Essential Phone getting January patch and Spectre/Meltdown fixes

Essential has started pushing out a new update to its PH-1 smartphone. Carrying a build number of NMJ88C, it's mainly a security update that brings along Android fixes for the month of January. We're rolling out a software update (build NMJ88C) with the January security patches and fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown security flaws.— Essential (@essential)...

Google sold more than one Home device each second since Home Mini started shipping

Google has revealed that it sold more than one Home series product every second since the Home Mini began shipping in October last year. That roughly translates into a total of around 6 million units. There was, however, no information on exactly how many Home, Home Mini, and Home Max units were sold in the period. The announcement was made by the...

Entry-level LG Tribute Dynasty launched with octa-core CPU, 8MP camera

The LG Tribute Dynasty, user manual for which was spotted late last month, has been launched. The device is powered by a Mediatek SoC with octa-core CPU, and sports a 5-inch HD display. The device comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory. It features an 8MP main camera and a 5MP front shooter. The handset runs Android 7.1 Nougat and packs in a...

Users with Android 8.1-powered Pixels and Nexuses are reporting swipe issues

Looks like the Android 8.1 update has brought along some annoying issues for users of Google's Pixel and Nexus branded devices. A large number of reports on Reddit as well as the company's own online forums indicate users are facing swipe-related problems with their units post the update. Reports say actions like swiping up to bring lock screen,...

OnePlus 5 Oreo roll out resumes as OxygenOS 5.0.1

Recently, OnePlus cancelled the roll out for the OnePlus 5 Oreo (stable) update due to bugs. That build was arriving as Oxygen 5.0. Now, the company has announced that the roll out has resumed. As for difference between the two builds, the new one is arriving as OxygenOS 5.0.1 and contains a couple of new fixes, presumably for those issues that caused...

Non-functional LG Wallet/Pay app arrives on Google Play

A new app from LG has been released on the Google Play Store. It's a mobile payments application, but confusingly, it carriers not one, but two monikers: LG Wallet and LG Pay. As you can see in the screenshot above, for me, the listing says the app isn't compatible with any of my devices. That's because the app description on Google Play says you...

Meizu M6s gets certified by TENAA with 18:9 screen and side-mounted fingerprint scanner

On January 17, Meizu will unveil its latest smartphone, the M6s. Incidentally, this will be the first model to bear the new mblu brand, at least in China, where the Blue Charm line got spun off into its own division. The same phone will thus also be called mblu S6, depending on market. The M6s has just received the full certification treatment from...

Photo of alcatel 5 flagship leaks

At IFA 2017 we saw alcatel unveiling four new phones, all of them falling in the affordable or midrange brackets. We haven't seen a flagship since the Idol 4s with Windows Phone which was launched 18 months ago. Yet, evleaks posted a photo that clearly indicates we will soon see another premium device dubbed alcatel 5. The image reveals the new phone...

OnePlus fixes issue that suspended OnePlus 5T beta update

Earlier this week, Oreo arrived on the OnePlus 5T with OxygenOS Open Beta 1. However, the update was pulled shortly after due to a bug. Well, the good news is that the company has issued a fix for the bug and the rollout has resumed. A moderator at the company's official forums made this announcement a couple of days back. He also revealed the bug...

Motorola Moto G4 Play finally gets Nougat update

Motorola launched a trio of G4-branded phones last year, including the G4, G4 Plus, and G4 Play. While the first two got Nougat last year, the G4 Play wasn't lucky enough. Initially, the company said the update will arrive in June, but it's only now starting its rollout. The update brings along Android Nougat version 7.1.1 and also bumps the Android...

Nokia 2 Review

Nokia 1 to 10 - a Nokia for everyone. The portfolio's expansion continues into the the entry-level segment with the Nokia 2 - a budget model if there ever was one, priced around the $100 mark. Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_2-review-1707.p...

HTC updates Edge Launcher with additional options and customizability

The HTC Edge Launcher is a feature that debuted with the HTC U11+ and lets users access a host of applications and functions by squeezing their phone and getting a carousel of icons. It is an expansion of the Edge Sense feature launched earlier last year that only let you trigger one function at a time. In the latest update, now rolling out over...

The Energizer Bunny is now an Android: meet the Energizer Power Max 600s

Energizer is famous for making batteries, but the company dabbles in phones as well. Mostly feature phones, but a few Androids as well and the new Energizer Power Max P600s is its best effort so far. The phone is built around a 4,500mAh battery, which promises "over 12 hours of use" and 16 days of standby. You can stretch that with the power saving...

