Huawei sold 240 million smartphones in 2019

Huawei had a very eventful year 2019 - it introduced two of the best smartphones on the market - the Huawei P30 Pro and the Huawei Mate30 Pro - just to become a hostage in the trade war between the governments of China and the United States that are still ongoing. However, despite all the trouble, the company managed to improve its shipments across the world, and in 2019 it moved 240 million smartphones, with the P and the Mate lineup improving their numbers by 50% on a yearly basis. Xu Zhijun, the current chairman of Huawei Technologies, revealed the company is expecting a...

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Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL updated to support Live Caption

The Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL introduced a new useful feature for those who may be hard of hearing or those who simply love to consume content with captions. Live Caption enabled the ability to transcribe dialogue in real-time not just from TV shows, but from any other audio played the Pixel like your own videos, IG stories, and even memes. Live Caption on the Google Pixel 4 XL The Pixel 2 and 2 XL have both been silently updated to support the Live Caption feature. The latest version of the Device Personalization Services app enables the option for Live Caption in the settings...

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Bose decides to close all its physical locations throughout the US, EU, Japan, and Australia

Earlier today, Bose - brand of audio products for home and travel - has confirmed via email to The Verge that it will be closing several of its retail stores "over the next few months". Hundreds of its retail workers will be laid off as a result of the stores closing, but they will be offered severance and outplacement assistance. Originally, our retail stores gave people a way to experience, test, and talk to us about multi-component, CD and DVD systems. At the time, it was a radical idea, but we focused on what our customers needed, and where they needed is - and we're doing the same...

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Huawei Mate Xs might be cheaper than the Mate X

Huawei is due to unveil its next foldable smartphone in March. As its name implies, the Mate Xs won't be an entirely new product, instead think of it as an improved Mate X. We've already heard that it would sport HiSilicon's latest Kirin 990 chipset, with 5G support, and today some more details have leaked out of China. The Mate Xs may, perhaps surprisingly, end up being cheaper than the Mate X. That's thanks to improvements in the production process of the screen. Apparently the Mate Xs' display assembly is less difficult to make than the Mate X's, owing to constant yield gains. This...

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Huawei P30 and P30 Pro get Android 10 based EMUI 10 on O2 UK

According to an official statement made by Huawei back in December, the update to Android 10 with EMUI 10 on top for its devices would start hitting the UK in February. Thankfully though, the Chinese company has been faster than anticipated. The P30 series and Mate 20 series devices on Vodafone have already started receiving their updates recently, and today they're joined by P30 and P30 Pro units sold by O2. These should pop up a notification about a 4.5GB update (with an additional 226MB of bloatware O2 apps to be grabbed) any moment now. If you're impatient and don't want to wait...

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Microsoft's new Edge browser based on Chromium is now ready to download

Today Microsoft is making the new Edge web browser available to download for Windows and Mac. The new Edge is based on the Chromium open source project, which makes it similar to Google Chrome in that regard. Microsoft announced the new Edge back in December 2018, when it decided to forego any further development of its own browser engine in favor of switching to the Chromium codebase. It was a big undertaking, and after over a year of testing, the new Edge is finally ready. You can download the first stable version for Windows and Mac over here. That said, if you're running Windows...

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Google Play Store will no longer show notifications for updated apps

Android's core apps suite has the benefit of receiving regular updates which are independent of major OS updates. In some cases, though features are being taken down without any heads up and this is true for the Play Store's removed notifications for updated apps. Apparently this development has been live since November for some users on version 17.4 of the Play Store. Some users considered the lack of notifications as a temporary bug but it turned out that this was a planned initiative and was recently confirmed by Google representatives. In our own test on version 18.3.13 we did...

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The Doogee S95 Pro is an IP69K-rated modular phone with a Helio P90 chipset

The rugged Doogee S95 Pro is now available after a few days of teasing by the company. Like the S90 Pro, this phone supports Motorola-like add-on modules that can extend its functionality with a snap. The S95 is rated IP69K - on top of the usual dust and water resistance, it can withstand high-pressure cleaning with 80° water fired at the phone at 80-100 bar. It also has the MIL-STD-810G rating. This ruggedness comes at a price, though, the phone measures 13.8mm thick and weighs a hefty 285g. One of the launch day add-ons is a 3,500mAh external battery that complements the built in...

