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]

Google threatens to pull out Search from Australia over upcoming law

Google threatens to pull out Search from Australia over upcoming law

January 22, 2021
It's difficult to even imagine a life without Google Search, so much so that even the word "google" as a verb has become synonymous with searching for information on the internet. But for the people in Australia, they might have to consider such a future, as an upcoming law that requires Google to pay for...
Realme is making a pair of flagship 5G phones with the latest Qualcomm and MediaTek chips

Realme is making a pair of flagship 5G phones with the latest Qualcomm and MediaTek chips

January 21, 2021
It's been a fair few weeks since Realme last launched a smartphone, so we do expect a bunch of releases right around the corner. The new year has brought along new processor releases as well, and it's just about expected that the Chinese company would leverage the new SoCs in new phones. If you are...
Samsung is gearing up to launch two budget phones with Android 11 and the Exynos 850

Samsung is gearing up to launch two budget phones with Android 11 and the Exynos 850

January 21, 2021
Samsung is occupying news headlines this month for the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, but the company makes a lot of smartphones every year across practically all price ranges. Moving past the flagships, the South Korean company is gearing up to launch two budget smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy M12 and the Samsung Galaxy F12, with Exynos...
Redmi’s first gaming phone is coming this year with MediaTek’s Dimensity 1200

Redmi’s first gaming phone is coming this year with MediaTek’s Dimensity 1200

January 21, 2021
Xiaomi's Redmi sub-brand is largely known for its stellar Redmi Note series and Redmi series. Spread across the early budget and mid-ranges, these phones are often the epitome of value you can get for every bit of money you spend. Xiaomi reserves the higher end specifications for phones under its Mi branding, but that could...
Galaxy S21 Ultra teardown video shows how to repair Samsung’s premium flagship

Galaxy S21 Ultra teardown video shows how to repair Samsung’s premium flagship

January 21, 2021
The new Samsung Galaxy S21 series is about to reach the hands of consumers very soon. Once there, quite a few of those hands will invariably be dropping the phone sooner or later. Unless you have a good case on, chances are that one of those drops will break your really expensive Galaxy S21 Ultra....
Motorola prepares to release the Moto G30 – Skipping the Moto G10?

Motorola prepares to release the Moto G30 – Skipping the Moto G10?

January 20, 2021
Motorola's branding and naming game was once very easy to follow. But over the past few years, their lineup has gotten very confusing, especially as the company decided it should do away with numbers and years and simply prefix all of its devices with "new" to indicate a new phone in established lineups. Some devices...
Mi 11 and Redmi Note 10 series reportedly coming to India soon

Mi 11 and Redmi Note 10 series reportedly coming to India soon

January 20, 2021
Xiaomi is known for its vast lineup of smartphones spread across several price points. Now that we are in 2021, we can expect all of the popular lineups to be refreshed to match spec expectations in the new year. The Xiaomi Mi 11 was recently launched in China, and the excellent device is now expected...
Google Messages will stop working on uncertified Android phones in April

Google Messages will stop working on uncertified Android phones in April

January 20, 2021
Google Messages is one of the more popular apps from Google, and many users make use of it every day without even realizing that they use it. The name is rather generic, and a lot of devices ship with it pre-installed as their default SMS and RCS client. Most users should be satisfied with the...
MediaTek launches the Dimensity 1100 and 1200 chips for flagship 5G phones

MediaTek launches the Dimensity 1100 and 1200 chips for flagship 5G phones

January 20, 2021
When talking about flagship SoCs a few years ago, one would usually focus on offerings from Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, and Huawei HiSilicon Kirin, for the most part. MediaTek was part of the flagship conversation years ago with its Helio X series, but there was a lot to be desired on that end. The company...
Samsung Galaxy S21 series: Complete specs for Samsung’s latest flagship series

Samsung Galaxy S21 series: Complete specs for Samsung’s latest flagship series

January 14, 2021
The Samsung Galaxy S21 series is here, and it looks to be the best Galaxy smartphone lineup to date. It builds upon the foundation laid down by the Galaxy S20 series and the Galaxy Note 20 series, adding a new layer of refinement and polish to Samsung's flagships from last year. As expected, the latest...
Samsung launches the new Galaxy S21 series with Exynos 2100 / Snapdragon 888

Samsung launches the new Galaxy S21 series with Exynos 2100 / Snapdragon 888

January 14, 2021
It's finally here. After months of leaks that practically detailed every tiny bit of information about the new flagship series from Samsung for 2021, the South Korean company has finally launched the new Samsung Galaxy S21, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus, and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. While Samsung has typically launched its Galaxy S series right...
Samsung’s first under-display camera isn’t in a phone, it’s in a laptop

Samsung’s first under-display camera isn’t in a phone, it’s in a laptop

January 14, 2021
In the race to shave more bezels off your smartphone, companies had to figure out innovative ways to incorporate a front camera. While popup displays were cool when they made an appearance, they quickly disappeared as soon as the year flipped, with all companies favoring hole-punch cameras over them, citing space constraints. The next solution...