Xiaomi Crowdfunds the SWDK Wireless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner with UV Germicidal Light

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May 21, 2018

HMD Global joined the 18:9 trend with the Nokia 7 Plus, then it hopped on the notch bandwagon with the Nokia X6. Now, it will be adding a new player to the 18:9 list.

Two Nokia devices with model numbers TA-1057 and TA-1063 have been spotted at the FCC. The phones are said to have 18:9 displays but there is no mention of the exact type and size of the screens.

According to the FCC documents, both models are single SIM and dual-SIM variants of the same phone. They also have NFC and pack 2,900mAh (~3000mAh) batteries.

The Nokia TA-1057 and Nokia TA-1063 may come with any of the chipsets in the Snapdragon 600 series. However, we can’t say when they will launch and under what name.

HMD Global Raises $100 Million In New Funding To Grow Nokia’s Business, Acquires Unicorn Status

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 21, 2018

HMD Global believes in its Nokia smartphone business now more than never. The Finnish giant which owns the former leader of the phones market has just raised $100 million in the bank to let its smartphone business grow up, and it has reached the Unicorn Status, that is a valuation in excess of $1 billion. The round of funding has been led by Swiss VC firm Ginko Ventures, while DMJ Asia Investment Opportunity and Wonderful Stars also took part in the investment.

Now, HMD Global is in a perfect position to expand its smartphone business in the coming years: indeed, the company has declared that it is looking to make Nokia become one of the best smartphone brands in the world. HMD Global CEO Florian Seiche said the following regarding its big plans for the Nokia brand:

It is our ambition to deliver great smartphones that delight our fans while staying true to our Finnish roots and the hallmarks that the Nokia brand has always been known for. We aim to be among the top smartphone players globally, and our success to date gives us the confidence to further continue on a growth path in 2018 and beyond.

According to reports, HMD Global has shipped more than 70 million Nokia phones in 2017 with a total revenue of €1.8 billion, which roughly translates into $2.13 billion. Despite its financial loss of €65 million in 2017, the company is actually among the 5 best smartphone brands in Europe, and the expectations for 2018 are high. Counterpoint Research reported that Nokia smartphones outclassed HTC, Sony, Lenovo, OnePlus and Google in Q4 2017.

Until now, HMD Global has released six Nokia smartphones in 2017, five feature phones and five smartphones in 2018. Its most powerful flagship is Nokia 8 Sirocco with its Snapdragon 835 SoC, but according to us, its most interesting device is surely the Nokia 7 Plus due to its quality-price ratio and its good camera capabilities.

(via)

Xiaomi To Announce Something Important Tomorrow, Likely Mi 7 Release Date

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 21, 2018

There is a high level of hype around Xiaomi these days as the company has confirmed that it will hold an important event on May 31. And the hype is growing even more as in the past few hours a new official post on Weibo has suggested that something important will happen tomorrow (May 21) in the morning. According to the most probable hypotheses, the announcement of tomorrow will be related to Xiaomi Mi 7. This smartphone is expected to be launched alongside the Mi 8 and it will arrive to celebrate the 8th anniversary of the Chinese company.

Tomorrow’s announcement could be related to the Mi 7 in the sense that the company may have decided to confirm its release date or something similar. Rumored release date is said to be May 31 and, the Mi 8 should not be the only product to debut in China on that day. According to reports, we will also see the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 as Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has revealed that there will be a variety of new products announced at the end of this month. Xiaomi Mi 8 is rumored to come with its own 3D facial recognition system which will rival Face ID found on the iPhone X.

It is expected to be equipped with an octa-core Snapdragon 845 SoC by Qualcomm running at a max frequency of 2.8 GHz. The chipset should be paired with up to 8 GB of RAM and up to 128 GB of UFS 2.1 flash storage with high transfer speeds. Xiaomi Mi 7 will probably have a bezel-less design with a wide aspect ratio, and it should come with a dual camera setup just like its predecessor and the recently-announced Mi Mix 2S.

