Android

Over the past week or so, WhatsApp has taken to enforcing its strict anti-third-party policies. The company considers third-party versions of the messenger a security risk and is now banning users of such apps. GB WhatsApp and WhatsApp Plus are examples.

Huawei has launched its latest device, the Nova 4e, in China. The mid-ranger features a Kirin 710, 3340 mAh battery, triple rear cameras, 32 MP selfie camera, up to 6 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage. It will be sold as the Huawei P30 Lite in other markets.

Going by information released on Xiaomi's official forum, the company plans on sending out the Pie update to a host of devices over the next couple of months. The Redmi Note 5, for one, is expected to get the update before this month runs out.

Samsung has announced that it is ready to start producing its highest-capacity RAM module for mobile devices. It has a 10-nanometer architecture and should deliver data speeds of up to 34.1 gigabytes (GB) per second. This 12GB low-power double data rate 4X (LPDDR4X) chipset is likely to be integrated into phones such as the Galaxy Fold.

Xiaomi had planned a sales event for the Mi 9 Transparent Edition, as well as the Mi 9 SE, for today (March 14, 2019) in China. However, reports that it has been abruptly cancelled have come in from that country. The OEM cited unit supply issues while apologizing for this move.

A Weibo account has posted a series of images, mostly of famous places or buildings that were allegedly taken with an OPPO device equipped with the OEM's new 10X zoom module. The user claims that the phone in question is a Reno, the first phone to bear this product name.

It's finally here - Q has been released for download and use - albeit only on Pixel-line phones. On the other hand, this Beta 1 form of the OS is mainly meant for development and testing, not daily use. However, it does come with most of the promised and projected new features associated with the next version of Android.

A new patent filed by Huawei may have given us our first look at the Mate 30 Pro. Going by the details of the patent, the device could eschew a selfie camera in favor of a rear secondary display. A triple camera setup may be located at the back of the device, including a periscope lens.

Huawei will launch the P30 phones on March 26 at an event in Paris and more details of the devices have been revealed, as they make their way across multiple benchmarks. Camera samples of the P30 Pro have also surfaced, giving us our first look at the flagship's powerful zoom capabilities.

The MediaTek Helio P23-powered Oppo A1 will soon get a cheaper sibling with lower specs known as the A1K. Insiders familiar with the matter revealed that the upcoming handset will feature a waterdrop display, a single-sensor main camera, and will use the MediaTek Helio P22 processor. Unfortunately, the official confirmation has yet to arrive.

It may have taken over 7 months, but HTC has finally confirmed in which quarter it plans to release Android 9 Pie for the U11, U11+ and the U12+. The three devices should receive the update in Q2 this year, which could by the end of June at the latest. Do not hold your breath though, because HTC has thrown in some caveats too.

A mobile insurance and device company, Asurion, has announced its findings on a study about missing devices and cases in which their owners managed to get them back. The company reported that having a lockscreen showing a contact number resulted in 3 times the chances of recovering such a device. In addition, the use of a cross-platform browser is a good idea in case of phone loss.

A recent post on SlashLeaks shows real-life images of a device with Honor branding. The poster alleges that it is of the brand's 10 line - however, it can't be the pre-existing 10 Lite, as it appears to have triple rear cameras. Therefore, its contributor has dubbed it the Honor 10i.

The latest build of Windows 10 available via the Insider program expands the functions of the Your Phone app on the OS. This service, which formerly gave Android users a more convenient way to move their files on their PCs, now supports screen mirroring. Unfortunately, it only works with some Samsung Galaxy-line devices so far.

Xiaomi has already released official Android Pie-based builds for a number of its 2018 devices. Recent rumors that may emanate from the Chinese MIUI community indicate that the Mi 6X will soon join their ranks. This phone, which is a twin of the Android One phone, the Mi A2, is a solid mid-ranger with the Snapdragon 660 processor.

