TECHNEWS

Xiaomi officially announced that it is launching the Xiaomi Play smartphone in China.  Now confirmed to be the Xiaomi Mi Play, its launch is set for December 24, and teasers have also started coming in. The new teasers posted by Xiaomi reveal the smartphone's design from the front and back, and it is seen sporting a waterdrop-shaped notch up front, and a dual camera setup at the back of the device. In fact, the design appears to match one of the TENAA listings from earlier this month, presumed to be the Xiaomi Redmi 7 Pro.    The Xiaomi Mi Play teasers suggest a Snapdragon processor, and good sound quality. Judging by the name, the Xiaomi Mi Play could be a gaming smartphone by the Beijing-headquartered company. Teasers also suggest that the smartphone is expected to come with media-centric features, good audio, and more. The company has started taking reservations of interest for the phone, and all details are expected to be made official next week on D...

The Chinese tech giant Huawei has decided to launch its new flagship Huawei Mate 20 Pro in India, and the news has been confirmed by the Huawei Consumer Business Group, Vice President, Jim Xu. Xu has briefed media persons about the plans of the brand to increase its presence in the Indian market. Xu said the Mate 20 Pro will soon be released for sale in the Indian market, and with the device will come new Huawei tablets and computers as well. Like the Huawei P20 Pro, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro will also sell here as an Amazon exclusive product, as the brand will continue its partnership with Amazon for online sales, as per media reports. Huawei Contemplating Exclusive Retail Stores In India According to Xu, India is now a Tier-I country for Huawei, which means that the brand will be making new investments here in not just the smartphone segment but other tech sectors as well. 'We are making strategic investments in the PC business. In the smartph...

After plenty of teasing, nubia has finally launched its latest flagship device in China. The all-new nubia X is here, and the device comes with an interesting approach for achieving the bezel-less display. The nubia X has no bezels, but it doesn't have a notch nor a sliding mechanism. Instead, the device comes with dual touchscreen displays on either side of the device. The nubia X sports two touchscreen displays, one on the front and the other one on the rear. What's more is that it can be unlocked in just 0.1 seconds with the two fingerprint scanners that are placed on either side of the smartphone. The nubia X's AI dual-screen switching feature is pretty well optimized it well. It can seamlessly show the display contents of the front screen on the secondary display when the device is flipped. Speaking about the secondary display, it comes with extra features such as eye protection mode. After plenty of teasing, nubia has finally l...

Samsung is expected to launch its next flagship Galaxy S10 with the latest trending in-display fingerprint scanner. The upcoming device by Samsung has already been started leaking over the web with numerous rumors surrounding the specs and features which the smartphone will offer. Now, a new report has surfaced over the web hinting at the expected specifications of the upcoming flagship Samsung smartphone. As per a report from AllAbooutSamsung, a German website, the upcoming premium category Samsung Galaxy S10 will sport a full-screen display which will incorporate the in-display fingerprint scanner along with it. The report further suggests that the Samsung Galaxy S10 will be compatible with the 5G network as well. This will make it among the first few smartphones to be 5G enabled. It is being further reported that the Galaxy S10 series might be available in up to five different variants. While the Galaxy S10 might pack a 5.8-inch display, the ...

The Infinix Hot S3x smartphone will be available exclusively on Flipkart with the "Big Diwali Sale" starting from November 1 until November 5. It will be available in three colours - Ice Blue, Sandstone Black and Trade winds Gray. Infinix has today launched Hot S3X with notch display at Rs 9,999. The Infinix Hot S3x smartphone will be available exclusively on Flipkart with the "Big Diwali Sale" starting from November 1 until November 5. It will be available in three colours - Ice Blue, Sandstone Black and Trade winds Gray. Infinix Hot S3x features 6.2-inch screen and 19:9 Notch display with an HD+ resolution of 1500 x 720 pixels, 500 Nits brightness and 86% screen to body ratio. The phone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset clocked at 1.5GHz with Adreno 505 GPU. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB inbuilt storage, which is expandable up to 128GB with a microSD card. For the camera department, the Infinix Hot S3x is equipped with a ...

When smartphone OEMs started introducing thin bezel displays (18:9 aspect ratios) last year, Apple came up with the notch design on the iPhone X that led to a chain of reaction and a range of similar phones, some of it still being released. Apple's adoption of a cut-out in the display was a solution to a problem that all smartphone makers face today. If we make a bezel-less screen, where do we put all the front sensors including the camera? The notch was never the final answer, it was a transition, a necessary phase before the industry figures out a place to accommodate all the sensors. Fast forward to the present day, and .Samsung has made some advancements in the quest for the all-screen holy grail. The Korean giant announced it's first ODM device in China namely the Galaxy A6s, and the quad-camera Galaxy A9s yesterday, October 24. The Galaxy A6s is an improved Galaxy A6+ with a Snapdragon 660 SoC while the Galaxy A9s is just a localized version of the Galaxy A9 (...

