Snapseed makes it easier to add drama to your photos

Snapseed doesn’t see quite the amount of updates that other Google-owned products do, but each one lately has been pretty significant. The name of the game for the latest is the addition of curves. Essentially, what this new feature does is allow manipulating things like contrast, brightness and color intensity in a given image. Oftentimes, it’s one of the easiest and most dramatic ways you can edit a photo.

There are presets available (similar to Adobe’s Lightroom Mobile’s, even though it doesn’t offer curves proper), and, if you want, you can fine tune individual color and tone channels as well. As the latest Snapseed entry on Google+ notes, the face detection has gotten a “try harder” option as well if the app doesn’t get it quite right the first time. The update is out now for both Android and iOS and you can grab it from the links below.

Via: 9to5 Google

Source: Snapseed (Google+)

‘Candleman’ is a 3D platformer that will make your heart melt

Proper 3D platformers are a rarity these days, especially on the Xbox One. That’s why we’re intrigued by Candleman, a charming adventure featuring a tiny wax-based hero. To succeed, you’ll need to decide when and how to melt your little candle. Illumination can trigger vital bridges, or spook dangerous ghosts. As your hero shrinks in size, you’re also able to jump higher and flutter across gaps that would otherwise be impossible to traverse. The caveat? Candleman can only burn for 10 seconds before he disappears entirely. To survive, you’ll need to get used to the dark.

Candleman is also unusual because it was developed by Spotlighter, an indie outfit based in Beijing, China. Few Xbox One games emerge from this region — unsurprisingly, most of the console’s software comes from Western developers, playing to the audience Microsoft has nurtured in the US and Europe. Candleman started as a game jam project in 2013, and quickly gained recognition for its resource-based puzzle-platforming. An early prototype was then released through Kongregate, which attracted Microsoft and its ID@Xbox team. It launches today for $14.99 — a nice palate cleanser, perhaps, before Halo Wars 2 arrives on February 21st.

Source: Major Nelson (Blog Post)

Nintendo plans to release two-to-three mobile games each year

After months of vague statements, Nintendo has finally confirmed its smartphone strategy, announcing that it will release two to three mobile titles every year. While all eyes are currently focused on the imminent launch of Nintendo’s new console, company president Tatsumi Kimishima revealed that this smartphone release schedule will be taking effect this year. With Fire Emblem Heroes launching on both iOS and Android tomorrow and the as-yet untitled Animal Crossing delayed until 2018, it has yet to reveal which other treasured IP will get the mobile treatment in 2017.

This announcement comes a day after Nintendo announced it was cutting its full-year operating profit forecast by a third. With Super Mario Run amassing over 79 million downloads and the Android version still yet to launch, the news should help encourage investors after the undoubtedly disappointing new financial forecast.

While Super Mario Run was a ‘free-to-start’ game, Fire Emblem Heroes marks the company’s first true move to the more profitable free-to-play business model. With the company still clearly testing the waters when it comes to mobile, Nintendo is sure to be watching Heroes’ performance carefully when deciding how to monetize future mobile titles.

Even though regular mobile releases are now confirmed, Nintendo is still yet to reveal which other franchises it will bring to mobile. Personally, we’d love to see a Warioware-style mini-game collection hit smartphones. Can you imagine how perfect a Donkey Konga pocket tap-a-thon would be? Make our dreams come true, Nintendo.

Source: Reuters

DJI Phantom 4 Pro review

Research Center:
DJI Phantom 4 Pro

DJI’s phantom is often called “the iPhone of drones” — and that’s a fair description. It makes sense. It’s one of the most popular drones on the planet, it’s packed with high-end features and functionality, and the latest models are always at the top of their class. On top of that, DJI also releases new models at a steady rate, packing even better features into a nearly identical form factor.

