Smartphone News and Reviews, Latest Cellphones, Accessories, New Launches, Specifications, Details with Image and Video from Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Moto, HTC, Xiaomi, Oneplus, Meizu, Sony, Lava, Micromax Yu Mobile and More.
Foxconn is a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturing company. The company is the largest contract manufacturer for Apple Inc. Apart from Apple, Foxconn also manufactures smartphones for companies like Xiaomi, Nokia and Gionee. The company has two manufacturing plants in India which are located in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Out of the two, the Chennai plant was dedicated to manufacturing Nokia smartphones. But, that plant has remained shut since 2015 after Nokia’s acquisition by Microsoft. The Chennai plant was left out of this deal due to some tax disputes with the Indian government. However, the company plans to revive operations at this location which will be used to manufacture Apple iPhones.
Foxconn Chennai Plant Revival
The asset’s at the Chennai Foxconn plant were frozen by the Indian government due to the alleged outstanding taxes. However, in April 2018 Nokia agreed to pay the pending taxes in the form of provisional payments which has resulted in resolution of the dispute. Therefore, the operations at the manufacturing facility can be restarted. Foxconn officials at a Tamil Nadu state cabinet meeting announced that plant will be utilised to manufacture the Apple iPhone flagships including iPhone X , XS and XR in India. The company will reportedly invest Rs 25 billion to upgrade the plant to manufacture Apple iPhones. Additionally, the restart of operations will create 25000 jobs for the city locals. It is the first time that the iPhone X will be manufactured in India. As of now, Wistron, another Taiwanese company has manufactured the lower end variants of the iPhone including the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6 in Bengaluru.
An official announcement with precise details is expected to be made at the upcoming Global Investors Meet which is scheduled in Chennai in January 2019.
India is a largely online buyer’s market and many phone manufacturers have switched to selling online instead of investing in brick and mortar stores. Samsung has been in the number one position in terms of smartphone sales worldwide for quite some time now. But Xiaomi had taken the lead in the first quarter of 2018 in terms of India smartphone shipments market share. But now, it seems like Samsung will get a leg up in this battle with a new law that has been introduced by the government banning exclusive deals of phone manufacturers with online marketplaces.
What Exactly Happened?
Most manufacturers these days such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and even OnePlus use these exclusive launches with one of the E-commerce players to promote their phones and drive sales. The new law will bring the websites including Amazon and Flipkart to a level playing field. The government also directed that a single vendor can sell a maximum of 25% of its inventory on an e-commerce platform. This is where Samsung’s brick and mortar stores come in. Since the Chinese manufacturers heavily depend on online sales which help them keep their phone prices down, we can expect a surge in prices of these phones in future. We can also expect phones being sold out quicker. A black marketing of phones due to their unavailability can also be a cause for concern. Xiaomi and OnePlus has already started opening their own storefronts in several locations in India. But they are not nearly enough to compete with Samsung.
According to Counterpoint, about two years ago, 5% of Xiaomi’s volumes came from offline channels which has grown to around 30%. This can largely be attributed to them opening their own stores and selling through other affiliate stores as well. Xiaomi has around 500 Mi stores at the moment while Samsung has around 2100 stores in the country. This also means that Indian manufacturers who completely missed out on the online selling bandwagon might just regain their footing in the business. OnePlus had also said in March 2018 that they will expand their offline selling stores, which they call ‘experience zone’. Their plans included 10 cities which also include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and others.
It is also important to note that the offline segment witnessed an annual growth of 6.6 per cent in Q3 2018 but still online channels continued to dominate with around 60 per cent of the Indian smartphone market in that quarter.
Motorola launched the Moto P30 smartphone earlier this year which was exclusively available in China. A latest leak of the Moto P40 has now leaked before its official launch. Like the Samsung Galaxy A8s, the renders of the Moto P40 reveal that it also has an In-Display selfie camera.