Nokia India is cutting prices of its latest handsets to win customers in the Indian Market. The company's smartphones have witnessed a price cut of about Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500, while Nokia 8 Sirocco got a massive price cut of Rs 13,000. Finnish smartphone maker cut the price of these devices after Lenovo and Xiaomi reduced prices of their handsets. HMD Global has recently announced the price cut in a statement. The Nokia 8 Sirocco comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, which can't be extended. The smartphone is powered by 1.9GHz octa-core processor. Nokia 8 Sirocco has a 12-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel front camera. It is powered by a 3260mAh battery. It has Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC, USB OTG, Headphones, Bluetooth, 3G and 4G with Band 40 support used by some LTE networks. It also has Compass/Magnetometer, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Gyroscope and Barometer. The Nokia 8 Sirocco is carved out of a single pi...

At this year's IFA technology conference in Berlin, Huawei sub-brand Honor teased its Honor Magic 2 smartphone. The flagship device, which has an almost bezel-free display (thanks to a slider mechanism similar to that of Oppo Find X) is expected to be unveiled on October 31. With days to go before the official launch, Honor Magic 2 has surfaced on Chinese certification agency .TENAA's portal, hinting at its key specifications. If the TENAA listing is to be believed, Honor Magic 2 will be powered by Huawei's top-of-the-line Kirin 980 SoC, paired with 6GB/8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB of internal storage. Coming to the display, the Magic 2 will likely have a 6.39-inch FullHD+ (1080×2340 pixels resolution) panel with almost no bezels, and an in-display fingerprint sensor hidden underneath. The smartphone will almost certainly run Android Pie out-of-the-box, with EMUI 9.0, the latest version of Huawei's custom UI overlay, baked on top. Talking about cameras, t...

WhatsApp is currently working on a string of new features for its messaging platform. While previous reports asserted that WhatsApp will soon roll out the picture-in-picture (PiP) mode as well as introduce Stickers, the Facebook-owned platform is now reported to be working on new features — Vacation mode and Silent mode for better chatting experience. According to a report by Wabetainfo, WhatsApp is working on a Vacation mode feature, that will help improve the archived chat experience. Currently, when you archive a chat, WhatsApp automatically unarchives it once a new message is received from the same chat. With the new vacation mode feature, your archived chats will not appear on your WhatsApp window and will remain as they are, even if a new message appears. This means that if one wants to read the new message, they will have to open the chat manually from the archived chats.

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) pushing the frontiers of communication technology, Samsung Electronics is planning to develop a multi-device platform -- a variety of AI-enabled devices that communicate seamlessly with each other -- to make experiences more personal and relevant. The South Korean tech giant presented its future vision for AI while announcing this week a new AI centre in Montreal, Canada. “By leveraging the power of AI in Samsung’s products and services, we must focus on creating new values, never seen nor experienced before,” said Seunghwan Cho, Executive Vice President of Samsung Research. By providing multiple touchpoints where a user can interact with AI, Samsung said its multi-modal interaction platform (voice, vision, screen, touch) will make experiences more relevant and personal in the future. “One key element that will move AI to being more widely adopted is multi-device systems -- i.e., a variety of AI-enabled devices that communicate seamless...

Oppo has launched its latest R15x smartphone in China. The Oppo R15x comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor, a waterdrop-style notch, a vertical dual rear camera setup. The Oppo R15x specifications include Snapdragon 660 SoC, 25 MP selfie camera, and a 16MP, along with 2MP rear camera combination. Oppo R15x specifications The Oppo R15x come with a 6.4-inch display with 91 percent screen-to-body ratio while protecting the screen is the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The screen is also equipped with an in-display fingerprint sensor. There is no mention of the processor being used in the phone, but reports suggest that the phone could be powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 660 processor, paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage. For optics, the Oppo R15x uses a vertically stacked dual rear lens camera that features a 16 Megapixel main sensor along with a 2 Megapixel secondary depth sensor that is backed with AI capabilities. Towards the front is the 25 Megapixel selfie...

