Huawei Watch Fit leaks: renders, features, and price

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Aug 10, 2020

Anker has launched a new mobile phone peripheral bearing the name PowerCore Play 6K. The gadget is a cheap product which performs three functions at a go. First, it is a mobile “gaming controller” with support for Android and iOS devices. Secondly, it is a power bank and lastly, it is a cooling fan.

There is no doubt that the PowerCore Play 6K is designed specifically for gamers and wit the three integrated functions, you still get to use your for gaming for an extended period without running out of battery power. You also won’t have to entertain any fear of the phone getting too hot.

The Anker device doesn’t really have any significant feature that makes it an actual games controller. It is more like a kickstand that holds the phone, making it easy for users to achieve a firm grip during gaming. The kickstand can also be used for watching videos. The gadget also comes in handy in keeping the phone charged and cool while gaming. Some might find the gadget too bulky for comfort especially as it crams a massive 6,700 mAh battery which can charge devices at up to 15W via the USB Type-A or USB Type-C ports. The battery can be fully recharged in just 3 hours and should offer a significant boost to the phone’s battery life while gaming.

The controller also features an integrated fan to keep your device cool during use. We should point out that aside from the gadget looking bulky, the charging cable can also be obstructive while charging. Perhaps, Anker should consider making a new version that supports wireless charging. But for the price, this is a decent product that gives you value for your bucks.

The PowerCore Play 6K supports phones ranging from 5.7 to 6.45 inches in size. It is presently available on Amazon for an affordable $35.99 price tag. Anker is offering an 18-month warranty for this product.

Huawei Darren Smart Table Lamp 2 rivals the Mi Lamp for ¥179 (~$26)

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Aug 10, 2020

Huawei has launched a smart lamp dubbed Huawei Smart Table Lamp 2 on Huawei Mall. The smart lamp will be on pre-sale from August 11th to 17th for 179 yuan ($25) but the actual retail price will be 199 yuan ($28). The lamp will be sold on Huawei’s official mall – Vmall.

The Huawei Smart Desk Lamp 2 adopts China’s AA-level illumination standard and supports 360° ultra-wide-angle illumination. The lamp has reportedly passed the inspection of five authoritative monitoring agencies and has been certified not to come with blue light hazard, no flicker, and no radiation. This ensures the light is safe for the eyes. The product can well illuminate a desk with a diameter of 1.6 meters.

The smart lamp has a peak illumination of 4839LUX with the colour rendering index of the table lamp standing at Ra>95. It utilises LED lights with a 4000K color temperature. In addition, the desk lamp has seven built-in learning modes and can be paired to the Huawei Smart Home app so as to be controlled from a smartphone.

Redmi Note 8 Pro gets a Coral Orange special edition

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Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 10, 2020

Yesterday, the official Xiaomi Twitter account announced that the Redmi Note 8 Pro will get a special edition. And just as we predicted, it is a new color variant called Coral Orange.

The new Coral Orange Redmi Note 8 Pro is the same colorway as the Twilight Orange announced back in January in China.

With the new color option, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is now available in a total of five colors. The other four colors are Electric/Deep Blue, Gamma/Forest Green, Halo/Pearl White, and Shadow Black/Mineral Gray. However, not all color options are sold in a particular market. Xiaomi has also not announced which countries the new Coral Orange will be sold.

The mid-range phone powered by the Helio G90T has a 6.53-inch FHD+ display with a notch that houses a 20MP camera. It packs 64MP quad rear cameras, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, a 4500mAh battery capacity. There is NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, an audio jack, and a USB-C port.

OPPO A6 reportedly launching in India next month

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Aug 10, 2020

OPPO launched the A5 2020 around September last year packing a Snapdragon 665 chipset and 5000mAh battery. The affordable mid-range model is now set to get a successor in India. Tech blog 91mobiles reports that OPPO will launch a successor to the A5 2020 in September this year which will likely be known as OPPO A6 2020.

Quoting a source familiar with the matter, the report touts the new model to come with several upgrades in the processor, camera, and display aspects. The mobile phone will also be priced at around Rs 10,000.

The exact specifications of the A6 2020 are yet to appear online but the predecessor – the A5 2020 sports a 6.5-inch waterdrop notch display with HD+ resolution of 720 x 1,600 pixels. The display also comes with 20:9 aspect ratio, Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

The Snapdragon 665-powered model comes in 3GB, 4GB and 6GB RAM variants with up to 128GB of internal storage. The A5 2020 also features a 12MP primary + 8MP ultra-wide angle + 2MP portrait + 2MP macro sensors Quad camera setup. While at the front there an 8MP sensor for selfies and video calls. The device also features a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, 5,000mAh battery, USB Type-C support, Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band Wi-Fi, and dual-SIM support.

