Software

Normally, part of the object of a Raid Battle in Pokemon GO is that the player physically visits a Gym in order to take part in such an event. However, for those still under lockdown as a result of Covid-19, this is obviously impossible. Niantic will address this by rolling out new Remote Passes that can be used at home.

Two new zero-day vulnerabilities have been found for the popular teleconferencing software Zoom. The exploits, one of which affects the Windows client and the other of which affects the macOS client, are currently up for auction on the Dark Web. The Windows exploit is particularly nasty as it allows for Remote Code Execution, or RCE.

iQOO is currently setting its latest Neo-series smartphone up for launch on April 23, 2020. It has been through the AnTuTu benchmark beforehand, which reveals a decently high score as may be expected of a Snapdragon 865-powered device. It is also touted as having a 144Hz display, which may have come into play during this test.

New leaks point to the imminent debut of a new smartphone by OPPO called the PDKM00, or A92s. This device has also recently acquired renders that suggest quad rear cameras found in a square module. It may also have popped up on Geekbench 4 with a novel MediaTek processor that could be a mid-range Dimensity variant.

There is still hope for Galaxy Note 9 owners who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of One UI 2.1 on their devices. A Samsung Community moderator said the process is under review, but it'll be a while before the update is rolled out.

Although not a visual feast in the past, Minecraft finally gets ray-traced shadows, impressive reflective water, real-time caustics, and multiple atmospheric effects thanks to NVIDIA's RTX technology and the new levels that add a whole new level of depth and detail to the Windows version of this popular game.

The Surface Pro 7 is one of Microsoft's latest 2-in-1s. Some people who have bought it have subsequently gone back to the Redmond giant's product forum reporting a bug in which the tablet shuts off without warning. The issue may be addressed with some work-arounds, but the OEM is apparently yet to issue an official fix.

Nokia 8 Sirocco is finally receiving its highly-anticipated Android 10 update. It is rolling out now and will be available to users in batches. Nokia says that everyone should get the software by April 20th.

Motorola is currently linked to an upcoming smartphone series with the name of Edge. One of its variants may have surfaced on Geekbench 5. It is not the rumored Snapdragon 865-powered flagship, but does apparently run the powerful upper-mid-range SoC, the 765G.

The latest variant of the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are hailed as some of the best non-ANC TWS earbuds out there. However, they are also affected by the potential for severe wind-noise during voice calls. Their latest firmware update is touted to fix this problem.

According to a ZenTalk forum moderator, Android 10 will be the last major OS update for the popular Asus ZenFone 5/5Z. Further updates will only focus on security and bug fixes, although the possibility of a ZenUI 7 feature update for Android 10 is not being completely ruled out.

Xiaomi seems to have leaked a small portion of its MIUI 12 user interface by accident. It’s widely believed that the Chinese OEM is busy working on the latest version of its Android overlay and there has even been a recent leak listing which smartphones will be supposedly first to receive MIUI 12. The latest user interface seems to have a darker appearance overall.

As Huawei kicks off the rollout of EMUI 10.1 to its current and last-gen flagships, its Honor sub-brand isn't forgotten. The update comes in the form of Magic UI 3.1 and is now slowly becoming available on Honor flagships like the Honor 20 Pro and Honor V20.

OnePlus has unleashed new versions of its wireless earphones alongside its new 8-series of flagship phones. This new generation has an improved range of color options compared to its predecessors. It also features low-latency connections and a battery that can support up to 20 hours' worth of playback.

After incessant requests from owners, Xiaomi finally the released Android 10 update for the Mi A2 Lite over a month ago. The update was disastrous, however, and bricked a number of devices. The company has now released a new Android 10 build.

The latest firmware update for the Nintendo Switch (version 10.0.0) brings a bevy of new features, including the ability to completely remap the Joy-Con and Pro controllers and the ability to transfer data (including games) from the Switch's internal storage to an SD card.

