Facebook to Add Dating Service to Attract Young Users

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May 2, 2018

Xiaomi launched the Mi Box set-top box in the U.S in 2016 and the sales have been pretty awesome. The Mi Box launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and has not been officially updated to Android Nougat. It is, therefore, an interesting twist that the Mi Box has now reportedly been updated to Android Oreo. A Reddit user has confirmed that his unit got the update and he even shared a screenshot.

This is no doubt a good one for the numerous M Box users across the globe. But the thing is, the user who got the Oreo update on his Mi Box had enrolled in the beta program when Xiaomi conducted a search for beta tester last year. The implication of this is that the update is likely only available to beta testers at the moment despite it being a stable build. But it is an indication that the Mi Box users in the U.S and perhaps elsewhere may soon start getting Android Oreo update.

As a reminder, the Mi Box comes in a compact size just about that of a pocket wallet with some more weight and is coloured in matte black with ports for HDMI, USB, audio and power at the back. What could be said to be the main attraction on the device is its ability to stream 4K video at 60 frames per seconds (fps), something Apple TV cannot do. This 4K streaming ability places the device at par with Amazon TV box and Roku. Thus, Xiaomi claims the Mi Box is the best, most technically advanced streaming box money can buy and it came with a cheap price tag of just $69. The price still hovers around $69 but we recently spotted a seller on Amazon who offers the Mi Box for $39.99. That is the cheapest we have seen so far.

ASUS Zenfone Max Pro (M1) Gets Updated Just A Week After Launch

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May 2, 2018

The ASUS Zenfone Max Pro (M1) unveiled in India last week has been referred to as the Redmi Note 5 Pro killer. Although the latter outshines it in some departments, ASUS may have gained a new upper hand and that is in the speed of updates.

Just a week after its launch, ASUS has pushed out a new update to the device. This is no small update. Not only is it a whopping 1.3GB in size, it brings some new features and fixes some issues with the device.

According to YouTuber @geekyranjit, the update enables the Face Unlock feature, slightly improves the response time of the fingerprint scanner, and also improves the fluidity of the UI. Do note that the Zenfone Max Pro actually runs a stock-like version of Android.

The update is likely to be the one that will come bundled with the phone when it goes on sale tomorrow, so you may not receive a “new update”.

READ MORE: ASUS Zenfone Live L1 Launched In Indonesia

Buy Pisen wireless presenter

Check out Awesome and Unique Gadgets from Pisen! (Review)

By

Linus

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May 2, 2018

Pisen is one of the largest Chinese electronics makers and we had a chance to check out some unique gadgets made by the company. Let’s take a look.

The first one is PISEN Wireless Presenter, that costs just $17. Basically, you can use it as a laser pen for presentations and control the computer as you would do that with the wireless mouse or keyboard.

A cool thing is that the dongle, that you have to plugin to your computer, is safely stored in the laser pen itself.

Another great feature is that the device has a built-in 2500mah battery that works as a power bank.

The Pisen wireless presenter works with both windows and mac and it requires no installation. Just plug and play and you are ready to go. You have up/down and play/pause buttons and so far the device has been working fine and I think it offers a lot of value for the price of just about 17 bucks.

Another device is also really interesting as it is a rechargeable hand warmer and a power bank 2-in-1.

This is truly a unique device. At the first glance, it looks like a pebble-shaped power bank that can charge your gadgets.

However, you can turn on the heating mode and the entire device becomes warm. It can provide a comfortable temperature of 122℉/ 50℃. The main purpose of it is to keep your hands warm in winter. I think that a pretty cool idea that I haven’t seen before.

Other aspects of this device: the outer shell is made of plastic and aluminum and I found the overall build quality to be great. There are also LED lights that indicate the amount of juice left in the battery. For the price $29.99, this seems like an interesting 2 in 1 device – a 7500mAh power bank and a hand warmer. It’s no surprise that this gadget won Reddot design and CES Innovation awards.

Buy Rechargeable Hand Warmer Power Bank 2-in-1

The PISEN Slim Power Bank is a classic power bank that has the capacity of 10000mAh and it costs $26.99.

Obviously, there are plenty of power banks on the market but this one looks really nice especially that red/black color combo.

Another cool feature is that the device has an LCD screen that shows the capacity left. Again, we’ve seen this feature before but I love the minimal approach in the design department.

The power bank has 2 USB ports (one port is “smart”, meaning that it detects the device you connected and optimizes the charging speeds).

The power bank worked well during our tests and therefore we can recommend it.

Buy PISEN Slim Power Bank 10000mAh

The gadget we had a chance to check out is the PISEN 20000mAh Portable Charger that costs $33.99.

