Software

MIUI 12.5 is now available to the Mi 11 globally. The Mi 10 Pro has started receiving Xiaomi's latest OS on its European branch, too.

Numerous Android OEMs have released the first Android 12 Beta to their devices, following its announcement earlier this week. However, it is worth holding off installing Android 12 beta on a few devices, as there is a risk that the update could brick your handset.

Unihertz has announced the Titan Pocket, the OEM's latest in its line of QWERTY smartphones. With a display of just 3.1 inches in diagonal length, it is the most compact member of its series yet. Nevertheless, it runs Android 11, has NFC, Bluetooth, an infrared (IR) port and a campaign on Kickstarter that has already smashed its funding goal.

The next version of Chrome OS will move a great developer feature from the Beta to Stable channel: Linux integration will finally exit beta with Chrome OS 91. This move should broadly increase Linux usage and development on Chromebooks.

According to Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi, the company's computers are less secure than iOS devices due to the fact that app stores on the Mac are regularly exploited. This sometimes leads to malware infections, but Federighi also said that "a Mac can be operated safely" despite this problem.

Apple has outlined plans for new dimensions of accessibility in its mobile devices, including a new SignTime service that allows people who use certain sign languages to better use the OEM's online support system. The updates also include a new way of using the Apple Watch with just one hand.

Qualcomm's 5G Summit has unveiled the Snapdragon 778G, the OEM's latest processor intended to bring next-gen connectivity to more phones in the near future. The company also unveiled heretofore-unheard-of capabilities for its upcoming X65 modem for 2022 devices.

The OPPO K9 5G is a somewhat rare new smartphone in 2021, as it has launched with the lesser-spotted Snapdragon 768G processor. It has debuted as a "performance"-focused device in its OEM's native China; however, there are now signs that it may completely change its name - even its brand name - in order to become available outside that country.

EZVIZ introduces the C8C as its inaugural outdoor wireless home security camera capable of panning and tilting within its globe-shaped exterior glass shell. Its sensor is rated for FHD recording, as well as night vision in color and AI-powered intruder detection. The new IP65 surveillance accessory is available at Walmart with a special introductory price for its launch.

Samsung and Google may have agreed to merge Tizen OS and Wear OS, but current Galaxy Watch smartwatches will be left on the older Tizen OS platform. Samsung will update the Galaxy Watch Active, Watch Active 2 and Watch 3 for at least three years from their launch date, mind you.

Google is working on improving its image processing algorithms to better capture selfies and portraits of people of color. The company said that it has partnered with image experts and is training its computational photography algorithms with thousands of images for better auto exposure and white balance. The feature can be expected to debut with the upcoming Pixel 6 series.

Google and Spotify have finally got around to integrating offline playback on Wear OS, now Wear. However, it seems that Garmin smartwatches will still have more Spotify functionality than their Wear OS rivals.

Tipster @SkullziTV recently outed another leaked image from a 2018 build of Bethesda’s upcoming space RPG, Starfield. @SkullziTV also claimed that Bethesda is aiming for a Q1 2022 release timeframe, nearly 7 years after the release of Fallout 4.

As had been rumored, Microsoft has completely axed Windows 10X, its purported answer to Google’s Chrome OS, although some elements of it will live on in Windows 10. The news also puts a massive cloud over the future of the exciting Surface Neo dual-screen laptop the company pre-viewed way back in October of 2019.

A leaker from China has named the date when Huawei will begin rolling out HarmonyOS 2.0. Apparently, the Mate 30, Mate 40, P40 and Mate X2 series will be the first devices to receive Huawei's new OS.

Google has announced that the first non-development beta of Android 12 is available for Pixel phones, as of the new OS upgrade's introduction at I/O 2021. The OEM has also unveiled various new features now found in its own-brand phones' UI. It is now called Material You, and incorporates new privacy, performance and navigational tweaks.

Google I/O 2021 has kicked off with what the OEM calls "the biggest update to Wear OS" in this software's history. It has collaborated with Samsung and Fitbit to bake the better features of their wearable platforms into this upcoming version. It will be available to the next generations of both OEMs' watches, as well as those of other Android manufacturers.

The "high-fidelity" version of Amazon's music-streaming service has dropped in price by US$5 a month. This change means it now costs the same as the former price of the next tier down, Amazon Music Unlimited. In other words, customers with this service can now avail of lossless playback, or stick with their current service for a reduced rate.

