Tech News

Xiaomi's Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro sold 200,000 units in their first flash sale, and today the company announced that the duo reached 1 million sales. The series was introduced on May 28, which means the company needed just 4-5 flash sales to push over a million smartphones.The numbers might have even been higher, but the production capacity is seemingly limited at this point - the Pro version isn't even available outside China yet. To celebrate the seven-digit sales, Redmi brand manager Lu Weibing announced promo sales in China - every buyer of a Redmi K20 smartphone will get...

A lot like the Xiaomi Mi 9, but lighter and smaller. Also comes without the 3.5 mm audio jack and with more modest chipset and price - that's the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE's short story. Now that the phone is with us we will try and tell you the long one once we take it through our full testing procedure. You even might think SE stands for Small Edition, because it doesn't look that special. But when we tinkered around a little more, we realized it is a very snappy phone, with its Snapdragon 712 chipset and the 6 GB RAM. The weight of 155 grams and the small footprint will...

It's been a while since we had a week as calm as this one. With no major launches or aggressive promo campaigns most of the phones on our chart have retained their positions. The Samsung Galaxy A50 leads ahead of its Galaxy A70 sibling, followed by a trio of Xiaomi phones. This time around though the Redmi Note 7 is the one to take the bronze medal, while the Xiaomi Mi 9T has dropped down to fifth. The Redmi K20 Pro still splits those two, taking the fourth spot for the third week in a row now. Samsung Galaxy M40 and Galaxy A30 are exactly where we left them last week - sixth...

While there weren't many big smartphones announcements this week, there were plenty of very interesting stories. Starting off with Oppo and the reveal of the first under display selfie camera. It has a large sensor with resulting large pixels but its image quality isn't great and it might take some time before it makes it to an actual product. Still, it is an exciting development in the long battle for the full-screen phone. We saw official press renders of upcoming Xiaomi CC9 as well as invitations for its July 2 unveil. The specs include a 48MP main camera as well as a 32MP...

Looking for a mid-ranger with a big OLED screen on a budget? Well, the Galaxy M30 might just be the thing for you. This is actually the only handset from the M-series so far to boasts an AMOLED screen and among the few in this entire price segment. More rare finds on this kind of budget are the ultra wide-angle camera and the gigantic 5,000 mAh battery. But let's not spoil the video for you any further. Check it our below. If you want to learn more details about the phone head this way for our in-depth written review

This week, Oppo showed off the first under-screen camera. It's the perfect solution as it not only avoids problems, it will actually improve how people use the camera. First off, notches and punch holes are an unsightly compromise that contorts the screen and UI of the phone. And people have made it clear in previous polls that they are not a popular option (not a deal-breaker, perhaps, but still better avoided if possible). Then there are pop-ups and flip-ups, both of which enable a full-screen design. The downside is that a pop-up mechanism takes more room inside the phone than a...

The tide has turned - in a poll just over 6 months ago, punch holes won over notches and even old-school bezels. The poll from last week shows that holes are no longer welcome. It's unequivocal, the "holes are a bad idea" option collected over half the votes. Of the remaining options a punch hole in the top left corner won with just 18% of the votes. Interestingly, a centered punch hole was the least favorite option. This poll was all about punch holes, so there was no breakdown of the alternatives. However, reading through the comments makes it clear that notches haven't suddenly...

Phones have had rotating controls since the early days. In the 19th century, if you wanted to call someone, you had to crank a handle (it generated the electric pulse that rung the bell of the other phone). In the 20th century, there was the rotary dial. While cell phones never had a rotary dial, the likes of the Sony CMD J7 had a Jog Dial - a wheel on the side of the phone that can be used to navigate menus. BlackBerry started with trackwheels too, but the iconic Pearl series introduced the trackball. The T-Mobile G1 had a trackball too. Of course, later models swapped out the...

Remember Fuchsia OS? It seems like every time we stumble upon an exciting new development regarding the mysterious open-source OS we have to dust it off from obscurity. That's just the nature of early development stage software, plus things are actually looking up on the exposure and availability side of things. After sharing a few tasty details about its side-project at the last I/O event, Google has now quietly launched a developer portal for Fuchsia OS. And to re-iterate the answer to everybody's pressing question before the comment section gets flooded again - NO, it is not...

This new development might come as a bitter-sweet announcement for many, but it is clearly the position Xiaomi and more specifically the MIUI team currently finds itself in. If you haven't been keeping up with recent development surrounding the popular custom Android project - Xiaomi closed its MIUI Global Beta program. This might come as a shock considering its immense popularity, but the latter actually turned out to be a double-edged sword. There are many aspects to the matter, already discussed at length in the mi forum, but it all boils down to the fact that too many users...

As far as reasonably priced flagships go, the Asus 6z is a pretty compelling offer. This makes its tardiness on the India market a little bit unfortunate. If you haven't been keeping up with these particular developments - the ZenFone 6, as its is internationally known, should have hit shelves in the country on June 19. However, a ruling by the Delhi High Court barred the Taiwanese company from launching any phone in India with the "ZenFone" branding and pushed that date back a little to June 26. Since then Flipkart has been exclusively offering the base 6GB/64GB model for INR...