4K Renders And Video
The renders and video of the Moto P40 were leaked on Twitter by the users OnLeaks and 91Mobiles. The renders of the Moto P40 are sufficiently detailed and reveal the 360-degree view of the smartphone. The front of the smartphone has an edge-to-edge display with a circular cutout for the front-facing camera. The top, left and right bezels of the smartphone are quite thin. In comparison, the bottom chin is considerably thick which carries the Motorola branding.
The renders of the Moto P40 reveal that the right side of the device is occupied by the power button and volume rockers while the left side houses the SIM card slot. The top of the smartphone accommodates the 3.5 mm audio jack and the secondary microphone pinhole. The speaker grille and the USB Type-C port are placed on the bottom of the device.
The rear of the Moto P40 seems to be made out of glass which tapers towards the edges. The rear of the device houses the dual camera setup, fingerprint sensor, and android one branding. Intriguingly, the back of the device reads 48 MP which indicates that out of the two cameras, one sensor has a 48 MP resolution. The circular sharped fingerprint sensor at the back of the device is slightly indented which makes it easy to find. The back of the Moto P40 also carries the android one logo which states that the device will be assured for long-term Android updates.
The launch date of the Moto P40 is currently unknown but the company might showcase the device at the upcoming MWC which is scheduled for 25-29 February 2019.
Gaming smartphones were fringe products till about two or three years back and have recently come into the limelight. A few years ago, smartphone research and development was going mostly into making the screens larger and better, increasing speeds for day-to-day work and increasing battery life. But since then a lot has changed, and phones have become even more powerful. Now, phones can support games that have high-end graphics and can run them without harming the CPU or the battery of the phones. However, there are certain drawbacks to buying and using gaming phones as well. In this article we will discuss the positives as well as the negatives of buying a gaming phone.
What Are Gaming Smartphones
Gaming smartphones are phones that are primarily built with a focus on gaming and are modified to suit gamers’ needs. They are usually higher-end phones with great batteries, more than decent RAM and memory and a number of other specifications like liquid cooling and overclocked CPUs. We will talk about these differences later in the article.
How Did The Trend Start
To understand how the trend started, we have to go a long way back to the time feature phones were a thing, maybe even before that. The history of Gaming as we know it can be traced back to the first interactive electronic game with an electronic display in 1947, the first true video games in the early 1950s, and the rise of early arcade video games in the 1970s. The first portable video game was introduced in the form of the Handy Game created by Epyx in 1987. This device later turned into the Atari Lynx in 1989. Portable gaming consoles these days include Sony’s PSP, Playstation Vita and Nintendo Switch. Portable video game consoles were all the rage when they first came to the market a few years back. Every college or school kid had one and buying or trading games were considered a common phenomenon.
However, when gaming consoles were selling like hotcakes, smartphone manufacturers were brewing up a storm. Video games however, weren’t new and had existed on phones for a long time. The first mobile phone game was introduced in 1994, with a pre-installed Tetris on a mobile phone called Hagenuk MT-2000. In 1997 however, things changed a lot for the mobile phone gaming industry when Nokia decided to redesign a game called Snake and put it in some of their phones. The game became widely popular and thus started a long and arduous journey towards the marriage of a telephonic device and a gaming device. The smartphones of today with their high-end games would not have been possible without these companies and their gamble into gaming.
How Is It Different From Other High-End Phones
We often get asked why one should consider buying a gaming phone and not buy a high or similarly specced top-end smartphone. There are both positives as well as negatives to buying a gaming phone. Let’s discuss the positives first.
Positives
Overclocked
Overclocking is the process of increasing a computer’s clock rate to make it run at a higher speed than it is supposed to. The term overclocking is usually used with regard to CPU and GPU but can be applied for other components as well. Most smartphones are under-clocked because, even though their CPU may support higher speeds, the phone might overheat and die. Most phones do not have a decent cooling system in place because our day-to-day functions on a smartphone do not generate so much heat. Overclocking generates a lot of heat as the CPU performs more tasks per second thus requiring better cooling. This brings us to our next point.
