KB-Technologies

Network Technology GSM / HSPA / LTE Launch Announced Not announced yet Status Rumored Body Dimensions - Weight - SIM Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) Display Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 5.5 inches, 78.1 cm2 Resolution 1080 x 2160 pixels, 18:9 ratio (~439 ppi density) Multitouch Yes Platform OS Android 7.1 (Nougat) Chipset Qualcomm MSM8956 Plus Snapdragon 660 Memory Card slot microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) Internal 16/32 GB, 3 GB RAM or 64 GB, 4 GB RAM Camera Primary Dual 16 MP + 5 MP, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR Video 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps Secondary 5 MP, f/2.0, 1080p Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes - 24-bit/192kHz audio - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic Comms WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONAS

Network Technology GSM / HSPA / LTE Launch Announced 2017, October Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2017, October Body Dimensions 155.7 x 75.4 x 8.1 mm (6.13 x 2.97 x 0.32 in) Weight - SIM Yes - IP67 certified - dust and water resistant - Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes Display Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 5.5 inches, 83.4 cm2 (~71.0% screen-to-body ratio) Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~401 ppi density) Multitouch Yes Platform OS Android 7.1 (Nougat) Chipset Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 CPU Octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 GPU Adreno 506 Memory Card slot microSD, up to 256 GB Internal 32 GB, 4 GB RAM Camera Primary 12 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama Video 1080p@30fps Secondary 8 MP Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic Co

Samsung is developing an “environmental sensor”, according to the Patent Office of South Korea. Looking at the graphics in the document, the sensor most likely will detect the amount of particles along with the change of resistance and will provide data about the air quality. It will be built into smartphones, tablets and smart watches. Patent application graphics The environmental sensor will be built into the display without taking actual screen space. There is no information if such project will ever be made for mass production. After all, the patent application is still just a bunch of documents, explaining how a technology works in theory and also giving the right to the owner to develop it. Source | Via (in Dutch)

It has been four weeks since Samsung launched the Galaxy Note8 and the flagship is rising quickly through the charts. According to stats by ad network AppBrain , the price did not scare off consumers and the phone already accounts for 1% of Androids in several key markets. In its home country of South Korea, the Note8 has a 1.7% market share and ranks the 17th most popular phone. In Australia and the United States, the phone boasts 1% share in less than a month of sales. Note that sales in Australia started a week later than the rest of the world, For comparison, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ combined have 5% to 6% share after six months on the market. Adoption in Europe has been slower, there the Galaxy Note8 still hovers under 1% market share, despite launching simultaneously with the US and Korea. And Europe has been starved of Notes for longer than those regions, since the S6 edge+ took the place of the Note5. Adoption in Canada is similarly slow. Galaxy Note8 m

Dutch retailer Belsimpel has leaked the price of the Huawei Mate 10 Lite as well as its European release date. The phone will come in three weeks at a price of €349. For that you get a quartet of cameras (16MP+2MP at the back and 13MP+2MP at the front) as well as an 18:9 screen on the front and a dual camera and fingerprint reader on the back. Initially the Huawei Mate 10 Lite will be available in the in Black and Gold and later on they will be joined by Blue. Thanks for the tip, Cassius! Source

Samsung brought back the Galaxy Note7 in the form of the Galaxy Note FE and started selling it in limited quantity in its home country of South Korea. And until recently there wasn't much information in the way of a release outside of Korea but it seems there's still more to the Galaxy Note FE's story. According to a list of supported devices for Malaysian carrier Yes the Galaxy Note FE may start selling in the country soon. Yes also carries the new Galaxy Note8 and could position the Galaxy Note FE as a cheaper alternative with an S Pen. The Samsung Galaxy Note FE is sold in South Korea for 699,600 KRW or around €520 so Malaysian buyers could expect a similar price. Source | Via

Telegram has updated its iOS and Android app with a handful of new features. For starters, users can now share their location in real time with a group. While sharing your location, you will now be asked to share your location live for fifteen minutes, one hour or eight hours. This can come handy while coordinating your position with a group and not having to manually post your location every few minutes. Group members will be able to see your current location on a map at all times. The other change is to the media player. Telegram now has a proper music player interface built-in for all the audio files people send. You can tap on a track to play it, then tap on the bar that pops up above to see the player UI. It even shows other tracks sent in the conversation within the tracklist. You can have the audio playing in the background even if you quit the app. There are also new languages that have been added, including French, Indonesian, Malay, Russian and Ukra

