Google wiil charge OEMs for pre-loading its GApps

And it's happening - Google is forced to charge its OEMs for distributing its GApps in the EU after being fined with €4.3 billion. Sundar Pichai did confirm that the company has to start charging Android manufacturers for pre-installing apps like Play Store, YouTube, Drive, Maps, etc., but Google's search and Chrome will remain free of charge as...

A Honor smartwatch is incoming

Earlier today the upcoming Honor Magic 2 Fullview display, slider smartphone was teased yet again, reminding us of its upcoming October 31 release date. As per a newly uncovered banner, it turns out the Magic 2 won't be the only Honor device to be unveiled at the event. Clearly, the banner doesn't reveal much about the Honor Watch, but with some...

Two new vivo phones stop by TENAA

Shortly after the vivo Z3 launch, the Chinese vendor is prepping up another release for the mid-range segment. Actually, a TENAA listing tells a story of two devices with different model numbers (V1818A and V1818T) and identical specs. Supposedly, one of them is aimed at a carrier. A 6.22-inch IPS display with 720 x 1520 (HD+) resolution takes up...

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) listed on TENAA

Usefulness, justification and your personal feelings on the matter aside, the Galaxy A9 (2018) officially holds the "the world's first quad camera smartphone" title and for better or worse has its sales pitch all lined up out of the gate. Now, all that remains is for Samsung to expand availability further and hope the hook works. The process is clearly...

Nokia 8.1 spotted on GFXBench, rocking a Snapdragon 710

HMD Global has been on somewhat of an announcement spree lately, unveiling the Nokia 7.1, Nokia 3.1 Plus and, most recently, the Nokia X7 (7.1 Plus) in a matter of weeks since the beginning of October. Now an intriguing GeekBench listing appears to detail yet another upcoming HMD device - the Nokia 8.1. It's a pretty fresh test run as well, dating...

Yet another Honor Magic 2 teaser video pops up online

The Honor Magic 2 is still shrouded in quite a bit of mystery, in the absence of any detailed specs leaks or a TENAA listing. Honor has, however, already made it abundantly clear that it intends to mount an online "Viral Marketing" campaign for the handset to the best of its abilities. We can't really attest as to how well it's actually working out...

OnePlus 6T will be unveiled a day early thanks to Apple

OnePlus was all busy preparing for its big event on October 30 in New York, where its next smartphone was finally supposed to become 100% official. And then Apple announced an event on the exact same day, in the same city even. Because of that, the OnePlus 6T's unveiling is now taking place a day early, on October 29, still in NYC. Pete Lau, the...

Huawei Mate 20 Pro's face unlocking gets fooled quite easily

2D face unlocking (the type built into Android for the past few years) is not very secure, and we've known that for some time. But ever since Apple introduced the world's first 3D system (which it calls Face ID), we were under the impression that it was pretty much on par, security-wise, with a fingerprint scanner. You can then imagine our surprise...

iPhone XR shipping dates already slipping back

Pre-orders for the new "budget" iPhone XR have just started and the stock is already depleting, pushing multiple versions's shipping dates to up to two weeks. Analysts earlier this year predicted that this will be the best-selling iPhone and it has the potential with a price tag of $749, which is considerably less expensive than the $999+ iPhone...

Samsung is working on an in-display front-facing camera

Waterdrop notches are replacing the original big cutouts lately and now we get to see what comes next. 2019 will probably be the year when holes in the displays becoming trendy with in-display cameras and sensors. According to the latest intel, Samsung is already working on that. Great news! Samsung established the direction of mobile phone design...

Asus ROG Phone pre-orders begin, Italians get €100 credit for accessories

The Asus ROG Phone has two USB-C ports - the extra one is for accessories. And there are plenty of them. To that end, pre-ordering from Asus Italy between October 18 (today) and October 24, you'll get €100 credit for accessories. The phone itself is €900 for the 8/256GB version, you can see it here. The retail box comes with the AeroActive Cooler,...

Apple Watch charger with USB-C now on sale

Apple's Apple Watch Series 4 just gained a new friend. Up until now, it was sold with an USB-A charger in three lengths, but now the company introduced a version with USB-C without changing the price of $29. The very same charger, but with a new cable A 1-meter and 2-meter cable lengths are unavailable yet, but hopefully, Apple will add them soon....