The Xiaomi Mi CC9 arriving on July 2 will be coming with a feature called Mimoji which is similar to Apple's Animoji, Samsung's AR Emoji, Huawei's Qmoji, and Oppo's 3D Omoji. Xiaomi says that Mimoji comes with 165 different hairstyles, faces and accessories to choose from, and it supports both still pictures as well as video recording. You can check out the sample photos down below, and click here to see the video. Mimoji samples The Mi CC9 Meitu Custom Edition which will be joining the CC9 on next Tuesday is already confirmed to come with an AI-powered portrait mode for...

The Samsung Galaxy A90's presence is the rumor mill has been rather confusing so far. What was initially believed to be a re-branded Galaxy A80 for different markets was later mistakenly associated with a mysterious new Galaxy R series. Thankfully, after the latest batch of leaks, the story is starting to make more sense. As far as we currently know the Galaxy A90 moniker will be a reality. In fact a total of two handsets will likely carry it - SM-A905 and SM-A908, probably along with some other "Pro" moniker. Both are expected to feature a Snapdragon 855 chipset - marking a...

The OnePlus 7 Pro has received a price cut in Canada. The base model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is now down from CAD999 ($760/€670) to CAD899 ($685/€605). The 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB models, on the other hand, got a price cut of CAD110 ($85/€75) and now cost CAD939 ($715/€630) and CAD1,009 ($770/€680) respectively. You can purchase the OnePlus 7 Pro at the new price from OnePlus Canada's official website. That said, this is a permanent price drop and those who purchased the OnePlus 7 Pro between 10 am ET on May 17 and 12 pm ET on June 28 will get a refund for the difference...

Samsung has released a new software update for the Galaxy A50 in India which brings in the June 2019 security patch to the phone. This new firmware requires a 422MB download and sports version number A505FDDU2ASF2. And, while the changelog only mentions improvements to the stability of Knox Guard and security of the device, a user has reported that this build also brings in new camera features to the Galaxy A50 like Night Mode and Super Slo-Mo video recording. However, these features aren't automatically accessible and you have to reset the camera settings to use...

US president Trump made a few very important and surprisingly hopeful announcements regarding the US - Huawei saga at today's G20 summit. In case you haven't been following the recent ban closely, here is a quick refresher course to get you up to speed. But aside from all the complex political and economic concerns, the situation quite simply boils down to major losses and setbacks on all sides. Hence, the extreme backlash, followed by bargaining and delays and more recently, legal loopholes just to keep the delicate economic balance between the US and China. Well, at the risk of...

The OnePlus 7 got OxygenOS 9.5.4 update earlier this month which came with DC Dimming and Fnatic Mode. And a week later, it received OxygenOS 9.5.5 with May 2019 security patch and camera improvements. Now, this latest OnePlus flagship is getting its third update of the month - OxygenOS 9.5.6. This new firmware comes with improvements to the photo and audio quality, and that's as specific as it gets as OnePlus hasn't provided any details about these improvements. That said, OxygenOS 9.5.6 also bumps up the Android security patch level to June 2019 and squashes some bugs. Here's the...

The cancellation has been canceled - Xiaomi is calling for beta testers for the Redmi 6 and 6A. Xiaomi is also seeking testers for Android Q on the Pocophone F1. The application deadline is July 7 and those accepted into the beta program will get a message on July 10. Interestingly, Xiaomi is also looking for people to test Pie on the Mi 6, which got its first beta in April. Xiaomi Redmi 6 • Xiaomi Redmi 6A • Xiaomi Pocophone F1 So, don't expect the Redmi phones to get it soon. Still, keep in mind that the Redmi 6A cost less than $100 at launch - that's barely above feature...

We recently revealed that Samsung is working on the Galaxy Watch Active 2, just four months after the first one was made official, and now we have pictures of the new smartwatch in the flesh. When we first found out that Samsung is developing a new smartwatch, we thought it would be the successor to the Galaxy Watch, but it’s actually the Watch Active 2 the company is working on as we discuss in our SamMobile TV show in the video embedded below.

Don’t let the Active moniker fool you into thinking this will be another fitness-focused watch in the vein of the first Galaxy Watch Active and the Gear Sport. First off, the Watch Active 2 will come in two sizes: 40mm and 44mm. Sadly, the rotating bezel ring is not going to make the cut. It remains to be seen if this means the bezel ring is out for good and won’t be seen on any future smartwatch from Samsung, but that could certainly be the case.

So as far as the design is concerned, the Watch Active 2 will look similar to its predecessor. That said, there are a few changes that we see in the pictures. The home/power button, for example, is round while the back button has a rectangular shape, and there’s also a red circle around the home/power button. We haven’t been told what it’s for – it may just be a design element that has nothing to do with functionality, but we’ll need to wait for more information to be sure. The back of the watch also has a fresh new look, with a circular rim around the heart rate sensor.

The Watch Active 2 will also have an LTE variant in addition to a Wi-Fi variant, and you can see a microphone hole between the home and back keys and what look like speaker grills on the other side. The LTE version will have a 340 mAh battery inside and the Wi-Fi model will have a 237 mAh battery. On the software front, the watch will come with version 1.5 of One UI. The One UI update Samsung released for existing smartwatches is version 1.0, so we should see some new stuff on the Watch Active 2.

Check out a few pictures of the Galaxy Watch Active 2 below. Don’t forget to check out the video above to hear our thoughts on the new smartwatch and to see a couple of more pictures of the thing.

The post Breaking: This is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2! appeared first on SamMobile.

