Android

Earlier, Android teased "something exciting" that might debut alongside Samsung’s new flagships. Now, this has been realized in the form of a new Live Caption feature in Google’s Duo app. In addition, the OS may get much more foldable- and 5G-friendly soon.

The Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus and Galaxy S20 Ultra are now live. All three devices come with a 120Hz screen, 8K video recording capabilities, Samsung's version of AirDrop aka Quick Share, and more. Unfortunately, there will be no headphone jack, but Samsung will include a pair of AKG tuned headphones out of the box. The maxed out variant of the Galaxy S20 Ultra will be the world's first smartphone to come with a whopping 16 GB of RAM.

Samsung has finally unveiled its second foldable smartphone in the form of the Galaxy Z Flip. It comes with a 6.7-inch screen that folds in two, a Snapdragon 855+, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. It will be available in limited quantities in the U.S and Korea starting February 14, and will retail at $1,380

The Galaxy S20/Z Flip launch event also saw the announcement of a new level of collaboration between Microsoft and Samsung. It involves porting PC games to this OEM’s phones, starting with Forza Street. It will be exclusive to Samsung's own app store for a while after its release, as may others in the future.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) has been inexorably rocked by a series of cancellations and withdrawals from the show. They have been made by an ever-growing list of companies, to which Intel and Vivo have most recently been added. The show's runners, the GSMA, will now meet on February 14, 2020 in order to determine the event's fate.

The OPPO Find X is considered a particularly innovative ex-flagship phone, as it featured a motorized pop-up module that left both sides of the device completely clear of sensors unless it was deployed. However, a new leak suggests that its upcoming successor will not continue this trend, and will go with conventional, albeit possibly up-to-date, features instead.

A new commercial that aired during the Oscars award show Sunday officially unveiled the final design of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip foldable from Samsung. The commercial shows nothing more than the design of the phone, which is highlighted across dozens of simulated renders. Samsung should officially announce all details of the handset at its Unpacked event later today.

Although recent rumors claimed otherwise, it has just been confirmed that ZTE will push aside all the fears regarding the virus that is currently troubling the Chinese mainland and will attend the Mobile World Congress trade show that is scheduled to take place in Barcelona later this month.

The Dutch tech blog LetsGoDigital claims that its official Samsung Galaxy S20 press-pack is out of embargo, and can now be shared with the world. Its contents appear to match corresponding leaks almost exactly: for example, the 3 new phones will launch alongside second-gen Buds. This possible final tip also appears to put the flagships' ultra-high price-tags beyond doubt.

The upgrade to Android 10 did not go as planned for some Mi 9T and Redmi K20 handsets, with multiple people reporting high battery drain affecting their devices. While there was a workaround, Xiaomi pulled the build to address other bugs too. Now, the company has restarted the rollout of Android 10 builds of MIUI 11, although you may not notice the difference.

Sony has announced that it must withdraw its entire presence from the Mobile World Congress this year. This includes its scheduled press conference and its product showcases on the floor during the event. Meanwhile, TCL has announced that its own conference is cancelled, but that it will still display products.

Released earlier today, Opera 56 for Android features improvements to the reader mode and tab restoration features, as well as customizable address bar buttons. Reloading the current page is now possible only by swiping down from the top since the Reload button has been moved to the menu.

Xiaomi finally brought the Mi Mix 2S onto Android 10 builds of MIUI 11 last month, with the update introducing several fixes too. However, the upgrade has caused issues for some people, and appears to have left a pressing concern untouched.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 phones will be unveiled tomorrow but why wait till then to have an idea of what the phones' cameras are capable of. The first photo samples of the Galaxy S20 have now been leaked; better still, with the same shots taken on the S10 for comparison.

WhatsApp has secured approval to roll out a new facet of its service in India. It is a new payment platform that has just been approved by the relevant authories. This may help the Facebook-owned app compete effectively with others such as Google Pay/Tez and Paytm in the country.

Fancy trying Android 10 a few months early on the G7 ThinQ? Well, you soon can, although there are caveats. LG has even published the device's Android 10 kernel source code, a good sign that the OS upgrade is on its way to seeing a stable release.

The telecomms equipment maker Ericsson has become one of the latest in a growing group of companies that have decided against an appearance at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year. Like those others, it has cited prevention measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus to its employees or public as its reason for quitting the show.

