Realme will show ads on its phones but you can disable them

One of the most contested aspects of the MIUI software experience on Xiaomi and Redmi phones in places such as India has been the extensive use of ads all over. But it looks like the appeal of introducing ads into your software UI is just too high, because now Realme is doing it too. Realme as a brand is an Oppo offshoot that is pretty clearly aiming to compete primarily with Xiaomi (and mostly, its Redmi sub-brand), and it's been doing a great job so far. Now though, it will introduce ads in its UI in India, which it's sneakily calling "commercial content recommendation". All Realme...

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Nokia 4.2 gets a huge price cut in India

The Nokia 4.2 was released earlier this year in India for INR 10,990 (approximately $154 or €137). Subsequently it got a price cut down to INR 9,499 ($133 or €118), which made the already affordable phone even more so. Now though it's received a new price cut, and this one is huge. The Nokia 4.2 went from INR 9,499 to INR 6,975 ($97 or €87) over at Amazon, and we expect the price change to be reflected on both Flipkart and Nokia's online store in the subcontinent too. So now the Nokia 4.2 is around 36% cheaper than its introductory price, which makes it a much more appealing purchase,...

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Latest official poster shows off the front of the Realme X50 5G

Last week, Realme shared a couple of posters of the X50 5G, which revealed the design of the smartphone and confirmed quad rear cameras and a side-mounted fingerprint reader. Today, the company shared a new image, which shows us the front of the X50 5G. A previously shared poster by Realme did reveal that X50 5G will feature a display with a pill-shaped hole in the upper-left corner for the dual selfie camera. But the image shared by Realme today offers a clearer look and shows off the slim bezels surrounding the phone's display on three sides - left, right, and top. The X50 5G will...

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Happy New Year 2020!

Another year is upon us and another cultural decade begins. We can only hope the next 12 months will be as eventful an filled with entertainment as the past 12 have been. Thank you for staying with us for another round of exciting stories from the world of mobile technology. We've been quite the busy bees in 2019 - we are on the brink of reaching 1 million subscribers on our YouTube channel, after publishing more than 140 videos in 2019 - that's almost 24 hours of non-stop phone reviews and opinions. We also posted nearly 6,000 articles, trying to stay on point with every leak,...

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2019 Winners and Losers: Google

This year the mobile phone market saw the rise of many new trends - from high refresh rate screens through 108MP image sensors to periscope cameras. The first foldable phones went on sale, charging speeds went through the roof, displays got curvier and grew punch holes. Some brands used these trends to their advantage and grow in the market, others missed the mark. In this series we look at what each company got right in 2019 and where their efforts came short. Winner: Pixel 3a and 3a XL Undoubtedly, Google's best products this year were the Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL. Sure, you...

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Samsung Galaxy M21 is on the way, details leak alongside colors for the M11 and M31

Samsung is working on new M-series mid-rangers, and these will also be sold at offline retailers when they launch next year. For now, rumor has it that the M11, M21, and M31 are on the way, and as their names imply, naturally these will be the successors to the M10, M20, and M30, respectively. A new report today sheds some more light on the Galaxy M21, letting us know that its model number is SM-M215F. It will have 64 and 128GB built-in storage options, which is an upgrade compared to the M20's choice between 32 and 64GB. Galaxy M30, M20, and M10 Expect to also see Android 10 with...

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Unlocked US Galaxy Note10/10+ are getting Android 10 now

Samsung is eager to close out 2019 with all its flagships under Android 10 (well, almost all). Today the maker has seeded the Android 10 update to the Galaxy Note9 and now to the unlocked Galaxy Note10/Note10+ in the US. Up until this point the firmware was available for the Galaxy Note10 devices on Verizon and, as of yesterday T-Mobile. Unlocked devices around the world started receiving the Android 10 update in the middle of December but it's only now that unlocked units in the US are starting to see the firmware pop up on their phones. A bit ironic that the carrier units got to Android...

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Get used to it - Samsung Galaxy S20 is Samsung's next flagship

You've heard this before - Samsung has chosen the S20 as the name of its next Galaxy S flagship, instead of the logical S11. The information originally came from reputable tipster @Iceuniverse and he's now reconfirmed his statement. The renaming makes some sense. 2020 marks the beginning of a new decade and Samsung has concluded the old one with 10 annual Galaxy S flagships. Making the next one the Galaxy S20 will differentiate it, especially when put side by side with the Galaxy S10. Yes🙂— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 31, 2019 By all accounts Samsung is bringing out...

