Chinese Tech

Realme has unveiled the Android 10 update for Realme 5 Pro and Realme X. It is based on Realme UI and brings forth some new features such as Smart Sidebar, three-finger screenshot, Focus Mode, and more. Users can expect to receive the update in the coming week, as it is a staged rollout.

Although it has been confirmed that Android 10 will not hit the Mi A1 via any official channels, some users still hope that Xiaomi might release the third major update for this handset. However, this month's update is nothing more than the regular security patch, dated February 1 and based on Android Pie.

Realme will launch the 6 and 6 Pro smartphones in India on March 5, 2020. Its teasers for these phones indicate that this new series will have quad rear cameras, one of which will be 64MP in resolution. They are also now linked to 90Hz displays and unique light-catching colorways.

The YouTuber JerryRigEverything (or Zach Nelson) has conducted his traditional post-durability test teardown of the Motorola Razr 2020. This video revealed how its maker intends to keep the internals free of dust, as well as other possible destructive forces. This means it has some unusual attributes that the equally foldable Galaxy Z Flip lacks.

Google is now seeking to obtain a license from the U.S. government in order to resume its business with Huawei. This could prove to be a breath of fresh air for Huawei and it could restore access to Google's Mobile Services on mobile headsets like the Mate 30 and the mate Xs.

Xiaomi is at it again, and has dropped more hints that Android 10 is almost ready for the Mi A2 Lite. Now, the company has published the device's Android 10 kernel source code, a sure sign that the OS upgrade is on its way. The progress of Android 10 for the Mi A3 would suggest otherwise, though.

While the Mi 9 SE may be one of the last in the Mi 9 series to receive Android 10 builds of MIUI 11, the wait for the OS upgrade is over. The update is available to download now, although it will only appear as an OTA for select handsets pending a wider rollout.

Huawei's first P40 phone is here, in the form of the Huawei P40 Lite. It comes with a 7nm Kirin 810 SoC, 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, a quad-camera setup, and a 4,200 mAh battery that can be charged at 40 W. You can pre-order it now from Huawei's website for €299($326).

Huawei has introduced the MateBook X Pro (2020) earlier this week. The MateBook X Pro continues the same design language of the last year model, including the odd webcam placement, with the only notable differences being the new Emerald Green color option and upgraded internals to Intel Comet Lake-U and NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics.

The wait for Android 10 on the Mi A3 drags on. Xiaomi continues with its vagaries, having originally claimed that the Mi A3 would be on the first smartphones to receive Android 10. Blaming the coronavirus for delays, the company has managed to push out a security patch update. Unsurprisingly, fans are not buying Xiaomi's excuses.

While LG may have earned its reputation for being one of the slowest Android OEMs to deliver software updates, an honourable mention should go to Huawei. While the company claims to have upgraded the P30 Pro to EMUI 10, for example, multiple handsets remain on EMUI 9.1 for no apparent reason.

The leaks about the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro keep arriving online. Now, a screenshot of the "About phone" of the OnePlus 8 Pro has been posted, along with TPU case designs for both handsets. You have every right to be sceptical though, as is one respected leaker.

Another smartphone from Xiaomi has reportedly already broken the AnTuTu benchmark record recently set by the Chinese manufacturer’s Mi 10 Pro. The latest smartphone to snatch the performance crown is the upcoming Black Shark 3 Pro 5G device, which made good use of its Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC to reach a new high score of 620,952 points.

Xiaomi fans can breathe a sigh of relief for the Mi Watch is officially coming to Europe, a representative has confirmed. The Wear OS smartwatch is powered by a Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of eMMC flash storage.

The Honor nX line of smartphones has only just been updated worldwide. Now, it seems its series' 2018 flagship will finally get a stable build of EMUI 10 based on Android 10. This may be confirmed by some new Geekbench 5 benchmarking results.

Huawei recently delisted the Mate 10 Pro from its security update schedule page. The old flagship is set for one last hurrah, however, in the form of the EMUI 10 update, and the OTA has now been officially confirmed to start rolling out globally in March.

Sony and Samsung have taken to offering bigger, more impressive smartphone camera sensors of recent, with the IMX555, IMX686, ISOCELL Bright GW1, and ISOCELL Bright HMX billed to be some of the most popular premium sensors this year. OmniVision isn't keen on being left out, and its new sensors, the OV48C and OV64C, keep up with the competition—the former, in particular, delivering an impressive 2.4μm pixel size.

