Oppo F11 Pro video teaser reveals its full design

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Feb 14, 2019

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei continues to make efforts aimed at ensuring it regains the trust of its fans and clients blighted by the security concerns and several clampdowns on the company’s operations by the US government. In order to keep existing clients and perhaps sway countries who are still contemplating about using Huawei’s 5G infrastructures, the Chinese telecoms giant has published a detailed Q&A on its website entitled “Huawei Facts”.

This is coming as the US government continues to push its allies to block the Chinese company from proving their 5G hardware. The US thinks, unsubstantiated though, that Huawei’s equipment could be used for spying by the Chinese government. The latest move by the US is said to be an executive order banning the use of Huawei’s 5G equipment by US carriers. The Q&A is aimed at salvaging any public goodwill still left out there for Huawei. Already the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have locked Huawei from providing the 5G hardware. Several countries in Europe are said to be considering a similar move and are currently examining their stance. The US is likely to influence Europe’s decision considering a recent statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Washington may be forced to scale back certain operations in Europe and elsewhere if countries continue to do business with Huawei.

In its Q&A, Huawei says there has never been a major security breach in its 30 years of business but if evidence is produced, it will be addressed “directly”. The Chinese company also asserts that despite numerous “inaccurate reports in the media”, Chinese law does not require it to install “back doors” in networks and other equipment. The company continues to deny any untoward connections with the Chinese military or security agencies. It also harps on the need for countries to recognise the importance of setting better common standards, adopting industry best practices and implementing risk-mitigation procedures to ensure that there is an objective basis for choosing technology vendors. It is quite unclear if this US clampdown is an escalation of the US-China trade war or the concerns are 100% genuine. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

You can check out the full Q&A from here.

Xiaomi raises alarm over fraudulent issuance of fake Mi Store franchise in India

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Feb 14, 2019

Xiaomi‘s dramatic five-year sojourn in India has been an exciting one which has seen the company rise through the ranks to emerge as India’s top-most smartphone vendor for 2018. The company’s success has been mostly due to the aggressive online and offline strategy that is in use. As they say, success has so many friends. Xiaomi’s success has attracted quite a number of friends but some are coming to the party with evil intentions. The company’s India CEO Manu Jain has alerted the public of a new scam being carried out in India presently.

FRAUD ALERT! I have come across a scam where few retailers have been cheated into buying fake franchises of @XiaomiIndia Mi Stores!

Shocking to see forged documents, with my fake signatures.

We have filed a case with cyber crime department & police is investigating this matter. pic.twitter.com/AbK6Pvfbei

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) February 12, 2019

According to the CEO of Xiaomi India, Manu Jain, a new scam has been detected in which a few retailers have been hoodwinked into procuring fake Xiaomi India franchise. The CEO shared a couple of documents with his signature appended on them but says they are all fake documents and that his signatures were forged. He didn’t indicate if any of such franchise running on the fake approval as been identified and shut down. The post wasn’t also explicit on ways fans can detect fake Mi Stores if there is any in India. However, Mr Jain disclosed that a case has been filed with India’s cybercrime department and is currently under investigation by the police.

My request to all retail partners: please do NOT fall for scams!

Anything related to Xiaomi, Mi Stores, products, prices etc.: please verify by contacting our local teams OR calling toll-free no.: 1800 103 6286 OR on https://t.co/pMj1r7lwp8 OR our official social media pages 🙏 https://t.co/tsCsuEnmji

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) February 12, 2019

In order to curb such fraud, Xiaomi India shared a number of communication channels including its website Mi.com and social media pages, through which inquiries relating to Xiaomi, Mi Stores, products, prices and others can be gotten.

Xiaomi Mi 8 SE receives Android Pie stable update, gets official price cut too

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Feb 14, 2019

The Xiaomi Mi 8 series began receiving the Android Pie update back in December. It already arrived on the Mi 8 and Mi 8 Explorer Edition and now it is rolling out to the Mi 8 SE.

