Nokia 1.4 full specifications, pricing, and color variants emerge

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Jan 21, 2021

Update: Story updated with an official statement from Redmi’s GM, Lu Weibing.

Redmi has come a long way since it moved from being just a line of smartphones to being a subsidiary of Xiaomi. Its product portfolio has expanded to include more products such as TVs and computers but smartphones are still the heart of the company. Now, it has been reported that the first Redmi gaming smartphone is on the way and it will be powered by MediaTek’s new Dimensity 1200 chipset.

The source of the news is the Chinese leaker that goes by Digital Chat Station on Weibo. According to his post shown below, the just-announced Dimensity 1200 processor would power the first Redmi gaming smartphone.

Redmi’s General Manager, Lu Weibing, has also confirmed that it will indeed launch its first gaming flagship smartphone this year. He also revealed that the Dimensity 1200 will make its world debut in a Redmi phone, most likely the Redmi K40 series which is expected to launch soon. This means we should have two Redmi phones powered by the Dimensity 1200.

EDITOR’S PICK: Redmi K40 series confirmed to launch in February, key specs and price revealed

There is a lot we do not yet know about the Redmi gaming smartphone. For instance, will it be the first of a new series or will it launch under an existing series? We also do not know what the other specs are and what features it will have that give it an advantage over the other gaming smartphones in the market. We also do not know how soon it will launch.

Nevertheless, we expect the Redmi gaming smartphone to have a high refresh rate, though it might be an LCD and not an AMOLED display. We also expect a big battery capacity, super-fast charging, and possibly, extra features such as shoulder buttons.

The Dimensity 1200 is a 6nm chipset with four Cortex-A78 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores. It has a prime Cortex-A78 core that is clocked at 3.0GHz. It also has a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU which should be able to handle any game you throw at it but not as well as the Mali-G78 that is found in the Exynos 1080, Exynos 2100, and Kirin 9000/9000E chipsets.

OPPO F19 / F21 series tipped to launch in February

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Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jan 21, 2021

OPPO announced the OPPO F17 and OPPO F17 Pro smartphones in September in India. In the same month, My Smart Price had claimed that the Chinese firm could be launching the OPPO F21 Pro around November in the country. It mentioned that the company will be skipping the F19 moniker. However, the F21 Pro did not debut last year. Fresh information shared by XDA Developers’ Tushar Mehta reveals that the OPPO F19 series will debut in February.

Mehta claims that OPPO will be launching its next F-series smartphones in February. He is unclear whether it will be called F19 or F21. Unfortunately, he did not share any information on the specs of the upcoming F-series phones.

I've learnt that OPPO will launch its next F series — most likely F19 and F19 Pro — in India next month i.e. in February 2021.

Given the irregular naming, this can also be called F21 instead but that's simply a hunch. #OPPO #OPPOF19Pro https://t.co/cg4n3ukmNa pic.twitter.com/gotOG1scL9

— Tushar Mehta 🤳 (@thetymonbay) January 20, 2021

Since it is the year 2021, it is likely that the Chinese manufacturer may announce its next F-series phones as the OPPO F21 and OPPO F21 Pro. According to MSP’s report, the successor of the F17 series will be flaunting a sleeker design. The F21 Pro is likely to sport a glass back and its rear pattern will be different from the F17 Pro.

The F17 series came with 30W rapid charging support. Probably, the successor edition may offer users with faster charging solution.

Editor’s Pick: OPPO Find X3 Pro receives FCC certification ahead of March launch

OPPO F17 Pro specifications

The Helio P95 powered OPPO F17 Pro has a 6.43-inch S-AMOLED screen that offers a 20:9 aspect ratio and an FHD+ resolution. The screen is integrated with a fingerprint sensor. It has 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

The F17 Pro backed by a 4,015mAh battery. For photography, it features a 16-megapixel + 2-megapixel dual selfie camera system and a rear-facing quad-camera setup that included a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens, a 2-megapixel macro lens, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

Get Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C for FREE on purchasing Mi Smart Speaker in India

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Jan 21, 2021

Back in late September, Xiaomi launched Mi Smart Speaker in India as a rebranded Xiao AI Speaker Art with Google Assistant. A month later in October, the company released Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C alongside the Mi 10T/10T Pro smartphones. Now, ahead of Republic Day sale, the firm is offering a couple of interesting deals on these two products.

