ZTE to pay $1.7 billion in fines to the US government, needs to replace its execs

According to inside sources, the Chinese tech giant, ZTE, may soon pay up to $1.7 billion penalty after its April 15 trade ban. The company is estimated to have lost around $3 billion as around 25 to 30% of the hardware it uses is supplied by US firms. However, this is definitely a scenario ZTE is hoping for because the initial 7-year ban would harm...

vivo NEX will come in three variants after all

New alterations of the vivo NEX have been popping out left and right. Just the other day, a second vivo NEX S version appeared in a Geekbench score sheet with Snapdragon 710 and got certified a day later. But now, a Chinese 3C certification report lists one more model dubbed as NEX A. Unfortunately, the listing doesn't disclose anything overly specific...

6.5-inch iPhone shows up in detailed renders - almost identical to the iPhone X

OnLeaks released some crisp renders yesterday of what is supposed to be the budget iPhone with 6.1-inch IPS LCD display. Today, we have a fresh new batch of the 6.5-inch variant, which leaves only one more to go - the compact 5.8-inch model. 6.5-inch iPhone in black 6.5-inch iPhone in black Anyway, let's focus on what we've got for now. The 6.5-inch...

Report says smart speaker usage will surpass wearables in US this year

According to a recent report from market research firm eMarketer, this year, smart speakers will overtake wearables in US in terms of number of users. Here's what the report exactly says: We have raised our forecast significantly for US smart speaker users from 2017 through 2020, based on new data that shows stronger-than-expected adoption of the...

Samsung Galaxy A6 tipped to be available in US through AT&T

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy A6 and A6+ early last month. At that time, the company revealed a list of countries where these devices will be made official. But sadly, the US was missing from the list. Those of you in the US who are waiting for these handsets, here's some good news: according to the usually reliable tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks), the...

Google working on a Snapdragon 710-powered Pixel smartphone for early 2019

This just in - Google is apparently working on a mid-range Pixel device powered by the newly announced Snapdragon 710. Earlier reports have pointed out that the company is indeed developing such a device, but aimed at the Indian market only. Off to Taiwan for @computex_taipei today, but here's a tidbit for ya: Google is working on a "mobile" device...

Samsung Galaxy Tab A2 Xl gets Bluetooth certified, likely the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2018)

A new Samsung device has received Bluetooth certification. It's listed as Galaxy Tab A2 Xl, and carries a model number of SM-T595. The tablet is likely the successor to the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016), LTE model of which carried a model number of SM-T585. It's worth mentioning that the SM-T590 - which should be the WiFi variant of this upcoming device...

New Essential Phone Camera app update brings 360 photos-related changes

The Essential Phone Camera up has been updated yet again by the company. This time, the update features UI improvements and some 360-degree photos related changes. Today we released an update to Essential Camera app that improves the UI and adds new functionality to help you edit and share 360-degree photos. Download it here: https://t.co/oACrr0Db24—...

New report says Samsung Galaxy Note9 arriving August 9

Recently, there was a report that Samsung has decided to delay the Galaxy Note9 unveiling by two weeks - from mid July to August beginning. And now, a new report from Bloomberg says the device will be made official on August 9. The report further says the handset will carry the Note 9 moniker, and will feature an upgraded camera and processor. So...

The 6.1-inch Apple iPhone renders leak - notched design and a single camera

A new leak gives us an early look at the rumored 6.1-inch iPhone that's going to be announced this September alongside a smaller 5.8-inch variant and a bigger 6.5-inch model. At first it was thought that all three will come with OLED panels, but the latest reports indicate that only two of them will feature OLED screens. The 6.1-inch model, which...

PNY unveils 512 GB microSD, will show it off at Computex

Integral unveiled a 512 GB microSD earlier this year, but some competition will be good. PNY has sent out invites for Computex 2018 and it will be showing a 512 GB card of its own. The card is UHS-I U1 and V10 rated, promising write speeds up to 90 MB/s. The PNY 512 GB microSD will cost $350, so it should be competitive with Integral's offering (available...

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 1000 chip may fight Intel in the ultrabook market

Yesterday we heard that Qualcomm is building a Snapdragon 850 chipset for ARM-powered Windows 10 laptops, but it won't stop there. The company is looking to hire people to work on Snapdragon 1000 chips, which will directly take on Intel's Core processors. As with the 850, they will use the larger physical size of laptops to push their TDP higher....

