Android

A report from Bloomberg has stated that Essential Products has cut its workforce by about 30%. An email received by the media outlet from the Palo Alto-based technology company mentioned that regardless of the cutbacks, the firm still intends to develop a “game changing consumer product.” It is believed the layoffs will mostly affect the hardware and sales divisions.

Although not all the features have been revealed yet, Xiaomi has just confirmed that the Mi Mix 3 will be the first handset from a major brand to hit the market with 10 GB of memory and 5G connectivity. Based on the specs of its predecessor, it would be safe to assume that the Mi Mix 3 will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor.

Google has lost out in an anti-trust hearing conducted by the European Commission. As a result, the company have been fined US$5 billion, although it is currently appealing this decision. In the meantime, the requirements for Android phones in the EEA to ship with certain Google apps will be lifted - for a price.

Expected to reach the rest of the world as the Nokia 7.1 Plus, the mid-range Nokia X7 is now ready to hit the Chinese market. This Qualcomm Snapdragon 710-powered handset runs Android 9.0 Pie out of the box and will soon go on sale for the equivalent of US$245 (4 GB RAM) or US$360 (6 GB RAM).

Long before the Pixel 3 devices were launched, rumors had it that the 3 XL would sport an OLED display made by LG. The device was released last week and reviews of its display have been extremely positive, all of which now makes sense as it's been revealed that the Pixel 3 XL sports a Samsung-made display, not an LG one as previously thought.

ZTE, a few days ago, finally released Android Oreo for the Axon 7. The update is an Android 8.0 one that also doubles up as the July security patch, both of which are only the first in a long line of things wrong with the OS update.

Over the past few weeks, word of Xiaomi's rumored Black Shark 2 gaming phone has made its way across the internet. A live video and a poster teasing the device's launch has surfaced, and we may be closer to a release than ever.

The RED Hydrogen One is the high-end camera company's first attempt at a smartphone. A spec-rich infographic of the phone has leaked, indicating the majority of its ports and components. However, the release date is not among these details.

While the reason is — and will probably remain — unknown, it has been officially confirmed that the Android Pie update for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 3 handsets will not arrive as soon as expected. Although an official launch date has not been revealed, the aforementioned smartphones will probably receive the update by the end of the year.

If everything works as planned, Winamp 5.8 will arrive tomorrow with a bunch of fixes in tow and — the best part of it all — without the paid options previously reserved to the users of the Pro version. However, this iconic piece of code should get a major update and mobile versions for iOS and Android devices in 2019.

The Huawei Mate 20 X is another variant of the Chinese OEM's late-2018 flagship device. Like the Mate 20 and 20 Pro, it runs the Kirin 980 chipset and rocks the Leica-branded triple camera. However, it pushes even the definition of 'phablet' with a 7.2-inch screen.

The HiSilicon 710-powered Honor 8X is now ready to take on the Indian market, where those interested will be able to get it for the equivalent of US$203 (4/64 GB variant), US$231 (6/64 GB version), or US$258 (6/128 GB). Amazon.in and the official Honor India store will sell this handset starting next week.

After many Samsung Galaxy flagships succeeded in grabbing the top rating on DisplayMate, a welcome and unexpected change arrived. The new leader of DisplayMate's leaderboard is the Google Pixel 3 XL, which stands out thanks to its impressive color accuracy and excellent performance in high ambient light.

Although it took longer than its predecessor needed — 54 days instead of just 48 — the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has managed to reach the one million units sold milestone in its home market. However, this is better than the performance achieved by the Galaxy S9, which needed 60 days to hit the aforementioned target.

Catch the reveal of the Mate 20 Pro and more as they happen. The OEM is expected to announce firm retail prices and availability of the long-rumored flagship alongside other potential products and technology including the 7 nm Kirin 980 SoC.

The massive 6.4-inch, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845-powered LG V40 ThinQ that features a tri-camera setup on the back and a dual selfie shooter is now up for pre-order in the US for prices that start at US$899.70 (US Cellular) and go up to US$979.99 (Verizon Wireless), but various installment plans are also available.

During the Made by Google event, the presenters of various new Pixel 3 and 3 XL features promised that at least some of them would also be ported to their predecessors through software updates. Now, however, the company has confirmed that new camera gimmicks such as Top Shot will not be among them.

A recent leak attributed to IceUniverse on Weibo shows a phone with a display showing a tiny camera pore in its upper edge in place of a sensor-bar or notch. This image appeared alongside the text "OPPO R19" and the date 2019.3. It may indicate how screen-to-body ratios may be improved in the phones of next year. .

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is set to be launched on Tuesday, October 16. The device will be one of the biggest flagships of the year and will make a number of improvements on its predecessor, the Mate 10 Pro, most notable of which could be price.

Sony, a few days ago, made good on its promise to send out the Android Pie update to its devices by October. The Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact kicked off the Pie rollout, although users have claimed that a few major features are yet to be implemented.

The Nokia brand's growth has been phenomenal since it returned to the playing field at the start of 2017. The company has much grander ambitions, though, and plans to be among the top three smartphone brands in the world within the next couple of years.

Android is the most successful smartphone OS in the world. Despite this, Google did not mention the brand name during its recent hardware event. This sounds strange, but it might be part of a larger plan to eventually drop Android altogether.