Features & Specs

As an evolution of the original Phantom 4, the Pro boasts a number of small but significant improvements. Many of the original Phantom 4’s design attributes, electronic components, and features have been ported over to the pro model, while others have been upgraded, and a few new features have been added.

The first and most obvious addition is the Pro’s new 5-direction obstacle avoidance system. Whereas the P4 only featured forward facing sense and avoid, the new and improved version has sensors on its front back, left, right, and underside. These sensors actively scan the environment around the drone and allow it to autonomously avoid things like trees, buildings, and anything else you might encounter during flight.

The Pro looks nearly identical to the original Phantom 4.

The other standout improvement is the Pro’s camera. The Pro uses all-new hardware with a 1-inch image sensor — which is four times the size as what’s used in the original Phantom 4. On top of that, the camera can shoot 4K video at up to 60 frames per second, and still images at up to 20 megapixels. DJI also tossed in aperture control and a mechanical shutter. No matter how you look at it, the P4’s new camera is bigger, better, and more customizable than ever.

DJI has also added an even more deluxe, optional version, called the Phantom 4 Pro Plus. It’s the exact same drone, but with a controller that has a built-in touchscreen display. It’ll cost you an extra 300 bucks, but you won’t have to connect your phone to the controller with a cable, worry about your smartphone’s battery life, or have your flights rudely interrupted by incoming text messages and calls.

Build Quality & Design

The P4 Pro is nearly identical to the original P4 in terms of both design and build quality. It retains the same hull shape as its predecessor, save for a few minor differences where the new sensors are placed. As such, it’s every bit as strong and sturdy as the P4, which remains among the most attractive and drones available.

It’s impressive that DJI has managed to outfit the drone with so many new features, while still maintaining an identical form factor. The additional sensors have been tucked into the drone’s legs, while infrared and optical sensors are fitted into the drone’s left and right sides. Even the camera, which is drastically better than the one found on the original P4, is just a bit larger than it was before. Unless you familiar with DJI’s drones, the P4 and P4 Pro are as good as identical, despite Phantom’s numerous enhancement.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The only downside to the P4 Pro is that, unfortunately, the Phantom line still isn’t nearly as portable as DJI’s Mavic Pro. The arms and props aren’t designed to fold down, and the landing gear can neither retract, nor be collapsed. It’s not designed with portability in mind — though it’s still small enough to be stuffed inside a backpack if the need arises.

Battery life and recharge time

Under optimal conditions, DJI says the Phantom 4 Pro can stay airborne for up to 30 minutes — but of course, real-world conditions aren’t always optimal.

To put these claims to the test, we ran the P4 Pro through our usual series of endurance tests. First up was a hover test, where we let the drone hover in place until the battery life became “critically low,” and the drone automatically landed. Our hover test lasted for 28 minutes and 8 seconds — which isn’t very far off from DJI’s claimed 30-minute flight time.

Next, to get a sense of how long P4 Pro will last under more demanding conditions, we recorded the flight times from every other flight test we conducted and averaged everything out. Over the course of 10 different flights that spanned from 100 percent battery charge to the emergency low-battery automatic landing, the Phantom 4 Pro averaged a flight time of 26 minutes and 50 seconds.

While you shouldn’t expect a full 30 minutes of airtime, the endurance is excellent – the best we’ve seen so far. A DJI Mavic Pro lasted 23 minutes and 19 seconds in our hover test, and the Yuneec Typhoon H lasted 23 minutes, 20 seconds. A smaller, more affordable, simpler drone will last far less than any of these. The Hover Camera Passport, for instance, lasted less than 10 minutes.

As for battery recharge times, we found that a nearly-empty battery (around 10 percent remaining) takes about 1.5 hours to juice up to 100 percent. That said, most of the time you’ll be compelled to land before you reach critically low battery levels, so most of our recharges took about an hour and 15 minutes or less. That’s not bad for a cell that offers nearly 27 minutes of airtime. The Yuneec Typhoon H needed over two hours to fill up its tank.

