Acer Liquid Z6 Max appears with a 4, 670 mAh battery and a 5.5-inch display

Acer Liquid Z6 Max appears with a 4,670 mAh battery and a 5.5-inch display

Acer has held a ceremony in its home country of Taiwan to celebrate the closing of the 2017 Taiwan Universiade Games. The ceremony was held to honor those who participated in the games where the General Manager of Acer Taiwan presented 380 special-edition Acer Liquid Z6 Max smartphones to those who participated in the presence of Su Liqiong (Secretary of the Taipei Municipal Government) and Li Weibin (Director of Taipei Municipal Govt. Information Bureau). The kicker here is that weve not heard of such a smartphone before. Weve heard of the and the , but the phone pictured below is a variant of the Liquid Z6 with a much larger battery. The Acer Liquid Z6 Maxs leading feature is the large 4,670 mAh battery. Theres also an unmentioned octa-core CPU which we are assuming is a MediaTek model. There are also 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The display is of the commoditized 5.5/1080p variety. Conflicting translations say there is either a 13MP or 16MP main camera with an aperture of f/2.0. There are also capacitive keys and a fingerprint scanner. Acer prices this device at 9,900 yuan (1,499 USD) which is quite high for such a smartphone. This leads us to believe these special edition smartphones might feature real gold parts or accents on the phones body. Again, the post was translated from Mandarin so that part isnt entirely clear. The phone also features the Universiade cartoon bear on the back with the Games logo. ( ) | ( )

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Samsung Galaxy S9 is rumored to debut in January

Samsung Galaxy S9 is rumored to debut in January

These days we're witnessing the proverbial calm before the storm in the mobile world, with the storm in this case being the that Apple will unveil at its . The tenth anniversary iPhone has the potential to once again shake up the space, despite its rumored hefty price tag. And Samsung knows this. As it should, being Apple's No.1 competitor in high-end smartphones (in terms of sales). Now a new report from the company's home of South Korea claims the iPhone 8 is actually influencing Samsung's development schedule for the . The S8 duo was announced in late March, going on sale around three weeks later. But if you expect similar dates to be valid for the S9 next year, you'd apparently be wrong. Instead, Samsung may unveil the S9 as soon as late January, with global sales starting in mid-February. If this pans out, it means the S9 would be on the market more than two months earlier than its predecessor. The reason for this has to do with Samsung creating a strategy to defend its flagship line's sales against the iPhone 8, which is sure to suck all the air out of the mobile world in late 2017 and early 2018. The speculation regarding Samsung's schedule for launching the S9 is based on the fact that Samsung Display will start to ship OLED panels for the phone in November. That's two months earlier than when the same thing happened for the S8, back in January of this year. Display panels are usually shipped before other parts such as camera modules and cases apparently. After the panel shipments, it takes about two to three months for the handset's entire assembly to take place. The S9 should retain the elongated screen form factor of its predecessor, but sport Qualcomm's next-gen high-end chipset (for some markets), which may be called . It could also adopt a dual rear camera setup similar to the one employed by the (as well as the iPhone 8). |

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Honor 9 limited edition in Robin Egg Blue coming to the UK

Honor 9 limited edition in Robin Egg Blue coming to the UK

At IFA, LG and Sony unveiled new flagships, Samsung bolstered its wearable line and Huawei... unveiled a new color option for the . To be fair, it is a pretty color, but its not new in the conventional sense of the word something we havent . The actual news here is that this color option is coming to the UK in mid-September and will retail for 460. Note that this is a special limited edition and supplies will not last forever. The plain Blue and Grey color options currently sell for 400 or so. Anyway, heres the Honor 9 is Robin Egg Blue. A labor of love, the color was custom concocted in a process that took sophisticated toning iterations. The rear glass where the color is showcased as the front is white is built up of 15 layers of glass and has a unique photo etching of a fingerprint-like texture. Since this is all about color, heres a cornucopia of product images. Hope your monitor is calibrated.

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Instagram Stories now available on mobile web

Instagram Stories now available on mobile web

If thought you can escape Facebooks Stories assault by hiding in the mobile web version of Instagram, think again. Instagram has now brought over the Stories feature to the mobile version of its website. Users who, for some reason, dont want to install the app and get the full experience can also now see their friends stories. Alternatively, those who wanted to get away from the noise of Instagram Stories present on the app and were using the web version for that express purpose now have one less place left without Stories. For what its worth, the desktop of the Instagram still does not have Stories. But thats not really of much use since you cant actually upload images from there and has always been very basic. Besides, the Stories feature wouldnt make much sense on the desktop anyway. As for the mobile web, users can for now just view others stories and the option to upload your own will be coming later.

