The smart assistant battlefield is quickly expanding to the future of cars

AI has been a major buzzword for well over a decade now, so picking it out as a distinct 2016 phenomenon wouldn't be justifiably be any measure. However, there is no denying that the field has really been flourishing as of late, hence the influx of increasingly better and smarter personal assistants and automation platforms. Cortana, Siri, Google...

New rumor says Oppo Find 9 WILL arrive in H1 this year

After whether or not the Oppo Find 9 will ever arrive, it seems the next big question is: whether we'll see it launching in H1 2017, or not? Back in November last year, there was first a rumor that said the device will be made official in March 2017. This was followed by a couple of sources (a Chinese analyst and an employee of Qualcomm's Chinese...

Blue Coral Samsung Galaxy S7 edge to officially launch in Europe soon

The Blue Coral color variant of Samsung's Galaxy S7 edge smartphone - which was made official by the South Korean company back in November last year - will soon be officially available in Europe. The device is listed on the tech giant's Netherlands website. You can't, however, officially order it at the moment as the listing currently says "Available...

CES 2017: BlackBerry Mercury hands-on

BlackBerry is nothing short of a legend in the mobile realm. The brand easily matches the popularity of other titans, such as Motorola or Nokia and is still synonymous with quality and enhanced security. The latter has been the staple of the Canadian company's existence, mostly as a trusted enterprise communication solutions provider over the last...

Vodafone India announces SuperHour unlimited data packs

Mobile data has become such an integral part of the smartphone experience that most users and developers and service providers, for that matter, can't really imagine modern digital interactions and activities without it. Hence, it is rather disappointing to learn that getting a proper data plan from most carriers, even on the biggest markets is still...

Samsung Galaxy S5 on Sprint gets December security update

Sprint has started rolling out a new update to Samsung Galaxy S5 units on its network. Arriving as build version G900PVPU3CPL2 and weighing in at around 237MB, the update includes Android security fixes for the month of December. The carrier is yet to update the Galaxy S5 software update page on its website, so it's currently difficult to say what...

ZTE Z986DL and Z986U clear Bluetooth SIG

Two new ZTE smartphones have been certified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The listing reveals that the devices carry a model number of Z986DL and Z986U, respectively. Sadly, the listing doesn't reveal anything else about these handsets. But given that they have started collecting the necessary certifications, we expect to hear more...

Google is pulling the plug on the Hangouts API and third-party app support

For all the amazing work and achievements Google can credit itself in the tech realm as a whole, there is one area which has seemingly and rather inexplicably always eluded the online giant. Social efforts in all shapes and forms, including messengers and the infamous Google+ have always been a weakpoint in the chain and the current situation isn't...

Nokia E1 leaked specs and release details

HMD Global device passed certifications last week and now we know more about the device. It is indeed the entry-level Nokia Android Phone, going under the name Nokia E1. On Friday, a new leak revealed more about the specifications of the device. HMD will equip Nokia E1 with 1.4 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 425 CPU with Adreno 308. The RAM will be 2GB...

Motorola Moto Z starts receiving Nougat update in China

The Motorola Moto Z has started receiving a new update in China. Arriving as build version NCC25.106-11, the update brings along Android 7.0 Nougat. This comes well over a month after the company officially announced the global roll out of the update. For those who aren't aware, the update makes the device compatible with Google's Android-powered...

Whopping 63 billion WhatsApp messages were sent on New Year's eve

New Year's eve saw people sending a total of whopping 63 billion WhatsApp messages, according to Facebook, which owns the mobile messaging service. Of the total, nearly 14 billion messages were sent in India alone. While images constituted around 8 billion messages, nearly 2.5 billion WhatsApp messages were videos, a WhatsApp spokesperson revealed....

Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro to soon be available outside of China

The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro was made official back in October last year, and currently, it's only available for purchase in China. Now, according to new reports, the device will soon be available in markets outside of China as well. Specifically, it's being said that several Asian countries - including India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri...

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 gets WiFi certified

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 has received Wi-Fi certification from the WiFi Alliance (WFA). The listing reveals that the LTE variant of the device, carrying a model number of SM-T825, has been certified. Last we heard about the tablet was in November last year when it was spotted on Zauba, a website that tracks India's import and export. There were...

