Sony Xperia X Compact review: Short and stout

The Compact series by Sony used to occupy a niche of its own as it combined top-of-the-line specs with a pocketable footprint. The latter is still very much true for the just released Xperia X Compact but it no longer has the flagship specs that we're used to. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_x_compact-review-1495.p...

Google Pixel leaks: new chipset revision, Android 7.1, US version

Leaks about the Nexus replacements are coming from multiple sources. The phones - branded Google Pixel - passed through Geekbench, they were certified and also some cases for them cropped up, even the screen panels. The benchmark doesn't reveal much we didn't already know - the phones will be powered by Snapdragon 820 chipsets (though a new 2nd revision)...

Samsung sued over exploding Galaxy Note7; FAA officially bans phone's use during flight

In what appears to be the first lawsuit related to exploding Galaxy Note7s in the US, Samsung has been dragged to court by a Note7 user who said the phone caught fire in his pocket causing him severe bodily injuries. The incident happened on September 9. According to the user - Jonathan Strobel, who is from Florida - the explosion took place when...

The iPhone 7's home button appears to be rendered helpless by gloves

With the iPhone 7 duo now officially out and already shipping to users, the hype is at an all-time high. Most are busy either waiting for a unit, praising the Cupertino genius or alternatively, mocking the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack and the AirPods, or if not that, coming up with outlandish ways to torture units on camera for those all-important...

Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime arriving in India next week

Samsung has started sending out media invites for a September 19 event in India. The invite reveals that the South Korean company will launch a new Galaxy J series smartphone. While the invite doesn't reveal the name of the phone, the words "Prime Time" are enough to suggest that the star of the event will be the Galaxy J7 Prime that was recently...

These might be the front panels for Google's upcoming Pixel and Pixel XL handsets

Google and HTC have really been mystifying Nexus fans over the last few months. At this point in time, we are quite certain that the latter will produce and out two smartphones for Google this year, originally codenamed Sailfish and Marlin. Beyond that, however, we know little details about the pair. Even the Nexus branding seems uncertain, as more...

Google Play may soon let you queue downloads when using mobile data

Google is testing a new feature for its Play Store app that will allow users to queue downloads until a Wi-Fi connection is available, saving them any extra data usage charges. Currently, the app just tells users to use WiFi when they try downloading something large in size, with no option to postpone the download. With the new feature, however,...

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra Dual starts receiving Marshmallow update

Sony has started rolling out the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update to its Xperia C5 Ultra smartphone. Carrying a firmware number of 29.2.B.0.122, the update is currently hitting the device's Dual variant (with model number E5533) in Italy. As is usually the case with OTA roll outs, it may take some time for the update to hit your device. Meanwhile,...

Amazon offering 35% discount on Fossil Q Founder if you order through Alexa

If you are planning to purchase the Android Wear-powered Fossil Q Founder, you'll be glad to know that Amazon is selling the model with stainless steel bracelet for just $191.75, which translates into a discount of $103.25 or 35%. There's, however, a catch: the deal is only available when you order the watch through Amazon Alexa, meaning you need...

Acer Liquid Jade Primo now available in UK through Microsoft Store as well

While the Acer Liquid Jade Primo is already available in the UK through the company's official website, Microsoft UK has now also started selling the Windows 10 device through its online store. The phone carries a price tag of £449. For that amount, Microsoft is also bundling a display dock, keyboard, and a mouse with the handset. Acer, on the other...

iPhone 7 doesn't actually have a sapphire lens, scratch test reveals

YouTuber JerryRigEverything regularly performs scratch tests to many smartphones to try the durability of materials used on various components like the LED flash lens, camera lens, buttons, keys, and earpiece. He also performs burn tests to the display to somewhat simulate degradation of the pixels over time. And finally, a bend test is performed...

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) spotted on Zauba as well

Shortly after the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) surfaced on Zauba, the Galaxy A7 (2017) has also been spotted on India's import/export tracking website. The listing reveals that the device sports a 5.7-inch display and carries an INR 13,716 (around $205) price tag - as always, keep in mind that pricing information on Zauba is not always correct. It's...

