Articles about Smartphone

There aren't many smartphone makers that develop their own mobile processors, which means that Xiaomi is now part of a very select club. The Chinese company just unveiled the Surge S1, which powers its new Mi 5c Android smartphone.

The Mi 5c is the successor to the Mi 4c, which is one of my favorite affordable Android smartphones, and it comes at an affordable price (about $220) and with some pretty attractive specs.

Continue reading →

A Google report, five years in the making and with information from 625,000 people, shows just how much the Internet and smartphones changed our lives in half a decade.

According to the report, five years ago, one in three consumers in 40 markets had access to a smartphone. Fast forward to 2016, the number has gone up to a "staggering" 70 percent.

Continue reading →

Not content with showering us with tablets in the form of the Galaxy Book and the Galaxy Tab S3, Samsung also used yesterday's announcements at MWC 2017 to tease us about the keenly awaited Galaxy S8 smartphone.

At the event in Barcelona we were treated to teaser video which questions whether we know what a smartphone looks like. While we don’t get to see the Galaxy S8 (or, indeed, the Galaxy S8+) in the video, we do learn that the phone will be unveiled on 29 March, and the stark graphics hint at elements of the design -- which we largely know about from leaks already.

Continue reading →

Sony today unveiled a new flagship Android smartphone that might just put the company back on consumers' radar. It's called the Xperia XZ Premium and it has all the right features that we expect high-end Android devices to offer in this first part of the year in terms of hardware and software.

Sony has put some effort into making the Xperia XZ Premium stand out in today's high-end smartphone market. So it has a 4K display, the latest processor from Qualcomm, a camera that's ideal for slow-motion video, a premium water-resistant build, USB Type-C, lots of storage space, and a large battery.

Continue reading →

No, you have not just stepped back in time 20 years; the Nokia 3310 is back. The phone that was more likely to break the sidewalk when dropped rather than suffer a crack itself has today been relaunched by HMD Global, who has a license for the Nokia brand.

While not an exact replica of the phone that was first seen back in the year 2000 (a phone could not get away with being quite so chunky these days!), it's a modern take on a classic device, and it's sure to win over many people. Snake is present for whiling away a little time, but what else does the Nokia 3310 have to offer?

Continue reading →

Today at MWC 2017, Huawei lifted the lid on its new P10 range. As with their predecessors, the Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus have a strong focus on photography, with the Leica brand being used as a draw.

As is the norm these days, there are no huge surprises to be found here, with the latest flagships being really little more than an evolution of last year's models -- not that that's a bad thing of course. In addition to the cameras, standout features for this year's handsets include a serious boost to battery life, and a front-mounted (hooray!) fingerprint sensor, complete with gesture support.

Continue reading →

If you like the idea of Google Assistant but didn’t like the fact that it was tied to the Pixel range, there's some good news. Google has announced that the handy helper is making its way to all Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 7.0 Nougat smartphones.

The roll out starts this week, and brings Siri- and Cortana-like voice control to millions of Android users. Earlier today at MWC 2017 in Barcelona, the newly-announced LG G6 became the first non-Pixel device to offer Google Assistant, and Google now says that the feature is coming to "eligible Android phones running Nougat and Marshmallow with Google Play Services".

Continue reading →

If there is anything to be garnered from LG's unveiling of the G6 at MWC 2017 today, it is that the company learned a lot from last year's G5. While the G5 was a modular affair, the LG G6 gets back to basics and concentrates on being a decent flagship handset with a few interesting quirks.

In terms of specs, the G6 may not blow you away, but it still succeeds in standing out from the crowd, thanks in part to its display. The 5.7-inch screen has an aspect ratio of 18:9 (a resolution of 2880 x 1440), and the tall device is IP68 rated for waterproofing. But what else does the LG G6 have to offer?

Continue reading →

Mobile World Congress 2017 may not technically kick off until tomorrow, but lots of companies like to jump the gun so they can be the first to get their announcements out. In this group is Samsung, and later today the company is holding a press conference in Barcelona at which it will unveil the latest addition to the Galaxy range.

Of course, there has not been official word that it's the Samsung Galaxy S8 that will be announced, but there have been enough hints, rumors and leaks for this to be considered likely (even if Samsung has said the actual launch will come after MWC). If the rumors are to be believed, we may also see a Samsung Galaxy S8+, and the specs sound pretty special, and may be enough to help the company rebuild faith after the Note7 debacle. So, are we in line for the Galaxy S8, and/or an addition to the Galaxy Tab range?

Continue reading →

There is a strange side-effect to the Bring Your Own Device initiative, and one that's slowing it down. Apparently, many employees refrain from bringing their own devices to work for the fear of being judged.

No, not because their devices are old or slow, but because others will think they're using them for personal instead of professional reasons.

Continue reading →

If you want to secure your Galaxy smartphone, the first thing that you should do is set up a screen lock. But what if you want to go a bit further, and protect specific things on the device? Well, Samsung just released Secure Folder, which gives you a "private, encrypted space" to store sensitive data in.

Secure Folder is derived from Knox, the company's secure platform for business users, and can be seen as a consumer-focused iteration. It acts as a sandbox for apps and data and works with existing authentication options to keep them safe.

Continue reading →

Just last week we were talking about Google's championing of RCS (Rich Communication Services), the successor to SMS. Now the company has renamed its Messenger app to Android Messages as it aims to become not just the default SMS app, but the default RCS app for Android users.

The name change also helps to better differentiate the app from others that had the same name -- such as Facebook Messenger, which is shortened to just Messenger on shortcuts. At the same time, the change is likely to cause a degree of confusion thanks to the sheer number of messaging apps Google now has.

Continue reading →

Samsung started manufacturing new mobile processors using the 10nm FinFET technology last year, but it is not only until today that we learn about its first product to take advantage of it. It's called Exynos 9 Series 8895, and it is the high-end chip likely to power its upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S8.

Being a flagship mobile processor, the Exynos 9 Series 8895 has all the bells and whistles and the performance credentials to match its status. The boost in performance can be attributed to the transition to the 10nm FinFET manufacturing technology, which made way for a 27 percent improvement in terms of performance and a 40 percent decrease in power consumption, compared to the 14nm FinFET process.

Continue reading →

Google's Gboard keyboard made its debut on iOS, and it was a few months before the company brought the app to its own Android platform. Today a major update to the iPhone version of the keyboard sees the arrival of voice typing, meaning that users will be able to dictate messages rather than typing by hand.

In addition, the update introduces new emoji, support for additional languages, as well as easy access to Google Doodles and information about them.

Continue reading →

Android or iOS? Or both? It’s a question anyone who’s been involved in building a mobile app will have asked. Android is still the major player in the development world, due to the simple fact of the size of the market, but it’s foolish to write anything that’s grown from Apple off.

As with just about every trend in technology, it appears that flexibility and fluidity is the choice route. Here are five things developers will need to consider to stay relevant in 2017 and beyond.

Continue reading →