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Another year has passed and it was great with the advancements in mobile tech once again. We enjoyed covering all the advancements in technology which the year brought along and we are hoping to see many more of those in 2018 as well. Thank you for being with us and we hope to remain your preferred tech website in 2018. Our YouTube channel has almost doubled its subscriber base over the course of 2017. We now have 318K subs compared to 180K at the...

The Telegram messaging app has started receiving a new update. Arriving as version 4.7, the update brings support for multiple accounts on Android. So now you can add up to three Telegram accounts (linked to different phone numbers) on your phone. Use the side menu to switch between accounts. Also, notifications from all accounts are enabled by default - you can change this from the Notification settings menu. Moving on, the update also adds a quick...

Just days after teasing Oreo Open Beta for the OnePlus 5T, the company has pushed out the update. The Android 8.0-based OxygenOS Open Beta 1 is now rolling out. So those part of the OnePlus 5T beta program will be able to experience Oreo goodies now. The update also includes Android fixes for the month of December. Following is the complete change-log published by the Chinese company: Launcher Optimized the app shortcut style Combine icon options...

If you are planning to purchase the Android Wear 2.0-powered Misfit Vapor, you'll be glad to know the company is offering a 30% discount on the smartwatch. The deal is available both in the United States as well as Europe (the UK, Germany, Italy, and France) - those in the US will have to use the promo code BEYOU, while for Europeans, the code is WINTER30. In addition to Vapor, this 30% off deal is available on some other Misfit products as well...

2017 has been a great year for Samsung. The company bounced back from the Galaxy Note 7 debacle in spectacular fashion. It delivered us two of the best Android devices on the market today – the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8. It retained its position as the leader in the global smartphone market. The company is also on track for a record yearly operating profit. All of us at SamMobile would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. We hope that you...

What's in vogue, what's fallen out of fashion? It's that time of year when we look back at phone trends over the last 12 months and space permitting we may even make a few predictions for next year. So, using our extensive phone database and test results, let's power up our machine learning algorithms and feed it the 50 most popular phones based on your browsing and search patterns here at GSMArena. These 50 phones will represent our definition...

Today, we're getting numerous reports from users in India that the final Android Oreo update is already actively rolling out to their Xiaomi Mi A1 devices. This comes after a tweet by Xiaomi India which announced the pending start of the update seeding yesterday. We have yet to confirm whether the update is seeding outside of India. We are also yet to hear whether the final build brings the fast charging support, which was available in the earlier...

The Xiaomi Redmi 5 phones, announced at the beginning of December, are among the first in the company portfolio to have 18:9 ratio screens (along with the flagship Mi Mix 2). Xiaomi fans commented after the launch that they will hold back purchases until the Redmi Note 5 arrives, but surprisingly it is already in for review with a different name - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus. When preparing for the successor of the Redmi Note 4, Xiaomi went with the saying...

Being a mobile tech reviewer definitely has its perks. Shiny new devices are great and all, but still, at the end of the day, the most gratifying thing is to see our work actually help out readers and eager buyers navigate the vast and often confusing smartphone market. 2017 was a really interesting year, with many great announcements and more than one interesting trend set in motion and ready to unfold in 2018. Before CES kicks off and draws our...

HMD has started pushing out a new update to its Nokia 8 smartphone. The change-log mentions things like improved system stability and user interface enhancements, aside from the December security patch. This new update - which arrives as Oreo version 4.390 and weighs in at around 330MB - is currently hitting units in some European markets. It's worth mentioning that the device has already received the December patch in some markets (like India),...

If you are a OnePlus fan, you might remember that the Chinese company used Sandstone material on its OnePlus One and OnePlus 2 smartphones. Well, now it looks like the OnePlus 5T could get a Sandstone variant as well. The company recently published a video - called What's in the Box? - which shows random people touching/holding a OnePlus product kept in a closed box, and speculating what is it. As you can see, guesses range from "smooth," "grippy,"...

