Google Pixel 4a reportedly arriving on July 13 with no 4a XL variant

We're awaiting for the arrival of the Google Pixel 4a, but the midrange Pixel device keeps getting delayed. We were hoping we might see the new Pixel arrive on June 1 during the Android 11 Beta launch livestream, but now a new report suggests a July release. According to Jon Prosser, who's previously predicted the release date of the Apple iPhone SE, the Google Pixel 4a is going to be released on July 13. He reiterates that the 4a will not come with 5G support. Pixel 4a Was originally May, then got pushed to June, now pushed again. "Just Black" & "Barely Blue"Current plan for...

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Samsung announces Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition

Today, Samsung is announcing its Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition. The company calls it a "mission-ready solution tailored to the unique needs of operators in the federal government and Department of Defense." The Galaxy S20 TE has highly customized software to work in unison with existing tactical equipment along with DualDAR architecture, offering two layers of encryption. Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition specs: Display: 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 3200 x 1440 px QHD+; 60Hz or 120Hz Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Memory: 12GB/128GB; expandable up to 1TB via microSD ...

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Apple releases iOS 13.5 with COVID-19 specific features

Apple has released iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5 with features relevant to our post-COVID-19 world. Chief among these is a simplified unlock process for devices with Face ID for those who wear masks, which goes without saying should be everyone working outdoors. What the new system does is automatically show the passcode field when it detects you are wearing a face mask, so you can just directly enter the passcode and bypass Face ID. This works for unlocking the device and also in apps for things like payments. The other COVID-19 relevant feature is the support for Exposure...

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Another foldable Motorola Razr is planned for September

Motorola's new Razr, the rebirth of the classic form factor with a foldable screen, is definitely not a perfect device, what with its performance and sub-par camera and battery life and overall creakiness, so there clearly are a lot of things on which a possible successor might improve upon. Well, guess what? Such a device is already in the works, and apparently slated for an announcement around September. This is according to Thibault Dousson, Lenovo's general manager for South Africa. This "new iteration" of the phone is also referred to as "generation two" in a tech podcast where the...

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Galaxy Note20 unveiling to be online only, first time for a Samsung flagship

Because of the cancellation of MWC a lot of smartphone makers have been getting used to holding virtual online-only unveiling events for their new devices over the past few months. And while Samsung managed to hold an actual event for the launch of the Galaxy S20 series, missing the global pandemic by a hair, the Korean company has to contend with the current state of affairs for its next upcoming big announcement. According to sources in Korea, Samsung has deciced that it's going to do the inevitable, given the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, and unveil the Galaxy Note20 series through...

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Android 11 will label sub-6GHz networks "5G", mmWave will be "5G+", but "5Ge" is still LTE

Google has updated the Features overview page for Android 11 and in it is the iconography that will be used to indicate whether the phone is connected to a 4G or 5G network. And as is tradition, these will probably cause confusion instead of clearing things up. The "5Ge" label in particular is iffy - that is actually LTE Advanced Pro. Even though it promises impressive theoretical speeds of up to 3Gbps (with carrier aggregation), it is still just a successor to LTE Advanced and not true 5G. AT&T tried to relabel its LTE Advanced network to "5G E" as far back as 2018, the icon even...

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Oppo Find X2 Pro, Neo and Lite launch in Germany with Bluetooth headphones as early bird bonus

Oppo is launching a trio of Find X2 phones in Germany that will allow you to tap into the country's growing 5G network. You can pre-order one of the three phones now and the store should ship it in a couple of days. The top dog is the Oppo Find X2 Pro and it costs serious money, €1,200. You can check out our review to see if it's worth it, and if it is, head over to Amazon.de or one of several other retailers. Also, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have on-contract deals if you can't pay the full price up front. Or you might want to look at the Oppo Find X2 Neo and Find X2 Lite...

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Motorola Edge+ review

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Powerbeats Pro will get four new color options, more suitable for the summer

Apple (or rather its subsidiary Beats) unveiled the Powerbeats Pro a year ago and they were available in only four colors, all of them fairly muted (Ivor, Moss, Navy and Black). Soon, Beats will introduce four more color options more suitable for the warmer seasons. Lava Red, Cloud Pink, Glacier Blue and Spring Yellow will become available soon. Only the colors have changed, the hardware inside is identical. And (somewhat disappointingly) the charging case comes only in black. Powebeats Pro new colors: Lava Red, Cloud Pink, Glacier Blue and Spring Yellow Speaking of...

