Latest Tech News

A few years after removing apps that showed ads as push notifications, Google takes one more step in the right direction and forbids apps that display ads in the device's lock screen from being distributed via Google Play.

While Intel is working with the big brands to patch the major security holes recently discovered in its Management Engine firmware, System76 plans to take it all to the next level by disabling IME entirely via a firmware update.

LG has silently added three Gram ultralight Windows notebooks with Intel Core i5-8250U and Intel Core i7-8550U processors to its official US website, so those interested should be able to place their orders soon.

HTC's VP of Product Management, Mo Versi, has confirmed that the U11 Life will receive Android Oreo starting today. Only unlocked versions of the device will receive it now, though, as was the case with the U11.

The LG V30 and V30+ were released a few months ago, with both devices running on Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box. Users in South Korea, however, have started receiving Oreo beta updates. We expect an international rollout soon.

Xiaomi has released a post on Chinese platform Weibo that specifies the launch date for the upcoming Redmi 5 and its plus-sized sibling. Considering how close the launch date is, it's quite surprising that actual details of the devices are anything but confirmed at the moment.

Since having more than a few GB of free, full-speed mobile data remains a dream for many Android users around the world, Google Datally comes to help them by providing the tools needed to better manage its usage.

Now that the beta period is over, Microsoft Edge is ready for both Android and iOS devices. Its list of changes includes password sync, a dark theme, and the very handy "Continue to PC" feature.

The new Dell Vostro 14 5471 comes with up to AMD Radeon R530 GDDR5 graphics and an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor. Those interested can pre-order it only in China for now, where its starting price is roughly equal to US$830.

HP is dismissing all the allegations, claiming that Touchpoint Analytics only collects hardware data and sends it with the user's approval. The new version of the app did install itself without any user consent, but this was already covered by permissions given at the initial system install. LaptopMagazine tested the app and did not find anything suspicious about it.

ZTE Axon 7 has been around since mid-2016 and now it runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat, but it also received CyanogenMod support in the meantime. Sadly, ZTE has just confirmed that this handset is no longer being manufactured.

The Gemini tries to combine the best features of a smartphone and a notebook. It has a 6-inch 2160 x 1080 LCD screen and a QWERTY keyboard that hides a Mediatek X27 ten-core SoC, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage. Prices range from US$299 to US$399 depending on the network connectivity options.

After five years in development, Skyforge entered the open beta stage in early 2015. This free-to-play MMORPG was released for PlayStation 4 in April, and now the time has finally arrived for the Xbox One console to get it as well.

Laptops will rise to make up over 40 percent of the PC market in the next five years at the expense of desktops and traditional slate tablets.

Fluenty has recently become the first South Korean AI startup to join Samsung on their path to a much better Bixby virtual assistant. As usual, the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Bitcoin's meteoric rise jumped sharply from last week as it moved from around US$8,000 to a high of US$11,377. This is doubly impressive when you consider that on new years day the cryptocurrency was sitting just under US$1,000

Although a Star Wars-themed special edition was apparently on its way, OnePlus only released a Lava Red Limited Edition of the 5T flagship. Sadly, it is only available in China for now.

As strange as it may seem, Samsung recommends a "gentle tap to the back" or "a small shake" of their Galaxy S8 to those who complain that their phone's main camera is taking blurry photos and has problems focusing.

Next to the Xperia XZ and XZs, the Sony Xperia X Performance also receives the Android Oreo update this month. The new firmware includes the latest security patch from Google and comes with new features such as autofill, smart text selection, Xperia Actions, and more.

Other new features include enhanced audio return channel, variable refresh rate, quick media switching, quick frame transport, auto low latency mode, and display stream compression (DSC). The 2.1 standard actually allows 8K@120Hz and 10K@120Hz, but only through DSC. A new "Ultra High Speed HDMI" cable with 48 Gbps throughput will also be required.

The latest OTA update for the phones of the popular US-based BLU Products apparently managed to brick a lot of phones and a lot of people are (very) angry about it. Sadly, there is no official solution for this problem that does not involve a factory reset.

HP stealthily replaced the "Touchpoint Manager" app with a new version called "Touchpoint Analytics Service", causing full CPU usage on its clients' systems and syphoning user data.

Samsung's second generation 10 nm SoC products deliver a 10 percent performance increase and a 15 percent power consumption drop when compared to their predecessors. These new chips use a new 10 nm FinFET technology known as 10LPP (Low Power Plus).

During the Honor V10 launch event, Huawei also revealed the face recognition technology they are currently developing and a demo of its animated emojis, both (advertised as) better than the Face ID and the Animoji by Apple.

Nintendo's latest mobile title, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, may be a solid win for the Japanese juggernaut. The app has eclipsed 15 million downloads in its first week of release, and Nintendo's stock shot up 4.16% over the past week and has risen 92% year-to-date.

The Honor V10 combines the best features from previous models such as the Mate 10 and the Mate 10 Pro and also sports a more affordable price. It is powered by the Kirin 970 SoC and comes with 4 GB or 6 GB RAM options, as well as 64 GB or 128 GB storage options. The 3.5 mm audio jack is also among the features.

