It's not often we have a Sharp device with us for review. Primarily sold in East Asian markets, these devices are hard to come by elsewhere. So, when Sharp contacted us to review their mostly new AQUOS S2, we couldn't really say no.
In love with large screen smartphones? Here's an exciting piece of news for you: the next Xiaomi Mi Max series smartphone is rumored to feature a massive 7-inch display. That will be an 18:9 panel with minimalistic bezels on both top and bottom. Mi Max 2 The rumor further says there will be a bump in battery capacity as well, with the Mi Max 3 packing in a 5,500mAh battery. There will be a dual camera setup on the back, and the phone will also feature Quick Charge 3.0. As for SoC, there will be two variants - one powered by Snapdragon 630, while the other by Snapdragon 660. Source
According to a new rumor, the next OnePlus smartphone - likely to be called OnePlus 6 - will feature an underscreen fingerprint sensor. The report cites a source which has been correct about OnePlus devices in the past. Another important information the report reveals is the device will arrive in March 2018. It will debut in mid-March, and will go on sale later that month. Now, given that a phone with under-screen fingerprint scanner is already highly-likely to be showcased during CES 2018, the OnePlus phone won't be the first to feature the technology, but we are yet to see which one...
Last month, the Samsung Gear S3 started receiving Tizen 3.0 through a Value Pack update. But shortly after that, users started reporting poor battery life on their smartwatches. And a few weeks later, the company rolled out an update to fix the issue. The update that fixes the issue wasn't made available everywhere - only Canada got it as far as we know. Meanwhile, in Europe, the Gear S3 Tizen 3.0 update roll out was halted after reports of poor battery life started hitting headlines. And now, it has been revealed that the roll out has resumed, with the update now including fix for...
Do you use an Android Wear 2.0 device? Do you observe short-duration lags and freezes when you, say, swipe through notifications? Well, if your answer is yes, you'll be glad to know there's an easy solution to the problem: turn off the "Ok Google" hotword detection. A Reddit user found out that it's the "Ok Google" detection feature that's eating up resources, and hence causing those annoying lags and freezes. The following video clearly illustrates that "Ok Google" is the culprit. The setting is present in Settings > Personalization. Once there, just disable the 'Ok Google...
The Android One edition variant of the Motorola Moto X4 has started receiving a new update. Carrying a build number of OPW27.1, it's a major update that brings along Android 8.0 Oreo. In addition, the update also includes the latest Android security fixes. The roll out is inline with the 'end of the year' time frame that was promised by the company when the phone was launched. Given that it's an OTA roll out, it might take time for the update to hit your device, so be patient. Source | Via
A full test report comparing the practical networks speeds of the latest smartphones was shared with PCMag.com and the results are quite interesting. The Pixel 2 comes out on top as the best performer in all nearly all signal strengths while the iPhone X was the slowest. For these tests, Cellular insights included two variants of the iPhone X, one that uses an Intel modem, and another that uses a Qualcomm modem. As for the other contenders - the Galaxy Note8, Google Pixel 2, and LG V30 are all powered by the Snapdragon 835, which includes the current industry-leading Qualcomm X16...
A recent report claimed that Apple was intentionally slowing down iPhone models well into their life cycles based on historical benchmark numbers. This was a common rumor about iPhones that supposedly got customers feeling like their phones were acting slow and could use an upgrade. On December 20, Apple openly admitted that it did this to compensate for degrading batteries and that it was a "feature" found in iPhones since the iPhone 6. Now, Apple is facing two class-action lawsuits alleging that the company was intentionally and deceptively slowing down its phones so that users would buy...
The latest smartphone to be graced with an update to Android 8.0 Oreo is Verizon's version of Motorola's Moto Z2 Force. The new software has started rolling out earlier today, and as usual it might take multiple days (or even weeks) to reach all the units out there in the wild. This final release follows a soak test that took place in Brazil in November. Hopefully all the kinks have been ironed out by now. Motorola's changelog highlights the fact that, once you install the new release, you'll be able to launch apps or take action based on highlighted text. Apps should also run faster and...
