OPPO Reno Ace price leak appears ahead of tomorrow’s launch

Xiaomi Ecosystem WEMAX ONE PRO FMWS02C ALPD 7000lumens Laser Projector

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Oct 9, 2019

Marketed as the world’s first ultra-short projector to be integrated with ALPD (advanced laser display) technology, the Xiaomi Ecosystem WEMAX ONE PRO FMWS02C ALPD 7000lumens Laser Projector delivers up to 150-inches of full-HD quality images in 50 centimeters.

With an impressive product life of up to 25, 000 hours, the WEMAX ONE PROis an advanced laser projector that adopts a compact, minimalist “box” design language. Its host and Bluetooth remote control design style consistency enables you to control the laser projector from any corner of the house using a voice assistant. The remote control is backed by two AAA batteries.

The aforesaid features completely justify the steep $3,359.99 price tag the WEMAX ONE PRO usually carries, but Banggood is giving you a chance to buy this feature-rich laser projector for a lowered price of just $1,589.99. This is a noteworthy 39 percent reduction in the device’s original selling price.

Aside from that, you get a FENGMI Fast Refresh Rate Of Shutter Type 3D Glasses worth $39.67 as a free gift if you place your order before the promo comes to an end. An absolute bargain at this price, the WEMAX ONE PRO features ALPD 3.0 laser light source technology by Appotronics.

In addition to housing high-quality lasers, the unit comes with a high-end speaker system that offers a true cinema experience. Moreover, it is capable of projecting a display up to a maximum of 150 inches, while offering maximum source brightness of 180 nits, and native contrast of 3000: 1.

You can head straight to this link to check out more details about the WEMAX ONE PRO FMWS02C ALPD 7000lumens Laser Projector and grab the discount before the promo wraps up.

Buy Huami AMAZFIT GTR Smart Watch at a Lowered Price from GeekBuying [Coupons]

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Huami AMAZFIT GTR Smartwatch

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Oct 9, 2019

Aside from amping up your style quotient, smart wearables keep a track of your health and monitor your activities while encouraging you to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Specifically designed for sports, as well as fitness enthusiasts, smart wearables are available in various designs, shapes, and colors in the market. You’d ideally expect to spend a lot of money on a feature-rich smartwatch, given that inexpensive alternatives end up disappointing in terms of performance.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get your hands on a top-end smartwatch without spending tens of thousands of dollars? Well, that exactly what GeekBuying is doing as part of its latest AMAZFIT GTR smartwatch promotion.

The Chinese online store has launched a new promotion, allowing tech buffs and fashion-conscious consumers can to buy amazing smartwatches from AMAZFIT without burning a hole in their pockets. We will be checking out the discounts you can get on the Huami AMAZFIT GTR Smartwatch, which is placed under the Recommended category on the activity page.

Huami AMAZFIT GTR Smartwatch

The global version of the Huami AMAZFIT GTR Smartwatch would normally set you back a pretty penny on both online, as well as offline stores, but GeekBuying is offering it for a lowered price of just $ 149.99. This is a 43 percent reduction in the device’s original asking price of $260.99.

Moreover, you can get an extra $10 off by applying coupon code 3LTYKZOY at checkout. In other words, you can bring the already lowered asking price of the smartwatch further down to only $139.99 simply by applying the aforesaid coupon.

On top of that, you can take advantage of a $2 OFF Coupon if you are a new user. You can visit this link to avail of the discount, which will be valid for only four days.

There’s a 31 percent off on the AMAZFIR GTR smartwatch, which usually retails for $231.99. Thanks to the discount, the coveted smartwatch can now be yours for a reduced price of only $ 159.99.

If that doesn’t impress you much, you can use coupon code 3SLKJ1OR and save $10 more during the checkout process. The original selling price of the smartwatches reduces to just $149.99 even before you click the ‘Place Your Order’ button.

In addition to that, you can save $2 more with the New User Coupon if this is your first time shopping through GeekBuying. An absolute steal at this price, the Huami AMAZFIT GTR smartwatch offers the following features.

1.39 inch AMOLED display with 454 x 454 pixels resolution
Round dial (Aluminium Alloy, Stainless Steel case material)
16MB RAM/40MB ROM
Bluetooth 5.0 / BLE connectivity options
5 ATM water-resistance
410mAh battery that delivers 24 days battery life
Sleep monitoring
Smart Notifications
Weather forecast

You can follow this link to check out more details about the AMAZFIT GTR smartwatch, and use the coupon which will be valid for all overseas warehouses.

Huami AMAZFIT GTR Smart Watch

AMAZFIT GTR smartwatch

Realme X2 Pro new camera samples revealed; Improved fingerprint scanner in tow

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Oct 9, 2019

Realme X2 Pro flagship phone will go official in Spain and China on Oct. 15. Ahead of the launch, the entire specifications of the smartphone have surfaced through its listing on the database of TENAA telecom authority. The company is also busy sharing key details of the smartphone through its official Weibo account. The Chinese firm has today reveled that the Realme X2 Pro will be coming with an improved fingerprint scanner. Also, Xu Qi who is the Chief Marketing Officer of Realme has shared fresh camera samples of the smartphone.

