Huawei nova 4 with punch-hole screen camera arrives for sale

Huawei announced the nova 4 with punch-hole screen camera and Kirin 970 chipset back at December 17 and now the phone arrived for sale. It has only one memory option - 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, but has two versions, depending on the main camera - High Edition and Standard Edition. Huawei nova 4 The better option comes with 48 MP f/1.8 main shooter, while the cheaper has a 20 MP snapper. Everything else about the phone is the same - 6.4" LCD panel with a 4.5 mm circular cutout for the 25 MP selfie shooter, EMUI 9.0, 3,750 mAh battery and 18W quick charging. Available at...

More Nokia 9 case renders solidify penta-camera design

We are getting closer to the Nokia 9 becoming more than vaporware. Although still without official acknowledgement from the phone maker, a supposed Nokia 9 is said to feature a penta-camera setup that might carry Nokia's "PureView" branding to the next level. Today, a new case render leak shows us a couple more angles of the alleged Nokia 9. The renders are in line with previous case images that we've seen. All renders have seven holes: enough for five cameras, one flash, and one for optic sensors. There's also a mic-hole just above penta-cam setup in these new renders and previous...

Google will transition Android Messages web app from Android.com to Google.com

This piece of news, perhaps trivial, indicates something deeper going on with Google and its Android brand. A new commit spotted in Chromium's Gerrit source code management reveals that Google intends to transition its web portal for sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages. If you use the Android Messages app (which was eventually renamed to just "Messages"), you can access a web interface to chat with people from your phone using your desktop. To do this, all you have to do is head to Messages.Android.com. However, the new commit suggests that Google will be transitioning users to a...

Top 10 most popular reviews of 2018: Q3

Moving on from Q1 and Q2, it's time to look at the phones that shaped the months of July, August and September. This is the time of the Pocophone F1 - the most read review not just in Q3 but in the entire year. Xiaomi made a seismic stir in the mobile landscape with this one - a Snapdragon 845-equipped phone with infrared face scanning, stereo speakers and a price that puts the OnePlus 6T to shame. We expected the Pocophone F1 to be riddled with compromises to achieve its cutthroat price but it wasn't and we can only fidget with anticipation for its successor in 2019. Xiaomi's...

Report: iPhone XR made up 32% of iPhone sales in its first month

Today, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (or CIRP) released a new report that estimates how well iPhones sold relative to others. Since Apple no longer releases the number of units sold, it's more difficult to know exactly how well the iPhone is selling especially since multiple reports have showed signs of iPhone sales dwindling. This year, iPhone XR sales made up 32% of iPhones sold in the first month of availability while the iPhone XS and XS Max collectively made up 35% of Apple's market share. Source: CIRP Apple took a different approach to the release of its...

LG Electronics joins Korean FTC in lawsuit against Qualcomm

LG is the latest smartphone maker to join the KFTC (Korean Fair Trade Commission) and other companies in the lawsuit against Qualcomm. While Samsung's withdrawal didn't do the lawsuit any favors, LG's new stance strengthens the KFTC's case again, particularly with LG being a Korean company. According to Business Korea industry sources claim that LG chose to participate in the legal efforts against Qualcomm due to shaky negotiations in between LG and Qualcomm in the US. Qualcomm's ongoing legal fight with Apple recently resulted in Apple's iPhones being banned in China and...

Galaxy S10+'s chin to be comparable to that of the iPhone X, smaller than Mate 20 Pro's

Another day, another leak about one of the members of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S10 family. This time around a purported screen protector for the Galaxy S10+ has been outed. Not only that, but it's been used for an impromptu chin comparison, between the S10+ and the iPhone X as well as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. As you can see from the images below, the S10+ is shaping up to have a chin that's pretty much the same size as the iPhone X's. That's not a small achievement since the way Apple does that is by curving the OLED panel inwards so that the connectors don't have to take up space in the...

OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T are now receiving Android 9 Pie

OnePlus has over the past few weeks released two beta builds of the Android 9 Pie update for the OnePlus 5 and 5T, and now the stable version is rolling out. The finalized version of the update is headed to the company's two handsets from last year. It arrives as OxygenOS 9.0.0, based on Android Pie. It contains the December 2018 security patches too. When you get the new software, you'll see the brand new Pie UI, new navigation gestures for the 5T, and you get a new Do Not Disturb mode too, with adjustable settings. Google Lens is integrated in the Camera app, and Gaming mode 3.0...

