Android

Even though it features the infamous iPhone X upper display notch, the Oppo F7 is actually a solid mid-range selfie phone. It is powered by the octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 SoC and it comes in 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 6 GB + 128 GB variants. The selfie cam benefits from a 25 MP sensor and a multitude of modes, while the rear cam only gets a 16 MP sensor with LED flash.

The instant messaging app created by the founder of the social networking site VK continues to grow, although it still has a long road ahead until it can challenge Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Telegram Messenger was used by 200 million people within the 30 days for the first time — as many users as the population of the sixth-largest country in the world.

The latest version of Google's light file manager brings improved file search capabilities and Google Photos integration, so now the user can easily remove photos that have been already backed up. In addition to the above, Google Files Go 1.0.189786363 also provides improved notifications and shows the location of the duplicates upon removal.

Thanks to serial leaker Evan Blass, we now have a look at the next high-end BlackBerry-branded device set to hit the market. Manufactured for sale in the subcontinent, the new Ghost Pro from Optiemus is set to be a premium bezel-less design.

Lenovo will ship its Mirage VR Camera on May 4 in the US. The point-and-shoot camera was made in collaboration with Google and supports Google Daydream VR headsets and smartphones.

Blackview is set to debut yet another battery monster in the P10000 Pro. The device will feature an 11000 mAh battery, USB Type-C, and 25W fast charge that’s said to charge the device full in slightly over two hours.

Huawei deployed tall trucks conveniently parked in front of Apple and Samsung stores to inform users about the P20 reveal on 3/27. While the campaign is a borderline marketing stunt designed to draw attention and awareness, the spectacle is amusing nonetheless. The P20 will supposedly have some of the best cameras in the market.

Earlier this week, BLU Products silently introduced the Vivo XL3 Plus and, unlike the 5.5-inch Vivo XL 3 which features a MediaTek processor and a dual camera setup, this 6-inch handset comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor and a single camera on the back. Sadly, it only comes loaded with Android Nougat.

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime 2 smartphone has shown up on the South Korean company’s Indian website. The specifications listed by Samsung for the 5.5-inch device include an octa-core 1.6 GHz CPU from the Exynos 7 Series, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM, and 13 MP rear and front-facing cameras. It is believed the listing may have been posted by mistake.

Having received the "Best Mobile Innovation for Payment" award at the annual Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO Awards) earlier this year, Samsung Pay has just reached Italy. This mobile payment service works with quite a few Samsung devices, including the new Galaxy S9/S9+ flagships.

The latest leaked specs reveal that the OnePlus 6 will only have a few things in common with the Oppo R15. The high-end Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage, plus the 20 MP selfie cam and the 20 MP + 16 MP combo on the back should make the OnePlus 6 rival even the best models offered by Samsung.

With a price of around US$205, the new 6-inch ZTE Nubia V18 is powered by the ubiquitous Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 mid-range processor. It also features 4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and a 4,000 mAh battery. Sadly, it does not come with Oreo onboard, running Nougat with Nubia UI 5.1 on top instead.

Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ users are complaining of “dead spots” in their smartphone displays that are failing to respond to touch inputs. With complaints starting to mount on user forums, the Korean tech giant has said that it is actively investigating the issue.

HTC has announced the release of its two new budget devices, the Desire 12 and Desire 12+. Considering how much of a part the Desire series played in the journey of Android, it's a tad surprising to see the latest devices in the series fall so flat on their faces.

The Huawei Honor 6X was released back in 2016 on Android Marshmallow. It received the update to Nougat a few months later and is set for one final blaze, with confirmation on Huawei's forums touting a May 2018 Oreo rollout for the device.

Best Buy has pulled out of its partnership with Huawei. This means that the Chinese OEM will no longer be able to sell its smartphones via the retail store. Best Buy was Huawei's major channel of selling smartphones in brick-and-mortar stores, so this kills the company's hopes of making any headway in the US.