(Source)

Trademark Issues May Cause OnePlus To Drop Dash Charge Branding

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May 21, 2018

One of the most popular features of OnePlus phones starting with the OnePlus 3 is its fast-charging technology called Dash Charge. Dash Charge allows owners of supported OnePlus devices to charge their battery up to 60% in just 30 minutes. Sadly, it appears OnePlus will not be able to use the phrase “Dash Charge” anymore.

When the OnePlus 6 was announced last week, OnePlus didn’t mention “Dash Charge” all through the event. Also, if you head to the official site, save for India, the chargers and cables have been renamed Fast Charge.

The reason for this seems to stem from a trademark issue in the US and EU. According to Android Police, OnePlus said they filed a trademark application in the EU and US for Dash Charge back in 2016 only for the EU trademark office to reject their application as two companies challenged it – one is Amazon and the other is Bragi, a wireless audio company.

The reason why both companies challenged the application is said to be due to a “likelihood of confusion”. Amazon uses the phrase “Dash Replenishment” for its reordering service while Bragi has a pair of wireless earbuds called the Dash Pro.

LG Q7, Q7 Plus And Q7 Alpha With FullVision Display And Android Oreo Launched

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May 21, 2018

LG has today finally debuted three new smartphones in its LG Q series — LG Q7, Q7 Plus, and Q7 Alpha, in its home country South Korea. However, the company is yet to reveal pricing details of the smartphones.

The company has also confirmed that the devices will be shipped to key markets in Europe early next month, followed by the launch in North America, South America, and Asian countries. While the LG Q7 and Q7 Plus come in Aurora Black, Moroccan Blue, and Lavender Violet colors, the Q7 Alpha is available in Moroccan Blue color.

All the three smartphones in the LG Q7 series features a 5.5-inch FullVision display with Full-HD+ screen resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels, 18:9 aspect ratio and 42ppi pixel density. Under the hood, the devices are powered by an unspecified octa-core processor, clocked at 1.5GHz or 1.8GHz, depending on the market of availability.

While the LG Q7 and Q7 Alpha come with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage, the Q7 Plus packs 4GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Further, all three models come with microSD card support, enabling users to expand the storage capacity up to 2TB. There’s a fingerprint sensor on the back, that doubles up as a camera shutter button.

Coming to the camera department, the standard Q7 and Q7 Alpha feature a 13-megapixel rear camera sensor with phase detection autofocus (PDAF), while the Q7 Plus sports a 16-megapixel camera sensor on the back.

On the front side, the Q7 and Q7 Plus sport either an 8-megapixel sensor or a 5-megapixel camera sensor with super wide angle lens, depending on the market. On the other hand, the Q7 Alpha features a 5-megapixel camera sensor on the front with a super wide angle lens.

Similar to the LG G7 ThinQ, the Q7 series smartphones come with AI integration and QLens feature for image recognition. The devices also supports DTS:X for delivering virtual 3D surround sound effect with up to 7.1 channel audio via the headphones. In addition, the Q7 Plus comes equipped with Hi-Fi Quad DAC, ensuring a richer audio experience. Further, all three devices come with IP68 certification for water and dust resistance.

All the devices supports 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and USB Type-C (version 2.0) in terms of connectivity options. The smartphones, running on Android Oreo operating system out of the box, are powered by a 3,000mAh battery that supports Qualcomm’s Fast Charge technology which delivers 50 percent of charge in about 30 minutes.

Vivo’s New Z Series Phone Will Focus On The Mid-Range Market

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 21, 2018

Vivo has revealed via its official flagship store Weibo account that it would be launching a new Z-series smartphone dubbed Vivo Z1 soon. The smartphone is going to be a thousand yuan machine which means it is a low-end mid-range model but the post teases the device as coming with a surprise in that the smartphone will beat our imaginations.

The Vivo Z series is a new series which will have the Z1 as its first model. The X series is Vivo’s flagship series, the Y series houses budget models and the new Z series is likely to fall in-between, joining the V series which is also a midrange series. From the render on the poster accompanied the Weibo post, we can gather that the Z1 will come with a full-screen design. The design also includes a notch at the top which will house the selfie camera and earpiece. That means the device will have a 19:9 aspect ratio. If the device comes out as it is on the poster, we could be looking at high screen ratio of up to 90% or more. The bezels at the top at off as a result of the notch while the bottom bezel is ultra-thin.

