Software

AMD has updated its Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition to version 21.4.1 bringing a host of new features and enhancements. The new version offers an updated AMD Link service that can now stream to Windows 10 PCs in addition to mobile devices, ability to customize the install type, Ryzen CPU stats, color deficiency correction, Microsoft PlayReady AV1 decode, and Crash Defender.

Apple Card Family is the latest form of financial service created by the Cupertino-based OEM. It allows 2 users to share the same credit-card as issued by the company, or for parents to share such a card with children above a certain age. Therefore, they can build credit or Daily Cash rewards up together on the same account over time.

Apple has finally updated its 4K TV box as part of its April 20, 2021 hardware event. This new model is powered by the same A12 Bionic processor found in ex-flagship iPhones. It can also balance the colors of the screen to which it is attached using one of the same smartphones, and comes with a new Siri-enabled remote with improved controls.

XDA Developers discovered a new app auto-hibernate feature that automatically deletes temporary files and cached storage for unused apps. The feature also retains the auto-revoke functions of Android 11, which automatically revoke privileges for unused apps.

Sony has announced pricing and availability for its 2021 TVs. They include the BRAVIA XR MASTER Series A90J, which, as the OEM asserts, integrates its best OLED panel to date. It also has new LED models with 4K and 8K options, including the 100-inch BRAVIA XR X92 now set at US$20,000.

Xiaomi's official MIUI 12.5 device list is rather lacklustre; only eighteen devices are confirmed to receive the OS update so far. Reportedly, Xiaomi is testing MIUI 12.5 on over three dozen handsets, including the Mi 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro.

Many Android phone owners use apps that mirror or "wrap" the mobile Facebook interface rather than use this company's app. However, the social media giant has started to deprive them of this option. It has already had the apps Simple Social and Swipe taken down from Google's Play Store.

Xiaomi has updated the Mi A3 to the April 2021 security patch, a patch that addresses 18 critical or high CVEs for the Android One handset. However, V12.0.8.0.RFQMIXM also reportedly fixes a few bugs on the Mi A3, including DPI and charging status indicator issues.

Samsung will release the Galaxy M42 soon exclusively through Amazon India. This device is most likely the Indian-market rebrand of the pre-existing A42. The OEM has confirmed that this version still runs on the Snapdragon 750G processor, and is thus a 5G smartphone.

The Android OS should upgrade to its latest 12 version in just a few months. There are some preview builds around, the latest of which is now reported to have a new and powerful feature. It is a service that translates app contents to a phone's system language. Some pre-existing third-party apps are capable of this, although it seems Google may want to bake it into their new UI.

ViewSonic asserts that its upcoming monitors address the needs of those who work at home. The OEM's new 24- and 27-inch models have inbuilt webcams and the ergonomic stands to keep them at comfortable eye levels. There is also a 34-inch ultra-wide flagship with a USB type-C docking station for charging and connectivity.

Sony has launched its latest 4K projectors aimed at the home cinema market. The two new SXRD units are rated for native 4K resolutions and have the same X1 processor found in many high-end BRAVIA TVs. The higher-end model has an ARC-F lens for image quality that goes right to the edge of the window it throws.

The noted Chinese benchmark Master Lu has published a chart of what it considers to be the best mobile phone user interfaces for the first quarter of 2021. ColorOS from Oppo heads the table followed by Realme UI and Huawei’s EMUI. There is no space for MIUI from Xiaomi in the top 10 positions.

Voice is an 'alternative' social media platform that claims to be about "real" users, their communities and their content. It has announced that it will "upgrade" itself with a new feature: the ability to issue NFTs for the digital artwork posted thereon. They will apparently be integrated with the EOSIO blockchain basis Voice has taken up to drive its tokenization model.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite will launch soon with Android 11 out of the box - based on its latest leaks, that is. The latest tip relating to this possible budget slate indicates that it will debut in a silver colorway as well as the darker gray hinted at earlier. This option has a white front panel that may make its bezels more pronouced in real life.

A rumored Ubisoft roadmap has appeared on social media apparently revealing some game release dates, schedules, and IP details. It seems both Far Cry 6 and Skull & Bones could be arriving sooner than expected, while Avatar joins a new Assassin’s Creed game in 2022. The most believable aspect is that Splinter Cell is still being swept under the carpet.

Motorola will launch the Moto G60 soon. This phone is the OEM's 108MP mid-ranger for 2021 that will come with the Snapdragon 732G processor and a 120Hz screen. According to its latest tip, these specs will be joined by 6GB of RAM - or 4GB in the G40 Fusion. This secondary variant has a 64MP main sensor instead, but will be very similar to the G60 otherwise.

