Best phone of 2019: Vote for the best midrangers

The preliminary stage of our public vote for the best phones of 2019 got intriguing, but in the end, five phones from the three main categories emerged. With nearly 70,000 votes across three categories for almost 60 phones, you picked those to compete in the final round. Midrangers The battle between Xiaomi and Samsung gets heated in this category. The Redmi Note 8 family has two representatives - the Redmi Note 8 Pro boasts a larger display with HDR and a significant boost in performance (it's the first phone powered by the Helio G90T chipset). Also, it upgrades the main camera on the...

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Best phone of 2019: Vote for the best in the entry level

The preliminary stage of our public vote for the best phones of 2019 got intriguing, but in the end, five phones from the three main categories emerged. With nearly 70,000 votes across three categories for almost 60 phones, you picked those to compete in the final round. Entry-level phones Xiaomi vs. Samsung transcends into the affordable market as well. Many of you went for the Galaxy M20, which boasts a massive 5,000 mAh battery with 103h Endurance rating. And it has an ultrawide-angle lens on the back that complements the primary 13 MP camera. The 1080p screen is also a plus in this...

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Flashback: the Nokia N91 was legendary for its audio quality, but was a one-off

Nokia unveiled the Nseries in 2005 with three devices - the N70, N90 and the star of today's article, the Nokia N91. The announcement came in early 2005, but DRM issues pushed the release back to 2006. Still, this was a hotly-anticipated phone, winning the "Most Innovative" award from the Mobile News Awards. It was worth the wait too, the N91 was widely considered to have the best audio quality of any phone. It sported a 3.5mm headphone jack, making it compatible with the best headphones on the market. Nokia recommended several Sennheiser, JBL, Harman Kardon and Bose headsets in its press...

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Realme 5i got certified in Singapore

A couple of unannounced Realme smartphones were seen on the website of IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority), a Singapore telecommunications regulator of sorts. The smartphones in question are the Realme 5i and the Realme C3. The Realme 5i has cropped up in IMDA's database yesterday, bringing it another step closer to official status. We've previously seen it listed at several other authorities too, and the RMX2030 model number checks out. In this instance too there are no specifics relating to the phone's hardware. We already have the Realme 5, 5s, and 5 Pro, and we're...

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Vulnerability discovered in Twitter for Android, all should be well now

Twitter's posted a statement on its Privacy blog, notifying of the discovery of a security vulnerability in its Android app. It offered the possibility to allow a bad actor control over your profile (including sending tweets and DMs) and access to otherwise non-public information if they were to insert malicious code into restricted storage areas of the Twitter app. Twitter says it has no evidence whether anyone's actually exploited the vulnerability but is taking the necessary measures. Based on the specific version of Android and the Twitter app, people who could have been...

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Pocophone F2 may finally arrive next year

Xiaomi sub-brand Pocophone - called Poco in India - made its debut last August with the Pocophone F1. The smartphone was a hit since it came with flagship-grade specs at an amazing price. Fans and media alike were expecting a successor to the Pocophone F1 this year. There were even rumors about Xiaomi bringing the Redmi K20 pair as the Poco F2 in India, but that didn't happen. Pocophone F1 We still don't know when exactly Pocophone will launch its next smartphone, but the company's global head Alvin Tse has said that we'll hear more from them next year. This suggests we may finally...

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Verizon rolls out Android 10 for 5G variants of Galaxy Note10+ and S10

Samsung was going to release the stable build of Android 10 for the Galaxy S10 and Note10 lineups starting next month, but the company surprised everyone by rolling out the update for S10 trio and the Note10 pair ahead of schedule. The company recently said that it won't be able to release Android 10 for the 5G versions of Note10 duo this year, but US carrier Verizon has its own take on it and has already started rolling out the latest version of Android for the Note10+ 5G in the US. Galaxy S10 5G The new firmware, bearing version number N976VVRU2BSL7, comes with One UI 2.0 and...

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Samsung adds Weldbond as supplier as it widens glue use in smartphones

Samsung has added Weldbond to its list of suppliers as it's gradually adopting the use of more glue in smartphone assembly as opposed to double-sided tape, Korean media reports. Increased use of adhesive glue this year has seen all A and M series handsets abandon double-sided tape. Meanwhile, Chinese company Weldbond's CEO has stated that out of 700 million smartphones manufactured in China this year, some 500 million used Weldbond's products. The advantages of glue include reduced production costs thanks to less processing and the fact that glue can just be applied with dispensers...

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Realme X2 Pro 6GB/64GB variant coming soon to India for INR27,999

The Realme X2 Pro launched in India last month is currently available in the country in two memory versions - 8GB/128GB priced at INR29,999 ($420/€380) and 12GB/256GB that costs INR33,999 ($480/€430). Now the company's Indian CEO Madhav Sheth has announced that a new variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage will arrive soon in the country. Sheth didn't say when the 6GB model will go on sale in India, but he did reveal that it will cost INR27,999 ($395/€355) in the country. The X2 Pro is the company's first proper flagship that has a Snapdragon 855+ SoC at the helm. It runs Android...

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vivo S1 Pro to launch in India next month

Chinese phone maker vivo announced the S1 Pro back in May with a notch-less display and a pop-up selfie camera, and according to the latest report, the smartphone will launch in India in mid-January. The vivo S1 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 675 SoC and comes in two memory versions - 6GB/256GB and 8GB/128GB. It boots Android Pie and is built around a 6.39" FHD+ Super AMOLED display that has a fingerprint reader embedded. The smartphone comes with a 32MP selfie camera mounted on a pop-up mechanism. Around the back is the 48MP main camera joined by 8MP ultra wide and 5MP depth...

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Honor MagicWatch 2 goes on sale in the UK

The Honor MagicWatch 2, unveiled late last month, is now available for purchase in the UK. The smartwatch is priced at £160 ($210/€190) and you can buy one from Amazon UK or eBay. It's the 46mm variant that's been listed, while the 42mm version will arrive in early 2020, but we don't know exactly when. The MagicWatch 2 is powered by the Kirin A1 SoC - the same chipset that powers Huawei's Watch GT 2 smartwatch and FreeBuds 3 TWS earphones. It has 4GB of storage onboard and sports a 1.39" OLED display of 454x454 pixel resolution. The MagicWatch 2 comes with built-in GPS and heart...

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5G Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ won't receive stable Android 10 update this year

Samsung's Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ have started receiving the final, stable update to One UI 2.0 based on Android 10 a few days ago. But those are the 4G models. When it comes to the Galaxy Note10 5G and Galaxy Note10+ 5G, the situation is a bit different, as it turns out. These handsets are still stuck on Android 9 Pie, and it looks like that won't change by the end of this year. According to a statement by a Community Manager on Samsung's Korean forums, the official Android 10 release with One UI 2.0 will only reach the 5G Note10 and Note10+ in 2020. The company apologizes for the delay...

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