Tecno introduces Universal Tone for perfect skin tones in every photo

Tecno announced a new imaging technology called Universal Tone. Leveraging AI, it promises to enhance skin tones in photos so people from all colors are correctly captured.

The essence of Tecno Universal Tone is recognizing multiple faces in one photo, along with their facial complexities, and then applying appropriate filters that encompass a vast range of skin tones in order to eliminate bias within the image processing.

The technology combines three engines, according to the press release. The first is the Multi-Skin Tone Restoration Engine, which works with a database of...


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Week 43 in review: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro are official

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset this week and phone makers queued up to declare their next flagship will have it - iQOO and Honor were among them. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is all about AI - the AI Engine supports multi-modal generative AI models and popular large language models for speech recognition - the chip can run up to 20 tokens per second for instant AI assistant responses. Qualcomm boasts that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 packs the world's fastest stable diffusion, which can generate an image in a fraction of a second.

In CPU terms the 4nm chipset promises to be 30%...


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Weekly poll: how old is your phone?

Fairphone is promising 8 years (possibly up to 10) of support for its new Fairphone 5. Google brought Android longevity into the mainstream with the new Pixel 8 series, which will be supported for 7 years, this includes both software updates and availability for spare parts.

But this raises the question – is anyone actually using their phone for that long? While it’s tough to predict whether there will be any Pixel 8 users left in 2030, we can focus on the here and now. So let’s change the question to this – how old is your current phone?

We know that some of you have phones that you...


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Weekly poll results: the OnePlus Open is great, but buyers balk at the price

Economies of scale mean that once a product becomes popular, it costs less too. But that causes a Catch-22 – it’s difficult for an expensive product to become popular. Right now that is the problem facing foldables, especially the horizontal variety.

Last week’s poll shows that the OnePlus Open is a very promising phone. It might even be the best in class that the markets outside of China have seen. And yet... well, the pie chart speaks for itself, 40% of voters have interest in the Open, but find it too pricey.

To be fair, it costs less than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold5 (unless you get in...


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Oppo A79 goes official with Dimensity 6020 SoC and 50MP camera

The Oppo A79 that leaked a few days ago is now official. It's powered by the Dimensity 6020 SoC and runs Android 13-based ColorOS 13.1 out of the box. The smartphone has 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage onboard, with the option to expand the storage by up to 1TB via a microSD card.

The Oppo A79 is built around a 6.72" 90Hz FullHD+ LCD with Panda Glass protection. It has a pixel density of 391 ppi and 680 nits peak brightness. Oppo advertises the screen as a Sunlight Display because "you can see every detail, even in bright sunlight." The panel also has Widevine L1...


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Samsung Galaxy S24 series tipped to support Ultra HDR

Google introduced the Ultra HDR feature with Android 14, which allows users to capture and view HDR photos on their Android devices in HDR format instead of SDR. Some Chinese flagships already have a similar feature, but Samsung didn't implement it with One UI 6. However, rumor claims Samsung will implement an Ultra HDR-like feature on its smartphones next year.

Word comes from reliable tipster Ice Universe, who said the Galaxy S24 lineup, expected to arrive in January 2024, will support HDR picture viewing in photo albums. If true, that would be a nice way to utilize the rumored 2,500...


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Tata to become first Indian company to make iPhones with the $125 million Wistron deal

Apple's been assembling iPhones in India for over half a decade now, with the first "Made in India" iPhone being the iPhone SE produced by Foxconn in 2017. Apple has two more partners in India for making iPhones - Pegatron and Wistron. However, with Wistron set to exit the iPhone business in India, its 100% stake will be purchased by Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL), making it the first Indian company to produce iPhones.

TEPL, which is a part of the Tata Group known for selling everything from salt to software to cars, will purchase the indirect stake from Wistron InfoComm...


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Samsung teases Galaxy S24 Ultra camera with AI image stacking, improved 4K zoom

Samsung posted a video revealing new capabilities of the ISOCELL 200 MP sensor, powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset by Qualcomm. There isn't a smartphone on the market with such hardware, so this is clearly a teaser for the upcoming Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Here's the 60-second video and keep reading for a breakdown of what's inside.

Zoom Anyplace automatically tracks subjects in a video but also keeps capturing full-frame zoomed-out footage of the entire scene. This means the sensor essentially allows capturing two 4K video streams - of the cropped area and one of the whole...