The Air 2S is the successor to the DJI Mavic Air 2, even if it has new and snappier branding. It also has a sensor of 1 inch in size, which outdoes its forebear by a good margin. The new CMOS supports up to 5.4K recording at up to 30fps, and allows for zooming while in flight. The DJI Air 2S starts for US$999 from now.

TCL has unveiled its latest flexible-display concept at its 2021 Display Your Greatness global product launch event. It combines folding and sliding technology into one chassis, meaning, as the OEM asserts, that it can be a smartphone, a phablet and a tablet in one. This new kind of convertible could well be part of the future of mobile tech.

TCL has launched new smartphones at its latest press conference. They include the 20 Pro 5G, which offers this brand's NXTVISION 2.0 screen optimizations and the Snapdragon 750G processor. However, the 20 L and 20 L+ also have an interesting new feature to introduce: a new TÜV Rheinland-certified polarizing treatment designed to make their displays easier to use while wearing sunglasses.

The latest version of the Parallels Desktop VM manager is optimized for the new M1-powered MacBooks and allows users to run virtualized Windows 10 at native speeds. Compared to previous Intel-based MacBooks, the new M1-based models are 2.5 more energy efficient, up to 60% faster in DX 11 games and up to 30% in general when running a virtual instance of Windows 10.

Sony has released a new update for the PlayStation 5, its ninth-generation games console. The latest update is a big one and contains numerous fixes and improvements. Some of these include the ability to game at 1080p and 120 Hz, extended HDMI-CEC support and the option of disabling HDR, among others.

Amazon has announced its Echo Buds (2nd gen). The company claims to have addressed multiple issues customers had with their predecessors: they are now rated for better audio quality, active noise cancellation and fit in the ear. They are not available for purchase yet, though, but can be ordered in May 2021.

Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 12.5 to the Mi 11, one of its latest flagship smartphones. The update includes not only bug fixes from MIUI 12, but also new features and noticeable performance improvements. MIUI 12.5 should reach other Xiaomi smartphones later this year.

Apple has just confirmed that its next Special Event will take place on April 20, 2021. Huawei has also gone ahead and scheduled a "new tablet debut" for the same day. This announcement, made through the OEM's official Japanese-language Twitter account, might lead to the unveiling of the MatePad Pro 2, a rumored iPad Pro competitor.

The LG Wing is, as it turns out, one of this OEM's last ever high-end smartphones. It is also the only one around with an innovative "swivel-action" main display. It is currently on sale for 62% (or ~US$665) off its normal price via Flipkart in India: clearly, the retailer has noticed LG has left the smartphone market.

Mobvoi has announced the TicWatch GTH, a new affordable smartwatch. Unlike many other examples of this OEM's wearables, however, it has a square face with rounded edges. It is also its first device to be capable of measuring the user's temperature.

Huawei regularly adds features to the Watch GT 2, one of its most popular smartwatches. This time around, Huawei has refined the weather app and has added the ability to download watch faces via a connected iPhone. The Huawei Watch GT 2's April 2021 update should be available to download now.

The latest update for this custom Android ROM now supports four more Xiaomi handsets and integrates the latest security patch from Google. The list of added features includes multiple UI changes, fixes, as well as always-on scheduling, system-wide app locking, and a new ringtone.

The major Computex industry event is now confirmed to take place in 2021. It will do so in "hybrid" form this year, which means a blend of onsite and virtual presentations and resources. This entire show will run from May 31 to June 30, 2021, and is slated to see participation from prominent OEMs, AMD and Intel included.

The ZenFone 7 series is Asus' 2020 camera-focused flagship phone series. Despite this, the 2 devices are only just now receiving the OTA to update them to Android 11. This worldwide roll-out also upgrades their security patch level to March 5, 2021.

LG has confirmed which of its smartphones will see Android 12 and Android 13, while reiterating its Android 11 update plans. At least the LG Velvet and LG Wing will receive Android 13, while the V50, G8 and three Q-series smartphones will get Android 12. Inexplicably, the V60 ThinQ is missing from LG's update plans, despite being the company's last true flagship smartphone.

Fitbit, now owned by Google, is currently evaluating if it can add blood pressure monitoring as a new feature for the Fitbit Sense, among others. Apparently, Pulse Arrival Time (PAT) may make it possible for Fitbit to do so. Fitbit will be testing blood pressure monitoring on the Fitbit Sense for the next month and will let people know if they can participate in the study.