Sony is getting ready to introduce at least one successor to the Xperia XZ1 - most likely at MWC in February. The company's upcoming flagship smartphone has been rumored to finally adopt the bezel-less look that's been so popular in 2017, and a few days ago a spec sheet leaked for the Sony H82xx device. This will apparently come in four market-dependent versions: H8216, H8266, H8276, and H8296. The H8266 has now been spotted in the Geekbench database, having run the well known benchmark. The listing confirms that at least this model will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, its premier...
LeEco was having financial troubles recently and the company even withdrew from acquiring Vizio earlier in 2017. Today the company secured an investment worth CNY15,04 billion (more than $2.2 billion) from property developer Sunac China Holdings. The real estate company will acquire stocks in three divisions of the tech company. Due to rapid pace of growth, LeEco was having troubles securing payments across multiple branches of its conglomerate. Sunac, through its subsidiary Sunac Real Estate, will invest CNY 6.04 billion (over $918 million) in LeEco's Internet Information and...
After Olixar and MobileFun leaked the Galaxy S9 design, now another accessories manufacturer, Ghostek, shared renders of the upcoming Samsung flagship. The maker is already taking orders for its rugged shockproof cases. According to the image, the design will remain pretty much unchanged. The Infinity Display will stay at 18.5:9 ratio, with the bezels on top and bottom getting a little bit thinner, compared with the Galaxy S8. A Bixby button will keep company to the volume rocker on the left with the power button staying on the right side. The camera and a fingerprint scanner on...
It's been over 10 years since Apple launched the first generation Apple TV. This year alongside the new iPhones, Apple introduced the fifth generation now supporting 4K/High Dynamic Range and appropriately called the Apple TV 4K. Recently updated to tvOS 11.2, now graced by Amazon's recently launched Prime Video app and with Apples own TV app is rolling out internationally it's time we revisited what Steve Jobs once called a ‘hobby'.
Sharp launched the Aquos S2 in August and now a followup with the model name FS8018 appeared on TENAA. Although quite similar in looks, it has one 16 MP camera on the back and a massive 20 MP snapper on the front. Sharp FS8018 from all sides The FS8018 has a 5.48" screen with the specific resolution of 2040x1080 pixels we've already seen in the Aquos S2. The SoC comes with octa-core CPU, clocked at 2.2 GHz - most likely either Snapdragon 630 or Snapdragon 660. It will come with 4 GB/6 GB RAM and 64 GB/128 GB storage. The OS running is Android 7.1.1 Nougat and the...
YouTube has finally updated the iOS version of its app to be able to playback vertical videos correctly. This update was issued to the Android app two and a half years ago but for some reason never came to iOS until now. Bye bye, black bars. 👋Now the YouTube player on iOS will automatically adapt to the shape of the video you're viewing! pic.twitter.com/4jzJ6nPj4G— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 19, 2017 With this, users will be able to watch a vertically shot video in the correct aspect ratio. Previously, going fullscreen on a vertical video played it in landscape...
Speedtest has released a new version of its app on iOS that comes with a new design and couple of new features. The new UI is consistent with the design that we have been seeing on other platforms, such as the web version, the Windows 10 version and the Apple TV version. Gone is the old, large speedometer with bright colors and glowing textures, replaced by an indigo background and more modern minimal textures with a new condensed font. At the bottom are three tabs, one each for the speed test, results and settings. Settings has the same options as before, including ability to...
Gionee has launched a new smartphone in India. Dubbed S10 Lite, the device is powered by Snapdragon 427 SoC and sports a 5.2-inch HD display. RAM is 4GB, while internal memory is 32GB. The handset features a 13MP rear camera and a 16MP front shooter. Measuring 148.7×73.7×7.9mm and weighing in at 155g, the phone runs Android 7.1 Nougat and packs in a 3,100mAh battery. There's a home button-embedded fingerprint sensor as well. The Gionee S10 Lite carries a price tag of INR 15,999 ($250), and comes in black and gold color options. It'll go on sale in India starting tomorrow ...
