Motorola Moto G8 is finally official with Snapdragon 665 and triple rear cameras

The Moto G8 series has been a bit of an odd collection of devices. Motorola kicked off the series with the Moto G8 Plus and Moto G8 Play. The company then announced the Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus, which seem like they should be in the G8 family, but don’t share the branding. As all these phones have been launching, we’ve been waiting for the standard Moto G8. That day has arrived.

We’ve known about the Moto G8 for a while now. Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, published exclusive information about the device back in January. Leaked renders also revealed the design of the smartphone ahead of time. Today, Motorola is making the Moto G8 official and it confirms all of our previous reports.

As you would expect, the Moto G8 is an evolution of the Moto G7. There aren’t massive upgrades here, but a lot of little updates that should make for an improved device. Most notably, the processor has been bumped up to the Snapdragon 665 and there is a beefier 4,000mAh battery. Keeping with the internals, the Moto G8 has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

The Moto G8 has three cameras on the back this time. The main camera is 16MP and it is joined by an 8MP wide-angle camera and a 2MP macro camera. Motorola claims the main camera is “fast-focusing,” while the wide-angle camera with 119-degree FOV can fit “4x more in your frame.” The macro camera can get you “5x closer to your subject than a normal lens.” The front camera is 8MP in the punch-hole.

One area that is actually a downgrade from the Moto G7 is the display. Motorola has equipped the Moto G8 with a larger 6.4-inch LCD screen, but it’s lower resolution than the G7 (HD+ vs FHD+). Lowering the resolution on a larger display is never a good thing.

The Moto G8 is available today in Brazil for 1,299 Reals (~$282) and it will roll out over the coming weeks in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. The device will also be available in the UK via Amazon, Argos, and John Lewis for £179 (~$231).

Specification	Moto G8
Display	6.4-inch, HD+, single hole-punch
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
RAM	4GB
Storage	64GB
Rear Camera(s)	16MP 2MP Macro lens 8MP 119° wide-angle
Front Camera	8MP
Battery	4000mAh, 10W charging
Ports	USB-C, headphone jack
Software	Android 10
Security	Fingerprint scanner (physical)

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Source: Motorola

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TCL shows off two concept phones with rollable and tri-foldable displays

Smartphones started off as small-screen devices that could easily fit into our palm, and gradually gained bigger displays till the point they could not fit into our pockets. To shrink them back down again, the war on bezels eliminated all the holding areas on the front of the device, giving us our current generation of smartphones that have a near bezel-less experience. Foldables are considered to be the next big leap for the plateauing smartphone market, as they converge the ideas of maximizing screen size while balancing the size of the device. We’ve already seen a few foldable smartphones by now, like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, the Motorola Razr, and the Huawei Mate Xs, and all of them take different approaches in their execution. TCL has a few ideas of its own, so the company is now showing off two concept phones: one with a rollable display and one with a tri-foldable display.

TCL Concept with Rollable Display

This concept smartphone isn’t exactly a folding smartphone within the strict and conventional definition of the term. But it does utilize a flexible display to build upon the same concepts of a folding smartphone. This concept primarily shows off TCL’s display prowess through their partly-owned subsidiary, CSOT (China Star Optoelectronics Technology), as well as the room for innovation and thinking outside of the box when it comes to folding smartphones.

The TCL rollable display Concept phone claims to be the world’s first rollable extendable smartphone concept, and we are inclined to take their word for it.

As previously leaked, this concept phone uses internal motors to extend a 6.75″ AMOLED display to a 7.8″ display size at the press of a button. When not in use, a motor-driven sliding panel conceals the flexible display.

If you have difficulty imagining the rolling action on the device, think of it as a Xiaomi Mi MIX Alpha smartphone, but with a protective casing on the back display — the display is stored flat underneath the casing, and you can extend the device by pulling out on one side on the front.

The phone is said to be just 9mm thick, which is about the same as the Galaxy S20 Ultra, so it retains practical usability. TCL also claims that because of a larger axis and rolled display, the device has no wrinkles or creases, thus tackling one of the annoyances with current-generation folding smartphones. With this smartphone, one can enjoy some of the best qualities of all existing folding phone designs — you get a normal-sized phone opening into a bigger tablet, like the Galaxy Fold and the Mate Xs, but at the same time, you can protect the unused display and not leave it exposed on the other side while still avoiding packing a second display. And of course, no claimed creases or wrinkles.