Just last week, the first solid report regarding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A10s surfaced online through FCC's database and now we are seeing it stopping by the WiFi alliance for a quick certification. The model number SM-A107F checks out so we are pretty sure this is the right device we are talking about. Getting the certification is usually a clear indication that the phone is about to get released pretty soon. Aside from that, the FCC listing suggests that the Galaxy A10s is going to be a slightly upgraded version of the Galaxy A10 with a bigger battery and a dual-camera setup...

All premium Huawei Mate 20 phones can now be updated to EMUI 9.1 - the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X and the Mate 20 RS Porsche Design. Actually, the rollout for the X started a couple of days ago, likely as a final tester before the full release. Note: Mate 20 lite isn't invited to the party. EMUI 9.1 is based on Android 9 Pie (same as EMUI 9.0), but offers a more optimized experience including a new file system, EROFS, and GPU Turbo 3.0 (with support for 25 games). The camera app gains the Moon mode from the P30 phones. The Mate 20 series has been in beta since April. Here's...

The Nokia 2 that was launched in October 2017 with Android 7.1.1 Nougat got Android 8.1 Oreo back in March this year. And, it now turns out that was the last version update for the entry-level smartphone. The Nokia 2 was launched with a promise of two years of version updates, so its owners were eagerly waiting for HMD to drop Android Pie for Nokia 2. The customer support had also confirmed that Pie would eventually arrive on Nokia 2, but didn't share any timeframe for the release. However, a Nokia community admin has now confirmed that the customer support had some misunderstanding...

We've been living in a lie for the past month, believing that Samsung's maxed out phablet this fall will be called the Galaxy Note10 Pro, when in fact in will be the Galaxy Note10+. This move makes sense as it follows the usual nomenclature of the Galaxy S10 series - regular and plus. And while we're discussing series, the upcoming Note series is expected to feature three devices - a 6.4-inch Galaxy Note10, a 6.7-inch Galaxy Note10+ and a 5G variant of the latter. Below are three blurry images of the Galaxy Note10+ in the wild. They aren't of the best quality but they do serve the...

The Redmi 7A announced last month will soon make its way to India. The confirmation was brought by Xiaomi India's Managing Director Manu Jain who teased the launch of this smartphone on Twitter. Jain also said that the company sold a total of 23.6 Million units of the Redmi 4A, 5A, and 6A in India as of April 2019. The launch date of the Redmi 7A hasn't been revealed yet, but we believe this budget smartphone will be made official in India alongside the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro that are slated to make their Indian debut in mid-July. The Redmi 7A is powered by Snapdragon 439 SoC and...

As we get closer to the Galaxy Note 10 launch, there’s been a lot of discussion in the SamMobile team about what we’d like to see on on the next Note flagship. Quite a few of us are ardent Note fans, so a new Note device gets us more excited than a Galaxy S flagship, and the Note 10 has been especially interesting because of how there have been so many conflicting leaks and rumors that make it hard to be sure exactly what Samsung has in store for us.

As we wait for some conclusive information on what the Galaxy Note 10 will bring–or not bring–to the table, we decided to make a wishlist about what it is we’re looking forward to on Samsung’s upcoming flagship and share it with you, our readers. And we’d love to know what you are hoping to see on the Galaxy Note 10, so don’t forget to share your thoughts down in the comments section!

Adnan Farooqui

Since I didn’t switch to the Galaxy S10 from my Galaxy Note 9, even the evolutionary changes in the Galaxy Note 10 will be welcomed with open arms by customers like me. Samsung introduced some great tech with the Galaxy S10, such as the Time-of-Flight sensor (on the 5G model), the ultra-wide angle camera, reverse wireless charging and more. I want all of that on the Galaxy Note 10 and there’s little reason to believe that it won’t get all those features.

Other than that, my wishlist for the Galaxy Note 10 is quite straightforward. I’d like to see bigger batteries on both models in addition to faster charging speeds. There has been talk of both 25W and 45W charging, and one can hope that Samsung would opt for the latter. And it may not get Samsung’s 64-megapixel camera sensor, I would definitely like to see the three-stage variable aperture being introduced with the Galaxy Note 10.

Samsung has introduced significant camera improvements with previous Galaxy Note handsets. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t blaze a new trail in the variable aperture department for smartphones with the Galaxy Note 10. There’s a possibility that the Galaxy Note 10 may ditch the conventional earpiece for Sound on Display technology. One can only wish that it doesn’t sound as bad and hollow as it does on some of Samsung’s other devices.

Abhijeet Mishra

A big battery was the one feature I had wanted on the Galaxy Note 9, and Samsung delivered. With the Galaxy S10, I looked forward to an ultra-wide camera along with a big battery, and Samsung obliged once again, putting a 4,100 mAh battery on the S10+ and adding an ultra-wide sensor on the back of all three Galaxy S10 models. And now, frankly, there’s nothing important missing on Samsung’s flagship phones as far as my needs are concerned.

But when it comes to the features I wish to see on the Galaxy Note 10, I’d say it’s faster charging. 25W fast charging would be fine in my opinion, even though having 45W charging would be even better. Samsung should have made 25W charging the default on all Galaxy S10 models instead of just the 5G variant, but hey, the company needed to hold back some features for the next flagship, didn’t it?