The smartphone maker OPPO has announced the launch of the Reno2 and Reno2 Z in Germany. This series distinguishes itself through its high digital and hybrid camera zoom specs and its pop-up selfie modules. These aspects of the phones may make up for the fact that they are not the latest generations of their line.

Expected to launch at MWC next month, the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 10 has just surfaced on Weibo in an official poster that reveals two color choices and its overall design traits. Hopefully, the Mi 10 will be available with more color choices than just the pink and blue revealed in the aforementioned official image.

Xiaomi is hoping to set the world alight this week with the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro, its latest flagship smartphones. The two devices will sport not only the hyper-curved display of recent Huawei flagships, but will also pack the latest Snapdragon 865 SoC, a 108 MP camera, a 50x zoom lens, LPDDR5 RAM and a whopping 5,250 mAh battery. Expect Xiaomi to undercut its competitors on price, too.

Owners of the Honor Play are campaigning for their much-deserved EMUI 10 update. The Honor Play was ignored on all of Huawei's roadmaps so far even though its powered by the same Kirin 970 on flagships like the Mate 10 Pro and P20 Pro—both of which will receive Android 10. A new update has now hit the Honor Play but is unlikely to do anything but piss owners off even more.

A couple of recent Geekbench records, seemingly for the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro, have been unearthed that offer incredible scores in both the single-core test and the multi-core test. The scores for the single-core benchmark were 904 and 906 points, while it appears the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-powered smartphone racked up 3,290 and 3,294 in the multi-core benchmark.

The chances of the Asus ZenFone 5 getting updated to Android 10 seem to be slim if the tweets of an Asus France employee are anything to go by. In a response to user's query, the rep said that a lot of work needs to be done before the update can be made available for the ZenFone 5 considering the fact that it is based on ZenUI, and that it runs on a different chipset compared to the ZenFone 5Z, which has already received Android 10.

Counterpoint Research now believes that the upcoming Galaxy S20 flagships will maintain an upward trend in Samsung sales that began with their S10-series predecessors. Furthermore, the new phones' performance in the market could re-energise the uptake of their category in general. This may be based on the strength of the S20s' price and specs.

LG is billed to launch the V60 ThinQ at MWC later this month. Details of the device have now leaked, with major takeaways including the presence of headphone jack, a quad-rear camera setup, and a huge 5000 mAh battery. Reports also claim that the South Korean company could be set to kill its G-series line, in an attempt to focus on the V-series.

Look away, lovers of smaller-sized phones, this one isn't for you. Huawei's Mate 20 series is almost 16 months old and here we have a look at the forgotten son of the lineup, the Mate 20 X—perhaps, the most underrated device Huawei has released in recent times.

The Red Magic series of gaming smartphones is headed for an update, which is to be revealed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020. This has been confirmed by its maker Nubia, by way of a new Weibo post by its CEO, Ni Fei. The executive has also validated rumors that this device will have a 144Hz display.

iQOO, a sub-brand of the smartphone OEM Vivo, released a premium, Snapdragon 855 Plus-powered device called the Pro 5G in 2019. Now, with a new Geekbench 5 listing that may fit its description, its 2nd generation could be on the way. It apparently runs Android 10 and has 8GB of RAM.

You've no doubt seen the headline: "Motorola Razr fails folding test, doesn't last up to 28,000 folds". Or something in that vein. Yes, the new Motorola Razr did perform terribly at that test, but what if the test itself was inherently unfair?

It appears Samsung has been working hard to make sure owners of some of its wide range of smartphones can start enjoying the Android 10-based One UI 2.0. It’s not just the famous flagships of the South Korean manufacturer that are receiving the update though, as the Galaxy A7 (2018), Galaxy A10, Galaxy A10e, and Galaxy A20e should be running on Android 10 soon.

A new leak has given us our first look at the Asus Zenfone 7. The Zenfone 7 appears to feature a triple camera setup housed within a square module. The dual-selfie camera is present—in an Honor V20 Pro-esque punch-hole—and Asus appears to have opted for an LCD panel once more.

The Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA) is a kind of one-stop pipeline for developers, by which their apps can be uploaded to the in-house software ecosystems of 3 different OEMs simultaneously. However, these companies have asserted that they are not gunning for Google's Play Store with this new initiative.

