Samsung to pioneer its own UD Camera tech on the Galaxy Z Fold 3

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Nov 19, 2020

The under-display camera has been showcased by several brands in the past couple of years. However, ZTE is currently the only manufacturer that offers a smartphone featuring the technology. Feelers from the grapevine, however, point in the direction of Xiaomi who are in the process of mass-producing the third-generation under-display camera for its smartphone models from 2021. Another OEM likely to join ZTE and Xiaomi is Samsung. The tech giant is working on an under-display camera likely to come on board early 2021 with the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 will be the first Samsung device to feature this emerging technology in its camera.

The first Galaxy Fold was released in 2019 and there were modifications in the main display for the selfie camera. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 was released in September 2020 and showed marked improvement from the first model and featured a circular hole-punch cutout. A news flash from ETNews showed that Samsung is planning to move a step further by introducing its under-display camera solutions with the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 smartphone. It has been projected that the latest Z Fold smartphone could be launched in the second half of next year. This tech innovation is expected to improve the ratings of the device among its peers and position it for greater patronage.

It is reported that the phone will have a special display from Samsung Display, while the image sensor will be gotten from the LSI division of Samsung Electronics, together with specialized hardware. Samsung will also display an image correction algorithm to enhance the camera’s overall performance.

Inside sources said that the display is designed in such a way that only the part where the camera is placed is enlarged to get an aperture for taking photos seamlessly.

UP NEXT: Oppo X 2021 unveiled as the world’s first smartphone concept with an extending display

ZTE Blade 20 Pro 5G powered by a Snapdragon 765G chipset launched

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 19, 2020

ZTE today at the China Mobile Global Partner Conference launched the Axon20 5G Extreme Edition. The company also took the wraps off the Blade 20 Pro 5G mobile phone. The model is a high-end version of Blade 20 5G which was launched earlier this month.

In terms of configuration, the Blade 20 Pro 5G mobile phone uses the Snapdragon 765G chip, which is built using Samsung’s 7nm EUV process, and integrates an eight-core kryo 475 CPU with a clock speed of up to 2.3GHz. The processor integrates the Adreno 620 GPU. The chip can run current mainstream games smoothly.

For photography, there is a 20-megapixel selfie camera that supports AI beauty. At the rear, there is a Quad camera setup made up of a 64-megapixel main camera.

The Blade 20 Pro 5G is an upgrade of the Blade 20 5G which was launched not too long ago. To recall, the Blade 20 5G sports a 6.52-inch IPS LCD waterdrop screen with an HD+ resolution of 720X1600 pixels.

The Blade 20 5G is equipped with a Dimensity 720 chip, which is based on the ARM architecture and has two Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and six energy-efficient cores clocked at 2.0GHz. The phone is backed by a 4,000mAh battery, which lacks support for fast charging. The Blade 20 5G comes with other features like a built-in FM radio antenna and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. While the Pro version packs a Quad camera setup, the Blade 20 5G has three rear cameras, a 16-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel depth-of-field lens.

Finally, the ZTE Blade 20 Pro 5G comes with 6G RAM and 128GB storage. It packs a similar 4000mAh battery as its predecessor but does not support fast charging.

ZTE is yet to release the pricing details but the model is expected to go on sale on November alongside the Axon20 5G Extreme Edition.

UP NEXT: Oppo X 2021 unveiled as the world’s first smartphone concept with an extending display

Huawei MateStation B515 is a desktop PC that may be powered by a Kirin ARM-based CPU

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 19, 2020

A few months ago, in July to be precise, we reported that Huawei had applied for a trademark for “Huawei MateStation”. We guessed the trademark was related to a dock for the Mate 40 series, something similar to Samsung’s Dex Station. Turns out our guess was far from correct. The Huawei MateStation is a desktop PC and the first model is the MateStation B515 which has just leaked.

Huawei made its entry into the PC business a few years ago but it has kept the category limited to notebooks. With the Huawei MateStation B515, it has officially announced its entry into the desktop category.

The new computer is going to be a big deal as it will most likely not be powered by a CPU from Intel or AMD but a Kirin processor that is based on ARM architecture, just like Apple’s M1 silicon. That processor is the Kunpeng 920.

Kunpeng 920 Desktop Board

The 7nm Kunpeng 920 processor is the name of the CPU and it comes in 4-core and 8-core configurations with a clock speed of 2.6GHz. Images posted by the Chinese leaker, Changan Digital King, show a desktop board based on the processor. He speculates that this may be the board that will be found in the MateStation B515.

The specs of the board mention that it has 4 DDR4-2400 UDIMM slots with a maximum capacity of 64GB. It also has 6 SATA 3.0 hard drive interfaces, 2 M.2 SSD slots; 1 PCIe 3.0 x 16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x4, and 1 PCIe 3.0 x1 slots; 4 USB 3. ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, and 2 LOM NIC supporting GE network ports or optical ports.

The MateStation B515 is said to come bundled with a 23.8-inch monitor with narrow bezels that measure 5.72 mm, a 1920 x 1080 resolution, a 178° field of view, and a 72% NTSC color gamut.

