Lava Probuds N2 neckband headset delivers IPX4, fast charge for Rs. 1199 (~$16)

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Dec 13, 2021

After flagships, OPPO has now started recruiting ColorOS 12 beta testers for its mid-rangers and budget models. The latest devices to join the beta program are OPPO A73 5G and OPPO A95 5G. Let’s take a look at how interested users can try OPPO’s version of Android 12 on these smartphones.

OPPO is scheduled to kickstart ColorOS 12 beta initiative for OPPO A73 5G in Saudi Arabia and OPPO A95 5G in China on December 15. However, just like the previous phones, the beta registrations for this duo have also been opened ahead of th e said date.

For the OPPO A73 5G, the registrations will last until December 10. Whereas, the registration window is longer for the OPPO A95 5G as it will only close on December 15.

In order to participate in the beta program, users should be running the following mentioned firmware version.

OPPO A73 5G – C.06
OPPO A95 5G – A.09

If they are, then they will have to navigate to Settings > Software Update > Gear Icon > Apply for Beta Version > Update Beta Version and follow on-screen instructions.

Selected applicants will start receiving the Android 12-based ColorOS 12 beta build via OTA within three days from the selection. If the participants don’t get selected, then they can try their luck during the next batches. In China, candidates also have an option to increase their chance of selection by filling a questionnaire.

As of now, there’s no official word on when these handsets will receive the ColorOS 12 stable update.

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Vivo joins HEVC Advance Patent Pool, gains access to over 16,000 patents

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Dec 13, 2021

An independent licensing administrator, Access Advance, has just recently announced that Vivo Mobile Communication has officially joined the HEVC Advanced Patent Pool, which will enable the smartphone maker to gain access to more than 16,000 patents.

The announcement was made by Access Advance earlier this month. Now, Vivo will also have access to a large number of patents based on the HEVC/H.265 video codec standard. Access Advance CEO Peter Moller stated that “We are very pleased that Vivo has chosen to join our HEVC Advance program. Vivo’s joining is another important endorsement by a major smartphone manufacturer and brand, further demonstrating the value of our HEVC pool license.”

He further added that the company is the latest to join their HEVC Advance program, which is already licensing a large majority of brands within the smartphone market. This includes reputable smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei, OPPO, with new additions being Vivo and recently even ZTE. Peter Moller also said that “We thank Vivo and all our Licensees and Licensors for their support and expect to have further significant announcements soon.”

For those unaware, Access Advance licenses its technology and patents to a number of firms across various fields. It was formed as an independent licensing entity that will lead the development, administration, and management of patent pools for licensing essential patents of the most important standards based video codec technologies that is currently being used across the globe. Meaning, Vivo has also gained accessed to new technologies that will likely help in its smartphone operations.

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POCO F3 GT, Mi Note 10/10 Pro get MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition update

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Dec 13, 2021

Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition update for three more devices. The first one is the POCO F3 GT, which was released at the end of July 2021. The second and third models are Mi Note 10 and Mi Note 10 Pro respectively. This duo made its debut in November 2019.

POCO F3 GT Predator Black Featured A — POCO F3 GT

The POCO F3 GT is nothing but a rebranded Redmi K40 Gaming Edition. Since the original Chinese handset received the latest version of MIUI in China recently, it was obvious for the rebadged Indian version to get the update as well.

On the other hand, the Mi Note 10 and the Mi Note 10 Pro are basically the same phones with the only difference being their camera lens. Hence, they run a common MIUI build and are receiving the new update together.

They are known as Mi CC9 Pro and Mi CC9 Pro Premium Edition in China. Currently, only the Indonesian variant has got access to the fresh version of MIUI.

The latest system update for the aforementioned Xiaomi group smartphones arrives with the following build number.

POCO F3 GT
- India – V12.5.7.0.RKJINXM
Mi Note 10 / 10 Pro
- Indonesia – V12.5.4.0.RFDIDXM

Like any other software update, this one is also being rolled out in batches. Therefore, it may take some time to reach every user.

Nvidia GeForce MX550 GPU spotted on Geekbench, outperforms MX450 by 15%: Report

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Dec 13, 2021

The successor to the Nvidia GeForce MX450 mobile GPU has just been spotted on a benchmarking platform. The GeForce MX550 is the next gen entry level mobile GPU from the company, which apparently beats its predecessor by a 15 percent margin.

