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ASUS Zenfone AR tipped to arrive at Verizon on August 3 [Update pre-orders are open]

Alexandra Arici
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Introduced back at CES 2017, the ASUS Zenfone AR has yet to become available for purchase in the US. Back in May, a press release issued by ASUS revealed the phone will launch as a Verizon exclusive this summer.

Now it appears we finally have a launch date. According to The Android Report who apparently received a confirmation from a source close to ASUS, the Zenfone AR will land at Verizon tomorrow, August 3. Although this might be the date when the carrier opens-up pre-orders for the handset.

After the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, the ASUS Zenfone AR would be the second Project Tango phone to make a debut on the market. It would also be the first one to offer compatibility to Google’s Daydream VR platform at the same time.

When it arrives, the ASUS Zenfone AR will boast a 5.7-inch display with QHD resolution (2560 x 1440) and 515ppi. It’s set to include a Snapdragon 821 in combination with a 6GB of RAM (in the US, other markets will get 8GB of RAM).

As for Google’s AR computing platform, it’s designed to employ motion-tracking cameras, depth sensors, and area-learning to virtually map out the real world and add virtual overlays which are displayed on the phone’s screen.

The phone’s main camera consists of a 23-megapixel sensor with f/2.0, optical image stabilization, 3x zoom and phase detection autofocus.

Tango is still a relatively new addition to tech, so the AR mobile app ecosystem is pretty scarce at the moment. Despite its great potential, the limited number of Tango-enabled phone users probably represents a determining factor of why developers aren’t jumping to design AR apps.

Google is leading the way hoping to attract developers to the wonders of AR.  For example, the search giant provides a measurement app that can calculate the length and depth of real life objects. Even so, Augmented Reality still has some way to go before it becomes ready for mass adoption (the app is not 100% accurate and quite finicky to use).

On top of that, the ASUS Zenfone AR is expected to cost quite a lot (some sources believe it will sell for about $800) which will probably further limit the adoption of Google’s AR platform.

Update: As anticipated the ASUS Zenfone AR has landed at Verizon with a full retail price of $648 (cheaper than expected!). Customers can also grab it for $27/month for 24 months.

OnePlus teases new color version for the OnePlus 5

Alexandra Arici
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At launch, the OnePlus 5 was made available in only two color options – Black and Gray. Bummer right? Especially since the two version look so very similar. Luckily, it seems a third color variant might be on its way.

OnePlus shared a teaser image via their official Weibo account which shows the two existing color options, alongside a third colorless one.

A while back, a listing on TENAA revealed a “mint gold” version might soon be introduced. However, something more exciting might be in the works.

Remember that prior to the official OnePlus 5 launch, OnePlus tweeted an image of four different colors with the caption: “What 5should the color of your next phone?”. The four options included black (check), an appealing mix of aquamarine and magenta (yes, please!), deep red and a darker shade of gold (possibly “mint gold).

We’re really hoping OnePlus will end up unveiling a more atypical coloring option than the pretty much standard Gold option (which was available with the OnePlus 3T).

In related news, the OnePlus 5 just received a pretty big update which enables EIS (electronic image stabilization) for smoother 4K video recording and also adds a new font option (dubbed OnePlus Slate).

Apart from that, the update includes the July Android Security Patch, a newer version of the Google Mobile Services package, as well as the usual host of bug fixes and improvements (in the Wi-Fi connectivity and battery departments).

Moto E4 Plus battery champ arrives in the US on August 3 (Update: It’s here)

Alexandra Arici
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Motorola introduced the Moto E4 and Moto E4 Plus back in June and while the former is available for purchase from places like Amazon, the latter has yet to land on retail shelves.

Well this week, Motorola revealed more info about the Moto E4 Plus’ availability in the US.  The phone will land in the country on August 3 with a $179.99 price tag and you’ll be able to grab it from Motorola itself, Amazon, Best Buy and others.

Come August 3, Verizon will also start offering the phone. Then on August 11, the Moto E4 Plus will become available at Sprint and Ting. Interested parties will be able to purchase it from Republic Wireless too, starting August 14.

Don’t miss: The New Moto E4 is a budget-friendly Nougat machine (Review)

In case you missed the announcement let us tell you the Moto E4 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution and bundles a Snapdragon 427 processor under the hood. Motorola also throws in 2GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, as well as a 13-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel selfie shooter.

Most importantly, the handset includes a larger 5,000 mAh battery which means your Moto E4 Plus should be able to enjoy a long battery life. The phone runs Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box and also has a fingerprint scanner embedded into the home button.

Update: The Moto E4 Plus is now available for pre-order from Amazon as part of its Prime Elusive Phones lineup. This means the handset will include Amazon ads and offers.

Moto Z2 Force actually costs $720 not $800 at Motorola

Alexandra Arici
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Motorola unveiled the Moto Z2 Force flagship last week and while the handset is expected to go on sale on August 10, customers could already place a pre-order for the phone for $799.99 a pop.