Nothing is revealed about the specifications the device would pack but we expect an interesting lineup. According to the poster, the device will go official on May 25 and would be sold on Jingdong (JD.com), Tmall, Suning Tesco and Vipshop.

(source)

Lenovo’s Market Share Falls To 0.4% In China

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May 21, 2018

A new report of the Chinese smartphone market has revealed that Lenovo’s mobile phone business is not doing so well. The company has seen recorded a massive drop in sales. Last year, Lenovo sold 1.79 million phones compared to 22.1 million phones in 2015.

The Lenovo K5 is one of Lenovo’s new releases this year

Lenovo’s mobile arm was created in 2002 and by 2009, it had become the third biggest brand in China and the biggest domestic manufacturer. In 2015, it shipped 22.1 million units out of the 417 million phones sold in China to grab a 5.3% market share.

One of the reasons attributed to Lenovo’s failure is said to be its confusing lineup. Since the start of business, Lenovo has released phones under the Vibe series, Lemon series, K series, and ZUK brand. Of all the above mentioned, only the K-series is still in existence, asides the Motorola brand which it acquired from Google.

Xiaomi Launches The Xiaofang Smart IP Camera with Dual Camera Sensors

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 21, 2018

Xiaomi has launched a new smart IP camera under its crowdfunding platform. The Xiaofang Smart IP Camera is a successor to the two previous models the company has in its kitty, talking of the cube-shaped Xiaofang Smart IP camera and the Dafang IP camera. It looks more like the Dafang Smart IP camera though, as it comes in a rectangular shape but with a number of notable changes in its design.

The first thing that catches the eye is the camera’s shape: it’s rectangular but instead of one sensor, the Xiaofang Smart IP camera comes with two lenses, one at the front and a second one at the back. It differs from the Dafang more when you look at the base. The base isn’t the small rotating circular base on the Dafang camera but two anti-slip pad arranged parallel to each other at the bottom. There is equally a screw point for mounting it onto the ceiling or on a tripod.

The camera measures 36mm x 36mm x 101mm and it comes with a microSD slot placed at the bottom. There is also a micro USB port for charging the camera itself. The sensors both have an f2.0 aperture and present with a 210 degrees field of view each. The two sensors are independent sensors which mean you get to capture more than one scenes at the same time and the cool thing is that the cameras are panoramic cameras capable of achieving 360 degrees video imaging.

The camera is said to support the viewing of four real-time images or scenes at the same time which is very useful for surveillance. Your data is kept safe by the triple encryption technology it has such as communication verification encryption, data transmission encryption, Xiaomi cloud services, which ensures the security of your information. The camera also packs Wi-Fi, infra-red for night vision, two-way voice support, and VR.

The Xiaofang Smart IP camera comes in at just 199 Yuan and s presently available via the Youpin crowdfunding platform. The product is expected to start shipping on June 29.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy A6, A6+ Launched in India; Specifications, Pricing and Launch Offers

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May 21, 2018

Samsung has launched Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ smartphones in India today. Like the Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ that were launched in the recent past, the A6 duo are also equipped with Infinity Display design. These phones are also packed with various AI features for their cameras.

Samsung Galaxy A6, Galaxy A6+ Specifications and Features

The Samsung Galaxy A6 is fitted with a 5.65-inch Super AMOLED display that supports an aspect ratio of 18.5:9 and HD+ resolution of 720 x 1480 pixels. The Exynos 7 series chipset that includes 1.6 GHz octa-core processor powers the phone along with 4 GB of RAM. The Galaxy A6 comes in 32 GB and 64 GB storage editions. For additional storage, the phone features a microSD card slot. It has a battery of 3,000mAh capacity.