The Mi 8 SE is an upper mid-range phone powered by a Snapdragon 710 processor. Unfortunately, Xiaomi didn’t release it outside China. The update is rolling out as MIUI 10.2.2 and you can download it from the source link if you don’t want to wait for the OTA. You wouldn’t notice any visual changes since the device already runs MIUI 10 which is heavily customized.

Xiaomi has also slashed the selling price of the Mi 8 SE. The 6GB RAM + 64GB variant is now priced at ¥1599 (~$236) instead of ¥1699 (~$250). You can grab it at this new price on JD.com or on Xiaomi’s online store. The 128G version is sold at ¥1699 (~$250). The new price applies to all color variants.

Energizer Power Max P18K vs Asus Zenfone Max Pro (M2) vs Samsung Galaxy M20: Specs Comparison

By

Michele Ingelido

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Feb 14, 2019

Energizer just launched Power Max P18K and as the company’s main business is batteries manufacturing, as expectable, it released one of the smartphones with the biggest battery ever seen on the market. Currently, Energizer is not among the most important smartphone manufacturers, but thanks to this kind of device it may earn a lot of consensuses this year. Here, we compared the new handset with the other biggest battery phones released in the last period boasting similar specifications: Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and Samsung Galaxy M20. They do not have a so big battery, but they come with other important advantages. Go ahead with the comparison to learn about them.

Energizer Power Max P18K vs Asus Zenfone Max Pro (M2) vs Samsung Galaxy M20

	Energizer Power Max P18K	Asus Zenfone Max M2	Samsung Galaxy M20
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT	74.8 x 153 x 18 mm	157.9 x 75.5 x 8.5 mm, 175 grams	156.4 x 74.5 x 8.8 mm, 186 grams
DISPLAY	6.2 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), 409 ppi, IPS LCD	6.26 inches, 1080 x 2280p (Full HD+), 403 ppi, IPS LCD	6.3 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), 409 ppi, PLS TFT
PROCESSOR	MediaTek Helio P70, octa-core 2.1 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, octa-core 2.2 GHz	Samsung Exynos 7904, octa-core 1.8 GHz
MEMORY	6 GB RAM, 128 GB – micro SD slot	3 GB RAM, 32 GB – 4 GB RAM, 64 GB – 6 GB RAM, 64 GB – micro SD dedicated slot	3 GB RAM, 32 GB – 4 GB RAM, 64 GB – micro SD dedicated slot
SOFTWARE	Android 9 Pie	Android 8.1 Oreo	Android 8.1 Oreo, Samsung Experience
CONNECTIVITY	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS
CAMERA	Triple 12 + 5 + 2 MP Dual 16 + 2 MP front camera	Dual 12 +5 MP f/1.8 and f/2.4 13 MP f/2.0 front camera	Dual 13 +5 MP, f/1.9 and f/2.2 8 MP f/2.0 front camera
BATTERY	18.000 mAh	5000 mAh	5000 mAh
ADDITIONAL FEATURES	Dual SIM slot	Dual SIM slot	Dual SIM slot

Design

Besides coming with a mammoth battery, Energizer Power Max P18K Pop also has one of the most innovative aesthetics thanks to its pop-up selfie cameras, and a screen-to-body ratio close to 100 percent without a notch. But due to its huge battery, it is very thick, more than twice the thickness of its rivals. So it is not exactly the best device to have in a pocket. I personally prefer the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 because of its more beautiful back and the strong Gorilla Glass 6 protection for the display, but some may prefer the Samsung Galaxy M20 for its higher screen-to-body ratio and its smaller notch or the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop for its more innovative design. It is all about tastes.

Display

We often tell you that you should not care so much about the display when you are about to choose a midrange device such as these ones, as most of the times they are equipped with similar IPS displays. That is exactly the case with these three handsets. Samsung Galaxy M20’s display should be slightly below-average, but without any noticeable difference compared to its opponents. The most interesting display is surely the IPS panel of the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop because of the absence of a notch and its incredibly narrow bezels on all the sides.

