Due to the recent battery recall for the Galaxy Note 7, the FAA is currently debating about whether or not they should ban the device from public aircraft. There's actually already a law that prevents recalled batteries from being brought in the cabin, carry-on, or checked baggage. But it seems Samsung hasn't gone through the proper procedure when it comes to recalling a product.
We've already seen the Moto G4 Play launched in various countries around the world. Now, those in the United States can finally pre-order it directly from Motorola's website. Pre-order price at Motorola is $150, and current shipping estimates seem to be September 23rd. Which is interesting because Amazon says they're shipping their pre-orders on September 15th.
Back in March, Michael Kors announced he would be launching a couple of Android Wear smartwatches. They are both available right now for $350, and there are two to choose from. One is called Dylan, and is marketed towards men who want a sports style watch. Then, the other is called Bradshaw as it comes with an all-metal design and is marketed towards women.
Humble Bundle has just announced their 20th mobile bundle. For $1, you can get Cloud Chasers, Last Horizon, Tomb Raider 1 and Tomb Raider 2. If you pay more than the average, then you will get Always Sometimes Monsters, Shooting Stars! and some soon to be announced games. Lastly, if you pay $5 or more, then you also get Space Grunts and Cosmonautica.
The Huawei P9 has not been without its share of controversy. Some doubted the benefit of the Leica cameras on the back and a number of headlines this year did not help that suspicion one bit. Still, Huawei said they sold 2.6 million units just 6 weeks after release, and now they've announced that 6 million total units have been sold.
Right before a certain company with a shiny logo unveils their next product, LG has tried stealing the thunder with the launch of its new flagship device for the second quarter of 2016. Meet the LG V20, the smartphone with a renewed focus towards multimedia creation and consumption.
When it comes to the design of the V20, LG has chosen the parts of the V10 that made it unique and merged it with a design language seen of the LG G5. As a result, the V20 does look a lot like the G5. Instead of the V10's rugged design, the LG V20 goes for an aluminium body which still is as tough and MIL-STD-810 compliant for shock resistance, meaning it can chug through a few drops. But thankfully, LG has dropped the pseudo-modularity out of the equation while still retaining a removable battery. The removable chin from the G5 is now fixed, while the modular button now acts as a release button for the back panel. You can remove the back panel to have easy access to the removable battery — making the V20 one of the only phones around with such a "feature". The back also features the dual rear camera setup and the fingerprint sensor, while the volume rocker has been moved to the left side.
The front of the V20 is dominated by the 5.7″ QHD IPS LCD display, with a secondary "Always On" LCD ticker display (2.1″ diagonally) placed above it. The front camera is now a single camera instead of the dual camera "groupfie" setup found on the V10.
On the inside, the LG V20 has all the traits of a flagship. You get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 for the SoC with its Quad core Kryo setup. The GPU is handled by the Adreno 530, which should be able to support the QHD display. The phone comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and 64GB of UFS storage, along with micro-SD expandability of upto 256GB. The removable battery is 3,200 mAh in capacity, and is Quick Charge 3.0 capable. The V20 also bears a USB Type-C port. This is LG going all out with the specs, and the V20 certainly possesses an impressive overall package.
The camera setup on the LG V20 is similar to that on the G5. The dual rear camera setup comprises of a 16MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture, OIS along with laser autofocus, phase-detection autofocus and dual-LED flash; and a secondary 8MP wide angle (135-degrees) camera with f/2.4 aperture. The V20 is capable of recording 4K at 30fps, and is also the first phone to feature Qualcomm's proprietary EIS solution which is based on gyroscopes. The V20 can also track moving objects through image stream analysis and stabilize the video by the object's line of movement. Audio in video recording often takes a backseat, but with the V20, LG boasts that the device can capture lossless 24bit/48kHz audio as well. The front camera is a 5MP shooter with f/1.9 aperture, but it can still capture wide angle images despite being a single camera.
LG also gave a lot of focus on audio consumption on the V20. The V20 comes with four DAC's for clearer sound, and offers some nifty features like a 75-step fine volume and L/R balance control out of the box. The phone also supports lossless playback, and in some markets, the phone will come with B&O headphones in the retail box.
The software side of things seem pretty too, for the V20. The LG V20 is the first smartphone to ship with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. But, it comes with LG's UX 5.0+ skin on top, so it isn't a skin which is close to AOSP.
The LG V20 will come in three colors: Titan, Pink and Silver. Availability of the phone is expected by the end of this month, although pricing still remains up in the air.
With the LG V20, LG is aiming at the top of the smartphone pack. The feature set will be hard to resist for anyone looking to get a comprehensive multimedia device. We do hope that the LG V20 does not suffer from the sudden death issues that LG's previous flagships have faced — not dying is good enough when its competitors can not even accomplish that.
What are your thoughts on the LG V20? Does it cover all the tickboxes of what you expect in a top-tier smartphone? Let us know in the comments below!
Check Out XDA's LG V20 Forum >>
As the Note7 drama continues to unfold from late last week, today marks the first known US based failure, and the first with injuries. Posted to Reddit late Tuesday night, user brodesto posted images from a friends failed unit. The user, who has been a redditor for 5 years with considerable Karma, goes on to say that his friend was using the device, thought to be a T-Mobile unit, when it "exploded" and sustained minor injuries.
Credit – Reddit user brodesto
The Samsung Galaxy Note7 was recalled for all 2.5 million units (China aside) early Friday due to defective batteries causing explosions. Going into overdrive Samsung worked with all US carriers and international official sales partners to withhold sales until the faulty units could be identified or replaced. They then quickly implemented replacement and exchange methods for units, but only on a volunteer basis. Up until today though, no US devices had failed leading some (including myself) to believe that this failure could be localized to Exynos or Korean built models. However, Reddit user DradisBacon did some detective work into the iFixIt teardown and noted that Chinese built phones can also carry Samsung SDI batteries, removing some of those theories. It is thought that Samsung SDI, a Note7 battery manufacturer, manufactured the failing batteries but that those batteries were only used in Korean build phones. Today, news came out that it is in fact the supplier of over 70% of Note7 batteries in production.
So what should you do? This news is especially troubling as defective units are more widespread dispelling many theories. Being a Note7 owner currently, it is making me consider switching to my OnePlus 3 until T-Mobile can supply me with a new unit. If you have a backup phone you should seriously consider doing the same. The US based explosion may not have been charging at the time of failure, which could make any phone a ticking time bomb at any time, and not just while charging.
If you purchased your phone from a US carrier, check with them to see what their current replacement plan is. Some carriers are allowing loaners to be supplied until new devices arrive. If you do choose to continue using your phone try and remove any possible overheating situations such as prolonged gaming, GPS usage in a car or charging through Fast Charging. You can disable Fast Charging by going into Settings/Device Management/Advanced Options. Most importantly be safe, and you may want to invest in a fire extinguisher.
We will update this article as we have more information available.
Find your Carrier replacement information through the links below:
Source – Reddit.com