Acclaimed leakster Evan Blass recently revealed that the Huawei Enjoy 7S will be globally available as the Huawei P smart. And now, a new report has revealing pricing and availability info for the device. As per the report, the P smart will go on sale in Germany sometime late January, and will carry a price tag of €249 (around $300). The report talks about the 3GB/32GB variant of the phone. No information yet on whether or not the 4GB/64GB model...

LG went all-in with the 18:9 display aspect ratio this year for its flagships - both the G6 and the V30 employ this spec that's become incredibly trendy in 2017. The tall screens have only recently started to make their way to mid-rangers, though, and on that front LG was among the first to deliver, with the Q6. Read More........

Samsung has started rolling out a new update to its Galaxy A7 (2017) smartphone. Arriving as firmware version A720FXXU2BQL9, it's a security update that brings along Android fixes for the month of December. The update is currently hitting units in Mexico, but should soon be available in other key markets as well. Moving on, the Sony Xperia XA meanwhile has also been receiving a security update that bumps the Android patch level from August 5 to...

Xiaomi Redmi 5 sounds like a successor to the Redmi 4, but it actually comes as a vanilla version of the Redmi 5 Plus that is essentially the follow-up of the Redmi Note 4. The name game might not be strong with Xiaomi, but the device appears to have everything you would expect from a 2017 phone in the affordable segment - an octa-core chipset, 18:9 screen and friendly user interface. The Redmi 5 feels nice in hand, mostly due to its tall design....

Asus has started pushing out a new update to its ZenFone 4 (ZE554KL) smartphone. Arriving as version V15.0405.1711.76, it's a major update that brings along Android 8.0 Oreo (which is inline with what was promised). The change-log published by the company includes features like more friendly setting UI design, background limits, autofill, smart text selection, and picture-in-picture. So as you can see, all the Oreo goodies are included in the update....

Verizon may officially not allow Google Pixel 2 bootloaders to be easily unlocked, but it has now come to light that the process is as easy as unlocking bootloaders of non-carrier Pixel 2 units. According to an XDA report (which cites forum posts from several of its own members), a simple fastboot command (specifically, fastboot flashing lock_critical) does the trick. It's worth mentioning that the method - described in detail in the XDA report...

The Nokia 2 was unveiled at the end of October as HMD Global's lowest-end smartphone to date. It arrived in stores in certain markets last month, running Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Having an older version of the OS on board is pretty much par for the course for an entry-level handset, so that's not surprising at all. However, the Nokia 2 will be updated to Android 8.1 Oreo. Shocking as that may seem, the information comes straight from HMD's Chief Product...

Earlier today we saw that Apple issued an apology for not clearly communicating that it was capping the performance of certain older iPhones when their battery health degraded and offering to drop the price of battery replacement for these devices down to $29 for the entire year of 2018. Now, iFixit has announced that it too will be slashing the prices for all of its iPhone battery replacement kits down to $29 or lower. These kits are available...

Amazon has started registrations for the Honor View 10 launch in India, unsurprisingly exclusive to Amazon India. Registrations in this case doesn't mean you put any money down but simply that you will be alerted when the phone goes on sale, which will happen on January 8, 2018. The price is yet to be announced. The Honor View 10 is the flagship device in the Honor series, which is Huawei's online exclusive range. It has a 5.99-inch, 2160x1080 18:9...

Apple confirmed it slowed down old devices to keep the battery life, but the silent way the company pushed the feature angered many people. According to Reuters, at least eight owners filed lawsuits in US District Courts in California, New York, and Illinois and a similar one was deposited in an Israeli court. Apple iPhone 6s Slowing down iPhones on purpose was widely accepted as a bad move, but Apple said it had to implement the feature to keep...

Amazon India is teasing a new upcoming device from Samsung. The landing page talks about a 'new way to shop', 'superior performance', and a 'stunning new look' before ending with 'coming soon'. We believe it is a successor to one of Samsung's older mid-range devices. Perhaps a 2018 Galaxy On7 or On8. That's pretty much all we can gather from the dark side view of the device and the fact that it says 'Shoot. Shop. On.' in the teaser. The page also...