Chip teardown of iPhone 7 reveals Intel modems and transceivers for some GSM models

Back in June, there were reports of Intel getting orders from Apple for modem chips that would be used for various wireless connectivity which would go into AT&T variants as well as some other versions of the new iPhone 7. Source: Chipworks Chipworks performed a teardown of the iPhone7 which did not stop at just taking the unit apart. The teardown...

Huawei MateBook joins Microsoft's ad that poked fun at the iPad Pro

Huawei doesn't want Microsoft to have all the fun. Last month, Microsoft ran an ad making jabs at the iPad Pro. Microsoft took the opportunity to show viewers that the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 offers a trackpad, more powerful processor, runs full desktop office, and has external ports. Meanwhile the iPad Pro "Just got a keyboard" Huawei is releasing...

LG X power lands at Boost Mobile today, arrives at Sprint on September 23

After having made its way to Cricket already, the LG X power is now also available at Boost Mobile, one of Sprint's prepaid brands. The X power's main claim to fame is its big 4,100 mAh battery, which Sprint claims will be good for 33 hours of talk time. This version of the X power also comes with a different chipset compared to the international...

LeEco Le Pro 3 live images leak ahead of September 21 unveiling

Next week, on September 21, LeEco will announce its latest flagship smartphone, the Pro 3. The Chinese company has been teasing the device quite a bit recently, including by bashing Apple on certain occasions. Suffice to say, it's feeling pretty confident in its next handset. While we've had quite a few leaks about the Pro 3's specs so far, we haven't...

See if the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus survive being dropped 12 times

If you live in Australia you had the possibility of being one of the first people in the world to go into an Apple store and leave with an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus today. And that's exactly what one enterprising individual did. He bought both, in fact. So now that he has in his possession Apple's two latest and greatest smartphones, what is he to...

Galaxy Note7 sales will resume on September 28

On September 2, Samsung officially announced its recall of all 2.5 million Galaxy Note7 units sold until that point. As you surely know by now, this has to do with the batteries in some of these phones being prone to overheating and catching fire. After that announcement, Samsung and its partners stopped selling the Galaxy Note7, understandably....

Apple iPhone 7 goes on sale, long lines form in front of stores

The Apple iPhone 7 is now available in stores, though getting one is no easy task as the traditional lines in front of Apple stores have formed once again. The iOS flagship is launching in 28 countries first. We collected pricing info for the US, the UK and Europe if you're interested. Fair warning, though, you might want to order it online, getting...

iFixit tears down the Apple Watch Series 2

iFixit has been particularly speedy in delivering its patented tear-down treatment to Apple's new devices this year. After taking a stab at the iPhone 7 Plus, now the new Apple Watch Series 2 is up. And may we add that the destruction here is far from pointless. Just like opening up the phablet revealed the 2900 mAh capacity of its battery, popping...

iPhone 7 Plus teardown shows 2900mAh battery

The iPhone 7 Plus is just hitting the stores and iFixit have wasted no time tearing it down. The iPhone 7 Plus teardown shows a number of interesting things. Firstly, the battery is 2,900mAh Li-Ion (3.82V, 11.10Whr), and not 2,675mAh, as previously reported. The iPhone 6s Plus has a 2,750mAh battery. Furthermore, only the right speaker grille at...

Desktop Bridge apps now available on the Windows Store

Earlier this year, Microsoft had announced the Desktop Bridge that would allow developers to migrate their desktop apps to the new Modern UI and make them available on the Windows Store. The company has announced that these apps are now being made available for download on all Windows 10 devices, including computers, smartphones, and Xbox One. The...

LG V20 is the first phone to support the expanded AWS-3 LTE

The LG V20 is the first phone to launch with Android 7.0 Nougat, but it marks another important first - it's the first to support AWS-3 LTE. If you haven't heard, AT&T, Verizon and Dish recently spent tens of billions buying up AWS-3 spectrum in large metropolitan areas in the US while in Canada, the Wind network is planning to roll out AWS-3....

Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro lands in India for $485

The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro - which was made official in China back in March this year and made its way to Malaysia in June - has now arrived in India. The device carries a price tag of INR 32,490 (around $485), and will be available for purchase from Samsung stores and e-commerce websites in the country starting September 26. To refresh, the Galaxy...

Spotify arriving in Japan this month

Bback in March this year, there were reports that Spotify's Japan launch is on the cards. Now, TechCrunch is reporting that the music streaming company will launch its services in the Asian country sometime this month. Local business publications say Spotify Premium would cost around 1,000 yen ($10) per month. The launch in Japan - which is the world's...

