Software

Mozilla's GitHub now offers a version of Firefox for Android that is updated compared to the app available on the Google Play Store. Its most interesting attribute is an ability to add extensions to this mobile browser for the first time. There is only 1 add-on available at present, but the developer is confident there will be more soon.

Some code allegedly derived from an as-yet unreleased version of iOS also reportedly offers insight into watchOS 7, software that may debut with the next Apple Watch. It hints at additions such as sleep tracking and a new mode for its Infograph watch-face. On that note, new custom faces may be possible in this version.

The GSMA has announced that OnePlus has been awarded one of the 25th annual Global Mobile Awards in the Best Smartphone category. It has been conferred on the OEM's most recent flagship, the 7T Pro. It combines a 90Hz QHD+ display with a pop-up selfie camera and the Snapdragon 855+ processor.

Released yesterday, Firefox 74.0 can block Facebook from tracking its users and no longer allows third-party apps to install add-ons, but it also features DNS-over-HTTPS provided by Cloudflare (with NextDNS as an option). This update is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux/Unix users.

Xiaomi may have moved onto rolling out a buggy upgrade to the Mi A2 Lite, but it has not forgotten about the Mi A3 just yet. While V11.0.7.1.QGQMIXM is yet to receive a public rollout, Xiaomi has offered a comforting salve for Mi A3 owners. Apparently, a new Android 10 public build is only a few weeks out.

Vecnos, a spin-off from Ricoh, has announced that it will release its first product soon. It will be a 360-degree camera that may compete with similar devices from GoPro or Insta360. However, this one may come in a much more portable form-factor.

A Spanish-language vlogger claims to have access to video showing a working unit of the upcoming Pixel 4a. This leak alleges that the phone has a 5.81-inch FHD+ display with a distinctly standard refresh rate. Its SoC, internal memory and main camera specs are also supposedly detailed here.

Samsung launched the Galaxy M40 in June 2019. Now, it is reportedly receiving a major software upgrade in its first market (India), bringing Android 10 and all of its main features to the mid-ranger. This OTA also contains an up-to-date security patch level.

Huawei has announced that the P40 and P40 Pro will be unveiled online on March 26, 2020. According to some recent leaks, they may be joined by at least 1 more premium variant. Meanwhile, a new tip suggests the Pro's main camera will be a 52MP Sony sensor.

The Mi Note 10 and Mi Note 10 Pro are oddities. Essentially rip-offs of the P30 Pro, the Mi Note 10 series are neither flagships nor mid-range handsets. Xiaomi's software support for the two devices reinforces that they are more the latter than the former though, and the latest round of updates do nothing to dissuade that impression.

The Honor V30 and V30 Pro are set to be joined on Magic UI 3.0 by ten other Honor smartphones, the company has confirmed. Honor's version of EMUI 10 and Android 10 will hit three devices this week too.

The Android 10-based MIUI 11 update for the Xiaomi Mi Max 3 smartphone/phablet has apparently started rolling out to users in China. It’s expected a rollout for owners of the 6.9-inch device will soon follow in other parts of the globe. The Mi Max 3 was released in 2018 and features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC and a dual-camera setup. The large handset originally came with MIUI 9.5 (based on Android 8.1).

After months of delays, Xiaomi finally sent out the Android 10 update to its Android One Mi A2 Lite smartphone. As has become typical of Xiaomi's Android One updates, however, the build appears to be a poisoned chalice and is bricking devices.

Motorola is slated to launch a true flagship phone, the Edge+, this year. It is thought to have a waterfall display with a punch-hole selfie camera thus far. Now, a new leak alleges that it will have a triple rear camera that incorporates a 108MP sensor.

The Optoma UHD50X is a new projector rated for images of a 4K UHD resolution and a refresh rate of up to 240 hertz (Hz). It also has a brightness of 3400 ANSI lumens and is HDR10- and HLG-compatible. This new projector also has a "gaming" mode with an input lag of as little as 16 milliseconds (ms).

HTC has released an outline of its latest earnings. This performance pertains to February 2020, and shows that the company's revenues are down nearly 33% year-on-year (YoY). Similarly, the OEM's total revenues have decreased by ~45% compared to the first 2 months of 2019.

