Android

Leaked renders of a Motorola phone are believed to be of an upcoming entry to the company’s P series, most likely the P40. The images show the device with a punch-hole camera, which is becoming increasingly more popular with major smartphone manufacturers. On the rear of the phone there is a vertically aligned dual-camera setup, with a 48 MP sensor present.

The new Google ad featuring Macauley Culkin reprising his role as Kevin McCallister has been a smash hit racking up over 31 million views on YouTube since it was published on December 19. However, it appears that there might be two versions of the clip circulating; one with the standard Pixel 3 XL as we know it with a notch, and one with what could be an Easter Egg showing a variation of the same device, but with the notch hidden (or absent altogether) but with an edge-to-edge screen.

Some new information about Sony’s upcoming Xperia XA3 Plus and L3 smartphones has been leaked. The XA3 Plus device will apparently have a retail price of 519 Euros (~US$589) in most European markets, and it is believed it will come in a choice of three colors: black, silver, and gold. The Xperia L3 is also expected to be made available in Europe.

Honor has announced the launch of its new premium phone, the Honor V20. The device is powered by Huawei’s top of the line Kirin 980 SoC, and features a punch-hole camera design. There's a dual camera setup that includes a 48 MP sensor at the rear, a 25 MP selfie shooter at the front, and a 4000 mAh battery. All for under US$450.

OnePlus has begun sending out the stable Pie update to its last-gen flagships, the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T. The devices were launched on Android Nougat, and this will likely be the last major update they receive.

Huawei only just launched its new Kirin 980 flagship SoC a few months ago, but the company is already working on its successor, the Kirin 990. This comes amidst rumors that the Kirin 990 may be a mid-cycle release in Q1 2019.

Xiaomi has launched its new budget smartphone, the Mi Play. The device features dual rear cameras, a MediaTek Helio P35 SoC, an unwieldy circular notch, and a 3000 mAh battery.

The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus may have got their Christmas gift, in the form of an update to stable Pie with One UI, already. Now, Samsung has released the update schedule for all other models eligible to receive the latest Android update. The Galaxy Note FE, which was released in 2017, is notable by its absence.

TechConfigurations has uploaded a video on YouTube showing off impressive renders of the Sony Xperia XZ4 based on numerous alleged leaks and rumors. The smartphone’s display is expected to offer a game-changing 21:9 aspect ratio, so not only will the device be tall and slender, it will also be able to play widescreen movies without any black bars at the top or bottom (letterboxing).

The Samsung SM-M305F smartphone has been spotted on Geekbench. The listing for the device, which is also known as the Samsung Galaxy M30, states the operating system as Android 8.1. The amount of on-board memory is given as 4 GB. The M30 will be joining the M10 and M20 as part of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy M series.

Christmas has come early for some Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ owners. In a surprise move, Samsung has today released its Android 9 Pie-based One UI update for both devices in certain countries. One UI is available now as an OTA update in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UAE, according to SamMobile.

The Twitter-based leaker IceUniverse has released a new post that purports to outline the screen sizes of the upcoming Samsung flagships. It applies not only to the impending Galaxy S10 line, but to the Galaxy Note 10 as well. This phablet will apparently come with an impressive 6.75-inch display.

POCO India, a division of Xiaomi's popular sub-brand, has sent a tweet suggesting that a so-called '#NewPoco' is to be released tomorrow (December 25). Any excitement around such an announcement may be tempered by speculation that this "reveal" is not much more than a new color or RAM SKU of the pre-existing POCO F1, however.

The Zanco smart pen is a stylus with (nearly) all the features of a smartphone crammed into it. It has physical buttons, a click-pad, front and rear cameras and even a teeny tiny screen. It is intended as a smartphone replacement or companion (much like the Palm phone) and can also function as a Bluetooth remote for screens for purposes such as presentation. So far, it has raised just over US$50,000 on Kickstarter.