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Apple dominated true wireless headsets market in 2019, Samsung a distant third

Data by Strategy Analytics reveals that Apple is by far the biggest player in the True Wireless Headset game (headsets with no cables connecting each bud, referred to "TWS" in short). Cupertino shipped 58.7 million AirPods last year, which means one in two TWS headsets sold in 2019 bore the Apple logo (54.4% market share). That's not all, Apple raked in 71% of the revenues from the global TWS market. Meanwhile, Xiaomi secured a distant second with 9.1 million units shipped (8.5% share). The good news for the Chinese tech giant are that it's ahead of Samsung, which only managed to move...

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Deal: nubia Z20 is now permanently cheaper

When nubia introduced iys X phone, it certainly was an eye-catcher with its fully functional second display on the back. The phone was such a success, that eventually the ZTE subsidiary implemented the feature in the nubia Z20 smartphone that appeared on the global scene in October 2019. The initial price of $549/€549/£499 was already quite competitive seeing how it gave you 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, but now that it has aged a bit and lost some of its edge it's time for a price cut. The flagship is getting permanently discounted and will now cost $499/€499/£449. The nubia Z20...

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B&O announces its 3rd gen Beoplay E8 TWS with improved battery life, Type-C charging and Bluetooth 5.1

Bang&Olufsen updated its Beoplay E8 truly wireless (TWS) earbuds which now come with improved battery life, Bluetooth 5.1 and a USB-C charging case. The earbuds have also been slimmed down in size compared to their predecessors and now weigh in at 5.8 grams each. Another improvement comes in the microphone department where each earbud now houses two mics for improved voice pickup and better in-call noise cancellation. B&O Beoplay E8 3rd gen The actual drivers inside the buds are 5. mm and you can customize your listening profiles through the B&O app. There's also support for...

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Google Pixelbook Go arrives in the UK, here are the prices

The Pixelbook Go was unveiled in October last year and launched in the US and Canada a few weeks later. Today, the premium Chrome OS laptop has reached the UK. Yes, despite having "Go" in its name, this is a top of the line model. It has a 13.3" touchscreen with 1080p or 4K resolution. The laptop's body is made of magnesium and the whole thing weighs just over 1kg. Google claims the battery will last 12 hours of usage. The base configuration features an Intel Core m3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 64GB storage and costs £630. The 4K "Molecular Display" is only available on the top...

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The US is about to to block more sales to Huawei

The US - Huawei situation is way too complicated and multi-faceted to really get into right now. But, currently, as things stand, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and over 40 of its subsidiaries are on the US entities list, which means that their products are subject to export and transfer government restrictions. Beyond that, there is also a US government ban on purchasing Huawei tech. This new development actually deals with the flip side of the sales and supply chain. Simplifying things quite a bit, the US currently has a De minimis Rule dictating the minimum percent of US-made components...

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5G-enabled iPhones and iPads to use mmWave technology

Apple is yet to enter the 5G world, and reports are we will finally see some devices with the next-gen connectivity this year. Now a new rumor has it that Taiwanese company ASE (Advanced Semiconductor Engineering) has joined the supply chain for Apple and will manufacture the mmWave-based modules. Industry insiders reveal that Apple's roadmap includes at least one 5G iPad and 5G iPhone in 2020, but the company is yet to determine the provider of the technology. The difference between mmWave and Sub-6 GHz technology is that the first one allows for faster data transmission but has...

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Oppo exec hints that the Find X2 will be thicker than the Reno3 Pro

The Oppo Find X2, the long awaited sequel to the game-changing model from 2018, is expected to be unveiled before the end of March. Oppo execs are being coy, giving out only a few details - the latest is about the phone's thickness. Oppo VP Shen Yiren said on Weibo that "success" is defined differently for different phones - if you want thin and light, get the Reno3 Pro he said. If you want flagship hardware, he added, then choose the Oppo Reno Ace or Find X2. This is a pretty clear hint that the X2 will be bulkier than the Reno3 Pro. That's okay, the original Find X wasn't particularly...

