Image credit: Notebook Italia

We always knew the iPhone X imitators would be coming, but it's still a bit of a surprise that they've come so soon. 

A few days ago we reported that it looks as though the unannounced Huawei P11 will have an iPhone X-style notch, but a new report from Notebook Italia suggests the similarities run far deeper than that. In fact, the upcoming device may have its own Face ID-style unlocking technology that takes inspiration from Apple's TrueDepth sensors and possibly improves on them.

The "proof" involves some speculation, but it's not hard to connect the dots. Following the leaked images of the new "notched" device, Huawei held a launch event for the Honor 7X and the Honor View 10 where it also announced upcoming technology it calls the "Point Cloud Depth Camera."

The new camera has multiple sensors that project infrared points of light at the viewer's face, allowing accurate mapping for both identifications and animations based on facial movements.

A familiar face

Sound familiar? It doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to envision this new tech doing its thing from behind the rumored notch.

Huawei isn't hiding the brazen imitation; in fact, it's claiming its technology is better. In a hands-on demonstration (below), Honor device engineer Matthew Leone showed the technology in action and claimed it was more accurate and therefore safer than Apple's Face ID.

Supposedly it's safe enough for payment authentication and accurate down to less than one millimeter.  It reportedly unlocks the device at around 400ms. The rep didn't explicitly tie the tech to the P11, but at this point we'd be surprised if the Point Cloud Depth Camera doesn't show up in the device.

As we reported just yesterday, many Huawei reps have been saying the new phone will appear sometime within the first quarter of next year, and past unveiling suggests it'll make its first onstage appearance at the Mobile World Congress beginning on February 26.

• CES 2018 will have its own gadget surprises

Image credit: Samsung/US Patent Office

There's a new patent out for Samsung featuring a smartphone with a screen that wraps around the edge and partly onto the back of the device, as discovered by LetsGoDigital. 

The patent was originally filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in September of last year, but wasn't published until today. 

The patent contains 10 diagrams, but doesn't say much else about the device. It certainly doesn't explain what the point of the wraparound screen would be, which only goes about halfway around the back of the phone. 

At the very least you can see some app icons drawn onto the illustration of the display, some sitting right on the edge. That's gotta be hard to click on.

That's a wrap

This isn't an entirely new concept. In fact, Apple secured a patent for a phone with a wraparound display of its own last year, three years after it was granted a very similar patent in 2013.  LG also won a patent for a phone with an "ornamental" wraparound screen earlier this year.

In Apple's case, though, the OLED screen used for the device wraps entirely around the whole phone. Weirdly, it's not immediately obvious where you'd put the camera on any of Apple's, Samsung's or LG's proposed devices. 

Samsung in particular is known for bringing this kind of experimental technology to its phones. Long before this, for instance, there was also the Samsung Galaxy Round, which featured a curved display.  

The latest patent is also not the first time that we've used the word "wraparound" in reference to a Samsung smartphone screen: that honor would go to the Galaxy Note Edge. The Galaxy Note Edge, though, wasn't a true wraparound as we see in the current patent, as the screen merely extended over the edges of the grips rather than around to the back. Samsung would also use this concept for the Galaxy S7.

One of the most memorable patents, for instance, dealt with a fordable smartphone, and there are credible rumors floating about that we may actually see the long-awaited device in the form of the so-called "Samsung Galaxy X "at CES 2018. 

• Why embedded fingerprint sensors will make phones look boring 

(Above) The Samsung Galaxy A7.

Selfies are probably about to get a lot more artsy, at least if you plan on picking up a Samsung Galaxy A8 or A8 Plus next year. How do we know? Why, it’s in the manual.

Somehow the manual for the still-unannounced Samsung Galaxy A8 got uploaded to Samsung’s website, and above all, it reveals that the upcoming phone will have two front-facing cameras, as Android Police discovered. 

(One note: This isn't the same Galaxy A8 that was released in China a couple of years ago, and there's always a possibility the name might change as a result.)

There’s not much other new information available than that, but it’s potentially exciting as it means you’ll soon be able to take selfies with the backgrounds blurred and the focus entirely on beautiful you.

According to a YouTube video from a user in Bangladesh that was quickly taken down today, the two front cameras shoot photos in 16MP and 8MP respectively. The video seemed to confirm much of the other information in the manual and provide additional information.

