While the Oppo R17 and R17 New Year Editions received the update on 13th January, the R17 Pro, R17 Pro New Year Edition and R17 King Custom Edition will be receiving the new update today.
Along with that, the company has announced that the Oppo Find X is also receiving the update. Do note that the early adopters update for the R17 Pro series and the Find X series is available for the first 2,000 users each.
To become a part of this program and receive the new beta update, you just need to go to Settings menu on your smartphone and head over to the “Software Update” section. There, click on the settings icon in the top-right corner and tap on “Upgrade Early Adopters”.
ColorOS 7 is based on Oppo’s Infinite Design concept that has its core philosophy in lightweight visuals for a clean and user-friendly interface. It brings additional privacy-related features such as the Personal Information Protection option that allows users to protect their personal data from third-party apps and software. To know more about ColorOS 7, including all the new features, click here.
Chinese giant Huawei has today announced that by the end of December 2019, the company’s total worldwide 5G smartphone shipments have exceeded the mark of 6.9 million units.
In the year 2019, Huawei has launched a number of 5G smartphones, including Mate 30 5G series, Mate 20 X 5G, Mate X 5G, Nova 6 5G, Honor V30 series, among others. Do note that the number includes devices from Huawei as well as its sub-brand Honor.
As per the latest report from Master Lu, Huawei and Honor combined has a market share of 25.8 percent in terms of Android smartphones in China. Huawei is leading the market with 15.36 percent market share while Honor ranks second with 10.45 percent market share.
This is quite interesting that despite the overall decline in the Chinese mobile phone market, Huawei’s market share keeps on growing and the cumulative shipments in the first three quarters have exceeded 185 million units.
Recently, Huawei revealed that the company’s revenue topped 850 billion Chinese yuan (approximately $122 billion) this year, a new record high for the Chinese group, registering an 18 percent increase over the previous year.
It also added that the company has sold 240 million smartphones in the year 2019, a significant increase compared to 206 million units last year. This is impressive given that the company achieved such numbers even after getting banned in the United States.
Huawei’s smartphone business became its biggest revenue contributor in the first half of this year. The Chinese company is expected to remain ahead of Apple and behind South Korea’s Samsung Electronics in the global rankings of smartphone brands.
Soon after the launch of the OnePlus 7T series, reputed tipster had released the CAD renders of the OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8 smartphones. Later, he had also shared the CAD renders of the OnePlus 8 Lite handset. OnePlus is expected to unleash the OnePlus 8 series in Q2 this year. With few months remaining for the launch, the OnePlus 8 rumors are now gaining momentum. Recently, the purported OnePlus 8 Pro was spotted on Geekbench with keys specs. Today, GizmoChina brings the exclusive screen protectors designed for the OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone.
OnePlus 8 Pro flat screen protector
The two images shared in this post showcases the two screen protectors with different designs for the upcoming OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone. In the first image, a flat screen protector can be seen with a cutout at the top-left corner. This design corroborates with the punch-hole display design of the smartphone that was first revealed by OnLeaks. The screen protector shown in the second image has no cutout. Rather, it has a curved edge to edge screen protector.
OnePlus 8 Pro edge to edge curved screen protector
Along with the CAD renders, OnLeaks had revealed that OnePlus 8 Pro will be equipped with a 6.65-inch OLED display. It could be the first smartphone from the company to arrive with support for 120Hz refresh rate along with quad HD+ resolution. The handset is said to have 165.3 x 74.4 x 8.8mm dimensions.
The OnePlus 8 Pro will continue to feature an in-screen fingerprint reader. The CAD renders of the smartphone had revealed it has a vertical triple camera system followed by a LED flash on the upper half of its rear shell. A fourth ToF (Time of Flight) image sensor seems to be present alongside the camera setup. The device lacks a 3.5mm audio jack. Features like power button, volume rocker, alert slider, redesigned speaker grille and USB-C are present on the edges of the device.
CAD render of OnePlus 8 Pro
It is speculated that the IN2023 model number belongs to the OnePlus 8 Pro smartphone. The same was spotted on Geekbench earlier this week. It revealed that the phone is powered by Snapdragon 865 mobile platform and 12 GB of RAM. The phone was found to be preinstalled with the new Android 10 OS. The OnePlus 8 Pro specs leak that had surfaced in December claimed that it features LPDDR5 RAM, up to 256 GB UFS 3.0 storage, a 32-megapixel front camera, and an OIS and EIE enabled quad camera system with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 main lens, a 20-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom support.
