Notebook, Smartphone, and Tablet News

Concerned Xperia owners who were experiencing intermittent stripes appearing on the displays of their flagship XZ1 and XZ2 phones have been told by Sony that static electricity build up is the cause. The stripes aren't considered a defect and aren't a sign of any pending malfunctions.

The Californian AI firm Bonsai achieved a few major breakthroughs in the field of industrial machine learning over the last years and will be joining Microsoft to help the latter in building better autonomous systems. As it usually happens with such deals, the financial terms have not been unveiled.

Although Frank Azor said that the Dell XPS 15 9570 would become available in India on June 19, he has just confirmed that the company is facing supply shortages. A Twitter user also claims that Dell India removed the product page shortly after it went online, so this delay is most likely a short one.

Oppo has followed in the footsteps of Huawei by partnering with a prestige automobile house to co-brand one of its phones. The new Oppo Find X Lamborghini Edition features high-end materials and is the first smartphone to feature ultra-rapid Super VOOC battery charging.

In an interview to GamesIndustry.biz, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer for Gaming, Mike Nichols, said that there are no immediate plans to bring VR/MR capabilities to the Xbox consoles. Nichols feels that VR/MR is more suited to the PC and the focus currently at Xbox is to enhance the experiences on the TV.

The industry's first NF1 NVMe SSD that has just been introduced by Samsung is optimized for data-intensive analytics and virtualization applications, targeting next-gen data centers and enterprise servers. This drive provides twice the capacity of the current M.2 NVMe SSD for about the same size.

Facebook-owned Instagram has launched IGTV — a new app for sharing and viewing videos on the platform. IGTV enables users to take vertical full screen videos that can last up to an hour with each creator being the channel. Users can follow other creators or upload their own videos to IGTV.

Xiaomi launched the new iteration of its skin, MIUI 10, a short while ago. While most devices will receive the skin update, it doesn't guarantee an OS update to Oreo.

The LG Stylo 4's kernel source code has revealed the existence of an Android One device made by the company. This will be the first of its kind from LG, and could very well be a T-Mobile exclusive.

Samsung is said to be working on producing its own in-house GPUs. Till now, Exynos chipsets have been paired with ARM's Mali GPUs. This move will bring Samsung one step closer to challenging Qualcomm in the SoC market.

According to an official statement, Huawei has sold six million P20 smartphones. The device became available for purchase about three months ago, so this is surprisingly good returns for the company.

Want the fastest black-white and gray-to-gray response times on your next gaming laptop purchase? Then Asus will be the only option for now. The manufacturer has partnered with AU Optronics to offer 144 Hz/3 ms panels exclusively for Asus notebooks like the ROG Scar II, Hero II, and Zephyrus GM501. Competitors will not be able to get their hands on the same panel option from AUO until at least a year later.

The guys over at HKEPC revealed that the Threadripper 2990X 43-core CPU is running at 3.4 GHz by default and can go up to 4.0 GHz in boost mode. It also comes with 40 MB L2+L3 cache memory and a TDP of only 250 W. According to Cinebench R15, the AMD chip is a bit faster than Intel's 28-core processor at stock frequencies.

Nvidia may deny the imminent release of their next gen gaming GPUs all they want, however, more evidence for a Q3 2018 GTX 11xx release has recently been unveiled by Power Logic's CEO. The largest GPU air cooling provider on the market is expecting a considerable increase in cooler shipments in the second half of 2018, essentially confirming Nvidia's and AMD's next gen GPU arrival.

A leaked picture of what could be the Huawei Mate 20 is doing the rounds online and apparently, the device does not sport a notched display. A sketch of the Mate 20 has also leaked revealing a dual camera setup with an LED flash in between the lenses. Further details are scarce at this point but the smartphone is expected to be powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 980.

AMD has discretely revealed the Radeon PRO V340 — a dual Vega 10 multi-GPU card with 32 GB HBM2 memory. The Radeon PRO V340 is being targeted for virtualization applications with support for up to 32 concurrent users and hardware encode capabilities for H.264 and H.265 video while providing a built-in security processor for isolating the virtualized environment from the cloud provider.