We expect the A6 to build on these premium features.

Poster reveals key Mi 10 Ultra key specs including 120W fast charging

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Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 10, 2020

Even though the Mi 10 Ultra will be announced tomorrow, the leaks have not stopped pouring in. The latest is a poster that reveals some key specs of the upcoming flagship.

The picture was posted on Weibo by a user that goes by “Nonsense de digital”. The image reveals the Mi 10 Ultra has 120x digital zoom, a 120Hz 10-bit display, and support for 120W fast charging.

The poster also includes images of the phone. As we can see, the Mi 10 Ultra will be available in white and gray. On its back are four cameras including one with a periscope lens.

The Mi 10 Ultra will be the first phone to launch with support for 120W fast charging, beating the upcoming iQOO 5 to it. The phone will also pack an amazing display which not only has a 120Hz refresh rate but is also a 10-bit OLED panel like that of the OPPO Find X2 Pro which means it can display more colors than the 8-bit panel used by most phones.

The Mi 10 Ultra will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 Plus processor with up to 16GB of RAM. It has been confirmed that the device will ship with a pre-applied antimicrobial film on the screen and an antimicrobial case.

HydrogenOS 11 based on Android 11 Beta 3 released for OnePlus 8/8 Pro in China

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Aug 10, 2020

As expected, OnePlus officially introduced HydrogenOS 11 in China earlier today. OnePlus 8/8 Pro users can already install it in the region to try out the new features. The beta build, which is available to install is called Developer Preview 2 (DP2) and it is based on Android 11 Beta 3. The DP1 released last month in China was based on Android 11 Beta 2 and it was not called HydrogenOS 11 just like the international version.

OnPlus had rolled out two Developer Previews for the international variants of OnePlus 8/8 Pro in June and July based on Android 11 Beta 1 and Beta 2 respectively. The company is expected to release the third and final Developer Preview based on Android 11 Beta 3 very soon.

Ahead of it, it held an event in China revealing the features of HydrogenOS 11, the Chinese version of OxygenOS 11. Also, the build released today in the brand’s home country integrates all the new features of its upcoming mobile software.

To make you understand the Android 11 builds for OnePlus 8/8 Pro clearly, here’s a simple explainer.

	International Variants	Chinese Variant
Android 11 Beta 1	Developer Preview 1	–
Android 11 Beta 2	Developer Preview 2	Developer Preview 1
Android 11 Beta 3	Developer Preview 3 (OxygenOS 11)	Developer Preview 2 (HydrogenOS 11)

Now, with the confusion out of the way, here are the new features of HydrogenOS 11.

Revamped design and animations
Redesigned Weather, Gallery, Notes, and other system apps
Beter one-hand experience
Two new system fonts
A new live wallpaper that changes according to the time of the day
AOD (Always-on Display) with scheduling options
10 Clock Styles
Zen Mode 2.0
AI video generator in OnePlus Gallery app similar to Google Photos
OnePlus File Transfer, Works with devices from companies part of Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance

Having said that, we expect OnePlus to reveal the features of OxygenOS 11, which will be mostly similar to HydrogenOS 11 with the release of Android 11 Beta 3 (Developer Preview 3) for international variants of OnePlus 8/8Pro.

Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra with a Snapdragon 865+ chip, 16GB RAM pops up on GeekBench

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Aug 10, 2020

Xiaomi is expected to take the wraps off the Mi 10 Extreme Commemorative Edition on August 11 in China. The flagship will debut alongside the K30 Ultra and other unnamed products. Ahead of the launch event, the Mi 10 Extreme Commemorative Edition which will also be known as Mi 10 Ultra has made an appearance on GeekBench.

The device appears as Xiaomi M2007J1SC and a search on our database shows that the model has previously appeared on GeekBench and several other certification websites. It appeared on GeekBench first on July 31 and also was spotted on AnTuTu benchmark. The device was previously thought to bear the moniker Mi 10 Pro Plus but with Xiaomi’s latest confirmation, we now know the actual name.