Now, it seems that the company is working a new variant of the same TWS earbuds which could possibly come with more features and thus, a bit costlier price tag. From the teaser introducing Realme UI, it can be seen that the company’s next true wireless earbuds are named Realme Buds Air Neo.
Given that the Realme Buds Air are almost similar to the Apple AirPods and the company has blatantly copied Apple’s design, we expect the company to do the same with the Buds Air Neo and rip-off AirPods Pro to include high-end features like active noise cancellation.
The recently launched Buds Air from Realme comes with a battery life of 3 hours for continuous playback and up to 17 hours with the charging case. At a price point of ₹3,999, the device comes with several interesting features like the charing case which comes with support for wireless charging and has a Type-C port for wired charging.
You can check out our review of the Realme Buds Air here.
Honor already has its presence in the Indian market and yesterday, the company launched a few new products in the market, including Honor 9X smartphone, Honor Band 5i fitness tracker, Honor Magic Watch 2, and wireless earphones.
Now, the company is looking to further expand its product categories in India. In line with this, Honor is set to launch its laptops and smart TV in the Indian market by the end of this quarter, i.e. Q1 2020 or in early next quarter, i.e. Q2 2020.
During an interview at the sidelines of Honor 9X event, Charles Peng, President of Honor India, said: “We are bringing our laptops to India maybe at the end of the Q1 or by beginning of Q2. We are working with the HQ team to meet the demands of the Indian market. Maybe some of them would be the ones that are already launched in China and maybe some would be designed for the Indian market.”
While the company has confirmed that it will soon bring the Honor MagicBook laptops in the Indian market, which model will come first has not been disclosed yet. However, it has been revealed that initially, it will go on sale through online channel only.
In August last year, Honor launched its first smart TV in its home market, dubbed Honor Vision. The same TV set to introduced in the Indian market in October last year during the Indian Mobile Congress in New Delhi.
The highlight of the Honor Vision TV is that it is the first commercially available product to run on the company’s own custom operating system HarmonyOS. Now, the company has confirmed that it will be available for purchase in India and the timeline stated for the same is similar to the one for the Honor MagicBook laptops.
Charles Peng says that the company is currently working with content partners such as Hotstar and Netflix to bring relevant content on the Honor Vision right at the time of its official launch in India.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 10 Lite alongside the Galaxy S10 Lite earlier this month. The company is yet to reveal when the models will launch in India but India blog 91mobiles credits industry sources to have disclosed that reservations for the smartphone will go live on retail and online stores across India from January 21.
The sources are also said to have disclosed that the device will be released in mid-February. This may likely be after the global launch of the Galaxy S20 series on February 11. Also, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite reservations will commence just a few days before the Galaxy S10 Lite’s India launch scheduled to take place on January 23. Pricing is expected to start at Rs 35,990 for the base variant.
As a reminder, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite sports a 6.7-inch Full HD+ Infinity-O display, slightly smaller than the Galaxy Note 10+’s 6.8-inch QHD+ display. The Note 10 Lite is powered by an Exynos 9810 SoC which was used on the Galaxy S9 from 2018. The device is available in 6GB/8GB RAM options and 128GB storage which is expandable up to 1TB via microSD card.
For photography, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite features a triple rear camera setup. At the front, the device packs a 32-megapixel f/2.2 sensor. The device equally comes equipped with an S-Pen which the Galaxy Note series is known for. While its S Pen does have Bluetooth Low-Energy support, it doesn’t have a 6-axis sensor, so you can’t do any of the cool gestures that you can with the Galaxy Note 10/10+’s S Pen. But Samsung did add the Text Export feature which allows users to transfer handwritten notes into text for quick sharing.
As for the interface, the Galaxy Note 10 Lite runs on Android 10-based One UI 2.0 out of the box. It also has features like Bixby, Samsung Pay, AR Emoji, and facial recognition. There’s a fingerprint sensor embedded in the display as well. Keeping the lights on is a massive 4500mAh battery which is even bigger than the Galaxy Note 10+’s 4,300mAh battery. The battery supports 25W super-fast wired charging.
The device comes in Aura Black, Aura Glow and Aura Red colours.
Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S20 series of flagship phones through an unveil event on Feb. 11. Recently, Max Weinbach ofXDA Developers had shared the live photos of the upcoming Galaxy S20+ 5G smartphone. Through another leak, he also shared the key specs of the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G. A new report on the publication by Wienbach has the hands-on video of the Galaxy S20+ 5G handset. The report has also revealed key details of the smartphone.
