Third Batch of MIUI 9 Developer ROM Open Beta Released

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Sep 8, 2017

Xiaomi has announced the roll out of the third batch of MIUI 9 Developer ROM for models not already captured in the first and second batches. This update is for the China ROM and this should be the open beta since Xiaomi had already rolled out the closed beta to its beta testers a few weeks back. To get the update, users of the models getting the update whose phones are installed with MIUI 8 Developer ROM will get direct OTA upgrade to MIUI 9. On the other hand, those running MIUI 8 Stable version will need to head over to the MIUI official website and apply for unlocking of the ROM. They’ll then manually download MIUI 9 and then flash the ROM into their model. In this case, they’ll need to back up personal data to avoid loss of important documents.

The list of models for the third batch of MIUI 9 closed Beta update include; Mi 3, Mi Note 3, Mi Note 2 / 2S, Mi Pad 3, Mi Pad 2, Mi Pad 1, Redmi Pro, Redmi Note 4X-MediaTek version, Redmi Note 4 (all versions), Redmi Note 3S / 3X, Redmi Note 3 (all versions), Redmi Note 2 (all versions), Redmi Note (all versions), Redmi Note 1S, and Redmi Note 1. This update is reputed to be the largest group update Xioami has ever done but there are still a few models whose upgrade will be delayed a little in order to fix some issues.

Xiaomi had already released MIUI 9 Closed Beta updates for the Xiaomi Mi 6, Mi 5X, and Redmi Note Note 4X (Qualcomm version) in the first instance. Later on the Mi MIX, Mi Note 2, Mi 5, Mi 5s, Mi 5s Plus, Mi 5c, Mi Max 2, Mi Max, Mi 4S, Mi 4c, Mi Note Pro, and Redmi 4X were among the second batch of models that got updates recently. The tech giant is expected to unveil the stable ROM by October. So, if you don’t have any idea how to root your device or flash a ROM, it is not advisable to attempt flashing the ROM because the phone can get permanently damaged. In such situation, it is best to wait for the stable ROM to drop in October.

(source)

Unlocked Galaxy S8 Active May Release Soon As SM-G892U Gets Wi-Fi Certification

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 8, 2017

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active was launched earlier this month in the U.S. The smartphone that has a model number of SM-G892A is exclusively selling through AT&T in the country. It appears that the South Korean company may gearing up for releasing the Galaxy S8 Active globally as a Samsung handset with model number SM-G892U has received Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) certification.

Unlocked Galaxy S8 Active Wi-Fi Alliance Certification

Read More: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Durability Tests; Find Out Whether it Fails Tests for Scratch, Burn and Bend

The SM-G892U was certified yesterday and since the model number is very similar to that of Galaxy S8 Active. The presence of “U” in the model number indicates that it could be an unlocked version of the Galaxy S8 Active.

The South Korean company has always sold the Active variants of the Galaxy S series exclusively through AT&T in the U.S. The Galaxy S6 Active (SM-890A) and Galaxy S7 Active (SM-891A) were sold only through AT&T in the U.S. However, the WFA certification of SM-892U suggests that Samsung may soon debut the first Active edition of its Galaxy S lineup.

There is no information available on the release date of the alleged unlocked Galaxy S8 Active. However, since it is Wi-Fi certified, its arrival may not be far away. Like the S8 Active, its unlocked edition will be coming with same specs as Galaxy S8 but may come with a different design.

It is expected to feature a MIL-STF-810G and IP68 certified full metallic body instead of glass chassis. Instead of full screen display, it is likely to feature a 5.8-inch S-AMOLED screen with Quad HD resolution and house a larger battery of 4,000mAh capacity. It is expected to feature Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. The Galaxy S8 Active is available in unique colors like Meteor Gray and Tungsten Gold. The unlocked edition of the phone may feature the same two colors.

Will you be interested in buying an unlocked version of the Galaxy S8 Active? Share us your thoughts by adding your comments below.

(via)

Meizu’s Li Nan Reveals Bezel-less Phone Will Meet With Us Next Year

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 8, 2017

The smartphone industry is presently witnessing a proliferation of bezel-less full-screen phones and it is a trend that has caught up with almost all major OEMs in the industry. Those that are yet to get on the train are either about to launch their’s or are still working on their own models. Meizu seems to be one of those still working on its bezel-less smartphone. The idea of a Meizu phone has been in the news for a while now and very recently, a bezel-less Meizu mBlu Zero was spotted online only revealing a part of the bezel-less display.

