OnePlus 8 series pricing won’t exceed $1000 and will pack the Snapdragon 865, LPDDR5 RAM, and UFS 3.0 storage

After months of leaks and teasers about its next flagship lineup, OnePlus finally announced a launch date for the OnePlus 8 series yesterday. In a post about the launch on its community forums, the company revealed that the OnePlus 8 series would be launched globally on April 14th and it even confirmed that the devices will feature a 120Hz display and 5G support. Now, in a follow-up post, the company’s CEO Pete Lau has revealed a few more details about the upcoming devices.

As per the post, the OnePlus 8 series will not only feature a 120Hz display but it’ll also pack in Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 865 SoC, coupled with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.0 storage for “fast and smooth” performance. The updated hardware will give the device a 20% bump in CPU performance and a 25% rise in GPU performance, while still being 25% more energy efficient than the last-gen. Thanks to the LPDDR5 RAM technology, the OnePlus 8 series will offer transfer rates reaching up to 6,400Mbps at a bandwidth as high as 51.2GB/s and it’ll achieve this with 45% lower power consumption when compared to the previous generation.

In a separate post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, the company has revealed additional details about the 120Hz display on the OnePlus 8 series. According to the images shared in the post, the display on the OnePlus 8 series will feature a 2K+ resolution with a pixel density of 513ppi. It’ll offer a maximum brightness of 1300 nits, with 4096 levels of brightness adjustments. On top of that, in order to ensure color accuracy in all environments, it’ll also feature ambient color temperature sensing.

With all these premium features making their way to the OnePlus 8 series, you’d expect the devices to finally cross the $1,000 price bracket. However, according to a recent report from Business Insider, that won’t be the case. The report claims that OnePlus has confirmed that the 5G variants of the OnePlus 8 series won’t exceed the $1,000 mark in the US, making them some of the most affordable 5G-enabled flagships in the market. While the company hasn’t revealed the exact pricing yet, it’s great to know that OnePlus is sticking to its roots and making the devices more affordable than some of the other premium flagships in the market.

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Source: OnePlus Community forums, Weibo (1,2), Business Insider

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FCC will make carriers authenticate IP calls with STIR/SHAKEN by the end of June 2021

Robocalls and spam calls are a major issue for people in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, estimates that fraudulent calls cost Americans a total of $10 billion every year. As such, there have been efforts by software technology giants (such as Google), smartphone makers, telecommunications carriers, and the FCC itself aimed at stopping or reducing robocalls and fraudulent call schemes. One of the major technologies aimed at fighting robocalls is the STIR/SHAKEN protocol, with STIR standing for “Secure Telephone Identity Revisited” and SHAKEN standing for “Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs”. Now, the FCC has set a deadline for the mandatory adoption of STIR/SHAKEN for IP calls.

The STIR/SHAKEN protocol is one of the best lines of defense against robocalls. Calls must be verified and signed by the network the call is originating from using cryptographic certificates. The certificate is then verified again by the network the call is going to. This reduces the effectiveness of caller ID spoofing, so scammers and robocallers can’t hide the phone number they’re calling from. Work on the protocol began in the mid-2010s and the FCC formally proposed and sought public comment on its mandatory adoption in June of 2019. This eventually led to the TRACED Act being passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in December of 2019. And now the FCC is mandating “all originating and terminating voice service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN in the Internet Protocol (IP) portions of their networks by June 30, 2021.” This deadline extends to 2022 for smaller voice providers that have fewer resources to direct towards upgrading their infrastructure. In the future, intermediate voice service providers will also be required to implement STIR/SHAKEN as well.

STIR/SHAKEN is meant for IP calls, but the FCC is also working on a different standard that can apply to older, non-IP-based calling services as well since they’re also a vector for robocalling. With STIR/SHAKEN, the FCC estimates that the $10 billion yearly figure will be reduced by at least $3 billion, cutting down on annoying robocalls quite a bit.

Most modern Android devices and dialer applications should support displaying the “Caller Verified” notification, but some older devices may not support the feature. For older devices, an update may be required.

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Source: FCC | Via 1: ZDNet | Via 2: Engadget

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Hands-on with the Nubia Red Magic 5G – 144Hz Gaming [Video]

Earlier this month, the Red Magic 5G was officially announced in China. This is the latest device in the growing “gaming smartphone” category. The Red Magic 5G boasts a few features that should set it apart from the competition, most notably the 144Hz refresh rate display. XDA TV’s TK Bay has the device so he shared his unboxing and first impressions on our YouTube channel.

The Red Magic 5G features a lot of impressive specifications (listed in the chart below) and features. As mentioned above, the big highlight is the 144Hz display. As with any other device that has a high refresh rate display, the phone doesn’t run at its highest refresh rate in all applications. The display can be set to 60Hz, 90Hz, and 144Hz.

Red Magic 5G XDA Forums

Some of the other gaming features that TK talks about are the “Turbo Fan” for cooling and the shoulder buttons. There are vents on each side of the Red Magic 5G that allows a fan to pull air through the phone, reducing thermal throttling and making your gaming sessions more consistent. The shoulder buttons are touch-sensitive and can be mapped to on-screen buttons, giving you much more control. This can come in handy especially for shooter games.

TK is impressed with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor and the high-end specifications of the Red Magic 5G. He also likes all of the custom gaming features, such as the game launcher, buttons, and cooling fan. Watch the video above to get his full 10+ minute first impressions.

Specification	Nubia Red Magic 5G
Dimensions and Weight	168.56 x 78 x 9.75 mm 218g
Display	6.65″ FHD+ AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio 144Hz high refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate In-display fingerprint sensor
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865Adreno 650
RAM and Storage	8GB LPDDR5 + 128GB UFS 3.0 12GB + 128GB 12GB + 256GB 16GB + 256GB
Battery & Charging	4,500 mAh battery 55W fast charging Compatible with Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0
Rear Camera	Primary: 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor, f/1.8 Secondary: 8MP, Wide-Angle Camera Tertiary: 2MP, Macro
Front Camera	8MP
Other Features	Active cooling through rotating fan within the phone 3.5mm headphone jack Low latency game screencasting Touch-sensitive shoulder buttons WiFi 6 Dual-frequency GPS Side pins for further docking
Android Version	Red Magic OS based on Android 10

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WireGuard VPN protocol makes its way to Linux Kernel 5.6

Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, can be an essential tool in the digital age. Due to growing privacy concerns or simple geolocation barriers, more and more users are taking advantage of the increased privacy and versatility afforded by VPNs that they trust. With COVID-19 forcing millions of workers to stay at home, many are forced to use company-owned VPNs to work remotely. In the last few years, a new VPN implementation has taken root among tech enthusiasts, and it’s finally going to become accessible to millions of users in the near future. The name of that new implementation is WireGuard, developed by Jason Donenfeld, who goes by the username zx2c4 on our forums. Yesterday, he announced that WireGuard version 1.0 is a part of Linux Kernel 5.6 (via ArsTechnica).