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Samsung exec confirms emergency satellite tech on the Galaxy S24 series

Samsung's President of System LSI Park Yong-in confirmed that Galaxy phones will support satellite services starting next year. It's a not-so-subtle hint about the Galaxy S24 series, expected in early 2024.

Speaking at the 2023 Semiconductor Expo (SEDEX), Park Yong-in added that technical preparations have already been made to enable communication using satellites. This could be a reference to the Exynos Modem 5300's support of 2-way communication over satellite.

However, this begs the question: if rumors of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Galaxy S24 Ultra and Exynos 2400-powered S24 and...


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Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro are here with HyperOS and revamped Leica cameras

As expected, today Xiaomi unveiled the 14 series featuring the just announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, revamped Leica-branded main cameras, a new design, and Xiaomi's new HyperOS.

Xiaomi 14 Pro

The Xiaomi 14 Pro moves away from the curved edges of its predecessor and instead brings a flat metal side. The frame has a glossy, mirrored finish. The phone has a symmetrical design and the two glass panels taper slightly at the very edge. The camera island sits on a metal bezel finished with a Parisian hobnail texture.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro is the bigger phone, bringing a 6.73-inch 1440x3200 px...


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PC manufacturers rush to adopt the new Snapdragon X Elite chip, here's the list

The ARMs race has begun! With Apple's third-generation ARM-based Apple M3 silicon just around the corner, Qualcomm announced its competing solution, Snapdragon X Elite for Windows laptops. The SoC promises excellent performance, extreme efficiency and will arrive in the PC market by mid-2024.

A number of the largest Windows PC manufacturers have now been confirmed to develop devices with the new chip. The list includes HP, Lenovo, Asus, Dell and Acer. Honor, Microsoft, Samsung and Xiaomi are also going to deliver Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops to announce next year.

Software...


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Google Photos can now make AI-generated highlight videos for you

Google Photos has learned a neat little trick to better serve its users on Android and iOS. It will use AI to create a highlight video of anything you'd like, with background music in tow.

The feature is rolling out to Android and iOS users right now though it may take a few days to reach your phone.

When it does, you'll have a new "+" icon at the top of your timeline, from there choose Highlight Video. You then use the search within Photos to find what places, people, or topics you want and fire away. AI will do the rest - choose the right clips, a background tune and sync it all...


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The vivo Y100 5G will have a 5,000 mAh battery, 7.49 mm profile, 6.78" screen

vivo will announce the Y100 5G in China on October 27 and it's a different device than the Y100 that premiered in India.

Now, thanks to an official teaser on vivo's Weibo account, the distinction becomes a bit clearer. The Y100 5G will be 7.49 mm thin and carry a 5,000 mAh battery. There's also Schott screen protection. Upfront, the Y100 5G will have vivo's signature-size 6.78-inch OLED display.

vivo's promo materials for the Y100 5G

The vivo Y100 5G will have a glass with a textured finish, inspired by oriental aesthetics. The green and blue models will have a different...


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vivo Y200 announced with SD 4 Gen 1 and 44W charging

As expected, the vivo Y200 is now official in India as a direct successor to the vivo Y100 which launched back in February. Y200 brings a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. There’s a punch-hole cutout for the 16MP front-facing camera and an in-display fingerprint scanner.

vivo Y200 key specs

The back houses a 64MP main cam with OIS and a 2MP depth sensor. You’ll also notice the LED flash next to the camera modules as well as the signature Smart Aura Light which features 38-level color temperature adjustment based on your ambient...


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Weekly poll: the OnePlus Open is here, who is buying one?

Foldables may be picking up speed, but it’s the flip variety that is the most common. Horizontal foldables, meanwhile, are either quite common or there’s just one or two, depending on where you are in the world.

OnePlus Open (Voyager Black)

OnePlus is a global brand, which makes the launch of its first foldable a big deal for fans of the form factor. Let’s have a quick overview of the OnePlus Open and the potential competition it faces.

The phone has a 7.82” main display, an LTPO 3.0 AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate. It boasts 2,440 x 2,268px resolution and 10-bit colors,...


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YouTube Music is now officially supported on Apple HomePod

Before you head on to the comment section to inform us that playing music from YouTube Music on Apple HomePod has already been possible for a while now – we know. That is kind of the case since the ability to cast audio from the app to a HomePod device is indeed already a thing you can do.

The YouTube Music product team recently announced deeper integration with HomePod and its voice commands in particular. Now Premium and Music Premium subscribers can just integrate YouTube Music as a playback service inside HomePod. This enables voice commands such as "Hey Siri, play music on...


