not to mention that the Balong 5000 on its own...

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Samsung looking to deliver a graphene battery smartphone within two years

When Samsung introduced a battery technology using graphene to make lithium-ion batteries last longer, everyone was praising and welcoming the future, despite the astronomical cost of production, which made it unfeasible in mass produced devices. According to Evan Blass, the Korean giant is actually on the verge of unveiling a device with a graphene battery "either next year or 2021". Graphene, as a material, is highly conductive and elastic, touted as the future since its discovery as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries back in 2004. It is a form of carbon that can be...

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Realme 5 Pro confirmed to sport a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor

The Realme 5 and 5 Pro are set to go official next week on August 20. Both smartphones will come with a quad camera setup, including ultrawide angle, super macro, and portrait modules. The primary sensor on the Realme 5 was somewhat of an unknown, but the company has now confirmed that the Pro version will ship with a 48MP Sony IMX586 unit as the main sensor, making it the first quad camera smartphone in India to come with this Quad Bayer sensor. Details about the Realme 5 series are scarce at the moment but expect the company to reveal the features of this pair in days leading to...

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Report: Apple's wearables business will surpass Mac and iPad revenue by end of 2020

According to a new report, Apple's wearables business comprising mainly of its AirPods and Apple Watch devices will surpass its tablet and computer categories in terms of revenue by the end of next year. Even though Apple doesn't publicly disclose its sales figures for the wearables category Above Avlon estimated it based on the company's financial model and overall sales data. According to Neil Cybart, Apple has exceeded 70 million sales in the wearable category in a year and the category is growing at an annual rate between 55% and 60%. In terms of overall unit sales, one out of...

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Xiaomi Mi A3 India launch date announced

The Xiaomi Mi A3 was previously reported to debut in India on August 23. But now Xiaomi has confirmed that it's actually launching a couple of days earlier - on August 21, only a day after the Realme 5 series goes official. The Mi A3 is a based on the Mi CC9e but runs stock Android and is a part of the Android One program. It's powered by the Snapdragon 665 SoC and sports a 6.01" HD+ Super AMOLED display having a fingerprint scanner embedded in it. Xiaomi Mi A3 For photography, the Mi A3 comes with a 32MP selfie camera and boasts a triple camera setup at the back comprising of...

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Facebook's Android app will soon get a Dark Mode

Facebook rolled out Dark Mode for its Messenger app back in March this year, and now it's about to expand that to its main app for Android. The social giant already started working on Dark Mode for Watch, but reverse engineering expert Jane Wong - who has previously uncovered under-development features of Facebook and Instagram - reports that the company has started implementing this much-requested feature across the entire app. Facebook is still working on Dark Mode for its main app and it's going to be a while before the company makes the feature public. Source

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LG G8X to arrive as LG V50s ThinQ in South Korea

LG will be announcing new phones at IFA 2019 at the start of next month - the LG G8X and the dual-screen LG V60 ThinQ are expected. There were also the trademarked monikers V60S and K50S, so we might be looking at four new devices. Now, a fifth model appeared in Korean media - LG V50s ThinQ, but that's actually a renamed LG G8X for the domestic market of the company. Earlier this year the president of the Mobile Communications Division at LG Electronics, Kwon Bong-seok, revealed the G-series will be the 4G lineup, while the V phones will support 5G. Local media suggests this...

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