India’s largest online retailers, Flipkart and Amazon India, are holding sale events for the country’s 72nd Republic Day. Hence, Xiaomi is providing discounts and offers on a plethora of its devices.

One of these discounts is on the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C. This TWS is priced at ₹2,499 ($34). But on the occasion of the sale, Xiaomi has reduced its price by ₹500 ($7). Therefore, interested customers can grab these wireless earbuds for only ₹1,999 ($27).

If that wasn’t enough, you can get the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C for absolutely free on purchasing Mi Smart Speaker worth ₹3,999 ($55). However, unlike the former offer, which is available on both Mi.com and Flipkart, this one can be availed exclusively on Mi.com.

It is worth noting that Xiaomi offered the Mi Smart Speaker at half the price for a very long time on buying select smartphones, Mi TVs, Mi Notebooks, and Mi Air Purifier on Mi.com and Flipkart. But it seems like that offer is no longer active but it may go live again sometime later.

Anway, if you are interested in the new deal, make sure to make use of it by January 24

Buy Xiaomi Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C – Flipkart

Buy Xiaomi Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C – Mi.com

Buy Mi Smart Speaker and Mi True Wireless Earphones 2C Combo – Mi.com

Huawei Mate X2 full specifications leaked, launching in February?

By

Anvinraj Valiyathara

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Jan 21, 2021

Huawei announced the first-generation Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone in February 2019 and it was made available for purchase in November the same year. The Chinese manufacturer announced its updated version as the Huawei Mate Xs in February last year. The release pattern of the predecessor models suggests that the company could be planning to launch the rumored Huawei Mate X2 in the coming month. Yesterday, the Mate X2 with TET-AN00 / TET-AN10 model number emerged at China’s TENAA certification platform. The listing did not reveal any information on its specs. However, a reliable tipster from China shared the entire specifications of the Mate X2 today.

Huawei Mate X2 specifications (Rumored)

The tipster claims that the engineering unit of the Huawei Mate X2 has 161.8 x 145.8 x 8.2mm dimensions and weighs 295 grams. Multiple reports have revealed that the company will be ditching the outward folding design that was made available on the Mate X and Mate Xs models. The new leak claims that the Huawei Mate X2 has an 8.01-inch inward folding display that produces a resolution of 2480 x 2220 pixels.

The front side of the phone features a second display that measures 6.45 inches. It offers a resolution of 2270 x 1160 pixels. The foldable phone has a front camera of 16-megapixel.

Editor’s Pick: HUAWEI releases Chinese New Year 2021 Limited Edition case for the Mate40 series

A 50-megapixel + 16-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 8-megapixel quad-camera setup is available on the backside of the Huawei Mate X2. The leak claims that the foldable phone supports 10x hybrid optical zoom.

The Kirin 9000 flagship processor will be fueling the Mate X2 along with a 4,400mAh rated battery. It is expected to arrive with support for 66W fast charging. It will come preinstalled with Android 10 OS.

Master Lu ranks ColorOS as the smoothest UI of 2020, Huawei remains the performance king!

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Jan 21, 2021

Master Lu is a popular benchmark app for devices like smartphones similar to AnTuTu and Geekbench,. The app may not be as popular as GeekBench and AnTuTu but it is quite ppopular in China. Its benchmark listing usually gets attention among the western media especially when its of an unannounced model. Also, the benchmark tool has a database of all the major smartphones released in the past one year and has released an award ranking of smartphone brands based on perfromance in various aspects including User Interface.

The 2020 mobile phone performance ranking data comes from the comprehensive performance scores of Master Lu Data Center captured from January 1, 2020 to December 31st, 2020. The sampling is for the 2020 listed models, and the number of tests carried out on the models that made the cut is more than 100.

The brand ranks OPPO’s ColorOS as the “Smoothest UI of the year (2020).” This is due to the smooth and natural user experience which OPPO’s ColorOS affords users. last year’s iteration was ColorOS 7 but this year, the brand will roll out updates to ColorOS 11 bearing the same design language, fully opening the permissions of UI and UX settings.

The ColorOS 11 which is based on Android 11, also features the newly added anti-stuttering engine, AI application pre-launch, multi-core fusion algorithm, and other features aimed at further improving the overall fluency of the system.

Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro+ smartphone still ranks as the overall performance king with averge score as high as 871220 points. The device is powered by the self-developed 5nm Kirin 9000 chipset which may as well be Huawei’s last flagship SoC unless the new US government lifts the ban on Huawei. . With the mysterious power of 5nm, the number of transistors increased from 10.3 billion to 15.3 billion. The A77 super-large core with the highest CPU frequency of 3.13GHz, and the GPU directly pulls to 24 cores. Compared with its previous generation Kirin 990 5G, the performance improvement of Kirin 9000 is also obvious

In the Top 10 performance list, the remaining 9 models are all flagship phones equipped with Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865+. Other models that made tye curt includes the ASUS ROG3, Redmi K30S Commemorative Edition, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Mi 10 and others.

UP NEXT: Leaked Samsung Galaxy A52 images show Camera layout, 3.5mm audio jack, & more

(via)

OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro get OxygenOS 11 (Android 11) open beta update

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Jan 20, 2021

After waiting for months, OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro owners can now get to experience OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11. Today, OnePlus released an Open Beta 1 build for the two flagships.

The release of the open beta was announced on the official forums along with the changelog and steps on how to install it. The announcement comes two weeks after OnePlus released the OxygenOS 11 Open Beta build for the OnePlus Nord.

The update brings a redesigned user interface, optimizations to some third-party apps, an updated camera UI, new camera features, ambient display, dark mode, and a redesigned shelf. Below is the full changelog:

System

Update to OxygenOS 11 version.
Fresh new UI visual design brings you a more comfortable experience with various optimizations of details.
Optimized the stability of some third-party applications and improved the experience.

Camera

Updated the camera UI and optimized some of the function paths to offer a more convenient operation.
Newly added HEVC codec to reduce video storage size seamlessly, capture and shoot more without compromising on quality.
Newly added access to a third-party app to share the picture by pressing and holding it in preview.
Newly added the quick access to recording mode by pressing and holding the shutter button and by sliding the button, you can easily zoom in or zoom out.
Newly added the playback display in Time-lapse mode to show the actual filming time.

Ambient Display

Newly added Insight clock style, a joint creation with Parsons School of Design. It will change according to the phone usage data ( To set: Settings > Customization > Clock Style).
Newly added Canvas feature that can automatically draw a wireframe picture based on a lock screen photo on your phone（Path：Settings-Customization-Wallpaper-Canvas-Choose photo preview and it can be generated automatically).
The Always-On-Display feature is under internal test and will be released in subsequent versions. In this build, you can use the “Ambient Display” by picking up your phone or tapping the screen, it can be turned on in the Settings.

EDITOR’S PICK: Another leaker confirms the OnePlus 9 Lite is coming; will launch in India and China

Dark Mode

Added the shortcut key for Dark Mode, pull down the quick setting to enable.
Supporting automatically turn on feature & customize time range. path: Settings > Display > Dark Mode > Turn on automatically – Automatically enable from sunset to sunrise / Custom time range.

Shelf

New shelf interface design, the interface is clearer.
Added weather widget, animation effect smarter.

Gallery

Supporting Story function, automatically form weekly videos with photos and video in storage.
Optimize the loading speed of the gallery, and the image preview is faster.

Since this is a beta build, there are bound to be issues and OnePlus has listed some of the known ones. It includes an increase in power consumption; the gallery app sometimes loading slowly and not displaying some images; audio Bluetooth devices occasionally not playing sounds, and a brightness adjustment lag in some scenarios.

The forum post also includes a guide on how to install the beta update as well as how to roll-back to a stable build. Do note that the latter will result in the erasure of your data, so make sure to backup your data.

For those who will rather wait for the stable update, we expect OnePlus to release it next month.

HeroBook Pro+ Notebook series officially goes on sale for $269

By

Simranpal Singh

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Jan 20, 2021

HeroBook Pro+ recently made its debut with several new advancements and improvements. The device carries a 3K resolution 13.3-inch display carrying Intel J3455 SoC, 8GB RAM, and 128GB internal storage. It is now officially on sale for the affordable price of $269 on all major online retail platforms.

Must See: Nexstgo launches VAIO E15 and VAIO SE14 laptops in India

Detailed Display

HeroBook Pro+is the cheapest laptop featuring a 3K Retina display with a resolution of 32 x 1800 pixels and 277 PPI. It uses a Samsung display panel for better quality, improved saturation, and enhanced picture processing. The display is a perfect fit for watching movies and doing other work.

Powerful Hardware

The laptop comes with a powerful industrial-grade Intel J3455 processor coupled with an 8GB LDPPR4 RAM and 128GB eMMC storage. Moreover, the graphics-intensive work can be easily accomplished with a built-in Intel HD Graphics 500 GPU. It can even render 4K videos on YouTube and other platforms without any issue.

