Last month, OPPO VP Brian Shen confirmed that the successor for the OPPO Reno Ace phone from last year will be made official in April. Today, the OPPO VP revealed that the OPPO Ace2 will be announced on April 13. The successor of the OPPO Reno Ace will not have “Reno” in its moniker. Hence, it will be debuting as OPPO Ace2.
The Weibo post from Shen also suggests that the next Ace product will be called OPPO Ace2. It is speculated that Ace will be a new smartphone series that will include gaming-centric phones. The Ace2 and the forthcoming Ace phones are expected to offer users with higher screen refresh rate and touch sampling rate. Probably, the Ace series will rival with iQOO lineup from Vivo.
The PDHM00 OPPO phone that was recently approved by TENNA and 3C authorities is the OPPO Ace2 phone. The handset features a 6.5-inch AMOLED screen that offers full HD+ resolution. The screen that supports an aspect ratio of 20:9 has a punch-hole for its 16-megapixel selfie camera. The screen is integrated with a fingerprint sensor.
The PDHM00 phone is fueled by 2.8GHz octa-core processor which could be the Snapdragon 865 SoC. The phone is expected to arrive in 8 GB and 12 GB RAM choices and 128 GB and 256 GB storage versions. It lacks a microSD card slot.
The OPPO Ace2 will house a dual-part battery. The capacity of its single cell is 1,955mAh. The 3C appearance of the phone revealed that it may come with 65W fast charger. OPPO has already confirmed that Ace2 will have support for 40W fast wireless charging. The ColorOS 7 based Android 10 will come preinstalled on the device. The handset features a 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel quad camera system.
Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has partnered with Cherry and has launched a new mechanical keyboard that is touted to have features like artificial intelligence (AI), GPU Turbo and a few other features.
The keyboard, which has a black base, comes in two color options. While one color option has keycaps in black, blue, purple and white, the other color option features the color gradient from purple to blue, covering all the keycaps.
It seems that the new keyboard coming from Honor is a customised version of the Cherry MX Board 8.0 (G80-3888) and comes with the “Arms Box” packaging that also has RGB backlight. The difference is that the primary color of the package is now black.
The Chinese company has not yet revealed much information about this keyboard. However, since Honor has partnered with Cherry and the keyboard is a customised version of the existing offer from the brand, it’s obvious that it comes with Cherry keys.
While this keyboard uses the Cherry Red keys, it remains to be seen if the company release the keyboard with option for other type of keys as well. The pricing details is yet to be made official but given that the Cherry MX Board 8.0 is priced around 1,800 yuan (~$253) to 1,900 yuan (~$267), we expect the similar pricing for this Honor mechanical keyboard as well. It seems that to know for sure, we’ll have to wait for a few more days.
Few minutes ago, Honor confirmed that it will be launching a new phone called Honor Play 4T on April 9. Soon after the announcement, a well-known tipster from China shared a poster of the phone to reveal its design. The leakster also shared the key specs of the handset. It appears that the Honor Play 4T is the AQM-AL10 phone that was approved by China’s TENAA telecom authority recently.
Honor Play 4T leaked poster
The leaked poster of the Honor Play 4T revels that it will be sporting a waterdrop notch screen. The rear side of the device has the trendy rectangle-shaped camera module. It houses three cameras and an LED flash. The poster reveals that the Play 4T will arrive in green and blue shades.
The key specs shared by the tipster is an exact match the specifications of the AQM-AL10 phone. Also, the above shown poster resembles with the TENAA images of AQM-AL10.
Considering that the Honor Play 4T has AQM-AL10 model, it can be said that it will be arriving with a 6.3-inch OLED panel that supports 1080 x 2400 pixels and 20:9 aspect ratio. The device houses a 4,000mAh battery. The 3C appearance of the AQM-AL10 revealed that it will carry support for 22.5W fast charging. The phone measures 157.4 x 73.2 x 7.5mm and it weighs 163 grams.
Honor AQM-AL10 TENAA images
The 2.27GHz Kirin 810 chipset will power the device with 6 GB / 8 GB of RAM. The handset will land in China in 128 GB and 256 GB storage choices. The Android 10 OS will be preinstalled on the device.
