world of electronics

LG X Power 2: Hands-on with an absolute battery beast A full day of battery life is pretty much the holy grail of the smartphone world, where intense use sucks down battery reserves faster than a kid with a juice box. But two days of battery life? That's a pretty rare feat. LG's X Power 2, a followup to last year's X Power, claims it can go two days on a single charge, driven by a high-capacity battery. It clocks in at 4,500mAh, compared to the X Power's 4,100mAh battery pack. And no, you can't remove it. LG claims it can play 15 hours of continuous video, and charge up to 50 percent of its battery in an hour. The whole charge should take two hours total. Like most other phones, it uses Quick Charge technology. But what does "two days" mean? A full 48 hours of use or more like 16 to 20? We won't know for sure until we test it ourselves. We did get a chance to see the X Power 2 in person. While it's got mostly midrange specs, the phone ...

Nokia 3 and 5 bring up the middle of its new Android phone lineup Nokia is back in the game and expanding its range. The legendary Finnish company probably made your first phone, but its dominance came to an abrupt end in 2014 when it sold its entire phone business to Microsoft. Fortunately for fans, a bunch of former Nokia employees have formed a company called HMD Global to make Nokia phones anew. They began with the Nokia 6, which is now joined by the mid-range Nokia 3 and Nokia 5. The Nokia 5 is a 5.2-inch mid-range model with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The 3 is a 5-inch phone with a quad-core chip. Both phones are loaded with pure Android -- and nothing else. Nokia has added no extra bloatware to the Android Nougat firmware, which means the company can promise they stay "pure, secure and up to date". Nokia says it will also provide monthly security updates so your phone stays healthy. The new phones are set to be released in spring thi...

is a $60 phone too cheap to be good? And is it so cheap that you won't care? That's what I wanted to know about the ad-supported Amazon Prime version of Blu's R1 HD phone, which knocks down the original retail price -- originally $110 for the 16GB model and $100 for 8GB version -- by showing you advertisements on the phone's lock screen. It'd be a tempting price for Prime members who cast a blind eye to ads with one exception: the R1 HD isn't very good. Its camera is mediocre, its performance is inconsistent, and call volume on audio speaker is too low to listen to comfortably. Sixty dollars (or $50 for the 8GB version with ads), however, is cheap enough to justify buying the phone for a kid, or an overseas guest or maybe even as an emergency backup. You seriously can't find that low a price on any modern smartphone. But for a little more, you have better, more reliable budget options, like the Samsung Galaxy J3 ($110 to $180, depending on the carri...

HTC's new Desire: Making a higher-end phone cost less. A lot less (hands-on) If "budget phone" conjures images of a clunky plastic handset with blah-blah specs, you'll want to chuck that notion now. HTC is on a mission to deliver flagship-level features in a phone that costs less than half of many of today's premium handsets. HTC on Tuesday announced the midrange Desire 10 Pro, alongside the far more entry-level (and cheaper!) Desire 10 Lifestyle. For now, both phones will sell only in Europe, with the Desire 10 Pro arriving at the beginning of November. We don't know for how much, although the company confirmed it would be less than the flagship  HTC 10 , which costs $699, £569 and AU$1,099. You'll be able to buy the Desire 10 Lifestyle at the end of September for £249, which converts to about $325 and AU$430. The Pro is aimed at consumers who want high-end performance at a midrange price, while the Lifestyle is for those on a set budget. The...

Xiaomi is following the footsteps of Apple and local rival Huawei , on Tuesday in Beijing announcing the Mi 5C -- a phone powered by the company's first in-house processor, the Surge S1. The Mi 5C looks to be a cheaper, less powerful iteration of last year's excellent  Mi 5 . Like that phone, it has a 5.15-inch screen. Unlike that phone, it has 3GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 2,860mAh battery . Compare that to the Mi 5's 4GB of RAM, 16-megapixel rear camera and 3,000mAh battery. But the Mi 5C clearly wins on price: It'll cost 1,500 yuan, which converts to around $220, AU$280 and £175, when it launches on March 3 in China . That's a good bit lower than the 2,700 yuan ($400, AU$500, £315) the Mi 5 cost last year. The Mi 5C houses Xiaomi's own 2.2GHz Surge S1 chipset, built by Pinecone, a subsidiary started by the company two years ago. Xiaomi claims the S1 Surge outperforms the Snapdragon 625, Qualcomm's midrange chipset. The Mi 5C k...

