Android

Xiaomi may have started rolling out Android 10 to the Redmi Note 8 Pro, but there are probably many of you out there that are still running Android 9.0 Pie builds of MIUI 11 on your device. Without official confirmation, it seems that many Redmi Note 8 Pro owners are being left in the dark about when their device will receive Android 10.

Huawei is expected to produce a successor to its early-2019 flagship, the P30 Pro, soon. A new leak suggests it will have the curving screen type debuted in the Mate 30 series. However, it may not share this line's wide notch, at least.

This large of a storage capacity is almost unheard of in the mid-range sector: 256 GB of fast UFS 2.1 storage makes the Huawei P30 Lite New Edition almost unique. The summary of our tests reveals whether or not this comes at the cost of something else.

Chinese smartphone maker TCL has announced that it will cease making and releasing new BlackBerry handsets come August 31. TCL started licensing the brand in December of 2016 following BlackBerry’s exit from the smartphone market in September the same year.

Poco won our hearts with the release of its debut phone, the Poco F1, back in 2018. Eighteen months later, the Xiaomi sub-brand is back with yet another offering, the Poco X2. Sadly, this one just ain't it, chief.

The Galaxy S20 phones are billed to be unveiled in a week. A new leak has given us pricing information for the phones across US carriers, and, well, it doesn't sound too good. The base S20 could potentially start at US$999, making it US$300 more expensive than Apple's cheapest iPhone this year, the iPhone 11.

Some leaks have hinted that the next couple of major Xiaomi mobile device launches may lack physical locations. This may mean that the Mi 10 and Black Shark 3 events may be online-only. This may be due to the risks posed by the new coronavirus epidemic in China.

Expectant Redmi fans must brace themselves as a new report throws more light on the upcoming Redmi K30 Pro. There's some good news...and some bad news. The good news first? The phone will be powered by a Snapdragon 865.

A Realme executive has revealed that this brand is working on its own smart TV, and that more details will be available at the next Mobile World Congress (MWC). To date, no specs or features for this upcoming product are known for sure. However, based on this announcement, its first launch may be in India.

The foldable and clamshell nature of the Samsung phone that may launch as the Galaxy Z Flip seems to have been confirmed in a few recent leaks. Now, a new one purports to outline its performance and specs as well. This next-gen device may be powered by the Snapdragon 855 - or 855+ - and run Android 10 with 8GB of RAM.

Nubia is thought to be working on a successor for the Red Magic 3 gaming phone. This generation is touted to have 5G, a 144Hz screen and other potentially ultra-fast attributes. However, a new specs leak suggests that at least one of these may not be as speedy as once thought.

Motorola is currently rumored to introduce the complete next-gen Moto G line-up at MWC 2020. It consists of the G8, G Stylus and G8 Power. The latter may have arrived on the Geekbench 5 website, revealing specs such as 4GB of RAM and Android 10.

While Samsung has adopted a two OS update policy for years, there are still ways of getting new versions of Android on older handsets. The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 are more recent examples of this, but so are the much older Galaxy S II, or Galaxy S2 as it is more commonly known, and the Galaxy Note 3.

Several instances of the Mi A2 Lite running Android 10 have appeared on Geekbench. Android 10 is likely the last OS upgrade that the Android One device will receive, having been released running Android 8.1 Oreo.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 phones will feature new camera hardware but that isn't worth much if the supporting software isn't good enough. Thankfully, Samsung appears to be holding down the fort in that aspect pretty well, if a new trademark filing is anything to go by.

A new image of a full-screen phone with a punch-hole display has appeared on SlashLeaks. Nothing too unusual about that - until one comes to the bit where it is attributed to the Meizu 17. Should this be the case, the OEM in question would need to drop a long-held tradition of engineering ultra-high foreheads as alternatives to either notches or punch-holes.

Motorola has marked its 100,000,000th unit of the Moto G series sold with a special event. It offers up to US$320 off a new phone, depending on the model. Alternatively, a shopper can choose a free accessory, money off, or even a whole other phone, with other listings.

