Android

The Zanco smart pen is a stylus with (nearly) all the features of a smartphone crammed into it. It has physical buttons, a click-pad, front and rear cameras and even a teeny tiny screen. It is intended as a smartphone replacement or companion (much like the Palm phone) and can also function as a Bluetooth remote for screens for purposes such as presentation. So far, it has raised just over US$50,000 on Kickstarter.

Although LG is still making tablets their availability varies from market to market and they are largely mid to lower end devices running Android. A new patent application filed by the Korean tech giant looks as though that company may still harbor ambitions in the tablet space although it isn’t clear what operating system it might run.

After the start of the global Pie rollout for the Mate 10 and P20 phones, Huawei is set to send out the Pie update to older flagships like the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, P10, and P10 Plus. Of course, that won't be until March next year.

Samsung's current generation Galaxy A sub-premium phones are obviously being used a testing bed for technology that will be seen on the next-gen S10 and Note 10 flagships. According to word on the grapevine, the company will debut its in-display fingerprint sensor on the upcoming Galaxy A10.

DxOMark reviewed the OnePlus 6T and the flagship did well, managing to slightly better the OnePlus 6's score while keeping up with last-gen phones like the iPhone X and Mate 10 Pro.

Honor's upcoming premium phone, the View 20, has been spotted on popular benchmark platform Geekbench, with it achieving scores consistent with other Kirin 980-powered phones. The phone is also touted to come equipped with a new liquid cooling technology.

Already the number 2 smartphone maker in the world, Huawei has set a record for the number of smartphones it has shipped in a calendar year. The Chinese company has announced that it has sold over 200 million smartphones in 2018 on the back of the success of its P20, Mate 20 and Honor 10 range.

Asus could be working on some interesting smartphone designs, according to patents filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that have been unearthed by LetsGoDigital. Some of the images show a device with a pop-up camera in three different sizes. Other images contained in the design patents feature a smartphone with a camera hole in the display.

A tweet from Max J@Samsung_News_ claims that production has started on the Samsung Galaxy S10. If this is true, fans of the Galaxy S series can expect to be inundated with rumors and leaks over the next few weeks as information escapes the manufacturing facilities. It would make sense for the South Korean company to start production now if the rumored February launch date is accurate.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series appears to have an impressive range of next-generation features incoming. A new tweet from IceUniverse suggests that it will make the 15W fast-charging solution found in older Galaxy flagships "history". This may be a hint that Samsung is preparing a new standard to rival the likes of Huawei's SuperCharge.

Even the best speakers in smartphones struggle to produce even a relatively small amount of bass. Dirac, a rapidly-growing name in device audio, wants to change that with its new Dirac Bass feature. This tweak, which boosts the bass synthetically, is to be unveiled at CES 2019.

Google’s relatively new Pixel 3 finally made the trip over to DxOMark and earned an overall score most would consider to be lacking. Here, we take a closer look at the Pixel 3’s review with a focus on elements that may have contributed to it being ranked below unassuming devices like Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 3.

More renders of all four of Motorola’s upcoming Moto G7 phones have surfaced, giving us a clearer image of what to expect from the next set of the devices in one of the best-value midrange smartphones lines available in the US.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has recently certified a Samsung device with the model number SM-M205F, otherwise known as the Galaxy M20. The entry-level Galaxy M20 smartphone’s listing states that the operating system in use is Android 8.1, and the device will offer Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity. The phone is expected to come with an impressive 5000 mAh battery.

Some AT&T customers may start seeing a “5G E” label appearing on their Android smartphones soon. It might initially seem to some that the telecommunications company is already offering 5G network connection to its subscribers, but the truth is the label stands for “5G Evolution”, which is still classed as 4G technology.

Alleged details of the camera setups for the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro have been leaked online via Twitter. Renowned tipster Evan Blass has tweeted that the P30 flagship device will feature a triple rear camera setup that offers a maximum resolution of 40 MP. The P30 Pro is expected to have a quad camera system that incorporates a state-of-the-art 3D sensor.

The Galaxy S10 series may introduce Bright Night, Samsung's take on the super-low-light image-capturing feature. Hints to this effect were found in part of the code from a One UI beta for the Galaxy Note 9. This trend may be well-established by now, but may still be a valuable selling point for the Korean OEM.

