Oppo O-Free Bluetooth Wireless Headset goes on sale in China for 699 Yuan ($101)

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Aug 16, 2018

At a launch event in Paris in June, along with the Oppo Find X flagship smartphone, the Chinese company also announced its wireless earphones — Oppo O-Free Bluetooth Wireless Headphones. Now, it is finally available for purchase in China for 699 Yuan, which roughly converts to $101.

The ultra light-weight headset, which is designed for lower power consumption, uses Qualcomm’s chipset. It is powered by a Qualcomm QCC3026 chipset that was introduced with the headset. It is a flash-programmable Bluetooth Audio System-on-Chip (SoC) that was purpose-built to take fully wireless headphones to the next level.

The chipset can offer up to 50 percent reduced power consumption, increased functionality, and faster performance. The headset also comes with a built-in smart chip that synchronizes the left and right ear sounds with the phone without any delay. For this, it uses Oppo’s TrueWireless Stereo technology.

The headset also allows users to easily adjust volume, music playback as well as changing tracks with simple operation. Along with music playback and answering calls, the device also comes with support for translation as well as Oppo‘s smart voice assistant.

For connectivity, it comes with Bluetooth 5.0 and also supports SBC and aptX audio. Weighing around 6.2 grams, the earphones come in a gradient-like color, which matches both the color options of Oppo Find X – Ice Blue and Bordeaux Red.

Just like other wireless headsets, the Oppo O-Free Wireless Bluetooth Headset also comes with a built-in battery that is claimed to deliver four hours of continuous playback. The playback can be expanded with the charging case that adds another 12 hours of juice.

The Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Plus Tablet PC Goes Up For Preorder On Giztop

By

Vinay Patel

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Aug 16, 2018

Xiaomi’s recently announced Mi Pad 4 Plus tablet PC has been subject to all sorts of speculations and leaks despite the lack of an official confirmation. Sporting a 10.1-inch touch display with 1920×1200 pixels resolution, the device is expected to breathe new life into your photos and videos.

Aside from that, the tablet boasts a broad range of exceptional specs and features that are likely to sweep tech buffs off their feet. Let us take a gander at some of the tablet PC’s mean features.

The Mi Pad 4 Plus packs a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE 2.2GHz processor along with an equally competent Adreno 512 650MHz GPU, under the hood. The Xiaomi-branded tablet PC offers 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 64GB/128GB of onboard storage so that you can save your favorite content without running out of storage space.

On the photography front, the Mi Pad 4 Plus tablet PC houses a 13.0MP camera with f/2.0 on the back. Up front, there’s a 5.0MP camera with Samsung S5K5E8 sensor for selfies and face-to-face video chatting.
The Mi Pad 4 Plus tablet PC is equipped with 802.11 b/g/n/ac wireless Internet so you can connect to the internet when you’re within range of an accessible wireless network. Moreover, the device can wirelessly transfer media files from your computer to another Bluetooth-enabled device such as a cell phone or MP3 player.

It runs on MIUI 9 based Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and is backed by a robust 8620 / 3.7V, lithium polymer battery. The coveted tablet PC is crammed with other features such as alarm, Bluetooth, browser, calculator, calendar, OTA, OTG, and Wi-Fi.

Much to the delight of those who are interested in getting their hands on it, Giztop is currently accepting pre-orders for this power-packed Mi Pad 4 Plus tablet PC, which carries a price tag of $329. You can follow this link for more details.

Preorder Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Plus Tablet PC

Lenovo is making a comeback, reports back-to-back double-digit quarterly revenue growth

By

Jeet

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Aug 16, 2018

China-based computer manufacturer Lenovo has reported strong double-digit growth in revenue year-on-year for the second straight quarter.

Lenovo Group reported revenue of $11.91 billion, an increase of 19 percent year-on-year in the fiscal first quarter ended in June. It has also reported strong pre-tax income during the quarter of $113 million, an improvement of $182 million year-on-year.

In the first fiscal quarter, the company’s profit attributable to equity holders grew to $77 million, up $149 million year-over-year. Basic earnings per share in the first fiscal quarter were 0.65 US cents or 5.10 HK cents.

Commenting on this, Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Chairman and CEO said,

As we persistently execute our 3-wave strategy, all our businesses made solid improvements in both revenue and profitability. Lenovo has passed the turning point and entered a phase of ‘acceleration’ – accelerating the execution of our transformation strategy and accelerating the rising momentum in business performance.