For shooting selfies, it possesses a 16-megapixel selfie camera. The rear shell of the phone has a 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera system. Lastly, the handset features an in-screen fingerprint reader.
Honor recently unveiled the Honor 30S phone as the company’s first phone driven by the Kirin 820 5G chipset. Alongside it, the Honor 9A entry-level smartphone was made official. The Honor 30 and Honor 30 Pro are scheduled to go official on April 15. Today, the Chinese firm took to Weibo to confirm that a new device called Honor Play 4T will go official on April 9.
The launch poster only confirms the Honor Play 4T moniker and does not reveal any details on its specifications. The Weibo post links to Wei Xialong who has been newly appointed as the Product Manager of the Play series. Xialong’s Weibo has a single post through which he has introduced himself. He stated that the “Play series is an interesting product series” (machine translated). There is no information available on the specifications of the Honor Play 4T smartphone. Hopefully, the Chinese firm will be teasing some of the features of the upcoming Honor Play 4T phone before making it official.
At the unveil event of the Honor 30S, Honor President Zhao Ming confirmed that the brand has four product lines such as V, N, X and Play. The Play series is focused on bringing gaming-centric features for young people.
Last year, Honor had launched the Honor Play 3 and Play 3e smartphones in China. The Play 3 was a mid-ranger powered by the Kirin 710F chipset and the Play 3e was an entry-level phone fueled by the Helio P22 chipset. Interestingly, the Honor Play phone that launched in 2018 was a flagship phone with gaming capabilities. Like the Honor Play 3 series, the upcoming Play 4T could be arriving with mid-range specs.
AQM-AL10, AKA-AL10 and HLK-AL00av are some of the Honor phones that were recently approved by the TENAA telecom authority of China. Probably, one of these phones could end up as the Honor Play 4T.
If you want a 5G phone, you do not need to buy a flagship anymore. Currently, there are a lot of mid-rangers supporting 5G connectivity just like flagships: only 5G entry-level devices are missing. A bunch of hours before we published this post, Vivo unveiled its most affordable 5G mid-ranger: the Vivo S6 5G. That is the reason why we decided to write a new comparison. If you need a 5G device but you are also searching for the best value for money, you should definitely check this specs comparison between Vivo S6 5G, Oppo Reno3 5G, and Redmi K30 5G.
Vivo S6 5G vs Oppo Reno3 5G vs Xiaomi Redmi K30 5G
Quad 64 + 8 + 5 + 2 MP, f/1.9, f/2.2, f/2.4 and f/2.4
Dual 20 + 2 MP f/2.2 and f/2.4 front camera
Quad 48 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP, f/1.8, f/2.2, f/2.4 and f/2.4
32 MP f/2.1 front camera
Quad 64 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP, f/1.8, f/2.2 and f/2.4
32 MP f/2.4 front camera
BATTERY
4500 mAh, fast charging 30W
4500 mAh, fast charging 18W
4025 mAh, fast charging 30W with VOOC Flash Charge 4.0
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Hybrid Dual SIM slot, 5G
Dual SIM slot, 5G
Dual SIM slot, 5G
Design
Despite Redmi K30 5G adopts a punch-hole display, I personally prefer the design and build quality of the Oppo Reno3 5G. I would go for it because it is more compact and it has a more minimalistic look, thanks to a small camera module, smaller dimensions, and a thinner profile. Right after, we got the Redmi K30 5G which still comes with a premium design including an aluminum frame and a glass back. Vivo S6 5G has a pretty nice design too, but its big camera module and its lower screen-to-body ratio do not make it shine in this comparison.
Display
A lot of people may like the color reproduction of Vivo S6 5G and Oppo Reno3 5G more than Redmi K30 5G because they sport an AMOLED panel. And they even come with under display fingerprint reader. The Redmi K30 5G does not offer these qualities because it has an IPS display, but it is still an amazing panel, even more interesting than Vivo S6 5G and Oppo Reno3. Redmi K30 5G is one of the most affordable phones sporting a display with a high 120 Hz refresh rate providing a very smooth viewing experience. Further, the panel is HDR10-compliant, so it delivers a high image quality despite not being an OLED display.