Lenovo Z5 market arrival scheduled for June 12

Lenovo Z5 is arriving on June 5, as confirmed on Monday. And a week later, on June 12, the phone is will already be available for purchase, according to a listing by the Chinese online retailer JD.com. The flash sale will begin at 10 AM, and chances are stock won't last more than a few minutes. Already more than 10,000 people registered their interest...

vivo NEX S is a toned-down version with Snapdragon 710, TENAA report confirms

Just the other day, the vivo NEX appeared on Geekbench with Snapdragon 710 contradicting the early reports and specs by vivo that listed the device with Snapdragon 845. This means only one thing, the vivo NEX will actually be a family of two devices - with SD845 and SD710. Thanks to the latest report from TENAA, we now know that the Snapdragon 710-powered...

Vivo launches Y83 in India, available across offline and online channels

vivo has launched the Y83 in India, the phone it launched in China last week. The Y83 is priced at INR 14,990 ($225) and will be available across online as well as offline retailers. The Y83 is a budget Android smartphone and packs a 6.22-inch 1520x720 resolution IPS display, MediaTek Helio P22 chipset, 4GB RAM and 32GB expandable storage. It also...

Motorola One Power specs and real-life photo leaked

Information about the upcoming Motorola-branded smartphone is scarce up until now and we've only seen the phone in a leaked press image. Well, we've now got a few bigger pieces of the puzzle - sum specs and real life photo of a prototype. We haven't seen the device going through any kind of certification - FCC, TENAA, 3C have all been pretty silent...

ARM unveils Cortex-A76 and Mali-G76 - higher performance, better power efficiency

Each year new flagships come out with new chipsets, which in turn require new cores. To that end, ARM unveiled a new big core - the Cortex-A76. And there's a new GPU too, the Mali-G76, along with a new video processor for the 8K future. Compared to a current Cortex-A75 (10 nm) running at 2.8 GHz, an A76 (7 nm) running at 3.0 GHz promises 35% higher...

A fresh batch of Moto Z3 Play and its Moto Mods renders reveal every possible angle

A few days ago, a couple of images appeared online showcasing the Moto Z3 Play but this new batch gives more details about the device and its Moto Mods. Two of them are already familiar but the rest are fresh. Moto Z3 Play renders The new leak confirms the Motorola branding on the lower chin as well as the support for Moto Mods, the glass back design,...

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) plagued by loudspeaker cutouts

A troubling amount of reports have surfaced about an apparent issue with the Galaxy A8 (2018). Users in the Samsung forum are complaining about a strange loudspeaker sound cutout after the February update. The issue can be observed mostly when the phone is being charged, but not only. The cutoffs happen when listening on the loudspeaker only - be...

vivo X21 FIFA World Cup Edition goes on sale

When it was announced last month, there was no clarity on whether or not the vivo X21 FIFA World Cup Edition will be made available to general public. Well, the good news is it will and it's up for grabs in China today. The official listing on vivo's China website reveals a price tag of CNY 3,698 ($576). Except for the cosmetic changes and a World...

Vivo is announcing NEX phone on June 12

Back in February at MWC, vivo showcased the APEX Concept Phone. Last week the manufacturer told us to mark June 12 on our calendars, and now we know why. The concept is turning into a mass-production smartphone, called vivo NEX. In a series of posts on the Chinese social media Weibo, vivo said the "pursuit of excellence never stops" and it is "creating...

Oreo update for Nvidia Shield TV halted over issues

Nearly a week after the Nvidia Shield TV started getting its Oreo update, the roll out has been halted. The confirmation came in the form of a reply from an Nvidia support rep on the company's official forum. Hi All, We've uncovered a couple issues thanks to feedback from our preview program that we'd like to fix prior to rolling out SHIELD TV Experience...

Upcoming Xiaomi Redmi Y2 to be Amazon Exclusive

Last month Xiaomi India announced a new Y phone is arriving on June 7. With less than a week until the launch, we found out the device will be an Amazon Exclusive. The accompanying images reveal the phone will have an impressive selfie camera with an LED flash and looking at the images, it sure looks like the Redmi S2. The Redmi Y2 is being teased...

Pixel Buds get a $30 price cut

Earlier this week, we told you about a Google Pixel Buds deal on Best Buy. While that promo is still running, what's good Google has also officially discounted the accessory. A quick look the Pixel Buds Google Store listing in the US reveals the earphones are now being sold for $129, which translates into a discount of $30 (same as what Best Buy...

Oppo teases its future flagship Find X

We haven't seen an Oppo Find flagship since the spring of 2014, but after numerous leaks throughout the last four years, a new device is finally coming. The company confirmed on Weibo its future flagship will come as the Find X, and later the Indian Oppo division backed the info with a Twitter post. Although it is way too early to guess any specs...