The Black Shark series, Xiaomi's take on the gaming phone, is set to be refreshed with a second generation to be released shortly. A new leak shows a phone that resembles the phone as shown in its TENAA certification. It shows the back of the device only, which appears to house a logo with RGB, as well as an interesting side accent, which is also lit up.

Smartphone SoC overclocking is becoming of thing now thanks to technologies like Oppo's Hyper Boost or Huawei's GPU Turbo. Oppo even collaborated with game publishers and game engine developers to provide compatibility for the most popular mobile games and applications. The Hyper Boost technology can also speed up OS tasks.

There are some phones to be released later this year - as well as some that already have been - with in- or under-display fingerprint (FP) scanners. This technology is based on optical (or light) sensors that act to construct a 2D FP model in order to learn, store and authenticate different prints. However, it seems that next year's versions will improve on this method.

An interview released onto OnePlus' official community website contains multiple tantalizing hints about the user interface on the upcoming 6T late-year flagship. This interview, given by the company's UX head and another software team representative, suggests novel camera and UI tweaks for the phone.

A strong supporter for the 3.5 mm audio jack in the past, Samsung may soon be forced to get with the times and move on to wireless headphones. A recent report informs that at least the flagship smartphone models launching from fall 2019 onward would not get the audio jack anymore, so the Galaxy S11 is most likely to come without it, while the Note 10 might still get one, depending on launch date.

HMD has released the Nokia 3.1 Plus on to the Indian market, and the device is expected to reach other markets around the globe over the coming months. The new budget handset is the “Plus” version of the Nokia 3.1, which we reviewed in August. The latest variant offers buyers a dual rear camera setup, a larger display, and it has an upgraded processor.

The patch 0.62 brings a new 50v50 battle mode to Fortnite, namely Disco Domination, as well as a quad rocket launcher. In the new mode, players fight to capture dance floors and raise disco balls. The new patch also brings back the Port-a-Fortress, loot drop rate adjustments, and various fixes.

At an event today, Samsung announced the launch of its new camera-centric phone, the Galaxy A9 (2018). The A9 comes equipped with a mind-blowing four rear cameras, a 24 MP selfie camera, a Snapdragon 660, and a 3800 mAh battery.

The uber-popular indie farming simulator Stardew Valley is getting an iOS port this month. The title is up for pre-order on the Apple App Store now and will be available for download October 24 for US$7.99. An Android port will be coming soon. If you haven't tried one of the many ports of the excellent farming/relationship-building/role-playing game, you can check it out on your iPhone later this month.

Gaming phones are the order of the day and Huawei looks set to join that trend with the upcoming Mate 20X, a gaming device that could come with a big battery, liquid cooling system, and, possibly, a larger than normal display.

Xiaomi has announced that its Mi 8 flagship has sold 6M units worldwide, with the budget Redmi 5A that was launched about ten months ago having sold 10 million units in India alone. The first achievement ensures that Mi 8's are temporarily cheaper in China due to a 200Y price slash.

The Razer Phone 2 has "big ass side bezels" and Razer isn't afraid to show it. The company claims that its thick bezels will allow for a more comfortable grip when gaming with room for improved sound quality. The smartphone is now available for $799 in North America with an expected ship date in the next few weeks.

Settling for lesser-known brands like UMIDIGI, LeEco, Ulefone, or Voyo is a guaranteed method to save on hundreds of dollars. The store-wide sale also includes Huawei and Lenovo tablets for those who still prefer brand new devices for peace of mind.

Research data, created by BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research and shared by Horace Dediu on Twitter, has shown that Apple and its products seem to be succeeding in tempting Android users away from their currently owned devices. For example, according to the statistics in the chart, 19% of Samsung-smartphone owners are considering an Apple device as their next purchase.

The Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL have been released. Their appearance will surprise nobody, as both phones look exactly as described in all their leaks. The Pixel 3 XL has a notch, but may also have a lot of interesting new Google features behind it.

Since triple-cam setups are becoming the norm, Samsung is upping the ante with rear quad-cam setups now. Surprisingly enough, the first quad-cam model will not be a high-end device, but a premium mid-range one powered by a Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 6 GB of RAM. This model should be officially unveiled on October 11.

2018 is definitely the year of the at-least-three-camera phone. Some upcoming devices may have even more. However, Google seems content with the single rear shooter it has incorporated into the new Pixel 3 series.

Although the rumors about it surfaced back in April, it took a while for Niantic to finally confirm the arrival of the fourth-generation Pokemon from the Sinnoh region. However, the details are still not out yet, but Pokemon GO players should get ready to capture Turtwig, Piplup, Chimchar — or at least one or two of them.

The T-Mobile exclusive Alcatel 3T 8 is just another budget tablet with enough of a punch to act as a device for the kids, although it is not designed specifically for them. This 8-inch slate runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and is the first one to support T-Mobile's Extended Range LTE 600 MHz spectrum.

There have been rumors swirling for a while that Google is planning on adding support for Windows 10 on Chrome OS devices. The inclusion of Intel silicon inside the new Pixel Slate instead of ARM hints that Google still has plans to support Windows dual-booting on Chrome OS.

As if having a notch on the Google Pixel 3 XL wasn’t bad enough, Google apparently wanted to include one on the smaller Pixel 3 as well. The only reason it didn’t also end up with a notch was that hardware restrictions got in the way.

The embedded flash drive is no different in volume than existing 64-layer solutions for compatibility with a wide range of other consumer devices. Storage capacities begin at 32 GB and top out at 256 GB for high-end smartphone SKUs.