Realme claims that the new generation of light sensitive in-display fingerprint scanner adds an extra safety filter that turns the light from green to full spectrum white for better identifications.

The dimensions of the fingerprint scanning area have also been increased. Hence, the next generation screen fingerprint sensor on the Realme X2 Pro promises better security. Also, it takes only 0.23s seconds to unlock the device through the said biometric recognition feature. The sensor is embedded under the 6.5-inch AMOLED full HD+ display that offers 90Hz refresh rate.

Editor’s Pick: Oppo Reno Ace Rumor Roundup: All you need to know about the upcoming Flagship

On Monday, Realme Product Director Wang Wei Derek had shared the first camera samples of the Realme X2 Pro. At that time, the camera details of the smartphone were not known. However, its TENAA listing has revealed that it has a 64-megapixel + 13-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera system and it has a frontal shooter of 16-megapixel. Today, Realme China CMO Xu Qi has also shared camera samples of the Realme X2 Pro.

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The quad cameras of the phone feature a 115-degree ultrawide lens, a telephoto lens and a depth sensor apart from the Samsung GW1 main lens. The camera setup offers 3x optical zoom and 20x hybrid zoom.

The ColorOS 6.1 based Android 9 Pie OS is expected to come preloaded on the device. It is equipped with a 4,000mAh battery that is coupled with 50W SuperVOOC fast charging technology. TENAA revealed that it has 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of native storage. However, it may come in 8 GB RAM variant and storage options of up to 256 GB. There is no microSD card slot on the device. The flagship phone is fueled by the 2.96GHz Snapdragon 855+ mobile platform.

The handset measures 161 x 74.7 x 8.7mm and weighs 199 grams. Its color variants that are listed on TENAA are Blue, White, Red and Gray.

Honor reveals EMUI 10 update plan for its smartphones

By

Jeet

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Oct 9, 2019

Today, Honor’s Vice President of Product has announced through Weibo the list of devices from the company that will be getting the new Magic UI 3.0 and EMUI 10. He also said that more devices will be added to the list as the adaptation steps up.

As per the details revealed by him, the devices set to receive the Open Beta update in late October includes Honor 20, 20 Pro, V20, and Honor Magic 2. The devices that will get the open beta update later this year includes Honor 10, V10, and Honor 8X. On the other hand, the Honor 9X and 9X Pro smartphones are set to start the recruitment process for the open beta update in mid-December.

Earlier, Huawei had revealed a list of 33 devices for the EMUI 10 upgrade plan which will be getting the latest update between October and December this year. Although note that the list of 33 devices included smartphones from both Huawei and Honor.

The rollout of the new EMUI 10 started with the Huawei P30 series smartphones from this month and the Mate 20 series will begin beta testing in late October. The Mate 10 open beta will start rolling out in late November, while that of the P20 series will begin in late October this year.

Since the company is not rolling out the update over-the-air (OTA), it’ll likely be available to users who registered for Huawei’s closed beta program. The program grants the registered users first-hand access to test the latest EMUI features before they are commercially available.

Beta users are mandatorily required to send feedbacks in order to help improve the overall outlook of the custom ROM and fix bugs before the stable ROM is released.

EMUI 10 is an important update as it improves smoothness and performance on existing devices. The company has even added a system-wide dark mode which even forces apps that don’t have a dark mode to comply. The system settings are better organized in this new version and the OS is designed to offer a better experience when working other devices like a Windows 10 laptop.

Purported Honor 20 Lite (Youth Edition) full specifications leaked on TENAA

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Oct 9, 2019

In the recent past, Honor has released smartphones Honor 9X, Honor 9X Pro, Honor 20S and Honor Play 3 phones in China. A new Honor phone that has a model number of LRA-AL00 has received approval from China’s TENAA telecom authority. Yesterday, Honor President George Zhao had revealed to the Huawei fan club that the upcoming Honor 20 Youth Edition (Honor 20 Lite) is a beautiful device that is capable at taking good photos and is suitable for youth especially females. It appears that the LRA-AL00 smartphone could be the Honor 20 Lite smartphone.

Honor LRA-AL00 Specifications

The Honor LRA-AL00 smartphone measures 157.2 x 73.2 x 7.65mm and it weighs 172.5 grams. The device is equipped with a display that features a waterdrop notch to offer users with a high screen space. The 6.3-inch OLED screen offers full HD+ resolution and it is integrated with a fingerprint sensor.

An octa-core processor that clocks at 2.2GHz is present under the hood of the Honor LRA-AL00 smartphone. Its RAM variants are 4 GB, 6 GB and 8 GB. Its storage editions are 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB. The Android 9 Pie OS comes preloaded on the smartphone. For more storage, it offers users with a microSD card slot.

Editor’s Pick: Huawei may lose second spot to Apple in Q4 2019

The alleged Honor 20 Lite has a triple camera system on its back. The vertical module comprises of a 48-megapixel primary lens, an 8-megapixel secondary lens and a 2-megapixel sensor. For capturing selfies, it is fitted with a frontal shooter of 16-megapixel. The LRA-AL00 has a minimum capacity battery of 3,900mAh. Its typical capacity could be 4,000mAh. The 3C certification of the smartphone had revealed that it supports up to 20W fast charging. Black and Green are the two color editions of the smartphone. The handset could be arriving in more color variants at launch.