Starting off with the display of the Galaxy S20+ (SM-G986U), it supports a max resolution of 1440 x 3220 pixels. It will offer a tall aspect ratio of 20:9. These details were through a benchmark test that was carried out on the phone. It did not reveal the exact size of the screen. However, it is speculated that the Galaxy S20+ will be equipped with a 6.7-inch display. The Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Ultra that are rumored to feature 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays are expected to support the same resolution and aspect ratio.
Some reports had claimed that Samsung will be replacing the ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint scanner with an optical in-display fingerprint reader. The report has debunked the rumor and claimed that the S20+ will have an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor. An optical in-screen fingerprint reader requires the scanning area to brightly light up. However, an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor does not such lighting. The same was observed on the S20+ through which it could be determined that it has an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader. There is no confirmation on whether the device features the latest 3D Sonic Max ultrasonic fingerprint reader by Qualcomm that can scan two fingers simultaneously.
The above shown screenshot reveals that the Galaxy S20+ has a toggle for 120Hz settings. The S20 series will be the first from the South Korean company to arrive with support for 120Hz refresh rate. The report claims that the 120Hz will be only available at full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels). It is said that the display will automatically change to 60Hz if the user switches to WQHD+ resolution.
The Galaxy S20+ 5G hands-on video reveals that it has a curved Infinity-O display. The rear shell of the device has a rectangle-shaped camera system housing four lenses and an LED flash. The handset does not feature a 3.5mm audio jack. It will come with AKG USB-C earbuds. The retail package of the device has a 25W fast charger. The same earbuds and charger were made available with the Galaxy Note 10. The following image compares the S10+ with S20+. It reveals that the S20+ is bigger than the S10+. Moreover, the S20 Ultra 5G will be a larger device than the S20+.
The other details that were revealed through benchmark tests show that the Galaxy S20+ has 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and it is powered by Snapdragon 865 mobile platform. The device will come with 128 GB of native storage (could be UFS 3.0). It has a minimum rated battery of 4,370mAh which suggests that its typical capacity could be 4,500mAh. All the handsets in the S20 series will be equipped with eSIM support.
Microsoft has officially announced that it is dropping support of Windows 7. This comes nearly 11 years after the extremely popular operating system was first launched in New York City. The OS came as a suitable fix for the failed Windows Vista which was released before it and indeed, it turned out to be a worthy replacement bringing on board a new taskbar, Aero window management, file libraries, and much more.
Windows 7 went on to amass so much popularity that even the Windows 8 found no place near it. Even the Windows 10 had to wait for nearly 4 years before it could surpass the market share of Windows 7. Available data from Netmarketshare shows that millions of PCs worldwide are still running Windows 7 with the operating system running on 26 percent of all PCs.
Microsoft even had to try to get people to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge. While that might have helped Windows 10 gain prominence over 7, there are still tens of millions of PCs still running Windows 7. Those PCs will now be left vulnerable to exploits and security vulnerabilities. From today (Wednesday), a full-screen notification will appear for Windows 7 users warning that systems are now out of support.
Businesses and education Windows 7 users will be able to pay for extended security updates, but it could be a costly venture for some. Extended updates for Windows 7 Enterprise is approximately $25 per machine, and the cost doubles to $50 per device in 2021 and again to $100 in 2022. Windows 7 Pro users will be hit the hardest as extended security updates start at $50 per machine and will jump to $100 in 2021 and $200 in 2022. These costs will naturally vary depending on the volume of PCs in use at a business, but they’re still going to be substantial for larger firms. Windows 7 customers with active Windows 10 subscriptions will get a free year of post-retirement updates.
Today the Honor 9X officially debuted in the Indian market. A lot of months have passed since its official announcement, but finally one of the latest affordable smartphones from Huawei’s sub-brand is available to purchase in the Indian peninsula. But will it be nice enough to be a better choice than the competition? In order to establish that, we decided to compare it with two best-selling devices in the Indian market. We chose the best-selling Redmi Note 8 and the Realme 5i which is one of the main contributors to the huge Realme’s success in India.
