Android

Launched first in Malaysia, the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro have now arrived in Europe, albeit with limited coverage. The retailer promises to deliver 128 GB and 256 GB SKUs of both devices within a week, although it remains unclear whether these are official EU models or import models.

The Vivo Y3 is a sub-US$250 phone sold in China. A new leak suggests that the OEM is going to release a second version of this device. It may be called the 'Y3 Standard' and have 2 rear cameras where the original has 3.

According to recent reports, Samsung are about to release 2 new phones with the model numbers SM-G770F and SM-N770F. Due to their similarity to those of the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 respectively, it is now believed that they are budget versions of these phones. The SM-G770F is said to have the same specs as the Galaxy A91.

It might be hard to believe, but the Pixel 4 leaks keep coming. This time serial leaker Evan Blass has leaked official Pixel 4 renders and marketing shots ahead of its official launch next week.

A source familiar with the matter claims that Apple is developing an in-house 5G modem for release in 2022, according to a report from Fast Company earlier today. The source says that a 2022 release date is "really pushing it," but it is likely that Apple plans to design and manufacture its own custom 5G modem.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold costs around €2,100 (~US$2305) in Europe, for which you will receive the first foldable smartphone to reach the continent. While the device is absurdly expensive, it is no more expensive than some iPhones despite offering more functionality and innovations to boot.

The Nokia 6.2 has been launched in India, albeit to comparatively little fanfare. It is a 4GB RAM device with 64GB of internal powered by the Snapdragon 636 SoC. It also has a round camera housing with a triple camera.

An XDA contributor claims to have found an option to switch a screen's refresh rate from 60 to 120 hertz (Hz) in MIUI 11. This suggests that there is an upcoming Xiaomi phone with this spec in development. This would leap-frog the new industry standard of 90Hz nicely.

The Android Instagram page has recently posted a short video that hints at a dark theme for Google Maps in the near future. It appears to cause every aspect of the app, including the map-markings themselves, to conform to a color palette that is much less bright.

LG is not ready to experiment with folding displays and decided to stick with a more conventional approach that is not as seamless, yet yields similar results. The 6.4-inch dual-screen setup on the new V50S ThinQ handheld can work as one display or as independent sections and is powered by the Snapdragon 855 SoC coupled with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage.

A phone calling itself the Vivo V1936A has appeared on Geekbench, rocking what appears to be the Snapdragon 855 processor and 8GB of RAM. This has led to speculation that this device is linked to iQOO, an emerging high-end sub-brand of this OEM. To date, it has produced a more powerful 5G flagship as well as other phones of varying premium status.

Some more evidence of the Galaxy A series from Samsung persevering into next year has come to light. It comes in the form of a certification that mentions what may be partial model numbers for the A71 and A51. This Indian registration is not for the phones themselves, however, but for their batteries.

Google’s forthcoming Pixelbook Go has been leaked in full ahead of its launch. The device takes on a more rounded design language than previous Pixelbooks but remains very much focused on portability.

Mara Group, a Rwandan-based smartphone company, unveiled the Mara X and Mara Z smartphones. The phones carry the pride of being the first handsets manufactured and assembled completely in Africa. Mara Group hopes that the phones are merely the beginning of a tech revolution that will boost Rwanda's economy and standing in the region.

OnePlus held a launch event for its 7T series today (October 10, 2019). The OEM also went over OxygenOS 10 - which is based on Android 10 - a new software update that will ship on these new phones and come to older ones soon. Its developers have also implemented a new instant translation feature for video chats, which will come to this ROM soon.

OnePlus has unveiled its second-gen McLaren Edition phone today (October 10, 2019). It is a 12GB/256GB version of the new 7T Pro (which was also unveiled today) with a signature black-and-orange finish. Other highlights of the OEM's latest show included the 7T and its series' UK pricing.

Call of Duty Mobile recently claimed the award for most downloads in the first week after launch for any mobile game in history, surpassing 100 million unique installs after its first week. Sensor Tower estimates peg total downloads at 102.2 million as of October 8th. Total revenue or the free to play title is estimated at just over US $17.7 million.

Pressured by the new Apple and Huawei flagship SoCs, Qualcomm plans to launch the Snapdragon 865 model 1 month in advance, and the first handhelds to sport the new SoC will apparently come from smaller smartphone makers like Oppo and Vivo, plus the usual Huawei competitors like Xiaomi and Samsung.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro is set for an Indian-market release on October 16, 2019. However, it appears that this is not all its parent company Xiaomi has to debut on that date. MIUI, its OS skin, has teased a launch of its own in the same country at the same time.

Oppo has continued with its spate of Reno branded device launches with the official unveiling of the Reno Ace. The new device looks to be positioned in a similar segment of the market to the OnePlus 7T from sister company OnePlus.

The OnePlus 7T has become a very high-quality upper class smartphone that clearly stands out from its predecessor. Many features from the OnePlus 7 Pro have been adopted. Is the possible 7T Pro redundant? You can read here what we discovered in our review.

The Motorola One Macro has become official in India, and will sell for a price of INR 9999 (or about US$140). It is a triple-camera phone, one of which takes 2MP photos with a pixel size of 1.75 microns. The OEM claims that this allows it to get 5X closer to a subject than the average phone.

Samsung has released an updated schedule of repair charges for a number of its newer phones. The recently-released Galaxy Fold is at the top of this list. It shows that an out-of-guarantee repair for its flexible screen costs US$599.

According to sources cited by the Nikkei Asian Review, Google may be working on a 5G-capable Pixel 4. The handset may be announced at Google's Pixel event on October 15th but likely wouldn't be available for months. However, considering how new and small 5G networks are, a 5G-compatible Pixel 4 seems unlikely.