Under-display camera technology is currently emerging as a replacement for punch-holes in smartphone displays. A blog has discovered a new Google patent for its take on this new kind of selfie camera, thereby strongly hinting that this potential upgrade is destined for the Pixel 7 or later.

Samsung has started rolling out new updates to the Galaxy S10 series, including the Galaxy S10e. The new round of updates not only brings the Galaxy S10 series onto the May 2021 security patch, but also improves camera performance.

OnePlus' CEO, Pete Lau, has reportedly told several journalists that his company is planning to launch its smart screens in Europe soon. The OEM now has several TVs to its name, but has yet to sell any of them in that region. However, it now seems to believe that the time to start is at hand,

Owners of the iQOO 7 are now being invited to join an official beta program for this phone's first-ever publicly-available build of Android 12. The Snapdragon 888-powered flagship is thus now touted as the first Chinese-market phone to reach this stage of testing. It may be able to use this OS' latest and most cutting-edge features as a result.

OnePlus introduced its inaugural smartwatch alongside the flagship 9-series smartphones in March 2021. The OEM also unveiled a special, limited edition of the same wearable with more premium materials, an exclusive cobalt alloy for its case included, at the same time. Now, the company has put this version on the market for the first time in its native China.

Android 12 may still be months away from a stable release, but a promotional video has already leaked. Google's next OS features many changes, although most will probably be confined to devices running stock Android, excluding those produced by Samsung, OnePlus and Xiaomi.

According to tipster Luke Miani, Apple is planning to launch a new Apple Music HiFi audio streaming tier for US$9.99 a month, going head to head with the likes of Tidal and Qobuz.

Samsung has only just launched laptop-sized AMOLED displays in the Galaxy Book Pro line-up; now, the OEM has revealed another new party trick for these panels. They have attained an SGS certification that states they match up to this body's standards for use during gaming. They include certain levels of blur length and contrast ratio.

LG's new line of soundbars for 2021 includes units that support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, as well as the latest developments resulting from the OEM's partnership with Meridian Audio. They start at US$179, although the most expensive goes for $1,000. Most are available from now, although one 3.1.2-channel unit is not available until June 2021.

Xiaomi's FlipBuds Pro are the OEM's first TWS earbuds with triple-mic active noise cancellation. They also feature a dedicated audio chip from Qualcomm, Bluetooth 5.2 and up to 28 hours of battery life. These high-end specs do make them more expensive than their predecessors.

AV1 is a fast-emerging codec that is touted as lightweight enough in terms of resource demand to, for example, enable YouTube playback on mobile devices at 4K/60fps with ease. The latest version of the popular editing app Da Vinci Resolve (17.2) adds support for the codec in Windows, as well as a plethora of other new features and upgrades.

Xiaomi will not be revealing MIUI 13 in June, a representative from the company has claimed. While the company has not denied the volume of devices that will supposedly be eligible for MIUI 13, it asserts that the OSes rumoured launch date is a fabrication.

Numerous leaks have painted Asus' 2021 camera-centric flagship phone as the first "Mini" variant of its kind, and the Taiwanese OEM has not let these expectations down on its launch. The new device does indeed have an unusually small 5.9-inch 20:9 display. Then again, there is also the ZenFone 8 Flip, a third-gen motor-cam phone.

Samsung has applied to trademark the term "Activate Fan Mode" in Europe. This possible new setting applies to smartphones and tablets, thus strongly suggesting these devices will start launching with physical fans soon. This would be a particularly advanced next step in mobile-device cooling, if so.

The latest form of NVIDIA's Studio standard for creator-grade laptops combine in-demand specs such as RTX 3000-series graphics, 1440p screens and device heights of as little as 16 millimeters in some cases. The company has also now officially announced the RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti platform for laptops, which are to be found in gaming machines as well as those for professionals soon.

Samsung has added a new camera mode to the Galaxy S20 and Note 20 series. The company has called the mode 'Dual Recording', which is a stripped-back version of Director's View introduced with the Galaxy S21 series.

The Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite were released in mid-2018. Following traditional Android One standards, both phones are entitled to three years of security updates in total; for some reason, however, the Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite have now gone months without an update from Xiaomi.

