Samsung Galaxy S9+ takes a fall: drop test against the iPhone X

This isn’t for the faint of heart – PhoneBuff did a drop test on the Samsung Galaxy S9+, the phone fell again and again and again. It got through surprisingly well, though not without major cosmetic damage.

For the S9, Samsung made some design changes to make the phone more durable – it used thicker glass and stronger aluminum to protect that glass. Well, the front glass is thicker, the back glass is the first thing to go, watch:

It’s cool to see that the variable aperture survived this ordeal, even if the selfie camera did not. Still, you may want to slap a case on your Galaxy S9+ for piece of mind. Here’s a quick video of S9’s cases:

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Samsung Galaxy S9+ gets torn down by iFixit, found hard to repair

It's the Samsung Galaxy S9+'s time to get the iFixit disassembly treatment and for us to have a good look inside its beautiful glass and metal hull.

The teardown starts off like you'd expect for a waterproof glass and metal phone - with a heatgun, opening pick and a lot of nervous prying.

The battery is glued in place and required Adhesive Remover and a lot of know-how to remove.

The camera is the more interesting component. Being the Galaxy S9+ it's the dual camera with the main variable aperture sensor and the second, tele sensor.

The main camera's aperture is made up of two rotating circular blades that adjust between the wide f/1.5 and the narrower f/2.4 one.

The conclusion, as with so many modern flagships, is that you'd best leave repairs to certified repair shops and professionals. The screen is very difficult to replace because you'd need to disassemble the rear glass panel.

Check out the complete guide over at iFixit's website.

Watch the Galaxy S9 duo get scratched, burnt and bent

If you've been waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S9 (and S9+) to pass JerryRigEverything's Durability test, it's time to grab the popcorn.

And if you were fearing the worst you can breathe a sigh of relief. The duo of Galaxies will withstand any regular-day beating you might throw at it.

As per usual, JerryRigEverything tested the phone's glass' scratch resistance - normal - its burn resistance - better than most OLEDs as the screen pixels recovered - and its bend resistance - the phones didn't bend.

The stronger aluminum used in the Galaxy S9 and S9+ seemingly doesn't dramatically change the phone's rigidity. It didn't bend but neither did its predecessor.

We'll have to wait for a drop test to see if the stronger glass makes a noticeable difference.

Huawei nova 3e goes official on March 20

Exactly one week before its world premiere of the P20 family in Paris, Huawei is holding a different event in China. This will take place on March 20 and on that occasion the Huawei nova 3e will be announced for the domestic market. That's been made obvious by the event invite Huawei has sent Chinese media. You can see the invite to the left, and it spells out the phone's name very clearly.

The nova 3e has managed not to leak at all so far, which is intriguing. The lack of previous news about it might be due to the fact that it's just going to serve as the P20 Lite for the Chinese market. This is apparently what's now rumored regarding the nova 3e, and if this pans out then the fact that we haven't heard anything about it yet makes perfect sense.

That's because if feels like the P20 Lite has been leaking every day for a couple of weeks now. Also, Huawei has a propensity for launching the same device in different countries under different names. If the nova 3e is the P20 Lite in disguise, then expect it to possibly be powered by the new Kirin 970 mid-range chipset, with a neural processing unit of its own and a hexa-core CPU with two Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex-A53 cores. It's made on the 12nm process, an improvement compared to the 16nm Kirin 659 it aims to replace.

On the other hand, the nova 3e is said to use a 5.6-inch 1080p+ tall display, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, a vertically-aligned dual rear camera setup, and a 3,350 mAh battery. That capacity and the screen's size don't line up with what we've heard about the P20 Lite, so perhaps these will be two different devices after all.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

Huawei Y9 (2018) goes official: 2 cameras front and back, 4,000mAh battery and Oreo

Huawei has announced the Y9 (2018) midranger in Thailand - a phone that shares a lot of bits with the Mate 10 Lite and puts them in a redesigned package.

There's a 5.93-inch IPS LCD on the front, naturally in an 18:9 aspect, because who still makes 16:9 phones. Resolution is 1,080x2,160pixels - the new FullHD.