Deals: eBay UK and Ireland offers 10% off site-wide (ends later today)

There's another site-wide promo running on eBay for the UK and Ireland and this one has a Halloween flavor to it. Using the PUMPKINS coupon code, you can get 10% off any purchase. The usual conditions apply - you need to spend at least £20 and the discount is capped at £50. Note that the deal ends at 10:00pm BST, so there's not much time left. There's...

Leaked Mi Mix 3 photos show rear fingerprint reader and dual front cameras

Xiaomi's Mi Mix 3 should be here in less than a week but thanks to the leaked set of live photos and a press render, we have a pretty good idea of what we'll see at the event. Now the first live image is here to reveal a dual front-facing camera setup accommodated on the slider and a full-screen design, which we already knew about. A press render...

Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro review

It's been almost nine months since the Redmi Note 5 series premiered, and it's already time for an upgrade. The Redmi Note 6 Pro is now official, shaking up the lineup with one of the most recognizable and controversial features on the market - a frame-to-frame display with a notch. Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/xiomi_redmi_note_6_pro-revie...

TSMC expects 7nm chips to account for 20% of its 2019 revenues

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) held an investor meeting, announcing more than 50 chip designs of the 7nm process technology will be issued by the end of 2018. The increase in interest for the new manufacturing process will raise its revenue share up to 20% for the new process only in Q4 2018, amassing for nearly 10% in the calendar...

OnePlus is giving you a chance of winning the OP6T by... tapping?

OnePlus is famous for its promo contests and we are now just getting a new one. It's all about tapping on your screen and the more you tap, the bigger chances of winning the upcoming OnePlus 6T. All you have to do is sign up on unlock.oneplus.com from your mobile device and start tapping. All users participating are tapping for a common milestone...

New mysterious Oppo shines on TENAA

Oppo keeps expanding its portfolio with new phone. The cheap-to-midrange field is getting extremely crowded after the arrival of Oppo F9, later relaunched as Oppo A7x in China, the appearance of the Oppo K1, the new Realme 2 Pro and now another phone is on its way, according to TENAA. Oppo PBFM00 A device with the model numbers PBFM00 and PBFT00...

Samsung's Galaxy Book2 is powered by SD850 chip and comes with an S Pen

Samsung announced the Galaxy Book2 - a follow up of the original Galaxy Book that launched last year and it wants to take on Microsoft's Surface Pro with a secret weapon under the hood - Qualcomm's brand new Snapdragon 850 SoC that promises good performance and great efficiency - while still powering a full-fledged Windows 10 OS. And even though...

Apple iPhone XR pre-order starts today

Apple announced the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and the iPhone XR in September. While the first two are already out on the market and selling, the third device was scheduled to arrive in the second half of October. Now the time has come, and the iPhone XR is finally available for pre-order. The first wave of arrival consists of 50 countries and regions,...

Samsung Galaxy Book2 arrives with Snapdragon 850 and Gigabit LTE

Today Samsung has made the Galaxy Book2 official. The 2-in-1 is the successor to the original Galaxy Book which was unveiled in February 2017. This device is basically the Korean company's competitor to Microsoft's Surface Pro, but with a twist - it's powered by a Qualcomm SoC, unlike its predecessor which opted for an Intel Core m3. The Snapdragon...

OnePlus 6T might work on Verizon, would be the first OnePlus ever to do that

According to past rumors, the OnePlus 6T will be the Chinese company's first ever device to be offered by a US network - T-Mobile, that is. But that's apparently not the only exciting new OnePlus 6T US carrier-related development. A report today says that according to "multiple different industry sources", the 6T will also be the first OnePlus handset...

Apple is announcing new iPads and Macs on October 30

Apple is holding a brand new launch event on October 30 in New York City, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As usual, the company has only released a cryptic teaser image alongside the invite, and you can see it below. Obviously this will be a product launch, and since new iPhones and Apple Watches were unveiled last month, what could this possibly...

iPhone XS and XS Max sales strong, split evenly

If you were wondering how Apple's iPhone XS and XS Max were doing, sales-wise, a new report from CIRP comes to shed some light on the matter. Here's the gist of it: sales were strong until the end of the third quarter, and split evenly between the two models. In the ten days that they were available out of Q3, they each accounted for 8% of US iPhone...

AnTuTu lists September's top 10 best performing Android phones

September has passed and AnTuTu is out with its monthly report on the top 10 best-performing Android smartphones and there's a bit of a movement compared to the August ranking. Now Asus' ROG Phone takes the first place mostly due to its overclocked CPU on the Snapdragon 845 platform. Instead of running the four big cores at 2.8 GHz, the ROG Phone's...