The Meizu mBlu Zero looks like a device from the Blue Charm product line which has been repositioned and has the premium M6 Note as its first model after the restructuring of the entire Meizu brand. The name very well suggests the device will be in the Blue Charm line and so, it wasn’t very surprising when Meizu’s Li Nan responded to the rumored mBlu device.

For the avoidance of doubt, Li Nan is the President of the Meizu Blue Charm division and he did confirm that they are working on a full-screen phone and it would be released next year. This is coming as an interesting piece of information because Meizu has repeatedly denied they were working on a full-screen phone when the rumor first emerged.

(source)

Google Said To Be In Final Stage Of Negotiation Of HTC Acquisition

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Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 8, 2017

Before Lenovo acquired Motorola, the American company was owned by Google. Even though the period of ownership was a short one, it marked a turn around for Motorola as that was the time Motorola released the Moto G, Moto X, Moto E and Moto 360 which brought the company back its lost glory. Report has it that Google may want to perform its magic again on HTC, another dying phone giant.

HTC has faced a steady decline in the last couple of years. Its financial report says last month (August) was its worst in 13 years. The Taiwanese giant suffered a 51.5% drop in revenue compared to the previous month. That’s really bad and it appears it will continue to decline seeing as the company has no new phone in the pipeline.

Chinese media, Commercial Times, says Google is in “final stage of negotiation” with respect to HTC’s smartphone business. The search giant is considering either becoming a strategic partner or buying the smartphone unit entirely.

The result of the outcome of the negotiation is still unknown but one thing we can agree on is that Google needs its own hardware company if it plans to take on Apple. HTC has partnered with Google multiple times. It made the Google Nexus One, the Nexus 9 and the Pixel. It is also the company making the Pixel 2. So its fair enough to say that Google trusts their manufacturing capabilities.

You may be wondering why Google didn’t just stick to Motorola instead. Reports say the Motorola acquisition was for one key reason – to acquire its patents and keep them from competitors such as Apple and Microsoft.

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New Water-Based Batteries that Does Not Explode Being Tested by Researchers

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 8, 2017

One of the smartphone components that can explode on overheating is the battery. The very streamline design of the Galaxy Note 7 and its faulty battery caused those phablets to explode because of which Samsung had to carry out global recall. Hence, smartphone OEMs carry out numerous quality tests on the battery to ensure total safety to the user. Some companies are also researching on new technologies that can prevent exploding risks on batteries. A team of researchers from the University of Maryland are working on a water-based battery and have published their research in the journal Joule.

Smartphones usually make use of lithium-ion batteries that contain electrolytes that assist in moving ions between electrodes. Since these electrolytes are made from organic chemicals, they may ignite under some conditions. Water-based electrolytes that are fireproof do exist, but they are not very powerful since water is not very reactive in nature.

The researchers have devised lithium-ion batteries that makes use of water in place of organic chemicals. Moreover, these batteries are as powerful as tis organic chemical counterpart and they do not explode. The electrodes of these new batteries contain a coating that does not degrade when it comes in contact with water-based electrolyte. These newly developed batteries function better than the already existing water-based batteries.

There is one major issue associated with the new kind of battery is that it can only function for around 70 cycles. Batteries that are required for smartphones should have longer life of around 500 cycles. Hence, the researchers need to clear the next hurdle so the battery can be used on daily devices.

Once the above obstacle is cleared, we may soon see smartphones with water-based batteries. All the technical details of their research can be found in the source link.

(source|via)

Nokia 9 Concept Video Shows Off Its Thin Bezels & Dual Cameras

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 8, 2017

HMD Global announced the Nokia 8 which is its first flagship Android phone since the return of the brand, about three weeks back. Th device featured a Snapdragon 835 processor as well as a Carl Zeiss camera among others. However, the Nokia 8’s design left some fans disappointed due to its close semblance to Nokia’s previous mid-range Nokia 6 which also looked like the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. Apart from the dual cameras at the rear and a couple of other features, the Nokia 8 doesn’t look too spectacular for a flagship, it’s first at that.