Honor is expected to hold a launch event by the end of this month to announce the Honor V30 series of smartphones in China. It is speculated that the Honor 20 Lite will be also made official at the same event. As of this writing, there is no information available on the pricing of the Honor 20 Lite.

Gearbest’s Top Seller Promotion Launches with Great Discounts on Most Popular Items

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Alfawise HQB – Q32TWS Bluetooth Mini Earbuds

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Oct 9, 2019

Gearbest is touted as one of China’s best online stores when it comes to buying electronic items and other gadgets at unbeatable prices. Living up to its reputation, the Chinese online store keeps coming up with amazing promotions from time to time.

AMAZFIT GTR 47mm Smart Watch International Version — Amazfit GTR is its most recent smartwatch

The recently kicked-off Gearbest Top Seller promotion is offering you a chance to get your tech greedy hands on the most popular items without emptying your pocket. The products available on the activity page have carefully been split into Best Seller, Hot Pick, and Recommended for You categories to facilitate the search process.

Let us check out the discounts available on some of the well-received products that have gone up for sale bearing lowered prices on the promotion page.

Alfawise HQB – Q32TWS Bluetooth Mini Earbuds

A great choice for music lovers, the Alfawise HQB – Q32TWS Bluetooth Mini Earbuds delivers a superior wireless experience. It adopts the latest Bluetooth 5.0 protocol that enables the two earbuds to stream audio from your Bluetooth-enabled phones, tablets, laptops, and other compatible devices.

You can use the earbuds both, individually, as well as simultaneously for great HiFi sound. It comes with a mini power bank that can charge the earbuds fifteen times, and deliver about an impressive 120 hours of wireless music.

The irresistible Alfawise HQB – Q32TWS Bluetooth Mini Earbuds would normally set you back $23.17, but thanks to a 22 percent discount, you can now buy it for just $17.99 from Gearbest. Moreover, you can get an add-on item worth $8.99 on orders over $20.

The black-tinted earbuds come in two variants including Touch Control and Button Control. You can follow this link to grab the discount. With over a hundred pieces sold at the time of writing, the promo is slated to end in five days.

AMAZFIT GTR 47mm Smart Watch

The market is teeming with all sorts of smart wearables that keep a track of health while monitoring your activities. Regrettably, these fitness gadgets aren’t easy on the pocketbook.

If you have been waiting to buy a feature-laden smartwatch without spending a lot of money, Gearbest’s got your back. The Chinese online store is doling out a noteworthy 17 percent off on the AMAZFIT GTR 47mm Smart Watch, which usually sells for $180.67.

As part of the Gearbest’s latest promo, the global version of the AMAZFIT GTR 47mm Smart Watch is now available for a lowered price of just $149.99. An absolute steal at this price, the AMAZFIT GTR smartwatch sports classic look of the traditional watch, which makes it ideal for sports, as well as business use.

You can head straight to this link to check out more details about the AMAZFIT GTR 47mm Smart Watch and place your order. A whopping 8836 pieces were already sold at the time of writing, and the promotion will come to an end in fifteen days so visit this link without wasting time to avail the discount.

AMAZFIT GTR 47mm Smart Watch

Lenovo E1 Smart Watch

Much to the delight of fitness enthusiasts, Gearbest is offering the Lenovo E1 Smart Watch at a reduced price as well. The global version of the smartwatch normally carries a $49.99 price tag but is currently up for grabs for just $39.99.

This is a significant 20 percent reduction in the device’s original asking price. The Lenovo E1 comes in eye-catching color options such as green, black, with red band, and with black steel strap.

Exclusively designed for sports enthusiasts, the Lenovo E1 adopts a single-hand control design for easier access to all features even when you are exercising. It features a soft silicone strap that fits snugly around your wrist without any sort of discomfort.

The Lenovo E1 is a perfect smartwatch for daily use. You can buy the coveted smartwatch by following this link. While the promotion will be valid for 21 days, 10 pieces have already been sold out until now.

Lenovo E1 Smart Watch

Gearbest Top Seller

[Update: More photos and details] Andy Rubin shows off new Essential phone with a unique design

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Oct 9, 2019

[Update: more photos tweeted by official Essential Twitter account reveal more details]

Co-founder of Android and CEO of Essential Inc., Andy Rubin, took to Twitter to show the world the latest mobile hardware device he and his team have been working on. Suffice to say this is unlike anything we have ever seen before.

The tweets by Mr. Rubin showing off the new device come nearly a year since the last one on October 25, 2018.

…still dialing in the colors pic.twitter.com/4gEpFU7mpZ

— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) October 8, 2019

The first tweet shows four devices of varying colors facing downwards in a styrofoam block. The phones look nothing like any modern phone sold right now. You could mistake them for fancy remotes based on their form factor or even an open clamshell phone.

Each one has a huge camera bump with a single sensor in the middle. There is an LED flash at the top left corner while a fingerprint scanner is positioned below the camera. The caption for the tweet says “GEM Colorshift material”, and boy do these colors shift depending on the angle you look at the phones.

