Android

Western Digital and Micron both announced 1 TB microSD cards earlier today. At 1 TB, these will be the largest microSD cards upon release later this year. Additionally, the SD Association announced SD Express, a new protocol that will be part of the upcoming SD 7.1 specification. SD Express promises to bring transfer rates of 985 MB/s to SD cards and microSD cards, although there is no word on when the standard will be released.

The popular case-maker Spigen is collaborating with Ossia, a true-wireless charging pioneer, to bring a phone case that integrates the necessary Cota technology to market. The two groups have brought renders of this product (which comprises a 'phone sleeve' and a transceiver) to this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC19).

HTC has taken the wraps off its 5G Hub. The Taiwanese company claims that this new device can deliver the speed and poiwer of the new radio bands to homes or businesses. It is powered by the Snapdragon 855, as well as Qualcomm's 60GHz 802.11ad Wi-Fi and 2x2 Wi-Fi 6-ready chipsets.

The TCL subsidiary Alcatel has launched its new 3T 10 tablet at MWC19. This device has a 10-inch screen and runs Android 9.0 (Pie) out of the box. It also comes with a Google Assisant pre-install. The Alcatel 3T 10 is compatible with an optional "Audio Station" stand which, as the OEM claims, adds 7 hours of battery life (for some tasks) and a dedicated 'docked' interface.

Alcatel has brought four new phones to show off at 2019's Mobile World Congress (MWC19). The 1X and 1S are bugdet-friendly options, whereas the 3 and 3L are slightly more premium. They have been finished with some attractive materials, and boast some up-to-date features such as AI camera enhancements and face unlocking.

Samsung's new Galaxy S10 phones may have a monopoly of the headlines at the moment but the company's new A30 and A50 are also interesting releases in their own right. The devices feature premium camera setups, Super AMOLED displays, and beefy batteries for power users.

Sony generally has a reputation for releasing disappointing mid-range devices. The company's new Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus attempt to cast off that label and while we won't be quick to claim them successful, the phones are undoubtedly an improvement on last year's models.

Sony has announced its flagship Xperia 1 at MWC 2019 today. The Xperia 1 brings the best of Sony technologies across photo, film, and television, and aims to create an immersive viewing experience with its 21:9 4K OLED HDR screen. The Xperia 1 comes with 2019 flagship specifications and is expected to be available sometime late spring.

The LG G8 ThinQ and G8s ThinQ flagship smartphones have finally made an official appearance. The G8 variant comes with numerous attractive features that should appeal to users, such as touchless commands and an OLED screen that doubles as a speaker. The G8 also has a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor, known as the Z Camera, as part of the front dual camera setup.

LG has unveiled the V50 ThinQ 5G flagship smartphone. The multimedia-devouring powerhouse is unsurprisingly 5G ready and houses a Snapdragon 855 behind its 6.4-inch QHD+ OLED display. For more enhanced content consumption, there is an optional Dual Screen for the V50 that will offer a greater viewing area for gamers or film fans to enjoy.

Huawei's first foldable phone, the Mate X, has been demonstrated to tech journalists in Barcelona as part of a preview event for the 2019 Mobile World Congress. The device has some similarities with the Samsung Galaxy Fold, but also has some unique features of its own.

HMD Global has released the highly anticipated Nokia 9 PureView at MWC 2019 in Barcelona today. True to the rumors so far, the Nokia 9 indeed comes with a penta-lens rear camera setup that takes stunning images and is actually comparable to a professional full frame camera. HMD has incorporated enhancements at both the software and hardware level to make the most of the five cameras.

Samsung has released a video showing off the new Galaxy Fold and demonstrated some device usage as well. Features like App continuity, camera, and Samsung Dex are briefly shown. While the video does not go into too much detail, and is actually silent for the most part, it does give a glimpse of what to expect when the device is made available later this year.

Some leaks have pointed to the 6.2 as Nokia's first phone to feature a punch-hole camera. However, it appears we will have to wait a while to confirm this. A HMD-focused leaker has asserted that the brand intends to focus on the 9 PureView instead at its MWC event.

Jim Harris, an author and speaker on disruptive innovations, has released a new report on consumer tech ahead of MWC 2019. In it, he claims that 59% of all the money spent in the same market in 2018 was expended on smartphones. Harris also asserts that Android is now the most popular software platform.