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Here's the Oukitel OT5 with 12" 2K display and 11,000 mAh battery

Last week, we shared images and specs of the Oukitel WP30 Pro rugged smartphone that will be announced in the first half of November 2023. But that's not the only product Oukitel will introduce next month since the brand will also unveil a new tablet, dubbed Oukitel OT5.

The Oukitel OT5 will have the Helio G99 SoC at the helm with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage onboard. The tablet will run Android 13 out of the box, but it's unclear how many OS version upgrades and software updates it will receive.

The Oukitel OT5 will feature a 12" 2K LCD and pack an 11,000 mAh battery with 18W...


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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 rumored to use the same main camera

Innovating in the smartphone realm yearly has never been an easy task. Arguably, it's still harder to redesign a modern foldable's internals and complex hinge mechanisms. Rumors have now started to creep up about Samsung's next Z Fold6 phone.

Don't expect much change in Galaxy Z Fold6. At least we can be sure of the camera. It is the same as Fold4 and Fold5, that's for sure.— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) October 19, 2023

According to industry insider ICE UNIVERSE, we need to taper our expectations regarding the main camera of the Z Fold6. Apparently, Samsung will be reusing the 50MP...


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WhatsApp rolls out multiple accounts support on Android for all

WhatsApp already lets you use the same account on multiple smartphones, but now you can use two different accounts on the same smartphone if it's running Android. This feature - which Telegram had for years - was available for WhatsApp's beta users for some time, but it's only now rolling out to the stable channel.

Having the ability to run two different WhatsApp accounts at the same time on the same smartphone will eliminate the need for users to carry two smartphones or use the app clone feature.

How to set up multiple WhatsApp accounts on the same phone?

To set up the second...


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Google will manufacture Pixel phones in India, starting with the Pixel 8

Google announced that it will manufacture phones in India as part of the "Make in India" initiative, and it will start with the Pixel 8 series.

Google will partner with international and domestic manufacturers to produce Pixel smartphones locally and expects the devices to start rolling off the lines in 2024.

Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are on sale in India from October 12, priced at INR 75,999 and INR 106,999 respectively.

Source


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Honor X9b debuts with 6.78" 120 Hz OLED screen

Without much in terms of official announcement, Honor’s Saudi Arabia branch added the latest midrange offering from the brand to its website. The Honor X9b comes as a successor to the Honor X9a which launched back in January and brings updates across the board.

X9b is built around a curved 6.78-inch AMOLED screen with a 1,200 x 2,652 px resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate. You also get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The back houses a 108MP main cam alongside a 5MP ultrawide lens and a 2MP macro cam. There’s a 16MP front-facing shooter...


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Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 launched in Korea

The Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 unveiled earlier this month debuted today in Korea. It comes in white and black colors and costs KRW36,300 ($26/€25/INR2,230). However, there's also a 4-pack priced at KRW129,800 ($95/€90/INR7,980).

The Galaxy SmartTag2 will go on sale in Korea starting October 18, and those who purchase the object tracker from Samsung's official Korean website until October 31, 2023, are entitled to a free silicone or rugged case for the Galaxy SmartTag2.

The silicone case comes in five colors and is priced at KRW22,000 ($16/€15/INR1,350), while the rugged case costs...


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Oppo Find N3 gold and black colors appears in new images

Oppo is expected to launch Find N3 later this week, and we expect the phone to arrive in three colors – Black, Green, and Gold. The latter was already seen in live photos posted by Evan Blass on X, and today, he replied with an official press render of the variant.

The leakster also posted a live image of the Black version, confirming it is sporting a vegan leather finish, unlike the glass-made gold version.

Oppo Find N3 Gold and Black

The new Oppo Find N3 will be bigger than its predecessor with Hasselblad-branded cameras. Expectations are the phone to be the same as the...


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Weekly poll: who is getting the new Oppo Find N3 Flip?

The competition in the flip foldable market is heating up – earlier this week Oppo brought the Find N3 Flip to the Indian market with sales starting on October 22 (Sunday next week). The phone will cost ₹95,000, though pre-orders include ₹12,000 cashback (which drops the price to ₹83,000) and ₹8,000 bonus when trading-in an old device.

The Indian market already has some competition, let’s take a look. We have to start with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 as the most popular foldable globally. Samsung is asking ₹86,000 for an 8/256GB unit. The Find N3 Flip has a better main display with a...