Specs & Software

On the paper, the Mediatek Helio P70 chipset inside the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop is superior to the Snapdragon 660 of the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and to the Exynos 7904 found on the Samsung Galaxy M20. The Energizer device also comes with a more powerful memory configuration boasting 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. So, it is probably the winner when it comes to performance. It comes with stock Android just like the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2, but unlike it, the OS is based on Android Pie. Samsung Galaxy M20 has a heavier and customized Android version based on Oreo.

Camera

Energizer Power Max P18K comes with a total of five cameras: three on the back and two pop-up selfie snappers on the front. On the paper, it definitely offers more, so it may be the winner even in the camera comparison. But we will have to test those cameras in order to give a definitive verdict.

Battery

Energizer Power Max P18K Pop comes with a monster 18,000 mAh battery, so there is no chance that Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and Samsung Galaxy M20 will be able to reach its battery life with their 5,000 mAh. Energizer Power Max P18K Pop will be able to achieve several days of intensive usage on a single charge, while Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 can last about two or three days. Noone of these devices seems to sport a fast charging technology, so expect very slow charging times, especially for the Energizer’s flagship.

Price

The listing price of Energizer Power Max P18K Pop, that is also the winner of this comparison, will be probably unveiled at MWC 2019 in Las Vegas. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 costs about €270/$305, while Samsung Galaxy M20 carries a very affordable €150/$170 price tag.

Read More: ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2, Max M2 now official in Russia; Pricing and Specifications Revealed

Energizer Power Max P18K vs Asus Zenfone Max Pro (M2) vs Samsung Galaxy M20: PROs and CONS

Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2

PROs

Great battery life
Good cameras
Front-facing LED flash
Better performance

CONS

Price

Samsung Galaxy M20

PROs

Great battery life
Higher screen-to-body ratio
Good price
Nice cameras

CONS

Anonymous design

Energizer Power Max P18K Pop

PROs

Biggest battery ever
Pop-up cameras and high stb ratio
Good performance
Great design

CONS

Very thick

Vivo’s iQOO foldable phone renders surface; Could it be its first phone?

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Feb 14, 2019

Earlier this week, Vivo had introduced its new sub-brand named iQOO. The new brand may launch premium phones with futuristic features. The upcoming iQOO phones are expected to cost over 5,000 Yuan (~$739). A leakster from China has shared renders of a mysterious iQOO foldable phone. Probably, it could be the company’s first smartphone.

On Feb. 20, Samsung will be launching its first foldable smartphone. Recent leaks have claimed that the handset could be called Samsung Galaxy Winner. The South Korean company has opted for a fold-in design for the phone which requires users to open it like a book to access its internal foldable display. When the device is closed, users can use it like a smartphone because of the presence of an outer screen. The leaked renders of the alleged foldable phone from iQOO shows that it will be equipped with fold-out design.

The fold-out design has a foldable screen on the outer side of the phone. As a result, it offers users with a front display and a rear screen when it is closed. The leaked renders show that it is equipped with an edge-to-edge display. There is no official confirmation on the existence of a foldable phone from Vivo-backed iQOO company.

Read More: Vivo V15 Pro specifications and price leaked

Last month, Vivo had debuted the Vivo APEX 2019 concept phone with some futuristic features like port-less and button-less design, full-screen in-display fingerprint scanner, screen sound-cast technology, 12 GB of RAM and Snapdragon 855. Rumors have it that the phone may will commercially debut with a different moniker.

(source)

LG G8 ThinQ to feature Crystal Sound OLED technology that uses screen for audio

By

Jeet

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Feb 14, 2019

LG is going to launch its next flagship smartphone — LG G8 ThinQ during Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019) later this month in Barcelona, Spain. While a lot of details related to the smartphone have already leaked online, there’s still some information getting released as the launch nears.

In the latest development, it is being reported that the LG G8 ThinQ will come with Crystal Sound OLED technology that turns the phone’s screen into an audio amplifier. This technology is similar to the one which vibrates the screen to produce sound, with an effect that the company claims increases volume.

In a statement released by the company for confirming this display-based audio feature, LG said:

At MWC 2019, LG Electronics (LG) will remind audiences of its reputation and history as a leader in smartphone sound with the new LG G8 ThinQ featuring Crystal Sound OLED (CSO), an innovative technology that utilizes the phone’s OLED display as an audio amplifier.