This is a larger power bank that has the capacity of 2000mAh.

Same as the previous power bank, this one has an LCD panel that shows how much juice is left in the tank.

Even though the battery pack is made of plastic, we found the overall build quality to be pretty good.

Buy PISEN 20000mAh Portable Charger

Xiaomi Gets into The Streaming Business With Mi Music & Mi Video Apps

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May 2, 2018

There are a number of manufacturers who have their own streaming services. One of the most popular ones is Apple Music which is available on multiple platforms. Xiaomi, today announced its entry into the streaming business with two new apps.

The new streaming apps are Mi Music and Mi Video and are available for the Indian market. The Mi Video app which will be available next week will offer streaming services from AltBalaji, SonyLiv, Voot, Hungama Play, Zee5, Viu, and TVF etc. Xiaomi says there are over 500,000 hours of video content with 80% being free.

The Mi Video app has a cast function which allows you to share what you are watching to your smart TV. It also has support for a wide variety of video formats, subtitles, and private folders.

The Mi Music App offers songs from Hungama Music which has over 10 million songs from 13 different languages. If you wish to download the songs for offline consumption, you will have to pay Rs.899 (~$14) a year for the service.

Mi Music also has a new feature called Dynamic Lyrics which shows the lyrics of the song currently playing. You can also scroll through the lyrics and when you do so, it automatically jumps to that part of the song.

Samsung Gear S4 Reportedly In The Works With LTE In Two Size Variants

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 2, 2018

This is not the first time we are hearing that Samsung Gear S4 is in the making. Fresh reports are suggesting that the Korean giant is actually developing the new smartwatch and it is identified by the codename Galileo internally. The company is said to be working on the wearable in the U.S. and it is expected to release it within the end of this year. It is likely that we will see it in Q4 2018 with the model number SM-R800. From what the report from SamMobile is suggesting, the smartwatch will carry LTE connectivity and it will be available to purchase from three major U.S. carriers: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Samsung Gear S4 will also be available in two different sizes: probably, there will be a smaller size for women and a bigger one for men. It should come with a better hardware and also more advanced health and fitness features. Among these, there should be an improved sleep tracking feature. Just like its predecessors, Samsung Gear S4 is expected to come with Tizen OS installed, that is Samsung’s own operating system. It is totally unrelated to Android and it features its own apps available on Tizen Store.

There is no info about the other specs of the wearable and there are not even rumors regarding its launch price, but we expect it to be priced above two hundred dollars. Even though its predecessor is just a compact smartwatch, the Samsung Gear S3 features a great AMOLED display with a size of 1.3 inches and a resolution of 360 x 360 pixels. It is fully waterproof and dustproof with IP68 certification, and its glass is protected by Gorilla Glass SR+. On the connectivity side, it supports GPS, Wi-Fi and LTE, as well as a useful and accurate heart rate sensor.

(via)

Triple-Camera 360 N7 Obtains A High SD660-Level Score On AnTuTu

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 2, 2018

360 N7 could be an outstanding device as it’s expected to boast incredible specs and performance at a flagship-killer price. The upcoming upper-midrange handset from 360 Mobiles has just been tested on AnTuTu benchmark and it has obtained a total score of 138,962 points. The score is consistent with the one obtained by the actual upper-midrange phones with the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC on board. And this device is expected to come with an octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 chipset which is currently the main rival of Snapdragon 660.

On the leaked screenshot captured from AnTuTu benchmark app on the N7, we can also see that the handset has scored more than 63K points in CPU performance and more than 29K points at GPU performance. Besides the leaked benchmarks, a render showing the whole rear side of the handset has leaked as well. If the image is to be believed, 360 N7 is likely to launch as the second smartphone with a triple camera setup on its back. Unlike Huawei P20 Pro, the triple camera has been placed horizontally near the top border, exactly at the center of the upper antenna band.

As you may have understood, the phone has a full metal unibody design. Under the camera, there is a LED flash and also a circular fingerprint reader, while the volume rocker has been placed on the right side of the handset, as well as the power key. Given that 360 N6 was launched with an 18:9 bezel-less display and given that the fingerprint reader was placed on the back, we assume that 360 N7 will have a borderless display as well. According to latest reports, 360 N7 should be announced on May 8 in Beijing with Helio P60 and 6 GB of RAM, but there is a chance that it will come with a Snapdragon 660.

