If you signed up to beta test Sony's first build of Android 7.0 Nougat for its Xperia X Performance smartphone, it's worth knowing that Sony has started sending out emails to those who have been picked to enter the Beta Program. In the email, Sony says that the beta update will be rolled out over-the-air, and will start hitting selected Xperia X Performance units in the next 48 hours. More information related to the update will be shared via email shortly. Via
The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ has started receiving a new update. Carrying a firmware version of XXU3BPJ3 and currently rolling out to unlocked units in Europe, the update brings Android security patch for the month of October. As is usually the case with OTA-roll outs, it may take some time for the update to hit your device. Meanwhile, if you feel impatient, you can manually check for the update by heading to your handset's Settings menu. Via
With an aim to better fight fraud and spam installs, Google has started pushing out a new update to its Play Store app that brings along improved detection and filtering systems. "From time to time, we observe instances of developers attempting to manipulate the placement of their apps through illegitimate means like fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentivized ratings," the company says in a blog post. "These attempts not only violate the Google Play Developer Policy, but also harm our community of developers by hindering their chances of being discovered or recommended...
After Samsung Singapore and Taiwan separately confirmed the pricing and availability details for the Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge, the model has been officially announced by the South Korean company. In a press release on its US website, Samsung said that the sixth color edition of the Galaxy S7 edge smartphone has been officially released, and will be available in selected markets around the globe starting November 1. "Specific availability details will be announced by each market's wireless providers and regional Samsung offices," the company said. While the tech giant didn't...
A new report comes from The Nikkei Asian Review where the President of Sharp as well as another senior executive of the company both confirmed that next year's iPhone will no longer be using the current LTPS display technology, but rather will be using OLED screens. A remark made by Sharp president Tai Jeng-wu at Tatung University during a graducation ceremony to some of the school's students hinted toward this. "The iPhone has been evolving and now its switching from LTPS to OLED panels. We don't know whether Apple's OLED iPhones will be a hit, but if Apple doesn't walk down this path and...
Much like the Xiaomi Mi Box spotted at Walmart ahead of its release, the retailer has been seen doing the same thing again, this time with a Google product, the company's direct competitor to the Amazon Echo, smart home assistant. The Google Home assistant will be available starting November 4, this is when Google will ship the pre-ordered units, and this is when retailers should stock them and sell them online. Android Police reports that one of its readers actually saw the Google Home available for sale at their local Walmart. According to that reader, a Walmart employee would not sell...
Sony's newest flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ, launched in the US at the beginning of this month. Ever since, it's been sold unlocked for $699.99. But right now you can get it for less, which should be helpful if you've found that initial price non-palatable. Amazon has decided to shave a cool $50 off the price of the Xperia XZ, taking it down to $649.99. That's still a lot, but at least it's in line with other competing high-end devices. The phone is available in black, blue, and silver. It's unclear if this is a limited time deal or a permanent price cut, though. So if you want to be...
Today vivo has outed its first teaser for an upcoming smartphone that the Chinese rumorsphere has labeled as being the X9. This should succeed the X7 in the company's portfolio, even though that model was only made official four months ago. Things move fast in the competitive Chinese smartphone market. The teaser in question, which you can see to the left, doesn't mention the yet-to-be-announced device by name. It does however confirm that it will have a dual camera setup. If this is the X9 we're talking about, then there's been an intriguing possibility rumored - namely, for it to...
The LG G6 may be coming alone next year with 'Friends' being (logically) canceled, but it will likely sport an iris scanner. Korean media has covered LG Inotek's development of such hardware for the next-gen flagship. Unlike the Galaxy Note7 implementation, where Samsung had fitted a selfie camera and a dedicated second camera for iris recognition, the G6 will combine the two in a single module. A filter of some sort will allow the two functions to coexist under the same roof. More importantly in these ever crammed spaces - the combined module has a total volume of 0.36cc, while...
Tenth generation versus the first of its kind - the iPhone 7 versus the Google Pixel, in their Plus-size versions (or XL in Google terms).
The Huawei Mate 9 is some 3 days away from official status, and sure enough, the leaks keep coming in. This latest one comes in the form of a couple of live images. The pictured Mate 9 is the flat-screened Manhattan (a dual-curved Long Island Mate 9 Pro version is rumored as well) in a gold body color. We're not entirely sure if it's the real deal or an early mockup, maybe. For one, the Leica branding is nowhere to be found, and we'd be more than surprised if Huawei's partnership with the German optics specialists was this short-lived - just the P9. Not to mention every Mate 9...