Chargeasap, the company responsible for the Infinity Cable, has introduced another new product via Indiegogo. The Flash power bank is described as based on Tesla graphene-battery technology, which allows it to fill up at a maximal rate of 150 watts (W). It also purports to deliver 100W USB-Power Delivery (USB-PD) through a type C port, and that's not all.

Rejoice, owners of older Huawei premium phones; your time in the spotlight is here. Huawei is currently sending out the Android 10-based EMUI 10 update to the Honor 10 and Honor View 10 outside China, with the P20, P20 Pro, and likely, the Mate 10 Pro, set to follow shortly.

The Android OS' official Twitter account has posted a message alerting us all to "something exciting" that is "just around the corner". However, we will have to wait until Samsung's next big event to see what it is. The announcement has led to speculation that the long-missed Google Play Edition (GPE) program is being resurrected.

Xiaomi has already offered a taste of the cameras in the Mi 10 Pro, and now the company has also confirmed other features about the Mi 10 series. The Chinese company will reserve premium features for only the Mi 10 Pro either, with the regular Mi 10 set to have bragging rights over the Galaxy S20 series in at least one area, too.

The Samsung Galaxy M20 is now receiving its much-awaited Android 10-based One UI 2.0 update in Europe. It is currently available in Germany, Luxembourg, and Greece. Users in other regions should receive the update in the coming days.

Hinge noises aren’t as bad as it gets for the new Motorola RAZR. The phone was put through a folding test to see how many times it could be folded before showing damage. The results were...rather disappointing, especially in light of the phone’s US$1500 price tag.

Opinion Even though Xiaomi is yet to officially announce the Redmi K30 Pro, the device appears to have tremendous potential to disrupt the Indian market, despite the increased competition from the likes of Realme. The lack of a Poco F1 successor will go a long way towards bolstering the Redmi smartphone's sales numbers.

A new report claims that the smartphone OEM OnePlus has patented a phone with hidden rear cameras. However, this design allegedly depends on physical components rather than the next-gen electrochromic technology found in this company's recent concept device. On the other hand, it also seems to integrate an under-display selfie camera.

Ever tried playing an online FPS on a wireless earbud? Latency galore. Samsung will attempt to cut down on latency by introducing a game mode on the upcoming Galaxy Buds+, along with a number of other major improvements over the current Galaxy Buds.

Thinking about buying the Redmi 8a? Well, Xiaomi company executives are dropping heavy hints that a successor is already in the works, and it could be arriving as soon as next week. Better still, the device, likely called the Redmi 9a, will retain the 5,000 mAh battery of its predecessor while adding a second camera. A Redmi-branded powerbank may be in the offing too.

The Realme C3 has become the first phone with a MediaTek Helio G70 processor, as it launches via Flipkart in India. It also has a 6.5-inch HD+ display with 3-4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of internal storage. It starts for INR 6999, or about US$98.

The smartphone OEM OPPO has issued press invitations for the launch of what may be its next flagship, the Find X2. This phone, which is thought to have state-of-the-art specs such as a 120Hz display, will debut in Barcelona, but not at the upcoming MWC event to be held in the same city.

Qualcomm has released its first earnings report for the year 2020. The quarter (1Q2020) saw no less than US$5.1 billion in revenue for the chipmaking giant. This is a 5% improvement compared to 1Q2019. In addition, the company's latest pre-tax earnings saw a year-on-year increase of 69%.

A phone called the Huawei P40 Lite E has reportedly been approved by a Russian telecomms authority. This device might also be called the Enjoy 10 on its launch in other markets. However, its new leak does not offer any information on its specs.

The Redmi K30 was something of a disappointment, and Xiaomi will be hoping to make amends with the Redmi K30 Pro. A new report has now shone more light on Redmi's upcoming flagship phone, and things are looking up for expectant fans.

While Xiaomi may unveil the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro during an online-only event, company VP Lu Weibing has been sharing the camera capabilities of the upcoming flagships. A 108 MP main sensor paired with a 10x zoom camera and a Snapdragon 865 all for less than US$500?

Going by all available information, the Galaxy S20 phones will be more expensive than their predecessors—in the US at least. While that may sound like a thoughtless move by Samsung, some context is necessary.