Category: Tech

Latest Technology News, Alternative, Bio-Tech, Medical, R&D and Innovations

Honor View20 Launched In India, Kirin 980 And 3D Camera In Tow
Honor launched the View20 smartphone with an attractive design late last year in China. At the start of this year, the company shared its India launch teasers and the device has now been launched in the country. Going by its price and specifications it will go head to head with devices like the OnePlus 6T and Samsung Galaxy A9.

Design:

The Honor View20 has a beautiful design with an all-glass front and rear build. The front of the device features a high screen-to-body ratio display with minimal bezels. The rear of the device has a striking appearance with a gradient colour glass panel. The right side of the Honor View 20 accommodates the power button and the volume rockers while the SIM card slot sits on the left. The USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grille are placed on the bottom while the top side of the handset is occupied by an IR blaster, 3.5 mm audio jack and secondary microphone pinhole.

Display and Chipset:

The Honor View20 has a 6.4-inch display with a screen-to-body of 91.8%. The display panel of the smartphone has a resolution of 2310 x 1080 px and a pixel density of 398 ppi. Under the hood, the device packs the Kirin 980 SoC. The chipset is manufactured using 7 nm fabrication process and it consists of an Octa-Core CPU and Mali-G76 MP10 GPU. The Octa-Core CPU is divided into three separate cluster cores which are as follows:
- 2×2.6 GHz Cortex-A76
- 2×1.92 GHz Cortex-A76
- 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55
Camera and Battery:

The Honor View20 has a 25-MP punch-hole selfie camera which is one of its biggest highlights. The front camera sits on the top left side of the smartphone’s display which gives it an intriguing look. The primary dual camera setup is located on the top left side at the back of the smartphone which is divided into two separate modules. The dual rear camera setup consists of an f/1.8 aperture equipped 48 MP Sony IMX586 sensor and a TOF 3D Stereo Camera. The TOF stereo camera allows the Honor View20 to capture 3D image of objects which can be used for Virtual Reality applications like game designing.

Connectivity and Other Features:

In terms of connectivity, the Honor View20 supports 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 4G VoLTE, NFC, GPS and a bottom mounted USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. The handset is powered by a large 4,000 mAh battery that supports fast charging up to 20 watts. The Honor View20 also has an “S-shaped heat pipe” that cools a wide area of heat to guarantee sustained peak gaming performance. For securely and rapidly unlocking the device, it also has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Other sensors on the device include a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, gyroscope, digital compass and gravity sensor. The Honor View20 runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie which is skinned with Magic UI 2.

Price, Colours and Variants:

Also Read: Samsung Launches Budget Galaxy M10 & Galaxy M20 Smartphones In India

The Honor View 20 will be available at Amazon.in and Honor’s own website and will go on sale from 12 AM 30 January. The company has also partnered with Reliance Digital to reach offline customers. The handset is available in three colour options which include Sapphire Blue, Midnight Black and Phantom Blue. It is available in two RAM + ROM configurations for which the price is as follows:
- 6 GB + 128 GB- Rs 37,999
- 8 GB + 256 GB- Rs 45,999
January 29, 2019
Antutu Releases AI (Artificial Intelligence) Benchmarking Tool

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming popular by each day. More and more companies are trying to offer some or the other AI centric feature in their smartphones. Antutu, the popular benchmarking tool to test the performance of a device, has released a new app called Antutu AI Review, which is meant to differentiate the AI performance of a device by giving it a score.

Antutu, in its blog post mentioned “In order to let everyone have an intuitive judgment on the AI ??performance of their mobile phones, Ann Bunny officially released the Antutu AI Review public beta, providing a quantifiable standard for everyone to judge the difference in AI performance of different platforms.”

Due to there being a difference in what AI means for different SoC makers, Antutu AI Review has tried to establish a unified standard for testing through cooperation with the above manufacturers. The test is divided into two sub-items, namely image classification and object recognition.Among them, the image classification is based on the Inception v3 neural network, the test data is 200 pictures; and the object recognition is based on the mobilenet ssd neural network, the test data is a 600-frame video. The final score is calculated based off accuracy and speed. The higher the both, the higher is the final score.