New rumor says Samsung Galaxy C9 will arrive in Oct-Nov time frame

There have already been rumors that Samsung is working on a 'C' series smartphone dubbed Galaxy C9. In fact, the device's existence has even been confirmed by Zauba, where it was spotted last month. Now, a new rumor has revealed the launch time-frame for the phone. The rumor says that the handset will arrive sometime in the October-November time...

Samsung Focus productivity hub is officially out

The Samsung Focus app, not to be confused with the 2010 Samsung Focus handset is now officially available. The software is listed for free on the Google Play Store and up for grabs for anyone with a Samsung, running Android 6.0.1. The App is all about productivity. Much like BlackBerry's signature Hub, it provides one centralized location for your...

Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) now surfaces on Zauba

Around a week after being spotted on a benchmarking website, the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) has now surfaced on Zauba, a website that tracks India's import and export. The listing reveals 3 units of the 4.7-inch device being imported from South Korea for testing purposes, as well as a price tag of INR 10,287 (around $155) per unit - keep in mind that...

Samsung US apologizes for exploding Galaxy Note7 fiasco

Shortly after the US CPSC announced an official recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone, Samsung US has apologized for the whole fiasco. The apology came in the form of a video featuring Tim Baxter (President & COO of Samsung Electronics America). He also revealed that a total of 130,000 units have been exchanged so far. In case you don't...

Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 units start arriving in Canada

Samsung Galaxy Note7 users in Canada who participated in the exchange program have started receiving their replacement units, presumably making Canada the first country where new Note7 devices have begun shipping. The company had earlier given a shipping date of September 19. While there have been reports that the new lot will have a blue S on the...

US CPSC said to be looking into reports of other Samsung smartphones catching fire

According to a new report, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) - which has just announced an official recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 - is also looking into reports of other Samsung smartphones catching fire. As per the report, there have been at-least six incidents worldwide where Samsung phones other than the Galaxy Note7 have caught...

Cricket may be offering the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

AT&T's prepaid-wireless brand Cricket offers many entry-level smartphones and 4G LTE plans starting at $30 per month with taxes included and even offers an unlimited 4G LTE plan for $65 with Autopay. There's word that the pre-paid carrier might also begin selling the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, direct from the MVNO. A source tells us that the carrier...

US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announces official recall of Samsung Galaxy Note7

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has finally announced an official recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphone, making it illegal to sell or resell the faulty units in the country. The agency is asking users to "immediately stop using and power down the recalled Galaxy Note7 devices purchased before September 15, 2016." The agency...

Motorola pulls a switcheroo on Apple loyalists in its latest campaign

In its latest campaign, Motorola hosts a focus group with a bunch of loyal iPhone customers. What the moderator did was ask them about the latest iPhone 7 announcement and what they thought of it. Some were clearly not impressed by the improvements made by Apple. Then the focus changes to what the moderator calls an "iPhone 7 prototype" (which was...

Verizon launches Moto G4 Play for just $84.99 on prepaid

It's September 15, so it's the official release date for the Moto G4 Play in the US. That this would happen was unveiled at the beginning of the month when the phone went up for pre-order. You can purchase an unlocked G4 Play straight from Motorola's online store for $149.99. On the other hand, you could go to Verizon's prepaid arm and nab the same...

SwiftKey for Android is the world's first keyboard powered by neural networks

With today's update (which should already be available through the Google Play Store), SwiftKey for Android has become the world's first smartphone keyboard powered by neural networks. Neural networks are very trendy these days, and they also power Prisma, the app that transforms your pictures into artworks. A neural network is inspired by the network...

Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7s to have green-colored battery indicator

While we already know that the new batch of Samsung Galaxy Note7 will have a blue S on their box, it is now being reported that replacement units will feature green-colored battery indicators as well. Currently, the Galaxy Note7 battery indicator - located at the top right of the screen - is white in color. Presumably, the change in color is aimed...

T-Mobile iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and SE users shouldn't install iOS 10 yet

If you own an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, or iPhone SE and use it on T-Mobile, don't update to iOS 10. Not yet, anyway. The word comes straight from the magenta carrier itself, and its outspoken CEO John Legere. The reason is that after you update your device it may in fact lose connection to T-Mobile's network. That's obviously not something anyone...

