Google AR headset reportedly in the works in an ultrasecret facility

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Jan 21, 2022

Earlier this week, news broke out that OnePlus will be soon launching a new smart television lineup in India. It will be called the OnePlus TV Y1S series. Today, we get to see this TV in a render.

The render of the upcoming OnePlus TV Y1S series comes from the OnePlus Connect application. It was spotted by Ishan Agarwal (via MySmartPrice).

According to the image, the television will have minimal bezels on three sides. In other words, it will look similar to the existing OnePlus TV Y1 series.

There will be a large chin with the OnePlus logo at the center. Below that, there will be an LED indicator, which will likely include an infrared sensor as well.

Apart from the aforementioned details, the picture doesn’t tell anything about the television. However, thanks to the previous report, we know quite a bit about it.

For starters, the OnePlus TV Y1 series will be offerred in two sizes – 32-inch and 43-inch. Although it’s not revealed, the former will likely have HD-ready resolution compared to FHD on the latter.

Both of them will boot Android TV 11 operating system. They will offer dual-band WiFi connectivity, which will be an upgrade over the single-band implementation found in their predecessors. Finally, they will have support for HDR10+ and Dolby Audio along with Dolby Atmos decoding.

As of now, there’s no info on the launch date of the OnePlus TV Y1S series.

Xiaomi U Disk Flash Drive launched in China, offers 150MB/s read speeds

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Jan 21, 2022

Xiaomi has just announced a new product for students and professionals alike in China. It is the U Disk Flash Drive, which offers great portability, big storage, and high transfer speeds.

The Chinese tech giant launched the product earlier today (21st January 2022) and officially on sale in Xiaomi Mall, Youpin, and the Xiaomi Home stores. The brand has launched the product in two variants, namely a 64GB and 128GB version, which are priced at 99 Yuan and 169 Yuan respectively (roughly around 16 and 27 US Dollars). It is a 2 in 1 pen drive that features both a USB Type A and USB Type C. In other words, it works with both smartphone and PCs.

The larger one is a USB 3.2 Gen1 series Type A, which offers a notable 150MB/sec read speeds. Talking about its design, it features a minimalist yet elegant metallic finish made from zinc alloy materials that helps in heat dissipation as well. Notably, the USB Type A supports Windows 7/8/10/11, MacOS 10.6 and higher, while the USB Type C supports Android 4.4 and above for devices with OTG support. So, this product appeals to students on the go or traveling business professionals that need the extra local storage, without having to use cloud storage.

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Redmi 7A gets MIUI 12.5 update in India, likely its last major software update

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Jan 21, 2022

In China, The Redmi 7A got access to MIUI 12.5 in August. However, the device has started receiving this update in India only now. For some reason, it took Xiaomi 6 months to deliver the new software for the phone in its biggest market outside its home country.

The MIUI 12.5 update for Redmi 7A in India arrives with build number V12.5.1.0.QCMINXM. As always, the latest system update for the smartphone is being rolled out in batches. Therefore, it may take some time to reach every unit.

For the unaware, the Redmi 7A launched in the second half of 2019 with MIIUI 10 based on Android 9.0 Pie. The handset was updated to MIUI 11 at the end of the same year.

Later, it got Android 10 in mid-2020. By late that year, the device started receiving MIUI 12. Over a year from that, it is now being treated with MIUI 12.5.

The Redmi A series generally receive a single Android update and two MIUI updates. The Redmi 7A has got all of them. Hence, there may not be any major software update for the phone hereafter. Because the company had recently canceled MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition update for it along with other models.

Some iPhone 13 users complain about screen randomly turning pink

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Jan 21, 2022

Multiple Apple iPhone 13 users have complained that their phone’s screen randomly turns pink/purple, with workarounds like factory resetting and updating being fruitless.

While the problem appears to be widespread in China with complaints flowing in on platforms like Weibo, there are scattered reports from other regions as well. The pink screen problem may also be accompanied by lags, freezes, automatic restarts, and other problems (via My Drivers).

The issue also does not appear to be a permanent thing and may strike intermittently, coming and going on its own. Another noted characteristic is that when the screen turns pink, the status bar icons and other information usually continue to be visible.