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Sony to announce the new Xperia smartphones on February 24

Sony finally broke the silence and officially revealed the announcement date of its next Xperia smartphones. Not that we had any doubt about Sony releasing its phones at this year's MWC. Anyway, the press invitation says that Sony will announce its new handsets on February 24 at 8:30 CET and there's going to be a livestream too. We are expecting a new Xperia flagship phone supposedly called Xperia 5 Plus and a mid-range device built around the Snapdragon 765 platform. There was also a rumor about a Sony Xperia 3 last month unless the latter is just another name for the Xperia 5...

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New Huawei P40 renders show a triple rear and dual front cameras

The first renders of the Huawei P40 were disappointingly dark - a new render coming from insiders offers a clear view of the upcoming phone. It shows a triple camera on the back housed in a rectangular camera bump in the top left corner - a design that is seemingly shared by all flagships coming in 2020. The front is interesting too, it shows a flat screen with a pill-shaped hole to house the dual selfie camera. The screen should measure 6.1" or 6.2" in diagonal. Huawei P40 render There aren't much details about the non-Pro, but the rumor mill claims a main + ultrawide camera on...

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Xiaomi Mi 10 shows up in live photos

Xiaomi's upcoming flagship, the Mi 10, is expected to come around sometime next month and we have plenty of leaked info so far. But this is the first time we see the phone in the flesh and it's a bit different from what we've expected. According to a previous leak, the phone was supposed to have a clean display without notches or cutouts and curves to the sides. There's also the chance that the previous leak was about the Pro version of the Mi 10 - Xiaomi's president confirmed the existence of a Pro version so it would make sense the regular one will settle for a punch-hole design...

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Google Phone app could soon offer call recording option

Thanks to a new APK teardown we got an insight that Google's own Phone dialer app could soon come with a built-in call recording feature. The discovery was found in the source code of the latest version of the Phone app for the Pixel 4. More specifically, Google added a new icon, layout and other resources alongside a new in-call button to initiate a call recording which was revealed through several strings of code. Call recording option found in latest version of Google Phone app In the past, call recordings were available on the stock Google Phone app up until Android 6...

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Huawei sells 6.9 million 5G devices in 2019

Samsung and Huawei are back in the fight for the top spot, this time in the 5G market. Earlier this month Samsung announced it shipped 6.7 million phones with the next-gen connectivity, but today Honor posted on Weibo that its parent company Huawei reached the milestone of 6.9 million shipments of 5G smartphones. Currently, Huawei sells 6 devices with 5G under its own brand - Mate 20 X 5G, Mate 30 5G, Mate 30 Pro 5G, Mate 30 RS Porsche Design, nova 6 5G, the foldable Mate X. There are two more under the subsidiary brand Honor - the V30 and the V30 Pro. The Weibo post also claimed the...

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Xiaomi confirms Android 10 update for Mi A3 coming next month

Xiaomi's Mi A-line has been around for three generations, bringing the stock Google experience under the Android One program. With Android 10 now readily available for a plethora of Xiaomi devices, it was only a matter of time before the Mi A3 also got the latest version and now we have confirmation that the big update is coming next month. To be slightly more specific, Mi A3 owners can expect the Android 10 update in mid-February. Thanks for your excitement and patience. Glad to announce the update will be out in mid February for Mi A3.— Mi India #108MP IS COMING! (@XiaomiIndia) January...

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Galaxy Buds+ to have a bigger battery, no ANC

Samsung Galaxy Buds+ is expected to be part of the Unpacked event on February 11, when the new Galaxy S20 lineup is going to be unveiled. We already heard that the new earbuds will skip the active noise canceling, and today another source confirmed this information. The Galaxy Buds have 58 mAh batteries, allowing for around 4 hours of continuous playback, as we've already established in our review. The report suggests the Galaxy Buds+ will up that to 85 mAh capacity and could improve the single use up to 12 hours, which would be a massive jump. Another issue from the current...

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More leaks of Samsung Galaxy S20+: 120Hz display, in-display scanner, 4,500 mAh battery, and no headphone jack

The past few days brought us a couple of extensive Galaxy S20+ leaks (1, 2) and it seems the streak will continue. Today, even more of the Galaxy S20+'s specifications have been revelead by the same source that brought us its live images: Max Winebach of XDA Developers. A short hands-on video of the S20+ appeared along with details about the 120Hz display, in-display scanner, battery capacity, and the lack of headphone jack. The video sees the S20+ turning around a couple of times. One of the subtle differences in design is the updated placement of the keys - which moves the...

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