Dual selfie cameras marks a smart move, as Samsung’s Live Focus mode (or Apple’s Portrait mode) are far more likely to be used by selfie takers than people taking shots of their friends. I mean, let’s be honest.

Dual rear cameras have been a feature on many high-end smartphones for a couple of years now, but only rarely have we seen them on the front. The Lenovo Vibe S1 was an early exception.

A galaxy to explore

And that’s about all the big news the manual reveals, aside from the happy  discovery that the fingerprint sensor has finally been moved below the rear-facing camera (which, notably, appears to be a single lens).

The rest of the diagrams show fairly predictable or at least unsurprising stuff, such as thin bezels and an 18:9 aspect ratio for the "Infinity" display that resembles that of the Samsung Galaxy S8. The devices will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and they retain their increasingly endangered earphone jacks.

There’s no word on when Samsung will properly announce the devices, but good guesses would probably be CES 2018 or MWC 2018.

• These are the best Bluetooth speakers available right now

Google is experimenting with photography, and it's inviting us to join in on the fun. 

Today the tech giant released three different apps focusing on experimental tech along the lines of object recognition, person segmentation, algorithms for stylization and image encoding, but for all that lofty language, they mostly resemble the one-trick-pony apps you often see on Google and rival Apple's app stores.

Storyboard is probably the most conceptually interesting, and it's an Android exclusive. The idea is that you shoot a video, and then the app will pick out what it thinks are the most interesting frames and use them to produce a single image that looks a bit like a movie storyboard or a page from a comic book.

As the name implies, Selfissimo! focuses on selfies. Once you give the app the go-ahead, it starts automatically taking selfies every time it senses that you've stopped moving, creating an experience that's a little like a photo booth or a personal fashion photo shoot. Unfortunately, you can only take photos in black and white. On the bright side, though, you can download it for both Android and iOS.

Interestingly enough, Google released the Scrubbies app solely for iOS. It's a video app that allows you a greater degree of control over the speed and direction seen in specific scenes, which in turn allows you to make video loops and replay key scenes at a preferred speed.

Google, a little awkwardly, calls the trio "appsperiments." The upshot appears to be that the features found in the apps could eventually make their way into Google's own native camera app if they prove popular and successful enough, and even now it's cool to see what's possible with current mobile camera technology.

Google also says these apps mark the "first installment" in a series, so other fun photography and video apps should also be on the way soon.

• These are all the Android Wear watches getting the Oreo update

Image credit: Target

Paying for items used to be so simple, but it continues to grow more complicated with the introduction of mobile wallets for specific companies. 

Target is the latest to jump on the trend, as today the mega retailer announced its new Wallet for mobile payments, which can be found on both the iOS and Android versions of the Target app.

As with many other mobile payment systems, Wallet is a way of checking out with your smartphone at the register. At Target (as with Walmart), this is essentially the only way you can do this as the retailer doesn't accept Apple Pay or Android Pay. (Samsung Pay reportedly works at Target for some users because it's not based on NFC.)

The main appeal of Wallet, though, is that it allows users to both pay with the app and scan coupons from the company's Cartwheel program and automatically apply the discounts. Paying for items and applying Cartwheel discounts used to take two different steps, but the Wallet allows Target shoppers to simplify those multiple steps into one.

Seeing red

The catch, for now, is that you need to have one of Target's REDcards for debit or credit purchases to use the app, but Target plans to extend the service beyond RED members at some point in the future.

Target's announcement post plays up how much faster this process is compared to "other payment types," which presumably refers to traditional swipe and chip-and-PIN methods. Naturally, it neglects to mention that Apple Pay and Android Pay would be faster still as they remove the extra step of having to open an app.

You also can't use gift cards with the Wallet feature at the moment, but that feature will be coming "soon."

Whether users gravitate to Wallet is another question, but Target is certainly doing what it can to stay up to speed with rivals.

• Scrambling for a gift? Check out our best tech 2017 guide!

Apple has been trying to divorce itself from chipmaker Qualcomm in bits and pieces, which you may already know about from the headlines about the ongoing legal spat. You may not know, though, that one of the consequences of this staggered departure is that some iPhone X units carry Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 modem chips while others have XMM7480 chips made by Intel.

According to a new study from Cellular Insights, which specializes in wireless download reports, you're getting better speeds if you happen to use an iPhone X with one of the Qualcomm chips than one of the iPhone X units with Intel modems. Naturally, this means that Apple's split with Qualcomm may not be as ideal as it would prefer.