The MateStation B515 will most likely be marketed towards use in offices and professional spaces, allowing it to compete with workstations from Lenovo, Dell, and HP.

iPhone 12 Mini vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G vs Sony Xperia 5 II: Specs Comparison

By

Michele Ingelido

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Nov 19, 2020

Compact phones became very rare, yet Apple launched two compact devices this year. The latest one is the iPhone 12 Mini, already considered the king of compact phones by a lot of people. But is it really so or there is something at the same level in the Android world? This is a specs comparison between compact phones including the iPhone 12 Mini, the Sony Xperia 5 II, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G. The Samsung device is not among the most compact ones, but it is a clamshell phone with a foldable display and it becomes incredibly small while folded: that is why we included it in this comparison despite it may look like an atypical choice.

Apple iPhone 12 Mini vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G vs Sony Xperia 5 II

	Apple iPhone 12 Mini	Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G	Sony Xperia 5 II
THICKNESS	131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 mm, 135 grams	167.3 x 73.6 x 7.2 mm (unfolded) 87.4 x 73.6 x 17.3 mm (folded) 183 grams	158 x 68 x 8 mm, 163 grams
DISPLAY	6.2 inches, Super Retina XDR OLED 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), 476 ppi	6.7 inches, 1080 x 2636p (Full HD+), Foldable Dynamic AMOLED External display: 1.1 inches, Super AMOLED, 112 x 300 pixels	6.1 inches, 1080 x 2520p (Full HD+), OLED
PROCESSOR	Apple A14 Bionic, octa-core 3.1 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+, octa-core 3.09 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, octa-core 2.84 GHz
MEMORY	4 GB RAM, 64 GB – 4 GB RAM, 128 GB – 4 GB RAM, 256 GB	8 GB RAM, 256 GB	8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – micro SD slot
SOFTWARE	iOS 14	Android 10, One UI	Android 10
CONNECTIVITY	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS
CAMERA	Dual 12 + 12 MP f/1.6 + f/2.4 Dual 12 MP + SL 3D f/2.2 front camera	Dual 12 + 12 MP, f/1.8 and f/2.2 10 MP f/2.4 selfie camera	Triple 12 + 12 + 12 MP, f/1.7, f/2.4 and f/2.2 8 MP f/2.0 selfie camera
BATTERY	2227 mAh Fast charging 20W and fast wireless charging 12W	3300 mAh, Fast Charging 15W, and fast wireless charging 9W	4000 mAh, Fast Charging 21W
ADDITIONAL FEATURES	5G, waterproof IP68, optional eSIM, Face ID	5G, eSIM	5G, optional dual SIM, IP65/68 waterproof

Design

The verdict may change depending on your tastes, but the most impressive design belongs to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G. The reason why it is the most attractive is the fact that it is a foldable phone and it features a foldable display. Thanks to this solution, the phone is able to become extremely compact while folded, so that you can keep it in a small pocket. And while the phone is folded, you can use a small external display to check the notifications and shoot selfies with the rear cameras. The iPhone 12 Mini comes right after with its compact and symmetric borderless design, and it even features a sturdier build quality with Ceramic Shield and a waterproof body offering water resistance up to 6 meters deep.

Display

Maybe it does not offer the most realistic image quality, but the most interesting display belongs to the Sony Xperia 5 II for a simple reason: it has a 120 Hz refresh rate. But do not underestimate the foldable screen of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G with the HDR10+ certification. Despite being more compact, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G has the widest display with a 6.7-inch diagonal. The iPhone 12 Mini offers an astonishing image quality with HDR10, Dolby Vision, and a wide color gamut. And it is the device with the smallest display. iPhone 12 Mini relies on Face ID for authentication, while Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Sony Xperia 5 II feature a fingerprint scanner.

Specs & Software

The most advanced device in terms of performance is the iPhone 12 Mini thanks to the Apple A14 Bionic chipset built at 5 nm. No matter if it comes with less RAM because the iOS operating system knows how to manage it. The silver medal goes to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G powered by the Snapdragon 865+ mobile platform paired with 8 GB of RAM and UFS 3.0 native storage. But the Sony Xperia 5 II is still a top-tier flagship with its Snapdragon 865. iPhone 12 Mini runs iOS 14, while its rivals run Android 10.

Camera

The most complete camera department belongs to the Sony Xperia 5 II. Besides the classic 12 MP main sensor and an ultrawide lens, unlike its two rivals, it even comes with a telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom. You do not get that on the iPhone 12 Mini and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G. But the iPhone 12 Mini actually provides better photo quality, if we exclude zoom capabilities. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G is a very nice camera phone, but it is not among the best ones.

Read More: Samsung could be working on a ‘Lite’ version of Galaxy Z Flip clamshell phone

Battery

The battery award goes to the Sony Xperia 5 II featuring a satisfying 5000 mAh battery. But it is the only one to lack wireless charging. iPhone 12 Mini and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G have below-average batteries, but they are not disappointing in terms of battery life.

