Software

Netflix is reportedly testing some new plans in the Indian market. It will let users avail discounts on the company's Premium subscription by paying for three, six or twelve months of service in advance. Since they are a part of Netflix's pilot program, the plans are not available to everyone just yet.

Recently, OnePlus sent out a mysterious teaser concerning its first-ever appearance at CES next year. Now, on the date of its 6th anniversary, the OEM has offered slightly greater insight into this event. Its purpose is to showcase this company's inaugural concept device.

After sending out the Android 10-based EMUI 10 update to its flagships, Huawei is now focusing on its mid-range offerings. According to a new report, the company is set to open up EMUI 10 beta programs for a number of its phones.

Surnamed "Northern Wind," this year's last major update to War Thunder comes with a full aircraft tech tree and two premium tanks for Sweden alongside two new naval maps, a few solid graphics engine upgrades — including Ray Traced Global Illumination and HDR support, as well as over a dozen of new ships, aircraft, and vehicles for other nations.

As promised, the stable Android 10-based One UI 2.0 update is now rolling out to Snapdragon-powered, North American Samsung Galaxy S10 models. This means that Samsung has now beaten its own ETA for the update in that market.

LG has announced that the next generation of Signature OLED and NanoCell TVs have "exceeded" the requirements for the 8K Ultra HD designation. This new spec has been developed by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in order to define the next-gen resolution standard. Therefore, the Korean giant may be the first to use buzzwords such as "Real 8K" when marketing new products.

ZTE has unveiled the Axon 10s Pro, a new version of its flagship with an updated processor, Wi-Fi standard and connectivity level. It supports dual-mode 5G, thanks to its X55 modem connected to its next-gen premium SoC. The 10s Pro will also pack LPDDR5 RAM and UFS3.0 flash storage.

Windows 10 Mobile has been granted a small bit of life support. While the mobile OS was slated to enter end-of-life on December 10, Microsoft will support the operating system until January 14, 2020. This is the same day Windows 7 will lose support.

Realme will debut the X2 in a new market, India, tomorrow (December 17, 2019). It will be joined on stage by the brand's first fully-wireless (or TWS) audio accessories. According to official teasers, they look like AirPods, although they come in more colors.

Two computer programmers were arrested by the FBI this month on charges of procuring and distributing pirated content. The two programmers ran subscription-based websites that illegally streamed copyrighted content without the knowledge or consent of the copyright holders. One of the websites had more content available than Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Vudu.

A new GameCube and Wii emulator has appeared for iOS. DolphiniOS, a project from developer Oatmeal Dome, can play some games at full speed, including Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy 2. The project is still in the early alpha stage of development, so it will only become more stable as development continues.

Chrome 79 for Android has a critical bug that can delete the locally saved data in other apps. The bug affects apps that rely on Chrome's WebView for webpage rendering. Google has paused the rollout of Chrome 79 for the time being until a fix is found.

Google announced on Friday that it has imaged over 10 million miles of roads and paths in Street View. Additionally, Google Earth has now imaged over 36 million square miles of the earth's surface, which covers 98% of the inhabited world.

According to Google's product manager for the Messages app, RCS (rich communication system) is now available for all Android users in the United States. This means that US users can send text messages using the RCS standard, as long as they are sent through Google Messages.

AT&T has announced that its 5G service is now live in 10 different American cities, Los Angeles and New York included. In fact, it claims to have 2 (authentic) flavors of this connectivity: 5G and 5G+, which are based on low-band and high-band forms of the new radios. They are available to personal and business customers.

Realme has recently updated its older 1 and U1 models. The new OTA adds a new feature in which the screen flashes for calls. More importantly, it also confers the latest security patch level on the 2 phones. It is also part of the 2019 3 Pro device's latest software update.

Google unveiled an updated Assistant with new features at its I/O event this year. It has only been available to the US market since then; now, however, it is being applied to others such as Ireland and Canada. Then again, it remains restricted to Pixel devices in these regions.

The Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ have started to exhibit updates to One UI 2.0 based on Android 10. This may be good news for owners of these premium phablets, particularly as this upgrade had reportedly been scheduled for 2020. On the other hand, the OTA may have reached a limited user-pool thus far.

Opera released a variant of its browser optimized for gaming earlier this year. Now, it has announced that the same app, known as GX, is compatible with macOS as well as Windows. Therefore, those using such systems can now use features such as Twitch support and network limiters in their browser.

In a teaser trailer released at The Game Awards, ZeniMax took the veil off the next chapter in the MMO The Elder Scrolls Online. The next major event in the massive multiplayer title will take place in Skyrim, home of the Nords.

A bug in iOS 13.3 allows users to easily circumvent the Communication Limits feature. While Communication Limits is supposed to block users (specifically children) from communicating with or adding unknown or unapproved numbers, simply setting up the phone to not sync to iCloud will bypass the feature and allow users to add new numbers without verification.

Microsoft recently announced that all Android handsets are now able to sync with the Windows 10 Your Phone app, which can now make and receive phone calls directly from the Windows desktop. However, the new feature is slowly rolling out to users.

The Redmi K20 may have now been superseded by the Redmi K30, but the former remains at the pinnacle of Xiaomi's software plans. Released in June on MIUI 10, the handset has started receiving Android 10 builds of MIUI 11 in China. A global upgrade to Google's latest OS likely in tow too.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 line is already receiving the Android 10-based One UI 2.0 OTA but the update so far is limited to Exynos-powered European models. Samsung's update roadmap says Snapdragon models won't get the update till January but a surprise is on the cards, as certain North American units will get theirs in a few days.

The Vivo X30 will be the first phone to launch with the Exynos 980, a processor that supports dual-mode 5G. It is also thought to have a 60x zoom in its main camera array and a Pro variant. The OEM has revealed that this event will take place on December 16, 2019.

On Twitter, Square Enix has announced that they are delaying the release of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle Remastered Edition for a second time. The title, which will be available on Android, iOS, the PS4, and the Nintendo Switch, will launch sometime in Summer 2020.

Huami is a wearables OEM that has made a name for itself largely through its Amazfit brand of smartwatches. However, it has revealed that it intends to push into additional product categories next year. The company has secured a CES 2020 booth, at which its new products may be revealed.

The latest version of macOS Catalina (10.15.2) brings a slew of minor updates and bug fixes. Interestingly, the update may have fixed the speaker snap, crackle, and pop issues reported by some Macbook and Macbook Pro users, though nothing official has been stated by Apple.

Fortnite received an update today that introduces local split-screen multiplayer for Duos and Squads. The feature is currently only available on the PS4 and Xbox One. A few other features have been added as well, including a change to the visual representation of remaining ammo and preparations for the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker live event.

At least 60% or more of US consumers aged 55 years or more favor Fitbit when buying a wearable. This is due to the demand for smartwatches and fitness trackers in the relevant age ranges. However, Apple is more popular among those aged 18 to 24.

Have you received Android 9.0 builds of MIUI 11 on your Mi Max 3? Fear not, as Android 10 versions are incoming. You can already download an Android 10 build of MIUI 11 for the device too, although there are some caveats.

Several users have reported performance loss and/or loss of fan curve settings after installing the AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 drivers for AMD GPUs such as the Vega 64 and the RX 5700 XT. While the issue does not seem to be widespread at the moment, completely removing all traces of the previous driver using DDU and re-installing the new version looks to be a good workaround.

Get ready for what could be the most expensive cheesegrater in your life: the new Mac Pro is here. It is now available to pre-order from Apple.com and retailers such as B&H. This new PC has configurations that go from 4- to 6-figure USD prices.

Autodesk's Maya is one of the best-known applications in 3D animation. Its latest driver includes features that can be used by NVIDIA RTX graphics cards. This also extends to the latest version of Arnold, Maya's renderer.

