Samsung Galaxy Note8 review

The Note8 is here and we can't help but feel the tension rising, especially in Europe where this is the first Note device to officially land in two years. Some time it's been, so a lot is riding on the Galaxy Note8. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note8-review-1659.p...

Asus Zenfone V is official: 5.2" FullHD display, 23MP camera, Snapdragon 820

Asus has launched the Zenfone V in the US, and that might be the Zenfone 5 in Apple-speak, but here it's [vee] for Verizon. The carrier-exclusive smartphone isn't a rebadged version of an existing one, but rather a new device with a model name V520KL. The Zenfone V is built around a 5.2-inch FullHD AMOLED display - Asus doesn't make all that many...

Samsung's latest Galaxy Note8 ad has nothing to do with productivity

Samsung's Galaxy Note8 has just gone live in 42 countries on Friday and Samsung has released its first full-length television ad for it. What better way to appeal to an audience by invoking emotion? In the newest Galaxy Note8 ad, love is the theme and two actors portray a brand-new couple who are figuring out their feelings for each other. The couple...

Apple won't be able to match iPhone X demand this year, analyst predicts

Pre-orders are open for the iPhone 8 and in some markets shipping delays are already to be expected. Well, if the plain iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are so sought after, it would come as no surprise if Apple ends up unable to meet demand for the iPhone X later this year, as Ming-Chi Kuo predicts. A common source of intel on all things Apple, the analyst from...

Essential PH-1 now officially supported on Verizon

Just after Essential hosted an AMA on Reddit where customers and fans asked their most riveting questions about the smartphone startup, Andy Rubin confirmed that the Essential PH-1 is now officially compatible with Verizon's network. Wouldn't you know it, Andy Rubin tweeted out the following on Friday evening. Update: Verizon certification complete....

Deal: get a refurbished Amazon Echo for $80 - new Echo speaker on the way?

Amazon's voice assistant, Alexa, has become increasingly popular, particularly when the entry level of the always-listening device dropped to $50 with the launch of the second generation Echo Dot last year. If you've been happy with the miniaturized version and are ready to add a full-sized one for it's room-filling speakers, now is a great time...

New Apple Watch to be throttled by T-Mobile to 512Kbps

There's a lot of excitement of Apple fans with the announcement of Apple's first LTE-connected Apple Watch. However, the next hot button issue surrounding the idea of carrying a second cellular-connected device is: what will the $10/month add-on get you? At T-Mobile, you won't get anything faster than 512Kbps speeds on the new Apple Watch, this is...

T-Mobile's Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are receiving the August security patches

While it's already mid-September and Google has published this month's Android security bulletin last week, T-Mobile is now rolling out the August security update for Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. So it's not as timely as it could be, but a welcome update nevertheless for last year's flagships. The download size is around 289MB, and you'll get...

Deal: Grab a 128GB Google Pixel for just $609.99, 128GB Pixel XL for only $649.99

Google is announcing the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL2 on October 4. Yet if you don't care about having the latest and greatest but are interested in purchasing smartphones supported directly by the maker of Android, Newegg has a great deal for you. You can snag the 128GB Google Pixel from 2016 for only $609.99, which is $140 less than the usual going price...

iPhone X's A11 crushes top Android competition in Geekbench

The iPhone X did another quick run of Geekbench to solidify itself as the fastest smartphone around. Apple's upcoming flagship scored even more than it did last time and trounces all the top smartphones around. Granted benchmarks aren't great at making cross-platform comparisons, but the difference is still impressive. The A11 Bionic chipset has...

Here's how much it costs to fast charge the new iPhones

Apple finally brought wireless charging and fast charging to the iPhone lineup but you can't have it right out of the box. The supplied 5W charger in the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X retail box is the same old charger Apple has been bundling for ages. In order to have fast charging you need to buy a separate charger and cable. And they won't be...

Xiaomi Mi Band HRX Edition launched

The impressive Mi Band 2 by Xiaomi just got an upgrade in India. The gadget was launched as Mi Band HRX Edition in partnership with HRX by Hrithik Roshan, one of the most famous actors in India. The device offers better tracking algorithm for more accurate monitoring of activities and improved battery life. According to Huawei, the Mi Band HRX Edition...

DeviceAtlas: Snapdragon 410 most common mobile chipset in Q2 2017

Web traffic analysts DeviceAtlas compiled an extensive report on the smartphone usage in Q2 2017. According to the company, Snapdragon 410 chipset is the most popular, just head of the A7 & A9 duo by Apple. The company also posted numbers about RAM, Dual SIM and "Year released" popularity across the globe. Qualcomm chips are the most popular...