The Nokia TA-1077, which received a certification in China earlier this month and is already said to be the Nokia 3310 4G, has now been spotted on TENNA. The listing also includes images of the device. While details are scarce on the specifications front, one interesting info the listing reveals is that the handset will be powered by Yun-OS, an Android-based operating system from China's Alibaba. No information yet on what price tag the Nokia 3310...

We're completing our 2017 best camera roundup with a look at the Top 10 phones for video capture to come out this year. Unsurprisingly, some of these were already featured in the Top 10 rear cameras article from a couple of weeks ago, and whaddayaknow, some can also tike pretty nice selfies. We're done with the stills, though, it's now time for video. #review-body .atitle b { color: #b23f33; height: 100%; display: inline-block; padding: 0 0.5em...

Apple admitted purposely slowing down old iPhones, with plans to keep on doing it. This wasn't well accepted across the internet and major companies decided to dissociate from such practices. After HTC and Motorola's announcement yesterday, today LG and Samsung also confirmed not tinkering with the performance of older devices. LG G5 & Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Speaking to PhoneArena, an LG representative stated they "never have never will" do...

T-Mobile has started rolling out the Oreo update to Motorola Moto Z2 Force units on its network. The update carries a build number of OCX27, and also includes Android security fixes for the month of December. This comes a week after the Moto Z2 Force on Verizon started getting Oreo, making Verizon the first US carrier to roll out the update. If you are on T-Mobile, you should be getting the update in the days to come, so be patient. Source | Via Read...

Xiaomi joins the smart home speaker game with its latest announcement. The gadget is called Yeelight and is powered by Amazon's Alexa. The speaker's design is similar to the Echo Dot with a blue LED ring and volume control buttons on the top. Specs-wise, the speaker has quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU with 256 MB RAM and 256 MB internal memory. The Yeelight has six microphones that listen in 360 degrees with a 5-meter range. To reduce the echo, Xiaomi...

Motorola has announced a permanent price drop for the popular Moto G5S Plus in India. The phone will now start at INR 14,999 ($235), a good INR 1000 drop over the previous price tag. The price drop is likely to better compete with newer competition in the market, many of which now sport an 18:9 display. The Moto G5S Plus has always been a pricier option in the budget segment in India and with this price drop Motorola is hoping it can still steer...

Last week Huawei announced a new midranger with the name Enjoy 7S. The phone comes with Kirin 659 chipset, dual cameras on the back and the latest EMUI, based on Android Oreo. According to Evan Blass who proved himself in leaking valuable info, the phone will be sold outside China as Huawei P smart. The Huawei P smart will keep the same specs as the Enjoy 7S - 5.65" display with FullHD+ resolution and octa-core CPU, working at 2.36 GHz. The memory...

Amazon India has started teasing the launch of a new smartphone in Samsung’s Galaxy On lineup of handsets that the company sells solely through online retailers. Galaxy On smartphones have always been rebadged Galaxy J series phones, and judging from the teasers about “new ways to shop” and “superior performance” on Amazon’s landing page, the new device could be a renamed Galaxy J7 Pro. New Galaxy On smartphone likely to be renamed Galaxy J7 Pro The...

Last week, we saw reports of Apple slowing down the performance of older iPhones. Back then, Apple had provided a short statement to media stating it was doing this to protect devices with older batteries from suddenly shutting down. Obviously, that didn't go down so well with people who have had theories of Apple intentionally slowing down older iPhones, with multiple lawsuits being filed along with the hue and cry that comes with these sort of...

Earlier this month, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 845, the SoC that'll likely power Samsung's next-gen S series smartphones in the US and China. The rest of the world, no points for guessing, will get Exynos-powered Galaxy S9 and S9+. Well, the next-gen Exynos SoC that'll power these flagships will be made official next week on January 4. A recent tweet from the South Korean company effectively confirmed this. Discover #TheNextExynos that goes...

After many users noticed that old iPhones with low-capacity batteries were slowing down, Apple officially confirmed that it does indeed slow down older iPhones with naturally degraded batteries. The company has been hit with multiple lawsuits over this and has now even issued an apology. People are naturally wondering if other smartphone manufacturers do this as well. Samsung has confirmed that it...

