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Joy to the world, the new year is finally here. We say goodbye to 12 entertaining months and welcome the opportunities 2019 has prepared for us with wide-open arms. We would love you, our readers, to stay beside us as we renew our pursuit for a better tomorrow. Our YouTube channel is doing an impressive job - we passed the half a million subscribers mark in 2018 and we are already nearing 600,000. We put a lot of work and thought to provide interesting...

vivo recently announced the NEX Dual Display Edition, a high-end smartphone that solves the notch problem by forgoing a front-facing camera altogether, instead outfitting the rear of the phone with a screen too - so you can use the main camera system for selfies as well. Now it looks like the company is busy readying a slightly more affordable version of this handset - which feels familiar because that's what it did earlier in the year with the...

As we wait for the final release to go out, possibly on January 15, Samsung has now started sending out a new beta build of Android 9 Pie with One UI on top to the Galaxy Note9 units enrolled in the beta program. It's the fourth build that's making it to the company's flagship phablet, and it comes with a bunch of bug fixes. For example, force touching the Home button when gesture navigation is activated didn't work, but now it does. The Gallery...

The FCC has put the upcoming Galaxy M10 through the paces of its certification process, a necessary step prior to launch. This has revealed a few more details about the smartphone that will be the entry level model in Samsung's new M series. The M10 will sport a 6-inch display and a 3,400 mAh battery. Its length and width are 155.7mm and 75.8mm, respectively. According to a past outing in a benchmark's online database, the phone is powered by the...

Happy New Year to you from all of us here at SamMobile. We hope that you have a great time enjoying the festivities to ring in the new year wherever you may be in the world. We’ll be back to work from tomorrow as we have a lot of great things lined up for 2019. We’ll be releasing a brand new SamMobile app for Android in the first half of 2019. Our team has been working diligently on it and all I can...

The Moto G7 is one of the most anticipated midrangers of 2019 and it looks ready for market launch, judging by the sheer number of leaks we've had of it recently. The latest one is a series of renders of the phone in a clear case. We get to see the upcoming Moto G7 from all sides and so we get a good look at the dual camera and fingerprint scanner on the rear, the screen with a teardrop notch on the front as well as the buttons and ports on the...

While it has been a great year for us Samsung fans in many ways, the company has seen a few bumps along the way in 2018. Its smartphone sales have dipped, Bixby is still far from what it should be in the heavily competitive virtual assistant market, the company’s mid-range and budget lineups are falling farther behind the competition, and as 2018 comes to a close, we still don’t have a proper look...

The latest Nokia 9 PureView leak is the most definitive one, by far. A promo video that lists all of the upcoming phone's highlights in a neat visual list. The Nokia 9 PureView will have 5 cameras, which are still unspecified. The video shows that you'll be able to capture portrait mode shots with adjustable bokeh and can change the focus point after the shot is taken. The Nokia 9 will also feature some sort of night mode - the video claims 10x...

As 2018 draws to a close, it's only fitting we take a look back and try to remember it for what it really was - twelve months filled with hundreds of cool and not so cool smartphones. Our reviewers tried to stay objective for those written and video reviews they did for you, our beloved audience. But they have certainly picked some favorites and today they are going to share them with you. Read More........

It has been almost a month since we heard anything about the Xperia XZ4. The device was rumored in early December to have an extremely tall display with a cinematic ratio of 21:9. We saw some CAD renders of the upcoming Sony flagship, and a screen protector appeared in Chinese social media during the holiday, giving solid ground to the rumor. Sony Xperia XZ4 screen protectors The panel matches the ratios we have seen in renders - extremely thin...

For Samsung fans, 2018 was an eventful year. It launched its usual Galaxy S and Galaxy Note flagships (the latter with a big battery), released phones with triple-camera and quad-camera setups, brought us the beautiful new One UI along with Android Pie, and picked up the pace with security updates for various devices. It also introduced gradient colors to its devices, launched an (expensive)...

Huawei is going strong in the quest for becoming the second biggest smartphone maker in the world. Just days after the launch of Huawei P Smart (2019) on the European market, its more affordable sibling called Huawei Y7 Pro (2019) made an appearance in Vietnam. Looking at the Y7 Pro (2019) you might think it is visually the same as the P Smart (2019). After a detailed inspection of specs, we notice plenty of differences. The chipset is Qualcomm...

The Galaxy Note 9 is now receiving another new Android Pie beta update, the fourth one to be precise. The update is rolling out in India, Germany, and South Korea and is a minor one with a small changelog. It should also be available in other countries where the beta program was launched. The software version accompanying the new update is N960FXXU2ZRLT. While we were hoping the third Note 9 beta would be the last before the final update is released,...

