MediaTek Helio P22 Octa-Core 12nm SoC with Dual VoLTE, Bluetooth 5, AI-enhancements announced

MediaTek just introduced its first budget SoC based on 12nm TSMC FinFET technology for improved battery efficiency compared to 16nm. It supports 20:9 HD+ screen, has Octa-Core ARM Cortex-A53 CPUs with MediaTek CorePilot, new IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU, and flexible LPDDR3/LPDDR4x memory controller.  It supports 13+8MP dual  or 21MP single camera setup, backed by a hardware depth engine for Depth of Field (Bokeh) effects. "MediaTek’s Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) has been upgraded with a new Rolling Shutter Compensation (RSC) engine, which cleverly mitigates warped (‘jello effect’) video when capturing fast action or scene panning," said the company. The 3DNR and clear-image zoom technology and Camera Control Unit (CCU) promises faster focal exposure adjustment for improved low-light performance. It also has AI-enhancements such as Face ID (Face Unlock) and smart photo albums. MediaTek NeuroPilot support, developers and device makers have the best possible AI-ecosystem, with support for common AI frameworks and full compliance with Android Neural Networks API (Android NNAPI). It has 4G LTE WorldMode modem that integrates dual 4G SIM with VoLTE/ViLTE, MediaTek TAS 2.0 smart antenna technology and essential new standards such as, eMBMS, HUPE, Band 71 and advanced IMS. Connectivity upgrades include a new, dedicated sub-processor for 4-Satellite multi-GNSS (GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo), Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi (now 802.11ac).  Helio P22  Helio ...

New Razer Blade laptop with 15.6-inch 4K display, Nvidia GeForce Max-Q GPUs; Core X Thunderbolt 3 external graphics announced

Razer today has announced the new Razer Blade laptop and Core X Thunderbolt 3. The new Razer Blade laptop comes with a 15.6-inch display, 8th Gen Intel Core processor and according to the company it is the world’s smallest 15.6-inch Gaming Laptop. The Razer Blade packs a 15.6-inches Full HD display with 144 Hz refresh rate, while the 4K display variant comes with multi-touch functionality and 100% Adobe RGB color support. It comes with 4.9mm thin bezels around the display and is CNC milled from a single aluminum block to provide a sturdy compact design, and features a scratch-resistant anodized black finish. On the other hand, the Razer Core X is a Thunderbolt 3 external graphics enclosure for gaming-grade performance. The company announced that Razer Core series of external graphics enclosures including the Core V2 and Core X is now compatible with Mac laptops with Thunderbolt 3. It transforms integrated graphics laptops into desktop-class gaming machines by adding an external graphics card. It is compatible with both Windows and Mac. It can accommodate up to 3-slot wide desktop graphics cards and supports the latest desktop PCIe graphics cards including NVIDIA GeForce, NVIDIA Quadro, and AMD XConnect enabled Radeon and Radeon Pro cards. Razer Blade Gaming Laptop specifications 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) up ...

HTC U12+ price surfaces on official site ahead of announcement tomorrow

HTC is all set to introduce its flagship U12+ smartphone tomorrow. Complete specifications and press renders of the smartphone surfaced last week. Now the phone has been listed on its official eStore which reveals more details including the price. HTC U12+ rumored specifications 6-inch (2880 x 1440 pixels) Quad HD+ Super LCD 6 display with HDR10, DCI-P3 and sRGB support, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU 6GB RAM, 64GB / 128GB storage (UFS 2.1), expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with HTC Sense UI Single / Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 12MP HTC UltraPixel 4 rear camera with 1.4μm pixel size, f/1.75 aperture, dual LED flash, PDAF, Laser auto focus, OIS, secondary 16MP telephoto lens with 1.0μm pixel size, f/2.6 aperture, 4k at 60 fps, 240fps slo-mo at 1080p 8MP + 8MP dual front-facing cameras with 1.12μm pixel size, f/2.0 aperture Real-time bokeh effects, AR stickers Water and dust resistant (IP68) Fingerprint sensor USB-C audio, HTC USonic with Active Noise Cancellation, HTC BoomSound Hi-Fi edition, Hi-Res audio certified Dimensions: 156.6×73.9×8.7-9.7mm; Weight: 188g 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS with GLONASS, ...

