Android

The 2020 Galaxy A series has turned out to be a collection of interesting and often cost-effective phones thus far. Now, Samsung has launched one of its variants in India. The A31 has quad rear cameras, 6GB of RAM and can be ordered for the equivalent of ~US$292 right now.

HTC really is going to launch a phone called the Desire 20 Pro. This is in accordance with a new leak that reportedly comes direct from the Google Play Console. The phone's new page in this database may also confirm many of its specs, including its ability to run Android 10 at launch.

Poco has teased that it plans to release another smartphone. Potentially called the M2 Pro, the device may be another mid-range smartphone from the Indian company. The M2 Pro may have a weaker SoC than the Poco X2, too.

More details have emerged about Redmi's upcoming budget Redmi 9 smartphone. The device will feature a quad-camera setup at the rear, a 5,000mAh battery which can be charged at 18W, a MediaTek Helio G80 SoC, and up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It will reportedly make its debut on June 25th and cost around the $150 mark.

Samsung is set to release two Galaxy Note 20 series phones. The first will be the regular Note 20, while the second will be the more expensive, feature-packed model. That second model has been referred to as the Note 20+ but new information indicates it could be called the Note 20 Ultra instead.

In a startling Twitter revelation, tipster @evleaks claims that Vivo India planned a "controlled leak" exercise with him, involving the Vivo X50 series, but eventually "ghosted" him instead. This raises serious questions about where and how tipsters get hold of supposedly "leaked" information.

Xiaomi has posted a cryptic message on Weibo in regard to the Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphone. The message was in the form of a complex-looking equation, which when solved revealed that the flagship device had been reduced by 300 yuan (US$42). The Xiaomi Mi 10 cost from 3,999 yuan (US$562) when first launched in China.

The first phone from Lenovo's gaming brand Legion may be getting close to launch. A device with what is thought to be its model number has reportedly been certified with the regulator 3C. The same number has also posted results on Geekbench 5, complete with some of the device's rumored specs.

Motorola announced its return to the flagship space with the launch of the Motorola Edge+ weeks ago. Priced at US$999, the phone has now made its way over to DxOMark where it failed to outperform flagships from last year like the OnePlus 7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10+.

Details of a mysterious Xiaomi CAS smartphone have started emerging, and it seems the device will be fitted with a 108 MP main camera and offer users the chance to enjoy 12x optical zoom and a whopping 120x digital zoom. It’s been speculated that the Xiaomi CAS may end up being a member of the Xiaomi Mi CC10 series.

According to Huawei's updated roadmap, a total of 36 devices are eligible to receive the EMUI 10.1 update. It includes both Huawei and Honor smartphones, of which the latter will get the update in the form of Magic UI 3.1. The software is already rolling out in Europe and will be available to eligible devices in the coming weeks.

The lower mid-range Realme 6i sits right between the Realme C3 budget phone and the upper mid-range Realme 6, and it is available for less than $200. Hardware-wise it is closer to the C3 than the Realme 6.

Honor has launched the Play4 and 4 Pro today (June 3, 2020) in China. The latter does indeed rock the premium Kirin 990 5G chipset, in line with previous leaks - and for only around US$400, too. Those looking for something fresher, however, could consider the vanilla model, which comes with the 2020 mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 800 SoC.

Prolific leaker Ice Universe just revealed what could be the camera configuration of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20+. The upcoming flagship will reportedly come with a 108MP sensor coupled with a 13MP periscope lens and a 12MP ultra-wide angle lens. Samsung will also replace the ToF sensor with a laser focus sensor.

Hublot is looking to make a colorful, and expensive, splash with its new Big Bang e smartwatches. Encased in a choice of two premium materials, the devices are set to put a dent in your wallet to the tune of at least US$5,200.

The Pixel 5 is expected to be powered by a sub-premium chipset, which a host of rumors claim could be the Snapdragon 765G. How does a sub-premium SoC compare to the two-year-old Snapdragon 845 on the Pixel 3? Well, it's a mixed bag.