Inside it, the Kirin 659 is in charge of things, Huawei's own chip now dominating the company's mid-tier lineup (for example, Honor 9 Lite, P smart, and the Mate 10 Lite, of course, have it). In this case it's paired with 3GB of RAM, while storage is 32GB (expandable via microSD).

The camera department appears to be coming straight from the Mate 10 Lite - a 16MP primary shooter on the back, and a 13MP selfie cam, each of them with an extra 2MP camera for depth sensing.

At least a couple of things the Y9 (2018) does better than the Mate - it launches on Android Oreo, while the 10 Lite is still on Nougat, and battery capacity is a more generous 4,000mAh (3,340mAh on the older phone).

Availability and pricing remain to be detailed.

Source (in German)

Oppo is teasing a new F7 "Selfie Expert"

The Oppo R15 and R15s have been a rather constant presence in the rumor mill these past few weeks. A new official teaser, however, brings an interesting twist to the company's upcoming lineup - the Oppo F7. This is the first time we are actually hearing anything substantial about the device and there might be a pretty good explanation for that. Looking at the poster, the next "Selfie Expert" looks almost identical in design to the R15, which is probably how it slipped under the radar.

The promotional image in question was posted on Twitter by Oppo India. It showcases the design and also teases the brand's new local ambassador - likely the cricketer Hardik Pandya. Digging deeper through the Twitter comments also yields a date - March 26, when the local announcement is likely to take place.

As far as we can gather, the Oppo F7 will feature a 6.2-inch FullHD+, 19:9 display, with an alleged screen to body ratio of 89.09 percent. Rumors also hint at a whopping 25MP sefie camera - only fitting for a "Selfie Expert", complete with AI features, similar to the Oppo F5, enhanced real-tile HDR, improved beauty mode and AR stickers.

There are no other specs clues currently available for the Oppo F7, but given its visual similarities with the R15, we are not ruling out the possibility of both being base on the upcoming Snapdragon 670 chipset, or perhaps the MediaTek Helio P6 - prime candidates to power the R15. Also, the pair of devices will likely be running Color OS 4.0, based on Android Oreo.

Source | Via

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s will come with wireless charging

We can add wireless charging to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s' list of improvements over the Mi Mix 2.

The feature has been tipped by Xiaomi itself, via its official Weibo account.

 

Xiaomi is yet to release a phone with wireless charging, but hopefully this is a sign of things to come and all of its upcoming flagship devices join the trend.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 will be announced in Shanghai on March 27. It will have a 5.99-inch display (that will likely sport a notch), a Snapdragon 845 and a dual camera on the back.

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Virtual Viewer MotoMod leaks, looks like a VR headset

Now that we've established that the MotoMod-compatible Moto Z family of smartphones is still alive, let's focus our attention on those mods. Namely, an upcoming one that just leaked.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the Motorola Virtual Viewer MotoMod.

It definitely looks like a VR headset. With the single strap it might be a Daydream VR compatible accessory too. What's clear is that you'll insert your Motorola smartphone into it and do VR things.

There's a cutout for the phone's camera, so maybe some AR will be allowed too? Theoretically you could get a view of the world outside of the headset by using the phone's camera. We'll have to wait and see, since there are no details of any sort accompanying the two leaked promo images.

Source 1 | Source 2

vivo V9 live images leak ahead of its announcement on March 27

It was just yesterday when we found out that vivo is expected to announce the V9 for the Indian market on March 27, and today we're already treated to leaked live images showing the device.

The first time we saw the V9 was in a billboard in Indonesia in February, but these pictures give us a much better idea of what to expect, design-wise.

The notch is there, even if it's hard to see in the first shots (take a look at the last, blurry one if you're not convinced of the notch's existence).

The handset also has a dual rear camera setup, mounted vertically because now that Apple's gone this route with the iPhone X it seems like that's the way to go. The screen of the V9 definitely has a bottom bezel, but it is quite small. Thus, its fingerprint sensor is on the back.

There's also a 3.5mm headset jack on the bottom side of the vivo V9, next to what disappointingly looks like a microUSB port. The phone has an all-metal build with barely visible antenna lines.

