Samsung Mobile to post unimpressive Q2 results

The second quarter of 2018 is behind our backs and now its time for companies to start posting their financial results. Samsung is expected to announce its guidance on Friday, where the operating profit of the mobile division will be around KRW14.9 trillion (about $13.3 billion). The result is about 5% lower than the record-breaking KRW15.6 trillion, posted in the previous quarter of 2018. According to Park Jung-hoon, fund manager at HDC Asset Management, market watchers don't have high expectations, even with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note9, bound to arrive on August 9 in New...

Google patents new AI-driven fitness feature for its Wear OS platform

There's not much happening in the wearables market right now but that doesn't mean companies aren't working on something behind the scenes. A new patent by Google was unearthed giving us a sneak peek of what the tech giant is preparing for its future Wear OS release. The patent revolves around an AI-driven fitness tracking that helps you be more active and achieve your fitness goals throughout the day. The AI does so by collecting data like current location, movement progress and calendar info. This way the software suggests you to leave your home a bit earlier and get to the meeting...

Asus launches ZenFone 5Z in India at a highly aggressive price

Asus launched the ZenFone 5Z in India, the company's flagship Android smartphone. The phone is being launched at a very aggressive price, as is usual for Asus, and undercuts its main rival, the OnePlus 6. The phone will be available in three variants, the 6/64GB variant priced at INR 29,999, the 6/128GB variant priced at INR 32,999 and the 8/256GB variant priced at INR 36,999. They will go on sale July 9, exclusively on Flipkart. The ZenFone 5Z is a flagship device with all the best features from the company. That includes a 6.2-inch, 18.7:9 FullHD+ IPS display, Snapdragon 845...

New apps and games added to the Android Excellence list

Google selects only the best software in the Play Store for its Android Excellence program and hands out "Editor's choice" badges. The new picks for July 2018 include 14 apps and 7 games, here they are. Beelinguapp • Fortune City • ShareTheMeal The highlighted apps include Beelinguapp (learn a new language by reading stories), Fortune City (gamemify your finances) and ShareTheMeal (a donation app by the World Food Programme). Animal Crossing • Cash, Inc. • Shadowgun Legends And if you want to kill some free time, check out Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Cash, Inc.,...

Honor 9i arrives in Jasper Green for $210

Huawei introduced on Monday Dream Purple color for Honor 9i and another unique option is scheduled to arrive on Thursday. The device will have cyan back panel and rim and will have the name Jasper Green. Huawei Honor 9i Jasper Green from all sides The Jasper Green or Jade Green, depending on which machine translation you trust, Honor 9i comes with 5.84" screen and tall 19:9 ratio. It has Kirin 659 chipset, coupled with 4 GB RAM, and comes with either 64 GB or 128 GB storage. Being a new addition to the Honor portfolio, the device should have the GPU Turbo mode out of the...

iOS 12 developer beta 3 is here with some small changes

Apple has started pushing the third installment of its iOS 12 developer beta version of the software that brings some small changes, general bug fixes and optimizations. The OS now feels more refined and it gets closer to its official release date in September. Revamped Memos app Anyway, most of the improvements address usability, animations and re-designs. The most important ones are as follows: Clear All Notifications now has a springy animation Can now swipe to clear alerts in one swipe (like iOS 11) Apple Watch Face Gallery now only highlights new Siri watch face...

Samsung Galaxy J7 Aero shows its Exynos 7885 and 2GB of RAM on Geekbench

A Samsung smartphone with the model name SM-J337V briefly showed up on Geekbench and was subsequently deleted but not before the scoop was documented. The model name ties nicely with the rumored Samsung Galaxy J7 Aero that is expected to launch as a Verizon-exclusive in the US soon. What we learned from its scorecard on Geekbench is that it uses Samsung's Exyunos 7885 - found in the Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018), Galaxy A8+ (2018) and Galaxy J7 Duo - Android 8.0 Oreo and a lowly 2GB of RAM. These specs are by no means final - the Galaxy J7 Aero could very well have a 3GB version or one with...

Honor Note 10 coming soon, confirms company's president

After skipping the Honor Note 9 last year, the company is going to resurrect the lineup with the Honor Note 10 shortly. And it's not just rumors anymore - Zhao Ming, Honor's president, posted on Weibo about the upcoming device. In the post, Zhao Ming says that the OEM has been working on this device for about two years now, which explains why they missed on the Note 9, so fans should be looking forward to device's official release. Google translate is a bit rough, but we can assume that the president is teasing more products alongside the Note 10. Unfortunately, the post doesn't...

