Latest Articles
Vivo's Snapdragon 865-powered iQOO 3 could be the first phone with UFS 3.1 storage
Vivo's iQOO sub-brand has teased that its upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-powered flagship phone will feature UFS 3.1 storage.
Quite a few Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-powered flagship phones are still scheduled to launch this month despite the fact that many companies have withdrawn from MWC 2020. Vivo's iQOO brand is also among them. The iQOO sub-brand was launched last year with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855-powered flagship, named as the iQOO phone. At that time, it was a China-only brand. iQOO went on to launch two more phones only in China last year. This month, though, the brand confirmed that it was expanding to India with the launch of a Snapdragon 865-powered flagship, which would launch in both 4G and 5G variants. This was confirmed by the Marketing Director of iQOO India. The upcoming iQOO flagship will be called the iQOO 3, and its specifications have been confirmed via its TENAA listing. Recently, iQOO officially teased on Weibo that the phone will have UFS 3.1 storage. Qualcomm PR separately confirmed to us that the Snapdragon 865 supports UFS 3.1 storage.
TCL and Sony cancel their MWC 2020 press conferences, joining ZTE, LG and others
TCL and Sony have announced cancelation of their scheduled MWC 2020 press conferences because of concerns over the spread of the 2019 nCoV virus.
The spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) has caused a humanitarian emergency. More than 40,000 people have been infected, with the death count climbing every day (currently, it's 900+). The city of Wuhan and Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, have been in lockdown for the past three weeks. The WHO has classified the outbreak as a global health emergency. The cause and effect of the situation has led to the global supply chain being badly affected. Smartphone vendors such as ASUS and OPPO have warned of production problems with their phones. MWC 2020, scheduled to take place from February 24-26, has also been shaken by the outbreak, as companies such as ZTE, LG, Ericsson, Amazon, and NVIDIA have withdrawn from the event. Now, TCL and Sony have also announced they are canceling their scheduled MWC press conferences, throwing more doubt on the show's schedule.
Microsoft's dual screen Surface Duo gets shown off on video
The dual-screen Android-powered Microsoft Surface Duo has been leaked in a hands-on video. It will launch later this year.
One of the biggest tech surprises in 2019 was Microsoft's announcement of the Surface Duo in October. The Surface Duo launched alongside other Surface products at a big Microsoft hardware launch event. The Surface Duo is the culmination of the long-rumored "Surface Phone". Don't call it a phone, though. Microsoft wants to call it a new type of dual-screen device, even if it can make phone calls. It's not a traditional slate phone. It's also not a foldable phone like the Samsung Galaxy Fold. That's because it has dual 5.6-inch displays connected by a hinge. They are the flagship feature of the device, as Microsoft has an ambitious vision of dual screens helping increase productive output in the same way dual monitors are beneficial for productivity. The Surface Duo, despite being a Microsoft Surface hardware product, is powered by a customized variant of Android that looks like Windows 10X. At its launch, it generated a lot of curiosity, but its release was still a year away. According to Microsoft's schedule, the device is on track for a launch in Holiday 2020. Now, it has been shown off in a hands-on video for the first time.
Samsung SmartThings 1.7.43-22 adds a new "Virtual Home" feature and at-a-glance dashboard for connected devices
SmartThings, Samsung's smart home platform, has been updated with an at-a-glance dashboard of connected devices as a well a new Virtual Home feature.
Samsung SmartThings is Samsung's platform for smart home devices. The app is the replacement for over 40 apps that performed bits-and-pieces of the functionality it currently has. SmartThings received a major overhaul in March 2018, letting users handle SmartThings-connected devices. The SmartThings ecosystem is a competitor to the Google Assistant-powered Nest and the Alexa-powered smart home ecosystems. With SmartThings, users can control their smart home devices such as air conditioners, air purifiers, bulbs, TVs, refrigerators, and more. It's all integrated in a single app. Now, the app has received an update on the Play Store that brings new functionality.
Net Speed Indicator is a free app to show your download/upload speeds in the status bar
Stock Android 10 doesn't let users see their download/upload speeds in the status bar. Net Speed Indicator is a free app that brings this feature.
Stock Android is generally acclaimed by users because of its clean user interface, minimalism, speed and smoothness, and simplicity. Custom user interfaces add many features on top of stock Android, but in the process of doing so, they add clutter and reduce simplicity. Equally, though, it's undeniable that stock Android is generally thought of as a bare-bones variant of the operating system. It lacks many of the features that users of custom user interfaces have come to take for granted, such as dual installation of a single app, one-handed mode, scheduled power on/off, and more. One such feature is network speed indicator. It's a common feature on custom user interfaces such as OxygenOS, MIUI, EMUI, One UI, ColorOS, FunTouch OS, and others. It's been adopted by custom ROMs such as LineageOS since a long time. However, it's still missing in stock Android 10, which means stock users are missing out. While there are many network status indicator apps on the Play Store, some are more feature-rich than others. Enter Net Speed Indicator, a new free app that brings capable functionality.
