Nextbit Robin visits DxO Labs, scores an 81

Good thing you're getting those 100GB of cloud storage with the Nextbit Robin smartphone, as you may just wish to load it all up with photos. Or, in other words, the Robin's 13MP camera posted an 81 overall score on DxO Mark.

The reviewers praised the one-of-a-kind smartphone for detail preservation in both daylight and low light, and for its vivid color reproduction. "A standout performance for autofocus" too, rated at a solid 90. The folks at DxO Labs were less impressed with the Robin's occasionally inaccurate white balance and somewhat limited dynamic range.

In video recording the Nextbit Robin exhibited good autofocus behavior and in bright light also good noise suppression. Not as admirable was the low-light performance, and certain tremor and jitter artefacts were observed.

The 81 points score in still imaging puts the Nextbit Robin in some fine flagship company, at least according to DxO's methodology. That, and the fact that the flagships in question are the aging Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z3, both two points behind at. A notch ahead of it we find the iPhone 6s and the Blackberry Priv, but the top scorers remain the HTC 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge with an 88 figure each.

Here are LeEco's USB Type-C headphones with lossless audio

LeEco thinks that analog audio connectors like the 3.5mm audio jack are a thing of the past and starting with the new Le trio is moving to an all-digital solution called CDLA. This stands for Continual Digital Lossless Audio and has already been certified by the Music Association of China.

Headphones will be plugged into the USB Type-C port, which will stream lossless audio to a decoder chip inside the headphones themselves. One benefit of this setup is that it simplifies noise reduction - analog headphones typically need batteries to power the electronics necessary for noise reduction (there are exceptions, like some high-end Sony headphones, which work only with Xperia phones).

At first, two pairs of headphones will be available. The big over-ear headphones have noise reduction (comparable to BOSE QC25, says LeEco) and "solid bass."

There are smaller in-ear plugs that feature 14mm moving coils and bass that tops Apple's EarPods (again, says LeEco).

These initial headphones will be manufactured by FIIL, but ideally others will join in too since now there's slim choice. Apple is rumored to drop the 3.5mm audio jack and go all in on the Lightning port, but that won't help with the availability of USB Type-C headphones.

PS. LeEco's slide lists "reversible connector" as a feature. Have they seen a 3.5mm jack?

Stamina mode is back with Marshmallow update rolling out for Japanese Xperia Z5's

Sony's iconic Stamina battery saving mode marks a return in the latest Marshmallow update rolled out by Japanese carrier NTT docomo. The new firmware is arriving as we speak on current flagship models Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium, as well as on the Xperia Z4 (a Japanese-exclusive name of the global Xperia Z3+).

Earlier Sony Marshmallow builds had the feature removed, instead letting Android do the dozing on its own. Putting inactive apps to sleep is only part of what Stamina does, though - turning off functions like Wi-Fi and mobile data to save power is also among its abilities.

From the screenshots it doesn't look like Ultra Stamina mode is making a comeback. That used to be a basic mode of sorts which only allowed access to a handful of features like dialer, contacts and messaging, to let you get the absolute longest endurance.

So far Stamina has made it to Sony Marshmallow builds for the above four models, and only in Japan. We should expect it to arrive in other regions in the near future.

Intel announces huge layoffs, affecting 11% of total workforce

Massive job cuts are coming at Intel. The world's largest PC chip-maker has announced that it will lay off nearly 12,000 employees globally, which translates into around 11% of the California-based company's total workforce.

The firm - which had a total of about 107,300 employees at the end of last year - said that majority of those on the layoff list will be notified within the next couple of months, while noting that the job cut process may take almost a year to complete.

Intel expects this restructuring will help the company save a total of $750 million in 2016, with the figure nearing $1.5 billion by the middle of next year. Moving forward, the chip-maker said it will focus more on "growing" areas including convertibles, IoT, and gaming.

LeEco unveils Le Max 2 with 6GB RAM and Snapdragon 820

LeEco brought out the big guns - a trio of Le phones with large screens, gobs of processing power and advanced cameras. There's one thing lacking though - a 3.5mm audio jack, the USB Type-C port takes over.

LeEco Le Max 2

This is the leader of the pack with a 5.7" QHD screen (1,440 x 2,560px) and a Snapdragon 820 chipset coupled with the impressive 6GB RAM. The phone runs a current Android 6.0 Marshmallow with EUI 5.5. For storage you get a choice of 32GB and 64GB. Note that only the 64GB model comes with 6GB RAM, the 32GB option has "only" 4GB.

The camera is a 21MP shooter with an IMX230 sensor and optical image stabilization, f/2.0 aperture and phase detection AF. There's an 8MP selfie camera too.

The LeEco Le Max 2 uses Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor technology. It also uses Quick Charge 3.0 for its 3,100mAh battery. On the connectivity side, there's dual-SIM, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.1 and, yes, USB Type-C.

The LeEco Le Max 2 will set you back CNY 2,100 ($325/€285) for the 3GB/32GB version and CNY 2,500 ($385/€340) for the 6GB/64GB model.

LeEco Le 2 Pro

This one dials back the screen size - 5.5" 1080p - and processing power, MediaTek Helio X25 with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage. It still runs Android 6.0 with EUI 5.5.

The camera drops the OIS but retains the 21MP IMX230 sensor with phase detection AF, plus the 8MP selfie cam. Connectivity is similar to the Max 2, while the battery is 3,000mAh with fast charging.

This phone features CDLA - Continual Digital Lossless Audio, which pumps out lossless audio out of the Type-C port. The fingerprint reader is the traditional kind.

The LeEco Le 2 Pro will cost CNY 1,500 ($230/€205).

