Category: Cell Phone

TCL foldable phone could be BIG trouble for Motorola Razr

CES 2020 is taking place this week and TCL has got a working prototype of its foldable phone in residence at the show. And, after seeing the reaction it has caused, it is easy to see why if it does come to market this year, as it could very well do, it could be a very big deal indeed.

That’s because TCL has garnered a reputation of bringing premium-level technology to the mass-market at much cheaper price points than its competitors. For example, the TCL 10 5G phone, which is also on display at CES 2020, rings in for less than $500. That is far cheaper than 5G phones from many of its top-tier competitors.

As such, a very much working foldable phone at CES 2020 from TCL, along with comments that it will be cheaper than the delayed, $1,500, rebooted Motorola Razr folding phone, and it is easy to see why this is a big deal for phone lovers.

It’s a big deal as, even though the working TCL folding phone prototype is not ready for mass production, and if it is launched then it will be done so later this year, just by existing it will put plenty of pressure on big players like Samsung and Huawei, as well as new folding competitors like Motorola and others, to produce folding phones that don’t cost incredible amounts of money.

The specs, for example, on the delayed Motorola Razr are firmly mid-range, so the fact that the phone costs $1,500 is obviously a big barrier that needs to be overcome by any potential buyer. Do you pay massive bucks for the foldable form factor, or do you get a non-folding phone with much, much better specs for less?

A TCL foldable phone that costs even two-thirds what the Motorola Razr does would make that decision a lot easier for many, thereby speeding up the adoption of folding phones.

The working prototype itself currently delivers a square 7.2-inch display, a quad-camera system, a mid-tier Snapdragon 660 processor and it runs Android 9.0 Pie. So it certainly isn’t a technical powerhouse, but it does deliver a folding phone experience and, with some refinements, would no doubt be attractive to many users who want folding tech but at a reasonable price.

No official pricing or release date has been announced for the phone naturally, although right now a late 2020 time frame is being slated.

If you want the best folding phone on the market today, though, then you need the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Why not read T3’s official Samsung Galaxy Fold review to see what it delivers.

This Beautiful Smartphone Is Like an Affordable Samsung Galaxy S10

Here in the U.S., despite owning smartphone brands including Palm, Blackberry, and Alcatel, TCL is mostly known for making quality TVs with affordable price tags, just like the 6-Series set we recently crowned as one of the best values on the market. But now, with the debut of its 10-series phones, TCL is hoping to bring that same value-minded approach to the smartphone scene.

Back in the fall, TCL hinted that major changes were coming when it announced the Plex, the first phone to feature TCL branding instead of a logo from one of its subsidiaries. But with the 10-Series, TCL is taking things even further, sort of following in Samsung’s footsteps—both strategically and with the designs of its phone—by combining the company’s expertise in making TV displays and then putting them in more pocket-friendly devices.

As for the 10-series line itself, it’s comprised of three phones: the TCL 10L, the TCL 10 Pro, and the TCL 10 5G. And while TCL is refraining from providing a full list of specs for its new phones (TCL is planning to wait until Mobile World Congress in February for a full reveal), there are a number of interesting details we are learning now at CES, with the most notable being that all three phones—including the TCL 10 5G—will start at under $500.

Starting with what will be the most affordable of the three—the TCL 10L—you’re looking at a device with around a 6.2-inch LCD screen, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, and quadruple rear cameras. At least one of the 10L’s rear cameras is a macro lens, which suggests the other three will probably have some combination of a primary wide-angle lens, one telephoto lens, and one ultra-wide lens. And while that’s about it in the way of concrete info for the 10L for now, that’s not a bad start.

But to me, the most interesting handset of the bunch is the TCL 10 Pro, which looks and feels like an affordable clone of the Galaxy S10, and I mean that in the best way possible. Like the S10, it features a rounded glass body with tapered sides, while the absence of a rear fingerprint sensor suggests it will have an in-display fingerprint built into its screen instead. Also, like the S10, the TCL 10 Pro will come with a high-res AMOLED display instead of an LCD screen, with the main difference being that the TCL 10 Pro will come with a centrally-located notch for its front-facing cam instead of a punch-hole selfie cam like you get on the Galaxy S10. I also have to say, that out of the 10 Pro’s two colors, I find the frosted glass on the dark green model especially fetching.