It has consistently been listed as packing a Snapdragon 865+ processor. The single-core score of 901 and multi-core score of 3275 is consistent with those of other SD 865+ models. This recent GeekBench listing further shows that the device will have a massive 16GB of RAM onboard. 10 Extreme Commemorative Edition.

The renders of the Mi 10 Ultra leaked over the weekend showing the device will have a Quad-camera setup at the rear including a square periscope lens that can achieve 120x zoom. The other sensors include a 108MP main camera, 20MP super wide-angle and a8MP telephoto sensor.

Furthermore, the device is expected to come with an FHD+ resolution AMOLED display which supports 120Hz refresh rate. It will also pack a 4500mAh battery and will have support for 100W or 120W ultra-fast wired charging. There is also a rumour that the Mi 10 Ultra will have an under-screen camera on board, an industry first, but we don’t know about that yet.

Huawei rumored to launch a laptop with a frameless display

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Aug 10, 2020

With the new generation processors from both Intel and AMD being available, laptops and notebooks have become more powerful and energy efficient. However, the improvements don’t just stop there as Huawei is rumored to also launch a laptop with a frameless display.

According to a new report, Huawei is planning on being the first to launch a laptop with a frameless display with a 3K resolution. This would mean a notebook with ultra thin bezel, which almost completely eliminates bezels. While smartphones have used many methods to make the bezels negligible, an average laptop still has them quite prominently. So this would be a welcomed change.

The new Huawei notebook in question is apparently going to be launched on 19th August 2020, according to a known tipster @长安数码君 on Weibo. The leakster also revealed the official slogan for the new laptop: “Break the visual constraints of the frame, highlight the screen content itself, bring unobstructed ultra-clear vision and a more immersive viewing experience.”

In recent times, Huawei’s notebook offerings have become increasingly popular, being a viable alternative to other offerings from well established players in the industry. So, innovation in the field is highly appreciated. Interestingly, the tipster also said that the notebook and smart display industry are prioritizing the advancement of display technology development so that it does not include American technology.

US tech giants plan on pushing back against India’s data curb plan

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Aug 10, 2020

Recently, the Indian government proposed a new data act that would regulate all the “non-personal” information. This would immediately affect various tech firms, including US giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, who are planning on pushing back against these proposals, according to Reuters report.

Back in July 2020, a government panel recommended setting up a regulator for information that is anonymized. The panel also proposed a mechanism for firms to share data with other entities, citing a spur in the digital ecosystem. If this system was adopted by the government, a new law would form to regulate such data. However, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) called out this system.

According to the group that is also a part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the new data sharing act “anathema” would be promoting competition and says that it “undermines investments made by companies to process and collect such information.” USIBC letter stated that “USIBC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are categorically opposed to mandates that require the sharing of proprietary data.”

This letter has yet to be completed but will be submitted to India’s information-technology ministry in the arriving few weeks. The new data sharing act is the latest move which is another issue that big data companies face. More and more nations have been forming tighter rules and regulations around e-commerce and data storage. With India now proposing a “forced data sharing,” foreign trade and investment in developing nations would be limited.

OxygenOS 10.5.4 for OnePlus Nord improves display, low-light selfies, macro camera & more

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Aug 10, 2020

OnePlus Nord is not even a month old but the smartphone is already receiving its fourth system update. The new update comes with build number OxygenOS 10.5.4 for all the variants and brings a host of improvements as well as fixes related to camera, display, and more.

The latest update for OnePlus Nord comes within a week ( 5 days) from the last update. The changelog for the previous one did not mention anything except for “Improved system stability”.

Whereas, this one brings fixes for issues like unable to join Red Cable Club, background music pausing when launching the front camera, and syncing Notes. Also, it improves display experience, quality of video calls, low-light selfies, macro camera performance, and launch speed of Gallery app.

Last but not least, the update is being pushed in batches and weighs 106MB for the global variant of the handset and 95.3MB for the Indian version.

OnePlus Nord OxygenOS 10.5.4 Official Changelog

System
- Improved launch speed of Gallery
- Improved display experience
- Fixed issue of being unable to join Red Cable Club (IN only)
- Fixed issue of background music pausing when launching front camera

Camera
- Improved quality of video calls
- Improved color accuracy and white balance for low-light selfies
- Improved vibrancy and color accuracy of macro camera

Cloud Service
- Fixed issue of syncing Notes (IN only)

(Source, Via)

TSMC 5nm process is divided among 8 major customers including Apple, Qualcomm, and more

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Aug 10, 2020

A new report has revealed that the much sought after 5nm process from TSMC has been majorly divided between 8 major customers. This includes Apple, Qualcomm, AMD, NVIDIA, MediaTek, Intel, Bitmain, and Altera.