In comparison to OpenVPN, IPSec, and other popular VPN implementations, WireGuard has a considerably smaller codebase, which reduces the attack surface. It is easy to configure and has faster connection negotiations than OpenVPN. There are also performance and power efficiency improvements. There are some limitations to the protocol, however. Still, because of the benefits that it brings, the Linux Kernel community has come around to supporting it. After getting the crypto implementation into the kernel, WireGuard is now available in-tree with Linux Kernel 5.6. Any user running a distribution with Linux Kernel 5.6 can get started with a WireGuard client. While bleeding-edge distributions like Arch and Gentoo will quickly upgrade to Linux Kernel 5.6, other distributions that focus on stability like Ubuntu or Debian will take some time to make the upgrade. Mr. Donenfeld, however, states that WireGuard has been backported to Ubuntu 20.04 “Focal Fossa” and Debian Buster and that he is also maintaining backports to Linux Kernel version 5.4.y and 5.5.y.

As for Android, most users will have to wait a bit before they can use WireGuard VPN tunnels. Even though Android is built on top of the Linux kernel, the kernel running on most Android devices is fairly out of date. For example, my Pixel 3 running Android 11 is built on top of Linux Kernel 4.9, released back in 2016. Vendors can backport the kernel patches needed for WireGuard into the device’s older kernel tree, but there’s no telling if that’ll actually happen. Most likely we’ll have to wait for Google to start a new Android Common Kernel branch for the latest Linux kernel release followed by silicon manufacturers productizing new SoCs based on the newer release, but this may take some time to happen. Meanwhile, expect to see WireGuard grow in popularity among custom kernels on our forums.

WireGuard (Free, Google Play) →

Though the integration of WireGuard into the mainline Linux Kernel is definitely a welcome move that will excite many sysadmins and some users, we hope to see the new VPN protocol make its way to more platforms. As of now, the Windows version of WireGuard sits at 0.1.0 beta. Since its initial preview release, WireGuard 0.1.0 for Windows has made major improvements to performance and stability, so we should hopefully see a stable release in the near future.

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HMD Global rolls out the Android 10 update to the Nokia 7.2

HMD Global has had decent success with its Nokia-branded Android smartphones since they started licensing the name back in 2016. The new Nokia’s approach to Android smartphones was an interesting one: with a focus on updates and software without unnecessary fluff and gimmicks, their phones were pretty close to what Motorola released in 2013 and 2014 under Google’s ownership. One of their most recent smartphones is the Nokia 7.2 (which, as a fun fact, is also one of the very few Nokia phones that shipped with an unlockable bootloader, albeit this was unintentional and patched later on). Users of the Nokia 7.2 might be glad to know that the device is now receiving its dose of Android 10 through an OTA update.

Nokia 7.2 XDA Forum

Android 10 now available for Nokia 7.2! Check your phone to see if the latest features have already landed. For more news of Nokia smartphones and Android 10 visit https://t.co/FJfS4Gjt3d pic.twitter.com/9FHxZrddcZ

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) March 31, 2020

There is not a lot to see here: the update’s software version is V2.250 and the Android version receives a bump to Android 10. Again, it is nearly stock Android, so you get the full package of new features and improvements we’ve seen arrive in other stock-Android-powered smartphones from companies like Motorola and Google. This includes things like the system-wide dark mode, full screen gestures, smart replies for apps, and much more. The update also comes with the most recent March 2020 security patches, as the April 2020 ones are due anytime now.

This rollout is barely within Nokia’s Android 10 timeline. The Android 10 update for the Nokia 7.2, as well as for other phones in Nokia’s third-generation lineup, was promised for Q1 2020. Today is the last day of 2020’s first quarter, which means that they did keep their promise in this regard.

Users interested in downloading this update should expect an over-the-air update to arrive on their phones soon. If it’s not available for your device yet then it’s likely that it is rolling out in waves to users around the world. Are you running Android 10 on your Nokia 7.2 already?

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Apple acquires Dark Sky and will shut down the weather app for Android and Wear OS

Apple has always been about improving its own ecosystem and growing and improving its “walled garden,” but one app from this ecosystem that has not seen a major overhaul in quite some time is its own Weather app. It has not received one since iOS 7 was first released, in fact — and that was 7 years ago, in 2013. There were some alternatives, however, and one of them included Dark Sky, an alternative weather app for iOS, Android, and Wear OS. Now, the app has been purchased by Apple, as they’ve shared in a blog post.

One of the very first immediate effects of this is that the app will no longer be available for any non-Apple devices. The app will soon be removed from Google Play, so it can’t be downloaded for Android phones or Wear OS devices. For existing Android users, though, the app will continue to work through July 1st, at which point the app will be completely discontinued and existing customers will receive a refund. iOS users, though, are still able to purchase the app through the App Store and will continue to be able to use it. The app has also been rebranded as “Dark Sky by Apple”.

Despite how invested Apple is with their ecosystem of apps, they don’t normally do this. Shazam, for example, was acquired by Apple in 2018, yet they still keep an Android version of the app active. One of the possible following steps for Apple, then, is that they might roll it into iOS natively at some point, merging it with the existing Weather app. Web services are also being gutted together with the Android app.

As for their API, it will also be phased out, albeit much later on: it will continue to work through 2021 and will be killed off come 2022. Dark Sky serves as a weather provider for apps and services like Carrot Weather, DuckDuckGo, Microsoft, Yelp, and more, and this will affect these apps, so it needs to be a more gradual phase-out.

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2020 Mi Fan Festival & Xiaomi Mi 10 Global Launch (with coupon code!)

2020 Mi Fan Festival

Mi Fan Festival aka Xiaomi MMF Sale is a huge online shopping festival announced by the Xiaomi company where Xiaomi’s lovers around the world can buy Xiaomi products on special deals and discounts.

Xiaomi Mi Fan Festival was first announced on April 6, 2012, but introduced to the global Mi fans at the Mi Fan Festival 2018, and widely known to customers since the Mi Fan Festival 2019.

