We’re much closer to the launch of Google Pixel 3a and the Pixel 3a XL than ever. After a year of speculation , a galore of insightful leaks , and hints from Google itself, the two lite versions of Pixel 3 /3XL could finally be revealed at the Google I/O conference, next week. Ahead of the suspected launch, Indian e-commerce platform, Flipkart, has started teasing the arrival of “Something Big” into the Pixel universe and we have all too many reasons to expect that this teaser could be referring to the Google Pixel 3a series. The choice of words in the latest teaser coincides with Google’s previous promo on Google Store which suggested that a “new hero” may be coming on May 7, which is when Google I/O begins. The storefront in India suggests May 8 as the arrival date, which is most likely due to more than 12 hours of the time difference between PDT and IST. We can expect that just like the Pixel 3/3XL, the Pixel 3a series should be exclusive to Flipkart in India. Two of the foremo...

Following the Huawei P30 Pro's overwhelming response to its launch in India, Huawei is announcing a new VIP-level service for these customers across India. These VIP perks will also be available to customers of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. Huawei P30 Pro and Huawei Mate 20 Pro Those with either device can take advantage of priority service whether they contact a service center or a Huawei repair location. There is even a dedicated toll-free number for VIP customers to reach the Huawei Contact Center. Those who require service will also be offered free pick and drop service across...

For Swiss carrier Sunrise, 5G is quickly becoming a reality. On Tuesday, Sunrise announces that it will begin offering three 5G smartphones from three different Chinese phone makers starting this week. Sales of the Oppo Reno 5G will start tomorrow, May 1 while the Mate 20 X 5G and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G will both go on sale starting Thursday May 2. Oppo recently announced the Reno 10X zoom and Reno this month in Zurich as part of the Swisscom partnership. Sunrise is the first operator to launch the 5G variant which comes with 256GB of on-board storage, the 10X zoom camera, and 8GB of RAM....

OEMs have been rolling out Android Pie updates for their devices, and the pace has naturally picked up over the last few months. With the release of a new Android version, OEMs also have to release kernel sources for the corresponding update, delivering updated files to users interested in taking a look. Now, kernel sources for the Android Pie updates for the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro, Motorola Moto G6 Play, and Motorola Moto Z3 Play have become available. Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro The Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro (sakura) had received a closed Android Pie beta , and a stable release of MIUI 10 with Android Pie was pushed out in the form of MIUI V10.3.1.0.PDICNXM update for the Chinese region a few days ago. While the rest of the world still waits for a stable Pie release (to the best of our knowledge), Xiaomi has released the kernel sources for the Pie update for the Redmi 6 Pro. Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro Kernel Source Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro XDA Forum Moto Z3 Play The Moto Z3 Play’s Android Pie update went li...

Garmin makes some of the best smartwatches for runners and today the company announced its updated Forerunner range is growing with five new models. Ranging from the entry-level Forerunner 45/45S through the mid-range 245/245 Music and top of the line Forerunner 945, Garmin believes it has a smartwatch for every type of runner. The Forerunner 45 and 45S are targeted for novice runners who don't necessarily need the most advanced tracking tech. The only difference between the two models is the watch size with the regular Forerunner 45 coming in a 42mm casing while the 45S is only...

OnePlus has really cranked up the volume on its teaser campaign for the 7 Pro. The latest promo for the upcoming phone is a three-part camera teaser of a bird on a seaside log. The three samples have naturally been stripped of their EXIF data but they are nonetheless quite clear. We're likely looking at an ultra-wide, regular and telephoto lenses here. We won't get into a technical discussion about the quality - that's what full-res samples and reviews are for. We only hope that the OnePlus 7 won't be a lackluster sidekick overshadowed by the 7 Pro. Get closer to the...