In the last days of 2018 we take a look back and see what we have accomplished in the past 12 months. A lot of thought and hard work went into our YouTube channel, so we decided to share the most popular videos of the year. Samsung introduced the Galaxy A8 (2018) early in the year and it has been watched and liked plenty of times. No wonder it gathered over a million views with its tall Infinity Display and properly-placed fingerprint scanner. The...

From the very first Android Pie test builds for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy Note 9, Night mode was a feature that grabbed our attention. It’s an official dark theme from Samsung for those who currently have to turn to the Samsung Themes store for a solution, and it makes the already beautiful One UI look even better. However, based on the Android Pie user manuals Samsung has published for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, it seems Night mode hasn’t...

Samsung’s surprise release of the final Android Pie update for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ wasn’t followed by any sort of official announcement. But the company is likely to fix that once the update starts to roll out to more countries around the world, and while that moment could be a few days or even weeks away, Samsung is carrying the momentum forward and has updated the Galaxy S9 user manual...

The human-computer interface has been a problem since the dawn of computers. As far as smartphones are concerned, the clear winner is the touchscreen. But how did we get here? The proto-touchscreen was the light pen, which was first developed in the 50s and 60s and was available to consumers as an accessory for 8-bit computers in the 80s. The light pen is a simple but clever solution that works only with CRT monitors - it senses the electron beam...

We've lined up the industry's cameraphone heavyweights - iPhone XS Max, Galaxy Note9, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, LG V40 ThinQ, OnePlus 6T, Galaxy S9, Google Pixel 3 to see how good phones have become in capturing portrait photos with defocused backgrounds. We'll also be taking some shots with a full-frame DSLR - the Nikon D750 - just to put things into perspective. Read More........

The year is almost over and it's time to reset the counter. But before we do that, let's take a look at which Android and iOS devices won the hearts of our readers. Note that we are not talking sheer popularity here, but number of likes - that is we only count The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro leads the pack and we can see why. It was the best mid-ranger for a large chunk of the year. It checks a lot of boxes while keeping the price reasonable and that...

My job at GSMArena is getting to the office early in the morning, usually before sunrise, to cover the latest news, leaks and rumors. I've been following design trends from their development stage all the way to the final products. One of the sadder solutions among smartphone manufacturers is the notch, introduced by Apple and the iPhone X back in 2017. I never got the hate it received as the cutout was just bound to happen. The notch eventually...

It looks like punch hole cameras are going to be a big deal in 2019 and the most premium phone with a punch hole in the display just arrived with the Honor View 20. The Honor V20 for China or View 20 for the rest of the world builds on Honor's key strengths, matching the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in many regards and even outmatching it in some, like the 48MP main camera and the screen to body ratio. Honor announced the V20 this week for the Chinese market...

It's the time for yearly wrap-ups, but the last Sunday of the year is also the day for the final installment of our weekly Top 10 chart. We're witnessing a minor disruption at the top where the Galaxy A8s has regained the number one spot from the Huawei nova 4. The nova, meanwhile, dropped all the way down to fourth. The Xiaomi Mi Play was announced a few days ago and quickly made its way up the chart, even snatching the runner-up spot. The Redmi...

Last week we put the punch hole display pioneers against each other to see which one you guys prefer and now the results are in. It was the Huawei nova 4 vs the Samsung Galaxy A8s and the winner is clear. The nova 4 with 48MP camera got twice as many votes as the Galaxy A8s. The Huawei nova 4 won the poll, despite the Galaxy A8s being the more popular phone in our database. This suggests that it's already gathering some dedicated fans and those...

Netflix has decided that it will no longer allow iOS users to subscribe to the service from within the app. Customers will henceforth will be required to signup and subscribe for the service from the website. Previously, customers could choose to subscribe to the service through the app itself on iOS. Since this used Apple's iTunes payment and subscriptions system, Apple took a 15% cut from every transaction. Netflix would then pass on this charge...

Citi Research published on Friday updated forecasts for the production numbers of Apple's iPhones in Q1. According to the new estimate Apple is expected to manufacture 45 million units for the quarter, down from the 50 million earlier forecast. More strikingly, the brokerage lowered its forecast for iPhone XS Max production in particular by 48%. An analyst at the company states that the updates in the estimates are caused by Citi's belief that the...

Alongside the Galaxy Note9's announcement back in August, Samsung kinda sorta revealed the Galaxy Home smart speaker. Five months later, the product's status is still 'coming soon', but by the looks of it, another one has meanwhile been in development. So far, all that is known is that the new speaker will come in black (surprise there), and that it carries an SM-V310 model designation. Compare that to the SM-V510 number of the original Galaxy Home,...