Huawei Honor 9X vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 vs Oppo Realme 5i
Quad 12 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP f/1.8, f/2.3, f/2.4 and f/2.4
8 MP f/2.0 front camera
Quad 48 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP f/1.8, f/2.2 and f/2.4
13 MP f/2.0 front camera
Triple 48 + 8 + 2 MP f/1.8 and f/2.4
16 MP f/2.2 front camera
BATTERY
5000 mAh, fast charging 10W
4000 mAh, fast charging 18W
4000 mAh, fast charging 10W
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Dual SIM slot
Hybrid Dual SIM slot
Hybrid Dual SIM slot
Design
If there is an impressive feature on the Honor 9X, it is the design. Thanks to a pop-up front camera, it offers a full borderless experience without the need for a notch, like some of the most amazing flagship smartphones. Further, it has an almost completely clean glass back thanks to a compact camera module and a side-mounted fingerprint reader (China version only). And how not to mention the suggestive X-shaped light effects on the rear cover. It is not one of the most compact phones out there, but it is definitely beautiful.
Display
Honor 9X is superior even when it comes to the display. It has a better looking LTPS panel with a wider size and a Full HD+ resolution. Even the Redmi Note 8 has a nice display and you would not notice big differences between the Honor 9X and Redmi Note 8. Realme 5i is way inferior due to its lower definition: its IPS display has just an HD+ resolution and it is even a very wide display, so you should notice the difference without many difficulties.
Specs & Software
The most powerful hardware department belongs to the Redmi Note 8, at least in its most expensive memory configuration. The handset is fueled by the Snapdragon 665 chipset paired with up to 6 GB of RAM and up to 128 GB of internal storage. Realme 5i has exactly the same chipset, but it offers just 4 GB of RAM and just 64 GB of internal storage in its high-end version. The Kirin 710F chipset found on the Honor 9X is inferior to the Snapdragon 665, but the Honor 9X has a 6/128 GB variant, unlike the Realme 5i. Each device boasts Android 9 Pie out of the box.
Camera
Redmi Note 8 offers the most complete rear camera setup: it consists of a 48 MP quad camera including an ultrawide sensor, a dedicated macro camera, and a depth sensor. Right after we got the Honor 9X with a 48 MP triple camera which lacks the dedicated macro camera. With Realme 5i you get a quad camera again, but the main 12 MP sensor is inferior to the ones found on both the Honor 9X and Redmi Note 8, as well as the selfie camera.
Battery
Realme 5i is the king if we talk about battery life. Not only it features a bigger 5000 mAh battery, but it even comes with a more efficient display. Thanks to the HD+ resolution, the energy consumption is inferior to the Redmi Note 8 and Honor 9X, that is why the battery life is even longer than you might expect. Honor 9X and Redmi Note 8 have the same battery capacity, but Redmi Note 8 lasts slightly more in various scenarios.
Price
The price of Honor 9X in India is about $197, Redmi Note 8 costs about €127 and Realme 5i is priced €115. Redmi Note 8 looks like the most complete and well-balanced device with a great hardware department and nice cameras. Honor 9X has a better design, while Realme 5i offers the longest battery life.
The LG K-series may be getting a new model soon and it may launch as the LG K43. Yes, we know there is an LG K50 already but this should sit between the LG K40 and LG K50.
The phone was spotted on Geekbench today as the LGE LM-K430IM. The Geekbench result shows the device runs Android 10 out of the box which is good news as this phone might not get an OS upgrade for a while after it launches or if at all.
The LG K43 will come with a MediaTek MT6762 processor a.k.a. Helio P22 which is the same chipset that powers the LG K40, LG K50, and LG K50S. The processor is paired with 4GB of RAM which is more than that of the aforementioned devices.
With respect to design, we have no idea what the LG K43 will look like but its display may have a waterdrop or U-shaped notch. Coming to the rest of the specs, the phone may come with a bigger display, improved cameras, and a bigger battery capacity. However, these are just speculations.
LG announced the LG K40 shortly before MWC 2019, so we expect the LG K43 will be announced at about the same time this year or at MWC 2020.
Huawei may likely launch the P40 series without Google apps pre-installed except the US lifts the trade embargo slammed on the Chinese tech giant anytime soon. The P40 is expected to be launched alongside the P40 Pro in March 2020. Even without any expectation of Google apps on board, the P40 series still elicits many interests and keeps the rumour mills buzzing consistently.
The latest leak coming our way is the TPU case renders for the Huawei P40. We recently saw the TPU case of the P40 Pro and that of the P40 had earlier popped up online but without the renders of the device. This time around, the renders of the device also featured alongside the casing giving us a view of what the P40 might look like.