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OnePlus Open's Indian price and sale date revealed

OnePlus has already officially confirmed the announcement date for its first foldable, October 19, while the leaksters took care of the rest by showing us the design and specs of the OnePlus Open. At this point, there's nothing left to the imagination except pricing.

Today's report is about the Indian launch and Abhishek Yadav believes the device will be released on October 27 with a price tag of INR 139,999 (~$1,680). That's a hefty price, but it's also not a big surprise, given that foldables still charge a price premium.

The price doesn't seem all that different from the leaked...


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UK regulator clears Microsoft takeover of Activision Blizzard

Back in January of 2022, Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activation Blizzard in a transaction valued at $68.7 billion – the largest deal in the gaming industry. The deal didn’t exactly go as planned with regulators from the US, the EU and the UK objecting to the takeover. Microsoft managed to win a court injunction in the US and later received approval from the EU regulators which left the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as the only major hurdle against the deal.

Well, that hurdle has now been cleared as the CMA has given the green light on the deal.

The key...


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The OnePlus Open will be unveiled on October 19

OnePlus is gearing up to launch its first foldable, dubbed the OnePlus Open, and it has officially set a date for the reveal – October 19. That’s Thursday next week, so the phone is almost here. In fact, you can sort of pre-order one.

Here’s the early bird offer. You can put down a €99/£99 deposit now and get €250/£250 off the final price of the phone, plus a free pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2 (valued at €180/£180). For more details, head over to the promo page.

A similar deal is available in the US and Canada too – yes, North America is getting an interesting phone. If you’re not sure...


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Samsung's Q3 results beat expectations, chip slump easing off

Samsung released its preliminary Q3 results, highlighted by a smaller-than-expected profit drop of 78%. Samsung's operating profit for the months of July through September was 2.4 trillion won ($1.79b) - down sharply from the 10.85 trillion won of the same period in 2023. The reasons behind the yearly slump are a slowing global economy and greatly reduced chip demand.

However, Samsung's profit in Q3 was considerably more than the 640 billion won first quarter (the lowest since 2009), and the 670 billion won second quarter. Samsung's 2.4 trillion won operating profit beat the 2.1 trillion...


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Here are the best Apple iPad Prime Day deals

The latest installment of Amazon Prime Day is upon us and we’ve managed to queue up a few of the best deals on Apple iPads we could find. These are lined up in no particular order and cover the UK, German and Indian markets. Keep in mind that these discounts vary between countries and sometimes even between color options on the specific model you're looking at.

The baseline iPad (2022) comes in as the most affordable iPad on the list and offers a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, Apple A14 Bionic chipset and quad speakers while also supporting the very latest iPadOS 17.

...


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OneUI 6.1 and Galaxy S24 series to double down on AI

Samsung unveiled the Exynos 2400 chipset with a 14.7x boost in AI performance and we expect to see the platform debut with the Galaxy S24 series. According to the leakster Ice Universe, the SoC will be the biggest update in terms of artificial intelligence with “many new AI features” and a virtual assistant “more powerful than Bixby”.

The leakster claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S24 would bring an increased focus on AI. The series will introduce the OneUI 6.1 with vastly improved Bixby virtual assistant and "the largest AI update in history".

The Galaxy S24 smartphones will have a...


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Flashback: Samsung's Galaxy S minis were small but hardly deserving of the S-branding

Mini phones are on our mind again – when are they not? – but the most recent memory to surface is just another confirmation that the market doesn’t actually want such devices.

Specifically, we want to talk about the Samsung Galaxy S III mini and its ilk. The first one came out in October 2012, about half a year after the big S III. We find it a bit funny that this “mini” phone has the same display as the original Galaxy S, which was just over two years old at this point. Both had a 4.0” Super AMOLED panel with 480 x 800px resolution (15:9). This was 30% smaller (in terms of surface area)...


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Funtouch OS 14 launched, here's a list of vivo and iQOO smartphones eligible for the upgrade

vivo released the Android 14 beta for the vivo X90 Pro in May and announced the Android 14-based Funtouch OS 14 Preview Program for the smartphone in September. Today, vivo officially launched Funtouch OS 14 and shared a list of vivo smartphones eligible for the upgrade in India along with the timeline for the rollout of the beta version.

The list includes 30+ smartphones, with the vivo X90 and X90 Pro getting beta updates in mid-October. These will be followed by the X80 Pro in mid-November, with the X80, V29 Pro, V29, V27 Pro, and V27 receiving the updates in December. You can check...