The last month was rich in Oppo launches. First, we saw the A83 pop up, then the Oppo F5 Youth without Google services arrived in China with an Oppo A73 moniker. Now another phone is about to join the A series - Oppo A85. That's seemingly going to be a very affordable device as it even lacks a fingerprint scanner. Oppo A85 from all sides The front panel has a 5.7" TFT LCD with HD+ resolution of 1440x720 pixels. The Oppo A85 will have octa-core CPU, clocked at 2.5 GHz, paired with 4 GB RAM on the chipset. There is also 32 GB internal storage and a slot for microSD for up to...
July marked the arrival of the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage in a limited set of markets. Now a more powerful version was leaked by the retailer Mahesh Telecom on Twitter and later Samsung India uploaded the phone on its website, confirming the price INR12,990 (around €170). New Launch #SamsungGalaxyJ7Nxt 32GB With 3GB RAM - The device is enabled with #SamsungPaymini #ARStickersRs.12990/- . pic.twitter.com/uVRsqQNQ3m— Mahesh Telecom (@MAHESHTELECOM) December 21, 2017 The Galaxy J7 Nxt has 5.5" Super AMOLED screen and Exynos 7870 chipset with octa-core CPU....
Asus has started pushing out a new update to its ZenFone 3 Max (ZC553KL) smartphone. Arriving as version V14.0200.1712.347, the update bumps the system user interface to ZenUI 4.0. The announcement says it'll take around one week for the system to complete the autopush, so be patient if you haven't received the update yet. Alternatively, you can also head to Setting -> About -> System Update to update manually. It's already confirmed that the entire Zenfone 3 and Zenfone 4 series will get the Oreo update. While the Zenfone 4 Oreo update will likely arrive this month, the Zenfone 3...
Just like the Snapdragon 835 in 2017, we can expect to see the Snapdragon 845 in many high-end smartphones during 2018. Qualcomm recently announced its Snapdragon 845 CPU at a launch event in Hawaii. At the event, Qualcomm had a lot to say about the "Always Connected PCs" running Windows 10 on the ARM architecture. Chromebooks may also be able to take advantage of Qualcomm's Always Connected PC ideology, according to a couple of Chromium commits found by XDA Developers. The first of these commits references a new board called "chezea" while a later commit defines ‘chezea' as a new...
3GPP is an organization whose purpose is to define the industry standards for technologies that would succeed the 4G LTE standard. Today, 3GPP has set the specifications for 5G equipment in both towers and smartphones alike. This means that 5G standards have been set so that network and radio engineers can all work on a single platform for all 5G devices. Features, functions, services, and standards are set for carriers, phone makers, and radio equipment manufacturers now have a basis to begin to produce and roll out 5G equipment and services to capable networks around the...
Amazon has announced that all users of Fire TV devices will now be able to browser the web through Firefox and Amazon Silk browsers. While the Silk browser was made available for download at the end of last month, the addition of Firefox is new. The move comes shortly after Google decided to drop YouTube playback functionality through the YouTube app on the Fire TV. Of course, the very first icon you see when you install and launch the Firefox browser on Fire TV is YouTube. Hilariously enough, this does not even launch the website but instead opens a YouTube app identical to the...
Following Honor's success in the United States with its high-value X series, the company is announcing its expansion into Latin American markets across Central and South America. Honor will begin to sell smartphones in stores starting next year. The company is certainly excited to see how it's Honor 7X will do in the new region. The Latin American market is certainly different from North American markets in that people are more likely to purchase an unlocked phone at a physical store or through a carrier than directly from an online retailer. It will be interesting to see how Honor...
At the high-end, Samsung's all about Infinity Displays and small bezels and the 18.5:9 aspect ratio, but the Korean company also churns out quite a few low-end offerings each year. And now we're fast approaching the launch of just such a device: the Galaxy J2 (2018), previously thought to be Galaxy J2 Pro (2017). The handset has received the full leak treatment today, with specs accompanying the press renders you can see below. The Galaxy J2 (2018) will come with a 5" 540x960 Super AMOLED touchscreen, 1.5GB of RAM, and 16GB of expandable storage. It's powered by the Snapdragon 425 chipset,...
