Honor Note 10 launch scheduled for July 31

Honor just announced on its Weibo account that the Note 10 will be unveiled in Beijing on July 31. The event will be exclusively for the Chinese market, with the global event taking place in Berlin on August 30, as we already told you yesterday. The post says to prepare for an AI flagship with big screen that will arrive in just 10 days. Size-wise the display is rumored to be AMOLED panel by Samsung with a 6.9" diagonal. According to a leaked photo from earlier this week, the Honor Note 10 is expected to have tiny bezels on top and bottom and even tinier on the sides. The phone...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/honor_note_10_launch_july_31-news-32327.php

Waze now compatible with Android Auto app

Waze finally gets an Android Auto version that works on the standalone app. The Android Auto app lets anyone with an Android phone use a hands-free optimized interface for basic communication and music controls when mounted to a dashboard. Previously, the app was only compatible with head units equipped for Android Auto. But about a couple of weeks or so ago, according to Android Police, an update to Waze added support for the app. When you go into the Android Auto car dash mode, you should see Waze as a second option for navigation. Let us know if you'd rather use Waze...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/waze_now_compatible_with_android_auto_app-news-32326.php

Instagram adds green dot on profile pictures to show you who's online

Because you obviously aren't using Instagram enough, the Facebook-owned service has added a helpful new feature that should make it even harder to ever leave its interface. From now on, a green dot will show up on in the bottom right corner of the profile pictures of the people who are currently online and using the app. The dot will be seen in Instagram Direct as well as your friend list when you share a post from the feed. According to Instagram, the dot will let you know when your friends are available to chat. And we assume the hope here is that you'll use Direct instead of...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/instagram_adds_green_dot_on_profile_pictures_to_show_you_whos_online-news-32325.php

Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium arrives in the UK in late September

Sony unveiled the flagship Xperia XZ2 Premium in April, and it's expected to become available in the US at the end of this month. While we've seen it on pre-order in some other places, so far it hasn't received anything resembling a global launch. That may slowly change in the coming weeks, however. Clove, an online retailer from the UK, has just announced that the phone is due to land in that country at some point in late September. It will carry a price tag of £799 VAT included, for a SIM-free unit. If you want to pre-order one right now, you can by visiting the Source linked...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz2_premium_arrives_in_the_uk_in_late_september-news-32324.php

SoftBank and Leica invest $121 million in Light, smartphone coming by year's end

Light has been ahead of the curve - it introduced a camera with 16 lenses back in 2015, before LG kicked off the multi-camera craze in the smartphone world with the G5 in 2016 (and most phones are still at 2). Now the company has scored a sizable $121 million Series D round lead by SoftBank's Vision Fund (but Leica also participated). A smartphone with Light's technology is set to launch by the end of the year. It won't go up to 16, but the smartphone tech supports up to a still-insane 9 cameras. Concept of a Light-powered phone camera • Automotive applications are also on the...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/softbank_and_leica_invest_121_million_in_light_smartphone_coming_by_years_end-news-32323.php

Huawei working on smartphone with a display hole for the camera instead of a notch

According to a Korean media outlet, Huawei is working on a strange smartphone design that could potentially mean the end of a notch era. But don't get too excited, because what follows might be even worse. The design features a display cutout for the camera, only this time it's smaller and surrounded by screen on all sides. Instead of placing the front-facing snapper on the notch, the engineers want to put it away from the top bezel so they can squeeze a bit more display on the front and get rid of the notch. This concept might introduce an entirely new problem. For example, how...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_working_on_smartphone_with_a_display_hole_for_the_camera_instead_of_a_notch-news-32322.php