According to images allegedly derived from the Chinese regulator TENAA, the Red Magic 5G will be a considerable departure from the rest of its series in terms of rear panel design. Its new putative certification may also reveal the size its 144Hz display will be, as well as how big its battery will be.

The Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro have only been out for a few days, but they have already started receiving their first software update. Xiaomi has addressed a host of issues, not least of which GPU performance. While its GPU performance was by no means bad before, the Mi 10 Pro can now exceed 610,000 points in AnTuTu v8. V11.0.7.0 will appear as an OTA for Mi 10 series handsets.

Huawei unveiled its vision for a complete, connected ecosystem of devices at its latest product launch. This involves the new AX3 series of routers, which is powered by this OEM's Gigahome SoCs for Wi-Fi 6 support (and more besides). The company also unveiled second-gen "Pro" 5G consumer premises equipment (CPE).

The veil has finally been lifted off the highly-awaited iQOO 3. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, up to 12 GB of RAM, a quad-camera setup and a 4,400 mAh battery that supports charging at 55 W. Prices start at 36,990($515) for the base variant, while the maxed-out 5G version can be had for 39,990($556).

The highly-awaited Redmi K30 Pro 5G is will reportedly be launched sometime in March. This information comes via to a Twitter user who managed to get his hands on some promotional material. The device is expected to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, a 120Hz screen, and a 5,000mAh battery, among other things.

OnePlus is slated to release its new trio of smartphones soon, rumoured to be the OnePlus 8, OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8 Lite. While leaks and renders of the devices have already been posted online, someone seems to have gotten their hands on a few units and has been sharing photos. The photos confirm that the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro will feature a ToF camera, while at least one will feature a new colourway. A punch-hole display is apparently in tow, too.
Update: New photos bring other information about the series to light.

While Huawei's latest foldable is one of the most expensive too, its dizzying €2,499 price tag does not guarantee quality or usability. From creaky hinges to scratched screens, today's launch highlighted why the Mate Xs should be avoided and why Huawei is still yet to perfect the foldable.

Huawei held a virtual product launch today (February 24, 2020) in lieu of its planned pre-MWC press conference. This event saw many new notebooks and other products. It also introduced the MatePad Pro 5G, a new variant of this OEM's flagship tablet.

Succeeding the Mate X, the Mate Xs features an 8-inch OLED panel when unfolded. The Kirin 990 5G-powered device comes with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of RAM, along with an improved hinge design over its predecessor. The price? A whopping €2,499.

Available in China since August last year, Honor has finally given the 9X Pro a wider release. Announced at its All-Scenario Intelligence Conference today, the Honor 9X Pro features a 6.59-inch display, along with a Kirin 810 SoC, 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM. The device also includes three rear-facing cameras, the main of which is a 48 MP sensor. There is a 16 MP pop-up camera too.

Honor has brought the MagicBook 14 to global audiences, having announced the 14-inch laptop in Russia earlier this year. The Ryzen 5 3500U-powered machine features 8 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage. The company claims that the MagicBook 14's 56 Wh battery will last a full day' use between charges, too.

The MagicBook 15 is not a MagicBook Pro by another name. Instead, it is a slightly larger version of the MagicBook 14, but one that Honor has decided to equip with a smaller battery. The MagicBook 15 shares all other hardware with its smaller sibling though, including a Ryzen 5 3500U processor.

The View 30 Pro is packed full of impressive hardware, not least its five cameras. The device also includes 5G capabilities, a 7 nm chipset, a 4,100 mAh battery and supports up to 40 W charging. The device, which Honor launched last year in China, will ship with Huawei Mobiles Services (HMS).

Chinese gaming smartphone manufacturer Black Shark will release the highly-awaited Black Shark 3 on March 3rd. It is powered by a a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, making it the world's first 5G gaming smartphone. The device will also come with a 120Hz AMOLED panel, , up to 16 GB of RAM, and a battery that can be charged at 65W.

Google is now officially warning against sideloading Google services, the Play Store and other well-known Google apps on newer Honor and Huawei smartphones. While the announcement only affects those handsets that Google has not certified because of ongoing US sanctions, like the Mate 30 Pro, Honor and Huawei are planning to announce new smartphones in the coming days and weeks. Hence, you should be aware that Google is probably not an option on these upcoming handsets.

The Mi A1 signaled the start of major OEMs adopting Google's Android One program. While one would expect Xiaomi to build on the success of the Mi A1, it's starting to look like the series peaked with the phone. Poor updates, bad quality control, and cost-cutting decisions plague a lineup that had the potential to be the global enthusiast's smartphone series of choice.

