Android

Those who simply cannot live with Xiaomi's MIUI interface on their Mi 10T and Mi 10T Pro devices are now finally receiving the first alternatives, although all are custom ROMs. Nusantara Project is one of the first such pieces of code to go live, comes from Indonesia, and is based on the Android Open Source Project.

OnePlus has finally started rolling out OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11 to the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series. All OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro handsets should receive OnePlus' latest OS within the next few days. Still, the updates are already available to download and install manually.

Although the new software is not coming with MIUI 12.5 on top, various older Redmi devices are now being updated to Android 11. The list of handsets that receive the new firmware this week includes the Redmi Note 9 and Note 9 Pro, as well as the Redmi Note 10 and its Pro sibling, both released earlier this month.

A new size rumor about the potential Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 has once again demonstrated the Chinese OEM’s fondness for Apple products. It also seems that the iPad Pro mimic might be available sooner than expected, but it’s unlikely the Mi Pad 5 will get the sort of price tag that Xiaomi originally became noted for.

We recently reviewed Oppo's flagship smartphone, the Find X3 Pro. It managed to convince us in many aspects; it does many things better than its predecessor, which makes it a strong alternative to Samsung and Xiaomi.

Xiaomi is yet to unveil Mi 11 Lite, and someone has already published an unboxing video of the Mi 11 Lite 4G on YouTube. So, Xiaomi may be planning to announce the device on March 29, but almost all its specifications have already been revealed.

LG Electronics may abandon its smartphone business, according to a new report. Apparently, negotiations with prospective partners have failed, leaving LG with the option of closing its smartphone business instead.

Vivo's 2021 flagships have been unleashed as the X60 and X60 Pro 5G for the Malaysian market. As rumored, the phones are based on the Snapdragon 870 SoC in this country, and not the Exynos processor they have in China. The X60 Pro is graced with a main shooter with the OEM's Gimbal Stabilization 2.0, although both variants have Zeiss branding.

The Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 may have leaked again, this time courtesy of a Lenovo employee. The new leak states that Lenovo has developed an Android 11 tablet with a Snapdragon 870 SoC, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, which correlates with others that surfaced earlier this month.

The latest market research indicates that Samsung sold 3 times more Galaxy S21 units in January 2021 compared to S20 phones for the same month of 2020 in the US. This may be due to the lower prices of the newer flagships in this market compared to their predecessors. The series' sales may have dropped off gradually since their launch; however, the release of the S21 FE could jump-start them again.

The POCO X3 Pro has arrived, and yes, it features the Snapdragon 855+ re-branded as the Snapdragon 860. Xiaomi has paired the two-year-old SoC with a 120 Hz display, LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. There is also a 5,160 mAh battery, five cameras and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The POCO X3 Pro will be available from €199 at launch in three colours.

The POCO F3 is here, although it is nothing but a Redmi K40 with POCO branding. The POCO F3 has the same 6.67-inch AMOLED screen as the Mi 11, along with a Snapdragon 870 SoC, LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The POCO F3 will start at €299 with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

"Rugged" phones from OEMs such as DOOGEE are often sold via platforms such as AliExpress. However, this company has now announced that it is also now selling its S59 Pro on Amazon (in the US and the UK). This IP68/IP69K/MIL-STD-810G device has one of the largest batteries on the Android market, which powers on-board speakers rated for up to 2W of audio power.

The OnePlus 8T will be superseded by the new flagship 9 series soon; however, its new official public Android betas might help keep it relevant for some time to come. The latest one contains a bunch of bug-fixes, and also upgrades the phone's security patch level to March 2021. It also adds one or two features, including a time-stamp for the stock camera app.

Xiaomi will be launching the POCO F3 and POCO X3 Pro today, but multiple details about both devices have already flooded the internet. From marketing renders to the first stable MIUI build for the POCO F3, there is little left to reveal about Xiaomi's new POCO devices.