This might have passed under the radar of many people, but the fact that the volunteer computing part of the 21-year-old SETI@home project will go into hibernation is quite big news, especially since this amazing effort did not manage to deliver any solid result. However, SETI@home might be reactivated one day.

After months of delays, Xiaomi is finally releasing the Android 10 update to owners of the Mi A2 Lite. The Android 10 rollout for the Mi A3 has been a proper shambles, however, so the company appears to be taking some precautions this time around.

Realme has announced that it will launch its 5G-enabled flagship phone, the X50 Pro, in China on March 12, 2020. The OEM has also had the device approved for sale in this market by TENAA. The resulting leak reveals the possibility of a storage SKU that is not currently available in other markets.

The Samsung Galaxy M20's 2020 successor may have popped up in an earlier leak. Now, an Indian media outlet claims to have uncovered its launch date. It also asserts that the M21 will represent a step upward in terms of certain specs.

While there are still flagship devices out there waiting to receive an update to Android 10 it seems that the midrange HTC U11 Life can now be counted as one of the smartphones that has actually started receiving the latest operating system. The HTC U11 Life, which was released in late 2017, is part of the Android One program.

It seems a stable release of Android 10 has started arriving on Pocophone F1 smartphones around the world. Xiaomi had some issues with the software a few weeks ago, with numerous bugs preventing a wider rollout of the latest OS. However, it appears that even Pocophone F1 owners who did not sign up for the beta test have now started receiving the welcome update.

A prior leak suggested that OnePlus would sell an upcoming phone, the 8, through the US carrier Verizon. Now, an analysis of code in this OEM's launcher for Android appears to back this up. It also points to a T-Mobile SKU of the same phone.

Casio has released analog watches that can use Bluetooth before. However, it claims that the most recent models with this feature are updated in that they stay connected to a phone on a more consistent basis. These new EDIFICE variants do so in order to maintain their accuracy regardless of where they are.

Huawei is currently compelled to generate its own in-house alternative to the Google Play Store - and to this platform's developer-side ecosystem in turn. Accordingly, it has publicly released details on the percentages app makers may expect to make through contributing to its new AppGallery.

There is now evidence that Samsung is readying multiple new Galaxy A-series smartphones for launch at this point. The latest of these is the A31, or SM-A315F/DS. This device has been approved by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) to use this technology.

The Samsung Galaxy A series of smartphones appears to have gotten off to a good start this year with the launch of the A71 and A51. Now, it seems that they may soon be joined by the A41. A new leak suggests that this phone will be powered by the MediaTek Helio P65 chipset.

A product designer has published his visual ideas for the PlayStation 5’s user interface, and they have been met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Although some have commented about the PS4/Xbox influences, the PS5 UI concept video clips seem to focus on fully integrating the game library and related details to each title.

Reports are that Xiaomi has fixed the bugs that affected last weekend's Android 10 upgrade for the Mi A3. However, the company also warns that rolling back to Android 9.0 Pie from Android 10 can cause system instabilities, which is not all that reassuring.

Android 10 on the Mi Mix 3 has been a long time coming, with Xiaomi first releasing a beta build for the device way back in October. While the company issued Android 10 for Chinese handsets in January, the rest of the world has had to wait patiently. Thankfully, that wait is over and the 2.0 GB update should now be arriving as an OTA.

It seems that the P20 Lite may forever remain on EMUI 9.1. Android 10 and EMUI 10 are not on the way despite the P20 Lite only having received one OS upgrade. Unsurprisingly, fans and owners of the device are unhappy about the news and have taken to petitioning Huawei to address the matter.

TCL has launched new TVs for 2020, which are divided into 3 series: V8, C8 and P9, which also have their own additional marketing monikers and specific enhancements or use-cases. They are quantum-dot panels, some of which also have "Hi-Fi" audio or hands-free controls.

Android 10 is here for the Redmi Note 7 Pro. We would recommend holding off for the time being though, as the build will likely contain a few bugs. The first Android 10 build for the Redmi Note 7 Pro comes just a few days after Xiaomi pushed Android 10 to the Redmi Note 8 Pro, too.

WhatsApp is globally rolling out dark mode for Android and iOS users after more than a month of beta testing. The Facebook-owned company says that dark mode is designed to lower eye strain in low light environments. While iOS users get to experience a pure black theme, Android users have to be content with a dark grey environment.

