With only a couple of months (or possibly weeks) left until Samsung reveals its Galaxy S lineup for 2016, a bunch of cases for the unreleased phone have shown up online. Some cheap cases now on sale from DHGate.com allegedly fit the S7 and S7 Plus…
HTC hasn’t officially announced the One X9 yet and already it’s seen its fair share of press coverage. An official TENAA listing gave away the important information a few weeks ago, while a more recent leak showed the handset in more detail. Over on Chinese tech site, iMobile, there is what appears to be an insanely in-depth article, multiple pages long, going over everything from hardware to software, benchmarks and everything in between…
Just a couple of weeks ago, Samsung officially unveiled its A-series lineup for the next year. The Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 feature respectable specifications and will be sold at prices well below those of the more high end Galaxy S series while retaining the premium metal chassis. But the A-series doesn’t end there. Samsung’s official Weibo account revealed details of yet another Alpha device: The Galaxy A9.
As you’d expect, the A9 is bigger than any of the others. With its 6-inch, full HD AMOLED display, the A9 is easily the biggest of the bunch, perhaps bordering on ‘too big’. The leak also reveals a 13MP camera on the back and 8MP front snapper, as well as a huge 4,000mAh battery. While not in the same territoriy as the behemoth 10,000mAh battery in the Oukitel K10000, it should still be easily enough to get most users through two days on a full charge.
SamMobile also pointed in the direction of another leak featuring more of the internal specifications. Those include a Snapdragon 620 processor clocked at 1.8GHz and paired with 3GB, alongside 32GB internal storage. Like the the other A-series phones, it also has a fingerprint sensor and Samsung Pay support. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, although an update to Marshmallow is expected. Samsung is likely to announce the new Galaxy A9 a little later this month. If all that pre-release info wasn’t enough, there’s a video showing off the A9 and A7 side-by-side.
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Samsung is widely expected to announce its next series of flagships at some point during the first quarter of next year. Early rumors have suggested that it’ll launch early, before the usual MWC launch cycle, while others expect it will be the big announcement at MWC. Either way, the Galaxy S7 will be announced before the end of February. If information obtained by the Wall Street Journal is anything to go by, we could have a device which, once again, leads the market in terms of features and performance…
Rumors about Samsung’s next mid-range metal smartphone have been circling the web for a few months now. While most has been speculation and sketchy leaks, the device has finally made an official pre-launch appearance on TENAA, China’s equivalent of the FCC. As usual, the listing comes with the customary front, back and side profile images as well as a collection of important specifications…
In an exclusive interview with TIME, Google’s chief software engineer Amit Singhal revealed that the company once developed a wearable product which works in a similar manner to the Communicator pin badges worn by the Enterprise crew in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Bluetooth-connected lapel pin could be activated by a single tap and had a built-in microphone…
Having recently shown up on TENAA, China’s certification body for consumer electronics, the metal version of Xiaomi’s flagship Redmi Note 2 has been teased by the company’s co-founder. As we’ve already seen from the TENAA images, the press render shows a device with a metal back panel, adding a more premium look to the range which, so far, has only been available in a variety of colored plastics…
When Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 5 at the end of this summer, we stared on — not in disbelief but rather ‘they’ve done it again’ – as the company launched a flimsy-looking plastic keyboard cover to clamp to the front of its pristine glass smartphone. And it seems the company may do it at least one more time when the Galaxy S7 and its dual-curved sibling launches next year.
According to information received by SamMobile, Samsung is going to bring out a keyboard cover for the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge, along with a few more bespoke cases and accessories. Joining the keyboard cover is the usual S View Cover, a ‘Glitter Cover’ and a ‘Clear Cover’. This may come as good news to those of you who like Samsung’s market leading hardware, but miss the clickety-clack of real keys under your thumbs as you pound out messages and tweets on your smartphone.
No details have been given on pricing, but each version of each accessory has its own SKU beginning with EF or EJ. I am curious to see how Samsung will design the keys and layout. With the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge likely to be smaller than the Note 5, that gives less room to cram in four rows of keys, meaning they’ll be smaller and harder to use. If Samsung can release a keyboard that’s both small, and sensibly design, I’ll be impressed.
Over recent weeks and months we’ve read numerous reports regarding the Galaxy S7 and its dual-curve sibling. Most recently, the rumors have suggested the device will see an earlier-than-normal release, perhaps indicating that Samsung will unveil its next hot flagship before MWC in Barcelona. Some speculate we might even see an announcement as soon as January. A tweet from well-known leakster, Evan Blass, does nothing to discredit those rumors:
[tweet https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/665279918633295872 align=’center’]
Blass believes that with testing already happening at AT&T, we could see the phones land in the early part of Q1 2016. In other words: Between the beginning of January and mid-February. While the tweet alone doesn’t confirm anything, it certainly adds credibility to those previous launch timeframe rumors.
