Software

About a week ago, reports surfaced claiming that Huawei was working on the EMUI 10 update for the Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro, the company's flagship phone from 2016. Huawei has reportedly now confirmed those claims to be without substance.

Earlier, Android teased "something exciting" that might debut alongside Samsung’s new flagships. Now, this has been realized in the form of a new Live Caption feature in Google’s Duo app. In addition, the OS may get much more foldable- and 5G-friendly soon.

The Galaxy S20/Z Flip launch event also saw the announcement of a new level of collaboration between Microsoft and Samsung. It involves porting PC games to this OEM’s phones, starting with Forza Street. It will be exclusive to Samsung's own app store for a while after its release, as may others in the future.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) has been inexorably rocked by a series of cancellations and withdrawals from the show. They have been made by an ever-growing list of companies, to which Intel and Vivo have most recently been added. The show's runners, the GSMA, will now meet on February 14, 2020 in order to determine the event's fate.

The Dutch tech blog LetsGoDigital claims that its official Samsung Galaxy S20 press-pack is out of embargo, and can now be shared with the world. Its contents appear to match corresponding leaks almost exactly: for example, the 3 new phones will launch alongside second-gen Buds. This possible final tip also appears to put the flagships' ultra-high price-tags beyond doubt.

The upgrade to Android 10 did not go as planned for some Mi 9T and Redmi K20 handsets, with multiple people reporting high battery drain affecting their devices. While there was a workaround, Xiaomi pulled the build to address other bugs too. Now, the company has restarted the rollout of Android 10 builds of MIUI 11, although you may not notice the difference.

Released earlier today, Opera 56 for Android features improvements to the reader mode and tab restoration features, as well as customizable address bar buttons. Reloading the current page is now possible only by swiping down from the top since the Reload button has been moved to the menu.

Xiaomi finally brought the Mi Mix 2S onto Android 10 builds of MIUI 11 last month, with the update introducing several fixes too. However, the upgrade has caused issues for some people, and appears to have left a pressing concern untouched.

Samsung has announced that the business-grade versions of its bezel-free and ultra-thin Wall TV series now go up to 583 inches diagonally. This latest word in large-scale displays - which also has an 8K resolution - has been launched at the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2020 conference.

WhatsApp has secured approval to roll out a new facet of its service in India. It is a new payment platform that has just been approved by the relevant authories. This may help the Facebook-owned app compete effectively with others such as Google Pay/Tez and Paytm in the country.

Fancy trying Android 10 a few months early on the G7 ThinQ? Well, you soon can, although there are caveats. LG has even published the device's Android 10 kernel source code, a good sign that the OS upgrade is on its way to seeing a stable release.

The smartphone maker OPPO has announced the launch of the Reno2 and Reno2 Z in Germany. This series distinguishes itself through its high digital and hybrid camera zoom specs and its pop-up selfie modules. These aspects of the phones may make up for the fact that they are not the latest generations of their line.

Owners of the Honor Play are campaigning for their much-deserved EMUI 10 update. The Honor Play was ignored on all of Huawei's roadmaps so far even though its powered by the same Kirin 970 on flagships like the Mate 10 Pro and P20 Pro—both of which will receive Android 10. A new update has now hit the Honor Play but is unlikely to do anything but piss owners off even more.

The chances of the Asus ZenFone 5 getting updated to Android 10 seem to be slim if the tweets of an Asus France employee are anything to go by. In a response to user's query, the rep said that a lot of work needs to be done before the update can be made available for the ZenFone 5 considering the fact that it is based on ZenUI, and that it runs on a different chipset compared to the ZenFone 5Z, which has already received Android 10.

iQOO, a sub-brand of the smartphone OEM Vivo, released a premium, Snapdragon 855 Plus-powered device called the Pro 5G in 2019. Now, with a new Geekbench 5 listing that may fit its description, its 2nd generation could be on the way. It apparently runs Android 10 and has 8GB of RAM.

It appears Samsung has been working hard to make sure owners of some of its wide range of smartphones can start enjoying the Android 10-based One UI 2.0. It’s not just the famous flagships of the South Korean manufacturer that are receiving the update though, as the Galaxy A7 (2018), Galaxy A10, Galaxy A10e, and Galaxy A20e should be running on Android 10 soon.

The Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA) is a kind of one-stop pipeline for developers, by which their apps can be uploaded to the in-house software ecosystems of 3 different OEMs simultaneously. However, these companies have asserted that they are not gunning for Google's Play Store with this new initiative.

Rejoice, owners of older Huawei premium phones; your time in the spotlight is here. Huawei is currently sending out the Android 10-based EMUI 10 update to the Honor 10 and Honor View 10 outside China, with the P20, P20 Pro, and likely, the Mate 10 Pro, set to follow shortly.

The Android OS' official Twitter account has posted a message alerting us all to "something exciting" that is "just around the corner". However, we will have to wait until Samsung's next big event to see what it is. The announcement has led to speculation that the long-missed Google Play Edition (GPE) program is being resurrected.

After over four years since its release, Samsung is still supplying the Gear S2 smartwatch with software updates. The latest set not only offers significant battery life improvements but also deliver an improved and clean-looking UI.

Bethesda has finally announced when Fallout 76 players will receive Wastelanders, a free expansion for the game. The post-apocalyptic title will be extended on April 7 for all platforms, with the expansion featuring a host of new content. The release of Wastelanders coincides with the game finally reaching Steam too, but there are some caveats.

The Realme C3 has become the first phone with a MediaTek Helio G70 processor, as it launches via Flipkart in India. It also has a 6.5-inch HD+ display with 3-4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of internal storage. It starts for INR 6999, or about US$98.

Although Wacom hardware should have no reason for sending out the history of application use of its owners, it looks like this has been happening for a while and there's no official explanation for that yet. Nevertheless, this story is quite intriguing and worth keeping an eye on.

It appears one of the world’s current best-selling smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy A50, could be receiving the expected update to One UI 2.0 soon thanks to the information revealed in a recently spotted Wi-Fi Alliance certification. The Android 10 upgrade will be welcomed by fans of the phone, which dominated sales charts in Europe and other markets in 2019.

Doogee has announced the S68 Pro, another in its long line of toughphones. However, this one also has the reverse wireless charging feature normally found in Huawei or Samsung flagships. This power will come from the device's 6300mAh battery.

Thermostats are just another household items that have been made smart over the last number of years. They have developed to the point that they can implement automatic usage plans, including those remotely set or sent by an energy company, in order to save money. A new study shows that more US households are interested in these functions.

Ricoh - which currently markets the cameras formerly known under the PENTAX brand - has launched a new camera with a durable, waterproof casing. The WG-70 also has a "digital microscope mode", which enables effective close-ups that is further enhanced with its ring of 6 LEDs that are also intended for macro photography.

LG looks to be getting better with software updates. The South Korean company is continuing its Android 10 rollout for the G8 ThinQ, and the latest version of the phone to receive the update is the US unlocked model. Both the Sprint and Verizon models already received the update.

Samsung has been linked to an upcoming budget smart speaker since 2018. More recent reports appear to confirm that this device will be called the Galaxy Home Mini and that it would launch on February 12, 2020. An even newer leak asserts that this date has in fact been pushed up a bit.

Disney+, Disney's incredibly popular streaming service, now boasts over 28.6 million paid subscribers. Other streaming services offered by Disney, including ESPN+ and Hulu, also saw impressive year-over-year growth.

There have been plenty of headlines written in regard to smartphone owners waiting to receive an update to Android 10. However, smartphones are definitely not created equally, as an image of a Google Pixel 2 XL running on an alleged version of Android R has demonstrated. Android R is likely a preliminary name for Android 11.

For some reason, Huawei is taking its sweet time with the rollout of the Android 10-based EMUI 10 update. The update is still mostly going out to Kirin 980-powered phones; ergo, last-gen premium phones including the Mate 20, P30 and Nova 5T series.

Recently, the brand POCO has reportedly started providing OTA updates to Android 10 for its first device, the F1. Now, it seems one for the February 2020 security patch level has followed. Oddly, it seemingly comes direct from Google, a service normally reserved for Pixel phones.