Well, no need seething about the Nokia 9, just look forward to the next flagship Nokia 9. There is no chance we’d be seeing that anytime soon because the Nokia 8 is yet to even full roll out and go up for sale. But a Nokia 9 Concept video has popped up online cooked up by Concept Creators. The Concept video reveals a device with very thin bezels with side bezels completely absent. The Nokia 9 Concept also features a curved glass on top of its display. This gives the sides of the phone some bit of curvature and that is easily noticeable in the provided video. The Nokia 9 in question also doesn’t have any buttons up at the front as it features on-screen keys. The capacitive keys are all located on the right side of the device.

The Nokia 9 Concept suggests that Nokia may likely continue its parley with Carl Zeiss on the Nokia 9 as it features a vertically aligned 13MP dual camera setup on the back (Zeiss’ optics) with dual-tone LED flash just below the cameras. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack located at the very top while it uses the Type-C port located on the bottom edge. You can check out other features from the Concept video below.

Apple Rules in Market Share in China as Samsung Slips to Sixth Position

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 8, 2017

Samsung has been consistently losing market share in China. A new market survey has revealed that the South Korean company market share has dropped to such an extent it is on the sixth position in the list of top smartphone brands in China. The market trend in the country shows that customers prefer buying cheaper smartphones from local brands.

According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Samsung has sold 48 million smartphones by the second quarter of this year. Apple is holding the first position with shipments of 171 million iPhones by Q2 2017.

The positions from second through fifth are occupied by smartphone OEMs from China. Huawei is sitting on the second place with shipments of 132 million units. The third position belongs to OPPO with a market share of 124 million units in the same quarter. Vivo and Xiaomi are respectively on the fourth and fifth position with market share of 108 and 68 million units in Q2 2017.

It has been found that around 63 percent smartphones that have been sold in China in the same quarter are low or mid-range devices that are priced less than 2,999 Yuan (~$305). Only 6.4 percent smartphone users in China invested in buying a 4,000 Yuan or higher premium phones, out of which Apple accounted for an absolute majority.

The market survey has also revealed that 50 percent of OPPO phones are bought by youth aging between 16 and 25 in China. However, only 25 percent users of OPPO and Vivo phones have said that they are interested in buying phones from the same brand again. Apple iPhone owners seem to be satisfied with their smartphones as 53.4 percent of its users that would an iPhone again. Buyers of Samsung phones seem to be disappointed as only 7.2 percent its users in China have shown interest in choosing the same brand again for their next smartphone.

Since the launch of iPhone 6, Samsung has failed to compete with iPhones with its Galaxy S or Note series phones. Since then, Samsung has stopped rivaling Apple as the latter has become a customer of the South Korean company for items like displays, chipsets and memory units. Despite poor track record in China since a couple of years, Samsung still holds the numero uno position in the second quarter 2017 across the world.

(source|via)

Apple iPhone Edition Specifications Yet to be Finalized?

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 8, 2017

The Apple iPhone Edition (aka iPhone Pro or iPhone X) is speculated as the upcoming OLED panel enabled smartphone that will be arriving coming with some advanced specs. There have been mixed rumors on the launch and availability of the smartphone. A recent report has revealed that the specifications of the alleged iPhone Edition have not been finalized yet.

An anonymous representative from Apple’s local supplier has revealed that the shipments of the 2017 iPhones began from late August. He added that its firm has not received exact details on the supply volume as Apple is still finalizing on the specifications of the forthcoming iPhone that will feature an OLED panel.

Apple has already sent out its official invitation to the media on the upcoming launch event that will be held on Sept. 12. However, since most of the parts suppliers have begun with the shipments recently, the rumor mill is speculating that the OLED iPhone’s release would be delayed to November.

Another unnamed source has said that even if Apple debuts the OLED iPhone in the next week, it may be made available in very limited quantity. This prediction sounds similar to what KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo had claimed earlier. According to Kuo, the iPhone Edition would be launching in limited quantity of around 2 to 4 million in September.

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus (previously referred as iPhone 7S and 7S Plus) that are expected to debut next week are expected to arrive with LCD panels. Reports have revealed that the supply chain start shipping the LCD panels from June so that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus could become available in the market as soon as their unveiled.