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Realme X and 5 Pro get December security patches and more with the latest updates

Realme has released a new software update for the Realme 5 Pro that adds Dark Mode toggle to the notification center and bumps up the Android security patch level to December 2019. The new firmware, bearing version number RMX1971EX_11_A.15 also comes with an updated Nightscape algorithm for the selfie camera and extends Clone Apps support to Twitter, Freecharge, Zomato, Swiggy, and Snapchat. Here's the complete changelog of the update: Security Android security patch: December 2019 System Added click the blank area to back to the...

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2019 Winners and Losers: Oppo

This year the mobile phone market saw the rise of many new trends - from high refresh rate screens through 108MP image sensors to periscope cameras. The first foldable phones went on sale, charging speeds went through the roof, displays got curvier and grew punch holes. Some brands used these trends to their advantage and grow in the market, others missed the mark. In this series we look at what each company got right in 2019 and where their efforts came short. Oppo is one of the most innovative smartphone manufacturers for the past few years and is constantly pushing the envelope...

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Here's the retail box of the Xiaomi Watch Color, specs in tow

Yesterday Xiaomi quietly-unveiled the Watch Color but skipped revealing any specs prior to its January 3 release in China. Thankfully, a leaked retail box can fill-in the blanks and confirm some of our earlier suspicions. The Wear OS-based Xiaomi Watch Color indeed has a 1.39-inch 454x454px AMOLED display. Underneath, there's a 420mAh battery, NFC and GPS with GLONASS support. Naturally, the Xiaomi Watch Color is water resistant, up to 5 ATM or 50 meters. It connects using Bluetooth 5.0 low energy. Xiaomi Watch Color We'll know all about its price and potential international...

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ almost ready for release

Samsung's new truly wireless Galaxy Buds+ are ticking all the boxes on their way to becoming official. The latest step in their leaked journey is getting Bluetooth certification with the Chinese MIIT. The buds, model number SM-R175 (the current gen carry the SM-R170), are expected to become official alongside the Samsung Galaxy S11 series, if not sooner. Samsung Galaxy Buds+ coming up.#Samsung #SamsungGalaxyBudsPlus pic.twitter.com/ovxv06rS1X— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) December 31, 2019 So far we've seen an official support page for the Galaxy Buds+ and a pair of short videos,...

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Oppo Reno3 series and Enco Free TWS earphones now available for purchase

The Oppo Reno3 and Reno3 Pro unveiled last week are now available for purchase in China through the company's official site, JD.com, and TMall. The Reno3 comes in two memory versions - 8GB/128GB priced at CNY3,399 ($490/€435) and 12GB/128GB that costs CNY300 ($43/€38) more. The Pro version also comes in 8GB/128GB configuration, priced at CNY3,999 ($575/€510), and for CNY500 ($70/€65) more you get double storage with 12GB RAM. The Reno3 and Reno3 Pro both support 5G connectivity, but the former is powered by Mediatek's Dimensity 1000L SoC while the latter has Qualcomm's Snapdragon...

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Realme X50 Youth certified, Realme X50 with 8GB of RAM hits Geekbench

We've heard all about the upcoming Realme X50 5G these past few weeks. It's coming on January 7, it will feature a Snapdragon 765G chip, two-day battery , which will get to 70% in just 30 minutes, it will have a 6.67-inch LCD with 120Hz refresh rate and a dual punch hole selfie camera. We also know that its rear cameras will be a 64MP Samsung GW1, an 8MP ultrawide, a 13MP 5x hybrid zoom and a 2MP super macro. But now we can add another name to its January 7 unveil - the RMX2052, or Realme X50 Youth. As of now very little is known about this Youth variant, but it's very likely the Realme...

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Samsung Galaxy Note9 receiving Android 10 stable update

Samsung kicked off the Android 10-based One UI 2.0 beta program for the Galaxy Note9 last month and now it's seeding the stable build of Android 10 for its 2018 flagship. However, the update, sporting version number N960FXXU4DSLB, is currently only rolling to those who participated in the beta program and weighs just 100MB. If you are enrolled in the beta program, you can download the stable build on your Note9 by heading to the Settings > Software update menu. Those of you who didn't participate in the beta program and are running Android Pie should expect the Android 10 update...

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Patent appears from Apple with full-screen display and no notch

A rather strange patent by Apple has been spotted. The report from LetsGoDigital shows the new patent sketches along with some mock-up screenshots for context. The patent is for a new Apple device that looks like it could be an iPhone, but it is missing a few necessary things that a current iPhone 11 Pro has. As per the sketches, the device has a rectangular display with square corners, it has neither Face ID hardware nor a notch, it has no front-facing camera, but it does feature a power button, volume keys, and a physical notification switch - just like an iPhone. It even appears to have...

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