It has an f/1.7 aperture rear camera of 16-megapixel. At the front lies another 16-megapixel camera with f/1.9 aperture. These cameras come with dedicated LED flash.

The Galaxy A6+ is a large sibling of the A6 phone as it houses a 6-inch display that supports FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2220 pixels. It produces an aspect ratio of 18:9. The Snapdragon 450 chipset that includes 1.8 GHz octa-core processor powers the Galaxy A6+ along with 4 GB of RAM. It has an inbuilt storage of 64 GB and it also features a microSD card slot. A 3,500mAh battery powers the Galaxy A6+.

The dual camera setup that resides on the back panel of the Galaxy A6+ includes a f/1.6 aperture 16-megapixel primary sensor and an f/1.9 aperture 5-megapixel secondary sensor. For shooting selfies, it is blessed with an f/1.9 aperture 24-megapixel camera. Like the A6, the A6+ also features dedicated LED flash for the front and rear cameras.

The camera app present on the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ offer features like Live Bokeh and Background Blur Shape. For enhanced selfie snapping experience, the South Korean company has included a variable selfie flash functionality that makes it possible to adjust the light exposure while shooting selfies on both phones.

The Galaxy A6 and A6+ are preinstalled with Android 8.0 Oreo and Samsung Experience UI. The “Chat over Video” is a feature available on both phones that let users to use WhatsApp or the default messaging app while viewing videos. These handsets support mobile payments through Samsung Pay Mini. The company has also included Ai camera in the Samsung Mall. The other features of the Galaxy A6 duo include metal unibody design with rear-facing fingerprint reader, 3.5mm audio jack, dual-SIM support, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Samsung Galaxy A6, Galaxy A6+ Pricing

The 32 GB and 64 GB Galaxy A6 are respectively priced at Rs. 21,990 and Rs. 22,990. The Galaxy A6+ can be availed for Rs. 25,990. Purchasing the A6 or A6+ through Paytm Mall or through ICICI credit cards will provide users with a cashback of Rs. 3,000. The South Korean company is also providing one time screen replacement offer for buyers who purchase the Galaxy A6 and A6+ until June 20.

The official sales of the Galaxy A6 and A6+ will begin on May 22 through Samsung India e-store, Paytm Mall and Amazon India. The Galaxy A6 duo will be available in colors like Blue, Black and Gold. Both phones will be also available for purchasing through offline stores.

Xiaomi Mi 8 Leaked Render Gives a Look at its Front & Rear Design, But Appears Fake

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May 21, 2018

Xiaomi is speculated to debut the Xiaomi Mi 8 as its 8^th anniversary edition smartphone on May 31 alongside other rumored devices like the Xiaomi Mi 7 and Mi Band 3. Today, a couple of new renders of the Mi 8 phone has surfaced on SlashLeaks.

As it can be seen in the below render, the rear side of the phone has vertical dual rear cameras. The front view of the phone shows that it features a wider notch at the topside of the screen. The bottom is slightly thick while the side bezels are very thin. The image also shows that the alleged Mi 8 does not feature a fingerprint reader which indicates that it could be equipped with under-display fingerprint.

So, what’s your opinion on the authenticity of the image? It appears to be fake since the lock screen clearly reveals that it is not MIUI from Xiaomi, but FunTouch OS from Vivo. Hence, the image seems to be a photoshopped edition of the Vivo X21. Even though the above render appears fake, multiple reports have revealed that Xiaomi may debut the Mi 8 smartphone by the end of this month. It is expected to arrive as the first Android phone with 3D facial recognition feature.

Since the Mi 8 is expected to carry support for 3D facial scanning, its notch is rumored to packed with multiple components such as earpiece, selfie camera, microphone, ambient sensor, proximity sensor, flood illuminator and dot projector. The 3D facial recognition feature of the Mi 8 could be as advanced as the iPhone X which also features the same components for Face ID facial recognition.

