OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro get One-Handed Mode with the latest open beta

Last month OnePlus released OxygenOS Open Beta 7 for the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro that came with a Chromatic Reading Mode, optimized RAM management, and a few bug fixes. Now the company has released Open Beta 8, which brings One-Handed Mode to both smartphones. The One-Handed Mode can be enabled by heading to the Quick Gestures menu and activated by pulling the screen down with a swipe down on the left or right edge. However, OnePlus' implementation of one-handed mode is different from some other makers' since it doesn't minimize the entire screen. One-Handed Mode on OnePlus 7/7...

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Samsung Galaxy Note10 gets January security update ahead of Pixels

Slowly, but surely, Google is losing one of the key selling points for its Pixels - the fastest security updates on the market (in the Android world). While the search giant has inexplicably managed to glitch its rollouts of the past couple of such updates, Samsung is eating its lunch. The Galaxy Note10 got the December security patch in November, and now the same phone is receiving the January update already - days ahead of the Pixels, which are expected to have the rollout start next Monday (because Google sends these out on the first Monday of each month). The Note10's January...

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Goldman Sachs predicts 200 million 5G phone sales in 2020, Xiaomi to invest $7 billion over next five years

2020 is the year when 5G will go mainstream and a new report from Goldman Sachs is forecasting a hefty 200 million 5G smartphone shipments globally in the coming year. The estimate comes as part of a recently published report and is signaling a 20 fold increase compared to the 5G phone shipments for 2019. The largest part of those will be destined for the Chinese market and the high demand from consumers will also accelerate 5G base station deployment. Last week we came another prediction claimed Huawei alone will top 100 million 5G smartphone shipments in China during 2020. China is...

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Sony will unveil a "unique vision of the future" on January 6

Sony's CES 2020 presentation will start at 17:00 PST on January 6 (next Tuesday). The company promises a "unique vision of the future, bringing creativity and technology together like never before, to unleash new sensations and emotions." As always, Sony is light on specifics of what the show will be about. There's a very good chance that the PlayStation 5 will feature prominently - the next generation console is expected to launch for the holiday season this year. At last year's CES Sony revealed that it has sold 91.6 million PS4 consoles worldwide. It also showed off its first 8K TVs...

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Samsung shipped more than 6.7m 5G phones in 2019

Samsung dominated the 5G market in 2019, shipping the most smartphones of any brand with the faster connectivity. With more than 6.7 million shipped smartphones, Samsung captured around 54% of the total world market (as per data for January to November 2019, Counterpoint Research). Samsung's first 5G smartphone,the Galaxy S10 5G, came in early 2019. It was followed by the Galaxy Note10 5G and Note10+ 5G in the fall of the year, and finally the recently launched Galaxy A90 5G and Galaxy Fold 5G. Samsung will also premiere the world's first 5G-enabled tablet, the Galaxy Tab S6 5G, in...

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The next Nokia flagship allegedly delayed to switch to a Snapdragon 865 chip

The Nokia 9 PureView was unveiled in early 2019 with with a 2018 Snapdragon chipset. A leakster claims that HMD is trying to avoid a repeat of this situation, but that unfortunately means that the announcement of the Nokia 9.2 has been pushed back to the autumn season. That's right 9.2, even though there's no 9.1. That's likely just to keep the name of the new flagship in line with the rest of the Nokia lineup. Originally, the Nokia 9.1 was set to be unveiled in Q4 last year (or earlier), then it was pushed back to Q2 this year and now it has been delayed again. At least that's what...

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Full Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro specs and prices leak, to launch together

Xiaomi is reportedly readying two flagship Mi 10 devices and, rumor has it, both will launch together unlike last year. The pair consists of the Xiaomi Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro and their likely arrival is allegedly targeted for the Mobile World Congress in late February. And it gets even better, thanks to an unofficial detailed specs sheet. According to it, the Xiaomi Mi 10 will have an OLED screen of at least 6.5-inch size with 90Hz refresh rate. Both the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 with the non-Pro offering either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and the Pro coming with...

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Deal: Realme announces New Year sale, discounts many devices

New year, new chances for a hot deal from Realme. The company is launching a sale in India between today, January 2, and Sunday, January 5, with discounts on plenty of smartphones in all price ranges - from Realme C2 to Realme X. Phone Discounted Price in INR (USD/EUR) Original price (in INR/USD/EUR) Realme C2 5,999 ($84/€75) 6,499 ($91/€81) Realme 3i 6,999 ($98/€87) 7,999 ($112/€100) Realme 3 7,499 ($105/€93) 8,999 ($126/€112) Realme U1 8,499 ($120/€106) 8,999 ($126/€112) ...