Apple has a strong demand for the new 5nm process for its upcoming A14 and A14X Bionic chips and MacBook processors. At the moment, it is estimated that the company had ordered 40,000 to 45,000 5nm process capacity in the first quarter of 2020. Furthermore, Qualcomm is also stepping into 5nm chips with its next flagship Snapdragon 875 processors. Similarly, MediaTek is also planning on launching the next generation of its Dimensity chips, which will start production in Q4 2020.

TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker and semiconductor foundry. It is one of the first to transition to the 5nm process and is also working on the smaller 3nm process as well. Notably, the 5nm process orders that Samsung had received from Qualcomm has been reportedly lost to TSMC. This marks another loss for the South Korean tech giant which has been trying to catch up to the Taiwanese firm.

Xiaomi to introduce 10th anniversary limited edition Mi Bunny “Mitu” figurines tomorrow

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Aug 10, 2020

Xiaomi will be hosting an event tomorrow (August 11) to launch its 10th anniversary limited edition products such as Mi 10 Ultra, Redmi K30 Ultra, and more. At the same conference, the company will be also unveiling new figurines of its mascot “Mitu” aka “Mi Bunny” according to a teaser by Mi Home Weibo account.

“Mitu”, popularly known as “Mi Bunny” has been Xiaomi’s official mascot since the company’s inception. The firm uses its mascot in a number of its products. For instance, it can be seen on error pages of Xiaomi websites and even on the fastboot screen of the company’s smartphones.

Also, there are multiple themes and AOD styles based on Mitu in “MIUI Themes” store. Further, just like any other company with a mascot, Xiaomi also sells figurines (action figures) of Mi Bunny.

The Chinese smartphone maker introduces new models of Mitu figurines occasionally on the occasion of festivals and achievements. But the upcoming models will be limited editions to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Xiaomi.

Most of the Mi Bunny merchandises and figurines are limited to China. Since the forthcoming ones are special for Xiaomi, it may be available in global markets as well.

Indian Smartphone Market sees a massive decline of 50.6% YoY in Q2 2020, expected to recover in H2

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Aug 10, 2020

A new report from IDC (International Data Corporation) has revealed that the Indian smartphone market has seen a sharp decline of 50.6 percent to 18.2 million units being shipped in the second quarter of 2020.

The primary reason for the sizeable decline was the Coronavirus pandemic and the government mandated lockdown that was in effect, majorly throughout the first half of 2020. Various smartphones OEMs had to shut down their local manufacturing/assembly lines in the region, while resumption occurred only in partial capacities as well. Furthermore, components from abroad were also stuck at the ports, waiting to be cleared, especially the ones from China.

However, sales in June 2020 did rise but mainly due to the pent up demand that rose during the lockdown period. Although, purchases were found to be mainly driven by availability rather than choice. In this period, the online channels held a high market share of 44.8 percent but declined by 39.9 percent YoY. The average selling price of smartphones was around 161 US Dollars with Xiaomi leading the smartphone market, followed by Samsung and Vivo.

Even physical stores adapted as “Many offline channel partners adopted new ways of marketing by reaching out to consumers through social media platforms, WhatsApp, references, etc., for doorstep demos and deliveries, as well as accepting contactless payments. However, these initiatives were limited to big and medium-size retail outlets in metros and Tier 1/2 cities, and was not able to arrest the steep annual decline of -56.8% for the offline channel,” according to a researcher at IDC.

TikTok is suing the Trump administration to challenge the app ban

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Aug 10, 2020

TikTok is apparently filing a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration as soon as Tuesday (11th August 2020). The lawsuit arrives after the US President Donald Trump passed an executive order banning the short video sharing app in the US.

The lawsuit is being filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, which is where TikTok’s American operations are based. A person close to the matter revealed this information which was reported on by US media and South China Morning Post. Reportedly, TikTok will argue that the President’s actions are “unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond and that the US government’s national-security justification for the order is baseless.”

The ByteDance owned social media platform expressed its surprise on Friday in a blog post and is seeking every and any possible options at the moment, including going to US Courts. Interestingly, there have also been talks regarding Twitter and TikTok considering a possible merger, according to a previous report. Although, it is still unclear if Twitter will actually pursue a deal to acquire TikTok’s US operations.

