Android

Celebrating 80 years of existence, Polaroid has launched the Cosmo K and K Plus smartphones, together with the Jet C7 tablet in Mexico. The devices are powered by MediaTek's quad-core CPUs and are available at Telcel.

Maze Mobile has just confirmed that the 6-inch Alpha phablet with 6 GB RAM is on its way and will go on sale on August 28 "at a killer price" that has not been disclosed yet, but we expect it to be around the US$200 mark.

Asus has officially revealed the new ZenFone 4 range, featuring six distinct models. The Taiwanese company seems determined to get a slice of the dominant Android smartphone niches with phones focused variously on performance, selfie capabilities and extended battery life.

This AI startup based in Belarus is behind Fabby, a mobile app for Android and iOS with more than 2 million downloads so far that uses artificial intelligence to detect and process images.

First announced several months ago, the Movado Connect is now on sale in the United States from $595. The device is targeted at fans of the Swiss watchmaker's premium analog watches and is priced accordingly. It is differentiated from the standard Android Wear competition by edge-to-edge crystal covering the digital dial.

After releasing this update back in January and then rolling back to Android 7.0 due to various bugs, Google finally upgrades the firmware of the Nexus 6 to Android 7.1.1 Nougat.

The Chinese phone maker has just sent out invites for the Mate 10 launch, confirming that this next-gen phablet would be unveiled in October, just as most recent rumors revealed.

Thanks to the new "Bothie" feature, Nokia 8's selfies can show both sides of the story. The specs are top-tier, including a dual-camera setup with Zeiss optics, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and more.

Taiwanese manufacturer MediaTek have sent out invites for an event scheduled for August 29, one where they are expected to announce the release of two new mid-range SoCs—the Helio P23 and P30.

The Redmi Note 5A has been spotted on TENAA, and the listed specifications are quite unimpressive, as they represent a step backward. A 5.5" 720p display, 3000mAh battery, and Snapdragon 425 is, well, underwhelming.

Replacement batteries shipped as part of AT&T's Insurance program have now been recalled due to concerns about the batteries overheating and creating a fire hazard. Samsung has placed blame squarely on FedEx Supply Chain.

The next-gen Spectra ISP makes Qualcomm the first brand to announce depth-sensing camera tech that was designed specifically for the Android ecosystem. The next flagship Snapdragon Mobile Platform is expected to bring it to the market.

This long-awaited phablet that is expected to show up next week surfaced online with a both Qualcomm and Samsung processors on board, next to 6 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, and a 12 MP main camera.

This wearable camera works with Android and iOS handsets, offering up to two hours of live streaming autonomy and using USB Type-C, Bluetooth, and WiFi connectivity. Unfortunately, its price tag reads US$399.

Photos of what is allegedly the Sony Xperia XZ1 have appeared on a Turkish website, showing a recognizable Xperia handset with a few tweaks to the design. The packaging screen protector was still on in the photo showing many of the specifications of the phone.

Although iPhone users are not able to use Allo on the desktop yet, those who own Android handsets can finally use the messaging app on the desktop. However, quite a few features remain exclusively available on mobile.

Customers who have placed orders for the Essential Phone PH-1 have started receiving notifications from Essential that their devices are ready to ship following receipt of final payment. The smartphone is the brainchild of Android founder and former Googler, Andy Rubin, but has been beset by launch delays and the departure of two key execs.

According to a filing with the FCC that surfaced online yesterday, the HTC-made Google Pixel 2 borrows the squeezable sides of the HTC U11. This feature is allegedly called "Active Edge" and launches Google Assistant by default.

The expected October time frame for the Mate 10 lines up with previous rumors about a Q3 to Q4 delivery date of the Kirin 970 processor.

The latest budget-tier smartphone from BLU is now available for $80, although buyers will have to eschew some modern comforts like LTE connectivity at that price. For an extra $30, the R2 LTE offers a slight spec bump and 4G LTE speeds.

Although its predecessor used a MediaTek processor and most rumors mentioned the M6 Note would use a chip from the same manufacturer, Meizu's head of global marketing mentioned that this handset might come with a surprise in this department.

Although this is only in the patent stage for now, future Note devices might come with a breathalyzer-stylus accessory that also bends to act as an external microphone and a gas sensor.

Although there are many contacts apps for Android around, the Google Contacts app only worked for Pixel and Nexus users until recently. Now, all devices running Lollipop or later can run it as well.