Xiaomi will launch the third-generation of its bezel-less smartphone on October 25. Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 will be officially launched at an event in Beijing, China. Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 like its predecessors will feature an edge-to-edge display with almost no bezels around it. Donovan Sung, global spokesperson for Xiaomi, has been sharing updates on the upcoming Mi MIX 3. The new Mi MIX 3 will feature a sliding form factor for the selfie camera. Oppo Find X and Vivo Nex introduced a new trend with their pop-out selfie cameras. Xiaomi’s previous Mi MIX phones house the selfie camera on the bottom bezel of the phone. A teaser video of the Mi MIX 3 shows the smartphone’s selfie camera which one can slide up to open. The smartphone is expected to sport a 24-megapixel front camera.  Sung has also revealed that the Mi MIX 3 will pack a massive 10GB RAM. The highest RAM capacity on a smartphone is currently 8GB. Mi MIX 3 would be the first phone with 10GB RAM. Oppo is also pl...

With the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 less than a week away from launch, pretty much every detail has been leaked. It's got a lot of cool features, but there is something that you should truly see. The smartphone will officially be unveiled on October 25 in China, and with just a couple of days to go, Xiaomi has confirmed one of its camera features. The Chinese manufacturer has informed that the camera in Mi Mix 3 will support 960 fps slow-motion video recording. This is official, coming straight from Xiaomi global spokesperson, Donovan Sung. The Snapdragon 845 chipset that will power the Mi Mix 3 certainly support it, but this wasn't enabled on the Mix 2S as the right image sensor is needed as well. Samsung's Galaxy S9 series, Galaxy Note 9, Huawei P20 Pro and Sony Xperia XZ Premium from 2017 are the only devices to support super slow motion recording. The code found hidden inside MIUI camera app hints at a yet-to be-launched Xiaomi device with the internal name "Per...

We have seen several ‘world’s first’ smartphones out there and the bar keeps getting higher each year with OEMs doing everything possible to make their handsets ultra-portable. But one of the firms seems to have created a phone that is way easier to carry around.  Kyocera  has made a new handset that is one of the ‘world’s thinnest’ phones ever. Called  KY-O1L , the device is not a smartphone but more of a feature phone with a large screen.  It could be difficult for everyone to get their hands on the KY-O1L as it is only available in Japan as it is made by their largest carrier firm. The handset will be made available in the country by next month on  NTT Docomo .  The device is said to be of the same size as the credit card but with 5.3mm thickness, which is way less than what Samsung and Apple flagship smartphones have. Since it is a compact device, the weight is also less at 47 grams. You get a 2.8-inch monochrome e-paper displ...

Adding to the growing hype around the upcoming  OnePlus 6T  smartphone, the company has now leaked a ' Limited Edition ' version called the OnePlus 6T Ultimate. There is no official word as to whether this 'Ultimate' version while have any special hardware feature or not. Having said that the Ultimate limited edition will most likely offer OnePlus accessories along with the top end variant of the phone.  The OnePlus 6T will not come with a 3.5mm headphone jack and having a dongle or a USB Type-C headphone would be a good thing. The company is also launching backpacks among other things along with the OnePlus 6T.  Meanwhile, OnePlus has started to sell invites of the OnePlus 6T launch in New Delhi at a price of Rs 999. The OnePlus 6T launch event will be held at KDJW Stadium, inside Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi and is expected to start at 8:30 pm October 30. The launch invites will be available via Oneplus.in website from 10:0...

NEW DELHI:  Smartphone  sales are set to break records for the festive season this year, shrugging off the effects of a plunging  rupee , say analysts, with some even pegging online to outpace brick-and-mortar stores for the first time ever in the October-December quarter, on the back of aggressive launches and a slew of offers. Smartphone sales are expected to rise 24% in October over last year’s festive month, which is likely propel growth in the three-month period ending December, which typically contributes about a third to annual sales of companies, say analysts.  “Online is growing faster than the offline channel for  smartphones  in October. The online channel is set to grow 30% year-on-year, while offline will grow 20%. Further, there is a 10% jump in overall handset launches over last year,” Anshika Jain, a Counterpoint research analyst, told ET. The expected growth will dispel fears of some that the weakening rupee may force smartphone...

Lenovo S5 Pro is all set to launch in China on October 18. Now ahead of the launch, the company has posted a couple of teaser posters which reveals the cameras specs as well as the colour variants of the device. The teasers have been shared by the company’s CEO on the Chinese micro-blogging website, Weibo. The first teaser confirms that the Lenovo S5 Pro will be equipped with a dual selfie camera setup with one of the sensors to be 20-megapixel. As per rumours, the secondary sensor for the dual font setup will be 8-megapixel which has not been shown by the teaser.The teaser shows the phone in a Rose Gold colour variant. The second poster shows the Lenovo S5 Pro in blue colour. It also shows off the rear dual-camera setup, with details of the lens aperture. It will come with a f/1.8 aperture sensor on the rear. As per the TENAA listing, the smartphone will come dual rear camera setup with 20-megapixel + 12-megapixel sensors. The device will sport a ...