Even though the Ulefone T3 looks very similar to Samsung's S10, the Chinese model is aimed at the premium mid-range market, since it comes equipped with the Helio P90 SoC from MediaTek. It does come with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, which is not that common for a mid-range handheld. Additionally, it gets the latest 48 MP camera together telephoto and depth lenses, plus a fingerprint sensor on the back.

Following the launch of the Xperia 1, Xperia 10, and Xperia 10 Plus a few weeks ago, Japanese OEM Sony is set to unveil yet another device. The device, said to be the Xperia 4, will be a compact sub-premium phone featuring a Snapdragon 710, dual rear cameras, and Sony's new 21:9 display.

Samsung is now sending out the stable Pie update to its Verizon and Unlocked models in the US. Unlocked Samsung models are usually the last to receive updates, so this means that all Note 9 users in the US have now received the Pie-based One UI update.

Google has quietly launched a breakthrough on real-time voice recognition technology via its AI blog. Using AI technology and tapping into the neural processing capabilities of its Pixel phones, Gboard users can now offline real-time speech recognition.

Google looks to be cutting back on its computing hardware efforts reports Business Insider. According to the report, dozens of engineers and program managers working on the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate have been told to seek other roles within the Alphabet parent company.

XDA Developers has discovered a clue in the kernel source code for the Exynos versions of the Samsung Galaxy S10 line-up that could point to the development of a 5G version of the Galaxy Note 10. The code also offered up a new device codename “luge.” It has been speculated that this could be one of Samsung’s next foldable smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 received the Pie update in certain regions last month and Samsung is also now sending the March security to those models. Note 9 users in certain markets are also getting the security patch, interestingly, even ahead of the new Galaxy S10 phones.

Xiaomi's Redmi sub-brand is set to launch its fourth device this year, the Redmi 7, at an event in Beijing on March 18. The budget device will feature a Snapdragon 632, dual rear cameras, and up to 4 GB of RAM.

A Huawei device with the model name VOG-L29 has surfaced on Geekbench today (March 12, 2019). It has exhibited 2019 flagship specs and the scores to go with it. They have beaten up-to-date entries for the P20 Pro on the same database by a considerable margin.

OPPO has recently unveiled a new name for some of its devices in the future on Weibo. It is apparently to be called Reno. This is not the only recent reveal for the Chinese OEM: it also has a new logo and set of 2019 flagship specs.

A slew of leaks and speculations have pointed to the resurrection of the RAZR product line in the release of the first foldable under the Motorola brand. A new post on SlashLeaks consists of the new logo for this putative phone. It is accompanied by a supposed list of its major specs.

Motorola promised Oreo for the Moto G4 Plus when it launched in 2016 and went back on its word a year after. Media outcry over that betrayal forced the company's hands, making them promise Oreo as initially agreed. It's been eighteen months since then, though, and the Moto G4 phones are only just starting to receive the Android Oreo OTA.

Huawei released a bunch of promotional images for the P30 Pro last week. These images all showed incredible zoom and the public may have been fooled into believing them to be a display of the P30 Pro's purported 10x hybrid zoom. Well, those images were taken by a DSLR.

Huawei's Mate 20 phones may have given up their position as the best flagships on the market to the Samsung Galaxy S10 devices, but they've already sold in massive quantities. According to Huawei CEO Richard Yu, the company has shipped 10 million units of the devices, barely five months after they were launched.

The Huawei P30, P30 Pro, and P30 Lite have been going through network certification processes for agencies in Taiwan and Indonesia. Even though the devices have been listed under their model numbers, it has been possible to tell which device has which RAM and storage options, thanks to the information found on the leaked certificates.

The Galaxy Fold has showed that Samsung is more interested in inwards-folding devices for now, but the company is clearly open to exploring the outwards-folding side, as shown by a recently unveiled clamshell phone patent. Additionally, it looks like Samsung already has an improved hinge that allows the two halves to flatten on the fold.