Flight Performance

The flight performance of the Phantom 4 hasn’t changed in this new version. The P4 Pro boasts nearly identical flight specs to the original P4, when it comes to things like speed and agility. Luckily, this isn’t much of a letdown, since the P4 is still among the most nimble quad-blade drones sold.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro Compared To

Hover Camera Passport

DJI Mavic Pro

Yuneec Breeze

Parrot DISCO FPV

eHang Ghostdrone 2.0

HEXO+

Horizon Hobby Chroma

Yuneec Typhoon H drone

3DR Solo Drone

Yuneec Typhoon Q500 4K

Parrot BeBop Drone

dji Phantom 2 Vision+

Speed and agility are basically unchanged in the P4 Pro. Both the P4 and P4 Pro top out at 45 miles per hour (72 kph) — though you can easily reach higher speeds with a good tailwind behind you. It’s not the fastest drone on the market (some can go 55 or even 60 mph), but it’s quick enough for most uses.

However, unlike its predecessor, the P4 can fly up to 31 mph with full multi-directional obstacle avoidance. That’s important. High-speed maneuvers are when you need obstacle avoidance the most. This new model can fly at respectable speeds while also dodging and weaving on its own.

Autonomy

Some of the biggest improvements in the P4 Pro are related to DJI’s new autopilot features. In addition to porting over most of the “standard” autonomous flight modes from the original P4, DJI also borrowed a few of the Pro’s features from the recently-released Mavic, and even added a few extras that we haven’t seen before.

You can set the P4 Pro to orbit a point in space with Point of Interest Mode, repeat flights along a preset path with Waypoints, follow your movements via Follow Me mode, or even adjust the way it responds to joystick control with Course Lock and Home Lock. These modes are included in the Phantom 4, but the Pro version has a couple new tricks up its sleeve: Terrain Follow, Tripod Mode, and a range of new Active Track abilities.

It’s not crash-proof, but it’s close.

In Terrain Follow (which was previously only available in the Mavic Pro), the drone uses its Downward Vision System to maintain a certain distance from the ground, which is fantastic for filming over terrain that varies in elevation.

For static shots, the Pro’s new Tripod mode allows you choose a point in space, then keep the drone locked in that position while you shoot – sort of like a flying tripod. In this mode, joystick controls are dampened so that panning/yawing movements are less drastic, and the drone uses a combination of GPS and sensors to hold its position without drifting.

DJI has also added a few updates to its Active Track system. Portrait mode, for example, allows you to track a subject while the drone flies horizontally and matches pace. Spotlight, on the other hand, allows you to lock onto a subject, but allows you to fly the drone in any direction around it. There’s even a 360 mode that will actively orbit any subject you choose, regardless of where that subject might move.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

And of course, there’s the new omnidirectional sense-and-avoid system. Using its new sensors, the P4 Pro continually scans the environment around it, and either alerts you when you fly too close to an obstacle, or avoids it autonomously. The best part is that this function can be turned on or off, so it’s there when you need it, but doesn’t get in the way when you want to walk on the wild side and fly close to something.

Our favorite feature, however, is DJI’s new dynamic return to home function. In past generations of the Phantom, when you hit the “return to home’” button, the drone would fly to a predetermined height, then make a beeline straight back to where it took off from. God forbid there were any obstacles in the way — if there were, the drone would smack into them like a blind bird.

When you use the return to home button on the new P4 Pro, the drone will basically retrace its steps and attempt to “reverse” along the same path it used to get where it is — dynamically avoiding any obstacles that might appear along the way, of course. It’s not crash-proof, but it’s close.

Range

Range is also quite a bit better than the original P4. Just like the Mavic Pro, the P4 Pro is equipped with DJI’s new OcuSync video transmission technology, which stretches the drone’s maximum range and provides a live HD video feed from the camera from up to 4.3 miles away. That, however, is only possible in the most optimal conditions.

