Android

The latest study from the cellular-data research body Opensignal reports that Verizon has the most widespread 4G services in the US (at 94.8% coverage). However, T-Mobile was associated with the best upload and download experiences on the same network. This new report also claims that all carriers included are improving in terms of these mobile download speeds.

In response to the recently leaked Asus ROG Phone 2 powered by the Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC, Nubia immediately teased an upgraded version of its top selling Red Magic 3 gaming phone. We could also see new versions for Xiaomi's Black Shark and the Razer Phone down the line, since the new Snapdragon 855 Plus is specifically designed for gaming phones.

The Geekbench single and multi-core tests reveal minimal gains compared to the non-Plus Snapdragon 855, but the GPU performance is not taken into account, so for a true comparison between the two SoC versions we will most likely have to wait for AnTuTu tests.

Samsung is apparently to give consumers one more reason to hate it: the company is planning to launch the Galaxy Note 10 with 45 W fast charging support, but without a charger to meet the requirements in the retail package. The 45 W charger — codenamed EP-TA845 — will be available separately and is expected to cost over US$55.

Samsung is now thought to have a successor for the Galaxy Watch Active in the works. The latest leaks on the subject claims that one variant of this putative wearable will be produced in collaboration with the sportswear company Under Armour. It may come with an exclusive band and 6 months' worth of free MapMyRun access.

Huawei and Honor have announced the roll-out of EMUI 9.1 (or Magic UI 2.1) for various phones released in or around 2018. This new OS version is probably best known for GPU Turbo 3.0, which optimizes performance when various compatible game apps are opened. The update also adds a new file-system to Magic UI devices.

Samsung's eagerly anticipated Galaxy Note 10 has made its inevitable trip to the FCC to gain certification for its wireless technologies ahead of its launch. Although we didn't learn anything about its chipset or RAM configurations, its dimensions have been confirmed along with its battery capacity.

New leaks that allegedly emanate from Chinese sources point to the imminent release of a new processor by MediaTek: the Helio G90. This CPU is also directed at relatively fresh ground for the Taiwanese silicon-smiths. It is purported to be destined for gaming smartphones.

To say OPPO may be planning to expand its K series of smartphones may be somewhat of an understatement. The OEM has reportedly made a total of 21 trademarking applications for new device names along these lines. This volume of submissions may mean that it plans to keep this line going for some time.

According to a new report, the OnePlus 7 Pro only costs US$324 to build. That figure is non-inclusive of R&D, logistics, and marketing costs, of course. The Samsung Galaxy S10+ costs US$420 to build, and here we compare the cost of components on the two devices.

The Unihertz Titan is inspired by BlackBerry's Passport and combines the qwerty design with rugged features like IP67 dust / water resistance. It also includes a 4.5-inch 1:1 1,400 x 1,400 IPS display, selfie cam and rear main cam, face recognition, wireless charging and a hefty 6,000 mAh battery, plus fingerprint sensor.

Google has decided to focus its efforts on the AdSense mobile web interface and discontinue the mobile apps. Those using AdSense on mobile devices were probably expecting this, since the Android app has not been updated since December 2017 and the iOS AdSense app received its latest refresh on November 2017.

Asus has announced that the upcoming ROG Phone II will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC that is optimized for enhanced gaming and VR experiences. The first leaked images of the ROG Phone II in action have also surfaced on Weibo confirming the 120 Hz display and a notch-less yet not fully bezel-less design.

The next-gen Exynos 9825-powered Samsung Galaxy flagships are flooding Geekbench and the results definitely look good. Alongside the Galaxy Note 10 (SM-N970F), the Galaxy S10+ (SM-G975F) was also spotted on the website of the aforementioned benchmark database. In both cases, the scores were around 4,500 for single-core and over 10,000 for the multi-core tests.

According to some new leaks, the Honor 9X and its Pro variant will have full-screen displays. This will allegedly be conferred by selfie cameras hidden in pop-up modules. One of these Huawei sub-brand phones may also have appeared on the Antutu benchmark database.