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B&O Beoplay E8 is an AirPods competitor too

B&O Beoplay E8 is an AirPods competitor too

Its raining wireless earphones and Bang and Olufsen just announced one of its own. The Beoplay E8 takes a leaf out of the AirPods and all the other fully wireless earphones that came before it and features a carrying case that house the two individual earpieces. Unlike the Sony WF-1000X that we saw before, the Beoplay E8 doesnt have any special features along the lines of active noise cancelling. Instead, B is hoping its design, sound quality and brand name would be enough for customers to fork out for the $299 price tag, one of the highest we have seen for this style of earphones so far. The Beoplay E8 is one of the better looking models I have seen easily less quirky looking than the AirPods. The flat design means they sit practically flush with your ears when inserted. The earphones have touch sensitive surface on either side and you can use various gestures to control your audio playback. There is also a feature called Transparency mode, which lets some of the ambient sound in through the microphone, although since the E8 arent actively blocking outside noise, this might not be super useful. B claims superior audio quality with E8 with signature Bang and Olufsen sound. The companion app also lets you customize the sound further. The E8 has 4 hours of battery life and the leather lined charging case can charge them twice completely for another 8 hours of use. The Beoplay E8 will be available on October 12 in a choice of Black or Charcoal Sand colors.

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Moto X4 leaks again hours before the official launch

Moto X4 leaks again hours before the official launch

Lenovo is having an event tonight at IFA 2017 at 8 PM local time. The company is expected to unveil the , but it wont come as a surprise since photos and specs of the phone along with price popped up across the internet. The Moto X4 is coming with 5.2 AMOLED screen. The resolution is Full HD, and the display is the space where the function keys are positioned. There is also a fingerprint scanner below. The chipset that runs in the Moto X4 is the Snapdragon 630 with octa-core CPU, four of the cores clocked at 2.2 GHz. There is also Bluetooth 5.0 compliance, although it is up to Lenovo to allow it. The memory combo comes in two versions either 3 GB RAM + 32 GB storage or 4 GB RAM + 64 gigs of storage. The back panel has a dual camera setup with a dual-tone LED flash. According to the leaks, the sensors are 12 MP + 8 MP with respectively f/2.0 + f/2.2 aperture. One of the cameras has a wide-angle lens. The front snapper also has a f/2.0 aperture placed in front of 16 MP sensor. The Moto X4 most likely will be IP68-approved and will have wireless charging due to its glass back. You can charge up to 3,090 mAh of battery capacity, and TurboCharge is supported. If the rumor is true, the Android should be the latest Oreo 8.0 The phone is already listed on Amazon by Lenovo with a price tag of 399. More details are going to follow in several hours when the manufacturer officially announces the device at its event. We will be there, so stay tuned.

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Sony RX0 packs a 1 sensor in the body of a rugged action cam

Sony RX0 packs a 1 sensor in the body of a rugged action cam

Besides the Xperias, Sony unveiled a curious new camera meet the RX0. Yes, its part of the RX family and even uses the same 1 sensor as the venerable RX100 V. With a body thats water, shock and crush-proof, youd think that this is the best action camera yet. It measures 59.0 x 40.5 x 29.8 mm, compared to a GoPro Hero 5 Black at 61.7 x 44.4 x 24mm. But Sony has bigger things in mind the RX0 can be used in multi-camera setups to create bullet-time, time-slice and many other effects. Using the FA-WRC1M wireless commander, you can trigger up to 15 cameras simultaneously. If you decide to slum it, you can trigger up to 5 cameras over Wi-Fi (a firmware update coming in January will up that number). The Sony RX0 has a 15.3MP Exmor RS sensor (1 stacked), BIONZ X precessor and a wide-angle Zeiss Tessar T* lens (24mm, f/4.0). It can shoot in RAW or JPEG and deliver up to 16fps burst. The video recording capabilities are particularly impressive. It can record 960fps slow-motion like the XZ Premium, as well as 240fps at 1080p. Theres a microHDMI port for pros who want to use an external recorder. S-Log2 recording and User Bits would also be of interest (the first helps color grading, the second is an advanced time code for syncing multiple cameras). The Sony RX0 is waterproof up to 10m, but if youre serious about underwater shooting, then you can grab the special housing that can dive up to 100m depth. Even on dry land, you dont need to be gentle the camera can handle drops from up to 2m and can withstand a crushing force of 200kg. Theres a 1.5 TFT screen on the back, though youd probably find it easier to control the camera with a smartphone, from a computer (via USB) or with the wireless commander mentioned above (which is a whopping $350!). You knew it was coming, so here it is the RX0 will cost $700/CA$900 when it ships in October.