The Mi Fan Festival Sale 2019 was held across the Xiaomi United States, online partner platforms, Mi Home, Mi Store, and many partner offline stores. During the Mi MFF Sale 2019, Xiaomi offered a lot of discount offers on cell phones, smart TVs, Mi bands and other Xiaomi products.

And now, the Xiaomi Mi Fan Festival 2020 is kicked off!

Xiaomi Mi 10: Finesse that doesn’t cost a fortune

Xiaomi is known for its powerful and affordable smartphones. While primarily known for affordable mid-rangers, it also makes premium flagship devices that are easy on the pocket. Last month, Xiaomi launched the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro flagship devices in China with 5G, Snapdragon 865, a 108MP quad camera, a 90Hz AMOLED display, 30W fast wireless charging, and so much more. For users globally, Gearbest is just adding the Xiaomi Mi 10 to its portfolio and it will be available for a shockingly low price of $679.99. Not just that, you can use an XDA exclusive coupon code and get an additional $20 discount.

Buy Xiaomi Mi 10 on Gearbest for only $699.99 (after coupon) #Lowest Price

Get $20 off with coupon code GBMI10SALE

Display

The Xiaomi Mi 10 features everything you expect from a premium flagship killer phone. Starting with its display, the Mi 10 features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ curved AMOLED display. To the left on the top of the display is a tiny hole-punch for the selfie camera. The display is certified with HDR10+ for a better viewing experience and Xiaomi claims it reaches a peak brightness of 1120nits for unrestricted legibility irrespective of the ambient lighting. The 90Hz refresh rate and the 180Hz touch sampling rate make the Mi 10 a great choice for gamers.

Camera

One of the most exciting features of Xiaomi Mi 10 is its 108MP quad camera setup. The primary 108MP camera is quipped a large 1/1.33″ sensor from Samsung with a 7P lens setup along with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). The sensor combines four pixels into one with pixel-binning and this results in 27MP images. In addition, there is a 13MP ultra-wide-angle camera equipped to capture a 123º wide landscape. Adding to those are two 2MP sensors, one for macro photography, and another for depth sensing. Pro mode and HEIF file storage ensure that the phone’s storage does not get filled with just pictures.

The Mi 10 can capture videos at up to 8K resolution, including 8K at 30fps, 4K at 30/60fps, and various slow-motion modes. It also features a cinematic mode for capturing photos and videos in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

The hole-punch on the front houses a 20MP selfie camera. It supports AI beauty mode, 3D face-mapping emoji called “Mimoji,” and slofies at 720p/120fps.

Connectivity

The Mi 10 from Xiaomi embraces 5G connectivity and readiness for the future of mobile communications. Thanks to Qualcomm’s X55 modem, part of Snapdragon 865 SoC, the Mi 10 supports non-standalone (NSA) and Standalone (SA) 5G networks. Wi-Fi 6 is also supported on the Mi 10 alongside Bluetooth 5.1 with AptX Adaptive. The phone also supports simultaneous Wi-Fi and 5G/4G connections for network stability. It also supports NFC for tap-to-pay.

Battery and Charging

Xiaomi has fitted a 4,780mAh battery inside the Mi 10. Besides 30W wireless charging, the Mi 10 also supports fast wireless charging at up to 30W. The battery, Xiaomi claims, can be charged from 0-100% in less than an hour. In addition, it also supports 10W reverse wireless charging for charging accessories like a pair of truly wireless earphones or Apple AirPods.

At the Mi 10’s launch, Xiaomi also announced a wireless charging stand, which resembles the Pixel Stand. Other than that, they also announced a Bluetooth speaker with a wireless charging pad on the top.

Performance

With the flagship-grade Snapdragon 865, the Xiaomi Mi 10 is among the most powerful smartphones. The 7nm octa-core Snapdragon 865 comes in a 1+3+4 configuration. It comprises one Prime core @ 2.8GHz, three Performance cores @ 2.4GHz, and four power-efficient cores @ 1.8GHz. The Mi 10 also comes with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage.

The vapor chamber at the heart of the Mi 10 is claimed to keep the phone cooler by up to 10ºC.  Additionally, Xiaomi also sells a rechargeable fan accessory which can be attached to the back of the Mi 10 allowing it to stay cooler despite continuous gaming for several hours.

Entertainment

Xiaomi has included dual linear speakers on the Mi 10 for a stereo sound output. The phone is also certified for Hi-Res audio to complement the display’s HDR10+ certification.

Xiaomi Mi 10 Specifications

Specification	Xiaomi Mi 10
System-on-Chip	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 1x Kryo 585 (ARM Cortex A77-based) Prime core @ 2.8GHz 3x Kryo 585 (ARM Cortex A77-based) Performance cores @ 2.4GHz 4x Kryo 385 (ARM Cortex A55-based) Efficiency cores @ 1.8GHz Adreno 650
Display	6.67″ AMOLED 2340 x 1080p resolution HDR10+ 90Hz @ FHD+ 180Hz touch response Peak Brightness 1120 nits
Security	In-display fingerprint sensor Software-based face recognition
Front Camera	20MP
Rear Camera	108MP Wide 1/1.33″, 7P lens, OIS 13MP Ultra-Wide, 123°,  f/2.4 2MP f/2.4 Macro Camera 2MP f/2.4 Depth Sensor
RAM	up to 12GB LPDDR5
Storage	up to 256GB UFS 3.0
Battery Capacity	4,780 mAh 30W Fast Wired Charging, 30W Fast Wireless Charging, 10W Reverse Wireless Charging
Software Version	Android 10
Connectivity	5G: SA/NSA Wi-Fi 6 USB Type-C NFC Bluetooth v5.1
Network bands
Audio	Stereo speakers, Hi-Res Audio certified
Colors	Ice Blue, Titanium Silver Black, Peach Gold

Compras en Línea Gearbest (Free, Google Play) →

We thank Gearbest for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

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EMUI 10.1 roadmap reveals beta timeline for Huawei and Honor smartphones

Just a few days ago, Huawei unveiled its newest series of flagship devices, which include the Huawei P40, Huawei P40 Pro, and the Huawei P40 Pro+. The Chinese OEM is shipping a slightly upgraded version of their custom Android 10-based UI, dubbed EMUI 10.1, with the P40 lineup. One notable inclusion in EMUI 10.1 is Celia, Huawei’s own Voice Assistant, which can be invoked with the hotword “Hey Celia,” or by holding the power button for a second. Now the company has announced the rollout schedule of EMUI 10.1 beta for existing Huawei and Honor branded devices.

