Software

Although there are still freeware products that are completely free, others come with hidden traps that the user only gets to find out about via scandals. The free Avast antivirus is such a product — it turns out that the Czech firm behind it has been selling the browser history of its users to the highest bidder.

Apparently a rather basic arcade fighting game, Shadow Brawlers allows you to bring some friends for offline multiplayer battles that cover quite a few different modes and has the potential to keep you busy for a very long time — definitely a title that many will enjoy for years to come.

Xiaomi's latest build of MIUI 11 for the Mi 9T and Redmi K20 may be re-issue Android 10 to both devices, but there have also been reports of the update causing heavy battery drain for some handsets. There is a workaround though, with some Xiaomi software potentially being at fault.

The Canadian tech patent development group WiLAN has won a court case against Apple in which the former asserted that the latter had used its intellectual property without permission. However, the actual damages involved were to be re-assessed in a subsequent trial. This process has come to an end with the decision that Apple has to pay the plaintiff US$85.23 million.

Today, the world seems filled with screens of high enough resolutions to consume the content they can show regardless of their size or portability. However, a new report shows that TVs have still managed to retain the greatest share (over 50%) of videos watched among respondents in the US. They spend an average of 20 hours per week using their TVs, compared to 4 hours watching phones.

Known as Torchlight Frontiers during its Alpha stage, the successor of Torchlight and Torchlight II is now on its way to being launched as — obviously — Torchlight III. Even more, the game will drop the free-to-play business model and will be available at launch via Steam instead of Arc.

Chuwi may be best-known for its Microsoft Surface clones; however, it has decided that it will also do HTPCs now. This Herobox has a Gemini Lake chipset with the Intel UHD Graphics 600 necessary for 4K video playback. It also has 8GB of RAM, a 180GB SSD and it runs Windows 10.

In an unexpected move, Microsoft will issue another public update for Windows 7. The update, which comes almost two weeks after Microsoft officially ended support for the OS, will fix a bug affecting desktop wallpapers. The bug was introduced with the last official security patch released on January 14.

Those who use TCL's latest triple-camera smartphone, the PLEX, may be pleasantly surprised by a new OTA update that confers Android 10 and the January 1, 2020 security patch on these devices. This download is 2.7GB in size, and that is because of all the other features found in the new OS, which include a Modern Combat title and numerous UI tweaks.

The news that Xiaomi may not bring Android 10 to the Mi A2 Lite has clearly annoyed some people. Hundreds of people have responded by petitioning the company to do so, with representatives seemingly on hand to calm fears. Xiaomi still does not know when the Mi A2 Lite will receive its final OS upgrade, though.

The Galaxy S9 and S9+ have been eligible for beta versions of One UI 2.0, Samsung's custom version of Android 10, for months now. The arrival of Android 10 on the Galaxy Note 9 brought hope to the idea of Samsung honouring its January release schedule for the S9 series too, but that no longer appears to be the case.

A new draft of a government resolution in Russia mandates that all electronics sold in the country carry pre-installed software from Russian companies that espouses the "formation of the priority of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values." However, these values are not explicitly defined in the resolution. The document is a followup to legislation signed into law last year forcing all smart devices and computers sold in Russia to be pre-installed with Russian-made software.

A new rumor from French website iPhonesoft claims that iOS 14 will be compatible with the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, and original iPhone SE. However, the upcoming version of iPadOS will supposedly drop support for the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4. Apple is expected to announce the new versions of their mobile operating systems at WWDC in June.

Byte has emerged from beta onto the Play Store and the App Store. It, much like its predecessor Vine, allows the user to make videos of 6 seconds in length. Both apps also have a creator in common, who hopes to bring a form of revenue-sharing to this platform soon.

Huawei has confirmed that the Huawei Y9 (2019) will not receive the Android 10-based EMUI 10 update, and owners of the phone are, well, unhappy about that decision. Rightfully so, too, as the Honor 8X, another mid-range phone, was released around the same time and will be getting the update.

Action cameras are a popular device category, particularly among those who want to record their rugged pursuits wherever they go. A new report indicates that the market in question will grow to be worth US$8.9 billion in the next 5 years. This is thought to be influenced by similar performance by the travel and adventure-sports markets worldwide.