He added that the company is now aiming to maintain profitability and premium to market growth in PCs. It also plans to return the smartphone business to health and build the data center business into a sustainable growth and profit engine. It will also continue to invest in ‘Smart IoT + Cloud’ and ‘Infrastructure + Cloud’ to drive long-term sustainable return.

In the last quarter, Lenovo created Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), which combines its Personal Computer and Smart Devices Group with its Mobile Business Group. The Intelligent Devices Group delivered strong revenue growth of 14% year-on-year, amounting to $9.95 billion.

Building on a strong Q4, Lenovo’s Data Center Group (DCG) further accelerated its momentum, reporting another record revenue quarter of $1.6 billion, the third consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth, and up 67.8% compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

Huawei Mate 20 specifications, pricing appear on Giztop

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Aug 16, 2018

A recent report had revealed the display assembly of the upcoming Huawei Mate 20 smartphone. The leaked images had confirmed that upcoming Huawei flagship phone would be equipped with a notched screen. Some more information on the Huawei Mate 20’s specifications have surfaced today since it is now listed on our Giztop. The listing also includes the pricing of the phone.

The Giztop listing of the Huawei Mate 20 reveals that the handset will be arriving with a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen that supports Quad HD resolution. The Kirin 980, the world’s first 7nm SoC will be powering the Mate 20.

The variants of the Mate 20 mentioned on Giztop listing are 6 GB of RAM + 128 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM + 256 GB of storage. The handset also features a microSD card slot. It is fueled by 4,200mAh battery that is equipped with 5V/4.5A fast charging. The handset will arrive with EMUI 9 based Android 9 Pie OS preinstalled. For photography, the Mate 20 will be equipped with Leica certified 40-megapixel triple camera system and a front-facing selfie shooter of 20-megapixel.

On Giztop, the Mate 20 carries a price tag of $999. The listing states that the smartphone won’t be available for buying until the end of September 2018. If the listing is true, Huawei may announce Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro at the beginning of the coming month. However, other rumors are claiming that the Mate 20 duo will be made official in October, since the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro were announced in the same month last year.

The render shown in the Mate 20’s Giztop listing is not a real image of the phone, but a creation by the popular designer Benjamin Geskin. Moreover, the details mentioned on the specifications section belongs to a different phone. Since the premature listing of the Mate 20 seems to be based on recent rumors, it can be concluded that it is nothing but a placeholder.

Do you think that the Huawei Mate 20 will carry the same specs that are mentioned in the Giztop listing? Share us your thoughts by posting your comments below.

(source)

OxygenOS 5.1.11 for the OnePlus 6 fixes the screen flickering issue

By

Jeet

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Aug 16, 2018

Recently, we reported that some users of OnePlus 6 have been complaining about the screen flickering issue on the phone under direct bright sunlight. Users reported that when the adaptive brightness is enabled and the phone is exposed to sunlight, even the slight movements by the user kicks off flickering as the phone shifts back and forth to different brightness levels.

Now, the company has started rolling out the new update that fixes the issue. As usual, the new update. OxygenOS 5.1.11, is a staged distribution so it’ll be available to limited users initially and if everything seems to be working fine, the update will be rolled out to everyone in the coming days.

The update, which is about 152MB and comes with a number of improvements and major fixes. Apart from the fix for the display flickering issue, it also comes with an optimized network connection and optimized stability for Wi-Fi connection.

Further, there’s also an option to confirm PIN code without tapping the checkmark button so just entering the correct pin code will instantly unlock the phone. This feature can be found in Settings > Security & lock > PIN.

With Android 9.0 Pie update coming soon, it’s unlikely that the company will release more updates aside from major bug fixes and will instead focus on rolling out Android Pie update as soon as it can.

The OnePlus 6 smartphone features a 6.28-inch Optic AMOLED notched display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. It comes in various memory configuration — 6GB RAM with 64GB storage, 8GB RAM with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM with 256GB storage.

The phone sports a 16-megapixel + 20-megapixel dual cameras at the back and a 16-megapixel front-facing snapper for taking selfies and video calling. Running on Android Oreo operating system out-of-the-box, the device is powered by a 3,300mAh battery with fast charging support.