Samsung Display is the sole supplier of OLED panels for the iPhone Edtion. LG Display is providing LCD panels for the rumored iPhone 8 and 8 Plus smartphones. The same source that has been mentioned has claimed that some of the partner of Apple are of the view that the iPhone revenue will almost grow twofold this year. The upcoming launch event could be the very first time for Apple to debut three iPhones at the same time. A previous report has stated the upcoming iPhones may turn Apple into a trillion-dollar company.

Rumor have it that the 2017 iPhones would be available on pre-orders on Sept. 15. And the new iPhones would be available at the stores by Sept. 22. According to Tony Sacconaghi, an analyst with Bernstein, if the arrival of iPhone X gets delayed by three weeks, buyers may switch to a smartphone from a different manufacturer.

(source 1, 2)

Alleged Huawei Mate 10 Pro Live Images Appear to Reveal its Full Screen Design

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 8, 2017

Huawei’s Mate series flagship is slated to get announced on Oct. 16. Releasing smartphones with full screen design has been the trend this year. Huawei too is expected to debut its first full screen design on the Mate 10 Pro. Two leaked images of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro have appeared to show how beautiful its screen will be.

Recent reports have revealed that the Huawei Mate 10 will be sporting a regular display, but the Mate 10 Pro will be an advanced model that will feature full screen design. The first image that we have here has ultra-thin bezels. The top and bottom bezels are also thin.

The bottom bezel houses a Huawei logo. The second image is also reveals the same full screen design and it is much clearer than the first image. It shows the different apps that will be present on the device. Readers should be aware of the fact that there is no way to confirm whether these images are authentic.

Huawei CEO, Richard Yu had claimed in the recent past that the Mate 10 will be an almost bezel-free offering, devoid of any Home button. Probably he is talking about the Mate 10 Pro smartphone. A leaked shot showing the full screen design front panel of the alleged Mate 10 Pro has also appeared earlier in this week.

Reports have revealed that the Mate 10 will have a front-facing Home button and the Mate 10 Pro with bezel-less design will have a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. Rumors have that the Mate 10 Pro will be coming with a large-sized IPS LCD display of 6.3 inches that will deliver a resolution of 2,960 x 1,440 pixels. It is speculated to deliver an aspect ratio of 18:9.

The Kirin 970 chipset will be powering the Huawei Mate 10 Pro along with the 6 GB of RAM. It is speculated to house a dual camera system on its rear that is expected to include a 20-megapixel sensor and a 12-megapixel sensor.

The Huawei Mate 10 renders video that had surfaced earlier in this week features a Home button on the bottom bezel. The details that had surfaced along with the renders suggested that the Mate 10 has a 5.9-inch display and it measures 150.2 x 77.5 x 8.4 mm. The renders reveal presence of 3.5mm audio jack and a USB-C port.

(source 1,2)

It’s Official! Xiaomi Mi Note 3 Coming Along With Mi Mix 2: Larger Version Of Mi 6

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 8, 2017

Xiaomi‘s President has sensationally revealed via a Weibo post that the tech giant will be launching the flagship Mi Note 3 soon. Lin Bin didn’t specify if the device will be announced on September 11 but from his previous Weibo post, it certainly will likely launch with the Mix 2. The Xiaomi president had disclosed in an earlier Weibo post that Xiaomi will also announce another product with the Mi Mix 2 billed to go official on September 11.

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 has featured severally in leaks which point at its likely design as well as its likely specs but Lin Bin also revealed a surprise detail of the Note 3. The CEO in his post hinted that the Mi Note 3 would be a larger version of the flagship Mi 6. The teaser poster he shared along with post also passes across the same message. What this basically suggests is that the Mi Note 3 will have a curved display as well as a glass body like the Mi 6 but will come with a larger size. The Mi 6 features a 5.15-inch display and the Note 3 may come in at 5.7 inches just like the Mi Note 2. The flagship comes with a premium design which is curved on all sides and is powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor.We also expect entirely the same specifications as the Mi 6, perhaps with out or two modifications in its specs.

In addition, the poster also reveals that the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 will be endorsed by Wu Yifan who was also the company’s brand ambassador for the Mi 5X launched recently. By the way, Lei Jun also has confirmed that the Mi Note 3 will be launched alongside the Mi Mix 2. So, which do you prefer, a full-screen Mi Mix 2 or a bigger Mi 6?