The vivo V9 will ship with a 24 MP selfie camera, as well as a hybrid slot for dual SIMs or one SIM and one microSD card. Its price in India will allegedly be around INR 25,000.

Source (in Malay)

Lenovo says Moto Z family isn't dead, in response to layoff rumors

Yesterday they were some rumors that started circulating regarding layoffs at Motorola's Chicago offices. Allegedly the Lenovo-owned company was saying goodbye to 50% of its employees there.

In the meantime Lenovo has reached out to let us know that those rumors were false. Here's the full statement we received:

In late 2017, Lenovo announced a worldwide resource action that would occur over the next several quarters, and impacting less than two percent of its global workforce. This week’s employment reductions are a continuation of that process. We are reducing our Motorola operations in Chicago however this did not impact half of our workforce there and our Moto Z family will continue.

So this is a development that's been in the works for a while now, and, most importantly, the Moto Z line of flagship smartphones hasn't been killed off as a consequence. Also, the layoffs did not impact half of Motorola's Chicago workforce.

vivo X21 will be unveiled in China on March 19, vivo V9 to launch in India on March 27

vivo will be quite busy this month, as the Chinese smartphone maker is going to unveil two devices by the time April comes along.

First, on March 19 at an event in its home country it will make the X21 official, as revealed through official channels today. What you see below this paragraph is the invite for that, which tells us that the X21 will follow in the footsteps of the vivo X20 Plus UD and come with an under-display fingerprint scanner.

However, that's about everything we know of it so far, since the X21 has been curiously absent from any recent leaks. Given its name, we expect it to be a successor of sorts to the X20. Hopefully more details will be revealed in the next few days, otherwise we'll have to wait until March 19 to really get to know the phone.

In India, vivo will make the V9 official on March 27, according to a report from the subcontinent. We've seen the vivo V9 once before, when it appeared on a billboard in Indonesia despite not having been announced. In the meantime, some more promo materials for the V9 have surfaced, and you can see those above and below this paragraph.

The V9 has a screen notch, a pretty slim bottom bezel, a 24 MP selfie camera, and of course a dual rear camera setup. The V9 is expected to be priced at INR 25,000, which would make it more expensive than both of its predecessors, the V7and and V7+, which launched at INR 18,990 and INR 21,990, respectively.

Via 1 | Via 2 | Via 3

ZTE nubia N3 gets official with 5,000 mAh battery, 5.99" 18:9 display, Snapdragon 625

ZTE's sub-brand nubia has unveiled a new smartphone today in China. The nubia N3 comes with a 5.99" IPS 2,160x1,080 18:9 touchscreen, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset at the helm, and a huge 5,000 mAh battery to ensure you won't need to charge it every night. Speaking of that, it supports 18W fast charging.

The handset has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot. It runs Android 7.1 Nougat underneath nubia's custom UI. On the back there are two cameras, but their resolutions and specs are unknown at the moment. For selfies you get a 16 MP shooter.

The nubia N3 will go on sale in China on March 24. It will be offered in Obsidian Black, Space Gold, and Nebula Red. Pricing hasn't been revealed yet. It's the ZTE sub-brand's first mid-ranger to come with a tall screen aspect ratio, thus adhering to one of the latest trends. Amazingly it somehow managed to escape the temptation of having a notch.

Via

Xiaomi launches Mi LED Smart TV 4A in India

Following the Mi LED Smart TV 4, Xiaomi has launched the Mi LED Smart TV 4A in India in two sizes, 43-inch and 32-inch.

The Mi LED Smart TV 4A 43 has a 1920x1080 LED backlit panel and a 20W speaker system. It has three HDMI ports, three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, AV in and a headphones jack. It's powered by an Amlogic T950 SoC with 4x Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.5GHz and Mali-450 at 750MHz with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage. It runs Xiaomi's Patchwall UI with built-in applications for popular services such as Hotstar, Sony LIV, Voot, Hungama Play, ALT Balaji, ZEE5 and more. The television is controlled by an 11-key Bluetooth remote. The 32-inch model is largely the same, although it has a 1366x768 resolution and one less USB port.

