Software

Wandera, a security research firm, has found malware in 17 apps on the Apple App Store. The apps use a clicker trojan module to generate fraudulent web traffic in the background, likely to pump up ad revenue for specific websites. The apps passed through Apple's stringent review process because they connected to a remote server to execute the fraudulent activity rather than having malware embedded directly in their code.

The OnePlus 3 and 3T may have launched with Android Marshmallow in 2016 and received Android 9.0 Pie earlier this year, but both can now be upgraded to Android 10. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 6 GB of RAM, or Snapdragon 821 in the case of the OnePlus 3T, should be well suited to run Google's latest version of Android too.

Xiaomi has released a stable build of MIUI 11 for the Redmi 7, but perhaps not the version for which people had hoped. While other devices in the first phase of the MIUI 11 rollout are receiving Android 10-based builds, the Redmi 7 is getting Android 9.0 Pie instead. The same goes for the Redmi 7a and Redmi K20 too.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 now has an upgrade to MIUI 11, the Chinese company's version of Android 10. The update brings plenty of new features including improved screen casting, a system-wide dark mode and a new gesture mode. Mi Mix 3 owners can download the build now.

Qualcomm's Venture division has announced the implementation of the 5G Ecosystem Fund, a source of investment worth up to US$200 million. As the name suggests, it will help support start-ups involved in new, innovative and potentially lucrative applications of the new mobile-data standard. The company also intends the new fund to help get 5G in devices besides smartphones.

Motorola has launched 3 new Moto-series phones today (October 24, 2019). They include the already well-leaked G8 Plus and G8 Play. The Lenovo-owned brand also unveiled the E6 Play, another variant of the pre-existing E6. It also expanded the availability of the One Macro to various regions including Latin America and Australia.

Recently, Amazon may have accidentally spoiled the launch of the NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro, an upcoming update to the 2017 streaming machine. A new leak indicates that the OEM has indeed prepared a 4K HDR streaming stick as well as the usual full-scale box. It apparently has 8GB in internal storage, whereas the SHIELD TV Pro has 16.

Asus has now joined the list of OEMs to send out an Android 10 build to their smartphones. The Taiwanese OEM is currently rolling out the Android 10-based ZenUI 6 beta build to users of last year's flagship, the Zenfone 5Z. The Zenfone 6's rollout is expected to follow soon.

Realme makes good value for money hardware but are usually panned by enthusiasts for their software. The company has identified that flaw, however, and is set to shake things up by adopting a new skin said to be similar to stock Android.

Night Sight 2.0 with a new astrophotography mode, Live Caption and offline Google Assistant are just three examples of features debuting on the Pixel 4 series. However, these will not remain Pixel 4 exclusives, with Google planning to bring them to older generations too. We have laid out Google's plans in a brief overview, underlining that you need not buy the latest tech to get the latest software.

A Linux user has discovered that Disney+, Disney's new streaming service, doesn't work on his Fedora machine. The problem lies with the DRM used by Disney, which implements the highest possible security level. However, Disney has stated that the streaming service will work with Android devices and Chromebooks, both of which are built upon Linux.

Two UK Banks, National Westminster and Royal Bank of Scotland, have removed their respective mobile banking apps from the Google Play Store for Samsung Galaxy S10 users. Citing security concerns, it's likely the banks' decisions were driven by the recent news that the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner used in the S10 could be fooled with a cheap silicone screen protector.

Qualcomm has commissioned a Signals Research Group (SRG) study of 5G performance, efficiency and general UX in those countries and cities to which the new radio bands have been rolled out. It reportedly found that 5G can achieve up to 10X performance compared to 4G/LTE. In addition, it is also capable of 5 times the download speeds than the older standard.

LG has revealed that the G8X ThinQ will be released for sale in the United States on November 1, 2019. This phone is a variant of the OEM's 2019 flagship designed to work with the new Dual Screen accessory. Both devices also have US starting prices and the scope for promotional deals already.

Samsung has released a software patch to fix a security flaw in the ultrasonic fingerprint readers used in the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 device families. The patch should come as a notification to users who have registered their biometric data.

