Android

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.

ViewSonic is expanding into the mini PC market with its first ever Chromebox device that acts as an all-in-one education, signage and enterprise cloud management solution. The NMP660 is 4K-ready and integrates Intel's Celeron 3865U CPU, 4 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, while offering varied connectors and security features.

First introduced at CES 2018 with a planned mid-year launch, Lenovo’s Mirage Solo Daydream VR headset will land on May 11. The device features what is effectively a built-in smartphone to provide a completely untethered VR experience good for up to 7 hours per charge.

Although mobile gaming managed to leave both consoles and PCs/Macs behind for the first time in 2014, its position strengthened ever since and the figures for 2017 show that there is no turning back now. According to the latest report by App Annie and IDC, mobile game spending was 2.3 times higher than PC/Mac game spending and 3.6 times higher than the amount of money console gamers had spent during the same period.

The new Swiftkey 7.0 virtual keyboard app for Android devices is rolling out right now, bringing quite a few new languages to the list of well over 200 which are already supported, the ability to create your own stickers by adding camera roll photos and other elements without leaving the app, as well as a completely new toolbar which provides quick access to all its capabilities.

Although the Moto E4 has been around since last July and Verizon Wireless has been selling it ever since for just US$69.99, T-Mobile decided to add this 5-inch Android Nougat smartphone to its portfolio now instead of waiting for the Moto E5. However, the full retail price they charge is US$175. Fortunately, T-Mobile customers can also go with a US$7 down payment, followed by 24 monthly payments of US$7 each.

Shortly after seeing the Huawei Y9 (2018) launch in Thailand, an unofficial render of the next-gen Huawei Y7 surfaced online. This mid-range Android handset is rumored to feature a 5.5-inch display with 2,160 x 1,080 pixels, a single 13 MP photo shooter on the back, a fingerprint reader, and a traditional 3.5 mm audio jack. Its specs might also include 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, and a Snapdragon 435 processor (or similar).

Oppo's upcoming R15 and R15 Plus smartphone models will be powered by MediaTek's Helio P60 SoC and Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, respectively. Both come with 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB storage, pre-installed Android 8.1, a 20 MP selfie cam, a 16 MP + 5 MP dual rear camera, and a 6.28-inch 2280 x 1080 AMOLED screen.

Andy Rubin has green lit the rollout of the Android 8.1 Oreo update for the Essential Phone PH-1. The update is available immediately to all users over-the-air and brings a raft of new features to the device.

Although the rest of the world has to wait for it, the 5.99-inch Honor 7C has just been introduced in China. The specs of this handset also include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, 3 GB or 4 GB RAM, a dual camera setup on the back, as well as Android Oreo-based firmware with Huawei's EMUI 8.0 on top. Those interested can purchase it in China already, where the list of color choices includes blue, black, gold, and red.

There has been a report made about the expected release date and higher price tag for the LG G7. The device is expected to be announced in April and to go on sale in May. No exact price point has been revealed yet, but the same source commented that the G7's release price will be considerably higher than that of the G6's. There is also a rumor LG is preparing to announce a Plus version of the G7, too.

OPPO F7, the successor of the OPPO F5 lineup, will be unveiled on March 26. Although most technical details are still to be revealed, we know of the 6.2-inch display with a rather strange resolution of 2,280 x 1,080 pixels and its notch similar to that of the Apple iPhone X. This phablet also comes with a 25 MP selfie shooter that features HDR and AR capabilities, as well as AI Beauty 2.0 beautification.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 430-powered Sony Xperia R1 and R1 Plus are two budget-friendly handsets that remain exclusively available in India for now, being launched back in November 2017. Back then, both arrived with Android 7.1 Nougat onboard. Although the update to Oreo has been announced by Sony Xperia India on Twitter, there is no official information about the build number and the security patch date available yet.

Although the upcoming Galaxy J-series handsets are rumored to feature Samsung Exynos processors, the Samsung SM-J805G device — believed to be the Galaxy J8+ (2018) — surfaced online with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 under the hood, 4 GB of memory, and Android 8.0 Oreo. Sadly, other details are not available right now, but we will probably hear more about the Galaxy J8+ (2018) in the coming weeks.