LG G5 and LG V20's Android Oreo update incoming

LG G5 arrived back in 2016 with a unique modular design and Android Marshmallow. The phone got Android Nougat eventually and is now waiting its turn to move to Oreo. Back in March T-Mobile promised Android 8.0 for the other 2016 LG flagship - the V20, and now the info is confirmed. Both devices will receive the new Android as the kernel sources were listed on LG's website. The kernel source is listed currently only for the South Korea models of the LG G5 and LG V20 - F700K, F700L, F700S and respectively F800K, F800L, F800S. If everything goes according to plan, the stable release for...

Notch-totting Huawei Nova 3 appears in new teaser

Huawei has shared a new teaser image for the upcoming Nova 3 smartphone. While an earlier teaser focused only on the back, this latest image shows the front of the device as well. So there's a notch, housing dual cameras, and of course, there's a dual rear camera setup as well. The teaser also reveals two color options for the device (blue and gold), and confirms a 24MP camera sensor and AI capabilities as well. Thanks to TENAA, we already know quite a lot about the device, including octa-core CPU (clocked at 2.3 GHz), 6.3-inch display with 2340 x 1080 pixel resolution, and 6 GB RAM...

Xiaomi plans to enter the US market in 2019

Xiaomi is aiming to step on US soil over the next year. The bold statement was made by company VP Wang Xiang, who spoke to Reuters about the 2019 plans of the company. According to him, the US market is "very attractive" and the company will begin developing its devices to be compatible with the US networks. Xiang said the company "hopes it can do something", adding that Xiaomi representatives are yet to reach any final agreement with carriers. If it succeeds, the Beijing tech giant will move into a market where fellow Chinese companies got booted. US Senate suggested carriers to...

Photo of Meizu 16 confirms the in-display fingerprint

The Meizu 16 is an oft-leaking flagship from the company in the last month or so. The company's CEO also helped keep the hype wave going after confirming a cooling vapor chamber for the Snapdragon 845 and teasing high screen-to-body ratio and in-display fingerprint scanner. The latest one comes from a Twitter leakster, who posted a photo of two devices side by side, which are presumably the two variants of the Meizu 16 - the big one and the small one. We can see that the left one comes with a tad smaller chin and shows a prompt for a placing your finger onto the screen. The image is...

Oreo for Samsung Galaxy J3(2017), J5 Pro, and J7 Pro has been delayed

Looks like the Oreo update roll out time frame for some 2017 Galaxy J series models has been pushed back. As per latest information on Guncelmiyiz (a Samsung website that tracks update schedules for users in Turkey), the Galaxy J3 (2017), J5 Pro, and J7 Pro will get Oreo towards September's end. Previously, the site said the Oreo update for these devices is in testing phase, and will arrive in mid-July (specifically, July 13). There's currently no information on why the roll out has been delayed, but we hope the company sticks to the schedule this time around. Source | Via

FCC listing for Samsung Galaxy Note9's S Pen confirms Bluetooth support

Recently, there were rumors that Samsung Galaxy Note9's S Pen will feature Bluetooth. Well, those rumors have now been confirmed by the US FCC. Documents on the agency's website have revealed the S Pen (model number EJ-PN960) is a 2.4GHz Bluetooth LE device. Sadly, FCC doesn't reveal all the stylus is capable of. However, rumors say in addition to standard features, the S Pen could also let you control music playback as well as trigger a long-range remote self-timer. It could be used to launch Bixby as well. For its part, Samsung hasn't confirmed anything related to the S Pen yet,...

Latest OxygenOS brings support for Project Treble on the OnePlus 5 and 5T

Today, OnePlus released its latest versions of the Open Beta for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T - version 13 for the 5 and version 11 for the 5T. These versions bring a few new features and optimizations including new accent colors and a revamped UI, but the biggest update is support for Project Treble on the 5 and 5T. Project Treble is the latest solution from Google to expedite the process of updating Android's OS, which has been painstakingly slow for some of the major OEMs, namely Samsung. Treble also makes it easier for the developer community to create custom ROMs for the Android...

ZTE is allowed to operate in the US this month only

ZTE and the Unites States have been going back and forth with the former's ban on doing business in the United States. Although a deal was made between President Trump and ZTE, the US Congress disapproved this agreement that would bring ZTE back into the ban. The continuation of the ZTE and US saga continues. Today, Reuters reported that the US Department of Commers has granted a temporary lift on the ZTE ban that would allow the company to make transactions within the US necessary to maintain ZTE's existing networks and equipment. This doesn't mean that ZTE is allowed to operate as...