TCL Concept with tri-folding display

If you want your smartphone to unfold into an even larger tablet, you should pay attention to this TCL Concept. It has a 6.65″ 3K AMOLED display with a 20.8:9 aspect ratio that can unfold on both sides to become a large 10″ tablet.

This concept utilizes both DragonHinge and ButterflyHinge hinge designs, one on either side. TCL claims that there is smooth folding inward and outward with a minimal gap, but these claims remain to be independently assessed.

Only one side of the phone is exposed when in phone-form, which is unlike the Xiaomi folding phone prototype that had two outward-folding sides that left the screen exposed on both the front and back in the phone-form. We are also unsure of why TCL is referring to this concept as a tri-fold display when there are only two folds on it — one inward and one outward. Maybe they are referring to the display partition?

Pricing and Availability

As the names would imply, both of these are concept smartphones. There is no pricing or availability information on these phones, which is to be expected when the word “concept” is used. It is also not immediately clear whether TCL will be showcasing prototypes of these concepts at any future event.

What are your thoughts on TCL’s new rollable display concept and tri-fold concept? Let us know in the comments below!

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Remap the power button on the Samsung Galaxy S20 with sideActions

Customization is a key feature that gives Android smartphones a leg up over their iOS counterparts. Android users love to customize the functionality of each aspect of their phones and the Play Store is chock full of apps that allow you to do just that. Earlier this week, we talked about the aodNotify app for the Galaxy S20 series, which allows you to preview notifications using the Always On Display functionality. And now, we’re back again with a handy app called sideActions that lets you remap the power button the Galaxy S20 devices.

The sideActions app was initially launched back in September last year, following the launch of the Galaxy Note 10 series, and allowed users to remap the S Pen button on the devices. The developer has since updated the app and it now officially supports the new Galaxy S20 series. With the app, you can easily remap the power button to perform any action, like mute your phone, turn on the flashlight, and launch the Google Assistant, or you can use it to launch your favorite apps.

Additionally, the app also lets you remap the volume buttons on your Galaxy S20 and use them to skip tracks while listening to music, or do pretty much whatever you like. The app even supports per-app remapping, which means that you can trigger different actions depending on the app you’re currently in. However, in order to make any of this happen, the app requires a permission that you’ll need to enable using either the included Windows app or manually via ADB. If all of this sounds interesting, you can download the sideActions app from the Play Store link below and take it for a spin on your Galaxy S20. Here’s a list of all the supported features and actions:

Features:

• Doube and long press supported
• Remap the Power Button/side key on Galaxy S20!
• Launch Google Assistant with the Power Button
• Remap the Volume buttons!
• Per app remapping
• Turn on the flashlight with the Power Button
• Disable the Power Button
• Skip tracks with the volume buttons
• High performance! No lags!
• No annoying ads

Actions:

• Turn on flashlight
• Take a screenshot
• Mute phone
• Answer phone calls
• Launch Google Assistant
• Launch camera or any other app
• Switch to last app
• Disable the Power Button
• 35+ actions

Power Button Remapper for S20 Note10 - sideActions (Free⁺, Google Play) →

sideActions thread on the Galaxy S20 Ultra forums

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Twitter now lets you pin lists as tabs, tests “Fleets”, and starts rolling out threaded replies for Android

If you’re an avid Twitter user, you’d already know that the platform’s Lists feature can really help you streamline your feed and make it easier for you to follow specific topics or people. In a bid to make accessing these lists even easier, Twitter is now rolling out a new feature that will allow users to pin lists as tabs right next to the main timeline. According to a recent tweet from the official Twitter Support handle, this new feature has already started rolling out to Twitter on Android and it lets you easily swipe over to your custom lists directly from the home tab.

On Android? Now you can pin Lists to swipe over to them from your Home tab too!

We’re rolling this out starting today. https://t.co/jbLZpi4joG

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 3, 2020

As Android Police explains, the feature can be found within the Lists option in the side menu on the Twitter app. To pin any list as a tab, all you need to do is tap on the new pin icon next to the list and it’ll instantly appear right next to the main timeline on the app’s home screen. However, before you can access the tabbed list, you’ll need to close the Twitter app and launch it again to trigger the tabbed interface. The feature allows you to pin up to five of your favorite lists for quick access.