The EMMC storage offers 2x speed than the traditional HDD. It only takes 10 seconds to boot the device. However, users can expand storage using TF cards.

Excellent Build Quality

HeroBook Pro+ uses a lighter polycarbonate material to keep the device light-weight measuring just 1.160 grams. Thanks to its compact size as it can be easily packed inside a bag. It houses a narrow-bezel keyboard for better typing and be more productive. The users can easily switch between 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks.

The device offers more than 7 hours of battery life with a 38Wh polymer lithium battery with up to 24W fast charging.

Overview

HeroBook Pro+ is a fully-furnished package featuring a 13.3-inch 3K display, Intel J34555 process, 8/128GB storage, and a 38Wh battery. It is retailing for the price of $269. The interested users can gran more information about the HeoBook Pro+ by heading to the official website.

Must See: Acer announces Chromebook 311 & 511, Chromebook Spin 511 & 512, TravelMate Spin B3 Laptop

Ulefone Armor 12 rugged phone with Dimensity 1200 5G SoC launching soon

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Jan 20, 2021

Earlier today, MediaTek took the wraps off the much-anticipated Dimensity 1200 5G chip. The rumor mill was agog recently with speculations that Redmi will be the first to launch a phone powered by the latest MediaTek flagship. While we expect other notable OEMs to utilize the chipset, an unexpected announcement just popped up from Chinese phone maker Ulefone.

Ulefone is expected to unveil the Armor 12 later in the year and the company has come out to disclose the rugged phone will be powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 1200. A teaser poster released by the company confirms the device will be called Ulefone Armor 12. It is touted to launch as the world’s first rugged phone powered by the Dimensity 1200 SoC.

Furthermore, the device is shown to come in a 12GB RAM and 256GB storage combo. Apparently, there will be other storage options. Specifically, the device is expected to go official in June this year.

Editor’s Pick: A tweet by a popular leaker seems to confirm the end of the Galaxy Note series

The Ulefone Armor 12 will be a rugged phone, as are all other Armor-branded smartphones from Ulefone. The Dimensity 1200 is MediaTek’s 6nm processor, and the company’s first to use Cortex-A78 cores. It comes with a 1+3+4 configuration, and the Cortex-A78 core runs at 3GHz. There are also three Cortex-A78 cores clocks at 2.6GHz. The remaining four cores are more power-efficient, we’re looking at Cortex-A55 cores.

MediaTek did say that the Dimensity 1200 SoC is up to 25-percent more power-efficient than the Dimensity 1000. It is also 22-percent more powerful than the Dimensity 1000, when it comes to performance, of course.

The chip also comes with a five-core imaging signal processor, which supports camera sensors that can capture photos up to 200 megapixels, and HDR videos. It also comes with an updated six-core APU 3.0 AI processor, with a 12.5-percent better performance than its predecessor.

This processor comes with MediaTek’s M70 5G modem, and it supports 5G, including Sub-6 band support, and carrier aggregation (2CC). It also supports 5G dual SIM dual standby.

We expect more information about the smartphone to be released by Ulefone as time goes on.

UP NEXT: Leaked Samsung Galaxy A52 images show Camera layout, 3.5mm audio jack, & more

Grab Zhiyun Weebill-S 3-Axis Gimbal for $299 using a coupon code

By

Simranpal Singh

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Jan 20, 2021

Videos have become the most consumed media on the internet. Rather than reading, people are more inclined towards viewing videos. Apart from entertainment, this popular type of media has become a great source of information. Content Creators are actively working to gain traction. It has even increased the demand for video making apparatus. Among all those expensive rigs, the interested creators can grab Zhiyun Weebill S Gimbal Stabilizer for professional DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. It is currently retailing for $399, but our readers can grab the gimbal for $299 after applying 253DQSX5 Coupon Code.

Must See: Zhiyun Crane-2S gimbal officially launched at CES 2021 for $599

Zhiyun Weebill S Gimbal Stabilizer offers some exceptional features like Electronic focus control, Via Touch 2.0 wireless transmission, and presence of intuitive OLED display for adjustable features.

The gimbal is now perfectly fit for heavy DSLRs as it got 300% improvement in motor torque and 50% increase in responsiveness. It can perfectly balance large DSLRs with heavy lenses. It offers a 14-hour runtime. The Gimbal provides effortless handling experience with latch-lock design.