During the second half of the 2019 MLB season, YouTube and YouTube TV will exclusively broadcast 13 games for free in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The games and schedule haven’t been announced yet, but YouTube is going all out here. The deal was announced today, with YouTube sharing plans for pre-game and post-game shows as a part of the live broadcasts. The games will be viewable on the MLB YouTube channel, as well as a dedicated channel on YouTube TV. In other words, YouTube isn’t just re-broadcasting games from MLB.TV, they are running baseball games that have been enhanced for YouTube with the help of MLB’s broadcast team. This news arrives only months after YouTube TV announced a couple of partnerships with MLS teams in LA and Seattle . YouTube TV also has all of the Turner networks now, including NBA TV. While price hikes are never fun, YouTube and YouTube TV are becoming great options for sports viewing. // TechCrunch

Counterpoint Research released its analysis of the best-selling smartphones in the world and specifically in China. The winner of 2018 is the iPhone X, followed by three more Apple smartphones, with the Xiaomi Redmi 5A wrapping up the Top 5 . In China, the results are quite different - the best-seller is the Oppo R15, iPhone X is second, but Oppo has two more phones in the Top 4 - the mid-range Oppo A5 and the ultra-affordable Oppo A83. The Counterpoint report appeared on the Weibo account of the company without detailed info. We only know the Top three iPhones totaled nearly...

Amazon’s current deal of the day is a good one if you were considering a Samsung Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+ . For the next few hours, you can grab the US unlocked Galaxy S9 or S9+ and get a free 512GB microSD card, as well as a free Samsung fast wireless charging stand. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ ( review ) start at $499.99 and $599.99, respectively, which is already well below what they retailed for last year. With this bundle added on, you are basically getting $180 in freebies too. Not bad, right? The unlocked S9 units work on all major US carriers, for those who don’t know. They also get plenty of software updates, just not necessarily as quickly as the carrier models do . They are mostly bloatware-free, though, and come without any of the carrier baggage you might find from a Verizon or AT&T model. Amazon Deal Link

LG Electronics published its financial report for Q1 2019 and the mobile division numbers make for a grim reading. Revenue keeps falling with only KRW1.51 trillion ($1.34 billion) generated between January and March. This is 30% less on an yearly basis and 11% quarter over quarter. According to the official press release, the LG Mobile Communications Company managed to narrow its operational loss to KRW203.5 billion ($181 million) while in a process of rebuilding its smartphone business. Expectations are the launch of LG V50 ThinQ 5G will create a positive momentum in the second...

While there are often trade-in offers and venues where you can sell your old phone when you’re ready to upgrade, the notoriously rapid depreciation of smartphones might make it a better idea to simply keep your old handset. This is especially so when you can give it new life as a media player, digital picture frame or, in my case, a dash cam. There are several pros and cons to repurposing an old phone into a dash cam as opposed to getting a dedicated dash cam. On the plus side, you’ll save some money, anywhere from $25 – $200 , depending on the quality of the dash cam. Also, most dedicated dash cams have small viewfinder displays and tiny controls (the latter can be difficult, even dangerous to operate while you’re on the road). Furthermore, smartphone cameras have improved markedly in recent years, meaning you can record videos and take still shots at higher resolutions than what many dash cam devices offer. Finally, you often have to buy a separate SD card to store the videos and ph...

Alongside its big Messenger announcements today at F8, Facebook showed off its new Facebook desktop and app experiences. They are calling it a “fresh” design that is “simpler, faster, more immersive and puts your communities at the center.” It’s super white too, with blue highlights rather than the blue header you’ve known for years. You’ll notice the changes right away when looking at the images here. The top tabs now offer Home, Watch, Groups, and Notifications shortcuts. The new post action is no longer a separate page either and is instead sort-of a pop-up that doesn’t take you fully away from the main Facebook home. But the big focus is in Groups. Facebook really wants you to care about Groups. They are making it easier for you to discover groups, participate in groups, and all sorts of specific features depending on the type of group. The new UI for all of that can be seen below. In addition to those changes, Facebook Dating is expanding to more countries (hit the link bel...