Hardware/Software
While Exynos 980 and Snapdragon 765G are two upper-midrange chipsets that should provide a similar level of performance on Vivo S6 5G and Redmi K30 5G, the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L found on the Oppo Reno3 should actually be more performing. Further, Oppo Reno3 5G is available with up to 12 GB of RAM, while its rivals stop at 8 GB. On the other hand, Exynos 980 and Snapdragon 765G offer a better 5G connectivity since Dimensity 1000L only supports sub-6 GHz frequencies. Android 10 is installed out of the box.
Camera
Oppo Reno3 wins the camera comparison with better rear cameras and even a better front camera on the paper. It is the only supporting OIS and, besides shooting better photos, it should also allow capturing the best 4K videos. Redmi K30 5G comes right after with its 64 MP quad-camera, but it does not stand a chance against Oppo Reno3 which can be considered more than a simple midrange camera phone.
Battery
Vivo S6 5G is supposed to offer a longer battery life than Redmi K30 5G and Oppo Reno3 5G. It has a bigger battery than Oppo Reno3 and a smaller display than Redmi K30 5G, with a standard refresh rate. Given that Redmi K30 5G has an IPS display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, it may have a way shorter battery life than Vivo S6 5G. Oppo Reno3 charges faster thanks to its 30W technology and lower battery capacity.
Price
Vivo S6 5G sells for about €347/$380 in China, in the 6/128 GB version. The starting price of Redmi K30 5G is about €247/$270 (6/64 GB), while Oppo Reno3 starts from €440/$482. The Oppo Reno3 is the best phone here since it features a more powerful chipset and higher-end cameras, but it has a lower battery capacity and it does not support mmWave. But the value for money award goes to Redmi K30 5G.
China is the world’s second-largest economy after the US and data provided by the country’s National Development and Reform Commission showed that consumer spending contributed to 57.8 per cent of China’s GDP growth in 2019. The country’s GDP is forecast to drop from 6 per cent to 4.5 per cent as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that swept through China since December 2019.
The projected drop will usher in China’s weakest gross domestic product (GDP) growth since it began keeping records in 1990. In order to curtail the effect of a reduction in consumer spending on the economy, 23 central government departments had issued guidance in March proposing an increase in consumer spending in an attempt to limit the economic impact of the health crisis.
In this light, several local governments in China have commenced the distribution of free digital coupons usable on mobile payment platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay, the South China Morning Posts reports. This is in a bid to help stimulate domestic consumption as the country trie to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak. The Chinese central government is also reportedly encouraging officials to lead the effort in local consumption. Several government heads from Nanjing city, Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong and Hainan were sighted in public doing activities such as shopping and dining at restaurants.
The report reveals that the Jiaxing city in Zhengjiang province had announced on Sunday that it would issue 200 million yuan (US$28.2 million) worth of digital consumer coupons to the public, of which 150 million yuan could be redeemed through Tencent’s WeChat Pay.
Further, the Hunan Federation of Trade Unions is reported to have announced last Thursday that employees and trade union members in the province would receive vouchers that can be used at 340,000 merchants in Hunan, also via WeChat Pay. In addition, Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, is said to have perfected plans to dole out 1.68 billion yuan worth of consumption coupons to support more than six million local offline merchants, in sectors ranging from retail to catering, to stimulate consumption. The city is reported to have commenced the distribution of the first batch of two million coupons valued at 50 yuan each last Friday. The coupons are said to be redeemable when paying for items, either online or offline, using Alipay. In Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, 318 million yuan worth of consumption coupons that can be used for services such as catering, sports and tourism, as well as welfare for low-income communities, have been distributed. Nanjing citizens were reportedly able to apply for the coupons, which provided discounts of 50 or 100 yuan, through the local public service app “My Nanjing” between March 15 and March 22. The coupons were then redeemed as discounts on Alipay.
Finally, in Guangxi city, distribution of coupons will run from March 26 to May 26, with a daily quota offered to residents and tourists visiting the province. The coupons are redeemable via Alipay for dining, shopping and hotel rent.
Countries all over the world are battling the Coronavirus pandemic, so April Fool’s Day is the last thing on the minds of several people. However, it is also important we take a break from the gloomy news flooding the internet and read posts that help improve our moods and take our minds off worrying. So go on and read our compilation of April Fool’s Day jokes from your favorite tech companies.