There is a catch however, if the speed is high but the accuracy of the image recognition isn’t, the benchmark will give a lower score. This is to prevent cheating as the device won’t be able to ramp up the speed and give wrong answers to get a higher score.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy M10 Unboxing And Hands-On

The AI Benchmarking tool by Antutu seems like a good idea at the right time as the war for AI is heating up and it would be interesting to see which companies are serious about it and what are just providing them as a gimmick. The app is available to beta test as an APK file and will be released for public soon.

January 29, 2019
Samsung Galaxy M10 Unboxing And Hands-On
Galaxy M10, the most cost-effective smartphone in the latest Samsung M Series just launched in India, and with an impressive price tag, we have to say. With a decent spec sheet and a crisp look to go along with it, Samsung is clearly targeting the entry-to-mid segment of the smartphone arena. And being the most competitive arena so far, Samsung is clearly doing an impressive job. With a pleasant waterdrop notch and an Infinity V-Display, this might just be it.

Inside the Box
- Samsung Galaxy M10
- MicroUSB 2.0 Data Cable
- Travel Adapter
- Ejection Pin
- User Manual
Design

The M10 has tapered edges which go along really well with the rounded edges on the screen itself. And as mentioned before, the waterdrop notch is a nice touch too. The device dedicates the right side to the volume rockers and the power/lock button, freeing up a lot of space on the left side, which houses the SIM cards and memory card slot. The Galaxy M10 has a micro-USB port at the bottom. It also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is placed right next to the charging port. The device shows off a glossy back panel, which has a dual camera with an LED flash. The speakers are placed at the bottom of the back, unlike many front-facing speakers these days. Overall, the Galaxy M10 manages to pull off an impressive look while keeping the budget in check.

Display

With bezel-less displays in fashion, the Galaxy M10 surely does its part of living up to the trend. Sporting a PLS TFT display, it has a 15.80 cm/6.23 inch HD+ Infinity-V Display with a 1480×720 px resolution. A 19:9 aspect ratio combined with a 81.6 percent screen-to-body ratio looks quite premium on the device. With a width of 7.7 mm, the M10 has a pixel density of 270.5 ppi.

Processor

The Samsung Galaxy M10 runs on a 14nm Exynos 7870 SoC, which houses an octa-core ARMv7 CPU and a Mali™-T830 MP1 GPU. The CPU is clocked at 1.6 GHz. According to Samsung’s official website, Exynos 7870 consumes up to 30% less power than its predecessor, which will make the Samsung Galaxy M10 more power efficient in terms of battery life.

Memory and Storage

The device is available in two variants. There is a 2GB RAM version, which gets 16 GB internal storage. Then, there is a 3GB RAM version which is coupled with 32 GB of internal memory. The device is available with an expandable memory slot that supports memory cards up to 256 GB. The memory card can be inserted in the same tray as the dual SIM cards.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy M10 has a dual camera setup at its back. It has a main 13 MP (F1.9) camera and an ultra-wide secondary 5 MP (F2.2) camera. The device can record videos at 1080p (30 fps). Also, the device has a 5MP (F2.0) front selfie camera, placed on top of the notch.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy M10 is packed with a 3400 mAh Li-ion battery. The Samsung Exynos 7870 promises better power management, so the device battery should be just fine for carrying out a day’s tasks. The device, however, does not support fast charging.

Connectivity And Other Features

The device has dual-sim support, with 4G LTE support. Interestingly, both the SIM cards and the memory card are placed in a single tray, that is present on the the left side of the device. The device supports GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and has a microUSB 2.0 port as mentioned previously. M10 also supports Adaptive WiFi

Price And Availability In India

Also Read : Disappointing Geekbench Score For Samsung S10+

The Samsung Galaxy M10 is available for Rs. 7990 for the 2GB RAM/16GB version and Rs. 8990 for the 3GB RAM/32GB version. 5th February onwards, you can purchase it from the Samsung Online Store.