Google has officially canceled Google I/O 2020 due to coronavirus concerns. As with cancellations of other events, it is a significant blow as it is the annual software showcase for the company that also usually features some hardware launches as well.

The Mi 9 Lite may be treated as the lesser of the Mi 9 series, but even it has now received Android 10 builds of MIUI 11. Not all handsets have, that is. On the contrary, some are remaining on Android 9.0 Pie for the time being, albeit on a higher version of MIUI 11.

The Sony WF-1000XM3s are widely regarded as some of the best TWS earbuds out there. However, they do have some discrepancies, one of which is the absence of Qualcomm's aptX HD Bluetooth codec. A new leak suggests that this is to be addressed soon.

The Red Magic 5G is Nubia's upcoming 2020 gaming phone. It is slated to get a 144Hz display, the Snapdragon 865 SoC and up to 16GB of RAM. The OEM has also showed off its AnTuTu benchmarking score, which knocks that of the Black Shark 3 Pro off the top spot.

OnePlus has revealed the non-phone-related new device it has been working on: the OnePlus Snowbot. There are apparently several of these robots, which will be used to play games in which they fire 120 miles per hour (mph) snowballs at each other. They will take place at a special event later in March 2020.

It has not been a good few days for Xiaomi, at least concerning the Mi A3 anyway. Having botched the device's Android 10 update the company now claims that it is working to re-release the OS upgrade "as soon as possible". Convinced? Neither are we.

The Android 10 rollout for the Mi A3 has been catastrophic, with Xiaomi pulling the initial build just a few days after unexpectedly releasing it over the weekend. If you are one of the unlucky few to have upgraded your Mi A3 to Android 10, then you are probably encountering plenty of bugs. There is a workaround for getting a functional fingerprint scanner back though, if that is any help.

While the Redmi Note 7 is yet to receive Android 10 builds of MIUI 11, someone may have been trying out MIUI 12 on one unit. Spotted on Geekbench, the rogue Redmi Note 7 claims to be running Android 11, currently known as Android R. While it is not unheard of for devices running pre-release software to appear on popular benchmarking tools, we have our doubts about this.

Google has released a blog post explaining why nearly 600 apps have just been removed from Android's Play Store. These apps were deemed guilty of "mobile ad fraud", which contravenes the Mountain View giant's policies. The apps in question include all those associated with the company Cheetah Mobile.

Xiaomi released Android 10 for the Mi A3 yesterday. As is becoming a theme with Xiaomi's Android One OS updates, however, the build was extremely buggy, and the company has now chosen to pull the update entirely.

The new software for the Galaxy S10 Lite has just reached Samsung's handsets in India. Labeled G770FXXU2ATB2 and with a size of around 416 MB, the firmware update includes the security patch dated February 1, a new video recording mode (16:9 UHD 60 fps), improved picture quality and a more stable camera app.

There will be many console fans excited about the various features that the PS5 will offer: Backwards compatibility is already being feted as particularly enticing. However, there seems to be a growing movement of potential future PS5 owners who want Sony to implement a better web browser on the next-gen device, with the enhanced enjoyment of adult entertainment sites being a motivating factor.

IDC India has released its report on the wearables market in this country for the last quarter of 2019 (4Q2019). It reveals that the 'audio' category of these electronics had the highest share for that period, overtaking band-type devices compared to 4Q2018. Xiaomi had the greatest share in the latter sector, whereas Apple's AirPods clearly dominated their own sub-segment.

Cars that are capable of autonomous driving are often touted as the future. However, their actual ability to do so through perceiving the real world in 3D with sufficient accuracy is still in development. A new research paper published by a group from a South Korean university purports to detail the most sophisticated method to deliver these camera functions yet.

The Realme 6 and 6 Pro are upcoming phones with the potential to bring new quad cameras and 30W charging to the cost-effective end of the Indian market. They are currently rumored to be powered by the MediaTek Helio G90 and Snapdragon 720G processors respectively. New Geekbench listings appear to bear these specs out.

The Z6 is the OEM Vivo's new Snapdragon 765G-powered phone. As such, it comes with dual-mode 5G in addition to 6-8GB of RAM, 44W charging and a headphone jack. It has been released onto the Chinese market via its maker's own website.