Android

The Pixel 3 Lite has leaked extensively over the last month, and it's almost surprising to learn that there's a bigger Pixel 3 Lite XL. The less is said about that name, the better.

Xiaomi spokesperson Lin Bin recently teased a new Xiaomi phone featuring a 48 MP camera. Initial reports claimed it could be a flagship of sorts but new information shows that is rather unlikely, as the device is said to be powered by the new mid-range Snapdragon 675.

The new Zenfone Max Pro M2 and Zenfone Max M2 handsets by Asus both feature a 6.3-inch display, but they are quite different. The first comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor and up to 6 GB of memory, while its more affordable companion sports a Snapdragon 632 chip and up to 4 GB of memory.

LG has launched a connected home brewing solution called the HomeBrew. It will adopt a Nespresso-style capsule solution that should make home brewing easier than ever, particularly for millennials keen on craft beers.

Previously reported as a possible name for Samsung's upcoming foldable handset, Rize returns as the name of no less than three devices. The Rize10, Rize20, and Rize30 smartphone models have just surfaced in three trademark documents published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, but most details are still missing.

Although Pixel owners will probably get some exclusive treats, as usual, the Google Sounds app should work with most modern Android handsets. This app — which should be included in the December Android Update — comes with more options for the sounds used for notifications, alarms, and ringtones.

Those who love Facebook's Stories feature can finally enjoy it in their Groups as well. Group Stories has been tested starting earlier this year, and now this feature is finally available for Facebook users all around the world on iOS, Android, or desktop.

Smart fabric is a form of textile containing nano-tech threads that can form circuits and battery connections when woven together. Google has been developing its own take on this new type of electronics, in the form of 'Project Jacquard'. Its first commercial application is a jacket designed in collaboration with Levi's, with touch-sensitive sleeves that interact with a phone as a Bluetooth device might.

A picture of a prototype Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus codenamed 'Beyond 2' has leaked online and it seems to confirm the presence of the dual in-display selfie cameras as was speculated in earlier leaks and renders. The leaked image shows the device covered by an anti-leak screen protector but we can still observe the top and bottom bezels to a fair extent.

The Samsung Galaxy A8s, which is set to be the world's first Infinity-O display phone, has had all of its details officially released today. There are also real-world photos of the phone now available. This announcement confirms the A8s' previously-leaked specs, including the existence of two RAM SKUs and the Infinity-O display.

A new leak suggests that a Compact variant may launch alongside the Sony Xperia XZ4. However, if this pans out, it could be a slightly disappointing release, especially next to the full-size version. The phone portrayed in the rumors has a distinctly outmoded display design, a single rear camera and a design that does not vary much from previous years.

The IP68-rated Mobvoi TicWatch C2 is now available for purchase in the US for US$199.99. Powered by Google's Wear OS and the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, this smart wearable features NFC connectivity and has a built-in GPS, as well as heart rate monitoring capabilities.

Xiaomi is now said to be developing a new smart speaker soon. The main difference between this one and the OEM's existing line-up of such products is that this one will have both AI and a touchscreen. This rumor is derived from a new registration with Bluetooth SIG for a Xiaomi product with all the specifications necessary for the two attributes.

The iPhone XR made the trip over to DxOMark and shone, earning the highest score ever for a device with a single rear camera, and showing up other flagships with more complicated camera setups.

The headphone jack began its mass exodus away from flagships last year, with Sony ditching it on the Xperia XZ2 phones. For the first time, though, we could see a company bring back the much-wanted port.

With how much attention the Galaxy S10 and S10 have received, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Samsung also plans on releasing an S10 Lite. Details of the S10 Lite have been scarce but renders have finally surfaced.

Since the company's conception two years ago, HMD Global has sold 70 million phones. Of course, that figure also includes feature phones, and we expect the number of Android smartphones sold to be in the ballpark of 25 million, which is still impressive, all things considered.

If you were hoping for a stunning dual-tone blue and papaya orange color scheme for the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition, prepare to be disappointed. Instead, what you will get is a rather bland looking carbon fiber rear case with perhaps a hint of orange trim.