DarQ enables per-app forced dark mode on Android 10 without root
DarQ is an app that lets users enable a forced dark mode on a per-app basis on Android 10. It now works without root thanks to the use of an ADB script.
Android 10 brought a few useful features that made it an appreciated update over Android 9 Pie. Android 9's iffy 2-button navigation system gave way for fully gestural navigation, which worked much better. Android 10 also brought a system-wide dark mode on apps that support it after Google realized the benefits of dark themes on premium OLED displays. Google's first-party apps on Android were quickly updated to add dark themes. The system-wide dark mode feature was one that users had been requesting for years, and they finally got their wish in Android 10. However, there is still room for improvement. While Google added a developer option to force all apps to turn on dark mode (even those that hadn't been specifically updated with the feature), there is no way in stock Android to enable a forced dark mode on a per-app basis. As expected, the XDA community came to the rescue. XDA Recognized Developer Quinny899 released the DarQ app in June, letting users enable per-app forced dark mode.
The EU has opened an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm for its radio-frequency chips
Qualcomm is under investigation by the European Commission for allegedly abusing their influence to promote its own radio-frequency chip business.
Qualcomm is a major company in the Android smartphone market. Not only does the company design the SoCs that make their way in flagship, mid-range, and budget smartphones, but it also designs and sells modem chips, which make it possible for smartphones to connect to wireless cellular data networks. It's been noted before that Qualcomm earns the majority of its revenue not from selling smartphone system-on-chips (SoCs), but from patent licensing. Qualcomm is heavily involved in the cellular world; to a large extent, it was responsible for developing the CDMA2000 standard (it has much lesser clout in 3G WCDMA), and it also has patents in 4G LTE. It wants to be just as heavily involved as the industry moves to 5G. The trouble here is that Qualcomm's practices are consistently anti-competitive, which is why the company has been battling with China, Taiwan, South Korea, the European Commission, and has lost a case to the US FTC, before winning an appeal. Separately, it fought a years-long case with Apple before reaching a settlement. Now, the EU has opened another investigation into Qualcomm, this time for its front-end radio-frequency (RFFE) chips.
Google Maps gets a new icon and new features on its 15th birthday
On the occasion of Google Maps' 15th birthday, Google is adding many new features to it. It is also getting a new icon. Read on to learn more.
It's hard to believe it, but Google Maps has now turned 15 years old. The service was launched all the way back in February 2005, at a time when Android was not owned by Google, at a time when the touchscreen smartphone era hadn't arrived. In the years since, Google has upgraded its capabilities to such an extent that it is generally held to be the best free mapping service. Competitors such as HERE Maps, Apple Maps, TomTom, OpenStreetMap, and others come close in certain aspects, but Maps is the most well-rounded package. It comes with turn-by-turn navigation, Street View, places, and much more. Being a pre-loaded app on all Android smartphones that have Google Mobile Services (GMS) means that Maps has become ubiquitous in the lives of consumers as more than one billion people use it, according to Google. To celebrate its 15th birthday, the company is updating Maps with a new look and multiple new features.
Bixby Routines can now be sideloaded on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note 9
Bixby Routines, an automation feature that was launched with the Samsung Galaxy S10, can now be sideloaded on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9.
Tasker is the most popular automation app for Android phones, but its functionality and workflow is for intermediate users or those who take the time to learn how the app works. For more basic tasks, there are other third-party apps such as Automate. In terms of first-party features, Apple has its Shortcuts feature on iOS, but stock Android doesn't have such a feature as Google's Rules is a Pixel-exclusive feature for now. Last year, Samsung released Bixby Routines, a new Bixby feature, as part of the Samsung Galaxy S10 series launch. While the functionality of Bixby Routines couldn't match Tasker's functionality, it worked well at its own beginner-level use cases. The app is available on the Galaxy S10, the Galaxy Note 10 series, the Galaxy Fold, and was rolled out as an update for the Galaxy A50. It's also available on Samsung's newer A series phones. However, the company hasn't rolled out Bixby Routines for its older flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Now, Android Police has tested that sideloading the latest version of the Bixby Routines app works on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 running Android 10-based One UI 2 without root. It also works for some users on older devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 running Android 9 Pie.
You can now open iCloud's mobile website on your Android device
Apple has launched a mobile website of iCloud.com. Apple services such as Notes, Photos, Reminders, and Find My iPhone can now be accessed by Android users.