The render shows Huawei P40 will have a single punch-hole selfie camera nested at the top right corner of the display. This is no surprise as the punch-hole design seems to be gathering momentum. The device will adopt a similar quad-camera setup housed in a rectangular module just like the P40 Pro.
The Huawei P40’s screen is put at between 6.1-inch and 6.2-inch and should, of course, be an AMOLED display panel. The device is also shown to have a USB-C port and we expect fast charging technology on the P40 models.
It has just been a week since the launch of the Realme 5i and now its successor, the Realme 6i has been spotted at Singapore’s IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority).
We do not know when the phone was certified but the certification reveals the model number is RMX2040. Seeing as the Realme 5i is a redesigned Realme 5 with downgraded cameras, the Realme 6i should toe the same path of having some trade-offs when compared to the Realme 6 which is yet to launch.
The Realme 5 launched in August last year but seeing as the timeframe between phones is now shorter, the Realme 6 may arrive sooner than later.
Realme has quite a number of products coming soon. India’s BIS recently certified a Realme watch which is expected to be its first fitness tracker. The Realme C3 and Realme C3s have also received certification in Singapore and Thailand respectively. Realme has also said it plans to launch a TV this year and will also announce a number of IoT products too.
We are still in the second week of the year, so there is still a bit of waiting to do before several of these products are announced.
California-based American consumer electronics company Sonos has filed two separate lawsuits against Google before two US federal courts for allegedly copying its wireless speaker design. The company is seeking to get the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban Google products like laptops, phones, and speakers.
Sonos sues Google alleging theft of smart speaker technology.
According to a report first carried by The New York Times, Sonos filed two lawsuits covering five patents against Google, claiming that “Google stole its multi-room speaker technology after getting access to it through a 2013 partnership”. In 2013, Sonos thought it had secured a record deal when Google agreed to design its Google Play Music service to work easily with Sonos’s home speakers. For the project, Sonos handed over the effective blueprints to its speakers. Sonos executives hinted that the deal felt like a harmless move, especially as Google was just an internet company then and didn’t make speakers.
According to the lawsuit, Google reportedly used patented technology in its now-discontinued Chromecast Audio device but used it in the Google Home lineup of smart speakers and the Pixel phones.
Google said in a statement to The Verge that “Google’s technology was developed independently by Google – it was not copied from Sonos. We dispute these claims and will defend them vigorously”.
Sonos, the maker of high-end wireless speakers, also claimed that Google “subsidized its own products to sell them at a cheaper price while using them to extract more data from buyers”.
Patrick Spence, Sonos CEO said that “Google is an important partner with whom we have collaborated successfully for years, including bringing the Google Assistant to the Sonos platform last year. However, Google has been blatantly and knowingly copying our patented technology in creating its audio products.” Sonos disclosed that it started warning Google about patent infringement since 2016, shortly after the first Google Home launched. But all warnings fell on deaf ears.
Sonos also claimed that Amazon too violated its patents with the Echo device family, but has decided to make its case “one by one”.
It will be interesting to see how this lays out in court as the outcome with heavily influence the budding smart speaker industry.
Huawei is still encumbered by the trade sanctions imposed by the US which has ensured that it is unable to launch new models with Google apps onboard. As a makeshift solution, the company is refreshing its 2019 lineup. To this effect, the Huawei P30 Lite New Edition has just been silently launched and it features Google apps!
The new edition P30 Lite is a slight refresh of the P30 Lite which was first launched in early 2019. Design-wise, this new edition is entirely similar to the P30 Lite 2019 and even comes in the same colors: Midnight Black, Pearl White, Peacock Blue, and Breathing Crystal. The major differences between this New Edition and the old model are the RAM and internal storage configurations. Previously, the base variant of the P30 Lite had just 4GB of RAM, but the New Edition comes with 6GB. Likewise, the internal storage also got bumped up to 256GB from 128GB which was on both memory versions of the original P30 Lite.
Aside from these few differences, the new edition is similar to the original P30 Lite. As a reminder, the Huawei P30 Lite features a 6.15-inch IPS LCD display with a waterdrop notch and full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2312 pixels. It is powered by a Hisilicon Kirin 710 SoC. There is a shared SIM slot on the device for adding a microSD card.
For photography, the P30 Lite packs a triple camera setup made up of a 24-megapixel selfie camera and a 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel (ultrawide) + 2-megapixel (depth) triple rear cameras. The device packs a 3,340mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. It has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner.