Macs and iOS devices also affected by Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities

Yesterday it was revealed that the large majority of the devices that we use powered by Intel, AMD and ARM processors are vulnerable to attacks via two security flaws - named Meltdown and Spectre. These are serious vulnerabilities and the whole industry is responding accordingly. Today Apple confirmed that all Mac systems and iOS devices are also...

Huawei Honor 8 Pro starts getting Oreo beta

Back in September this year, Huawei confirmed Oreo is coming to the Honor 8 Pro and promised a December release. That didn't quite happen, but at least now Oreo beta has started hitting Honor 8 Pro units. The Chinese company has been accepting registrations for the beta version of the Honor 8 Pro Oreo update. We hope everything goes fine in this...

January update for Google's Pixel phones also includes anti-aging display improvements

Google has already started rolling out the January update to Pixels and Nexuses, and we know it includes security patches for a lot of vulnerabilities ranging from high to critical. What we didn't know so far that there are some anti-aging improvements included as well. That was revealed by Canadian carrier Telus, which published a changelog for...

Screen protector show Galaxy S9+ bezels will be only slightly thinner than S8+'s

What do you do when the bezels on your phone are already very slim? Well, not much. This side-by-side comparison of screen protectors meant for the Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S9+ shows barely any difference. Okay, the bottom bezel appears slightly smaller so the new phone could be a millimeter or two shorter (hard to tell from this angle). But height...

These are the most durable and easiest to repair smartphones of 2017

Teardown and durability test expert Zack from JerryRigEverything, decided to hand out awards to the phones that impressed him the most with their durability and ease of repair. JerryRig gives the Most Durable Smartphone of 2017 award to the Nokia 6. On the other end of the spectrum is the HTC U11 that was had a surprisingly easy to crack display....

Samsung Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta test ending on January 15

Samsung issued the latest Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta version on December 14, where updates featured Bluetooth improvements and plenty of bug fixes. Most recent information on the upcoming upgrade is that Samsung is ending registrations for new users today. The whole program will wrap up in ten days, on January 15. Ending the beta updates for the new OS...

Razer provides list of games optimized for 120Hz refresh rate

Back when Razer launched the Razer Phone with its 120Hz 'UltraMotion' display, there were hardly any games that supported the higher refresh rate. Truth be told, there aren't even many Android games that hit 60fps on a good day, so 120fps was out of the question. List of supported games by genre Since then, Razer has worked with some developers to...

Snapdragon 670 performance will split the difference between the 660 and the 845

The Geekbench 4 has some results which claim to be from Snapdragon 670 chipset - the exciting new chip that uses the same Kryo cores as the flagship Snapdragon 845. There's no official word from Qualcomm yet so details like the 10nm process are yet to be confirmed. The performance is on the level we'd expect - right between the Snapdragon 660 chip...

Spotify now has 70M paying subscribers

Spotify might be having some legal trouble, but its userbase is growing handsomely. Earlier today the music platform updated its About page with more recent paying subscribers count - 70 million, as of January 2018. This is nearly half of all active users, which were 140 million as of June 2017. Hello 70 million subscribers 👏— Spotify (@Spotify)...

Samsung Galaxy Note8 Oreo update starts seeding

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 has apparently started getting the final Oreo update even before the Galaxy S8 series (which has been testing an Oreo beta for a while now). The tech giant hasn't officially announced the roll out yet, someone over at Reddit posted screenshots of their Android 8-powered Note8. This suggests that this is probably a soak test...

Second generation Nokia 6 debuts with Snapdragon 630

Today HMD officially took the wraps off its second generation Nokia 6 smartphone. It comes with a more capable chipset and a reduced footprint, but otherwise shares most of its hardware with the original Nokia 6. The second gen Nokia 6 or Nokia 6 (2018), if you will, is built around a 5.5" IPS LCD of 16:9 aspect and FullHD resolution and sport a...

OnePlus 5T Sandstone White is finally official

After a video teaser on YouTube, followed by another on Twitter, OnePlus has finally announced the OnePlus 5T Sandstone White edition. It will be available for purchase on January 9 in only one configuration. The Sandstone finish resembles the older OnePlus One and OnePlus Two phones. The phone is also the same as the Star Wars Limited Edition we...