(Source)

Android 9 Pie (Go Edition) announced, arrives this fall

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 16, 2018

Just a little over a week after Android 9 Pie got an official release, Google has announced Android 9 Pie (Go Edition), a successor to Android Oreo (Go Edition).

Last year, Google announced Android (Go Edition) for entry-level devices and first-time Android users. The first Android (Go Edition) smartphone, the Nokia 1 was announced at MWC 2018 and hit markets in April. Now there are close to 200 Android Go devices from other manufacturers such as ASUS, Motorola, Blackview, Doogee, Micromax, and Itel.

Android 9 Pie (Go Edition) will come with a bunch of new features and improvements. For example, Android 9 Pie (Go Edition) will take up less space on devices, providing an additional 500MB of storage right out of the box. Devices running the new version will also have faster boot times, verified boot as part of improved security features. It will also have a dashboard for tracking and monitoring data consumption.

All of the above features are expected to improve performance and security, provide more space, and make data management easier. Google has also redesigned the Go apps and added new features.

Google Go: reads aloud web pages and highlights each word so users can follow along.

YouTube Go: gets a gallery mode for downloaded videos and uses less data.

Maps Go: provides turn-by-turn navigation
Assistant Go: now supports Spanish, Brazillian Portuguese, and Indonesian. Users can also use it to control Bluetooth, camera, flashlight, and add reminders.
Android Messages and Phone App: the size of the messaging app has been reduced by almost half and the phone app now has caller ID and spam detection.

Continue

Buy The DOOGEE X70 Smartphone For $69.99 On AliExpress

By

Vinay Patel

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Aug 16, 2018

DOOGEE made its hotly-anticipated X70 smartphone available to the public in July this year and as expected, it became an instant hit among smartphone lovers. The phone’s success can be attributed to its awe-inspiring specs and features.

The X70 sports an eye-catching 5.5 inch IPS display with 1140 x 532 pixels resolution and this is further augmented with an equally appealing 2.5D curved glass. Touted as the first U-notch display phone, the X70 offers a bigger screen ratio of 19:9 for exceptional vision.

The phone packs a powerful 1.3GHz quad-core processor along with ARM Mali-400 MP2 2 Cores, 416 MHz GPU, under the hood. It features 2GB of RAM and offers 16GB of onboard storage so that you can save your favorite content without worrying about running out of storage space.
On the photography front, the DOOGEE X70 smartphone houses an 8MP+5MP dual-camera setup with F/2.2; AF; 80° Angle; and LED Flash on the back. Up front, it sports 5.0MP camera with F/2.2; 80°Angle for selfies and face-to-face video chatting.

The X70 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and draws its juices from a 4000mAh; Li-Polymer battery. Aside from that, the phone is crammed with all sorts of useful sensors such as Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, G-sensor and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.

If you’re interested in buying the feature-laden DOOGEE X70 smartphone, you can head straight to this link and buy it for $69.99 on AliExpress. The phone is currently up for grabs in 3 color versions including black, blue and gold.

Buy The DOOGEE X70 Smartphone

OPPO R17 Pro can capture topnotch night shots through AI Super Clear Engine

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Aug 16, 2018

OPPO has confirmed that it will be launching the OPPO R17 and R17 Pro smartphones on Aug. 23 though a launch event in Shanghai. Recent reports have suggested that the R17 and R17 Pro may sport identical specs, but the latter seems to be packed with advanced photography features. The R17 is expected to arrive with a basic AI dual camera. However, R17 Pro is equipped with features like variable aperture and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). Today, the Chinese manufacturer has released a new video to reveal that the AI Super Clear Engine present on the R17 Pro will allow it to capture good quality night shots through AI.

The below video reveals that the OPPO R17 Pro features AI Super Clear Engine improves the quality of night shots by analyzing the scenes through AI image processing. Then there is pixel-level color reconstruction begins for intelligently enhancing the colors in the images. The third step involves the process of making the photos appear clearer.

Apart from AI Super Clear Engine, the R17 Pro will come with Smart Aperture feature that will allow users to manually switch between f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture. Some reports have started that the R17 Pro may feature triple camera setup on its rear. However, the company is yet to confirm it.

OPPO is yet to confirm on the specifications of the OPPO R17 Pro. As far as the OPPO R17 is concerned, the handset will be coming with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with waterdrop notch. It could be the first phone from the company to feature sixth generation Gorilla Glass protection.