According to new reports, the Honor V20 will ship for just over US$400. Honor phones have become synonymous with offering incredible bang for the buck, but the Honor V20 may very well push that to the absolute limit. It's expected to feature a triple rear camera setup, a camera hole, a 4000 mAh battery, and a Kirin 980.

HMD Global sent out the Android Pie update to the Nokia 8 a few days ago. This is the second major OS update the device has now received and will likely be the last. The update itself leaves a lot to be desired, however, with a few major Pie features found missing.

Remember the touted Snapdragon 675-powered Xiaomi phone? Well, rumors say it could be the Redmi Pro 2, a direct successor to 2016's Redmi Pro. The Redmi Pro 2, if released, would be the top of the line Redmi phone.

Chinese company Gionee has finally filed for bankruptcy and is set for liquidation. The company is said to owe over US$3 billion to banks and suppliers, a situation compounded by reports of CEO Liu Lirong squandering over US$140 million at a casino last month.

According to a report published online, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 series will feature devices with the names "Galaxy S10 Plus," "Galaxy S10 Lite," and somewhat surprisingly, "Galaxy S10 Edge." The same report lists the flagship smartphones as having preinstalled transparent screen protectors. The post does not mention the expected 5G variant of the S10 line-up, though.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has published a patent application filed by Google Technology Holdings LLC for an “electronic device having pivotably connected sides with selectable displays.” This could be a joint project with Motorola, as some of the drawings included in the application show the company’s famous batwings logo.

Lemmings, the classic PC puzzler, has launched on iOS and Android. The smartphone port retains many of the gameplay elements of the original, but controls and level design have been optimized for mobile gaming. The levels themselves will be procedurally generated, but there will (sadly) be a variety of in-app purchases.

Qualcomm's patent war against Apple has escalated this December following bans in China and now Germany on the sale of iPhones. Intel has now accused Qualcomm of "stifling competition" in a scathing Intel Newsroom article that alleges Qualcomm's actions will only serve to "reduce innovation and increase prices."

A number of Pixel 3 and 3XL owners have reportedly taken to the Google Product Forums to complain about issues with voice-calls on their devices. These problems apparently include low-quality in-call audio, connection issues and more. On the other hand, there are claims that the December Android 9.0 software update is a solution in some cases.

Thanks to the 7.10 patch, the list of Android phones officially supported by Fortnite now also includes the Nokia 8.1, Oppo R17/R17 Pro, Samsung A8s/A9, Vivo Z3, and the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE. The update also comes with the "14 Days of Fortnite" holiday special event, but the Driftboard has been delayed.

Famed leakster Ishan Agarwal shared a picture of an internal OnePlus meeting talking about a new phone prototype. This could be the 5G OnePlus phone that the company plans to launch in early 2019. The picture shows the device sporting a circular camera bump and presence of red and light grey variants. If news so far is true, this phone could launch as a distinct lineup with its own set of premium features and pricing.

Samsung's 6.3-inch camera-centric mid-ranger that features no less than four cameras on its back is now finally ready to hit South Korean shelves. The 6 GB/128 GB memory/storage variant will be available for purchase in South Korea starting December 21 for the equivalent of around US$530.

The Android Pie update for the ZenFone 5 series is expected to arrive in January 2019 but an early version of the ROM is now available for manual download. The ROM appears to be intended for the Brazilian market but can actually be installed on any international variant. Those who have tested this ROM say that users will encounter a few bugs and they should rather wait for the official FOTA rollout.

The Honor View 20, or V20 as it is known in China, has appeared on the Huawei Vmall online shop. The device will be available to pre-order in China from 10:08 Chinese Standard Time (CST) on December 20.

Tencent Games has asserted that it has drawn level with Epic Games' Fortnite in terms of mobile user numbers for its own game, PUBG. This means that PUBG has made it to about 200 million users. It is estimated that both games also have the same approximate number of users who play at least once a day (30 million).

HTC might only be a shadow of its former self nowadays, but it looks like 2019 will not bring any noticeable changes. Even worse, the company's president, Darren Chen, has recently revealed that the next HTC flagship will be "an extension of the latest U12 Plus" instead of an entirely new device.