The detailed video for the Samsung Galaxy M10 is available below

https://youtu.be/QusBqg6uU6c
January 28, 2019
Samsung Galaxy M20 Unboxing And Hands On
Samsung has been teasing the launch of their latest ‘M’ series for quite a while now. And while there have been a tonne of speculations and leaks regarding the device, nothing was confirmed then. But today, Samsung has officially released the Galaxy M20 along with the Galaxy M10 in India exclusively on Amazon. The phone boasts of a modern design, with a blend of good specifications and an aggressive price to boot.

Inside the Box
- Samsung Galaxy M20
- USB Type C Data Cable
- Fast-Charging Adaptor
- Ejection pin
- User Manual
Design

The Galaxy M20 takes an entirely different approach than what we have seen Samsung doing. Samsung Galaxy M20 is the first smartphone from the brand to sport a notch. The notch is a teardrop design which is considered the least intrusive among the other notches. Other than that, there is a small chin at the front, giving it an all screen look. Over at the back of the phone, there is a dual camera setup with an LED Flash. There is a Fingerprint sensor beneath it and a Samsung below the sensor.

Over at the bottom, there is a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C post and a microphone along with a speaker grille.

Display

The Galaxy M series is the first smartphone from Samsung to use their Infinity-V display. The screen on the Galaxy M20 is a 6.3-inch PLS TFT display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px and a Pixel density of 410 ppi and a screen-to-body ratio of 83.6 and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9.

Processor

The Galaxy M20 runs on the 14nm Exynos 7904. The Exynos 7904 is an Octa-core CPU and is combined with Mali-G71 GPU. The CPU consists of Dual Cortex A73 running at 1.8 GHz and a Hexa Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.6GHz.

Memory and Storage

The Galaxy M20 comes in two variants, one with 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB of Internal Storage and another with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of Storage. The smartphone supports two separate sim cards and has a dedicated memory card slot that supports memory cards upto 256GB.

Camera

The Galaxy M20 has a dual camera setup at the back. The smartphone is equipped with a 13MP f/1.9 sensor with a 5MP f/2.2 wide angle sensor with 120 degree field of view. Over at the front is an 8MP f/2.0. The phone supports 1080p recording at 30fps. The 8MP front camera also supports 1080p recording at 30fps.

Battery & Operating System

The Galaxy M20 has a massive 5000mAh battery powering it which means that the phone will last for more than a day on a single charge. The phone supports the Samsung fast charging technology up to 15W. A full charge takes 2.5 hrs or 150 mins to complete and according to Samsung, you will get 3hrs of talk time with a 15min charge.

The phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Samsung Experience 9.5 out of the box.

Connectivity and Other features

Also Read: Zombies storm Battle-royale as PUBG Mobile beta teams up with Resident Evil 2

The Galaxy M20 has support for Bluetooth 5.0. The device also has a fingerprint sensor at the back and a support for VoLTE. The phone also has a face unlock feature for faster access to the device.

Pricing and Availability

The Galaxy M20 has been launched in India for Rs 10990 for the 3/32GB variant and for Rs 12990 for the 4/64GB variant and will be exclusively available to buy from Amazon India and Samsung Online Store starting February 5th.

You can watch our unboxing and hands-on videos below.

https://youtu.be/c-Bqw9Bv8fk
January 28, 2019
Samsung Launches Budget Galaxy M10 & Galaxy M20 Smartphones In India
After a long wait, Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy M-Series of smartphones in India which are focused toward the young millennials. The company claims that these smartphones are designed and developed while keeping Indian consumers in mind. Samsung has initially launched two smartphones which include the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20. Both smartphones are laden with good features and have a modern design.