As more people pre-order, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus shipping estimates lengthen

Apple kicked off the first wave of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus pre-orders today and the initial stock is already beginning to dwindle. At the beginning of the day buyers from most of the 29 countries that made the first wave of sales were seeing shipping times between 22 and 25 September but now shipping estimates are falling back to between 1 and 2 weeks....

Odd image found on Pixel 2 teaser page - it's cookies!

Very funny, Google. The official site for the October 4 unveiling of the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 has a secret buried in its source code - cookies! For once a web page references actual cookies rather than their digital counterpart. The photo below is linked from teaser page, though it is not visible on the page itself. Digging through the EXIF data...

Samsung Galaxy S8 spotted running Android 8.0 Oreo

A week ago we overheard that Samsung is working on an Android 8.0 Oreo update for the Galaxy S8 and today the first solid evidence appeared - a Geekbench scorecard. The result shows an Exynos 8895-powered Galaxy S8 running the new major version of Android. The score is solid though not any faster than what the phone achieves on 7.0 Nougat. Samsung...

Samsung Galaxy Note8 reaches 850,000 pre-orders in South Korea

The Galaxy Note8 has lived up to Samsung's expectations and reached 850,000 pre-orders in 8 days in its home country of South Korea. It massively outperformed the Note7, which managed 380,000 pre-orders in 13 days. The Galaxy Note8 will be released on September 21 in Korea (it's already available elsewhere), but those who pre-ordered are already...

Apple iPhone X production cost estimated at $412.75

Apple announced the iPhone X with an eye-watering price of $999 on September 12. Industry insiders in China did an investigation how much each component costs and came up with the total cost of the iPhone X. The sum is $412.75, or 60% cheaper than the retail price. The most expensive component is the 5.8" OLED panel manufactured by Samsung. It's...

vivo X20A on Geekbench: Snapdragon 660 SoC and 4GB RAM

The vivo X20A has been spotted in a benchmark database. The device has surfaced on Geekbench, with the listing revealing a few key specifications including Snapdragon 660 SoC and 4GB RAM. The listing also reveals the handset runs Android Nougat (version 7.1.1) out of the box. As you might already know, there's a standard vivo X20 as well. It is rumored...

Gionee M7 to be officially unveiled on September 25

Gionee has confirmed that the M7 smartphone will be made official on September 25. The company too it to Weibo to confirm the announcement date and that the event will be held in China. Meanwhile, a couple of images allegedly showing the M7's front panel leaked on Weibo. Take a look: Specs-wise, from what all has been revealed so far through rumors...

First Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 flash sale concludes in less than 60 seconds

As scheduled, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 went on sale today in China. And unsurprisingly, it sold out very quickly. The company later officially announced that the flash sale lasted only 58 seconds. Like it's usually the case with flash sales in general, there's no information on how many Mix 2 units were up for grabs. The Xiaomi Mi Note 3, which debuted...

Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note8 getting an update as well

Today, Samsung began the global roll out of its latest Galaxy Note8 flagship smartphone. The device got its first update even before this commercial launch. The update was hitting international units so far, but it has now arrived in the US as well. Specifically, Verizon has started pushing out a new update to Galaxy Note8 units on its network. The...

Weekly poll results: give us stock Android or we're gonna install Nova Launcher!

We hear it time and time again and last week's poll confirms it - people prefer stock Android. Overwhelmingly so, this option got a cool 42% of the vote while the second place - Samsung - was way behind with 15%. Android gained extensive customization features a while ago - it started with custom launchers, lockscreens and keyboards and ended with...

Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus now available for pre-order

Apple launched three new phones this week and two of them were just listed for pre-order. The iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus launch simultaneously in 29 countries and regions as part of the first wave. Apple is accepting pre-orders on Apple.com and through the Apple Store app. Some retailers like Best Buy, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile...

Apple has begun rolling out HDR 4K content on iTunes and upgrading old purchases

In anticipation of the launch of pre-orders for the iPhone 8, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple TV 4K (which occurs tonight at 3AM (EST) (or 12AM PST), Apple has already begun rolling out new content with support for 4K resolution and HDR video with higher dynamic range. In addition, Apple is upgrading iTunes customers' previous purchases of video...

