Vivo unveils Multi-Turbo Engine for gaming at the PUBG Global Championship 2019

OPPO to debut 5 or 6 phones in India by October, claims report

By

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Jul 30, 2019

OPPO has recently launched three new devices in India in the past three months, and has no intention of slowing down. The latest reveals include the mid-range OPPO K3, the flagship OPPO Reno and Reno 10x Zoom, and the budget-friendly OPPO A9. A fresh report by 91mobiles states that OPPO plans to launch 5 or 6 new smartphones in the Indian market by Diwali 2019. If the report is true, expect OPPO to reveal one new device every month till the end of October to early November, when Diwali festival is celebrated in India.

The publication claims that the information came from “industry sources”. The new smartphones are spread across every budget range and will cater to a wide audience. Smartphones sales in the Indian market boom during Diwali. It is hardly surprising that OPPO has seized the opportunity to promote their products according to the time frame.

The identity of the remaining smartphones are yet to be revealed. It is believed that they will fall under the OPPO A and K series. A high-end variant based on the Reno or last year’s flagship, OPPO Find X could also be in the pipeline. While it is also possible that OPPO might launch an entirely new lineup for India.

OPPO K3 Specifications

The recently unveiled OPPO K3 has a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It is equipped with an in-screen fingerprint scanner. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset, paired to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.

The K3 runs on Android Pie-based ColorOS 6. It is packed with a 3,765 mAh battery with 20W VOOC 3.0 fast charge support. The OPPO K3 is priced at Rs. 16,990 (~$247) and can be had for Rs. 14,990 (~$218) via promotional offers.

Editor’s Pick: Oppo licenses VOOC Flash Charging technology to eight more companies

OPPO A9 Specifications

The OPPO A9 budget entrant smartphone flaunts a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution and offers 90.7% screen-to-body ratio. It comes with Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio P70 processor, paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of native storage. The OPPO A9 gets an expandable storage option up to 256GB.

The smartphone features a dual camera setup at the rear, with a 16-megapixel primary lens coupled with a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The device has a 16-megapixel selfie camera. It runs on Android 9.0 Pie based ColorOS 6, and draws power from a 4,020 mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 fast charge technology. The OPPO A9 is available for Rs. 15,490 (~$225) in India.

UP NEXT: OPPO K3 Radio Blue new color variant’s sale to begin on August 1

ASUS ROG Balteus Qi Mousepad with Wireless charging, RGB light effects launched for ¥749 ($108)

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 30, 2019

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand is entirely focused on gaming. Their product catalogue ranges from the ROG gaming smartphone, gaming laptops, gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, gaming chair etc. The brand has just added a gaming mouse named ASUS ROG Balteus Qi mousepad. The mousepad comes with dual functions, as it can also be used as a Qi wireless charging pad.

ASUS ROG Balteus Qi mousepad measures 320 x 370 mm. The high-performance hard surface has a fine texture. No matter which sensor on the mouse in use, it can be used smoothly and optimized to ensure the best accuracy. The totem-style Fenghua rubber base ensures that the pad won’t slip even during extreme gaming.

The upper right corner of the mousepad is the Qi wireless charging area. Phones and other devices that meet the Qi standard can be charged by simply placing them on the pad. There is an LED indicator which shows that it is charging.

The mousepad comes with 15 customizable RGB lighting effects that can be interchanged at any time via a button. The lighting effects can be static, breathing, colour cycles, rainbow, waves, comets starry sky, etc. The light is synchronized by Armoury II software.

In addition, the mousepad is also equipped with a USB 2.0 interface and can be connected to a mouse or other gaming devices. The mousepad cable is placed in the upper left corner to avoid obstruction.

ASUS ROG Balteus Qi mousepad carries a price tag of 749 yuan. The device will go on sale on JD.com but no date has been set. You can register on the website from the source link below to get notified when the product arrives.

UP NEXT: Lenovo patents new slider smartphone design with round camera module

MediaTek Helio G90 AnTuTu benchmark score versus Kirin 810 and Snapdragon 730

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 30, 2019

Taiwanese fabless chip manufacturer MediaTek earlier today announced its first game-centric mobile chipsets, the Helio G90 and Helio G90T. The Helio G90 may have just been benchmarked. AnTuTu claims it spotted a device with the model “k85v1_64” on its database. The specifications fit the Helio G90 which MediaTek just released. Details shared include Cortex A76 CPU core architecture, clocked at 2GHz. The GPU is given as Mali-G76.

The MediaTek Helio G90 chipset is touted to be the most powerful product MediaTek has at the moment with the total benchmark score put at 222,282 points. This is slightly higher than the score of the Snapdragon 730 chipset. But it is slightly lower than Huawei’s Hisilicon Kirin 810 SoC’s benchmark score.