Samsung Galaxy M10

Out of the two newly launched smartphone, the Galaxy M10 is the more affordable and less feature-rich device. It has a 6.2-inch PLS TFT display with a small waterdrop notch up top and a pixel density of 1480 x 720 px. The device runs on Android 8.1 Oreo and is powered by a 3,400 mAh battery. Samsung has promised Android 9 updates with the One UI for both phones. For photography, the device has an f/2.0 aperture equipped 5 MP front sensor and dual f/1.9 aperture equipped 13 MP + f/2.2 aperture equipped 5 MP rear camera sensors. The device can also capture 1080p videos at 30fps from both the front and rear camera sensors.

Under the hood, the Galaxy M10 packs the Exynos 7870 SoC which consists of and Octa-Core CPU and Mali T830 MP1 GPU. In terms of connectivity, the smartphone supports 4G VoLTE, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 and a bottom mounted Micro-USB port for charging and data transfer.

Samsung Galaxy M20

The Samsung Galaxy M20 is the more expensive and feature-rich out of the two newly launched devices. On the front of the device sits a 6.3-inch PLS LCD display with a pixel density of 2340 x 1080 px and a small waterdrop notch up top. The smartphone is powered by a mammoth 5,000 mAh battery which also supports fast charging. Like the Galaxy M10, it also runs on Android 8.1 Oreo.

The Galaxy M20 is kitted with an Exynos 7914 SoC which consists of an Octa-Core CPU and Mali G71-MP2 GPU. For photography, the smartphone has an f/2.0 aperture equipped 8 MP front sensor and dual f/1.9 aperture equipped 13 MP + f/2.2 aperture equipped 5 MP rear camera sensors. It can also capture 1080p videos at 30fps from both the front and rear camera sensors. Connectivity options on the device include Bluetooth 5.0, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC, 4G VoLTE and a bottom mounted USB Type-C for charging and data transfer. For safely and securely unlocking the device it features a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Price

Also Read: Facebook Planning To Integrate Whatsapp, Messenger And Instagram

Both the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 are priced aggressively are available in Blue colour option. The Galaxy M-Series smartphones will be exclusively available online via Amazon.in and Samsung’s official website. Pricing and storage option for the devices are as follows:
- Galaxy M10 2 GB + 16 GB: Rs. 7,990
- Galaxy M10 3 GB + 32 GB: Rs. 8,990
- Galaxy M20 3 GB + 32 GB: Rs. 10,990
- Galaxy M20 4 GB + 64 GB: Rs. 12,990
January 28, 2019
Samsung Will Now Use Eco-Friendly Materials For Its Packaging

Samsung Electronics on Sunday announced in a blog post that it would replace plastic packaging with Eco-Friendly materials. The company said that it will start taking steps this year to replace plastic packaging materials with paper and other environmentally sustainable elements.

In their blog post, Samsung wrote, “From the first half of 2019, the packaging used currently for Samsung’s products and accessories – ranging from mobile phones and tablets to home appliances – will be substituted with environmentally sustainable materials like recycled/bio-based plastics and paper.”

This makes Samsung one of the only companies to start an initiative like this one to help save the environment. The company also said that the plastic bags used to protect the surface of home appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines as well as other kitchen appliances will be replaced with bags containing recycled materials and bioplastics, which are made from plastic wastes and non-fossil fuel materials like starch or sugar cane respectively.

“Samsung Electronics is stepping up in addressing society’s environmental issues such as resource depletion and plastic wastes,” said Gyeong-bin Jeon, head of Samsung’s Global Customer Satisfaction Center. “We are committed to recycling resources and minimizing pollution coming from our products. We will adopt more environmentally sustainable materials even if it means an increase in cost.” Samsung said in the post.

Samsung plans that by next year, it will only use Eco-Friendly packaging materials certified by forestry initiatives by next year. By 2030, Samsung aims to use 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and collect 7.5 million tons of discarded products (both cumulative from 2009).

Also Read: Google I/O 2019 Dates And Venue Announced

Its great to see a big smartphone company stepping up to help the cause of the environment and start using Eco-Friendly materials for packaging and we hope that more companies join the cause and start an initiative like this on their own.