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Former Lenovo chief of mobile division joins Xiaomi

You may remember Chang Cheng for his teasers while he was serving as Lenovo VP of the mobile division. He recently retired from the company, but in a somewhat surprising move today revealed he is joining Xiaomi. The Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin posted an image on Weibo, sitting alongside fellow co-founders and the new acquisition to the team. The post was promptly reposted by Cheng with the words "Work hard for your dreams". Chang Cheng, second left, sitting alongside De Liu, Lei Jun, Lin Bin, co-founders of Xiaomi Chang Cheng is most famous with being president of the ZUK...

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Upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab A4S pops up on FCC, revealing more key specs

Last week we got our first set of Samsung Galaxy Tab A4S specs - an upcoming mid-range tablet from the Korean manufacturer. The tablet was certified by the Bluetooth SIG bearing the SM-T307U model number and was previously spotted on the Wi-Fi alliance database. Samsung Galaxy Tab A4S FCC listings The new certification reveals the tablet will sport an 8.39-inch display and a 4,860 mAh battery with 15W fast charging. In addition, the Tab A4S will come with GPS, LTE and dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac. The tablet measures 201.9 mm by 124.4 mm and runs Android 9 Pie. Samsung...

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Realme X50 images posted by company CEO show off the quad camera on the back

Reame CEO Madhav Sheth posted images of the company's first 5G phone, the Realme X50 5G, days before its official announcement (it's scheduled for a January 7 reveal). A previous teaser showed the front of the phone, featuring a dual punch hole for the selfie cameras. Sheth's images focus on the back instead, which is home to a quad camera. According to a leaked spec sheet we're looking at a 64MP main cam, 8MP ultrawide snapper, 13MP telephoto (5x hybrid zoom) unit and a 2MP macro shooter. The setup on the front promises a 32MP main and 8MP ultrawide cameras. Realme X50...

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TSMC will soon start building 5nm Apple A14 chipsets for the upcoming iPhones

TSMC will be the sole foundry making the Apple A14 chipsets for the 2020 iPhone models, reports DigiTimes (quoting China's Commercial Times). Production will start in the second quarter of this year in preparation for the traditional end of Q3 launch. The A14 will be made using TSMC's new 5nm process and Apple's order will take up two thirds of the foundry's capacity. There's a chance the iPhone 12 phones will be the first to hit the market with a 5nm chipset. Back in 2018 the iPhone XS duo was the first with a 7nm chip. HiSilicon, Huawei's chipset division, is reported to be the...

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Huawei will expand its Mobile Services ecosystem in 2020

Huawei's New Year's resolution for 2020 is to build out HMS, the Huawei Mobile Services. They aim to replace the functionality of Google Mobile Services as well as add new features, which will allow Huawei and app developers to be less dependent on Google. HMS is made up of 14 services - 9 core and 5 "growth" services. These involve a Huawei account, which opens the door to the in-app payment system, message push and other functionality. One of those features is Scan Kit, which supports 13 one and two-dimensional barcodes (think QR codes). The mobile payment ecosystem in China is...

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Apple and Imagination Technologies ink new multi-year deal

Apple is kicking off the new year by signing a multi-year license agreement with British-based GPU chip supplier Imagination Technologies. Imagination confirmed the news in a brief press release which states the new agreement builds on the previous deal between the two companies dating back to 2014 and grants Apple access to Imagination's IP in exchange for licensing fees. The partnership between the two companies goes back to the very first iPhone which used a PowerVR MBX GPU. In 2017 Apple decided to develop its in-house GPU alongside the A11 Bionic chipset which made its debut on...

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite to feature new gen OIS, better than current flagships

The specs sheet of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite that leaked last month revealed the smartphone will feature a 48MP main camera on the back joined by a 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro units. Now the latest piece of information coming our way reveals a bit more about the phone's photography department. Reliable tipster Ice universe says Samsung will use an "unprecedented OIS" tech on the Galaxy S10 Lite, which will be better than the ones we have on current flagships. The tipster doesn't reveal anything else about this OIS tech, but from a previous leak, we know Samsung will use something...

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Oppo, vivo and Xiaomi are launching worldwide their seamless file transfer service

Oppo, vivo, and Xiaomi are three of the major smartphone manufacturers in the world, and back in August they announced a cooperation called "Inter-Transfer Alliance Group" which should enable their devices to make seamless peer to peer file transfers at high speeds. After several months of open beta, the group is finally done with the testing and has just announced in a press release the cross-brand service is going global. According to the message to the media, they are timing it with the 5G rollout across the world due to the "expected increase of average file sizes."...

