Latest Tech News

Last week, Fitbit started to roll out the firmware version 27.32.4.19 to the Fitbit Ionic smart wearables. This update is based on Fitbit OS 2.0 and includes Fitbit Today, described as "an updated on-device dashboard that keeps you informed about all of your health and fitness data," support for Deezer playlists, a new set of control gestures, various changes to the interface, and more.

The official invite that Apple has recently sent out contains the headline "Let's take a field trip." and the location of the March 27 event makes it all clear. The new Apple products will be unveiled at the Lane Tech College Prep High School, the rumors about them including new iPads (models with an OLED display and/or cheaper ones), VR gear, a new Apple Pencil, and even a preview of the upcoming iOS 12 update.

The Galaxy S9+ is Samsung's costliest device to produce to date, but it's still less expensive than the iPhone X. Among the most expensive components integrated in the Galaxy S9 there are the Exynos 9810 SoC, the AMOLED screen and the camera setup.

Introduced back in February during MWC 2018 alongside the Alcatel 3, 3X, and 5, the Android Go-powered Alcatel 1X and the 6-inch Alcatel 3V with a dual camera setup are both ready for the US market. Although the prices and launch dates are not official yet, we know that the US version of the Alcatel 1X sports a fingerprint reader and will start below the US$100 mark.

LG released an open source version of its in-house operating system webOS. Dubbed webOS Open Source Edition, the new operating system is available for download now with the company soliciting ideas on ways it can be further commercialized.

Apple is hard at work developing its own next generation of Retina displays according to a new report. The company is prototyping its own MicroLED technology in a US factory before potentially partnering to mass produce the panels in the next two to three years.

Xiaomi has released Android 8.0 kernel sources for the Mi A1. The device's Nougat sources were released a few weeks ago, so this is rather unexpected from Xiaomi. A surprise, but a welcome one to be sure.

Platinum Games' Nier: Automata celebrated its one-year birthday on PC yesterday. Over that period, the game has sold 2.5 million copies across all platforms, which we think is impressive for a niche JRPG.

ZTE was hit with a massive US$892 million fine by the US government back in 2016, a fine that led to the company posting a massive US$377 million net loss for that year. All looks to be well with the Chinese electronics giant now, though.

LG, a while ago, was said to be set to use an OLED display on the G7. That device is currently being redeveloped, apparently, and it would seem the company has decided to make a return to its tried and trusted LCD panels, after the failure that was the V30's OLED display.

AMD's 2nd generation Ryzen CPUs, the Ryzen 7 2700X and the Ryzen 5 2600, got a full evaluation by SiSoftware and the numbers show overall performance improvements over the previous generation Ryzens. The benchmarks page and the results have been taken down but we now have concrete information about the TDP, clock speeds, and how much of a performance gain can be expected. Additionally, we also have information on the launch date and pricing of the new Ryzen 2 SKUs.

Sony has outed its latest pico projector and it is small enough to fit in a pants pocket. The MP-CD1 can boot in just 5 seconds and is listed as coming soon on the company’s US website.

Samsung is pulling out all the stops to encourage people to upgrade to its new Galaxy S9 models. US customers can currently enjoy steep discounts on genuine accessories when purchasing the new models outright.

Samsung has released kernel sources for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, just weeks after the devices were announced. The combination of kernel sources and Project Treble support should ensure that the devices get excellent community development.

The Honor 7X is currently receiving its first Oreo beta. The update brings a number of UI changes and the much-expected Project Treble support that will allow the device enjoy the community development it has lacked so far.

Word of a device powered by a "Snapdragon 632" has surfaced again, and just like the first time out, we're leery. There doesn't look to be any such SoC in the works, and the source information is as wonky as it gets.

Spotify has announced the launch of its services in Israel, Romania, South Africa and Vietnam. This makes South Africa the first African country to receive official Spotify support, with users in other African countries having to use VPNs. Meanwhile, Indians will have to make do with alternatives like Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Sony has explained its reasons for dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack on its new Xperia XZ2 series. According to the company, it is because of design reasons and the market trend towards wireless headphones.

The fan-less 11.6-inch Windows tablet is guaranteed to survive through shock, vibration, rain, dust, sand, temperatures as high as 140 F (60 C), and a drop of up to 6 feet without a sweat. The rugged and fully closed system competes directly with the Dell Latitude Rugged series also designed for extreme conditions.