The "bring your own game" approach caters better to PC gamers because GeForce Now will be compatible with titles from your existing Steam, Origin, or Epic libraries. For $4.99 a month, subscribers can play their existing digital games on Nvidia's servers for up to six hours per month.

Xiaomi may have started rolling out Android 10 to the Redmi Note 8 Pro, but there are probably many of you out there that are still running Android 9.0 Pie builds of MIUI 11 on your device. Without official confirmation, it seems that many Redmi Note 8 Pro owners are being left in the dark about when their device will receive Android 10.

A Realme executive has revealed that this brand is working on its own smart TV, and that more details will be available at the next Mobile World Congress (MWC). To date, no specs or features for this upcoming product are known for sure. However, based on this announcement, its first launch may be in India.

The foldable and clamshell nature of the Samsung phone that may launch as the Galaxy Z Flip seems to have been confirmed in a few recent leaks. Now, a new one purports to outline its performance and specs as well. This next-gen device may be powered by the Snapdragon 855 - or 855+ - and run Android 10 with 8GB of RAM.

Nubia is thought to be working on a successor for the Red Magic 3 gaming phone. This generation is touted to have 5G, a 144Hz screen and other potentially ultra-fast attributes. However, a new specs leak suggests that at least one of these may not be as speedy as once thought.

Motorola is currently rumored to introduce the complete next-gen Moto G line-up at MWC 2020. It consists of the G8, G Stylus and G8 Power. The latter may have arrived on the Geekbench 5 website, revealing specs such as 4GB of RAM and Android 10.

While Samsung has adopted a two OS update policy for years, there are still ways of getting new versions of Android on older handsets. The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 are more recent examples of this, but so are the much older Galaxy S II, or Galaxy S2 as it is more commonly known, and the Galaxy Note 3.

Several instances of the Mi A2 Lite running Android 10 have appeared on Geekbench. Android 10 is likely the last OS upgrade that the Android One device will receive, having been released running Android 8.1 Oreo.

A new Nokia device has been spotted in the wild. The phone, marvelously codenamed "Captain America" is said to be the upcoming Nokia 5.2, and is billed for a February 23 launch at MWC.

The GPU Technology Conference (or GTC) 2020 has been set to begin on March 23 of this year. It will open with a keynote from NVIDIA's CEO and founder, Jensen Huang. The company also claims there will be over 1000 other speakers from various organisations across over 600 sessions at the 3-day event.

Realme has made the C3 official via its Twitter feeds. This phone will be powered by MediaTek's new Helio G70 chipset. This upcoming device will also have a 6.5-inch display and dual rear cameras, albeit ones that may improve over those found in the C2 in certain ways. The OEM has also revealed it will have a 5000mAh battery.

The confusion over Samsung’s rollout of the Android 10 based One UI 2.0 for the Galaxy S9 series seems to be settling as users around the globe have been reporting the update’s availability. Owners of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus from countries as far apart as India, the UK, Slovenia, and Australia have been reporting receiving the new software.

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 was released in early 2018 and is now getting its first taste of Android 10. Android 10 is the second major OS upgrade the phone will get, which is impressive for a phone that had an MSRP of just US$200. Getting it ahead of a number of flagships is icing on the cake.

Motorola's rumored new pen-enabled phone is becoming more and more real with each new leak. It seemt that it will be called the G Stylus, and may have 4GB of RAM and run Android 10. A new report claims to flesh it out further with SoC, camera and display details.

There’s been quite a drama between the Pocophone F1 and the popular Android 10 OS. There seemed to be some doubt over whether the ageing smartphone would even get an upgrade to the latest edition of Android, but it now appears a public rollout has begun with users around the world cheerfully commenting on the update.

The LG V35 ThinQ is the forgotten step-son of LG's recent flagships. An Android 10 update roadmap that surfaced last week completely omitted the V35, and that may have alarmed owners of the phone. We bring glad tidings, however.

iPhones are way more secure than Androids, right? Apparently not. A new report with information from forensic experts heavily points towards the reverse being the case. Androids may now be more secure than iPhones, with a Huawei flagship being surprisingly secure.