From Netflix to Adobe and Pinterest, millions of companies rely on the cloud to store data and deliver services. For obvious reasons, anyone with expertise in this area has a huge advantage in the job market. If you would like to boost your résumé, the AWS Solutions Architect Certification Bundle is a great place to start, with 32 hours of video tutorials working toward official Amazon exams. You can get the bundle now for $49 at the XDA Developers Depot. Cloud computing is hot right now. As Internet connections get faster, it makes sense to host apps and data remotely. One of the most popular platforms is Amazon Web Services, or AWS. This bundle helps you become a certified AWS Solutions Architect, with no previous experience required. Through concise video tutorials, you learn how to set up AWS environments that are secure and scalable. The training also looks at deploying apps with Docker, cloud storage, databases in AWS, and much more besides. The tutorials are delivered by ...

Facebook apps may not be the most popular in terms of likability, but they are used by millions of people every day. The company’s Android apps have been criticized for being poorly optimized and bloated in the past. Thankfully, Facebook Messenger recently received a big update and the company isn’t done yet. During Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference, the company has announced a number of updates for the Facebook app, Messenger, WhatsApp , Instagram, and AR/VR experiences. Facebook The Facebook app will be getting a new design referred to as “FB5.”They claim it will be “simpler, faster, more immersive, and puts your communities at the center.” The new design is supposed to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Groups will see a bigger focus in this new design. There will be a redesigned Groups tab that shows activity across all of your groups in a feed. They will also open up new features to more types of groups. Facebook is making a bigger push into becoming a d...

Facebook’s big F8 conference is going down this week, so that means they’ve announced a bunch of updates to their line-up of products. First up, we’ve got news on Facebook Messenger , which is getting some major changes. Later this year, Messenger 5 will rollout with a faster and lighter app, a way for you to watch videos together with friends and family, a dedicated space for you and your closest friends to find each other’s content, and more. Facebook says that they were able to trim down the new Facebook Messenger to just 30MB. The old FB Messenger was around 100MB in size, so that’s a significant improvement. It has been built “from the ground up on an entirely new code base” too, which should lead to a super fast experience. For the dedicated friend/family space, Facebook is going to help you “easily find content from the friends and family you message most.” You can see how that will look below, but Facebook says they are only in early stages of development. You may not see t...

Samsung's Galaxy Fit trackers are aimed at users who don't need the full smartwatch experience but still want the basic convenience of tracking their workouts and heart rate. Last week we saw the Galaxy Fit-e on Samsung Albania's site and today we get more details as well as pricing on both the Gear Fit and Gear Fit-e. The Gear Fit-e will come with a 0.74-inch monochrome PMOLED display. It will run on the Cortex M0 processor with just 128KB of RAM and 4MB of storage. The fitness tracker only supports incoming notifications without the option to respond. The Gear Fit-e features...

After being taunted by the Realme CEO, Xiaomi announced couple of weeks back that it is considering adding support for Fortnite on its mid-range flagship, the Redmi Note 7 Pro. True to its word, Xiaomi has now released v10.2.10.0 update for the Redmi Note 7 Pro, which among other things, promises support for Fortnite. We decided to install the update and see how the game performs. The first thing we noticed was that you did not require the update to install and run Fortnite, both of which went through just fine. The other thing we noticed that performance was remarkably poor...

There’s been a lot of buzz about Samsung lately, what with the launch of the Galaxy S10 and the fiasco that was the Galaxy Fold . But Samsung is not just all about high-end phones. Their Galaxy A and Galaxy J series suit many consumers whose budget may not be as high. The mid-range Galaxy A series, for example, tends to be a good compromise between price and power.  Samsung continues to release various models of the Galaxy A series in India, and they are typically well-received. However, there have no been indications of a US release thus far. That may be about to change for the Samsung Galaxy A20 , Galaxy A50 , and Galaxy A70 , though. Recently, certifications for the SM-A205U and SM-A205W have shown up on the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certifications pages. SM-205 is the Galaxy A20, while the U means US model, and W means Canadian model. Samsung has firmware for all four US carriers – T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon – so the device should support everything. But this does not g...