OPPO has announced that the mid-range A91 smartphone will become available in Europe. It brings the combination of a MediaTek Helio P70 SoC, high-res quad rear cameras with a monochrome sensor and a 20:9 aspect ratio to the German market. It may be aimed at younger consumers, with a price to match.

The LG G7 ThinQ is billed to start receiving the Android 10 update in South Korea sometime this quarter. There appears to be some good news for owners of the flagship in the US, however.

Capcom is reportedly working on a remake of Resident Evil 4. While few details are known, the success of the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes have likely spurred Capcom to continue releasing remakes of its storied survival horror series.

The OPPO Ace2 has been introduced via live-stream in China today (April 13, 2020), as promised. The new Snapdragon 865-powered phone launched alongside the AirVOOC charger, a new accessory that supports 40-watt (W) wireless power. Its OEM also debuted new TWS earbuds at this event.

We have now reached a part of April 2020 increasingly regarded as "iPhone SE 2 Week"; however, this has not stopped the new Apple Watch rumors coming thick and fast. They now point to a new form of authentication for this device, as well as the ability to detect anxiety as well as blood-oxygen levels in the user. There may also be new case-variants in the offing.

Vivo's iQOO sub-brand makes the Neo series of smartphones: gaming-focused devices based on flagship-grade Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. Now, the company has announced its 3rd generation. This phone will stand alongside the Red Magic 5G at the top of the current mobile display refresh-rate charts.

The Watch GT 2 has been well received, but the lack of blood oxygen saturation monitoring was an oversight. Now, the smartwatch can finally use its Sp02 sensor courtesy of a software update, six months after launching.

Apple is now rumored to have had a second go at getting the AirPower product ready for launch, following an uncharacteristic failure to do so in 2019. A new leak asserts that this has been done by incorporating the iPhone X's SoC into the device. This apparently disproportional processing power may address what held the fabled power accessory back in the first place.

Samsung recently updated is One UI Home launcher app to address a screen rotation issue affecting Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 users. The update also patches bugs affecting shortcuts and Task Changer.

The Mi Note 10 is a phone with a 108MP main camera sensor and a bigger battery than its flagship Mi 10 analog. However, Xiaomi has also been rumored to have a Lite variant of this device in the works. Now, official documentation from the FCC and NBTC confirms its existence, and outlines how it differs from the existing Note models.

Recently, a leak that suggests Honor will follow Huawei's lead in adding a Pro+ variant to its 2020 flagship sprung. Now, a new Geekbench listing that may be for this very phone has appeared. It shows that the "Plus" model may run on the Kirin 990 SoC.

The latest update to the AltStore/AltServer iOS app allows users to sideload their own IPA files without the need for Jailbreak or the worries of possible revokes. AltStore uses a method that exploits the app developer license system to circumvent the potential for revokes. As such, AltStore users can now install any app, even those not on the App Store, on their iPhones permanently.

Phone is an app made by Google that may offer more features and settings compared to the average default Android dialer. It is normally only exclusive to Pixel and Android One devices. However, XDA contributors now claim that it can work when downloaded onto some other handsets.

Facebook has recently introduced a new group of settings to help the user manage the time they spend on its mobile app. Now, it has been augmented further with Quiet Mode, a set of toggles that allows notifications to be silenced for all or a specific part of the day. They may be followed by even more granular controls in the future.

Consumer tech has already been used for 'Covid-19 contact tracing' in Taiwan and South Korea already. Now, Google and Apple have jointly announced a new API to do the same using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It will apparently used voluntarily-donated, anonymized data on those infected with the virus to alert other users who may have been in transmission-range of them.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite has been issued with a new software update. It confers a fresh build of One UI 2.1 on the phone, which comes with a range of camera and AR Emoji enhancements. It also changes its security patch level to the most recent one.

The Mi A3 is not out of the woods yet, as Xiaomi keeps pushing buggy Android 10 updates to the device. Now, it has emerged that the company has pulled the latest Android 10 update following a litany of complaints from owners.

