Posts From Aamir Siddiqui

Aamir Siddiqui
Aamir Siddiqui

I am a tech journalist with XDA since 2015, while being a qualified business-litigation lawyer with experience in the field. A low-end smartphone purchase in 2011 brought me to the forums, and it's been a journey filled with custom ROMs ever since. When not fully dipped in smartphone news, I love traveling to places just to capture pictures of the sun setting. You can reach out to me at [email protected]

Android 12 “Snow Cone”: Everything we know so far about Google’s next big update, with Developer Preview 1 changes and unreleased features!

Android 12 “Snow Cone”: Everything we know so far about Google’s next big update, with Developer Preview 1 changes and unreleased features!

March 8, 2021
Android is the world's most popular smartphone operating system, running on billions of smartphones around the world. As a result, even the tiniest of changes in the OS has the potential to affect millions of users. But because of the way that Android updates are delivered, it's debatable whether these changes actually make a difference....
Alleged Snapdragon 775 leak details Qualcomm’s next upper mid-range SoC

Alleged Snapdragon 775 leak details Qualcomm’s next upper mid-range SoC

March 5, 2021
Qualcomm captures a good part of the Android smartphone market, and for good reason. The company offers a rather extensive portfolio of SoC options to phone OEMs, starting from the budget options that we see on Android Go devices, all the way up to the flagship 8xx series SoC that we see on top-tier Android...
Download: MIUI 12 stable update rolling out to several Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices

Download: MIUI 12 stable update rolling out to several Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices

March 4, 2021
MIUI 12 is the newest big release for Xiaomi smartphones, perhaps even bigger than an Android version jump. Features on Xiaomi devices are dictated more by their MIUI versions than the underlying Android version, so a MIUI version upgrade is an exciting event. The first batch of devices to receive the MIUI 12 stable update...
Download: MIUI 12.5 Closed Beta for Xiaomi and Redmi devices [Update: March 3 builds]

Download: MIUI 12.5 Closed Beta for Xiaomi and Redmi devices [Update: March 3 builds]

March 4, 2021
The latest version of Xiaomi's custom Android skin - MIUI 12.5 - is finally here. The first incremental update over MIUI 12 has been unveiled at the Mi 11 launch event in China. Compared to MIUI 12, the stable version of which was released less than six months ago, MIUI 12.5 brings in a slew...
Jio’s MyJio app sends fullscreen ads to homescreen, violating Google Play policy

Jio’s MyJio app sends fullscreen ads to homescreen, violating Google Play policy

March 3, 2021
Unless you've been living under a rock in India, you've probably heard of Reliance Jio — the carrier that practically transformed the country's 4G landscape overnight and now has its eyes set on 5G. Jio has found a concrete space for itself as India's leading telecom service provider, amassing over 400 million subscribers by the...
Samsung is bringing Galaxy Watch 3 features to the original Galaxy Watch and Watch Active

Samsung is bringing Galaxy Watch 3 features to the original Galaxy Watch and Watch Active

February 26, 2021
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is Samsung's latest smartwatch that comes with nifty features like ECG and blood pressure monitoring. While the Watch 3 is one of the best smartwatch options for Android users, the predecessors also still have plenty of life left in them. Samsung is now making the predecessors stay useful for longer...
Chromebooks may soon get a few nifty presentation tools

Chromebooks may soon get a few nifty presentation tools

February 26, 2021
The pandemic refocused attention towards online learning and virtual classrooms, and we're bound to see a lot of efforts in this direction even after the pandemic has passed. It makes sense for software companies targeting virtual learning use cases to build up features that make their products more appealing. Google appears to be doing just...
OPPO is licensing its Fast Charging technology to car and chipmakers

OPPO is licensing its Fast Charging technology to car and chipmakers

February 23, 2021
OEMs have been pretty bullish on fast charging over the years. There was a time when just 5W was the standard, and 18W was considered a very good charging speed. We now have phones in the mainstream that tout 65W fast charging as their highlight feature, and a few more phones that charge quicker and...
Android 12 includes a permission management hub, but its not intended for users

Android 12 includes a permission management hub, but its not intended for users

February 19, 2021
Android 12 "Snow Cone" will be the flavor of the rest of this month, with Developer Preview 1 giving us our first official taste of the upcoming dessert OS update. We've spotted many changes in our Developer Preview 1 Hands-On, but there are even more hidden treats all through the update. One of these is...
Android 12 is here with its first Developer Preview and a lot of changes for developers

Android 12 is here with its first Developer Preview and a lot of changes for developers

February 18, 2021
The Android operating system has been around for years now, and it's become the dominant OS for mobile devices. While Android as a platform has definitely matured over the years, there's always room for some improvement. And improve it will, as Google is now releasing the first version of its next upgrade, Android 12. Android...
[Update: Rejected] Proposed North Dakotan bill aims to dismantle Apple and Google’s app store and payment monopolies

[Update: Rejected] Proposed North Dakotan bill aims to dismantle Apple and Google’s app store and payment monopolies

February 17, 2021
This might just be the year that Apple's walled garden ecosystem gets some doors, windows, and a breath of fresh air. A bill proposed in the North Dakota Senate in the USA seeks to ban digital stores like the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store from exercising a distribution monopoly and force third-party...
Realme X7 Pro Hands-on: Don’t sleep on MediaTek flagships

Realme X7 Pro Hands-on: Don’t sleep on MediaTek flagships

February 9, 2021
Realme entered the smartphone scene a few years ago, but in the past few years, it has recorded some exceptional growth across the globe. While a good majority of its smartphones target the budget and mid-ranges, Realme also frequently dabbles in making affordable flagships and upper mid-range smartphones. The Realme X7 Pro launched in China...