While it should be obvious, we still want to remind our readers that these are jokes and should not be taken as real products.
DJI MAMO Flying Gimbal
DJI is known for its drones as well as gimbals. For this year’s April Fool’s Day joke, the manufacturer has announced the MAMO Flying Gimbal for mobile phones. MAMO is said to be a portmanteau of DJI’s Mavic and Osmo line of drones and gimbals respectively.
The gimbal is a case that you slap on to your phone to turn it into a drone. The gimbal supports voice control and gesture control. It also has Smart Follow 3.0 and 3-way environmental awareness.
Huawei Animal Language Translation Collar
Tech giant, Huawei, has announced an animal language translation collar for its April Fool’s Day prank. The collar uses AI to translate an animal’s speech to words that are then transmitted to the companion app on your phone. Huawei says the collar records, translates and transmits the animal’s language in real-time.
OPPO FreeVOOC Air Charging Technology (OPPO Ace Infinity)
OPPO’s April Fool’s Day prank is a phone called the OPPO Ace Infinity. The Ace Infinity is a phone with support for a charging technology called FreeVOOC which charges the phone over the air.
The charger is a spherical glossy black ball that uses a laser system to detect the position of the device. When the device is located, it then transmits a beam to the phone which then charges the built-in battery.
Xiaomi Mi 6 Classic Edition
There are reports Xiaomi plans to launch a new version of its 2018 flagship, the Mi 6. Surprisingly, the rumored device is also what Xiaomi used for its April Fool’s Day prank.
Wang Teng Thomas, product manager of Xiaomi, posted the specs of the upcoming phone along with a price tag and launch date.
The new Mi 6 has a 5.99-inch punch-hole 2K display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 545 PPI. It comes with a Snapdragon 865 processor with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There are three cameras on the back of the phone. It also packs a 4070mAh battery with support for 65W wired charging, 30W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging.
The Mi 6 Classic Edition will sell for ¥3699 and will go on sale on April 28 according to the company executive.
Meizu 16T Daylight Orange with support for solar charging
Meizu released multiple jokes for April Fool’s Day and one of them is the Meizu 16T Daylight Orange version. The manufacturer says the device doesn’t need a wired charger as it recharges its battery by drawing power from the sun.
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Realme
Realme’s April Fool’s Day prank is a new technology that allows you to use your Realme phone in ways you can only dream of. Want to charge your phone? All you have to do is think of the percentage you want your phone’s battery level to be and voila, your phone is charged. Want to go on a trip, open your phone, choose a location and you will be transported there.
Nreal Light Toe-Tracking
The April Fool’s Day prank for Nreal, a manufacturer known for its mixed reality products, is what it calls Toe Tracking for its Nreal Light Augmented Reality Glasses.
With toe-tracking, you can use your toes to control your virtual environment just in case your hands are not free or for a more relaxing experience.
According to the company’s product manager, toe-tracking was developed as an alternative to hand-tracking and eye-tracking and can be used when you are sitting or lying back on a chair.
After unveiling all the hardware details of the device, the popular rugged smartphone maker has surfaced hands-on video revealing its rugged design and other features. The popularity of Ulefone’s Armor series leads to the advent of Armor X7. The rugged smartphone features a 13-megapixel camera and 5-megapixel selfie camera along with a power-efficient processor and 4G connectivity. It’s now time to see how the Ulefone Armor X7 fares in the real-life world with the help of its hands-o video below.
The stealthy body of the device can be seen in the video that is appropriately designed giving an outstanding look. The ruggedness along with the beautiful design makes the device suitable for daily and outdoor activities. It resembles the look of the popular Cat S41 smartphone.
UleFone Armor X7 smartphones come powered with MT6761 quad-core chipset coupled with the Quad-core processor and PowerVR GE8320 graphics processor. It can withstand all your social media chatter across Facebook and other messaging apps. There’s a huge 5.0-inch IPS LCD display featuring a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Moreover, there’s a fingerprint scanner on the rear side for rapid authentication.