But in what appeared to be a surprise move, the Moto Z2 Force received an unexpected discount. If you check the Motorola website now you’ll see the phone bears a price tag of $720, which is coincidentally the exact price of last year’s model.

Or you can pre-order the phone for $30 per month (previously $33 per month) with a financing plan from Moto. This price reduction is only available if you purchase the handset directly from Motorola, as carriers are offering it with different pricing schemes.

Don’t miss: When and where to buy: Moto Z2 Force

Like before, you’ll be awarded a free Projector Mod with the purchase.

Upon the news breaking cover, Motorola reached out to explain the Moto Z2 Force wasn’t intentionally priced at $799.99:

“The $799 was an error when the site initially launched. The pricing for Moto Z2 Force Edition starts at $30/month and always has, and may vary depending on which carrier is selected.”

So there you go, the Moto Z2 Force was always meant to cost $720. Any takers?

Mint SIM now offers unlimited talk, text and 2GB of 4G LTE for $15/month

Alexandra Arici
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The competition among the four major carriers may be heating up, they are not the only options. For example, have you heard of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) called Mint SIM?

Developed by UltraMobile, a company specialized in selling plans for international travel, Mint SIM is basically a no-contract service provider that offers unlimited talk, texting, and data at very low prices.

Mint SIM’s adorable FOX

Today Mint SIM announced updated prices for its trio of introductory plans which according to the company offer the “nation’s absolute lowest monthly price of any 4G LTE provider”.

The MVNO’s entry-level plan offers 2GB per month for the first three months at $15/month. The plan is perfect for those just starting out with Mint SIM, as it’s also risk-free for 7-days with a newly introduced money back guarantee. The other two plans include the following:

•    5GB per month for three months at $20/month
•    10GB per month for three months at $25/month

Apart from the new pricing schemes, Mint SIM also announced it has exclusively partnered up with Best Buy. Starting the 1st of August, all nine Mint SIM plans will be available for purchase at Best Buy. What’s more, customers acquiring an unlocked device now have the option of pairing it with a Mint SIM plan and get $20 off the plan.

The remaining plans offered by Mint SIM span over 6 months or 12 months:

•    2GB per month for six months at $18/month
•    5GB per month for six months at $24/month
•    10GB per month for six months at $30/month
•    2GB per month for twelve months at $15/month
•    5GB per month for twelve months at $20/month
•    10GB per month for twelve months at $25/month

Any takers?

This is the Moto G5S Plus

Dan Bartram
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The latest device to appear from the new Motorola is the Moto G5S Plus. The rather badly named mouthful of a model name is really just a bigger version of the Moto G5.

The G5S Plus retains the same metal body as the current G5 lineup but is slightly improved thanks to the anodized aluminium design that also has a water repellant nano-coating. Under the hood, the G5S Plus is powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor and Adreno 506 GPU. There’s a micro-USB port and also a 3.5mm headphone jack with a 3000mAh battery. The fingerprint sensor stays below the screen but now also supports a number of gesture controls.

The display is 5.5-inches but retains the 1080p resolution and sees 3GB of RAM accompany the 32GB option with 4GB for the 64GB option. The wide-angle front camera goes from 5MP f/2.2 to 8MP f/2.0 with front-facing LED flash, and the rear 12MP shooter is replaced by a dual setup with a 13MP regular lens and an 8MP wide-angle one for depth-of-field effects. The device will also ship with Android 7.1 out of the box.

The Moto G5S Plus is unlocked so it should work on both CDMA and GSM networks with LTE compatibility for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Price and availability for the US is yet to be disclosed but Motorola say the device will be available in Europe this month starting at EUR 299.

What we know so far: Nokia 8 edition

Alexandra Arici
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Ever since it was revealed Nokia will be making a comeback into the world of smartphones, fans have been hotly anticipating the release of a true flagship, one that could compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8.

With the Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and Nokia 3 already on the market, the stage is set for the premium Nokia 8 to make a debut into the world. And if our predictions are correct, we should see the handset make an appearance by the end of this month.

Below you’ll find all the rumors and leaks related to Nokia’s upcoming flagship, so you’ll know exactly what to expect.

Design and Display

According to the leaks we had so far, the Nokia 8 will make a debut into the world with a slim metal shell, and curvy edges. The design is not unlike the one of the Nokia 6, although the curvature on the edges is more pronounced in this case.

The phone will take advantage of a physical home button which also doubles as a fingerprint sensor, as well as two capacitive buttons for navigation.

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy S8 or LG G6, it doesn’t seem the Nokia 8 will boast a modern design with extremely slim bezels and atypical aspect ratio. Instead, Nokia and HMD are betting on the standard (but pretty boring) design with their first flagship.

If recent leaks are correct, the Nokia 8 will arrive with a 5.3-inch QHD display (2560 x 1440 resolution) using a 2.5D curved glass. Although some have argued the phone will bring a more spacious 6-inch display to the table.