Naresh Nekkanti

With the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S10, Samsung pushed its flagships so close to perfection that it is unrealistic to expect anything path breaking from the Note 10. The new Note models will most probably be incremental updates and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I say “models” because Samsung is rumoured to launch regular and Pro versions of the Note 10. As someone who never really liked curved displays, I hope the former comes with a flat screen without missing too much in other departments.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to get excited about new Note smartphones as the Plus variants of the Galaxy S flagships have taken away some of their appeal with big displays and large batteries. I am hoping the Galaxy Fold lineup will eventually (in the next couple of years?) replace the Galaxy Note series and bring back some lost excitement. Afterall, a foldable smartphone with stylus functionality is a match made in heaven and just makes a lot of sense.

Henk Loosbroek

I’m quite happy with what my Galaxy Note 9 offers, and I hope the Note 10 will keep all of that, especially stereo speakers. I’m wondering if stereo sound is possible with Sound On Display technology, which puts the earpiece under the display. A headphone jack would be nice as well, although it’s not a must have for me thanks to the excellent Bose QC35-II wireless headphones that I own. And like the Note 9, I want the Galaxy Note 10 to have remote functionality on the S Pen and a 512GB storage option, preferably with microSD expansion. Finally, I’m hoping for an improved Night mode for the camera compared to the Galaxy S10 lineup.

The post Behind closed doors: Our Galaxy Note 10 wishlist appeared first on SamMobile.

The ongoing trade war between the United States and China makes people wonder how much will it affect Huawei, but Nikkei Asian Review went one step further. The media published a detailed teardown of a Huawei P30 Pro unit revealing how many US-made parts are in there. The answer is just 15 out of the total of 1,631, but they account for 16.3% of the total production cost. Cost in USD / Percentage of total Number of parts / Percentage of total China 138.61 / 38.1% 80 / 4.9% Japan 83.71 / 23% 869 / 53.2% USA ...

Just a couple of days before July, Samsung has released the June 2019 security patch for the Galaxy A8+ and Tab S4. The update doesn’t seem to include anything more than security fixes, but that shouldn’t be a problem as these devices received the Android Pie update with One UI not very long ago.

As of now, the update for the Galaxy Tab S4 appears to be available only in Canada and the US. The Galaxy A8+, on the other hand, is receiving the update in Columbia, Brazil, Panama, and a couple of other regions. At this pace, Samsung may very well be rolling out the July security update for other devices before the June release reaches the Galaxy A8+ and Tab S4 in all the markets.

Like every Security Maintenance Release (SMR), the June patch also includes fixes for both Android and Samsung-specific vulnerabilities. According to the company’s June security bulletin, the update patches eight critical and more than a dozen high-risk Android vulnerabilities and 11 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items of different intensities.

Since Samsung adopts a staged rollout for updates, not all devices may receive the OTA update at once. To check if the update is available to your device, go to Settings, select Software Update, and tap on the Download updates manually option. If that doesn’t trigger the update, you have to either wait or download the latest compatible firmware from our database and manually flash it. You can find the Galaxy A8+ firmware here and the Tab S4 firmware here.

Galaxy A8+

• Model: SM-A730F
• Dimensions: 159.9 x 75.7 x 8.3 mm
• Display: 6.0"(142.2mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 7885
• Camera: 16 MP, CMOS PDAF (F1.7)

More specifications

Galaxy Tab S4 (10.5", Wi-Fi)

• Model: SM-T830
• Dimensions: 249.3 x 164.3 x 7.1mm
• Display: 10.5” (266.7mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
• Camera: 13 MP, CMOS

More specifications

The post June security patch now available for the Galaxy A8+ and Tab S4 appeared first on SamMobile.

Two years ago, Samsung and Deezen magazine launched a design competition for QLED TV stands and this year, the two join together for another design contest but this time for mobile devices and smart wearables. Samsung Mobile Design Competition and Dezeen, a design magazine, are looking for some fresh ideas on new accessories for Galaxy smartphones, tablets and wearables. Winners in each category will split a $40,000 prize pool. Accessories can be smartphone and tablet cases, watch straps or earbuds cases. However, Samsung is looking for enhanced user experience on top of the pleasing...

We exclusively confirmed three months ago that Samsung will be launching two models of the Galaxy Note 10. It was later rumored that the larger model will be called the Galaxy Note 10 Pro. The very first live images of the larger model have now leaked online. They show that Samsung will stick with its conventional naming scheme and call it Galaxy Note 10+ instead.

The images also confirm some design changes that we had only seen in the leaked renders so far. The display hole is in the center, not the right corner like it is on the Galaxy S10. While the Galaxy S10+ features a dual front camera, it appears that the Galaxy Note 10+ will only get one.

Leaked images show the Galaxy Note 10+ in the flesh

The first Galaxy Note 10+ live images have been leaked through a video from YouTuber TechTalkTV, who apparently received them from a subscriber on Instagram. The device we see here is not that different in terms of design compared to the renders that have surfaced online so far.

Earlier reports have suggested that the larger Galaxy Note 10 model will have a 6.75-inch display. These images show that Samsung has trimmed the bezels as expect. Also, notice the absence of an earpiece which means that recent reports about the Galaxy Note 10 having Sound on Display technology are likely accurate.

We’ve already opined that it’s fine if the larger Galaxy Note 10 doesn’t have a dual front camera. The pill-shaped cutout on the Galaxy S10+ doesn’t look that good and the addition of a second camera up front doesn’t make much of a difference for Live Focus (bokeh) selfies. The rather blurry image of the back shows that the device has an iPhone-like vertical camera system. The LED flash and ToF sensor are placed alongside it.