Asus ROG India has issued an open letter to its fans expressing regret that they may face difficulty in buying this OEM's latest gaming phone. This "temporary shortage" is associated with the coronavirus outbreak in Asia, which is currently disrupting the relevant supply chains in the region. However, Asus is confident that its mobile-device stock levels will be back up "soon".

A new video has shown the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip in action, and we have a feeling public opinion on it could be divisive. The clamshell-style foldable phone will be launched on February 11, alongside the Galaxy S20 series.

Realme has made the C3 official via its Twitter feeds. This phone will be powered by MediaTek's new Helio G70 chipset. This upcoming device will also have a 6.5-inch display and dual rear cameras, albeit ones that may improve over those found in the C2 in certain ways. The OEM has also revealed it will have a 5000mAh battery.

The confusion over Samsung’s rollout of the Android 10 based One UI 2.0 for the Galaxy S9 series seems to be settling as users around the globe have been reporting the update’s availability. Owners of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus from countries as far apart as India, the UK, Slovenia, and Australia have been reporting receiving the new software.

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 was released in early 2018 and is now getting its first taste of Android 10. Android 10 is the second major OS upgrade the phone will get, which is impressive for a phone that had an MSRP of just US$200. Getting it ahead of a number of flagships is icing on the cake.

The JEDEC solid-state assocation has unveiled UFS 3.1, the immediate successor for the memory standard found in some of the most premium smartphones out today. The organization asserts that it will build on its last generation in terms of speed and power-efficiency. It also has a new optional companion standard that may further boost read speeds.

HYPER has put its new charger up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo. Despite packing a maximum rate of 100 watts (W), it is described as even smaller than the MacBook Pro brick with the same kind of port. This is due to its gallium nitride (GaN) technology, which can offer greater power transfer in a smaller footprint.

The European Parliament has announced that it will hold a vote on a motion to write its 2014 Radio Equipment Directive into law. This would probably result in an obligation for mobile device OEMs to fit all products to be sold in the EU with a universal charging connector. Therefore, those companies with in-house ports may have to drop them for that market.

Motorola's rumored new pen-enabled phone is becoming more and more real with each new leak. It seemt that it will be called the G Stylus, and may have 4GB of RAM and run Android 10. A new report claims to flesh it out further with SoC, camera and display details.

There’s been quite a drama between the Pocophone F1 and the popular Android 10 OS. There seemed to be some doubt over whether the ageing smartphone would even get an upgrade to the latest edition of Android, but it now appears a public rollout has begun with users around the world cheerfully commenting on the update.

Samsung has released the Galaxy A51 already. Now, a device that seems like a 5G version of the same has surfaced on the Geekbench 5 benchmarking website. It runs the Exynos 980 SoC instead of the 9611, and has 6GB of RAM.

The UK company Brand Finance releases a yearly report on the top 500 most valuable brands. Its 2020 edition concludes that the tech sector is the most valuable, with a combined worth of nearly US$967 billion. 5 of its brands, including Huawei, Samsung and Microsoft, also found their way into the report's top 10.

The LG V35 ThinQ is the forgotten step-son of LG's recent flagships. An Android 10 update roadmap that surfaced last week completely omitted the V35, and that may have alarmed owners of the phone. We bring glad tidings, however.

Caviar, a company known for offering elaborately-customised smartphones, has announced the Cyberphone, an US$18,000 version of the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max. As its name suggests, Caviar has taken the design of the Tesla Cybertruck and morphed it into a smartphone. Because why not, right?

iPhones are way more secure than Androids, right? Apparently not. A new report with information from forensic experts heavily points towards the reverse being the case. Androids may now be more secure than iPhones, with a Huawei flagship being surprisingly secure.

The Exynos 990 variant of the Samsung Galaxy S20 has now been tested on Geekbench 5.1. The big question, of course, is how it compares to the Snapdragon 865 models. Well, your guess is probably the case.