However, a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel selfie camera on the front can be seen in the video. Surprisingly, the user will find a 3.5mm audio jack along with Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, FM Radio, MicroUSB 2.0 and WiFi.
THere’s a huge Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery. It comes in Black and Orange color. Ulefone Armor X7 is available for a discounted price of $89.99. The user can grab a bicycle holder along with Armor X7 that costs $99.99. However, the offer is valid until April 5.
The interested users can know more about the device by visiting the official website.
Meizu has already hinted that its flagship Meizu 17 smartphone will be unveiled this April. A leaked invitation of the Meizu 17 has appeared online revealing an April 15 launch date. The invite is, interestingly, a riot shield!
The leak comes from a blogger on China’s Weibo and apart from the launch date, it features some key specifications of the Meizu 17. While we can’t rule out the possibility of this being yet another April fool prank, Meizu is known to send out weirdly-packaged invitations. We recall some invitation boxes with sneakers, a wooden block, among other strange stuff. So. this could be one of Meizu’s surprising invitation.
The riot shield features a rectangular-shaped mesh area and this suggests that the Meizu 17 will come with a horizontally-aligned rear camera setup with a rectangular module. The module is said to hold four camera sensors as well as a ring flash.
In terms of the specs, the Meizu 17 is listed to feature a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate. The device will be powered by a Snapdragon 865 chipset with a Snapdragon X55 modem bringing 5G connectivity onboard. The device will equally come with 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128/256GB UFS 3.0 storage options. The base model will use LPDDR4X RAM. For photography, it will use a 64-megapixel GW1 main camera. Other sensors include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle, a 5-megapixel telephoto and a 2-megapixel depth of field sensor. The Meizu 17 will cram a 4500mAh battery under the hood with support for 30W fast charge. There will also be an under-screen fingerprint sensor. It will have a starting price of 3999 yuan.
We’ll take the leaked launch date with a pinch of salt until Meizu official reveals the launch date.
Samsung is one of the largest display manufacturers in the world making a wide range of panels. But now, the company has announced to stop producing LCD panels by the end of the year. This move is motivated by the firm’s plan to expand production of quantum dot displays.
The South Korean conglomerate has a number of businesses and one of them is a display manufacturing unit called Samsung Display. The company makes all types of panels like LCDs, OLEDs, and quantum dots. But now, it has decided to end the production of LCD panels so that it could focus more on the other two modern panels.
The company will be halting the production only at the end of the year but has already reduced its capacity. However, it will still continue to supply LCD panels for the orders that have been placed earlier by its clients. It is worth noting that most of the panels made by the company are used in its own TV lineup.
The employees working in the LCD department will be shifted to OLED and QD Display businesses. Additionally, the company is also reported to have placed orders for equipment used in manufacturing quantum dot displays to ramp up its production.
The decision to shun the production of LCD displays was expected as Samsung had already announced its plans to shift focus to Quantum Dot display technology with $11 billion investment in October 2019.
Xiaomi has launched a new product today and this isn’t an April fool prank. The MIJIA Internet Washing Machine and Dryer 1C, as it is called, is currently on presale on Xiaomi Mall. It adopts a price tag of 2099 yuan (~$295) and will go on sale in China from April 9.
The new MIJIA Internet Washing Machine and Dryer 1C is an upgrade over the MIJIA Internet Washing Machine and Dryer Pro that was launched last year. Both models come with a 10kg capacity. This model has a control panel made from ABS injection moulding + thin-wall light transmission solution and is better integrated with the body of the machine. In contrast, the display of the Mijia Internet Washing and Drying Machine Pro 10kg is made from tempered glass.
This model equally comes with support for XiaoAI voice control support, something that is not on the previous model. This model equally has a more compact build, with a door diameter of 468mm, while the previous model had a wider door diameter of 480mm. This model equally comes with a cycle power of 0.873 kWh which is lower than the 0.960 kWh power on the MIJIA Internet Washing Machine and Dryer.
The other specifications are basically the same. The MIJIA Internet Washing Machine and Dryer 1C use the industry-leading BLDC variable frequency motor to precisely control the washing rhythm. This motor is stable and efficient, and more energy-efficient and quiet. The maximum dehydration speed is 1400 rpm, and the dehydration and drying time is fast and efficient.