Qualcomm has released a mid-year refresh to the Snapdragon 855 called the Snapdragon 855 Plus. The 855 Plus offers a slightly faster Kryo 485 Prime core and a 15% faster Adreno 640 GPU. The rest of the specifications remain unchanged from the original Snapdragon 855 SoC. The Snapdragon 855 Plus could find its way into most gaming smartphones slated to release later this year.

The V1921A is a new device from Vivo that has triple cameras and an in-display fingerprint scanner. It has been certified by TENAA, and has now also appeared on the benchmarking site Geekbench. Its results show that it is powered by the Snapdragon 710 SoC, runs Android 9.0 and has an 8GB RAM SKU.

Huawei is putting together plans to lay off hundreds of its US-based employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Although President Trump has eased some of the restrictions on the Chinese company, it remains on the US Entity List and US companies still need to apply for licenses to supply it.

Vivo is an OEM that mostly produces smartphones with modern features such as multiple cameras. However, these handsets have not been officially available in certain regions. However, new reports indicate that this company is hiring for pivotal positions in Central Europe, indicating that Vivo intends to establish a presence there.

A SamMobile source claims to have spotted a working unit of the Samsung Galaxy Fold in the hands of someone on the New Delhi metro recently. It is likely that this device has the updated design it needs to secure a re-do of its planned April 2019 launch.

The G6 is LG's flagship smartphone for 2017. Despite this, it is yet to be officially updated to the latest version of Android. A Redditor claims to have found a beta for this very upgrade - albeit for just 1 region-specific variant of the phone.

Every year, OEMs increase prices on their new devices. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 phones will be no different, as a new leak claims that the Note 10 could start at US$999. That's the same MSRP the Note 9 launched with but the main problem is that the Note 10 may as well be a "Lite" phone. The Note 10+ is the true premium device here, and that one is expected to cost north of US$1100.

Xiaomi is set to unveil its newest Android One phone, the Mi A3, soon, and details of the device have now been revealed in full. Notable takeaways include a 32 MP selfie camera, 48 MP main rear shooter, and an SoC that looks to a worse performer than the chipset on last year's Mi A2.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 phones have received a number of updates, with most improving on the few flaws the devices had at launch. The June OTA appears to be doing the opposite, however, as a number of users have reported a new focusing bug after installing the update.

The Asus Zenfone 6 was released a few months ago and is widely considered to be one of the best value flagships on the market right now, competing against the Mi 9 and OnePlus 7. Asus appears to have gotten the gist of the matter, as the Zenfone 6 is seeing some really good community development support right now, with major pros for the device including a Google Camera port, LineageOS 16 ROM, and a custom kernel.

Samsung will release the Note 10 and Note 10+ next month. As the date draws closers, leaks reveal more differences between the devices, and the latest is on the kind of fast-charge the devices will feature. The Note 10+ will feature Samsung's new uber-fast charging technology, while the regular Note 10 will make do with the same fast-charge seen on the Galaxy A70.

Taiwan's DigiTimes reports that Apple has killed its plans for an AR headset citing supply chain sources. Samsung, however, seems to be ploughing on with its AR headset efforts filing a new patent for a foldable headset.

Huawei is now linked to multiple different possible names for its well-publicized in-house OS, which may replace Android on its phones in the near future. A new possible leak has turned up another new such term for this system: Harmony. It has allegedly been trademarked in the EU for this purpose.

Counterpoint Research's latest study of the 5G market in the US has found that sales of mobile devices that can use these new bands have been detected in more than 10 cities. However, some of the areas in question still do not have an actual next-gen service. This phenomenon has been attributed to consumer interest in future-proofing.

The Belgian news outlet VRT NWS claims to have gained access to audio recordings made as a result of Google Assistant 'listening' to user speech or activity. The recordings were leaked to VRT by a Google subcontractor. This apparent evidence suggests that the search giant allows these workers access to information that would have remained private were it not for the presence of the Assistant.