Anker has another of its fast wireless charging pads down to a ridiculously low price at the moment. When you apply an included coupon on the product page for the Anker PowerWave 10W Fast Wireless Charging Pad , you’ll get an extra $4 off, dropping the price to $9.99. At 10W, that’s good enough for fast wireless charging on Samsung’s phones like the Galaxy S10, S9, S8, and Note line. The charger is also capable of handling 7.5W and 5W wireless charges. Just remember that this is a pad only, so you’ll need to use your phone’s own charging adapter with it. Again, hit that link and then apply the $4-off coupon before checking out. Amazon Deal Link

OnePlus is running an ad in the New York Times newspaper, promoting its upcoming OnePlus 7 Pro. It teases a phone with No bells & whistles, no bezel, no notch, no app lag, no bloatware, no $2,000 price tag and oddly, no random music. The ad also features a blueprint of a phone that more or less confirms a few of its key selling points - the new triple camera, the new pop-up selfie camera, the in-display fingerprint scanner and a heat pipe for heat dispersion. Yes Virginia, if it's in The New York Times, it's got to be true. Welcome to the world, One Plus! pic.twitter.com/leKjS801dN—...

It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come in the smartphone industry in such a short period of time. Summing up the timeline in my head, we started with phones that were rather small (OG DROID, OG iPhone, etc.), then they got big and bulky (DROID X), then a happy middle ground was found (HTC One M7), and now we have phones with over 6″ QHD displays just chilling in our pockets. Steve Jobs is definitely lol’ing at his previous “Hummer” comments from the beyond. Anyway, today, we want to know about your first smartphone. What was it? For me, I’d have to say it was the OG DROID, but that’s only if I don’t count the LG Voyager I had before it. Tech reviewers back in the day labeled the Voyager an iPhone killer. What a bunch of asshats. So, yeah, OG DROID was my first true smartphone and I enjoyed every single second of using it. What was your first smartphone? An Android? iPhone? BlackBerry? What made you decide to get it?

Samsung probably won’t give you $550-off through trade-ins on the Galaxy S10 again, but they still have good deals available. For example, trading in any working smartphone will get you $200 off today. It could be from 2010, you just need to make sure it turns on, has been factory reset, and doesn’t have cracks. You could get up to $300 off with other trades too, but the $200 is the best value right now, since there is a good chance you have a random old smartphone sitting around in a drawer or closet. Seriously, go dig in there and find one. In addition to the $300 or $200 off, depending on the Galaxy S10 you want, you could get freebies. The Galaxy S10e 256GB comes with a free Samsung Duo Charger. If you buy a 512GB regular S10, you’ll get both the Duo Charger and a pair of Galaxy Buds. Worried about Samsung’s trade-in program? Check this post out . Shop Samsung Galaxy S10

Google Chrome is the most popular browser on the planet for both desktop and mobile. That is especially the case on Android where Chrome dominates by a large margin. Firefox has been around on the platform for a while and Mozilla has overhauled it several times to try to stay relevant. The next big change comes in the form of a completely new browser called Fenix. This news isn’t unexpected. Last Summer, Mozilla announced that Firefox for Android had entered the maintenance phase as the team began work on a new browser. That new browser is Fenix. A support document outlines Mozilla’s plans for Firefox and Fenix. Firefox for Android will continue to receive legacy updates until Fenix reaches “migration readiness status.” After the release of version 68 (July 9, 2019), Firefox for Android will move to the Extended Support Release (ESR) branch, which will be the end of feature updates. Moving the browser to ESR will allow Mozilla to maintain it with minimal effort while they work on F...

Damien McFerran 30/04/2019 - 4:16pm "Er, meow?" Video games don't have the best track record when it comes to movies. We've had cinematic disasters like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive and Alone in the Dark; all massive duds which wipe away the good work done by (minor) successes like Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. This year, we're getting two pretty major movies based on games. The first is Detective Pikachu, which – as you'll probably guess – is based on Nintendo's insanely popular Pokemon franchise. The buzz around Detective Pikachu has been incredibly positive, thanks to some decent trailers and the fact that because of Pokemon GO, people can't seem to get enough of those loveable Pocket Monsters. Then we have Sonic the Hedgehog. This movie has been in development for a while and has been subject to quite a lot of negative press; the first teaser posters alarmed many fans, and the fa...