Trump has recently also signed an executive order which would prevent US residents and companies from doing business with TikTok and Tencent Holding’ WeChat app. The recent moves have all been aimed towards increasing steps and a campaign against China, right before the November 2020 elections. However, it would also cause millions of American TikTok users to be upset, especially those that built careers on the platform.

Xiaomi Door and Window Sensor 2 goes official in China for 39 yuan ($6)

By

Jeet

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Aug 10, 2020

Continuing its launching spree, Xiaomi has today launched a new smart home product on its Xiaomi Mall — Xiaomi Door and Window Sensor 2. It will be available through crowdfunding for a price of 39 yuan ($5.6).

Once the crowdfunding campaign gets over, the same product will be sold for 49 yuan (~$7) in China. The crowdfunding of the Xiaomi Door and Windows Sensor 2 is set to start at 10:00 AM local time in China on 12th August.

EDITOR’S PICK: Qualcomm seeks to supply 5G chips to Huawei, starts lobbying the U.S. Government

As the name indicates, this new product is a follow-up to the original Door and Window Sensor that was launched in 2015. The company says that the new Xiaomi Door and Windows Sensor 2 features Mijia multi-function gateway which can detect the status of the door and window in real-time.

It also comes with a new light sensor that can be used to set reminders to open or close the door and window based on the light. For instance, when the light is dim, it can remind the user to open the window.

Additionally, there’s also built-in magnetic induction which can determine the status of the door and windows — whether they are open or closed. The device can also be controlled through the Mijia App and there’s also support for XiaoAI Voice Assistant.

HUAWEI Mate40 Pro will launch with EMUI 11 while standard Mate40 will feature EMUI 10.x

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Aug 10, 2020

In the weekend, we reported Huawei to be working on a number of products including three smartphones, a foldable, a TWS, and a smartwatch. That leak only exposed the codenames of these upcoming devices and nothing else. Now, the same source reveals the codename of Mate 40 Pro and the software it will launch with.

Huawei has been working on EMUI 11 for a very long time. The existence of it was first sported in early May, just little over a month after the announcement of EMUI 10.1. Now, a new tip by Evan Blass aka @evleaks says Huawei Mate 40 Pro will be the first smartphone to launch with the company’s new software.

According to the popular leakster, the HUAWEI Mate40 Pro is codenamed “Noah”. Unfortunately, he did not mention the codenames of the other three models in the series.

But he did say that only the Pro variant will launch with EMUI 11, whereas the non-Pro will come with EMUI 10.x (EMUI 10.1?). If this happens to be true, then for the first time ever, we will witness the launch of a new HUAWEI Mate series with different software onboard across models.

Nothing else is known about EMUI 11 except for the fact that it will be released in Q3 2020 with distributed technology.

Toshiba officially steps away from the laptop business

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Jeet

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Aug 10, 2020

Toshiba, the Japan-based company which has been in the PC business for about 35 years, has now officially quit the laptop business. The company has sold its remaining 19.9 percent stake in Dynabook laptop brand to Sharp.

It’s noteworthy that a couple of years ago, in 2018, the company had sold 80.1 percent of its PC business to Sharp for $36 million. Soon after that, Sharp renamed the business to Dynabook. It is being reported that Sharp exercised right to buy the remaining 19.1 percent stake in June and the deal was closed in August.

Toshiba was a global player and a pioneer in the PC industry. The company was also among the first to introduce commercially available laptops in the 1980s. The company was thriving with its Satellite, Portégé, and Qosmio lines of laptops.

However, with the shrinking PC market share worldwide and misaligned focus on features, the company was finding it difficult to survive. The competition has also increased in the sector with the likes of HP and Dell ruling the market.

EDITOR’S PICK: Apple removing WeChat from App Store may have iPhone shipments fall by 30% in China: Kuo

Once among the leaders in the laptop market, Toshiba’s share of the PC market when it sold its stake to Sharp had gone down significantly. The company sold 17.7 million PCs in 2011 while in 2017, the numbers were down to just 1.4 million units.

According to the report from Garter, HP is currently the leading PC maker in the U.S. with about 33 percent market share, followed by Dell having a market share of 26 percent. Globally, in Q2 2020, Lenovo took the lead with a 25 percent market share while HP stands second with a 24.9 percent market share.

Qualcomm seeks to supply 5G chips to Huawei, lobbies US Government

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