As a reminder, Kirin 810 scores a total of 237437 points on AnTuTu while the Snapdragon 730 scored 210052 points. The differences are in aspects such as CPU, GPU, UX and MEM. The G90 has a CPU score of 83,145 points, GPU- 67629 points, UX- 57247 points and MEM- 14261 points. The Kirin 810 performed better in all aspects but the Snapdragon 730 does better in some aspects only. MediaTek Helio G90 has a higher UX score (50,743 for the SD730), a better MEM score (13844 for the SD730) and a better GPU score (58,149 for the SD730). Surprisingly, the Snapdragon 730 pulled a better CPU score of 87,316 points.

However, the differences in their scores are not so significant. So, the three chipsets are basically in the same performance range.

UP NEXT: Black Shark 2 Pro launches with a Snapdragon 855+ processor and a slight redesign

Xiaomi announces it will launch an Helio G90T phone in India

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2019

Shortly after the launch of the Helio G90 series today, the CEO of Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain revealed that the company will launch a phone powered by the Helio G90T.

An attached image to the tweet says the phone is “Coming soon!” but there is no info with respect to the exact date.

There are speculations it may be one of the 8th generation Redmi phones expected to launch later this year but there is no evidence to back up that claim.

Personally, I think it will be nice if the successor to the Mi Play (if there is one planned) is powered by the new Helio G90T. Xiaomi can then switch the Play series to a line of affordable gaming phones.

Super excited: all-new @MediaTek #Helio #G90 & #G90T were
launched today!

These are amazing #gaming chipsets – Cortex A76 CPU, Mali G76 GPU & Antutu > 220K. 🚀

We'll launch a phone with the incredible, high performance G90T. Get ready for ultimate gaming!#Xiaomi ❤️ #Mediatek pic.twitter.com/z9WUDNw0lG

— #MiFan Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) July 30, 2019

The Helio G90T is the more powerful version of the two processors in MediaTek’s new Helio G series. It has 8 processors – 2 x Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05GHz and 6 x Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2GHz.

The Helio G90T has an ARM Mali-G76 3EEMC4 processor clocked at 800MHz. It supports up to 10GB of RAM and UFS 2.1 and eMMC 5.1 storage. There is an integrated Cat-12 LTE WorldMode modem and Bluetooth 5.0 too. The processor also boasts additional features like HyperGaming Technology, Dual Wakeup word for AI assistants, support for displays with a 90Hz refresh rate, and AI features for the camera.

UP NEXT: Black Shark 2 Pro launches with a Snapdragon 855+ processor and a slight redesign

Xiaomi launches the C+86 Sports Watch with multi-function chronograph dial

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Jul 30, 2019

Xiaomi has launched a new wristwatch under the crowdfunding platform dubbed C+86 Sports Watch. The watch comes with a beautiful, sturdy design. It also features multi-function chronograph dial.

The C+86 Sports Watch has a hollow pointer and multiple chronograph dials. In addition to the traditional timepiece, you can get a manual stopwatch which can be used for sporting activities.

The outer body is made of 316L stainless steel, which is polished by multiple processes to achieve metal wire drawing and high gloss. The surface of the watch is made of high-hardness mineral glass, which can effectively prevent it from getting scratched.

The dial is decorated with radial sun patterns, and the surrounding black small tick marks and silver large tick marks are layered in a gradient space. The clock dials and other important highlights have a luminous coating for easy viewing in dark environments.

Another highlight is the sporty stopwatch chronograph function. There are three separate small dials on the large dial for stopwatch function. One is the second timer, the other is the minute timer while the third is the hour timer. This makes it easy to monitor the timer up to 24 hours. At the side of the watch body is the control button. As usual, the main watch control is in the middle while there are two buttons flanking it. One of the buttons is a start/stop button while the second is to reset the timer.

In addition, this watch uses SEIKO quartz movement, accurate time, exclusive silicone strap. It also comes with waterproof functions up to a depth of 30 meters.

Pricing and availability details are yet to be released.

UP NEXT: Black Shark 2 Pro launches with a Snapdragon 855+ processor and a slight redesign

Lenovo A6 Note specs leaked; Lenovo K10 Plus, K10 Note and Z6 Pro EEC approved

By

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Jul 30, 2019

A new Lenovo phone called Lenovo A6 Note that has a model number of L19041 has been approved by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). These listings suggest that the smartphone could be announced in European markets and India in the near future. A Geekbench listing of the phone has also appeared to leak its key specs. In addition, the EEC database has listing for new phones such as Lenovo K10 Plus, Lenovo K10 Note and Lenovo Z6 Pro.