Finally, there’s the TCL 10 5G, which shares a lot of traits in common with the 10L including its LCD screen, rear cameras, rear fingerprint sensor, and even it’s overall design. Side-by-side, they are actually quite difficult to tell apart until you notice that the 10 5G sports a faint crystal pattern on its back that the 10L doesn’t have. The one confirmed spec we do have for the 10 5G is that it will feature a Snapdragon 7-series 5G chip from Qualcomm.

Aside from the new 10-series, TCL also showed of an updated version of its foldable phone, which has made some serious leaps in the 10 months or so since TCL announced it was working on flexible screen tech. This time, instead of showing off non-functional design mockups, TCL had a working prototype that was honestly quite impressive.

Sporting a dark green paint job with large crystal-like facets, TCL’s foldable concept features a clear familial resemblance with both the TCL 10 Pro and 10 5G. And while its plastic case did creak a bit when opening (hey, its a prototype), inside, its foldable screen looked sharp, colorful, and without really any sort of a crease. It’s a hugely encouraging demo considering TCL says it’s not really in a rush to compete with devices like the Samsung Galaxy Fold or Huawei Mate X, opting instead to let Samsung, Huawei, and others waste money figuring out the best form factor for foldable devices before TCL releases its own.

Meanwhile, when you look outside the 10-series, TCL big-picture strategy is beginning to get a lot more clear, with Alcatel now firmly focused on making budget devices and phones priced at $200 and under, while TCL-branded phones will focus on delivering “premium mid-tier phones in the $200 to $500 range.” This leaves brands like Palm and Blackberry the freedom to continue offering unique, more offbeat devices.

So now, with a new, more defined strategy for its growing portfolio of phones, it feels like TCL is finally combining all of its various resources into a more targeted and cohesive plan, while also trying preserving the same level of quality and value TCL is known for. In theory, the plan makes a lot of sense, now it’s just on TCL to execute.

REALME X50 WILL ARRIVE WITH 120 HZ DISPLAY AND DUAL FRONT CAMERA

Realme is one of the most important smartphone brands today. Its catalog has few devices, but these are very interesting. It has several purchase options depending on the budget and the needs of the users. The last devices of the company are the Realme X2 and X2 Pro. Now new options will arrive in some Asian markets. Yes, we talk about the Realme X50, this device will come as a very interesting new option for the mid-range segment.

This Realme X50 has not yet been officially presented, but little by little more details of its design and features are known. We already know that we will have a 64 megapixel Samsung camera and a perforated screen on the front. Today we can confirm a new detail about the screen and the front camera.

REALME X50 5G: 120 HZ DISPLAY IN FULLHD + AND DUAL FRONT CAMERA

The new Realme X50 will not only arrive with a large screen or a very powerful processor. Users who buy it can enjoy a panel with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. This is the same refresh rate of the Redmi K30 and is above the 90 Hz of the current X2 and X2 Pro.

Its screen will be 6.67 inches and the resolution is set to FullHD+. In addition, we also know that this panel will include the front camera. We also have information on this component, since it has been filtered that there will be two sensors.

The selfie camera will consist of a main sensor of 32 megapixels and a secondary one of 8 megapixels. The secondary is a wide angle sensor that will improve the taking of group photographs.

With these two new data we already know most of the features of this Realme X50. Now we just have to know the presentation date and the markets in which it will be available.

iPhone 11’s Night Mode Was Used to Shoot During Polar Night in Russia & the Results Are Amazing

If you thought that you had seen the best results that can come out of iPhone 11 Pro’s Night Mode, these new photos from PetaPixel will blow your mind away. Captured in Murmansk, a city in Northern Russia, these photos were captured during a polar night – a long night that lasts between December and January.

Murmansk seems to be the perfect city to test iPhone 11 Pro’s Night Mode. It is the largest city in the Arctic Circle and stays in the dark from December 2 to January 11. This is due to polar night, a phenomenon in some parts of the world where the night lasts for more than a few days.