The Huawei P30 Lite New Edition will be available in the United Kingdom starting on January 15, 2020. It comes with a price tag of £299 (~$389). We expect Huawei to release the device in other markets soon.
Samsung is expected to officially unveil its second foldable smartphone in the first quarter of the year. The device was thought to go by the moniker Galaxy Fold Bloom but only recently, it was uncovered that the device will go by the name Galaxy Z Flip. The Galaxy Z Flip has now been certified by China’s 3C.
The device from this certification bears the SM-F700 model number which matches previous certification exploits. The certification covers the charger and it reveals the device will present with a 15W fast charger inside the box.
The Galaxy Z Flip should present with a clamshell design and mock-up photos of the device have already appeared online, thanks to LetsGoDigital. We don’t expect the design style to be too different. However, the Galaxy Z Flip will not feature the latest and greatest internal components. The device is believed to ship with last year’s Snapdragon 855 at the helm alongside a dual-camera setup on the outside and a 10MP selfie cam.
The most spectacular feature that has been leaked so far is undoubtedly the Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) construction on the display. This will make the Z-Flip the first device on the market to do so. That’s all the details is in the open at the moment.
Samsung is hosting its Unpacked event on February 11 where we’ll see the reveals of the new S20 lineup as well as the Galaxy Z Flip.
As the UK government prepares to decide whether or not to allow Huawei to be involved in setting up a key portion of the nation’s infrastructure, US officials have issued a stark warning that allowing the Chinese firm a role would put transatlantic intelligence sharing at risk. Senior U.S. officials visited London on Monday with the last-ditch plea to disallow Huawei from the country’s 5G development.
The officials handed over a dossier of technical information which sources claim challenged British intelligence’s own technical assessment that it would be possible to use Huawei in the 5G infrastructure without risks to national security. US sources refused to comment on the content of the file, only saying that it would be “nothing short of madness” to go ahead.
Britain is currently weighing whether to use Huawei equipment as part of its 5G infrastructure. Supporters argue that the company’s equipment can be used in non-core areas in a way that keeps the network secure. But the U.S. warns that the effects of the leap to 5G technology are so poorly understood that the safest and best solution is to keep the Chinese company out altogether.
The head of Britain’s MI5 security service, Andrew Parker, has dismissed suggestions UK-US intelligence sharing could be damaged if Chinese telecoms giant Huawei develops Britain’s 5G network. “Perhaps the thing that needs more focus and more discussion is how do we get to a future where there’s a wider range of competition… than defaulting to a yes or no about Chinese technology,” added Parker, who is standing down in April.
Huawei insists it has never been built any backdoor into its technology by the Chinese government and has offered to sign a “no spy agreement” with countries adopting it. Addressing concerns that the Chinese government could force Huawei’s hand, the firm’s former chairman Liang Hua said last May there were “no laws requiring the companies to collect intelligence from foreign governments”.
AirDrop is an iOS (and macOS) feature that a lot of Android users are jealous of. With AirDrop, you can share files of any size between devices that are within your wireless and Bluetooth range. It allows you to send and receive files from only your contacts or have it set to receive from everyone. Google has been working on its own version for Android which was originally named Fast Share but a new report says it has gotten a new name.
According to a report by XDA Developers, Fast Share has been renamed to Nearby Sharing. The name is a perfect fit since users will be able to share files to devices near them. The renaming came about with the release of Google Play Services v20.1.03.
Nearby Sharing works by first connecting to the device you want to send a file to via Bluetooth and then sending the files via WiFi. According to screenshots of the feature in use, devices have to be unlocked, be within 1 ft of each other, and have Bluetooth and Location turned on.
[envira-gallery id=”300655″]
There is an option to set Device Visibility, and from the screenshot, it can be set to All contacts. There is also an option to share files “Without internet”. The third image shows that Nearby Sharing will have an icon in the Quick Settings menu for easy access.
There is no info on when Nearby Sharing will be released. It has been in development since last year but didn’t arrive with Android 10. Google may decide to release it along with Android 11 later this year.
While we wait for Google to announce Nearby Sharing, OPPO (and Realme), Xiaomi, and Vivo formed the Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance to develop their own file-sharing feature. The feature will allow owners of phones from the four brands to share files with each other using Bluetooth and WiFi. The feature will be available on Vivo devices starting next month.