A report by @BossLianbo on Weibo says that Apple’s official customer service has said that it’s not a hardware problem and recommended updating the system as a solution. Netizens have also reported that customer service suggests updating all apps to the latest version to rule out incompatibility between app and iOS versions.

But if nothing seems to help, then Apple does appear to be offering replacements, as in the case of this Apple community forums member.

So far, the pink screen issue does not seem to be discriminating between models as reports of the problem have emerged from iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, and even iPhone 13 Pro Max users, indicating that it could be affecting the entire 2021 lineup.

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Black Shark 5 series launch teased, likely to debut in February

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jan 21, 2022

Black Shark 5 series will be launching soon in China. Reports have claimed that the lineup includes two models such as Black Shark 5 and Black Shark 5 Pro. Today, the company rolled out the teaser of the Black Shark 5 series, which indicates that it may go official es early as February in China.

The official teaser reveals that the Black Shark 5 lineup will be arriving with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. A past report revealed that the vanilla model is codenamed Katyusha, while the Pro model is codenamed as Patriot. The model number of the vanilla variant is said to be KTUS-A0.

BLack Shark 5 teaser — Black Shark 5 teaser

Recent reports have claimed that the Black Shark 5 will be equipped with a Samsung E4 AMOLED panel that offers an FHD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 720Hz touch sampling rate. The device is likely to be driven by a 4,600mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging. It is likely to be fueled by the Snapdragon 888 Plus chipset.

On the other hand, the Black Shark 5 Pro may come with a bigger 6.8-inch AMOLED Quad HD+ display that offers a 144hz refresh rate. It could be packed with a larger 5,000mAh battery that supports 120W rapid charging. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is expected to power the Black Shark 5 Pro. Both models are likely to run on the latest Android 12 OS.

The Black Shark 5 series will be facing competition from other gaming smartphones such as Nubia REDMAGIC 7 lineup and Lenovo Legion Y90. The Nubia and Lenovo gaming phones are expected to debut in February or March.

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Chinese carmaker Geely plans to acquire smartphone brand Meizu: Report

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Jan 21, 2022

A new report has suggested that known Chinese automaker Geely is planning on acquiring a local smartphone brand. Sources close to the matter have revealed that the phonemaker in question is Meizu.

According to a 36kr report, multiple independent sources have suggested that the Geely group is currently in talks with Meizu over the possible acquisition. Apparently, “the transaction is still in progress.” In other words, finer details regarding this deal like the total price of the buyout is still unknown as of right now. Notably, this move is somewhat in line with our previous report. We had covered that the automobile manufacturer is planning on launching a smartphone brand.

This move is also completely the opposite of the current market trend, with smartphone brands like Xiaomi and Apple working on cars while the Geely is entering the handset market. As per our previous reports, the company’s chairman and founder had started this bold plan, which will have handsets launching in the year 2023. Furthermore, it was also revealed at the moment that the initial capital investment was around 10 billion Yuan (roughly 1.55 billion US dollars) for the project, with a targeted revenue of about 1.5 billion US dollars within the first year of operations.

With the first handsets launching within just a year, it makes sense that an acquisition of an existing brand will buy the company time over starting from scratch. Meizu already has a dedicated team for its smartphone operations as well. Although, Meizu has seen a decline in recent times, so the acquisition may also bring changes that revitalize its market share. Keep in mind that this is still an unconfirmed report, so take it with a pinch of salt and stay tuned for more updates.

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Vivo Y21A launched in India with Helio P22 SoC, 5,000mAh battery, and more

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Jan 21, 2022

We first heard about the vivo Y21A back in September 2021. However, the smartphone has gone official only now. According to Playfuldroid, It has been quietly listed on the company’s official website in India without any info on price and availability.

Vivo Y21A Specifications and Features

The Vivo Y21A is the successor of Vivo Y20A. The device features a plastic body, a dewdrop notched display, and a rectangular camera island. It measures 164.26 × 76.08 × 8.00mm in dimensions, weighs 182g, and arrives in two colors (Midnight Blue, Diamond Glow).

