Notebook, Smartphone, and Tablet News

According to a leak, Leagoo is set to release a new flagship device—the Leagoo S10. Going by renders, this device, eh, borrows its design elements from smartphones like the Galaxy S9, Essential PH-1, and P20 Pro. An archetypal case of the saying: "Fake it till you make it."

HMD has finally released kernel sources for some of its devices. The Nokia 1, Nokia 6, and Nokia 8 get to enjoy better community development, although there's something of a catch to that right now.

Dell could be looking at offering new aspect ratios aside from the standard 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio in future notebooks. This was confirmed in a conference call by Frank Azor during the new XPS and Alienware reveal. Opting for non-standard aspect ratios can greatly enhance the tablet mode experience especially in 2-in-1 notebooks.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has confirmed that the company will launch Android One Redmi devices in the near future. The company's Redmi line is widely regarded as offering excellent value for money, and the allure of stock Android on its devices would make them no-brainers in their price brackets.

Huawei's battles with the US government has ensured that the company's new P20 devices will not be sold in the country. Those in Canada can rest easy, though, as the devices will make their way over, and will be sold by all major carriers.

The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming is up for grabs for a discount of US$250. For US$850, you get a very capable gaming machine. The 7th Gen Intel Processor might be a bit older, but if you are okay with it, you can get yourself an excellent machine for a discount.

TSMC has revealed that its new 7nm FinFet process will deliver mobile chips that are at least 20 percent faster and 40 percent more efficient. It has also revealed that it has developed two separate 7nm FinFet tracks, one optimized for mobile applications, the other for "high performance computing applications."

Moto’s G-series of mid-range smartphones tends to get most of the attention, but their lower specced E-series continues to offer budget-friendly options — if you’re willing to accept a few compromises. For those who hold battery life above performance, the E5 and E5 Plus might be the better option.

The Razer Phone is now available for slightly cheaper than it cost at launch. The device launched with an MSRP of US$700 but potential buyers can now get it for $100 less. The deal has been on for the past two days but will end on April 24.

Reuters has recently published an article stating that China will be ramping up efforts to greatly enhance its chip-making industry. The hefty seven-year ban on buying parts from US manufacturers that has been placed on Chinese tech firm ZTE by the US Department of Commerce has provided fresh impetus for the Asian state’s efforts in the semiconductor industry.

A leaked Crimson Canyon Intel NUC featuring Intel's 10nm Cannon Lake CPU has surfaced in photos and benchmarks. Should it see the light of day as expected, it will be the second new generation Intel NUC to feature AMD graphics.

Famed overclocker 'der8auer' has managed to overclock the new AMD Ryzen 7 2700X to cross the 6 GHz on all cores. He managed to achieve this by first selecting the best CPUs for the task and then subjecting them to LN2 cooling. Consumer use isn't anywhere going to get close to that figure but it is still good to know that Ryzen are really as overclocker-friendly as AMD claims.

Apple has officially launched a battery replacement program for some of its recent non-Touch Bar 13-inch MacBook Pros. The affected devices were manufactured between October 2016 and October 2017.

The upcoming Chuwi system would only be the second mini PC to carry the 100 W Intel-AMD Core i7-8709G CPU after the Intel Hades Canyon NUC. While the manufacturer is promising lower prices for early supporters and backers of its IndieGogo project, exact launch dates, availability, and prices remain a mystery. The i7-8709G offers a performance level similar to that of a gaming notebook with an i7-7700HQ CPU and GTX 1050 Ti GPU.

Apple's iPhone SE sequel could be set for a May launch and will only feature upgraded internals for the most part, according to the latest rumors. Meanwhile, Apple looks like it will have to stick with Samsung as its sole supplier for OLED panels in its high-end smartphones.

Gamers planning a trip to Panama City may just want to book a stay at the local Hilton hotel. Alienware has teamed up with the hotel’s management to create a gaming-themed room that is awesome enough to bring tears to the eyes of gamers who can’t bear the thought of a day away from their preferred battle royale title. The cost for such gaming-room luxury? US$349 a night.

The last two Windows 10 Mobile handset available in the Microsoft Store, namely the HP Elite x3 and the Alcatel Idol 4S, are no longer in stock. This can be considered the final nail in the coffin of Windows for smartphones and phablets since no other such devices are expected to launch anytime soon.