Cooling system
Most computers use two types of cooling to keep the system at an optimum temperature. These are heat sinks and liquid cooling. But phones cannot really use a heat sink as phones need to be thin and light and everything from a battery to a motherboard and cameras need to be cramped in there. So gaming phones use heat pipes and liquid cooling instead. But most other phones have no cooling systems and use the metallic or aluminium back to dissipate heat. How this works is when the CPU heats up, the back of the phone heats up.
The air outside is generally cooler than the phone, which absorbs the heat from the back of the phone. So, in short, gaming phones have a better and faster cooling system in place. These cooling systems are much more efficient in dissipating heat and will keep your phone cool while the phone performs at a much higher speed.
Better Battery
Gaming phones, since they are generally built for performance draw a lot of battery. Thus, these phones need a lot of juice to keep running. Generally speaking, gaming phones have better batteries compared to other top end smartphones. While many lower end phones may match the same battery capacity, the gaming phones do indeed work for longer as they have optimised performance in terms of the screen and CPU drawing from the battery.
RAM Optimisation
Gaming phones have certain RAM optimisations through software that help the phone perform at it’s optimal best. This is done by better memory management. RAM optimisation enables a phone to clear up the RAM by killing unwanted Apps so that the gaming experience is unhindered.
Gaming Mods
Since these phones are made specifically for gaming, these are built from ground up. keeping the quirks of gaming in mind. For example, the Asus ROG Phone has a headphone jack both at the bottom of the phone as well as on the side of the phone. This allows a gamer to play games in the horizontal mode using two hands while charging the phone. There are several such modifications on gaming phones that make a gamer’s life much easier.
High Quality Displays
Many high end phones these days have really good screens. Many have AMOLED displays or retina displays. But the gaming phones have an extra feature that in terms of the refresh rate. A refresh rate is the rate an LCD or LED panel changes a frame. It is calculated in frames per second (fps) and a higher refresh rate is extremely helpful for gamers since the images change faster compared to other screens giving gamers the extra edge to kill and spot enemies faster than others. Many gaming phones have a refresh rate of 120 Hz while normal smartphones usually have a refresh rate of 60 Hz.
High Quality Speakers
Gaming requires really great quality speakers. A good speaker can give you an immersive experience in gaming. Gaming smartphones usually feature great speakers with HD sound, dolby digital sound or Dolby Atmos stereo speakers. Some of these phones have great amplifiers as well.
More Inbuilt Memory
Most high-end phones have a decent amount of RAM. For example, the latest iPhone XS has 4GB of RAM while the flagship Samsung Galaxy S9 has 4GB RAM. However, most gaming phones these days offer upto 10 GB of RAM. This makes day-to-day functions faster as well, apart from gaming of course!
Added Accessories
Gaming phones come with accessories that can be used to make the gaming experience better. These include extra battery packs, phone coolers, additional headphone jacks and more. These accessories might be expensive but they are quite helpful and can elevate your gaming experience overall.
Negatives
So what gives? If gaming phones are so good then why isn’t everyone buying it instead of a top end smartphone? Well, in making these high end hardware and software changes, the phone companies sacrifice other features. Let’s find out what the negatives are.
Camera
Most gaming phones are not meant for taking photos or selfies, so their cameras are usually not that great. Many of the budget gaming phones usually sacrifice image quality by reducing the camera specifications. For example the Xiaomi Black Shark has a 20 Megapixel front camera but has a 12 megapixel and 20 megapixel back camera but the ZTE Nubia Red Magic has a single 24 megapixel sensor at the back. Even though the cameras are not bad, but compared to top of the line smartphones in the same price range, the image quality falls flat.
Bulky
These phones have a lot of modifications done in order to make it gaming friendly. These modifications take up space thus making these phones heavy and large. These are nowhere near the sleek smartphones that we see and use everyday and may feel like a brick at times. But it also sets you apart from the similarly designed phones that we see everyday. These phones have a dash of colour, look menacing and usually have glowing lights in the back. If you are a fan of sleek smartphones, gaming phones probably aren’t for you.