Price

The prices of the iPhone 12 Mini start from €800/$700, Sony Xperia 5 II is priced €800/$890, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G costs about €1600/$1500 (prices vary depending on the market). At the end of the day, the iPhone 12 Mini is a better compact phone for several reasons. It is very compact thanks to its 5.4-inch display, it has a great chipset, very nice camera capabilities, and more interesting minor features. But the choice mostly depends on your needs: you may need an even more compact device like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G while folded, or you may prefer having a longer battery life with the Sony Xperia 5 II. In each case, you would get an awesome device.

Apple iPhone 12 Mini vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G vs Sony Xperia 5 II: PRO and CONS

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G

PRO

Foldable display
Extremely compact (when folded)
External display
Wireless charging

CONS

Price
No water resistance

Apple iPhone 12 Mini

PRO

Very compact
High performance
Face ID
Wireless charging and MagSafe
Stereo speakers

CONS

Nothing particular

Sony Xperia 5 II

PRO

Expandable storage
Bigger battery
Stereo speakers
120 Hz refresh rate

CONS

Inferior front camera

Samsung Galaxy A70 starts getting One UI 2.5 update in Europe

By

Balaji S

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Nov 19, 2020

Recently, Samsung Galaxy A50s received the One UI 2.5 update. Following it, the Galaxy A70 is also getting the update along with November 2020 Security patch.

As reported by Tizenhelp(via Sammobile) Galaxy A70 is reportedly receiving One UI 2.5 update based on Android 10 in Europe. However, it looks like the update is only for Ukraine as of now. That said, Samsung might be initially testing the update before expanding to all regions where Galaxy A70 exists.

The update has a firmware version A705FNXXU5CTK4 and weighs 1421 MB. As mentioned earlier, it includes the latest security patch(November 1, 2020) along with improvements to the keyboard, Wi-Fi, keyboard features, and more. Additionally, Sammobile report says the Galaxy A70 update is only rolling out for Kyivstar mobile network carrier. This corroborates the above-mentioned theory which Samsung usually carries out for its update cycle.

Anyway, the new update seems to add a split keyboard support on landscape mode, YouTube search feature on Samsung Keyboard. Plus, users can now use Bitmoji stickers on Always On Display(AOD). For Messages, users get SOS messages, location sharing via SOS for every 30mins up to 24hrs.

Apart from the regular One UI 2.5 update, Galaxy A70 also gets a new Wi-Fi setting features. Users can now see the quality of a new connection, Wi-Fi password requesting feature. Samsung has recently been updating its mid-range Galaxy A and budget M series of devices with One UI 2.5, and One UI Core 2.5 updates respectively.

The first A series device to get it is the Galaxy A71, which was followed by Galaxy A51. For the M series, Galaxy M21 is the first to get One UI Core 2.5 update before M31. Earlier, the company rolled out the One UI 2.1 update last month with features like Single Take, Night Hyperlapse, My Filters, and more.

In any case, this is just an incremental update, and it should eventually get the bigger One UI 3.0 based on Android 11 soon. However, unfortunately Galaxy A70 isn’t present in the list of A series devices to get updates up to three years. If you are someone living in Ukraine currently, you can try updating the Galaxy A70 by navigating to Settings->Software Updates->Download and Install.

Kospet Smartwatch with Buy 1 Get 1 Free Offer at Gearbest’s Smartwatch Carnival

By

Greeva Agnihotri

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Nov 19, 2020

A smartwatch is one of the most convenient pieces of technology that a person can carry at hand, or perhaps on the wrist, as they offer hands-free use while keeping one updated. To make this concept more exciting, Gearbest has introduced a Smartwatch Carnival where users can buy these versatile timepieces at a considerably discounted price. Participating in this fest are brands like Amazfit, Haylou, Kospet, and Elephone. However, the finest deal here is that of Kospet, where they have a ‘Buy 1, Get 1 Free’ offer along with massive discounts of up to 61% off on various products.

To make your life easy, we have compiled the list of best deals; keep reading to know about it.

Kospet Prime 2 Smartwatch

Kospet Prime 2 boasts a 2.1-inch full-round display with IPS wide viewing angle technology and 323ppi pixel density for enhanced readability. It features at least 9 sports modes that can be updated to 20 with a software update. This smartwatch also features a 1600mAh battery, octa-core processor, 4GB + 64GB memory, and a heart-rate sensor for all-round convenience.

Kospet Prime 2 smartwatch has a ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free’ offer going on, where at the purchase of this unit, the consumer will also get Kospet V12 smartwatch absolutely free.

Kospet Prime 2 watch deal

Kospet Magic 2S Smartwatch

Kospet Magic 2S boasts as many as 40 sports modes and is waterproof for up to 3ATM. Its 1.3-inch HD display with 360 x 360p resolution and 2.5D high-transparent curved glass offers convenient readability. Other functions include blood oxygen, heart rate and sleep monitoring, stopwatch, push notifications, pedometer, and more.

Currently, Kospet Magic 2S is being sold with a massive discount, dropping its price to just $23.99.

Kospet Magic 2S Deal

Kospet Raptor Smartwatch

Kospet Raptor is a rugged smartwatch with an IP68 rating that can withstand collision, water, and dust. Featuring over 20 sports modes and 50+ creative UI watch faces, this timepiece offers complete versatility. Furthermore, it has a 1.3-inch HD screen and 230mAh battery and functions like heart rate and sleep monitor, music control, and pedometer.