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Honor X-series passes 80 million shipments mark

Earlier today Honor introduced the X10 5G, its latest affordable smartphone entry. During the announcement, Honor's President George Zhao confirmed the Honor X-series of smartphones has surpassed the 80 million shipments milestone. The first member of the series dates back to 2013 with the Honor 3X G750. The Honor X-series is characterized by solid performance and affordable prices, which has helped it garner significant popularity in China and Europe. Recent models like the Honor 8X and 9X have kept up the demand with the 8X alone selling over 15 million units . The new Honor X10...

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Realme Narzo 10A hands-on review

The more affordable member of the new Realme Narzo series is with us today. As you might have already picked up the Realme Narzo 10A is largely based on triple camera version of the Realme C3 but it comes with a bold new rear panel featuring the company's name in huge letters. The phone is still built around a 6.5-inch IPS LCD with 720 x 1600px resolution and a minimalist notch on the top. Inside it sits a 5MP camera with f/2.4 lens. On the inside we have the MediaTek Helio G70 chipset with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Turning to the back we see a trio of...

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New vivo X50 Pro promo video and multiple images surface

Yesterday, vivo teased that the X50 Pro will be the first phone to use the new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 and showed an unusually large camera module. Now an abundance of sketches, renders and promos have surfaced on the web, offering a better look at the phone. First, a teaser video that shows more of the vivo X50 Pro. Like the first video, it highlights the advanced gimbal-like image stabilization system. Leakster Digital Chat Station (who published some of this info) suggests that the phone will also use a customized Sony sensor for one of its four cameras. We took out some...

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ in Aura Blue go on sale

Samsung launched the Galaxy Buds+ wireless earphones in three colors - White, Black, and Light Blue, but then it unveiled more options so more people can color-match the earphones with other gadgets or parts of the daily outfit. One of the unusual colors is Aura Blue, which is a shade of Persian Blue, and it finally is up for sale in the United States. They are offered by BestBuy and can be purchased for $149.99. Aura Blue Samsung Galaxy Buds+ The Galaxy Buds+ arrived as an improvement over the Galaxy Buds with one extra microphone to tackle the poor in-call audio quality...

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Dark Mode now available on Google App and Assistant

Google's quest to bring Dark Mode to its entire app portfolio is nearly complete as the Google App and Assistant now support the dark theme profile on both Android and iOS.It appears the changes are server-side and do not require updates from Google Play or the App Store. In addition, the dark theme will be automatically applied if you've already set your system theme to dark. In terms of looks, the dark theme converts the white UI elements to black and dark grey ones. Starting today & fully rolling out this week, dark mode is now available for the Google App on Android 10 and iOS...

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DxOMark reviews Realme X2 Pro's selfie camera, gives it a mediocre score

Long after its release, the Realme X2 Pro's selfie camera got a review by DxOMark and the results aren't all that impressive. The 16MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture has no autofocus, but that's not its only issue as per the test. The phone's selfie game isn't bad, per se, but it's not able to compete with the flagships of its time, meaning late 2019. And maybe it shouldn't have to as the phone costs half of what the big players are asking while offering comparable hardware. Anyway, the overall score is 74 points and the selfie cam's key advantages are good color, decent detail...

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Kuo: Apple may not bundle earbuds with iPhone 12

According to the latest report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could be looking to altogether remove the wired EarPods from the upcoming iPhone 12 retail package. This move would no doubt be an inconvenience for many buyers, as many people default to their in-box earbuds for music and hands-free talking. However such a move will also undoubtedly lead to a boost of the AirPods' sales, which ties-in nicely with Kuo's earlier report that Apple won't unveil new AirPods nor AirPods Pro this year. Apple bundles EarPods (costing $29 on their own) with its iPhones and up until the...