Also, this doesn’t mean that the phone’s screen will be shaking all the time. The company explains that in speakerphone mode, it will deliver audio through the bottom speaker, and step up to two channels with the top part of the screen.

Other audio features of the smartphone include support for emulated 7.1 surround sound using DTS:X with or without headphones, and its “Boombox Speaker” design that uses space within the phone as a resonance chamber to fill out its sound. It also supports Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) encoded audio that Tidal uses and has a Hi-Fi Quad DAC.

LG had previously confirmed that the G8 ThinQ will come with a front-facing ToF sensor from Infineon Tech, which will also support 3D face unlock feature. Additionally, the phone is rumored to feature a notched display and is expected to arrive with triple rear cameras.

Under the hood, the device will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chipset. The SD855 SoC could be supported by 6GB of RAM and the company has already confirmed that the device will support some sort of touch-less gesture controls. As for the power, the phone could pack 3,500mAh battery.

Nubia sends out invite for Nubia α launch on February 25

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Feb 14, 2019

A few days ago, Nubia released a poster that teased it would attend this year’s edition of MWC. The poster hinted at the launch of a flexible device at the event. Nubia has now sent invites confirming that the launch is actually for the Nubia α, its foldable smartphone which wraps around the wrist like a smartwatch.

The renders of the Nubia α show the device has a flexible touch display. There are thick bulges on the sides with the right one housing a camera and a button. There is also a port on the left side for data transfer as there are contact pins underneath for charging.

Xiaomi to launch a new Mi router alongside Mi 9 on February 20

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Feb 14, 2019

Xiaomi is often referred to as the “Apple of China” because of its innovative products and when we think of Apple we are reminded of its late founder Steve Jobs. Xiaomi is always keen to copy Apple’s innovations and that may have veered into non-tech related aspect. In a recent Weibo post, the company’s social media handlers shared a poster with the caption “One more thing”. Now, this was Steve Job’s legendary parting shot during the company’s launch events and it is usually followed by the unexpected announcement of a new product.

Seems Xiaomi is going to be following that path and may likely be announcing another product on February 20 aside from the Mi 9. As for what the product could be, the Mi Router Weibo handle did not leave us in doubt indicating that a new router would be joining the fray. There is no detail about the router but we expect it to be an upgrade over the current crop of high-end routers.

Xiaomi presently has a number of Wi-Fi routers under its arsenal since it first entered the router business in 2013. That is perhaps because of the importance of the router as a networking device in the home, office and other public places. As a matter of act, the Mi Routers have become one of the company’s main products alongside the Mi phones and Mi TV.

(source)

First render of the Mi 9 Explorer Edition reveals its quad rear cameras

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Feb 14, 2019

The Mi 9 has been getting all the spotlight but now it is the turn of the Mi 9 Explorer Edition. The very first render has surfaced online and it shows there will be a big difference between it and the Mi 9 which itself is shaping up to be a fantastic device.

The Mi 9 Explorer Edition’s existence was confirmed a few weeks ago by Xiaomi’s president but this is the first time we are seeing what it looks like even though it’s only of the phone’s rear.

Unlike the Mi 9 which will have a triple rear camera setup, the Explorer Edition will come with four. So, while the Mi 9 will be Xiaomi’s first triple rear camera smartphone, the Mi 9 Explorer Edition will be its first quad rear camera smartphone.

The four sensors are arranged vertically with the uppermost sensor having a red ring around it. This is most likely the primary sensor. All the sensors share a single housing and there is an LED flash below the setup.

Even though this is just a partial reveal of the device, we can see Xiaomi is bringing back the transparent design that shows the phone’s “internals”. And just like its predecessor, the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, this is most likely a 3D printed piece of plastic covering the phone’s real internals. Can you see the Snapdragon logo in the image?