A second tweet shows us the same phones but in a still image. The last tweet is the most interesting of all as it shows us the front of the phone.

The new Essential phone is shown to have a display with a very tall aspect ratio. There are bezels of equal lengths on all sides and they don’t make the phone bigger than it should be.

New UI for radically different formfactor pic.twitter.com/Es8hFrTuxx

— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) October 8, 2019

The display itself has a large punch hole in the top left corner for the selfie camera. There is an arrow icon pointing to the left of the screen while a red button is at the far top right corner. We believe these are the navigation and close app keys respectively.

In one of the photos, the phone is shown running a maps app that sure doesn’t look like Google Maps while the other image shows multiple apps on the screen with each taking a small quarter of the phone’s display.

[envira-gallery id=”281454″]

As you can see, there is an Uber app, a calendar app, a maps app, and a weather app. Each app takes up a small part of the screen but does so in a very neat way. The caption for this tweet says “New UI for radically different form factor”.

It sure is running a user interface we haven’t seen on any device before, but nevertheless, we believe it is still based on Android.

We are really excited about this new device from Essential Inc. whose first and last phone is the Essential PH-1 which was released back in 2017. We expect more details about the new phone will surface soon.

Update begins here:

The official Essential Twitter account has shared more photos of the new device and one of them gives us a look at the phone’s homescreen.

There is a clock widget at the top with two circles – one showing the phone’s battery level and the other showing the signal level and type (LTE in this case). We also see that the phone is on AT&T’s network.

The homescreen has a UI similar to that of Windows Mobile with its Live Tiles. There is a Spotify tile as well as tiles for phone, maps, camera, messages, and gallery. This photo also gives us another look at the punch hole which houses the selfie camera. The red button at the top red corner in one of the first set of photos is now white.

The new Essential Phone is really comfortable to hold thanks to its really narrow frame. The power button and volume rocker are on the left side of the device but none of the photos give us a good look at the other sides to know if there are extra buttons and the type of ports available.

The second photo shows the phone in all the four colors it will be available in – red, green, blue, and yellow. Thanks to the color-shifting effect, all four will look different depending on the angle you are looking at them from. In this photo, we can also see a transparent TPU case in the corner.

We've been working on a new device to reframe your perspective on mobile. It's now in early testing with our team outside the lab. Look forward to sharing more in the near future! #ProjectGEM pic.twitter.com/BnVy7yM2Kj

— Essential (@essential) October 9, 2019

The caption for the tweet says Essential has been working on a new device to reframe our perspective on mobile. It is already in testing outside the lab and more details will be shared in the near future. The tweet ends with the hashtag #ProjectGEM.

Pre-Order Ulefone Armor 3W Smartphone for Just $299.99 from Banggood [Get Free Shipping Over $19.99]

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Ulefone Armor 3W Smartphone

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Oct 8, 2019

Still riding high on the success of its last year’s Armor 3 and Armor 3T large battery rugged phones, Ulefone is all set to unveil their radically overhauled version dubbed the Armor 3W and Armor 3WT.

The Armor 3WT is the walkie-talkie version of the Armor 3W smartphone, which has gone up for pre-order bearing a considerably lowered price tag on Banggood. There are two variants of the Ulefone Armor 3W including the EU Version and the Other Area model, which is designed to work outside the European Union region.

Featuring 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage capacity, both variants usually retail for $383.89. Much to the delight of Ulefone fans, the two variants of the Armor 3W smartphone are now available for a lowered price of just $299.99 through Banggood.

In addition to getting this 22 percent discount, Banggood users can also avail free shipping on orders over $19.99. Available in orange, as well as black color options, the Ulefone Armor 3W is an irresistible smartphone that boasts an impressive array of features.

It sports a 5.7-inch FHD+ onecell display with 2160×1080 pixels resolution and Corning Gorilla 5 on top for added protection. Moreover, the rugged phone packs an MTK Helio P70 Octa-Core 64bit 2.1GHz processor along with a highly competent ARM Mali G72 MP3 900MHZ GPU, under the hood.

On the photography front, the Ulefone Armor 3W houses a 21MP camera with dual rear flash, touch focus and 1080P video recording at the back. Upfront, there’s an 8MP selfie camera that can also be used for video calling.

The phone runs the latest Android 9.0 Pie operating system and draws its juices from a robust 10300mAh built-in Li-Polymer battery. To check out the rest of the specifications and to place your order, simply follow this link. Note that the promo is slated to end on October 14th.

Honor 20 Lite (Youth Edition) hitting China soon with an affordable pricing

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 8, 2019

One confusing naming pattern that we usually encounter when writing on Lite versions is the reference to such versions as “Youth Edition”. That may be due to the translation so I guess we’ll just bear in mind that both names usually refer to the same phone.

That in mind, Honor’s president Zhao Ming has hinted that the Honor 20 Lite (a.k.a Youth Edition) will be launched in China soon. He said this on the Honor 20 series thread on Huawei’s Pollen club forum while responding to a female fan who craved for an affordable phone with a good camera and suitable for females. He also hinted that the smartphone will be affordable.