Kospet Raptor Smartwatch is currently on flash sale with over 41% off, where its price drops down to just $32.99.

With huge discounts and deals, this seems like the ideal time to add a new accessory to your collection or upgrade the existing one, considering the huge savings one might end up with after buying these Kospet smartwatches. These exciting deals are up only for a limited time, so hurry and make the most of it.

Kospet Raptor Smartwatch Deal

To know more about the Smartwatches’ Carnival, click the link here.

Huawei levels Samsung in Counterpoint’s September 2020 list of Top-selling 5G Smartphones Globally

By

Balaji S

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Nov 19, 2020

Counterpoint Research has released a report for the Top-selling 5G smartphones worldwide for the month of September 2020. And China’s Huawei has the same number of devices as Samsung in the top-10 despite facing pressure from all sides.

Huawei Mate 30 Pro featured 01 — Huawei Mate 30 Pro is one of the best smartphones in the market today but does not come with Google apps
because of the U.S. BAN

The report primarily talks about the Top-10 5G smartphones and their market share Globally in September. To begin with, the list has about seven devices from Chinese OEMs like Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, Honor. That’s a no-brainer considering the country’s 5G expansion is way ahead of the world. However, what is surprising is the presence of Huawei which has three devices in the list equalling rival Samsung.

Precisely, the Huawei P40 Pro, Nova 7, P40 occupy second, third, and fifth positions with 4.5%, 4.3%, and 3.8% market share respectively. This is a healthy trend for a company that is facing the heat elsewhere. In fact, the company recently led China where over 50% of 5G devices accounted for the total units sold in Q3. It’s ex-sister brand Honor also has an Honor 30S at the bottom with a 2.8% share.

Earlier this year, 5G was still available in only a few devices Globally and Hence, it didn’t penetrate deep into the markets. However, if you take China, it started the 5G rollout last October and is already pushing for 6G when other countries are struggling to adopt 5G better.

Besides, the report also shows budget smartphones like Oppo A72 5G, and Vivo Y70s 5G. This suggests that the 5G is entering into the affordable segment and breaking the notion of a “premium feature”. As the report says, this has become possible due to the mid-range 5G SoC of Qualcomm, MediaTek. That said, the report predicts that Apple will play a big role in commercializing 5G in North America, Europe after the iPhone 12 series.

Having said that, the list also has Samsung whose Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G sits at the top with a 5.0% market share. It has two more devices the Galaxy S20+ 5G, Note 20 5G with 4.0%, and 2.9% global share respectively.

In any case, this is a welcoming trend as there are more than 200 5G models currently compared to only 50 in Q1. Overall, the growth of the 5G models has increased by 300% in Q3 2020 compared to Q1. And as affordable 5G devices launch, and continue to grab attention, the contribution of top-10 devices in the total 5G sales has shrunk to 37% in September compared to 93% in Jan 2020.

ZTE unveils the Axon 20 4G powered by a Unisoc Tiger T618 SoC

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Nov 19, 2020

Chinese tech giant ZTE launched the Axon 20 5G in September this year. The smartphone emerged as the world’s first under-display camera phone but the 5G connectivity onboard obviously stands out better than the selfie camera that was everything but impressive.

ZTE has got a trimmed down 4G version of the Axon 20 in the works. Available details show the device will bepowered by a UNISOC Tiger T618 chipset. The Tiger T618 SoC is an octa-core CPU that is equipped with two Cortex-A75 cores clocked at 2GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores with the same clock speed.

Although the entire specifications of the Axon 20 4G is unknown at this moment, the phone is expected to retain the under display selfie camera of its high-end version. The design and camera configuration are also retained from the 5G version.

As a reminder, the Axon 20 packs a 6.92-inch OLED screen that covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and supports 10-bit color depth. The display has an FHD+ resolution of 2460×1080 pixels. The back houses a Quad camera setup stacked at the upper left corner. The sensors include a 64MP Ultra-high pixel main camera. There is also an 8MP 120-degree ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2MP depth of field lens, and a 2MP macro lens.

UP NEXT: Oppo X 2021 unveiled as the world’s first smartphone concept with an extending display

Render shows the POCO M3 will come in yellow, blue, and gray

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Nov 19, 2020

The POCO M3 is an upcoming mid-range phone from the Xiaomi subsidiary, POCO. With a planned launch for November 24, fans are excited and now, a leaked render will further increase their excitement.

The render which was shared by Ishan Agarwal via 91 Mobiles shows the phone will come in three colorways. There is the expected gray/black along with a bright yellow and a nice looking blue variant too.

The POCO M3 is shown to have a waterdrop notch while the design on the back reminds us of the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Edition. The upper part of the phone where the cameras are positioned is painted black, albeit a lighter shade than that of the camera housing. At the far right is the manufacturer’s name in white font. It is a nice design and one we expect more manufacturers will emulate.

The POCO M3 has three rear cameras arranged vertically. Unconfirmed specs say the primary camera is a 48MP sensor but there are no details about the other cameras. The photo also confirms that it has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Other reported specs of the POCO M3 phone are a 6.53-inch FHD+ display, a Snapdragon 662 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 6000mAh battery capacity, and support for 18W fast charging.