The Snapdragon 670 SoC may power the phone along with 8 GB of RAM. It will be arriving with a native storage of 128 GB. The handset is packed with a 3,500mAh battery that carries support for flash charging. For photography, it features a front-facing camera of 25-megapixel and on it rear is a dual camera setup that includes 16-megapixel primary sensor and 5-megapixel secondary sensor.

(source)

Avail Big Discounts On Cool Gadgets And Other Tech Items On GearBest

By

Vinay Patel

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Aug 16, 2018

We heavily rely on tech products for handling daily chores, keeping track of our health, staying in touch with friends and families et cetera. The important role technology plays in a daily life is undeniable.

On the downside, tech tools and other cool gadgets can set you back a pretty penny, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Thankfully, GearBest is giving cost-conscious people an opportunity to buy a broad range of tech products at a heavily discounted price.

As part of its recently kicked-off promotion sale dubbed ‘Summer Smartest Spends, GearBest is giving big discounts on all sorts of tech items including headphones, smartwatches, action cameras and lots more. In order to make the search process easier for buyers, the products have been split into multiple categories.

The Chinese online store is offering a 13% off on the Bluedio T6 headphone which normally sells for $499.99. Thanks to the discount, you can now buy this noise canceling technology-equipped headphone at a dropped price of just $45.99.

Likewise, there’s a 16% discount on the retail price of the Lenovo Watch X Bluetooth Waterproof Smartwatch. As a result, you can now get your hands on this feature-laden smartwatch at a reduced price of just $59.99.

The ‘Lightning Flash Sale’ category is crammed with various electronic items. More importantly, these products are now available at a discounted price.

Keeping in line with this, you can buy the NO.1 F18 GPS Sports Smartwatch at a reduced price of just $49.99 in this section. This is a noteworthy 23% reduction in the device’s original selling price of $65.16.

With every item, you buy from the ‘Buy One Get One Free Gift’ category you can get a gift without shelling out an extra dime. This category features the Xiaomi Huami AMAZFIT Bip Lite Version Smartwatch, ESCAM PVR208 1080P NVR Network Video Recorder 8, and the ROIDMI 3S Bluetooth Music Car Charger and RM – CT0012 Android 6.0 Bluetooth GPS Stereo Car Player.

If you’re looking for high-end tech items that don’t burn a hole in your pocket, you might want to take a look at the next category called ‘Topselling Gear.’ This section features big discounts on a slew of select smartwatches, headphones and other gaming related items.

The ‘Cool Gadgets’ segment has further been divided into Cameras, Auto, and Security & Protection sub-categories. More importantly, you can now the products covered in this section at a slashed price. You can follow this link to check out more top deals and avail the discount before the promo comes to an end.

Get Big Discounts On Tech Products And Cool Gagets

Huawei P20 Pro wins “Best Smartphone of the Year” award in Europe

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 16, 2018

Huawei has a longstanding reputation for manufacturing sleek, premium smartphones both in the flagship and budget segments. The launch of the P20 Pro earlier this year took all that to a different pedestal as the phone’s design and configurations were spectacular especially the never-seen-before triple rear camera setup. The powerful camera setup has received lots of positive reviews. Talking of positive reviews, the P20 Pro has received an award from the European Image and Sound Association (EISA) as its Best Smartphone 2018-2019. The Europe-based group is made up of 55 of the world’s most respected consumer electronics magazines.

This well-deserved award is in recognition of Huawei’s commitment to quality, design and performance, as well as the company’s long track record of introducing stylish, powerful and winning devices. It is worthy of note that this is the sixth consecutive year that Huawei has been recognized by the EISA. In previous years, the Huawei P10 was named as “EISA Smartphone Camera 2017-2018,” the Huawei Watch 2 was also crowned as “EISA Wearable Device 2017-2018” and the Huawei P9 as “European Consumer Smartphone 2016-2017.”

About the P20 Pro, EISA has this to say; “With its dazzling glass finish, impressive 6.1in, 1080x2240px resolution AMOLED screen, 18:9 ratio, dependable 4000mAh battery equipped with Super Charge functionality and – last but not least – amazing triple camera system on its back, co-produced by Leica, the Huawei P20 Pro is the most advanced, innovative and technically superior smartphone ever.