Verizon's Moto Z Play Droid Edition is now receiving Android 8.0 Oreo update

Verizon's Droid-branded version of the Moto Z Play from 2016 is finally being graced with the update to Android 8.0 Oreo. This has started rolling out today, more than a month after unlocked units got it (back in May). The new software arrives as build ODN27.76-12-30-2, and it's a 1.1GB download. As usual the rollout is likely to be going out in phases, so if you haven't seen the update notification yet, you can either be patient for a few more days or manually go to Settings > System update and check. Oreo brings picture-in-picture mode for supported apps, the Autofill API, adaptive...

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 may arrive in September with a pop-up camera

vivo's NEX started a trend, it seems, with its pop-up selfie camera. The Oppo Find X took things to another level, but Xiaomi wants in on the game too. The Mi Mix line is already known for amazing screen-to-body ratios, but in 2018 it's seen quite a few competitors in that area. So to keep up with the joneses, Xiaomi is going to outfit the Mi Mix 3 with a pop-up camera too. That's been revealed by a new leaked image which surfaced on Chinese social media. The name of the device is nowhere to be found, but since the Mix line has always been at the forefront of Xiaomi's fight against...

Samsung's foldable Galaxy X will have a curved battery, 3,000 mAh or larger

Samsung's much-rumored Galaxy X foldable smartphone still isn't official, but that is probably going to change in 2019. The handset will employ foldable display panels, which will go into mass production this summer, if there aren't any issues. The screens will be ready for an early 2019 launch of the phone, but additional components need to be flexible too. Take, for example, the battery. This will be foldable too, according to a new report, and its capacity will be anywhere between 3,000 mAh and 6,000 mAh. We're obviously hoping for as high a number as possible, given the massive screen...

Deal: Pixel 2 XL for Verizon is $300, the Pixel 2 is $150 off

Best Buy and Verizon love discounting the second-gen Pixel phones - the first discount came the day after they were announced! Today's deal is better than that one, but not quite as good as some in the past. The good news is that it includes the smaller Pixel 2, which often goes overlooked. Google Pixel 2 • Google Pixel 2 XL Still, the Pixel 2 XL gets the better treatment - it's effectively $300 off. We say "effectively" because the actual discount is to the monthly installments. You pay $22.91 for 24 months, that's about $12.50 down on the regular payments. The deal is valid for...

Samsung's Android Go smartphone might not be Android Go after all

Some interesting photos of the upcoming Android Go-powered Samsung phone also known as Galaxy J2 Core have just surfaced. Interestingly enough these contradict almost everything we know about Android Go devices so it's either that the platform is taking in a new direction or we are seeing a different device here. The OEM is ditching the hardware navigation buttons and the phone pictured comes with an outdated security patch for Android 8.1 Oreo - December 2017. Nothing else could be concluded from the leaked images. There's no mention of the launch date either. Samsung's...

A new Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2018) could be coming to US carriers

While we've been caught up in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 rumors another new slate by Samsung has received certification with the Wi-Fi alliance. The device carries the model name SM-T387, which sounds like a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017)'s T380 model number and suggests a refresh for 2018. It's possible that the device is getting a US release soon. If we go by usual Samsung practice then the SM-T387 model is likely an LTE model. So we can assume that the SM-T385V is headed to Verizon, SM-T387T is intended for T-Mobile, SM-T387A (and SM-T387VK) will be for AT&T and the...

Land Rover Explore phone now available in Europe with a free Adventure Pack

The Land Rover Explore - a modular rugged Android smartphone - is now available in Europe. The phone is built by the same company that is behind the CAT phones, but features a unique extension system. You can read more about it in our hands-on review. In the UK, the official site and Clove has the phone in stock, it costs £600 (with VAT). A Land Rover Adventure Pack is typically £100 extra, but now you're getting one for free (while supplies last). Land Rover Explore • Pogo pins on the back enable Packs • The Adventure Pack In Germany, Saturn, Cyberport and NotebooksBilliger...

Oppo Find X teardown: similar pop-up mechanism to the vivo NEX

The Oppo Find X plays up to Oppo's strengths - a motorized mechanism for the camera. It was cool on the N1 and it's even cooler here. Here's a better look at the pop-up action without the back cover getting in the way. But how does it work? It's similar to the NEX S and uses a linear actuator. You can see its motor in yellow and the guiding rails in red. In green are the ribbon cables that hook up the cameras, 3D face scanner and other components to the rest of the phone (there are a couple of coax cables too, so perhaps an antenna). Here's another look. The the screw turns the...

LG G7 ThinQ review

LG is finally releasing a G-series phone with the latest Snapdragon - yay! Regardless whether we have some supply chain optimization or LG's product planning to thank, the fact of the matter is the G7 ThinQ is now available internationally and it's a proper high-end device.