Mostly thanks to the release of the iPhone X in November, iOS handsets managed to grab the first spot in Australia during the last quarter of 2017. During the given period, Apple shipped 1.76 million handsets in Australia, which accounted for a market share of 56.2 percent. On the other hand, 1.37 million Android handsets managed to reach the continent in the final quarter of last year, grabbing 43.8 percent of the market.

A report by a Korean outlet has estimated the S9 day-one pre-order sales numbers to stand at 180,000, down 31% from the S8's 260,000 figure. It's about expected, though, as the S9 doesn't actually offer a substantial upgrade over its predecessor.

A while ago, a report by XDA-Developers detailed the Mi 7 using information gleaned from a new firmware file. According to a new report, though, the Mi 7 may have gone through significant changes over the past few weeks, with alterations to its battery capacity and a wild appearance of what seems to be a notch.

If the latest rumors turn into reality, Android Wear will change its name around 4 years after its release. In addition to the new name, Google's upcoming Wear OS should also feature a new, colorful logo similar to the one currently used by Google Assistant. However, this change was spotted in the latest 12.5 beta for Play Services, so nothing is official yet, but we will probably see it happening in May at Google I/O.

Samsung Canada has released a roadmap for the rollout of Android Oreo. The S8 and S8+ will receive their updates on March 19, and the Note 8 about a week later. Users of other new Samsung devices will, of course, have to wait till much later in the year.

Fortnite Battle Royale's popularity has skyrocketed of recent, and it's sure to grow even further, with Epic Games confirming that the battle royale shooter is coming to both iOS and Android, and with cross-play support across all platforms.

Huawei has released the Mate SE, a rebrand of the hugely popular Honor 7X. The Mate SE is identical to the Honor 7X but features a slightly tweaked camera design, an extra GB of RAM, and 32 more GBs of storage. It comes with a price tag of US$229.99.

Press renders and live images of the Huawei P20, P20 Lite, and P20 Pro have shown them all sporting vertically aligned rear cameras—tri-rear cameras in the case of the P20 Pro. This comes after a video by Huawei teased a horizontal alignment on the devices a week ago.

Essential has filed a patent with the USPTO for “image capture with a camera integrated display.” Could this mean the American technology company is working on a method to remove the selfie camera from the polarizing top notch position that many manufacturers have currently adopted? Would new sensor-positioning technology be introduced in a future Essential smartphone release?

The value proposition for the 6-inch FullView Android will be one of the best when it launches late next week with pre-orders already open through major online retailers. It will be the most powerful smartphone in the Honor family by far, but also the priciest at over twice the MSRP of the popular Honor 7X.

We could very well see a Nokia 9 this year sporting an in-display fingerprint sensor. The information comes from a source close to NokiaPowerUser and goes on to say that 2018 flagships from HMD Global are also likely to sport a notch to maximize the display area given the native notch support in the upcoming Android 9.0 P OS.

The new Huawei Y9 (2018) that was unveiled in Thailand shares many specs and features with the existing Mate 10 Lite and Honor 9 Lite. Its main selling points are the large 2:1 IPS display, the four cameras, and the capable HiSilicon Kirin 659 mid-range processor. Powered by a generous 4,000 mAh battery and loaded with Android 8.0 Oreo, the Y9 (2018) will hit the market in black, blue, and gold.

The upcoming OnePlus flagship, OnePlus 6, looks like the phone to watch out for in 2018 as it posted impressive scores in the AnTuTu benchmark beating contenders such as the Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ and even the iPhone X. The benchmark app also lends further credence to the fact that the OnePlus 6 will sport an iPhone X-esque notch.

Bose has launched a new type of AR technology that it is calling Audio AR. The prototype sunglasses on show at SXSW use an audio layer to supplement a user's interaction with their surrounds to provide more information and context.

Motorola looks set to release a new VR-based headset as a MotoMod for its Z series smartphones. The new headset also looks like it might have the backing of Oculus, if its headstrap is any indication.

Motorola may have scrapped its plans to launch a successor to the Moto X4. According to a new report, the Lenovo-owned company is making cutbacks in a number of areas to try turn around its fortunes.