Sony has announced two new controllers for the PlayStation 4 consoles built for professional gaming. Built by Razer and Nacon, these are the first two controllers being made by third-party manufacturers and officially licensed by Sony. Razer Raiju The first is the Razer Raiju. Named after a mythical Japanese creature, the Raiju has two additional bumpers at the top and two extra detachable triggers on the back and a built-in control panel on the front. The controller uses trigger-stop switches and has hair trigger mode for quick response during competitive games. The...
Meizu counted up twice and announced the Meizu M5. It features a bigger screen than the m3s - now 5.2" big and covered with 2.5D beveled glass. The mTouch 2.1 fingerprint reader below the screen has been optimized and now triggers in just 0.2 seconds. Not bad for a phone that costs CNY 700 ($105/€95). The M5 continues to be powered by the MediaTek MT6750 chipset found in the m3s. The similarities continue with a choice of 2GB RAM and 16GB storage or 3GB RAM, 32GB storage (both versions have a microSD slot so don't sweat it so much). The second version goes up to CNY 900 in...
Sony is already looking forward to next year and has already registered two phones with a Russian regulatory body. The Sony Xperia G3121 and G3112 are their internal model numbers, which doesn't tell us much except to suggest they may be mid-range or even low-end devices. The Xperia E4 a while back had a number of G2104. Sony's internal numbers are not terribly consistent though, the two new phones may be closer to the Xperia XA instead, aka "F311x". The rumor mill is lacking Xperias currently, but we should see some breaks in secrecy as big tech events approach (CES, MWC)....
With VR heating up, companies have been looking for ways to provide an affordable entry, but VR requires a very different GPU than gaming on a screen. Meet ARM's new GPU - the Mali-G51 - built specifically for VR. A smaller brother of the G71, this is the second GPU to use the new Bifrost architecture built with Vulkan in mind. This one is more than just a G71 with fewer cores, in fact it's the first to use a dual shader architecture. Basically, traditional shaders process one pixel per clock cycle. Mali-G51's shaders can do two pixels per clock while using fewer resources (both in...
Evie Launcher This new launcher has an interesting UI, with a panel on the left that houses all your apps and widgets in a vertically scrolling list. You can also access the settings from that panel. On the homescreen you can swipe down to do a local as well as online search. You can also customize the grid size of the homescreen icons. Android DoubleTwist DoubleTwist is a music player for Android that has been around for a while now but got a major redesign with the latest update. Although not exactly Material UI, it's still an attractive design with its usual...
Apple's recent announcements got relatively muted responses - the spirit of innovation is missing. Young Xiaomi did a much better job of launching a device that got everyone talking, the bezel-less Mi Mix. It's almost all screen - 6.4" inches of it - and yet it's only as tall as an 5.5" iPhone 7 Plus and about as wide. Yes, many point to Sharp's Aquos line (and in fact Xiaomi used a Sharp screen), but the latest Aquos Xx3 abandoned the bezel-less design of its predecessors and even the Xx2 isn't as impressive as the Mi Mix. Xiaomi thought this through and used a 17:9 display - enough to...
There are exciting announcements and then there's the Xiaomi Mi Mix. The (near-)bezelless Xiaomi phablet turned from concept phone to reality in the time it took to be fully detailed on stage, and you can actually pre-order one right now. Mostly if you're in China, unfortunately. The enthusiasm is very much the world over though, hence the top spot on our trending chart. Xiaomi's affordable yet powerful Redmi Note 3 keeps its second spot for a third week in a row, with the Galaxy J7 (2016) losing the most this week - the long-time number 1 is now in 3rd, nudging its Prime brother into...
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge won the Best Phablet of 2016 vote, a clean sweep for Samsung (the small S7 won the Best Smartphone vote). This was a much more heated debate - the S7 edge still has a wide lead, but it didn't dominate as much as its smaller sibling. People asked about the Galaxy Note7, but that phone has a terrible battery life (the update limited it to 60% charge) and you're not allowed on planes anymore. Anyway, LG performed much better this time - the LG V20 is second! It beat out the iPhone 7 Plus by a healthy margin, showing that LG did the right thing going from the G5...
The Xiaomi Mi Mix is the single most interesting smartphone we've seen in a while, no doubt about that. Sure, the iPhone 8 may be rumored to be all display next year, but we can have that now in the Mi Mix, sort of. It does have a chin, and it will only be available in China for the time being, but those are details. A more conventional offering, the Mi Note 2 from Xiaomi is official as well - itself a proper flagship, even with a dual-curved display like a certain Note7 we sadly won't be seeing much of. Xiaomi's high-profile announcements aside, this week also saw the birth of...