Huawei Honor 10 Lite review

The Honor 10 Lite is an expected addition to the brand's mid-range lineup and it hopes to ride on the success of the original Honor 10. So how did Honor go about making a Lite version of a phone, which is already somewhat of a Lite version of the flagship Huawei P20? The feature set has been trimmed across the board but the Honor 10 Lite is still an embodiment of the great value phones we've come to know the brand for.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ is finally getting Android Pie update

Just a week after the new beta build of Android Pie for the Galaxy S9 phones, Samsung started seeding the final build. The company is pushing the package to devices mostly in Europe, but according to sources, the UAE and Turkey are also already receiving the latest OS and UI. The European countries where Samsung is officially pushing the update are Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands. Some Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ devices started receiving notifications as early as Christmas Eve, but now it should start coming to all owners. The key changes are the One UI upgrade over the...

Xiaomi launches Mi Fan Sale on Amazon India

Xiaomi is known for selling its devices at affordable prices, but some phones got even cheaper. The company introduced the No. 1 Mi Fan Sale on Amazon India, discounting the Redmi 6A, Mi A2, Redmi Y2, Redmi 6 Pro, and Redmi Note 5 Pro devices with up to INR3,000 off their price. Phone Price (in INR) Discounted price (in INR) Xiaomi Mi A2 6/128 GB 18,999 16,999 Xiaomi Mi A2 4/64 GB 15,999 14,999 Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro 6/64 GB 17,999 14,999 Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro 4/64 GB 15,999 ...

Samsung Galaxy S10 to come with a swipe gesture from the selfie camera

Samsung Galaxy A8s was introduced with an Infinity-O display earlier this month. The front-facing camera is embedded in the screen and since the phone is China-exclusive, we expect the solution to become global with the Galaxy S10 arrival. According to sources, you can start the selfie camera when the phone is locked simply by swiping from the actual shooter towards the center of the device, and this feature will make its way to the Galaxy S10 as well. Check out the glowing ring around the camera The information comes in line with earlier rumors from Twitter leakster...

Huawei to surpass Apple and take second place at the global market

Huawei Technologies sold over 200 million smartphones in 2018, reaching an astounding increase of 30%, compared with its 153 million sales in 2017. According to Nikkei Asian Review, the P20 series helped a lot and the results should boost the Chinese company to second place on the global market, surpassing Apple. Even if the company managed to increase sales in China, Europe, and Africa, it is facing suspicion in key markets, such as Canada, Australia, and the United States. Plenty of countries and telecoms are shying from using Huawei communications equipment and this trend is bound...

Honor V20 (View 20) officially announced in China with a 48 MP main shooter

After the tease in the early days of December, the Honor View 20 is now official. It was just released in China under the name Honor V20, with a global launch scheduled in Paris, France, for January 22. The phone comes with an on-screen punch-hole selfie camera, while the back panel is equipped with a 48 MP Sony IMX586 main shooter and a 3D ToF sensor. It will be the company's first flagship in 2019. Honor View 20 hands-on photos The screen is a 6.4" LCD with a 1080p resolution and an unusually tall ratio of 19.25:9. The chipset is Kirin 980 chipset, which is coupled...

Top news of 2018: Q3

With the FIFA World Cup raising competitive spirits, we decided to run our own championship - the Smartphone World Cup. The final pit the Galaxy S9+ versus the OnePlus 6 and it became our most-read news article for Q3 (and here's the result of the match). The launch of the Xiaomi Redmi Y2 caused a disproportionate amount of excitement for a $140 phone, but that was good news for both Xiaomi and Amazon (which had exclusivity in India). On the other end of the spectrum, the iPhone rumor roundup and eventual launch were also a defining moment of the July-September quarter. The iPhone XR...

Xiaomi launches 128GB variant of Poco F1 Armoured Edition in India

Xiaomi has launched a new variant of the Poco F1 (globally known as Pocophone F1) in India. More specifically, this is a variant of the Armoured Edition. While previously this particular color variant could only be purchased in the top of the line configuration of 256GB storage and 8GB RAM, the new variant has 128GB storage and 6GB RAM instead. This will make the Armoured Edition more accessible, as it now starts at INR 23,999 ($342) for the 128GB model compared to the INR 28,999 ($413) for the 256GB model. As before, there is also the 64GB model, which also comes with 6GB...