Xiaomi has just launched a new IDMIX multi function travel charger through its Youpin electronic gadgets platform. It is currently available for 358 Yuan (roughly 52 US Dollars) while its adapter is being sold for 39 Yuan (roughly 6 US Dollars).
Xiaomi Youpin IDMIX Travel Charger
According to official notes, the IDMIX multi function travel charger brings three major functions with it that makes it a versatile electronic accessory. The device can work as a power adapter, mobile power bank and even supports wireless charging. Adaptability is key as well since it supports British, European and Australian power plug adapters. Hence, it can technically power a laptop, and a smartphone wirelessly or with a USB connector.
The pins for the plugs on the Xiaomi IDMIX are foldable and support USB Type C with a power draw of 30W from the wall charging mode. It also arrives with a metre long data cable which is standard and can charge the 12 inch MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and other devices.
The IDMIX Travel Charger can directly mount on to plug points to charge laptops.
Xiaomi IDMIX multi function travel charger houses a large 10,000mAh battery pack. The large power capacity can charge smartphone through a USB Type C port with up to 18W. It is claimed that the device can charge Apple’s iPhone XS to 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes while it can also charge other handsets with wireless charging up to 10W. Notably, the IDMIX multi function travel charger supports charging directly from its plug and can fully charge in under 5 hours with a 12W power input.
On Jan. 10, Xiaomi began with the pre-orders of the new 8 GB RAM edition of the Black Shark 2 Pro smartphone in China. As scheduled, the new variant is available for purchase from today in the home market with a pricing of 2,699 Yuan (~$391). Since its launch in July, the phone was selling in three 12 GB RAM variants. However, none of the them can be seen in the official listing of the Black Shark 2 Pro at Xiaomi’s online store in China. Hence, it appears that the company may have axed all the 12 GB RAM editions of the gaming phone. This is could be a strategic move to make way for the upcoming Black Shark 3.
The Black Shark 2 Pro 8 GB RAM variant comes with an internal storage. It can be availed only in Electric Black color edition and it priced at 2,699 Yuan (~$391).
At launch, the Black Shark 2 Pro was introduced in two models such as 12 GB RAM + 128 GB storage and 12 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. These models were priced at 2,999 Yuan (~$434) and 3,499 Yuan (~$507), respectively. In September, the company had added a new variant featuring 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of native storage with a price tag of 3,999 Yuan (~$579).
Xiaomi could be launching the upcoming Black Shark 3 phone with a pricing around of 3,000 Yuan. This could be reason the way none of the 12 GB RAM models are now available for purchase in China.
Xiaomi is reportedly working on the launch of the Black Shark 3. The KLE-A0 Xiaomi phone that was recently approved by the CMIIT battery seems to be the upcoming Black Shark 3. The CMIIT listing revealed that the handset will be a 5G-ready device.
Black Shark 2 Pro Electric Black
Recent reports have revealed that the Black Shark 3 will be fueled by the Snapdragon 865 mobile platform. This could bring support for dual-mode 5G on the device. The handset is rumored to be equipped with a display that supports quad HD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. It is speculated that it could be the first phone to arrive with 16 GB of RAM. The Black Shark 3 is expected to get unveiled in the first quarter of 2020.
Earlier this week, Apple faced a backlash from law enforcements in the US. On Monday (13th January 2020), a press conference took place regarding the shooting in a US naval base in Florida which has since been deemed as an act of terrorism.
Reportedly, Attorney General William Barr and FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich took shots at the Cupertino based tech giant after it refused to unlock two iPhones that belonged to Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. The terrorist was a military trainee from Saudi Arabia that was taking part in an international military training program who attacking the naval base.
Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro
Historically, Apple has always declined local and international law enforcement regarding the unlocking of devices. The main reason for this is the user privacy of its vast number of customers. In the press conference, the Attorney General directed his message towards Apple and other technology based firms to provide complete assistance and cooperation once probable cause for illegal activities is ruled by the courts.
This incident also brought up the debate regarding where tech giants across the globe draw the line between user privacy and digital evidence for incarceration. In 2015, following a mass shooting in California, Apple faced the same dilemma with federal agencies as it denied to unlock another iPhone. Since then, the FBI has turned towards Israel based Cellebrite to crack into the device.
Apple iPhone XR
As of right now, Apple has not given out any official statements regarding the press conference and the role the company plays in the situation. So we will have to wait and see what the incident develops into, Stay tuned!
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