This is arguably the best way to spend $1,500.

We took it out to the one mile mark on a handful of different occasions without so much as a jitter in the video feed — but transmission distance varies widely depending on the environment you’re flying in. If there’s a lot of interference, the feed can cut out at or before the half-mile mark. It all depends on where you’re flying, but even with the occasional feed cutout, the Phantom 4 Pro still boasts some of the best range we’ve ever seen in a drone.

Most competitors we’ve tried can barely make it three quarters of a mile with their stock configurations, and many require aftermarket range extenders to reach the ranges that the P4 Pro can.

Camera and Accessories

If there’s any single reason to buy the P4 Pro instead of the standard P4, it’s the camera. DJI put some serious work into the Pro’s image capture system, and the result is one of the best cameras we’ve ever seen on a quad.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

The biggest improvement is the size of the camera’s sensor. The Pro boasts a 1-inch CMOS sensor — which is roughly four times the size of the more typical 1/2.3-inch class used by most drones (including the Phantom 3 series and the Phantom 4), flagship smartphones, and point-and-shoot cameras. This extra surface area allows it to capture far more detail, and maintain image/video quality at higher ISOs.

In addition to a larger sensor, DJI also equipped the Pro with a mechanical shutter and aperture control. In other words, you’re not stuck shooting in f/2.8 all the time (you can go all the way to f/11), and no longer need to worry about the dreaded “rolling shutter effect’ screwing up your images.

When it comes to shooting video, the P4 Pro offers a litany of options. You can shoot in cinematic 4K DCI at 24, 25, or 30 frames per second, or 4K UHD at 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second. If that’s too much for your eyeballs (or SD card) to handle, you can also scale down to 2.7K, 1080p, and 720p — the latter of which can be captured at 120 frames per second and used to create slow-mo footage.

If you spring for the Phantom 4 Pro Plus (an extra $300), DJI will throw in a controller that comes with its own built-in touchscreen display. It’s a bit on the spendy side for sure, but that extra scratch means you won’t have to connect your phone to the controller with a cable, which is something that’s required for nearly every other drone that DJI makes.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

We’re not sure if it’s worth $300, but it’s pretty nice to fly without worrying about your smartphone’s battery life, or having your flights rudely interrupted by incoming text messages or calls.

However, we think DJI should’ve included this option years ago, or at least thrown this into the $1500 bundle. Yuneec offers a touchscreen Typhoon H controller for no extra charge, and that makes paying extra for it from DJI a bitter pill to swallow.

Our Take

Without a doubt, DJI’s Phantom 4 Pro is one of the best drones in existence today — if not the best. It’s the only drone with omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, and the camera outdoes every other drone in this class. Eventually it’ll be overshadowed, but it’s the best high-end consumer drone we’ve tested so far.

Are there better options available?

In this price range, no. If you’re in the market for a drone and $1,500 is within your budget, there’s no better way to spend your money.

The DT Accessory Pack

Intelligent Battery Charging Hub

$62.46

Case Club Waterproof Wheeled Case

$169.95

Propeller Guards

$19

The closest competitor to the P4 Pro is probably DJI’s Mavic Pro. It’s smaller, far more portable, and boasts many of the same flight modes and features — except, of course, omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, and a camera with a one-inch image sensor. It’s also $500 cheaper, so if you’re looking for something a bit more affordable but still highly capable, you’d be wise to go for the Mavic.

If you don’t care so much about portability, Yuneec’s Typhoon H is also a worthy contender, and is more affordable at $1,300. It boasts many of the same features, and has a 4K camera that swivels in 360 degrees. This, along with dual-pilot capabilities, make it a decent contender. However, the Typhoon H’s camera is not as advanced, the battery doesn’t last quite as long, and it needs more time to charge.

How long will it last?