Buy Xiaomi Mi Note 3 on Giztop

(source)

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Durability Tests; Find Out Whether it Fails Tests for Scratch, Burn and Bend

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 8, 2017

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is the first flagship smartphone from the company to feature dual rear cameras. It is the best-looking Note smartphone ever from the company. JerryRigEverything has carried a couple of tests on the phablet to check whether Samsung’s most recent flagship is durable or not.

Galaxy Note 8 Scratch Test

The very test conducted on the Galaxy Note 8 is the scratch test. The Note 8’s Infinity Display of 6.3 inches is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The Mohs scale of hardness is used to check whether the screen can get scratched easily. Like other smartphones featuring Gorilla Glass 5, the Note 8’s screen scratches at level 6 and develops a bit prominent grooves on level 7.

The top bezel is slim but still houses a plethora of sensors such as proximity sensor, iris scanner and front-facing camera. These sensors are placed underneath the layer of Gorilla Glass 5. Hence, they were found to be well-protected in the scratch test. The earpiece is found to be made up of metal.

Samsung has added Gorilla Glass 5 on the backside of the Note 8 too. The dual rear cameras are placed in a metal housing so that the lenses do not directly touch the surface when it is kept on a table. The lenses and its LED flash are well protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The fingerprint sensor gets scratched easily but it still functions fine.

As far as the S-Pen of the Galaxy Note 8 is concerned, its plastic body can be scratched quite easily. Its rubber tip is easily removable. The S-Pen does not get struck when it is inserted backwards inside its compartment.

The metallic frame of the Note 8 can be scratched when a razor blade is applied to it with some force. After carrying out scratch test on almost every part of the Note 8, it was found that the phablet’s rear can easily attract fingerprint marks.

Galaxy Note 8 Burn & Bend Test

Samsung has used a HDR 10 compliant 6.3-inch S-AMOLED display. When a flame is applied to it for 10 seconds, the screen gets damaged permanently. It has been found that LCD panels tend to recover after few seconds in the burn test. The Galaxy Note 8 does not bend when it is flexed from the front or back.

(source)

Nubia NX907J Appears on GFXBench, Two Months After Hitting TENAA

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 8, 2017

ZTE’s Nubia brand is very well known for its premium smartphones as well as nicely priced mid-range models but the company seems to also target the budget segment. The Nubia NX907J was first spotted on TENAA where it received certification about two months ago, revealing the key features and specifications of the device. Since then, we haven’t heard anything about the model until its latest appearance on GFXBench.

The Nubia NX907J has appeared on GFXBench and the listing gives us another opportunity to find out about the specifications. GFXBench isn’t very detailed when it comes to specs listing but we could grab a thing or two about the device. GFXBench lists the NX907J as coming with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.4GHz and having eight Cortex-A53 cores. The device also comes with an Adreno 505 graphics processor. The processor isn’t specified but we believe it is a Snapdragon 435 chipset which was used on the Nubia M2 Play launched a couple of months back.

Going further, the Nubia NX907J is also listed as packing 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage onboard storage, out of which around 22GB is available to the end user. The memory is different from the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage which the device was listed on TENAA as packing. That shows there will be more than one variant available whenever it is launched. In addition, the device is listed as coming with a 12 MP rear camera and 5MP front-facing selfie camera. The device also features an HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels while the display size was given as 9.2 inches. This is likely an error as the NX907J was listed on TENAA with a 5.5-inch display.

We don’t know when the device will be launched or if it will be available for the global market or would be exclusively for China. But we expect the device to come with a cheap price tag.

(source)

Xiaomi Launching Another Product Alongside Mi Mix 2, Lin Bin Reveals

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 8, 2017

It is already known that Xiaomi will be launching the Mi Mix 2 on September 11, next week Monday to be precise. There are indications that the tech giant will also announce another product during the launch event next week. This was indicated by Xiaomi president Lin Bin in a recent Weibo post.