The Mi TV 4A 43 is priced at INR 22,999 and the Mi TV 4A 32 is priced at INR 13,999. Both models go on sale on March 13, 12PM IST.

Android P Developer Preview 1 is here with notch support, indoor positioning, better messaging notifications

Today Google has outed the first Developer Preview of Android P. You can install this on a Pixel smartphone if you flash a system image, but you should only do that if you're a developer wanting to test your app against the upcoming release (or aren't using your main phone). That's because Google counts Android P DP1 as an alpha, which means many things may break and you're bound to encounter loads of bugs.

At this stage, Android P brings with it OS-level support for the dreaded screen notch that's starting to invade the non-Apple smartphone world. You also get indoor positioning via Wi-Fi RTT, also known as 802.11mc. If a device has hardware support for this, RTT APIs will measure the distance to nearby Wi-Fi access points - without needing to connect to those. Knowing the distance to three or more APs means you can calculate the phone's position with an accuracy of 1 to 2 meters.

So we'll probably be seeing a lot of indoor navigation apps soon (and support for this added into existing mapping solutions). There's also the potential for "disambiguated voice control" - something along the lines of saying "turn on thislight", when the phone will know which one you mean judging by your position. And of course, special offers will use this protocol to try and sell stuff to you.

Improved messaging notifications are in too, you'll see pictures and stickers in them, and support for smart replies is now OS-wide, developers just need to enable that for their apps. Google has also slightly altered the design of the notification pane and the Quick Settings toggles, as it does for every single new Android version.

A multi-camera API enables seamless zoom, bokeh, and stereo vision on devices with two front or rear snappers. It remains to be seen how many OEMs will choose to use this API and not continue to go with their own custom solutions employed thus far, but this could be a boon for developers of third-party camera apps.

Android P supports HDR VP9 video, HEIF image compression, and the media APIs will be enhanced and refactored at some point before the final release. The Neural Networks API reaches version 1.1 in Android P, after being launched on Android 8.1 last year to accelerate on-device machine learning.

The Autofill framework has new APIs that should improve the overall experience, and the fingerprint authentication UI inside apps should be more consistent. Android P restricts access to your microphone, camera, and sensors from apps that are idle.

The image above roughly details the release timeline for Android P. The next Developer Preview will be out in May, followed by DP3 and DP4 in June, and DP5 in July. The final build will become available for Pixels at some point in Q3 - so before the end of September. Note that only from DP2 onwards will the builds have a 'beta' quality, at which point you'll be able to enroll your compatible device into the Android Beta program to try the new version.

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Huawei P20 promo images show off the AI-powered triple camera

Official-looking promo images show off the triple camera setup on the Huawei P20 series and they reveal the ace up its sleeve – AI. The tagline reads “See mooore with AI” (three Os for three cameras, get it?).

Previous images of the P20 showed only two cameras, so the three camera setup may be reserved for the Pro model. It’s a little strange that the third camera is on a separate “island”, but perhaps there’s a good reason for that – we’ll find out on March 27.

  
Official-looking promo images for the Huawei P20 series

And since the notch is a controversial topic, this is one of the smaller notches we’ve seen recently. It will likely do face unlock, which will likely be yet another AI feature.

Via (in Dutch)

Android P may allow your phone to work as a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse

Samsung’s latest DeX dock allows the Galaxy S9 to be used as a trackpad, a feature that Huawei already supported in its own PC mode and Microsoft in its Continuum before that.

Android P may bring official support for this and even add the option of using the phone as a keyboard. A patch for this was committed back in December 2016, but has been disabled.

Using a phone as a trackpad is pretty okay, though the typing experience won’t be great. Still, simplifying the controls to something like joystick sounds nice – e.g. an extra controller for your console. Alternatively, it could be a standard way to control “smart” appliances over Bluetooth – press any key to do the laundry.

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BlackBerry lawsuit alleges that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp infringed on BBM patents

The latest lawsuit from BlackBerry claims that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp (all of which are services owned by Facebook) have infringed on seven patents.