Lenovo A6 Note

The Lenovo A6 Note smartphone has appeared in the news for the first time. The Geekbench listing of the smartphone has revealed that it scored 760 in single-core test and 3499 in multi-core test. The handset boots to Android 9 Pie OS. It is fueled by MediaTek Helio P22 chipset that clocks at 2.0 GHz and 3 GB of RAM. Apart from these details, no other information is available on the A6 Note.

Editor’s Pick: Lenovo patents new slider smartphone design with round camera module

Lenovo K10 Plus and Lenovo K10 Note

The Lenovo K10 Plus has a model number of L39051 whereas the Lenovo K10 Note has a model number of L38111. The National Broadcasting Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) body of Thailand had also recently certified the Lenovo K10 Note L38111 smartphone. The Lenovo Z6 Youth smartphone that was announced in May in China could be heading to international markets with Lenovo K10 Note moniker. The NBTC had also approved a smartphone called Lenovo K10. The accurate specs of the Lenovo K10 and K10 Plus are not known yet.

Lenovo Z6 Pro

Last year, Lenovo reentered the smartphone business in China by launching multiple phones in the year. It became the first company to launch Snapdragon 855 smartphone by debuting the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT in December 2018. In April, it was succeeded by Lenovo Z6 Pro that features the same SoC and improved specs. Lenovo’s Z-series have remained exclusive to the Chinese market. However, the EEC certification of the Lenovo Z6 Pro suggests it could be made available in European markets in the near future.

(via)

UP NEXT: Lenovo K11 listed on Android Enterprise Directory and by UAE retailer Carrefour

Black Shark 2 Pro launches with a Snapdragon 855+ processor and a slight redesign

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2019

Black Shark has announced a new phone for its gaming smartphones lineup. The Black Shark Pro 2 is a slightly more powerful version of the Black Shark 2 that launched a few months ago.

The main selling point of the Black Shark 2 Pro is its processor – the Snapdragon 855 Plus – which was announced recently. It is the second smartphone to launch with the new chipset after the ASUS ROG Phone 2.

The Snapdragon 855 Plus has higher clock speeds (CPU and GPU) than the Snapdragon 855. Black Shark even bragged about the phone’s performance; sharing its AnTuTu score of 500,610 points at the launch. The processor is paired with 12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage.

The Black Shark 2 Pro not only boasts a new processor but has also undergone a slight redesign. The new design is inspired by the X-design language of a Formula 1 sports car. It also comes in five colors. There is Black (above), Ice Silver, Blue (with an orange accent), Purple, and a Bright Orange.

[envira-gallery id=”267154″]

Black Shark also released three custom editions with an inscription written in red on the back of the phone. Of the three custom editions, one is a special gold variant specially made for Li Qilin, the CEO of Li Ning, the Chinese sporting goods.

The Black Shark 2 Pro keeps the 6.39-inch Samsung AMOLED display of its sibling with some new features. It has DCI-P3 color gamut, DC Dimming 2.0, 240Hz touch sampling rate, and the touch response speed is now 34.7ms an improvement from the previous generation’s 43.5ms.

There is a 20MP selfie camera and 48MP + 12MP dual rear cameras. The Black Shark 2 Pro also has an in-display fingerprint scanner and packs a 4000mAh battery with support for 27W fast-charging technology.

The Black Shark 2 Pro is priced at ¥2999 (~$436) for the 128GB version and ¥3499 (~$504) for the 256GB version. It will go on sale on August 2 on Mi.com.

UGREEN launches the “ChargeiPhoneFaster” promotion offering iPhone fast charging solutions

By

Dimitris Economou

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Jul 30, 2019

Apple implemented fast charging in iPhones since iPhone 8 but as usual, the charger included in the box doesn’t support fast charging with Apple charging a premium if you want to buy one from the company. With the new iPhone launch coming next month, UGREEN launches their latest PD Charger and USB Type-C to Lightning cable for users who want fast charging but aren’t willing to pay what Apple charges. At the same time, the company is holding a promotion called ChargeiPhoneFaster and is going to last until October 6th.

The promotion is about 2 different products: The PD Charger and the USB Type-C to Lightning cable. So, if you already own a PD charger or a cable, you can buy any of them. Every week, new Giveaway event and promotions are held and you can follow all the news and offers on the company’s Facebook Page.

Of course, the cable is MFI certified by Apple and it is totally safe to use with your phone. It is compatible with all devices that have a Lightning port and features temperature control, and short-circuit protection while at the same time being durable. The PD Charger is a PD 3.0 18W charger that can charge an iPhone X to 50% in less than 30 minutes. As always, all safety measures are included. More information is available on UGREEN’s official website.