The handset sports a 6.51-inch display (LCD) with a resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels (HD+), 20:9 aspect ratio, and 89% screen-to-body ratio. It is powered by a MediaTek Helio P22 chipset paired with 4G RAM (+1GB virtual RAM) and 64GB storage with support for expansion via a MicroSD card slot.

It houses a dual-camera setup on the rear comprising of a 13MP primary snapper and a 2MP macro shooter. On the front, it has an 8MP shooter for selfies and video calls.

The smartphone runs Funtouch OS 11.1 based on Android 11. It includes all the required sensors like a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass, and ambient light sensor. There’s also a virtual gyroscope.

The phone offers connectivity options such as 4G (dual-SIM), dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, GNSS (GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS, GALILEO), USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Last but not least, the Vivo Y21A draws energy from a 5,000mAh battery, which is capable of charging at 18W.

OPPO Enco X2 earbuds leak reveals complete design, Dynaudio collaboration

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Jan 21, 2022

OPPO‘s upcoming flagship audio wearable has now been exposed thanks to a new leak showing its complete design.

Through a tweet, prominent tipster Ice Universe revealed that the earbuds will be called the OPPO Enco X2 and have been built in collaboration with Danish loudspeaker maker Dynaudio, just as the label on the charging case indicates.

The tipster also says that the OPPO Enco X2 follows a smooth cobblestone appearance that sits well with OPPO’s classic design language.

The shared image reveals a design that isn’t too different from the preceding OPPO Enco X earbuds that also came with a cobblestone-looking case. The earbuds sport rubberized in-ear tips and the coloring of both the case and earbuds appears to be matte.

The leak didn’t mention any of the specs with the flagship earbuds but we expect them to come with improvements across the board, whether it’s the sound quality, ANC capabilities, or battery performance.

As for the release date, it has been quite a while since the preceding Enco X earbuds made their debut back in October 2020, so the Enco X2 may be launched anytime now. A February launch date in China is most expected and a global release should follow not long after.

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Lenovo teases new gaming shoulder buttons, launches with Legion Y90

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Jan 21, 2022

Lenovo has just teased a new gaming accessory on its official Weibo account (a Chinese microblogging website). The company is gearing up for a new mobile gaming shoulder buttons, which is set to be released alongside the Legion Y90.

For those unaware, the Legion Y90 is an upcoming gaming smartphone. With shooter titles like Peace Elite and PUBG Mobile being popular in the market, shoulder buttons have become the norm in the mobile gaming industry. The shoulder buttons have service life of 3 million clicks and use a metallic design. The Chinese smartphone maker built the shoulder buttons to mimic the feel of a gaming mouse that is popular in PC gaming.

With the Legion Y90 launch being just around the corner, the teaser suggests that it will support the Y90 and launch alongside it. Talking about the smartphone itself, it sports a 6.92 inch AMOLED E4 panel that offers a Full HD+ resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 720Hz touch sampling rate. It is also expected to feature Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. A notable aspect of the device is an active air cooling fan, so its clear that the company’s placed a focus on gaming experience. So, it arrives as no surprise that the brand is also making gaming accessories for the device.

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Lenovo leads as PC shipments reach 90.3 million units globally in Q4 2021

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Jan 21, 2022

Global PC shipments touched 90.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2021, maintaining a YoY growth of 3.1%. Lenovo led in terms of market share, selling over 21.7 million units during the same period.

The shipment forecast for Q1 2022 remains optimistic as demand remains strong and the pressure on PC components eases out, albeit at a slow pace. The supply gap for the most important PC components like power management IC, Wi-Fi and I/O interface IC narrowed during Q4 2021, meaning OEMs and ODMs will be continuing to accumulate component inventory (via Counterpoint Research).

q4 2021 global pc shipments counterpoint — Image: Counterpoint

In terms of market share, Lenovo led with a 24% share, which while is a bit less compared to Q4 2020, still represents the highest unit sales at 21.7 million in Q4 2021.

HP follows closely with a 20.5% share and 1% YoY growth thanks to the easing of component shortage. The number of PCs sold by the American company saw a marginal growth as well from 18.4 million units in Q4 2020 to 18.5 million units in Q4 2021.

