Computer World

OnePlus 5T design As with many things in the technology industry, once it's clear that a new feature or specification has everyone talking, almost every company under the sun will race to adopt it. It's interesting when it comes to taller screens, because for the first time in a very long time, there's something visibly different about smartphones right now. It's easy to feel that there is a tangible reason to upgrade when you see a nearly borderless 18:9 screen on a smartphone for the first time - more so than improved camera quality, software or battery life, this is something physical that you can see in front of you. It's aesthetically pleasing, and immediately a line is drawn between the old and the new. OnePlus isn't the first company to launch such a phone; not by a long shot. When placed side by side with the   Oppo F5  ( Review ), the similarities in their proportions are obvious. Much the same can be said about the   Honor 9i  ( Review ),   Vi...

Google on Wednesday announced its powerful Assistant technology will start rolling out to even more devices, including tablets running Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Google Assistant’s wider rollout is great news for Android users, as it brings the technology to many more consumers. Seeing it on tablets is especially exciting since the market of Android tablets hasn’t exactly been on fire. The rollout also applies to phones running Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is still a big contingent of Android’s larger user base. If you’re in the U.S., UK, India, Australia, Canada, or Singapore, you should see Assistant sometime today or in the next few days. Google said Assistant for tablets should be available in the coming weeks to users in the U.S. If you haven’t had the opportunity to use Google’s Assistant, the platform is capable of engaging in two-way conversations, along with setting reminders and integrating with smart home devices.

Samsung announced a new duo of phones on Tuesday, and they’re offering high-end qualities on a budget. The Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018) resemble the company’s flagships but don’t carry the premium price tag. Both have an Infinity Display, which has never left the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series until now, and two front-facing cameras. Design-wise, these do look similar to the   Galaxy S8   and   Galaxy Note 8   from earlier in the year. Samsung gave them curved glass on the front and back while the frame is made of metal. Usually, it’s plastic relegated to its mid-range products. There’s also Samsung Pay, the mobile payments platform working with MST- and NFC-ready terminals. And, like the flagships, the Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ have IP68 water and dust resistance. Even virtual reality support through the Gear VR was worked in, making these the first phones from the Galaxy A series to be compatible with the headset. Samsung didn’t spare much. T...

This year’s   OnePlus 5   was a great option for anyone looking to spend around $500 on a new smartphone, but there was some room for improvement. That’s why   OnePlus   is launching a brand new flagship, the   OnePlus 5T . We’ve got the official OnePlus 5T specs, and there are some notable improvements to discuss. The most notable difference between the OnePlus 5T and the 5 are the displays. The 5T comes with a 6.01-inch AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, while the OnePlus 5 had a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. Aside from that, both devices are basically the same under the hood. The 5T is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform, and comes with 6 or 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM (an upgrade from the 5’s LPDDR4 RAM), 64 or 128 GB of storage, and a 3,300 mAh battery. It also comes with a 16 and 20 MP dual rear camera setup, a front-facing 16 MP shooter, and, yes, a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Also, with the shif...

The development of 5G is presenting business opportunities not only for those building next-generation network technologies, such as   Huawei and ZTE , but also for those designing components for future consumer and business products. Processor and modem packages for 5G products are just as important, and the big names in silicon design, including Qualcomm and Intel, are already laying out their plans. Intel’s plan is to cater to its customers with 5G solutions from the cloud to the edge. Leveraging its experience in servers and its Xeon line-up of processors for cloud computing and big data, down to modem technologies for consumer products at the edge. Speaking of servers, Qualcomm appears to be taking a similar approach to providing a comprehensive range of solutions, having recently launched its  Centriq 2400 server processor . Although we in the mobile space may not come across Intel very often these days, the company has been hard at work testing and trialing 5G ...

Last year marked an important shift for Google’s mobile efforts — gone are the days of developer-focused Nexus hardware. We’re now living in a time where Google makes its own smartphones (with some help from other manufacturers) to compete head-to-head with the other devices dominating the Android space. With a bigger focus on appealing to  all  users (not just developers and the most die-hard Android purists), the  Google Pixel  and  Pixel XL  offered a fantastic camera, stellar performance, a refined software experience, and, at least at the time, the Pixel-exclusive Google Assistant. As great as the Pixels may have been last year, though, there was some obvious room for improvement. Now Google is back with the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, perhaps two of the most-anticipated phones of the year. Here’s what you need to know about the company’s new flagship smartphones. Pixel design, refined. You’ve probably noticed by now that the Pixel 2 and Pix...