Huawei will formally receive the award at the EISA awards ceremony which would hold on August 31 during IFA 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

(source)

News of Faraday Future’s operational HQ opening in China triggers a surge in ailing LeTV’s share price

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 15, 2018

As at the morning of Wednesday, August 15, LeTV‘s (LeEco) stock price was on the downward spiral and the company was on the verge of being delisted from China’s stock market. But in a dramatic twist, investors adopted a bullish outlook as the share price went up to 2.39 yuan while the daily limit rose to 14.90%. Although the rice later reduced but still traded at around 2.3 yuan and closed at 2.17 yuan.

The reason for this surge in LeEco’s shares may be connected to the press release on Tuesday by Evergrande Health Industry Group Ltd, that U.S-based Faraday Future (FF) has set up its operational headquarters in China. Evergrande owns a 45% stake in U.S.-based Faraday Future (FF) and it plans to build five R&D and production bases across the country in the next decade. The company also hinted that mass production of the FF91 will begin in 2019 in the U.S plant. This is no doubt, a good news since Faraday Future is owned by Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting, whose erstwhile conglomerate LeEco is in a messy financial situation occasioned by rapid expansion in a bid to overtake Tesla.

However, LeTV has issued a statement saying that the surge in its share price was noticed but the company can’t pinpoint the reason for it. We know better. Although Jia Yueting has no stake in LeTV anymore, the success of the FF electric car will also lead to Jia Yueting fulfilling his financial obligations to companies he is indebted to, one of which is LeTV. Perhaps, this is a glimmer of hope for ailing LeEco.

(via)

Motorola releases list of phones getting Android 9.0 Pie

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 15, 2018

Following the official release of Android 9.0 Pie, manufacturers have been announcing devices that are eligible for the latest version of Android. Today, Motorola released a list of its phones that will get the update.

Motorola says the update will begin rolling out this fall but don’t be surprised if some phones don’t get it until next year. The eligible devices are listed below:

Apart from the Moto Z2 Force, Moto Z2, and Moto X4, no other Motorola phone released in 2017 will get updated to Android 9.0 Pie which is sad. However, we are not surprised.

Continue

Samsung Galaxy J2 Core’ User Manual appears online

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 15, 2018

Samsung has an Android Go phone in development and it is expected to launch as the Galaxy J2 Core. Unlike other Android Oreo (Go Edition) phones that run a clean version of the OS, the Galaxy J2 Core runs Samsung’s Experience UI.

Samsung has not yet announced a date for the release of the phone and we don’t expect it to since this is an entry level. The phone’s user manual has surfaced seen online ahead of whatever time Samsung decides to release it.

The user manual reveals the Galaxy J2 Core will have a removable back plate and a removable battery. It will have support for two SIM cards and also has support for storage expansion. Other features mentioned are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE. There is also a MicroUSB port for charging.

Continue

Live photos of the Vivo X23 show it has a valley-styled notch

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 15, 2018

The Vivo X23 is the upcoming smartphone from BBK Electronics’ Vivo. It is scheduled for an August 23 release and there are rumors it will be the first phone with 10GB of RAM. Ahead of its release, live photos of the device have been posted on the web, revealing the front design.

The photos which were shared online by a Weibo user shows an individual using the phone in public. Although one can only see the front of the phone which has a case and a protective glass on, a close-up image shows the phone comes with the new valley-style notch.

[envira-gallery id=”206311″]

It appears the valley-notch or waterdrop screen will be the trend for the second half of the year. OPPO already kickstarted the trend with the OPPO F9 and F9 Pro and we have seen an upcoming Honor phone with the same design. The OPPO R17 also has the same-styled notch. We are sure there will be more devices with the same design. Trust Chinese manufacturers to milk a design.

There doesn’t really appear to be a difference in the size of the lower bezel, but the smaller notch should mean a slight increase in the screen-to-body ratio.

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LG to bring its first 5G smartphone in H1 2019

By

Michele Ingelido

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Aug 15, 2018

Recently, Motorola launched the first smartphone with support to 5G networks: the Moto Z3, which will gain this support thanks to a MotoMod. Today, Samsung has announced the worlds first 5G modem for mobile devices which will be officially in the market starting from the end of 2018. However, there still isn’t any carrier which has announced the official date when it will enable 5G networks and until carriers start to support them, it will not be possible to navigate through 5G.