MediaTek announces Helio G90 and G90T: G is for Gaming

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Jul 30, 2019

MediaTek, today, announced two new mobile processors designed for gaming. The Helio G90 and Helio G90T are the first of the new gaming-focused line of mobile SoCs from the Taiwanese semiconductor company.

MediaTek Helio G90 & G90T – our first
G-Series chipsets – are exclusively
designed to be the core of an incredible
smartphone gaming experience

The Helio G90 series is built on the 12nm FinFET node design. They are octa-core processors with a combination of Arm’s Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 cores with a clock speed of up to 2.05GHz and a large L3 cache. There is also an Arm Mali-G76 3EEMC4 GPU clocked at up to 800MHz with support for a maximum display resolution of 2520 x 1080. The SoC supports up to 10GB of LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 storage.

Paired with MediaTek’s HyperEngine game technology which has features like Dual-WiFi connection which allows you to connect to two separate bands simultaneously; Rapid Response Engine for accurate and lag-free touch input; Call and Data Concurrency which defers calls to keep your game’s connection; Picture Quality Engine which supports HDR10, faster and smoother framerates and low-latency while keeping power consumption low; Intelligent resource management for the best performance; and Intelligent network prediction engine which seamlessly switches between Wi-Fi and LTE for an uninterrupted gameplay when it senses one is degrading.

The Helio G90 series support single 64MP and 48MP cameras as well as dual 24MP + 16MP cameras with support for Night Mode and real-time previews. It has a Cat-12 LTE WorldMode modem with download speeds up to 1Gbps, support for dual 4G and VoLTE and ViLTE. The modem supports 3x carrier aggregation and 4×4 MIMO technology. There is also Bluetooth 5.0.

As expected AI also takes a front-seat, this is a MediaTek processor after all. The G90 series boasts a total of 1TMSACs of AI performance which will come in handy for AI face recognition and AI camera features.

The Helio G90 and Helio G90T are also the first SoCs in the world to have dual wake-up support. What this means is that they can listen for more than one trigger word to wake up virtual assistants.

There is no info on when the processors will show up in devices.

iQOO Pro 5G to launch in August

By

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Jul 30, 2019

In June, Vivo had revealed that it will be releasing a 5G edition of its iQOO gaming phone in the third quarter of the year. Keeping true to its promise, the Chinese firm has confirmed today it will be launching the iQOO Pro 5G smartphone in August. It debunks the rumors that claimed that it could be called iQOO Plus 5G.

In April, Vivo’s gaming division iQOO had launched its first gaming phone called Vivo iQOO. The upcoming iQOO Pro 5G will be its advanced version and may come with some identical specs. The official poster that has been released today reveals the rear design of the iQOO Pro 5G smartphone. The textured rear of the phone has a triple camera setup at the top-left corner. Towards the boot, the iQOO 5G logo can be seen. The ‘Monster Inside’ text is imprinted in a vertical manner at the center of the device’s rear.

The leaked poster that had surfaced yesterday revealed that it is fueled by Snapdragon 855+ processor. It could be possible since it is a gaming-centric processor that fuels the ASUS ROG Phone 2 and Black Shark 2 Pro gaming phones. The SD855+ offers enhanced GPU and CPU performance and it clocks at 2.96GHz. In comparison, the original SD855 SoC that powers the iQOO works at 2.84GHz.

The leaked poster had also revealed that the handset will come equipped with 8 GB of RAM and a built-in storage of 128 GB. The handset could be packed with 4,500mAh battery that will carry support for 44W fast charging. The Vivo iQOO phone supports 44W rapid charging and its likely that its Pro edition may feature it too.

Editor’s Pick: Purported Vivo NEX 3 glass panel leaks showing an extremely curved glass design

Recently, a new Vivo phone with model number V1916A was spotted on the database of China’s 3C authority. It revealed that it is an upcoming 5G phone that will be accompanied by a charger that will support up to 44W fast charging. It could be the Vivo iQOO Pro 5G smartphone.

The Vivo iQOO’s highest model features 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of native storage. It is priced at 3,398 Yuan (~$493). The leaked promo material that was spotted yesterday showed that the 5G version of iQOO will be priced at 4,498 Yuan (~$653). It is advisable to wait for newer information to know more on the specs, variants and pricing of the iQOO Pro 5G phone.