This really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering that Xiaomi launched the Mi Mix last year along with the Mi Note 2 which was actually the expected product. But the Mi Mix came out as a concept phone and indeed it stole the show. The rest is now history as the industry now seems to have been revolutionized by bezel-less full-screen phones. The Xiaomi henchman did not disclose the product that would be launched but we ordinarily would expect the Mi Note 3 to be the product the tech giant will announce. The Mi Note 3 has also been a regular in leaks before now. However, there are also rumors that Xiaomi will launch a Mi Notebook Air laptop with a larger 15.6-inch display size. We really can’t say for sure because the company has not disclosed anything in that regard.

There are also rumors that Xiaomi will launch a Mi Notebook Air laptop with a larger 15.6-inch display size. The laptop was purportedly spotted to have received 3C certification earlier on. We really can’t say for sure because the company has not disclosed anything in that regard. We wouldn’t have to wait for long to find out what the product actually is, though. Meanwhile, Xiaomi also shared another teaser for the Mi Mix 2 and it is yet again just another teaser. We couldn’t make anything out of the video as per the design features because the clip was shot in a rapid manner so that you can’t grab the real photo of the device. You can check it out yourself from down below.

(source)

HP is Back With The Android-Powered Pro 8 For India

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 7, 2017

Back when Android tablets were still fairly popular, PC maker, HP, joined the train and released a couple of models. If memory serves me right, its last Android tablet was released back in 2015. After that it stopped pushing out new Android tablets until Tuesday this week when it announced the HP Pro 8 in India.

To be honest the HP Pro 8 isn’t much of an interesting device. A look at the specs and design and it sounds like a tablet made for 2016. However the tablet is said to be specially made for India as it will be used by government field workers.

The tablet has pretty thick bezels on all sides and has an overall thickness of 11.9 mm. The thickness is understandable due to the large capacity battery in it but it also means it is a bit heavy, weighing almost 500g (1.1lbs).

Like the name says, the Pro 8 has an 8-inch IPS display with a 1280 x 800 resolution. It is powered by MediaTek’s MT8735 SoC, a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. It has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage with a MicroSD card slot for expansion (64GB max).

The HP Pro 8 has a 5MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA camera. The tablet is actually called the HP Pro 8 with Voice, so it has a micro SIM card slot for calls with support for LTE networks.

There is a speaker at the bottom and a 3.5mm audio jack and a micro USB cable at the top. HP decided to ship the Pro 8 with Android 6.0 which means that you won’t be able to take advantage of the 8-inch screen for split-screen multitasking.

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Report: Samsung Still Struggling In China After Note 7 Debacle

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 7, 2017

Samsung still retains the position of being the world’s largest smartphone maker but a recent report has indicated that the company’s market share in China is on the downward spiral. This is said to have become worse since the Galaxy Note 7 explosion issue which happened last year. Samsung has successfully staged a strong rebound with the Galaxy S8 and S8+ and recently announced the Galaxy Note 8 in New York. Even though the Galaxy Note 8 is yet to go on sale, the reviews it has got shows it is a worthy replacement for the Galaxy Note 7.

The statistical report credited to be from the Korea International Trade Commission (KITA) showed that Samsung sold 48 million smartphones in China in the second quarter of this year which ended in June, as more customers seem to go for cheaper local brands over Samsung’s high-end devices. The company’s Q2 performance meant it ranked in the sixth position in China.

Samsung’s rival, Apple held onto the top spot with 171 million shipments and the tech giant is followed in quick succession by Huawei, OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi respectively. Huawei was able to claim the second spot with 132 million units while OPPO came in in third with 124 million units shipped in Q2 2017. Vivo recorded 108 million smartphone sales to occupy the fourth spot and finally, Xiaomi shipped 68 million units in the quarter under review. The report attributed the rise of the Chinese smartphones to their moderate prices and high build quality which provided amazing value for money. About 63% of the smartphones sold in China in Q2 were said to be said to be low- and mid-range products with a price tag of less than 2,000 yuan (~US$305.60).

In addition, the report also revealed that about 63% of the smartphones sold in China in Q2 were low- and mid-range products with a price tag of less than 2,000 yuan (~US$305.60). Premium phones priced around 4,000 yuan or more only accounted for only 6.4 percent of the total second-quarter sales, with iPhones taking up a large chunk of that figure.