So it’s all as per expectations. The biggest takeaway here is the boot screen which shows that this device will be called the Galaxy Note 10+. It makes sense for Samsung to keep the branding within the confines of what its customers are already familiar with. Do you like what you see or do you wish that some of these design changes hadn’t been made? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

The post Galaxy Note 10+, not Pro, will be the larger model, images leaked appeared first on SamMobile.

Yesterday the Realme X Spiderman Edition was teased by the Indian CEO Madhav Sheth, and now the phone is official. It is a Pearl White Realme X, but comes with а red case and special themes for the UI. Otherwise, it is pretty much the same 8/128 GB device that keeps the price tag unchanged. The phone has a red retail box, packing the regular White phone and the case with the Spiderman: Far From Home logo. There is also the standard VOOC 3.0 charger and the proprietary cable. It is already listed on Realme China's website, where the whole package can be pre-ordered. The...

Xiaomi will unveil the Mi CC9 on July 2 and the company has already confirmed some of its specs like the 48MP rear and the 32MP front-facing camera. Now, thanks to TENAA, we got the full picture. A Xiaomi smartphone listed on TENAA bearing model number M1904F3BT, which is very likely the Mi CC9, confirms that the smartphone will be powered by an octa-core processor clocked at 2.2 GHz and come in three memory versions - 4GB/64GB, 6GB/128GB, and 8GB/256GB. The CPU suggests we are looking at either a Snapdragon 710 or Snapdragon 730 chipsets as they alone in the current Qualcomm lineup match...

Samsung still has a few Galaxy A handsets in the pipeline and it seems that the Galaxy A10s release may not be that far off now. The device has picked up its Wi-Fi certification, which is usually a good indication that the launch is just around the corner.

The Galaxy A10s made its way through the FCC just last week. The filing revealed the overall dimensions of this device and some additional details. As you’d expect, the Galaxy A10s is going to be a slightly upgraded variant of the Galaxy A10.

Galaxy A10s release could take place soon

The Galaxy A10 doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor so customers who want one will have to purchase the Galaxy A10s instead. The FCC filing had revealed that the Galaxy A10s is going to have a fingerprint sensor at the back in addition to a dual camera system. The Galaxy A10 only has a single rear camera.

The differences may also extend to battery capacity. The Galaxy A10s is said to feature a 3,900mAh battery compared to the 3,400mAh on the existing device. It will retain the base 32GB internal storage, though. We have previously revealed that the device will be available in red, blue, green and black color options. It may be powered by a MediaTek Helio P22 chipset with 2GB of RAM and run Android 9 Pie out of the box.

The Galaxy A10s bearing model number SM-A107F has now been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. That’s another hurdle crossed in the run up to the device’s release. Samsung hasn’t confirmed as yet when it’s going to come out. It shouldn’t be too long now.

The post Galaxy A10s release approaches as it picks up Wi-Fi certification appeared first on SamMobile.

Realme announced its collaboration with Marvel yesterday for the Realme X smartphone arriving with a Spider-Man: Far From Home limited edition with special retail package. Today the company followed it up with a video teaser as well as a special promotion that will let Indian fans win tickets for the screening of the movie. Meanwhile, the Indian division of the company is giving out invites for an exclusive screening of the movie in Delhi before in reaches theaters. There is a raffle on the company's website that would also land the winners a bag of Spider-Man goodies. In...

Samsung is hosting the Samsung Mobile Design Competition in partnership with Deezen, a leading design magazine. It wants contestants to submit designs for new accessories for Galaxy smartphones and tablets. The winners in each category will win cash prizes from a pool of $40,000.

The company launched a similar competition with Deezen two years ago. Samsung invited designers to submit designs for new QLED TV stands. This latest competition has two categories – Next Mobile + and Next Mobile Wallpaper.

Prizes worth $40,000 are up for grabs

The Next Mobile + category is for those who want to submit accessory designs for Galaxy smartphones, tablets and wearables. The accessories can include smartphone cases, tablet covers, watch straps or cases for earbuds. The designs should enhance the device and also provide value for the user. Contestants are free to design any kind of accessory that they want for Galaxy devices. Samsung will be particularly interested in those that interact digitally with its devices to provide enhanced functionality.

Samsung also wants designs for wallpapers hence the Next Mobile Wallpaper Paradigm category. It’s not looking for simple designs, mind you. Samsung says that these wallpapers should be interactive and contextually aware so that they can provide useful information as well. Professional designers and design students can both take part in this competition.

The top five finalists in each category will then be flown to London to present their ideas in front of a jury which will include Samsung executives and Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs. The jury is then going to choose the top three winners in each category who will be hosted by the company at the Samsung Developer Conference in San Jose later this year. That’s where they will get their prizes.

The winner in each category will receive the top prize of $10,000 while the runner up and third place gets $5,000 and $3,000 respectively. The fourth and fifth-placed entrants in each category will get $1,000 each.

The post Samsung has $40,000 to give for new accessory designs for Galaxy devices appeared first on SamMobile.

The Lenovo Z6 is coming soon, and while the company hasn't announced the launch date yet, it has confirmed a few of its features like the Snapdragon 730 SoC, triple rear camera, and 4,000 mAh battery. Now Lenovo has revealed some details about the phone's display as well. This Chinese tech giant has confirmed that the Z6 will sport a 6.39-inch notched OLED display and have a screen-to-body ratio of 93.1%. The screen will come with HDR10 and DCI-P3 wide color gamut support and have a peak brightness of 600 nits. Furthermore, it will have a sampling rate of 120 Hz and feature De-Mura...