The washing machine features up to 22 different washing modes including smart air washing. You can reserve laundry and drying clothes in advance through the Mijia APP, choose more washing and drying modes, and support custom adjustments and save favourite washing methods.
The water-condensing hot-air drying technology can dry multiple pieces of clothing at one time, and the constant temperature control can make the dried clothes full and soft without ironing. The sterilization rate of the high-temperature barrel self-cleaning mode at 95 ° C is as high as 99.9% +.
Coronavirus or COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan province of China in late 2019. Since then, it has now spread to 203 countries affecting nearly a million people with over 44,000 deaths. This has led to lockdowns, which is severely impacting lives as well as businesses. Samsung already became a victim of the pandemic when it had to temporarily shut down one of its smartphone factories in South Korea as a number of the plant’s employees tested positive for the virus. Now, the company confirms yet another case of coronavirus but in a chip factory.
Samsung, in a statement, revealed that one of its workers at a foundry fab (chip manufacturing facility) in Giheung, Korea had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Thus, as a safety precaution, the firm has isolated all the people who were in close contact with that employee. It has even closed the work area of the positive employee for disinfection.
Despite this, the South Korean tech giant confirmed it won’t affect the output of this particular chip factory as other cleanrooms/work areas are in continuous operation. Also, this person is the first and the only Samsung chip factory worker to have caught the virus for now.
Earlier this month, another chip factory of Samsung in Hwaseong, Seoul caught fire but with no casualties. Even at that time, the company stated the production to remain unaffected. However, disruption of supply chain and other factors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led the conglomerate to reduce pay raise for its employees this year.
One of the major features onboard the Samsung Galaxy S20 series is the 120Hz refresh rate which it supports. The official introduction is that you can toggle the display between the standard 60Hz refresh rate and the top-end 120Hz refresh rate. XDA Developers have once again come through for those who would prefer a refresh rate in the 90Hz range found on the OnePlus 7T, OnePlus 7 Pro, Realme X2 Pro, Mi 10 Pro, Poco X2 and a few others.
XDA Developers have discovered that the flagship models have a few hidden refresh rates and resolutions than what Samsung made available. Running the shell command “dumpsys display,” shows several modes such as 48fps, 60fps, 120fps and a surprise 96fps. Just like the 120Hz refresh rate, the 96Hz mode is only available with 1080 pixels (FHD+) and 720 pixels (HD+) resolutions.
The team was able to force the Galaxy S20 to run on the hidden modes by changing the value of Settings.System.peak_refresh_rate and Settings.System.min_refresh_rate to 48.0 or 96.0. XDA Forum’s Senior Member SatySatsZB has even created an app which can be used to switch between 96Hz and 120Hz modes, saving those interested the stress of having to run shell commands. The app even adds two Quick Setting tiles to toggle between the refresh rate modes. You can confirm if the change is working by going to testufo.com.
There is no doubt that 120Hz refresh rate offers users a peak display performance but it takes a toll on the battery life. Switching to 96Hz will increase the battery life slightly as the phone’s display won’t refresh content as often, The 96Hz is equally goign to provide a smoother display performance than 60Hz.
However, there are reports by some Reddit users of issues with the 96Hz refresh mode on Exynos-powered versions of the S20 phones. The Exynos-powered models were released in Europe while the US got a Snapdragon 865 version. There’s already a petition seeking for Samsung stop using the Exynos SoC on its flagship models as it doesn’t offer the same performance as its Qualcomm counterpart. That may be the cause of the issue as some others say it works fine. But then, this is an official tweak, so expect some issues.
Update: Xiaomi has rolled out the Android 10 stable update to Mi 8 Lite as well. You can find download links for all the devices below.
Xiaomi has a long history of updating its entire smartphone lineup to the latest MIUI version available at the time. However, the same cannot be said for the underlying Android platform the MIUI builds are based on. And thus, five of the brand’s yesteryear flagships and their lite devices are receiving the Android 10 stable update only now. The list includes the likes of Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro, Mi 8 SE, Mi 9 SE, and Mi 9 Lite.