January 28, 2019
Oppo Is Working On A Smartphone With Punch-Hole Camera Claims Patent

Oppo is a company that has a track record of launching unconventional and unique smartphones. The company launched the Oppo N1 smartphone that had a swivel style camera module which could be used as both the front and rear cameras. Another strange smartphone that the company launched was the Oppo Find X that had a motorised concealing camera. A leaked patent claims that the company is readying a smartphone with an edge-to-edge display and a punch-hole selfie camera.

Oppo Patent Details

On 18 January 2019 Oppo was granted a patent by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) for a smartphone with an uncommon feature. The patent reveals a smartphone with a punch hole selfie camera and a high screen-to-body ratio display. Notably, Oppo has concealed the camera in a creative manner. As the lens acts as the icon for the camera application. The patent is sufficiently detailed to expose what the handset might actually look like.

The patent exhibits that the right side of the smartphone houses the SIM card slot and the power button while the volume rockers are placed on the left. The rear of the smartphone has a horizontally aligned dual camera setup and a fingerprint sensor. The bottom side of the device houses the USB Type-C port, loudspeaker grille, and 3.5 mm audio while the top houses the secondary microphone pinhole.

Punch-Hole Camera Revolution

Top smartphone manufacturers like Samsung and Huawei have already launched smartphones with punch hole selfie camera. The Samsung Galaxy A8s was the world’s first smartphone to have this type of camera which was followed by the Huawei Nova 4. Another smartphone manufacturer, Lenovo is soon expected to launch a smartphone with this feature. The highly anticipated Galaxy S10 lineup is also tipped to have this innovative functionality. Apparently, Oppo being a competitive company does not want to be left behind and is also readying a smartphone with this feature. Sadly details about the features and specifications of the Oppo smartphone are unavailable but the device is expected to launch soon.

Launch Date

Also Read: More Images Of The Samsung Galaxy S10 Leak

Although Oppo has not revealed the launch date of the smartphone with a punch hole selfie camera, it is expected to be unveiled at the MWC 2019 (Mobile World Congress) which is scheduled for 25-29 February.

January 28, 2019
Foldable Intel Smartphone, Converts To Large Tablet

Intel has finally patented a foldable smartphone which has three different display sections to create an extra large screen. It will run on Windows OS and will probably be equipped with a Stylus pen.

Intel Partnering With Microsoft

For such a venture, it seems that Microsoft will enter into a partnership with Intel. At Computex 2018, Intel put forward two prototypes, which included the before-mentioned foldable smartphone and a notebook, also codenamed as the Tiger Rapids Project. The documentation by LetsGoDigital shows a folding smartphone that is made up of three screen parts. It has also released some 3D renders for the same.

About The Device

Intel now has a design patent for the device with the foldable panels. Needless to say, the device looks pretty amazing. In the normal state, the device is fully folded for one-handed usage. The device is supposed to be bezel-less. All major components and sensors are placed under the display of the device. When the device is unfolded, it can be used as a mobile workstation.

Surprisingly, the Intel foldable smartphone can be unfolded twice, which means that it is made up of three display parts. Also, the device has two cameras per screen section, so that’s six cameras in total. On top of that, the Intel smartphone is equipped with a stylus. Oddly resembling the S-Pen, it magically slides into the corner of the smartphone housing. Probably, the Stylus is held in place by a magnet of sorts.

Implications Of The Intel Foldable Smartphone

Also Read : More Images Of The Samsung Galaxy S10 Leak

An interesting advantage of the foldable smartphone is the fact that you can actually fold the screens towards each other and lock them in place, creating a triangle. You can then place the device on a table, just like an alarm clock. Obviously, there can be a lot more helpful implications for the same. But you can be sure that it will turn heads towards the device. It doesn’t seem likely to be in the market during the near future, but it’s very intriguing that tech giants are actually trying to do so.

