Counterclockwise: gaming phones vs. portable consoles, fight!

Gaming phones are back and this time they look here to stay. The industry has seen several attempts at the genre, but some of them are remembered as a joke, others had their fans, but simply fizzled out. Nokia's first entry was modest - the Nokia 6110 introduced Snake to the world. But it was with the Nokia N-Gage that the Finns seriously tried to challenge Nintendo. Let's see how well they did. In the red corner, the N-Gage has what came to be known as the "taco" form factor. The D-pad on the side was a nice touch, but the buttons on the right were uncomfortable to use. The phone...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/counterclockwise_gaming_phones_vs_portable_consoles_fight-news-34508.php

Google confirms there are no plans of shutting down Hangouts, sort of

Yesterday, we reported that Google will be shutting down Hangouts in 2020. This based on a report by 9to5Google. Google Real Time Communications product lead Scott Johnston confirmed on Twitter, however, that this is untrue. According to Johnston, Google has made no decision to shut down Hangouts. Instead, Hangouts users will be transitioned to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. https://t.co/QgYfj03ADnHey @hallstephenj, I run Hangouts and this is pretty shoddy reporting. No decisions made about when Hangouts will be shut down. Hangouts users will be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/google_confirms_there_are_no_plans_of_shutting_down_hangouts_sort_of-news-34509.php

Week 48 in review: Infinity-O leaks galore, Realme U1 is official

As we enter the last month of the year we find ourselves in the middle of the race to announce the first phone with a camera cutout in the screen is heating up. Samsung will premiere its Infinity-O display with the Galaxy A8s. Whether that display will be an AMOLED or an LCD manufactured by BOE remains to be seen. It's also unclear if the Galaxy A8s will become official before the year's. Meanwhile, Huawei swooped-in and declared that it has a phone with a screen cutout that will become official in December. Smart money is on that phone being the nova 4. Samsung's main focus is still...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/week_48_in_review_infinityo_leaks_galore_realme_u1_is_official-news-34493.php

Weekly poll results: holes in the screen are the new crowd favorite

People are excited about screen holes - that option won last week's poll with nearly half the votes. The holes proved quite a bit more popular, people consider them less obtrusive than even the most petite teardrop notch (as for wide notches, they are getting voted off the island). We expect to see several makers launch smartphones with a hole in their screen for the selfie camera. There are a few teasers floating around, but the promo campaigns are just starting - so all this excitement was generated with very little effort. Still, we're yet to actually see such a phone, let alone use...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_results_holes_in_the_screen_are_the_new_crowd_favorite-news-34489.php

Huawei Honor Magic 2 in for review

Honor held an event at IFA in Berlin where alongside the global launch of Honor Play, it teased Honor Magic 2. George Zhao, the company CEO, pulled the slider out of the pocket and left everyone surprised and shocked. It was made official two months later and now we finally have it with us. The key selling point of the Honor Magic 2 is the sliding front panel - the front part goes down to uncover three selfie cameras - yes, you read that correctly - 16 MP main shooter and two 2 MP additional snappers for background blur. To protect the mechanism from accidental slides, you can't just...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_honor_magic_2_in_for_review-news-34491.php

OnePlus 6T vs. 5T vs. 3T

The evolution of T - OnePlus' interim model for the fall that's neither quite the next generation, nor is it entirely the old one. It all started with the 3T, the T jokingly there to one-up Apple's S, and we're now a couple of Ts later at 6T.

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_6t_5t_3t_evolution-review-1861.php