Yi 4K+ action camera gets official with 60fps video recording

Following up on its widely praised original action camera and then the 4K-capable model introduced last year, Yi has taken the wraps off its third such device, simply called the Yi 4K+ action camera. The CES unveiling wasn't an unexpected move from the Xiaomi-backed company, since it's teased the move beforehand. As is obvious from its name, the...

Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro live images leak

Samsung has been rumored to launch the oft-leaked Galaxy C7 Pro and Galaxy C5 Pro this month, with their possible release date being January 21. That is starting to make more and more sense considering how many times we've seen either of them being leaked in the past few weeks. Only today we saw the C5 Pro in a benchmark, and then in a purported...

The Pixels' Google Assistant is getting keyboard input soon

The Google Assistant situation is a huge mess at the moment. There are three different Google Assistants, and each have a specific featureset, which means some things are missing from one of them but not others, and so on. The Google Assistant that's exclusively built into the OS of the Pixel and Pixel XL phones can only take commands via voice -...

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is shown in more colors: green, purple, and pink

There's a game Samsung usually likes to play, and it's called 'launch more color versions for a device once it's been out for a few months'. Now it looks like Xiaomi felt inspired by this strategy and decided it was time to apply it too. First we saw the white Mi Mix yesterday, and now the Chinese company is showing three new colors for its Mi Note...

Xiaomi Mi 6 runs AnTuTu, allegedly scores record-breaking 210,329 points

Xiaomi's Mi 6 is supposedly going to be the first smartphone made by a Chinese company to sport Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chipset, which was just detailed at CES. The next non-phablet Xiaomi flagship device will reportedly look like a smaller Mi Note 2, while its official announcement could take place on February 6. Sales probably won't start earlier...

Galaxy C5 Pro purportedly captured in live image, pricing leaks for the C7 Pro too

Mere hours ago the upcoming Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro was spotted on GFXBench, after having been leaked and rumored for many weeks now. This smartphone, along with the also yet-unannounced C7 Pro, should be joining the already official C9 Pro in the Korean company's portfolio at some point this month, with sales in China apparently set to start on January...

CES 2017: Asus Zenfone AR hands-on

We got our hands on the Zenfone AR and we are eager to share our first impressions. The most important thing you must know is the device is equipped with Tango, the Augmented Reality platform that adds an information layer on top of the physical surroundings in 3D using a set of cameras on the back. Tango is Google's technology and Asus are only...

CES 2017: Samsung Chromebook Pro hands-on

The Samsung Chromebook Pro is upon us after making its debut on the CES 2017 floor. The company has decided its high time for a new device in their Chromebook lineup after the OS finally can run Android apps. Those will run rather well on the Chromebook Pro's 2GHz Intel M3 processor and 4GB of RAM. Not only do they run well, but also look great on...

CES 2017: Samsung Odyssey 17 hands-on

While the PC market feels glacial compared to the smartphone market, there's one niche that keeps buying new and expensive devices. Many PC makers have dedicated gaming divisions and now Samsung wants a piece of that action. The result of that is the new Odyssey series that even has its own logo. You can see it on the lid (in its red backlight glory)...

The Blade V8 is another new dual-camera smartphone, courtesy of ZTE

The ZTE Blade V8 Pro definitely turned some heads at its CES 2017 announcement. We already managed to secure some hands-on time with the phone and frankly, kind of liked it. The "Pro" moniker already suggested there's another model coming, but now it is official - ZTE unveiled the basic Blade V8. Now, you would be forgiven for thinking the pair isn't...

Dell announces UP3218K UltraSharp 32-inch 8K monitor

Dell has announced its newest flagship monitor at CES this year, the UP3218K UltraSharp 32-inch with an astonishing 8K resolution. Along with the crazy high resolution, the monitor also supports outputting 1.07 billion colors and 100% coverage of Adobe RGB and sRGB color spaces. For those not aware, 8K is 7680x4320 pixels, which is approximately...

CES 2017: LG K10 (2017) and LG Stylus 3 hands-on

LG managed to move quickly towards the end of last year. The Korean giant wasted no time in officially announcing at least some of its plans for the 2017 lineup. This includes a brand new "K" family of devices - K3, K4, K8 and the top-of-the-line K10, as well as the Stylus 3. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/ces_2017_lg_k10_stylus_3_-review-154...