Chinese brand UMIDIGI will soon hit us with another "flagship killer" that sports a main camera setup made by Sony that combines a 48 MP IMX586 sensor and a 12 MP telephoto shooter. The upcoming UMIDIGI S3 Pro also features a 6.3-inch full HD+ display with a waterdrop-style notch, a 5,150 mAh battery, and a luxury ceramic design.

Samsung is planning to release a 5G version of the Galaxy S10 that is currently codenamed "Beyond X", according to details that have emerged online. The device will be the flagship Galaxy S10 model, which the company could announce at its Galaxy UNPACKED event next February.

A Forbes reporter had a replica of his own head, made via 3D-printing, commissioned from a company that specializes in the same. He was able to use this object to unlock four Android phones (from different OEMs), but not an iPhone X. This suggests that Face ID remains the more powerful device-security tool.

Leaving aside the waterdrop notch, the recently teased Xiaomi Play looks like just another mid-range offering that sports a dual camera and a circular rear-mounted fingerprint reader. The leaked specs include an unnamed octa-core processor, up to 6 GB of memory, and 32 GB to 128 GB of internal storage space.

While many people still think that Turing is trying to get some more money without delivering anything solid and the HubblePhone will turn out to be nothing else but vaporware, the company has just promised to compensate the customers who paid for a Turing Phone Dark Wyvern and have not been refunded yet.

Although there is no official information about the upcoming Huawei P30 series, a few Olixar protective cases have been listed for pre-order by MobileFun already. These accessories reveal that the P30 Pro is a handset that sports a display with a waterdrop-style notch, as well as a quad main camera setup.

A new post to the Android Developers Blog details the measures Google is taking to address the issue of fake reviews or ratings on the Play Store. They are described as a combination of AI and human expertise. The post claims that they have already resulted in the removal of millions of reviews from the Store.

Less than 40% of all smartphones are thought to have LCD (or a variation on it) these days. This was reported as part of a new release from the analysis firm IHS Markit. It indicates that the type of panel once only associated with high-end Samsung phones are becoming much more commonplace and popular with manufacturers.

At an event in Beijing today, Lenovo announced the flagship Z5 Pro GT — the world's first smartphone to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC and also the first to feature 12 GB of RAM. Apart from the raw processing power, the Z5 Pro GT is very much identical to the Z5 Pro that was launched in China last month. Lenovo has also announced the mid-range Z5s sporting a rear triple camera setup. These handsets are competitively priced but are currently exclusive to the Chinese market.

HTC has released a new phone, the Desire 12S, the latest in a brief list of smartphones to come out of the company's stables this year. Like the Desire 12 duo that was released at the start of the year, though, the Desire 12S doesn't get quite a few things right.

Huawei may have found stiff opposition from a number of governments since the new year but the company's smartphone division is definitely on the up. The company has confirmed that it will have sold 200 million smartphones this year by Christmas, a massive 30% increase from last year's 153 million figure.

The Xiaomi POCO F1 has reportedly received an update to official stable Pie, following a recent beta to test the same. However, it's not all good news for fans of the device: some users have claimed that it no longer includes an option to hide the notch in the UI. The update has brought other apparent problems, most notably unusual battery drain.

The Galaxy S10 rumour mill is in full swing, and now the device has supposedly been seen on a South Korean subway. The device in question sports the Samsung Infinity-O display that the company recently announced with the Galaxy A8, but the camera cut-out is in a different position to other recent Galaxy S10 leaks.

Many Android phones, flagships and budget flagships included, often fail to integrate Widevine L1 support into their software. As a result, they lack the ability to play DRM-protected content such as that provided by Netflix in full HD or HDR. The Mate 20 series was one of these; however, this series has finally acquired the ability to stream in HD, while the Mate 20 itself can do so in HDR.

UMIDIGI has released details on its upcoming new smartphone, the F1, on its official website. This device will come with Android Pie out of the box, as well as SD card support and a 5,150mAh battery. UMIDIGI claims that inbuilt AI helps the battery last longer over time by learning usage patterns and habits.