In a blog post published today, Google claims that its 54-qubit quantum computer Sycamore calculated a complex problem in 200 seconds. The company also estimates the same problem would take the world's fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to solve. However, IBM (who owns the world's fastest supercomputer) says the estimate should be closer to 2.5 days. Either way, Google's achievement is a big milestone for quantum computing.

A phone calling itself the "motorola moto g(8) plus" has been benchmarked as a Snapdragon 665 device with 4GB of RAM. These specs are in accordance with previous rumors surrounding this putative device. The new results also show that it runs Android 9.0, which suggests it could still launch this year.

"Joker" is a relatively new form of malware that reportedly acts to steal contacts and sign those with infected devices up for premium SMS services. Most recently, it has been detected in a heretofore-overlooked host on Android by the Pradeo security team. This lab has had the app removed from the Google Play Store, but potentially affected users are advised to uninstall it immediately.

A device with a model number purportedly associated with Samsung's Galaxy A51 has surfaced on the Geekbench database. However, its results depict it as powered by the Exynos 9611, and not the next-gen 8 nanometer (nm) model rumored for its 2020 line of phones. In addition, it apparently has only 4GB of RAM.

The full details of the technical specifications for the Zeiss ZX1 camera have been published. The renowned German manufacturer announced the device back at the Photokina trade event in 2018 with availability originally scheduled to start with chosen dealers in early 2019. However, the camera has failed to materialize on the market thus far.

A new study into user attitudes towards wearables found that health tracking is the most popular use of this electronics category. 36% of those polled reported concerns that these functions may not live up to reality, however. 10% of the respondents also said they worried about data security on these devices.

The Steam Halloween sale is scheduled for October 28 - November 1. The Autumn sale is set for November 26 - December 3. The Winter sale will occur from December 19 - January 2.

Multiple users are reporting a failure of the Ultra WideBand U1 chip in their iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Pro Max after updating to iOS 13.1.3. While restoring an affected iPhone's firmware has solved the problem for some, others have received replacement devices.

Last week, Twitch streamer and tipster Metro claimed that Blizzard would release Diablo 4 alongside Diablo 2 Remastered at BlizzCon 2019. Now, this has seemingly been indirectly confirmed by Blizzard in an advert for a new Diablo artbook.

A series of tests have shown the Google Pixel 4 XL hilariously outpacing the OnePlus 7T in real-world, resource-intensive processing tasks. The fact that the Pixel 4 XL has less RAM and a weaker SoC than the 7T makes it all the more impressive.

The Honor Play was released just over a year ago and has received one major update: Android Pie. That will apparently be the end of the road for the device, which is unfair to owners of the Kirin 970-powered phone. Even worse, though, is Huawei's justification for the decision.

The Google Pixel 4 phones don't have support for shooting 4K60fps videos even though Android phones have been able to do that for well over a year. Google has now explained the rationale behind the decision but it's woefully unconvincing.

DeX is Samsung's proprietary facility that converts one of its Galaxy flagships into a desktop PC on connection to a monitor. One environment supported by the mode in Android 9.0 (Pie) is GNU/Linux. Unfortunately, its beta program will come to an end with the roll-out of Android 10.

Olympus has unveiled its newest Micro Four Thirds digital camera, the OM-D E-M5 Mark III. This mirrorless unit is based on a 20.4MP Live MOS sensor and a TruePic VIII Image Processor. The OEM asserts that it also packs a wide range of features into a relatively compact form-factor.

Google introduced Digital Wellbeing in order to allow users to track and manage their phone use, which extends to a per-app basis. This feature is now integrated into a new Chrome browser update. It can be used to display screen time and how much of it is spent on each website visited.

A carrier-provided list of Sony Xperia devices billed to get the Android 10 update has surfaced, and will be sure to leave owners of Sony's older flagships infuriated, as apparently, the Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact will not get Android 10.

OnePlus has once again shown its dedication to providing timely software updates, as it's now sending out the Android 10-based Oxygen OS 10 beta build to the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T. The build is exclusive to factory unlocked, non-carrier models.