The current roadmap is applicable to the Chinese device variants. This internal beta will be further expanded to a series of public beta tests before concluding with the stable release of EMUI 10.1. Huawei has been known for prioritizing their home country to conduct beta testing or release updates and take several months before rolling them out worldwide. Hopefully, this incremental update doesn’t take that long, as the EMUI global Twitter handle is actively teasing EMUI 10.1.

The full list of eligible devices can be found below.

Model	EMUI 10.1/Magic UI 3.1 Internal Beta Recruitment Timing
Huawei Mate 20 Huawei Mate 20 Pro Huawei Mate 20 RS Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 X 4G Huawei Nova 6 Huawei Nova 6 5G Huawei Nova 6 SE Huawei MatePad Pro Huawei MediaPad M6 (8.4/10.8) Huawei MediaPad M6 Turbo Edition Honor 9X Honor 9X Pro Honor V30 Honor V30 Pro Honor V20 Honor 20 Honor 20 Pro Honor Magic 2	Has already been started from today (March 31)
Huawei Nova 5 Huawei Nova 5Z Huawei Nova 5 Pro Huawei Nova 5i Pro Honor 20S	Early April
Huawei P30 Huawei P30 Pro Huawei Mate 30 4G Huawei Mate 30 5G Huawei Mate 30 Pro 4G Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G Huawei Mate 30 RS Porsche Design	Mid April
Huawei Mate X Huawei Mate Xs Huawei Mate 20 X 5G Huawei Enjoy 10S Honor 20 Youth Edition	Late April

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Source: Huawei China Forums, EMUI Weibo

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Realme 6 launches in Europe with 90Hz displays, 64MP cameras, MediaTek Helio G90T alongside Realme 6i and Realme C3 Global variant

Realme has had quite an eventful year so far. While the majority of its launches this year have catered to Asian markets, especially India, the company did launch in 5G flagship – the Realme X50 Pro (first impressions) – in Europe and in India last month. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down its launches, perhaps impacting it the most in India. But despite hiccups, the global launches continue. Today, Realme launched the Realme 6, Realme 6i, and Realme C3 global variant in Europe over an online live stream.

Realme 6

Starting off, Realme 6 is the newest mid-ranger from the company. While the nomenclature suggests the Realme 6 succeeds the Realme 5, it actually sits almost at the same price point as the Realme 5 Pro (review). Meanwhile, although the Realme 6 Pro (review) was also launched in India, it wasn’t even mentioned at the event.

The key highlights of the Realme 6 include its Full HD+ hole-punch LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate, the 64MP quad cameras on the back, 30W fast wired charging. It runs on the MediaTek Helio G90T platform and comes in 4GB and 8GB RAM variants with up to 128GB of UFS 2.1 NAND storage.

Among other design changes over the Realme 5, the Realme 6 features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and a USB-C port. It runs on Realme UI which is a fork of ColorOS 7 and is based on Android 10.

Realme 6 Specifications

Specifications	Realme 6
Dimensions & Weight	162.1 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm 191g
Display	6.5-inch LCD 1080 x 2400 20:9 aspect ratio Gorilla Glass 3 90Hz refresh rate 120Hz touch sampling rate
SoC	MediaTek Helio G90T (12nm) 2 x Arm Cortex-A76 @ 2.05GHz 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz Mali G76 GPU
RAM	4GB/8GB
Storage	64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 Dedicated microSD slot
Battery	4,300mAh, 30W charging via USB Type-C
Fingerprint Sensor	Side-mounted
Rear Camera	64MP, f/1.8 8MP ultra-wide, 119°, f/2.3 2MP macro sensor, f/2.4 2MP mono, f/2.4 1080p video recording at 60fps 4K video recording at 30fps
Front Camera	16MP, f/2.0 1080p video recording at 30fps
Android Version	Realme UI based on Android 10
Colors	Comet Blue, Comet White

Realme 6i

Although the Realme 5i was launched just a couple of months ago with the specifications resembling the older Realme 5, the Realme 6i was launched in Myanmar earlier this month. Unlike the predecessor, however, the Realme 6i varies greatly from the Realme 6. Design-wise, the Realme 6i sports interesting patterns that have been named after milk and green tea.

The Realme 6i is the first phone in the world to run on MediaTek Helio G80 chipset. Unlike the Asian model, however, buyers wouldn’t get to choose between different configurations. The European variant is only available in a 4GB+128GB option. The Realme 6i also comes with a quad-camera setup, including a 48MP primary sensor. The phone also gets a massive 5,000mAh battery along with 18W charging support through the USB-C port.

The Realme 6i also comes with Realme UI based on Android 10 out of the box.

Realme 6i Specifications

Specifications	Realme 6i
Display	6.5-inch LCD 1600 x 720 resolution 20:9 aspect ratio
SoC	MediaTek Helio G80 2 x Arm Cortex-A7 @ 2.0GHz 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz Mali G52 GPU
RAM	4GB
Storage	64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 Dedicated microSD slot
Battery	5,000mAh, 18W charging via USB Type-C
Fingerprint Sensor	Rear-mounted
Rear Camera	48MP 8MP ultra-wide, 119° 2MP macro sensor B/W depth sensor
Front Camera	16MP
Android Version	Realme UI based on Android 10
Colors	White Milk, Green Tea

Realme C3 Global

Alongside the Realme 6 and 6i, Realme C3 has also been launched for the European markets. The phone differs from the Realme C3 launched in India last month and matches the variant launched later in Thailand. While matches the Indian variant to quite an extent, the global variant features three cameras on the back as opposed to two on the former along with a fingerprint scanner.

The Realme C3 global version also runs on MediaTek Helio G70 and we can expect similar performance as we saw in our gaming review of the phone. Realme has 3GB RAM and 64GB of storage. The additional camera on the phone is a 2MP macro camera with a fixed focal length of 4cm.

Like the other two phones, Realme C3 also runs Realme UI based on Android 10.