Meizu has announced the release of the next device in its mid-range E-series. The E3 features a Snapdragon 636, a powerful dual rear camera setup, 6 GB of RAM, up to 128 GB of storage, and fast charging technology.

The Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro launched on Android Nougat, while its Chinese variant ran on Oreo out of the box. The latter enjoys Treble support, and a discovery has shown that users of the Indian model can flash the Chinese Oreo build on their devices with TWRP, granting them Treble superpowers.

There has been a report suggesting that Huawei Technologies is developing a smartphone that could utilize blockchain technology. Officials from the Chinese multinational have apparently been in talks with representatives from Sirin Labs, who created the Finney smartphone that features blockchain-based security. If Huawei goes ahead and create a “blockchain smartphone” then the company will be the first major smartphone manufacturer to deliver this particular technology to the masses.

The highly anticipated foldable phone from Samsung might include a slide-out display system, which would provide a wider screen suitable for movie-watching, streaming and playing games, especially when the 5G networks go online. This could add to the overall thickness of the device, but the benefits easily outweigh the downsides.

Lenovo has announced the launch of its new mid-ranger, the S5. The S5 features a 5.7-inch FHD+ display, a 13 MP + 13 MP dual rear camera setup, a Snapdragon 625, 3000 mAh battery, and USB Type-C. All of that at a price point just above US$150 makes the device an extremely attractive proposition.

Although Xiaomi released Android 8.0 Oreo for the Mi A1 handset before the end of 2017 as they previously had promised, the first security patch of the new year arrives with a long delay. Even worse, the new firmware does not bring Android 8.1 or the latest security patch from Google, only packing last month's update and nothing else.

After watching iOS users enjoying AR experiences on their iPhones for the past several months, Android users can now also get in on the AR action. The first apps using Google's ARCore technology have started to hit the Play Store.

The Huawei P20 Pro is going all out with its triple rear camera configuration. The latest rumors suggest that its main camera will feature a huge 40MP sensor co-developed with Leica that will surely shake things up in the smartphone market when it lands.

Huawei has launched the first of the P20 smartphones, the P20 Lite, in Europe and China with the Chinese variant being christened the Nova 3e. With a midrange Kirin 659 at the helm of affairs, the P20 Lite features a notched 19:9 display and retails from Euro 369.

Tencent Games released its mobile port of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds a while ago in China. The game was launched in Canada earlier in the week, and has finally been made available globally. Coming in as a free 700 MB install, PUBG Mobile may just represent the future of mobile gaming.

Xiaomi has released an official teaser for the upcoming Mi Mix 2S. The device is showing sporting minimal bezels and no notch. All things considered, it looks exactly like the Mi Mix 2. The device will feature a Snapdragon 845 and could also sport some sort of iris scanning technology and also wireless charging.

Since Vladimir Putin will be in charge for a few more years, it looks like Telegram might end up being blocked in Russia. A set of laws introduced back in 2016 required Telegram to give the government a way to decrypt all user conversations, and they received a fine of US$14,000 for failing to do so. Now, Telegram users in Russia should prepare for the worst.

Unleashed by SYBO and Kiloo back in May 2012, Subway Surfers managed to break the 400 million downloads barrier last year, thus becoming the most downloaded game of 2017 worldwide. Earlier this month, it also reached the 1 billion downloads milestone, so now this title is the most downloaded game on Google Play.

The upcoming Huawei P20 Pro has been spotted on Geekbench and has posted some good numbers albeit more or less in line with the scores posted by the P20. While benchmark numbers are not everything, the P20 and its Pro cousin fall inline with the 2017 Android flagships and will definitely be overshadowed by the 2018 ones from the likes of Samsung and Xiaomi et al.

OPPO has announced its two new devices, the R15 and R15 Dream Mirror, in China. If history's anything to go by, the upcoming OnePlus 6 will share a lot of similarities with these devices, including a notch and a 3.5mm jack.