UP NEXT: Asus ROG Phone 2 vs Vivo iQOO vs Razer Phone 2: Specs Comparison

Lenovo patents new slider smartphone design with round camera module

By

Jeet

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Jul 30, 2019

Smartphone makers are experimenting with a unique design to make their devices stand out of the crowd and also to showcase their engineering capabilities. In this on-going trend, Lenovo has reportedly been granted two new patents.

The newly granted patents are for different kinds of sliding mechanism for smartphone design that when slides, reveals the front-facing camera module. The company has provided a few sketches with the patent application filed with the CNIPA (Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration).

In the sketches, the seemingly inferior model has only a dual-camera setup on the back and a single-camera selfie setup that’s revealed only when the phone is in the slid position. The second phone has a similar design in terms of appearance but has a couple more cameras. There are dual selfie cameras and a triple camera array around back.

Interestingly, the round camera bump design seems to be clearly borrowed from Motorola. The sketched device looks a lot like a Moto Z with a full-screen display and a form-factor of a slider phone.

Editor’s Pick: ByteDance, the most valuable startup and the creator of TikTok to soon launch a smartphone in partnership with Smartisan

Apart from this, nothing much is known about smartphones in terms of specifications and features. Reports indicate that the devices could be the successor of the Lenovo Z5 Pro and Z5 Pro GT, both of which are slider phones with an in-display fingerprint sensor.

As said, many smartphone makers are coming up with slider smartphones for housing the camera sensors, which allows them to offer a higher screen-to-body ratio. The recently launched premium smartphones with such design include Samsung Galaxy A80 and Asus Zenfone 6. It seems like having a mechanical part in a smartphone is a trend nowadays.

Buy Havit G1 Pro TWS Bluetooth 5.0 Earphone, Coupon Code ROHavitG1Pro

Up Next: Chipset maker Qualcomm and Chinese giant Tencent are teaming up for 5G and Gaming Smartphone

Buy Havit G1 Pro TWS Bluetooth 5.0 Earphone and Havit I91 TWS HiFi Wireless Earphones at Lowered Prices from GearVita [Coupons]

By

Vinay Patel

-

Jul 30, 2019

Established in 1998, Havit offers accessories for PCs and mobile phones, peripherals, gadgets and a wide selection of other products, reaching more than 160 countries across the globe.

The popular brand is associated with stylish, electronic products that suit your fancy. Living up to this reputation, Havit is offering the Havit G1 Pro TWS Bluetooth 5.0 Earphone and the Havit I91 TWS HiFi Wireless Earphones at lowered prices on GearVita.

Aside from shedding light on the aforesaid discounts, we will show how you can save a considerable amount of extra money before placing your order. So without wasting more time, let’s check out the details.

Havit G1 Pro TWS Bluetooth 5.0 Earphone

The Havit G1 Pro adopts the latest Bluetooth 5.0 technology for a stable connection and reduced power consumption. The Havit G1 Pro supports both mono, as well as stereo modes, and has a 6mm speaker driver that produces Hi-Fi audio quality.

Moreover, the Havit G1 Pro uses noise-canceling technology for voice clarity and it comes with a built-in high definition microphone. Both, the black and black/red color version of this TWS Bluetooth 5.0 earphone would normally set you back $75.99 on GearVita.

If you find this price tag a bit steep, all you need to do is to apply coupon code ROHavitG1Pro and save $23 at the time of checking out. In other words, you can bring the retail price of the Havit G1 Pro down to only $52.99 by applying the aforesaid coupon.

You can visit this link to check out more details about the Havit G1 Pro TWS Bluetooth 5.0 Earphone and take advantage of the coupon before it expires.

Havit I91 TWS HiFi Wireless Earphones

The Havit I91 comes with a compact charging case that you can carry everywhere you go. Touted as ideal TWS earbuds for those who lead an active lifestyle, these true wireless earbuds feature a mic and ear-hook caps that fit pleasantly into your ear without moving or shaking.

To ensure low power consumption, the Havit I91 uses Bluetooth 5.0 technology, which also facilitates enhanced connectivity and faster data transfer. The tiny charging case is backed by a built-in 470mAh battery, and can easily charge the earbuds three times.

While you’d normally associate a steep price tag with wireless earphones that boasts comparable features, the Havit I91 TWS HiFi Wireless Earphones is currently up for grabs bearing a reasonable $24.99 price tag on GearVita. Those on a tight budget can use coupon code ROHavitI91TWS to save $7 at the time of checking out.

The coupon helps you reduce the original asking price of the Havit I91 to just $17.99. You can head straight to this link to use the coupon, which is likely to expire soon.