We’ve been listening to this feedback and working to create new capabilities that address some of the anxieties that hold people back from talking on Twitter. Today, in Brazil only, we’re starting a test (on Android and iOS) for one of those new capabilities. It’s called Fleets. pic.twitter.com/6MLs8irb0c

— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) March 4, 2020

Along with the aforementioned tabbed lists feature, Twitter is also testing a new feature called “Fleets” which will allow users to share temporary tweets that disappear after 24 hours. According to a recent string of tweets from Kayvon Beykpour, product lead at Twitter, these new Fleets won’t crowd your timeline and can only be viewed by tapping on your avatar. He further reveals that the only way users can interact with Fleets is by sending a DM to the poster, with no option to Retweet, Like or post a public reply. As of now, the new Fleets feature is only being rolled out to Twitter users in Brazil, with no information from the company regarding a wider rollout.

Furthermore, Twitter is also rolling out threaded replies on Android, which was previously being tested on iOS. Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, has already received the feature on his device and, just as you’d expect, it makes browsing through replies a whole lot easier. The attached screenshot above shows how the threaded replies should appear on your device once the feature finally rolls out to more users.

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Source: Twitter Support, Kayvon Beykpour

Via: Android Police

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Realme Band launched in India alongisde the Realme 6 series

At the recently concluded Realme 6 series launch event in Delhi, the company finally lifted the covers off the Realme 6 and the Realme 6 Pro. The new devices are a major step up from the Realme 5 series from last year and offer some features that were previously limited to flagship devices, including 90Hz high refresh rate displays with hole-punch cutouts for the selfie cameras and support for 30W fast charging. Along with the Realme 6 series, the company also launched its first fitness tracker — the Realme Band.

Much like other fitness trackers in the market today, the Realme Band offers features that cover all your basic fitness tracking needs, including step tracking, automatic heart rate measurement, sleep detection, a water reminder, and a sedentary reminder. For these functions, the band packs in a 3-axis accelerometer and a heart rate sensor (HX3600). Along with the aforementioned fitness features, the Realme Band also includes 9 sports functions to track your activity while playing cricket, cycling, hiking, etc.

In terms of design, the Realme Band looks a lot like other fitness trackers in the market and it has a rectangular polycarbonate body with a 0.96-inch TFT-LCD color display that has a resolution of 80×160 pixels. Sadly though, it isn’t a touch screen like most other fitness bands in the market and features a single capacitive button underneath to allow users to cycle through all the settings.

On the bright side, the Realme Band has an integrated USB Type-A connector hidden underneath one of the removable TPU straps that you can use for charging and data syncing, which is a much better alternative to the proprietary charging docks that come with most other fitness trackers. Powering the Realme Band is a 90mAh battery that is rated for 6-9 days of battery life, depending on whether you use the automatic heart rate measurement or not. The band comes with IP68 rating for dust and water resistance and it connects to your smartphone using the new Realme Link app over Bluetooth 4.2LE.

Speaking of Realme Link, not only will the app allow you to keep a track of the fitness data collected by the Realme Band, but it will also serve as an interface for all upcoming IoT products from the company. It will also let you manage your Realme Buds Air, with options to customize its gestures, update the firmware, and keep a track of the battery life.

Pricing and Availability

The Realme Band will be available on Realme’s website starting today and it will soon be available on Amazon as well. The band has been priced at ₹1,499 and will be available in three color variants — Ink Black, Olive Green, and Light Yellow.

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Realme 6 and 6 Pro launched in India with 90Hz hole-punch displays and 30W fast charging

Realme has had a great start this year with the launch of the budget-friendly Realme C3 and its first 5G flagship, the Realme X50 Pro. In my review of the Realme C3, I found the MediaTek Helio G70 powered device to be a great option for mobile gamers on a budget, while Adam from our team described the Realme X50 Pro as a “well-thought-out package with good features and great performance“‘. So when the company announced that it will be launching the Realme 6 series in India late last month, I had high hopes for the upcoming devices. At the time, the company had revealed that the Realme 6 series, will feature a 64MP main camera, 90Hz display, and support for 30W fast charging. Realme has now finally launched the Realme 6 series in India and both the devices in the series look to be compelling options, especially at their respective price points.