Previous leaks had suggested that Xiaomi would be launching a large-sized Mi 7 Plus alongside the Mi 7. It is now being speculated that the Mi 7 Plus could be rebranded as Xiaomi Mi 8 in celebration for the 8^th anniversary of the company. Some reports have claimed that it could be called Xiaomi Mi 8^th Anniversary Edition phone. A recent report that was published on GizmoChina few hours ago suggest that the Mi 7 is likely to sport a notched display design and it will be a smaller device than the Mi 8. Some of the rumored common features of both phones include OLED display, Snapdragon 845, up to 8 GB of RAM and wireless charging.

(via)

Vivo X21 With In-Display Fingerprint Sensor To Launch In India On 29th May As Flipkart Exclusive

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May 21, 2018

Earlier this month, we reported that Vivo is planning to launch its Vivo X21 smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor, in India by the end of this month. Recently, the company started sending out media invites for the launch of Vivo X21 on May 29.

While the company has not revealed the name of the phone, the invite features a big ‘X’, suggesting that the device in question is an ‘X series’ smartphone, likely the Vivo X21 that was introduced in China back in March.

Now, India’s homegrown eCommerce marketplace Flipkart has also confirmed that Vivo is indeed launching the in-display fingerprint sensor version of the X21 in India on May 29th and will be exclusively available through its platform.

The smartphone features a 6.28-inch Full-HD+ display with 19:9 aspect ratio and a screen resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels. Under the hood, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with Adreno 512 GPU, 6GB RAM and two options for internal storage — 64GB and 128GB. There’s also a microSD card slot, enabling users to further expand the phone’s storage capacity.

As for the photography department, on the front side, the smartphone features a 12-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture. On the back side, there’s a 12-megapixel primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 5-megapixel secondary lens with f/2.4 aperture.

Connectivity options on the Vivo X21 include 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v5.0, USB 2.0 with OTG support, and GPS. The smartphone runs FunTouch OS 4.0 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out-of-the-box. It is powered by a 3,200mAh battery and comes with support for fast charging.

In terms of pricing, the Vivo X21 with an under-display fingerprint sensor is priced at 3,598 Yuan (approximately $563 or Rs. 38,384) in China. Recently, the smartphone was launched in Singapore, where it has been priced at SGD 799 (approx. Rs. 39,900). So, we are expecting the Vivo X21 to be priced between Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 40,000 ($514 to $587) in India.

Samsung Galaxy S Light Luxury Edition Launches For ¥3999

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May 21, 2018

Samsung has announced a brand new phone for the Chinese market. The new device is the Galaxy S Light Luxury Edition and you won’t be wrong to call it a less-powerful Galaxy S8.

Galaxy S Light Luxury Design

The Galaxy S Light Luxury could pass for the Galaxy S8 from afar but both phones share some differences in design. The display is the same size and the bezels appear to be the same size too. It even has the same sensors including Samsung’s Iris scanning technology and support for Face Unlock.

On the rear is where there is a slight difference and that is the missing heart rate sensor below the LED flash. Samsung appears to have been lazy with the design which explains why the fingerprint scanner is still in the same awkward position as the Galaxy S8.

The Galaxy S Light Luxury has curved glass on both sides with an aluminum frame in-between. It is also IP68-rated and comes in Burgundy Red and Mystery Night Black.

Galaxy S Light Luxury Specs

The display is a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED screen but the resolution maxes out at 2220 x 1080 for an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Powering the S Light Luxury is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 mobile platform and it is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

A single 16MP f/1.7 1.12μm sensor with OIS graces the back of the phone and an 8MP camera with AI beauty mode sits above the display for selfies and video calls.

There is dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, a USB-C port, dual SIM support and a 3.5mm audio jack for connectivity. It packs a 3,000mAh battery and supports wireless charging.

The S Light Luxury runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, has Bixby built-in, and Samsung Pay.

Samsung Galaxy J6 and Galaxy J8 Launched In India, Price Starts At Rs. 13,990 ($205)

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May 21, 2018

As expected, Samsung has today launched two new smartphones in India under its ‘J Series’ — Samsung Galaxy J6 and Samsung Galaxy J8. The Galaxy J6 will be available for purchase in India from 22nd May through online retailer Flipkart, as well as Samsung Shop, and Paytm Mall.