Buy Havit I91 TWS HiFi Wireless Earphones, Coupon Code ROHavitI91TWS

GearVita Summer Cool Deals

Giveaway – Win A Huawei Honor Band 5 Smart Bracelet

Huawei explains why mobile gamers should want 5G

By

Airyl Jaszly

-

Jul 30, 2019

Today, Huawei released a promo video for its Mate 20 X 5G that not only shows the huge difference in speed between 4G LTE and 5G, it also mentions the reduction in latency. In fact, the clip claims that game players won’t experience any lag at all when this phone runs on a 5G network. Lower latency is a less obvious benefit of higher speed mobile internet, but its implications are game-changing.

Latency is the time between an action, and that action being registered. So, when you write with ink, the latency would be the time between the ink leaving the pen and marking the paper. When it comes to online gaming, latency is the speed with which a command is registered and actioned on your screen. The lower the latency, the better.

Editor’s Pick: Huawei said to release two Chips later in 2019, one with Integrated 5G Modem

5G will mean incredibly low latency gaming, which will be handy when multi-player blasting, especially as mobile gaming tournaments and eSports continue to scale new heights of popularity, and a focus on high-performance connectivity becomes a differentiator between champions and runners up.

On top of that, many mobile games today also require an in-game internet connection too. Tracking your score, fleecing you for gems and other in-app purchases, or logging you into a battle royale arena to compete against other mobile warriors Fortnite-style – all these require a connection, and have historically resulted in long wait times. While I’m not sure 5G will just magically fix these problems, Huawei seems to think so.

UP NEXT: EMUI 10 will launch at Huawei Developer Conference 2019

Huawei still leads Chinese Market despite ban, competitors trail behind

By

Airyl Jaszly

-

Jul 30, 2019

Huawei, despite the recent ban, has extended its lead in a declining China smartphone market in the second quarter of 2019, with its market share rising to 38% as all other top vendors lost ground. The company shipped 37.3 million smartphones in China in the second quarter, up 31% year-on-year, according to Canalys. Its market share rose more than 10 percentage points from the year-ago quarter’s 27.6%.

The second-quarter China shipments represented 64% of Huawei’s total smartphone shipments in the quarter, Canalys said. Smartphone shipments in the world’s largest smartphone market declined by 6% in the three months ended June to 97.6 million units. It was the 9th consecutive quarterly fall in China smartphone shipments, the data showed.

Editor’s Pick: Huawei said to release two Chips later in 2019, one with Integrated 5G Modem

Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Apple Inc, the top 4 vendors behind Huawei, saw declines in shipments and market share in the quarter as well. Canalys’ own Mo Jia claims that Huawei’s addition to the U.S. Entity List in May “caused uncertainty overseas” but it has been shifting its focus back towards its home market, where it invested in aggressive offline expansion to lure consumers from domestic rivals with a patriotic sales pitch.

Huawei’s blacklisting by Washington has threatened to cut its access to essential U.S. components and software such as the Google Android apps. The Chinese company is set to report half-year results later on Tuesday. Huawei Developer Conference 2019 is also coming up soon, so we can expect to hear some news from the company then.

UP NEXT: EMUI 10 will launch at Huawei Developer Conference 2019

Gearbest Launches the Lenovo Super Flash Sale with 50% Off Coupon and Other Supersized Savings

By

Vinay Patel

-

Jul 30, 2019

Known for manufacturing personal computers, tablet PCs, smartphones, and a slew of other top-end electronic items, Lenovo has now teamed-up with Gearbest to launch the Lenovo Brand Sale.

As part of this recently kicked-off promo, the Chinese tech firm is offering its loyal users a chance to grab great discounts on a wide selection of products. Moreover, Lenovo fans can take advantage of a 50% Off Coupon to save a considerable amount of more money until the promo wraps up.

To ensure consumers can effortlessly find exactly what they are looking for, all products have carefully been added to specific categories. The Limited Coupons section features the Lenovo HX06 smartwatch, and the Lenovo Watch X smartwatch, both carrying reduced price tags.

Moreover, the aforesaid products have been assigned coupons that you can use to grab extra discounts. Smartphone lovers can head straight to the Lenovo Cellphone category that features the Lenovo Z6 Lite, K9 Note, K5 Pro and various other well-received phablets from the popular handset maker.

More importantly, you can get your tech greedy hands on these devices without emptying your pocket. For instance, the international version of the Lenovo Z6 Lite phablet that ships with 4GB of RAM and offers 64GB of internal storage capacity is now up for grabs bearing a dropped price tag of just $169.99.

This is a noteworthy 26 percent reduction in the device’s original asking price of $228.30. Similarly, you can get a 22 percent discount on the Lenovo K9 Note (L38012) 4G phablet which comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage capacity.