Meizu 6T with 5.7-inch full-screen display, dual rear cameras to be announced on May 29

Meizu today announced that it will announce 6T, a new budget smartphone in China. Even though the company yet to reveal details about the phone, but Meizu M811Q that got certified by TENAA recently will likely to the 6T. This reveals a 5.7-inch HD+ screen, Octa-Core SoC, which could be MediaTek MT6750, up to 4GB RAM, 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information in portrait shots and an 8-megapixel front camera. Meizu 6T rumored specifications 5.7-inch (1440 × 720 pixels) HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display 1.5GHz Octa-Core processor 2GB RAM with 16GB storage, 3GB RAM with 32GB storage, 4GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 7.0 (Nougat) with Flyme OS 6.2 Dual SIM 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2MP secondary camera 8-megapixel front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor Dimensions:152.3×73×8.4mm; Weight: 154g 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS + GLONASS 3230mAh battery The Meizu 6T is expected to come in Gold, Black, Red and Blue colors. We should know the price when it goes official next Tuesday. Source 1, 2

Micromax Bharat GO Android Oreo Go Edition smartphone launched for Rs. 4399

Micromax just launched Bharat GO, the company's first Android Oreo (Go Edition) smartphone in India, in partnership with Airtel. It was supposed to launch earlier this year. It has similar specifications as the Bharat 3 that was launched recently, as well as most other Go Edition phones such as Nokia 1 and Lava Z50 that were launched earlier this year. Micromax Bharat GO specifications 4.5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) FWVGA display 1.1GHz Quad-core MediaTek MT6737M with Mali-T720 GPU 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) Go Edition Dual SIM 5 MP rear cameras with LED flash 5MP front-facing camera with LED flash 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS 2000mAh battery The Micromax Bharat GO comes in Black color, is priced at Rs. 4399 (MOP), but you can get it at an effective price of Rs. 2399 with a cashback of Rs 2000 as part of Airtel’s ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative. Commenting on the launch, Shubhodip Pal, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Micromax said: Android Oreo (Go Edition) is a compelling proposition for the mobile first economy like India. We are proud to announce the launch of Bharat GO, a smartphone powered by the Android Oreo (Go Edition) today. Micromax Started the ...

WhatsApp for iOS gets ‘Request Account Info’ feature

WhatsApp is now rolling out a new update to its iOS app which brings the ability for users to request a report of your account information and settings. The new app version is 2.18.60 and is already available on the App Store.  From the WhatsApp setting menu, you can request a report of your account information and settings. Once you request the report, it will be ready to download in 3 days and will be available to access for few weeks once it is made available. WhatsApp clarifies that your request will be canceled if you make any changes to your account like changing the phone number or deleting account altogether. It also brings another feature. WhatsApp will now inform when it’s not possible to add a business to a group. This is available on Android as well in beta. It also brings improvements for video calls, Payment feature, fixes to backup feature. WhatsApp is also found working on a feature which when you forward a message to other users, a “Forwarded” label will appear in the message. This feature will be available in the future. Via

Xiaomi Mi 8 announcement set for May 31, Mi Band 3 and several other accessories expected

Xiaomi just confirmed that its next flagship; the Mi 8 is all set to be Unveiled on 31st May. The company through its Twitter handle has shared the launch date and mentioned that it would be a nod to their eighth anniversary. BIG announcement Mi fans. The brand new #Mi8, a nod to our 8th anniversary, is coming on 31 May. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/UGwmwO7Xi0 — Mi (@xiaomi) May 22, 2018 One of the most anticipated features of the Mi 8 is expected to be the Fingerprint sensor that will be embedded under the screen. It will also have Face unlocking system that won't be relying on the front-facing camera instead, it will have a sensor like the Apple's iPhone X. Educated guess regarding the rest of the specification include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, an OLED display with a notch. It might come equipped with 6/8GB of RAM with 256GB storage and a possibility fo 512GB storage option. It will be running on Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI 9 on top. According to a recent report, the pricing of the Mi 8 6GB RAM and 64GB storage base variant will retail at CNY2,799 (Rs. 29,863.47), while the higher end variant (8GB RAM, 128GB storage) will go ...