Qualcomm released Quick Charge 4.0 back in November 2016 and followed it up with an improved Quick Charge 4+ seven months later. Both versions of the technology don't look to have a lot of takers, though, with the list of supported devices standing bare.

Seven months after the release of Android Oreo, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is finally receiving the stable update to Android 8.0. Users in the US on Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile have gotten updates, with the story being similar in Australia.

Although the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the dual-camera Galaxy S9+ were well received globally, the latter even being crowned as ruler of the mobile photography kingdom by DxOMark, these two flagships only got a lukewarm response in South Korea. For many retailers, the most recent best seller is the Samsung Galaxy A8, mainly thanks to its dual front cameras and its very good value overall.

The Mate 10 Pro will be cheaper than the Galaxy S9 for a limited time in North America. Huawei intends to have smartphone options available across all price ranges from the budget $200 Honor 7X, mainstream $500 Honor View10, and flagship $700 Mate 10 Pro.

The latest result of the collaboration between LG and Verizon Wireless is the LG Zone 4 low-end Android smartphone. The highlights of this handset include a 5-inch HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage and microSD support up to 2 TB, WiFi calling and HD voice, all with Android 7.1.2 Nougat on top. The (very) budget-friendly price tag reads only US$114.99.

One month after the Android Nougat-driven BLU Vivo X got listed on Amazon, the US-based company BLU Products is back with a 5.5-inch handset that runs Android Oreo out of the box. The BLU Vivo XL 3 has a 2:1 ratio display, a single 13 MP camera on the back, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage, and uses a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 processor. Its price tag reads US$189.99.

The Galaxy S9+ is Samsung's costliest device to produce to date, but it's still less expensive than the iPhone X. Among the most expensive components integrated in the Galaxy S9 there are the Exynos 9810 SoC, the AMOLED screen and the camera setup.

Introduced back in February during MWC 2018 alongside the Alcatel 3, 3X, and 5, the Android Go-powered Alcatel 1X and the 6-inch Alcatel 3V with a dual camera setup are both ready for the US market. Although the prices and launch dates are not official yet, we know that the US version of the Alcatel 1X sports a fingerprint reader and will start below the US$100 mark.

Xiaomi has released Android 8.0 kernel sources for the Mi A1. The device's Nougat sources were released a few weeks ago, so this is rather unexpected from Xiaomi. A surprise, but a welcome one to be sure.

ZTE was hit with a massive US$892 million fine by the US government back in 2016, a fine that led to the company posting a massive US$377 million net loss for that year. All looks to be well with the Chinese electronics giant now, though.

LG, a while ago, was said to be set to use an OLED display on the G7. That device is currently being redeveloped, apparently, and it would seem the company has decided to make a return to its tried and trusted LCD panels, after the failure that was the V30's OLED display.

Samsung is pulling out all the stops to encourage people to upgrade to its new Galaxy S9 models. US customers can currently enjoy steep discounts on genuine accessories when purchasing the new models outright.

Samsung has released kernel sources for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, just weeks after the devices were announced. The combination of kernel sources and Project Treble support should ensure that the devices get excellent community development.

The Honor 7X is currently receiving its first Oreo beta. The update brings a number of UI changes and the much-expected Project Treble support that will allow the device enjoy the community development it has lacked so far.

Word of a device powered by a "Snapdragon 632" has surfaced again, and just like the first time out, we're leery. There doesn't look to be any such SoC in the works, and the source information is as wonky as it gets.

Sony has explained its reasons for dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack on its new Xperia XZ2 series. According to the company, it is because of design reasons and the market trend towards wireless headphones.

HTC may completely skip the U12 launch and release the U12+ flagship smartphone in mid Q2 this year. As a competitor for Samsung's Galaxy S9+, the U12+ comes with a WQHD+ LCD screen, top of the line Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6 GB RAM, 64/128 GB storage, plus dual front/back cams.