Samsung offers the Galaxy S9 with Hybrid Dual SIM in Germany

The internal storage of the Samsung Galaxy S9 can now be increased by up to 400GB via MicroSD card. That's an increase from 256GB from the Galaxy S8. A version also exists with a Hybrid Dual SIM that allows you to use two SIMS. A local SIM when you're on vacation and keep your home number connected or use separate work and personal numbers on the same phone. When using two SIM cards the MicroSD card can't be used. It now looks like this Hybrid Dual SIM option is available for users in Germany for the first time. SH Telekommunikation Deutschland GmbH, a provider of independent mobile...

We benchmark the Snapdragon 660 inside the Nokia 7 Plus

The Nokia 7 Plus is one of the few phones with a Snapdragon 660 so it was hard finding it a match for a few synthetic tests. The Oppo R11s is the only other Snapdragon 660-powered phone in the tests below. The Nokia 7 Plus has 4GB of RAM and Nokia is yet to say if there will be a 6GB model. The Snapdragon 660 chip relies on 8 Kryo 260 cores - four clocked as high as 2.2GHz and another 4 that go as high as 1.8GHz - and is built around an efficient 14nm process. As with the camera, we'll withhold judgment on the benchmarks as well. This is all preliminary, folks! ...

Canon announces EOS 2000D DSLR and M50 mirrorless cameras

Canon has launched two new budget cameras, the EOS 2000D DSLR (called the EOS Rebel T7 in the US) and the EOS M50 mirrorless camera. The cameras are being positioned as cameras for beginners looking to upgrade from shooting with their smartphones. The EOS 2000D is the new entry-level DSLR in Canon's lineup, replacing the existing EOS 1300D. It features an upgraded 24.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor, 9-point AF system, 3fps continuous shooting, and 3.0-inch LCD. There's also built-in Wi-Fi and NFC for file sharing. Canon EOS 2000D The EOS 2000D will be available in April with EF-S 18-55...

Xiaomi Mi 2s specs leak yet again

The eagerly-anticipated Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s has been such a constant presence in the rumor mill lately, that we don't really think there is any more substantial info on it left to leak. Still, many aspects of the handset have been widely debated, especially its almost entirely bezel-free design. So, we'll still take any info we can get. At least before Xiaomi finally takes the wrapping off the device tomorrow. The new leak in question comes in the form of a screenshot, or rather a photo of the phone's screen itself, showing the MIUI About screen. Going through the various values...

Here are the Nokia 8 Sirocco camera samples

We had a chance to play around with the Nokia 8 Sirocco and snap a few images with its new 12MP dual camera. The samples look really promising, just like the ones from the Nokia 7 Plus. The camera on the Nokia 8 Sirocco is the same as the one on the Nokia 7 Plus - a 12MP snapper with large 1.4um pixels, an f/1.75 aperture but no OIS. Nokia 8 Sirocco camera samples The telephoto camera has regular-sized 1um pixels and an f/2.6 aperture that lets in less light. When light levels aren't enough, there's a two-tone LED flash. Nokia 8 Sirocco camera...

Understanding the new camera features on the Galaxy S9

Yesterday, Samsung kicked off the MWC 2018 with the launch of its Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones. On the surface, the two phones seem very much similar to their predecessors launched last year, yet Samsung claims they are all new. In particular, Samsung has a lot to say about its "reimagined" camera, which has two headlining features that separate it from its predecessor. So what are these two features and how do they work? The one Samsung talked most about is variable aperture. To understand variable aperture, one must first understand aperture. Aperture of a camera is the...

More Huawei P20 photos appear in the wild

Huawei is one of the big smartphone players that skipped on the MWC 2018 announcement game. The Chinese manufacturer decided to push the launch of its new flagship the P20 for March 27, giving more time for leaks and rumors to power the rumor mill. Latest photos from Chinese sources suggest a horizontal dual cam setup next to an LED light next to what appears to be a third camera, all of them branded by Leica. Alleged Huawei P20 The phone is not powered (most likely a dummy) and we can't see the screen, but it will most likely be FullView with 18:9 ratio like the one in the...

Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact pricing in Germany revealed

Sony is fairly reluctant to name the prices of the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact, which is surprising as the prices are actually pretty good. We scoured both Sony and carrier sites and we found only the German price. The big XZ2 will cost €800 while the XZ2 Compact will be €600. That's €100 more for the big one, but the price of the hasn't changed. Still, keep in mind that these are the first phones with Snapdragon 845 to be unveiled. Sony Xperia XZ2 • Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact Both phones will be available in Q2. Maybe by the time pre-orders start, there will be a promo bundle...