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LG V30 will cost 900 in Germany, is exclusive to Carphone Warehouse in the UK

LG V30 will cost 900 in Germany, is exclusive to Carphone Warehouse in the UK

Carphone Warehouse is polling the the British retailer has exclusivity in the country, by the way. However, it still keeps the price under wraps, it wont even commit to a launch date. Meanwhile in Germany, the local LG branch has mentioned 900 as the price for the 64GB model. It seems that the 128GB option, aka LG V30+, will not be available. Once again, no hard launch date is given, but things should start happening in mid-September. The Bang headphones will be included though, thats good news. V30s main rival the Galaxy Note8 will sell for 1,000 in mainland Europe and 870 in the UK, so LG is winning the price war.

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Nougat-powered Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime gets WiFi certified

Nougat-powered Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime gets WiFi certified

was back in September last year. It came with Android Marshmallow out of the box. Now, it looks like the Nougat update for the device is on the horizon. The phone with Android 7.0 on board has received WiFi certification. Not one, but several models of the handset have been cleared by the WiFi Alliance (WFA). There's no information on exactly when the roll out will begin. But given that the update has started collecting necessary certifications, that should happen sooner than later. |

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Sony Xperia XA1 Plus mid-ranger is now official

Sony Xperia XA1 Plus mid-ranger is now official

An expected development, for sure, but the is still a welcome sight for prospective buyers. With the and covering the 5-inch and 6-inch mid-ranger bases pretty well, it was mostly a matter of time before Sony saturated the oh-so popular 5.5-inch niche as well. The XA1 Plus measures 155 x 75 x 8.7 mm and weighs in at 198 grams. It sports the familiar Sony three-piece design, with metal sides and a plastic back. In many aspects, the Xperia XA1 Plus doesn't shy away from its family line. It is based on the same Mediatek MT6757 Helio P20 chipset, and also appears to borrow its camera setup from the XA1 a 23MP, f/2.4 shooter on the back with hybrid autofocus, and an 8MP selfie snapper. Nothing too fancy. The 1080p screen resolution is a perfectly reasonable offering as well. The same goes for connectivity options NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, with aptX support, a USB Type-C port, VoLTE, Cat.4 or Cat.6 LTE, depending on the region. Speaking of local variants, most markets will get 4GB of RAM on the XA1 Plus, except for South America and the US, which get the 3GB model. Users in the US will likely miss out on the side-mounted fingerprint reader as well. A rather tough detail to swallow, if we consider the step back to a wider side-bezel design for the XA1 Plus, compared to its siblings, which Sony claims is meant to accommodate the bigger power button. The 3,430 mAh battery could potentially serve as some consolation in this case. It represents a notable bump even over the XA1 Ultra with its 2,700 mAh. Charging shouldn't be an issue either, thanks to Qnovo adaptive charging and Pump Express+ 2.0 quick charging support. Power button swap aside, the XA1 Plus fits right into the design language of the existing XA1 line, which is only logical since the older two devices will remain on sale for the foreseeable future. Color options include Black, Blue, Gold and Pink, but the latter might be market dependent as well. The Xperia XA1 Plus is expected to roll out from Autumn 2017.

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Samsung targeting to sell 700, 000 Galaxy Note8 units in South Korea during first month

Samsung targeting to sell 700,000 Galaxy Note8 units in South Korea during first month

According to a new report out of Samsung's home country, the company is aiming to sell a total of 700,000 units in South Korea during the first month of the device's availability. The report notes that the tech giant will start supplying the said number of units by the end of this month. Of the total figure, 60% will be 64GB units, while the remaining 40% will be 256GB models. Talking about 64GB units, those are further divided based on colors 40% Deep Cyan Blue, 30% Midnight Black, and 30% Orchid Gray. Similarly, the 256GB models are divided in the following way: 60% Deep Blue and 40% Midnight Black. The report says the 128GB model and the Maple Gold color variant have been excluded from the launch list. For what it's worth, the 700,000 figure that Samsung is aiming for the Note8 is almost same as what the company achieved with first month sales of in South Korea. The phone will be up for pre-order in South Korea from September 7 to September 14, and will go on sale starting September 15. Recently, the company's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin they are expecting to sell a total of over 11 million units of the Note8 worldwide. |

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