Sony Xperia XA2, XA2 Ultra, and L2 press renders leak

While its upcoming bezel-starved flagships might be more exciting, Sony is also preparing to launch a bunch of new mid-rangers in the next few weeks, either at CES or at MWC. Today official-looking press renders for three such devices have been leaked. We're talking about the Xperia XA2, XA2 Ultra, and L2. The first two of those are obviously going...

Amazon and Google sell millions of smart speakers thanks to aggressive pricing

Amazon's Echo Dot smart speaker was the best-selling product on the site over the holidays - and how could it not be when Amazon dropped the price to just $30 (from $50). It sold millions of units. Similarly, Google dropped the equivalent Home Mini speaker to $30 and gave away some to Pixel 2 buyers. Both companies lost money on this - analysts at...

Samsung patents show the flexible Galaxy X screen will be pressure sensitive

Mobile phone design has gotten stale recently, but they don't have to be - patents show a couple of different approaches to replacing the slab phone. One is the Galaxy X, of course, the much-rumored flexible phone. One advantage of its flexible material is that it bends when you press down on it - this allows the screen to measure the force of your...

AT&T plans to launch true 5G later this year

Just two weeks after the 5G spec has been finalized, AT&T announced it is launching mobile 5G in twelve markets in the United States this year. The carrier does not specify the location that will get coverage, but it makes it clear that hardware is already being developed. The carrier also plans to keep enrolling its "5G Evolution" program which...

Nokia 6 (2018) impromptu photo shoot surfaces

It's happening tomorrow - HMD will unveil the new Nokia 6 (2018). TENAA posted photos of the phone in a controlled environment, now we catch a glimpse of the handset in the wild. Nokia 6 (2018) in the wild With the screen on, you can see the new, thinner bezels more clearly. The new Nokia 6 is shorter than the old one while having the same screen...

Meizu M6S is coming on January 17, specs leak on AnTuTu

Meizu was expected to launch the M6S (also rumored as Blue Charm S) in the last weeks of 2017, but that got postponed to January. Today media representatives received an invite for an event on January 17 at the Beijing National Convention Center. The Meizu M6S invite, hidden in a blue brick The phone is expected to be the company's first device with...

Nokia 6 (2018) leaks in full ahead of launch

Nokia 6 (2018) is going to be officially announced by HMD Global tomorrow, but Chinese retailer Suning jumped the gun and leaked the device in full. All the specs, including press renders and lifestyle images, popped up on its website and online store. The new Nokia 6 comes with a more powerful Snapdragon 630 chipset, a fingerprint scanner on the...

Screen protector hints at a notch in the Huawei P20 Pro's screen

Screen protectors on Amazon are perhaps not the most trusty source, but here's another clue that the Huawei P20 Pro will have a notch on its screen. The cutout is tied to the trend of shrinking bezels as the other solution - putting the earpiece under the screen and moving the selfie cam to the bottom - isn't great. A screen protector with a notch...

Nokia 6 leaks in full ahead of launch tomorrow

Nokia 6 (2018) is going to be officially announced by HMD Global tomorrow, but Chinese retailer Suning jumped the gun and leaked the device in full. All the specs, including press renders and lifestyle images, popped up on its website and online store. The new Nokia 6 comes with a more powerful Snapdragon 630 chipset, a fingerprint scanner on the...

OnePlus 5T Lava Red to come to India on January 23

We have seen reports of OnePlus and partner Amazon launching the OnePlus 5T Lava Red variant in India on January 26. Now, a new report from Techook claims the launch will be pulled forward to Tuesday, January 23. Neither OnePlus nor Amazon India have given any official comment on the matter. The Lava Red OnePlus 5T is one of the latest variants of...

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ turn Rose Pink in the UK

With Valentines Day approaching, there's a rise in demand for pink phones - we chose to believe that's the reason that the Rose Pink versions of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are arriving in the UK only now. You see, those phones first appeared at the end of June last year in Taiwan, then in North America in July and in Europe (but not the...

Honor View 10 launched in India exclusively on Amazon

Huawei has launched the Honor View 10 in India. The phone will be available exclusively on Amazon India for INR 29,999 ($473). Those interested can register now from the website and will get notified when the phone goes on sale next week on Monday, January 8. The Honor View 10 is the flagship device in the Honor range. It has a 5.9-inch 18:9 FullView...