If you are in the United States and are in the market for an Xbox One S gaming console, here's a deal for you: the Xbox One S 500 GB (Minecraft Bundle) is currently going for $280, down from its regular price of $299. eBay seller antonline is currently selling the console at that price. The listing says that quantities are limited, and - as of writing - a total of around 30 units have been sold. Shipping is free. To know more about the discount, head to the Source link below. Source
If you are in the US and are planning to purchase either a Motorola Moto Z, Moto Z Force Droid, or Moto Z Droid, you'll be glad to know that the company is offering a limited-time discount of $150 on these phones. This means - as long as the deal is available - the Moto Z can be purchased for $550, while the Verizon-exclusive Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid can be purchased for $474 and $570, respectively. To get the discount, you need a promo code, which you can get by entering your e-mail address. After you have the code, all you need to do is to apply it at checkout. Motorola...
After being spotted on benchmarking site GFXBench as well as India's import/export tracking website Zauba, the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has now been certified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). As is usually the case, the Bluetooth listing doesn't reveal anything about the device's specifications. However, from what all has been revealed until now, the Galaxy A3 (2017) is powered by an octa-core 1.5GHz processor, and sports a 4.7-inch 720p display. RAM is 2GB, while internal memory is 8GB. The phone features a 12MP/8MP camera combo, and runs Android 6.0.1...
Is it just us, or has naming in the mobile realm really gone downhill lately? We are far from the idea that Xiaomi is the only OEM guilty on this account, but one look at the Redmi announcements over the past couple of years is surely enough to confuse even the most loyal of fans and experts out there. At least it is less of a mess over in the higher end Mi section, but we still find ourselves struggling to decipher exactly what we are looking at from time to time anyway. That being said, while digging through TENAA's website, we stumbled upon not one, not two, well, technically two to be...
A few months back OnePlus decided to implement its "never settle" slogan quite literally and took to the road on a grand Euro tour. The growing start-up has always had a closer relationship and involvement with its fans than most, which really made the effort special. While meet-ups are typically a regular thing for the OnePlus team, this time a fully-loaded promotional bus and a schedule spanning over two months really took it to the next level. If you are a fan of OnePlus and its signature blend of viral marketing and high product value appeal, then chances are you already...
If you are interested in picking up one of Google's new Pixel phones in the US, you can either go on the Google store directly or Project Fi or hit up Verizon for a unit. The latter is currently the only major carrier that offers the handsets and thankfully with no carrier lock and with updates coming straight from Google. In the absence of a Pixel offer of its own, a few days ago T-Mobile launched a rather sneaky deal to draw more Pixel users to its unlimited data plans by offering them a total of $325 off monthly bills. Now in a rather anticipated response, Verizon has launched a...
We already know the budget-friendly Motorola Moto M is in the works. A few helpful leaks in, we are also fairly well acquainted with what to expect in terms of specs and appearance. Now, in a new turn of events, it appears Lenovo might not even make us wait until December for the full-metal handset, as a new promotional material suggests a November 8 launch date instead. To sweeten the deal even further, the Moto M might not come along, but instead be accompanied by the Lenovo P2 that was showcased at this year's IFA conference. Now, we can't really judge on the authenticity of...
As we are sure most of you already heard, Apple finally brought an arguably overdue refresh to its Mac Pro laptop lineup on Thursday. It consists of a trio of new laptops, two in the 13-inch and on in the 15-inch form factor. All of them are more powerful and significantly thinner then their predecessors, have better screens, improved touchpads and lets call it a "different" approach to the keyboard and I/O, now entirely made of Type-C ports. However, all that was totally overshadowed by the introduction of the Touch Bar - Apple's new touch-screen strip, that courageously sits above the...
According to data shared by IHS Research analyst Kevin Wang, Oppo has dethroned Huawei to become the top smartphone player in China. The former sold 22 million smartphone units in the third quarter, compared to 18 million by the latter. Not only Oppo, vivo also surpassed Huawei, recording a total of 19 million units in sales in Q3. It's worth mentioning that Huawei had sold a total of 32 million units in Q2, so that's quite a sharp drop. Moving on, the fourth and fifth spots were claimed by Xiaomi and Apple - while the former sold 12 million units, the Cupertino-based company...