The Nokia 3310 3G, which debuted late last month, is now available to pre-order in Europe. Germany is the first country to kick-off pre-orders. Retailer Digitalo lists the handset at €69.90, which currently translates to $82. Shipments are set to begin November 30 onwards. The device will also be officially available in the United States and Australia, something which the company confirmed on the day the phone was unveiled. Source | Via

Samsung’s ISOCELL camera sensor brand has two new additions – one in the Fast and one in the Slim categories. The first one is a smaller version of Samsung’s 12MP Dual Pixel sensor, that will eliminate the camera bump even on thin phones. The second one is similarly small and uses pixel binning to compensate for its small pixels. ISOCELL Fast 2L9 (12MP, 1.28µm) • ISOCELL Fast 2X7 (24MP, 0.9µm) The ISOCELL Fast 2L9 is a 12MP sensor with 1.28µm pixels (down from 1.4µm pixels on the S8 camera). It uses Dual Pixels – two photo diodes in each pixels – for the trademark fast, highly accurate autofocus. Samsung says it enables pleasing bokehs with just a single camera too. The ISOCELL Slim 2X7 is a 24MP sensor and it is the first to use pixels smaller than 1µm – 0.9µm to be precise. In the dark, it will combine four neighboring pixels to increase light sensitivity (Samsung calls this Tetracell). The Deep Trench Isolation of ISOCELL sensor promises improved dynamic ran

Huawei just introduced Honor 7X, meaning its sub-brand has officially entered the world of 18:9 screens (we’re not counting this one, which is sold under four different names). The LCD measures 5.93” - about as wide as the 5.5” screen of the Honor 6X, but taller. It has 1,080 x 2,160px resolution (407ppi) and it sits below a 2.5D glass. The fingerprint reader on the 6X was already on the back, so no change here. The camera has been updated, however. We’re now looking at a 16MP main camera with a 2MP secondary one along with an 8MP camera on the front. The Honor 7X is powered by a Kirin 659 chipset – eight Cortex-A53 cores grouped in two clusters along with Mali-T830 MP2 graphics. The RAM is fixed at 4GB, but the storage ranges from 32GB to 128GB and there’s room for a microSD card on the hybrid dual SIM slot. The phone will launch with Android 7.0 Nougat + EMUI 5.1. It has a 3,340mAh battery and a microUSB port (sigh). The phone’s metal body measures 7.6mm t

YouTube is testing a new auto-play feature for videos. Not to be confused with an existing similar feature (that allows the mobile app to automatically play the next video after the current one ends), this new functionality is for the videos that appear in the Home feed. Videos play without sound and instead you see subtitles, giving you an idea on what's going on in the video. While you can see a complete video this way, the playback will stop as soon as you scroll up or down, resulting in the current video (that's now visible on screen) being auto-played. The feature - which has only been spotted on YouTube's Android app so far - is dubbed 'Play as you browse,' and it can be disabled by heading to Account -> Settings -> General. You can also set it to be enabled only when your device is connected to Wi-Fi. There's currently no information on when this functionality will be rolled out more widely, but that probably depends on

Meizu has confirmed that the successor to its MX6 smartphone won't be arriving this year. There have been rumors that the MX7 will debut in 2017, but the a top Meizu executive has thrown cold water on them by confirming 2018 unveiling for the device. The company’s Senior Vice President Yang Zhe took it to Weibo to reveal that the MX7 will be made official in spring of 2018. Interestingly, the post also included an image of the Meizu Pro 7, presumably to emphasize that it's the current 'latest and greatest' flagship from the Chinese company. Coming back to the MX7, the device is rumored to be powered by the Helio P30 chipset and sport a 5.7-inch Quad HD display. It's said to feature a 21MP main camera and a 5MP front shooter. There's no word on pricing yet. Source | Via