By and large, Apple's ecosystem is a locked ecosystem, leading to the famous "walled garden" expression. However, many users do use multiple ecosystems interchangeably. They may have an Android phone and an iPad, for example. Google's services can be accessed through apps on both Android and iOS as well as through well-designed mobile websites. On the other hand, Apple is lagging behind here. Out of all its services, the company offers only the Apple Music app for Android, while vital apps such as iCloud are not available. Google Drive can be accessed on any Internet-connected device, and it's shocking to believe that iCloud didn't have a mobile website up until now. It did have a desktop site available, which could be accessed by requesting the desktop version of the non-existent mobile site. However, like all desktop sites, it was cumbersome to use on mobile. This means that Android users didn't have an easy way of accessing the iCloud account data on their Android phone. Apple has finally fixed this issue by developing a proper mobile site of iCloud.com, which works on both iOS and Android.
Google will update Chrome to block three kinds of intrusive video ads
Google has stated that it will update Chrome to block three kinds of intrusive video ads. YouTube will be reviewed for compliance with the standards.
Ads are a controversial topic in web browsing and video streaming. The use of ad blocking software is held by web publishers to be a counterproductive practice as it reduces or in some cases wipes out websites' earnings by blocking their primary source of revenue. Equally, however, some users justify ad blockers because of intrusive ads that interfere with web browsing, reduce battery life on devices, and in general, lead to a deterioration in user experience. The theoretical solution is simple. To reduce ad blocker usage, ad providers have to agree on standardized forms of ads that aren't intrusive. To that end, Google has been working with the group responsible for developing the Better Ads Standards: the Coalition for Better Ads. Now, Google has announced that it will update Google Chrome to block three kinds of intrusive video ads.
YouTube will kill its classic desktop user interface in March
YouTube will kill off its classic desktop user interface in March 2020. Users will need to switch to the Material Design UI that was introduced in 2017.
YouTube is the most popular video streaming service on the Web. Over the years, the Alphabet-owned company has redesigned its desktop user interface multiple times. In 2017, the desktop version of the service received a major redesign based on Google's Material Design principles, including the use of more white space and bigger fonts. The redesign also included new features such as a dark mode (which arrived in Android in 2018) and better playback of portrait videos. It first started rolling out in March 2017, and received a wider roll-out in August of that year. The interesting thing was that YouTube still retained an option for users to disable the new YouTube interface and switch back to its classic desktop UI. In fact, it was the default option on other web browsers for many months, until they were switched to the design incrementally. Now, the company has announced that it will kill the classic interface in March 2020.
Amazon Echo Show 8 now available for pre-ordering in India
Amazon has launched the Echo Show 8 in India. It is an 8-inch version of the Echo Show 5, and it costs ₹12,999. Users who pre-order can get it for ₹8,999.
Amazon's Echo and Google's Nest (formerly Home) are the dominant players in the smart speaker market. The Echo lineup of smart speakers is powered by Alexa, while the Google Nest speakers are powered by the Google Assistant. Amazon and Google are competing for superiority in the smart speaker market. In 2018, both players separately introduced a new product category of smart speakers with built-in displays in the form of the Amazon Echo Show and the Google Nest Hub (formerly Home Hub) respectively. The original 10.1-inch Echo Show was launched two-and-a-half years ago, and since then, the family has expanded with a 5-inch Echo Show 5. More recently, Amazon launched the 8-inch Echo Show 8 as part of a variety of product announcements in September. Now, the device is available for pre-ordering in India. Its official price tag is ₹12,999 ($183), but the pre-ordering price is discounted to ₹8,999 ($126), until the product's shipping date on February 26.
Google Photos incorrectly exported private videos to other users
A bug in Google Photos wrongly exported some users' videos to other unrelated users when taking an export of Photos archives via Google Takeout.
Google Photos is one of Google's most popular services. It was originally launched as Google+ Photos and bundled with Google+. While Google+ died in 2018, Google Photos was separated from the social network in 2015 and it has thrived ever since. The service lets users upload and store high-resolution photos to the cloud with 15GB free storage provided as a base. These photos can then be accessed through any device. Image backup to the cloud, therefore, has become an ubiquitous concept. It still has its drawbacks, however. One of these is the existence of technical bugs that leads to data leaks. Google has now revealed that a technical bug of this kind affected Photos users in November, where a user's private videos were incorrectly exported to random users' archives.
Developers have earned over $80 billion in total from the Google Play Store
Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP at Google, has announced that to date, developers have earned over $80 billion from the Google Play Store, excluding China.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP at Google, has confirmed on Twitter that to date, developers have earned over $80 billion in total from the Google Play Store globally, excluding the Chinese market (where Google services are not available). This was announced soon after Alphabet's Q4 earnings call. The disclosure of the cumulative figure motivates software developers to publish their apps on the Play Store, which is the largest app market in the world.