The pop-up camera module was one of 2018's most innovative alternatives to the smartphone notch. Elephone is developing a phone that elaborates on Vivo's original concept somewhat by adding a dual camera to the mechanism. This device, the PX, is available on Indiegogo for about US$249 at present.

If there is one thing that seems almost certain for the Samsung Galaxy S10 is that it will feature “punch hole” cut outs for its front-facing cameras. The only question appears to be whether they will be positioned to the left, center or to the right at the top of its Infinity-O display.

HMD Global spoke with Roland Quandt of Winfuture.de yesterday, and the latter has now revealed a few takeaways from the interview, including the company’s commitment to the mid-range and plans for the Nokia 9.

The Snapdragon 855 was unveiled a few days ago, and one of the biggest talking points was its 5G modem. Most companies will release 5G phones in 2019 and OnePlus is billed to be among the first, although the device could very well come with an MSRP in the region of US$800.

The Xiaomi Mi A2 received the Android Pie beta last month and got the stable update just about a week later. The last-gen Mi A1 has now received its Pie beta, and there's a chance it gets the final, stable update before the year runs out.

A couple of images of what could be an actual physical Samsung Galaxy S10 series device have been leaked online. One of the images appeared on the Weibo social network site while another was sent directly to SlashGear. It has been speculated the images show the S10 Plus variant of the upcoming flagship series. There is a chance that either image is actually a render rather than a real-world photo, though.

The Game Awards 2018 has hosted a plethora of announcements, which included details about titles such as Dragon Age 4, Far Cry: New Dawn, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Mortal Kombat 11, Psychonauts 2, Rage 2, The Outer Worlds, and many others. BioWare also teased the action RPG Anthem, which has apparently been in development since 2012.

The ASUS ROG Phone has multiple USB type C ports, so that it can support accessories that need two of these ports. A Redditor has demonstrated that this feature can be hi-jacked in order to make it appear that the phone can charge itself. However, the effect may be less than authentic.

A phone from the OEM Vivo with the model number V1821A has appeared on Geekbench. This device is likely to be the upcoming Vivo Nex 2, as it packs the Snapdragon 845 which lines up with other leaks about the phone. The phone posted a respectable result, which also revealed its 10GB of RAM.

The Exynos-powered models from previous Galaxy S models appeared to be slightly faster than the Snapdragon versions, but it looks like the situation is now reversed for the upcoming Galaxy S10 handhelds. Early samples of the Exynos 9820 and Snapdragon 855 tested in AnTuTu show a slight advantage for Qualcomm's chip, but the final versions might provide different results.

Although he did not confirm the name of the handset — which might be the Xiaomi Mi 9 — Lin Bin has recently shown a teaser of a 48 MP camera phone. If no other Chinese brand that often goes for the "first one to release" crown — such as Oppo or VIVO — launches such a handset first, the Xiaomi Mi 9 could become the first 48 MP handset.

The Helio M70 baseband chipset was showcased at the China Mobile Global Partner Conference in Guangzhou today. This modem, unlike the Snapdragon X50, is backwards-compatible with 4G to 2G. It is also 3GPP-compatible and rated for speeds of 5 gigabits per second.

Earlier this year, Google decided to stop investing in Allo and pushed some of its popular features — such as Smart Reply, GIFs, and desktop support — to the Messages app. Yesterday, Google has finally confirmed that the smart messaging app Allo will go down, but it will continue to work until March 2019.

Gorilla Glass, which has become a nearly indispensable component of fullscreen phones everywhere, is most likely to become available in a form that can protect flexible displays for phones. However, Corning has indicated that it may not be there by the time the first generation of these devices are ready for production.

The View 20, a Honor device likely to be shipped with the Kirin 980, is to be launched at an event in Paris on January 20, 2019. This is according to a leaked teaser image GizChina claims to have found, in addition to internal Huawei code that may pertain to the device. This material also hints at a punch-hole selfie cam for the View 20.

The chip currently known as the Snapdragon 6150, which could be the 675's successor, has appeared on Geekbench incorporated into an unnamed reference device. It is an octa-core chip, as expected, and runs at 1.8GHz. The 6150 posted a single-core score of over 2500 and a multi-core score of over 5400.