In addition to the significant performance boost over its predecessor of up to 12 percent, the latest driver package for AMD Radeon video cards also comes with brand new features such as Radeon Boost, Integer Scaling, and a brand-new AMD Link app. AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition also comes with a fully redesigned gaming application.

After sending out the stable Android10-based EMUI 10 update to its Kirin 980-powered flagship phones and the diminutive P Smart (2019), Huawei is now setting its sights towards providing the update to last-gen Honor flagships and the Kirin 810-powered Honor 9X phones.

Gimdow claims that its new smart lock is one that doesn't require the user to replace the existing one (or even parts of it). This may be ideal for those who want this kind of Bluetooth-enabled security, but can't risk damage to fittings while installing it. The new product has just launched as part of a crowdfunding campaign.

Sony announced a few new titles coming to the PlayStation 4 during its State of Play broadcast earlier today. A remake of Resident Evil 3 is coming to the console in April of 2020, a few existing titles are getting PS4 ports, and Kingdom Heart III is getting a DLC expansion in January.

Magewell is a company that makes the components that connect video and audio output with the applicable software. Its latest M.2 video capture card is of its 'Eco' line-up, and is capable of single-channel operation at up to 4096x2160 at 60 frames per second over 12G-SDI. It will be launched in 2020 at the ISE exhibition.

Epic, the developer of the smash hit arena shooter Fortnite, has reignited an argument with Google over the revenue share practices of the Play Store. Epic is reportedly hoping to bring Fortnite to the Play Store but has requested an exemption from the current 70/30 revenue split all other app developers are subject to on the Play Store. Google has offered a flat "No" in response.

OPPO's Inno Day 2019 event was mostly dominated by upcoming products such as its AR headset. However, it also teased new wearables that may launch soon as well. They are a new pair of truly wireless (TWS) earbuds, as well as a square-faced smartwatch.

The Mi 8 Lite is a beacon among a sea of Xiaomi handsets being upgraded to Android 9.0 Pie builds of MIUI 11. The Chinese company released the Snapdragon 660 powered handset in September 2018 running Android 8.1 Oreo and has since upgraded it to Android 9.0 Pie builds of MIUI 10.2. Xiaomi is not done with OS upgrades for the midrange device quite yet, though.

The update that was supposed to add a few high-tier dual-barreled tanks to the Russian tech tree sadly fails to do so, leaving the Anonymizer feature as the only big change for World of Tanks 1.7. However, Crew Directives — previously available for bonds — can now be purchased only for credits.

Huawei had planned to release its Mate 30 Pro and Watch GT 2 to the Taiwanese market soon. However, this jurisdiction's NCC regulator has withdrawn its approval to sell these devices. The abrupt decision is related to an old dispute that affects the country.

OnePlus released its first smart TV series (the Q1 and Q1 Pro) this year. Now, it has unveiled a new accessory for it: an alternate remote control with a Netflix-branded button. However, existing customers can get it for free.

Two new devices, apparently made by OPPO, have shown up on the Geekbench 4 website. Given the similarities in their specs and model numbers, they may be 2 variants of the same phone. Oddly, however, they are listed with the MediaTek Helio P70 SoC, as are some of this OEM's existing phones.

We unpack the rumour that the PlayStation 5's launch titles will be exclusive to Sony's next-generation console. We were sceptical, and you should be too.

The panel-maker Vizio has reported that it "exceeded expectations" over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period just gone, having sold 500,000 or more units of its smart TVs between these days in 2019. For example, it sold 87% more premium 4K UHD big-screens year-on-year (YoY) compared to the same event in 2018.

Nokia has launched a 2nd generation of its ultra-cheap 2.2 smartphone. This iteration has a novel "Nano-Textured" polymer rear panel, AI for battery conservation and the certainty of Android updates for 2 years. The new 2.3 has been launched at €109 (about $121).

Many may have casually wondered how the speed of the Android 10 rollout compares to those of older versions of the OS. It almost feels like OEMs are sending out the OS update faster this time around. Does hard data agree with that notion? Yes, yes, it does.