Android

Xiaomi looks to be keeping up rather nicely with security patches—at least on some of its phones. After sending out the September update to the Indian model of the Redmi Note 8 Pro, the company is now rolling out the update to the global variants of the Redmi Note 9 and Redmi Note 9 Pro.

Epic Games has been in open litigious conflict with Apple over the latter's 30% levy on developer revenue in exchange for the use of its App Store. Now, the studio has escalated this situation with the implementation of the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF), a new non-profit for "developer rights". Spotify, another company openly disgruntled with Apple's "unfair" practices, has also helped form the group.

The first details about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 775G have leaked, courtesy of Roland Quandt. Apparently, the Snapdragon 775G will be a huge upgrade for the Snapdragon 7xx series and will support a host of flagship components, including 120 Hz displays and LPDDR5 RAM.

Huawei has issued a new round of updates for the Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, P20 and P20 Pro. The new build, called EMUI 10.0.0.180, seeks to deliver system improvements for the four devices as they near the end of software support.

The Galaxy A71 sports four cameras at the back and new information indicates that the upcoming Galaxy A72 will do one better, by adding a 3x optical zoom lens to the mix, bringing it in line with more premium offerings. At the front of the phone will be a 32 MP shooter for a total of six cameras.

The latest member of the Geniatech XPI family packs a Rockchip RK3128 chipset, along with up to 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. A Wi-Fi module can be added to go with the board's four USB Type-A ports, HDMI port and 40-pin GPIO header. The Geniatech XPI-3128 starts at US$25 and can currently be configured up to US$35.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE was released earlier in the week and is already listed for pre-order on stores like Amazon and B&H with a US$599 price tag. Comparatively, the OnePlus 8T and Pixel 5 have been touted to be prices higher than that while also offering worse hardware.

With the Pixel 4a, Google has created a real success. The price is right, performance too, and minor defects can be ignored. Let's just hope that there will also be enough units available.

Several leaks have painted the OnePlus 8T as a flat-screen refresh of the existing 8 flagship series. Now, it has released a new preview post to its community website revealing that it will get the next generation of this OEM's in-house Warp Charge USB type C charging standard. This system will use dual cells to allow the battery in question to attain full capacity in an estimated 39 minutes.

OPPO has unveiled an electrocardiography (ECG) -enabled version of its first-gen smartwatch in the course of its 2020 Developer's Conference. The wearable is essentially the same as the 46mm variant of this Watch, just with the new in-depth heart rate-tracking feature. The Watch also now also has a new League of Legends Limited Edition.

After releasing the Redmi Note 9 back in April, Xiaomi is set to launch the Redmi Note 10 series soon. The latest report claims that the Redmi Note 10 or Redmi Note 10 Pro will be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 750G and could, in fact, be a rebadged Mi 10T Lite in China and/or India.

Renders of the Nokia 7.3 5G have leaked, and they show a device that resembles the Nokia 8.3 5G. The device is rumoured to be launching in Q4 2020 with a Snapdragon 690 and up to 8 GB of RAM. The Nokia 7.3 5G will have five cameras too, along with a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a possible starting price of €399.

Leaked images of the Pixel 5 have confirmed that Google has a green edition in the works. The muted colour scheme wraps around the back and frame of the device, unlike the Pixel 4 series. The device will be available with a Snapdragon 765G, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, along with two rear-facing cameras.

John Lewis has, perhaps mistakenly, revealed the design of the Pixel 4a (5G) before its release next week. Google's mid-tier smartphone for this year will share many of its components with the Pixel 5, except for its rather larger bottom bezel and 3.5 mm headphone jack. The Pixel 4a (5G) is not expected to support wireless charging either, but it will have three cameras and a capacitive fingerprint scanner.

Mobvoi's latest smartwatch is here, the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS. The new smartwatch features a 1.4-inch AMOLED screen, a heart rate monitor and a 577 mAh battery that can last up to 45 days. The TicWatch Pro 3 GPS retails for US$299 and is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform.