The render shows the Mi 9 Explorer Edition has its volume rocker and power button on the right. We bet there is an extra button on the left too. However, what we are more curious about is its display. Will it have a waterdrop notch too or a regular notch or maybe a punch hole? We will have to wait for more images to surface.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ hands-on video leaks front design in real

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Feb 14, 2019

A short hands-on video of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10+ flagship phone has been released by well-known accessory retailer called Mobile Fun. Even though its short clip, it manages to reveal the front design of the phone.

The Galaxy S10+ leaked hands-on video shows that there is a plastic screen protector on its display. There is no confirmation whether it is the thin plastic film what comes on the device out of the box or it is a specially designed screen protectors with dedicated cutouts for dual selfie snappers and in-screen fingerprint scanner.

The optical in-screen fingerprint scanner that are available on recent smartphones work without any issues with transparent screen protector. There is a possibility that the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor may only work when there is direct contact of the fingertip to the authentication area on the display. It may not want a screen protector film in between and this could be reason behind the large round-shaped cutout.

The Galaxy S10+ is expected to feature a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with Infinity-O design. It may come with 10-megapixel + 8-megapixel dual front-facing camera. The handset may arrive with Snapdragon 855 or Exynos 9820 SoC in different markets. The SoC could be supported by 8 GB of RAM. It may come with up to 512 GB of storage.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy A50, A30 and A10 full specifications leaked

The Galaxy S10+ may run on One UI flavored Android 9 Pie OS. It may include 4,000mAh battery which could be equipped with features like rapid charging, wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. The rear-mounted triple camera setup may include 12-megapixel primary sensor, 12-megapixel RGB sensor and 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor.

Samsung is expected to release a limited-edition Galaxy S10+. It may sport a ceramic body, 12 GB of RAM and 1 TB of native storage.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 launch date for India is February 28

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Feb 14, 2019

Xiaomi’s Global VP and Managing Director for India, Manu Kumar Jain has released a new tweet through his Twitter to confirm the Feb. 28 launch date for the Redmi Note 7. While the specifications of the Redmi Note 7 are no secret since they were revealed through its China launch, there are no details available on its pricing.

We promised a game changer & here it is! The #ǝɟᴉ7ƃnɥʇ phone #RedmiNote7 will launch on 28th Feb, 2019! 📸

Mi Fans, mark the date! RT & spread the word if you want to own this beast.

PS: there are more than 7 uber cool hints in this picture. Any guesses? 😎#ԀW8ㄣ pic.twitter.com/oVL22Pksvc

— Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) February 14, 2019

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Specifications

The Redmi Note 7 has a waterdrop-style notch screen of 6.3 inches which produces full HD+ resolution and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The Snapdragon 660 chipset powers the smartphone. In China, the handset was introduced with up to 6 GB of RAM and a native storage of 64 GB. There is a microSD card slot on the device for more storage.

A vertical dual camera setup with 48-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL GM1 sensor and 5-megapixel depth sensor is fitted on the back panel of the Redmi Note 7. The front notch is equipped with 13-megapixel selfie snapper. It may receive power from a 4,000mAh battery. The phone is equipped with 18W fast charging through USB-C.

Read More: Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun releases official renders of the Mi 9

In India, the Redmi Note 7 may release in two models such as 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage. Probably, the rumored Redmi Note 7 Pro for India may come with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The Note 7 may release in three colors like Black, Blue and Twilight Gold colors. The handset may release in India with a starting price of Rs. 9,999 (~$140).

Rumors have it that the Redmi Go Android Go phone may also get announced along with the Redmi Note 7. India is also expected to receive the Redmi Note 7 Pro smartphone soon.

Samsung Galaxy A50, A30 and A10 full specifications leaked

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Feb 14, 2019

Recent reports have revealed that Samsung will soon flood the Indian market with multiple Galaxy A-series of smartphones. The Galaxy A10, Galaxy A20 and Galaxy A30 phones are rumored to get announced in the first quarter of this year whereas the Galaxy A50 my go official in the second quarter of this year. My Smart Price has shared the entire specifications of the Galaxy A10, Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50.