US Cellular outlines iPhone X, iPhone 8, and Apple Watch Series 3 availability

U.S. Cellular customers will be able to begin pre-ordering the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus starting tomorrow, Septembegr 15 at U.S. Cellular stores an online at uscellular.com. The new Apple phones and the cellular-connected Apple Watch Series 3 will be officially released at the carrier on September 22. If you'd rather wait around for the iPhone...

Quad-camera Huawei G10 (Maimang 6) with 18:9 screen now leaks in press renders

Yesterday Huawei revealed that it's going to unveil the Maimang 6 in China on September 22, and the teaser image the company shared basically confirmed that this will indeed be the first Huawei phone with an 18:9 screen. Then mere hours later we saw a prototype Maimang 6 portrayed in a photo shoot out and about, confirming that aspect ratio and some...

YU courageously launches Yureka 2 running Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Today YU took the wraps off its latest creation for the Indian market, the Yureka 2. Despite what its name may allege, this is in fact the sixth Yureka-branded phone, following the original Yureka, the Yureka Plus, the Yureka Note, Yureka S, and Yureka Black. The Yureka 2 boasts a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen, the Snapdragon 625 chipset with 2...

Motorola reveals which of its smartphones are getting Android 8.0 Oreo

At the end of last month, Sony revealed which of its smartphones will be receiving updates to Android 8.0 Oreo, and today it was time for Motorola's US arm to do the same. The Lenovo-owned company hasn't committed to any release time frames for any of these, though, so it's anyone's guess when the phones listed below will actually taste Oreo. Here's...

Essential Phone gets Oreo within two months, high-end audio accessory with 3.5mm jack coming too

The Essential Phone has finally made its debut in Sprint stores today, and with that its launch is pretty much complete across all channels. The device has already received its first production software update, but that's still Nougat. Wondering when to expect Oreo to drop? "In the next month or two", according to Rebecca Zavin, Essential's VP of...

Google confirms October 4 event for unveiling of next-gen Pixel smartphones

If that billboard which surfaced earlier today still didn't convince you that Google is unveiling the Pixel 2 and Pixel XL2 on October 4, then the company's newly-started teaser campaign for the event really should. It's posted the video you can see below both on its YouTube channel and on its Twitter feed, and there's a landing page live too - where...

Nokia 2 leaked press renders show us black and white color versions, software buttons

HMD Global is getting ready to launch its next Nokia smartphone running Android, and this will in fact be its cheapest yet. We've already told you about the Nokia 2's whopping 4,000 mAh battery earlier today, but how about some leaked press renders showing the device in all its glory? Evan Blass a.k.a @evleaks delivers. The Nokia 2 is going to feature...

Always-On Display is now available on Android Oreo ROM

The Google Pixel 2 XL might come with Always-On Display, previous rumors suggested. But you don't have to wait for that one to get the feature - one user at XDA found a way to run it on any rooted Android Oreo phone. A mere modification of the AmbientDisplayConfiguration.java will make the Always-On Display option to appear in Settings once "false"...

ASUS launches ZenFone 4 Selfie series in India

ASUS has launched the ZenFone 4 Selfie series of smartphones in India. This consists of the ZenFone 4 Selfie, the ZenFone 4 Selfie dual camera and the ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro. ASUS ZenFone 4 Selfie The ZenFone 4 Selfie is the most affordable of the bunch. It has a single 13 megapixel f2.0 front facing camera with an LED flash and whole host of ASUS...

iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have smaller batteries than last year's iPhones

When Apple announces a phone, it talks more user experience and less numbers. That doesn't work for TENAA, however, the wireless authority that certifies gadgets for use in China. So, here are the battery capacities of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The milliamp hour numbers have gone down 8% for both sizes of iPhone. And the phones themselves have...

Rumored Snapdragon 635 to use Kryo cores on a 14nm process

The Snapdragon 660 is used in several high-end phones while the 630 isn't getting much love. Both are mid-range (so affordable) 14nm chips (so power-efficient), but only one of them uses the faster Kryo cores. A new chip may be coming to bridge the gap between these two. The Snapdragon 635 will also be built on a 14nm LPP process and will use an...

Google Pixel 2 XL pops up on FCC, LG will be making it

Earlier today we told you about a billboard, revealing the launch date of the new Pixel phones by Google. Two devices are expected to arrive - the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL and the latter just popped up on FCC. The Pixel 2 XL will be built by LG and come with a 6" FullVision screen like the one in the LG G6. The device is not actually listed with...