LeEco Le 2

The baby of the trio is still pretty big with a 5.5" 1080p screen. It uses a MediaTek Helio X20 chipset (the X25 is an overclocked version of this chipset) with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. The OS is Android 6.0 with EUI 5.5.

The LeEco Le 2 has a 16MP main camera and an 8MP selfie cam. Note that these selfie cams have large 1.4µm pixels. You still get a fingerprint sensor, 3,000mAh battery with fast charge and audio over USB Type-C.

The LeEco Le 2 is the cheapest of the three at CNY 1,100 ($170/€150).

New Moto G4 Plus render leaks, shows off the complete device

Last week, Evan Blass - who goes by the Twitter handle @evleaks - shared an image alleged to be of the Motorola Moto G4 Plus. The image, however, revealed only the bottom portion of the device's front-panel.

Now, the leakster has shared another image of the handset, and this time it shows off the complete front as well as back of the device.

The image reveals a square-shaped fingerprint sensor on the front, and a camera setup (including an apparent laser autofocus module) with vertical strip design on the back. Sadly, nothing else - including specs, pricing, and availability - is currently known about the device.

This comes just a few days after similar looking images alleged to be of the fourth-generation Moto G leaked online.

Dual-camera sporting Honor V8 to be unveiled next month

Huawei's sub-brand Honor will launch a new smartphone next month. The Chinese company released an official teaser image confirming that a device named V8 will be unveiled on May 10.

While nothing else was explicitly revealed by the company, the teaser image does indicate that the handset will sport a dual camera setup. As for the other specs, rumors say the Honor V8 will be powered by the home-grown Kirin 950 chipset, while RAM will be 4GB.

The camera department is said to be handled by two 12MP units similar to the way it is in the case of the Huawei P9, but sans Leica lens. The device is also rumored to come with a fingerprint sensor with payment authentication capabilities.

New 'Pink Gold' color variant of Galaxy S7 and S7 edge launched

Samsung has launched a new Pink Gold color variant of its newest flagships - the Galaxy S7and S7 edge. The new color has been released today in Samsung's home country of South Korea, with the company saying that it will soon be available in select other markets as well.

"Pink Gold was chosen as it, like the other colors available for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, is a natural color that provides a sense of comfort," Samsung said in a blog post. "These hues glitter and shimmer as if illuminated from inside their glass surfaces."

In case you aren't in the know, both the flagship smartphones are already available in Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, White Pearl, and Silver Titanium color options.

Moto G (4th gen) now leaks in hands-on video

Yesterday we saw some leaked images depicting Motorola's upcoming 4th generation Moto G, and today the device has leaked yet again. This time around however we're treated to a brief hands-on video of the handset.

The video does a good job of showing us all of the new Moto G's angles, but one thing is missing in this representation of the phone - the fingerprint scanner that we saw on the front in yesterday's shots.

Otherwise though, the design is identical, so we assume that the prototype in the video is simply an earlier iteration of the device, and the fingerprint reader was only added in a more recent incarnation.

The new Moto G will have a slight camera bump, and its power and volume buttons will all be on the right side. The earpiece seems to double as a speaker, and the back of the phone will probably be removable.

Other details aren't available at the moment, so we'll have to wait for some more leaks to pop up in order to find out anything about the new Moto G's internals, or when it will be released and how much it will cost.

Sony Xperia X Premium reportedly coming with HDR display

This February Sony bid farewell to its Z line of smartphones as it introduced the new Xperia X,Xperia X Performance, and Xperia XA. And now it seems like a new member will be added to the X family at some point in the near future.

We're talking about the Xperia X Premium, which according to a new rumor is going to be the successor to the Z5 Premium from last year. That particular device was the first smartphone to sport a display capable of showing 4K content, and if this report is accurate then the X Premium's main differentiator will be the screen too.

Namely, it's said to come with an HDR display, something that would be a first for the mobile world (but is becoming more and more widespread in TVs). This will allegedly mean it will be capable of displaying 1.07 billion colors, compared to the 16.8 million color depth of every other high-end device out there.

The Xperia X Premium is also apparently going to feature 120Hz refresh rate, 2,000:1 contrast ratio, and it will have the brightest display panel ever put into a phone. It will offer 1,000 nits of "white brightness" and could actually go up to a whopping 1,300 nits, which is more than twice as much as the 539 nits the Samsung Galaxy S7 can achieve.

The upcoming handset should be powered by the Snapdragon 820 chip from Qualcomm, aided by 3GB of RAM. It will have a USB Type-C connector. It is however unclear when it will launch.

Marshmallow for Samsung Galaxy S5 to be more widely available as update starts hitting model SM-G900F

Nearly a month after Samsung started rolling out the Marshmallow update to the Galaxy S5, the most widely available model (SM-G900F) of the South Korean company's 2014 flagship has begun receiving the update.

Currently, the update - which brings Marshmallow version 6.0.1 - is hitting units in SriLanka, with European and other SM-G900Fs likely to get it soon.

Given that the roll-out has just begun, it may take some time for the update to hit your Galaxy S5. However, if you're feeling impatient, you can manually check for it by heading to theSettings menu on your device.

IHS: Xiaomi shipped 14.8 million phones in Q1 2016

According to IHS Technology's analyst Kevin Wang, Xiaomi has managed to sell 14.8 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2016. This number includes sales outside China as well.

For the same period last year, the company managed to ship roughly the same number of phones - 14.98 million. While it's certainly not the growth the company hoped for, it's not too shabby either. In 2015, Xiaomi sold 70 million units and didn't meet its own expectations of 80 million units.

Xiaomi started 2016 on a strong note with the Mi 5 and the Redmi 3 Pro. The 6.4" Xiaomi Maxis also expected to be an interesting addition to the company's product lineup.