While the above-mentioned K9 Note (L38012) variant usually carries a $159.73 price sticker, you can now buy it for just $124.99, thanks to the discount. It is worth mentioning here that these discounts will be valid for a limited period only.

Those who have restlessly been waiting to get their hands on a high-end laptop without spending a lot of money can check out the Lenovo Laptops category for heavily-discounted, yet top-notch laptops. This section includes the Lenovo Yoga 730, Lenovo Yoga 720, Lenovo Yoga 920 and more.

The rest of the Lenovo-branded electronic items have been added to the concluding category called Lenovo Electronics. This section features miscellaneous items such as smartwatches, Bluetooth earphones, car charger, etc.

You can visit the promotion page by clicking here to buy these items at lowered prices before the promo comes to an end.

Gearbest
Lenovo Super Flash Sale

Google confirms it paid people to scan their faces for the research of Pixel 4

By

Jeet

-

Jul 30, 2019

Google is working on its next-generation Pixel flagship smartphone — Pixel 4 series and the company recently confirmed the phone’s design when it shared a render of the upcoming smartphone, surprising everyone.

Now, the company has yet again shared details about its upcoming smartphone, breaking the company’s norms. It confirmed that the upcoming flagship smartphone will come with support for air gestures and face unlock.

These features will be a part of something that the company calls “Motion Sense” and are powered by the company’s Soli chip. While the Face Unlock feature isn’t new and almost all smartphone makers are offering this feature, Google says that its version will be the fastest and the safest ever.

As for the security measures, the search engine giant will be using the Titan M security chip in the upcoming Pixel 4 smartphones, so you don’t have to worry about security. The facial data will be stored in that chip and never online, so it cannot be accessed by anyone else.

And to make sure that the face unlocks feature for the upcoming Pixel 4 smartphone is as good as the company claims it to be, Google confirmed that it conducted field research. In that, the company went out to the streets and paid people with $5 gift cards to scan their faces. This was earlier reported by several media houses but the Mountain View-based company has not confirmed it.

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Google says that after 18 months of collecting the data, it will get rid of the face data that the company collected for these tests. It also said that currently the face scans are “encrypted and access restricted” with no connections to people’s Google account.

Seeing the way Google is going all-out for this “Motion Sense” feature, it seems that the feature will be a major selling point for the upcoming Pixel 4 series devices. It remains to be seen how it fares in the real world and how people receives it. For that, we’ll have to wait until the commercial launch of the upcoming flagship smartphone from Google.

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Get Great Discounts on Top-End Phone Accessories on Bakeey Official Store on Banggood

By

Vinay Patel

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Jul 30, 2019

Bakeey might sound familiar to those who have dabbled in the phone accessories market. Touted as one of the best selling brands in mobile phone accessory, Bakeey makes mount holders and cases that meet the varied needs of phone users.

Aside from making products that suit your fancy, Bakeey comes up with amazing promotions. Living up to this reputation, Bakeey has now teamed up with one of China’s best online retailer to offer a wide selection of products at unbeatable prices.

Bakeey’s official online store on Banggood is teeming with all sorts of products that appeal to a wider audience including tech buffs, gadget lovers, fitness enthusiasts, etc. For example, those who fancy keeping track of their fitness can buy the Bakeey A6 smartwatch without emptying their pockets from the brand’s official online store on Banggood.

The Bakeey A6 smartwatch would normally set you back a pretty penny, but you can now buy it for a lowered price of just $21.62 from Bakeey’s official online store. This is a significant 57 percent reduction in the device’s original asking price of $49.99.

If you are a music lover, it might interest you to know that Bakeey is offering its well-received T1 Pro TWS earbuds for a lowered price of just $29.27 through its online store. Note that these TWS earbuds retail for $29.99 without the aforesaid discount.

Aside from smartwatches and music accessories, Bakeey offers a slew of other accessories that come in handy in day to day life. For example, the highly useful ATL-2 Non-Slip 360-degree Rotation Dashboard Car Mount Phone Holder from Bakeey, which usually sells for $12.23, but is currently available for only $7.99.

In addition to doling out great discounts, Bakeey is giving its loyal users a chance to save a considerable amount of money at checkout in the form of big coupon codes. If you end up spending $10 on the Bakeey official online store, you can get $2 off by applying coupon code BGOFF1 before placing your order.

The aforesaid coupon can be used for items available under the ‘Buy $10 Get $2 Off’ category. You can grab $3 off if your cart value is $25 simply by using coupon code BGOFF2 during the checkout process. This coupon can be used for products added to the ‘Buy $25 Get $3 Off’ section.