Realme 6

To kick things off, let’s first take a look at the Realme 6, which is a direct successor to the Realme 5 from last year. In terms of specifications alone, Realme has taken a big leap from Realme 5 to Realme 6 and the new device has a lot more to offer. The Realme 6 features a 6.5-inch FHD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a single circular hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera. The display has a touch sampling rate of 120Hz and a maximum brightness of 480 nits, which is a major step up from the Realme 5’s 720p display with a notch.

On the inside, the Realme 6 is powered by MediaTek’s Helio G90T (MT6785) SoC, coupled with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage. In comparison, the Realme 5 from last year packed in a Snapdragon 665 chip, coupled with up to 4GB RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC storage. Once again, the Realme 6 is a significant upgrade. Even in the camera department, the Realme 6 offers much more. The device has a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra wide camera, a 2MP dedicated macro camera, and a 2MP mono sensor, presumably, for depth perception. On the front, the device has a single 16MP selfie shooter. Powering the Realme 6 is a respectable 4,300 mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging.

Both the devices feature a similar design, with an aluminum alloy frame, a polycarbonate back with a vertical camera module, a capacitive fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button on the right edge and volume buttons on the left edge. Both the devices also include a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing. Potential buyers will also be glad to know that both the Realme 6 and 6 Pro feature a triple-slot SIM tray, which will allow you to use two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card for expansion at the same time. Now that we’ve addressed all the common features in the two devices, let’s take a look at what makes the more premium Realme 6 Pro tick.

Specifications	Realme 6
Dimensions & Weight	162.1 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm 191g
Display	6.5-inch LCD 1080 x 2400 20:9 aspect ratio Gorilla Glass 3 90Hz refresh rate 120Hz touch sampling rate
SoC	MediaTek Helio G90T (12nm) 2 x Arm Cortex-A76 @ 2.05GHz 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz Mali G76 GPU
RAM	4GB/6GB/8GB
Storage	64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 Dedicated microSD slot
Battery	4,300mAh, 30W charging via USB Type-C
Fingerprint Sensor	Capacitive
Rear Camera	64MP, f/1.8 8MP ultra-wide, 119°, f/2.3 2MP macro sensor, f/2.4 2MP mono, f/2.4 1080p video recording at 60fps 4K video recording at 30fps
Front Camera	16MP, f/2.0 1080p video recording at 30fps
Android Version	Realme UI based on Android 10
Colors	Comet Blue, Comet White

Realme 6 Pro

As with the Realme 6, the Realme 6 Pro offers a major spec bump over the Realme 5 Pro from last year, especially in a couple of key areas. The device packs in a 6.6-inch FHD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate, 120Hz touch sampling rate, and 480 nits of peak brightness. In comparison, the Realme 5 Pro featured a 6.3-inch FHD+ display with a 60Hz refresh rate and 450 nits of peak brightness.

On the inside, the 6 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 720G (SM7125) chip, with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage. Qualcomm announced the new Snapdragon 720G chip earlier this year in January and the Realme 6 Pro is the first smartphone to make use of this chip. It’ll be interesting to see how it compares with some of the other upper mid-range chips in the market today, so make sure you stick around for our full review of the Realme 6 Pro.

 

In the camera department, the 6 Pro also offers a quad-camera setup with a 64MP primary shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, a 12MP telephoto camera, and a 2MP macro camera. Up on the front, the device features two selfie shooters, with a 16MP camera that has a 79.3° FoV and an 8MP ultra-wide camera with a 105° FoV. Both the cameras are housed within a pill-shaped hole punch cutout in the top left corner. As with the Realme 6, the Realme 6 Pro also packs in a 4,300mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging. As far as the software is concerned, both the Realme 6 and the 6 Pro run Realme UI v1.0 based on Android 10 which is slowly rolling out to more Realme devices.

Specifications	Realme 6 Pro
Dimensions & Weight	163.9 x 75.8 x 9.4 mm 195g
Display	6.6-inch LCD 1080 x 2400 20:9 aspect ratio Gorilla Glass 5 90Hz refresh rate 120Hz touch sampling rate
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (8nm) 2 x Arm Cortex-A76 @ 2.3GHz 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz Adreno 618 GPU
RAM	6GB/8GB
Storage	64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 Dedicated microSD slot
Battery	4,300mAh, 30W charging via USB Type-C
Fingerprint Sensor	Capacitive
Rear Camera	64MP, f/1.8 8MP ultra-wide, 119°, f/2.3 12MP telephoto sensor, f/2.5 2MP macro, f/2.4 1080p video recording at 60fps 4K video recording at 30fps
Front Camera	16MP, f/2.2 8MP ultra-wide, 105°, f/2.2 1080p video recording at 30fps
Android Version	Realme UI based on Android 10
Colors	Lightning Blue, Lightning Orange