Although Google Play Music began offering podcasts a few years ago, the internet search giant did not offer a standalone podcast player until now. Google Podcasts is a free Android app that integrates with Google Assistant across multiple devices and provides personalized recommendations to its users.

Buyers who have opted for the OnePlus 6 trade-in program were seen getting multiple voucher breakups instead of a single voucher for the exchange amount. This is causing problems as the trade-in program allows using only one voucher. OnePlus is known to have acknowledged this issue and is working on a resolution.

Meizu CEO Jack Wong has confirmed that the company will build on the success of the recently released Meizu 15 devices with a pair of direct successors in the Meizu 16 and 16 Plus. One of the devices will feature a Snapdragon 845.

OPPO unveiled the Find X yesterday at an event in Paris. A solid flagship, the Find X features a never-before-seen sliding camera mechanism. It will likely make its way to the US in the coming months, and could come with price tag of over US$1000.

Xiaomi is set to unveil three new devices in the coming weeks. The Mi Pad 4 and Redmi 6 Pro are confirmed for a June 25 launch and will be followed by the Mi Max 3 shortly after.

Last week, Asus released its Zenfone Ares device. The AR-centric smartphone serves as a cheaper alternative to the Zenfone AR that was released last year, and offers incredible bang for buck in the process.

AMD will be providing Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition driver updates for its 'Raven Ridge' APUs in a quarterly cadence as opposed to more frequent updates for its Radeon GPUs. This was clarified by an AMD rep to a user's query on the OverclockersUK forum. The drivers, however, will be delivered as WHQL certified releases.

Adobe announced a new cross-platform video editing app codenamed Project Rush. Project Rush brings the best features of industry leading software such as Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition along with access to Adobe Stock into one seamless interface.

Back in January 2017, Google decided to integrate Uber into the popular Maps service. Now, this feature has been silently removed without any prior warning. There is no official reason for this move yet, but it is very likely that this move involves financial disagreements between Google and Uber.

The ThinkPad T, X, and P families are home to Lenovo's more well-known models including the 14-inch T480, 15-inch T580, X380 convertible, and 15-inch P52 workstation. While their design, features, and performance are generally very well received, many may be unfit for users who are sensitive to flickering lights. Be wary when purchasing the following ThinkPad models.

Realtek is almost ready to launch a more affordable all-in-one USB dock for laptops. The latest prototype features a 10 Gb/s USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 main port splits the bandwidth across a great selection of connectors. Even though there is no Thudnerbolt 3 support, all the connector chips are proprietary, so the dock should feature a sub-US$100 price.

Tron's creator Justin Sun hopes to make the Internet more decentralized and in order to further this plan he just bought BitTorrent Inc. The popular peer-to-peer sharing platform combined with blockchain tech could revolutionize the way people access data over the Internet and may give a significant boost to the Tron coin adoption.

Available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, Android-x86 8.1-rc1 brings Android 8.1 Oreo to most devices that have not been designed with this mobile operating system in mind, including desktops and portable computers. However, this version is the first release candidate build and comes with a few issues.

References to few upcoming AMD parts have been spotted in the Ashes of the Singularity DirectX 12 benchmark database. These include new 35W quad core chips such as the AMD Ryzen 7 2800H and Ryzen 5 2600H signalling AMD's arrival in the gaming laptop market. Some references to Vega 20 and Vega 12 GPUs were also spotted in the same database.

The Westworld game for mobile devices is supposed to launch officially on June 21st, but it can be downloaded, installed, and played already in some markets. This title is similar to Fallout Shelter and involves many characters and locations that are familiar for the fans of the Westworld TV series.

The KNote5 is probably the most affordable tablet powered by the Celeron N4100 CPU on the market right now. It also comes with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, plus the integrated UHD Graphics 600 GPU.What really makes this a great deal is the all-in-one keyboard offered together with the tablet, while the 4,000 mAh battery provides enough juice for 10 hours of use.

Since VR is already quite a mature technology, Microsoft intends to make its mixed reality headset more affordable for the masses. The next gen HoloLens should debut in early 2019, with improved holographic displays, a lighter frame and most likely featuring Qualcomm's latest XR1 chip. MSRP should go down below US$1,000.