Huawei has started issuing a new update to Watch GT 2 Pro globally. The update addresses a few issues on the smartwatch, and is available to download via the Huawei Health app.

Samsung has announced the "industry-first" development of DRAM that combines DDR5 memory with the compute express link (CXL) connection. The OEM believes this kind of interface, based on PCIe 5.0, is the next big thing in datacenter, machine-learning and cloud computing, particularly when it comes to scalability.

Carl Pei's new tech start-up Nothing debuted in January 2021; now, it has revealed that it is ready to launch its first-ever product, a pair of TWS earbuds. The company has chosen to keep the design of these Ear 1 wearables under wraps for now, but does suggest they will stand out on the market. They are now slated to launch in June 2021, although pricing and availability remains a mystery.

Xiaomi has announced that its next TWS earbuds will be the first to launch with a case inspired by the OEM's re-designed logo. Therefore, it will have apparently precisely-crafted curves to its edges, whereas its predecessors were more boxy. The wearables within are slated to have "Pro"-grade noise-cancelling technology and to launch very soon.

Days Gone was released in 2019. Two years after, it's starting to look like Sony has no plans to make a sequel. Fans of the first game aren't too thrilled about that, though, and well over a hundred thousand of them have come out to make their feelings known as regards the release of Days Gone 2.

The Qualcomm mobile station modem (MSM) series is part of 3G to 5G connectivity for millions of Android phones worldwide. The Check Point security research group now claims that it can be exploited in a way that might allow a hacker to read a user's messages and even listen in on phonecalls. This flaw involves an interface found on up to 30% of all phones worldwide.

OPPO has just announced a new Android update schedule for high-end phones such as those of the new Find X3 flagship series. It involves major software upgrades over the first three years post-launch, as opposed to two under the previous scheme. Therefore, not only will the OEM's latest premium phones get Android 12, they will also definitely get this OS' successor as well.

The latest version of iOS (14.5) introduced App Tracking Transparency, a new set of dialog boxes that informs the user whenever an app wants to track their activity across the UI and that they can prevent this if they wish. According to new research, its uptake skyrocketed to 88% worldwide, and 96% in the US, within 1 week of the update's release.

Apple's AirTags might be the latest thing in personal possession-tracking, although customers might find it hard to actually secure said things with the little monolithic smart pucks out of the box. However, Spigen has stepped up to offer new holders with the keyrings and clips necessary to take such a tag anywhere.

It's 2021, and, thus, a great time for Gigabyte to launch world-first pre-builds under its Aorus brand. The new Model X and Model S gaming PCs each have 10GB of GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, with "factory-tuned" Ryzen 5000 or Rocket Lake Core i9 platforms. The OEM claims to have crafted them "meticulously" out of first-party components, and are thus equipped to compete in the performance-focused rig space.

GoPro has reported that it made a total of US$204 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2021 (1Q2021), or 71% more than it did in 1Q2020. Of this, 40% (or $82 million) came from its website's sales, a 224% increase year-on-year (YoY). The action-cam company also celebrated selling its first millionth subscription in this quarter.

Sony has just added new variants of its Mobile Elevated Standard (ES) audio equipment for cars. They consist of 4 kinds of speaker and 1 subwoofer equipped with the latest generation of the OEM's MRC-reinforced diaphragms, combined with Separated Notch Edge Surround technology for increased clarity and an "audiophile-grade crossover" in certain units. They are available to pre-order from now.

Dell has issued numerous patches as part of its latest Security Advisory (DSA-2021-088) in response to findings of a "severe" CVE consisting of five different privilege-exploit bugs that have apparently been in effect for the last 12 years. Fortunately, they have never been acted upon, which, as they could have allowed unauthorized users to write data or manipulate memory.

IMore's True Wireless ANCs were the world's first TWS earbuds to receive certification from the audio specialists THX. Therefore, they don't come cheap, and have a normal price of US$200. However, the OEM has announced they are down to $130 as part of its 2021 Summer Sale

A heretofore-unknown device called the Lenovo TB-X607Z has just appeared on Geekbench 4 with the Snapdragon 690 SoC and 4GB of RAM. According to a concurrent Google Play Console leak, it will be called the Tab M10 5G on launch. Therefore, this slate might be the first to bring next-gen connectivity to its line in 2021.