Realme C3 Global Specifications

Specifications	Realme C3 Global
Dimensions & Weight	164.4 x 75.0 x 8.95 mm 195g
Display	6.52-inch LCD 1600 x 720 20:9 aspect ratio Gorilla Glass 3
SoC	MediaTek Helio G70 (12nm) 2 x Arm Cortex-A75 @ 2.0GHz 6 x Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.7GHz Mali G52 GPU
RAM	3GB
Storage	64GB eMMC Dedicated microSD slot
Battery	5000mAh, 10W charging via microUSB
Fingerprint Sensor	NA
Rear Camera	12MP, f/1.8 2MP depth sensor, f/2.4 2MP macro camera 1080p video recording @ 30fps 480p slow-motion @ 120fps
Front Camera	5MP, f/2.0 Full HD video recording @ 30fps
Android Version	Realme UI based on Android 10
Colors	Frozen Blue, Blazing Red

Prices & Availability

The Realme 6 comes in three variants priced as following:

• 4GB+64GB – €229.90
• 4GB+128GB – €269.90
• 6GB+128GB – €299.90

The Realme 6i with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage is priced at €199.90.

The Realme C3 will only be available in a 3GB/64GB variant priced at €159.90.

You can already pre-order the Realme 6 from the company’s online store and it will be shipped on April 6th, which is when it goes on sale. The Realme 6i and the C3 will be available for sale starting April 6th and April 13th, respectively.

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Samsung AKG N400 truly wireless earphones boast of ANC and water resistance

Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S20 series at the Samsung Unpacked event earlier this year in February. At the event, the company also announced the Galaxy Buds+ alongside the three highly-anticipated devices. As previous leaks suggested, the Galaxy Buds+ only offered a minor upgrade over the original Galaxy Buds with improved battery life, better microphones, and a few connectivity improvements. Sadly though, the Galaxy Buds+ didn’t include Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and opted for a feature called “Ambient Aware” that offers better noise isolation. This made the Galaxy Buds+ a little less appealing when compared to other premium truly wireless earbuds like the Sony WF-1000XM3, the Sennheiser Momentum TW2, and the Apple AirPods Pro.

Now, in a bid to offer something a bit more competitive, Samsung’s AKG sub-brand has launched the AKG N400 truly wireless earphones that not only feature ANC but also offer IPX7 water resistance, another feature that’s missing on the Galaxy Buds+. The AKG N400 packs in 8.2mm drivers with a frequency response of 10Hz-20KHz, an impedance of 16 ohms, and a sensitivity of 96 dB SPL. The truly wireless earbuds make use of a Bluetooth 5.0 chipset that includes support for SBC and AAC codecs. The earbuds feature capacitive touch controls on each bud to control playback and volume, and you can even use it to trigger your preferred voice assistant.

The AKG N400 weigh in at 7.7g, with the case adding another 65g. Samsung claims that the earbuds can last up to 6 hours on a single charge without ANC turned on and 5 hours with ANC. The case can charge the earbuds once over, increasing the overall battery life to 12 hours. For charging, the case features a USB Typ-C port and it also supports wireless charging. The earbuds can be controlled using a companion app that will let you customize the audio profile, ANC level, and the touch controls.

The AKG N400 is available in three color variants — black, blue, and navy — with the navy variant featuring a dual-tone finish with gold accents. The truly wireless earbuds have been priced at KRW 230,000 (~$190) and are currently only available in Samsung’s home market of South Korea. As of now, we have no information from the company regarding the pricing and availability for international markets.

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Source: Samsung

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LG V40 ThinQ Android 10 kernel source code published ahead of LG UX 9.0 rollout

The smartphone wing of LG heavily struggled in 2019 due to lagging sales, and the company might even drop their flagship G-series brand this year. The Korean OEM is also having a hard time to keep their existing phones up-to-date, as only a handful of LG flagships have received the Android 10 update so far. According to LG’s official update roadmap, the LG G8X ThinQ is next in line to get the taste of Android 10, while the LG G7 ThinQ, LG G8S ThinQ, and the LG V40 ThinQ will experience the same in Q3 2020. The company has now gone ahead and published kernel sources for Android 10 for the LG V40 ThinQ.

LG V40 ThinQ XDA Forums

At the time of reporting, we can only spot the kernel source code corresponding to the Korean variant of the LG V40 ThinQ (model number LMV409). The early arrival could be related to the fact that LG Korea is scheduled to deliver the stable version of Android 10 to the LG V40 ThinQ in the second quarter of 2020, way before the global rollout. The current package is based on the software version v30a, which might be the build version of the upcoming LG UX 9.0 OTA for the Korean edition of the phone.

LG V40 ThinQ Android 10 Kernel Sources

It is worth mentioning that only the European variant of the LG V40 (model number LMV405EBW) is officially whitelisted for bootloader unlocking. Interestingly, XDA Member Xsavi has come up with an exploit based on an engineering bootloader from the LG V35 ThinQ, which can be used to unlock other variants (except the T-Mobile one). An unofficial version of LineageOS 17.0 is already available for the phone on our forums, and owners of the LG V40 ThinQ should expect further custom ROM experiences thanks to the updated kernel source.

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Source: LG Open Source Code

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POCO X2 Custom Development Update: Paranoid Android, arter97 kernel, Google Camera port, more

Earlier this year in January, Xiaomi India set up POCO as an independent brand and, shortly thereafter, the newly-formed brand launched the POCO X2 into the market. Since the POCO F1 was quite a big hit among custom ROM enthusiasts and developers alike, POCO sent out a couple of units of the new POCO X2 (review) to custom ROM and kernel developers in order to help kickstart third-party development for the device. Development on our forums has been on high gear ever since and here’s our first custom development roundup for the POCO X2.

POCO X2 XDA Forums

Buy the POCO X2 from Flipkart (starting at ₹15,999)

POCO X2 Custom ROMs

Paranoid Android

The popular Paranoid Android custom ROM is now available in alpha for the POCO X2. The ROM, which is based on Android 10, comes with the arter97 kernel, Magisk, and Open GApps nano preinstalled. It’s packed to the brim with personalization features, however, since it’s still in the early stages of development, there are some major issues. Other than the device-specific issues mentioned in the forum post (linked below), the ROM is quite unstable and often leads to the device becoming unresponsive after it’s left unused for some time. Regardless, it’s great to see such a popular custom ROM already up and running on the POCO X2 so soon.

Paranoid Android Quartz for the POCO X2

Unofficial LineageOS 17.1

Much like Paranoid Android, LineageOS is among the most popular custom ROMs that you can get on any device and fans of the ROM will be glad to know that it’s now available for the POCO X2. You can flash the unofficially build of LineageOS 17.1, based on Android 10, on your POCO X2 by following the instructions in the forum post (linked below). Based on the comments in the post, most of the ROMs features work flawlessly, however, it does have some minor issues. If you’re a fan of the stock Android look, then I would highly recommend taking this custom ROM for a spin.