The upcoming graphics card was spotted on known benchmarking platform Geekbench and was first reported by ITHome (Via NotebookCheck). The original report talks about an unidentified Nvidia graphics card that features 2GB of VRAM, which is equipped on a Lenovo laptop that also sports the Alder Lake 12 core 16 thread Intel i7-1260P processor. This yet to be officially released GPU scored 39000 points in Geekbench’s OpenCL benchmark that puts it at a 15 percent lead over the MX450.

Interestingly, the benchmarks also showcases that this GPU is comparable to the mobile GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card. Other notable aspects include a GA107 architecture, which is the same that powers the GeForce RTX 3050, and 2GB of VRAM. Although, this begs the question on whether or not Team Green plans on allowing Ray Tracing on such an entry level card. Although, it would seem more practical if the company enables its DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) technology that will better allow notebooks to offer a smoother gaming experience on current gen titles.

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Samsung leads global smartphone market in Q3 2021: Report

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Dec 13, 2021

A new report has just revealed the market share of brands for the global smartphone shipments for the third quarter of this year. This information has shared that Samsung Electronics is still in the lead.

According to a Counterpoint Research report, the global smartphone market grew by 6 percent quarter on quarter but saw a modest decline of 6 percent year on year. During Q3 2021, the market shipped a total of 342 million units, which is down from 265.5 million from last year. However, the South Korean tech giant managed to retain its spot on the throne with a sizeable 20 percent market share during this quarter, shipping 69.3 million units.

Meanwhile, Apple came in second with a market share of 14 percent. The Cupertino based company shipped around 48 million units during this time, marking a notable 15 percent growth over the same period last year. Counterpoint credits this growth to the “persistent” growth of the iPhone 12 series and the launch of the latest iPhone 13 series. Similarly, Xiaomi followed close behind with a 13 percent market share in Q3 2021.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 Featured D — Galaxy Z Flip3

Although, its shipments dropped by 5 percent year on year and 15 percent quarter on quarter, hitting 44.4 million units in the third quarter of this year. The company saw the slight fall likely due to the ongoing component shortage and supply issues. On the other hand, Realme saw its highest ever shipments in Q3 2021, shipping 16.2 million units. This marked a record quarterly performance that arrived despite the globe suffering from a lack of semiconductors.

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boAt Watch Mercury with temperature sensor costs only ₹1,999 ($26)

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Dec 13, 2021

India lifestyle brand boAt has launched yet another fitness tracker disguised as a smartwatch. The company calls it boAt Watch Mercury. Let’s take a look at what this new wearable has to offer.

The newly launched boAt Watch Mercury sports a 1.54-inch square-shaped LCD screen with a resolution of 240 x 240 pixels. The brand offers over 100 watch faces for users to try out.

The main highlight of this wearable is the presence of a temperature sensor. This helps wearers to measure their body temperature. Since the watch also supports real-time monitoring, it can notify users when there’s a rise in body temperature. However, boAt recommends not to use its product as a medical device.

Further, like any other fitness tracker, this one also has a heart-rate sensor. It supports 11 sports modes like running, walking, cycling, climbing, treadmill, swimming, yoga, spinning, basketball, football, and badminton.

Other features of the smartwatch include camera shutter control, music control, call & message alerts, app notifications, and IP68 dust and water resistance. As far as endurance is concerned, the brand claims a 10-day battery life, and the wearable charges via a magnetic charger.

The boAt Watch Mercury is priced at ₹1,999 ($26) in India. Customers can pick it up in either beige, black, blue, or green-colored strap options. It will go on sale starting at 12 PM on December 15 via Flipkart.

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Toyota wants you to pay monthly fees to use smart features on your cars

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Dec 13, 2021

Toyota is making you pay to use features that are on your car. The company is moving to a paid monthly subscription pack, which starts with you paying to use the remote car start feature from the key fobs.

Toyota bZ4X electric SUV, — Toyota bZ4X electric SUV

The new subscription format is from the Japanese automobile maker’s new Connected Services (Via TheVerge). This would have the company offers its customers the option to buy one of these new services after buying a new Toyota car. The service includes Remote Connect, which lets users remotely start their cars directly from the key fob. In other words, we might be seeing a shift in the automobile industry as ‘smart features’ could new be offered under new monthly subscription plans.

At the moment, the company is offering free trials of Remote Control, although, the length of that trial depends on the audio package that is included with the vehicle. To make matters more complicated, only a few Toyota models currently support the Audio Plus or Premium Audio packages that lets you access the free trial. But regardless, we can confirm that the subscription model is official with $8/month or $80/year plans. Notably, Tesla also offers a similar subscription offering with its paid OTA (Over the Air) upgrades allowing users to activate certain features that are already built into the car, but are locked behind a paywall.