Probably a few years or more. DJI constantly rolls out updates to most of its products, and we have no reason to think the P4 Pro will be any different. Firmware updates come through on a regular basis, and DJI already has a suite of upgrades, attachments, and accessories in the works. So, assuming you don’t fly it into a lake, the P4 Pro should last you for quite some time.

Should you buy it?

Yes. This is arguably one of the best ways to spend $1,500.

Ping takes the Bluetooth tracker and gives it cellular and GPS smarts

Why it matters to you

Ensuring a valuable item — or pet — can be located anywhere in the world is now possible with this device.

Bluetooth trackers are a godsend for forgetful people, but they have their limitations. If you’re out of range, there’s no other way to find the tagged object unless you want to walk around with the app and find it yourself and hope your phone detects the tag’s signal.

Ping has an idea, and it’s arguably one of those “why hasn’t this been done before?” moments. Instead of just Bluetooth, Ping’s tag also connects to GPS and cellular — meaning whether you’re 30 feet or 3,000 miles away, you’ll know exactly where you left that forgotten item.

More: The 5 best Bluetooth trackers for finding your keys

“Ping aims to solve a problem that no other locating device has been able to — always-on, global tracking,” founder Josh Lippiner says. The device is premiering on Indiegogo for pre-order at $99 (and was fully funded in less than five hours, a Ping spokesperson told us), but will retail for $129 when it goes on sale later this year.

The tag is actually smaller than the Tile by about a tenth of an inch on either side, though is about four times the cost. Ping hopes the addition of GPS and cellular connectivity makes it worth the extra expense for consumers, as those capabilities may open a whole new range of potential uses.

For example, a Ping tag could be placed on a bike, or a car for that matter, to work as a LoJack of sorts, or placed on a dog collar to track your dog in the event it runs away. The position of the tag is reported to an app and shown on a map, which updates continuously to aid in retrieval.

No data plan is needed as the Ping is built to work over AT&T’s network, however after the first year a $3 monthly charge per tag is required to access the tag’s location data. Battery life lasts is three to five months, Ping says, although the tag can be recharged unlike most current Bluetooth trackers.

Other features include check-in and SOS buttons, to either notify someone of a location or request immediate assistance, respectively, and privacy features which allow for the tracker to be shut off from continuous tracking yet still have the check-in and SOS functionality enabled.

Indiegogo pre-orders are expected to ship in July of this year. Ping has made no announcements yet on eventual retail availability.

The end is nigh: Roaming charges will be no more in the EU after June 15

The European Commission has stuck to its promise of ending roaming charges by June this year. It announced that agreements have been finalised enabling European travelers to use their phones throughout the EU, without additional charges, from June 15 2017. It has been a long time coming. Preliminary agreements were made in June 2015, setting the scene for what’s known as the “roam-like-at-home” plan, of which the latest wholesale price structure deal was the final part.

Agreeing on a wholesale price was crucial, as it’s the amount of money networks charge each other when you make calls, send messages, or use data on it. The deal doesn’t mean everything will be free. Instead it means the services you use while roaming will be charged at the same rate you pay when on your home network. It joins up with a previous rule where networks will let you use your included minutes and data abroad, and the new caps will come into play if you go over the permitted use.

More: How to avoid roaming charges while abroad

The cost caps are 3.2 euro cents per minute for calls, one euro cent for SMS, and 7.7 euros per gigabyte of data. The data cap will gradually reduce over the coming years, eventually reaching 2.5 euros per gigabyte at the beginning of 2022. It’s the end of a successful effort to reduce the cost of roaming in Europe, which has fallen by 90 percent since 2007.

Concerns dampen agreement celebrations

Excellent news, but with it comes some negativity from smaller operators, and confusion from anyone in the U.K., which recently voted to leave the European Union. A response to the agreement from MVNO Europe, which looks after Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) in the region, believes the caps are too high, and smaller operators won’t be able to recover costs. This may lead to travelers on pre-paid or lower-cost plans being unable to enjoy the reduced charges.