In recent years, Samsung has used MWC in Barcelona as the platform to announce the Galaxy S lineup. But it hasn’t always been that way. With MWC scheduled for 22-25 February in 2016, and big press events normally occurring before the conference officially kicks off, Samsung could once again use the Barcelona event to show off its next flagship phones. If it did, it would certainly (just about) fit in with Evan’s early-to-mid Q1 launch timeframe. Or Sammy could do what it did with the Galaxy Note 5 launch and decide to steal a march on a major conference by announcing its devices at a separate event beforehand.
It’s been reported in the past that Samsung will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor in the Galaxy S7 (at least in some markets). The powerful quad-core chips has just been officially outed by Qualcomm, and looks like it’ll be next year’s processor to beat. Saying that, it’ll be interesting to see how it compares performance-wise with Samsung’s own recently-announced Exynos 8890. If rumors are to be believed, the Snapdragon models will go for sale in China and the US, while the Exynos-equipped phones will be sold in Europe and other international markets.
It seems HTC isn’t quite done this year, as the One X9 looks to be close to a launch sometime sin the near future. As we suspected when rumored (unbelievable) specs were published, it’s not going to be competing with the next year’s flagships, but is built to compete with large mid-tier Android phones…
Back in August, Xiaomi launched the colorful plastic Redmi Note 2 phablet. The device featured a powerful 64-bit octa-core Helio X10 processor along with a full HD 5.5-inch screen, dual SIM support, 13MP Samsung camera and a huge 3,060mAh battery. On the specification side, the phone seems like a winner. Apparently, it just didn’t look like one. A leaked set of images from TENAA (China’s FCC equivalent) reveals the company is about to launch an almost all-metal version with a fingerprint sensor.
Samsung has begun development on the firmware for both versions of the upcoming Galaxy S7, according to reports (via SamMobile). Development on both G930FXXU0AOK6 and G935FXXU0AOK6 started this month, perhaps signaling the phone could arrive earlier than usual. Last year, the same development work didn’t start until December, and the phone was announced at the beginning of March, at MWC in Barcelona. If there’s a similar gap between development and release this time around, we could see a phone announced as early as January or early February…
Update: A new leak corroborates the front design of the A9, although the back makes it look a lot like the Huawei Nexus 6P. Image at the bottom of this post.
Having recently launched the iPhone-lookalike One A9, HTC looks set to release yet another One-series phone. A leaked press image on Weibo suggests that HTC will be releasing a new phone with BoomSound speakers in tow. The One X9 poster uses typically vague strap lines like ‘pursuit of brilliance’ and ‘packed with city smarts’, right in line with what we expect from most manufacturers. Given its in English (and assuming it’s genuine) it hints at a launch in English-speaking markets…
Huawei is on something a roll this year. Having recently released its first Nexus device, overtaken Xiaomi as the top smartphone vendor in China and secured the third highest number of smartphone shipments globally, it’s all going swimmingly for the Chinese manufacturer. But its year isn’t over yet. According to its official handle on Weibo, Huawei is preparing to announce another device…
Value for money in the smartphone industry has never been as good as it is now. As OnePlus revealed last week, it’s possible to bring specifications which we’d have considered top-tier just 12-18 months ago and sell them in a device half the price of today’s flagship phones. Samsung, it seems, is keen to follow suit with the follow up to its Galaxy A5. A benchmark result over at GFXBench suggests that we’ll see a phone — model number SM-A510F — launched by the Korean tech giant with a full HD screen…
Now that all of this year’s biggest flagships have been unveiled and released, it seems now is the time to turn our attention to the next lot. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 has been in the press a number of times recently, and an increasing number of rumors have arisen over the past few days. Reports and posts from MyDrivers and Weibo (two sources with less-than-reliable track records) suggests that we’ll see a phone built from a Magnesium alloy and have improved sound…
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In a rumor that’s no surprise to anyone, SamMobile‘s sources have told the publication that the next Samsung Galaxy flagship will have a USB Type-C port. In this case, I think we’d be more surprised if the next Samsung didn’t feature a Type-C connector. Sammy is regularly quick to jump onboard and adopt new technologies, and whether it’s NFC, fingerprint sensors, wireless charging or Quick-Charge compatibility, the Korean tech giant has historically been among the earliest to show off their potential.,,
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Just days after OnePlus invited the world it its London event on October 29 to release its upcoming smartphone, its next device has shown up on Oppomart. The retailer specializes in shipping Chinese-made smartphones to markets where they’re not currently available, with devices from the likes of Xiaomi, Meizu, Oppo and ZTE all available. The OnePlus X is listed at just $249, making it far more affordable than the OnePlus 2 and — if the listed specs are accurate — far better value for money.