HTC may completely skip the U12 launch and release the U12+ flagship smartphone in mid Q2 this year. As a competitor for Samsung's Galaxy S9+, the U12+ comes with a WQHD+ LCD screen, top of the line Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6 GB RAM, 64/128 GB storage, plus dual front/back cams.

ViewSonic is expanding into the mini PC market with its first ever Chromebox device that acts as an all-in-one education, signage and enterprise cloud management solution. The NMP660 is 4K-ready and integrates Intel's Celeron 3865U CPU, 4 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, while offering varied connectors and security features.

Madmind Studios, the developer behind Agony, has listed out the minimum and recommended PC requirements of the first person survival horror game. The listed requirements are not too high by today's standards but help in ensuring smooth gameplay.

First introduced at CES 2018 with a planned mid-year launch, Lenovo’s Mirage Solo Daydream VR headset will land on May 11. The device features what is effectively a built-in smartphone to provide a completely untethered VR experience good for up to 7 hours per charge.

There is a great anticipation for the upcoming mobile CPUs from Intel with the codename "Coffee Lake" – the first mobile processors to feature six CPU-cores. Now, the first benchmark-numbers for the Hexa-Core Coffee Lake CPUs have been leaked.

Although mobile gaming managed to leave both consoles and PCs/Macs behind for the first time in 2014, its position strengthened ever since and the figures for 2017 show that there is no turning back now. According to the latest report by App Annie and IDC, mobile game spending was 2.3 times higher than PC/Mac game spending and 3.6 times higher than the amount of money console gamers had spent during the same period.

All the recent leaks have determined Vivo itself to leak the V9 specs on its Indian site ahead of of the official march 23 announcement. The V9 seems to be one of the better looking iPhone X clones, and it comes with a Snapdragon 626 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB storage, 6.3-inch 2280 x 1080 IPS screen, plus a 24 MP selfie cam along with a 16 MP + 5 MP rear cam that integrate a multitude of modes.

AMD's new Zen+ CPUs, the Ryzen 5 2600X and the Ryzen 7 2700X, have made their way to Geekbench and seem to have posted some impressive scores in comparison with their previous generation counterparts. The increased single-core and multi-core scores seem to be a result of some of the improvements on the original Zen architecture in this optimization cycle.

The new Swiftkey 7.0 virtual keyboard app for Android devices is rolling out right now, bringing quite a few new languages to the list of well over 200 which are already supported, the ability to create your own stickers by adding camera roll photos and other elements without leaving the app, as well as a completely new toolbar which provides quick access to all its capabilities.

The LifeBook U938 comes with many options, including i5/i7 Intel Kaby Lake-R CPUs, up to 20 GB DDR4 RAM, 512 GB SATA III or NVMe SSDs, a 13.3-inch FHD touchscreen or brighter non-touch display, and enterprise-oriented features like a SmartCard reader, fingerprint scanner or palm vein scanner.

Although the Moto E4 has been around since last July and Verizon Wireless has been selling it ever since for just US$69.99, T-Mobile decided to add this 5-inch Android Nougat smartphone to its portfolio now instead of waiting for the Moto E5. However, the full retail price they charge is US$175. Fortunately, T-Mobile customers can also go with a US$7 down payment, followed by 24 monthly payments of US$7 each.

Shortly after seeing the Huawei Y9 (2018) launch in Thailand, an unofficial render of the next-gen Huawei Y7 surfaced online. This mid-range Android handset is rumored to feature a 5.5-inch display with 2,160 x 1,080 pixels, a single 13 MP photo shooter on the back, a fingerprint reader, and a traditional 3.5 mm audio jack. Its specs might also include 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, and a Snapdragon 435 processor (or similar).

Broadcom has officially withdrawn from plans of acquiring Qualcomm. The now Singapore-based semiconductor giant tried its might to cajole Qualcomm with enticing offers but the latter did not budge. Despite losing the dangling carrot, Broadcom said it will still continue its redomiciliation process and shift base to the United States soon.

The highly anticipated Dell XPS 15 (9570) could feature a discrete Max-Q GPU. This was confirmed by Dell's Frank Azor in reply to a question asked on Twitter. Azor, however, did not reveal what the exact GPU is but expect to see a GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q at the minimum.

Users are now purchasing refurbished smartphones more than ever due in part to slowing innovation and marginal design changes on the latest models. The hardest hit are mid-range smartphones as used high-end models from Apple or Samsung can be had for about the same price. Why purchase a brand new flagship when last year's model is very nearly the same for hundreds less?