Samsung Galaxy A50 Specifications

The Galaxy A50 will be arriving with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display and a 3D plastic body. The display will be equipped with Infinity-U display design that will produce full HD+ resolution and 19:5:9 aspect ratio. The Exynos 9610 chipset will be powering the 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage editions of the Galaxy A50.

The Galaxy A50 will have a big battery of 4,000mAh capacity. It will carry support for 15W fast charging through USB-C. It will be a dual-SIM phone with a dedicated slot for microSD card.

The smartphone will be also equipped with an in-screen fingerprint reader. It will include a front-facing camera of 25-megapixel and a triple camera setup with f/1.7 aperture 25-megapixel primary sensor with autofocus, f/2.2 aperture 5-megapixel fixed focus lens and an 8-megapixel fixed focus ultra-wide angle lens with f/2.4 aperture. Lastly, the handset measures 158.5 × 74.5 × 7.7mm.

Samsung Galaxy A30 Specifications

The Galaxy A30 borrows features like dimensions, 3D glossy polycarbonate, 6.4-inch AMOLED Infinity-U display, dual-SIM support, microSD card slot and 15W fast charging enabled 4,000mAh battery from the Galaxy A50. It will be fueled by Exynos 7904 which power the recently released Galaxy M20 smartphone.

The Galaxy A30 will be equipped with a dual camera setup on its rear that will include an f/1.9 aperture 16-megapixel and an f/2.2 aperture 5-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens. For selfies, it will be featuring a fixed focus f/1.9 aperture 16-megapixel selfie camera. It will be hitting the market in two variants such as 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage and 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage. It will be equipped with a rear-mounted finger reader.

Some of the other common features that will be available on the Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 include Samsung Pay Mini, Bixby assistant, Pixel Merging, Background Blur, Scene Optimizer, Flaw Detection, Smart Beauty, Selfie Focus, Pro Lighting, AR Stickers, Dolby Atmos, Dual Messenger, Secure Folder, Samsung Health, Adaptive Wi-Fi, Always-On Display, Smart Manager, Samsung Mall and dual VoLTE. Both phones will be available in colors like Black, White and Blue.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy M30 passes FCC certification, could feature Super AMOLED Infinity-V display

Samsung Galaxy A10 Specifications

The Galaxy A10 that will be measuring 155.6 x 75.6 x 7.94mm is expected to arrive with a glossy plastic rear. It will be arriving with a 6.2-inch Infinity-V display with support for HD+ resolution. There is no confirmation on whether it features an AMOLED screen which indicates that it may come with an LCD display.

The low-end Exynos 7884B octa-core processor that works 1.8 GHz is rumored to power the A10 along with 3 GB of RAM. It will be featuring 32 GB of native storage. There is no confirmation on the support for microSD card slot on the device. It may draw power from 4,000mAh battery and it won’t carry support for fast charging. The handset will be lacking a fingerprint scanner.

For photography, it will have a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. The other features of Galaxy A10 are dual-SIM support, Smart Manager, Samsung Mall and dual VoLTE.

There is no information available on the pricing of the Galaxy A10, Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50. Rumors have also revealed the existence of Galaxy A20 and Galaxy A40. The leaked specs of these phones may surface in the near future.

(source)

Meizu, Astell&Kern and Jerry Harvey Audio announce Meizu 16 Plus Sound Color edition for ¥4598 (~$679)

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Feb 14, 2019

Meizu finally announced the product it has been teasing today. The new device is a special edition Meizu 16 Plus made in partnership with Astel&Kern and Jerry Harvey Audio.

The special edition set includes an Aurora Blue Meizu 16 Plus (8GB RAM + 128GB of storage), an Astell&Kern XB10 DAC+AMP, and a pair of Astell&Kern Billie Jean In-Ear-Monitors (IEM) which has Jerry Harvey’s freqphase® technology from Jerry Harvey Audio.

The whole set costs ¥4598 (~$679), much cheaper than the ¥6999 (~$1033) price tag we saw from a few days ago. If you were to purchase the items in the bundle separately, you will be spending much more than $679. The Aurora Blue Meizu 16 Plus costs ¥3298 (~$487), the Astell&Kern XB10 is priced at $129 currently and the Billie Jean IEM is $349. That is a total of $965!