The report enjoined Samsung to ramp up efforts to restore customer confidence in its smartphones as only 7.2% of Samsung phone owners in China repurchased Samsung products in the second quarter. This way lower than 53.4% for Apple iPhones and 25-26% for Oppo and Vivo. Even though Samsung remains the world’s number 1 smartphone maker, it has to put in more efforts to regain customer confidence in its brand and establish a base of loyal customer again in the world’s second largest economy.

(source)

Official Galaxy C8 Renders Surface Online, Reveals Dual Cameras

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 7, 2017

Samsung seems to be on a roll with its dual rear camera smartphones. Less than two weeks after announcing the Galaxy Note8, it launched the Galaxy J7+, its second dual camera smartphone. Now it appears a third dual camera smartphone called the Galaxy C8 is on the way.

We first heard of the Galaxy C8 a short while ago when it was seen on the official website of Samsung China. That was followed by promotional images from a demo app and an appearance on TENAA confirming it will have dual cameras.

Official renders of the C8 were posted on Twitter earlier today by Roland Quandt who was also the source for the promotional images last week. These new images show us what to expect when the Galaxy C8 officially launches.

The Galaxy C8 shares a similar design to the Galaxy J7+. The cameras are positioned vertically with a LED flash below the setup. The body is all-metal with curved corners and antenna lines that run across.

Up in front is a fingerprint scanner that doubles as a home button with capacitive buttons flanking it on both sides. The Galaxy C8 also has a LED flash in front just like the Galaxy J7+. Some folks believe the Galaxy C8 and Galaxy J7+ are the same device but with different names for different markets.

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Philippe Starck Goes Full 007 For The New Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 Teaser

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 7, 2017

The Mi Mix 2’s details continue to get more and more interesting as more leaks and teasers come out ahead of its launch next week Monday. World renowned designer Philippe Starck was featured in the latest teaser for the Mi Mix 2 shared on Chinese video sharing website Miaopai. The video gives us what could be said to be our first glimpse of the flagship device even though it isn’t a very clear view. In the video, Starch does a James Bond like shooting spree but with the Mi Mix 2 as the gun.

From the video, we can grab that the Mi Mix 2 will indeed have a slightly different design from the Mi Mix. The edges are well curved which would indeed aid gripping the phone. Starck was able to hold the phone with only his right hand and was even tossing it up and down while firing some imaginary shots, still with one hand and it looked seamlessly easy. This was clearly meant to pass across the message that the Mi Mix 2 will be easy to use with one hand and also, it would be super light.

We really couldn’t make out much from the video regarding the design but it looks slightly smaller than the first-gen Mi Mix,. It also looks like we’ll be seeing a metal body which would be easy to mass produce. Apart from the edges, the body all looks like what are going to be rounded. The teaser also touts the Mi Mix 2 as coming with a bezel-less, full-screen display. We already know the flagship will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor, Qualcomm has confirmed that and we’ll be having a Sony IMX386 sensor at the rear. The device will also come with 6GB of RAM on one of its variants. You can watch the video teaser from here.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro Front Panel Live Image Leaked

By

Habeeb Onawole

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Sep 7, 2017

Huawei has confirmed that its next flagships, the Mate 10 series which includes the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, will be unveiled in Munich come 16th of October. The devices have also been confirmed to feature the new Kirin 970.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen a bunch of leaks about both devices. Yesterday a fresh new leak surfaced online for the Mate 10 Pro confirming what we have heard about its design.

The Mate 10 Pro is said to launch with an 18:9 screen Huawei is calling EntireView Display, which is their own version of LG’s FullVision Display or Samsung’s Infinity Display. A live image of the front panel of the phone leaked yesterday, adding credence to the rumor.

The front panel has very thin side bezels and reduced top and bottom bezels compared to the Mate 9 Pro. There is a cut-out for the front camera and proximity sensor at the top as well as the earpiece. The bottom bezel does nothing more than hold the manufacturer’s name.

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Vivo V7+ Featuring 5.99-inch FullView Display, 24 MP Selfie Camera, Snapdragon 450, Officially Launched

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Sep 7, 2017

Vivo V7+ is the newest smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer that was unveiled today through a launch event in Mumbai, India. It comes with the world’s selfie camera of 24-megapixel with wonderful features and a stellar 16-megapixel camera. It is also enabled with Hi-Fi audio chip for amazing music experience. Here is all the information on the newly unveiled Vivo V7+

Design and Display

The Vivo V7+ features a plastic unibody design with curved edges on all the four sides of the back panel. The U-type antenna bands can be seen at the top and bottom sides of the back panel. Matte Black and Champagne Gold are the color variants of the Vivo V7+. It measures 155.87 x 75.74 x 7.7mm and its weight is 160 grams.