Raspberry have announced the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, an update to the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B that originally released two years ago. The most significant improvements are in networking (wired and wireless) and an increase in SoC clock speed.

The four leaked models include two Celeron and two Pentium Gold processors that only feature two cores and have a 54 W TDP. April is most likely the month when these will be officially launched with prices below US$100.

Oppo's upcoming R15 and R15 Plus smartphone models will be powered by MediaTek's Helio P60 SoC and Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, respectively. Both come with 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB storage, pre-installed Android 8.1, a 20 MP selfie cam, a 16 MP + 5 MP dual rear camera, and a 6.28-inch 2280 x 1080 AMOLED screen.

Andy Rubin has green lit the rollout of the Android 8.1 Oreo update for the Essential Phone PH-1. The update is available immediately to all users over-the-air and brings a raft of new features to the device.

Researchers at a cyber-security consulting company in Israel have claimed that they have found 13 serious vulnerabilities in AMD processors. CTS-Labs has published details about the flaws after only giving AMD 24 hours to comply. More oddities regarding the previously unhead-of company are elaborated below and in the attached video.

Apple may finally be ditching its aging low resolution 13.3-inch 1440 x 900 pixel panels for a more up-to-date 2560 x 1600 variant manufactured by LG. The next generation 2018 MacBook Air is expected to be the first to carry these new Retina displays when it ships later this year.

There has been speculation that Activision Blizzard may enter the battle royale genre sooner rather than later. Apparently, the video-game giant is “keenly aware” of how well some competitors are performing with this particular type of game, and as a “faster follower” it is surely only a matter of time before the California-based behemoth gets royally involved.

Although the rest of the world has to wait for it, the 5.99-inch Honor 7C has just been introduced in China. The specs of this handset also include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 3 GB or 4 GB RAM, a dual camera setup on the back, as well as Android Oreo-based firmware with Huawei's EMUI 8.0 on top. Those interested can purchase it in China already, where the list of color choices includes blue, black, gold, and red.

There has been a report made about the expected release date and higher price tag for the LG G7. The device is expected to be announced in April and to go on sale in May. No exact price point has been revealed yet, but the same source commented that the G7's release price will be considerably higher than that of the G6's. There is also a rumor LG is preparing to announce a Plus version of the G7, too.

OPPO F7, the successor of the OPPO F5 lineup, will be unveiled on March 26. Although most technical details are still to be revealed, we know of the 6.2-inch display with a rather strange resolution of 2,280 x 1,080 pixels and its notch similar to that of the Apple iPhone X. This phablet also comes with a 25 MP selfie shooter that features HDR and AR capabilities, as well as AI Beauty 2.0 beautification.

With the new Elite Slice G2 model, HP also included a "Center of Room" 12.3-inch tablet that makes it easy to setup meetings with little to no input from users. The tablet detects when people enter the meeting room, while the mini PC unit picks up sound from 5 meters away thanks to a far-field mic.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 430-powered Sony Xperia R1 and R1 Plus are two budget-friendly handsets that remain exclusively available in India for now, being launched back in November 2017. Back then, both arrived with Android 7.1 Nougat onboard. Although the update to Oreo has been announced by Sony Xperia India on Twitter, there is no official information about the build number and the security patch date available yet.

The latest Inno3D leak confirms previous rumors about Nvidia separating gaming GPUs and mining GPU production. However, Inno3D's mining card is powered by a Pascal-based chip, so the rumored Turing chips based on Volta might not be released this spring, after all. The P102-100 cards seem to be twice as efficient compared to stock GTX 1080 models.

Although the upcoming Galaxy J-series handsets are rumored to feature Samsung Exynos processors, the Samsung SM-J805G device — believed to be the Galaxy J8+ (2018) — surfaced online with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 under the hood, 4 GB of memory, and Android 8.0 Oreo. Sadly, other details are not available right now, but we will probably hear more about the Galaxy J8+ (2018) in the coming weeks.

US president Donald Trump has personally intervened to quash the proposed acquisition of Qualcomm by Singapore-based Broadcom. In signing an executive order barring the deal, President Trump cited US national security concerns as the rationale.

Mostly thanks to the release of the iPhone X in November, iOS handsets managed to grab the first spot in Australia during the last quarter of 2017. During the given period, Apple shipped 1.76 million handsets in Australia, which accounted for a market share of 56.2 percent. On the other hand, 1.37 million Android handsets managed to reach the continent in the final quarter of last year, grabbing 43.8 percent of the market.