Netflix has rolled out support for HDR on the Windows 10 platform. Users can now finally access Netflix' growing library of HDR content if they are connected to a compatible HDR monitor or television. As with 4K support on Windows 10, the HDR support comes with a handful of provisos. First of all, you need the four person plan to access HDR content. Also, just like 4K, you need to use Microsoft Edge or the Netflix app to view HDR content. These will only show up as HDR if you are connected to an HDR display. Apart from that, you also need an Intel 7th generation or newer Core...
One of the biggest patent holders in the mobile space is still Nokia, and this was confirmed once more today. Following similar deals it made in the past with the likes of Apple, Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, the Finnish company has announced that it has agreed to license its patents to Huawei. It's a multi-year deal with the Chinese smartphone maker, but no financial details have been provided yet. Nokia did tell its investors that it expects to start booking revenue off of this agreement, including a one-off catch-up payment, by the end of this year. An analyst speculates that Huawei's...
Android Oreo is now making its way to more and more devices and it brings with it much smarter security features. It packs clever software that you never knew was protecting your phone and data, such as safer install of apps that come from unknown sources, rollback protection which prevents hackers from downgrading your phone to an older OS version that's susceptible to an exploit, and more. OEM Lock Hardware Abstraction Layer (aptly named HAL) prevents your phone from being reset without your security credentials. The full list of security advancements is laid out in the source...
Huawei sub brand Honor has announced that global sales of its X series of smartphones - consisting of devices from the Honor 4X to Honor 7X - has hit the 40 million milestone. The company also revealed some sales figures for the newly-launched Honor 7X smartphone. 30,000 units were sold within the first two hours of November 11 sale in China, and 20,000 units were sold out in one hour in each of the three flash sales in India. In London, sales in the first two weeks were double that of the Honor 6X, while in Russia, the number was triple, making Honor one of the top 3 brands in the...
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will retain the 18.5:9 aspect ratio of the Galaxy S8 and S8+. That's been confirmed through an HTML browser benchmark, which revealed the screen aspects for both. Sadly the benchmark doesn't have any more spoilers, but as the Mobile World Congress draws near, we're bound to see and hear much more about the S9/S9+ duo. So far the murmur is that the two phones will have a Snapdragon 845 chipset, a centered fingerprint scanner on the back and a dual camera on the back of the plus version. We're sure the leaks will keep on coming so stay tuned. Source...
Huawei held an event in China where it announced the Honor 9 Lite - a more affordable variant of the Honor 9. The Honor 9 Lite will arrive with 5.65" 18:9 screen with FullHD+ resolution. It has dual cameras on both sides and comes with the latest Emotion UI, based on Android Oreo. Huawei Honor 9 Lite official renders The Honor 9 Lite runs on a Kirin 659 chipset with octa-core CPU, clocked up to 2.36 GHz. It has either 3 GB or 4 GB RAM that respectively come with 32 GB or 64 GB storage, expandable by up to 256 GB via the microSD card slot. There is are 13 MP + 2 MP...
Huawei held an event in China where it announced the Honor 9 Youth Edition - a more affordable variant of the Honor 9. The Honor 9 Youth Edition will arrive with 5.65" 18:9 screen with FullHD+ resolution. It has dual cameras on both sides and comes with the latest Emotion UI, based on Android Oreo. Huawei Honor 9 Lite official renders The Honor 9 Youth Edition runs on a Kirin 659 chipset with octa-core CPU, clocked up to 2.36 GHz. It has either 3 GB or 4 GB RAM that respectively come with 32 GB or 64 GB storage, expendable by up to 256 GB via the microSD card...
Last week we saw a report that Apple might be slowing down its iPhones as they batteries age. Rumors suggested Apple intentionally turned down the clock speed in order to prevent the battery life of the phones from decreasing over time. Today the company confirmed those allegations and said the practice will continue with other products in the future. In a message to TechCrunch, Apple said it released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to maintain battery life over time and also prevent the phone from shutting down in cold conditions. The company also confirmed that the...