According to a new leak, Redmi - which is usually known as a smartphone brand - will launch a fitness tracker soon. It may be of the kind that fits into a silicone wrist-band, and may also have a front-facing capacitive button. This device may have been certified for use in India already.

Recently, the Google/Huawei Nexus 6P was the subject of a class action lawsuit in which the claimants experienced a disproportional amount of battery drain, bootloops or both. This case was settled, and the beneficiaries have now been informed that they will receive their respective compensation. It should be issued from now until February 29, 2020.

It seems owners of the Xiaomi Redmi 8A budget-friendly smartphone could soon be enjoying all the features that Android 10 has to offer. A recent Geekbench database entry for a “Xiaomi Redmi 8A” has “Android 10” mentioned as its operating system. The cheap handset with a large battery currently operates on Android 9 Pie.

Google Camera has just been updated to version 7.3.017 on the Play Store. A new report allegedly based on a teardown of its APK specifies the ability to record at 24 frames per second (fps). This option may pertain to upcoming phones such as the Pixel 4a series, which may also have cropped up in this code.

The Samsung Galaxy M20 will probably get a successor called the M21 this year. A new addition to the Geekbench 5 database suggests that this phone does in fact exist. Should it be genuine, it will be powered by the Exynos 9611 chipset and 4GB of RAM.

Smart TVs are already popular purchases, and may become more so in the future due to their role as smart-home hubs. The latest analysis of their market has found that their shipments may number about 266 million over the next 5 years. This is driven by 4K content and its increasing availability.

The latest report on the health- and fitness-tracker market shows that it may achieve a valuation of as much as US$5 billion by 2025. This may be driven by the increasing number of applications and functions for these devices. They may in fact improve to the point that they can be used to help diagnose and prevent illnesses in the future.

The 2020 Samsung Galaxy A-series of smartphones was rumored to gain a novel variant called the A01 this year. However, it seems the leak in question has been proved true thanks to new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approvals. They suggest that this Galaxy A01 may be made available through certain carriers this year.

8K is the next up-and-coming thing in display-tech standards. However, devices that support it may only be so effective at showing it without compatible, high-quality cables. The company Austere has put just such a product on the market.

Two years ago, LG promised that it would start delivering updates faster and more frequently. While 2019 largely proved a bust in that regard, the company has already started pushing Android 10 to the V50 ThinQ. Now, the company has announced its Android 10 roadmap, and who knew that promising to deliver updates in a more timely manner also meant ditching most of your current portfolio.

Xiaomi may have taken its time in delivering Android 10 to the Pocophone F1, but the OS upgrade apparently brings more than just minor changes to the device. Some people are even claiming that the update brings drastically improved gaming performance, which would be a boon for the almost eighteen-month-old handset.

Xiaomi launched the Mi A2 Lite in mid-2018 running Android One, making it eligible for at least one more OS upgrade. However, the company has now sparked talk online about whether the device will even receive Android 10, with it seemingly relegating it to just security patch updates, instead.

According to a Brazilian blog, Motorola has started to update its Moto G7 Plus to the latest version of Android. It adds the new kind of navigation controls, a dark mode and December 2019 security patches to this phone. So far, its roll-out appears to be slow, although it may be complete within a month or so.

The Inkplate 6 is a new product directed at those who like to make custom electronics from (nearly) scratch. It is a display that offers all the advantages of e-paper, as well as support for the hardware and software to customize it (its housing included) in a wide variety of ways. It also has a USB interface to power it, making it more versatile than many similar options.

OnePlus has announced and started rolling out OxygenOS 10.3.1 for the OnePlus 6 and 6T. The latest stable update for the devices addresses a host of issues while also improving system and camera performance.

Despite not being officially confirmed, the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 appeared to have missed the cut for upgrades to One UI 2.0, Samsung's custom version of Android 10. While some people had accepted the notion of their two-year-old handsets remaining on Android 9.0 Pie, Samsung has fuelled speculation that both could yet receive Android 10 at some point this year.

The version labeled 5.0 of the popular open-source software compatibility layer known as Wine has just surfaced as both source code and binary for multiple operating systems, including Android, macOS, and various Linux distros. The list of major changes includes Vulkan 1.1 and multi-monitor support, built-in modules in PE format, and more.

