Android

A new video from the popular YouTube channel JerryRigEverything shows that foldables that keep their displays on the outside of their case are at severe risk for damage. Simple items like keys or extreme heat could permanently mar the display of a foldable smartphone.

Google is back with yet more teasers for the upcoming Pixel 4 series. Remember Project Soli? Well, Google is making it a stand-out feature of the Pixel 4, and it has just told the world how it plans to use it, months before its official unveiling. A few other nuggets of information await too.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is rumored to be this OEM's next premium tablet. It is already projected to ship with the Snapdragon 855 SoC, 128 or 256 GB in onboard storage and fast charging. A new tweet posted by the renowned leaker may fill in the few blanks left on this putative device.

The Honor 8X and 10 may be updated to new versions of their Android skin soon. This may lead to speculation that these 2 phones may also get the next major software upgrade, which would be EMUI 10. When asked about this via Twitter, the brand's Indian division gave answers that seem to affirm this.

While there is no official statement regarding LG's plans for foldable and bendable devices, at least they are going for two names. The South Korean OEM has recently filed for two new trademarks and none of them seems to bring anything new to the market — "Arc" and "Folds" are not the most original names they could have come up with.

The legendary FPS titles Doom and Doom II are now finally available for iOS and Android handsets. While they are not free, they come for a fair price of US$4.99 each. Doom includes the "Thy Flesh Consumed" expansion and Doom 2 comes with 20 new levels, four-player co-op, and four-player multiplayer.

Oppo has given us our first look at what it is calling a “waterfall screen.” The new display aggressively curves around the side of the device eliminating side bezels altogether creating a dramatic waterfall effect.

Rejoice V30 owners, for LG has finally released Android 9.0 Pie for its former flagship. The OS update introduces gesture controls, upgraded system apps and more. Some early adopters have reported experiencing laggy UI and gesture control issues though, which were not present in Oreo. LG has started pushing the update over the air (OTA), but there is a workaround if it is not appearing on your device.

Some up-to-date renders of the Galaxy Note 10 are depicted as having an unfamiliar finish that appears as a gradient from pale purple to pale green. The latest rumors indicate that this is in fact an official color option, called Aura Glow. It may feature on the upcoming 2019 Galaxy Notes, as it now does on matching Galaxy Buds.

The 7 is an updated version of the 6T that launched alongside the OnePlus 7 Pro flagship smartphone. It was originally sold in SKUs with either 6 or 8GB of RAM. Now, it is also available with 12GB - but this model is for the Chinese market only.

The Nintendo Switch has been extremely receptive to mods so far and the good folks over at XDA-Developers have taken things up a notch with a new release that allows Switch users to flash an Android 8.1 ROM on their consoles.

Over six months after the Nokia 9 PureView was launched to mixed reactions, HMD Global will bring a refreshed flagship with upgraded internals. The Nokia 9.1 PureView will feature 5G support and sport improved cameras while trying to fix the issues the original Nokia 9 had.

Honor now plans to release its first smart TV in the near future. This product is to be called the Vision, and will be powered by a newly-announced SoC, the Honghu 818. It will also incorporate a pop-up camera for user authentication.

The latest Counterpoint Research report has found that OnePlus was able to knock Samsung off the top in the premium sector of the Indian smartphone market in 2019's 2nd quarter (2Q2019). However, Xiaomi still leads this market as a whole. Nevertheless, Realme, Nokia and Asus have found space to exhibit rapid growth in this quarter.

An upcoming Samsung smartwatch with the model number SM-R830 has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This registration shows that the watch has a 40mm variant, and will come in stainless steel or aluminium casings. It also confirms that this device will not have the adjustable crown seen in earlier watches of this series.

T-Mobile and Sprint have been granted the license to amalgamate into 1 company. This move by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is effectively the final hurdle to the carriers' long-planned merger. They do so under the condition that both parties divest themselves of certain aspects of their respective businesss to a 3rd company, Dish.

Huawei has released the new Nova 5i Pro and it bears a striking resemblance to two of the company's current flaships: the Honor View 20 and the Mate 20 Pro. Design aside, the Nova 5i Pro packs some impressive hardware and isn't excessively priced either. It also manages to give us our first look—of sorts—at the Mate 30 phones.

According to Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, the company saw over 100% year-on-year growth in sales of its Pixel phones. That success is almost definitely due to the launch of the mid-range Pixel 3a phones in May.

The TicPods Free are some of the most prominent AirPod alternatives out there. They are made by Mobvoi, also known for the Ticwatch Pro. This OEM is selling their wireless earbuds at US$99.99, or $30 less than their recommended price.

Vivo is set to release a phone that will not only support 5G, but will also feature the latest flagship processor from Qualcomm. A promotional image supposedly associated with this phone (the iQOO Pro 5G) has leaked via Weibo. It alleges that it will have 8GB of RAM and 128GB in fixed storage, and will cost 4498 yuan (US$654) - however, ROG may have an answer to this already.

The benchmarking authority AnTuTu has released its first set of results for the upcoming Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Pro. They indicate that the phone has made what may be significant gains over its early-2019 variant. This is due to the graphics performance conferred by the 2 Pro's new SoC: the Snapdragon 855 Plus.

