Android

Xiaomi is set to launch its new flagship phone, the Mi 10 Pro+, this month. The phone could be launched as soon as August 11, and a bunch of relevant information on the phone's abilities has now surfaced, hinting at a potential match-up with the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

The Motorola Moto G Pro is a cheap smartphone with a stylus and a serious competitor for Samsung's Galaxy Note series. We take a closer look at the device and summarize the most interesting test results.

POCO's product-marketing manager and global spokesperson, Angus Kai Ho Ng, has posted a tweet suggesting that the brand will soon release a phone that will be worth passing the OnePlus Nord over for. This suggests the device in question is a mid-ranger that may offer decent specs for a good price - which is also the Nord's main prospect.

The designs of the Huawei Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro have been revealed, and they may not be to everyone's tastes. The volume button has returned to the Pro model and the notch from the Mate 30 series has gone, but there is no escaping that comically-large rear-facing camera housing.

The design of the Galaxy S20 FE has leaked, also known as the S20 Fan Edition. The device will have a flat display, a single front-facing camera and a noticeable chin. The S20 FE will sport 5G connectivity, too.

The Sony Bravia X7400H smart TV will be released in India on August 6 via Flipkart for INR 63,990 (US$851). It comes with a 55-inch 4K LCD panel that uses Sony's proprietary Triluminos technology. Other features include support for Android TV, in-build Chromecast functionality, 20W speakers, and more.

Google has updated its Chromebook perks page with a couple of nice Stadia gaming offers for new buyers of listed Chromebooks on the Google Store. One delivers three months worth of free Stadia Pro access while the other offers a US$20 discount off the Stadia Premiere Edition bundle.

It's been over a year since the release of the Mi A3 and there's been little to no news about a Mi A4. New reports, however, claim that Xiaomi—along with Motorola—has ditched the Android One program and will no longer release any Mi A-series phones, starting with the Mi A4.

Xiaomi has launched yet another affordable smartphone in India. The Redmi 9 Prime comes with a 6.5-inch FHD LCD panel, a MediaTek Helio G80 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64/128GB of storage, four rear cameras, and a 5,000mAh battery that supports fast charging at 18W. The phone will be available on August 3 and will retail at INR 9,999 (US$133) for the base variant.

A supposed list of Xiaomi and Redmi devices that will not get an update to Android 11 has been shared online and it makes for disappointing reading for owners of the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 8T, and Redmi Note 8. Unsurprisingly, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G has also found its way onto this particular shortlist.

Since a 5-inch display has been considered small for a long time, users looking for a phone must focus on the thickness and weight of devices instead. To that end, the ZTE Axon 11 may be just what you are looking for.

A device calling itself the "motorola moto e(7) plus" has appeared on Geekbench 4. Therefore, a direct replacement for the unprepossessing Moto E6 Plus may be on the way. This new putative phone has 4GB of RAM and runs on a possibly unknown Snapdragon processor.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 smartphone has joined many other Xiaomi and Redmi devices on the Android 10-based Paranoid Android Quartz 4 custom ROM support list. The devs behind the firmware are also preparing the Xiaomi Mi A3 and Mi Mix 3 for future releases of the Paranoid Android ROM.

Today (August 3, 2020) Google has ushered the Pixel 4a onto its Store website as its newest phone. This 5.81-inch FHD+ display device has just 1 SKU, although its RAM/storage specs are improved compared to its predecessor's starter variant. It is available as an unlocked device for under US$400, or through Verizon on a 24-month contract.

Qualcomm has published the results of a study conducted by Ookla on 5G speeds in the US and UK for the first and second quarters of 2020 (1-2Q2020). It apparently concludes that the fastest phones in this regard had chipsets and modems made by this prominent chipmaker. Specifically, they were the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 855+ mobile platforms.