Nougat update for Motorola Moto Z starts rolling out in Europe

Over a month after Motorola officially announced the global roll out of the Moto Z and Moto Z Force Nougat update, the update has started hitting European Moto Z units. Arriving as version NPL25.86-15, the Android 7.0 update weighs in at around 1.5GB. The update also brings compatibility with Google's Android-powered VR platform Daydream. As is usually...

Sennheiser announces three new Bluetooth headphones at CES

Sennheiser has announced a trinity of Bluetooth wireless headphones. The first is the HD 4.50 BTNC Wireless. It has a full size, closed back circumaural foldable headphone design with wireless Bluetooth audio, active noise cancellation, NFC pairing, aptX support, external controls, and 19 hour battery life with noise cancellation enabled (25 hours...

LG announced Q4 financial guidelines

LG announced its quarterly results expectations for October-December 2016. The preliminary earnings results show sales revenue of 14,78 trillion Korean Won (about $11,8 billion). This is 11.8% more than Q3 when sales got to 13,224 trillion KRW / $10,5 billion. This holiday season was better compared to last year, although the YoY growth stands at...

HTC U Play is Ocean's little brother with a 5.2" screen

HTC is bypassing both CES and the MWC with its "For U" event scheduled for January 12. The event should bring a new series to live with at least two phones - the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play. The latter will have a 5.2" screen and apparently no 3.5mm headphone jack. The HTC U Play is codenamed "Alpine." The second phone will be bigger - HTC U Ultra...

Huawei Honor 6X landing in India January 24

The Huawei Honor 6X - which went official back in October last year, and is currently available in China, the US, and Europe - will be launched in India on January 24. The company has started sending media invites for the launch event. While the invite doesn't explicitly reveal the name of the phone, the fact that it'd be a dual camera phone and...

Kodak Ektra coming to US and Canada this April, will cost $549

Kodak has announced that its Android-powered Ektra smartphone will arrive in the US and Canada in Q2 this year. Specifically, the company said the device will be available to pre-order in both countries in April. The announcement was made by the company at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. As for price, it was revealed that...

76% of Apple's mobile devices are now running iOS 10

Apple has released its latest iOS adoption numbers, revealing that the version 10 of its mobile operating system now powers 76% of compatible devices. That's a rise of 13% compared to the last time these figures were released, which happened in November. In October, the adoption rate stood at 60%. Coming to other versions, iOS 9's share now stands...

Microsoft gives Xbox One S £30 price cut in UK, freebies included as well

The Xbox One S gaming console has received a price cut in the UK. A quick look at Microsoft's UK online store reveals that both 500GB and 1TB variants are being sold at discounted rates - the former for £219.99 and the latter for £269.99 (£30 price cut in both cases). Not only this, a couple of freebies are included as well: Forza Horizon 3 game...

Motorola Moto Z Force Droid starts getting December security update

A new update has started hitting Motorola Moto Z Force Droid Edition smartphones in the United States. It's a monthly security update that brings Android security fixes for the month of December. A quick look at the release notes posted by Motorola on its website reveals that nothing else is included in the update. Given that the roll out has just...

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2016) is now available outside of South Korea

The Samsung Galaxy A8 (2016) - which was launched back in October last year, and first went on sale in South Korea - is now available outside of the tech giant's home country as well. Specifically, Samsung Gulf and Samsung Taiwan have the device listed on their respective websites. As for price, the handset carries a tag of around $490 in the UAE,...

Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro now spotted on GFXBench

The Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro, which has already cleared TENAA and also received Wi-Fi certification from the WiFi Alliance (WFA), has now been spotted on the GFXBench benchmarking website. The listing reveals 5.5-inch display for the device. If you compare, that's not inline with what we've been hearing until now - TENAA had revealed a display size...

Just in: Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) hands-on

Rumors about Samsung Galaxy are going wild all the time and people tend to be a bit too critical. But there are some devices which deserve some love for their simplicity. We are talking about the new A-series that were silently launched in the beginning of January. Galaxy A3 (2017), Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) didn't receive quite the attention...

Just in: Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) hands-on

Is it strange that we think the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is adorable? It just looks so tiny after months of bigger than big slabs. This one is smaller than the iPhone 7, something few premium Androids can claim. This color option is also close to our heart - dark as the Black Sky at night, it makes everything flow together smoothly. On the front,...