The Honor 20 Lite is expected to take over from the Honor 10 Lite which was launched around November last year. The device provided high value for your money as well as an amazing camera setup. The phone was a popular one among the youths which it targets.

It may interest you to know that the Honor 20 Lite is already official in Europe where it is available for GBP 249 (~$325, ~300 Euros). However, the device is expected to retain the Honor 10 Lite’s price in China which started at around 1399 yuan (~$195).

As for the specification, the Honor 20 Lite comes with a 6.21-inch waterdrop notch screen that offers full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels, an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and a screen-to-body ratio of 90 per cent. The device is powered by a Kirin 710 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM while there is 128GB of expandable storage. The handset packs a 3,400mAh battery that offers a talk time of 22 hours.

On the camera end, the rear shell of the phone sports a triple camera module; a 24-megapixel main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, a 120-degree 8-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The photography features available for the triple rear cameras include AI multi-scene recognition and super night scene mode. One of the main features of the Honor 20 Lite is the 32-megapixel selfie camera that comes with AI beautification features. The phone comes in Phantom Red, Phantom Blue and Midnight Blue colour variants.

(via)

Huawei may lose second spot to Apple in Q4 2019

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Oct 8, 2019

While things are starting to look down for Huawei, Apple is on the rise. The Cupertino company is all set to recapture second place from Huawei in the global smartphone vendor ranking in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to DigiTimes. The change in ranking is said to be a combined effect of strong sales of Apple’s iPhone 11 lineup and the impact of Huawei’s trade ban in the United States.

Despite being blacklisted by the U.S. government in middle of the second quarter this year, Huawei has managed to ship a respectable sixty million handsets, matching their last quarter performance. Unfortunately with the trade ban still looming over them, Huawei can expect to see an even bigger drop towards their overall sales in the last half of this year.

Gartner estimates that shipments could fall to about 50 million units in the third quarter, before bouncing back to 60 million units going into the holiday period. Sad times for the Chinese giants, but it’s still a respectable number and is more than enough to keep the company afloat for now.

Meanwhile on the Apple side of things, IDC claims Apple shipped 36 million iPhones in Q1 2019. Sales are said to have dropped to 34 million in the second quarter, with an expected slide to 30 million units in Q3 as people waited for Apple’s next-generation flagship devices, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

But with reports of higher-than-expected sales of its iPhone 11 lineup both domestically and abroad, Apple could see its handset shipments reach 70 million units in the fourth quarter, which would exceed the 60 million units Huawei is expected to ship in Q4 2019. They’re doing well enough to bail JDI from doom, so they’re probably doing great.

Things aren’t exactly looking too bright for the Chinese company, but it could be worse. Whether Huawei can bounce back from all this depends on how things pan out regarding the US ban, as well as how the company plays their cards from this point on.

Official: OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition launching October 10

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Oct 8, 2019

Yesterday, Pete Lau shared an image of the retail box of the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition, hinting at the phone’s launch. Today, the official OnePlus Twitter account has confirmed that it will announce a product with McLaren on Thursday, October 10.

While the announcement, which was posted on Twitter, doesn’t expressly say that the phone is the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition, one can already deduce that based on previous leaks.

McLaren and OnePlus, relentlessly pursuing perfection. See the embodiment of excellence on October 10, 4 PM BST. pic.twitter.com/NbhUoOe4JL

— OnePlus (@oneplus) October 8, 2019

The launch will begin at 4 PM British Standard Time and we expect the regular OnePlus 7T Pro will be unveiled alongside too. The OnePlus 7T should also be announced in the UK on the same day.

The OnePlus 7T McLaren Edition will come in a special box with McLaren branded accessories. The phone will have a 6.67-inch 2K+ curved display, a Snapdragon 855+ processor, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. A 48MP + 16MP + 8MP triple camera setup will grace the back of the phone. It will also have a pop-up selfie camera. The phone will run Android 10 out of the box but we expect it to have some exclusive software features.

Just like last year’s OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition, the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition will be the most expensive OnePlus phone released this year.

Oppo Reno Ace Rumor Roundup: All you need to know about the upcoming Flagship

By

Michele Ingelido

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Oct 8, 2019

In just two days, Oppo will finally release its first 2019 flagship smartphone after the Reno 10x zoom. It will still belong to the Reno series and its name will be Reno Ace. In terms of aesthetics, it will be less futuristic, but it will supposedly carry a more interesting price tag. Thanks to leaks surfaced in the last weeks, we know almost everything about the new flagship ahead of the launch. Here is all you need to know about its specifications, launch, availability, and price.

Oppo Reno Ace Specifications

Design

Oppo Reno Ace will boast a premium and elegant design, but it will not be aesthetically innovative like its siblings Reno and Reno 10x zoom. It will sport a classic bezel-less display with a thicker lower bezel and a waterdrop notch, a glass back available in gradient colors and an aluminum frame. Nothing more and nothing less than a typical high-end device. It will have a power button on the right side and two volume buttons on the left. The rear cover will house a quad camera module and a dual LED flash. There will be at least two color variants: Electroacoustic Violet and Interstellar Blue. According to Oppo’s VP Shen Yiren (implicit) declarations, Reno Ace will also be launched in a special GUNDAM edition.