Samsung will reportedly ship the Galaxy Note 20 series with an ultra-wideband chip. It will facilitate higher peer-to-peer data transfer speeds, and even allow users to track objects in their immediate vicinity. If the Galaxy Note 20 series comes with the hardware, we can expect to see it on a host of future Samsung smartphones.

Xiaomi has announced a special event coming up soon, and a tip from a noted leaker has suggested that the popular Chinese OEM will use the moment as an opportunity to reveal some new smartphones. The Xiaomi Mi Pro+ (Super Cup) is a likely candidate, and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2020 has also been put forward for a potential reveal.

Realme has now launched its latest device, the Realme V5. The Realme V5 offers a slew of features including five cameras in total, a MediaTek Dimensity 720, and a 90 Hz display. All of that can be had for just over US$200.

The Android 11 update will start making its way to Xiaomi devices in September. It will be based on MIUI 12 and available to a host of Xiaomi, Redmi, and Poco smartphones. The company is already testing the software on many smartphones, such as the Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro, and Redmi K30 Pro.

Apricorn’s Aegis Secure Key 3NXC is reportedly the world’s first USB Type-C pen drive featuring hardware encryption. With a number of laptops and Android smartphones now leveraging USB Type-C, the 3NXC is increasingly relevant. The 4GB based model cost just US$59, but users will have to pay more for higher storage variants.

A month ago, Xiaomi raised the regular retail price of the Redmi Note 8 by Rs 500 in India—the fifth such time this year alone. Well, that wasn't enough, apparently, and the Redmi Note 8 has now seen yet another price hike in that market; continuing the trend of anti-consumer behavior by Xiaomi.

Xiaomi could be offering a new GPU Turbo app in the upcoming Mi 10 Pro Plus that offers more fine-grained control over several aspects of the GPU including adjusting anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering levels among others. The Mi 10 Pro Plus powered by the Snapdragon 865 Plus is an incremental upgrade to the Mi 10 Pro, but it is not clear whether these GPU features would make to the entire Mi 10 lineup.

Netflix is reportedly rolling out a feature by which a user can make content go forward or backward at different rates. This facility has apparently been under consideration at the streaming giant for years, and may benefit those with sensory impairments. However, it is only available on its Android app as yet.

While Xiaomi keeps the refresh rate of the Poco F2 Pro's AMOLED panel at 60 Hz, the quality of the display is still amazing regardless. The Poco smartphone stands out with a particularly high maximum brightness of above 1000 nits, which is excellent for a mid-range device.

Xiaomi's Mi-series of truly wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds is a rapidly-growing line of accessories. However, none of them have featured active noise cancellation (ANC) before. A new addition to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) strongly suggests this is about to change.

After sending out the global stable MIUI 12 update to the Redmi Note 9 last week, Xiaomi is rolling out a new update to the Redmi Note 9 Pro. Sadly, it doesn't bring the much-awaited MIUI 12, and owners of the mid-range phone will have to wait a while longer.

There were reports a while back that the Mi Mix 3 5G wouldn't receive any other update but those may have been a tad misguided, as Xiaomi has now confirmed that the last-gen premium phone is set to get a new update shortly, with MIUI 12 to follow.

A Weibo tipster recently claimed that the HiSilicon Kirin 1020 chipset will cost somewhere in between Apple’s A14 Bionic and the upcoming ARM chipset for MacBook. This raises questions about pricing for future Huawei smartphones, apart from the performance implications.

Going by word on the grapevine, Xiaomi is set to unveil a new phone this month. The device in question will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity chipset, and should be affordable in typical Xiaomi fashion.

Google has released a new little online puzzle that offers what is probably an insight on the Pixel 4a's long-awaited launch date. It is expected to do so with a 5G variant for the first time in this series' history. However, it seems it will not make it to this event, and will instead wait until Android 11 is here too.

The Asus ZenFone 7 is slated to launch soon - as is its nouveau Pro variant. A device that could be one of these two has been spotted on the Bluetooth Special Interest Group's (SIG) website. This suggests that the new series could indeed debut very soon.