The Moto G6 lineup is now official and consists of the 3 handsets mentioned by multiple leaks and rumors in the last few months: the Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, and the Moto G6 Plus. The new Moto smartphones come with Oreo out of the box, Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, as well as multiple AI features.

After getting hit with a 7-year ban barring them from buying anything from a U.S. company, ZTE released a new statement today. The statement calls the Department of Commerce's ban unfair and says that it will not only severely damage ZTE but will harm ZTE's partners, including some U.S. companies.

The PH-1 is currently available on Amazon for US$400. This is the lowest the device has been officially sold at since it was launched but it's already a last-gen flagship for the most part, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise. The deal is available on both Amazon and Best Buy. Update: The device is now listed for $350. A mid-range price tag for arguably the best-looking device in the world is quite the decent deal.

The Ulefone Power 5 is Ulefone's new battery monster. The device gets its running juice from a nigh-unparalleled 13000 mAh battery. It also features quad cameras, wireless charging, OIS, and a slew of features you wouldn't expect to find on a device that could very well power a house.

Apple's iPhone X may have been the first to integrate the FaceID feature, but Android smartphones are set to get a refined version with Qualcomm's latest 3D facial scanning this year. While Samsung and Huawei are hard at work on their own versions, the Qualcomm one is most likely to be implemented first in Xiaomi's Mi7 smartphone, which could be launched this summer.

A firmware teardown by XDA-Developers has revealed the details of the Redmi S2, a device that looks to be Xiaomi's next budget king. The S2 features an 18:9 display, dual rear cameras with EIS, and the trusty Snapdragon 625.

The Meizu 15 will be one of Meizu's flagships for the year. The company has deviated from its Mediatek ways of recent and the Meizu 15 will continue on the new path, as it is powered by the Exynos 8895, Samsung's flagship SoC from 2017.

Daisy can dismantle up to 200 handsets per hour while salvaging a variety of materials that can be reused in future devices. This is part of Apple's GiveBack program that incentivizes users to turn in their old models for dismantling, which, in turn, contributes to a donation fund for the Conservation International non-profit organization.

The ZTE Nubia Red Magic joins the Razer Phone and Xiaomi's Black Shark gaming smartphones, but it is powered by the older Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and has a 6-inch 1080p 2:1 display. Fortunately, it features 8 GB of memory, 128 GB UFS 2.1 internal storage, and will be available for pre-order via Indiegog for just US$399 starting next week.

Honor has introduced its first ultrabook. The all-aluminum design is similar to its cousin, the Huawei MateBook X, but is more affordable.

The new God of War game on the PlayStation 4 has finally been released. The game currently ranks as the second best PS4 game of all time on Metacritic, but its launch is, perhaps, marred by a dire unavailability on Amazon.

The cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP) has been performing well lately and may hit a price of US$1.00 in the near future. Like many virtual currencies, it has dropped in value over the last few weeks, reaching a low of US$0.48 as recently as the second week of April. But now the Ripple network's native cryptocurrency seems to be bouncing back.

Honor, a sub-brand of Huawei, has rolled out the Honor 10, its flagship smartphone for 2018. Aimed at a younger Asian market, the Honor 10 has has funky looks with more than a hint of the P20 for a fraction of the price.

A message on the official Twitter account for Fortnite has shown an image of a passport with a stamp for China on it. The words “The Battle Bus is taking off! Destination, China” are also part of the mysterious tweet. While many commentators have taken this to mean the game is due to launch in China soon, others have speculated it could be related to a new map or location.

Available as a standalone antispyware program for Windows XP, Windows Defender shipped with Visa and Windows 7, then it replaced Microsoft Security Essentials as a full antivirus solution since Windows 8. Now, the time has come for it to protect those using the popular Chrome browser, as an extension.

The very popular Battle Royale game, PUBG Mobile, has just received an update that brings its version number up to 0.4.0. In addition to the Dusk setting and the Training Grounds area, the update also comes with Arcade Mode, which supports 28 players and six variations: Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, All Weapons, Melee Only, Pistols and Item Heaven.

A recent EEC approval filing revealed that Apple could be preparing to launch a slew of unannounced mobile devices and one of these could be the iPhone SE 2. No specific hardware specs were revealed in the EEC file, but the iPhone SE 2 could come with the A10 Fusion SoC coupled with 2 GB of RAM, up to 128 GB storage and improved cameras, plus the latest iOS 11 version, but would still retain the 4-inch display found on the original model.