Razer's new Project Ariana is an immersive video projection system for a new gaming experience

If you are a fan of new-age immersive gaming experiences, then you might remember the intriguing IllumiRoom concept Microsoft demoed all the way back in 2013. At the time, the advanced projection system was truly futuristic, but also really expensive and unfeasible to bring to end users at a reasonable cost. Fast forward to CES 2017 and Razer appears...

Nexus 6 finally gets its Android 7.1.1 Nougat update as factory images and OTA files go live

Although Google released Android 7.1.1 Nougat for its Pixels and Nexus devices last month, the Motorola Nexus 6 was left out from the initial rollout. This was later confirmed by the company as having to do with a "last minute bug". It was eventually fixed and Google promised that the Nexus 6's first taste of Android 7.1.1 would become available...

Xiaomi announces Mi Router HD at CES for China

Among the list of items Xiaomi announced at CES that will only be available in China is the new Mi Router HD. The Mi Router HD is a 2600Mbps 802.11ac Wi-Fi router with 4x4 MU-MIMO functionality, four high-gain PCB array antennae, and Qualcomm IPQ8064 network processor. But along with that it also includes a choice of either 1TB or 8GB of surveillance...

Xiaomi announces white Mi Mix at CES, still China-only

Just as leaked, rumored, and hinted at by the company's own teasers over the past few days, today during its CES press conference Xiaomi has made the white version of the Mi Mix official. This has a pearl-like finish, according to Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra, who was on stage to introduce it to the world. The specs stay the same as for the initially revealed...

Today it's time for Verizon to kill its Samsung Galaxy Note7 units

Following a bit of a controversy regarding its initial decision to seemingly not send out the final update for the Galaxy Note7, Verizon then changed its mind and announced it would just be skipping the holiday season. The carrier's release date for the infamous update was set as January 5, and guess what day today is? That's right. From this point...

Xiaomi will livestream its first ever CES event, watch it here

Xiaomi's conquest west continues and in just a few hours we'll witness the first ever CES event from the young company. Tantalizingly, the CES page on Mi.com promises a "2017 CES Mi Product Launch." The event starts at 7PM GMT and it will be broadcast live on YouTube. Here's the thing though, the new product may prove to be a coat of paint - a teaser...

The Alcatel A3 XL is a new budget handset with a whopping 6-inch display

TCL seems to be keeping its efforts on the budget scene alive and well in 2017, now with the launch of a new "A" family of smartphones. The exact wording used to describe it is "a new premium range of affordable mobile devices" and while, we remain skeptical on the first point, competitive pricing seems almost guaranteed given Alcatel's recent track...

CES 2017: ZTE Blade V8 Pro hands-on

ZTE continues to march forward in 2017 to becoming an authority on the US smartphone market. That's why the Chinese company is taking CES 2017 very seriously and its right here in Las Vegas where the company is proudly showcasing the Blade V8 Pro. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/ces_2017_zte_blade_v8_pro-review-1543.p...

The Misfit Vapor can dive up to 50m underwater but sidesteps Android Wear

Misfit is best known for its fitness trackers but after joining Fossil it seems that the company wants in on the smartwatch action. The Misfit Vapor uses a proprietary platform (it's not an Android Wear device), but it will give the new Casio a run for its money. Speaking of running, the Vapor has a built-in GPS receiver, an optical heart rate monitor,...

Sony unveils new headphones and portable speakers within its EXTRA BASS range

Sony is a veritable veteran on the audio scene. The Japanese giant was busy developing high-end acoustic gear long before mobile phones were even a thing. So, every new release is understandably met with a fair bit of excitement from most enthusiasts. Sony added a total of four headphones models and two wireless speakers to its EXTRA BASS line. It...

Coolpad Conjr is an affordable metal phone with a great camera and terrible chipset

Coolpad released an oddball phone - the Conjr. It's a $180 phone that offers some really top notch specs but a strange choice of chipset derails the whole thing. The Coolpad Conjr has a sleek metal body with 2.5D glass on the front (70.6% screen-to-body ratio). The screen, by the way, is a 5" IPS LCD of 720p resolution. Its camera department is particularly...

Samsung limits Galaxy Note 7 battery at 15% in Korea

Samsung will update once more its Galaxy Note7 in Korea, the company said. It has recalled 94% of devices worldwide but the Asian country stays as the market with least returns. Last month Samsung capped the Note7 batteries to 0% and basically bricked the handsets in Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines and such update is currently deployed...