Expensive
These phones are specced to the brim and because of that, are expensive. They can be priced anywhere between $ 400 to $ 800 and are quite expensive. It is also to be noted that phones with similar specifications from manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung can go way above that reaching prices as high as $ 1500.
Delayed Software Updates
Gaming smartphones are generally not known for speedy software updates and OS updates. Since these phones have their own UI to make the phone look more like a gaming device, these UI changes take time for the company to implement on a new OS. This can be a hassle for people who like to get timely security and software updates.
Best Gaming Smartphones To Consider
Now that we have discussed both the positives and the negatives, here is a list of the best gaming phones available in the market that you can consider to buy:
Honor, a sub-brand of Huwaei has launched the Honor View 20 smartphone with In-Screen front camera, in China. Following the Samsung Galaxy A8s and the Huawei Nova 4, it is the third smartphone to have this feature. A latest tweet shared on Honor India’s Twitter account states that the View 20 will soon launch in India. Most notably, the smartphone will be exclusively available on Amazon.
Design And Features
The Honor View 20 has a distinctive design with a front and rear glass build. The front of the smartphone accommodates a Full HD 6.4-inch display with a resolution of 2310 x 1080 px. The display panel has a pixel density of 398 ppi and screen-to-body ratio of 85.7 %. The top left side of the display has a small circular cutout which houses the 25 MP In-Display front camera. The earpiece for receiving phone calls is built into the top bezel of the smartphone.
The power button and the volume controllers are placed on the right of the device while the SIM card slot is placed on the left. The top of the smartphone accommodates the 3.5 mm audio jack, IR blaster and the secondary microphone pinhole. The bottom of the smartphone is occupied by the USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grille.
The rear of the Honor View 20 has a glossy gradient finish and it harbors the fingerprint sensor and an unconventional dual camera setup. The dual rear camera set up along with an LED Flash is divided into two separate modules. The first circular module in this horizontal alignment houses the 48 MP camera and the second capsule shaped module houses the TOF 3D camera and the LED flash.
Under the hood, the Honor View 20 boasts the Octa-Core Kirin 980 CPU along with Mali-G76 GPU. In terms of connectivity, the device supports 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, and 4G VoLTE. The handset runs on Magic UI 2.0 which is built on top of the latest Android 9.0 Pie and is powered by a 4,000 mAh battery. It is available in three colour options which include Blue, Black, and Red.
The tweet shared by Honor does not reveal any launch date but the tweet indicates that the launch of the Honor View 20 is imminent. Even though the India specific pricing of the smartphone is unavailable, it is expected to have similar pricing as the Chinese variant. The Chinese variant of the Honor View 20 is available in three RAM + ROM configurations for which the price is as follows:
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is one of the largest annual trade shows that is held in the month of January. The show is organised by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in Las Vegas, United States. During the event, several companies from around the globe showcase the latest innovations and developments. In the past decade, smartphones have taken centre stage at CES and the same is expected from the 2019 event which is scheduled for 8 January-12 January. ETNews, a Korean news agency claims that LG and Samsung will showcase smartphones with an in-display earpiece speaker.
What Is An In-display Speaker?
Conventional speakers on smartphones make use of a diaphragm which is connected to a voice coil. The voice coil, when charged with a magnetic field, causes the diaphragm to vibrate up and down to produce sound. However, smartphones with an in-display earpiece speaker are reported to use a piezo sensor. It is a disc-like component which also produces sound. In comparison to normal speakers, the piezo sensor is very thin and sleek therefore they can easily be mounted behind the surface of a display panel.
Advantages of In-Display Speaker
It is apparent that smartphone manufacturers are trying to pack in as many components as possible in a small form factor smartphone. Hence, the use of an In-Display piezo sensor speaker will allow companies to save up on valuable space inside of a smartphone. This extra space can be utilised for other important components like a larger battery and powerful processor. Furthermore, a smartphone with this technology can significantly reduce the noise that is emitted outside the call. It can be promoted as a feature that is vital for confidential phone calls.