Motorola announced the release of its latest device, the Moto E6, today. The E6 is positioned under the Moto G7 Play at the bottom of Motorola's pecking order. There's one big issue with the E6, though: it costs US$150, and at that price point, it'd be laughed at anywhere outside North America.

Huawei sent out its new EMUI 9.1 update to current-gen flagships like the P30 and Mate 20 phones a while ago. Older Huawei and Honor phones got the beta a few weeks ago and are now receiving the stable version of the software.

Some XDA contributors have posted on new mods that increase the display refresh rate of the Redmi K20 (or Xiaomi Mi 9T) and K20 Pro to 75 hertz (Hz). This mirrors earlier unofficial development work on the Mi 9. By all accounts, these mods work well, but may be detrimental to battery life.

Honor released its current flagship, the 20 Pro, in a May 2019 event. However, it has not been available to buy outside of China since. This will change soon, as the company has announced that it will release this phone to other markets, starting with Russia.

As with last year, Xiaomi is projected to update its gaming phone with a mid-year upgraded variant. It is likely to be called the Black Shark 2 Pro in 2019. It already has a reservations page on the retailer JD.com, which has let a heretofore-unknown detail slip: the phone's display will come with "DC dimming 2.0".

The renowned leaker Ishan Agarwal claims to have heard that Nokia will release its first phone with a pop-up selfie camera soon, and that it will be the 8.2. The sensor to be housed in this module may be a 32MP shooter. The 8.2 is now also said to come in an 8GB RAM/256 storage variant, and to run Android Q out of the box.

Some new trademarking applications associated with the OEM Samsung have reportedly been filed with UK and EU authorities. They are for "Smart ISO" and "AI ISO", and apply to Class 9 equipment. This suggests a new dimension of control over light sensitivity in upcoming smartphone cameras.

Netflix has announced a new price-tier for its subscription plans in the Indian market. It goes for just INR 199 (about US$2.88) per month. For this, the user can only use the app on 1 device, which could be either a smartphone or a tablet.

After keeping us waiting for 69 days after it was originally due to launch, Samsung has finally revealed that the Galaxy Fold will go on sale in September. The device will still retail for the originally advertised price of US$1,980 but will come with several fixes to ensure it is more robust this time around.

The Vivo Y90 has nothing out of the ordinary since it is a handset tailored for budget-conscious consumers. This MediaTek Helio A22-driven smartphone features only 2 GB of memory, 16 GB of internal storage, and no dual camera or Android Pie. However, it also has a price tag equivalent with around US$101.

The Moto E series has often been a compelling option for those in the market for a budget smartphones. It seems, however, that its next upcoming generation may fail this promise in 2019 somewhat. The Moto E6 is now listed on an official Google database as a 2GB RAM device without NFC or a fingerprint scanner.

The result of a recent partnership between DeNA and The Pokemon Company, Pokemon Masters is a new strategy game that throws into 3-on-3 real battles sync pairs that consist of a Trainer and a Pokemon. Those interested can pre-register for this free-to-play mobile game on both the App Store and Google Play.

Samsung is now linked to the release of the Galaxy A10s, a possibly upgraded version of the pre-existing A10. Its latest mention comes courtesy of the Android Enterprise Recommended website, which lists often cost-effective mobile devices for business. The specifications listed here suggest there is little esthetic difference between the 2 lower-end Galaxy As.

Gallery Go was introduced earlier today during a special event held by Google Nigeria. This app is optimized for Android Go devices and focuses on offline capabilities while offering some machine learning-based capabilities already present in Google Photos. Gallery Go has only 10 MB in size and works on devices powered by Android 8.1 Oreo or later.

Around a month since the introduction of the Nova 5 series, Huawei is ready to unleash the Note 5i Pro. This phone with a 6.26-inch display and a HiSilicon Kirin 810 processor will be unveiled in China on July 26 with a price tag of CN¥2,000 — around US$290. Unfortunately, there is no information about its global release yet.

According to a new report, Google has released a new feature for the Assistant to a select group of users. This function allows them to compose and send texts directly from their phone's lockscreens. This sounds convenient, but also problematic from certain standpoints.

The Note 10 will be a cheaper, smaller sibling to the Note 10+. We already have our misgivings as to the actual value provided by the smaller of the duo, and a new report claiming that it will feature an uninspiring FHD+ display does little to allay our fears.

Since launch, the Asus Zenfone 6 has received a number of OTAs geared towards smoothening out the kinks in the phone's software and improving the overall user experience. Yesterday, the flagship received another one such update, making the Zenfone 6 even more attractive right before it hits the US officially.

The Xiaomi Mi 6 is now over 2 years old; nevertheless, its maker has been working on an update to Android Pie for this former flagship. This project is now complete, and has resulted in an OS called MIUI 10.4.1.0. Those who still have the Mi 6 can download it from Xiaomi's official global ROM repository.

Some photos of what seems to be the upcoming Huawei Mate 30 Pro have been shared on the Chinese social network site Weibo. The pictures show a couple of the flagship smartphones being tested on public transport, with what appear to be a pair of Huawei Mate 20 X devices joining them for the ride.

At an event in China a few hours ago, Honor announced the launch of its two newest devices, the Honor 9X and 9X Pro. Notable features include pop-up selfie cameras, a triple rear camera system, fast-charging, and the Kirin 810, Huawei's new mid-range SoC which outperforms the Snapdragon 730. Prices start at US$200.