Xiaomi Mi 7 specs leak, to come with 8GB RAM

Xiaomi said back in December that the Mi 7 will arrive at MWC 2018 with a Snapdragon 845, but according to some rumors, the company is postponing the announcement and bringing the Mi Mix 2s instead.

Still, a leaked screenshot of the Mi 7, said to debut in April, suggests 8 GB RAM and 4,480 mAh battery, a massive upgrade over the Mi 6’s 4/6 GB RAM and 3,350 mAh power cell.

Other specs reveal the already known Snapdragon 845, a dual camera setup (16 MP + 16 MP) and 5.6” tall screen with FullHD+ resolution. The storage is listed as 128 GB.

The screenshot says that the user interface version is MIUI 8.1.30x, which means the build is from January 30, 2018, not an old UI version. The company already updated 40 devices, including some 5-year old Mi phonesto MIUI 9, so it’s impossible the Mi 7 will run anything but that.

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Android Messages might bring iMessage-like features and web interface soon

Based on the information uncovered in an APK Teardown of the latest (v2.9) Android Messages app performed by Android Police chances are that Google is getting ready to launch a few significant new features for Android owners that Apple users have had for a while: A desktop interface for its official SMS/Messaging app and enhanced SMS/RCS features.

Starting the with the web interface there are strings of evidence that support the idea that Android Messages will be able to pair to a web browser so you can carry your SMS conversations from your computer. Phrases like “Messages for Web”, “Scan your QR code”, and “Sign out of all computers” send a pretty clear message that the pairing process would be similar to Allo’s.

Google has been working for a couple years to bring RCS to carriers all over the world. It recently enabled RCS for a few carriers in South America by letting the service run on Google’s cloud services. Strings that support this idea are “New! Text over Wi-Fi and data”, “Chat features are powered by Google”, and “No, use SMS only”.

It could be that Google is almost finished creating its own cloud-solution for enhanced messaging that can work independently of a local carrier and is compatible with those that have implemented RCS themselves. Perhaps the feature will be ready to announce at Google I/O. This is purely speculative but entirely plausible based on the strings found.

The final feature, and one that we don’t really have much information about, is payments to businesses. According to the strings found, Android Messages may be able to support payments to online retailers or local stores and businesses. Strings like “Buy with Google”, “Payments Summary”, and “Checkout” strongly support this.

Google recently introduced the ability to send money to your friends powered by Google Wallet, right from an SMS conversation window.

As to how the payments would work in practice isn’t entirely clear. A wild guess is that businesses would be able to send invoices or payment requests to customers by only using their phone number, thus making secure payments a bit easier without needing to remember another password. A message sent to your number would contain a payment token to make a payment for that particular transaction using a payment method already on your Android Pay wallet.

Google’s annual I/O conference is when the company announces all new features, services, and products that support and add to Google and Android (even iOS) ecosystems. The conference will take place May 8-10 in Google’s hometown of Mountain View, CA.

Check out the source link for the full, more technical APK teardown.

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Huawei P20 Lite now leaks in live images

Huawei is announcing its flagship P20 (or P11, the naming isn’t 100% known at the moment) on March 27 at a special event in Paris. While the P20 and P20 Plus / Pro are expected to come with three rear cameras, the entry-level model in the line, the P20 Lite, will stick with two. We’ve seen this phone get certified by the FCC yesterday, and a few hours ago some 360-degree renders of it were outed based on CAD schematics.

To add to that barrage of P20 Lite leaks, we now have some live images to show you. They show the iPhone X-inspired vertical arrangement for the dual rear cameras and their hump, as well as the notch at the top of the screen, which is smaller than in Apple’s most expensive phone.

  
Huawei P20 Lite live images

The P20 Lite will have a screen approximately 5.8″ in size with 18:9 aspect ratio, according to a person who has seen it (and who is the source of the pictures). That contradicts the FCC’s measurements which mentioned a 2,280×1,080 resolution and 6.1″ size, with 19:9 aspect ratio. It may just be that the aforementioned person assumed he or she was looking at an 18:9 screen, since those are very popular with Chinese smartphone makers. To complicate things even further, those 3D renders from earlier today talked about a 5.7″ display.

 
Huawei P20 Lite bottom and right side

Moving on, its dimensions will be approximately 148 x 71 x 7.2 mm. Its construction should be of the metal and glass sandwich variety, with a pale pink like color depicted here and a black version expected too. There’s a USB Type-C port on the bottom, where a 3.5mm headset jack also lives. Unfortunately that may not be a feature of the higher-end P20 models.

The Huawei P20 Lite should have a 2,900 mAh battery as per the FCC, and as you can see its fingerprint sensor is on the back. It’s likely to run Android Oreo from day one, underneath Huawei’s EMUI 8.0. At the helm we’ll either see the flagship Kirin 970 SoC, or an updated version of the Kirin 659.

Source (in Spanish) | Via

Xiaomi, Sony and 16 more OEMs to deliver 5G smartphones in 2019

Qualcomm has hit the gas pedal on the 5G connectivity with its latest announcements. The company will provide Snapdragon X50 modems that support the new standard to 18 OEMs, including smartphone manufacturers Asus, Fujitsu, HMD Global, HTC, LG, Oppo, Sharp, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.

The manufacturers are planning to commercialize 5G mobile devices by 2019. While Samsung struck a separate extended partnership last week, the one big company that is missing from the list is Apple.