Xiaomi doesn't plan on giving up on its Black Shark gaming phone series anytime soon, and the company is set to release another iteration, the Black Shark 2. The Black Shark 2 appeared on AnTuTu a few days ago, with the listing giving us a better idea of what to expect from the third-gen device.

Huawei's CEO, Yu Chendong, recently conducted an interview with the German publication, Welt. The executive was tackled on many issues, including foldable phones and their current extravagant prices. He responded by projecting that their prices may fall at a significant rate in the near future.

The Twitter account @NTAuthority has posted a video in which a Pixel 3 XL appears to boot into Windows. The OS' logo shows up at the start of this process, which is followed by not much more than a blue screen with what appears to be a command window. Should the claim prove true, it appears that Windows can run on yet another device not intended to do so.

The Galaxy S10 flagship series may have already demonstrated that it is having no trouble with its sales. However, Samsung has arranged a few perks to ensure that the new phones keep flying off shelves. They involve YouTube Premium and Spotify deals; on the other hand, their availability is region-dependent.

Older Qualcomm SoCs were so limited most couldn't even support camera sensors with resolutions of more than 40 MP or thereabouts. The new Snapdragon chipsets don't have that weakness, however, and instead have ISPs powerful enough to support up to 192 MP.

The Vivo V15 is the less potent sibling of the recently released Vivo V15 Pro. Introduced in Thailand last week, the V15 should hit India on March 15. However, it seems that China will get this handset as the Vivo S1 — the first S-series handset of the brand. However, a recent TENAA listing has revealed a few minor differences between the V15 and the alleged Vivo S1.

Early adopters can keen to get their hands on the Android Q beta will have a wider range of devices from which to choose this time around. Android developer Illiyan Malhev has revealed the even more OEMs will be on board for the Android Q beta testing program expected to launch at Google’s I/O 2019 developer conference in May.

Although it comes with a quite a few innovative features and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 top-of-the-line processor, the new LG G8 ThinQ flagship has a lower price than its predecessor and is also cheaper than most similar flagships on the market. Pre-sales will start in South Korea this week and the price is around US$790.

The Xiaomi Mi Max 3, like all Mi Max devices, is sold with the unique feature of having a huge screen. This generation has a 6.9-inch FHD display, which is matched by few other phablets. Units of this model worldwide are now eligible for an official update to the Pie-based MIUI 10.

The 6T is the first OnePlus flagship to be sold through a US carrier: T-Mobile. These units are now receiving a notification for a new update that confers RCS messaging. This new form of messaging on Android brings expanded features and capabilities compared to the old one.

After the March security update, users of the Pixel 3 phones are reporting stability issues with their camera apps. The app apparently lags heavily and tends to completely glitch out during use. This, of course, begs the question of what exactly the Pixels are good for if their cameras are unreliable.

Samsung's newest flagships, the Galaxy S10 trio, were some of the most anticipated devices before they were launched. It would appear that such interest has translated directly into sales, with the devices breaking pre-order records around the world.

Motorola's upcoming foldable RAZR phone will have several uses for the closed screen as learnt by XDA Developers. However, the functionality of the closed screen could to be limited when compared to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and it currently seems as if only Moto apps can display content on the closed screen.

The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT has warned that South Korea is likely to miss the current approximate deadline at which 5G should be available in the country. This was estimated to be at the end of March, but now may be pushed back until later in the year. The authorities have cited costing disputes with providers as one factor in this delay.

The popular tech YouTuber Lewis Hilsenteger has posted a video to his channel claiming that the new Samsung Galaxy S10 series' Face Unlock security can be hacked. Hilsenteger demonstrated this by holding his Galaxy S10+ up to a 2nd phone playing a video of his face, which appeared to successfully unlock the former's screen.

Clement Wong, Huawei’s VP of Global Product Marketing, has confirmed that the upcoming Huawei P30 Pro will have a camera that offers periscope-style super-zoom capabilities. This confirmation has sparked speculation that the lens in question could actually be powered mechanically, enabling it to offer the rumored 10x optical zoom.