Pricing and Availability

The Realme 6 and 6 Pro will be available for purchase on Flipkart starting from March 11th and March 13th, respectively. Realme is offering both the devices in two color variants each, with the Realme 6 available in a Comet Blue and Comet White finish and the Realme 6 Pro available in a Lightning Blue and Lightning Orange finish. The Realme 6 will be available at a starting price of ₹12,999 for the 4/64GB variant, while the 6/128GB and 8/128GB variants have been priced at ₹14,999 and ₹15,999, respectively. The more premium 6 Pro will be available for ₹16,999 for the 6/64GB variant, going up to ₹17,999 and ₹18,999, for the 6/128GB and 8/128GB variants, respectively.

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Project Sandcastle brings Android to the iPhone 7 using checkra1n

Apple makes some interesting consumer hardware in the form of the iPhone. Apple exercises complete control over the hardware and software of the iPhone and its other devices, enabling it to deliver an arguably unparalleled experience. This experience lets them charge heavy markups on their products, and several consumers are fine with this cost for the luxury of “it just works“. But all of this control from Apple has given its products and their underlying experiences the analogy of a “walled garden” — you can only enjoy the experiences that Apple wants you to enjoy, and experience nothing else, good or bad. So even after you pay exorbitant amounts of money for exciting hardware, you don’t truly own the hardware — you merely have the license to use it within the boundaries set by Apple. Several developers disagree with these boundaries, and they set out to remedy the situation with Project Sandcastle, allowing you to run Android on your Apple iPhone 7.

Project Sandcastle is the work of the team at Corellium, which consists of the same people who were credited for booting Android on the original iPhone more than ten years ago. As Project Sandcastle notes in its product philosophy:

Where sandboxes set limits and boundaries, sandcastles provide an opportunity to create something new from the limitless bounds of your imagination. Project Sandcastle is about building something new on the silicon of your hardware.

The iPhone restricts users to operate inside a sandbox. But when you buy an iPhone, you own the iPhone hardware. Android for the iPhone gives you the freedom to run a different operating system on that hardware.

This time around, Project Sandcastle lets you boot Android 10 on the Apple iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and the iPod Touch. The project makes extensive use of the checkra1n jailbreak to launch, the same one that you use to jailbreak your iPhone via a rooted Android. Work is on to expand the project to the other iPhones included in the checkra1n jailbreak, but for now, you are restricted to just these three devices. The silver lining is that the vulnerabilities that have been used to make the checkra1n jailbreak, and consequently Project Sandcastle, possible are extremely unlikely to be fixed.  So the methods will theoretically work in perpetuity on the entire range of vulnerable iPhones, removing the “what’s the point? Apple will fix it with an update” dissuasion from the efforts.

Here is an iPhone 7 booting Android ! pic.twitter.com/cfCdSEzTbo

— matteyeux (@matteyeux) March 4, 2020

There are a fair few major caveats with installing and using Android on your iPhone. For one, major functions like Bluetooth, Audio, Cellular connectivity, and Camera do not work. From our understanding, Project Sandcastle also cannot ship a build of Android with GMS (Google Mobile Services) included, and there appears no way like a custom recovery to flash it separately either — so you can’t access any Google apps like the Play Store or use apps that rely on GMS functions. The Android installation itself is not permanent either, so you lose your data and your Android OS when you reboot. On the plus side, you can simply reboot back into iOS when you need your phone to be a phone (with the caveat that the space claimed for the Android OS will still be reserved). The beta disclaimer still applies: this is in beta, so do not try it on hardware that you cannot risk losing.

Working features for Android on iPhone/iPod. Support is currently limited to iPhone 7, 7 Plus and iPod Touch 7th Gen

To download and install the Android build under Project Sandcastle, head on over to the official website. Instructions for installation are present inside the Readme within the downloaded file. Keep in mind that you do need to have checkra1n installed on your iDevice already, and you need either a Mac or Linux for further installation. Scripts take care of the process, for the most part, so the overall process is surprisingly not difficult for what it is trying to achieve: actual freaking Android on an iPhone.

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Source: Project Sandcastle
Story Via: Forbes

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