Despite all the leaks and rumors about the successor of the iPhone SE, it seems that Apple has recently decided to stop its development. Insiders familiar with the inner workings of the Cupertino giant mention that three other handsets are in the making, all featuring large screens (between 5.8 and 6.5 inches in size).

The Intel Hades Canyon NUC is finally getting a direct competitor in the form of the Chuwi HiGame. The manufacturer has gathered enough backers over the last few months to finally commit to an August launch window. Backers will be able to buy the Core i5-8305G SKU for $900 USD or a full $400 off the final retail price.

The 2.45-inch Android smartphone will carry all the mainstream features of a modern smartphone including NFC, Gorilla Glass, USB Type-C, FM radio, IP68 certification, 4G LTE, Android 8.1 Oreo, Bluetooth 4.2, and even a fingerprint sensor for just $160 USD. The design suggests it to be a spiritual successor to the Unihertz Jelly series.

While the US market remains stuck at only four configurations directly available from Dell.com for this popular Cofee Lake-powered premium laptop, India is scheduled to receive the XPS 15 9570 next Tuesday. However, Frank Azor has not confirmed yet how many hardware setups will be available on launch.

Samsung has updated its Chromebook Plus to Version 2.0. While it picks up some new features, its display gets a notable downgrade from a QHD resolution to FHD.

The Mi 5X was rebranded to become the Android One Mi A1 last year and, with the launch of the Mi 6X two months ago, most have come to expect the existence of a Mi A2, a direct successor to the Mi A1. Those dreams may become reality soon, as such a device has been spotted.

A fatal vulnerability has been discovered on the new OnePlus 6, one that allows the flashing of unsigned boot images on the device even when the bootloader is locked.

LG has finally begun sales of its new mid-range devices, the Q7 and Q7+. While not particularly underwhelming smartphones, both devices come with less than enticing price tags.

Sony’s first-party studio, Naughty Dog, has announced that its game, The Last of US, has sold 17 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. The game was released back in July 2013 and a sequel is in the works.

A comprehensive report has shown Samsung’s dominance over the global smartphone market in Q1 2018, Xiaomi’s almost palpable growth, and the extreme competition in the Asian smartphone market.

A document detailing OPPO’s next flagship, the OPPO Find X, has surfaced. The device will be powered by a Snapdragon 845, and will come with most of the features you’d expect to find on a current-gen mainstream flagship.

According to new information, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will see a massive bump in battery capacity this year. Of course, nothing is official at the moment, but it’d be surprising to not see something of the sort when the device is unveiled in a few months.

According to new reports, Huawei has sourced AMOLED panels from Samsung for the Mate 20. Of more surprise is the fact that these panels are apparently 6.9-inch ones, which likely means a size hike for the next Huawei flagship, bringing it eerily close to tablet territory.

Expected to cost around US$160, the AMD Ryzen 5 2500X is almost as fast as the Intel Core i7-7700, while the cheaper (around US$130) Ryzen 3 2300X delivers about the same performance as the Intel Core i5-7600K. Both chips are manufactured using a 12 nm process and have a maximum clock speed of 4 GHz.

While Coffee Lake-H has been benchmarked and compared with Kaby Lake on this site before, the real-world performance of CPUs more than ever depends on the engineering and implementation of each system. In such a thin-and-light chassis as the XPS 15, thermal constants have traditionally left their mark in performance. The XPS 15 9570 with i7-8750H CPU, however, has performed surprisingly well in our initial tests.

With the announcement of the ThinkPad P52 a few days ago, Lenovo also announced a crucial accessory, a new dock. But the company didn't release too many details about this dock, besides is name. Thanks to the ThinkPad P52 manuals, we can now take a closer look at this new dock and its specifications.

Available for Android and iOS until now, SwiftKey is ready for Windows 10. Windows Insiders in the Fast ring and those who opted in to Skip Ahead can use this popular virtual keyboard app in Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17692. The list of languages supported includes English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portugues, and Russian.