(via)

Vivo X21 Makes Its Way To The Global Market: Launches In Singapore On May 5

By

Michele Ingelido

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May 2, 2018

Vivo’s flagship, the Vivo X21 is officially going to make its way out of China: starting from May 5, the handset will be available to purchase in Singapore with a price tag of S$799, which roughly translates into $598. In the coming months, the handset will also be launched in several other countries, even though we still don’t know the exact details.

The version which is going to be available in Singapore is the one with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage which you can expand up to 256 GB with a micro SD. The company has announced the launch in Singapore through a Facebook post which you can check by heading to the source link at the end of this post.

Even though it is not the most powerful flagship as it features an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, Vivo X21 is one of the most attractive devices in terms of aesthetics. It has one of the highest screen-to-body ratios and a wide 6.28-inch Super AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution and a 19:9 aspect ratio. It even features an innovative in-display fingerprint reader and a great 12 MP dual camera.

(source, via)

Steljes NS3 Speakers Review – Superb Audio Quality for the Price

By

Linus

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May 2, 2018

This is the Steljes NS3 – a high-end loudspeaker system with Bluetooth that costs £199.00 and for that price, you get a premium design and premium sound. Learn more in our Steljes NS3 Speakers review.

VIDEO

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5lL0J6PcYk[/embedyt]

UNBOXING

The speakers ship with a bunch of cables you need to get started. I like that there are all audio cables and two power cords with both the UK and EU adapters. There is also a high-quality remote controller that is made out of metal and it feels premium.

DESIGN and FEATURES

To be honest, the design is the key selling point to me. There are many different color options to choose from and I will leave the product link in the video description if you want to check it out. My favourite colour is the frost white. The speakers have a nice glossy finish that matches really well with IKEA or other furniture.

The build quality is excellent as the speakers are well-constructed, all the cutouts are precise and overall, the Steljes NS3 system looks very premium.

Each speaker provides 45w of volume output and that is achieved by using tweeters on the top and lows/mids speakers on the bottom.

On the back of each speaker, you can find a woofer hole.

One of the speakers has a built-in class D amplifier and there are many ports to choose from. Besides all the usual ports, we have the USB out port that allows you to charge gadgets like smartphones. You can use the traditional audio ports but I prefer streaming music via the Bluetooth.

SOUND QUALITY

Sound quality is really impressive and one of the best in this price range. I love that the sound is balanced, deep, there is a good separation between mids, lows and highs and I didn’t notice any distortions at the highest volume setting. I also didn’t have any issues with Bluetooth and sound quality is excellent too. As for the volume output, you can rest assured that the speakers will fill in the largest rooms or even the entire apartment. Really impressive for such compact speakers.

You can also tweak the sound using a remote controller in a lot of different ways thanks to the built-in electronic crossover.

There is also a knob on one of the speakers for volume control.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, I was really impressed with the Steljes Audio NS3 loudspeakers. They look nice, the build quality is excellent, there are plenty of ports, Bluetooth works fine and last but not least, the sound quality is really impressive for such compact and budget speaker system.

So far I didn’t have any issues or can see any major shortcomings. Therefore, I can recommend this speaker system as they offer great value for the price, especially considering the fact that they come with a 4-year warranty.

Buy Steljes NS3 Speakers on Amazon UK

LG G7 ThinQ Launches With Notch, Dedicated Google Assistant Button & More

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May 2, 2018

South Korea’s LG Mobile has announced its latest flagship, the LG G7 ThinQ. The new flagship comes with a bunch of new features, a new design, and a notch.

LG G7 ThinQ Design

The most striking change in the LG G7 ThinQ is the notch in the display. Yes, LG has joined the notch train. This is not news as we already knew this from leaked images and a hands-on video from a few months ago.

Even with the notch, the LG G7 ThinQ has a bit of bezel at the top which makes you question why there is a notch in the first place.

On the rear, LG has switched to a vertical arrangement for the dual cameras. Flanking it on the right is the LED flash and laser focus module, and below is the fingerprint scanner. Sadly, the scanner doesn’t double as a power button anymore.

The power button is now on the right-hand side while the volume buttons are on the left. LG has also added a new button for launching Google Assistant. The button can’t be reprogrammed but it is a quick way to access the assistant.

LG G7 ThinQ Specs

The G7’s display is bigger than that of the G6. It is now 6.1” and with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 (QHD+). As expected, there is a Snapdragon 845 processor powering it and it is paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.

There are dual 16MP cameras on the rear and one takes super-wide-angle shots (107°). The cameras now have AI features similar to those in the LG V30S ThinQ. There is scene recognition which can tell if you are taking the picture of a person, landscape, pet, and more. There is also a Super Bright camera mode for automatic brightness adjustment in low-light conditions. The front camera is an 8MP sensor with portrait mode too.