Amos Chapple of PetaPixel used the city’s unique attributes to his advantage and created a photo essay titled “Forty Days of Darkness”. He used iPhone’s Night Mode, which he calls the ‘witchiest camera technology’, to capture almost all his photos during his stay in the city. Due to Murmansk’s almost 5 week polar night, the iPhone would automatically switch to Night Mode in most situations. Amos was able to capture long exposures without any blurry movements thanks to Apple’s camera tech. The photos he was able to capture are nothing less than stunning.

The iPhone’s Night Mode is the witchiest camera technology I’ve ever used. I still don’t understand it. I was shooting three second exposures made handheld, yet I never saw any movement blur. All of the shots I made were tack sharp.

Even more strange is that, whenever there was movement in the frame, like a person walking, or snow falling, the camera somehow froze, or only slightly blurred that movement, *while* it was soaking up light for a long exposure.

Before you sharpen your pitchforks and claim that an iPhone 11 Pro has nothing on a “proper camera”, Amos used an M43 camera too during his stay but he loved being able to get photos right without the need for any editing. Of course, iPhone photos don’t have enough data for post-editing and improvement, compared to detailed RAW files from DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

Night Mode was not always perfect for Amos. It would not always fire up when needed which is something Apple should fix in a future update. Currently, Apple automatically enables it when it’s dark enough but users cannot manually turn it on. It also does not work with the ultra-wide lens on iPhone 11 Pro, which can be limiting in certain situations. Lastly, Amos shared his complaint regarding a green lens flare that appears in certain situations.

2019 has been a great year for smartphone camera users. Google is credited for starting the trend for computational photography with its Pixel smartphones. This year, companies like Apple, Samsung and Huawei left Google’s Pixel 4 in the dust by offering better cameras, at both photo and video capture. This competition has only benefitted users as smartphone camera continue to improve across different price ranges.

Galaxy S11 ‘Final’ Design Reveals Stunning New Camera Design

Thanks to a series of Galaxy S11 leaks we know about its supersized batteries, heavily upgraded biometrics and class-leading new display. But now the craziest part of the Galaxy S11 suddenly makes sense. 

Truculent (if famously accurate) industry insider, Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka @OnLeaks) has now revealed what he understands to be the ‘final configuration’ of the Galaxy S11’s stunning new quad-camera. Originally mind-boggingly scattered, the new look ties in with the more symmetrical design fellow insider Ice Universe tipped earlier this month. 

Noting that his previous renders were “based upon a first stage prototype”, Hemmerstoffer has now the revealed massive rectangular camera hump of the Galaxy S11 will indeed feature a square telephoto lens (expected to house a 48MP sensor with 5x optical zoom which gives the unit its ‘Hubble’ codename) alongside primary (108MP), wide-angle (48MP) and time-of-flight (ToF) sensors. 

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This mighty array also uses pixel binning technology to create smaller final images with larger 2.4μm pixels for greatly improved low light capabilities. The unit itself is called the ‘ISOCELL Bright HM1’ and Samsung has high hopes it will deliver game-changing photography after sitting just outside the top performers in recent years. 

In addition to this, the Galaxy S11 also features a lorry-load of changes. These include an almost bezel-free display with buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a supersized fingerprint sensor, much larger batteries and 5G. Though users will finally wave goodbye to the headphone jack. 

With Samsung also expected to launch the Galaxy S11 earlier than ever before, 2020 will start with a bang. For Samsung, it needs come out the blocks quickly considering Apple’s similarly ambitious plans for the iPhone 12. 

Samsung may name its next flagship the Galaxy S20 because 2020

When Samsung releases the successor to the Galaxy S10 next year, it may call the phone the Galaxy S20. The rumor comes from frequent Samsung tipster Ice Universe, who tweeted this week that the company will skip S11 for its next flagship.

“Next year is 2020, and 20 is a new beginning,” they said in a follow-up tweet — without elaborating what exactly a “new beginning” means. In the absence of more concrete evidence, all we have to support Ice’s claims is that it would make sense for Samsung to call its next phone the S20 for a couple of reasons.