This includes paying to enable “Rear Heated Seats.” Although, Tesla usually takes a one time payment for these features rather than having you pay monthly. So while this might not be common with vehicles right now, the future of smart cars with paid DLCs (Downloadable Content) might not be far off. Meaning, one day you’ll be paying the car company every month for small smart features that are already built into your cars. With automobile giant Toyota adopting this business model, we can soon expect other brands to also launch similar models with their upcoming smart cars as well.

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Epic Games Store to give away 15 games for free this Christmas season

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Dec 13, 2021

Epic Games Store will reportedly be giving away 15 games for free later this month, with one title being offered from December 16th every day until December 30th.

The info comes from Dealabs user Billbill-Kun (via Video Games Chronicle), who correctly leaked titles included in December’s Xbox Live Games with Gold along with PS Plus lineups for September, October, November, and December.

The user claims that the promotion will commence with a free copy of Shenmue 3 on December 16. An end-of-year sale will also be kicked off on the same day, running all the way until January 6, 2022. The first 14 games will reportedly be available for just one day each while the final 15th title will be available for an entire week.

Epic Games gave away 15 games last year and 12 free games in 2019 during the same period, meaning that this year’s giveaway will again be following the same format.

Currently, Godfall Challenger Edition and Prison Architect are available for free download and will be until the 16th of December.

According to a document released as part of the Epic and Apple legal battle, the former spend nearly $12 million securing free games between December 2018 and September 2019 for its regular giveaways. A total of 38 games were distributed during the nine-month period, each of which involved paying their developers a different ‘buyout price’.

While games like Subnautica, Mutant Year Zero, and the Batman Arkham Collection cost between $1 million to $1.5 million, there were also titles like Super Meat Boy that cost Epic lesser than $50,000.

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Vivaldi calls Microsoft ‘desperate’ over Windows 11 Edge browser’s anti-competitive actions

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Dec 13, 2021

Microsoft had recently launched its latest versions of Windows OS. But while the latest version saw mostly praises, its Edge browser saw many changes that made it even more anti-competitive than before, which has now led to Vivaldi‘s co-founder taking a jab at the Windows 11 Edge browser in his latest blog post.

For those unaware, the Microsoft Edge browser brought about new changes with the arrival of the new Windows 11 operating system. This included making it harder for users to switch the default browser on their PCs from Edge to any other third party browser. While Mozilla managed to beat this difficult browser switching game, it seems that other browser based firms are also annoyed by these new changes.

As per a recent Vivaldi blog (Via WindowsLatest), “Microsoft’s moves seem desperate. And familiar. It is clear they don’t want you to use other browsers.” Recently, we had even reported on the American tech giant adding new prompts that seeks to prevent users from switching the default browser. These prompts include calling Google Chrome outdated and from 2008, while also stating that its Edge browser is built on the same technology as Chrome.

Thus, Jon von Tetzchner, the Co-Founder of Vivaldi, took jabs at Microsoft and called out its anti-competitive practices, saying that its ‘back to its old tricks to get an edge on the competition.” He further urged users to “Most of all, don’t let Microsoft win at this stacked game. Persist until you can use your browser of choice on Windows – and help your friends or colleagues to do the same.”

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Huawei Watch D real-life images exposed for the first time, blood pressure monitoring feature shown

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Dec 13, 2021

The Huawei Watch D, set to be launched on December 23, has now nearly been completely exposed, firstly with images of its box and now images of it in action in real life. These images are in line with previous renders and showcase a few highlight features including blood pressure monitoring.

The images show Huawei Watch D with a squarish dial and a large screen that’s slightly curved on the edges. There are a couple of buttons on the right side of the smartwatch’s body for “Health” and “Home” functions.

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The watch supports a number of new and highly advanced tracking features like blood pressure monitoring and ECG (electrocardiogram) measurement. A blogger recently revealed that the watch allegedly comes with a pressurized bag inside to simulate the actual blood pressure measurement process and provide extremely accurate data. The feature has already obtained a Class II medical device registration certificate from the National Medical Products Administration of China.

Other than this, the Huawei Watch D will run the company’s self-developed HarmonyOS system. It will also likely support the Huawei Health app, which would provide users with various fitness features like step tracking, calorie measurement, sleep cycle tracking, weight tracking, and much more.

He Gang, president of Huawei’s mobile business, earlier this year announced that Huawei had made a breakthrough in the research of wearable blood pressure measurement technology on the wrist. The Huawei Watch D seems to be a product of that.