Dell comes in third on the podium, registering a 15% YoY growth during the same period, with most of its sales coming due to its excellent commercial/premium product strategy.

q4 2021 global pc share counterpoint — Image: Counterpoint

Apple saw its sales remain largely unchanged in Q4 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, thanks to the success of its M1 Macbook. It falls behind Dell by a large margin though in terms of market share, garnering a share of 7.2%.

The remaining contribution to the global PC shipments in Q4 2021 comes from brands like Asus and Acer. The former saw a single-digit YoY growth during the period while the latter saw a single-digit decline.

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Red Magic 7 passes FCC revealing the battery capacity and back panel

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Pranav Sawant

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Jan 21, 2022

Nubia is expected to launch its new gaming smartphone called Red Magic 7 soon. The smartphone has previously appeared on certification sites like TENAA, GeekBench, and now, the phone has emerged on the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) portal.

The listing doesn’t reveal the full specs sheet as of now, but it sheds light on its battery capacity and a few other details. The Red Magic 7 has the model number STC-A59152050AC-Z. It packs a 2190mAh battery, which will evidently be two units of 2190mAh making the total battery capacity to be 4380mAh. Here, the battery is manufactured by Dongguan Amperex Technology Limited.

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As per FCC, the device has a 65W fast charging support and the charging adapter has the model number NB-A20825C. To recall, the 3C certification revealed a 165W fast charging support on the phone. Which could mean that a 65W fast charging support could be for the markets out of China.

Furthermore, the listing also confirms 12GB of RAM on the phone, which could be the base model or a mid-variant of the phone. Since the device was seen with 18GB RAM on the Geekbench website. We also get to see the back view of the phone in a sketch, but it doesn’t show any explicit detail.

Nonetheless, the smartphone was spotted with the model number – NX679J earlier. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC and boots on Android 12 out of the box. It scored 1219 single-core points and 3732 multi-core points.

The smartphone’s TENAA listing revealed that the phone will pack a 6.8-inch FHD+ display with a 165Hz refresh rate. It will have a 64MP triple camera system at the back and an 8MP single selfie snapper at the front.

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Samsung Galaxy S22 could get a Bespoke Edition

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Jan 21, 2022

Samsung’s BESPOKE lineup of products offers customizability to consumers. Previously, it was only limited to household appliances. But late last year, the company introduced this option for smartphones, starting with Galaxy Z Flip3. Now, according to rumors, the upcoming Galaxy S22 could also get a Bespoke Edition.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Bespoke Edition — Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 Bespoke Edition

According to a user on Naver (via SamMobile), Samsung is being rumored to release Galaxy S22 Bespoke Editon. As of now, the company hasn’t decided on this matter yet.

It is said that either the South Korean tech giant will offer a Bespoke model or simply sell the handset in those five exclusive colors separately. We expect to learn more about this in the coming days as the launch is nearing.

Bespoke products from Samsung allow customers to customize to some extent. Consumers can choose from a wide variety of color options. Because of the tedious process involved in manufacturing and logistics, these products are only available in select countries.

For Galaxy Z Flip3, Samsung offers five colors for the rear panels and two for the frame. Since the foldable has two rear panels, customers get to choose from 49 color combinations.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S22 is a slab phone, and therefore, it has a single rear panel. Hence, it will likely get around 10 color combinations, unless Samsung adds new colors.

boAt Airdopes 181 TWS earbuds launched in India with ENx Tech, 20 hours battery, & more

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Jan 21, 2022

boAt has just launched a new product in India. The latest entry is a part of its hearables portfolio and is a truly wireless earbuds called Airdopes 181, which is available in the region via Flipkart and Amazon.

The known Indian consumer electronics maker had initially listed the Airdopes 181 on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and is now finally available for purchase. Notably, the Airdopes 181 also joins the recently announced the Airdopes 161 and Airdopes 601 ANC. Talking about the 181, it features Bluetooth 5.2 and even offers up to 20 hours of audio playback. The earbuds sports 10mm drivers for an immersive audio experience and powerful bass.