WinFuture's Roland Quandt recently claimed on Twitter that the Snapdragon 875 (codenamed Lahaina) would be joined by a high-performance variant, presumably the 875 Plus. This could lead to another generation of performance segmentation at the high end, as we've seen with the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865 Plus.

LG has added three new smartphones to its K-series mid-range line up for 2020. The new LG K62, K52, and K42 will arrive in October in Europe followed by key markets in Asia, Latin America and the Middle ast.

Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8T owners are not going to be too happy with the latest news about Android 10-based MIUI 12 for their devices. Delays are already expected anyway and now the general manager of Xiaomi Indonesia has claimed that the company is “still testing” the firmware for the Redmi Note 8/8T.

The Huawei MatePad T8 is a solid entry-level tablet, which sells for less than 100 Euros (~$118). The hardware of the T8 proves to be very competitive in our review. However, this is not enough, due to the Google situation.

Asus launched the ROG Phone 3, its latest gaming flagship Android phone, in July 2020. However, it never materialized on the US or Canadian markets. The device has just appeared on the FCC database, suggesting that it is finally approved for sale in the region.

The Google Pixel 5 will have a plastic back, according to YouTuber Dave Lee. The Pixel 4a (5G) will be the larger of the two models and will be the only one to feature a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Google will announce both the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) on September 30.
Update: WinFuture contradicts Dave Lee's assertion with claims of an aluminium chassis.

After sending out an update to the Redmi Note 8 last week, Xiaomi is now sending an update to the Redmi Note 8 Pro. This new update delivers the September patch to the Indian model of the Xiaomi best-seller, with the Android One Mi A3 also getting its September update.

The MaaXBoard Mini is an affordable single-board computer that is about the size of a Raspberry Pi. The board also includes a 40 pin header, a 14 nm quad-core ARM chipset, Gigabit Ethernet and five USB ports. The MaaXBoard Mini sells for US$72.50.

Details about the Google Pixel 4a (5G) have leaked, confirming almost every aspect about the upcoming mid-range smartphone. A 6.2-inch and 60 Hz OLED screen is headed to the Pixel 4a (5G), as is 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage and a 3,885 mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3 users in the United States can soon use their smartwatches to take ECG readings. The functionality will be available via an update to the Samsung Health Monitor app. The app can also be configured to send an ECG report to a physician automatically.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro have received their first MIUI 12 update in India. The OS upgrade should precede equivalents for the global, European, Russian and Turkish branches of MIUI, which are yet to receive Xiaomi's latest OS. The Mi Mix 3 5G has received MIUI 12 globally, too.
Update: MIUI 12 is now being rolled out to more Redmi Note 9S and Redmi Note 9 Pro devices.

The Exynos 1000-powered Samsung Galaxy S21+ has made an appearance on Geekbench. It nets a single-core score of 1,038 and a multi-core score of 3,060, putting it behind the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875. However, the abysmal performance could also be the result of unoptimized software.

Qualcomm recently released the Snapdragon 750G as its latest sub-premium 5G-capable chipset. If you assumed that the Snapdragon 765G remains the more powerful of the duo, you'd have assumed wrong, as new information indicates that the new Snapdragon 750G edges the Snapdragon 765G, while trading blows with the MediaTek Dimensity 820.

HMD Global has released three new smartphones, the Nokia 2.4, Nokia 3.4 and Nokia 8.3 5G. The Nokia 2.4 and Nokia 3.4 are the only genuinely new smartphones of the three, as HMD Global unveiled the Nokia 8.3 5G in March.

Samsung has officially teased the Galaxy A42, indicating it is to be the OEM's cheapest 5G handset on its launch. The statement revealed its price (in Euros), design and screen-size, while skimming right past its processor. A new code tear-down now asserts that its SoC is in fact the new Snapdragon 750G.