Zhiyun Weebill S GImbal provides electronic focus and mechanical focus control with a handy control wheel. Moreover, the presence of OLED display makes it easy for the creators to look at important aspects like speed, strength, angle, etc.

The users can enjoy Intelligent Auto-Tune for calibrating a particular type of camera. Apart from running the camera for 14-long hours, it can even charge your camera in real-time. It has a 3-axis lock design for easier and convenient movement. The users can wirelessly monitor the video and images at 1080p 30 fps quality.

There are six different shooting modes include full-range POV mode, Vortex Mode, GO Mode, F Mode, PF Mode and L Mode. Overall, it is a professional gimbal at an exemplary price. You can grab it from Amazon for $299.

Coupon Code: 253DQSX5

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See More: Zhiyun Smooth Q2 Gimbal and Smooth 4 Gimbal on sale for $107 and $94, respectively

Samsung files patent for “Under Panel Camera” for its smartphones and TVs

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Jan 20, 2021

A new patent from South Korea’s regulatory agency for intellectual property and patents has revealed that tech heavyweight Samsung may be finalizing plans to release an under-display camera for its smartphones. The patent comes with the trademark “Under Panel Camera” or UPC emanated from Seoul-based Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and is linked to Samsung. The patent falls under the category: Smartphone/ TV display panel and began flying around the grapevine less than a week ago

Recall that there had been some buzz since December 2020, when a number of tipsters predicted that it was likely that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 could have an under-display camera module, as Samsung has been known to have been working on such design for quite a while.

The race for under-display technology deployment for smartphones has been a keenly contested one and we are gradually seeing some of the manufacturers now crossing the finish line, with the release of smartphones incorporating under-display technology for their camera system.

Editor’s Pick: Redmi to launch its first gaming smartphone; to be powered by the Dimensity 1200

Chinese phone maker ZTE in September 2020, unveiled the ZTE Axon 20 5G which was the first-ever smartphone with an under-display camera. The Axon 20 5G comes with four rear cameras and a single 32MP under the display camera. The sensors of the Axon 20 include an under-display and optical fingerprint sensor. However, as should be expected in an area where the technology is evolving at an astounding pace, there is still a lot to be done to improve on the under-display technology deployed in the production of the front camera model of the Axon 20.

Again, the fast-rising Chinese brand, Xiaomi also recently said that it had chosen not to release any product with an under-display system until the technology for such has been up to speed, as the research continues into this area of smartphone development, with greater implication for the industry.

It is unclear what is the stage of development of under-display technology for Samsung, but with some leaks already revealing the impending launch of such technology for the Galaxy Z Fold, we may not be looking too far from the berthing of this technology by Samsung. We keep our fingers crossed and see whether any manufacturer will beat Samsung to the prize.

UP NEXT: Leaked Samsung Galaxy A52 images show Camera layout, 3.5mm audio jack, & more

(source, via)

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra teardown shows replacing the screen and battery will be difficult

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Jan 20, 2021

PBK Reviews has released a teardown video detailing what it found when it disassembled Samsung’s latest Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone. The teardown of the S21 Ultra comes barely a week after PBK released its review of the teardown of the Galaxy S21. The teardown was done on the international version of the smartphone.

The teardown reveals some exciting features of Samsung’s flagship product in the S21 lineup, the Galaxy S21 Ultra. A look at the camera module of the S21 Ultra showed that the camera lens is embedded inside a metal covering similar to the frame of the smartphone. The durability of this lens, held by solid adhesive to the glass panel is a remarkable improvement from the approach of Samsung in using glass covers for the lens previously, as seen in the S-series line up of smartphones.

Editor’s Pick: READ THIS before you Buy the Xiaomi Mi 11

In addition, the disassembling also revealed that there are no mmWave aerials on both sides of the device although their slots were visible on both sides of the inside of the phone.

A scrutiny of the three cameras of the S21 Ultra also revealed that all three cameras have optical image stabilization capabilities to produced greater visuals. The internal ecosystem of the S21 Ultra also has graphite deployed for the NFC antennae as well as motherboard, yielding better efficiency in heat dissipation for the device.

The internal sound architecture of the S21 Ultra showed some significant differences from the S21 which was disassembled earlier. The speaker at the top of the device does not have foam ball insulation for a greater sound performance. In addition, the S21 Ultra does not have a detachable screen connector cable implying that it will be quite difficult to replace the screen. The S21 had foam ball insulation as well as a detachable screen connector cable, which yielded an above-average repairability score quite higher than that of the S21 Ultra.