Unofficial LineageOS 17.1 for the POCO X2

Pixel Experience ROM

If you’re a stock Android enthusiast and want to experience vanilla Android just like on Google’s own Pixel devices, then you should definitely check out the Pixel Experience ROM on your POCO X2. The ROM, which is based on Android 10, comes with all Google apps and Pixel goodies, like the launcher, wallpapers, icons, font, and boot animation. Do note that the ROM doesn’t support custom kernels, so make sure you’re using the stock kernel on your device before you go ahead and flash the ROM.

Pixel Experience for the POCO X2

Xiaomi.eu ROM

For those of you who really like MIUI, but wish to get access to a few additional customization options, there’s the Xiaomi.eu ROM. Based on MIUI 11, the custom ROM has been localized for the European markets and does away with the bloatware and advertisements that are known to plague stock MIUI. If that sounds interesting, then you should head over to the Xiaomi.eu forums linked below and follow the instructions in the comments to get the ROM up and running on your device.

Xiaomi.eu ROM for the POCO X2

POCO X2 Custom Kernels

Arter917 kernel

XDA Recognized Developer arter97, who was among the list of developers to receive a POCO X2 from the company, has now released his custom kernel for the device. The kernel brings several improvements to the POCO X2, including better memory management, UFS optimizations, and WireGuard support among other things. To try out the kernel for yourself, you can follow the instruction in the forum post linked below, but make sure you install it on a supported custom ROM or you may face some unwanted issues.

arter97 kernel for the POCO X2

Optimus Drunk kernel

Along with arter97, the POCO X2 was also sent out to XDA Recognized Developer GtrCraft who has now released the Optimus Drunk kernel for the device. The kernel is compatible with MIUI and includes improvements like WireGuard support, Wakelock blocker, Westwood TCP and more. Try out the kernel on your POCO X2 by following the instructions in the forum post linked below.

Optimus Drunk kernel for the POCO X2

POCO X2 Mods

Google Camera Port

Fans of the Google Camera mod will be glad to know that a port is now available for the POCO X2. The port, which is based on Google Camera v7.3.020, reportedly works quite well with little to no issues. As per the forum post (linked below), you’ll be able to enjoy all Google Camera features on your POCO X2 using this port, however, you might encounter some issues while recording slow-motion video.

Google Camera Port for the POCO X2

Unofficial TWRP

If you wish to install any of the aforementioned custom ROMs or kernels on your POCO X2, you’ll first need to flash a custom recovery on your device. Thankfully, an unofficial build of the popular TWRP custom recovery is now available for the device and you can flash it by following the instructions in the forum post linked below.

Unofficial TWRP recovery for the POCO X2

Buy the POCO X2 from Flipkart (starting at ₹15,999)

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NewPipe lets you watch higher quality YouTube videos in India

Most of us are staying at home due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While it means more work for some and leisure for others, the burden on the internet has increased multi-fold as people seek new ways to keep their spirits high while in quarantine. This anticipation of the burden on the internet has led stakeholders and content providers to throttle the quality, especially videos, to forestall the internet from collapsing. Following the nationwide lockdown announced in India last week in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we noticed that YouTube also started restricting the quality of videos on smartphones to 480p in the country irrespective of the nature or quality of the internet connection. If you’re not liking that, an unofficial and ad-free YouTube client NewPipe is a great alternative to watch YouTube in the maximum quality supported by your phone.

NewPipe works without the YouTube API or Google framework libraries so you can install it on any Android device even without Google Mobile Services. You don’t even need a Google account to use NewPipe – in fact, there is no method to log in. You can simply subscribe to the creators you like within the app and enjoy without any restrictions or ads.

As can be seen in the screenshots above, NewPipe allows playing the same video at 1080p 60fps which has been restricted to 480p on the official YouTube app. Trying with different videos yields the same results. NewPipe supports video playback at up to 4K but the highest available resolution may be limited depending on the resolution to your phone’s display – and that’s 1080p in my case.

Other than using NewPipe, you can also use a VPN to watch YouTube videos in higher quality. But note that doing so will cost you a lot of data, so only use a VPN if it either has a reasonable fair usage limit or unlimited bandwidth.

Features that NewPipe offers include direct import of YouTube subscriptions, picture-in-picture (PiP) video playback, and background playback even when the display is off. Additionally, the video player interface supports swipe gestures for volume, brightness, and double tap for play or pause. You can also import your YouTube subscriptions manually to have the same experience with NewPipe.

The latest version, released recently, also gets Feed Grouping for stacking similar channels in a single folder. It also introduces a new mute button which saves you the effort of lowering the volume step by step.

Download NewPipe from GitHub

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Discord alpha hints at upcoming Pokémon GO collaboration, and surfacing COVID-19 channel

Discord began its journey in 2015 as a chat service that primarily focused on gamers, providing VoIP services to supplement real-time strategies in MOBAs. Over the years, the service has solidified its place as a chat platform, and it has also emerged as a good alternative to IRC. Discord as an app and service allows users to create different servers for a dedicated umbrella topic, and then create different channels within the server for further topic bifurcation. Users can then talk to each other within these channels, and you can keep track of the expected conversation topics within the channel. Discord has been growing in popularity recently, adding in features like displaying game activity to friends, AMOLED dark theme, temporary muting, slash commands, QR Code logins, and more. The latest Discord alpha reveals that the app is working on a collaboration with Pokémon GO, as well as surfacing helpful COVID-19 channels to more users through the Discover feature.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Pokémon GO – Discord Collaboration

Discord v16 alpha 7 is working on a possible collaboration with Pokémon GO, as these strings suggest:

<string name="invite_pokemon_go_announcements_label_long">Get latest announcements for Pokemon GO raids in Los Angeles!</string>
<string name="invite_pokemon_go_announcements_label_short">Get latest announcements</string>
<string name="invite_pokemon_go_friendship_label_long">Make new friends who are also passionate about Pokemon GO in your area!</string>
<string name="invite_pokemon_go_friendship_label_short">Make new friends</string>
<string name="invite_pokemon_go_strategy_label_long">Share tips and strategy so you can train the strongest Pokemon!</string>
<string name="invite_pokemon_go_strategy_label_short">Share tips and strategy</string>

Pokémon GO is working on bringing the ability to explore the virtual map and participate in Raid Battles from your home, in light of the health advisories issued for COVID-19. This proposed change presents an interesting problem for Niantic to tackle. Pokémon GO, so far, has avoided implementing any means of P2P communication within the game (which in our opinion is a good thing if the Ingress COMM experience is any benchmark). Thus, players had to rely on bumping into other players at Raid Battles, and then sharing contact/IM details with each other at their discretion.

