Android

After seeding the first MIUI 13 update to the Poco F3, Poco is now gracing the Poco X3 Pro with its own taste of MIUI 13. While the Poco F3's update was for Mi Pilots, the Poco X3 Pro's appears to be a stable build.

Samsung has released bug fixes to the Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic. Apparently, last month's major firmware update for the pair caused a few problems, despite being aimed at introduced new features to Samsung's first One UI Watch smartwatches.

A leaker has revealed prices for the Galaxy A13 4G, Galaxy A33 5G and Galaxy A53 5G in Europe. While the Galaxy A13 4G will be the cheapest of the trio, the Galaxy A53 5G is not expected to start for more than €449. All models should launch with at least 128 GB of storage too.

Sony has started upgrading the Xperia 1 II and Xperia Pro to Android 12, the second OS update for the pair. Android 12 will arrive through an OTA update, 58.2.A.0.899, and is currently eligible for US handsets.

Mobvoi has revealed the TicWatch Pro 3 Sports Version, a Wear OS-based smartwatch that features 4G and GPS connectivity. The new smartwatch also supports over 100 exercise modes, along with numerous sensors for tracking your health and wellbeing.

Huawei is on the verge of releasing the Nova 9 SE, its first smartphone with a 108 MP camera. A leak has also confirmed that the Nova 9 SE has a large display, a Snapdragon 65 SoC and expandable storage, among other features.

After reports detailed the Poco F4 a few days ago, that phone's more expensive sibling, the Poco F4 Pro, has now been spotted on Xiaomi's IMEI database. A few details of the phone have also been revealed, with the premium phone said to be a rebranded Redmi K50 Pro+.

A new report from Digitimes suggests that HTC hasn't abandoned the smartphone market just yet. In April 2022, the company will reportedly launch a flagship Android smartphone that will be integrated with the metaverse.

Samsung's latest flagship phablet, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, has proven itself inconsistent, to say the least, on durability-related YouTube to date. Now, it has made its way through the classic JerryRigEverything series of tests. Can the Note replacement's cutting-edge Gorilla Glass Victus+ sandwich acquit itself in this new video?

A new video based on recent leaks shows what to expect from the Pixel 7 Pro, Google's next flagship smartphone. The video shows the Pixel 7 Pro from all sides, reinforcing the continuation of the Pixel 6 Pro's design. The Pixel 7 Pro is thought to feature larger camera sensors than its predecessor, though.

After recent reports touted launch plans for the Redmi Note 12 series in China, a new leak has now provided insight into what hardware will be on the phones, as well as potential pricing. While the lineup may only be "more of the same", powerful chipsets are on the cards.

Blackview has started selling the Tab 10 Pro, an Android tablet based around MediaTek MT8788V and a 1200p display. The Tab 10 Pro retails for US$239.99 and can be purchased with a US$39.99 detachable magnetic keyboard.

Reportedly, Samsung has sent out tens of millions of smartphones with weak or faulty encryption. Estimates for the number of affected smartphones could reach 100 million and include all Galaxy S smartphones from the Galaxy S8 onwards. Samsung was made aware of the security issues nearly a year ago.

Twitter leaker Max Weinbach has learned that mentions of the Google Pixel Watch and Pixel 6a have shown up in the inventory of a network provider. The former is slated to offer 32 GB of storage and the latter 128 GB, the leak adds.

A detailed leak has outlined what to expect from the Moto G22, one of Motorola's next budget smartphones. While the Moto G22 is expected to retail for less than €200, it should still arrive with a 90 Hz OLED display, a large battery and a 50 MP quad camera set up.

The Poco F3 is now receiving its first-ever MIUI 13 build. This update brings Android 12-based MIUI 13 to the popular phone and weighs in at a whopping 3.2 GB. The Xiaomi 11T Pro also receives a similar Android 12-based OTA that looks to be in stable form.

TCL has announced three new tablets at MWC 2022, all of which have ~10-inch displays. One is a 5G variant, whereas another is the latest in the OEM's NXTPAPER range. However, it may have detracted from these new devices by mentioning an additional slate that is yet to launch and might be a flagship among TCL big-screen mobile devices.