At an event in Dubai yesterday, HMD Global launched the new Nokia 8.1, featuring a Snapdragon 710, dual rear cameras with OIS, a 20 MP selfie camera, and a 3500 mAh battery. Impressively, it also runs on Android Pie out of the box.

The Qualcomm Tech Summit is in full swing in Hawaii. The star of the show so far has been the announcement of the Snapdragon 855 SoC and its support for 5G. However, Samsung has captured the attention of journalists with a strange looking prototype that the company has been using to demonstrate the capabilities of the new cellular network technology.

The Qualcomm tech summit of 2018 highlighted the company’s strength of conviction that 5G is the future of consumer electronics. It promoted the new radio standard’s ‘near-zero’ latency and increased transmission rates, and the advantages for communications, business and media these properties would bring.

POCO has released a new MIUI 10 beta for its popular flagship, the F1. It adds "super low light mode" as well as the ability to capture slow-motion videos at 960 frames per second. These new features may make the super-affordable Snapdragon 845 phone even more popular.

The OnePlus 6 and 6T grabbed the ninth and sixth place in the top 10 in terms of Antutu benchmarks for November. However, the Kirin 980 allowed Huawei to bag all top 3 rankings, and the Honor Magic 2 to come in fourth. The rest of this list was made up by Snapdragon 845-powered devices.

Even more renders of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ have surfaced. The devices can be seen with circular cutouts at their top right corners—in the case of the S10+ two circles overlapping to form a pill of sorts.

The Moto G7 will be bang right in the middle of the next-gen Moto G lineup. The device is expected to feature a 6.24-inch display with a teardrop notch, dual rear cameras, and a 3000 mAh battery.

Hot on the heels of the official launch of the Snapdragon 855 is a leak suggesting that the Sony Xperia XZ4 will be the first smartphone to ship with Qualcomm’s freshest silicon. If the rumor is accurate, it could be just what Sony needs to help lift the sales of its latest flagship.

During the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm officially announced the new Snapdragon 855 high-end mobile platform. Details are still sparse, but the main focus lies on an improved AI engine, the first computer vision hardware in an ISP and the possibility to attach the dedicated X50 5G modem.

Lenovo is planning on launching its Z5s smartphone in China on December 6, and it could end up being the first smartphone on the market to have a punch-hole design for the selfie camera. The Z5s is expected to feature a rear-facing triple camera setup while the front-facing camera is located in the top center. Both Samsung and Huawei are expected to release products with similar design features very soon.

Huawei has posted a promotional image on the company’s Weibo page to announce the release date in China for the Nova 4 smartphone: December 17. The successor of the Nova 3 device comes with the latest alternative to the notch/teardrop solutions. The Huawei Nova 4 will feature a punch-hole cut-out, with the selfie camera located in the top left-hand corner.

Reported specifications for the rumored Sony Xperia XZ4 have been leaked on a Chinese blogging site. Prolific leaker Ice universe has posted details about the possible flagship device that include mention of a Snapdragon 855 processor, a 6.55-inch FHD+ screen, 3,900 mAh battery, 6 GB RAM and up to 256 GB storage. However, the Japanese company has only just released its XZ3 smartphone.

Epic has announced plans to create its own game platform, which will be known as the Epic Games Store. Fueled by the incredible success of Fortnite, Epic is hoping to take on big names in the video-game digital distribution world such as Steam and Google Play. The company is offering 88% of store revenue to developers, with no tier system being incorporated.

The official Android 9.0 (Pie) beta ROM for the Galaxy Note 9 is now available. Not only does this software contain the latest OS update, it also replaces Experience with One UI, the revamped interface for Samsung mobile devices. So far, this beta is available in certain countries.

Two separate app developers, Kika Tech and Cheetah Mobile, have had 1 app each blocked from Google's Play Store following a BuzzFeed article detailing an 'investigation' of fraudulent activity on the part of both companies. The site, alongside the tech analyst firm Kochava, claims to have uncovered evidence of click injection and click flooding in the code of the 2 apps.