Now, the known U.S. carrier Sprint has just announced a collaboration with the U.S. division of LG Electronics to finally enable 5G networks and deliver 5G-enabled phones in the USA. The first 5G smartphone by LG will be officially launched in the first half of 2019 and it is expected to be announced in the first few months of the next year. There is no word about which will be the first LG smartphone to support the new 5G connectivity, but given that it will come in the first months of 2019 we expect it to be the G8 as it is the typical time frame in which a new flagship from the G series gets released.

The smartphone will most likely not use the new 5G chip by Samsung, which will be probably integrated into an upcoming Samsung flagship. The 5G chip on board of the alleged G8 will be made by Qualcomm as LG devices are always equipped with Snapdragon chipsets. The new Exynos 5100 5G modem by Samsung can reach download speeds up to 6 Gbps thanks to 5G networks, that is about 5 times faster than the actual 4G LTE connectivity. It fully complies with the 3GPP standards and it is also able to enhance the 4G connectivity by reaching download speeds up to 1.6 Gbps while using LTE.

(via)

Exclusive: Check out Elephone pop up dual front camera phone in action

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Aug 15, 2018

Chinese tech company Elephone first showcased the renders and some details of a new smartphone it has got in the works a couple of weeks back. The unnamed Elephone model comes with a spectacular camera arrangement which is a dual selfie setup with a pop-up design. This is very much similar to that of the Vivo NEX but in this case, the pop-up camera module is wider as it houses two sensors. A short video demonstration of the workings of Elephone’s first pop-up dual camera-packing phone has appeared online.

Elephone show the first phone with pop up dual-lens selfie camera, get the idea from Vivo Nex. pic.twitter.com/LN5AYqf9MB

— GIZMOCHINA (@gizmochina) August 15, 2018

The video which first appeared exclusively on Gizmochina’s official Twitter account gives us our first real glimpse of the front design of the smartphone. As expected, it comes with a full-screen design with an ultra-slim top and side bezels. The pop-up design became necessary as a result of the thin bezel at the top. In other words, there is no notch at the top which will house the selfie cameras. From the short clip, we can see that the dual selfie camera pops up in just a matter of seconds when the camera app is launched and retracts when you exit the app.

Apart from the camera, the phone comes with a screen ratio that is up to 95%. That is because there is only a noticeable bezel at the chin. The frame is also said to be slimmer than previous Elephone models. The actual specifications of this device are yet to be confirmed but the company has confirmed that the device would come with a topnotch hardware configuration, powerful processor, and a large storage capacity. The device would also pack mainstream technologies such as on-screen fingerprint recognition and wireless charging. Gradually, this concept model is on the way to becoming a reality. We could just see the model launch sometime soon.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launched in China, pricing starts at 6,999 Yuan ($1,009)

By

Jeet

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Aug 15, 2018

Earlier this month, Samsung launched its flagship smartphone — Galaxy Note 9, which is the successor of the Galaxy Note 8 launched last year. Now, the South Korean giant has officially launched the Galaxy Note 9 in China at a launch event in Shanghai.

In China, the pricing of the phone starts at 6,999 Yuan, which roughly converts to $1,009. In terms of specifications, everything remains the same as the global variant. In terms of design, the Galaxy Note 9 doesn’t differ much compared to the last year’s Note 8.

However, it comes with a number of useful improvements. The rear design of the Note 9 is markedly different as it packs a horizontally aligned dual sensor with a dual-tone LED flash. Thankfully, unlike Galaxy Note 8, this time around, the rear fingerprint sensor is placed under the dual cameras.

The phone features a bigger 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It carries the same 1440 x 2960 pixels screen resolution, is HD10 compliant and also supports Always On Display. The display is also protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass on top.

The Chinese variant of the Note 9 is powered by Qualcomm‘s Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor. The phone comes in two variants — one packing 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage and another with 8GB RAM and 512GB internal storage.

Coming to the camera department, there’s a 12-megapixel primary camera with f/2.4-f/1.5 variable aperture and a 12-megapixel secondary sensor with f/2.4 aperture. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture and wide-angle lens.

The device is IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. It also comes with stereo speakers tuned by AKG, and Dolby Atmos sound. Connectivity options on the device include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5 (LE up to 2Mbps), GPS with GLONASS, USB 3.1, NFC, and MST.

In addition, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes with an improved S Pen which is the first Bluetooth-enabled digital pen. It can also be used as a remote shutter for the camera with a range of 10 meters. It has a battery power of about 30 minutes and can withstand up to 200 clicks.