The E485 model will feature a 14-inch 1366 x 768 IPS screen, while the E585 will come with a 15.6-inch FHD display. Hardware configurations for both variants are identical and include AMD Ryzen Mobile CPUs all the way up to Ryzen 7 2700U coupled with up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and up to 1 TB HDDs, plus up to 512 GB NVMe SSDs on select SKUs.

AMD has finally taken wraps off its 2nd generation Ryzen chips. The 2700X and the 2600X are at the helm of the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 series respectively and are made to offer great multi-core and gaming performance in comparison with equivalent processors from Intel. AMD touts great and consistent overclocking potential and advanced capabilities of the AM4 socket and the X470 chipset to offer great performance for the buck.

Thanks to the optimizations done in the last few months, the Microsoft Translator app can now use AI-powered offline translation packs without the need of a processor with hardware-accelerated AI capabilities. The new packs are 23 percent better and 50 percent smaller than their non-AI predecessors.

Apple could be set to introduce the rumored 6.1-inch LCD iPhone "9" starting from as low as US$550, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo. Kuo also predicts that Apple will start selling dual SIM, dual standby (DSDS) iPhones starting September as well.

According to a report, Intel is planning on closing down its New Devices Group. This particular division of the chip-making giant was involved in developing wearable projects. One of these projects was called “Superlight” but was better known to the outside world as the Vaunt smart glasses. It seems the state of the smart-glasses market prompted Intel’s withdrawal.

A department of the Quebec government has stated that Bitcoin is not a “magnet” for illicit transactions and that the widely believed perception of the cryptocurrency being mainly connected to criminal activity is erroneous. In other reports, Russian police busted an illegal Bitcoin mining facility, a woman has been arrested for arranging a Bitcoin-funded hit, and the alleged mastermind behind Iceland’s “Big Bitcoin Heist” has escaped from prison.

A report from Bloomberg has stated that Facebook is creating a chip-making team. Job listings have appeared on the social-networking site’s careers section that seem to point toward this eventuality. Other tech giants, such as Apple and Google, have already started producing their own processors. Facebook-produced chips could be used in hardware or for AI-improvement purposes.

It has been reported that EA Dice is working on a prototype battle royale mode for the upcoming title Battlefield V. The Battlefield series has been a massive success over the years for Electronic Arts, and it makes good business sense for the game developer to work on a battle royale mode and try to capture some of the market before it inevitably becomes saturated.

Developer metrics for the month of April have been released. The data released shows the dominance of Android Nougat in the market, with 30% of users being on that version of the OS. Android Oreo still has an utterly woeful market share, coming in at 4.6%.

At an event in Shenzhen, China, Huawei has announced that it will not be selling its Kirin SoCs to any third-party OEMs. This comes as bad news for ZTE after the latter was hit with a ban that will see it unable to use components made by American companies, Qualcomm included.

An ad in China has revealed what appears to be HMD's next device, the Nokia X. Details of the device aren't in circulation at the moment, and rumors claim it will be a mid-ranger instead of the flagship its name tag implies

ZTE's poor fortunes continue, as a British government agency claims the use of ZTE manufactured equipment would cause a national security risk and mitigate measures currently in place to allow the use of equipment from Huawei.

The next gen Geforce GTX 1180 GPUs from Nvidia could end up 50% faster than the GTX 1080, based on extrapolated data from the Volta architecture. Previously rumored to be released in July this year, the GTX 1180 might get a US$700 MSRP, but this could lead to more availability issues caused by cryptominers.

Despite all the bad publicity ZTE is getting these days, the Chinese company is well on its way to officially reveal the Nubia Red Magic gaming smartphone on April 19. The latest leaked picture from Weibo reveals a 2:1 Infinity Display without the dreaded notch, as well as an RG LED strip on the back. This model is rumored to be powered by the Snapdragon 845 coupled with 8 GB of RAM.

An exercise in creating a humorous faked video of Barack Obama is in reality a disturbing preview of how AI can be used to manipulate ordinary people. Ironically, it turns out, AI might also be our savior from fake news at the same time.

The New York Times has published an article detailing Cambridge Analytica’s plans to create its own virtual currency (VC). The British consulting firm is now deeply embroiled in the Facebook data breach. In other cryptocurrency news, a VC known as Verge has agreed on a potentially lucrative partnership with one of the world’s most popular websites.