A new feature in the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build allows Windows to make and receive phone calls when synced with a compatible Android smartphone. The feature, part of Microsoft's Your Phone app, is expected to roll out to the public sometime in the first half of next year.

The OPPO Reno A, the Chinese OEM's latest mid-range smartphone, was launched in Japan today. Packing a Snapdragon 710, 6 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage, the handset seems centered around selfies due to its 25 MP front-facing camera. The Reno A is currently available in Japan for ¥35,800, or about US $330.

HMD Global has announced an OTA update to Android 10 for the Nokia 8.1. It is the first of this brand's phones that were included in the beta program for the OS in question to see the stable version. It upgrades the 8.1 with Dark Mode, navigation gestures and the September 2019 security patch.

Realme has revealed that the X2 Pro's display will come with a touch-sampling rate of 135 hertz (Hz). This means that the upcoming Snapdragon 855 Plus flagship may have enhanced user-input responses to go with its 90-hertz display refresh rate. Its camera prowess has also been teased on Weibo.

Samsung has announced that it will start a new beta program for One UI 2.0, its latest software skin based on Android 10. Unfortunately, it may only apply to those who own Galaxy S10-line devices in South Korea to start off with. However, this is a good indication that it will spread worldwide before too long.

Xiaomi's latest gaming phone, the Black Shark 2 Pro, will be released for sale in Europe on October 9, 2019. It will be sold through the brand's regional website for an as-yet undisclosed price. The 2 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC and up to 12GB of RAM.

After being quiet for the best part of twelve to eighteen months, Andy Rubin’s Essential has surfaced with what appears to be a radical reinterpretation of a smartphone. The new mobile device looks to be focused on communication with visual content taking something of a backseat.

Realme has launched its new X2 device for the Chinese market today. As rumored, it has an updated processor compared to that contained in its pre-existing variant, the XT. This new version is also the one coming to Europe later this month.

New research has found that nearly 50% of all US households with broadband subscribe to 2 or more subscription-based services in 2019, whereas this figure was 33% in 2017 and only 20% in 2014. The apparent demand has driven the number of individual services to match in the country. It has grown by 1.4 times since 2014.

Samsung might be done tinkering with the ARM core designs, as the Mongoose proprietary cores appear to be missing on the upcoming Exynos 9830. The Korean giant is rumored to drop its two homegrown high-performance cores for a couple of ARM Cortex-A77 cores in order to better match the Qualcomm competitors.

The latest Insider's version of Windows 10 updates the Your Phone app so that it is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S10 series, as well as the Galaxy Fold. This allows a user to monitor battery levels, screen-mirror and sync data. However, Microsoft has stated that these new features will be available to certain regions only to start off with.

Amazon updated the Fire HD 10 with a faster processor and a new USB Type-C charging port that supports fast charging. There are a few additional upgrades as well. Thankfully, the price tag remains constant at US $149 for the standard model and $199 for the Kids Edition, which includes a bumper case, a two-year replacement program, and a year of Amazon's FreeTime service.

Scheduled to arrive globally this week, the PlayStation 4 system update labeled 7.0 is expected to bring Remote Play to smartphones and tablets running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later, 16-player parties, chat transcription, enhanced audio, an improved backend that should take care of most connectivity issues, system-level HDR tuning, and more.

Sony has unveiled another device, the Xperia 8. The Xperia 8 is a mid-range phone that raises more questions over the logic in Sony's naming scheme while simultaneously managing to offer an overwhelmingly disappointing package at a ridiculous price point.

Computational photography - or imaging that depends at least as much on software as on hardware - was worth US$7.9 billion as a market in 2018. However, the latest analysis indicates that this valuation will grow to $29 billion over the next 5 years. This market is led by companies such as Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Alphabet and Apple.

The Mi Band is a popular fitness wearable series worldwide, albeit with one potential drawback: many units sold outside China come without NFC. Its maker, Xiaomi, will reportedly address this deficiency in its next generation. This device is also now said to be more durable and sophisticated that its predecessor.

The Google Pixel 4 phones are just about a week away from their official launch event. A new leak has revealed some previously unknown details about the phones and a particular specification of the smaller Pixel 4 may just leave fans seething.

Original camera samples from the Pixel 4 have leaked out, once again proving that the Pixel phones are the ones to beat when it comes to mobile photography. The samples show photos from a variety of camera modes the most interesting of which is the Astrophotography mode that lets users take stunning pictures of space.

Some launch prices for the Google Pixel 4 and 4XL flagship smartphones have been posted on Twitter by well-known tech insider Evan Blass. The prices are for the Canadian market, which show that the entry-level Google Pixel 4 with 64 GB storage will cost CAD$1,049.95 (~US$788), while the 128 GB storage variant of the Google Pixel 4 XL will allegedly cost CAD$1,359.95 (~US$1,022).

There have been multiple reports of Pokemon GO handing out strikes preventing play to those who own certain Redmi devices. This pattern has been linked to MIUI 10.3.2.0, a recent firmware update for the phones affected. Niantic, the AR game's developer, has announced that it is now working on trying to revise them.

Realme has announced that its upcoming flagship, the X2 Pro, will have dual stereo speakers. Furthermore, they will be equipped with Dolby Atmos and "hi-res" audio. The brand has not given a launch date for this phone, but is now clearly aiming it at the European market.

The Asus is, perhaps, the best value Snapdragon 855-powered device on sale in the US. The device costs just US$500 but that price tag has no negative connotations on the phone's camera performance, as the Zenfone 6—going by DxOMark's latest review—trades blows with the best camera phones in the world.

The highly anticipated launch of the Mi Mix 4 has been something of a wild ride so far. Fans expected a launch event last month but were left disappointed. Since then, though, it's been multiple conflicting reports on the existence of the Mix 4, and the latest one will leave rekindle the flames of hope in fans of the series.