Looks like HTC is working on a new Virtual Reality headset. The Taiwanese company has registered a trademark in New Zealand for a product called Vive Eclipse. What forms the basis of Vive Eclipse being called a VR headset is the description included with the trademark application, part of which says the product is a "head-mounted display for computer simulated reality." Nothing much is currently known about the Vive Eclipse, but hopefully we'll learn more about it in the following weeks. Via

Recently, Sprint started pushing out a new update to LG G6 units on its network. Weighing in at around 775MB and arriving as software version LS993ZV8, the update enables the Calling PLUS functionality on the device. In case you aren't aware, the Calling PLUS feature allows you to use WiFi calling and VoLTE in conjunction - while the former was already there on the G6, the latter is new. In addition, the update also brings along something called Wholesale VoWiFi , as well as latest Android security fixes (should be for the month of October). It's been a week since the roll out began, so some of you might have already received the update. For those who're yet to get it, be patient, as it won't be long before you see the notification on your device. Source 1 2 | Via

This year the moniker “bezel-less” is in every sales and marketing department of a smartphone company. While many companies like Samsung, Apple or even Vivo go for their first device with minimal bezels, Xiaomi has already launched the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2. There are a lot of improvements over the first iteration of Mi Mix. Xiaomi implemented a smaller 6-inch screen (technically, 5.99”). The display also has 18:9 ratio, making it look a little bit taller than the first Mi Mix's screen. We lined the two phones next to each other, and the new phablet is visibly smaller. It also feels better in hand because of the more rounded corners. The Mi Mix 2 has a ceramic body that makes the device way more slippery than usual. The camera is now protruded and has a golden rim. It might look stylish, but after several hours staying in the pocket, the bump already got a ring of dust around it. The camera itself is pretty good, and while the back is a fingerprint magnet,

Last we heard, the Motorola Moto Z2 Force was going for $500 in the US. While that deal is still on, you can now get the device at an even lower price. Best Buy is offering the Verizon variant for around $450. Specifically, the 64GB model in both black and gold color options is being sold for $19 a month, which translates into $456 over a period of 24 months. If you compare, that's a price cut of $300 given that the variants on offer usually carry a price tag of $756 ($31.50 for 24 months). Aside from the discount, the deal also includes free Insta-Share Projector mod, which carries a price tag of $299.99 at Best Buy. In addition to Verizon variants, Best Buy is also offering discounts on Sprint and AT&T models of the Moto Z2 force, but there you can only save up to $200. For more information, including when the free projector promo ends, head to the Source links below. Source 1 2 3 | Via

Google announced a bunch of new hardware at its #MadeByGoogle event last week. One particular product, the Google Home Mini , has been incidentally recording at random occasions due to an incorrectly calibrated touch sensor that sits atop the device. Like any other smart assistant, the Google Home Mini is always listening for the “Hey/Okay, Google” hotword before offering a solution. Here’s the kicker: the Google Home Mini has three touch-sensitive areas on it. Two on either side of the Assistant lights to raise and lower the volume, and another one right in the center of its dome shape, in the same spot as the lights that turn on when the Assistant is listening. This touch sensor was malfunctioning for some of the first units (those that were handed out to the press at the event), triggering the Google Home Mini to listen for a command at times when there was no command to hear. Android Police writer Artem Russakovskii was surprised to discover that the new Googl

Chris D Moore has released a comprehensive post that details his own discoveries. First of all, this was all demonstrated with Moore’s OnePlus 2. So we don’t currently know if the same thing is occurring in the more current OnePlus 3T or OnePlus 5 models. I’m sure we’ll find out soon. (Update: the statement below pretty much affirms that all OnePlus models are collecting usage data) Moore first discovered this when he set up a security tool on his OnePlus 2, but to his surprise, the tool found traffic requests to open.oneplus.net , which directed traffic to a US-based Amazon AWS server. Anyway, without getting too in depth, Moore found out more of what was being sent to this domain: IMEI number, MAC addresses, mobile network names, Wi-Fi SSIDs, and the phone’s serial number. He even discovered that time stamps were signaling when apps were opened and closed - stamped with the serial number of his device. This is eerily too much information to be collecting, parti