January 28, 2019
More Images Of The Samsung Galaxy S10 Leak

Samsung is all set to launch the highly anticipated Galaxy S10 lineup of smartphones. Rumours and reports claim that the upcoming devices will have revolutionary features and will be a big leap forward in comparison to its predecessors. The details about the upcoming smartphones have leaked on several instances. A couple of freshly leaked images of the device suggest that it will indeed have a laudable design.

Galaxy S10 Leaked Images

pic.twitter.com/6mTvyHmXQn
— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) January 28, 2019

Live images of the Galaxy S10 were leaked on Twitter by two different leaksters. Design of the Galaxy S10 in both the images is indistinguishable and is similar to past leaks. The leaked images reveal that the upcoming flagship from Samsung has an elegant design with minimal bezels.

https://twitter.com/Sudhanshu1414/status/1089484658272681984

Notably, the device in the image has a cutout in the display which houses dual front-facing selfie cameras. The Galaxy S10 apparently runs on Android OS while the image confirms that it will be skinned with Samsung’s latest One UI. The second image of the Galaxy S10 that happens to be a Chinese variant confirms that the smartphone has a curved display that tapers towards edges.

Past Leaks and Confirmed Features

Past leaks of the Galaxy S10 claim that the device will have an under display fingerprint sensor and a wallet for storing cryptocurrency. Samsung has confirmed that the smartphone will pack the Exynos 9820 SoC which consists of an Octa-Core CPU and Mali-G76 MP12 GPU. Other precise details like the screen size, camera resolution will be affirmed at the time of its official launch.

Launch Date

Also Read: Zombies storm Battle-royale as PUBG Mobile beta teams up with Resident Evil 2

The Galaxy S10 lineup which includes the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Lite, Galaxy S10 Plus and 5G compatible Galaxy S10 X will launch at the Galaxy Unpacked 2019 event which is set for 20 February 2019. Along with the Galaxy S10 smartphones, Samsung will also launch the foldable phone which is allegedly called the Galaxy Fold.

January 28, 2019
OnePlus 6T Users Face Rapid Battery-Draining Bug

A lot of users have reported that their OnePlus 6T is losing battery rapidly, without any apparent cause. A Reddit user said that his OnePlus 6T’s battery life was almost halved all of a sudden. And that was without any heavy stress on the phone. Even after shutting down all the background applications, the battery life wasn’t reverted back.

OnePlus 6T Battery

The OnePlus 6T has been very popular since its launch in October 2018. With an onscreen fingerprint reader and a load of other quirky features, it was an instant favourite among the OnePlus user base. The device sports a 3700 mAh battery, which can easily handle a day’s worth of tasks. On top of that, it has DashCharge, which charges it from 0 to 60% under 35 minutes.

Suggested Fixes

The Reddit user even mentioned that he tried updating the software to the latest version for the T-Mobile version, but in vain. Also, clearing the cache from the phone and Google Play Services didn’t help either. After various comments were added to his post, he tried factory resetting his phone and installing a battery saver. The only thing that apparently worked for him was putting his OnePlus 6T on airplane mode, which almost restored his battery life. Obviously, this doesn’t count as a fix.

Also Read : Facebook Planning To Integrate Whatsapp, Messenger And Instagram

Various fixes provided by different users included checking for bad cookies or malware on the device, rooting the device and installing a custom ROM. Since the issue is fairly recent, OnePlus 6T users would have to wait for an official fix or at least a response from the community. You can try limiting the number of background processes in the Developer options. But that’s about it. Are you having the same problem with your OnePlus 6T? Let us know in the comments below!

January 28, 2019
Samsung To Soon Launch Second Gen IconX Wireless Earbuds

Samsung is reportedly working on a significantly newer version of the original Gear IconX earbuds, previously introduced in 2018. Reportedly bearing the model number SM-R170, the earbuds will be available in three colors – black, white and yellow. The most interesting aspect of the new IconX earbuds will be the fact that they sport 8 gigs of internal storage. That’s almost 2000 songs you can store in these upcoming earbuds, as an improvement to its predecessor, which had 4 GB internal storage.