Estimated to begin reaching its first owners in about a month, the US$749.99 Garmin tactix Charlie is a premium GPS watch that features a 1.2-inch sunlight-readable display with domed sapphire lens, GPS with GLONASS support, as well a rugged design. Its battery can provide up to 12 days of autonomy in smartwatch mode, 20 hours in GPS mode, and 35 hours in UltraTrac battery saving mode.

Microsoft is now offering the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ for pre-order through its store. There have been reports that these are "Microsoft Editions" of the smartphones, which will operate on Android OS and will look identical to the flagship devices sold on Samsung’s website. Microsoft’s supposed customizations will come in the form of software additions, such as Cortana, Skype, Microsoft Launcher and apps from Office 365. However, it appears there is no such thing as a "Microsoft Edition" Galaxy flagship.

The Sony Xperia XZ2 made its debut as an improved version of the Xperia XZ1, sporting the same 19 MP main camera with a Motion Eye sensor, but being capable of shooting both full HD 960 fps videos and 4K HDR content. Although its predecessor is still missing these features, the Xperia XZ2 comes with Night Light mode and one-hand operation out of the box. Sadly, it also sports a low-end front camera and an outdated design.

As revealed by the images that recently surfaced on Weibo, the upcoming ZTE Nubia N3 is a rather peculiar Android handset. Although it features a quite capable mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and a 5.99-inch display with a 2:1 aspect ratio, it comes with large bezels and only features a micro USB port for charging and data transfer. At last, we should also mention the stock Android 8.0 Oreo firmware.

Chuwi's upcoming Hi 9 Air will push the limits of the gaming tablet space, with the device to feature the deca-core Helio X20 SoC, Mali-T880 MP4 GPU, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage, all packed into a slim 8.2mm-thick frame.

Reports claim that the next batch of ZTE Nubia devices will ditch the company's Nubia UI for good and make the switch to stock Android. There's a chance both the Axon and Nubia lines share the same "Stock UI" that has been reported.

The Kirin 670 will be Huawei's response to the new Snapdragon 636 and Exynos 7872 SoCs. The hexa-core chipset will feature a Neural Processing Unit for AI capabilities and a Mali-G72 MP4 GPU. It will also be built on a 12nm manufacturing process.

This year's MWC may have marked a turn in the smartphone market. While the latest flagships were generally iterative improvements on last year's models, the budget and mid-tier segments have begun to explode. The best phones may not be getting cheaper, but cheap phones are definitely getting better.

Although its name is still unknown, many websites call it "Pie" already, but the certain thing is that Android 9.0 is already available for testing. The first Developer Preview build of Google's upcoming major Android version comes with many improvements under the hood (support for HEIC images, WiFi Location with WiFi RTT), as well as support for edge-to-edge displays with cutouts and multiple interface changes.

Serial leakster Evan Blass is at it again, this time spoiling the official unveiling of the Huawei P20 line up. As rumored, the three model range all feature iPhone X-style notches, once the source of ridicule among the Android faithful.

A new leak has confirmed that the OnePlus 6 will, in fact, feature a notch. This comes just weeks after OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei denied similar rumors on Twitter. The device will also feature a Snapdragon 845, a rear fingerprint reader, and dual rear cameras.

HMD CEO Florian Seiche has confirmed that the company will not be selling its new retinue of devices in the US. The Nokia 6 (2018), however, will make the trip later in May, but not under the banners of any carrier.

The Sims Mobile is now available for both iOS and Android devices and — fortunately for the many mobile gamers on a very tight budget — comes for free on both platforms. However, those really into this iconic title can speed up the progress and enhance the user experience by purchasing various premium items that are priced between US$2.99 (Android) or US$4.99 (iOS) and US$99.99.

The teaser image that was posted on Weibo reveals an iPhone X-style display with a similar notch as that of Apple's flagship that more and more Chinese brands seem to be after these days. The VIVO V9 will have a 24 MP front camera, but there is no other piece of information to talk about at this stage. However, we expect a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4 GB of memory or more, and a 2:1 display.