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Samsung officially unveils One UI 6 with redesigned Quick panel and new font

Samsung kicked off its SDC23 (Samsung Developer Conference 2023) with a few key announcements. The biggest is One UI 6 - the next installment of Samsung's overarching software.

The beta version of the software has been around for a while, but Samsung now laid out some of what to expect from the final version. One UI 6 will focus on enhanced usability and intelligent photo and video editing.

It brings a revamped Quick panel and app interfaces, as well as a new typeface - One UI Sans.

The Gallery will analyze photos using AI features like Photo Remaster and Object Eraser and will...


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Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0's early access roadmap revealed

Realme announced the Android 14-based Realme UI 5.0 early access program for the Realme GT2 Pro last month, and now the company has shared a list of smartphones eligible for Realme UI 5.0 early access.

The list includes over two dozen devices, and the next smartphones in line to get Realme UI 5.0 early access are the GT Neo 3 and GT Neo 3 150W. Realme hasn't shared any specific date, but the update will be available sometime this month for both phones.

Realme GT2 Pro

Next month, five more smartphones will get Realme UI 5.0 early access, including Realme 11 Pro and Realme 11 Pro+....


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Samsung's Exynos 2400's GPU performance and key specs revealed

A tipster on X (formerly Twitter), who's been giving out some solid leaks regarding Samsung's future devices has shed some light onto the company's upcoming Exynos 2400 SoC, which is supposed to power up the future Galaxy S24 series in some regions.

The leakster posted two screenshots comparing the Exynos 2400 chip to Qualcomm's current top-shelf Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in Powerboard 4.0. And in a direct GPU battle, the Xclipse 940 GPU (co-developed with AMD) scored slightly lower than the Adreno 740 inside the SD8 Gen 2.

There are a couple of things to consider here, though. For...


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Android 14 is now rolling out to Pixel devices

Android 14 was in its preview program from February with Google issuing several previews and betas along the way and Pixel users are now finally getting the final public release version. You’ll need a Pixel 4a 5G or a later to download the latest Android version. Android OEMs including Samsung, iQOO, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo and Xiaomi are expected to bring Android 14 updates to their devices in the coming months.

The customization options which Google detailed earlier this year are now here with Generative AI wallpapers on coming first on Pixel 8 and...


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Here are the prices of the new Samsung Galaxy FE devices around the world

Samsung launched a new FE series for 2023 that consists of one phone, two tablets and new TWS buds. The phone is, of course, the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, which offers a larger display and battery than the S23 while costing less than the S23+.

Then there is the 10.9” Galaxy Tab S9 FE and the larger 12.4” Galaxy Tab S9 FE+. Like the previous model, these use LCDs instead of AMOLED panels, but the Tab S7 FE came in only one size (12.4”) and its LCD was locked at 60Hz, while these do 90Hz.

As for the headphones, the Galaxy Buds FE are the cheapest of the bunch, at least by MSRP (but these...


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Nokia XR21 Limited Edition debuts to celebrate start of EU manufacturing

Just as promised earlier this year, HMD Global is now manufacturing 5G smartphones in Europe – more specifically in Hungary and the first phone from the assembly line is a Limited Edition Nokia XR21. HMD commissioned an initial batch of only 50 devices with a mere 30 going on open sale. Each phone will be engraved with its own unique number in the series and comes in the Frosted Platinum color with its own limited edition box.

Nokia XR21 was announced back in May and brings a rugged design with MIL-STD-810H military-grade and IP69K certification - the highest IP protection against...


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Apple acknowledges iPhone 15 Pro series overheating issues, promises fix

It wouldn’t be a proper iPhone launch without a bit of controversy and this year there have been numerous reports of overheating iPhone 15 Pro series models. Apple has now acknowledged the issue and is actively working on a fix with an upcoming software update.

We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected. The device may feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity.

We have also found a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software...


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Weekly deals: the best smartphone deals from the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and India

It has been a week after the iPhone 15 series hit store shelves and it has been a fairly quiet week because of it. With only a few major launches, we focused mostly on older phones and their slide down the price ladder – and how they compare to the new offerings as well. Use the links below the jump to your country.

USA
The UK
The Netherlands
Germany
India

USA

Foldables are still quite expensive, but if you’re patient enough, you can grab a discount. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 with 512GB storage has fallen by $255 several months after launch.

...


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Apple iPhone 15 review

http://dlvr.it/Swqz5K