Although you can’t order it yet, the OnePlus X placeholder page does reveal some of the expected specifications. They include the following:
The OnePlus X, by the sound of things, is shaping up to be a follow-on from the OnePlus One. It looks like it’ll have similar specs, a similar price, but a different design.
Few handsets have had the pre-release attention attained by the BlackBerry PRIV. With official (and somewhat less official) leaks dating all the way back to February, it’s safe to say we’ve been expecting this phone for a long time. It was initially teased by BlackBerry as a QWERTY-equipped slider which many assumed would be just another BlackBerry OS-powered smartphone. But that isn’t the case. The manufacturer confirmed recently that the PRIV would be a secure Android phone, and that it’ll be released soon…
Hangouts 4.0 hasn’t been around that long, but according to a tip from Derek Ross, version 5.0 will be launching imminently with a handful of important improvements. Most of the improvements seem to center around speed and efficiency. Ross posted the following list of features to his Google+ profile, suggesting we might see some visual differences as well as performance improvements:
Visual changes include a new Hangouts splash screen as well as making the ‘signed in as’ pop-up white, giving it a cleaner look. What’s more, GIFs now work for the first time, so you’ll be able to annoy your friends and contacts with animated pictures, if you like.
We’re not sure when the update is going to drop, but the last couple of points are a good indication that it’s coming very soon. The Dogfood icon being removed suggests that internal testing is completed and that it’s ready for public use.
Samsung’s gigantic upcoming tablet has cropped up online more than once in recent times. The most recent rumor indicated that the device, code-named ‘Tahoe’, will be released as the Samsung Galaxy View and sport whopping 18.4-inch display. An FCC filing reveals more about the as-yet-unreleased tablet from Samsung, including its dimensions, some previously unknown features and which carrier it’s likely heading to…
One of the most hotly-anticipated handsets of this year was finally made official recently, although little was said about its internal specs. All we know (officially) is that the BlackBerry PRIV will be an Android smartphone, and it will be a portrait slider with a physical QWERTY keyboard with “flagship specs”. Apart from a couple of official press renders, and a bungled hands-on demo by the chief, BlackBerry hasn’t been keen too share all the details with us yet.
A new leak from N4BB suggests strongly that early rumors of a focus on camera performance are accurate. The 18MP camera on the back purportedly features Schneider-Kreuznach optics and can record in 4K resolution at 30fps. It can also film 1080p at 720p at both 30fps and 60fps.
Although we don’t know exactly what processor is inside the PRIV, the leak suggests that it will be a 64-bit processor. There have been rumors previously stating that it will be the Snapdragon 808 hexa-core chip, the same processor found in the LG G4, Moto X Pure and LG Nexus 5X. BlackBerry then seemingly among the many manufacturers keen to avoid the overheating Snapdragon 810.
Previous leaks showed that the software would be a customized version of Android, keeping many stock elements but adding some of BlackBerry’s own popular tools and features like the notification Hub. Another piece of software being installed is a program called BlackBerry Safeguard which shows you how secure your BlackBerry PRIV is. In it, users can manage what information apps have access to and how they’re using it, and gives you warnings if there are settings you can change to make your device more secure.
We’ve heard before that PRIV = Privacy and Privilege. Security is a big focus for BlackBerry and its enterprise services are among some of the most-trusted on the planet. In the past, BlackBerry’s chief did state that they’d only release an Android phone if they could make it secure. It seems then that it has, and that BlackBerry Safeguard is just one of the ways which the company will secure the Google-powered device.
GCF, the Global Certification Forum has preemptively congratulated HTC on having its as-yet announced One A9 pass through certification. It’s the first time we’ve seen the name officially listed.
It’s expected HTC will release several different models of the A9 to suit various markets. The device linked to by GCF supports LTE Cat 6 on bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20 and 28, suggesting this is the device primed for launch in Africa, Asia and Europe…
Back in August, a report claimed Samsung was working on a huge 18.4-inch tablet code-named ‘Tahoe’. Despite the massive size of the display, it was rumored that it would ‘only’ feature a resolution of 1080 x 1920, giving it a mediocre pixel density of under 120ppi. A rumor which is seemingly corroborated by a set of leaked benchmarks on GFXBench, and a tweet from Evan Blass with the device’s likely official name: Samsung Galaxy View…