OnePlus released the OnePlus Nord N10 5G towards the end of last year, and the company is now set to deliver a successor. Expectant fans may be disappointed, however, as information about the upcoming mid-range devices paints an image of a mere incremental upgrade, at least in terms of design.

Complete specifications of the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro are now listed on T-Mobile just ahead of their March 23 launch. The OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro feature a near-identical spec sheet with the primary differences being with respect to the display and camera setup.

Motorola is now rumored to have a phone called the Moto G20 in the works. It seems the OEM has made some unusual choices for this device, as its SoC comes not from Qualcomm, or even MediaTek, but from Unisoc instead. According to a new Geekbench leak, it is an octa-core chipset clocked at 2.0GHz.

March seems to be the month of Android flagships thus far; however, iQOO's latest launch announcement might be for a more affordable device. The Z3 is slated to debut with a mid-tier processor, although whether it will come from MediaTek or Qualcomm is not clear at this point. However, all rumors do agree it will have 5G, not to mention fast 55W charging.

Asus' new mobile-gaming flagship device, the ROG Phone 5, recently earned a shelving of shame following a catastrophic end to its round of JerryRigEverything's popular durability tests. This failure was thought to be due to a weak point caused by a secondary USB type C port found on one side; however, the ROG Phone 3 also had one, and proved much more robust. A teardown may reveal what else is going on with this new phone.

A previous link hinted at an upcoming Motorola phone that, despite having otherwise affordable-class specs, has a 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor. Now, a new tip asserts that it will be called the Moto G60 at launch, and has some other potential advantages, not the least of which is a large 6,000mAh battery.

SoftBank has announced that it has set up a new 5G service in Japan. It is based on mmWave technology as opposed to sub-6GHz, which, according to its owner, brings the potential for higher speeds at reduced costs for carriers. The new system is made using Qualcomm hardware, and will support phones with the same OEM's SoCs.

A device called the "HMD Global Nokia X20" has popped up on Geekbench 5, detected as running on a Snapdragon 480 processor. This SoC is aimed at affordable new 5G phones, suggesting that this putative X20 will fall into this tier on launch. Its new leak also suggests it has 6GB of RAM and runs Android 11.

JerryRigEverything has already shown that Xiaomi's inexpensive plastic phones are not built to last, but the Redmi Note 10 has proven to be exceptionally weak. If you plan on picking up the Redmi Note 10, you may want to take some insurance out on it.

The new device sports a 10.1" HD display, an octa-core 2.3 GHz processor, and 32 GB of expandable storage. The tablet runs Android with plenty of Barnes & Noble apps pre-installed. However, the tablet looks very similar to the Lenovo Tab M10 Plus in practically every regard.

With a starting price of 250 Euros (~$298), the Lenovo Tab P11 is currently one of the cheapest Android tablets with an 11-inch display size. Nevertheless, it scores points in our test with its comprehensive features and only demands a few compromises from buyers.

According to reports, Xiaomi has set a launch date for the Mi 11 Pro and Mi 11 Ultra. Reiterated by Ice Universe, the pair will supposedly debut in a few days with Samsung's new ISOCELL GN2 flagship camera sensor.

GalaxyClub has revealed possible details about the Galaxy A82's cameras. It is unclear if Samsung's flagship A-series smartphone will feature a sliding design like the Galaxy A80, though. However, the Galaxy A82 should feature either the Sony IMX682 or IMX686 as its primary camera.

91Mobiles and Ishan Agarwal have leaked the first Mi 11 Lite marketing renders, along with specifications for the 4G and 5G models. According to the website, both models will be available in three colours.

The Xiaomi Mi A3 has received another update, this time on Xiaomi's EEA branch. V12.0.5.0.RFQEUXM is another security patch update for the Android One handset, but it addresses 38 high or critical CVEs that Google has identified. V12.0.5.0.RFQEUXM is rolling out now as an OTA download.

