Sony this week is rolling out an Android 7.1.1 Nougat update for several of its slightly older devices: Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z4 Tablet, and Xperia Z3+. The update includes Google's June security patch (as you can see in the screenshot on the left), and comes almost five months after these smartphones (and the tablet) received Nougat 7.0 updates - previously, they ran Android 6 Marshmallow. Sony has yet to formally announce this Android 7.1.1 Nougat update, but we're guessing that all owners of the Xperia models mentioned will get the new software version in the near future. Right now, it's not clear if the Sony devices listed here will receive any other major software updates. However, we certainly hope that at least the Xperia Z5 series of smartphones will get Android O at some point. As for the Xperia Z4 Tablet and Xperia Z3+, these are already over 2 years old, so there's a high chance they'll remain on Android 7.1.1. Nougat... forever and ever.

With the LG G6, LG made a statement. It no longer wants to be Gyro Gearloose of the smartphone industry, pushing bold innovation that no one outside its focus groups asked for. LG cleaned house, stripped away all the complexity, and introduced one of 2017's most understated – and all-around pleasant – premium phones. It was a solid strategy, even though displays of clever engineering, such as the LG G5's removable battery, will be missed by those able to appreciate them.

According to a "trusted source" as cited by the ever diligent XDA Developers, the same revision awaits the LG V30 – a premium smartphone, primed as an alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and, reportedly, scheduled for a late August announcement. 

On January 9th, 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the Apple iPhone. And as exciting as that was for many, it also meant waiting nearly half a year for the phone to be released. The launch date of June 29th was circled on many a calendar, and in the days leading up to the actual launch, it seemed as though the iPhone was being mentioned everywhere. One example of this, which you will find in the video slideshow below, is an amusing clip put together by David Pogue, who now writes about tech for Yahoo.

Exactly 10-years ago tomorrow, the New York Times released a video showing how hard it was for its tech scribe (Pogue) to keep faithful to the non-disclosure agreement Apple had him sign in exchange for a review unit of the Apple iPhone. Apple had already run some ads for the phone (we included one in the video slideshow for your viewing pleasure) and the hype machine was on full throttle ("I've seen the commercials and it looks really cool," says a young woman waiting in a long line on launch day).

A decade ago, the whole world was just four days away from being changed forever by a smartphone. Television networks covered the impending launch and analysts spoke breathlessly about the device and how many units it might sell. Even so, most people probably could not see what the future would hold, not just for the iPhone or for Apple, but for smartphones in general. We now have apps and app stores, phones that can be submerged and live on to tell the tale and handsets that last a full day without requiring a charge. 

People now shop, make payments, deposit checks, lower their thermostat, get turn-by-turn directions to anywhere, and watch live television on their phone. And most handsets feature a virtual personal assistant to help make reservations, set alarms and more. You can't go anywhere without seeing a large number of people with their heads down, looking at the screen on their handset as they navigate their surroundings. All of this was still in the future a decade ago. 

Keep in mind that the OG iPhone did have some flaws. It ran on AT&T's slow as molasses EDGE network, it did not support MMS or stereo Bluetooth. But not too many knew, or cared about these things which were all eventually taken care of in future versions of the phone.

June 25th, 2007 was a Monday, the start of a new work week that would end with the forces in motion that would soon change the world. Relive those days by clicking on the video slideshow below.

During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump called on Apple to move production of its most popular product, the Apple iPhone, to the U.S. Trump's goal was to create more jobs for Americans and to stop exporting openings overseas. But Trump didn't take some things into consideration. Moving production from low wage countries to higher wage countries means that the cost of producing the iPhone will rise. And in order to maintain the same profit margin, iPhone prices will also rise making the device less affordable for Americans.

Back in November, a little over a week after the election, Apple said that it would consider moving some iPhone production to the U.S. Talks were held with the major contract manufacturers and there was some discussion about building a U.S. based supply chain. Today, Foxconn, the leading iPhone assembler, said that it is considering building a facility in Wisconsin. Besides the Dairy State, Michigan is also said to be in the running to host the factory.

Yesterday, President Trump visited Milwaukee and mentioned that an unnamed company was negotiating with the state to build a factory. Trump said that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker might get "a very happy surprise very soon." Foxconn assembles smartphones and tablets for Apple, BlackBerry, Sony and other brands. In China, it employs over 1 million people. Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, says that a skilled workforce was probably one of the things that attracted Foxconn to the state.

When Apple spoke with Foxconn and Pegatron back in November about the possibility of building iPhone models in the U.S., both firms said that their main concern was creating a supply chain infrastructure similar to what was available for the manufacturers in China. Apparently the numerous studies that were created show that Wisconsin has what it takes to build such a supply chain for Foxconn.

Sony already announced no less than five new smartphones this year: Xperia XZ Premium, XperiaXZs, Xperia XA1, Xperia XA1 Ultra, and Xperia L1. But the company seemingly has at least three more handsets to introduce before the end of 2017, and one of them is expected to be a new Xperia Compact.

According to Georgian website Review.ge, Sony plans to announce the following phones at IFA 2017 (September 1 - September 7): Xperia XZ1, XperiaXZ1 Compact, and Xperia X1. 