Mediatek is expanding into IoT territory with its MT2621 SoC that is designed to provide coverage for NB-IoT as well as GSM/GPRS networks. The chip also comes with an ARMv7 processor running at 260 MHz, and it is aimed at smart trackers, wearables, IoT security and industrial applications

An interesting Google patent points to a Pixelbook that could one day feature a self-aligning hinge. The technology would use a mix of ambient sensors

The Skype desktop software and web interface will receive the update treatment soon to match the Android, iOS, and UWP applications. When this happens, the legacy feature to sign in using your Skype account will disappear so any accounts set up this way will need to be merged with a Microsoft Account before the update.

Not long after being spotted in multiple benchmark database websites, the new Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime Android smartphone is now almost ready to hit the market, since it has just been listed by the FCC.

The Oppo F5 Youth is a lighter version of the selfie-centric Oppo F5. It still has a full HD+ 6-inch display but uses a MediaTek Helio P23 processor, runs the Android 7.1-based ColorOS 3.2 firmware, and features a 16 MP camera for selfies.

Samsung claims the micro-LEDs are better than OLEDs when it comes to larger screen TVs. The microscopic LEDs would solve the burn-in problems that come with the OLED displays, and would allow for larger screen sizes at a fraction of the cost. They can also be used to make foldable screens for mobile devices.

Without any fanfare, Microsoft finally made Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint available for (apparently) all Chromebooks via the Google Play store. Chrome Unboxed confirmed their availability on the Pixelbook, Samsung Chromebook Pro, two Chromebook 15 models, and the Acer C771.

Apart from the mobile workstation P52s, Lenovo has not yet introduced any ThinkPads with the new Intel "Kaby-Lake-Refresh"-CPUs. Now, we have the first pictures of the affordable E480 and E580, which are getting a redesign for 2018.

The S11 and S11 Lite will be available worldwide, while the S11 S is only meant for the Chinese market. What sets the S11 and S11 S apart are the two dual camera setups for rear and front, featuring advanced HDR effects, hardware bokeh and autofocus capabilities.

According to Mo Versi, HTC's Vice President of Product Management, the unlocked HTC U11 flagship receives the Android 8.0 update starting today. He also revealed that the Sprint variant and the older HTC 10 should get the new firmware soon as well.

Min-Liang Tan has posted an explanation of why the gaming company dropped the venerable audio jack on its new Razer Phone. The demise of the headphone jack is all about giving users better features, according to Razer's CEO.

A leaked Android Oreo-based firmware build for the OnePlus 5 reveals that this handset might soon get the Face Unlock feature that has been introduced last week with the new OnePlus 5T flagship.

Not all Max-Q laptops are created equal.

Palit (via their sub-brands Galax and KFA2) are releasing their compact eGPU solution, the SNPR External Graphics Enclosure, within the next few weeks. Their solution is more along the lines of Aorus’s compact enclosure or the Breakaway Puck from Sonnet, rather than the larger and more modular docking hubs that are available from Razer and Alienware.

Leaks surfacing last week point towards the next-gen Redmi Note 5 shipping with the Snapdragon 625, a thought that is sure to ring sour in the minds of Xiaomi fans across the globe.

The US Federal Communications Commission is set to cast a vote that will repeal the Net Neutrality laws that keep the Internet fun for everyone. American or not, it's time you had a say in this matter. Let your voice be heard today.

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is currently on sale on Best Buy and Amazon for just $550, $150 off its launch price, which is an incredible bargain for one of the few Android devices with a 4k display.

HMD has sent out a final, stable Oreo update to the Nokia 8, effectively making them the third OEM to do so—impressive no matter how you look at it—with the Nokia 5 and 6 to follow suit in the coming weeks.

Sony has sent out Oreo updates to the Xperia XZ and XZs, keeping up its good form of sending updates out on time. We expect the Xperia X phones—X, X Performance, and X Compact to receive their updates in the coming weeks.

The latest Windows 10 "Redstone 4" test build is numbered 17046 and comes with a lot of tweaks and fixes, including faster access to advanced UWP app options, improved emoji support, and the ability to fill in and save data to use in forms when using Microsoft Edge.

An early Geekbench score for an as yet unreleased Asus device doesn't bode well from a performance perspective for Windows 10 on ARM.

The mobile Core i9 looks to be essentially the same as the Core i7 in core count, thread count, and cache size but with an unlocked multiplier similar to the Kaby Lake 45 W HK-class.

As fast as a Core i5-8250U but with more than double the graphics performance, the Ryzen 5 2500U is launching with just the momentum AMD needs in the notebook space.

With the Lumia handsets dead and gone, the Devices section of the Microsoft Store is now hosting smartphones by other brands, and the latest to arrive is the Microsoft Edition Galaxy Note 8. This handset is a regular Note 8 with a set of pre-loaded apps by Microsoft, including Cortana and Microsoft Launcher.