The person behind the iconic designs of the iPhone, iPod and the Mac, Jony Ive, is leaving Apple, after more than two decades at Cupertino. He revealed the next adventure in his life will be his own creative agency, called LoveFrom. It will launch in 2020, with Apple as its first client. Jony Ive, or as is his full name, Sir Jonathan Paul Ive, will have no immediate successor. People like Alan Dye, the director of the UI team, and Evans Hankey, the leader of the industrial design team, will report to Apple's COO. Speaking about his departure, Ive simply said: This just seems...

The term "public interest" is hard to define, especially when a public official has gone on record (i.e. actually tweeted) statements that violate Twitter's rules and clearly condone acts of violence. If you haven't figured out by now, the new policy change is aimed largely at President Trump, whose every (often inaccurate and reckless) Tweets are endlessly analyzed and reported in the news around the world. Starting today, Twitter will enable a new policy on the accounts of government officials that fit the following criteria: Be or represent a government official, be running...

Apple Music has reached 60 million users - paying subscribers and people trialing the service for free - in the past four years, since its launch. The number was shared by Eddy Cue, Apple's SVP in charge of services. That definitely represents solid growth for Apple Music, and yet it still lags behind Spotify - that service announced it has passed 100 million paying users back in April. Apple Music gained 10 million subscribers in the first six months after launch, and went up to 20 million in December 2016. In April 2018 the number climbed to 40 million, and a report from July last year...

Today, Verizon announces that Denver and Providence are the next two cities to get Verizon's 5G Wideband network. Starting today, Denver's 5G service goes live with Providence, RI getting service starting on July 1. Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband is designed for supplying 5G connectivity using spectrum higher than 24GHz. This infrastructure requires numerous small cell sites or "nodes" in order to cover dense populations - namely metropolitan areas. Denver will have 5G connectivity in concentrated areas of Highlands below 37th Street as well as areas of LoDo and near Coors Dielf....

Samsung rolled out a big Galaxy S10 update last month which brought a dedicated Night mode for the camera. What the update basically did is allow manual access to the Night mode which would previously only trigger automatically. The results remained more or less the same, but at least you could now choose when you wanted the Night mode to work its magic.

The feature has since trickled down to devices like the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy Note 9 with the June 2019 update. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S10 didn’t get the feature in last month’s update, and it’s not getting the dedicated Night mode with this month’s update either.

US Galaxy S10 isn’t getting a couple of new features

T-Mobile today started rolling out the June 2019 security update for the Galaxy S10 on its network. While the update firmware version G973USQS2ASF7 does bring the latest security patch for the month of June 2019, it doesn’t bring the dedicated Night mode. This is hardly surprising. The June update that T-Mobile released for the Galaxy Note 9 three days ago didn’t come with these features either.

The June update for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 even added the ability to scan QR codes from the camera app itself without having to use Bixby Vision. This feature wasn’t present on the Galaxy S10 series initially but the June update for the Exynos variant added it. Since US customers get the Snapdragon variant, they won’t be happy to hear that this update doesn’t include the built-in QR scanner as well.

Other models of the Galaxy S10 will soon receive this update as well. T-Mobile’s rival carriers will also be rolling out the update for the Galaxy S10 series on their networks in the near future. It’s going to be the same situation for everyone and users will certainly not be happy about it.

This means that it may not be until when the July update starts rolling out that the Snapdragon-variant gets these features. Even that can’t be said for sure, but many will keep their fingers crossed for it nonetheless.

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Redmi had a massive event in China earlier this year, where the K20 and K20 Pro debuted. Eventually, the more affordable phone became the Mi 9T on the global scene (aside from India), and now it is with us for its full review and all proprietary tests. Unpacking our test unit, it looks like Black, and somewhat mystical, but eventually you can make out the Carbon texture on the back (not actual carbon, though). You also can easily spot the Red power key that makes the Mi 9T stand out in the crowd of full-screen smartphones. Another neat red touch is the LED in the elevating...

Huawei's P30 series reached 10 million sales in just 85 days - that's two full months faster than the P20 phones. Also, it's a new 3-month sales record for Huawei phones. By the end of May, Huawei had shipped 100 million devices total. It reached the 100 million mark faster than it did last year, showing it's on an upward trajectory. Huawei P30 series reaches 10,000,000 million sales in 85 days There's more news about the flagship series - the Huawei P30 Pro received the "Best Smartphone" award from the European Hardware Awards. The SuperSpectrum and SuperZoom camera technologies...

The Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 were certified with ARCore support by Google a few months back. Now the tech giant is expanding the list of supported Samsung devices with the addition of the Galaxy A40, A60, A70, and the Galaxy Tab S5e. The Galaxy A80 has also been added to the list, even though the smartphone only recently became available for pre-order and isn’t out just yet. But it’s good to know that once released, it should support ARCore out of the box.

Adding ARCore support means that all of the aforementioned Galaxy devices should now be compatible with Augmented Reality-based applications that rely on the ARCore API. This includes Google’s own Playground (previously known as AR Stickers), which adds a new camera mode that allows users to drop AR characters called Playmoji into the viewfinder. There’s also Google’s Measure app, which works similarly to Samsung’s Quick Measure. With it, you can measure the length and height of objects in the real world using the device’s camera.