Apple iPhone X: the rumors that ended up wrong

The last several days have been filled with reactions, memes and comments what the new iPhone is and what isn't. A lot of rumors and alleged live images appeared and while many of them turned out real and gave us a good idea of what to expect, some of them ended up to be unfounded speculations. Everything started with a suggestion from analysts KGI...

Nokia 2 will come with a huge 4,000mAh battery

Hey, remember when Nokia 2 passed through the FCC? Buried under a mountain of wireless connectivity tests was the battery capacity - a whopping 4,000mAh! That's a huge jump over the 5, 6 and 8 models, all three of which have around 3,000mAh. The Snapdragon 210 chipset doesn't use a lot of power - not because it's very efficient (it's a 28nm chip),...

Apple iPhone X display: how big is it, really?

The Apple iPhone X has a 5.8" screen... except it doesn't. You can see on the official site that the 5.8" measurement is for a rectangular screen while the X has rounded corners. But that's a minor quibble, the bigger issue is that there's a cutout at the top of the screen, which limits the usable area. The aspect ratio of the new Super Retina Display...

Huawei Maimang 6 / RNE-AL00 spotted in the wild

Huawei has scheduled an event for September 22, which seems to be for the Maimang 6, aka RNE-AL00. We saw its specs on TENAA, now let's look at some live photos of the device. It has a 5.9" 1080p screen - 1,080 x 2,160px specifically due to the 18:9 aspect ratio (never mind that the benchmark claims 720p). The octa-core chipset has been named - Kirin...

Apple iPhone X screen to body ratio compared

Calling the new breed of phones "bezel-less" is a bit of a misnomer - they do have a bezel, just much smaller than traditional phones. Still, it's how they've come to be known and now even Apple makes one. But screen to body numbers get thrown around and some of them are not quite accurate. Things like rounded corners and display cutouts make things...

Facebook's group video chat app Bonfire starts rolling out

A couple of months ago, there were reports that Facebook is working on a standalone group video chat app. Well, now the company has started rolling out the app, dubbed Bonfire. The roll out is limited at the moment, restricted to iOS users in Denmark. Bonfire lets you perform a video chat with several participants at the same time. It is reportedly...

BlackBerry Krypton clears FCC

The BlackBerry Krypton, which is expected to be the next smartphone by the TCT-owned brand, has received certification from the FCC in the US. As is usually the case, the FCC certification doesn't reveal much about the device, however, there are a couple of things to note. Firstly, the name Krypton is clearly mentioned in the filenames. And secondly,...

Billboard suggests October 4 unveiling for Google Pixel 2

Last month, serial leakster Evan Blass revealed the next generation Google Pixel smartphones will be officially unveiled on October 5. However, if a newly-spotted Google billboard is anything to go by, the devices may arrive a day earlier. Agreed, the billboard doesn't explicitly say anything, but the words "Ask more of your phone," followed by Google's...

Nougat update starts hitting Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro

Samsung has started pushing out a new update to its Galaxy A9 Pro smartphone. Arriving as firmware version A910FXXU1BQHB and weighing in at just under 1.3GB, it's a major update that bumps the OS version to Android 7.0 Nougat. The update is currently hitting units in India, although other markets (like China and Malaysia, where the device is available)...

LG V30 review: All screen

The V-series of phablets was conceived as a novel take on the phablet with a secondary ticker display. Well, that lasted for two product cycles, and the secondary screen is no more. Instead, the LG V30 is all screen. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_v30-review-1657.p...

Google is offering Pixel XL as replacement for defective Nexus 6P units

Google is offering users with defective Nexus 6P units (purchased directly from the company's online store) a brand new Pixel XL smartphone as replacement. This has been reportedly going on for some time now, but came to light recently. Even units out of the original 1-year warranty are eligible for the upgrade. It's worth mentioning that whether...

Essential Phone receives September security patches

The Essential Phone is now receiving a new software update, on the eve of its release in Sprint stores across the US. While technically it isn't the first, the previous ones were only actually seen by people with review units. For all intents and purposes, this should be the first update notification that people who bought the device will come across....

Jet Black iPhone 7 and 7 Plus now available with 32GB of storage starting at $549

Jet Black was the most exclusive color scheme for last year's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus upon launch, since you could only get it on a device with 128 or 256GB of storage. The entry-level 32GB tier wasn't available in this shiny hue. That changes now, however. Following its announcement of the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple has already...