Mobvoi has launched the TicWatch Pro 2020 on Amazon.com. It has a RAM upgrade, but sticks with the same SoC, design and battery life. Then again, as it still includes a dual display, it should still offer impressive longevity as a wearable.

The Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro are in high demand at the moment, with the first two batches of handsets selling out almost instantly. After selling around US$28.5 million worth of units in under a minute, Xiaomi has now announced the next dates and dealers which will be selling the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro.

3C spilled the beans about the 5G certification and the inclusion of a 65 W charger, then Xiaomi confirmed the 65 W fast charging feature also revealing that the Black Shark 3 includes a 5,000 mAh battery that can be fully charged in 38 minutes. Other rumored features include a variable refresh rate 2K dynamic display, up to 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and an overclocked Snapdragon 865 SoC.

While the Mi A3 continues its wait for Android 10, its predecessor received its final OS upgrade last month. The upgrade path to Android 10 for the Mi A2 has not proven straightforward though, with it being possible that Xiaomi has pulled the OS upgrade for the second time because of bugs.

DxOMark has now put the OnePlus 7T Pro through its camera test. The phone recorded the exact same overall score as the older OnePlus 7 Pro. That makes sense, of course, seeing as both phones feature essentially the same SoC and identical camera hardware. If cameras are your major concern, there's no point buying the OnePlus 7T Pro over the OnePlus 7 Pro.

The Red Magic 3 was the first phone to launch in 2019 with a 90 hertz (Hz) refresh rate in its AMOLED display. Now, its maker Nubia has announced a new discount for the phone. But is it worth holding out until its next generation is released?

Huawei released the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro over two years ago and the phones may just have reached the end of their support lifespans. While EMUI 10 will eventually be released for the flagships, Huawei has now removed them from its official security update page.

OPPO has announced new beta programs to help bring the latest version of Color OS (based on Android 10) to some of its 2018 phones. These are the flagship Find X, the R17 and its Pro variant. Places in these programs are available to users in certain regions only, however.

The ZTE Blade A7 was a decent budget smartphone prospect in 2019. Now, new FCC documentation indicates that its name will be applied to a new device this year. This refresh, unlike its predecessor, will have triple rear cameras and a fingerprint sensor.

The Redmi K30 Pro may have just passed through the CCC, but this is not what Xiaomi's next flagship will look like. Posted on Slashleaks as a render of the K30 Pro, it is nothing more than a fan render.

The Xiaomi Redmi K30, also sold as the POCO X2 in India, offers more than most contemporary mid-range smartphones. Not only does the device have a 64 MP main rear-facing camera and a 120 Hz display, but Xiaomi also sells a 5G model that features a Snapdragon 765G processor. The Redmi K30 5G has many qualities, but it suffers from drawbacks, too.

The release of Android 10 for the Mi A3 is bordering on farcical. Hyped by Xiaomi as one of the first devices that would receive Android 10, the Android One device is still languishing on Android 9.0 Pie. The end may now be in sight for the Mi A3 though, as Xiaomi has given another vague release date for it to receive Google's latest OS.

The Redmi K30 5G impressed us during our recent review, and now the Redmi K30 Pro 5G has reared its head again. This time on the Compulsory Certification of China (CCC), Xiaomi has certified two models, which are likely to be rocking the Snapdragon 865 and at least 8 GB of RAM.

The upcoming Vivo iQOO 3's specs have been leaked just five days before its February 25th launch. It will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, a 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel that has a refresh rate of 90Hz and a 4,400 mAh battery that charges at 55W. Pricing starts at Rs 35,000 (~$490) for the LTE variant and Rs 40,000 ($560) for the 5G version.

While Xiaomi started pushing Android 10 builds of MIUI 11 to the Pocophone F1 last month, many handsets are yet to receive the OS upgrade. Now the General Manager of POCO India has weighed in on the matter, and his response has seemingly irked some people.

Numerous chipset foundries, TSMC included, use equipment from US-based firms to make their products. Now, the same nation's current administration may be able to leverage this fact in order to stop the supply of silicon to Huawei. This, apparently, is a new tactic to lock the OEM out of the US market.

Xiaomi did not want to wait until review sites post meticulous teardowns of the Mi 10 Pro, so it went ahead and posted an official disassembly video highlighting all the small wonders packed inside the powerful flagship. The first benchmarks, on the other hand, are not so impressive, unfortunately.