Samsung Galaxy J4 goes on sale in India for $150

The Samsung Galaxy J4 was quietly launched in India, and is currently only available through offline channels. According to Mumbai-based retailer Mahesh Telecom, the device costs INR 9,990 - the equivalent of $150. New Launch #SamsungGalaxyJ4 , now available for Rs.9990/- only (2GB/16GB) pic.twitter.com/3qct0QhKEb— Mahesh Telecom (@MAHESHTELECOM)...

Nokia completes Digital Health business sale

Nokia announced today that the deal for the Digital Health business was closed with Withings. The Finnish company sold the division back to its previous owners for an undisclosed sum. The licensing business of Nokia Technologies will not be affected, the current devices will keep selling, but new gadgets will sold under the Withings brand. Back in...

Posters reveal design and price of Samsung Galaxy A9 Star and A9 Star Lite

Well, that clears it up - leaked posters clarify which phone is the Galaxy A9 Star and which is the A9 Star Lite. And the posters provide launch info, including date and price. The Samsung Galaxy A9 Star is the SM-G8850, the one with the dual camera in the corner. It will cost CNY 3,500 ($545/€465) and pre-orders will run from June 7 to 14, sales...

Russian pre-orders for Nokia 3.1 are now live

Three new Nokia phone were unveiled in Moscow earlier this week - the Nokia 5.1, 3.1, and 2.1. While the first and the last will go on sale in July, the Nokia 3.1 will be released next month in June. And now, it's coming to light that pre-orders for the device are live in Russia. The phone costs RUB 11,990, which currently translates to $195. The...

Sony USB Type-C 2-in-1 cable now officially available from company's estore

Sony's 2-in-1 USB Type-C cable (EC270) is now available from the company's estore in Europe. For those who aren't aware, the accessory lets you charge your phone and listen to music at the same time. The dongle carries a price tag of £17.99 in the UK and €19.99 in other European countries. Keep in mind that the cable doesn't support quick charging....

Samsung Gear S3 update lets you answer calls by rotating bezel

A new update has started rolling out to the Samsung Gear S3. Weighing in at around 13.6MB, the update arrives as version R770XXU2CRE3 and R760XXU2CRE3 for the frontier and classic variants, respectively. The main new feature is the option to answer calls by rotating the bezel. The feature is enabled by default, and you need to rotate (clockwise)...

Samsung Galaxy S9 gets dual VoLTE support in India

Samsung Galaxy S9 arrived in India just a week after the official announcement at MWC. The flagship duo keeps receiving its monthly updates and the latest one brought dual VoLTE support. The software patch also brings some fixes and performance tweaks. According to the screenshot we got, the update for the Galaxy S9 is 426 MB in size and its version...

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) may jump straight to Oreo 8.1

Up until now, Samsung has released Oreo for many of its smartphones. The updates bumped the Android version to 8.0. However, now it looks like there may be some devices that will directly jump to Android 8.1. Case in point: a GFXBench listing for the Galaxy J5 (2017) that shows Android 8.1 on board. Previously, the Galaxy J5 (2016) also jumped straight...

DxOMark: Xiaomi Mi 8 beats the Samsung Galaxy S9+ in still shots

DxOMark released its extensive camera review of the fresh Xiaomi Mi 8 flagship. The device has gone through the test gauntlet scoring an outstanding 105 points in photo category and a very good 88 points in video recording. The overall score is 99, meaning that the Mi 8 shares the 4th place with the Galaxy S9+, which did better in video recording...

Google launches Neighbourly app exclusively in Mumbai

Google has launched Neighbourly, a beta app being exclusively launched first in Mumbai, India. Neighbourly is meant for asking hyper local queries to people in your locality. You can ask about a certain type of doctor, or a place to get a haircut or a place to purchase a certain item. Once your query is posted, people around you will see it in their...

Huawei Watch 2 (2018) unveiled: eSIM, nano-SIM and no SIM versions now available

The Huawei Watch 2 (2018) is official and not much has changed since the Watch 2 Pro. This model is available with nanoSIM or eSIM that connect the smart timepiece to 4G networks, plus a cheaper Bluetooth-only version. The screen is a 1.2" OLED with 390 x 390 px resolution, which is protected by Gorilla Glass. The watch weighs 57g and measures 45...

MIUI 10 announced - focus on gestures, camera enhancements and AI

Xiaomi just announced the next version of its Android launcher - MIUI 10. It's a long-anticipated version of Xiaomi's user interface as it is promised to reach a broad range of Xiaomi smartphones - not necessarily limited to new devices only. The first thing Xiaomi's representative stressed is the new UI being optimized for devices with high screen...