Realme Indonesia has announced that its latest premium phone, the X3 SuperZoom, will arrive in this market on June 16, 2020. Meanwhile, other leaks suggest that this device is also headed to India, perhaps with some additional variants in tow. They may exist in order to round out its series, in line with previous rumors.

Xiaomi fans may have had a rude awakening when purchasing the Poco F2 Pro on Mi.com. Proudly announced for the "flagship killer price" of €499, it turns out that Xiaomi never intended to sell the Poco F2 Pro for that price at all.

The FCC has confirmed that Google will be shortly releasing an Android TV dongle. Apparently codenamed Sabrina, the device will be available in three colours and will support Dolby Vision. The Google Android TV dongle will retail for under US$80, too.

The Kirin 820 and Kirin 985 chips from Huawei have stormed into the AnTuTu best-performing midrange smartphone chart for May, with five out of the 10 smartphones listed featuring one of these Kirin SoCs. However, the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L chipset in the OPPO Reno3 5G handset is still the one to beat.

The EMUI 10.1 and Magic UI 3.1 update is expected to arrive in Europe starting June. The Huawei P30 and P30 Pro will receive it first in June, followed by Mate 20, Mate 20 X, Huawei Nova 5T and Mate 20 Pro, which will get the software in July. The Honor View 20, Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro are also billed to receive Magic UI 3.1 mid-July.

AnTuTu has revealed its fastest flagship smartphone chart for May and there are three OPPO devices in the top four positions, headed by the OPPO Find X2 Pro. The new OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone has found a place in the BBK Electronics-dominated leaderboard as Snapdragon 865-powered handsets occupy all of the top 10 slots.

The Huawei P Smart 2020 only brings a single camera lens, and with Android 9, the operating system is also not current anymore. Is the makeshift update of the smartphone still interesting?

The Sony Xperia 10 II is here after months of waiting. The device, which features a 6.0-inch display and a Snapdragon 665 SoC, has been shown to have more modular and repairable parts than many of its peers.

The security group Lookout has released the results of its latest study of fraud that targets phones or tablets owned by enterprises. It found that the number of such incidents grew by 37.1% between the last quarter of 2019 and the first of 2020. Even just one of these attacks can cost businesses millions of dollars.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny said in an interview that the company plans on bringing the Epic Games Store to Android and iOS soon. The Fortnite launcher on Android has been rebranded as the Epic launcher, implying that its release could be sooner than we think.

A possible OnePlus Z has appeared on Geekbench, complete with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chipset and 12 GB of RAM. OnePlus is expected to launch the OnePlus Z next month for around US$500.

Based on a new report released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), Vivo now claims it is the #5 smartphone OEM in terms of market share and shipment volumes. It attributes this success to recent launches such as the S1 Pro and to providing customers with contactless delivery options.

Xiaomi's MIUI 12 rollout continues. The Redmi K20 and Mi 9T received the MIUI 12 update last week, and the Mi 9 is next in line. Mi 9 owners in Europe are now receiving the beta stable MIUI 12 update with the software version number "V12.0.0.9.QFAEUXM".

Merely a week after it released a 5G-ready Exynos 880, Samsung has released a new Exynos 850 SoC. The 8nm chip consists of eight ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz, comes with a Mali G-52GPU, and supports a single 21MP or dual 16+5MP camera configurations. Samsung hasn't specified as to when the chip will make its debut, but we can expect it to feature in an upcoming Galaxy A or M series phone.

Selfie cameras that can hide under display panels are probably the natural evolution of the current punch-hole trend in smartphones. Huawei has reportedly filed patents for devices with this technology. Their similarity to the current P and Mate series may raise hopes of their forming the basis of real-world products soon.

Nokia is reportedly working on a 5G-ready smartphone that is powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 800 series of chips. However, the mystery device will only be unveiled by Q1 2021. In the meanwhile, Nokia has other 5G phones in the pipeline as well.