Samsung has started pushing out a new update to its Galaxy S8/S8+ smartphones. It's a security update that brings along Android fixes for the month of December. Units in both South Korea and the US (T-Mobile) are currently getting the update. The update carries build number of G950USQS2BQL1 and G955USQS2BQL1 for T-Mobile users, and G950NKSU1AQL3 and G955NKSU1AQL3 for the South Korean units. Moving on, the tech giant has also started rolling out the December security patch to its Galaxy Note5 smartphone. Weighing in at around 17 MB, the update is currently available in multiple...
Essential has announced the roll out of the Oreo beta 2 build for its PH-1 smartphone. The company took to Twitter to announce the update, which arrives as build OPM1.170911.213. We're rolling out Oreo Beta 2 (build OPM1.170911.213) with bug fixes and new features including smart text selection, picture-in-picture and more. The update is going out now via OTA to current Oreo Beta 1 users. Learn more: https://t.co/oonhRCiMpG— Essential (@essential) December 20, 2017 As per the tweet, some of the new features there in the beta 2 update include smart text selection and...
Today Niantic Labs and the Pokemon Company, the entities behind the hugely successful Pokemon Go game, have announced a new set of features coming to iPhones. They are collectively called AR+, and are made possible by leveraging Apple's ARKit framework, which debuted in iOS 11. For that reason, you need to be running that version of the OS or a newer one in order to see the new functionality. You also have to sport an iPhone 6s or newer model. So what's the fuss about? Well, first off, with AR+ the Pokemon are fixed to a point in space, so you can walk up real close to them and see...
Great deals on smartphones in the EU seem to be a lot rarer than in the US, but from time to time we do find a gem for you. Case in point: right now, Amazon Germany is selling the Samsung Galaxy S8+ for just €636. That's €263 less than its usual price, so it's clearly a bargain. As usual, there are some caveats to note. First off, only the Midnight Black color version is this cheap. For the Orchid Grey version you'll have to pay €649, while the Arctic Silver hue commands a premium even over that, going for €699. That's still €200 of than the introductory price, though. Second, be...
European Union's top court ruled today that the ride-sharing platform Uber is a transport service and should be regulated similar to taxi operators. The company claimed it is a digital service and should pay lighter taxes as other e-commerce businesses. Uber launched in 2011 and currently operates in about 600 cities and regions in the world, with more than 60 of them being in the EU. The European Court of Justice says the service provided by Uber "is covered by services in the field of transport" and should be treated by member states as such. The case follows a complaint from...
Samsung is now mass-producing the second generation of its 10-nanometer class 8Gb (read gigabit, not gigabyte) DDR4 DRAM, which will be the foundation for its future DDR4 RAM. The new generation of 10nm class RAM is about 10% faster and 15% more efficient than the previous one. The new 8Gb DD4 can operate at 3,600 megabits per second per pin compared to the 3,200 Mbps of the previous generation. All of this means that Samsung has a better base on which it will soon begin production of faster RAM to be used in smartphones, laptops, PCs, smartwatches and all sorts of smart...
We were a tad disappointed to find out that the Nokia 9 will have a 5MP selfie camera. The disappointment at the resolution remains but it turns out that it's a dual 5MP camera, which does make it look a little better. The FCC listed a Chicony CKACE16 module and going over to the manufacturer's site, we see that it lists it as a dual camera (but shows an image of a single camera... we're assuming that the photo shows the wrong model). The camera has autofocus (yay!) and an f/2.0 aperture for one of the modules, the other one has an f/2.4 lens. It's that f/2.0 module that is...
Google has several forward-looking changes to Android planned, the effects of some will be felt soon while others will make a difference later. Starting in August 2018, new apps will be required to target Android 8.0 API. They can still support old versions of Android, but they'll have to play by the rules when running on Oreo and later. This makes some currently optional features mandatory - like using Marshmallow's runtime permissions. Additional requirements will improve user privacy while limiting the performance impact of ill-behaved apps. From November 2018, not just...