The LG V series has a history of including secondary displays, which are often built into their large phablet-scale screens. If a new leak is to be believed, this feature has returned to the V50 ThinQ - sort of. It consists of images showing a case that gives the upcoming LG flagship an entire extra screen.

At the Mobile World Congress currently underway in Barcelona, Xiaomi took to stage to unveil the upgraded Mi Mix 3. The new Mi Mix now features the flagship 7 nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC and support for 5G connectivity via the Snapdragon X50 modem. The rest of the specifications are identical to the original version including the slider mechanism and ceramic build.

OnePlus' first 5G phone will be released in partnership with the carriers EE and Elisa in the second quarter of the year. They are located in the UK and Finland respectively, and are the only companies to be associated with the release of this phone so far. OnePlus' CEO has indicated that the device will cost under US$1000.

Huawei maintains a number of physical stores for its devices in China. Reuters has reported that it now plans to open its first international bricks-and-mortar establishment in Vienna. This outlet will reportedly be open by summer 2019.

Meizu has announced that its Note 9 is to be launched on March 6, 2019. This phone will feature a Samsung GM1 48MP camera sensor. It may also have 6GB of RAM, a 6.2-inch FHD display and the Snapdragon 675 processor.

The CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, Richard Yu, has uploaded a photo of the moon to his Weibo account that was more than likely taken with a P30 Pro smartphone. Huawei has been busy promoting the zooming qualities of its upcoming P30 series on Twitter, but the zoom shot of the moon certainly takes some beating.

The main specifications, pricing, and availability of Sony’s upcoming devices have been obtained and published by 91mobiles. This massive leak includes details about the flagship smartphone Xperia 1, the midrange devices Xperia 10 and Xperia 10+, and the budget-level Xperia L3. The Xperia 1, 10, and 10+ will all feature the new “CinemaWide” 21:9 aspect ratio.

A leaked image of a promotional banner has confirmed the name of the upcoming foldable 5G smartphone from Huawei: Mate X. The picture doesn’t reveal details about pricing or hardware, but it does show the foldable device in three different forms that give a clear idea of what the Huawei Mate X will look like.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 line continues the recent tradition of having an additional hardware button that activates the Bixby virtual assistant out of the box. However, unlike previous flagship generations, users will be able to re-assign the functions of this button. This new feature may also be transferred to the Note 9 and older phones in the future.

KaiOS powers feature phones such as the Nokia 8110. MediaTek has prepared new 3G and 4G SoCs for this platform. One of these, the MT6731, can also support 4G in dual SIM slots. They are intended to bring new, affordable phones with these connectivity options in 2019

One month after showing up at CES and snagging quite a few "Best of" awards, the ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars is now launching worldwide. This gaming smartphone is available in two variants — Essential (6/64 GB) and Superior (8/128 GB) — and a third one that features 10 GB of memory and 256 GB of internal storage space is also coming soon.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 line introduces the Infinity-O display to the international market. Unfortunately, it seems that some app elements are being occluded or otherwise disrupted by the 'punch-hole' found in the upper right corner of this screen type. This highlights the increasing need to account for and adapt to this new display tech in the future.

Samsung’s Galaxy S10+ flagship smartphone has amassed 109 points in DxOMark’s Mobile test for its rear-facing triple camera setup. This puts the device on equal footing with Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro and P20 Pro in terms of points, but the image quality rating website has given the S10+ third place in the overall Mobile rankings.

The independent benchmark DxOMark has given the Samsung Galaxy S10+ first place in its rankings for smartphone front cameras. At the moment, there are only 13 devices in the new selfie chart but Samsung has beaten out contenders from Google, Xiaomi, and Apple. The S10+’s front camera system was commended for its accurate autofocus and color capture.

A new rumor about the expected Sony Xperia XZ4 flagship smartphone has stated that the device could be renamed the Xperia 1. This follows the news that the Xperia XA3 and XA3 Plus are to be rebranded the Xperia 10 and 10 Plus, respectively. There also seems to be a fresh leak about the type of display the Xperia 1 will be fitted with.

A set of leaked Nokia 9 PureView renders have appeared on Twitter ahead of the device's expected unveiling on February 24. HMD Global may release the Nokia 4.2, Nokia 3.2, Nokia 1 Plus at MWC next week too.