The new Black Shark gaming phone has been released. The Black Shark 3S succeeds the Black Shark 3, and offers improvements in fast-charging and display technologies, while starting under US$600. Sadly, it retains the Snapdragon 865 instead of the new Snapdragon 865 Plus.

Motorola's second-generation foldable is thought to migrate to a 5G SoC rather than the Snapdragon 710 found in its predecessor. Now, a new live image posted to Weibo may confirm the differences in looks between the two. It is by no means a substantial redesign, yet shows some refinements in the newer model.

The Xiaomi Mi 9T, Redmi K20, Redmi 5, and Redmi 7/Y3 have now joined the list of Xiaomi smartphones that are supported by the Android 10-based Paranoid Android Quartz 4 custom ROM. The Mi 8 Pro, Mi A2, and Redmi Note 7 were also recently added, and there are plans to support the somewhat forlorn Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 in the future.

Nubia has just introduced the late-2020 refresh of its RedMagic 5G gaming smartphone. However, it also debuted a successor to the interesting Alpha flexible-display wearable alongside it. This product, simply called the Watch, has a similar form-factor but may be more durable and user-friendly this time around.

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro is a premium phablet that came with the often-polarizing detail of a waterfall display, or a screen with a pronounced curve to both sides. Now, a blogger claims this spec will live on in the device's successor. It may in fact apply to the vanilla Mate 40 as well this time, to a degree.

Two devices with model numbers known to pertain to the upcoming flagship Galaxy Note 20 Ultra have appeared on the Geekbench 5 website. One of them has the suffix N, which suggests it is destined for the South Korean market. Oddly, it is the one without the Exynos 990, an SoC made by Samsung itself.

The Android 10 upgrade for the global version of the Redmi Note 7 is hitting more devices. The update, which is called V11.0.1.0.QFGMIXM, also carries the July 2020 security patch among other changes.

A cheap smartphone with lots of features that would otherwise cost you a lot more. That is what OnePlus promises the Nord to be. This summary of our test results will show whether this concept has been successfully executed.

Despite the forced lack of Google Services, not only does Huawei deliver top smartphones but also devices with a very good price-performance ratio. The latter devices include the P40 Lite 5G smartphone that is available for 400 Euros (~$469).

The stable MIUI 12 update has arrived for the Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 7S in India. Additionally, Xiaomi has upgraded the Mi 8 and has expanded the rollout of its latest OS for the Mi 9T and Redmi K20 in Europe.

Rumour has it that HMD Global is planning to launch three new smartphones in September. Specifically, the company is alleged to be unveiling the Nokia 2.4, Nokia 6.3 and Nokia 7.3 at IFA 2020, which will be hosted in Berlin between September 3 and 5.

Images and specs for the Redmi K30 Ultra have been shared online, with the upcoming device featuring a MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chip and up to 12 GB RAM. Apparently, Redmi will also be launching its first smartwatch soon, possibly in August, with some speculating that it will simply be a scaled-down version of the Xiaomi Mi Watch.

The Poco F1 was expected to receive its first taste of MIUI 12 in July but that doesn't appear to be feasible anymore with reports claiming the beta update has now been postponed. The new established timeline will see Poco F1 owners receive the stable update in late August.

Nubia announced the new RedMagic 5S gaming smartphone at the ChinaJoy event earlier this week. The RedMagic 5S sports identical hardware as the RedMagic 5G but comes with a few enhancements such as a slightly higher sampling rate for the shoulder triggers and a dedication optional Ice Dock accessory. The phone will be available in China from August 1 with a global launch planned sometime in September.

Google has posted a new page to its Store site that may appear, at first glance, to be full of stock Latin text. However, it also contains a kind of mini-game that serves to reveal what looks like a tagline for a new phone, as well as a certain date. Therefore, the launch of the next mid-range Pixel phone may finally be at hand.