The LG V20 is now available for purchase in Canada, where carriers Videotron and Wind Mobile are currently offering the device. A quick look their websites reveals that the handset is being sold outright for CAD 1,029.95 (around $770) and CAD 999 (around $745), respectively. Those purchasing the phone (irrespective of their carrier choice) will also get a free pair of B&O Play H3 headphones by Bang & Olufsen (worth CAD 199.95). There's currently no information on which other carriers or retailers will carry the phone. Source 1 2 | Via
Samsung has started accepting pre-orders for its Tizen-powered Gear S3 smartwatch in the UK. A quick look at the company's UK website reveals that the Classic as well as Frontier models are up for pre-order, carrying a £349 price tag each. The South Korean firm is also running a promo where-in the first 1,000 people who pre-order the smartwatch will also get a pair of Level Active headphones for free. The deal runs through November 10 (7pm). Shipments begin November 11 onwards. In case you missed, third-party retailer Mobile Fun has been accepting Gear S3 pre-orders for several...
BlackBerry has announced that it's currently working with AT&T to speed up the release of a fix to the 'No Service' issue that some Priv users have been facing on the carrier's network for over a month now. "The root cause for this issue has been identified, and a solution will be made available shortly as BlackBerry is working with AT&T to expedite the release of a software fix," the company said. "As soon as this is available the knowledge base article will be updated, as well as this thread so everyone is aware. For those who aren't aware, several BlackBerry Priv users on AT&T...
Research firm IDC surveyed 1,082 U.S. customers of the Note7 through on online survey on October 17 and 18, just a few days after the phone maker decided to permanently discontinue the productivity-focused phablet. Of the 1,082 U.S. consumers, 507 were current Samsung owners, 347 were past Samsung users, 228 of which have never owned a Samsung device. Only 24 of the customers surveyed were owners, both past and present, of the Note7. Key findings from the surveys show that half of the Note7 customers (12 out of 24) said they have or "will choose" an iPhone to replace their...
The Note7's Coral blue offering turned out to be a popular color choice. Unfortunately for many, Samsung had to discontinue sales of the Galaxy Note 7. So, no S-Pen (for now) but that doesn't mean you can't have Samsung's soft-blue-and-tinge-of-orange color combo, as it will come to the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. Currently, Samsung plans to release the Coral Blue edition of the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge with 4G+ in both Singapore and Taiwan. This edition will be available starting on November 5 in Singapore and November 1 in Taiwan from what appears to be in a 32GB configuration for now. The...
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Google was always a service - the best search engine on Earth. Now under the Alphabet umbrella, Google is becoming a brand - for online services yes, but also for hardware. Leading the charge are the Pixels, Google's equivalent to Samsung's Galaxy or Apple's i-gadgets... and every bit as premium.
Xiaomi caused a lot of excitement with the Mi Note 2 and Mi Mix announcements, but Huawei is yet to make its next move. Of course, we are talking about the Huawei Mate 9, which will be unveiled on November 3. Taking that into consideration, it should come as no surprise that the Chinese OEM is currently at the top on its teaser game. Today brings another bit of early info. According to the short video, the Mate 9 will come with exceptional battery life. All the hints also seem to point toward some new and better fast charging technology. Perhaps Smart Power 5.0? As for other...
The Xiaomi Redmi 3 launched in January and saw multiple revisions (3s, Pro, Prime), but the new Redmi 4 is quickly clearing the regulatory hurdles to gaining an official status. Info coming out of China suggests that the new model will upgrade the 5" screen to 1080p resolution (up from 720p) and the 13MP camera on the back gains a second LED for its flash (the selfie cam remains at 5MP). The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is powered by an unnamed Snapdragon chipset with an octa-core processor, a Snapdragon 430 perhaps? It's paired to 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage, same as the most recent editions of the...
LG has two new ultra high definition displays, designed specifically to work well with Macs. There is the UltraFine 5K Display and then the UltraFine 4K Display. The UltraFine 5K Display is a Thunderbolt display. It has a 27-inch IPS panel with 5120 x 2880 resolution. It has 500 nits maximum brightness and supports the DCI-P3 color space. On the back of the display are four USB Type-C connectors, one of which is a Thunderbolt 3 input and the remaining three are USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports with 5Gbps bandwidth each. You can hook up your new MacBook Pro to the display over the Thunderbolt...
Keeping up with Samsung's ever-growing device lineup is getting extra difficult with each passing month. 2016 in particular, saw an explosion of brand new device families and offers, only a few of which arguably have what it takes to stand out. The fresh new "C" lineup definitely falls under this category. We already reviewed the Galaxy C5 and C7, both of which intriguing, mid-range, yet stylish metal-clad smartphones on a budget. By all accounts, Samsung is now looking to improve on the pair of devices with new "Pro" versions. They were first spotted a month or so ago and now the...