The Galaxy S20 FE has arrived with a choice of Exynos 990 or Snapdragon 865 chipsets. The 6.5-inch device is also available in six colours with 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB storage. The Exynos 990 model starts at €633, while the Snapdragon 865 edition will retail for €730.

Bose is trying its hand at marrying its audio expertise with improving sleep with the just-launched Sleepbuds II. The new model addresses the battery life concerns with the original model and also comes with the promise of improved sleep.

MIUI 12 beta and internal testing will be halted between September 30 and October 12, according to a new report. The break in development may also result in a pause to phase three of Xiaomi's MIUI 12 release schedule for devices like older Redmi Note handsets.

LG has released a new smartphone, the K71. The new mid-range smartphone has a 6.8-inch display, 4 GB of RAM and stylus support. A 4,000 mAh battery is onboard too, as are four cameras.

New leaks have confirmed nearly every aspect of the Google Pixel 5, which is due to arrive on September 30. The €629 device will feature a 6.0-inch display, a Snapdragon 765G chipset, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Additionally, Google has moved up to a 4,080 mAh battery for its new smartphone, but many other features are the same as or worse than the Pixel 4 series.

Samsung US has announced that the OEM's TV Plus app is coming to smartphones. This means the 2020 and 2019 Galaxy Note and S flagships will be able to access this service, whereas it had only been available on smart screens prior to this. The in-house streaming service offers over 100 channels of ad-support content.

The Xiaomi Mi 10T and Mi 10T Pro may be cheaper than expected, according to new reports. The Mi 10T will supposedly retail for just €499 in Europe, while the Mi 10T Pro will start at €599.90 with 128 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM. The 256 GB model will set you back €50 more, which would be significantly cheaper than previous claims.

Rumour has it that Xiaomi is working on another Redmi smartphone, the Redmi K30T. The device should be with us before the end of the year and may bear a striking resemblance to the Mi 10T Pro.

D-Link has announced the DCS-8302LH Full HD Outdoor Wi-Fi Camera. Despite one part of its name, the OEM asserts it is sleek and sophisticated to have inside the house as well. It also packs features such as IR for night vision, AI to help avoid unnecessary user alerts and "next-gen" IPv6/WPA3 support.

Qualcomm has launched a new mid-range 5G-ready SoC called the Snapdragon 750G. It comes with Qualcomm's latest Kryo 540 CPU cores and supports both mmwave and sub-6GHz 5G networks, 120Hz FHD+ displays, and more. The chip is expected to make its debut alongside a Xiaomi smartphone in the coming weeks.

A new leak suggests that the OnePlus 8T will retail at €599 (US$703) in Europe. It is contradicted by another report, which states that the starting price could be as high as €799 (US$937). OnePlus will officially unveil the device on October 15, so it shouldn't be long before we know for sure.

LG has previously teased or showcased devices with rollable displays. Now, its latest patent, approved by the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) in September 2020, may show the OEM's latest take on the technology. It is a box housing a display that can be unfurled horizontally and be used as a drawing device.

Google's next smartphones will not be released until October 15 according to a UK retailer listing, despite their announcement on September 30. Google has stated the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) the two devices will be available to pre-order simultaneously, while the BT listing also confirms that the Pixel 4a (5G) will start at £499 with 128 GB of storage.

Both the Xiaomi Mi 8 and Mi 9T (also known as the Redmi K20) have received new custom ROM support that gives owners the chance to try out the Android 11 experience. The Mi 8 might have to camouflage itself as a Google Pixel 4a for this particular venture though.

Chinese company Royole has officially launched the Flexpai 2, its foldable smartphone competitor to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Huawei Mate X. The new device boasts powerful performance and unique display characteristics.

The MIUI 12 rollout for smartphones listed in Xiaomi’s third batch of devices to receive the software update has seemingly commenced. Certain smartphones on the list, such as the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 and Mi Note 3, have already started receiving a stable update of the MIUI 12 ROM in China.