The latest leak concerning this 5.5-inch handset that is expected to show up later this week reveals 6 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, a dual-camera setup, as well as Android 7.1 Nougat.

Next to the Alexa support and full HD 60 fps video recording capabilities that have been introduced since its launch, HTC's latest flagship will also get full Bluetooth 5.0 support as soon as it receives the Android O update.

After countless delays, the crowdfunded Saygus V Squared handset was labeled by everyone as vaporware, but this might have been wrong. The phone has apparently cleared the FCC and might finally reach the market.

Opera Max has been delisted from the Google Play store catalog but those still using this service will be able to do so "for a period of time" that has not been revealed. Opera promised to announce the termination of server-side support once the date has been decided.

Although Chinese regulators have something against social networks and foreign search engines, it seems that Facebook has just found its way to the local market via a photo-sharing app that launched via a local partner.

The upcoming Armor 2 from Ulefone is a fairly inexpensive ruggedized smartphone. Powered by a MediaTek SoC and carrying an IP68 certification, the Armor 2 may make for a decent mid-tier rough-and-tumble phone.

The latest expansion of Google's speech recognition brings 30 new languages to Gboard for Android and Voice Search, as well as to the Cloud Speech API. The Google Translate app and other Google products are also expected to get the new languages in the coming months.

The Moto Z2 Force, Motorola's flagship, has been spotted displaying the same jelly scrolling effect that was seen on the OnePlus 5. It's been a good year of drama for flagships.

A couple of details regarding the upcoming LG V30 have been released today. No more secondary display, a new way of capturing photos, and unique ways of unlocking your device are the main changes that the new handset will introduce come August 31.

This 6-inch phablet features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage, runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and is expected to retail for a no-contract price of only US$129.

This affordable handset made by HMD Global is expected to hit top mobile retail stores in India at a recommended price equivalent with less than US$200. At launch, only the matte black color option would be available, with three more to follow shortly.

These two 5.2-inch handsets come with MediaTek processors, 3 GB RAM, 16 GB or 32 GB internal storage, 13 MP main cameras, Android 7.0 Nougat, and can be acquired for up to US$200 in Mocha Gold, Gold, or Gray.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is all set for an official unveiling on August 23 but if word on the street is to go by, the device could land up in shelves as early as the next day, at least in the US.

Another Redmi Note 4 has blown up, this time leaving burns on the user's thighs. The owner was riding his bike when the device combusted, in an event eerily reminiscent of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.

The OnePlus 3T was released in November last year but will not be getting any major OS updates after Android O. O is expected to be released within the next few weeks.

Final details of the Moto X4 have been released and we can't help but be disappointed by Moto's choice of the Snapdragon 630 over the Snapdragon 660. That, and the downgrade to a 3000mAh battery makes this a less enticing buy than we previously thought.

This special variant of the Huawei Honor 9 handset comes with 6 GB RAM like the Honor 9 Premium, but only features 64 GB storage space like the standard model. Sadly, the Honor 9 is not officially available in the US yet.

The S2 Pro has been announced by UMIDIGI and it shows a marked improvement over previous devices in the series. It features a 5.99" 18:9 display, a Helio P25, 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, and a 5100mAh battery.

eScan, a software security company, has reported on a number of vulnerabilities in Xiaomi's MIUI. The two principal ones allow the uninstallation of security apps and the transferring of phone data without prompting for the user password. Xiaomi disputes the findings of the report, claiming that using a PIN, password, pattern, or fingerprint will avoid these problems.

The global beta of Xiaomi's custom ROM based on Android Nougat is now finally rolling out to three handsets, but a second (and larger) batch of devices scheduled to get the new firmware has been announced as well.

Google's Android O remains on schedule for an August 21 release despite recent rumors suggesting that it might be delayed, according to Evan Blass.

The day-long sale begins August 15th with pre-order incentives. Stock consists mostly of Chinese smartphones, so be sure to check for radio and LTE compatibility with local providers.

At the end of a long stream of HTC Ocean Life-related rumors, we find out that this mid-range handset is going to hit the market later this year as HTC U11 Life, but this has not been confirmed officially yet, either.

A new SuperSU package by developer Chainfire allows users to hide root status from specific apps, which can enable the use of certain apps on rooted devices that would otherwise be blocked via Google's SafetyNet API.