For British travelers, Brexit uncertainty may dampen any rejoicing over the agreement. Scare stories spread at the end of 2016, warning networks in Europe may not have to honor any cost caps for U.K. visitors following Brexit, if a favourable trade deal isn’t reached. Worst case scenario is the return of massive phone bills for careless travelers, with a megabyte of data potentially costing up to 10 euros.

For now, European law still applies in the U.K. at least until it officially leaves the EU; and new EU president Joseph Muscat wants EU law to remain even after Brexit. However, talks regarding the legal complexities of the split haven’t officially started yet, and because a transition deal is expected to take between two and five years to complete, the fate of “roam-like-at-home” for Britain will remain yet another unknown aspect of Brexit for quite some time.

Control privacy settings for any web page with this easy Chrome shortcut

This powerful and simple tool lets you control exactly what happens when you visit a web page.

The web is rich with all sorts of content that often needs access to personal information, and Chrome is built so that you can take advantage of almost all of it. Whether that means enabling a microphone to have a chit-chat or letting Home Depot see your location so they can show you what’s on sale, deciding what type of information you share and what happens when you load a web page should be under your control.

The developers of Chrome agree, and they’ve made it easy to see what can and can’t happen when you visit a website. There is a simple tool to access all of these toggles in one place.

Everything you need to know about what a page is doing or trying to do when you visit is one click away. In the Omnibar — Chrome’s multipurpose URL address bar and search box — you’ll see an icon to the left of any website address.

Those icons are also a clickable “button” of sorts both on your Chromebook and in the Chrome browser for desktops. Here’s is everything you need to know about those icons.

When you click on the icon, you’ll see the dialog window below it. It’s there for every page and will show the individual settings you have in place for that particular one if you’ve altered any defaults.

Most everything listed there is pretty self-explanatory. We all know what images are and if there are any pages on the internet that we don’t want to load them automatically. The same can be said for Flash and pop-ups. The defaults are set by Chrome and designed to offer a rich web experience while keeping the things that are most often associated with security risks in check.

Pop-ups will be blocked, Javascript and background page syncing will be allowed, and everything else will be set to ask for explicit permission before it happens. A web page can never get your location or turn on your camera without asking you unless you’ve changed the default settings, which you can find in Chrome’s Settings .. > Advanced settings .. > Content settings.

This is a great way to keep you abreast of what’s going on for every website you visit.

You can change anything you see here on the fly. Click the combo box to make a new choice and when you’re done all you need to do is reload the page you’re viewing. None of the changes you make here affect any other sites, and you can’t permanently break anything by messing with them.

Having a per-page settings menu like this is a pretty powerful privacy tool, and we suggest everyone using Chrome take a look at what’s happening on websites they visit. Any changes you make will persist until you change them back, and the worst thing that can happen is a page doesn’t load correctly — which can be fixed by changing things back the way they were.

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Samsung sold fewer phones than Apple in Q4 2016; OPPO and Huawei see huge gains

The latest global smartphone shipment numbers highlight the increasing dominance of Chinese manufacturers.

Apple shipped 78.3 million iPhones in Q4 2016, surpassing Samsung to take the crown as the world’s number one smartphone vendor. According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung saw its shipments decline from 81.3 million in Q4 2015 to 77.5 million last quarter, largely due to the termination of the Galaxy Note 7. That said, the South Korean manufacturer shipped 309.4 million smartphones over the course of 2016, outmatching Apple’s 215.4 million shipments.

The overall market grew 3% from 1.44 billion in 2015 to 1.49 billion last year. Samsung accounted for 20.8% of the market in 2016, a minor decrease from the 22.2% in 2015. Apple came in second with a market share of 14.5%, with the company’s shipments falling by 16.1 million units. Chinese manufacturers once again had a fruitful year, with OPPO more than doubling its shipments. Huawei came in at third place overall with shipments of 138.8 million for the year, up from 107.1 million in 2015, and the brand now has a market share of 9.3%

The Chinese contingent of Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo had a stellar 2016.