TCL's existing 30-series smartphones are new devices pitched at the US market. Now, it has announced new variants for the European market at the latest Mobile World Congress (MWC). They include the 30 5G, accompanied by Plus, SE, and E variants, starting from under US$160.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra running the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC seems to be performing rather poorly in graphic-intensive titles such as Genshin Impact when compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max with the A15 Bionic. The Galaxy S22 Ultra was shown to have low, inconsistent frame rates at a higher power consumption compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max's near-60 fps performance at lower power.

Xiaomi has unveiled yet more Redmi Note 11 smartphones. This time, the company has presented the Redmi Note 11E and Redmi Note 11E Pro, two very different smartphones. Currently available only in China, the Redmi Note 11E series will be orderable later this month.

Aohi has introduced itself as a "new smart brand" that sells high-tech power bricks rated to charge different devices at advanced wattages. Its latest such product is rated for 100W with Power Delivery (PD) - however, the OEM asserts that it is "40% smaller" than the charger typically used for machines such as MacBook Pros. It is shipped with a cable that has its own little read-out to display the speed of each charge.

LG has finally confirmed the availability and prices of its latest OLED TV series. While it has only announced details for the TVs in European markets, the availability and prices give a flavour of what to expect in other markets. Details about the OLED A2 77-inch and OLED G2 97-inch are still a mystery, though.

LG has committed to upgrading the LG Velvet to Android 12 by the end of this month. LG's Android 12 rollout will begin in South Korea and could take a while before it reaches other markets. The likes of the LG Wing should be in line for Android 12 too.

The release of the Galaxy S22 Ultra already made it clear that Samsung intended to shutter the Galaxy Note series. However, the head of Samsung's smartphone division has confirmed that there will be no more Galaxy Note-branded smartphones, with future Galaxy S Ultra models taking their place instead.

Xiaomi has updated the Mi A3 to the February 2022 security patch on its global software channel. The soon-to-be-replaced security patch arrives as V12.0.20.0.RFQMIXM, a 13 MB OTA file that is also available as a fastboot or recovery file.

A leak has confirmed that Xiaomi will not be announcing the Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12X or Xiaomi 12 Pro this week at MWC 2022. Instead, the company will reveal the Xiaomi 12 series globally in two weeks. The same leak confirms that the launch event will be an online affair and will be watchable across multiple social media channels.

Oppo has revealed the Find X5 series globally, but we are still waiting on OnePlus to do the same with the OnePlus 10 Pro. The latter has finally confirmed that the OnePlus 10 Pro will appear outside China later this month and still with OxygenOS. Pete Lau has announced that OnePlus will not be ditching OxygenOS any time soon, either.

MediaTek's newly launched sub-premium chipsets, the Dimensity 8100 and Dimensity 8000, will see widespread adoption. Xiaomi, Realme, and OnePlus have now all confirmed incoming devices with the 5 nm Dimensity 8100, with the OPPO K10 series set to get the Dimensity 8000.

Yet again, it appears owners of the Exynos model of Samsung's newest flagship phone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, get the short end of the stick. Going by side-by-side comparisons, the Exynos 2200-powered phones display both worse battery life and video recording.

A group of researchers has published a study claiming that their “AirGuard” Android app is better at detecting nearby AirTags than Apple’s tracker detection service on iOS. Incidents of AirTags being used to track and steal things like cars have been reported from the get-go. To prevent this, several apps have popped up, aiming to alert users about nearby trackers.

Realme has finally announced its latest charging technology for smartphones. The new UltraDart system can apparently support rates of up to 200W, although it will start at 150W in its first-ever phone. It is thus rated to charge its battery by 50% in just 5 minutes while controlling the amount of heat generated in the process.

A leaker has leaked numerous specifications about the POCO F4, one of many upcoming Xiaomi smartphones. Reputedly, the POCO F4 will arrive with a 6.3-inch AMOLED display, a large battery and high wattage fast charging. For some reason, Xiaomi has not sought to upgrade the POCO F3 in all areas, such as SoC.

The GT2 Pro is Realme's early-2022 flagship smartphone, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and up to 12GB of RAM. It is slated to launch in Europe soon; however, a blog now purports to spill the prices to be unveiled during that event in advance. They potentially point to marked affordability for these specs, only beaten in this respect by the phone's vanilla GT2 sibling.