LG has previously showcased CSO (Crystal Sound OLED) panels for monitors and televisions. As the name suggests, Crystal Sound OLED is a type of display panel that can emit sound waves and this display can be seen on the smartphones at CES 2019. Samsung has also showcased a similar type of SoD technology panel. The Sound on Display (SoD) panel has an under panel sound sensor.
With all the reports about declining sales and lower demand for iPhones, there seems to be more to iPhone sales than meets the eye. Reports of lower than expected iPhone XS and XS Max sales are plaguing Apple. And even the cheaper iPhone XR not selling like expected. But there is another shift which could turn out to be far more important in the long run. A recent report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that more Android users are switching to iPhones this year, than last year.
The report states that 16 percent of iPhone buyers this year, had upgraded from an Android phone. This data was collected in a 30-day period after the launch fo the iPhone XR. Compare this to last year. When the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were launched, and you have a 12 percent rate. After the launch of the iPhone X in November 2017, the numbers fell to 11 percent. The report also found out that the iPhone XR accounted for 32 percent of iPhone sales. This was in the same 30-day period after its launch.
So in midst of all the backlash and love that the iPhone XR received, it seems like it has achieved what Apple had intended for it to do, boost sales and attract newer customers. More than a third of iPhone buyers in the US opted for the cheaper iPhone XR, according to the study. On the other end of the spectrum, the iPhone XS and XS Max accounted for 35 percent of sales, combined.
Despite the fact that Apple brought back the iPhone X from the dead to combat dwindling iPhone XS sales, not all is lost. With more Android users switching to iPhones, this might be the start of something new for Apple.
The Flipkart Mobiles Bonanza sale is here and this is likely the best time to buy or upgrade to a new smartphone. The shopping festival will commence on December 26 and will last till 29 December. Here is a list of top smartphones that are currently being offered at heavy discounts. Click here for Flipkart Mobiles Bonanza Deals Part-1.
The POCO F1 is one device of 2018 that completely disrupted the mid-range smartphone segment. Due to its flagship features and an under $300 aggressive pricing, it gathered a lot of attention globally. The smartphone is offered in three RAM + ROM configuration and two different back panel finish.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 21,999, Sale Price- 19,999)
The Nokia 6.1 Plus has an all-glass front and rear build with an aluminum chassis. The front of the smartphone has a thick chin at the bottom and a small notch at the top of the display. The rear dual camera dual setup along with an LED flash is vertically aligned and it slightly protrudes out of the back.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 17,600, Sale Price- 14,999)
The Nokia 5.1 Plus like its elder sibling, 6.1 Plus is an Android One smartphone. Therefore, it can receive the latest Android updates soon after they are rolled out by Google. In terms of design, it also has a glass front and rear build and a similar shaped rear camera setup.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 13,199, Sale Price- 9,499)
The Pixel 2XL was the Google’s flagship smartphone from the year 2017. The standout feature of the smartphone is it unrivaled camera performance. Although the device has a single rear camera, its camera performance is by far better than most flagships that have two or even more rear camera sensors.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 45,499, Sale Price- 39,999)
The Asus ZenFone 5Z was launched earlier this year and the company touted as the budget flagship smartphone. The device has a modern looking design with front and rear glass build. The smartphone features an Octa-Core processor and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The ZenFone Max M2 is the successor to the ZenFone Max M1 which due to its stellar features shook the sub 15k smartphone segment. It also features a Corning Glass 6 protected display and a jumbo battery. Additionally, the new device also has a glass rear build. The smartphone runs on latest Android 9.0 Pie operating system with very little customisation.