Display

The Oppo Reno Ace will come with an exciting new feature borrowed from OnePlus 7 Pro: a 90 Hz refresh rate for the display, which will provide a smoother viewing experience and will be useful especially for gamers. There should even be a 135 Hz touch sampling rate for a more responsive touch screen. The display of the Oppo Reno Ace will sport a 6.5-inch diagonal and a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. It will be an AMOLED panel and it will integrate an in-display fingerprint scanner.

Hardware & Software

Oppo Reno Ace will be powered by the most powerful Qualcomm’s chipset: the Snapdragon 855+. It offers 15 percent better graphics performance compared with its predecessor Snapdragon 855 as well as a higher clock frequency: 2.96 GHz against 2.84 GHz. The SoC will be paired with up to 12 GB of RAM depending on the memory configuration and up to 256 GB of UFS 3.0 native storage. It will be possible to furtherly expand the internal storage through a micro SD. Given the current software development of the Chinese company, the Reno Ace may still be based on Android 9 Pie, customized by ColorOS 6.1. But the company is currently working hard to develop ColorOS 7 based on Android 10, so an update may hit the handset soon. The handset was recently spotted on TENAA, so you can learn more here.

Camera

As mentioned above, the rear camera department of the Oppo Reno Ace will include four sensors. The main sensor will be a Sony IMX586 with a 48 MP resolution, optical stabilization and an f/1.7 aperture, then there will be a 13 MP telephoto lens with an f/2.4 focal aperture. The third sensor will be an 8 MP ultrawide lens with f/2.2 aperture, while the fourth and last one will be a 2 MP depth sensor. On the front side, there will be a 16 Megapixel snapper selfies carrying an f/2.0 aperture.

Battery

Oppo Reno Ace is expected to be equipped with a satisfying 4000 mAh battery which will support a very fast charging technology. We are talking about the Super VOOC flash charge with a power of 65W. Thanks to this technology that is one of the most advanced ones, the Oppo Reno Ace will fully charge in just around 25 minutes. The 65W fast charging technology would currently be the higher on the market, given that the fastest one is actually the 44W fast charging technology found on the Vivo NEX 3. Indeed, despite Vivo and Xiaomi already announced an astonishing 120W fast charging technology, it is still not in mass production.

Read More: OPPO Reno Ace 65W SuperVOOC fast charging confirmed

Oppo Reno Ace – Launch date, price, and availability

Oppo Reno Ace will be officially unveiled on October 10 in China. And it will probably remain exclusive for the Asian market since Europe will get the Realme X2 Pro which is a very similar flagship. Unfortunately, we do not have any info about pricing, but given its specifications, we believe it will carry a very interesting price tag, just like the Realme X2 Pro.

Apple reportedly bailout major parts supplier Japan Display with $200 million investment

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Oct 8, 2019

Japan Display Incorporated (JDI) has been the major supplier of LCD panels to Apple. But the Silicon Valley company’s shift to OLED panel beginning with the iPhone X unsettled JDI’s finances. Although Apple still uses JDI’s LCD displays on the iPhone 11, the orders are short of what it used to be and just won’t be enough to prevent the company from going down. Perhaps, in a bid to prevent the Japanese display maker from closing down, Apple is said to have concluded plans to pump in much-needed cash.

Japan Display has disclosed that a major client intends to invest $200 million, double the amount it originally planned to invest in the Japanese company. This was hinted by the company’s CEO Minoru Kikuoka who expects the deal to be completed this month. Although the “major client” wasn’t named, sources with direct knowledge of the talks have said it is Apple. The CEO also disclosed that Hong Kong-based Oasis Management will also contribute $150-180 million.

JDI’s collapse would hamper Apple’s ability to deliver competitive pricing for its new iPhone 11 base model which comes $50 cheaper than last year’s base model – iPhone XR. The collapse may also force the Apple to turn to rival suppliers for liquid crystal displays (LCD) as well as increase its reliance on Samsung Display for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens as JDI isn’t even planning a transition to OLED manufacture just yet.

Redmi 8 unboxing video confirms Snapdragon 439 inside

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Oct 8, 2019

The Redmi 8 will be unveiled tomorrow in India. The mid-range phone will succeed the Redmi 7 which was launched earlier this year. There are a number of new features such as a bigger battery and fast-charging technology included in the new phone. Just a day before its launch, an unboxing video has been posted on the web.

The unboxing video was uploaded on the YouTube channel SalimBaba Technical. The video shows the Redmi 8 will come in a white box that has a picture of the phone in the three colors it will be available in plastered on the front. The device is shown to have a waterdrop notch and dual cameras.

The Redmi 8 boasts a design different from its predecessors such as a slightly smaller display, Redmi branding on the chin, and dual cameras arranged vertically in the middle along with the fingerprint scanner.

The unit in the box is the Sapphire Blue variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There will also be black and red variants too.

The sticker on the display lists some of the phone’s features such as a 5000mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 3.0 18W, a 6.22” HD+ Dot Drop Display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, 12MP + 2MP AI dual camera, an 8MP selfie camera, and a Snapdragon 439 processor.