iPhone 8: Everything we know so far about the 10th-anniversary edition of Apple's historic phone Though Mobile World Congress headlines are currently dominating the smartphone news cycle, we continue to see more iPhone 8 rumors sprouting up. And the most dramatic of them suggests that Apple may be preparing to introduce multiple new iPhones in the next few weeks. According to Japanese website Mac Otakara, Apple is planning an event for March during which it will unveil three new models based closely on existing iPhones ; they would include an updated  iPhone SE  with 128GB of storage -- the current model tops out at 64GB -- and red editions of the  iPhone 7  and  iPhone 7 Plus , possibly as part of the company's longstanding support of the (RED) charity. It's worth noting that Mac Otakara has sometimes, but not always, correctly predicted previous moves by Apple. Another report currently making ripples in the rumor pool come...

This ludicrously lavish phone makes fully encrypted calls Ludicrously lavish phone maker Vertu has a new, excitingly extravagant Android phone to tempt only the richest and most open-walleted among you. It's called the Constellation. It's hand-built in England --  like all of Vertu's phones  -- and is made from anodized aluminium, wrapped in soft leather that's specifically sourced from a "family-run" tannery in Italy. Other fancy features include a sapphire crystal display and one-button access to Vertu's 24-hour concierge service (I say "button," it's actually an inset ruby). Need an emergency private jet to Mexico? What about a suspiciously deep clean of your superyacht's decks? Just jab that glinting red button and bark your orders at whoever picks up. It's the first dual-SIM phone from Vertu, which the company claims allows it to work on "34 international bands." It also fully encrypts your calls using tech f...

Kodak Xiaomi improves the Redmi Note 4's camera for India Xiaomi continues to bet big on India, this time with an Indian version of its budget  Redmi Note 4  phone, which the company previously launched last year in its home market of China . While it looks almost identical to the earlier Redmi Note 4, the new version does away with antenna lines and improves the 13-megapixel camera with a CMOS sensor boasting pixels sized at 1.12micron for better low-light shots. Instead of the MediaTek deca-core Helios X20 processor found on the Chinese version, the Indian model uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625 chip. There's a new matte black color, too. Otherwise, the specs aren't all that different. The Note 4 packs a 5.5-inch full-HD display and comes with a fingerprint scanner and 4G dual-SIM. The non-removable 4,100mAh battery also means you'll be able to last a full day and then some. Key specs -Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor -5.5-inch full HD 1,920x1,0...

Huawei's new P10 phones: Dual Leica cameras, 3D face detection and plenty of Pantone Huawei 's newest phones, the P10 and P10 Plus , are smaller-screened versions of the giant  Mate 9, in a sense, with dual rear cameras. They were announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but we got to try them out a few days earlier in New York. (The venue was somewhat ironic given you can't buy Huawei 's newest phones in the US. But maybe, someday, the P10 and its fancy cameras will make its way over.) They come in a variety of new Pantone color options -- eight, to be exact -- and three finishes: high gloss, sandblast and "hyper diamond-cut." I held a few models: the hyper diamond-cut blue has a shimmery micro-etched finish. The P10 and P10 Plus look, for the most part, like  iPhones . Or the  Google Pixel . The slim designs mean no rear camera bump, and the metal backs and smooth edges mean a comfortable feel. Like those phones, the P10 also has a sign...

ZTE rolls out two budget-friendly Blade V8 phones at MWC ZTE V8 Cost-conscious buyers take note : ZTE 's budget-friendly phone family is growing. At the  Mobile World Congress  show in Barcelona today, ZTE took the wraps off two mid-tier phones from its Blade series. Though neither handsets are particularly noteworthy in terms of specs and features, they promise to be easy on the wallet. The first in the pair is the Blade V8 Mini. It features two cameras: a 13- and 2-megapixel shooter on the back. Similar to the  Apple iPhone 7 Plus , the dual-camera setup lets you shoot photos with blurred backgrounds, for an artsy "bokeh" effect. You can also refocus an image with this effect after you've already clicked the shutter. The two camera s can also render " 3D " images by combining two photos together. We'll know more about how these tools work once we get our hands on the device.  Other specs include : -5-inch HD display -5.65x2.76x0.3...