Looking at the earbuds, it features an in ear style design with a stem. Furthermore, the earbuds also arrives with ENx technology, which the company claims will offer an improved audio experience during calls. Apart from this, boAt Airdopes 181 also features a Beast mode that is another term for gaming mode that brings the latency down to 65 milliseconds. It can last for up to 20 hours when paired with its charging case, with the earbud lasting for 4 hours on its own. The TWS supports fast charging as well, with just 10 minutes of charging offering 1.5 hours of music playback.

The earbuds weigh just 2.9 grams and offers other features like Instant Wake n Pair (IWP) for seamless connection, touch controls, IPX4 water resistance, USB Type C port, and voice assistant support. It is priced at 1,499 INR (roughly 20 US Dollars) and is available in multiple color variants, namely Bold Blue, Carbon Black, Cool Grey, and Spirit White, on Amazon and Flipkart.

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Samsung Galaxy A22e 5G gets certified on Bluetooth SIG

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Pranav Sawant

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Jan 21, 2022

While we wait to see the successor of the last year’s Galaxy A22, here we have another A22 model getting certified online. The device is named Samsung Galaxy A22e and it is a 5G phone that may end up getting launched in Japan.

To recall, Samsung announced the Galaxy A22 in 4G and 5G variants. The company later rebranded the device named the Galaxy A22s in Russia. In the meantime, Samsung also launched a new A22 variant with different specs for Japan, but the device was still called the Galaxy A22 5G.

Now, as per the Bluetooth certification, the new phone also has 5G connectivity and it has the model number SC-56B. This makes us believe that it could actually be a device for the Japanese market since the A22 5G in Japan has the same model number. That being said, we may see the handset soon, however, there are no details regarding its specs.

Coming back to certification, the only thing we get to know is that the phone will have support for Bluetooth version 5.0. Apart from this, there’s nothing to note. But given that this shares the same model number as the Japanese A22 5G, we may see some similarities in the specs of the A22e 5G.

The Samsung Galaxy A22 5G in Japan was launched with a 5.8-inch TFT display with an HD+ resolution. The device has a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie snapper. It has the Dimensity 700 chipset, under the hood, and packs a 4,000mAh battery. It has an IP68 rating and has 4GB RAM, 64GB of internal storage.

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Adblock Plus altering webpages not a copyright infringement, Hamburg court rules

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Jan 21, 2022

eyeo, developer of the super-popular ad-filtering browser extension Adblock Plus, announced that it has won a case filed against it by Axel Springer publishing group on copyright grounds.

The case was dismissed by the Hamburg Regional Court with judges saying that the program does not violate copyright law (via Spiegel).

The legal dispute between Axel Springer and eyeo lasted has now eight years. Springer had first filed a lawsuit back in 2014 before the Cologne Regional Court. Although the group was able to achieve partial success initially, it failed completely before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) which did not accept an appeal against its judgment.

With advertising continuing to be one of the main sources of income for online media, the dispute obviously involved a lot of money. Springer therefore not only wanted eyeo to stop blocking ads on its sites but also demanded compensation for all advertising calls that have been prevented since 2016.

The initial lawsuits were based on competition law. While the ad blocker is free of charge, eyeo does charge companies if they wish to smuggle unobtrusive advertising through the filter. This seemed illegal for lawyers of multiple publishers since they thought it intervened in the operations of other companies. But chief judges rejected the argument.

The new lawsuit took up a different angle though. Axel Springer argues that by interfering with website code, Adblock Plus infringes copyright. Lawyers of the group quoted an incident from 2012 where the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court banned a cheating program for the PSP that allowed its users to gain unfair advantages.

However, the Hamburg court sees a fundamental difference between the two cases. Sure, Adblock Plus alters website code in a way that its developers don’t want it to. But the changes are made only on the user’s end — to the structure of the display created in the browser — and not in the transferred files themselves.

In other words, Adblock Plus does not change the program substance, but only the program flow.

The distinction is necessary, the judges emphasized, as interpreting copyright too broadly would also affect other ‘harmless’ browser extensions that ultimately also work by altering HTML code. It would more or less have made it illegal for any technology or consumer to alter a website page appearance — a direct contravention of the open standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

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Realme 8 is the latest phone to get Android 12-based Realme UI 3.0 Early Access Update

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