All the above-mentioned Xiaomi devices were already updated to MIUI 11 in Q4 2019. But all of them received releases based on Android 9.0 Pie rather than the latest version of Android. Following that, these devices did have several beta builds of Android 10 but the company did not roll out the stable releases to the normal users until now.
The stable MIUI 11 builds based on Android 10 is being currently rolled out to the users of Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro, Mi 8 SE, Mi 9 SE, and Mi 9 Lite via OTA. However, if you are one of those advanced users who don’t like to wait, you can download the respective ‘Recovery’ and ‘Fastboot’ builds of the update from the links provided below.
In what can be called as a small achievement for Huawei, the much-anticipated Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall will be available on the company’s App Gallery on the same day and time as the Google Play Store. The collectible strategy game will launch on the App Gallery on April 3.
Ever since the US-ban, Huawei has been marketing the App Gallery as an alternative to the Play Store. And in the past year, the company has been slowly but steadily adding popular apps and their alternatives to its own store. The fact that Huawei has managed to convince a popular game developer to publish its app on the App Gallery is an important development.
Behaviour Interactive Inc., the developer behind the GoT Beyond the Wall game also benefits from this partnership. A few months back, we reported that Huawei was offering 85 percent of the revenue generated from an app on the App Gallery to the developer, which was significantly higher than the traditional 70:30 revenue split ratio offered by the Play Store and Apple App Store. Huawei’s software team has also worked closely with Behaviour Interactive Inc. to integrate Huawei’s own services like Account Kit and in-app purchases inside the new game.
The Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall game is set 48 years before the events that happened in the HBO series. The game is built around an original story and players will get to take command of the Night’s watch and recruit unique characters from around the Seven Kingdoms to defend Westeros. The game also offers collectibles like various costumed versions of popular characters from the original HBO series like Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Jamie Lannister, and even Melisandre. Users can master each of these character’s unique abilities in tactical PvP combat.
Just like the Play Store, the game will offer special rewards at the time of registration on the App Gallery as well. The Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall goes live on April 3.
Press renders of the OnePlus 8 were leaked a few days ago, revealing all the color variants the phone will come in. One of the variants has a color gradient similar to Instagram’s logo. Now, the same source has released press renders of the OnePlus 8 Pro and it also provides a first look at a color variant we have not seen before.
The OnePlus 8 pro will come in three colorways – Glacial Green, Onyx Black, and a new Ultramarine Blue.
The Ultramarine Blue has a much darker shade than the Really Blue first-gen Pixel. It is a nice color and will be quite popular among buyers. OnePlus is being smart with its color choices by not making both phones have the same color variants all through.
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The OnePlus 8 Pro will have a punch-hole display that measures 6.78-inches, has a QHD+ resolution, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Just like its predecessor, the OnePlus 7 Pro, its screen is also curved at the sides. It is reported that it has a maximum brightness of up to 1300 nits and has HDR10+ support.
The phone will come with the same Snapdragon 865 processor inside the standard version, up to 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage. On the back are quad rear cameras – a 48MP primary camera, a 48MP ultrawide angle camera, an 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 5MP color sensor. The front camera is a 16MP sensor.
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OnePlus will ship the phone with support for wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. We are really curious to know if OnePlus will launch its own wireless charger alongside the phone and have been on the lookout for details regarding the charger but nothing has come up yet.
The OnePlus 8 series launches on April 14, 2020, and will be live-streamed.
Which of the three colors is your favorite? Let us know in the comment box.
LineageOS, formerly CyanogenMod is the most popular aftermarket distribution of Android after AOSP (Android Open Source Project). It is well-known in the custom ROM community as almost every other ROM is either based on it or at least inherit some of its features and functionalities. Recently, a newer version of this software called LineageOS 17.1 based on Android 10 was announced. Since then, the team has been updating the list of officially supported devices.
The first batch of officially supported LineageOS 17.1 devices included a total of 27 devices. The list comprised of a number of variants of Samsung Galaxy S4, LG G2, LG G3, LG G5, and LG V20. It also consisted of Fairphone FP 2, Motorola Moto Z1 as well as both single and dual SIM versions of HTC One (M8).
A couple of days later, the initial LineageOS 17.1 Android 10 build for all the above-mentioned devices went live on the official download page of LineageOS. Unfortunately, the builds were soon removed two days later as all those builds were broken due to signing issues.