It's said that both the Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact will be high-end devices, featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processors and 4 GB of RAM - just like the already announced Xperia XZ Premium. However, the two new handsets should differ in size: the Xperia XZ1 reportedly offers a 5.2-inch 1080p display and a 3000 mAh battery, while the Xperia XZ1 Compact comes with a 4.6-inch 720p screen and a 2800 mAh battery. If these details are accurate, the XZ1 Compact will become Sony's most powerful 4.6-inch smartphone ever. 

To be fair, it kind of makes sense for a new Sony-made compact handset to be revealed at IFA 2017 in September, as this would arrive one year after the Xperia X Compact (pictured in this article). Also of note is that two other previous compact phones - Xperia Z5Compact and Xperia Z3 Compact - were also announced during IFA events. 

Samsung has just unveiled its new Galaxy J series in Europe. Three new mid-range Android smartphones that we already know about will be making their debut on the market in the coming months: Galaxy J3, Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 (2017). Although Samsung announced pricing would vary by country, we already know the Galaxy J5 (2017) will be up for purchase for €279. As far as availability goes, the first to hit the shelves is the Galaxy J5 (2017), which is supposed to go on sale later this month (possibly on June 22). The next to arrive on the market is the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017), which is expected to make its debut in July. Last but not least, the Galaxy J3 (2017) will be launched in Europe sometime in August. Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) All three smartphones feature a metal body and ship with Android 7.0 Nougat operating system on board. They have decent specs, but the main differentiator should be the stylish design. The cheapest of the three, the Galaxy J3 (2017) sports a 5-inch display with HD (720p) resolution, along with a 13-megapixel camera on the back. The smartphone is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 7570 processor, coupled with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal memory. Dual-SIM support will be included as well, along with a secondary 5-megapixel selfie camera and a decent 2,400 mAh battery. Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) has a slightly larger 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with HD (720p) resolution. At the core of the mid-range handset sits a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7870 processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Also, the phone features 13-megapixel cameras on the front and back. The Galaxy J5 (2017) drains energy from a 3,000 mAh battery. Finally, the Galaxy J7 (2017) is the most expensive of the three, as the phone comes with a 5.5-inch full HD (1080p) display and LTE Cat6 support. The phone is equipped with a similar 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7870 processor, 3GB RAM, and 16GB storage. Just like its smaller brother, Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) includes 13-megapixel cameras on the back and front. However, unlike the other two Galaxy J series phones, this one embeds a much bigger 3,000 mAh battery inside.

According to a report published in today's Wall Street Journal, Bixby has not been a good student when it comes to learning the English language. Apparently, Samsung's AI personal assistant is failing grammar and is also having problems with syntax. This means that Bixby is having difficulties creating sentences in English. The problem, as far as Samsung is concerned, is that competing assistants like Google Assistant and Siri have no problem turning out a snappy sentence in English when called on to do so.

The Journal's report says that it won't be before late June at the earliest before Bixby is launched in the U.S., a month later than the May launch that Sammy was originally aiming for. The delay in launching Bixby could affect sales of the recently released Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ in the U.S., even though market research firm Ovum says that only 9% of smartphone users access their personal assistant on a regular basis. And only 50% of consumers have an interest in digital assistants like Bixby, Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant.

Still, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is on its way to topping the sales generated last year by the Samsung Galaxy S7. The latter became the highest grossing smartphone in Samsung's history. The company obviously does not want a problem with Bixby to prevent a new sales record from being set.

Ovum says that there are 3.5 billion active devices that have a native AI assistant on board. By 2021, the company expects that figure to reach 7.5 billion active devices. That would be more than the entire world population for that year, based on computations by the U.S. Census Bureau. Google Assistant is projected to have a leading 23% market share of the market for AI assistants by 2021, followed by Bixby's 15%. Siri will be third with 13%, followed by Alexa's 4%. But this is all a pipe dream for Bixby unless Samsung straightens out the current problem the personal AI assistant is having with the English language.

A hot new report from The Bellsuggests that Cupertino and Samsung have recently signed a deal for the shipment of more than 180 million OLED panels, which will be used for the creation of Apple's 2018 flagship, tentatively called the iPhone 9. This is more than twice the amount which Sammie's display division has allegedly agreed to produce for 2017, in which Tim Cook & Co. are said to unveil at least one OLED-powered iPhone model.

The Xperia XZ Premium is the Sony's first smartphone equipped with a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, the same CPU that's inside Samsung's flagships, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

However, unlike Samsung's smartphone, the Xperia XZ Premium is not yet available for purchase, though, it can be pre-ordered in many countries across the globe. As we reported a few days ago, Sony Xperia XZ Premium is likely to make its debut on the market at the end of May or early June.

If you've been wondering how powerful the Xperia XZ Premium really is in comparison with other Snapdragon 835-powered smartphones, you're in luck since Sony's flagship has just popped up at Geekbench.

Apparently, someone tested the Xperia XZ Premium in Geekbench, and the results seem promising enough. We don't know whether or not it was a retail unit that got tested or a sample device.

Although it did not manage to surpass the results achieved by the Galaxy S8 and S8+, Sony's flagship is quite powerful. The smartphone scored 1943 points in single core and 5824 points in the multi core tests.

In comparison, Samsung Galaxy S8 scored 2008 points in single core and 6575 points in multi core tests, while the Galaxy S8+ achieved 2006 points and 6708 points, respectively. 

At first glance, the difference is almost negligible when it comes to single core tests, but the multi core tests show the Xperia XZ Premium is a bit behind Samsung's flagships. Still, we don't want to jump to conclusions just yet, at least not before we test a retail unit.