According to the full study as reported in PC Magazine, the Qualcomm chips consistently did better, and the difference was especially noticeable in areas with weak signals. At an especially weak signal strength of -120dBm, for instance, the Qualcomm modem was still downloading at around 67% faster than its Intel counterpart.

The difference is largely based on carrier in the US, so if you're using a CDMA network like Verizon, Sprint or US Cellular, you're probably using an iPhone X with the Qualcomm-built A1865 chip. If you're on the GSM network used by T-Mobile and AT&T, your phone most likely has the A1901 chip made by Intel. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have the same chip division, but Cellular Insights notes that it didn't test these models.

Cellular Insights conducted its tests on the widely used LTE Band 4 preferred by most major carriers aside from Sprint. In essence, using specialized equipment, it tested the devices on the same towers and recorded the phones' performance as they moved away from them. 

Same as last year, kind of

You could find similar differences in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus units from last year, as they, too, had modem chips made by both Qualcomm and Intel. 

The difference isn't so great this year, though, leading PC Magazine to suggest that Apple itself might be throttling the Qualcomm chips to account for the difference. (Hopefully not, but you never know.) 

In any event, the news means that you're definitely going to be getting better LTE performance on your iPhone X if you use Verizon or Sprint in the US. 

If you're overseas (in any country save Japan, which uses its own model), make sure you're using the A1865 model. It's also the only available unlocked model in the US, which means if you've shelled out full-price, you're fine. 

Apple apparently isn't too happy with the power management chips it uses for the iPhone, and so as early as next year, it could take matters into its own hands.

Apple is reportedly considering plans to ditch its relationship with designer Dialog Semiconductor, according to Nikkei, and instead design the chips on its own, much as it already does with its A-series central processors. If Apple takes this course of action, Taiwan Semiconductor will continue to actually make the chips, much as it already does for Dialog. In that regard, at least, this is a clear case of cutting out the middleman.

In the most hopeful case (for Apple), around half of the power management chips in the 2018 iPhones could be designed by Apple itself, says one source.

• Must-read: iPhone X review

There's a chance the chips might not actually be available until 2019, according to one of the sources, but even so, the market hasn't been too kind to Dialog in the wake of the news. Shares of Dialog stock were down almost 18% as of the time of writing, no doubt in large part because Apple's chips were responsible for around 74% of Dialog's revenue last year.

The sources claim that Apple's power management chips will be the most advanced in the industry, but of course we won't know that for sure until we actually see them in action in future phones (and iPads and Apple Watches). At the very least we'll almost certainly get better battery life, but how much is anyone's guess at the moment.

Apple has slowly been bringing most of its component design in-house over the course of the last decade, which naturally has been disastrous for old suppliers like Imagination Technologies (who used to make Apple's graphics chips), but if the gradual improvement of Apple's own devices serves as any indication, it's been a smart move for Apple itself. 

• How to fix macOS High Sierra problems

If you've already been able to dip into Android's Oreo, there's a good chance you're using one of Google's flagship Pixel phones. 

It's been a lot rougher, though, for anyone else who uses a device from the huge library of Android-powered phones, but you're in luck if you're an owner of the unlocked version of the HTC U11. As of today, you're free to download the highly anticipated OS in the US.

Mo Versi, the company’s VP of product management, recently announced the news in a tweet. He didn't give specific details as to when U11 users with carrier-locked phones would be able to download Oreo, but he added that HTC is working with Sprint to "get it out as quickly as possible." 

For that matter, Versi added that support for Oreo would also be coming to the HTC 10 and the HTC U Ultra "soon."

The goods under the hood

Oreo technically isn't a huge update, but it does include some cool upgrades that could have a significant impact on the core Android experience. 

There's a picture-in-picture mode for videos, for instance, a new notification system that displays dots on app icons and the highly anticipated Project Treble, which makes it easier to download new versions of Android.

It's worth noting, though, that having Oreo alone isn't enough to guarantee support for Project Treble, as OnePlus users discovered last week. Considering that Treble support is only required for devices that support Oreo out of the box, it seems likely that the HTC U11 may not support it as well. We've reached out to HTC for a comment and will update this article if we receive one.

• These are the best phones of the year

Google's Project Treble makes it easier for Android owners to upgrade their devices to the current version of the mobile operating system, which likely means that the lengthy waits Android users have endured while manufacturers roll out their own updates may be a thing of the past.

