smartphone News - Page 12 of 74 - CNX Software

March 25, 2020March 25, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Can You Clean Your Smartphone Off Bacteria and Viruses with a $23 UV Disinfection Box?

This morning, as I browsed the web looking for products or other news, I found out that Banggood was selling a $23 UV sterilizer disinfection box that can clean & disinfect your smartphone, and other small items like surgical masks, using 3-minute of exposure to ultraviolet light. I suppose it showed up in the new arrival feed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a relevant entry on Wikipedia states that UV light can kill bacteria and viruses since it destroys DNA and RMA. It works on humans too, and when I say work, it means humans should not subject themselves to strong UV light since it will damage their DNA too. An article on Digital Trends mentions that while there aren’t many studies about the UV light effect on SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, it’s been shown to be effective against the similar SARS and MERS viruses, and hospitals are […]

March 10, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Android 10 on Xiaomi Mi A2 (Lite) or When Firmware Updates Go Wrong

I’ve been using Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone since December 2018. At the time, it shipped with Android 8.0, but I soon got an update to Android 8.1, and later to Android 9.0. I’m quite satisfied with the phone as it receives (almost) monthly security updates, works reasonably faster, features a decent camera, and overall does the job. The biggest complaint I have so far is about storage. It comes with 32GB eMMC flash and no MicroSD card slot, and it’s constantly full, so I have to clear the cache often, and sometimes I need to uninstall an app and reinstall it in order to install an update. Sometimes in January, I got a notification about Android 10 updates, but since I was out of space, I only installed it late February after some serious storage cleaning… The update went smoothly, and after some adjustment to the settings I was back […]

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

What’s the Cheapest Android Phone with NFC Support?

I have an Octopus payment card from Hong Kong using NFC technology, and I’d like to check its status, and if needed top it up to keep it valid. One way to do so is to install the Android app on an NFC enabled smartphone. However, none of my phones, including my current Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone, support NFC. So I’d decided to look for the cheapest Android phone with NFC support that I could find since that’s the only feature I need, and the app is compatible with Android 4.0 or greater for now. Wileyfox Swift 2X – $75.90 I first went to GearBest to check out for NFC phones, as the cheapest one of the lot is Wileyfox Swift 2X going for $75.90 shipped. The phone runs Android 8.1 on a Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. It is equipped with a 5.2″ Full […]

February 26, 2020 by Stephen Vicinanza - 2 Comments

Cosmo Communicator 2-in-1 Phone/Mini Laptop can now Dual Boot Debian Linux and Android

The Cosmo Communicator The Cosmo Communicator was released as a crowdfunded handheld device mixing smartphone and a small laptop features such as keyboard and display. It was launched in late 2019 and ran Google Android. Didn’t Ship with Linux Support The original units were shipped and fulfilled the requirements of the crowdfunding campaign, but still were missing something the company had wanted to provide: support for Linux. Debian Linux Support This is now fixed as Planet Computers, the company that makes Cosmo Communicator, just released a version of Debian Linux, that can be installed on the system, with the tools that the company has provided for free on its website. Other Linux Phones There has been some movement in the world of Linux Phones, with the advent of the Purism Librem 5 and the Pine64 PinePhone using the familiar touchscreen interface found in the vast majority of smartphones. Quick Basics […]

February 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Google Releases Android 11 Developer Preview – What’s New?

I’ve only just upgraded my Xiaomi Mi A2 phone to Android 10 earlier this week, but Google is already preparing for the next version of the mobile operating system, and the company has already released the first developer preview for Android 11 OS. Enhancements for foldables and 5G, call-screening APIs, new media & camera capabilities, and machine learning are some of the improvements brought to Android 11 so far. Some of Android 11 highlights include: Updates of existing connectivity APIs to take advantage of improved 5G speeds. Dynamic meteredness API to check whether the connection is unmetered in order to offer higher resolution or quality for users who don’t need to pay extra for data Bandwidth estimator API to check the downstream/upstream bandwidth without having to poll the network. Pinhole and waterfall screen support – Pinhole screens are the ones with a round opening for the camera, and waterfall […]

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Qualcomm Snapdragon X60 5G Modem to Deliver up to 7.5 Gbps Download Speeds in 2021

While 5G networks are ramping, most people don’t have coverage, let alone a 5G capable smartphone or laptop, but after Snapdragon X50 and Snapdragon X55, Qualcomm has just unveiled its third-generation 5G modem with Snapdragon X60. The new 5G modem is said to feature the world’s first 5-nanometer 5G baseband and the first 5G modem-RF system to support spectrum aggregation across all key 5G bands, namely mmWave and sub-6 using frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). Snapdragon X60 key features: Cellular Technology 5G NR – 5G TDD, SA (standalone), 5G FDD, NSA (non-standalone) LTE – LTE FDD, LTE TDD including CBRS support, LAA, LTE Broadcast WCDMA (DB-DC-HSDPA, DC-HSUPA), TD-SCDMA, CDMA 1x, EV-DO, GSM/EDGE 5G Spectrum – mmWave-sub6 carrier aggregation, sub-6 carrier aggregation (FDD-TDD, FDD-FDD, TDD-TDD), Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz mWave specs – 800 MHz bandwidth, 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO sub-6 GHz spec -: 200 […]

February 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MediaTek Helio G80 Mobile Gaming SoC Boasts Higher CPU & GPU Clocks (over Helio G70)

MediaTek introduced their first mobile processors designed specifically with gaming in mind last year with MediaTek Helio G90 and G90T SoC’s coupling Arm Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 cores with an Arm Mali-G76 3EEMC4 GPU. Last month we reported the company launched another mobile gaming processor, but this time, Helio G70 & G70T were designed for mainstream mobile devices with the SoC’s featuring two Arm Cortex-A75 cores, six Arm Cortex-A55 cores, and an Arm Mali-G52 2EEMC2 GPU. Somehow the Taiwanese company decided there was room for a solution in between, and MediaTek Helio G80 processor is supposed to fill that gap. MediaTek Helio G80 specifications: Processor – 2x Arm Cortex-A75 @ 2GHz, 6x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz with “large L3 cache” GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EEMC2 up to 950MHz Memory – Up to 8GB LPDDR4x @ 1800MHz Storage – eMMC 5.1 flash Display – Up to 2520 x 1080 resolution Video Decode […]

January 24, 2020July 25, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Hisense A5 5.84″ e-Paper Android Smartphone Promises Up to 10-Day Battery Life

We’ve previously covered smartphones with a black and white e-Paper display usually placed on the back of the phone, while a traditional full-color display is placed at the front. Some models include Yotaphone 2 and Hisense A2, and the advantage of the e-Ink display is that you can extend battery life, quickly check notifications without unlocking your phone, reads book even in bright lights, etc.. but the cost goes up quite a bit since the manufacturers have to integrate two displays in their devices. Hisense A5 does completely away with the traditional color display and replaces it with a 5.84″ e-Paper display with 1440×720 resolution. The display is black and white, and the slow refresh rate of such display will make it impractical to watch videos and play most games, but if all you do is check emails, browsing the web, reading e-books, accessing social networks, and making phone calls […]