Google in discussion with iPhone manufacturer for its Pixel 3 series, says report

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Google is in talks with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn for its upcoming Pixel 3 series of smartphones. Hardware designing and software is being done in-house by the HTC team of engineers it acquired earlier this year. The report also offers some details on the Pixel 3 series, saying there'll be at least two...

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE unveiled - the first Snapdragon 710-powered smartphone

As expected, Xiaomi unveiled more than one smartphone on its event today but no one saw three devices coming at once - after the Mi 8 and Mi 8 Explorer Edition the company introduced the Mi 8 SE (Special Edition). Despite the name, it's actually a toned-down Mi 8 with a mid-range price and slightly downgraded hardware. On the positive side, the chassis...

Xiaomi Mi Band 3 arrives for $26

After the massive success of the ultra-affordable Xiaomi Mi Band 2, today the company introduced its successor, predictably called Mi Band 3. It keeps all key features like counting steps and measuring heart rate, and will also offer the ability to answer calls. Xiaomi Mi Band 3 official slides The Mi Band 3 has a 0.78" OLED panel with 128 x 80 pixel...

Xiaomi Mi 8 is official with 3D Face Unlock, dual GPS

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is official, confirming most of the rumors. The phone, celebrating the 8th anniversary of the Chinese company, comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, dual cameras and dual GPS. It is also the first official Xiaomi phone with a notch on the display that can be hidden with a toggle. The cutout is used for an in-house infrared solution...

T-Mobile offering $230 discount on Samsung Galaxy Note8

A nice Samsung Galaxy Note8 deal is currently available in the US. T-Mobile has the device listed for $720, down $230 from its usual asking price. You can pay in full, or choose the monthly payments route of $30/month for 24 months. A Available color options include black and gray. Storage capacity of the model on offer is 64GB. While T-Mobile's...

Nintendo launches cubist Pokemon Quest

Today, Nintendo announced the new Pokemon Quest game. Initially launched for Switch and currently available at the eShop, it will have a mobile version for smartphones that will appear on the Google Play Store and the App Store next month. Screenshots of the Pokemon Quest gameplay The aesthetics of the game are very similar to Minecraft. It allows...

OnePlus may bring back the always-on display feature in Android P

After the backlash OnePlus received due to the removal of the always-on display feature on its OnePlus 6, the company has said that it will be bringing it back with Android P beta, sort of. As you can see, the OnePlus employee didn't say that the feature will be included in the next major update for sure. Probably the company will be carrying out...

Xiaomi Mi Band 3 supports raise to wake

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is the fourth Mi Band - there was the Mi Band 1, the Mi Band 1S that introduced a heart rate sensor, the Mi Band 2 that brought the display and now the Mi Band 3. And just like its predecessor, the Mi Band 3 will support raise to wake. It's a simple but powerful feature - raise your wrist towards your face and the screen will...

Asus chooses OK Go's front man for its cool ZenFone 5 commercial

If you are not living in a rural area without an Internet connection, the chances are you've stumbled upon Youtube's sensation OK Go - a music formation with creative music videos that took over the video sharing platform by storm. Well, Asus has teamed up with the group's lead singer, Damian Kulash to deliver an awesome promo video called "1 Man,...

OnePlus 6's face unlock gets fooled by a photo

Ever since Apple did it, everyone jumped on the "Face Unlock" bandwagon. Except, unlike Apple, most just rely on the selfie camera and no additional hardware for a proper biometric authentication. And that just doesn't offer the same level of security. @rik demonstrated that a OnePlus 6 will happily unlock with just a photograph of a face. Even a...

LG V35 ThinQ quietly unveiled: a V30S with Snapdragon 845

The LG V35 ThinQ was just unveiled without much fanfare. It switches to the latest Snapdragon 845 chipset, but other than that it is largely identical to the LG V30S ThinQ, which itself was mostly identical to the original LG V30 save for the upgrade to 6 GB of RAM. The V35 keeps the 6" FullVision OLED display with HDR10 support. The camera department...

Xiaomi Mi 8 launch markets announced, as new teaser video appears

Xiaomi is launching its anniversary flagship Mi 8 tomorrow and teasers and leaks keep flooding the internet. Two short clips, merged in a single video about the precise location capabilities of the phone appeared on YouTube. The new device will probably have even better navigation thanks to the rumored dual GPS receiver, because the overall topic...

Samsung Galaxy S10 might have a piezoelectric speaker, like the Mi Mix

Samsung is reportedly working on its own under the display speaker technology, called Sound on Display. This is the tech Xiaomi used in the original Mi Mix and it uses piezoelectric vibrations to emit sound through the screen to your ear. Maybe Samsung is working towards having an all-screen front on the Galaxy S10? However that speaker proved inferior...