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566 'smartphones' stories May 2011 - April 2016

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HTC 10 vs. Galaxy S7 vs. LG G5 specs compared — which one is your pick? [Poll]

Cam Bunton Apr 12 2016 - 8:11 am PT

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After months of leaks, HTC finally announced its latest flagship smartphone this morning, and it’s pretty much exactly what we expected. It’s an all-metal, solid unibody phone with specs that look to match today’s best smartphones. What’s more, it could have the best audio and camera experience available of any phone on the market right now. But, how does it compare to Samsung and LG’s best phones? Let’s find out…

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T-Mobile unboxing takes the HTC 10 up 10,000 feet in the air

Cam Bunton Apr 12 2016 - 6:07 am PT

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As is customary for T-Mobile in 2016, for the latest product launch, the company sent its product guru, Des Smith to unbox HTC’s newest smartphone. Having unboxed the Galaxy S7 underwater, and the LG G5 in an off-road racing car, the only way was up for Des with the HTC 10.

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HTC 10 is officially announced: Hefty all-metal, Snapdragon 820-equipped flagship with OIS-powered selfies

Cam Bunton Apr 12 2016 - 5:00 am PT

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After months of leaks — some from the usual suspects, others from HTC themselves — the latest One-series flagship is here, except, there’s no ‘One’ in the name. The HTC 10 has been officially announced, and it looks to compete directly spec-wise with the best phones around, and packs its high-end components in to a hefty, solid piece of aluminum.

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Bad news audio fans, looks like LG G5’s B&O Hi-Fi Plus module won’t be available in the US

Cam Bunton Apr 11 2016 - 6:13 am PT

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When the LG G5 launched at MWC in February, the Korean tech giant also unveiled a series of ‘friends’, or modules. These clip-on modules were designed to offer a unique experience of one kind or another. Whether you wanted a more traditional camera experience, better audio or VR, LG had the answer. One of the most promising ‘friends’ was the Hi-Fi Plus DAC unit, built through collaboration with B&O. It offered much better quality audio.

If you’re in the US, however, it looks as though you might not even get the opportunity to order one…

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LG profit rose 66% in Q1 but mobile business not yet improving

Cam Bunton Apr 11 2016 - 4:01 am PT

LG has said that it expects to announce its best financial results in nearly two years when it unveils its final earnings results for Q1 2016. Thanks to the drop in television panel prices and strong appliance sales, LG will see a 66% year-on-year rise in profits. Its mobile division, however, is struggling to make money.

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HTC 10 promo video leaks early as rumored specs are corroborated

Cam Bunton Apr 11 2016 - 2:48 am PT

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HTC will finally unveil its next metal-bodied flagship during an online event tomorrow, but, a couple of last minute leaks have seemingly confirmed past speculation. Perhaps most revealing is a video on YouKu (China’s version of YouTube).

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Galaxy S7/Edge first month sales comfortably higher than S6 YoY as Samsung gains ground in developing markets

Cam Bunton Apr 8 2016 - 5:54 am PT

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Having been on the market for a month, the analysts over at Counterpoint Technology Market Research crunched some numbers, and found that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are outselling their predecessors fairly comfortably, despite the increasingly harsh competitive market.

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Qualcomm teases HTC 10 Snapdragon chip ahead of next week’s launch

Cam Bunton Apr 8 2016 - 4:11 am PT

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HTC has been publishing its own revealing teasers for the upcoming flagship smartphone over the past few weeks. The HTC 10 is going to have ‘the best BoomSound yet‘, a ‘compelling camera‘, and a shiny, polished chamfer on the back according to the manufacture’s past tweets. Now Qualcomm has joined in with the pre-launch games…

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Android Marshmallow update for Samsung Galaxy Note 4 begins international rollout

Cam Bunton Apr 8 2016 - 3:26 am PT

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Months after early pre-release versions of the software allegedly appeared on some Galaxy Note 4 units, the official Android Marshmallow rollout has started.

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Huawei P9 unboxing and first impressions [Video]

Cam Bunton Apr 7 2016 - 2:20 pm PT

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Yesterday, we brought you hands-on coverage of Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone from the launch event in London. Lighting wasn’t fantastic, but our initial thoughts were general positive towards the Chinese manufacturer’s latest high-end, elegant, glass and metal device. Now, we have the retail packaging, and couldn’t resist shooting an unboxing.

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Android Marshmallow update for OnePlus One in ‘final testing stage’, rolling out ‘very soon’

Cam Bunton Apr 7 2016 - 4:47 am PT

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While its fans eagerly wait for the next ‘flagship killer’, OnePlus has been quietly working on making sure those with the first generation model aren’t left behind. Android Marshmallow for the OnePlus One has been in testing, and is now in its final stages. A public software rollout is on the very near horizon…

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Developer preview page code suggests Android N beta might land on non-Nexus phones

Cam Bunton Apr 7 2016 - 4:19 am PT

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Traditionally, when it comes to Android developer previews, Google only makes the pre-release software available to the Nexus smartphone and tablet lineup. This year, it’s already broken with tradition by releasing the first developer preview of Android N earlier than usual, and it could throw another curve ball by making a version available to non-Nexus owners.