Microsoft is still obsessed with Macs in the latest Surface ads

There's comparing your product to the competition and then there's being obsessed with said competition. Microsoft seems to be in the latter camp, at least when it comes to its ads for the Surface line. These have generally featured Mac-bashing, and the latest two are no different. "Surface does more". OK, Microsoft, we get it. We'd also like to...

HTC Bolt tipped to be coming to Sprint next month

In case you missed, a recent trademark filing from HTC suggested that the Taiwanese company may launch a smartphone named HTC Bolt. Now, the usually reliable leakster Evan Blass has revealed some newsworthy information about the unannounced device. According to the tipster - who goes by the handle @evleaks on Twitter - the phone will be landing on...

Pandora Plus launches for $5 per month to replace Pandora One

Pandora has revamped its $5 per month subscription today. First off, there's a name change - it's no longer Pandora One, but now goes by Pandora Plus. Also, the subscription has a few new features. A predictive offline mode will switch to one of your top stations when your device loses data connectivity, and music will keep flowing. You also get...

LeEco teaser takes dig at new iPhones over lack of fast charging

LeEco (formerly LeTV) has outed another teaser for their September 21 event, once again taking a dig at the new iPhones - this time seemingly over the lack of fast charging technology. In case you missed, this is not the first time they've taken jabs at the iPhone 7 - one of their earlier teasers (shown below) had mocked the battery life of the new...

Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7s to have green-colored battery incator

While we already know that the new batch of Samsung Galaxy Note7 will have a blue S on their box, it is now being reported that replacement units will feature green-colored battery indicators as well. Currently, the Galaxy Note7 battery indicator - located at the top right of the screen - is white in color. Presumably, the change in color is aimed...

Lenovo Yoga Book up for pre-order in the UK

Lenovo was all over the place at this year's IFA and had plenty of new device announcements lined up. One of said unveilings was for the Yoga Book - an odd laptop/tablet mix, with a few interesting tricks up its sleeve. Users in the UK can now pre-order the device in both its Android and Windows 10 versions. The former, running Android 6.0 Marshmallow,...

Two new Asus Zenfone 3 variants clear TENAA

Two new variants of the Asus ZenFone 3 have been certified by the Chinese telecommunication authority TENAA, revealing some of their key specs. One of the differences between the variants is memory configuration - while one of them has 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, the other has 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory. Both are said to be powered by Snapdragon...

Samsung giving free Gear VRs to Galaxy S7 edge buyers in UK and IE

Retailers on the British Isles are offering free Gear VR with each Galaxy Note7, but as of yesterday, you get a bonus headset with every Samsung Galaxy S7 edge as well. A similar deal ran in most countries previously, but is now long over. Samsung brought back the deal, but only in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. To qualify for one, you need...

Leak confirms Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor for Xiaomi Mi 5S

Back in June this year, there were rumors that the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5S will feature Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Now, a new leak has seemingly confirmed it. The next-gen technology - dubbed Snapdragon Sense ID - was unveiled by Qualcomm back in March last year. It relies on ultrasonic 3D scanning and works through all kind of surfaces...

Canon announces EOS M5 mirrorless camera

Canon has announced the newest member of its non-so-popular EOS M series of mirrorless camera. The EOS M5 is the most serious model in the series so far, with a design that looks similar to the company's DSLR line. The M5 has a 24.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with an ISO 100 to 25600 range and Dual Pixel CMOS AF for fast autofocus. It can shoot...

New Samsung Galaxy Note7 battery pack to come from ATL

Samsung will rely on battery company ATL (Amperex Technology Limited) to supply the batteries for the Galaxy Note7, according to Reuters citing a person with knowledge of the company's plans. Insofar, Samsung counted on its own subsidiary SDI to get the job of supplying the phablet's battery pack. According to analysts, SDI is responsible for 70%...

New Dell XPS 13 laptop comes with 7th-gen Intel processors, rose gold finish

Dell has refreshed its Windows-powered XPS 13 laptop. The latest version comes with Intel's 7th generation Kaby Lake processors - you can choose from Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 CPUs. While RAM options include 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB, storage options include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. As far as display is concerned, the device comes in Quad HD +...