Analysis

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Why the OnePlus Nord is so familiar, yet so unique: In conversation with Shawn Liu, Head of Product

Why the OnePlus Nord is so familiar, yet so unique: In conversation with Shawn Liu, Head of Product

July 25, 2020
The OnePlus Nord takes on a different meaning for everyone aware of its existence. For OnePlus, the Nord is a rerun towards its former territory of affordable yet powerful smartphones. For OnePlus fans, Nord is a premium mid-ranger that can beat any other in its category thanks to its rich array of features. For current...
[Update: APKMirror Source and Split APKs] Huawei’s Petal Search is a search engine that helps you find and download apps and games

[Update: APKMirror Source and Split APKs] Huawei’s Petal Search is a search engine that helps you find and download apps and games

July 6, 2020
Ever since the U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to restrict U.S. companies from supplying products and services to Huawei, the road has been difficult for the Chinese smartphone brand. The most damaging fallout from the executive order was the fact that Huawei could no longer ship new smartphones and tablets with Google...
OnePlus CEO Pete Lau on the “Burdenless Design” of the new OnePlus TV

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau on the “Burdenless Design” of the new OnePlus TV

July 2, 2020
When OnePlus entered the smartphone market back in 2014, a lot of critics doubted the company and its ability to survive within a hyper-competitive market. Six years later, OnePlus' presence in the same market is about to reach another milestone. 2020 marks the year that OnePlus will go back to releasing a more affordable smartphone...
The YouTube mobile app still limits video quality to 480p in India, even after 3 months of restrictions

The YouTube mobile app still limits video quality to 480p in India, even after 3 months of restrictions

July 2, 2020
COVID-19 has affected this year in a lot of ways, and we cannot even begin to assess the damage the pandemic has done at large. Even within the limited and narrow scope of smartphones and the related tech industry, the pandemic has made everyone rethink whether physical launch events are still needed when online-only events...
Google should adopt these iOS 14 features for the next Android OS

Google should adopt these iOS 14 features for the next Android OS

June 23, 2020
Apple just wrapped up WWDC 2020 in an online-only reveal, showing off some of the upcoming changes to Apple's ecosystem. The announcement centers around developers and the forthcoming software features they can take advantage of in Apple's product ecosystem, and it sets the center stage for the next iOS release: iOS 14. iOS 14 brings...
Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon 690, a mid-range chip to bring 5G to the masses

Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon 690, a mid-range chip to bring 5G to the masses

June 16, 2020
Qualcomm is on a roll in the lower mid-range product segment for the last couple of years. The U.S.-based chipmaker has seen many significant design wins from China-based smartphone vendors such as Xiaomi and Realme. In October 2018, it launched the Snapdragon 675 mobile platform, which was followed by the launch of the the Snapdragon...
StrandHogg 2.0 Exploit Explained – Why Users and Android App Developers should care

StrandHogg 2.0 Exploit Explained – Why Users and Android App Developers should care

May 29, 2020
It's 10:00 PM. Do you know where your Activities are? There's a new vulnerability that can be exploited on millions of Android devices, and it's a pretty nasty one, too. In a nutshell, this design flaw allows an attacker to present their own Activity (page) on top of another app's, potentially confusing the user into...
Early Google Pixel 4a performance review compares the 2020 mid-range Pixel to the Pixel 4, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 3 XL

Early Google Pixel 4a performance review compares the 2020 mid-range Pixel to the Pixel 4, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 3 XL

May 13, 2020
If there wasn't a global pandemic to worry about, then Google would have held its annual developer conference, Google I/O, in Mountain View, California this week. At last year's I/O, Google unveiled its first-ever mid-range Pixel devices, the Pixel 3a and 3a XL. This year, we're expecting Google to follow-up with a new mid-range Pixel...
The push for 5G may have unintentionally killed the “Flagship Killer” this year

The push for 5G may have unintentionally killed the “Flagship Killer” this year

May 10, 2020
In the early days of Android, smartphone wars amongst OEMs were solely about the spec sheet. Big numbers, fast numbers, many numbers -- it was all a race to the top. The idea of a flagship was to throw as many things as you could together and present it to the consumer at a price...
How Indus App Bazaar is hyper-localizing mobile apps with Indic languages: Interview with Rakesh Deshmukh

How Indus App Bazaar is hyper-localizing mobile apps with Indic languages: Interview with Rakesh Deshmukh

April 25, 2020
India has only about 2% of the landmass on Earth, but it accommodates nearly one-fifth of the world's population. The massive population makes it one of the world's largest consumers of electronics and especially, mobile phones. India's mobile phone penetration stands at about 90% of the population. On top of that, affordable smartphones and incentives...
How the Iris 5 chip from Pixelworks can improve the visual experience of Android smartphones

How the Iris 5 chip from Pixelworks can improve the visual experience of Android smartphones

March 21, 2020
Smartphone screens continue to improve in visual quality every year in typical ways like color accuracy, color gamut, and brightness. However, we've come to a point where many of the technical advancements in even the top-tier displays are now imperceptible or unnoticed. Panel vendors and OEMs are constantly trying to come up with new ways,...
How Monthly Android Security Patch Updates Work

How Monthly Android Security Patch Updates Work

March 2, 2020
Google has been publishing monthly security bulletins since August of 2015. These security bulletins contain a list of disclosed security vulnerabilities that have been fixed which affect the Android framework, Linux kernel, and other closed-source vendor components. Every vulnerability in the bulletins was either discovered by Google or disclosed to the company. Every vulnerability listed...