One of the more compelling ones is that by aligning the phone’s model number with the year, Samsung will make it easier for casual consumers to know which phone to buy if they want the company’s latest and greatest. Additionally, skipping S11 would mean the S-series would once again be ahead of the iPhone in terms of their model numbers. It’s also worth pointing out, Samsung wouldn’t be the first manufacturer to do something like this. Huawei skipped P11 when it announced the P20 in 2018. Likewise, Samsung itself skipped the Note 6 when it wanted to align its two flagship series together.

As usual, it’s best to be skeptical of these types of rumors. While Ice has a good track when it comes to pre-release leaks, they haven’t been consistent about calling the phone the S20 either. Case and point: in another, more recent tweet from this week, Ice referred to Samsung’s trio of early 2020 phones as the S11e, S11 and S11+. Ice also tweeted about Samsung’s next foldable phone this week, sharing a new image of the device and corroborating a rumor that it will feature a glass cover that’s less prone to creasing.

Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 rumored to have first-ever foldable glass display

2019 was the year foldable phones became more than a trade show demo, but only barely. The Galaxy Fold launched after a multi-month delay for $2,000, and it’s still troublingly fragile. The Galaxy Fold 2 might be a bit more robust. The latest round of leaks say this could be the first foldable with a glass screen.

The Galaxy Fold, the new Moto Razr, and that terrible FlexPai phone all have one thing in common: plastic screens. Android phones moved away from plastic displays a decade ago, but they’re back because plastic folds. As a rule, glass does not bend. But rules, like inflexible glass, are meant to be broken. Various companies have been trying to perfect flexible glass that will work with touchscreens, and the Fold 2 might be the first to have it.

According to noted leaker Ice Universe, the Fold 2 will have an “ultra-thin glass cover” instead of plastic. We’ve seen images of this supposed phone leak already—it looks like the Razr, which will have a plastic screen. A glass display could make the Fold 2 much less prone to scratches than the current crop of foldable phones. However, XDA’s Max Winebach says he’s heard the display will still have creases. They just won’t be as noticeable.

We may see the Galaxy Fold 2 as soon as early 2020 alongside the Galaxy S11. Rumors also point to a lower asking price than Samsung’s first foldable phone. Don’t let your hopes get too high, though.

HUAWEI P40 PRO RUMORED TO DEBUT WITH GRAPHENE BATTERY

Huawei’s next-generation flagship is considered to be the P40. And as usual, there will be at least two models – the original variant and the Huawei P40 Pro. The latter is going to win the world due to its powerful hardware. We have already got acquainted with a number of new features it will come with. And today, Huawei France officially tweeted that they will be the first high-end smartphone manufacturer to release graphene batteries.

Graphene batteries will bring longer battery life and faster charging speed. By the way, the manufacturer has officially announced the Huawei P40 Pro will sport an enormous 5500mAh battery. So coupled with the graphene technology and Huawei’s own low power consumption technology, it will provide a better endurance. This is crucial for a 5G handset that ‘eats power’ as if it never happened. This technology will also ensure faster charging. The same source claims the input power will reach up to 50W.

Anyways, the graphene battery will not be the only selling point of the Huawei P40 Pro. Particularly, we have heard it will feature a 120Hz screen, which has become a must for current flagship models. For an average user, it won’t be very noticeable. But the higher refresh rate greatly improves the interaction with the device. Not only that, this phone will sport a periscope lens and support 10x optical zoom. So undoubtedly, with the launch of this handset, Huawei will take the smartphone camera performance to the next level. As for software, there are rumors saying that our protagonist will be a dual-OS smartphone, running on both Android and Harmony.

P.S. Though the Huawei P40 Pro is said to be the first coming with the graphene battery, it won’t be the only one. Reportedly, Samsung is working on its own handset with this technology.

The Pixel 4 is our Readers’ Choice Smartphone of the Year

The polls have closed, and after nearly 7,500 of you voted, there was a clear winner that emerged from our 2019 Readers’ Choice Smartphone of the Year ballot: the Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL, beating out the OnePlus 7 Pro family.

Understanding just why the Pixel remains the top choice among our readers isn’t difficult: clean software with quick updates (well, usually), industry-leading photography performance, and early access to the newest features of many of Google’s other products like the next-generation Assistant and Stadia. The editors of Android Police gave the Pixel 3a our pick for 2019 under similar reasoning.