With the Raid Battle experience moving from outdoors to indoors, this opportunity to communicate and work with other local players will be lost. 4-star and 5-star Raid Battles need teamwork to complete as they cannot be successfully completed by a single player working alone. If the strings found in Discord’s latest alpha are any indication, Discord is collaborating with Niantic to provide an IM medium outside of the game for players to communicate with each other. The strings suggest that the feature will first see a test in Los Angeles, where Niantic has an office. The Discord server will be local in nature, focusing on Raid Battle coordination primarily.

The thought to collaborate Pokémon GO with Discord is actually very good. Discord has plenty of VoIP features, which can help during short-manning Raid Battles. Users also need not share their personal identities on Discord, as the service uses usernames and numeric identifiers, unlike currently-popular alternatives like WhatsApp. It remains to be seen how Pokémon GO will handle Discord and its servers — whether there will be any integrations within the game, whether Niantic will create location-based regional servers or if users will be able to create regional servers and then submit it to Niantic. Niantic has not confirmed any aspect of this collaboration, but they did hint at something in their announcement post with this statement: “we’re enhancing our in-game virtual social features to enable players to stay in touch when they can’t meet in real life“. The final implementation remains to be seen.

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COVID-19 – Server Discovery

The latest alpha also contains these new strings:

<string name="guild_discovery_covid_body">Visit the community-run Coronavirus Discord to talk about COVID-19, and head to [CDC.gov](%1$s) for more information.</string>
<string name="guild_discovery_covid_button">Visit COVID-19 Discord</string>
<string name="guild_discovery_covid_title">Stay safe and informed</string>

These strings indicate that Discord will be making use of the Discover feature to direct users to visit the community-run COVID-19 server, where they can find more information on the topic.

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Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

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Samsung Galaxy S20 has a hidden 96Hz display mode: Here’s how to enable it

Samsung recently unveiled their Galaxy S20 lineup of smartphones. They have all of the bells and whistles you would expect from a Samsung flagship by now, including decently-performing cameras as well as top-of-the-line internals, but they also have one notable key feature, which is a high refresh rate display. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series has a display that supports a maximum resolution of 3200×1440 (WQHD+) and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. Despite some limitations, such as the fact that the 120Hz mode is limited to an FHD+ resolution (WQHD+ is limited to 60Hz, so you either have one or the other), it was a first and a major milestone for Samsung.

120Hz will clearly make your phone look really smooth, but with one downside: battery life. In display settings, you can choose to make the Galaxy S20 run at 2400×1080 (FHD+) and/or 60Hz: unlike many other smartphones from other manufacturers, there is no midway 90Hz option, leaving 60Hz and 120Hz as your two only options. 120Hz refreshes your display twice as quickly as 60Hz does, taking a toll on your battery life in the process. However, we recently discovered that these aren’t the only modes that the display supports: there are other hidden display modes you can set in the Galaxy S20s.

XDA Forums: Galaxy S20 || Galaxy S20+ || Galaxy S20 Ultra

If you run the shell command “dumpsys display,” you’ll find that the Galaxy S20’s display actually supports the following modes:

[{id=1, width=1440, height=3200, fps=60.000004}, 
{id=2, width=1440, height=3200, fps=48.0}, 
{id=3, width=1080, height=2400, fps=120.00001}, 
{id=4, width=1080, height=2400, fps=96.00001}, 
{id=5, width=1080, height=2400, fps=60.000004}, 
{id=6, width=1080, height=2400, fps=48.0}, 
{id=7, width=720, height=1600, fps=120.00001}, 
{id=8, width=720, height=1600, fps=96.00001}, 
{id=9, width=720, height=1600, fps=60.000004}, 
{id=10, width=720, height=1600, fps=48.0}]

Here, we can see that there are several resolutions and refresh rates that are not accessible to the user: 1600×720 (HD+) resolution, 96fps, and 48fps. Despite the fact that these modes are not toggleable through the phone’s Settings, though, the fact that they show up here means that the phone supports these modes, and as such, we can force the Galaxy S20 to run in one of these modes.

By changing the value of Settings.System.peak_refresh_rate and Settings.System.min_refresh_rate to 48.0 or 96.0, you can set the refresh rate of your Galaxy S20 to one of these hidden values. Setting your phone to 96Hz will give you a slight bump in battery life as your display won’t refresh content as often, while still getting the advantages of having a high refresh rate on your display: it’ll still look considerably smoother than 60Hz. It will still not work with WQHD+, though, as that combination is not listed as one of the supported display modes.

Buy from Amazon.in — Samsung Galaxy: S20 || S20+ || S20 Ultra

To save you the hassle of running shell commands, though, XDA Senior Member sathishtony has put together a simple app that lets you change between 96Hz and 120Hz. The app even adds two Quick Setting tiles to toggle between the refresh rate modes. The app is open source and extremely simple because all it does is change the peak_refresh_rate and min_refresh_rate settings values for you. You can confirm if the change is working by going to testufo.com.

Check out the app on XDA Labs right now!

S20 Refresh Rate Controller (Free, XDA Labs) →

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Huawei P40 Pro allegedly still contains US-made components

After months of leaks and teasers, Huawei finally announced its flagship P40 series earlier this month. As you’d expect, the latest flagships from Huawei packed in some impressive hardware but they lacked one key component on the software front — Google Mobile Services. Instead of running Google Mobile Services (GMS) like all other Android devices, Huawei’s P40 series featured Huawei Mobile Services — an in-house alternative that was developed as a result of the trade ban imposed on the company. Interestingly though, a recent report from the Financial Times claims that the Huawei P40 Pro still makes use of some US-made components.

For the unaware, the trade ban on Huawei restricts US companies from conducting business with the Chinese company. As a result, the Mate 30 series and the Huawei Y9 Prime from last year were released without GMS. Back in December last year, we also learned that the two devices didn’t make use of any US-made hardware. However, things seem to have changed over the last couple of months. A teardown of the Huawei P40 Pro conducted by Shenzhen-based XYZone, which disassembles smartphones and identifies the suppliers of their components, reveals that the device’s radio-frequency front-end modules were produced by US-based chip manufacturers Qualcomm, Skyworks, and Qorvo.