The Samsung Galaxy J6 features a 5.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display with screen resolution of 1480 x 720 pixels and 18.5:9 aspect ratio along with a 2.5D curved glass on top. Under the hood, the device is powered by the company’s own Exynos 7870 octa-core14nm chipset, coupled with Mali T830 GPU.

It comes in two models based on the memory configuration — 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage and 4GB RAM with 64GB internal storage. There’s a microSD card slot, which enables users to further expand the phone’s storage capacity up to 256GB.

The smartphone comes with a 13-megapixel rear camera and an 8-megapixel front camera, both having LED flash for brighter photos during low-light scenarios. Connectivity options on the device include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, and GPS. On the back panel, just below the camera module, there’s a fingerprint sensor for added security.

It also has support for Face Unlock feature. Running on Android 8.0 Oreo operating system out of the box with Samsung Experience custom interface on top, the smartphone is powered by a 3,000mAh battery.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy J8 sports a 6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display with 1480 x 720 pixels screen resolution, 2.5D curved glass panel on top and 18.5:9 aspect ratio. This one is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 14nm octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz, along with Adreno 506 graphics processor and 4GB RAM.

It packs 16GB of internal storage and has a microSD card slot, using which users can further expand storage capacity up to 256GB. On the back side, there’s a 16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.7 aperture, and a secondary camera sensor of 5MP with f/1.9 aperture. On the front side, there’s a 16MP snapper with f/1.9 aperture for video calling and taking selfies.

The smartphone comes with a fingerprint sensor on the back and also supports Face Unlock feature. The device’s connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.2 LE, ANT+, and GPS. Running on Samsung Experience custom interface based on Android Oreo, the smartphone is powered by a 3,500mAh battery.

The Samsung Galaxy J6 is priced at Rs. 13,990 (~ $205) for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version while the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs Rs.16,490 (~ $242). On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy J8 is priced at Rs. 18,990 (approx. $279) and will be available for purchase from July.

OPPO R15 Nebula Special Edition Goes on Sale Online Today

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 21, 2018

OPPO launched a Nebula Special Edition of the premium mid-range OPPO R15 a couple of days back with the device billed to go on sale on May 20. Indeed, the OPPO R15 Nebula Special Edition has now gone on sale online via JD.com. The offline sales commenced on May 20 in China while the Online sales would run concurrently on JD.com, OPPO’s official website and other e-commerce platforms.

The OPPO R15 Nebula Special Edition comes with a blue-pink-purple color gradient design on its glass back panel. The design was a joint work between Egyptian industrial designer Karim Rashid, and the OPPO design team. So, the signature at the back panel is the designer’s signature. Apart from this, the device comes with the same specs as the regular version. That is a 6.28-inch Super-V display with a 2280 x 1080 resolution and 19:9 aspect ratio. The device is powered by an Helio P60 processor, paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

Other specs include a 20MP front-facing camera with face unlock and AI features, a 16MP + 5MP dual camera setup, ColorOS 5.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo, dual SIM support (nano only) and a 3450mAh battery with support for VOOC fast charge.

The OPPO R15 Nebula Special Edition is bundled with a pair of JBL custom-made earphones that match the color of the phone. As a result, it is priced slightly higher at ¥3199 (~$500). Without the custom-headphones, the R15 Nebula Special Edition is priced at ¥2999 (~$469).

(source)

OnePlus 6 Goes on Sale in India Today at Amazon & Pop-Up Stores

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May 21, 2018

The official sales of OnePlus 6 will begin in India on May 22 through Amazon India and OnePlus.in official store. However, from today 12 PM, the OnePlus will provide early access to the OnePlus 6 smartphone to some buyers. There are two ways to avail the OP6 before others. Customers who already have an Amazon Prime account can head to Amazon India to purchase the smartphone. The other option to buy the OP6 is to visit a nearest pop-up store.

At present, OnePlus will be only selling the Mirror Black and Midnight Black editions of the OnePlus 6. The third color variant of Silk White is a limited-edition phone that will go on sale starting from June 5 on Amazon India.