A British Galaxy S10 user has claimed that this phone's ultrasound sensor could be fooled into unlocking for non-registered fingerprints. This issue was allegedly caused by a cheap gel case with a clear flap to cover the screen. Samsung has admitted that this is the case, and has stated that it will push a software fix for it shortly.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE now has an upgrade to MIUI 11, which is based on Android 10. It confers various upgrade-specific features such as gesture-based navigation and system-wide dark theme. This build also adds MIUI's new Focus Mode, which is suspiciously similar to OnePlus' Zen Mode.

Just 26 days after its release, Apple has reported that 50% of all iPhones are running iOS 13. Compared to the abysmal history of Android OEMs' software updates, the high adoption rates for the newer versions iOS continue to be a strong feature of the iPhone brand.

Xiaomi has announced the existence of the Mi Surface via its Weibo channel. It is a 34-inch 1500R-curved monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio. This new panel is also rated for AMD FreeSync and 121% of the sRGB color space. The Mi Surface is to be released on October 21, 2019.

LG has earned a bad rap for its awful software update policies. The South Korean company may be looking to shake things up, though, as it's announced that the G8 ThinQ and V50 ThinQ will get early builds of Android 10 this month.

Fitbit has expanded access to its Spotify app to the first-generation Versa and Versa Lite. The Ionic fitness watch is also included in this update. It enables these wearables to manage playback and podcasts on the music streaming platform, and to control other devices that can use the same.

Huawei UK has launched the Nova 5T. It is essentially the Honor 20 with a new name and a new region. Fans of everyday Android may be glad to learn it will be released with Google Play Services.

1More is the ODM responsible for Xiaomi's audio wearables. However, it also releases these products under its own brand. The latest of these are truly wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC).

A device called the "OPPO PCCT30" has posted scores on the Geekbench 5 website. This model number is currently believed to belong to a second-gen Reno 5G smartphone. Its new benchmarking scores reveal that it is powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor, but could have done better by this chipset.

The Surface Book 2 and Surface Book 2 15 may be innovative devices, but they have suffered from two critical problems in recent months. Microsoft now claims to have fixed the NVIDIA dGPU disconnects and BD PROCHOT-related throttling issues that have affected some machines since at least the summer. The fixes should prompt the re-release of Windows 10 version 1903 for the Surface Book 2 series too.

At the turn of this year, LG promised to deliver Android 9.0 Pie to the G6 and V20 by Q3 2019. Has it delivered? If you are a G6 owner then possibly, but many are still awaiting Pie on their handsets as we head ever deeper into Q4. By contrast, LG has offered only the faintest of glimmers for the V20, with all variants missing the self-imposed Q3 deadline.

Google also announced its new Nest Wi-Fi home product at the 2019 Pixel launch event. It consists of scalable router and point units in various muted colors. A single 802.11s router covers up to 2200 square feet of space each, whereas each point doubles as a smart speaker.

The Nest Mini is a new Connected Home devices launched by Google at its latest live event. It is a smart speaker with integrated Assistant functions and touch controls. It is now up for pre-order at a price of US$49.

Google unveiled its second-generation Pixel Buds at its 2019 'Made By' event. They are truly wireless products that, as the OEM claims, have been designed to be as compact and streamlined as possible. Nevertheless, they are rated for 5 hours of battery life, or 24 hours from their charging case.

Nikon has launched the new and expansive NIKKOR Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct lens. This product name may sound familiar as it has been chosen to honor an iconic lens of the past. The new S-series lens has manual focus and an aperture of up to a whopping f/0.95.

Qualcomm has announced that over 30 manufacturers have taken the Snapdragon X55 modem up in order to produce their 5G fixed wireless broadband consumer-premises hardware. This means the equipment carriers and ISPs will install in homes in order to access this relatively new form of broadband is highly likely to integrate this modem.

Now is the time to try One UI 2.0, if you own a Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10+ or Galaxy S10 5G that is. Samsung has opened its One UI beta program once again, with the company giving the world the first taste of its Android 10-based OS. One UI 2.0 makes some useful refinements over the last stable release, including an improved dark mode among others.

It seems that AMD has listened to its customers, having added support for its Radeon Image Sharpening algorithm to Radeon Vega GPUs. Last month the company claimed it had no immediate plans to do so, but it would bring RIS to the Vega series if there was enough interest. Good news then, Radeon RX Vega 56, RX Vega 64, Vega Frontier Edition and Radeon VII owners?