The LG G7 ThinQ has 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC and a Boombox Speaker feature with an extra boost of bass. There is also DTS Audio for cinema-like audio (7.1-Channel audio to be exact) but you’ll need wired earphones or a speaker to enjoy this feature.

Other features of the LG G7 includes IP68-rating, an audio jack, Android Oreo, and a 3,000mAh battery with support for wireless charging.

ASUS Zenfone Live L1 Launched In Indonesia

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May 2, 2018

ASUS has launched a new entry-level smartphone for the Indonesian market. The new phone is called the Zenfone Live L1 (ZA550KL) and should not to be confused with the Zenfone Live (ZB501KL) which is also sold in the country.

The Zenfone Live L1 has a 5.5” Full View display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio and reduced bezels give the phone the form factor of a 5” device. The screen is IPS LCD and has a 1440 x 720 resolution.

Under the hood is a Snapdragon 425 processor paired with 1GB or 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage on both variants. According to the source, only the 2GB variant will be sold in Indonesia.

The phone has a triple card slot which allows you to use two SIM cards at a time and add up to an extra 2TB of storage via a MicroSD card slot.

The Zenfone Live L1 has a 13MP rear camera with PDAF and a 5MP front-facing camera that also supports Face Unlock and wefies (wide angle selfies).

The phone runs Android Oreo with ZenUI 5.0 overlay. It has a 3000mAh battery, a micro USB port, and USB OTG support.

Xiaomi Beats OPPO In Q1 2018 To Emerge 4th Largest Global Phone Vendor

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May 2, 2018

The golden age which saw Chinese phone maker OPPO post strong growth over the past eight quarters in a row may well be finally over after all. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the Chinese vendor’s shipment annual growth rate dropped to zero and even though it maintained the 4^th position in the global smartphone market by volume, the distance with Xiaomi which occupied the 5^th spot was further narrowed down. It was only a matter of time before Xiaomi outpaced OPPO and that it has done in Q1 2018. A report by Strategic Analytics shows that Xiaomi has finally surpassed OPPO in market share this quarter to emerge as the fourth largest smartphone vendor in terms of shipment volume.

The report shows that the global smartphone shipments experienced a 2% fall YoY, as it peaked at 345 million units in Q1 2018. Samsung still maintained its lead with an estimated 78.2 million shipment representing a 22.7% market share. This is slightly lower than the 80.2 million units shipped in Q1 2017. Apple follows at the second place with a total shipment of 52.2 million units, up from 50.8 million last year while Huawei’s shipment grew from 34.5 million to 39.5 million units. Here comes the big one, Xiaomi shipped 28.3 million smartphones in Q1 2018, up from 12.6 million units shipped in Q1 2017. On the other hand, OPPO’s shipments plummeted from 27.6 million in Q1 2017 to 24.1 million units.

Huawei and Xiaomi performed best among the major players and both hit record market share levels. Xiaomi’s 8% market share in Q1 2018 doubled its shipment during this same period last year. This exponential growth can be attributed to Xaiomi’s rapid expansion across Asia, particularly in India. This expansion and Huawei’s much-improved smartphone portfolio is responsible for OPPO’s slump.

Real OnePlus 6 Appears Alongside iPhone X, OnePlus 5T in Freshly Leaked Photos

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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May 2, 2018

The May 17 launch date of OnePlus 6 is not far away, and the rumor mill is working hard to reveal fresh leaks on it. Newly leaked images of what appears to be the real OnePlus 6 handset has appeared. In one of the images, it can be seen besides the Apple iPhone X and in another image is it placed alongside the OnePlus 5T.

In terms of appearance, the notched display enabled OnePlus 6 resembles the OPPO R15 that was earlier this year. When compared to the iPhone X, the OnePlus 6 features a smaller notch as it does include the complex 3D facial recognition sensors. The notch houses an LED notification indicator, a selfie camera and an earpiece.

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has confirmed in the recent past that the company will be providing an option blacken the display areas on the either sides of the notch to make it appear like a regular. This will make the OnePlus 6 look like the OnePlus 5T with slightly reduced upper and lower bezels.

The bottom edge of the OnePlus 6 features a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB-C slot at the center and an external speaker. The left edge of the OP6 an Alert Slider at the top followed by the volume rocker. None of the images in the new leak showcases the rear side of the smartphone. However, previous leaks have claimed that the OnePlus 6 will be featuring a dual camera setup and a fingerprint scanner on its back panel.

As far as design is concerned, the OnePlus 6 will be arriving with a glass rear. Also, it is expected to carry certain level of waterproofing too.