While the report further reveals that the Qualcomm component in the Huawei P40 Pro is covered by a license from the US Department of Commerce, there is no indication from Qorvo or Skyworks if their parts are covered by a similar license. Even though the Huawei P40 series does make use of some US-made components, to its credit the company has successfully managed to replace some prominent US-based suppliers like Micron, which supplied flash storage chips from the P30 series. Instead, the P40 series makes use of storage chips made by Samsung. It’s also worth noting that Huawei’s flagship SoC, the HiSilicon Kirin 990, makes use of ARM Cortex-A76 and ARM Cortex-A55 cores from ARM Holdings, which is another US-based company.

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Source: Financial Times

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Niantic considers adding options to explore and raid from home in Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO began its journey in July 2016, building upon Niantic’s Ingress and the infrastructure the game put in place. Much like Ingress, Pokémon GO focused on exploring real-world locations to play the game. The initial response to the game was historic, as it fundamentally changed how geolocation-based games, as well as AR-based genres, are experienced by the public. While the focus has always been to go outside, there may be many reasons why someone cannot go outside — which is why we saw a great increase in activity on our threads that discussed location spoofing. Niantic clamped down on the idea of playing the game without moving, and one of the first steps it took was to block rooted devices (usually a pre-requisite for location-spoofing) from entering the game, and more recently, check aggressively for even hints of root or modifications. Now, COVID-19 health advisories have enforced the ideas of social distancing and staying indoors. Consequently, Niantic is being forced to rethink how players enjoy its geolocation and community-focused games in such difficult times. The company is now considering allowing players to explore areas and do Raid Battles with other players from the comfort of their homes.

In an announcement post titled “Embracing real-world gaming from home”, Niantic, Inc. has shared its product roadmap with a focus on enabling more ways for players to play its portfolio of games from inside their homes, in the coming weeks. Pokémon GO’s Adventure Sync feature will get improvements that will make it work even better with indoor movement and activities. The game will also see an enhancement on “in-game virtual social features” that will enable players to stay in touch when they can’t meet in real life (we have some more information on this, which we will shortly detail in a separate article). The post further goes on to say that “you’ll soon be able to team up with friends and take on Raid Battles together in Pokémon GO from the comfort of home“, and “we’re also looking into how we can help players virtually visit and share memories about their favorite real-world places until they can once again visit them in person“.

Do these changes mean that Pokémon GO will officially provide a way to spoof your location? We don’t really know since the wording is up for interpretation. The announcement explicitly confirms the upcoming ability to participate in Raid Battles together — which is needed because 4-star and 5-star Raid Battles cannot be successfully completed by a single player, by design. Raid Battles occurred at Gyms on the map, which corresponded to a physical location in real life. So there will be some form of location manipulation feature at play here. However, you may not necessarily be able to virtually run around the world and catch Pokémon as one could through location spoofing apps.

Current screenshot from Pokémon GO. A Raid Battle is underway at the Gym, but one needs to physically reach there to participate. Similarly, one needs to physically reach Pokéstops to receive in-game items.

Curiously, Pokémon GO showed a very strong week-over-week growth of 67% for the week beginning on March 16. The game grossed $23 Million in gross revenue in the week, accounting for 13% of all total revenue earned in 2020 for the game. Downloads also spiked, with 1.6 million first-time installs over the week of March 9.

Report by SensorTower (via Gamesindustry.biz)

Despite the increase in activity and revenue, COVID-19 has forced Niantic to rethink its gameplay, and one can hope that the company has finally realized that moving around may not be a feasible option for many — COVID-19 or otherwise. Niantic did make changes earlier that made it easier to play the game indoors, such as introducing a new GO Battle League for PvP battles across the world, reducing walking requirements in-game, and deeply discounting in-game items to make it easier for players to play the game without needing to move out too much. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Ingress also received similar tweaks, offering an alternative gameplay style when community-play is not entirely possible. These changes are, however, temporary, as Niantic does mention that it will return back to its original vision once the pandemic has passed. We hope Niantic receives enough positive feedback to consider making some of these changes permanent.

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Pokémon GO (Free⁺, Google Play) →

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Whatsapp Beta v2.20.110 hints at upcoming multi-device support and expiring messages

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app. But it has several limitations as compared to other messengers that bind you to a particular phone or Android tablet. This may change soon as WhatsApp is reportedly working on support for simultaneous usage on multiple devices. Other than supporting multiple devices, WhatsApp might also allow users to send self-expiring messages in the near future.

Multiple devices

In the latest WhatsApp beta version 2.20.110, WABetaInfo discovered new references to multiple device support. WhatsApp appears to be working on this new feature that will allow users to log into the same WhatsApp account on different devices. They will be able to chat using the same account on more than one device at the same time. Unlike WhatsApp Web or desktop apps, this feature would not require a host and a dependent device and it will be available on both Android and iOS.

Every time a new device is added to an account, the encryption keys will update in response to the change. All of the user’s contacts will be notified of this change, although the messages might be different for stable and for beta versions of WhatsApp.

The feature is still under development and will be available in the future.

Expiring messages

We’ve been hearing about WhatsApp’s intention to add self-destructing messages. The “Disappearing Messages” feature was first reported last October and was only applicable to groups. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, the feature was spotted again, this time with a different name – “Delete messages,” and with support for private conversations besides group chats. Now, the feature has popped up again; it is now called “Expiring messages” and is now targetted at both – groups and private messages.

Expiring messages can be visible for either 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month and the messages disappear from the chat automatically after the completion of this duration. In previous versions, there was a “1 hour” option as well but, it now appears to have been removed.

Expiring Messages are only visible to administrators in the group. For individual chats, a timer icon will be used to represent that the feature has been toggled on. This icon can be seen along with the profile picture in the chat list and inside the chat and also on each chat bubble.

Like Multiple device support, Expiring messages are also under development and may be available in the future.

Video status limitations in India

In India, WhatsApp is apparently limiting the duration of the video status to 15 seconds and videos longer than that will not be published. This is apparently to prevent local servers from overloading amidst the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ANNOUNCEMENT:
You can no longer send videos to WhatsApp Status if they are longer than 16 seconds: only videos having a duration of 15 seconds will be allowed.
This is happening in India and it’s probably an initiative to reduce the traffic on the server infrastructures.

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) March 28, 2020

This limit is likely to revert back after the lockdown ends.

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