UP NEXT: Leaked Samsung Galaxy A52 images show Camera layout, 3.5mm audio jack, & more

Sony Xperia 5 II gets the Android 11 update

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Jan 20, 2021

Sony launched the Xperia 5 II in the US back in September 2020. The company also brought the device to markets like Asia’s Taiwan and Home Country Japan, and Europe. If you recall, the device came with Android 10 out of the box. Now, after 4 months, it is getting the taste of stable Android 11.

Sony has lived up to the promise of its Android 11 update schedule. The company has already rolled out the update for Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 last week. They were originally scheduled to get it only by February of 2021. Anyway, the Android 11 update of Xperia 5 II compact flagship smartphone is arriving on time with software version 58.1.A.1.178.

This is reportedly rolling out to regions like Europe(XQ-AS52), dual-SIM variants(XQ-AS72) in Russia and South East Asia. As per the XDA report, a SoftBank Japan-exclusive model (A002SO), which is a single-SIM variant, will get the firmware version as 58.1.D.0.331.

The update weighs around 709.7 MB in size. It’s worth noting that Sony puts out a disclaimer you cannot revert to the previous software version after this update. So we suggest you not try it by any means at any cost as it could brick it.

Also as the report says, Xperia 5 II is yet to break into the Open Devices Program(AOSP config files for custom software support).

As for features, you can expect all the goodies of Android 11 OS that Google announced back in September. They are chat bubbles(conversations), media controls, improved permission management, improved Digital Wellbeing, and organized notifications.

That said, this update will soon expand to the left out markets in the coming days/weeks.

Tweet by a popular leaker seems to confirm the end of the Galaxy Note series

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Jan 20, 2021

Last year, there were rumors that Samsung will be pulling the plug on the Galaxy Note series following reports that the Galaxy S series will be getting support for the S Pen. While a Samsung official did reveal to the press back in December that the Galaxy Note series will continue in 2021, it appears that will not be the case anymore.

A tweet from the popular Samsung leaker, Ice Universe, seems to confirm that Samsung has pulled the curtain on the Galaxy Note series. The tweet is a picture that reads “The End” and has the caption “Galaxy Note”. Put that together and you can tell that it means it is the end of the Galaxy Note series.

Galaxy Note pic.twitter.com/nrE5SbxpRu

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 20, 2021

The Galaxy S21 Ultra launched last week as the first Galaxy S series smartphone to have support for the S Pen stylus, although it doesn’t come with the stylus out of the box. Samsung has also revealed that more Galaxy phones will be getting S Pen support.

EDITOR’S PICK: Samsung to launch S Pen Pro for the Galaxy S21 Ultra later this year

Seeing as the S Pen is what defines the Galaxy Note series, is there really a need for the series to exist now that its main feature is now available on Samsung’s other flagship line? We asked you guys last year via a poll if Samsung should terminate the Galaxy Note series. Below is the result. As you can see, an equal percentage are for and against it.

Samsung is yet to officially announce that it is no longer making new Galaxy Note smartphones, so we advise you to take the info with a grain of salt. However, seeing as the info comes from a source who is known to have plenty of contacts within the Korean giant’s smartphone business, the chances of it being untrue is very very small.

There is also the possibility that Samsung may have finally decided to pull the plug on the series but after announcing a new model this year. Some other leakers have reported that the Galaxy Note 21 is in development and it will launch as a successor to the Galaxy Note 20.

New Samsung Galaxy M62 Certification reveals 5GHz Wi-Fi, Android 11 support

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Jan 20, 2021

Samsung is gearing up to launch a new Phablet device in the M-series branding. Several reports have already exposed the specs that the device is likely to feature. Now, it has got the Wi-Fi certification ahead of launch.

Samsung Galaxy M62 Live Image Leak Featured — Alleged Galaxy M62 Chassis (Source: 91Mobiles)

A Samsung device with model number SM-M625F/DS appears on Wi-Fi Alliance Certification. If you recall, a report last month said that the model number belongs to the upcoming Galaxy M62. Here, DS refers to the Dual-SIM variant. Anyway, the listing shows that the device will support Wi-Fi 2.4 & 5GHz.