The upcoming Realme 3 smartphone will be launching in both Helio P60 and Helio P70 variants. This was confirmed by Realme following the results of AIDA64 results that have leaked online. While the P70 version will launch in India, the P60 variant is destined for a global rollout. The Realme 3 is expected to sport a diamond-cut finish on the back and will target the tightly contested upper mid-range segment.

Xiaomi has launched the Mi 9 SE in China alongside the flagship Mi 9. The Mi 9 SE is the world's first phone to be powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC and offers the same 48 MP camera and in-display fingerprint sensor as the Mi 9. While most other specs are on par, the battery capacity seems somewhat of a downer.

Samsung also devoted some of its latest launch event to 5G and its potential in the future of telecommunicatons and online life in general. This led to the unveiling of the Galaxy S10 5G. It has an extra 3D-sensing module on its rear panel, in addition to the three cameras also found in the S10 and S10+.

Samsung has released three new types of wearable to go with the Galaxy S10 series in 2019. They are the Galaxy Buds, a possibly improved set of earbuds, the Galaxy Fit, a new activiy tracker, and the Galaxy Watch Active, a new sports-focused smartwatch. All three can charge wirelessly, including off S10 devices.

Today, (20 February 2019) Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+. However, the much-rumored new S10 variant, the S10e, was also counted in at some points. It will start at US$749, and has most of the new premium line's specs and features.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ are now official and boast quite the feature set. We've known about most of these features thanks to the bevy of rumors and leaks that have been floating around the Internet for months, but the devices look to be respectable upgrades over the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. Both phones feature triple-camera setups, in-display fingerprint sensor, and reverse wireless charging, among others. However, the phones come with a hefty price tag, starting at $900 and $1000, respectively.

Samsung's in-house virtual assistant, Bixby, has been historically linked to many limitations over its life. One of them is the inability to work in certain languages, German and Italian included. However, support for these languages, as well as for Spanish, is now being rolled out to its 2.0 version.

The release of the Samsung Galaxy S10 series is imminent. This event has also been roundly rumored to include a stage at which the OEM's first foldable device will be unveiled. That has not stopped MobiFlip from presenting new possible images of this phone.

The new Archos handsets start at 5.7 and go up to 6.3 and 6.8 inches in size, but all will hit the market for less than 170 USD. The Unisoc SC9863-powered Oxygen 57 and Oxygen 63, as well as the Helio P22-driven Oxygen 68XL will launch with Android Pie onboard in May. Before that happens, these handsets will be unveiled at MWC.

Featuring specs similar to Samsung's S10 lineup, the Mi 9 smashes the Korean competitor with halved starting prices. Some of the outstanding features coming with the Mi9 include the powerful Snapdragon 855 SoC, up to 12 GB of RAM, up to 256 GB of storage, a 6.39-inch AMOLED screen with in-display fingerprint sensor, a 20 MP selfie cam and an impressive 48 + 16 + 12 MP rear tri-cam.

The version labeled 50 of the Opera browser for Android comes with an improved ad blocker that features a site-specific setting, picture-in-picture support for videos on Android Oreo (and later), support for dark CSS themes, as well as support for the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian languages.

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has launched its latest notchless all-display smartphone. The new Vivo V15 Pro has been unveiled in India and comes with an pop-up selfie camera and a triple rear camera set up.

Ahead of MWC 2019, LG has announced three new budget smartphones in the Q and K-series. The LG Q60 offers a triple-camera setup and higher onboard storage while the LG K50 and K40 are oriented at more price-conscious users. All phones sport an unnamed 2.0 GHz octa-core SoC and LG's FullVision display HD+ panels along with support for DTS:X audio and AI Cam.

A new image of the OnePlus 7 has leaked online confirming previous leaks of a notch-less fullscreen display. We also do not see any punch-hole for the selfie camera indicating the possibility of a slider mechanism. However, the display orientation throws up a speculation as to whether or not OnePlus is building support for inverted displays into Oxygen OS.

Razer has had to cut around 2% of its workforce due to “realignment.” It’s believed many of the staff that have been let go were involved with the company’s smartphone products. The cuts could mean that any progress on the Razer Phone 3 device has been halted while the manufacturer streamlines its operations.