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Infinix Note 11, Infinix Note 11S launched in India: Price, Specs, Sale Date

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Dec 13, 2021

Infinix has finally debuted the Infinix Note 11 series in India after teasing it for days. Though the lineup includes multiple devices, the company has only brought two models to the country, namely Infinix Note 11 and Infinix Note 11S. We believe more phones will make their way to the region in the near future. Until then, let’s take a look at what this duo has to offer.

Infinix Note 11 Featured A — Infinix Note 11

Infinix Note 11, Infinix Note 11S Specifications and Features

The Infinix Note 11 flaunts a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels (FHD+), 60Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 100000:1 contrast ratio, 650 nits peak brightness, 91% screen-to-body ratio, and a dewdrop notch.

On the other hand, the Infinix Note 11S sports a 6.78-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 2460 x 1080 pixels (FHD+), 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling rate, and a centered punch-hole.

The Note 11 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G88 chipset, while the Note 11S with a MediaTek Helio G96 SoC. Both house a 50MP triple rear camera setup and a 16MP selfie camera. The former has a 2MP depth sensor and an AI sensor as auxiliary cameras, whereas the latter comes with a 2MP macro snapper and a 2MP depth sensor.

Infinix Note 11S Featured A — Infinix Note 11S

Common features between the two smartphones include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo speakers, MicroSD card slot, Android 11, 5000mAh battery, and 33W fast charging.

Infinix Note 11, Infinix Note 11S Price and Availability in India

The Inifnix Note 11 series will retail at the following price tags in India.

Infinix Note 11
- 4GB + 64GB – ₹11,999 ($159)
Infinix Note 11S
- 6GB + 64GB – ₹12,999 ($172)
- 8GB + 128GB – ₹14,999 ($198)

Both will be sold via Flipkart. The Note 11S will go on sale first at 12 PM on December 20, followed by Note 11 on December 23 at the same time.

iQOO India gets vivo’s Nipun Marya as new CEO, aims to double growth

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Dec 13, 2021

iQOO India announced on Monday that Nipun Marya, who served as Director of vivo India for five years, has now been appointed as the company’s new CEO. Under him, iQOO aims to double its online market share in the mid-premium space from 5% to 10% in the country by next year.

iQOO was launched in 2019 as an online-exclusive brand under vivo and mostly sells mid-range devices with a key focus on performance. The company made its way into India in early 2020 and was being led by Gagan Arora, director of marketing of iQOO India, who will continue to be a part of it.

Marya, who is now CEO effective immediately says that he would strive to create “a robust brand awareness among the millennial and Gen Z smartphone lovers in the country.”

“iQOO’s target audience is tech-savvy young Indians who go into the details before purchasing smartphones. The ‘make in India’ brand will offer cutting-edge, top-of-the-line specifications for users who want premium experiences from their devices,” he told IANS.

vivo, under Marya’s leadership, stood third in Q3 2021 with a market share of 15 percent and became the top 5G smartphone brand for the first time in the same period. iQOO, on the other hand, saw a massive growth of 671% in Q3.

This has been made possible through offerings like the iQOO Z5, which brings a range of compelling specifications like a 120Hz display, Snapdragon 778G chipset, 64MP camera, and more, for just ₹23,990.

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Xiaomi’s Air Purifier Brand, SmartMi now plans to build Smart Cars

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Dec 13, 2021

While we already know that Xiaomi has been dedicating its resources towards its smart car project, a new report has revealed that one of the company’s subsidiary is also aiming on entering the automobile market as well.

According to a 36kr report, the Chinese tech giant’s Air Purifier maker, SmartMi has plans on makings its own smart cars. Notably, SmartMi is also known as Zhimi Technology in China and is known to making a number of smart home products/appliances. Now, 36kr has reported that Zhimi is planning on expanding its expertise outside of consumer electronic products and into the automobile industry.

Reportedly, Zhimi is also seeking to build a new passenger car as well, with its first model being an SUV, as per sources close to the matter. These sources further added that the new project fro Zhimi will be completely independent from Xiaomi Motors, which is its parent company’s automobile unit. Furthermore, it also appears that the new car project’s management will also be separate from its parent company as well, although, it won’t be surprising to see some form of support from the tech giant. As of right now, its plans seem quite far fetched considering the brand is best known for making air purifiers, air conditioners, and more products along this line.