OPPO shipped 84.6 million phones last year, up from 39.7 million in 2015, and is now fourth with a 5.7% market share. The company’s offline-first distribution model has paid off in China and India, where it has made inroads into tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Vivo has similarly seen its shipments hit 71.9 million from 39 million, with the Chinese vendor rounding out the top five.

The erstwhile stalwarts of the smartphone segment — HTC, LG, and Sony — have been relegated to the “others” category, with all three vendors seeing a downturn in their fortunes in 2016. Although the HTC 10 turned out to be a great device, it couldn’t match up to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. Meanwhile, LG’s efforts to build a modular phone in the LG G5 have backfired, with the phone seeing lukewarm adoption. Then there’s the Sony Xperia XZ, which was introduced too late to the market and had an exorbitant price tag.

For 2017, it looks like the segment will be relatively unchanged. Samsung is pulling out all the stops for its Galaxy S8, which is rumored with a bezel-less display, AI assistant, a desktop dock, and much more. The LG G6 is also turning out to be an interesting device, even though it won’t have Qualcomm’s latest processor.

Alleged Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2 leak reveals 6GB RAM, 4500mAh battery

First Redmi Pro 2 leak gives us a look at the alleged hardware.

Xiaomi rolled out the Redmi Pro last year in China, offering an OLED display and dual cameras at the back. It looks like a new model in the series is slated to make its debut, according to a leak originating out of China. The leak suggests that the Redmi Pro 2 will feature a 5.5-inch Full HD display, single camera at the back — albeit with a better Sony IMX362 sensor with 1.4µm pixel and Dual Pixel autofocus — and a 4500mAh battery.

The image also suggests that the Redmi Pro 2 will be offered in two variants: one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage that will allegedly retail for ¥1,799 ($260), and a version with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage for ¥1,599 ($230).

The first-gen Redmi Pro was powered by a MediaTek Helio X20, with a higher-end version featuring the Helio X25 SoC. This time around, it looks like Xiaomi will switch to a Snapdragon 66x series chipset. It’ll be interesting to see what it offers, but considering Qualcomm hasn’t detailed anything about a new SoC in the Snapdragon 600 series, it may be a while before we see the Redmi Pro 2.

Leaked drawings show Samsung Galaxy S8 with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner

Several images and renders of the Samsung Galaxy S8 have appeared online in recent months and all of them have one thing in common, no physical front-mounted home button and fingerprint scanner. It’s long been assumed that Samsung would embed a fingerprint scanner in the screen but some schematics uncovered by CNET Korea suggest otherwise.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: What’s the story so far?

The drawings show a fingerprint sensor mounted next to the rear camera, which is where Samsung expects your finger to naturally lie, although it may depend on the size of your hands and the phone. CNET Korea quotes a Samsung official as saying: “The home button and fingerprint sensor will be on the right side of the camera lens when viewed from the front”.

“The reason why it is on the right rather than the rear centre is because most people hold their smartphone in their right hand and the right index finger touches this location”.

The schematics reference two different screen sizes, 5.7in and technically 6.1, although it’s widely considered a Plus model will feature a 6.2in screen. Samsung is expected to drop the ‘Edge’ moniker from its phones as both are said to have curved edges.

• What is Bixby? Everything you need to know about Samsung’s assistant
• Samsung Galaxy S8 to launch 29 March, huge leak and pic reveals all

CNET Korea also says the Galaxy S8 will have “soft keys” that appear on the screen to navigate around the menus and that the Galaxy S8 will keep the 3.5mm headphone port, but implement a USB Type-C port for charging. The site also says the phone will be released at the end of February, but we know it won’t be showing up at Mobile World Congress. Several other dates have been put forward in March and April, so we can’t say for sure when we can expect to see it unveiled.