Likewise, if you spend $45 on products available under the ‘Buy $45 Get $6 Off’ category, you can use coupon code BGOFF3 and save more money even before placing your order. It is worth mentioning here that the coupons are likely to expire soon.

The concluding two categories i.e. Featured for You, and Explore More comprises newly arrived products, unmissable flash deals, and more. You can check out more Bakeey-branded products like chargers, cables, smartwatches, bands, cases, earphones, speakers, etc. by heading straight to the ‘Explore More’ section.

If you are interested in getting your hands on top-end accessories from Bakeey for your phone, all you need to do is to visit the promotion page by clicking here.

Bakeey
Official Store on Banggood

Honor 20 Pro Icelandic Illusion now available for purchase in China

By

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Jul 30, 2019

Honor had announced the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro flagship phones in May in China. These phones are packed impressive flagship specs, topnotch cameras and come with attractive pricing. The Honor 20 Pro was introduced in Phantom Black and Phantom Blue color options. At the unveil event of the Honor 9X series earlier this month, Honor had debuted a new color edition called Icelandic Illusion for the Honor 20 Pro smartphone. At that time, the Chinese firm had confirmed the availability of the new color variant. Beginning from today, the Honor 20 Pro Icelandic Illusion will be selling alongside its other color options in the home market.

The Honor 20 Pro Icelandic Illusion is now listed on Vmall. Like its other color variants, the Iceland Illusion can be also availed in 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage versions. They are respectively priced at 3,199 Yuan (~$464) and 3,499 Yuan (~$508). The Phantom Black and Phantom Blue are darker shades. Hence, it is good to see the company releasing a lighter and attractive Icelandic Illusion color edition for the Honor 20 Pro. The gradient color appears golden at the top, pink at the center and light blue at the bottom.

Honor 20 Pro Specifications and Features

The Honor 20 Pro has a punch-hole IPS LCD display of 6.26 inches. It supports 19.5:9 aspect ratio and full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The 7nm Kirin 980 chipset is present under the hood of the device. It only comes in single RAM version of 8 GB of RAM. Its two storage variants are 128 GB and 512 GB. The Honor 20 Pro’s storage can be expanded by adding a microSD card. The Magic 2.1 UI is overlaid on the Android 9 Pie OS on the device.

The punch-hole of the Honor 20 Pro features an f/2.0 aperture 32-megapixel selfie camera. The rear panel of the smartphone features a quad camera setup that includes Sony IMX586 f/1.4 aperture primary lens, a telephoto sensor of 8-megapixel with f/2.4 aperture, an ultrawide 16-megapixel lens with f/2.2 aperture and a dedicated macro camera of 2-megapixel with f/2.4 aperture. The 4,000mAh battery of the Honor 20 Pro is equipped 22.5W fast charging technology. On DxOMark, the Honor 20 Pro has second highest score of 111. There is a side-mounted fingerprint reader on the device. Honor is expected to release a 12 GB RAM edition of the Honor 20 Pro in the near future.

Qualcomm and Tencent are teaming up for 5G and Gaming Smartphone

By

Jeet

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Jul 30, 2019

Qualcomm, the world’s leading mobile chipset maker and Chinese giant Tencent have announced that they have joined forces to make a Tencent-backed 5G-powered gaming smartphone using Qualcomm chip.

Not just one smartphone, but it seems that the partnership is aimed at making the Chinese company’s video games play better on Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered devices. As per the agreement, future Tencent games could be “optimized” for Android phones that run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite gaming chips.

Tencent, China’s largest mobile software company with a market capitalization of $453 billion, reported lower profits last year after the Chinese government stopped approving games for several months. However, the company received permission to launch major title Perfect World Mobile in the January-March quarter.

Both companies have already worked together on a gaming phone. Earlier this month, Tencent partnered with Asustek Computer’s gaming device division, Republic of Games, to introduce Asus ROG Phone 2 — next-generation gaming smartphone powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset.

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Apart from that, both Tencent and Qualcomm aim to jointly work on the 5G version of the gaming smartphone, which could help bolster Tencent’s plans for a streaming game service. The faster connection speeds of 5G could allow streaming of more complex games to mobile devices.

In a statement regarding this new development, Qualcomm China chairman Frank Meng said: “Mobile gaming, an important 5G use case, will soon take advantage of the next generation of connectivity. Faster speeds, more bandwidth, and cutting edge ultra-low latency will support real-time, multi-player and immersive gaming experience.”

Tencent is currently working on a cloud-based backend service called Instant Play that game developers could use to power streaming games. However, the company has not yet revealed plans for its consumer-facing streaming service, but it’s expected to launch soon.