The Asus ZenFone Lite L1 is focused as an entry-level Android smartphone. The price at which it is being offered makes it a considerable option. The smartphone has an Octa-Core processor, 4G VoLTE support, and even memory expandability via a microSD card.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 6,999, Sale Price- 4,999)
The Honor 9N was also launched at a much higher price tag than what it is currently available. The front of the smartphone has a thin notch at the top of the display and a wide chin at the bottom. The device has a 2.5d curved glass with a 19:9 aspect ratio. For safely and securely unlocking the handset, it has both a fingerprint sensor and facial recognition support.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 13,999 Sale Price- 8,999)
The Honor 7A was initially launched at a price upwards of 10k but is now available a much lower price than the original price. The device has a large screen HD+ display and an Octa-Core processor. The smartphone has a dedicated slot for memory expansion and 4G VoLTE support.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 10,999, Sale Price- 7,499)
The Honor 7S is an entry-level Android smartphone that offers high value for money. The smartphone has thin left/right bezels and while the top and bottom chin are quite prominent. The device features a MediaTek processor and has an HD+ display.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 8,999, Sale Price- 5,999)
This might be the best time for the consumers who wish to buy a new smartphone as the Flipkart Mobiles Bonanza festival is here. The festival will commence on 26th December and last till 29th December. During the festival, various smartphones from several companies will available at huge discounts. Here is a list of top smartphone deals that will see a temporary price cut. Click here for part-2 of this list.
The Redmi Note 6 Pro is the successor to the Redmi Note 5 Pro. Although, the device has similar specifications to its predecessor. The Redmi Note 6 Pro has dual front and dual rear cameras. The device is highly optimised and it has nano P2i coating which makes it liquid repellent.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP- 15,999, Sale Price-13,999)
The Redmi Note 5 Pro was one of the first budget smartphones to have dual rear cameras. The device has an attractive design and is available in two different colours which are White and Black.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP- 14,999. Sale Price- 12,999)
The Redmi 6 is one of the best smartphones which are priced under 10K. It packs an octa-core processor and an HD+ display. The smartphone has dual rear cameras and single front camera. It also has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP-8,999, Sale Price- 8,999)
The Samsung Galaxy A9 is the world’s first mainstream smartphone that features quad rear cameras. Except for its camera prowess, the device has an AMOLED display panel and a gradient colour back. It also has a dedicated Bixby button which is Samsung’s take on a voice-guided virtual assistant.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP-42,000, Sale Price- 39,900)
After a long streak of smartphones with mediocre specifications, the Motorola launched the Moto One Power. The smartphone has a mammoth battery which allows for 2-day backup on light usage. It has a very solid construction with a metal rear build. For photography, the smartphone has single front and dual rear cameras.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP- 18,999 , Sale Price- 14,999)
The Realme 2 Pro is a handsome looking device with narrow bezels on all four sides. The front of the smartphone also has a small waterdrop notch which houses the front-facing camera. The rear of the has a clear glass like build and which harbours the fingerprint sensor and the dual camera setup.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP- 14,990, Sale Price- 12,990(Prepaid Orders))
The Realme 2 is the successor to the Realme 1 which took the budget smartphone segment by storm. The Realme 2 has a wide notch at the top of the display and thin bezels. The rear panel of the smartphone is made out of a clear glass-like material with a diamond pattern which looks very striking.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP- 9,990, Sale Price- 9,499)
The Realme C1 is priced aggressively and it competes in the entry-level smartphone segment. In comparison to other devices in its segment, it has a massive battery and a powerful octa-core SoC. To safely and securely unlock the device, it has facial recognition software.
(Offer: Regular Price/MRP – 8,990, Sale Price- 7,499)
ZTE is a Chinese company that manufactures smartphones and telecommunication equipment. The company has filed a patent for a smartphone with a foldable style display. The smartphone in the patent unfolds into a large screen tablet. The patent clearly explains how the folding hinge of the smartphone will operate.