A sticker on the back of the phone reveals the phone has a triple card tray which allows you to use two nano-SIM cards and a MicroSD card at the same time. The Redmi 8 also comes with a USB Type-C port and a USB-C cable is included in the box. Along with a fingerprint scanner, the phone also has face unlock.

The “About Phone” menu shows the phone runs a global version of MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. It has August’s security patch installed and its model number is stated as M1908C3IG.

The Redmi 8 should arrive in other markets too after it launches in India tomorrow.

New Samsung Galaxy Fold gets an iFixit teardown, still abysmally unfixable and fragile

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Oct 8, 2019

Samsung has tried to fix the two most glaring design defects of the Galaxy Fold but, as iFixit has discovered its thorough teardown, it still is a fragile device. According to iFixit, some improvements have been made, but like they found with the first Galaxy Fold teardown (that Samsung tried to get rid off), it’s not a sturdy device by any means.

The Korean company has taried to address the two problems brought up by reviewers earlier this year. First: that people removed the outer screen layer thinking it was just a regular protective plastic. Second, the hinge gape that allowed dirt particles to come in and damage the display.

Dust and lint was also an enemy of the Galaxy Fold, but iFixit noted that there are now T-shaped plastic protectors to plug the gaps between the top and bottom of the display that appears when it’s folded. There are still gaps that flank the spine of the foldable phone, where dust could creep in, but this time it’s less likely to make a mess up in the display.

A whole lot of adhesive has been used to stick the phone together as well, and the ‘Advanced Polymer Protective Layer’ – read built-in screen protector – is still present and correct only it’s been better integrated into the Galaxy Fold to prevent people from thinking it’s a removable protector and thus wrecking the phone’s folding display.

Perhaps the most noticeable change is the added layer of metal to make the display more robust. According to iFixit, the extra layer is “like chainmail armor” placed between the backing plates and the screen. This addition should make the display more reinforced, even when it’s separated from the chassis.

Samsung Galaxy Fold Continuity — Samsung Galaxy Fold

There are plenty of warnings that you won’t expect in any flagship device nowadays, from touching the screen too hard to putting objects like credit cards inside to exposing it to dusty environments. But, as iFixIt has discovered, there is a good reason for all this. According to iFixit:-

“That said, this thing is still pretty fragile. We’ll have to see how it holds up in the real world, but for now, we can’t help but wonder: why weren’t these revisions a part of the first Fold? It took reviewers (and us) less than a week to figure out the phone’s weak points. Why ship something they must have known to be so easily breakable?”

That’s a reasonable question, especially as iFixit gave the Galaxy Fold a ‘repairability’ score of two out of ten, thanks to its glued-down parts and fragile main display. So while the Galaxy Fold has been greatly improved and it seems durable enough in certain aspects — like its folding capacity — some may want to wait for version 2.0.

Chuwi UBook Pro is officially live on Indiegogo, starts at just $449!

By

Dimitris Economou

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Oct 8, 2019

It’s official! Chuwi’s latest 2in1 powerful tablet UBook Pro just went live on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform at an amazing price. The top configuration that includes the Intel Core-m3 8100Y CPU, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, type cover, and 2048 points active stylus costs just $499 and if you don’t need the keyboard and stylus, the price drops to just $449! Also, if you don’t need the extra power of the Core™ processor, there is a special version powered by Gemini Lake N4100 that costs just $399. Let’s see some more details about it.

The 12.3″ FHD IPS display with 3:2 aspect ratio brings larger workspace

Chuwi chose a fully-laminated 12.3″ FHD IPS panel with 3:2 aspect ratio that offers a vivid and vibrant experience to the user whether he’s working with pictures or watching videos. What’s more, the screen also supports up to 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity of the upgraded HiPen H5 active stylus that offers improved experience when righting or sketching.

Classic U shaped kickstand, lightweight and portable 2-in-1 tablet

Contrary to Surface Pro’s metal plate kickstand, the UBook Pro features a more light-weighted u-shaped kickstand which is more agile and convenient. The 9mm thin body and the low weight (780g) makes it very portable while the -up to- 145° turning kickstand makes it a decent sketch board for creativity or an efficient office tool when combined with the keyboard.

Intel’s 8th Gen Core™ m3-8100Y

The UBook Pro comes with the powerful Intel Core M3-8100Y processor that has an overall performance improvement of more than 50% over the previous gen. The processor is built with Intel’s advanced 14nm+ manufacturing process, it’s a dual-core/four threads chip and the highest frequency reaches up to 3.4 GHz. Combined with the highly-efficient UHD Graphics615, it can deal with multiple daily office work and even some moderate Adobe Photoshop editing.

With an excellent internal cooling design and Intel’s latest ULV processor, the UBook Pro is engineered with a fanless cooling system that keeps it extremely quiet even when running multiple software programs at the same time. Also, the large battery gives the tablet up to 8 hours of use on a single charge. Meanwhile the PD2.0 fast charging via USB-C port can fully charge the device in only 1.5hrs.