The end result may not be entirely accurate and it depends on each device’s cameras, but it’s worth noting that Google tests the camera capabilities of each device before giving it the ARCore certification.

Users will first need to install the ARCore application itself from the Play Store, in order to be able and use first and third-party Augmented Reality apps that rely on it.

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Today Realme started a "Real Leap Days" promo campaign that offers many of its smartphones with up to INR 1,000 discount. But there's a catch - you get an invite link to share among your friends, each friend that joins brings you a random reward. The deal includes the Realme 3 and 3 Pro, Realme U1, Realme C1, Realme 2 and 2 Pro. When a friend uses your invite link, you get a random prize. This is typically a coupon for INR 200 or INR 50 off, but there's a limited amount of INR 500 coupons. You can accumulate up to 30 coupons worth up to INR 1,000 total. There are some special...

It seems that Sony is struggling to keep the Xperia 1 in stock in Europe. Whether that's due to high demand or just low supply, we can't quite tell. We can say this - the Purple color is the hardest to find. Starting in the UK, Sony Mobile is all sold out. You can find the phone on Amazon (though there are few units left) and over at Clove (only the Black one, Purple is sold out). Very has Purple in stock (but no other colors). Sony Xperia 1 in Purple, Black, Gray and White Sony Mobile's online store for Germany, Italy, France and Spain seems to share the Xperia 1 stock and...

A couple of fresh images showcasing a clear protective case for the alleged Galaxy Note 10 have emerged. They feature the rendered device at an angle and thus they give a better idea of what the purpose of all the cutouts might be.

According to these images, the bottom edge of the device will accommodate the S Pen slot, a loudspeaker, along with a USB Type-C port and microphone. Two additional cutouts are to be found on the top edge of the device – one of them should be for a microphone, but it’s unclear what the other one is for. At the back, the upper-left corner has a vertically-aligned cutout which is large enough for three cameras, as well as a small circular cutout for the LED flash.

This configuration suggests that the case renders at hand depict the standard Galaxy Note 10 because the Pro variant is rumored to feature two additional ToF sensors next to the LED flash. These types of sensors are capable of depth mapping in 3D space and can unlock more Augmented Reality possibilities.

The cutouts seem to match an earlier CAD render leak, and once again, they indicate that the next-gen phablet will lack a 3.5mm headphone jack. This standard feature won’t become a Pro exclusive, either; instead, it will allegedly be missing from the Note 10 lineup altogether, at least according to other previous leaks.

Samsung is expected to introduce the Galaxy Note 10 in early August at a launch event reportedly set to take place in New York City.

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Insiders spoke to Korean publication The Investor, saying that Samsung is planning to release a full range of foldable smartphones, including one that folds outwards (the opposite of the Galaxy Fold). They claim that this model will come out ahead of the Huawei Mate X (which also folds outwards). These insiders say that production of this outwards-folding phone has already begun, but no launch date has been set. As a reminder, Samsung is yet to commit to a re-launch date for the Galaxy Fold. The company recently hinted that the redesign of the Fold is almost done and it should hit the...

While Huawei is still dealing with major issues around it US ban, it's still dedicated to taking good care of its current lineup. The Spanish division of the manufacturer has tweeted a list of devices that will get Android Q - most of that is old news, but there are new additions this time around. "Our arrangements are with you, our customers. Prepare for Android Q." The names that will make the largest number of people happy are the Mate 10 members as those were quite popular back in their day and undoubtedly still have loyal users. The Mate 20 additions aren't that surprising,...

Summer is around the corner and that means temperatures are rising. To cool down, you could jump into a pool or sit in front of the air conditioner all day. However, if you’re commuting or happen to be someplace where neither of those options is possible, you could take care of yourself by using a mini fan, powered by your smartphone. You can plug this in and it will start to blow a cooling breeze at you right away. For just under $1, this could be a cool gadget for this summer season!

Use the Buy Now button below to claim your discounted fan, but hurry up as prices could go up again!

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The Realme 3 which comes in Dynamic Black, Classic Black, and Radiant Blue colors in India will soon be joined by a fourth variant - Diamond Red. An image of the Diamond Red variant has surfaced which shows this model having a back with a gradient design and diamond-cut pattern. The source who leaked this image claims this new color option will launch "very soon" in India. There's no word from Realme yet about this new variant, but the fact that its lockscreen has "Dare to Leap" - the slogan the company is using to promote its upcoming 64MP camera smartphone in India - leads us...

The vivo iQOO Neo arriving on July 2 will have Snapdragon 845 SoC under the hood. Now the company has revealed another one of its specs - the smartphone will ship with a 4,500 mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging support. For comparison, most vivo iQOO versions are powered by Snapdragon 855 SoC packs a 4,000 mAh cell with support for 44W fast charging. The exception is the 6GB/128GB variant, which makes do with 22.5W charging speed. That said, the iQOO Neo is already listed on vivo China's official website along with its renders which confirm the phone will come in at least two...

Yesterday we saw the Xiaomi Mi CC9 in Glacier Ice White color. Today we are looking at its blue shade, which the company CEO Lei Jun says is called Dark Blue Planet (translated from Chinese, of course). This blue colored variant looks equally beautiful as the white version and flaunts an 'S' shaped pattern when it reflects light. The video of this blue version re-confirms the presence of the triple camera setup at the back which is aligned vertically in the top-left corner. The Mi CC9 will come with a 48MP rear camera and a 32MP selfie shooter, but the company hasn't divulged any...