Import sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons have been halted and banned in China. Though the reasons for the ban are still unknown, a likely cause is the use of the game's online features by protestors to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party.

The bootloader unlock tool for the Realme XT is now official with instructions for use being made available on the Realme Community site. While the bootloader unlock allows Realme XT users to install custom ROMs, it disables official OTA updates and also downgrades the Widevine level from L1 to L3.

A blog has presented a new infographic showing the effect of the "coronavirus crisis" on gaming habits. It shows that 36% of causal gamers reported spending more time on this pursuit due to this situation, compared to 53% of non-casuals. In addition, it appears that, amidst a general market decline, stocks in gaming companies are up.

Recent leaks have pointed to a successor for the Galaxy A20s, a phone that may stand out among its new siblings as the only one with a brand-new SoC on its launch. A device with its rumored model number has just appeared again, this time on the Wi-Fi Alliance's database of approved products.

Nokia has announced that its 2019 budget 4.2 handset can now be updated to Android 10, bringing improvements such as Digital Wellbeing and a dark mode to the phone. However, many users now face a long wait for this major software upgrade.

The official OnePlus Twitter channel has released a trailer for Crackables 2.0, a new version of a game premiered last year by the electronics OEM. This year, it is presented in partnership with Google, and consists of a series of puzzles, the fastest solvers of which will be invited to compete for the title of best player and US$10,000.

The Android 10-based One UI 2.0 update for the Samsung Galaxy A70 reportedly causes some variants of the phone to stop working. You can get around the problem by sideloading Android 9 Pie on to your phone. If that isn't an option, the only way out is to get a hardware replacement from a Samsung retailer.

The latest version of Firefox for Windows, Firefox 75, includes a default telemetry practice that sends users' default browser settings to Mozilla once a day. The data is sent via a Windows scheduled task. While disabling this telemetry is relatively simple, the fact that it is enabled by default is concerning for privacy-minded individuals.

Although playing World of Warcraft with a game controller is possible, the game does not fully support this control method out of the box. However, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is expected to sport support for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 controllers, so we can only wonder if the game will also hit Sony's console.

Samsung's massively popular Galaxy A50 is now receiving its Android 10 update. It comes in the form of One UI 2.0 and brings forth exciting features such as support for Google's new navigation gestures, a dedicated screen recorder app, and more. The update is rolling out worldwide and should be available to eligible devices in the next few days.

A list of alleged Xiaomi smartphones that have been lined up to receive an update to MIUI 12 has been published online. A total of 23 devices are included on the list, which features phones from both Xiaomi and Redmi brands. The Mi 10, Mi 9, Mi Mix 3, Redmi K30, Redmi Note 8, and Redmi Note 7 are just some of the popular smartphones listed.

Tuned, an app designed for couples, is now available on iOS. The app comes from the NPE Team within Facebook. Though Tuned is billed as a private app for couples, users should be aware that anything sent through Tuned could be sent to third parties for targeted advertising, per Facebook's data use policies.

Casio's upcoming addition to the G-SHOCK line has heart-rate tracking functions for the first time. The watch's new sensor is also joined by others to track fitness-related activities while in use. It is also a Bluetooth device, with its own app to display its measurements and manage notifications while training.

Users of Xiaomi MIUI 11 will soon be able to enable Android 10 gestures. An update to MIUI 11 is going live to select Chinese ROM users and is expected to be available globally soon.

Samsung has published an update to its security patch update roadmap. It outlines which devices get monthly, quarterly or less frequent upgrades of this nature, revealing in the process that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are on neither of these lists. This, then, definitively marks the end of the series' life.

A new study of US households with high-speed internet has found that 44% of them reported having bought speakers, whereas 33% own earphones and 37% own headphones. However, these respondents also reported that smart speakers or smart displays. They are also likely to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine conditions in the near future.