DxOMark gives the LG G7 ThinQ just a touch better score than the LG V30

LG G7 ThinQ's camera is just a tad better than last year's V30 flagship phone from the company, according to DxOMark's thorough testing. The handset got 83 points on the photo section and 79 on the video forming a total score of 83. That's just one point ahead of the V30 and on par with Sony's Xperia XZ Premium - an early 2017 flagship from the Japanese...

Indian Huawei Mate 20 Pro launch set for next month

Huawei announced today that it will be launching the Mate 20 Pro smartphone in India next month. The company press release was very light on details - there isn't even an exact date inside. Also, while the press release mentioned "devices" being launched, it only mentioned the Mate 20 Pro by name, so we are not sure how many of the four new Mate...

Deal: Refurbished Apple iPhone 6 for £125, iPhone X for £643 on eBay

The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are great, but their price tags are bordering on the absurd. Luckily, we've now got a couple of deals for those looking to gain entry in Apple's iOS on a tighter budged. eBay has promos for refurbished iPhone X and iPhone 6, allowing you to save a some cash. The iPhone 6 goes for as low as £124.99, while the iPhone...

Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 hits India

Samsung's premium 10.5-inch tablet, Galaxy Tab S4, just arrived on Indian soil three months after its initial release. The company is making the device available for purchase starting today at its online shop and offline retailers. However, if you are willing to wait, the tablet will be offered on Amazon.in starting October 20 with a price tag of...

Android 9 Pie comes to Sony Xperia XZ1 on October 26

Last week the Sony Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact got their Android Pie serving and today the company announced that it's about to add more phones to the list. A trio of former flagships will receive Pie starting October 26 - the Xperia XZ Premium, the Xperia XZ1, and the Xperia XZ1 Compact. Ten days later the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium will get...

Lenovo S5 Pro and K5 Pro official with dual cameras, stereo speakers, large batteries

Lenovo unveiled two new phones today, the S5 Pro and K5 Pro, mid-rangers at slightly different price point but with similar features. Both have a clear focus on photography and pack side-firing stereo speakers along with decently-sized batteries with fast charging. Oh, and we got a couple of watches alongside them too. Lenovo S5 Pro The Lenovo S5...

Xiaomi Black Shark 2's October 23 announcement officially confirmed

Just the other day a leaked Xiaomi Black Shark 2 poster suggested that the launch date is going to be October 23 and now we have an official confirmation that the handset is indeed coming 5 days from now. You can see the teaser poster that was published earlier today on Weibo coming straight from Black Shark. Unfortunately, the post doesn't say anything...

Vertu comes back to life with Aster P Android smartphone

Vertu is back - the luxurious maker introduced a new smartphone with pompous design and massive price tag. At a launch party in Beijing the company announced the Aster P with titanium alloy frame, sapphire glass screen and back panels from real leather. Internals are nowhere as flashy, but they aren't bad either - Snapdragon 660, 12 MP camera and...

Google Pixel 3's OLED panel is LG-made, teardown reveals

After the Google Pixel 3 XL teardown from iFixit, here comes the Pixel 3 disassembly. The smaller brother appears to be built similarly to the XL, but there are some key differences. The repairability score is the same 4/10, suggesting you'll probably need to resort to a specialist if it comes to repairs. For now, there's only a video showing the...

Essential cuts 30% of its workforce

Essential canceled its PH-2 smartphone back in May and now the company is cutting 30% of its staff, according to Bloomberg. The reductions will affect all divisions, including hardware, marketing, and sales. The business media reported earlier Essential is switching its focus to an AI-based smartphone. Is Essential falling apart? Essential's website...

Caviar adds a skeleton watch to iPhone XS and XS Max

The Russian company Caviar, known for its custom premium iPhone redesigns just announced another over-the-top version of the recently released iPhone XS and XS Max. This time the company slapped an open-mechanism skeleton watch on the back. They are part of the company's new Grand Complications Skeleton lineup. The customization comes in three different...

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 camera samples and teaser video appear

Next week Xiaomi is announcing its Mi Mix 3 flagship with a slider design. We've already seen the teasers about 5G support and 10 GB RAM, and we know the phone will have fast face unlocking features. Latest info comes from the company founder Lin Bin who posted two camera samples on his Weibo profile. They show the portrait mode in action, although...