BlackBerry is asking for monetary damages “including an enhancement of damages on account of Defenants’ willful infringement." More specifically, BlackBerry alleges that Facebook and its daughter companies have created messaging apps “that infringe on BlackBerry patents covering security, user interface features, battery-efficient status updates, and integrating mobile messaging in games,” according to Variety.

BlackBerry KEYone

BlackBerry offers a statement following the lawsuit: “As a cybersecurity and embedded software leader, BlackBerry’s view is that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could make great partners in our drive toward a securely connected future, and we continue to hold this door open to them. However, we have a strong claim that Facebook has infringed on our intellectual property, and after several years of dialogue, we also have an obligation to our shareholders to pursue appropriate legal remedies.”

Facebook’s deputy general counsel had the following to say about the lawsuit:

BlackBerry’s suit sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business. Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, BlackBerry is now looking to tax the innovation of others. We intend to fight. – Facebook

BlackBerry was once a top player in the smartphone industry. Once Apple and Android smartphones began to hit the market, BlackBerry stumbled behind and eventually fell off the map. That was until BlackBerry converted to Android and later contracted TCL to manufacture hardware for modern, Android-powered BlackBerries that would focus on security and enterprise features.

Source | Via

US committee might have issues with the Broadcom/Qualcomm deal

Broadcom’s acquisition of Qualcomm may be in trouble from an unexpected source. There was a possibility that the shareholder meeting (which was scheduled for today) would scoff at the new, lower price or that antitrust authorities would object to this concentration of Wi-Fi tech (remember: Qualcomm is in the process of absorbing NXP). But no, it’s the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that caused the shareholder meeting to be delayed by 30 days.

Perhaps it’s not that surprising, the US has been pretty negative towards foreign companies lately. And while Broadcom was founded in the US, it is currently owned by a Singaporean company (the Qualcomm deal was allegedly a way back to the US).

Anyway, CFIUS rarely gets involved before a deal is signed – Broadcom and Qualcomm are still negotiating. “This measure will afford CFIUS the ability to investigate fully Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Qualcomm,” the U.S. Treasury Department stated.

Qualcomm is one of the leading players in the build-up to 5G networks (in partnership with Nokia), Huawei is the main competitor. A source familiar with CFIUS says that if the deal goes through, there may be no other option for American carriers than to rely on Huawei. There’s always the possibility that Broadcom will sell off parts of Qualcomm after the acquisition.

Broadcom claims its board and senior management is almost entirely American and that both it and Qualcomm are owned by the same US institutional investors. Still, the deal can’t go on without an okay from CFIUS (and later other regulatory bodies will get involved too).

Source

Apple reseller in Malaysia forced to cancel $50 iPhone sale when thousands of people showed up

A Malaysian retailer, Switch, had no choice but to suspend a clearance sale that it advertised to sell off some of its demo units including iPhones between the 5S through the iPhone 7. iPad Minis, iPod Touches, iMacs, Apple TVs, and MacBooks.

All in all, there was probably a total of 200 Apple units altogether, and just 10 iPhone 5S devices marked at $50 with very limited quantities of a sub-$100 iPad, a sub-$150 MacBook Air, and a 24-inch iMac for $255 (which all sound way too good to be true). The problem here was that over 11,000 people showed up, according to a Facebook post, for a clearance sale that probably should not have been advertised online.

The queues were so ridiculous that crowds filled the inside of the mall, starting at the store’s location and ended outside of the building and somewhere towards the parking lot. To make up for the huge inconvenience, Switch (the retail store), offered discounts on newer iPhones over the weekend.

The lesson here is if you show up to a flash sale and there are already more than three-thousand people lined up, chances are if you head home you probably won’t miss out on a lot.

Source | Via

LG X4 smartphone announced in South Korea

LG has launched a new budget Android smartphone in South Korea, the LG X4. The phone is priced at 297,000 South Korean won ($275).

LG X4

The X4 has a 5.3-inch display with a resolution of 1280x720. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage with microSD support. On the back is an 8MP camera and on the front is a 5MP camera. Other features include a fingerprint sensor with LG Pay support, LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi 802.11n, 3000mAh battery and Android 7.1.2 Nougat.

The phone will be available in a choice of Black or Gold color options on SKT, KT and LGU+ networks.

Source • Via