A month ago vivo launched the V7 as a smaller version of the vivo V7+. And much like its bigger brother, an Energetic Blue color option of the device was introduced shortly after its release. vivo V7 Energetic Blue official images A company spokesperson said the new variant "will make for a perfect gift" with Christmas around the corner. The impressive vivo V7 color option is already available at Amazon India and Flipkart or at offline stores. It comes at a discounted price of INR18,990/€250 for a limited time, with some retailers offering incentives like one free screen...
With Christmas and New Year knocking on the door, Nokia launched its holiday-themed TV ad. The video shows a mother that keeps contact with her son only on the Copper White Nokia 3, while he sends messages and pictures from university on his Nokia 8. The ad urges you to switch off during Christmas and spend more time with the beloved people, or as Nokia puts it - "give the gift of you". Nokia also depicts that there are phones for all ages and lifestyles, including your mom that fills her time with recreational yoga and dog walks. Nokia says "technology unites us all in amazing...
Xiaomi launched the Redmi 5 series on December 7, but some fans are still withholding purchases, waiting for the Redmi Note 5. Apparently, the expected successor of the highly popular Redmi Note 4 was already here but under a different name and there won't be another device. According to a Super moderator on the MIUI forum the Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus is going to remain the company's only large-screened affordable option. Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus/Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 According to user mitch002, Xiaomi is dropping the Note moniker "as of this moment." Although this is not an official...
Samsung's Galaxy Note8 comes with a feature dubbed App Permission Monitor. It alerts you when permissions you select are being used by app running in the background. Not only that, you can also take a quick look at the permissions history for an app. Well, the feature is no longer Galaxy Note8-exclusive, as it's now available in the latest Galaxy S8 Oreo beta build. Samsung has made several useful additions in the Oreo build. Recently, it came to light that screenshot naming has been improved by the company - now the default file name includes name of the app from within which the...
The Facebook Messenger Lite app for Android - which was unveiled by the company back in October last year - has hit a new milestone. Its Google Play listing now reveals it has scored over 100 million installs. The app was built with an aim to operate with as little resources as possible (especially data). So in line with the focus, it was made available in a handful of developing countries first, before expanding globally. In October this year, the app officially arrived in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland. Source
Last month, we were promised that the Razer Phone will get a camera improving update in next few weeks. Well, good news is that the update has arrived, and it features some audio improvements and other changes as well. So the shutter speed control has been improved when in low light conditions as well as when using HDR. Other camera related improvements include improved picture quality and reduced noise. Some bug fixes and performance improvements are also there. Coming to audio-related changes, call quality for HD audio has been improved and some Dolby audio related issues have...
The Snapdragon 820-powered Sony Xperia XZs launched in the US back in April this year, carrying a $699 price tag. But currently, you can get the device for as low as $399.99. Amazon has the handset listed for that price. Officially, the phone is also available through a couple of other third-party retailers, but they are offering the XZs in $500-$550 range. So purchasing from Amazon will save you at-least $100. No information on when this discount ends. Source
Facebook has introduced a couple of new features that the company says will help people better manage their identity on the social network. First up is the ability to issue notifications whenever you show up in someone else's photo. So if you have the feature enabled, and Facebook spots you in a photo, and you're also part of the audience of that image, then you'll be notified about this, even if you've not been tagged in the photo. "You're in control of your image on Facebook and can make choices such as whether to tag yourself, leave yourself untagged, or reach out to the person...
Today, we are taking a look at some GeekBench scores that show what the Samsung Galaxy S9+ is capable of. Well, at least the Snapdragon variant. The S9+ is expected to ship with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. The model number in the Benchmark results is SM-G965U1, which corresponds to the larger S9 model just as the Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S7 edge both had model numbers that ended in "5". The "U" signifies an unlocked model, in this case for the US. The single-core score gets a noticeable bump over the Snapdragon 835's of about 27% while the multicore score gets a 31% bump in...