Lenovo has now made its first-gen Legion Y-series Android smartphone official. It brings a relatively novel form-factor to its market, having rear-firing fans that blast through its rear panel and surround its RGB logo. Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and generous battery drive a 144Hz AMOLED display with a 720Hz multi-finger touch-sampling rate.

The Lenovo Legion Y700 compact Android tablet has been launched in China at a starting price of 2,699 yuan, which is equivalent to US$428/€381/£319. However, lucky early-bird customers can pick up the Snapdragon 870-based gaming slate for a special introductory price until March 10. The Legion Y700 has been called a rival to Apple’s iPad Mini 6.

At its launch event today, Realme announced the debuts of the Realme GT 2 and GT 2 Pro for the global market, as well as updating its software update policy to match Google's on the major OS upgrade front.

Honor has officially launched the Magic 4 and Magic 4 Pro in Europe, with prices starting at €899 former and €1,099 for the latter. Both phones feature a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, 120 Hz LTPO HDR10+ AMOLED screens with a MEMC chip, and more.

Xiaomi has released the second version of the POCO M4 Pro globally. Now a 4G model, the new POCO M4 Pro has a 6.43-inch AMOLED display, a Helio G96 SoC and four cameras. The POCO M4 Pro (4G) starts at €199 and is available with up to 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage.

The POCO X4 Pro 5G is here, and it has a worse Qualcomm SoC than its predecessor. The new model has a superior display though, along with a 108 MP primary camera and a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 67 W charging, among other features. The POCO X4 Pro 5G will debut for €269 with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

Some new Sony Xperia 1 IV renders have emerged online, highlighting its triple rear cameras, fingerprint sensor, and 3.5 mm audio jack. It is expected to feature a 6.5-inch OLED screen and run a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC under the hood.

New tests have now revealed performance and efficiency metrics of both the Cortex-X2 and Cortex-A710 cores on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Exynos 2200, along with similar cores on chipsets like Google's Tensor, the Snapdragon 888, and the Snapdragon 870.

Lenovo has refreshed the Tab M10 Plus with a third-generation model. The Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen) has a 1200p display, up to 6 GB of RAM, expandable storage and a 7,700 mAh battery. The Android 12 tablet will start at €249 and will be available with MediaTek Helio G80 and Snapdragon 680 4G SoCs.

Motorola has added the Moto G51 to its portfolio for those who don't need a high-end phone but still appreciate a fast display. The only users that might not find it suitable are those with small hands.

Xiaomi already sells some of the highest-end and powerful wireless chargers on the market. Now, it has announced that the next round of these accessories will rival Apple's MagSafe, with increased accuracy and speed. Its new "magnetic absorption" technology is rated to reach 50W of power delivery, although this also requires active cooling.

Honor's MWC 2022 showcase and, thus, the launch of the Magic4 smartphone series, is now nearly upon us. Despite this, the OEM has decided to reveal a potentially significant detail in advance: a side-on new-flagship view that reveals a pronounced curve toward an extremely skinny frame on the part of both the display and rear panel.

The Huawei Mate 50 series has now been confirmed to be in Huawei's plan for release. Official sources fail to provide specific information but word in the form of leaks has now provided a look at the expected hardware and launch date of the Mate 50 phones, with one notable takeaway being a tipped Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus.

Google has not released a Pixel smartphone in India since the Pixel 4a. However, a recent BIS certification suggests that that could change in the next few months, possibly with the Pixel 6a. Currently, Google has only registered the 'GX7AS' in India, despite having the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro and the Pixel Fold in the works too.

The Xiaomi sub-brand POCO has announced a launch date for its M4 Pro. There is a phone by this name already on the market; however, this version is a 4G/LTE-only phone. POCO has already gone ahead and spoiled this M-series variant's looks ahead of this event, which it might as well have done as it is a re-brand of another phone from its parent company.

The smartphone chipset market has ended 2021 with MediaTek still in the top spot, according to the latest Counterpoint Research report. However, Qualcomm experienced a resurgence to a narrow second place, followed by Apple - and Unisoc, who overtook Samsung into fourth place compared to the last quarter of 2020.

The Exynos 2200-powered Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra was reported to suffer from a rather pesky display bug. After acknowledging the issue, it appears Samsung has now fixed it with the first OTA to the phones, landing with the March security patch.