Samsung patents SAMOLED brand for screens ahead of Galaxy S11 launch

Samsung is already working on the Galaxy S11 lineup, and the latest reports give us more info about the front and the back of the smartphones. According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the manufacturer has trademarked the SAMOLED moniker in the Smartphone Displays category, meaning the panel of the S flagship will once again change its name. In a separate leak, a well-trusted leakster on Twitter revealed the phone will be offered in Black, Grey, and Blue colors, while the cheaper and smaller variant, the Galaxy S11e, will come in Blue, Grey, and Pink. Snippet of the...

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Mpow H12 noise-cancelling wireless headphones review

Introduction The Mpow H12 are wireless over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation that at the time of writing cost €40/£45/$42. They come in a simple box with a suede-like carrying pouch, an audio cable and a microUSB cable for charging. Mpow H12 retail package More importantly they have a 4.5 out of 5 star rating across over 1,200 users on Amazon, which makes them one of the preferred reasonably-priced ANC (active noise cancellation) wireless headphones around. So I decided to give them a spin around town, the office, the gym and the commute and see if they're...

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Top 10 trending phones of week 45

Last week the four most popular smartphones in our database were all made by Xiaomi and this time the Chinese maker has expanded to cover the entire top 6. The Mi Note 10 was on top before it was announced so it was no surprise that it's still on the podium in the week that the company made it official. It was however pushed down to second place by the Pro version with the first 8P lens on a smartphone that made a debut alongside it. Then we have the Redmi Note 8 Pro, which also took a step back, but still manage to fend off the Chinese version of the Mi Note 10 - the Mi CC9 Pro....

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Week 45 in review: Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro/Mi Note 10 bring 108MP cameras

This was Xiaomi's week with the announcement of the CC9 Pro for China, its global counterpart the Mi Note 10, the Mi Watch and even a couple of TVs in different sizes. The CC9 Pro/Mi Note 10 will become the world's first phones with the 108MP camera to hit the shelves, and they also pack 2x tele, 5x tele, ultrawide and dedicated macro cameras, along with a capable Snapdragon 730G chipsets and huge 5,260mAh batteries with 30W fast charging. The CC9 Pro starts at CNY2,799 ($400/€360) and goes as high as CNY3,499 ($500/€450) and goes on sale on November 11. The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 will...

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Nokia 6.2 in for review

Since Nokia's Renaissance with Android began in 2017 the maker has relied on its midrange to expand market share and so far it's worked. Nokias nowadays promise clean Android One software, a recognizable Nokia design, good hardware and reasonable pricing. The Nokia 6.2 encompasses all of those traits but is now threatened from all sides by competent Chinese rivals that's are quickly expanding to western markets. You can buy a Xiaomi Redmi Note 8, or a Realme X2 in Europe and for almost the same €250 as the Nokia 6.2. Is the Nokia brand name enough to sway buyers from those tempting Chinese...

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Weekly poll: Xiaomi Mi Note 10 - is this the new camera king?

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is the first smartphone in the world to bring a 108MP camera - that's 13 times the resolution of a 4K TV! It's also the first phone to offer five different focal lengths, something the Nokia 9 PureView (the first penta camera phone) could not manage. And yet this is a mid-range phone - the Snapdragon 730G is a solid performer, but certainly not at a flagship level. It limits video capture to 30fps at 2160p resolution and is hooked up to a modest 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (not even UFS 3.0, but 2.1 instead). Maybe we should clear things up. The Mi Note 10...

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ROG Phone II software update adds horizontal and vertical swipe mapping to AirTriggers

Having tested pretty much every "gaming" phone to come out in recent year, we can safely say that Asus went above and beyond the rest of the crop creating a flushed-out powerhouse experience and an amazing accessory ecosystem to go with it. Most gripes we had with the phone in our full review were pretty much limited to software and the odd omission. Basically the definition of nitpicking. Well, the new 16.0631.1910.35 software update actually addresses quite a few of these. Another major thing it brings in is the software backing to finally take full advantage of the phone's advanced second...

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Weekly poll results: in-display fingerprint readers are preferable to face recognition

Three quarters of voters in last week's poll prefer an in-display fingerprint reader over a face recognition system. There were discussions of security and practicality, but hardware limitations also played a role - face scanning equals a large notch or a chunky top bezel. Of course, many people were saying "why not both?", but makers tend to go with one or the other - e.g. when Apple introduced Face ID, it dropped Touch ID, Google followed a very similar path. Huawei did offer both with the Mate 20 Pro, but that didn't last. The Huawei P30 Pro dropped the 3D face scanner on the front...

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