The Vivo V7+ features an impressive 5.99-inch FullView display that offers an aspect ratio of 18:9. It offers a screen-to-body ratio of 84.4percent. Compared to a conventional 5.5-inch phone, the upper and lower bezels have been respectively reduced by 44 percent and 47 percent. It features very slim side bezels of 2.15mm. The FullView Display produces a resolution of 720 x 1,440 pixels and it offers 12.5 percent more screen space than traditional displays

Cameras and Music

The Vivo V7+ is fitted with 24-megapixel Moonlight selfie camera that features a LED flash, a customized 1/2.78 image sensor and f/2.0 aperture. Even with 4x zoom, the selfie shots carry all the details.

It can shoot optimized selfies thanks to the Face Beauty 7.0 that studies the features of face and captures all the details. The Group Selfie feature can allow users to capture wide-angle selfies with ease. The selfie camera also offers beautifying features during video calls. The Portrait Mode feature can blur the background by focus fully on the subject. The new Face Access is the new biometric feature to unlock the device by scanning the face.

The rear camera side features a f/2.0 aperture 16-megapixel rear camera with PDAF and optimized algorithm. It is capable of capturing of 64-megapiel Ultra HD photos with topnotch clarity.

For immersive music experience, the Vivo X7 Plus is fitted with a Hi-Fi AK4376A audio chip. It can smartly play music for different kinds of moods such as happy, sad, travel and so on.

Chipset, RAM and Other Features

The Vivo V7+ is powered by Snapdragon 450 chipset and 4 GB of RAM.The Snapdragon 450 chipset was introduced by Qualcomm in June this year. It is a 14nm FinFET processed chipset. It delivers up to 25 percent higher CPU and GPU performance. It offers up to 25 percent lower battery consumption and it also features Hexagon DSP. It is a dual-SIM phone that comes with a dedicated slot for microSD card.

It has an internal storage of 64 GB. It includes a 3,225mAh battery. The smartphone is running on FunTouch OS 3.2 which is a customized edition of Android Nougat. The Smart Split 3.0 allows users to run two apps simultaneously by sliding down three fingers on the same screen on each of the two desired apps. It also features Game Mode to play games without interruptions like incoming alerts. App Clone feature lets users to run two instances of same apps to manage personal and professional lives easily. It features a rear-mounted fingerprint reader.

Vivo V7+ Pricing and Availability

The Vivo V7+ will be available for pre-booking from Sept. 7 with the price tag of Rs. 21,990 (~$343) on Amazon and Flipkart in India. The first sale of the smartphone will begin on Sept. 15.

Huawei Leaps Over Apple To Emerge World’s Second-Largest Smartphone Company

By

Jed John Ikoba

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Sep 7, 2017

Market research firm, Counterpoint has released its monthly Market Pulse research for the month of July 2017 and it comes with a stunner. The research showed that Huawei has for two consecutive months – June and July, surpassed Huawei has surpassed Apple in global smartphone sales. With August sales looking strong for the Chinese vendor, a hat-trick for Huawei could be on the cards but that may be short-lived as the launch of the iPhone 8 billed for this month could see Apple regaining its position with greater vigor.

The report shows that Samsung, Apple, and Huawei are still the top three smartphone vendors in the world. Samsung still retains its position as the global leader with a stronger showing in the month of June. Huawei moved up to the second position in June while Apple experienced a decline in its smartphone shipment. This may be due to fans waiting for the upcoming flagship models before making their purchases.

Despite a decline in overall sales, Apple still had the best-selling models which are the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. They are closely followed by the OPPO R11 and A57 which came in third and fourth. Other devices that made it to the list include the Galaxy S8, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, Samsung Galaxy S8+ and others.

The equilibrium will likely shift this September after Apple release the iPhone 8 and other models it has got in the works. But this latest result is an indication that Huawei’s efforts in ramping up its global smartphone sales are yielding results gradually.

(source)