If this is what you’ve been waiting to grab a 2in1 device, you can back the Indiegogo campaign right away by visiting the campaign page to view the product and campaign information.

Poll of the Week: Is the Surface Duo an overrated device?

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Oct 8, 2019

Last week, Microsoft held an event in New York where it announced a bunch of new products. Some of the products announced include the Surface Laptop which brought along a 15” version too, the Surface Pro 7, and the Surface Pro X. However, the highlight of the event was the unveiling of the Surface Neo dual-screen laptop and the Surface Duo dual-screen phone.

Both the Surface Neo and Surface Duo won’t be available until 2020 holidays but they have sparked a series of conversations. Our focus is on the Surface Duo which can be called a mini version of the Neo based on its size. However, it is much more than that.

The Surface Duo marks Microsoft’s re-entry into the smartphone business following its exit a few years ago. Apart from the design, another interesting feature of the device is that it runs Android. So not only is Microsoft back to making phones but Android phones and not a new OS for mobiles.

Coming to the poll, the public seems to be divided on their opinions about the Surface Duo. While some are really excited and can’t wait for it to launch, others are of the opinion that Microsoft is doing nothing new that has not been done before, and feel the device is probably overrated.

Yes, the Surface Duo is not the first smartphone with two displays and a foldable design. The ZTE Axon M which launched back in 2017 is still fresh in our minds and there were others before it.

While we have our own opinions on the Surface Duo, we want to know what you think? So take our poll and tell us if you think the Surface Duo is overrated or not. We will also like to read your opinions, so do drop a comment in the comment box.

[yop_poll id=7]

UMIDIGI F2 will amaze your friends with its colors and Holographic back cover

By

Dimitris Economou

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Oct 8, 2019

It took a lot of time for smartphone manufacturers to realize that colorful devices appeal to consumers. Even Apple that is considered to be the most design-driven company out there, insisted on Black and Silver colors for a long time until this year that a wide color palette was added to iPhones. But even now, monochromatic pastel colors are used in most cases. The new UMIDIGI F2 thinks otherwise and features the company’s all-new “Holographic Design” which is industry-leading craftsmanship that is not easy to find in the budget segment.

The 3D shimmering effect is achieved by using a depth layer containing millions of shimmering, microscopic prisms with curved textures, and on top of that, a 2.5D curved glass layer. Combined together, make the light virtually dance across the back of the phone as you move it around. Two colors are chosen: Phantom Blue and Midnight Black. The adjectives “Phantom” and “Midnight” are ideal to describe the gradient effect that evokes the appearance of a dynamic pattern or a twinkling night sky.

The clever design isn’t just restricted to color. UMIDIGI’s design innovations are hardly restricted to color. As you can see in the photo above, instead of using a notch or a pop-up camera the company went with the third solution by cutting a 4.5mm punch-hole into the top-left of the display to house the 32MP selfie camera. That, along with the side-placed fingerprint sensor results in a comfortable skinny phone with a nearly bezeless 6.53’” FHD+ display.

One the back, the quad-camera that hosts the 48MP main sensor along with the ultra-wide and macro cameras is laid out in an L-shape instead of the traditional I-shape—leaving more room inside for a 5150mAh big battery with NFC. What’s more, the phone comes with high-end specs like the Helio P70 SoC backed by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 fast storage as well as Android 10.

The phone will go on global sale next Monday on Aliexpress with its price being undisclosed for now. We expect it to be below $250, though. Also, judging from the fact that the Chinese manufacturer is celebrating its 8th Annual Sale, the promotional price should be a surprise. So you’d better add the F2 to your cart now at the UMIDIGI Official Store on Aliexpress in case you miss the deal.

Lastly, as always, the company is running a big giveaway to recruit 10 trial users that will help improve the user experience. You can check out the full specs of F2 and join the giveaway on their official website.

Meizu 16S Pro Plus appears on billboard teaser in China

By

Airyl Jaszly

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Oct 8, 2019

This year thus far, Meizu has yet to release a larger flagship device. We’ve seen the company release the 16s and 16s Pro, but both those devices have 6.2-inch displays that aren’t that large in the grand market of devices. That’s probably why we’re now beginning to see rumours and leaked ads about the company’s new device, the Meizu 16s Pro Plus.

Apparently a teaser billboard appeared recently in China essentially confirming the device’s existence. We can pretty much assume that specification-wise, it’ll be exactly the same as the previous Meizu 16s Pro outside of the larger display. We aren’t exactly sure if there will be any bigger changes, though we’re not expecting any huge changes.

Both smartphones use a vertical triple rear camera setup as well as a dream white colour. According to a recent teaser, the front is consistent with the Meizu 16s series. It uses a tri-bezeless full-screen design. It’s worth noting that as the size of the device increases, it usually means that the device can accommodate larger batteries and better hardware.

At present, the Meizu 16s Pro 6GB+128GB variant is priced at 2699 yuan, the 8GB+128GB variant priced at 2999 yuan and the 8GB+256GB version is priced at 3299 yuan. We can probably expect the 16s Pro Plus to fall in a similar price bracket, though the only confirmed colour so far is the white. We’re also expecting the Meizu 16T launch soon, so we could see a double launch.