The Patent
The ZTE device in the patent serves the functionality of both a smartphone and a tablet. The front of the ZTE device has a high-screen-to-body ratio display with thin bezels on the left and right side. However, the top and bottom bezels are quite prominent. The top bezel of the smartphone houses the earpiece speaker, front-facing camera and an additional hole which will most likely house the ambient light sensor. The top and bottom sides of the smartphone also have two lines for the antenna bands. The right side of the ZTE device houses the power button and the volume rockers
The rear of the ZTE device has dual rear cameras along with LED flash and a fingerprint sensor for securely unlocking the device. The bottom of the smartphone has a microphone pinhole, USB Type-C slot and bottom firing speakers. Additionally, the top of the device also has the speaker grille. The ZTE device has a curved hinge which seems to have circular magnetic strips. Most notably, the hinge on the device when unfolded lays completely flat on a surface. The device when unfolded transforms into a tablet which will allow the users to enjoy video content on a larger screen.
Launch Date
ZTE has not announced the launch date of this device. But, the sheer number of details suggest that the company is working on something serious. The company might showcase such a device at the upcoming MWC 2019 which is scheduled for 25-29 February.
HMD Global has almost made a comeback to the smartphone market with its extensive lineup of smartphones. The Nokia phones now cover every segment from budget phones to flagship phones. The company is not holding back in terms of design and features when it comes to their phones. A latest leak points at more of the same. An upcoming smartphone from Nokia, most probably a flagship phone has been leaked in images. The phone has a triple rear camera setup and what appears to be a bezel less and notch less display.
The images surfaced on Weibo, the Chinese social networking site and are what appear to be hands-on images of a Nokia smartphone. The phone sports a glass back with a vertically arranges triple rear camera and an LED flash right below that module. The back also houses the Nokia branding. While the triple rear camera is not very surprising in today’s day and age, it is a step up from the current Nokia design language which has only dual rear cameras.
However, the most interesting part of the leak is the front of the device. The display sports thick bezels on each side, including a really thick bottom chin. However, it lacks a notch or camera cutout of any sort and it is not clear as to where the front camera is located. It is therefore logical to assume that Nokia has also jumped on to the sliding camera bandwagon with this phone.
This means that a sliding panel beneath the display will house the front facing camera and the associated sensors. It could also point towards a pop up camera, which was seen on the Vivo Nex. Another striking feature is the lack of a physical fingerprint reader on the back. This hints at an in-display fingerprint sensor fitted into the phone.
However, the leak does not look totally convincing. For starters, the phone does not carry the Zeiss branding along with the camera setup. Being a flagship level phone, it is obvious that this Nokia should have Zeiss optics. Another issue is the odd design which has extremely thick bezels and and a massive chin. If the company has put in so much effort into this phone, it surely wouldn’t bring out such a dated design. But then again, that is what we thought about the high notch and the Pixel 3 XL and that turned out to be true!
Motorola will soon refresh the Moto G6 series of smartphones. Its successors are expected to launch in April 2019 as the current Moto G6 smartphones were also unveiled in the month of April. The upcoming series of smartphones will carry the Moto G7 moniker. The renders of the Moto G7 devices were previously leaked online (read here). The mid-range Moto G7 Power has been spotted on Geekbench which reveals its key specifications.
Geekbench Results
The Geekbench results of the Moto G7 Power were first uploaded on 20th December. The listing clearly mentions the model name ‘Moto G7 Power’. The smartphone registers a single-core score of 1286 points and a multi-core score of 5443 points. The Moto G7 Power features the msm8953 SoC which is the model number for Snapdragon 625. It is an Octa-Core SoC which is manufactured using the 14 nm FinFET technology.
The Snapdragon 625 consists of eight Cortex A53 cores which have a base frequency of 1.8 GHz and a turbo frequency of 2.0 GHz. According to Geekbench, the Moto G7 Power has 4 GB of LPDR3 RAM but the company might also launch a 6 GB variant of the device. The smartphone runs on latest Android 9.0 Pie operating sytem.