But it seems that the company is taking this initiative quite seriously as the source added that it is already in contact with a number of car designing based firms for the design of its first vehicle. It would also likely have to partner up with a known automobile brand, since the car market is quite a difficult segment to enter successfully without even mentioning the troubles and vast investment needed for mass production. Unfortunately, Zhimi has yet to respond to offer any official statements regarding this news at the moment. So stick with us for more updates.

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Samsung high-end Galaxy device owners complain about audio issues while gaming

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Dec 13, 2021

Some Samsung Galaxy device owners have been complaining about audio issues on their devices while gaming. While some say that it began with the latest One UI 4 update, some have also stated that it has been present since forever. Affected phones are mostly high-end models including the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S20, Galaxy S21, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Z Fold 2, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and the Galaxy A52 5G.

samsung galaxy s21 featured — Samsung Galaxy S21’s successor reported to pack a smaller battery

Users say that audio when gaming sounds rather flat and sometimes even distorted, despite it being totally fine in all other scenarios like with music streaming apps and the like (via SamMobile). It was initially thought that it’s Dolby Atmos that’s to be blamed but turning it off resulted in little to no difference.

The issue seemingly affects low and mid-range audio frequencies the most and is most noticeable on phones with high-quality loudspeakers. Wired or wireless earphones are not as affected.

Oddly, turning on screen recording seems to fix the problem. But that’s obviously not the ideal solution since not only is it quite heavy on resources but also eats up a lot of storage. And on top of that, it also reportedly disables 120 FPS on supported games.

A good demonstration of the problem has been given in the video embedded below.

But despite the growing number of complaints, Samsung is yet to acknowledge the gaming audio issues on any of its Galaxy devices. There is hence no fix in sight. Most official responses on the Samsung Members forum suggest resetting the affected phone as a possible solution but that doesn’t help at all.

We thus suggest Galaxy device owners to take their issue to the community forums and even Twitter to pull Samsung’s attention to it.

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Honor X30 to offer impressive battery life, fast charging support

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Dec 13, 2021

Honor X30 will be unveiled on Dec. 16 in China. Ahead of the launch, the Chinese manufacturer is gradually spilling a few details of the X30. It has been confirmed through a recent Weibo post that the handset will offer a long-last performance and it will carry support for fast charging.

Unfortunately, there is no accurate information on the exact battery size of the Honor X30. It is speculated that the device may come equipped with 66W fast charging.

The Honor X30 is expected to arrive as the first-ever phone powered by the Snapdragon 695 mobile platform. The handset is expected to feature a punch-hole display, which may support a 90Hz refresh rate.

The rear panel of the phone will sport a round-shaped camera module, which may include a 48-megapixel primary camera. It is likely to be accompanied by a 2-megapixel depth sensor and a 2-megapixel macro camera. The other details of the smartphone are under the wraps.

In related news, Honor is reportedly working on the Honor Magic Fold foldable smartphone. Rumors have it that the foldable device will feature an 8-inch display that offers 2200 x 2480 pixels, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, 108-megapixel triple cameras, a 16-megapixel front camera, and so on. It is likely to go official in Q1 2022 in China. At present, there is information on the pricing of the device.

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Unexpected DJI Mavic 3 update adds multiple new shooting modes and more

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Dec 13, 2021

A surprise DJI Mavic 3 firmware update has added a bunch of new features to the flagship drone – features that should’ve always been there. Grabbing the spotlight among these are multiple new shooting modes like FocusTrack, MasterShots, and Timelapse, all of which are already available on DJI’s more affordable drones.

A raw-only photo mode has also been added, along with reduced noise when shooting ProRes on the Mavic 3 Cine version and reduced vibration of the aircraft arms “in some scenarios”, although it’s unclear how the latter has been achieved through software (via TechRadar).

Other improvements include post-launch fixes, including improvements to the Return-to-Home (RTH) performance, obstacle avoidance, and hovering stability. The issue where abnormal colors appear in some situations has also been fixed along with several other stuff.

DJI has also promised that it will continue to refine intelligent flight modes like MasterShots in future firmware updates. Another update will also be rolled out in January 2022 to add other missing features like QuickTransfer, QuickShots, and Panorama mode.

The update carrying version number v01.00.0400 comes as a surprise since DJI had earlier announced that it won’t be arriving until January 22. It is joined by update v1.5.4 to the DJI Fly App that also landed recently.

To try out the latest firmware update on your DJI Mavic 3, you need to download the v1.5.4 version of the DJI Fly app from the DJI website and install Aircraft Firmware v01.00.0400. Alternatively, the DJI Assistant 2 app for Mac/Windows can also be used.

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Huawei to launch Watch D, Mate V Flip Phone, & more on Dec 23: Report

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