This basically means you can tap into both the 802.11ac and backward compatible 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi network using the device. Also, since the ‘DS’ appears on the certification, we can expect the Phablet to arrive with SIM support.

You can also spot that the device runs Android 11 which means you can expect at least the One UI 3.0 to be present out of the box. While we decide on whether the device will be a Tablet/Phablet, leaked live images suggest that it could carry the Phablet Form factor. For the unware, a Phablet has an intermediate size between a Tablet and a Smartphone.

Although we don’t know the exact size/dimensions of display to confirm this, the device is expected to feature Exynos 9825 SoC, paired with at least 6GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. All this will likely be backed up by a 7,000mAh battery with support for up to 25W charging.

Besides, there is a possibility that a variant with SM-E62F/DS could also debut as F62/E62 in certain markets but let’s wait for official confirmation on the same.

Redmi Smart Band on sale for only ₹999 ($14) in India for a limited time

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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Jan 20, 2021

Redmi Smart Band is the brand’s first-ever fitness tracker. It first debuted in China in the month of April 2020. Then, it made its way to select global markets as Mi Smart Band 4C. Finally, it got released in India as Redmi Smart Band priced at ₹1,599 ($22) in September. Now, four months later, this fitness tracker has been discounted by a whopping ₹600 ($8) in the country ahead of Republic Day.

Amazon India and Flipkart, India’s largest eCommerce platforms, are holding Republic Day sale event. As part of it, Xiaomi is offering discounts on almost all of the Mi and Redmi-branded products in the country.

But out of all the products, we think the deal on the Redmi Smart Band is probably the best. Usually, this fitness tracker sells for ₹1,599 ($22) in the country. But now, interested customers can buy it for only ₹999 ($14), which happens to be a flat ₹600 ($8) discount.

This stellar offer can be only availed on Amazon India and Mi.com for a limited time. By the limited time, we mean from January 20-23 on Amazon and up to January 24 on Mi.com.

The highlights of the Redmi Smart Band include a 1.08-inch TFT LCD color panel, touch input, 24-hour heart rate monitoring, 5 sports modes, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, app notifications, 5 ATM water-resistant, 14-day battery life, USB charging, and more.

Buy Redmi Smart Band – Amazon India

Buy Redmi Smart Band – Mi.com

ZTE teases Axon 30 smartphone; will have an under-display camera

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Jan 20, 2021

ZTE is expected to launch a new Axon smartphone this year. Last year, it launched two Axon series – the Axon 11 and the Axon 20, the latter being one of the first smartphones to have an in-display camera. ZTE has now released a teaser for a successor which should launch as the Axon 30.

The teaser poster hints at the upcoming phone having an in-display front-facing camera just like the Axon 20. However, unlike its predecessor which launched as a mid-range smartphone, the Axon 30 will be a flagship with a Snapdragon 888 processor under its hood.

The Axon 30 will feature ZTE’s second-gen under-display camera technology and we hope it offers better results than the Axon 20. We also expect the phone to pack better cameras, run Android 11 out of the box, have support for at least 30W fast wired charging. Other features it should have are NFC, up to 12GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. The Axon 30 may also come along with siblings some of which may not be flagship phones. However, there is a chance they all will have 5G support.

There is no info on the launch date but there are speculations it will be announced after the Chinese New Year holiday which is in mid-February. However, a message from the president of Nubia, a ZTE-owned brand, hints at the phone arriving sooner. The phone should launch first in China before making its way to other countries.

We expect more details will surface in the weeks leading up to the launch.

ASUS ROG Moba 5 series with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, 300Hz refresh rate launched

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Jan 20, 2021

ASUS ROG Moba series is made up of professional gaming-level notebooks for gaming enthusiasts. ASUS has now launched a new laptop dubbed ROG Moba 5 series

The new ROG Moba 5 series comes in two display sizes – 15.6-inch while the ROG Moba 5 Plus has a display size of 17.3 inches. The laptop models not only have a refreshing design but also maintain outstanding professional gaming performance and continue to provide gamers with a professional gaming experience. The laptop features higher density LED strips at the bottom edge of the fuselage.

In terms of configuration, the new ROG Moba series is equipped with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX overclockable processor, using the latest Zen3 architecture and 7nm process technology, with 8 cores and 16 threads, ROG factory pre-overclocking, and 5-phase power supply.

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The GPU can be equipped with up to RTX 3070 8GB independent display. It has a high-performance version with a power of up to 130W. It can be overclocked to 1660MHz (7-phase power supply) through ROG BOOST.

