Android

If you thought Samsung's smartphones were starting to look boring and predictable, you'd be right. A purported offical render of the Galaxy Note 9 has surfaced and it looks just like the Galaxy Note 8.

Sony has surprised with the launch of the mid-range 6-inch XA2 Plus. The device is quite similar to the similarly powered XA2 Ultra, but is arguably the most beautiful Sony smartphone in recent times.

The 5.7-inch Moto E5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor and retails for around US$146, while the 5.99-inch Moto E5 Plus will be available in the region for about US$175 and sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430. In both cases, the screen resolution is an almost decent 1,440 x 720 pixels.

Earlier today, PUBG Mobile 0.7.0 beta was still receiving new players. Sadly, at the time of publishing this piece, all available spots have been taken already. The good part is that new players will be accepted later, so this early access program is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Evan Blass has tweeted out an official render of the Galaxy Tab S4 with matching keyboard cover. Although difficult to confirm from the image, the Samsung logo and Home button appear to be absent from the front of the device confirming earlier rumors to that effect.

Expected to launch in China later this week for a price starting around the equivalent of US$150, the upcoming Nokia X5 is powered by a yet-to-be-revealed MediaTek processor and sports a 720p 5.86-inch notched display. This handset will launch with Android 8.1 Oreo onboard and will obviously receive Android P once it becomes available.

After a successful first month, sales of the Samsung Galaxy S9 devices have flatlined. Going by the current trend, sales of the duo are expected to peak at an underwhelming 31 million shipments, making them the worst-selling Galaxy S devices since the Galaxy S3 that was released back in 2012.

HTC’s fall from grace continues without hitting terminal velocity. The company released its June sales numbers, with the figures showing a 68% year-on-year drop in revenue.

Sony’s Xperia XA2 Ulta mid-ranger made the trip to popular photography benchmark platform DxOMark last week, and recorded a set of bang average results in the process.

Samsung's Galaxy S10 has been tipped to pick up the company's next-generation ARM-based silicon. Expected to be called the Exynos 9820, the successor to the Exynos 9810 will also be fabricated on Samsung's all-new 7nm FinFet node.

Google is currently offering its Pixel 2 XL models at US$100 off their regular price. The sale also includes other products in its hardware lineup and runs until July 17 while stocks last.

Sony's XZ2 Premium is up for pre-order in the US, but won't ship until July 30. To help ease the blow of its US$999 price tag, Sony is throwing in a set of its futuristic Xperia Ear Duos for customers who pre-order the device.

After the changes brought by the post-meteor strike Season 4, Season 5 of Fortnite is now on its way and will kick off on July 12 at 4 AM EDT (08:00 GMT). The strange rift events that have started to appear after the recent in-game missile launch will probably play a role in Season 5 as well, but the details are not public yet.

The Vivo Nex flagship, which is widely known for its fullscreen display design with a pop-up selfie camera and an in-display fingerprint reader, is expected to hit Russia, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, and Hong Kong by the end of the month. Sadly, its availability for other markets has not been confirmed yet.

The yet to be announced OPPO A3s seems to be a re-branded OPPO A5 and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage, a dual camera setup on the back, as well as a massive 6.2-inch notched display. Sadly, the screen resolution is very low for this size — only 1,280 x 720 pixels.

The Samsung Galaxy Amp Prime 3 is a 5-inch handset that features low-end specs such as a resolution of just 1,280 x 720 pixels, 5 MP and 8 MP cameras, 2 GB RAM, and 16 GB of internal storage. On the other hand, many users will enjoy having a removable 2,600 mAh battery, Bixby support, as well as Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.

The upcoming Xiaomi POCOPHONE landed at FCC with two variants, both featuring 6 GB of memory. However, one of them sports 64 GB of internal storage space, while the other offers 128 GB. The draft of the handset's back also reveals a vertical dual camera setup. Sadly, there is not much else to talk about yet.

A typo in the build script of AOSP-based custom ROMs for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones is reportedly causing the photo uploads from Google Camera to count against the Google Photos storage limit. The bug, however, is fixed now and users running custom ROMs on first gen Pixel phones should be able to use the unlimited Google Photos storage as usual.

The two 10.1-inch Huawei slates MediaPad M5 Lite 10 and MediaPad T5 10 run Android Oreo and use the same HiSilicon Kirin 659 octa-core processor, although there are some differences easily noticeable in the battery and camera departments. In Italy, their prices start around the equivalent of US$235.

A dual camera for selfies and a tri-camera setup on the back — this is the mobile photography hardware rumored to be used by Samsung for the upcoming Galaxy S10+ flagship. Currently codenamed "Beyond 2," this handset is expected to become — alongside the S10 — the first Samsung phone with a triple camera setup, as well as the first S series device with two front cameras.

Sony's new Xperia XZ2 Premium flagship is one of the heaviest smartphones hitting the market. At 232 grams, it even out beefs the hefty iPhone 8 Plus and Samsung's Galaxy Active.