The new phone will be arriving less than three months after the POCO M2 was announced. The POCO M2 itself is a rebadged version of the Redmi 9. It has been reported that the POCO M3 will be sold as a Redmi phone in other markets. Back in July, the POCO M2 Pro was also announced which means we should expect a POCO M3 Pro to arrive later.

Which of the three colors is your favorite? Let us know in the comment box.

OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition’s wallpaper, icon packs available for download

By

Balaji S

-

Nov 19, 2020

OnePlus announced the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition in China on November 2. The device not only has the Cyberpunk 2077-inspired accents in the outer body but has exclusive wallpaper, icon packs. Now, as per a report, the icon pack is extracted successfully and working fine on a few older OnePlus devices.

Oneplus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 limited edition unboxing:

As reported by Piunikaweb(source), the icon pack has been extracted by a user name “Pink Leopard elf” on Chinese OnePlus forums. However, the link isn’t accessible outside of China as it asks for a login and a mobile number with ‘+86’ country code to download. That said, few users on OxygenOS forums were quick to access it. Hence, if you need to explore the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 wallpapers/Apk you can take a look at it below:

Besides, according to a few members, the Cyberpunk 2077 wallpaper is not that easy to get. Apparently, it is in a video form, and setting it via a third-party App seems to be a bit difficult. Nevertheless, there is a lower resolution version of the wallpaper available on the Chinese forums. In case you are keen to try it you can get it from here.

That aside, the icon pack on the Chinese forums seems to be for the HydrogenOS 10/11. Users of OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7, 8 Pro, 8T reported that the icon pack works fine. However, some on OxygenOS forums said that its either has half-baked icons or doesn’t work for them. This is understandable considering it’s just an extract & repack for other devices and it isn’t uncommon for it to be a bit buggy.

Anyway, talking about the icon pack itself, we got to see a glimpse of it on the hands-on pictures of the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition. It has all the accents of the game baked into the icons with certain system apps having red-colored outer rings. For the unware, the device is a celebration of the upcoming role-playing action game “Cyberpunk 2077″ developed by CD Projekt.

Although it’s internally identical to the vanilla 8T, it has a complete overhaul of the outer design. There is a three-stage design on the rear with AG glass mid-segment and a carbon-like design at the bottom. As mentioned earlier, it has a special packaging, stickers, badge, icon pack, AOD style, and camera filters resembling the game.

OnePlus releases kernel source code of Nord N100 and Nord N10 5G

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Nov 19, 2020

The OnePlus Nord N100 and OnePlus Nord N10 5G are the brand’s most affordable new smartphones. Unlike the company’s other devices, these two are limited to certain regions like Europe and the US where it is yet to debut. Surprisingly, the latter handset even made its way to Singapore a few hours ago. Before that, the kernel source code for both these phones went live.

OnePlus smartphones are popular among developers and custom ROM users. The company is known for releasing kernel sources on time. Hence, the brand has published the code of its latest budget smartphones on time.

With the help of this, developers can start working on custom recoveries like TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project), followed by custom ROMs, custom kernels, and mods. The new Nord duo could become popular in this niche community, thanks to their affordable price tags.

However, we don’t think they will be as famous as certain Xiaomi smartphones that are sold worldwide. The popularity of Nord N100 and Nord N10 5G may boost if the brand extends their availability.

Nevertheless, we can expect the development to be steady as these two phones will be only receiving a single major update to OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11. With regular custom ROM releases, customers of these handsets can continue using the phone for years rocking the latest Android version and security patch.

(Via)

Huawei’s first Customer Service Center to deploy robots opens in China tomorrow

By

Jed John Ikoba

-

Nov 19, 2020

Huawei is always striving to be ahead of the pack when it comes to innovation. The company is set to open its first customer service centre in China. The centre will house several innovative products including some that are yet to be unveiled but fans will have the opportunity to try out for the first time.

The centre will be located at the Beijing Sanlitun Yingke Center and the centre will offer the highest level of service that can be received at any of Huawei’s previous service centres. What makes this stand out is said to be the use of a brand-new maintenance model. This model is different from the traditional service store where one person accepts and the other person repairs.

At the Huawei Customer Service Center (Beijing Yingke Center), a “face-to-face” service seat arrangement is deployed. There will also be a fully transparent spare parts storage area. With this sort of arrangement, consumers can directly communicate with professional engineers about equipment and also discuss maintenance plans. They even get the change to observe the entire process of maintenance and spare parts delivery.

Furthermore, the Huawei Customer Service Center (Beijing Yingke Center) will deploy intelligent robots to perform tedious tasks such as searching for spare parts, receiving spare parts, and spare parts registration. Apart from that, engineers can save more time to serve consumers.

The Huawei Customer Service Center (Beijing Yingke Center) will officially open on November 20. (via)

Before now, Huawei had opened a number of flagship stores in China and three Experience stores in Europe. In January this year, the Chinese tech giant announced its first unmanned store in China. The smart unmanned store supports online ordering and on-site purchase. It is equipped with a robot arm that is responsible for taking out the goods. When it was opened, there were speculations that it was an indication of more to come. Indeed, the company has a lot of innovative ideas in store.