[envira-gallery id=”236384″]

The Astell&Kern XB10 is shaped like a hockey puck. It brings 24bit/48kHz high-quality wireless audio thanks to the Meizu 16 Plus’ support for Qualcomm’s aptX HD and also has a DAC and AMP built-in. You can plug in the Billie Jean IEM into the 3.5mm audio jack on the side. It also has a 2.5mm connector.

[Updated: Renders of purple variant added] Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun releases official renders of the Mi 9

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Feb 14, 2019

Update: The CEO has also released photos of the purple variant which has the same holographic effect as the blue variant.

It is not every time you see a company executive post renders of its own phone ahead of its official release. But that is what Xiaomi‘s own CEO, Lei Jun, has done today.

The co-founder has shared a bunch renders of the upcoming Mi 9 flagship on his Weibo page in order to explain the process taken to achieve the impressive design. And one of the photos (below) isn’t actually a render but a real photograph of the phone. There is also a new official poster (above) that shows Xiaomi’s brand ambassador holding the phone.

According to Mr. Lei Jun, the sky blue Mi 9 will show the different colors of a rainbow depending on the angle and color of light that hits it. To achieve this, the phone undergoes a nano-scale laser holography process with a double-layer coating for the finishing.

None of the photos show the front of the phone but we already know it sports a waterdrop display thanks to live images that leaked yesterday. Nevertheless, we get a closer look at the triple rear cameras which is made up of a 48MP primary sensor, a 12MP secondary camera, and a ToF sensor.

[envira-gallery id=”236391″]

There is also a USB Type-C port at the bottom and it is flanked by a speaker grille on both sides. Xiaomi already removed the audio jack back when it launched the Mi 6, so it is no surprise it is missing on the Mi 9 too.

Xiaomi Mi 9 gets a limited edition Wang Roy TFBoys case

By

Simranpal Singh

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Feb 14, 2019

Today, Xiaomi has officially announced a new case for the Xiaomi Mi 9. The new case is inspired by the TFBoy’s Wang Roy who is the brand ambassador of Xiaomi mobile. It has already been leaked in several teasers in past some days. Yesterday, Xiaomi officially announced him as a brand ambassador and a poster was released of him holding the Xiaomi Mi 9 Wang Roy Case. The limited edition mobile case is covered with a green colour and a huge ROY letters sculped on its backside.

Xiaomi will sell the Mi 9 Wang Roy case separately with the mobile device. Today, Lei Jun took to the official Weibo handle to announce the new case for Xiaomi Mi 9. Well, as from the images, we came to know about the triple camera sensors mounted on the rear side of the device along with an LED flash. Xiaomi has emphasised a lot on the camera department of Mi 9. It is expected to cross the Huawei P20 Pro’s 109 camera score on the DxO mark.

The device is encased in the protective shell, limiting the possibility to know about some features of the unreleased device. Although, as per the leaks and the rumours Xiaomi Mi 9 will have the 48-megapixel camera + a 12 megapixel + a 3D TOF camera for augmented reality. Further, it will have a uniform water display design. It will carry a much thinner bezel on the bottom in comparison with the Mi 8.

Xiaomi Mi 9 is reported to come with a 6.4 inch AMOLED display protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The Chinese technology firm is expected to endeavour it with an in-screen fingerprint sensor. It will also feature improved AI integration. In the Chinese version, Xiaomi will incorporate the Xiao AI assistant, while international counterparts will be served with the Google Assitant.

Read More: Mi 9 live images and specs leak: 6.4 inch waterdrop notch display, 48MP camera, and a dedicated AI assistant button

Additionally, as far as the performance is concerned, it is reported to be powered by a Snapdragon 855 SoC. Xiaomi Mi 9 will be paired with 6GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage. The device will have a 3500 mAh battery with fast charging support of upto 27W. In connectivity, it will come with an NFC and USB type-C.

(Source)

Xiaomi Mi 9 first camera samples highlight the powerful rear cameras

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