Microsoft has pushed out a new update to Skype for iOS. The update bumps the version to 6.27.1, and brings along the ability to send messages using Apple's smart assistant, Siri. "Send Skype messages to your Skype contacts using Siri," the change-log for the update says. In addition to this, with the updated app, you can now view your Skype recent messages and Favourites on the Apple Watch again. Source
As scheduled, the newly-unveiled Oppo R9s is now available for purchase. The device has gone on sale in China, where it can be purchased through both online and offline channels. It carries an RMB 2,799 (around $415) price tag. There have been reports that the Chinese company is expecting a high demand for the handset, and has already stocked around a million units of the phone to make sure there aren't any shortages. To quickly refresh, the R9s is powered by Snapdragon 625 chipset and sports a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen. RAM is 4GB, while internal memory is 64GB, although...
Yesterday, Apple announced the brand new MacBook Pro with the cool new Touch Bar, a strip of display above the keyboard that replaces the function key row with context specific functions that can be customized by users and developers. However, the company also announced a variant of the smaller 13-inch model without the Touch Bar. Now on surface it seems the lack of Touch Bar is the only real difference, but turns out there's more. Apart from the obviously missing Touch Bar, the standard model also does not get Touch ID, which means no fast authentication, no quick user...
LG has announced a new smartphone. Dubbed LG U, the device is powered by an octa-core 1.14GHz processor, and sports a 5.2-inch full HD display. RAM is 2GB, while internal memory is 32GB, although expandable. The handset features a 13MP main cameraand an 8MP front shooter. Measuring 147.6 × 73.2 × 7.7mm and weighing in at 135g, it runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. A large, 3,000mAh battery is there to keep the lights on. Color options include white, black, and pink. As for price, the LG U carries a tag of KRW 396,000, which translates into around $345 at current exchange...
Apple has released its latest iOS adoption numbers, revealing that the version 10 of its mobile operating system now powers 60% of compatible devices. That's a rise of 6% compared to the last time these figures were released. As for other versions, iOS 9's share currently stands at 32%, down from its share of 38% that was revealed a couple of weeks ago, while earlier iOS versions claim an 8% share, which remains unchanged. So it's clear that whatever share iOS 10 has gained is at the expense of iOS 9. Source
Meizu's upcoming Pro 6s smartphone has now been spotted on AnTuTu, revealing some of its key specifications. The benchmark listing reveals that the device is powered by Helio X25 chipset, something which Meizu's VP Li Nan hinted recently. As for other specs, the AnTuTu listing reveals the device sports a full HD display, has 4GB/32GB memory configuration, and features a 21MP/5MP camera combo. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. The phone is set to be unveiled on November 3, which is Thursday next week. Via
Sony has announced that its streaming TV service PlayStation Vue is now available on the Android TV platform. "We're pleased to announce that you can watch your favorite TV shows, movies, and sports through PlayStation Vue on Android TVs starting today," the company said in a blog post. To get started, all you need is a PS Vue account and an Android TV running Android OS 4.4 or higher. Once that in place, just download the PS Vue app and enjoy the service. Sony also announced that web support for both PC and Mac is coming soon. "This will include some unique features, such as a...
After GFXBench and India's import/export tracking website Zauba, the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) has now been spotted on AnTuTu benchmarking website. The listing reveals that the device is powered by an Exynos 7870 chipset, and has 64GB storage. Other specifications revealed by AnTuTu, including HD display, 3GB RAM, and 16MP/16MP camera combo are inline with what the phone's GFXBench listing had revealed. The handset is rumored to sport either a 5.5-inch or a 5.7-inch display. Source | Via
Samsung has said that its upcoming Galaxy S series flagship smartphone will have a "slick design and an improved camera." The comment was made by none other than the South Korean company's mobile-communications vice president. Mr Lee further revealed that the device will also feature an enhanced artificial-intelligence service, although he didn't confirm whether or not technology from Viv labs, a startup launched by Siri creators which Samsung recently agreed to acquire, will be there in the handset. The Galaxy S8, in case you aren't aware, has already been the subject of several...
Vine was the perfect platform to compliment Twitter. Users could film micro clips within 6 seconds that would loop over and over. And the resulting content is nothing short of Amazing. Many "internet personalities" gained popularity on the platform, and the six-second limit resulted in some really creative videos. Twitter re-strategized Vine by increasing its 6 second time limit to the same number of characters that are in a Tweet: so 140 seconds. This changed the platform and perhaps chased some die-hard users of the platform away. Following the announcement that Twitter was...