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Honor X10 5G arrives with Kirin 820 SoC, notchless display, and 40MP triple camera

Honor today announced its first 5G smartphone in the X series, dubbed Honor X10 5G. The Honor X10 5G is powered by the Kirin 820 SoC - the same platform that powers the higher standing Honor 30S. It supports dual-mode 5G (SA/NSA) as well as nine 5G frequency bands for an extensive range of coverage. The X10 5G runs Android 10 with MagicUI 3.1.1 on top and you get three memory options - 6GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB, and 8GB/128GB. It also comes with a microSD card slot, which allows storage expansion by up to 256GB. The Honor X10 5G is built around a 6.63" FullHD+ notchless IPS LCD with a...

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The Pixel 5 may have to settle for a Snapdragon 765, new evidence suggests

Google's Pixel phones never had the fastest chipset and that was by choice. The original phones used a Snapdragon 821 down-clocked to 820 speeds. The Pixel 2 and 3 also used underclocked chipsets, Snapdragon 835 and 845, respectively. The Pixel 4 was the first model to run its chipset at stock speeds. There's mounting evidence that the upcoming Pixel 5 won't even bother with an 800-series chip and use the Snapdragon 765 instead. To be clear, it could be any of the 765, 765G and 768G since they are all just different bins of what is essentially the same hardware (differing mainly in the CPU...

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ZTE Axon 11 SE surfaces on TENAA

ZTE unveiled its Axon 11 5G back in March and it's soon to be joined by the Axon 11 SE, which surfaced on Chinese certification website TENAA complete with a preliminary spec sheet and images. Visually, it looks like the a1 ZTG01 which was revealed in Japan back in March It's built around a 6.53-inch LCD with FHD+ resolution and a punch-hole cutout in the top left corner for the 16MP the selfie camera. Around the back, we have a 48MP main shooter alongside an 8MP secondary shooter and two 2MP sensors. There's also a capacitive fingerprint scanner. ZTE Axon 11 SE Under the...

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New Redmi 10X posters reveal launch date - May 26

Xiaomi has already launched its Redmi Note 9 lineup across the globe, but one major country is missing - China. The company will launch the basic Redmi Note 9 as Redmi 10X, and the latest official posters with a brand ambassador confirming the suspicions. One of the teasers also revealed a launch is scheduled for May 26 at 2 PM local time. According to the Russian website Xiaomishka's sources, two more phones are coming alongside the Redmi 10X - Redmi 10X 5G, and Redmi 10X Pro 5G. Redmi 10X posters The Redmi 10X with LTE will be a rebranded Redmi Note 9 in China - that...

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iQOO 3 5G Transformers Limited Edition announced

iQOO unveiled the iQOO 3 5G back in February in three colors - Volcano Orange, Tornado Black, and Quantum Silver. Today, the Chinese phone maker brought a special edition of the iQOO 3 5G, called iQOO 3 5G Transformers Limited Edition. The iQOO 3 5G Transformers Limited Edition shares the internals of the regular iQOO 3 5G but comes with an Autobots logo on the back below which is the company logo and up top, right next to the cameras, is the text that reads "Monster Inside". The back panel has a carbon fiber look that's likely just a special paint job under the glass. The rims of the...

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Meizu 17 series get 120Hz refresh rate via OTA update

After their release earlier this month, Meizu's 17 series is getting a big firmware update which among other things unlocks the two phones' 120Hz display refresh rate. Until now the two Meizu flagships were capped at 90Hz. The Samsung built panel is capable to run at 120Hz, but Meizu presumably had some tinkering to do with the software side before it could officially bring the higher refresh rate. The touch sampling rate on the other hand has remained capped at 180Hz. Meizu 17 update posters In addition, the new update brings DC dimming options and enhancements to HDR video...

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T-Mobile's LG G7 ThinQ and Verizon's V50 ThinQ get Android 10

The LG G7 ThinQ and V50 ThinQ locked to T-Mobile and Verizon's networks, respectively, are receiving the Android 10 update. T-Mobile hasn't announced the rollout of Android 10 for G7 ThinQ on its website at the time of writing this, but owners have reported getting the latest Android version. A screenshot posted by a user reveals the new firmware requires a download of around 1.4GB, but it doesn't include a changelog of what exactly the new build brings. Verizon, on the other hand, has shared a changelog of Android 10 for V50 ThinQ on its website. It's listed as a part of System...

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