The gaming laptop screen features a 300Hz refresh rate with a response time of 3ms and a screen ratio of 87%. It has a 100% sRGB color gamut and supports Adaptive-Sync synchronization technology.

In terms of storage, the new ROG Moba series gaming notebook comes standard with 16GB DDR4-3200MHz dual-channel memory, which can be expanded to 64GB. The solid-state drive comes standard with 512GB TLC PCIe/NVMe, and a second M.2 slot is reserved.

In other respects, the new ROG Moba 5 series gaming notebook is equipped with Glacier Cooling Architecture 2.0, with dual fans, four air outlets, and six copper tube module design, using liquid metal for heat dissipation. It equally packs a 90Whr battery and supports 100W USB-C PD charging. The fast charging is claimed to fill up the device up to 60% with just 39 minutes of charging. The battery supports about 11 hours of video playback battery life; supports Wi-Fi 6 (ROG RangeBoost four antennas), and has rich interfaces including USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A, USB 3.2 Type-C, and HDMI2.0b.

The single-key RGB backlit dazzling shadow-blade keyboard touch screen area has increased by about 85%, with a standard key width of 168mm, a keystroke of 1.8mm, a keycap curve of 0.2mm, and key life of about 20 million times.

The keyboard also supports RGB single-key lighting effects and OverStroke technology, and the arrow keys have been streamlined. The 17.3-inch Moba 5 Plus is equipped with an independent numeric keypad.

In terms of sound effects, the laptop utilizes dual Smart Amp speakers and supports Dolby Atmos, Smart AMP and two-way AI noise reduction.

The ROG Moba 5 series models are now available for reservation on Jingdong Mall. They will be on sale at 22:00 on January 26. As for the prices, the Moba 5 16GB/512GB is 12,999 yuan (~$2009) while the Moba 5 Plus 16GB/512GB is 13,999 yuan (~$2164).

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6G will start a new Economy with Terabit speeds, Microsecond latencies, & more- Report

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Jan 20, 2021

5G is just getting fired up in many countries but a report already talks about a big change that 6G will bring to the table. Countries like China have already started pushing for it ahead of others. The next-gen communication tech is expected to open a gateway of terabit throughputs, microsecond latencies, and solve hiccups like transporting holographic images wirelessly.

According to the counterpoint report, 6G will primarily up the ante on the Wireless Spectrum from Gigabit throughputs on 5G to Terabits/second on 6G. Here, Throughput is amount of data that can be transferred from source to destination within a given timeframe. Anyway, the proposed range for the 6G spectrum is between 300GHz to 3THz(TeraHertz).

Although the commercial launch is not happening anytime before 2028 as Samsung predicts, the research has already begun. In fact, giants like Huawei and Nokia are already advancing in their own way to accelerate the process. Either way, the leap from GHz(in 4G) to MHz(in 5G) and THz(in 6G) indeed looks exponential.

As for 6G devices, report says that it will require better power efficiencies, Line of Sight (LoS) channels, metamaterials for THz antenna arrays, improved AI for power optimization, and QoS(Quality of Service). Additionally, the Terahertz spectrum will pave way for holographic radio and ultra-massive MIMO technologies.

With Speeds getting increased this much(Terabits), the range of applications also gets widened. You can look at some key applications that will benefit from 6G(>1Tbps) below:

8K/16K Video streaming
Transport Holographic Images/Video(HoloPortation) Wirelessly
Microsecond latencies will enable Real-time Machine Control. Eg. Agricultural Robots
Digital Twins/Replicas- Interaction between Digital and Physical world via Mixed Reality and AI
Multi-Modal, Multi-Location 16K AR/VR applications
3D 4K Maps ADAS(Advanced Driver Assistance Systems)

As we all know, a network technology requires equipment, and hence, we should watch out for biggies like Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, InterDigital, University of Oulu, SK Telecom, China Mobile, Docomo, AT&T in Network.

However, companies like Samsung, Qualcomm, LG, Apple, OPPO, Huawei, META, and others handle the device and components at a larger scale. Among this, Apple and Alphabet’s Google have already joined the “next G alliance”.

As mentioned above, China has gone a step further and launched the world’s first 6G satellite for terahertz communication. Nevertheless, We are still a few years away from seeing the real-time results of 6G which is expected to be 100-500x faster than 5G.

realme X9 Pro and realme Race Pro Specs leaked

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