What do you think about the appearance of the real OnePlus 6? Share us your views by posting your comments below.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Sales Fall Below Expectation Even in South Korea

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May 2, 2018

Samsung‘s latest Galaxy S9 series is already on sale all over the world and the performance hasn’t been so good. One would have expected that the story would be different in Samsung’s home country, South Korea but that isn’t the case.

A report by the Investor shows that the tech giant sold an estimated 476,000 Galaxy S9 series units in March, but the number came crashing down to 231,000 in April. Samsung is said to have sold 707,000 units of the Galaxy S9 in the first two months, which is lower than almost 1 million unit sales of its predecessor Galaxy S8 last year. Apple’s iPhone X didn’t perform any better as its sales reportedly slumped as well. The iPhone X sales in Korea for the first four months after it was launched in November is estimated to be around 475,000 units, with just about 70,000 units sold in February. This is considered low since there wasn’t any competing flagship like the Galaxy S9 as at February.

The reason for the sluggish sales of the two most popular flagships around is pinned by Industry watchers on their high pricing and little upgrades in key features. In Korea, the iPhone X and the Galaxy S9 are priced at 1.55 million won (US$1,452) and 1.15 million won ($1069) respectively and you’ll agree these are on the high side. For half their prices, you could grab the Mi Mix 2s or even the OnePlus 6 which is expected to launch soon. The Mi Mix 2s comes with the same build quality and hardware as the duo and the OnePlus 6 will offer a similar quality for way less.

Xiaomi Teases New S Series Product, Is It Surge S2 SoC Or Redmi S2 Smartphone?

By

Jeet

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May 2, 2018

Today, Xiaomi teased a new product through microblogging platform Weibo. The upcoming product is speculated to be in the S-series given that the company has posted an image which has a big “S” drawn.

Apart from the “S” shaped ribbon in the posted image, there is no further information revealed. Based on the previous rumors and reports, the upcoming product announcement could be related to the Surge S2 SoC or the Redmi S2 smartphone. However, the image teaser is most likely for the Redmi S2.

The upcoming Redmi S2 appeared in a leaked video a few days ago from Czech Republic website dotekomanie.cz. The source says the phone is already on display at a Mi Store in the Czech Republic, suggesting that the company has entered a new market in Europe.

Earlier leaks related to the smartphone has revealed that the phone will come with a 5.99-inch display having 1440 x 720 pixels screen resolution. Under the hood, it will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

The phone is expected to pack dual rear cameras – 12-megapixel primary lens and a 5-megapixel secondary lens. On the front side, there’ll a 16-megapixel snapper along with an LED flash for brighter selfies. It is also said to have 3,080mAh battery and will run MIUI 9 based on Android Oreo operating system out-of-the-box.

The Redmi S2’s leaked pricing information suggests that it will be priced VND 3,999,000, which roughly translates to $176. The pricing is in Vietnam Dong, suggesting that the phone will also be available in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi is also working on the launch of the successor of Surge S1, its first in-house chipset — Surge S2. According to rumors, the Surge S2 should be on par with Huawei’s Kirin 960, which is the chipset found on the Huawei P10 and Mate 9 series.

Recent reports indicate that Xiaomi has increased orders at several Taiwanese manufacturers in the IT supply chain. Among these, there are TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Largan Precision, Inventec, and Foxconn. The Surge S2 processor has been mentioned in an alleged contract signed by the Chinese company with TSMC. Reports are suggesting that the SoC will be realized by TSMC with a 16nm production process.

(Source)

LG V30s ThinQ Now Available in The U.S For Preorder

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May 2, 2018

South Korea electronics giant LG‘s newest flagship, the V30s ThinQ is now available for pre-order in the U.S, a couple of months after it was launched. Interested buyers can now pre-order the device on U.S retailer B&H where it is listed with a price tag of $930. The B7H listing is available in Glossy Moroccan Blue and Matte Moroccan Blue.

The LG V30S ThinQ was launched in March this year and has been available in South Korea since then. The device doesn’t look different from the V30 released last year, save for some minor tweaks. The V30s ThinQ sports a 6-inch P-OLED QHD+ FullVision display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. The processor is paired with a 6GB RAM and there is 128GB ROM onboard.

The device packs a 5MP selfie camera while at the back, there is a 16MP f/1.6 + 13MP f/1.9 wide-angle dual rear camera. The device comes with an IP68 rating and there is a 3,300 mAh battery with QC 3.0 support. The handset is compatible with all major US carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint. However, the date successful orders will ship wasn’t mentioned.