UP NEXT: Oppo X 2021 unveiled as the world’s first smartphone concept with an extending display

A new info says the Galaxy S21 series is coming in February and not January

By

Habeeb Onawole

-

Nov 19, 2020

Multiple reports have said that the Galaxy S21 series will be launching early next year. A leaker even revealed that the Galaxy Unpacked event is set for January 14. Now, new info says that Samsung will launch the phone in February just as it did this year.

The report is from Android Headlines and they say got the info from an insider source, one that is trustworthy, which is why they are making it public. The source revealed to them that the launch will hold in February but didn’t reveal the exact date.

This is the first report saying that the Galaxy S21 series will launch in February as practically everyone has reported a January launch date. Nevertheless, we advise our readers to take all info about the launch date with a pinch of salt until there is an official announcement.

It is possible that the phones were scheduled for a January release date but new developments have caused the date to be pushed back to February.

Qualcomm is yet to announce the Snapdragon 875 processor which will power the Galaxy S21 series in select markets. Samsung is also yet to unveil the Exynos 2100 that will ship with the Exynos variants of the S21 series. There is a Snapdragon summit scheduled for early December and the chipset should be announced there, however, there are concerns that the processor may not be available early enough for it to start appearing in phones in January.

The Galaxy S21 series includes the standard Galaxy S21, the Galaxy S21 Plus, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra. There will also be a Galaxy S21 FE but that should arrive much later in the year. All phones will support 5G, have displays with a 120Hz refresh rate and run One UI 3 based on Android 11 out of the box. It has also been reported that the Galaxy S21 Ultra will have support for the S Pen, a first for the Galaxy S series. However, the stylus will have to be purchased separately.

BOE loses the orders for Apple iPhone’s OLED panels to Samsung and LG yet again: Report

By

Balaji S

-

Nov 19, 2020

China’s BOE has once again managed to lose the display contract of the iPhone going into next year. And it will have to wait for another six to seven months to reinstate Apple’s confidence.

The report by TheElec says that BOE’s B7 line at Chengdu, Sichuan Province has failed Apple’s review program for OLED supply. This reminds us of an early incident at the B11 line which also failed due to less yield rates(20%). The report notes that the B7 is older than B11 and was used for supplying OLED displays to Huawei.

The fact that the plant was far away from meeting the Cupertino Giant’s demand sends an alarming message for BOE to revamp its quality control. This means it can apply for the proposal again only by H1 next year(2021). And even if it passes the test, it might be allowed to supply only for the refurbished iPhone 12 models.

Coming back, the B7 line was reportedly used to make an on-cell OLED display for supplying to Huawei Mate 40 series apart from main Samsung, and LG vendors. Unfortunately, this plant didn’t meet Apple’s standards for making the cut into the iPhone deal. The review process, which began in September, seems to have lasted only for a month.

Do note that BOE has also failed Samsung’s testing for Galaxy S21 series before the orders went to its sister Samsung Display. Thus, the new failure yet again clears the air for Samsung Display and LG. They are likely to be the prime suppliers for the next iPhone, probably iPhone 13 series after the 12 series.

Talking about them, the next year’s iPhones, early reports indicate that it will have a 120Hz refresh rate screen. And two of the 4 models next year will reportedly adopt the LTPO(Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) display designed by Apple.

Here is where BOE is reportedly lagging behind rivals like Samsung Display and LG. Report says that Samsung, which already applied the LTPO tech on Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. And LG which already has the infrastructure, and equipment(at Paju factory) for it, are ready for the tough job.

Galaxy Xcover 5 could be Samsung’s first 5G rugged smartphone

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Nov 19, 2020

Samsung is one of the few companies producing rugged devices for field workers. The company sells both rugged tablets and smartphones called Galaxy Tab Active and Galaxy Xcover respectively. A newer model in the former product category was only announced in late September in the form of Galaxy Tab Active3. Now, as per new findings, the company could be working on Galaxy Xcover 5.

Samsung-Galaxy-Xcover-4s — Samsung Galaxy Xcover 4s

According to GalaxyClub (via SamMobile), Samsung could soon launch a mysterious smartphone with model number SM-G501B. This handset was even spotted on HTML5TEST running Android 11. Going by its model number, the publication believes it to be Galaxy Xcover 5.

This phone is said to come with 5G connectivity. Therefore, the Galaxy Xcover 5 could be Samsung’s first 5G rugged smartphone. Also, as of now, the publication has not found any evidence of a 4G-only variant. Hence, if it exists, it should bear the model number SM-G500F.

Having said that, though no information is available about its specifications, we can speculate it to come with mid-range features like any other Galaxy Xcover device. Thus, it may feature a mid-range 5G chip like Exynos 880, Snapdragon 765, or Snapdragon 690 to name a few.

Samsung SM-G501B Galaxy Xcover 5 HTML5TEST

Further, it will probably feature an LCD panel as they have a longer lifespan than OLED displays. That’s because companies don’t buy rugged devices for their field workers every year. In fact, Samsung releases newer models after a long period of time.