Tuning and Price

It’s pretty early to say this, but the new Gear IconX earbuds may be launched with a Galaxy Branding, just like they did with their smartwatch. Another speculation that arises with this new product is the price factor, that may prove to be a contributing factor if Samsung opts for AKG tuning with their new earbuds. AKG is a legendary studio brand with almost 70 years’ experience in audio and sound, so we can expect Samsung to go for the bigger portion here. Also, Samsung is releasing their very first Bixby-powered Home system, called Galaxy Home with AKG tuning later this year. This here suggests that Samsung may go for the same tuning across the IconX earbuds as well.

Battery Life

Also Read : Full Specifications And Pictures Of The Moto G7 Family Leak

As far as the battery life is concerned, nothing definitive is on the charts yet. But looking at the 2018 IconX earbuds which delivered almost seven hours of listening time, the new IconX earbuds will probably be better at the battery game. Now it’s very skeptical to say if they make improvements in the earbuds or the charging case, but we expect fast charging support with the new IconX earbuds, that’s for sure.

Are you a fan of the original Gear IconX earbuds? If so, what do you think about the supposedly new ‘Galaxy’ IconX earbuds? Do let us know!

January 25, 2019
The Apple AirPods 2 Will Support Hands-Free “Hey Siri” Voice Command

The Airpods 2 have been in the rumors for quite a while now. Along with the much leaked and hyped Airpower, the second generation of the super successful Apple Airpods are all but confirmed to be on the way. The latest news comes on behalf of 9to5Mac where the latest beta of iOS 12.2 was decoded and was found to have a separate, hands-free command for the Airpods.

via 9to5Mac

Now, the first generation of the Airpods don’t support this feature and thus, it is all but confirmed that the second generation does. There is also a claim of the Airpods getting new health-centric features. What those are, isn’t very clear because there is only so much you can do while being plugged in the ears.

The Airpods were launched in 2016 and were appreciated for their super simple pairing and connectivity to the Apple products. The sound quality of the Airpods was average at best so it will be interesting to see Apple work on it this time. The hands-free Siri command can be very useful in certain circumstances like when you want to summon the assistant to do the work for you. One more feature coming definitely to the second-gen Airpods will be wireless charging support for the case right from the ground up.

The updates seem substantial and justify a new model of the Airpods. One thing we wish Apple would work on something to make the size of the Airpods much smaller than they already are and if possible, make them look a little less ridiculous while in the ears. Color options also would be appreciated this time around.

The launch date of Airpods 2 isn’t clear on the horizon yet, but we should expect it to see it sometime in 2019, possibly in the first half.

January 25, 2019
Samsung Galaxy A8s Launched In Korea As Galaxy A9 Pro
Samsung originally launched the Galaxy A9 Pro smartphone in the year 2016. The company has now launched the Galaxy A9 Pro (2019) in Korea which is essentially the Galaxy A8s that was launched in China late last year. The Galaxy A8s aka the Galaxy A9 Pro (2019) is the worlds first smartphone to feature a punch hole for the selfie camera in the display.

Design and Specifications

The Galaxy A9 Pro (2019) has a futuristic looking design with an all-glass front and rear build. The smartphone measures 158.4 x 74.9 x 7.4 mm and weighs in at 173 grams. It has a 6.4-inch display with a screen-to-body ratio of 84.7% and a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px. The display panel has a pixel density of 403 ppi and 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

The Galaxy A9 Pro (2019) features the Snapdragon 710 SoC which consists of an Octa-Core SoC and the Adreno 616 GPU. For photography, the smartphone has triple 24 MP + 10 MP + 5 MP rear cameras and a 24 MP front camera that is housed inside the punch hole in the display. The device can also capture 1080p videos @ 30fps from both the front and rear camera sensors.