In a separate press release, the San Diego company also said that carriers such as AT&T, China Mobile, Orange, SK Telecom, Verizon, and Vodafone would conduct trials for the 5G NR standard to optimize their networks.

To demonstrate its progress on the matter, Qualcomm will have a planned demonstration at MWC 2018 where the Snapdragon X50 5G modem will achieve download speeds of “several gigabits per second”.

Live trials of the 5G NR standard with leading operators should begin late 2018 so manufacturers could announce their ultra-fast smartphones and headsets next year. According to Qualcomm, 5G could bring enhanced mobile broadband to Always Connected PCs, VR and AR headsets.

Source 1 • Source 2

Nokia 8 and Nokia 3 get February security update

HMD has started pushing out a new updates to its Nokia 8 and Nokia 3 smartphones. Weighing in at around 87MB and 80MB, respectively, these are security updates that bring along Android fixes for the month of February.

It’s worth highlighting this latest patch includes fix for a critical security vulnerability present in Media framework. A remote attacker could exploit the vulnerability to execute arbitrary code using a specially crafted file.

While the Nokia 8 update is currently rolling out to units running Android 8.0 Oreo stable in India and Jordan, the Nokia 3 update is only hitting units in India at the moment.

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Samsung Galaxy S9+ in Coral Blue swims to the surface

According to @evleaks, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will come in four colors: Midnight Black, Lilac Purple, Titanium Gray and Coral Blue. Yesterday we saw the duo in purple, today comes the blue version of the S9+.

We think we have the complete set. Renders by dbrand do a good job of portraying the black S9 duo. Then there are these renders (with a transparent case) that show off the gray one (courtesy of MyTrendyPhone.no). And for completeness sake, the purple color from yesterday.

     
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ in Midnight Black, Titanium Gray and Lilac Purple

Of course, Samsung would eventually end up launching a pink version some months from now, perhaps a red one too along with other colors.

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Huawei P20 Lite with a notched 19:9 screen goes through the FCC

Screen notches – not just for expensive flagships anymore. FCC certified (and described in good detail) what could be the Huawei P20 Lite (model name ANE-LX1). It will have an extra tall 19:9 screen, including the notch.

The screen has a resolution of 2,280 x 1,080px and (if we’re reading the schematic right) the diagonal should be around 6.1”. The phone itself will measure 148 x 70mm.

On the back of the phone is a dual camera (vertically oriented). Of course, the FCC doesn’t list the camera resolution. A fingerprint reader is not included in the schematic.

Additional info about the P20 Lite revealed by the FCC includes the battery capacity and charging capabilities – 2,900mAh Li-ion battery and 9V @ 2A adapter.

This isn’t part of the group of three Huawei phones that went through TENAA, it’s a new device. So, while the big P20 isn’t coming to the MWC, perhaps the P20 Lite is?

Source | Via (in Dutch)

Get $200 off a Pixel 2 XL for Verizon from Best Buy

There’s a new deal for those looking to get a new Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL. If you’re looking at Verizon, you should head over to Best Buy to take advantage of the following deal.

Save $200 when you purchase a Google Pixel 2 XL on Best Buy’s website with a monthly installment plan on Verizon. You can also save $100 if you purchase the smaller Pixel 2.

The 64GB Pixel 2 normally goes for $27.08 per month. With the $100 off, the payment goes down to $22.91. Meanwhile, the Pixel 2 XL with 64GB of storage normally goes for $35.41 per month, down to $27.07 per month after the discount.

The discount applies to either storage configuration of the Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL. Just so you know, this deal is only valid at Best Buy in-store or online when you purchase and activate a Pixel 2 on Verizon with an installment plan to pay it off, you won’t be able to buy it in full.

Offers like these are normally for a limited time and the deal can be called off at the retailer’s discretion. Even with the first Google Pixel (XL) last year, Verizon always offered discounts throughout the year. Chances are if you miss this deal, there will likely be a new one rolling around soon enough.

Source | Via

Apple sets record for most wearables sold in a single quarter

Apple has shipped a record 18 million smartwatches in 2017 and almost half of those came in Q4 – 8 million. Coincidentally, that’s also a record for most shipped smart wearables for a single quarter, by any maker.

Out of the total 18 million shipped Apple Watches, close to 9 million were the latest Series 3. According to Canalys data the LTE-powered Apple Watch Series 3 is the fastest-selling LTE wearable on the market, totaling 1.6 million units shipped.

Apple’s Q4 numbers were a solid 32% higher year over year than Q4 of 2016 while 2017 as a whole saw 54% more shipped Apple Watches than 2016.

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Three new Huawei phones pass through TENAA

A total of three new Huawei phones were unearthed by the Chinese TENAA. All of them look to have 18:9 screens and metal backs with dual cameras.

The first two are the FLA-AL00 and FLA-TL10, which could turn out to be the Nova 3 and Nova 3 Plus, successors to the Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus.

Both have a dual camera on the back as well as a dual camera on the front.

At first glance there doesn’t seem to be a visual difference between the two models, although logic points to different screen sizes, at least.

Next up is the serial number LDN-TL00, which could prove to be either a Huawei T3 or Y5 (2018). It too packs a dual camera on the back but seems to have a single selfie snapper on the front.

It also looks quite similar to the mysterious Honor device that made an appearance on the same site yesterday.

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