Although LG is still making tablets their availability varies from market to market and they are largely mid to lower end devices running Android. A new patent application filed by the Korean tech giant looks as though that company may still harbor ambitions in the tablet space although it isn’t clear what operating system it might run.

After the start of the global Pie rollout for the Mate 10 and P20 phones, Huawei is set to send out the Pie update to older flagships like the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, P10, and P10 Plus. Of course, that won't be until March next year.

Samsung's current generation Galaxy A sub-premium phones are obviously being used a testing bed for technology that will be seen on the next-gen S10 and Note 10 flagships. According to word on the grapevine, the company will debut its in-display fingerprint sensor on the upcoming Galaxy A10.

DxOMark reviewed the OnePlus 6T and the flagship did well, managing to slightly better the OnePlus 6's score while keeping up with last-gen phones like the iPhone X and Mate 10 Pro.

Honor's upcoming premium phone, the View 20, has been spotted on popular benchmark platform Geekbench, with it achieving scores consistent with other Kirin 980-powered phones. The phone is also touted to come equipped with a new liquid cooling technology.

Already the number 2 smartphone maker in the world, Huawei has set a record for the number of smartphones it has shipped in a calendar year. The Chinese company has announced that it has sold over 200 million smartphones in 2018 on the back of the success of its P20, Mate 20 and Honor 10 range.

Asus could be working on some interesting smartphone designs, according to patents filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that have been unearthed by LetsGoDigital. Some of the images show a device with a pop-up camera in three different sizes. Other images contained in the design patents feature a smartphone with a camera hole in the display.

A tweet from Max J@Samsung_News_ claims that production has started on the Samsung Galaxy S10. If this is true, fans of the Galaxy S series can expect to be inundated with rumors and leaks over the next few weeks as information escapes the manufacturing facilities. It would make sense for the South Korean company to start production now if the rumored February launch date is accurate.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series appears to have an impressive range of next-generation features incoming. A new tweet from IceUniverse suggests that it will make the 15W fast-charging solution found in older Galaxy flagships "history". This may be a hint that Samsung is preparing a new standard to rival the likes of Huawei's SuperCharge.

Even the best speakers in smartphones struggle to produce even a relatively small amount of bass. Dirac, a rapidly-growing name in device audio, wants to change that with its new Dirac Bass feature. This tweak, which boosts the bass synthetically, is to be unveiled at CES 2019.

Google’s relatively new Pixel 3 finally made the trip over to DxOMark and earned an overall score most would consider to be lacking. Here, we take a closer look at the Pixel 3’s review with a focus on elements that may have contributed to it being ranked below unassuming devices like Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 3.

More renders of all four of Motorola’s upcoming Moto G7 phones have surfaced, giving us a clearer image of what to expect from the next set of the devices in one of the best-value midrange smartphones lines available in the US.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has recently certified a Samsung device with the model number SM-M205F, otherwise known as the Galaxy M20. The entry-level Galaxy M20 smartphone’s listing states that the operating system in use is Android 8.1, and the device will offer Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity. The phone is expected to come with an impressive 5000 mAh battery.

Some AT&T customers may start seeing a “5G E” label appearing on their Android smartphones soon. It might initially seem to some that the telecommunications company is already offering 5G network connection to its subscribers, but the truth is the label stands for “5G Evolution”, which is still classed as 4G technology.

Alleged details of the camera setups for the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro have been leaked online via Twitter. Renowned tipster Evan Blass has tweeted that the P30 flagship device will feature a triple rear camera setup that offers a maximum resolution of 40 MP. The P30 Pro is expected to have a quad camera system that incorporates a state-of-the-art 3D sensor.

The Galaxy S10 series may introduce Bright Night, Samsung's take on the super-low-light image-capturing feature. Hints to this effect were found in part of the code from a One UI beta for the Galaxy Note 9. This trend may be well-established by now, but may still be a valuable selling point for the Korean OEM.

