The summer is here, and that means we’ve seen a lot of new Android smartphones announced in the first half of this year. Starting off the year was the Huawei Mate 8 and Honor 5X at CES in January, of course followed later by Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as well as the LG G5 in February at Mobile World Congress. But which ones are the best buys? Keep reading to find out…
A few days ago, it was revealed that most of today’s best and most powerful phones won’t support Android N’s seamless updates feature. Sadly, in order for updates to install in the background, the phone needs a special partition in its memory to make that possible. As it happens, it’s also very unlikely that any of the current crop of flagships will be certified ready for Daydream VR either, but for different reasons.
ZTE has just unveiled the next phone in its series of high performance, affordable, flagship-beating smartphones; the ZTE Axon 7. Like last year’s Axon, this year’s model seeks to offer a competitive experience at a price which undercuts similar smartphones from big-name manufacturers, and it might succeed at just $450 USD.
Lenovo has now published its financial earnings report for the final quarter of its 2015/16 fiscal year, ending in March. Highlights for the Hong Kong-based company include full year revenue of $44.9 billion, with Q4 revenue of $9.1 billion, which is down 19% on the same quarter last year. On the whole, it was a fairly uneventful quarter, but Lenovo recognizes its bid to bring in Motorola hasn’t gone as smoothly as planned.
With the OnePlus 3 rumored to be making its first public appearance on June 14th, it’s about the right time for the next “flagship killer” to appear in a listing on China’s TENAA site. Similar to the FCC in the US, all phones launching in China tend to land on TENAA a few weeks before they launch. OnePlus is no exception, and was spotted by Engadget China, with pictures from every angle and a list of specifications.
OnePlus announced in a community forum post this morning that it will sell all of its current phones at ‘new prices’. That means the OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X will all be cheaper than they have been, almost certainly because a new phone is about to be launched by the ambitious Chinese startup.
June is shaping up to be a pretty busy month in the tech world, as it usually is. Google I/O has now passed us, and we can now look forward to what’s next. For Apple fans, that’s WWDC next month. For those who prefer Android we have both Lenovo’s Tech World event and the Moto Z launch, as well as a OnePlus unveiling.
The OnePlus event is set to be the first to take place in a VR world set in space, and will allegedly be happening on June 14th, if a conversation between a customer and a OnePlus CS rep is anything to go by…
The Nextbit Robin — a cloud powered smartphone that we happen to like a lot — has made its way to India. Customers wanting to grab the Robin in India can do so exclusively from Flipkart, where it will cost 19,999 Rupees (roughly $296), that’s around $100 cheaper than it was at launch in the US.
Evan Blass, the serial leakster has shared a brief overview of the OnePlus 3‘s specifications. For the spec-hungry among you, they might make for disappointing reading given that they’re much the same as last year.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a number of projections and claims that we are now in a ‘Post PC era’. But despite the fact that more people than ever are using mobile devices and tablets for web browsing and gaming, when it comes to getting real work done, you can’t replace a physical keyboard with a virtual one.
While using a Bluetooth keyboard with a smartphone or tablet is never going to make for a compelling laptop replacement, it may just be the accessory that saves you in a pinch, especially if you have little space to store gadgets while on the move. The iClever folding keyboard is a wireless affordable keyboard with sturdy metal construction that you can take anywhere.
As it often happens with new technologies — especially the ones that aim to replace fundamental, widely used parts of our digital devices — the early implementations are often challenged by a series of missteps and various other problems.
The latest concrete example of this is the promising-yet-troubled USB-C, which led to a few controversies as of late. However, it seems, with its latest G5 flagship, LG may be one of the few manufacturers that got it right (via gtrusted)…
One of the lesser talked about but more important new features in Android N is seamless updates. Essentially, what that means is that future Android devices running the next version of Google’s mobile OS will be able to download and install software updates in the background without interrupting your use of the phone. Sadly, none of the current crop of Android phones will get the feature.
It was 2006, you were in high school, and everybody had a Motorola RAZR. At least, that’s how Motorola wants you to remember your life ten years ago, in its latest teaser for the upcoming Moto X (or Moto Z) announcement.
Of course, one year later the iPhone was launched and the entire mobile industry was turned on its head. But for that one brief spell, the RAZR was without doubt the most popular phone around, and it turned heads.
Last night, in addition to launching the first public beta for Android N, Google pushed the third developer preview out and it includes some notable differences from the previous two…
Hot on the heels of Android N’s first beta landing for the public, HTC has already announced which of its phones will be receiving the next version of Google’s mobile OS. Whether it’s called Nutella, Nougat, Nachos or whatever you decide to name it, HTC will be pushing it out to HTC 10, One A9 and One M9 users.
While revisiting Android ‘N’ in today’s Google I/O opening keynote, Google’s “Rock Start” engineer David Burke said they’re struggling to come up with a dessert name for the new OS’s name. That means one thing: Google wants you to name this year’s version of Android…
Nokia Technologies announced in a press release this morning that it has signed an agreement with HMD global to build “a new generation of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.” Although we don’t know exactly what flavour of Android, or how heavily skinned it will be, Nokia’s announcement states that Google’s mobile OS will be powering the new devices.
Update: There’s also a smaller, less powerful version called the Moto G Play coming to the States with a 2,800mAh battery. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 410 processor, has a 5-inch 720p display, 2GB RAM, water repellent coating, 8MP rear camera, 5MP front snapper and 16GB internal storage (expandable to 128GB via MicroSD.
Lenovo took to the stage this morning at an event in New Delhi, India, where it took the wraps off the latest generation Moto G smartphones. Unlike previous years, the Moto G is not a small, one-handed device. Instead, this year’s Moto G range features two versions and both are equipped with large 5.5-inch displays…
A fresh press render has leaked this morning courtesy of the fount-of-all-leaks, Evan Blass, showing the OnePlus 3 in a much more flattering light than the recent prototype leaks. The image seemingly confirms OnePlus’ move away from the replaceable plastic rear panels, with the company intent on releasing a metal-bodied device.
Well-known leaker, Even Blass has produced yet another render of the next generation Moto G, this time it’s the regular model without a fingerprint sensor on the front panel. If accurate, it virtually confirms the previous speculation that this year’s G-series Moto phones will be available in regular and ‘Plus’ variants.
For those who are fairly experienced in the app world, joining betas is always exciting and fun — since it allows people to access the latest features and design tweaks — despite the usual presence of bugs.
With the rollout of version 6.7 of the Play Store, Android Police first spotted, Google will now allow you conveniently see if you’re in a beta testing group from within the Store itself, leave and join potential betas, and even give developers some feedback regarding the latest build…
One of the undoubted benefits of USB Type-C is the fact that it’s reversible. It doesn’t matter which way around it is, you can just shove it in your phone and know it’ll work. Of course, it has other benefits too, which is why Samsung’s decision not to use it in the Galaxy S7 series was a little puzzling. Still, you can at the very least get the reversible factor using the right cable. One available option is the SCOSCHE reversible light-up Micro USB which I’ve had for the past month or so.
When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S7 Edge, they also showed off some official accessories. Some of them we’d seen before, while others have been redesigned to fit the Galaxy S7 Edge. I decided to check out the new S-View Cover, keyboard case and wireless charger built by Samsung specifically for its newer devices.
While Android Pay has been alive in the US for some time now, Google is yet to launch its mobile payments system across the pond in the UK. Back in March they stated that the service would go live ‘within months’, but it appears Barclays has beaten them to market. Having already announced that it won’t be supporting Android Pay, the popular bank today announced a new Android-based mobile payment service which will go live next month.