A picture of what is claimed to be the first look at the PlayStation 5’s user interface has been posted on a well-known imageboard. The poster of the image states that they work at a game studio that is currently utilizing PS5 devkits. Comments in regard to the possible PS5 UI have focused on its similarity to the PS4’s revamped UI.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" will finally kill the pre-installed Amazon Web App. The move comes in the wake of Canonical's eliminations of the Ubuntu web launcher dependency. Many users hated the Amazon Web App, which was introduced as a pre-installed link in Ubuntu 12.10.

Yet another list has surfaced revealing Huawei's plans for its global EMUI 10 rollout. A total of twenty-two phones are billed to receive the update, with Kirin 980-powered devices like the Mate 20 Pro and P30 Pro leading the way.

HMD Global has announced that the Nokia 2.3 is now available on the US market, starting with pre-sales at Best Buy. This device has a 6.2-inch screen and a polycarbonate build. Its price definitely puts it in the budget category; however, for all that, it offers 2 years of Android updates.

Phone addiction or dependency is becoming an increasingly prevalent problem in the developed world. Google has set up its Creative Lab for users who want to address this. Its latest experiments consist of 3 apps which may act as digital detox aids, while helping users visualize their screen-on time.

A new leak posted to the Geekbench 5 database purports to spill some of the upcoming Google Pixel 4a's specs. However, this "leak" is particularly unreliable, not the least as it makes the bold claim that the OEM will switch from Qualcomm to Samsung for this phone's processor. Furthermore, the SoC in question also belongs to the Galaxy S8 flagship line.

Fancy trying out Android 10 on the Pocophone F1 early? Well now, you can courtesy of a new beta build of MIUI 11. The Pocophone F1 is the last of Xiaomi's Snapdragon 845-powered smartphones to receive Android 10, despite having been upgraded to MIUI 11 last year.

ASRock has a new mini-PC board ready to go. As it appears to be designed for the Intel Pentium Silver J5040 chipset, it may be pitched at the lower end of this market. It can drive up to 3 displays and has an HDMI port that supports 4K at 60 fps, but no USB type-C ports.

At the turn of the year, it seemed that Xiaomi would be bringing Android 10 to all its eligible Android One handsets. The Mi A3, A2 and A2 Lite were all due to receive Android 10 this month, but only one has so far. Worse still, the January update has started hitting the other two, and not as promised.

Samsung's next upcoming foldable phone may be called the Galaxy Z Flip. The prolific leaker Ishan Agarwal claims to have uncovered some more of its specs. It will apparently have a main screen measuring 6.7 inches. Furthermore, it may have a 12MP rear camera rather than the next-gen sensors predicted for the Galaxy S20 series.

The first developer preview for Android 10 went live in March last year. We expect the same release timeframe for Android 11 this year, and the fact that a Pixel 4 has been found running Android 11 on a benchmark supports that notion.

Hao Ran, a OnePlus employee, has shared one of its designs for its early 2018 flagship. It exchanges the glass rear panel normally found on this phone (the 6) for a more original backing made of wood. This render's non-optical fingerprint sensor and logo were also picked out in gold, which went well with the phone's alternative finish.

An Indian electronics authority has approved a new device from Realme described as being part of the "Smart Watches" category. Therefore, it seems this brand is preparing to launch its first wearable of this type in India. If so, it will compete with other OEMs such as Huawei and Garmin in this market.

A study published in The Lancet has concluded that Fitbit use was associated with significant improvements in a technique used to detect influenza and similar conditions. This is due to the heart rate- and activity-monitoring features in these wearables. Therefore, fitness trackers may play a greater role in public health in the future.

Samsara is a company that harnesses the trend towards tech-enhanced luggage. Its latest product is of the newly-expanded 23-inch carry-on size. It is the first from its OEM to have its own Wi-Fi hotspot. The suitcase also supports wireless charging for phones and has GPS for "more accurate" tracking should it get lost.

Nokia has certified a new phone for use in the United States. Based on the specs leaked as a result of this new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documentation, it may have a relatively small screen - about 5.6 inches at most. Therefore, it may most likely be a 1-series device for this new year.

LG may still be rolling out Android 9.0 Pie to the LG G6, but the company has already started moving the V50 ThinQ onto Android 10. Better yet, the South Korean company has done so ahead of schedule. Shocked? So are we.