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Huawei P9 and P9 Plus – Hands on with the LEICA lens-equipped premium smartphones [Video]

Cam Bunton Apr 6 2016 - 5:58 pm PT

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Earlier today, we were in London to witness the launch of Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone series. The P9 and P9 Plus were shown off, and on first impressions look like they could pack a serious punch in the smartphone market.

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LG registers ‘G5 SE’ trademark, smaller device incoming or just Apple-inspired naming?

Cam Bunton Apr 5 2016 - 7:18 am PT

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As many of you will undoubtedly know, Apple recently unveiled and launched the iPhone SE. Essentially, it’s an iPhone 6s inside the iPhone 5’s body with a few exceptions. But it turns out an Android OEM may be planning an ‘SE’ version of its own phones. Trademarks filed by LG suggest the company has been planning a G5 SE since as long ago as December.

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Oppo F1 Plus, the ‘selfie expert’ is officially announced, equipped with 16MP front camera, 4GB RAM and fast fingerprint recognition

Cam Bunton Apr 5 2016 - 4:13 am PT

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Just a couple of weeks after announcing the latest R-series phones, Oppo has followed up with the new F1 Plus for African, Southeast Asian and European markets. Like most competitive Android smartphones these days, it has a flat iPhone-like all-metal rear case with rounded edges, and is practically identical to the R9 and R9 Plus revealed last month.

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BlackBerry opens Android Marshmallow beta program for PRIV owners

Cam Bunton Apr 4 2016 - 8:23 am PT

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BlackBerry has opened up a new beta testing program to give BlackBerry PRIV owners early access to the upcoming Android Marshmallow software update. This news follows the announcement from the company’s CEO last week that the 6.0 update would be rolling out in late April, or early May.

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LG: G5’s uni-body is not made from plastic, it’s primer-coated aluminum alloy

Cam Bunton Apr 4 2016 - 7:55 am PT

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Following a teardown video which seemed to show a generous layer of gray plastic on the LG G5‘s supposed all-metal uni-body build, the Korean manufacturer has hit back, stating that it’s not plastic at all. According to LG, the gray substance is just ‘primer’ used to insulate the metal and act as a base for applying the final finish.

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Android Marshmallow update for BlackBerry PRIV rolling out in late April/early May

Cam Bunton Apr 1 2016 - 6:24 am PT

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During its fourth quarter earnings call this morning, John Chen, BlackBerry’s CEO, confirmed when we can expect Android Marshmallow to land on its first Google-powered smartphone. While many other manufacturers have already rolled out Android 6.0 to their customers, it seems BlackBerry PRIV owners will need to wait at least another month.

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Jason Statham stars as literally everyone in the LG G5 launch ad [Video]

Cam Bunton Apr 1 2016 - 5:35 am PT

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While I don’t necessarily commend the liberal use of plastic on the supposed ‘all metal’ LG G5, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed its launch and marketing strategy. This year, the Korean tech giant decided to have fun at the product unveiling, and now with one of the wackiest all-action product ads we’ve ever seen.

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LG G5 teardown reveals a whole lot of plastic in the supposed ‘metal build’ [Video]

Cam Bunton Apr 1 2016 - 2:21 am PT

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LG G5 proudly unveiled its newest flagship at an event in Barcelona last month and didn’t hold back lauding its ‘metal build’. We didn’t see anything at the time to question those claims. It seems, however, that those early claims of a metal build are — at best — a twist on the truth and — at worst — deliberately misleading…

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Good Lock: Walkthrough of Samsung’s weird and wonderful Galaxy UI [Video]

Cam Bunton Mar 31 2016 - 9:10 am PT

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A couple of days back, Samsung released a new UI for its new Galaxy owners, and from first impressions I can’t tell if it’s brilliant or terrible. I decided to take it for a spin, and show you what it’s like to set up and give you a visual walkthrough. You can download Good Lock from the Galaxy App store, or download the APK directly from APKMirror.

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Deal: BLU Life One X with 5.2-inch full HD screen, octa-core processor, metal build down to $99 (Reg. $149)

Cam Bunton Mar 30 2016 - 4:15 am PT

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BLU pretty much blew us away in December when it announced pre-orders of the Life One X. At $99, it was the first ever Android phone with a full HD screen and solid metal frame to cost under $1oo. Once pre-orders ended, it was back up to its recommended retail price of $149, which is still a good deal. But, for today only, the phone has dropped back down to its pre-order price point, and is once again available in black and white for just $99 on Amazon.

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Samsung unveils all-new metal-bodied Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J5 for 2016

Cam Bunton Mar 29 2016 - 3:37 am PT

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Samsung has finally, albeit quietly, launched the new J-series handsets for 2016. The new low-end phones have improved specs on last year, and unlike previous generations, they come with a sturdy, sculpted metal chassis similar to the A-series phones. If the prices are close to those of last generation, these could be very competitive phones (at least by Samsung’s standards).

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Ceramic Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro survives scratch test against saws, files and a drill [Video]

Cam Bunton Mar 29 2016 - 2:41 am PT

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In a durability test which will send health and safety professionals in to overdrive, the ceramic-backed Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro is forced to endure scratching from a number of intense-looking hardware tools. In the video, the host, Alex Wang takes to the back surface of the latest Xiaomi flagship with a number of metallic objects. Some are more common day-to-day objects like keys, others would only come in to contact with your phone in a workshop.

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