Samsung has started rolling out a new update to its Galaxy Note8 flagship smartphone. The update doesn't change the build number (which remains at N950FXXU2BQKG), but it includes a fix for an LTE-related issue. Specifically, the changelog says the update fixes intermittent interruption of LTE data. That's it. Aside from this, some other usual bug-fixes are also included. Reports say the update is currently hitting units in Taiwan - no information...

The December security update is gradually making its way to more devices. It was released for the 2016 and 2017 models of the Galaxy A3 just yesterday. Samsung has now rolled it out for the top-of-the-line model of its premium mid-range lineup. The Galaxy A7 (2017) is now receiving its December security patch update. Galaxy A7 (2017) December security patch Samsung detailed the December security patch...

The OnePlus 5T has started receiving a new update. Arriving as OxygenOS 4.7.6, the update brings along multiple changes, including those related to camera and system. To start with, camera-related changes include clarity improvements for selfie in low light, performance improvements for third-party camera apps, and some stability improvements. Moving on, system-related changes include screenshot and WiFi display improvements. The update - which...

While we wait for 2018's phone launches with anticipation, let's take a moment and glance back over our shoulder and have a look at your most popular phones of 2017. Before we get into the phones themselves, it became apparent that 3 brands dominated the top 20. The top 20 most popular phones, brand breakdown Samsung led the way with 35%, followed by Xiaomi 25% and Nokia 15%. The remaining 25% comprised OnePlus, LG, Motorola, Huawei and Apple with...

The mother of all mobile-related conspiracy theories was shockingly confirmed one week ago, when Apple admitted that it purposefully slows down old iPhones. While the company's intention is actually to prolong the life of those devices that are affected by aging batteries, this admission was obviously very controversial on the internet, where even much smaller issues turn into all-out flame wars at times. What Apple does is it throttles the CPU...

Back in September an upcoming 2018 Sony smartphone had its specs leaked by a benchmark run. So far, however, all we've had to go on was its model number, namely H4233. And while that in itself betrayed the phone's mid-range status, it's always good to know exactly what a device is actually going to be called. In this case, the H4233 will be sold as the Xperia XA2 Ultra, the successor to the XA1 Ultra which launched this May. The official confirmation...

By now it's pretty clear that most of the top of the line Android smartphones of 2018 will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC at the helm, which was unveiled at the beginning of this month. Thus, the situation next year will pretty much emulate what happened in 2017 with the Snapdragon 835. Today from a source in China comes a list of handsets that will be using the SD845 in 2018 along with their expected announcement timelines. We can't verify...

Qualcomm officially announced the Snapdragon 845 three weeks ago. Its latest flagship mobile processor is based on the same 10nm process as its predecessor. The Snapdragon 845 will likely power the North American, South American and Chinese variants of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. The handsets will be powered by Samsung’s latest Exynos processor in other markets. Samsung is going to officially unveil its latest high-end Exynos processor on January...

During this holiday season Apple & Samsung accounted for 70% of devices activated according to Flurry Analytics, with Apple taking the Lion's share with 44%. Google was a no show. Flurry took a look at the most gifted smartphones and tablets around the globe this holiday season, examining activations throughout the week leading up to Christmas day. Flurry Analytics, part of Oath, is used by over 1M mobile apps and has insight into 2.1 billion...

Gionee will be launching its S11 smartphone in India in January 2018, according to the sources at Techook. The phone first launched in China last month along with three siblings. The Gionee S11 has a 5.99-inch, 18:9 FullView Display and a MediaTek Helio P23 processor with 4/6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It boasts a dual camera system on the front and back, with the rear having a 16MP + 5MP system and the front having a 16MP + 8MP system. Apart...

The LG V30 is still fresh on European shelves but it's already seeing its first discount - in this case a 12% drop in price at CarphoneWarehouse in the UK. Originally a £795 prospect in both Silver and Blue, the 64GB LG V30 is now down to £700. Other retailers in the UK offer the V30 as well, but their price is harder to swallow. The V30 is in stock and available for next day delivery and there doesn't appear to be a timer on the new price. Mind...