OPPO has announced that the Reno4 series of smartphones will launch on June 5, 2020. This line is currently thought to have vanilla and Pro variants. One of them may have found its way onto Geekbench 5, which reveals it may have 12GB of RAM and the Snapdragon 765G processor.

ZTE just launched the ZTE Axon 11 SE 5G, its cheapest 5G smartphone yet at US$280. The budget device features the Mediatek Dimensity 800 SoC, along with a triple camera setup and a hefty 4000 mAh fast charging battery.

Surprise, surprise. Vivo has announced a Pro+ edition of the X50, just as Huawei did with its P40 series. Featuring a Snapdragon 865, a new 50 MP camera sensor, and Google services, will the Vivo X50 Pro+ be the P30 Pro successor that the P40 Pro+ should have been?

The US$420 Honor Play 4 Pro will feature a contactless, infrared body temperature scanner. The technology, which works like a forehead gun thermometer, should help in COVID-19 detection efforts. The series will likely include a Pro model with the Kirin 990 and a vanilla model powered by the Dimensity 800.

It has been found that a certain wallpaper can soft-brick several Android phones particularly newer Samsung phones and Google Pixels. Apparently, this is due to Android's SystemUI not being able to handle the higher Google Skia color gamut of the image leading to a crash and boot loop. While not all phones are affected, it is advised that users do not attempt to use this image as a wallpaper in daily-driver phones.

The biggest difference between the Huawei P40 Pro and the more expensive P40 Pro Plus are the phones' telephoto lenses, as the P40 Pro Plus offers a 10x zoom lens versus the P40 Pro's 5x zoom. Apparently, though, there's also another distinction: the two phones sport displays made by different companies.

Huawei is finally delivering the EMUI 10 update to the Mate 10 Pro, P20 Pro, Mate 10, and P20. While the rollout is pegged as a "global" one, it's a bit misleading, as European models remain on EMUI 9.1. That is expected to change shortly, however.

Nokia has conducted a new budget phone debut via Cricket Wireless in the US. The C5 Endi is powered by the MediaTek Helio P22 SoC, has 3GB of RAM and triple rear cameras. It is joined by new SKUs of the C2, which have dual rear cameras this time.

Huawei has confirmed that a host of its devices are now eligible to be upgraded to EMUI 10.1. The same applies to several Honor devices, too. Huawei's latest OS introduces several changes and is called Magic UI 3.1 for Honor smartphones.

Owners of Huawei's last Google-certified flagships have started receiving EMUI 10.1, putting the P30 and P30 Pro on software parity with the P40 series. The OS update brings plenty of small improvements and also upgrades the two devices to the May 2020 security patches.

Samsung's One UI skin is generally hailed as one of the best OEM skins available right now, and is packed full with in-depth power-user features. All of that seems to be sorely missing in one segment: mobile hotspot, with Samsung's mobile hotspot controls being one of the most bare-bones of all Android skins.

Tipster @Sudhanshu1414 recently revealed specs and estimated pricing for the entire Redmi 9 series. The Mediatek Helios-powered Redmi 9, the Redmi 9C, and the Redmi 9A are expected soon in India and international markets at a sticker price under US$200.

A few sites have been reporting that Samsung’s new Exynos 992 chipset that could feature in the Galaxy Note 20 line will incorporate ARM’s new Cortex-A78 cores and in-house custom team Cortex-X1 cores. However, given both the minor name change and the Samsung’s previous mid-year chip upgrade track record, it is likely to be nothing more than a die-shrink of the existing Exynos 990.

A special discount offer makes the Vivo iQOO 3 the cheapest Snapdragon 865 phone available on the Indian market right now. Undercutting the OnePlus 8 by 25 percent, the discounted iQOO 3 offers remarkable value for money with an 800-nit HDR screen, 4440 mAh battery, and 55W charging.