But yesterday, the project added support for 23 more devices, however, builds for all these official devices are yet to be uploaded for the public to download. Hopefully, that will happen soon, until then, have a look at the complete list of 50 officially supported LineageOS 17.1 devices as of April 1st, 2020.
List of Officially Supported LineageOS 17.1 Devices
Xiaomi Youpin has launched two new handheld vacuum cleaners manufactured by eco-chain partner Roidmi. The two models- Roidmi Nex 2 and Nex 2 Pro both come with a display and other impressive features which place them ahead of the first-gen Roidmi NEX handheld vacuum cleaner.
The Roidmi Nex 2 Pro is definitely the sleekest model of the duo but both seem to have the same capability. The models feature a display but while the Roidmi Nex 2 has an LED screen, the Nex 2 Pro features an OLED display. This seems to be the major difference between the two. The display shows the cleaning status in real-time. The Nex 2 Pro also has a grey paint job whereas the Nex 2 comes in white.
In terms of the features, both models have a total power rating of 435W as well as the same vacuum power of 26500pa. The bot equally presents with a massive 2500mAh/72Wh battery which can withstand several cleaning rounds. The vacuum cleaners feature a magnetic wireless charging system and can charge fully in just 2.5 hours. In addition, the models are equipped with a 0.55L dust storage compartment an uses a HEPA filter system. Recall that Roidmi equally announced te F8 Pro handheld vacuum cleaner recently which is an upgrade of the Roidmi F8. The Roidmi Nex 2 carries a 2099 yuan ($295) price tag while the Nex 2 Pro is priced at 2,499 yuan (~$352). They are available presently on Xiaomi Youpin for interested buyers in China. If you are interested in this product outside China, you’ll have to look at third-party retailers like GearBest, ALiExpress and others.
WhatsApp is pretty slow when incorporating new features compared to Telegram but like they – better late than never. The messaging app which is used by millions across the world will be getting some pretty useful features according to details found in the latest beta version.
One of the features coming to WhatsApp is Expiring Messages. This is one feature that is long overdue and one I personally loved in Google’s now dead Allo messaging app. However, WhatsApp seems to be taking a different approach.
Expiring Messages will be available in both group chats and private chats and based on screenshots provided by WABetaInfo. Users will be able to set messages to delete after 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month. Apparently, there used to be an option for 1 hour before in previous versions but it has now been removed. Hopefully, it is added back to the final release.
Another feature that was discovered in WhatsApp Beta v2.20.110 is support for multiple device login. You know how you can’t have WhatsApp active on two devices, that should change soon.
With the new feature, users will be able to log in to the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices at the same time. This is different from the way WhatsApp works on desktop or in your browser. When you log in on a new device, you (on your current device) and your contacts get a notification with a change of your security code.
Both Multiple-Device Login and Expiring Messages will be available for iOS and Android when it launches, though the former may get it first.
A new Xiaomi smartphone has just been certified by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). The phone is thought to be the much-anticipated POCO F2 flagship. The phone clears EEC with model number M2004J11G which is similar to the model numbers of some Xiaomi models that have previously been certified by the EEC. For comparison, the Poco F1 had the model number M1805E10A, the Redmi K20 Pro came with the model number M1903F11C while the Redmi K30 Pro had the model number M2001J11C.
The certified phone was listed on March 31 and is clearly indicated to be a Xiaomi phone under the Poco brand which is now an independent brand. It is interesting that the phone is listed as a Poco brand and not Pocophone. Recall that the first model was launched as Pocophone F1 in the global market. The company may have finally decided to stick with a shorter Poco branding.
The Poco F2 was expected to have launched in 2019 after the F1 was introduced with a surprise flagship lineup but that didn’t happen. Just when we thought the brand was going to launch the F2, the Poco X2 was unveiled as a rebranded Redmi K30. Xiaomi has already confirmed the Redmi K30 Pro won’t be launched as the Poco F2. Thus, the F2 will come with a design that is yet to leak, perhaps.
For now, we don’t have any other detail on the specifications or design of the F2 but we expect more details to emerge soon.
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