The OnePlus 6 comes in two variants in India. The 64 GB OnePlus 6 variant has 6 GB of RAM whereas its 128 GB model has 8 GB of RAM. Both the variants are fueled by Snapdragon 845. The base model is priced at Rs. 34,999 whereas the 128 GB OnePlus costs Rs. 39,999. The Chinese manufacturer has also released the special edition – OnePlus 6 Avengers Infinity Wars edition. Amazon India and OnePlus.in will begin its sales from May 29.

Amazon India – Early Access to Prime Members

Amazon India is offering a cashback of Rs. 2,000 for SBI credit or debit card users in the country. It is a limited period offer that will be available only during the first week. The other launch offers available for OP6 buyers include no cost EMI, Servify’s 1-year accidental damage insurance, Rs. 250 Amazon Prime Video gift card, discounts of up to Rs. 500 for placing orders for ebooks through Amazon Kindle. Idea users can also get a cashback of Rs. 2,000 along with device insurance. ClearTrip is providing benefits up to Rs. 25,000 on flight and hotel bookings.

Getting OnePlus 6 through Pop-Up Store

OnePlus is known for holding pop-up events in many countries of the world to let some buyers purchase the OnePlus 6 before its official sales. In other countries, pop-up store events will be held only on May 21, but India is the only region where OnePlus will be holding pop-up events. Buyers can visit the following pop-up store venues in India on the said dates to purchase the OnePlus 6:

Mumbai – Venue: High Street Phoenix
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
Bengaluru – Venue: OnePlus Experience Store
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
New Delhi – Venue: DLF Place Saket
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
Chennai – Venue: The Forum Vijaya
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
Kolkata – Venue: South City Mall
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
Hyderabad – Venue: The Forum Sujana
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
Pune – Venue: Phoenix Marketcity
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm
Ahmedabad – Venue: Gulmohar Park Mall
Date and Timing: May 21, IST 3:30pm-8:30pm; May 22, IST 11:00am-7:00pm

OnePlus will be giving away some freebies to the purchasers of OnePlus 6 including a chance to win the OP6 handset. Since the company will be selling limited units of the smartphone through its pop-up stores, it is advisable to reach the venue at the earliest to ensure a purchase.

Android 8.0 (EMUI 8.0) Announced For Honor 8 Lite, Beta Testers Wanted

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May 21, 2018

Huawei has gradually been updating its phones to Android 8.0 (and EMUI 8.0). Today, it has announced that the Honor 8 Lite/Honor 8 Youth will also be updated.

Honor 8 Lite EMUI 8.0 + Android 8.0

The Oreo update will first be available as a beta version for the device before a stable version is pushed out to users. If you want to try out the beta version, all you have to do is follow the following instructions:

Update the Honor service app to the latest version
Open the app and select the services tab
Select the “Upgrade application” option and tap “apply”
Once your application has been accepted, you will receive a notification for the OTA update.

Honor has also released a list of the supported Honor 8 Lite versions eligible for the beta program.

Honor 8 Lite PRA-AL00 (3GB RAM + 32GB ROM)
Honor 8 Lite PRA-AL00X (4GB RAM + 32GB ROM)
Honor 8 Lite PRA-AL00/PRA-AL00X (4GB RAM + 64GB ROM)
Honor 8 Lite PRA-TL10 (4GB RAM + 32GB ROM)
Honor 8 Lite PRA-TL10 (4GB RAM + 64GB ROM)

The Honor 8 Lite was released over a year ago in China. It has a 5.2-inch FHD screen, a Kirin 655 processor, and up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

Huawei To Release A Breakthrough Technology Later This Year, Could Be Inside A Honor Phone

By

Joel Joseph

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May 21, 2018

A few years back, Huawei was just a big networking and telecommunications giant from China. A regular phone user might have never even heard of this company. Fast forward to 2018, and Huawei’s smartphones are found in most of the top markets in the world. The company has slowly but steadily climbed up the smartphone rankings, now occupying the third place in the ever competitive smartphone market, just behind Samsung and Apple.