According to new reports, the Honor V20 will ship for just over US$400. Honor phones have become synonymous with offering incredible bang for the buck, but the Honor V20 may very well push that to the absolute limit. It's expected to feature a triple rear camera setup, a camera hole, a 4000 mAh battery, and a Kirin 980.

HMD Global sent out the Android Pie update to the Nokia 8 a few days ago. This is the second major OS update the device has now received and will likely be the last. The update itself leaves a lot to be desired, however, with a few major Pie features found missing.

Remember the touted Snapdragon 675-powered Xiaomi phone? Well, rumors say it could be the Redmi Pro 2, a direct successor to 2016's Redmi Pro. The Redmi Pro 2, if released, would be the top of the line Redmi phone.

Chinese company Gionee has finally filed for bankruptcy and is set for liquidation. The company is said to owe over US$3 billion to banks and suppliers, a situation compounded by reports of CEO Liu Lirong squandering over US$140 million at a casino last month.

According to a report published online, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 series will feature devices with the names "Galaxy S10 Plus," "Galaxy S10 Lite," and somewhat surprisingly, "Galaxy S10 Edge." The same report lists the flagship smartphones as having preinstalled transparent screen protectors. The post does not mention the expected 5G variant of the S10 line-up, though.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has published a patent application filed by Google Technology Holdings LLC for an “electronic device having pivotably connected sides with selectable displays.” This could be a joint project with Motorola, as some of the drawings included in the application show the company’s famous batwings logo.

Lemmings, the classic PC puzzler, has launched on iOS and Android. The smartphone port retains many of the gameplay elements of the original, but controls and level design have been optimized for mobile gaming. The levels themselves will be procedurally generated, but there will (sadly) be a variety of in-app purchases.

Qualcomm's patent war against Apple has escalated this December following bans in China and now Germany on the sale of iPhones. Intel has now accused Qualcomm of "stifling competition" in a scathing Intel Newsroom article that alleges Qualcomm's actions will only serve to "reduce innovation and increase prices."

A number of Pixel 3 and 3XL owners have reportedly taken to the Google Product Forums to complain about issues with voice-calls on their devices. These problems apparently include low-quality in-call audio, connection issues and more. On the other hand, there are claims that the December Android 9.0 software update is a solution in some cases.

Thanks to the 7.10 patch, the list of Android phones officially supported by Fortnite now also includes the Nokia 8.1, Oppo R17/R17 Pro, Samsung A8s/A9, Vivo Z3, and the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE. The update also comes with the "14 Days of Fortnite" holiday special event, but the Driftboard has been delayed.

Famed leakster Ishan Agarwal shared a picture of an internal OnePlus meeting talking about a new phone prototype. This could be the 5G OnePlus phone that the company plans to launch in early 2019. The picture shows the device sporting a circular camera bump and presence of red and light grey variants. If news so far is true, this phone could launch as a distinct lineup with its own set of premium features and pricing.

Samsung's 6.3-inch camera-centric mid-ranger that features no less than four cameras on its back is now finally ready to hit South Korean shelves. The 6 GB/128 GB memory/storage variant will be available for purchase in South Korea starting December 21 for the equivalent of around US$530.

The Android Pie update for the ZenFone 5 series is expected to arrive in January 2019 but an early version of the ROM is now available for manual download. The ROM appears to be intended for the Brazilian market but can actually be installed on any international variant. Those who have tested this ROM say that users will encounter a few bugs and they should rather wait for the official FOTA rollout.

The Honor View 20, or V20 as it is known in China, has appeared on the Huawei Vmall online shop. The device will be available to pre-order in China from 10:08 Chinese Standard Time (CST) on December 20.

Tencent Games has asserted that it has drawn level with Epic Games' Fortnite in terms of mobile user numbers for its own game, PUBG. This means that PUBG has made it to about 200 million users. It is estimated that both games also have the same approximate number of users who play at least once a day (30 million).