It became evident soon after the Galaxy Fold was sent to reviewers that the device needed more work if Samsung wanted it to survive the rigors of daily use. Nobody would buy a $2,000 device just to use it sparingly. Many think that Samsung simply rushed the April 26 launch of the Galaxy Fold because it wanted to beat Huawei to become the first company with a proper foldable smartphone on the market.

Samsung has made some changes to the Galaxy Fold to address the reliability issues. However, it hasn’t confirmed when the device will be released. A lot has changed for Huawei in the meantime. The company has been banned by the United States so releasing a foldable smartphone before Samsung is the least of its problems right now. A new report from South Korea claims that Samsung is going to capitalize on this by releasing a Huawei Mate X-like out-folding smartphone before its Chinese rival this year.

Samsung wants to beat Huawei to another title

Samsung and Huawei went in different directions for their first foldable smartphones. The latter opted for an out-folding design whereas the Galaxy Fold folds inwards like a book. We have already talked about the merits and demerits of both their approaches in detail. Samsung did have an out-folding prototype as well but it went the other way with the Galaxy Fold because it believes that the in-folding design seems more natural.

Subsequent reports have suggested that Samsung is working on more foldable smartphones which will eventually follow the Galaxy Fold. The two models are said to include an out-folding and a clamshell-like folding mechanism. There has even been talk of a new Galaxy Fold with an 8-inch display and S Pen support.

A report out of South Korea claims that Samsung is now planning to release its out-folding smartphone before Huawei releases the Mate X. Suppliers have reportedly started mass producing the parts already and “possibly even the phone itself.” Apparently, the company wants to beat Huawei to the market with an out-folding smartphone as well.

Huawei confirmed earlier this month that it’s delaying the Mate X’s release from June to September. It said that this was being done to conduct additional testing to ensure that there were no problems with the device. A Huawei spokesperson said that the company was taking a more cautious approach with the release after Samsung’s troubles with the Galaxy Fold. “We don’t want to launch a product to destroy our reputation,” came the subtle shade from the Chinese behemoth.

Whether Huawei is able to launch the Mate X in September still remains to be seen. The ban against it prevents the company from licensing the full version of Android. It also cannot source components from companies based in the United States. The question remains whether the Mate X will ship with Android or Huawei’s own operating system when it does arrive. Huawei evidently has more hoops to jump through right now than Samsung if it wants to put a foldable phone on the market.

Samsung already has a lot to prove with the Galaxy Fold before it can even begin to sell people on a second foldable smartphone. People need to know if all of the issues have been addressed and that the Galaxy Fold can be used as a daily driver. Unfortunately, it has not been forthcoming with information about the relaunch of this device.

Furthermore, there has been no circumstantial evidence to suggest that a second foldable smartphone could be released this year. So despite the claims in the report, it seems unlikely right now that an out-folding smartphone will come from Samsung in the next few months.

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Huawei rolled out out the EMUI 9.1 update for the Mate 20 X yesterday, and now its sub-brand Honor has also started seeding this update for the Honor 10 Lite and Honor 20i. This new build is still based on Android Pie and brings in GPU Turbo 3.0 to these smartphones. Besides, it also lets you set up video ringtones for specific contacts, and summon AI-powered voice assistant by long pressing the power button. The EMUI 9.1 update is currently rolling out in China and should expand to other regions soon. You can try pulling the new build manually by heading over to your phone's...

Lenovo Z6 should arrive any time now, and the company VP is teasing the device little by little on Weibo. Today he revealed the camera of the phone - it will have three shooters with a 24 MP main sensor, 8 MP telephoto lens, and a 5 MP wide-angle camera. The company will implement the Sony IMX576 sensor in the main shooter, placing it on par with smartphones like Huawei nova 5i and Honor 20 Lite. It comes with its own night mode called Super Night. AI and Beauty mode are a big thing in China, so, to no one's surprise, the Lenovo Z6 will have intelligent filters that are learning...

Android Go (or Go Edition) is a trimmed down version of the OS that's aimed to run on the most extremely low-end smartphones imaginable in this day and age. Such handsets come with special slimmer versions of the built-in Google apps, as well as the Google Go app. This has now reached over 100 million downloads in the Play Store, which means sales of Android Go devices are really starting to pick up. Last September Google Go barely made it past 10 million downloads, so it looks like the search giant's effort to cater to those who can't afford (or don't want) expensive smartphones is paying...

Last year Motorola promised it would bring Android 9 Pie to all models of the Moto Z2 Force - including those sold by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. If you're wondering about any updates on this long overdue rollout, the news is anything but good. Reneging on its earlier promise, Motorola now says only the Verizon version of the Z2 Force is to ever taste Android Pie. Here's the company's full official statement on the matter: Delivering any Android upgrade is a complex process. For a variety of reasons, some US Moto Z2 Force models will not receive the Android 9 "Pie" update. The...

WhatsApp's latest beta adds a new feature that's bound to be at least a little bit controversial: sharing your Status to your Facebook Story. This however does not imply linking your WhatsApp user ID to your Facebook account, the company insists, as it's using the standard Android and iOS data sharing APIs. That means you can also share your WhatsApp Status to other apps - Instagram, Gmail, Google Photos, and so on. And when you do share data to another Facebook-owned service like Instagram, the company says the two posts will be separate events in its systems, and will not be...