In an interview with News18, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the OnePlus 9R, an "affordable" gaming smartphone, will launch in India alongside the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. Lau stated that the 9R will be similar to the OnePlus Nord in terms of pricing but will aim to bring a flagship-level experience, particularly with regards to gaming, without breaking the bank.

An affordable entry into Samsung's Galaxy? While that sounds good, the Galaxy A02s cut some corners in many places - in so many that it is hardly acceptable anymore.

Xiaomi's Black Shark premium gaming brand has announced that its new, Snapdragon 888-powered flagship is to launch on March 23, 2021 in China. The 4 is slated to have improved, "360-degree, 3D" cooling, triple rear cameras and the shoulder buttons from its 3 Pro forebear. The 2 phones are also likely to have very different designs.

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 may be one of the most powerful smartphones on the market, but it is also one of the weakest. Unfortunately for ASUS, its latest gaming smartphone does not hold up to the rigours of a JerryRigEverything durability test.

Motorola is now said to have a phone with the new 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor on-board. Furthermore, the device is rumored to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732 SoC and up to 6GB of RAM, which might bring the high-end camera spec to a very affordable tier in the near future. It might launch in India soon.

Realme has officially announced that its first phone with the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 flagship processor will be the GT Neo, and that it will debut at the end of March 2021. The OEM has yet to tease any more of its specs, although it is possible it will launch with a curved screen and a 4,400mAh battery.

OxygenOS (OOS) is OnePlus' well-received Android-based ROM for the global units of its phones. It has a Chinese-market counterpart called HydrogenOS (H2OS). However, the OEM has reportedly informed its users that it is to be discontinued in favor of OPPO’s ColorOS instead.

New rumours about a future Google Pixel smartphone are mounting. Now, Google has added support for an under-display fingerprint scanner in the latest Android 12 developer preview, signalling that the company may be on the verge of utilising the technology in a new smartphone. The inclusion of support for the feature may impact future AOSP builds and custom ROMs, too.

Renowned leaker Even Blass has posted Samsung's product release schedule for 2021. It says that new Chromebooks and Galaxybooks are slated to be launched in April, followed by the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite in June, the Galaxy A82 in July and finally, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE in August.

Motorola has introduced a new PC-like desktop environment for its Moto Edge Plus flagship smartphone. The functionality dubbed ‘Ready For’ gives users the ability to plug in their smartphone to a keyboard, mouse and display similar to Samsung’s DeX environment.

Unleashed for both desktop and mobile users, Vivaldi 3.7 comes with native support for Apple M1 processors and noticeable speed improvements (Windows/Linux/macOS), as well as easier bookmarking of websites and a friendly Welcome page alongside various other interface enhancements (Android).

It is already known that Samsung plans to release new smartwatches this year, such as fourth-generation models of the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active. Now, a major component of what may be the Galaxy Watch 4 or the Galaxy Watch Active 4 has been spotted in China at the 3C.

OnePlus has already revealed that DisplayMate has awarded the OnePlus 9 Pro's display an A+, the highest rating that the company bestows. OnePlus has teased that the OnePlus 9 Pro has an LTPO display too, which it calls Fluid Display 2.0.

The Redmi Smart TV X50, X55 and X65 have been unleashed onto the Indian market. Their 4K LED panels are enhanced with MEMC, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. The series also features dual 15W speakers, and will start at INR 32,999 (~US$455) on their March 26, 2021 release.

Google has announced that it is reducing the cut of revenue made on apps sold via the Play Store from 30% to 15%. The change applies to all developers who make US$1 million or less per year on the platform. According to the Mountain View giant, this move is intended to help Android app-makers grow at critical stages of their enterprises.

It seems that the Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro will follow the Mi 11 Ultra's footsteps and include a secondary screen next to its rear cameras. This could theoretically help users take selfies using the objectively more powerful rear camera modules, but the small screen is less than ideal as a viewfinder.

The S888 smartwatch supports 4G, GPS and runs Android 7.0 Nougat. The device is also IP65 rated, has a 1.88-inch touchscreen and has 32 GB of storage.