The S Pen now has support for three inputs — short press, long press, and double press. The company says that it can be recharged in just 40 seconds by simply placing it in its holster cramp on the side of the phone.

The phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out of the box with the company’s own Samsung Experience custom interface. It is fuelled by a 4,000mAh battery which is 20 percent bigger compared to Galaxy Note 8. It also comes with support for fast charging both on wired and wireless (WPC and PMA) charging.

In China, the 6GB RAM model is priced at 6,999 Yuan (approximately $1,009) while the 8GB RAM model is priced at 8,999 Yuan (approximately $1,298). The phone will be officially available for purchase in China from August 31.

Xiaomi Mi A2 now supports recording of 1080p videos at 60fps

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Aug 15, 2018

The Mi A2 is one of two Android One phones Xiaomi released this year. It can also be referred to as the global version of the Mi 6X. A new update has started to roll-out to the smartphone and it brings new and important camera features and more.

With the new update, Mi A2 owners will now be able to record full HD videos at 60 frames per second (1080p@60fps). There is also support for Electronic Image Stabilization. The Mi A2 could only record videos in 720p at 120fps, 1080p at 30fps and 2160p videos at 30fps but the new update adds 60fps support for 1080p videos.

Apart from the new camera features, the update also comes along with August’s security patch.

The Mi A2 is a 5.99-inch device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 processor. It has 4GB/6GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB of storage. It has a 12MP + 20MP dual camera setup on its rear and a 20MP front-facing camera.

Continue

Samsung announces the world’s first 5G modem with up to 6Gbps speeds

By

Michele Ingelido

-

Aug 15, 2018

Samsung had showcased 5g tech at CES 2018, but it still was not ready. Now the time has finally come: the Korean giant has beaten Qualcomm by officially announcing the world first 5G modem. This small chip built on a 10 nm production process brings the connectivity on mobile devices at a new level, with complete support to 5G networks and compliance to the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) Release 15 standards and complete frequencies. The modem has been called Samsung Exynos 5100 and it supports all the 5G frequencies, but it is also compatible with all the previous technologies such as 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA and 4G LTE.

Thanks to 5G networks, the new modem can reach a downlink speed of up to 2 Gbps for frequencies under 6 GHz, and a downlink speed of up to 6 Gbps for the mmWave spectrum. These blazing speeds make this modem up to 5x times faster than 4G ones. Further, the 4G connectivity with the new Samsung Exynos 5100 has been improved as well, and now it can reach a download speed of up to 6 Gbps. At the moment, it is definitely the most impressive modem for mobile devices ever launched.

The modem will be officially released in the market starting from the end of this year, so we should see the first devices sporting it in the first months of 2019. Besides smartphones, there will be many other devices with this modem inside, such as IoT devices, holograms, self-driving cars and more. Unfortunately, according to DJ Koh (CEO of Samsung Electronics), Samsung Galaxy S10 will not boast the Exynos 5100 modem under the hood as it will not be a 5G smartphone. But if some rumors are to be believed, it may debut on the mysterious foldable device which might be launched alongside the S10 series or a few months later.

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New Samsung & Haman Kardon soundbars released with 7.1.4 Dolby Panoramic Sound

By

Michele Ingelido

-

Aug 15, 2018

In order to dominate the technology market, Samsung recently acquired several brands in the audio sector. One of the most important deals was Harman Kardon, which it acquired back in March 2017 for $8 billion. After that, there was the acquisition of other important names such as JBL and AKG. Now, the Korean giant has released the first products in cooperation with Harman Kardon: they are two soundbars for people who are seeking the best audio experience.

The two models are identified by the model numbers HW-N950 and HW-N850. Both feature DTS:X and Dolby Atmos technology, with the first one providing 7.1.4 Dolby audio experience. It is equipped with a main soundbar, four secondary speakers, and two wireless surround speakers. But what does 7.1.4 means? Well, 7 stands for the number of traditional surround speakers, so front, center and surround, 1 is the number of subwoofers which can be connected to the receiver and 4 represents the Dolby Atmos settings.

The second soundbar by Samsung and Harman Kardon instead provides a 5.1.2 audio experience. The soundbars alongside their connected speakers will be officially launched in the market starting from August 20, but we still do not know how much they will cost.