Nokia 8 Sirocco benchmarks - the Snapdragon 835 still rocks

The Nokia 8 Sirocco is Nokia's most powerful phone until the Nokia 9 comes out. It packs the best hardware 2017 could offer - a Snapdragon 835 with 6GB of RAM - but is that enough for 2018? Of course it is. The Nokia 8 Sirocco may lose some synthetic tests against the few phones with a Snapdragon 845 - Sony Xperia XZ2 and Samsung Galaxy S9 - but is otherwise ridiculously fast for just about anything you would do with your phone. The Snapdragon 835 is made up of eight Kryo cores - four clocked at 2.5GHz and another four working at a maximum of 1.8GHz. Graphics are handled by an Adreno...

Samsung Bixby speaker to arrive in H2 2018

Samsung made the Galaxy S9 official and is already looking towards the next devices in the technology roadmap. Yesterday the Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin, widely known as DJ Koh, said that the Galaxy X foldable phone is not a gimmick. Today he confirmed in an interview to WSJ that a voice-activated speaker with Bixby is indeed coming, likely in the second half of this year. NOT the Bixby speaker (this is a Samsung Radiant 360 Bluetooth speaker) DJ Koh said pricing is not yet finalized, but the home appliance might come in different tiers. Right now Amazon and Google offer...

Check out the Nokia 7 Plus camera samples

Yesterday Nokia unveiled the Nokia 7 Plus. It's Nokia's its first 18:9 but more importantly, it features an all-new dual camera. It's made up of two 12MP cameras, one wide and another 2x telephoto, which is a much better setup than the 13MP color and 13MP black and white cameras of the Nokia 8. The main camera of the Nokia 7 Plus sounds a lot like the snappers on the Galaxy Note8 and Google Pixel 2 (and 2 XL) - 12MP resolution with large 1.4um pixels - but it lacks OIS. However it makes up for it slightly with an f/1.75 aperture, which is a tad wider than the f/1.8 aperture of the Pixel 2...

Energizer Power Max P16K Pro hands-on

In case you are not familiar with Energizer's mobile portfolio and the company name isn't descriptive enough, the brand specializes mainly in rugged and high battery-capacity devices. The newly announced Power Max P16K Pro, however, takes the battle with battery endurance to a whole new level, with a massive 16,000 mAh pack. That looks pretty nice on paper and the PR team at Energizer clearly had a blast, coming up with the punny and technically correct "The most powerful phone at MWC" slogan. Still, we stopped by at the company's booth to try and see just how usable the Power Max P16K...

MediaTek unveils Helio P60 chipset with Cortex-A73 and an AI core

MediaTek unveiled the Helio P60 - a mid-range chip that will challenge the Helio X30. And it goes without saying that it has hardware to accelerate AI tasks, the NeuroPilot core. The P60 is built on TSMC's 12nm FF process (rather than 10nm FF+ like the X30). It has four Coretex-A73 cores lcocked at 2.0GHz and four A53 cores also at 2.0Ghz. That's a massive jump in performance compared to the previous P-series chips - MediaTek promises a whopping 70% boost compared to the P30! The GPU is 70% faster than its predecessor - it's a Mali-G72 MP3. That's not going to live up to flagship...

Samsung's new ISOCELL sensor has on-board DRAM, shoots 960fps video

With the Galaxy S9 phones, the focus was on improving the camera. To that end, Samsung unveiled the ISOCELL Fast 2L3 image sensor with on-board DRAM and 960fps video recording. The new ISOCELL Fast 2L3 sensor has a 3-layer design. Usually, the first layer holds the pixels that capture light, the second layer converts that into a digital information to be sent to the chipset for processing and finally to the phone's RAM. Samsung has added a third layer, 512MB DRAM, that can quickly read and store the data from the sensor - much faster than the chipset can. This enables 1080p video...

Sony introduces ISO 51200 dual cam module and ISP at MWC 2018

Sony might have booked the early Monday attention to itself with the new Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact, but another tech grabbed our attention. The Japanese company demoed a dual-cam prototype that can capture images in extremely low-light environments with up to ISO 51200 and take videos with ISO 12800. Closer look of the dual cam module and the Fusion ISP In an ultra-dark situation, the new ISP, called Sony Fusion, fires off simultaneously two cameras to maximize the light intake and to process the signal into an image. Sadly, we have seen this technology only on a demo...

Apple launches "Shot on iPhone X" ad campaign in Australia

Last month Apple released its first "Shot on iPhone X" adverts when it introduced selfies made with Portrait Lighting. Now the series were continued in Australia where the local Apple division showcased the iPhone X video recording capabilities during the first dance at a handful of different weddings. The total of four videos include three 15-second clips and one full-minute video for TV purposes that celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia last December. The marriage between the couples Meg and Ann-Marie, Nick and Rob, and Antony and Ron are set to the song...