Samsung is pushing out updates to a multitude of devices this week, and the latest devices to receive an update are the 2016 and 2017 models of the Galaxy A3, the smallest of Samsung’s premium mid-range phones that the company didn’t upgrade for the 2018 lineup. The update brings the December security patch to both devices; there’s nothing else of importance on offer, at least not in terms of user-facing features. Galaxy A3 (2016) and Galaxy A3 (2017)...

An official product page for the ZTE Blade V9 briefly went online and was subsequently pulled down. But, luckily, it was online long enough to grab all the information about the upcoming phone. The Blade V9 is ZTE's first phone with an 18:9 aspect screen (the tallest so far was the 17:9 ZTE nubia Z17s). The Blade V9 has a 5.7-inch LCD of 1080x2160px resolution. Inside there's a Snapdragon 450 chipset coupled with either 2GB, 3GB or 4GB of RAM with...

Qualcomm announced its flagship chipset in the beginning of December at the Snapdragon Technology Summit. According to the latest leak from Weibo, the chipset company from San Diego is preparing three more SoC platforms for 2018 - Snapdragon 670, Snapdragon 640 and Snapdragon 460. The SD670 comes as a successor of the SD660. The biggest change is the process it is built on - it will be 10nm so it will be more power-efficient. The CPU will have eight...

LG has revealed its upcoming Bluetooth speaker called ThinQ Speaker. The key feature of this speaker is that it comes with Google Assistant built-in. Along with being able to do your typical Google Assistant tasks like asking about the weather or the news or anything else, the ThinQ Speaker will also be able to integrate with LG's line of smart home appliances. You will be able to tell Google Assistant to turn on your air purifier or your robot...

Android 8.0 Oreo makes many significant changes to the operating system, both under the hood and in the user interface. There are also a few minor features that aren’t easy to find, especially ones that are part of stock Oreo and not exclusive to Samsung devices. One of these minor features is a new option in Wi-Fi settings that, when enabled, turns on Wi-Fi whenever the device is near a saved Wi-Fi network. What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo: Wi-Fi...

Samsung is pushing out a new update to the Galaxy Note 8 in Taiwan, bringing a fix for the issue of “intermittent interruption of LTE data.” That’s the only highlight in the changelog, and the firmware version (N950FXXU2BQKG) hasn’t changed from the last time, so this looks to be just a followup update. We’re not sure what kind of LTE data interruption Samsung is talking about, although we’re hoping the update fixes the problem with switching between...

Last month, a new Samsung Chromebook under the codename ‘Nautilus’ was spotted in the Chromium Repository. The details in the commits pointed to a 2-in-1 device with a detachable keyboard. Today, Chrome Unboxed has unearthed one more interesting titbit about the device. According to new commits, Samsung’s ‘Nautilus’ is expected to come with a stowable stylus just like the Chromebook Pro and Chromebook...

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ have just passed an important milestone on their way to retail shelves, or at least an official announcement. Both handsets have been certified by the FCC on December 27th, just in time for New Year’s. As expected, there is no information on the phones’ specs listed in the FCC documents. There’s not even a standard design outline in there, which might be because some of...

Images of the 15 Plus, the anniversary phone by Meizu, appeared earlier this month, revealing no bezels from three sides. A new render from Weibo today confirms the design and reveals the phone will have dual cameras at the back, coupled with what appears to be a 10-LED dual-tone flash, last seen in the Meizu Pro 6. The front will have only a single bezel at the bottom under the screen. The Meizu 15 Plus will have a single selfie camera, implemented...

Our long-running Huawei Mate 10 Pro holiday giveaway is finally over and we have a winner. Congratulations: Mihai S. If you are reading this, check your email. We already reached out to discuss a few details before we get that shiny new Mate 10 Pro rolling your way. To all the other participants - thank you for the impressive turnout and interest and we wish you better luck next time! Our Gleam statistics counted almost 15,000 users this time around...