HMD Global may have received plaudits for committing to three years of OS updates for its new Nokia X-series. However, the Nokia G-series and C-series have not been treated to that same level of software support, even though HMD Global has released them at the same as the Nokia X-series.

GPU virtualization or vGPU enables GPU resources to be shared by multiple VMs or remote machines and is traditionally restricted to certain datacenter and high-end Quadro cards. Now, a relatively simple mod has appeared on GitHub that enables vGPU functionality even on consumer NVIDIA GPUs on a Linux host as long as they are based on the same physical GPU as a vGPU-compatible Tesla card.

According to its new teasers, the TicWatch GTH will be Mobvoi's first square-faced smartwatch. New, less official leaks purport to spill much more about the upcoming wearable, including its exact screen and battery size, not to mention its health-tracking features. The GTH is slated to launch on April 13, 2021.

Microsoft originally started to pitch the dual-display Surface Neo in late 2019; however, it ultimately failed to make it to its projected real-life launch. Now, a leaker has posted a video that purports to reveal the design of the erstwhile "foldable tablet". It appears to show a device that might indeed have been a larger Duo in real life.

The Velvet 5G UW is the Verizon version of this LG premium mid-ranger. It was announced and released in 2020, and is now receiving the major software update that upgrades the phone to Android 11. It comes with new features such as conversation bubbles, Nearby Share and Focus Mode, and also raises the security patch level to that of March 2021.

A Weibo account associated with Lenovo has released teasers for a new tablet called the Yoga Pad Pro - which might prove to be the Chinese variant of a slate to be called the Yoga Tab 13 in international markets. It is to be accompanied by another 11-inch tablet, as well as what might be a Yoga Duet 7i refresh.

Huawei has launched new smart screens. They are also the inaugural models of a new series by the OEM, and are also the first with speaker arrays tuned by the high-end audio group Devialet. The devices run HarmonyOS out of the box and have 4K LCD panels with a TUV Rheinland low-blue-light certifications.

A new web app from Samsung New Zealand helps iPhone users try out Samsung's smartphone interface without buying a new phone. The iTest app is an interactive simulation of Samsung's One UI. However, many of the "apps" and features don't work, limiting the effectiveness of the marketing campaign.

Some recent leaks have pointed to the prospect of a Lite version of the Galaxy Tab A7. Now, the addition of a new device to the support sections of a number of national Samsung websites may suggest this slate is nearly here. According to Geekbench, it has 3GB of RAM and runs One UI based on Android 11.

Eve Devices announced its Spectrum as the world's first monitor with a QHD/240Hz option back in January 2021. Unfortunately, the OEM has also just stated that this SKU will not ship until July 9, 2021. Furthermore, the 4K/144Hz model that was to start shipping in April of this year has also been pushed back again.

With LG’s unfortunate exit from the smartphone market, owners of the company’s handsets have rightly been worried about the relative longevity of their devices. LG has now confirmed that it will stick by its existing customers and deliver additional OS over the coming two to three years.

Huawei is now thought to have a new smartwatch on the way. A Weibo-based leaker now asserts that it is to be called the Watch 3 and is not to be a 'sports' model. This source also believes that the OEM will install a "full" version HarmonyOS. The wearable might also support eSIMs and more third-party apps compared to its predecessors.

Patch 1.2 for Cyberpunk 2077 is slowly being dissected, but it seems to improve the game less on last-generation consoles than people had anticipated. In fact, most of the improvements are only noticeable on the PlayStation 4 Pro, and that continues to have its problems with playing the game properly.

An unboxed copy of the game Super Mario Bros for the legacy Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console has reportedly sold at auction for US$660,000. This is the largest final asking price for a video game yet. The item in question was a 1986 release in rare condition and packaging.

Xiaomi has outlined plans to upgrade a host of devices to MIUI 12.5 by the end of next month. The rollout only applies to devices on the company's Chinese ROM though, so it may be May before Xiaomi's latest OS reaches devices globally. Others, such as the POCO F2 Pro and the Redmi Note 8 Pro will be left stranded on MIUI 12 until at least June 2021.

Nokia has reportedly posted a new job listing for a UX designer. This position's remit will apparently involve producing an optimal user experience both for mobile devices and online. The OS in question is not mentioned; however, the call for applicants has led to speculation as to the future of this brand's smartphones.

Recent rumors of Huawei's planned entry into the electric vehicle market seem to have been given more weight today thanks to the well-known leaker @RODENT950. It seems that the first car developed in partnership with the OEM will launch on April 17, 2021. Then again, it may be that Huawei has only provided the smart system for this product, which is likely only to be available in China.