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab Advanced2 and the Galaxy Tab Advanced2 XL are expected to hit the market soon with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, thinner bezels than their predecessors, as well as without a physical Home button. Both are very likely to arrive at the end of August, just in time for IFA 2018.

Samsung's next generation smartwatch is likely to skip its 'Gear' branding in favor of new 'Galaxy Watch' branding. The realigned brand is also expected to coincide with a switch in operating system from Samsung's Tizen OS to Google's Wear OS.

Huawei is set to release the latest version of its TalkBand. The TalkBand 5 can be worn as a watch, but also features a pop out ear piece for taking and making calls on the move.

The well-received Mate 10 Pro flagship can be had for $500 unlocked and with no strings attached. Here's hoping that stock will last for more than just a few minutes when the deal goes live in just over a week.

AnTuTu's list of the best-performing handheld devices updated for June shows a clear Chinese dominance. Of the ten featured devices, only three are non-Chinese (Samsung Galaxy S9+/S9 and Sony Xperia XZ2). Topping the chart is Xiaomi's Black Shark gaming smartphone, while the last position is occupied by another gaming smartphone - the Nubia Red Magic.

Xiaomi’s growth has been meteoric. The company made advances into Europe last year and is set to pay the US a visit in 2019, if company Vice President Wang Xiang’s words are anything to go by.

A post of Xiaomi’s MIUI forums has revealed what devices will receive the MIUI 10 update. Of course, only a select few of those devices will receive a MIUI 10 based on Android Oreo.

HTC is set to lay off 1500 workers from its Taiwan manufacturing unit by September. The company has seen a consistent drop in sales figures over the past year or so, and it’s about time we came to terms with the fact that the Taiwanese company could close shop soon.

The LG G6 is currently receiving its Oreo update. This is an update to Android 8.0 and, considering how long it’s taken to be sent out, will likely be the only major update the last-gen flagship receives.

A German engineering student has designed a 'mobile airbag' case that protects your phone by detecting when it has been dropped and deploying springs to cushion the fall. The prototype has won a national mechatronics award in Germany, and the product will be launched in Kickstarter later this month.

Latest rumors claim that Samsung's first foldable phone - the Galaxy X - will be getting flexible batteries with capacities between 3,000 and 6,000 mAh. The foldable 7.3-inch OLED displays that will be featured with the Galaxy X are scheduled to enter production later this summer, and the devices should be ready for launch in Q1 2019, along with the Galaxy S10 models.

The mid-range version of the Moto Z flagship, Lenovo's Moto Z Play has been unveiled back in August 2016 with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow onboard. Now, the Verizon Wireless variant of this Qualcomm Snapdragon 625-powered smartphone is finally receiving the long-awaited Android 8.0 Oreo update.

Expected to arrive in the US exclusively via Verizon Wireless, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Aero apparently has just surfaced on Geekbench. The listing for the SM-J737V device has been removed since it was spotted by MySmartPrice News, and the details it revealed include an Exynos 7885 processor, 2 GB RAM, and Android Oreo.

The successor of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 tablet surfaced a few times so far but still has to be confirmed by the company's officials. The new renders of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 show slimmer bezels than the previous ones, also revealing a few sensors and the lack of a physical Home button.

The upcoming Huawei Nova 3 is a massive mid-range handset with a 6.3-inch FullView display, a design similar to the P20 flagship, and dual cameras for both selfies and daily mobile photography tasks. Expected to be unveiled on July 18, the Nova 3 uses a HiSilicon Kirin 710 processor, next to 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage.

Less than a month after Samsung announced the arrival of the new Galaxy J3 and Galaxy J7 handsets, both are making their way to the US market. The 5-inch Galaxy J3 and the 5.5-inch Galaxy J7 are both budget handsets that feature 2 GB of memory and come with Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box.

Dual-screen support is reportedly coming to Samsung DeX with the release of the Galaxy Tab S4 later this year. DeX has previously allowed the phone's screen to be used as a touchpad for controlling the mouse, but displaying content on the tablet as well as the monitor would improve productivity experiences.

The Exynos 7870-powered Samsung Galaxy J6 has been around since May in black, gold, and blue. However, the Indian market will now get it as the Galaxy On6, but only in black and blue. The "new" Galaxy On6 also sports a slightly lower price tag than the identical Galaxy J6 due to the fact that it can only be acquired online.

OnePlus continues to capitalize on the popularity of its new OnePlus 6 flagship by launching limited edition models of the device. The latest is the Limited Edition OnePlus 6 Red, and it is coming July 10.

Even though it is not the foldable phone everyone is waiting for, Nubia's Z18S still comes with a dual-display setup. The front screen has no notch or selfie cam, so the bezels are as thin as they can get. The secondary screen is placed on the back, under the camera setup and it can be used to display, notifications, widgets or headlines.

According to Xiaomi, the Redmi Note 5 devices have sold five million units in the four months following their launch back on Valentine's day. For some perspective, it took the Redmi Note 4 six months to achieve this.