Flashback: the Galaxy Alpha was Samsung's attempt at making an iPhone

By 2013 Samsung was one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, but it had a reputation of building plastic phones at a time when Apple, HTC, Sony and others were pushing metal as the material of choice for flagships. Samsung was also at the forefront of a trend it started, that of extra large screens. The large, plastic Galaxys had little overlap with the small, metal iPhones. Remember that the iPhone 5s had a 4.0" screen compared to Galaxy S5's 5.1" screen (not to mention the Galaxy Note, Mega and other jumbo-sized phones). This sets the stage for the Samsung Galaxy...

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2019 Winners and Losers: Motorola

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. Another year is passing by and Motorola kept on pushing entry and midrange phones. We also got a break from the norm with...

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Huawei P40 to have a triple camera, production line photo suggests

A photo of what is allegedly a piece of the Huawei P40's camera assembly, taken at a production line, gives us a glimpse of what the company's 'base' flagship for the Spring season may pack in terms of hardware. Alleged camera housing for Huawei P40 We're looking at a total of three cameras - the three circular cutouts. None of them will be a periscope telephoto, apparently, as such designs have rectangular openings. That feature seems to be reserved for the Pro version, as was the case with the P30 and P30 Pro. More cutouts in the camera housing mean the dual LED flash and...

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Realme X2 and X2 Pro get December security patch and Dark Mode toggle with latest updates

Realme released a software update for the X2 Pro in China last week that brought along a Dark Mode toggle and December 2019 security patch to the flagship. The rollout has now expanded to India, but the update comes with a tad different changelog. You can check it out below: Security Android security patch: December 2019 Launcher Added click the blank area to back to the launcher on recent task interface Notification Center and Status Bar Added fast switch toggles of dark mode in notification center ...

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New Nokia retro phone may be coming by the end of the month

News came in yesterday that the follow-up to the Nokia 9 PureView, an alleged Nokia 9.2, has been delayed to allow for the use of the newer Snapdragon 865 chipset. Well, it appears that we might be in for a consolation phone release in the meantime in the form of a new Nokia 'original'. This is the 4th year I buy new shoes in anticipation of #CES and #MWC and it looks like this will be the best year yet! Found this stunning pair of limited edition #adidas #originals. This can only mean that we should launch a new #nokia #original @nokiamobile 😉 #ChineseNewYear...

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Honor 9X India launch date revealed

Last month, we came across a report which claimed that Honor will launch the 9X in India in January. Well, that report has turned out to be true since Honor has announced it will be bringing the 9X to the Indian market on January 14. However, it's currently unclear whether it will be the Chinese version of the 9X that is coming to India which is powered by the Kirin 810 SoC, or whether it will bring the global variant which is basically the 9X Pro having the Kirin 710F SoC at the helm and a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. You can read our detailed written review of the Honor 9X...

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Realme X50 5G full specs revealed by TENAA, C3 bags NBTC certification

The Realme X50 5G arriving on January 7 recently bagged TENAA certification, revealing the phone's display size and battery capacity in the process. But now the TENAA listing has been updated to reveal the complete specs sheet. According to TENAA, the X50 5G will sport a 6.57" FHD+ TFT display, meaning no in-screen fingerprint scanner. The listing does mention under-display fingerprint reader, but that's likely a mistake since the official images previously shared by Realme confirmed the phone will come with a side-mounted fingerprint reader. The X50 5G will come with a side-mounted...

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Apple can now engrave emoji on your AirPods, on the Pro ones too

Apple's been offering free engraving on the cases of its AirPods and AirPods Pro since they've been around. You could enter some 15-22 symbols, depending on what the string contains - Ws and Ms are pretty wasteful, though going for the seemingly more economical all Is wouldn't get you past 21. Anyway, the point is, you can now have an emoji engraved instead. The list includes a plain old smiley face, the thumb of approval, alien, unicorn, and of course the poop emoji. Whether you'd like to have that last one on your AirPods is entirely up to you, but do consider one of the other...

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Samsung Galaxy S20 and Fold 2 to be unveiled on February 11

Back in November last year, we came across a report which claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S20 (previously rumored as S11) will be unveiled on February 11. Well, an official promo video that's leaked online confirms that the S20 will indeed go official on February 11 at an Unpacked event, which will either take place in New York or San Francisco. The clip doesn't explicitly mention what phones Samsung will unveil on February 11, but the video includes the word "Galaxy" with both 'a' replaced by blocks, likely hinting at two launches. The first one, according to XDA's Max Weinbach,...

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vivo S1 Pro arrives in India

The vivo S1 Pro unveiled last November has made its way to India. It comes in a single 8GB/128GB memory version that's priced at INR19,990 ($280/€250). The S1 Pro is offered in Mystic Black, Dreamy White and Jazzy Blue colors, and you can buy one from the company's official site, Flipkart, Amazon.in, as well as offline stores across the country. The vivo S1 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 665 SoC and runs Funtouch OS 9.2 based on Android Pie. The smartphone is built around a 6.38" FHD+ Super AMOLED display, that has a fingerprint reader underneath and a notch up top housing the...

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