Developers bring Android 10 to the ancient Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note 3
Developers have brought Android 10 ROMs to the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which were launched in 2011 and 2013 respectively.
Nowadays, Android flagship phones receive two years of software support. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S8 was launched with Android 7.0 Nougat. It received Android 8.0 Oreo and Android 9 Pie, but it won't officially receive Android 10. The same is applicable for flagship phones of other device makers. Mid-range phones and budget phones often receive only a single year of software support, or in case of some budget phones, no software support at all. Device makers have no incentive to roll out Android version updates to any device two years after its launch, because a) The phone's BSP (Board Support Package) stops receiving support from the chip maker, and more importantly b) They have to convince consumers to buy their latest flagships. It's certainly not an ideal situation, because competing Apple iPhones receive as much as five years of software support. While official software updates will only go so far, users of older devices still have one option left. It's the custom ROM community.
Xiaomi may launch a Redmi K30 Pro with the Snapdragon 865 but no 108MP camera
Xiaomi is planning to launch another Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-powered phone, and it's specifically said to be a Redmi device. It may not have a 108MP camera.
MWC 2020 is fast approaching, and multiple device makers are scheduled to launch new phones at the event. We expect to see both launches of Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-powered flagships as well as mid-range phones powered by the Snapdragon 765G. Although Xiaomi hasn't specifically stated that it plans to announce new phones at MWC, it did previously confirm that the Xiaomi Mi 10 is scheduled to launch in Q1 2020. The Mi 10 will be accompanied by the Mi 10 Pro, which will have 66W fast charging. These two phones are code-named "umi" and "cmi" respectively. The "umi" and "cmi" are expected to feature 108MP primary cameras, because we saw evidence related to the same back in September. Now, we have seen evidence of another Snapdragon 865-powered Xiaomi device, and it's possible that it won't feature a 108MP camera.
UFS 3.1 announced with improvements in speed and power efficiency for flash storage chips
JEDEC has announced the UFS 3.1 open standard for flash storage chips. It brings improvements in speed and power efficiency by including new features.
Universal Flash Storage, known as UFS, is the flash storage standard that is used in flagship phones and upper mid-range phones. The Samsung Galaxy S6 was the first phone to use UFS storage in 2015. In the years since, it has slowly been spreading to lower-cost segments of the market, to the point where the newest lower mid-range phones now also have UFS storage. UFS storage is much faster than the eMMC flash storage standard, which is still used in budget phones. In 2019, the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, which is responsible for the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, announced UFS 3.0. While most 2019 flagships opted to stick with the older UFS 2.1 NAND, some phones such as the OnePlus 7 series, the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series, and the Realme X2 Pro did opt to use the newer, faster UFS 3.0. Now, JEDEC has announced UFS 3.1, improving the UFS 3.0 standard with speed and power efficiency improvements.
Nubia's next Red Magic gaming phone may support 80W fast charging
Nubia's next Red Magic gaming phone, the Red Magic 5G, may support 80W fast charging. This would make it the fastest charging phone on the market.
Nubia is a China-based company that is primarily known for making gaming phones. Previously, it was a subsidiary of ZTE, but since 2017, it's considered to be an independent associate company after ZTE reduced its stake in it to 49.9%. In 2019, it released the Nubia Red Magic 3 gaming phone (review), which was an affordable Qualcomm Snapdragon 855-powered flagship with a 90Hz AMOLED display. In the second half of the year, it released the Nubia Z20 (review) with dual displays. While Nubia isn't as well-known as the established market players in China, it's managed to create its own niche. Earlier this month, its President and co-founder Ni Fei had revealed that its next flagship would have a 144Hz display---a feature supported by the new flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC. Now, Mr. Fei has shared a post on Weibo that reveals another major feature of its upcoming Red Magic flagship: 80W fast charging.
[Update: Huawei Denies] Report claims Huawei will not use Google services even if US ban is lifted
According to a report, Huawei has stated that it will not return to using Google services on its phones, even if the US ban is lifted.
Huawei experienced great success in the smartphone market in 2018 and early 2019. The company became the second largest vendor in the global smartphone market. In China, it has been the top smartphone vendor since a few years. However, the international ambitions of its mobile business were brought to a halt when the US government added Huawei to its Entity List, blacklisting it from buying goods and services supplied by American suppliers. Immediately, Google revoked Huawei's Android license, preventing it from installing Google Mobile Services (GMS) in new device launches. US-based companies were banned from supplying goods to Huawei. In the months of political developments that have followed, Huawei has gained a temporary reprieve multiple times, but its continued presence on the Entity List means that the basic facts have not changed.