Sony Xperia XZ3 is finally available in the US, yours for $899.99

Sony's Xperia XZ3 is available in the US in unlocked form starting today. That's quite a delay compared to the initially outed release date of September 24, but hey, better late(r) than never. The phone has been up for pre-order in the States for almost a month now. You can pick one up from Amazon or Best Buy. You'll have to pay $899.99 for the privilege...

OnePlus 6T will have a special night mode for better low-light photography

The OnePlus 6T is due to get official at the end of the month, and little tidbits about it are being outed daily at this point. Now a new report says we should expect to see a dedicated night mode in the camera app, which will aid in creating much better low-light shots. This information supposedly comes straight from a OnePlus representative, so...

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 will have 1080x2340 screen resolution

Xiaomi is officially announcing the Mi Mix 3 next week, and the company's teaser campaign for its next flagship smartphone is now in full swing. It's already revealed that we should expect the top version to come with a whopping 10GB of RAM. 5G support should also be in, in some form or another. Today the company's product marketing director for...

Huawei Mate 20 Pro camera samples: testing out the new triple camera

The weather in London didn't cooperate, but we still managed to shoot some camera samples with the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in better light than we had at last night's event. The phone has three cameras and they offer a lot of versatility, regardless of whether or not you want to call it 5x zoom. So, let's see how close you can get to a subject. We start...

Nokia 7.1 spotted running Geekbench with Android 9.0 Pie

Nokia's mid-ranger, the Nokia 7.1, was announced just this month and it runs pure Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. Some were disappointed to see the handset with Oreo instead of Pie given that the latter was officially released back in August but HMD Global assured swift update to the latest version. Just over two weeks have passed, and we are already...

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S starts receiving Android Pie

A new update was pushed to the Mi Mix 2S units in China and it's a big one - the official Twitter account of MIUI announced the phone is the first by the company to receive Android Pie. The Mi Mix 2S is getting performance and AI improvements like Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Brightness, thanks to the new OS. There are also smart suggestions for...

Why Huawei's NM cards mean you don't get to expand the Mate 20 storage

Yesterday's event in London was a busy one for Huawei. The company announced 4 phones, a smartwatch, a smartband and a new memory card standard dubbed Nano Memory card (NM). Huawei's Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro both come with the new standard to replace the microSD card. And it's a move that will cause plenty of inconvenience without any significant...

Check out this neat Oppo R17 promo video

Oppo R17 appeared with a tiny notch and an under-display fingerprint scanner back in August and appeared in stores in early September. The phone was initially available for purchase in China, but now it's preparing to go global. Or so we assume, going by today's video on the official YouTube channel that highlights some of the key features of the...

Short video demos Xiaomi Mi Mix 3's face unlock feature

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 will be unveiled a week from now, but we've seen the phone many times already. Here's another look at it, complete with a new trick. The third generation Mix will keep the trademark bezel-less design and continue to avoid notches by moving the camera to a manual slider. The phone will support face unlock and, as you can see in...

MediaTek's Helio P70 coming soon with more advanced AI hardware, insiders claim

The Helio P60 was announced this February and proved to be a popular chipset (it's already used in 15 phones), but MediaTek will reportedly introduce a sequel by the end of this month. The Helio P70 will be very similar to the P60 - it will be built on the same 12nm process and will feature an octa-core processor (four A73 and four A53) plus a Mali-G72...

Xiaomi Pocophone F1 US pre-orders open, but you don't get LTE

Xiaomi Pocophone F1 arrived in August with a Snapdragon 845 and a hard-to-believe price tag of $300. Eventually, it went up to €370 for the 6/128 GB variant in Europe, and now the phone made its way to the United States. The most affordable SD845-powered phone appeared on B&H Photo Video's website for $370 with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. Sadly,...

Montblanc Summit 2 is the first watch with Wear 3100 chipset

The Montblanc Summit 2 is the first smartwatch to use the new Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset. The watch design is inspired by the 1848 chronograph and comes in a 42mm unisex case. The Summit 2 features a 1.2" AMOLED display with 390 x 390px resolution (327ppi). It features exclusive watch faces inspired by the 1858 timepieces, but also business, feminine...

Xiaomi officially confirms: Mi Mix 3 will have 5G support and 10GB of RAM

Remember that cryptic teaser poster from yesterday? Well, it didn't take long for Xiaomi to confirm that we read it right - the Mi Mix 3 will be among the first 5G-supporting smartphones on the market as well as the first one to feature 10GB of RAM. The first official confirmation of the 5G support comes from Xiaomi Spain while the 10GB of RAM rumor...