Samsung officially launches flagship Exynos 9810 chipset

Samsung has officially launched its latest flagship chipset - the Series 9 Exynos 9810 headlining AI Applications and Richer Multimedia Content. The Exynos 9810 will power the upcoming Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ in several markets around the world. Built on Samsung's second-generation 10nm FinFET process it's packing a brand new eight-core CPU under...

Nokia 7 hits Europe through unofficial import

The Nokia 7 is currently exclusive to China, with fans in Europe and other regions still waiting. Tired of the whole thing, a Romanian retailer Quickmobile decided to step in and offer the device unofficially for the equivalent of €324. The 4 GB version will be available for dispatch on January 10, and it comes with free delivery and 24-month warranty...

Sandstone OnePlus 5T listing confirms white color, 8GB/128GB memory

The upcoming sandstone variant of the OnePlus 5T smartphone has been spotted on a Chinese retailer JD's website, confirming the white color option that was teased on a couple of occasions. Previous OnePlus sandstone models were black. Design wise, the device is similar to the Star Wars Edition model, with some minor changes including lack of Star...

AT&T-bound Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge get BlueBorne fix

A new update has started hitting Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge on AT&T's network. Weighing in at under 47MB and carrying the build number of G930AUCS4BQL1, the update brings a fix for the BlueBorne security vulnerability. In case you aren't aware, the vulnerability allows a remote attacker to take control of devices via Bluetooth, even when your...

Nokia 6 (2018) teased again ahead of official unveiling tomorrow

We know the Nokia 6 (2018) is coming tomorrow. The device has even been certified by TENAA, which revealed all of its key specs. Still, this couple of new teasers is definitely worth checking out. The teasers don't reveal anything new - it's already known that the phone will come with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage (in addition to the 64GB variant), and...

Android security chief switches to Nest

Google's Nest division has got a new Director of Security and Privacy in Adrian Ludwig, who has been working as director of Android security until now. The announcement was made by Ludwig himself in a Google+ post. Over the last month, I've taken on a new role at Alphabet as Director of Security and Privacy for Nest. Ludwig has been working with...

Google Pixel 2 XL long-term review

This long-term review is going to take a deeper dive into what it's like to actually live with the Pixel 2 XL, as the main and only phone, for a few weeks (three, to be precise). We'll try to answer the questions you might have about the device, regarding things that aren't covered in our proper review. For example, can you actually get used to that...

LG V30 drops to $674.99 unlocked, $150 off

Little more than one month - that's how long the price of the unlocked LG V30 in the US managed to stay at or around the recommended level. The carrier-free version of the Korean company's latest flagship smartphone made its debut on December 1, with a recommended sales price of $824.99, yet starting at $819.99 in some places. Today you can purchase...

LG teases 2018 TV range with built-in Google Assistant

LG announced today that its 2018 lineup of OLED and SUPER UHD TVs will include Google Assistant in some regions. With this, customers will be able to interact with some of their smart home devices by speaking into the TVs remote. However, the Google Assistant is more of an accompaniment to the primary voice AI on these TVs, which will be LG's own...

Fake Samsung Galaxy S9+ handled on video

Well, this is ahead of schedule - the Samsung Galaxy S9+ just appeared in a short hands-on video. And it's a fully working unit too... though we have a sneaking suspicion it's a copycat rather than the genuine article. There's not much to say about the front - it's dominated by an Infinity Display as expected. But it's not centered, the bottom bezel...

Teaser for Sandstone OnePlus 5T lists loving quotes from fans

The Sandstone material is iconic to OnePlus fans - it was one of the unique feature of the original OnePlus One. While the company dropped it in favor of metal since the OnePlus 3, it is making a comeback - in just 2 days! Sure, there have been cases for the OnePlus 3/3T and the 5/5T, but on January 5 fans will get the real deal - a OnePlus 5T with...

Samsung Galaxy A8 and A8+ 2018 to allegedly go on sale in India on January 10

According to a report by PhoneRadar, the new 2018 Samsung Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ are set to be launched in India on Wednesday, January 10. As of yet, Samsung India has not confirmed any availability or pricing information regarding these two devices, nor have we seen any teasers from any of the online retailers. The 2018 Galaxy A8 and A8+ are the...

OnePlus 5 Oreo update roll out has been cancelled

The OnePlus 3/3T Oreo update was pulled by the company following user complaints, and it's sad to see that Oreo roll out for the OnePlus 5 has also met the same fate. Yes, the Chinese company has provided a heads-up saying the roll out has been canceled. Here's what exactly a OnePlus staff member said on the company's official forums: Because of...