The Essential Phone (or PH-1) from 2017 was created by Android co-founder Andy Rubin and came with impressive hardware, promises for monthly updates, and a notch, among other traits. It lived an eventful life, though it often made the news for bitter reasons like delayed market launch, executives leaving, job cuts, and discounts to help save what's left of the company (not that we mind discounts). Well, the PH-1 is no more. On a positive note, a...

SMS has been with us for over a quarter of a century and it won't go away anytime soon. But it's really showing its age and many have moved to instant messaging - WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, Line, KakaoTalk - for the convenient features these apps offer over plain SMS. Recently Google has started (with the help of carriers) to push RCS - Rich Communication Services. If we had to describe it in three words they would be "iMessage for Android". RCS vs....

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy A50 has been revealed to carry a beefy 4,000 mAh battery through a new report today. The device will also apparently pack a 24 MP main rear camera, though that will not be the only shooter on its back. The battery capacity is certainly adequate, but still falls short of the rumored 5,000 mAh cell we are supposed to see inside the Galaxy M20. The A50 will be powered by Samsung's Exynos 7 9610 chipset, which has a CPU with...

If LG's rollout last month of a beta build of its upcoming update to Android 9 Pie for the G7 ThinQ in South Korea got you excited about the possibility of there being a final release going out across the globe soon, well, hold your horses. The company has now officially listed the release date for the stable Pie update for the G7 as Q1, 2019. And that only applies for Korea. Keeping in mind that LG's OS updates usually arrive in its home market...

Xiaomi's upcoming Mi 9 and Mi Mix 4 will both employ three rear cameras, according to a research note from GF Securities of Hong Kong. In their Xiaomi market performance report, the analysts mentioned that the Mi 9 is set to be the company's first smartphone with a triple rear camera. Additionally, the Mi Mix 4 is apparently going to have a periscope lens, which allows for greater optical zoom while not needing more space in the chassis (at least...

The Asus Zenfone 5 started receiving the update to Android 9 Pie a couple of weeks or so ago, and now it's the Zenfone 5z's turn to get the same tasty treat. The update is currently rolling out for Asus' flagship in Taiwan, arriving as software version 90.10.138.157, a 1GB download. Aside from the underlying OS update, it also brings an updated security patch level and a faster entry into the continuous shooting mode in the camera. According to...

Sony has launched a new wall charger for USB-PD compatible devices. The charger is capable of outputting 46.5W simultaneously. The charger, model CP-ADRM2, has two output ports. The USB-C port is capable of outputting 5V/3.0A, 9V/3.0A, 12V/3.0A, and 15V/2.6A. Meanwhile, the USB-A port can output 7.5W 5V/1.5A. Together they can push out 46.5W at the same time. The charger uses a standard C7 or figure-8 connector to plug into an extension power cord,...

In time for the New Year, T-Mobile is launching a couple of new wearables deals as well as a free tablet deal. Let's start with the Apple Watch deal. Buy one Apple Watch Series 3 ($380) or Apple Watch Series 4 ($499) and get a second one for $200 off via monthly-bill credits. In order to qualify, you need to purchase the free Apple Watch on a finance agreement since the discount will be given via monthly statement credits. Next up, if you want to...

The final version of the Galaxy S9 Android Pie update is impressively stable, or so it seemed. Yours truly still stands by his opinion that the update is quite stable overall for such a quick release, but it looks like a battery drain issue may have slipped past Samsung’s bug checking team. I just saw my Galaxy S9+ go down from 10 percent battery to 5 percent in a matter of seconds, without the phone reporting any app going haywire in the background. No...

Chinese phone maker vivo has launched a new closed beta for the next version of Android for four vivo devices. The beta will allow a limited number of participants to download a non-final build of FunTouch OS 4.5 layered over Android 9.0 Pie. The source is in Chinese, so the closed beta is very likely in reference to the Chinese versions of four vivo devices: the X21, X21 UD, NEX A, and NEX S. There are two waves of recruitment: the first one started...

Samsung’s Galaxy Home hasn’t hit retail yet, but what the company showed off at the Galaxy Note 9 launch made it clear the Galaxy Home is meant to be a premium product. Pricing is yet to be revealed, but with features such as AKG audio, eight microphones, the ability to direct sound towards the user’s position, and a classy design, the first Bixby-powered speaker is likely going to compete with the Apple...

Another year has passed and a whole bunch of devices has gone through our office. We have completed more than 80 smartphone reviews in 2018 and what an exciting year in tech it was! Read More........

It looks like Samsung will deliver on the promise of Android 9 Pie on the Galaxy Note9 in January. The Galaxy Note9 is currently in the beta testing phase but is listed on an official Samsung Turkey site as due for Android 9 update on January 15. Samsung delivered the Android 9 firmware to the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, earlier than expected, a few days ago. Still, Android 9 launched in August and has been available on rival devices like the OnePlus...