Anyway, we expect to know more about this phone in the coming days ahead of its official announcement, which will mostly happen via a press release as companies usually don’t do launch events for this type of product.

Xiaomi launches ultra light Mijia Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Lite for 499 Yuan ($76)

By

Sean

-

Nov 19, 2020

Earlier today (19th November 2020), Xiaomi launched a new MIJIA product. It is the MIJIA Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Lite. The device is priced at 499 Yuan (roughly 76 US Dollars) and will be available from November 20.

The vacuum cleaner from MIJIA weighs just 1.2 kilograms and is built from light but durable materials. Despite it being light, it still manages to pack a compact motor and battery. Its light weight also helps in it being used to clean and remove dust from high places. The MIJIA Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Lite is equipped with a high speed brushless motor that has a suction power of up to 17kPa.This motor enables the product to output a continuous and strong suction power that can also be used in two different levels. It also sports a triple high efficiency filter as well.

In a full charge, the vacuum cleaner’s battery life can run for up to 45 minutes. So, users would easily be able to cover an entire house of both medium to large sizes on a single charge. Furthermore, the device has an electric bristled floor brush on the front which works through an independent motor drive. This enables it to rotate at high speed, which can remove fine dust particles from in between floor tiles and other areas as well. The suction nozzle has a flat design that makes it convenient for the user to clean the dust and lint from different surfaces.

Xiaomi India sold over 13 million devices during Diwali festive season

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Nov 19, 2020

The Diwali festive season is the biggest shopping period in India. Brands usually launch new products a month ahead of the country’s popular festival of lights and promote them heavily with discounts, freebies, and other offers. This year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, companies continued their regular annual tradition. As a result, Xiaomi India sold over 13 million devices.

Xiaomi is India’s largest smartphone and smart TV brand, as per all the leading research firms except Counterpoint Research. Though the company’s immediate competitors are Samsung and vivo, the largest threat is realme, which is the fastest smartphone brand to hit 50 million shipments.

Hence, we feel like Xiaomi shared its achievement during Diwali sales just because realme did it yesterday. In case you have missed it, realme sold over 8.3 million devices, which is obviously way less than Xiaomi’s 13 million number. But the company seems to feel insecure and for good reason as realme has been a force to reckon with since its inception.

Having said that, let us take a look at the sales figure shared by Xiaomi India in a press release.

According to Xiaomi Data Center, the company registered its highest-ever sales by selling over 13 million devices. Out of which, over 9 million were smartphones. Mi 10T Pro, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, Redmi Note 9 Pro, Redmi 9 Prime, Redmi 9, and Redmi 9A were some of the best-selling models.

Further, the remaining 4 million units consisted of smart TVs, Mi Ecosystem products, and accessories. Out of this, 450K+ devices were smart TVs and other Home Entertainment products like Mi TV Stick and Mi Box 4K, which were among the top-selling streaming devices across Amazon India and Flipkart.

Xiaomi says that the demand for 4K televisions was much more than last year and 50/55-inch TVs saw over 50% growth. That’s not all, the sales of Mi Air Purifiers increased by 100% and new products like Mi Watch Revolve and Mi Smart Speaker witnessed a great response from consumers.

Last but not least, Mi Bands continued to be among the best-selling products in the fitness category, and ‘Made in India’ Mi Power Banks hit 10 million sales during this period.

realme 7 5G launches in Europe with Dimensity 800U, 48MP camera, & more

By

Balaji S

-

Nov 19, 2020

realme launched the realme 7 series of 4G devices in Europe back in October. Today, the company has brought yet another model in the 7 series but with next-gen 5G connectivity. Priced at £279($369.88), realme says the device is currently the most affordable 5G smartphone in the market.

realme 7 5G Europe Prices, Availability, Offers

The realme 7 5G sadly comes only in a single 6GB LPDDR4x RAM, 128GB UFS 2.1 storage variant. The device, which will be available in the Baltic Blue variant, is priced at £279. However, it will be sold at a discount rate of £229($303.59) on Amazon from November 27 to 30. This is on the occasion of Black Friday Deals on the e-commerce platform.

realme 7 5G Europe Specifications – Display, CPU, 5G

realme 7 5G features a 6.5-inch LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has a screen-body ratio of 90.5% and a touch sampling rate of 180hz. Under the hood, it is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 800U 5G SoC. Realme says the upgraded CPU will give an improvement of 11% in performance and 28% in GPU. That said, it’s no slouch for gaming tasks too. Realme’s new “competition mode” helps improve touch response by 35%, game performance by 20%, along with Game Space, and Game assistant features.

Talking about the highlighting factor, 5G, Realme 7 supports dual-5G connectivity and supports multiple carrier aggregation. Precisely, it supports 12 main Global frequency bands like n1, n3, n7, n20, n41, and more. It also supports dual-channel Network acceleration wherein you can have improved speeds by combining both 5G & Wi-Fi.