Yet that won't be the case if you own a OnePlus device, at least for this year. In an AMA held yesterday on the OnePlus forums, representative Adam Krisko confirmed that none of the company's currently released devices support Project Treble. Nor will they in the future.

"We are not currently supporting treble and do not plan to for these devices," Krisko said.

This may come as a surprise this late in the game, especially after Google made it clear in May that any new devices that ship with Android Oreo installed will have to support Project Treble. Unfortunately, even OnePlus' most recent device – the recently released OnePlus 5T – runs on Nougat.

Aside from the Pixel, Android doesn't operate in a closed system like Apple's iOS, so users of devices from manufacturers like Samsung are often forced to wait weeks or even years for the companies that make their chips to approve the operating system updates for the device.

Treble, though, only updates the parts of Android that don't directly invoice the chips, making it easy to bypass this lengthy approval process. We explain it in greater detail here.

Half-baked

Google's own first-generation Pixel proves that it's possible to get Project Treble even if Oreo was installed later, but for whatever reason OnePlus is declining to support the service.

On the bright side, the same AMA confirmed that OnePlus is actively preparing to get Android 8.1 Oreo on the 5T, so maybe updates won't take that long without Treble, after all.

Unfortunately, the timeline given for this update was merely "later."

• Heads up: Galaxy S9 could be teased at CES 2018

Image credit: Google

We've been impressed with Google Lens ever since we first heard about it in May, calling it a "game changer" and reporting that it's blowing our minds even though it's not even out yet.

It finally started showing up on Google Photos in Pixel units last month, and this week Google announced in a blog post that Lens will be coming to both the Pixel and Pixel 2 phones in the coming weeks as a built-in feature for Google Assistant. Just pull up Assistant like normal, and you'll see it in the lower right-hand corner.

For the uninitiated, Google Lens lets you use your Pixel's camera to learn and record information about whatever it is you're looking at. That means you could aim it at the Statue of Library and pull up some articles about it, or you could point it at a book cover and pull up an interface that will let you buy it. You can also save information from business cards or open URLs you see on posters. At its simplest, it acts as a barcode or QR scanner.

Only the beginning

That's currently about all Lens does, but Google's presentation at I/O last spring showed the company had some much wilder plans for the tech, such as a feature that would remove, say, a chain-link fence blocking the view of a baseball player at bat. That currently sounds a little too good to be true, even with the impressive list of other features, but we're excited to see if Google can pull it off. No doubt the service will only get better with time.

The feature is currently limited to Pixel phones for the time being, and the initial rollout will be limited to "Pixel phones set to English in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India and Singapore."

• Here are the best phones of the year

So far a lot of the early Black Friday deals for phones have focused on the heavy-hitters from Samsung (like 50% off the Samsung Galaxy S8 at Verizon on Black Friday), but for folks who don't want to spend that kind of cash, Amazon is offering $50 off the LG Q6. The LG Q6 was an already agreeably priced phone, and this deal makes it an even sweeter option.

If $50 isn't enough, you can save an impressive total of $120 by picking up the Prime Exclusive version. (That $120 includes the $50 discount.) The only catch is that it comes with some Amazon apps preinstalled, and you'll have to deal with some ads and offers on the lock screen much as you would with a Kindle. 

If you can tolerate that, you'll only end up paying $180 compared to the $250 you'd be paying for the standard Q6 with the $50 discount. (You can also pick up the standard LG Q6 for just $240 from Best Buy.)

If you decide to get the Q6, you'll be getting a capable phone with a 5.5" 1080p display, 32GB of storage (with a micro SD expansion), 3GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie cam. One drawback: the phone is GSM unlocked, so it will only work with AT&T or T-Mobile (and some smaller providers). If you use a CDMA provider like Verizon, you'll have to skip this deal.

If you're looking for something a little bigger, the larger LG G6+ is also for sale, with the Prime Exclusive version costing only $450 while the standard edition costs $750. That's an impressive savings of $350, and it may be worth tolerating some ads for. As a bonus, the G6+ also works with Verizon and Sprint.

Still not your thing? Amazon is hosting a ton of other Black Friday deals, so be sure to check out our page that lists all of them.

'Facebook' and 'high-resolution images' aren’t usually phrases that like to be seen in each other’s company, but that may no longer be the case as of today.