While the Pixel 4 has had a slightly troubled launch with lukewarm critical reception, it’s still the best phone for anyone who places Google above all else in their digital lives. That shouldn’t be surprising, given Google makes it, but it does continue to underscore the fact that phones from other manufacturers—even those which are updated nearly as quickly—simply don’t have everything the Pixel offers. No other brand of smartphone has access to the next-generation Google Assistant, none have access to Google Stadia, and none yet support Android 10’s new face unlock biometrics.

And the camera, well, I could go on forever about how wonderfully Google’s Super Res Zoom works with the new telephoto lens, or I could just share a photo.

I have my own gripes with the Pixel 4, but when I ask myself which phone I want in my pocket when I want to snap a photo, I can’t imagine choosing anything else. The Pixel 4 has already preserved memories that I will likely hold onto for the rest of my life, and those photos just feel so much more lifelike than I ever thought images captured on a smartphone could (Ryne Hager has at times accused the pictures from the Pixel of looking “too real”).

So, clearly Google is still doing some of the important things right with phones, at least among Android Police readers.

Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite Will Be Announced at CES: Report

CES typically isn’t a major show for smartphones, but this year could be different now that a Korean newspaper is reporting that Samsung will announce two new phones at CES 2020.

According to the Korea Herald, the two phones in question are the Galaxy S10 Lite and the Galaxy Note 10 Lite, which are essentially streamlined and more affordable versions of Samsung’s current flagships: the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10. The Korea Herald says both phones will initially go on sale in India, but outside of that, it’s currently unclear if these phones will ever make their way to the U.S.

Unfortunately, while that’s all the info the Korea Herald had on Samsung’s new phones, a couple of recent reports from Winfuture.de have shed a lot more light on what we can expect from the S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite.

For the S10 Lite, Winfuture says it will start at around 680 euros (approx. $750), and it will feature a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a centrally-located punch-hole selfie cam instead of the corner-mounted cam you get on a standard S10. However, what really differentiates the S10 Lite from being more than a big version of the $750 Galaxy S10e is that the S10 Lite will come with three rear cameras instead of just two: a 48-MP main camera, a 12-MP ultra-wide camera, and a brand new 5-MP macro camera.

On top of that, Winfuture says the S10 Lite will have a new tilting optical image stabilization system (or tOIS), that may allow the phone to correct photos based on pitch and yaw in addition to standard X and Y-axis stabilization.

And unlike a lot of previous international Galaxy S phones, it seems S 10 Lite will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip instead of an Exynos-based chip that Samsung typically features in phones sold in Europe and Asia. This is a small but potentially important change because the Qualcomm variant of the Galaxy S10 is generally regarded as the superior model thanks to slightly better performance and battery life.

Finally, the S10 Lite’s specs include a sizable 4,500 mAh battery, speedy 45-watt fast-charging, and a USB C port. (No word yet on if that means headphone jack from the original S10 is present or not.)

As for the Note 10 Lite, Winfuture says it will actually cost less than the S10 Lite with a starting price of 610 euros (about $675 U.S. dollars). The Note 10 Lite’s screen size is also the same as the S10 Lite’s at 6.7-inches. However, in a move the seems intended to help the Note 10 Lite hit that lower price. instead of a Qualcomm processor, the Note 10 Lite is expected to ship with an Exynos 9810, which is actually the same chip used in international models of the almost two-year-old Galaxy S9.

Similar to the standard N0te 10, the Note 10 Lite features a triple rear camera module consisting of a 12-MP main cam, a 12-MP 2x telephoto cam, and a 12-MP ultra-wide-angle camera, in addition to a built-in stylus for sketching and taking notes.

The Note 10 Lite will also come with a 4,500 mAh battery (which is slightly larger than even the 4,300 mAh battery in the Note 10+), though strangely, it seems the Note 10 Lite won’t have support for wireless charging. That said, as a small bonus, the Note 10 Lite will reportedly come with a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a pleasant surprise since neither the standard Note 10 or Note+ has one.

Winfuture’s mention of euros suggests that both phones will at least be available somewhere in Europe, which gives a little hope that these new Lite phones may be available over here as well. Either way, with CES 2020 slated to start on January January 6th, it shouldn’t be too long until we know for sure.