Camera, Connectivity, Battery

For cameras, it has a 16MP selfie camera tucked inside the top-left punch-hole. It supports features like bokeh, AI beauty, HDR, Super Nightscape. On the back, you get a rounded-rectangle layout with a 48MP f/1.8 main lens, 8MP 119-degree FOV ultra-wide, two 2MP macro, and B&W lenses. The rear camera supports cinema mode(21:9 aspect ratio), Chroma boost, Tripod mode, and more.

Other features include a fingerprint sensor(on power button), face unlock, Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res audio, 5,000mAh battery with 30W Dart charging, OTG Reverse wireless charging, Super Power Saving, USB-C, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS for navigation. The device runs Realme UI based on Android 10.

That said, apart from realme 7 5G, realme also launched Realme Watch S(£74.99), Realme Buds Air Pro(£79.99).

List of companies that could launch the Snapdragon 875 Smartphones early tipped

By

Balaji S

-

Nov 19, 2020

Qualcomm will likely unveil the Snapdragon 875 SoC in December first week. Ahead of the launch, key specifications of the flagship processor have already been leaked. Now, a tipster shares the first batch of upcoming devices with Snapdragon 875 in China.

According to tipster Digital Chat Station(via sina tech), Honor won’t launch a Snapdragon 875 powered device even if it can. This is understandable considering it recently unhitched itself from Huawei. Additionally, the company already has a lot of challenges ahead of it like sales, software support, and other challenges.

Moving on, according to the tipster, the following companies will launch the first batch of Snapdragon 875 smartphones in China:

Companies likely to launch the Snapdragon 875 devices early

Xiaomi– incl.* Redmi, Black Shark.
Vivo– incl.* iQOO.
Oujia Holdings– incl.* Oppo, realme, OnePlus.

*incl.-including

That said, among these, we know a few devices that are already in the rumor mill recently. For instance, Xiaomi will likely darn the Snapdragon 875 SoC first on its flagship Mi 11. However, will the other brands announce it before the year 2020 ends? Well, we feel that Xiaomi, out of all will mostly be the frontrunner to announce a new flagship smartphone. But, there are chances that companies like Vivo, iQOO, Realme, OPPO will follow suit.

Accordingly, the tipster also says that those who miss the cut-off window will carry over their launches to January. Besides, OPPO’s Reno5 series that is recently in the news is expected to have Dimensity 1000+ SoC. However, it’s Find X3 series could very well feature the Qualcomm’s flagship SoC. OnePlus’ 9 series of devices aren’t expected to come out until Mid-March of next year.

In any case, if he is talking about the order of the launch in the list, Xiaomi will lead the pack with Vivo, and Oppo following it. Having said that, there is very little information about brands like Realme, iQOO, Black Shark, Redmi, Vivo who are used to launch flagships around February-May. Hence, it will be interesting to see if they jump-start giants like Samsung to grab a bite of the market share in 2021.

OnePlus Nord N10 5G debuts in Singapore for S$449 ($333)

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

-

Nov 19, 2020

In late October, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus launched OnePlus Nord N100 and OnePlus Nord N10 5G in Europe. The company even confirmed that these handsets will be hitting the US. But the brand did not say anything about Singapore, the region where the latter device has been now announced.

Last week, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G was spotted on Singapore’s IMDA certification bureau. Now, the phone has officially launched in the region priced at S$449 ($333). The handset will be available at a discounted price tag of S$399 ($296) for customers pre-ordering it from the OnePlus Shopee Official Flagship Store from November 21 to 30.

The OnePlus Nord N10 5G is the cheapest 5G smartphone in Singapore, unlike in Europe. The device comes with modest specs and will be only receiving a single major update to OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11.

It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chipset paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 internal storage. On the front, the phone flaunts a 6.49-inch FHD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels) IPS LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 16MP punch-hole selfie camera.

The body of the handset is made of plastic, compared to glass and metal build on OnePlus’ flagship smartphones. The back of the phone houses an L-shaped quad-camera setup consisting of a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide unit, a 2MP macro shooter, and a 2MP monochrome sensor. The rear panel also includes a traditional capacitive fingerprint sensor.

Other features of this device include support for microSD Card, dual-SIM, SA/NSA 5G, dual-band WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, dual-band GNSS (A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, and USB Type-C 2.0.

Last but not least, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G runs OxygenOS 10.5 based on Android 10 and is backed by a 4,300mAh battery with support for Warp Charge 30T (30W) fast charging.

(Via)

UP NEXT: Huawei sells Honor subsidiary to Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd

Apple iPhone 12 Mini vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G vs Sony Xperia 5 II

Design

Display

Specs & Software

Camera

Battery

Price

Apple iPhone 12 Mini vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G vs Sony Xperia 5 II: PRO and CONS

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Kospet Prime 2 Smartwatch

Kospet Magic 2S Smartwatch

Kospet Raptor Smartwatch

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realme 7 5G Europe Prices, Availability, Offers

realme 7 5G Europe Specifications – Display, CPU, 5G

Camera, Connectivity, Battery

UP NEXT: Realme sold over 8.3 million devices in 30 days during the Festive Days promo

Companies likely to launch the Snapdragon 875 devices early

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EDITOR’S PICK: OnePlus 8T lacks DC Dimming feature

UP NEXT: Official: The OnePlus Nord N100 has a 90Hz refresh rate