Best Buy US will knock $100 of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ prices if you pre-order

You saw the US prices for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ yesterday, bu they are not set in stone. Best Buy will knock $100 of the price if you pre-order on Friday. The deal is for one day only, March 2, and here's the catch - only carrier deals apply (excluding Spring Flex). This means you can't knock $100 off the SIM free prices. Also, you don't get the discount up front, instead money is deducted from your monthly payments that will total $100 off in the end. If the price is still too much, you can get up to $350 credit if you trade in an old device, you can find the list of...

Sony's official Xperia XZ2 videos explain the new design and features

Sony has a new design language - the Xperia XZ2 has a new design language and cool new features. Our hands-on will give you in-depth information, but first you may want to check out Sony's official videos for a crash course - they are each about a minute long. The first video explains the new design language, the next one says it's "made to touch your senses". And don't miss the next one - it's the only small Snapdragon 845 phone out there, the Xperia XZ2 Compact. Next up are the advanced audio-visual features. The XZ2 family is the first in the smartphone world to record HDR video (at...

Sony Xperia XZ1 drops to $495 in US

Sony is all set to officially unveil the Xperia XZ2 today, but if you are in the market for the Xperia XZ1, you'll be glad to know the device is currently available for $495, down over $200 from its price at launch, which happened in September. Amazon is offering the handset (black and blue variants) at this rate. Other color options line pink and silver are currently in the range of $530-$540. No information on when the discount ends, so those interested in availing it may have to act fast. Source

You can now pre-book a Galaxy S9 or S9+ in India

While Samsung has already started taking pre-orders for the newly introduced Galaxy S9 and S9+ in the UK and Canada, the same unfortunately can't be said for India. In the subcontinent, the Korean company has instead chosen to start a pre-booking phase for its latest flagship smartphones. This is open at its online shop for India, and will guarantee that you are among the first people to receive the S9 or S9+. All you have to do is shell out INR 2,000 as an advance payment for the model you want, and enter your contact details and the color you fancy (the options being Lilac Purple,...

Vivo APEX Fullview hands-on: 98% screen-to-body ratio and a periscope camera

Straight off the bat, we'll start by saying the APEX is still a concept device. That means no part of it is really certain. Sadly, not even its awesome name. We have no info on internals, performance or software. So don't expect any of that in the hands-on. What we did get at the Barcelona venue, is an amazing tech demo. In fact, a few of them, all neatly wrapped up in the APEX shell. First up is the almost surreal 5.99-inch, 18:9, FullHD+ display. But none of those attributes are nearly as important as the flexible OLED platform vivo is demoing. The company managed to mount...

Here's the first TV ad for the Samsung Galaxy S9

To top off this incredibly S9-filled day, Samsung has outed the first official TV commercial for its newly announced flagship smartphone duo. Expect to see this featured multiple times a day on a TV station near you (especially if you're in North America). The ad does a good job of quickly going through the S9's main strengths, the new camera chief among them. The variable aperture, the slow-mo video capture, the custom emoji, all get a mention, as do the water resistance, Infinity Display, and surround sound speakers. If you're interested in the S9 and S9+, don't miss the...

ZTE Blade V9 and Blade V9 VITA hands-on

It's a dog-eat-dog world on the 2018 mid-ranger scene and like most of it's competitors, ZTE is really trying hard to compete and stay relevant. To that end, the Blade V9 is a good value offer, even if not particularly distinctive. Build-wise, the 5.7-inch device feels surprisingly light in the hand. Still, ZTE boasts a metal frame as the core of the chassis, with glass wrapping around it on both sides. There was no mention of Gorilla Glass or any other increased protection finish during the presentation, so we can't really judge on durability quite yet. Still, ZTE is particularly...

Galaxy S9 and S9+ pre-orders start in Canada as well

Although they only go up for pre-order in the US on March 2, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ have already entered that phase up north in Canada. Interestingly, the S9 and S9+ are cheaper at launch in Canada than their predecessors were last year, when the S8 went for CAD 1,035 and the S8+ commanded a price of CAD 1,115. So at least in some parts of the world the rumored price hike for the new handsets hasn't panned out. The Canadian versions use the Snapdragon 845 chipset like those intended for the US, and not Samsung's own Exynos 9810 which can be found in devices sold elsewhere....

The official Samsung Galaxy S9+ camera and video samples are here

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ have taken over our news section right now. The specs are out there, the pricing, our hands-on is live, the first benchmark scores have arrived. So, what's next? The camera samples, of course. Without further ado, here come all the official still and video sample we could scrape of the devices, which were on display at the event. Samsung Galaxy S9+ official camera samples at F/1.5 Samsung Galaxy S9+ official camera samples at F/2.4 Samsung Galaxy S9+...