Hardware and Battery

Like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and HTC U11, the Nokia 8 will take advantage of a powerful Snapdragon 835, as well as 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

It’s possible a variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage could also be released. And who knows even a really high-end Nokia 8 edition with 8GB of RAM might end up in some markets at some point in time.

When it comes to battery, we don’t have much info available except that it will support fast charging.

Cameras

Nokia and Carl Zeiss have recently renewed their partnership, so the Nokia 8 will take advantage of a Zeiss-branded camera on the back. It’s actually a dual camera setup comprised of two 13-megapixel sensors arranged as a vertical strip.

But according to a recent leak from GFXBench, the phone should include a dual 12-megapixel main camera (could be a mistake?), as well as a 12-megapixel selfie snapper which can shoot 4K video. The last part is pretty impressive, given that there aren’t a whole lot of secondary cameras out there that can do that (the one on the Essential phone can).

Other features

The Nokia 8 will arrive with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box (and will be updated to Android O) and could feature some sort of certification for water and dust resistance (IP57 or IP68).

We’re also told the phone will retain the 3.5mm headphone jack, unlike some phones launching in 2017.

Based on the leaks we’ve seen so far the phone will be sold in Blue, Steel, Gold/Blue and Gold/Copper color variants.

When will I be able to get it and for how much?

HMD recently sent out invites for a press event scheduled to take place on August 16 in London. We believe that’s when the Nokia 8 will be announced.

A recent report suggested the phone will be priced for around €589 / $696 in Europe, which positions it as more affordable than Samsung or Apple flagships.

Win a Huawei Watch 2 in Carbon Black with Facer

Alexandra Arici
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If you’re a smartwatch fan, then you’re probably familiar with Facer. The app allows you to customize your intelligent timepiece with a variety of unique watch faces.

Facer also provides watch face designers with the Face Creator Tool in order to encourage the constant creation of new watch faces for their supported smartwatches.

If you too have designed watch faces in the past, Facer wants to reward you. To celebrate the launch of their “Follow” button – which now appears on each user’s profile, Facer has partnered up with Huawei to award a gorgeous Huawei Watch 2 to the first designer who gets 1k followers. There’s no time limit to achieve this goal, but you need to be first.

Facer also offers a few suggestions on how to get more followers including adding a profile photo and bio, becoming active and visible in the community, sharing your profile URL with friends and on social networks and selecting a category and multiple tags for your watch faces. Obviously, you first need to create and publish great watch faces.

As for the prize, the Huawei Watch 2 in Carbon Black is one of the most stylish Android Wear 2.0 wearable that launched this year. The smartwatch comes equipped with the latest features including Android Pay, Google Assistant and the ability to download and install apps from the Play Store right from your wrist.

Amazon Echo can be turned into a spying device, security researchers reveal

Alexandra Arici
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Security researchers have recently shown that the popular Amazon Echo speaker can be hacked to eavesdrop on conversations without permission.

Security firm MWR InfoSecurity claims it was able to exploit a vulnerability which turns the Alexa-fueled device into a “wiretap” without altering its standard functionalities.

But before you get all alarmed, let us tell you the vulnerability was found to affect only 2015 and 2016 versions of the Amazon Echo. On top of that, in order to successfully hack the speaker, a hacker would need to have physical access to it. So you might want to lock your Amazon Echo away when your computer wiz cousin comes over for a visit.

You were saying?

Seriously speaking, the attack can be carried out by removing the Echo’s rubber base to reveal 18 debug pads which can be used to easily debug the device. From there, hackers would be able to boot directly into the firmware by attaching an SD card or install malware without leaving any actual physical traces.

MRW InfoSecurity researchers were also able to develop scripts which leverage the functions within the Echo to stream audio to a remote server. This allowed them to remotely monitor and listen in on users and steal private information without Echo owners realizing what was happening.

Me? A spy?

Even if the likelihood of your Amazon Echo being attacked in this matter is pretty low, MRW InfoSecurity recommends users turn off the Echo’s microphone when they are not using the device to avoid someone potentially listening in.

Additionally, customers should avoid purchasing an Echo from third-party retailers and go straight to Amazon if they want to have one in their home.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 leak shows off the unreleased device

Dan Bartram
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With the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 only around 3 weeks away, we’re today treated with the clearest picture of what the device could look like so far.

Coming courtesy of notorious leaker Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Twitter, he shows what the Note 8 will look like. There’s not many surprises – the device features the same infinity bezel-less display as the Galaxy S8. Perhaps of most interest is that the Note 8 doesn’t appear to share the same rounded edges that the S8 has.

The Note 8 under the hood is expected to share a similar spec setup to that of the Galaxy S8. The main difference is that Samsung intend on providing 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage option with the Note 8 as well as obviously the accompanying S-Pen. We’re also expecting to see Samsung equip the Note 8 with Samsung’s first dual camera setup with two 12MP sensors with lenses of different focal lengths and both optically stabilized.

What do you think? Do you prefer the S8 or the squarer looking Note 8?

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