In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy A9 Pro (2019) supports 4G VoLTE, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS and a bottom mounted USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. The device powered by a 3,400 mAh lithium-ion battery and it runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie. For safely and securely unlocking the handset, it also has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Price, Colour and Memory Options

Also Read: Full Specifications And Pictures Of The Moto G7 Family Leak

The Galaxy A9 Pro (2019) is available in three colour options which are Blue, Black and Gray. It is available in single RAM and ROM configuration for which the price is as follows:
- 6 GB + 128 GB- 599,500 won (around Rs 38,000)
January 25, 2019
Mysterious Google Device Leaks On Geekbench With Snapdragon 855

The year has barely begun and the leaks of all the upcoming smartphones also are on the rise. Amidst the high intensity of Samsung Galaxy S10 leaks, a mysterious device from Google has popped up on Geekbench. And it may be enough to get you a little excited. Code-named Google Coral, the device has some impressive, 2019 worthy, specifications from as far as the eyes can see. The leaked screenshot shows us some of the components that will power this mystery of a device.

Google Coral Specifications

The device may run on a Snapdragon 855, the latest from Qualcomm, 6GB of RAM, which is impressive considering Google only put 4GB of RAM in the Pixel 3 series. The device is also running Android Q, which probably won’t be out until Q3 of 2019, which is maybe what we are looking at as the timeline for the launch of the device.

What the leak doesn’t emphasize on, is what is under the hood of the device, but the Benchmarks suggest it is the latest and greatest from Qualcomm. As far as the benchmark scores go, the Google Coral scores an impressive 3296 in Single Core scores and a whopping 9235 in Multi-Core. This is on par with all the other leaks of the benchmarks the Snapdragon 855 can work out. One thing that is weird about this mysterious device is the timing of the leak. While there is no doubt that Google is working on the next generation of Pixel devices, but the timing is really too early for a leak. What this mystery device is, remains to be seen.

Also Read: Huawei Will Launch A Foldable 5G Smartphone At MWC 2019

Maybe Google is secretly working on a tablet device, or maybe it is the next-gen Pixel. We just hope Google nails it with the design this time. However, it is difficult to say until we know more of the Google Coral, and from what it seems right now, we may find out soon enough.

January 25, 2019
Huawei Will Launch A Foldable 5G Smartphone At MWC 2019

The dates of MWC 2019 (Mobile World Congress) are nearing and Huawei has announced that it will launch a foldable smartphone with 5G compatibility at the upcoming MWC event next month. Samsung has also announced that it will launch a foldable phone and a 5G compatible phone at the upcoming event, but these features are likely to be seen on two seperate devices. Therefore, Huawei might become the first company in the world to offer both bleeding edge technologies on a single smartphone. Except for Huawei and Samsung, Xiaomi will also launch the 5G compatible Mi Mix 3 smartphone next month.

What is 5G?

5G is the newest generation of cellular mobile communication which succeeds 4G, 3G and 2G. It aims to provide higher data rates, reduction in cost, energy saving, and an even larger connectivity network compared to its predecessors. Theoretically, the 5G compatible device can reach a data transfer speed of up to 20 GBPS which is several folds faster than the current standards. The technology is currently under rapid development and a lot is expected from it in the coming years.

Foldable Huawei Smartphone Expectations

Huawei has not yet enlightened the consumers about a foldable smartphone but a past investor meeting revealed some key details what can be expected from a foldable Huawei smartphone. Reportedly, the company is working on a foldable phone that folds inwards like the Galaxy F. It is expected to have a smaller size screen on the outside while the large tablet sized screen is concealed behind its folding mechanism.

Also Read: Vivo Showcases A 5G Smartphone Without Buttons Or Ports

Supposedly the primary display of the foldable 5G measures 5-inch and the larger tablet-sized display measures 8-inch. Not many details about the foldable Huawei phone except for these are currently available. Luckily we won’t have to wait for long as MWC is scheduled for 25-29 Februay and the company will clarify all the doubts regarding the same.

January 25, 2019