Xiaomi launches Mi Play in China with 10GB free monthly data for a year

Xiaomi has launched a new budget smartphone in China, called the Mi Play. The phone is priced at ¥1099 ($159). The phone is available in three colors, blue, red and black. The Mi Play has a modern design, with thin bezels and a notch on the front and a glossy back with two tone gradient finish that looks remarkably similar to Huawei nova 3. The display is 5.84-inch with a 19:9 aspect ratio and 2280x1080 resolution. The rest of the hardware is a bit underwhelming but understandable considering the price. The phone runs on the new 12nm MediaTek Helio P35 chipset, with octa-core...

Testing a smartphone: A tour around the Honor device laboratory

Smartphones are such advanced pieces of technology and their process of manufacturing, developing and testing is quite fascinating. All major companies have their own testing centers where they make sure the phone in our hands will be able to take a beating. We got the opportunity to tour the Device Laboratory of the joint Huawei/Honor R&D center in Beijing to see what how its phones are tested. The Twist Tester First the phones get to the Twist Tester, where pressure in all directions is applied. The aim is not to break the phone, but to see if it bends to the allowed limit...

Top 10 most popular reviews of 2018: Q2

Now that we're done with January, February and March it's time to take a look at the most popular reviews of the spring of 2018. The months of April, May and June aren't as filled with heavy hitters as the months of the CES and MWC, but we still got to test the Huawei P20 Pro, the OnePlus 6, the Xiaomi Mi 8 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S. These are the early-year flagships of their respective companies and were tasked with carrying the maker's flagship banner for most of the year. We got our first experience with a triple flagship camera (regular, tele and monochrome) but as we now...

Top news of 2018: Q2

As the year 2018 draws to a close we are taking the chance to look back at what the past twelve months brought. We already went through Q1 and now it's time for Q2. "AI" infiltrated every corner of mobile realm, from digital assistants to algorithms that improve image quality. Other big trends highlighted on this list - our most-read news articles for Q2 this year - include software security and updates, as well as gaming phones. A detailed write-up on Google Duplex proved to be the most interesting article of the April-June period. Duplex has the Google Assistant talk to other...

Merry Christmas!

It's the most wonderful time of the year when we spend the time to reflect on all the good and bad things that happened in the past 12 months. We would like to thank you for being with us and we promise to keep entertaining and informing you in 2019. We promise to be even better next year and to keep working tirelessly to keep you up to speed with everything mobile. May good moments and cloudless sunrises lead you into better tomorrow. We are looking forward to spending a memorable 2019 with you! Merry Christmas! The GSMArena team

Xiaomi starts selling new Mi Car Charger Basic in India

Xiaomi has started selling a cheaper version of its Mi Car Charger, aptly called the Mi Car Charger Basic. This new model is priced at INR 449 ($6) and is available on Mi.com. The new Mi Car Charger Basic has two USB output ports. One of them supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, with 5V/3A, 9V/2A, and 12V/1.5A outputs with the second port supporting only 5V/1A output. The entire unit is made out of plastic. In comparison, the standard Mi Car Charger supports Quick Charge from both its USB ports, although each can do 5V/2.4A and you can have max 3.6A coming out of both ports...

Oppo R17 now available in India, exclusively on Amazon

Oppo has started selling the R17 in India. The phone is priced at INR 34,990 ($500) and will be available exclusively online on Amazon. The R17 is a mid-range smartphone from Oppo. It has a 6.4-inch, 2340x1080 resolution OLED display with a built-in fingerprint sensor. It has a teardrop notch design with a thin chin. This is basically the same display as that on the OnePlus 6T. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 with an octa-core CPU (2x 2.0GHz Kryo 360 Gold + 6x 1.7GHz Kryo 360 Silver) and Adreno 615 GPU. It also has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The R17...

Top 10 most popular reviews of 2018: Q1

Alongside the top news stories we'll also look back at the most popular reviews of the past year. Taking three months at a time we'll see the tests of which phones gathered the most interest on our homepage. The first three months of the 2018 saw the launch of some of the most important flagships of the year. And indeed reviews of flagships were popular, but (if anything) mid-rangers drew in a larger number of readers. Here are our most read reviews published between January and March of this year. Our Redmi Note 5 Pro hands-on review attracted the most eyeballs - people were...

Mint Browser by Xiaomi now available on the Google Play Store

Xiaomi has released its Mint Browser on the Google Play Store. A lightweight version of the browser that comes built-in to MIUI, Mint Browser is available to install on all Android devices running Android 4.4 and above. Mint Browser is a lightweight browser, designed to consume fewer resources. Whether that's browser download size, install size, memory usage or data usage, it's a bit more frugal compared to some of the other browsers out there. Mint Browser screenshots Due to its lightweight nature, it isn't particularly feature-rich but it does do all the basic...