As of right now, you can send photos to friends in glorious 4K resolution through the social network’s Messenger app, and, if you're a US resident, just in time to share photos of your Thanksgiving dinner to your cousin overseas with hardly a calorie unaccounted for. Oh, right, and you might also want to send some photos of the family as well.

Facebook reports that its Messenger users trade around 17 billion photos every single month, so it’s understandable that a few of those folks would like to send images that are a few steps above your average meme in quality.

You don’t even have to do anything different to send the photos; just make sure you have the app updated to the most current version and shoot off a pic the way you normally would. (Just be careful not to go too overboard with the feature if you’re working with a cell plan that doesn’t offer unlimited data.)

Currently, you can only use the feature if you’re an iOS or Android user in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but Facebook plans to start rolling out the feature to other countries as well in the coming weeks.

• Start snapping with the best camera phones around

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the new Google Pixel 2, but it isn't the kind that Google is happy about.

Specifically, some Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL owners have reported that they hear a constant "buzzing" or "hissing" sound when they're making calls, even after they've received replacement phones in an attempt to address the issue. 

Fortunately, as The Verge reports, a community manager on the official Pixel forums recently responded to a sea of complaints stretching back for weeks with a brief statement announcing that a fix is eventually on the way.

"We're rolling out a software update in the coming weeks which eliminates a faint buzzing sound on some Pixel 2 devices when the phone is placed to your ear during a phone call," the community manager said.

The buzzing sound is but one of the problems with the Pixel 2 that have emerged the weeks since launch, which include screen burn-in, audio recording issues and partially unresponsive screens. 

Google previously had to roll out a patch addressing a "clicking" sound that was associated with the NFC settings in the Pixel 2 and so far it appears the patch fixed the issue for good. Let's hope the same can be said for the buzzing.

• Flagship killer: it's our OnePlus 5T review

For such a cool device, the iPhone X hasn't been doing very well in the cold.

We recently reported that some users discovered that the new handset's display would freeze up when the temperatures jumped to freezing after walking outside, but a fix is fortunately already here. 

The remedy is in iOS 11.1.2, which specifically "Fixes an issue where the iPhone X screen becomes temporarily unresponsive to touch after a rapid temperature drop." 

I'm currently in a part of the US where we're still sweating and running around in T-shirts, so I can't properly test the patch. If it works, that's an impressive turnaround for Apple considering how serious the issue seemed at first. 

We only heard about the issue barely a week ago, and already it now appears that citizens of cities like Chicago can once again venture from their warm homes and into the cold, cruel snow and know that this time their phones will be there to offer small comforts.

(As a reminder, it's generally wise not to expect much from any smartphone in extremely hot or cold conditions, and Apple itself said before the iPhone X's launch that "Using an iOS device in very cold conditions outside of its operating range might temporarily shorten battery life and could cause the device to turn off.")

A clearer picture

You might want to download the patch even if you're an iPhone X owner who doesn't live in the colder reaches of the world, as the patch "Addresses an issue that could cause distortion in Live Photos and videos captured with iPhone X."

Happy downloading.

Image credit: Sprint

These days, streaming services and mobile service providers go together like peanut butter and jelly: AT&T, for example, allows you to get free HBO with its Unlimited Plus plan, while T-Mobile now gives you free Netflix.

And Sprint? Well, as of this Friday you’ll get a free subscription to Hulu’s “Limited Commercials” package if you sign up for its Unlimited Freedom data plan. Hulu’s plan normally costs $7.99 per month.

Fortunately, there’s no need to get worried if you’re already using the service as a Sprint customer, as it applies to new and old customers alike, but the catch is that it looks as though you have to manually sign up for the offer on Sprint’s site regardless of when you've joined.

After these messages

The bigger drawback, of course, is that “limited commercials” isn’t the same thing as “no commercials.” If you want that, you’re going to have to sign up for Hulu’s aptly named No Commercials plan, which costs 12 bucks a month. On the bright side, Hulu’s been putting out good shows like the Emmy-winning The Handmaid’s Tale, and its exclusivity deal for Seinfeld remains a huge draw.

The actual Unlimited Freedom plan costs $60 per month for one line, but for just $40 more, you can bump that up to five lines (or at least until January 31, 2019, when the prices get substantially more expensive).

As a bonus, you’ll get to stream the shows at 1080p, although (much as with other carriers) you’ll get throttled when your network’s under heavy traffic if your data usage ventures over a soft cap of 25GB. You’ll also get 10GB of mobile hotspot ata as part of the deal.

Interested? You can sign up here.