Huawei has released the schedule for its Developer Conference, which will take place in Dongguan, China, on August 9, 2019. The second talk in this event will concern EMUI 10, which is based on Android Q. It will be conducted by Wang Chenglu, Huawei's President of Consumer Business Software.

Xiaomi has released a new, official version of MIUI (10.3.5.0) for the Pocophone F1. This is normally great news, and would be in this case were it not for a sub-group of users who report problems such as screen freezing and ghost touch on their updated devices. The OEM has requested that affected owners send them their units for testing in relation to the issue.

Vivo has launched a phone called the S1 for the Indian market. Unlike the existing device of the same name for the Chinese region, it is a new product powered by the MediaTek Helio P65 SoC, runs Android 9.0 and has triple rear cameras.

The Galaxy Note 10 is rumored to come in regular and Pro / Plus flavors, each with several storage options and 5G or non-5G variants. Leaked launch prices coming from German distributors reveal that the 256 GB version of the regular Note 10 may cost around US$1,150, while the Note 10 Pro 256 GB version could go for US$1,300. The 5G variants will cost even more.

A Reddit post describes an incident in which a user's phone, an "S10 5G", exhibited extreme overheating. When the owner in question examined this device, it was apparently non-functional and emitted a strong smell of chemicals. This worrying claim suggests that the most expensive variant of the Galaxy S10 series may have battery integrity issues.

The latest update for the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ locked its users out, requiring them to enter a PIN and restarting repeatedly no matter what they entered. Unfortunately, it looks like performing a Factory data reset is the only solution available for those affected by this issue.

The Galaxy A80 has just gone on sale, but there are already reports of its rotating camera getting stuck or the mechanism sound unusually noisy. A few errant devices or form over function?

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 is the latest platform for Google-powered wearables. New leaks suggest that a successor for this SoC is already in the works. It is rumored to be called the Snapdragon Wear 2700, and to be a derivative of the 429, another Qualcomm chipset for low-end mobile devices.

New certifications pertaining to a device called the OPPO CPH1931 have allegedly been found online. This device as described is a phone with a 6.1-inch screen and a 5000mAh battery. Its most interesting attribute so far may be references to the recently-released CPU, the SM6125, or Snapdragon 665.

A new leak indicates that LG has successfully attained trademarks for names that sound like flagship phones to be released after 2020. There is no G11 or G12, however: instead, they appear to fall in line with the Vx0 phablet line. Therefore, the G10's successor may be called the G20, and so on.

Qualcomm and Ericsson has announced that their technology has passed an important milestone in the roll-out of 5G across a country the size of the US on the same band. This 600-megahertz (MHz) frequency, one of the lowest to be associated with the new data standard, is also in use at T-Mobile to establish its own next-gen network.

Recently made available for pre-order in UAE, the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G is now ready to launch in China. This massive phablet that sports a 7.2-inch OLED display with a waterdrop notch will debut in its home market on July 26 and is expected to carry a price tag equivalent with around US$1,100.

Various leaks have indicated that Xiaomi's Mi Ax series will be updated soon. Some leaks have also suggested that this year's iteration will be a rebrand of the OEM's new quasi-premium, youth-oriented Mi CC9e. However, the freshest twist in this tale indicates that there will be 2 Mi A3 variants, which will rock the Snapdragons 730 and 675 respectively.

A brand-new report on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 confirms some of the specs that we already heard about — Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, dual main camera, Android 9.0 Pie-based firmware — and also reveals some fresh details, including the two storage variants (128 and 256 GB), 13 + 5 MP sensors, 8 MP selfie shooter, Samsung DeX support, and more.

The leaks and information about the upcoming Galaxy Note 10 series are coming thick and fast, with most outlets jumping on its eye-catching design. Most seem willing to overlook the loss of features and copycat looks, but should you? It is time to realise that the Note 10 is not a true Note smartphone as we have previously known them.

The "Camera failure" error is not new to Samsung as its handsets were being hit by such camera-related bugs quite often in the past. Now, the time has come for those who own the high-end Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S9 to bump into this issue as well. The bug seems to appear only when shooting in Night mode.