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Xiaomi Mi Mix Alpha delayed indefinitely

Back in September Xiaomi made headlines with the announcement of its Mi Mix Alpha, the first phone to feature a wrap-around display. The futuristic concept device was expected to arrive in December in limited quantities and a whopping $2,800/€2,500 asking price but that didn't pan out. In a new development Xiaomi confirmed the Mix Alpha will be delayed and there's no set launch date yet. Last month, the phone made a brief appearance on Xiaomi's online store and Tmall as a place holder without any pre-order or purchase options. During the launch event for the Mix Alpha, Xiaomi's CEO...

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Oppo F15 launch date and key specs revealed

Oppo's Indian branch teased the F15 earlier this week. The company didn't reveal the launch date then, but now we know it is January 16. The Chinese phone maker also revealed a few specs of the F15, which include 8GB RAM, 48MP quad camera, under-display fingerprint scanner, and VOOC Flash Charge 3.0 support. Oppo hasn't revealed the rest of the specs of the F15 yet, but the company did share an image of the phone on Twitter, which strongly suggests the F15 will be a rebranded A91. The Oppo A91 was launched last month in China. It's powered by the Helio P70 SoC and sports a 6.4"...

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Samsung Galaxy Note9 Android 10 update now widely available

Samsung released the stable build of Android 10 update for the Galaxy Note9 on New Year's Eve, but it was only seeding to those enrolled in the beta program. Now the update has expanded to all users, who are running Android Pie on their Note9. The update comes bearing version number N960FXXU4DSLB and is currently seeding in Germany. The rollout should expand to other regions over the following days. Those living in Germany can try downloading the update by heading to the Settings > Software update menu. And, if you are a non-beta Note9 user residing in another country and have...

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Xiaomi preparing mightier versions of Redmi K30 5G, Redmi Note 8

The Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi might be on the way to introduce new versions of two of its best-selling phones. A variant of the Redmi K30 5G was certified with 10 GB RAM, while the regular Redmi Note 8 is now licensed with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. Both entries were approved on Chinese regulatory TENAA, where the two models got their specs updated. Aside from the more memory, nothing else is new - Redmi K30 5G has a Snapdragon 765G chipset, four cameras and two punch holes for the dual selfie cameras. The Redmi Note 8 also has four snappers on the back, but it falls in the...

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Realme X2 Pro 6GB/64GB variant now on sale in India

The Realme X2 Pro launched in India last November was initially available in two memory configurations - 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB priced at INR29,999 ($420/€375) and INR33,999 ($475/€425), respectively. Now a cheaper version with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage is available in India for INR27,999 ($390/€350). The 6GB RAM variant comes in Neptune Blue and Lunar White colors, and is already available for purchase through Flipkart. It should go on sale through the company's official Indian site soon too. Realme X2 Pro in Neptune Blue and Lunar White colors The Realme X2 Pro is powered by...

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Realme X50 5G Lite gets teased days before the announcement

Realme X50 5G is arriving on January 7, but today we got an official confirmation from a senior executive at the company that the flagship will have a Lite version as well. The device is machine translated as Realme X50 5G Youth Edition, but these devices are marketed outside the Chinese market with the Lite moniker. Realme's post with an image of the letter "Y" The official Weibo account of the company simply went on social media and posted a quick message, saying "Dare to Leap! Youth! Real!", obviously revealing the Lite phone is not a gimmick. There was a double...

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Xiaomi Mi Watch Color price revealed

Xiaomi announced the Mi Watch Color smartwatch earlier this week. It didn't reveal the price back then, but today the company took to Chinese social network Weibo to announce that Mi Watch Color will be sold for CNY799 ($115/€100) in China starting 10 AM local time tomorrow. The Mi Watch Color sports a 1.39" 454x454 pixel AMOLED display and supports more than 110 watch faces. It is water-resistant up to 50 meters and comes with fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, and sleep tracking. The Mi Watch Color has GPS and multi-function NFC in tow, and it packs a 420 mAh battery that...

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Over half a dozen Samsung Galaxy A series smartphones trademarked

Samsung launched a bevy of Galaxy A series smartphones in 2019 and it seems the company has no plans to slow down in 2020 since over half a dozen Galaxy A series smartphone names have been trademarked in Samsung's home country South Korea. According to a set of images posted on Twitter, the Korean conglomerate got a total of nine new smartphones trademarked - Galaxy A12, Galaxy A22, Galaxy A32, Galaxy A42, Galaxy A52, Galaxy A62, Galaxy A72, Galaxy A82, and Galaxy A92. Nine new Galaxy A series smartphones trademarked Details are scarce about these smartphones right now, but...

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