Realme is celebrating its first anniversary in India with a number of deals and giveaways that total INR 10,000,000. Participants could win 10 Realme 3 Pro units or buy one with a discount from its flash sale at noon on May 3 for INR 13,999. The regular Realme 3 now comes with double the storage at 3GB + 64GB for INR 9,999. Its flash sale will happen on May 2 at midnight. The Realme 2 Pro and Realme U1 will get a INR 1,000 discount on May 2 and will be priced INR 10,990 and INR 8,999, respectively. Buyers are eligible for 15% SuperCash when paying with MobiKwik while...

For the past decade, touch interactions have dominated how we communicate with our mobile devices. But soon, voice searches will be dominating our interactions and are likely to grow at 40% annually. Since most of the voice interactions are expected to take place through AI virtual assistants like Google Assistant , Alexa, Siri, and timid Cortana, Microsoft asked some thousands of consumers about their perception of voice assistants and published its finding in a recent whitepaper. The results in this paper elucidate various trends about assistants and smart speakers as well as highlights users’ concerns about being snooped on continuously. In its Voice Report for 2019 , Microsoft evaluates the usage and users’ concerns about the adoption of smart voice assistants. This data is based on the online responses from around 2,000 consumers from countries such as the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, and India between March and June 2018. To refine these results and to understand trends relat...

Samsung is seeding a software update for the Galaxy Note9, which includes the Android security patch for April 1, 2019. More importantly, however, this firmware also adds an option in the Settings menu that lets you schedule the Night Mode to turn on and off automatically. Additionally, the new build comes with camera improvements that let you switch the FOV of the selfie camera between 68 degrees and 80 degrees with the help of a toggle located above the camera shutter button. This update, carrying version number N960FXXU2CSDE, weighs around 520MB in size and is currently rolled...

Update (4/30/19 @ 9:20 AM ET): The Chromium team has posted a new video showing off their latest work on virtual desktops in Chrome OS (below). Chrome OS has come a long way over the years, but it still lacks some features that hold it back from being a no-sacrifices desktop OS. One such feature that you’ll find on Windows, Linux, and Mac PCs is the ability to have multiple “virtual” desktops. This allows the user to organize their open windows and apps into separate workspaces. Google is finally getting around to adding this functionality to Chrome OS under the tentative name “Virtual Desks.” Back in November, a Product Manager for Chrome OS confirmed the feature was “on the roadmap,” but didn’t give any specific details. Now, thanks to a commit posted to Chromium Gerrit , we can see the feature is in development. Titled “Virtual Desks 1: Initial scaffolding,” the commit mentions a “new desk” button and thumbnail previews that will be displayed in a navigation bar. We can act...

Meizu's recently released 16s is the company's flagship device for 2019 but according to new speculations, Meizu is hard at work on its successor which will also bring 5G capabilities for the first time in the manufacturer's lineup. An image from the recent China Unicom Partner Conference revealed the slogan for the upcoming device reading "meet the new 5G era, Meizu 17 is coming". We've also got some leaked hands-on images courtesy of a Weibo user. According to speculations, the new phone will adopt the portless design from the Meizu Zero concept phone, which failed to make its way to...

If you have been using Android since prior to the Android Lollipop release, you might remember the Holo UI which embraced a dark gray background and blue accents. With Lollipop, Google adopted Material Design, which swathed the entire UI with a thick, flat coat of white. Now, as OLED and AMOLED panels get cheaper and more widely accessible, Google will give users the opportunity to turn the lights off with the upcoming Android Q . While you will have to work your way through the Android Q Developer Preview in order to toggle the system-wide dark theme , Google is already experimenting with individual dark modes inside certain apps. One of these is Google Chrome, which received a dark mode on Android with version 74 and if you’re willing to try it out, there are some basic steps to follow. First of all, ensure that you are using Chrome version 74, and then proceed with the following steps: Enter chrome://flags in the address bar. These flags can be used to toggle experimental featur...