Google and Microsoft disclose new Variant 4 Meltdown, Spectre CPU flaw

Back in the start of 2018, Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaw affected most of the CPUs including Intel, ARM, and others. Months after the detection, Google's Project Zero’s (GPZ) and Microsoft have discovered another new form of Spectre-Meltdown CPU flaw;  Speculative Store Bypass (variant 4). The latest vulnerability is similar to Spectre and exploits speculative execution that modern CPUs use. However, Intel claims that they have not seen any reports of this method being used in real-world exploits so far. Browsers like Safari, Edge, and Chrome were all patched for Meltdown earlier this year, and according to Intel, these mitigations are also applicable to variant 4 and available for consumers to use today. Similar to Spectre, the new Variant 4 will also affect performance upon fixing it with firmware updates. Intel says that it has already delivered the microcode update for Variant 4 in beta to OEMs and system software vendors, and the broad reach is expected to be available in the coming weeks. This update would set the Speculative Store Bypass protection to off-by-default, so users won't notice any performance impacts. However, if enabled, a noticeable performance impact of approximately 2 to 8% is seen based on overall scores for benchmarks like SYSmark 2014 SE and SPEC integer rate on client and server test ...

Samsung Galaxy J4 with 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, Exynos 7570 14nm SoC, Android 8.0 announced

Samsung has announced the Galaxy J4 (SM-J400) in the J-series. It comes with 5.5-inches AMOLED display with good old 16:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by the Samsung's very own Exynos 7570 Quad-Core 14nm processor with 2GB of RAM.  The Samsung Galaxy J4 (2018) packs a 13MP rear camera with F1.9 aperture, LED flash. While on the front, there is a 5MP shooter with f2.2 aperture. The device doesn't come with any Fingerprint sensor or Face Unlock, unlike the J6 (2018) series. It runs on Android 8.0 Oreo with Experience U.I on top, has 3000mAh battery on board. Samsung Galaxy J4 specifications 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD Super AMOLED display 1.4GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7570 14nm processor with Mali-T720 MP1 2GB RAM with 16GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) Dual SIM 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture 5MP front-facing camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture Dimensions:151.7 x 77.2 x 8.1mm; Weight: 145g 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS 3000mAh battery The Samsung Galaxy J4 (2018) comes in Black, Orchid Gray, and Gold colors, the pricing is yet to be revealed by Samsung. Source

Honor 7A and 7C with 5.7-inch and 5.99-inch FullView displays, dual rear cameras, Android Oreo launched in India starting at Rs. 8999

Huawei's Honor brand just launched the Honor 7A and Honor 7C , the company's latest budget smartphones in the '7 series' in India, as it had promised. Both the phones have a 5.7-inch and 5.99-inch 18:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass displays, respectively, come with a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a 2-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information in portrait shots. There is also an 8-megapixel front camera with LED flash on both the phones. These feature a fingerprint sensor on the back, in addition to face unlock. These run Android 8.0 (Oreo) with the company's own EMUI 8.0 on top, have dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots and pack a 3000mAh battery. Honor 7A  specifications 5.7-inch (1440 x 720 pixels) 18:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 ( 4 x 1.2 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.5 GHz Cortex A53) 64-bit Mobile Platform with Adreno 505 GPU 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture, secondary 2MP rear camera 8MP front-facing camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, Karaoke on the go with real-time audio monitoring, party mode Fingerprint ...