We publish a lot of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up. However, we think we’ve come up with a fantastic solution — a daily recap. Here’s what we covered today. Phones Galaxy A50 could come with 4,000 mAh battery and 24MP camera [Update:...

Samsung Good Lock is all about heavy-handed customization, and the 2018 iteration offers a number of interesting functionality through the use of individual apps. Samsung has now released a new app for Good Lock 2018 called Nice Catch. The premise? You can now catch apps that secretly vibrate or ring your phone in the act. No more secret vibrations Nice Catch can detect a number of things, such as what app may have changed the ringer/sound mode,...

Xiaomi is adding Super Night Scene and 960fps super slow motion video recording to the Xiaomi Mi 8 and Mi 8 Explorer through the global MIUI 10.1.2.0 update. The firmware weighs 288MB and is not to be mistaken with the Chinese update that was seeded in early December, following a beta test in November. Both features premiered with the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 at the end of October. Super Night Scene captures 8 photos at different exposures and merges them...

Thanks to a concept render, obtained from a case maker, we get to see what the Galaxy S10 Lite will roughly look like. The render shows a phone with a a flat screen with a punch hole for the selfie camera, thin and even bezels all round, a headphone jack, a side-mounted fingerprint reader and wireless charging. Since the two other Galaxy S10 models are expected to have curved Super AMOLED screens and even up to two selfie cameras on board, we can...

With the Galaxy Note 9, Samsung finally gave us a big battery on a (mainstream) flagship device. Big batteries on mid-range and budget Galaxies have been less rare, but 2019 may see the Korean giant further pushing battery sizes on mid-range and budget phones. The Galaxy M20 is rumored to have a 5,000 mAh battery, and in the upcoming A series lineup, Samsung may be putting a 4,000 mAh battery on the...

After unofficially going on sale earlier this month, the Huawei P Smart (2019) is now officially official. The specs haven't changed but we'll rehash them just in case. The P Smart (2019) has a 6.21-inch IPS LCD of 1080x2340px (with Eye Comfort Mode or Blue Light Filter, in layman's terms), a 12nm Hisilicon Kirin 710 paired with 3GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage and a 3,400mAh battery. For imaging (and video) the Huawei P Smart (2019) has a...

The final Galaxy S9 Android Pie update was released in some countries a day before Christmas. The update is yet to reach most countries, but it sure came as a surprise. The Galaxy Note 9 beta program hasn’t ended, though, as Samsung released a new Note 9 beta update earlier today. That means the January timeframe the company announced for the Android Pie update is still in effect, but the wait for Note 9 owners may come as soon as January 15 according...

Earlier this week, rumors suggested Apple and Foxconn are moving the production of 2019 iPhones from China to India. Today, Reuters confirmed the Taiwanese supplier and contractor will use its plant in Sriperumbudur, a town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The state's Industries Minister M C Sampath said the plant is already used for making Xiaomi phones, but Foxconn will invest $356 million in expanding the product line to meet the orders by...

Android Pie for the Galaxy devices brings many new features, along with a major upgrade for the user interface. One UI is beautiful, and while some aspects may not appeal to everyone (like the default app icons), One UI manages to be fresh yet familiar at the same time. Perhaps the best part is the new inbuilt Night mode, which makes the entire UI darker to make it easy on your eyes in the dark, also...

Samsung has already shown off a phone with a selfie camera inside the display and we expect the Galaxy S10 to follow suit. But the next step in the fight against the top bezel is removing the traditional loudspeaker and using the display as one. We've heard of this before - Samsung is planning to use piezoelectric actuators embedded into the display to produce sound - Samsung calls it Sound on Display, and it will show it off at the Consumer Electronics...

Huawei initially announced that all Kirin 970 phones would be getting EMUI 9.0, but no word on any other devices. Later, the company started recruiting beta testers for more devices, including the 2017 flagship Huawei P10. Today we received a tip from Malaysia in our mailbox, revealing the manufacturer has started issuing a stable build to global dual-SIM devices. Full change log of the update The screenshot reveals the VTR-L29 models are receiving...

OxygenOS Open Beta has just started hitting the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T. The builds are respectively number 10 and number 2, but they both bring the same updates and features. According to posts on the OnePlus forum, there are improvements to the System, the Phone, Gallery, and Launcher apps. OnePlus 6 The latest open beta build has polished screen and color adaptation for the navigation bar when using third-party apps. UI has been improved...

The Galaxy S9 may have been updated with the final version of Android Pie, but the Galaxy Note 9 Pie beta program hasn’t ended yet. Samsung is rolling out a new beta update for the Galaxy Note 9 today. The update is available in the US and India at the moment, but it should also be rolling out in other countries where the beta program was launched. The software version is getting bumped to N960FXXU2ZRLR (N960U1UEUZRLL for the US). January security...