How did Huawei manage such a feat? Well, some of this credit has to go to its R&D department and it looks like this department will further fuel the company’s growth in the coming years.

Now, iFeng reports that Huawei has a formidable technology under development that will be launched very soon. The company has been making billions of dollars in investment in its R&D department, with the spending rising to nearly $14 billion last year. This makes Huawei one of the top companies to spend in R&D in the world. No wonder the company has managed to churn out innovative features and technologies like the triple camera setup found on the Huawei P20 Pro!

Recent reports claim that the company’s R&D spending in the coming years would reach as much as $20 billion! With so much money being invested in this department, we are expecting some exciting features on upcoming Huawei smartphones. Unfortunately, iFeng wasn’t able to get more information on this new formidable technology from the company.

We don’t even know whether the company’s new breakthrough is in the hardware or the software department. If it’s in the hardware department, it could be something related to an independent NPU module alongside its processors for its phones for faster and efficient Machine learning, but at this moment, this is just a speculation.

If its in the software department, it could be something related to its OS. Remember the Honor Magic smartphone that launched at the end of 2016? The phone had a lot of sensors that ensured privacy and special features such as WiseScreen, and FaceCode Intelligent Recognition. Then there was the Magic Live Assistant which added an extra layer of AI-based software for special tasks.

We are not sure of what exactly this breakthrough technology might be, but I’m sure it’s going to be something exciting. Maybe the company finally perfected foldable smartphones? We can’t be sure but stay tuned for more updates.

iFeng reports that the technology will launch alongside an Honor smartphone in the near future. An exact time frame wasn’t given, but it should be before the end of this year.

(Source)

Alleged Xiaomi Mi 8 Front Panel Appears Alongside Another Mysterious Notched Xiaomi Phone

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May 21, 2018

Xiaomi has confirmed that it will be holding an unveil event by the end of this month. Probably, the event will be held on May 31. It is speculated that its major attraction will be the Mi 8^th Anniversary Edition phone that may debut with Xiaomi Mi 8 moniker. Rumors have it that it will be the first Android phone to arrive with 3D facial recognition feature. Two new spy shots of the front panel of the alleged Mi 8 phone has surfaced recently. The new images have also revealed that the Mi 8 will be arriving with a wider notch for housing structured light 3D module that will enable 3D facial scanning on the phone.

The wider notch seen in the above image shown above matches with the leaked image of the Mi 8’s 3D facial scanning module that had surfaced in the last week.

Like the TrueDepth Camera system on the iPhone X that enables Face ID 3D facial recognition on it, the Mi 8’s notch could be packed with multiple sensors like front camera, earpiece, proximity sensor, ambient sensor, infrared lens, flood illuminator and dot projector and so on. This could be the reason why the alleged Mi 8 features a wider notch.

Apple iPhone X Face ID 3D Face Recognition

All Android phones available in the market that are equipped face unlock feature carry support for 2D facial scanning. They can recognize face to unlock the phone in bright light, but they are not reliable in dim-light conditions. Hence, 2D facial scanning is not as accurate as 3D facial recognition available on the iPhone X. As mentioned above, the Mi 8 could be arriving as the first Android smartphone with 3D facial recognition.

The above image shows front panel of two notched display phones. These could be the upcoming flagship phones from the company. The front panel present on the left side corresponds with the very first image in this post which suggests it could be belong to the Xiaomi Mi 8. However, the front panel of the mysterious phone shown on the right reveals that it is a smaller device than the Mi 8. The size of its chin is also smaller than the Mi 8. It is speculated that the front panel placed on the right side could belong to the Mi 7.

Xiaomi’s Shenzhen event is only 10 days away. Hence, the rumor mill is expected to reveal more information on the upcoming Xiaomi devices that are expected to go official on May 31. Some rumors have claimed that the Mi Max 3 may also debut on the said date. However, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has today revealed that it could be announced in July.

(via)

Moto G6 And Moto G6 Play Is All Set To Launch In India On 4th June

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