Moto G7 Power Design
The front of the Moto G7 has a high screen-to-body ratio display with a wide notch up top. The device has thin left and right bezels and a thick bottom chin which carries the Motorola branding. The notch at the top of the display houses the earpiece speaker and a front facing camera with an LED flash.
The rear of the Moto G7 seems to have a glass back which tapers towards the sides. The rear of the device houses the single rear camera setup and an indentation for the fingerprint sensor. The leaked renders of the Moto G7 Power are available in Blue colour but Moto will also launch the device in other colours.
Xiaomi’s secret weapon is the Poco phone F1. It released with a huge hype around the unbelievable price and amazing specifications. The phone features the top of the line Snapdragon 845 SoC at an amazing launch price of Rs. 20,999. This caused a lot of uproar because of the cheap price. The Poco F1 was previously launched with an armoured edition but it was only available in the pricier 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant. This was however, out of the budget of many consumers. This is set to change now that Poco F1 Armoured Edition has been launched at a lower 6GB RAM and 128 GB storage configuration.
The Poco F1 featured a MIUI 9.6 based on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box but has recently started receiving Android 9.0 Pie on top of MIUI 10. The phone has a 6.18-inch full-HD+ screen with 1080 x 2246 pixel resolution display. Although there was a lot of furore regarding the phone not being able to play HD videos from some video streaming websites, many consumers did not care. The phone has a 2.5D curved display with Gorilla Glass 3 which provides additional protection. But the main feature that attracted so many fans towards this phone was the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC which is the latest SoC available at the moment.
The Poco F1 Armoured Edition has a dual camera setup at the back and a single camera at the front. The rear cameras include a 12-megapixel Sony IMX363 primary sensor and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor. It also features a 20-megapixel camera along with HDR and AI Beautify features. Other notable features include 4G+ VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack. It has a 4,000 mAh battery that supports 18W charging and Quick Charge 3.
The phone’s armoured edition will go on sale in the country through Mi.com and Flipkart. Starting 00:01am on December 26, 2018. The 6GB 128GB variant is priced at Rs 23,999 in India.
Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S10 series of smartphones in Q1 of 2019. The Galaxy S10 series include the S10 Lite, the S10, and the S10+. The upcoming devices are believed to have a radical design change in comparison to their predecessor. The design and renders of the Galaxy S10 smartphones have leaked out on several instances. Reportedly the smartphones will have a high-screen-to body ratio with a hole in the display for the front camera. A leak on Twitter reveals the screen size of all the upcoming S10 smartphones. Furthermore, the same user has shared pictures of the Galaxy S10’s screen guard which provides key details about the design of the handset.
Twitter Leak
The exact size of the future Galaxy phone screen: S10 Lite: 5.75 inches S10: 6.11 inches S10+: 6.44 inches S10 5G version: 6.66 inches Note10: 6.75 inches
The tweet was posted by a Chinese leaker who goes by the username Ice universe. The leaker happens to be a trustworthy source as previous leaks from him have mostly turned out true. The tweet reveals that the different variants of the Samsung Galaxy S10 will have the following screen sizes:
Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite: 5.75 inch
Samsung Galaxy S10: 6.11 inches
Galaxy S10+: 6.44 inches
Galaxy S10 5G version: 6.66 inches
Additionally, the tweet reveals that the Note 10 will have a massive 6.75-inch display. The display on the upcoming Galaxy smartphones will most likely have an Infinity-O notch. The Infinity-O notch has a small hole for the camera in the display. The previously launched Galaxy A8s with Infinity-O notch suggests what to expect in terms of design from future Samsung smartphones.
Screen Protector
The screen protector of the Samsung Galaxy S10+ supports the claim that the smartphone will have dual front cameras. The dual front cameras are laterally mounted on the right of the smartphone. Most notably, the camera holes on the Galaxy S10+ will be smaller than that of the Galaxy A8s.
Additionally, the leaked screen guard has a curve which tapers towards the sides. This indicates that the Galaxy S10+ will have a 2.5d glass front.