Sony has already confirmed that it will be unveiling new Xperia handsets at MWC 2020 in Barcelona next month, with a previous rumour claiming that one will be the world's first 5G and 4K OLED smartphone. Now, a new leak claims that the device, possibly the Xperia 1.1, will feature five rear-facing cameras with claims of f/1.5 apertures and 64 MP sensors being touted.

Huawei's Austrian regional manager has reportedly indicated that the OEM's phones will use its own in-house version of Google Mobile Services going forward, never returning to the use of the Play Store and its apps as normal. The company has developed its own alternatives for both following its ban from trading with US companies.

Not much is known about the new "Original" brand that will be unveiled at MWC this year, but industry insiders found out that the Nokia 8.2 5G will be powered by a Snapdragon 765 SoC coupled with 6 / 8 GB of RAM and 128 / 256 GB storage for around $500. The 5.2 will integrate a Snapdragon 632 SoC coupled with 3 / 4 GB of RAM and 32 / 64 GB of storage, while the 1.3 entry-level model will sport a MediaTek Helios A SoC with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB storage.

The Mate 20 Lite may share its name with two of Huawei's former flagships, but the mid-range handset has not been afforded the same software support as the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. While the latter two received EMUI 10 globally in November, the Mate 20 Lite has spent the last two months on EMUI 9.1. Owners of the Mate 20 Lite may have now started seeing notifications to upgrade to EMUI 10 and Android 10, though.

Xiaomi has seemingly been toing and froing about whether to bring Android 10 to the Mi A2 Lite, despite it being an Android One handset. Now, the company has cleared up confusion about the update, although a timescale for its release remains out of reach.

The Samsung Galaxy A11 has been cleared by the Federal Communications Commission. This documentation shows that it will offer a 4000mAh battery with a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. Therefore, it could be a fairly standard new budget smartphone prospect in the US soon.

Motorola's upcoming stylus-ready phone will be called the Moto G Stylus, according to a Tweet by Evan Blass. Additionally, a Geekbench for the device has also surfaced, corroborating Evan's Tweet. We can expect Motorola to tell us more about the device at MWC 2020.

An alleged poster featuring renders of the upcoming Poco X2 along with its price in India and some key specifications has been posted online. The image, if genuine, seems to confirm the oft-repeated similarity the new smartphone has with the Xiaomi Redmi K30. However, at a price of ₹18,999 (~US$266) the cost of the Poco X2 could be higher than expected.

After receiving feedback at the Open Ears Forum last month, OnePlus has taken the time out to collate user pain points with its camera app, and confirms that it is working on major improvements that will be implemented in software updates.

News about new Xiaomi smartphones has been a bit quiet recently, what with the arrival of the POCO X2 and all. The Mi 10 series may arrive as early as February 14, though. Ahead of that rumoured release date, several leakers have posted a screenshot purporting to show specifications of the Mi 10 Pro in what would make for an excellent successor to the Mi 9.

The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 may now be two generations old, but they are still mighty powerful smartphones. Although they have started life on Android Nougat too, both can now be upgraded to Android 10. The Exynos 8895 and Snapdragon 835 should be well-suited for running Google's latest OS, too.

A collection of new phone certifications allegedly found on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or Eurasian Communications Commission (EEC) websites may have leaked some of the specs of upcoming Realme devices. One is thought to be a successor to the C2.

Smart speakers are increasingly popular household items. Their market is now thought to be capable of growing until it is worth US$19.91 billion in 4 years. This success may be driven by the rise of 5G, urbanization, consumer interest in smart homes and interest in the devices themselves.

A new leak has thrown more light on the sensor Samsung will use on the telephoto shooters of the Galaxy S20 and S20+. Sadly, all it manages to do is raise more questions, as it potentially implies terrible low-light performance when taking telephoto shots with the phones.

Indian Realme X2 Pro users will soon be able to use VoWiFi on Reliance Jio and Airtel. The functionality comes via its latest software update which also brings the January security patch. It is rolling out now and will be available to users over the coming week.