Galaxy S8 might have of 6GB of RAM, 256GB of storage

With the Note7’s discontinuation, Samsung will be on everyone’s watch with high expectations of the company’s next flagship device: the Samsung Galaxy S8. And although we haven’t seen any leaks of the hardware, the rumor mill has been churning out lots of news with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Some new rumors deciphered by TechTastic on Weibo suggest that the Galaxy S8 will feature a 256GB storage option. And it’s not yet known if this is intended to be a standard size or larger storage option. The S8 is also rumored to come with 6GB of RAM, a good decision considering even the Galaxy S7 suffered from TouchWiz jank every now and then.

If we recall, the Galaxy Note7 was expected to come out with 6GB of RAM as well, so when the company announced that it would have the same internals as the Galaxy S7 from earlier in the year, some were surprised.

So now we expect the Galaxy S8 to have a slick design and improved camera as mentioned by Samsung, an optical fingerprint scanner embedded under the screen, a dual camera setup on the larger model, a pressure sensitive display which is said to replace the capacitive keys and physical home button altogether, as well as an iris scanner.

If Samsung can figure out all of the above and keep it priced like the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge were, Samsung’s offerings could be unstoppable. Oh, and improved quality control goes without saying, Samsung cannot afford another Note7 fiasco.

Samsung releases third Android 7.0 beta for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

Samsung has released the third Android 7.0 Nougat beta for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge in the UK in as many weeks.

The latest build brings improvements to the notification shade. You can now choose the grid layout for the toggles and also choose to have the brightness slider at the top of the toggles. The update also gets rid of the Edge feeds feature. Other than that, there are a bunch of minor improvements and bug fixes but the update also has some issues of its own, such as the slow lighting of the screen when you wake up the phone and intermittent Wi-Fi disconnections.

The update can be downloaded as an OTA if you're running the previous builds of the beta build.

Final Android 7.1 Developer Preview is now going out, Nexus 9 is getting it too

Today Google is releasing the second (and last) Developer Preview build for Android 7.1. The first one went out last month to the Huawei Nexus 6P, LG Nexus 5X, and the Pixel C. This time around, the HTC Nexus 9 is joining those three devices in receiving the beta software.

The factory images are already up for grabs from Google's special website, if you know how to deal with those. If not, the easy way is to join the Android Beta Program and then just wait for an over-the-air update to this preview build. That should arrive within a week. The build number is NPF26F for all devices except the Pixel C, which has NPF26H.

 

This is Android 7.1.1 Nougat we're talking about here, and the final release of this version will be out in December. It will make its way to Google's Pixel and Pixel XL, but also to "the full lineup of supported devices", which according to the company's initial report in October includes the Pixel C, Nexus 5X, 6P, 6, 9, Nexus Player, and certain Android One handsets.

Android 7.1.1 isn't going to come with huge updates, as its versioning strongly implies (and also the fact that it's still called Nougat). It does bring with it support for image keyboards, circular launcher icons, enhanced wallpaper metadata, some new APIs for calling apps, and app shortcuts (which give you options when you long-press on an app in your launcher).

Android 2.3 Gingerbread to be barred from new Play Services versions

Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight Gingerbread. Google announced that Play Services 10.0.x will be the final release to support the outdated version of Android, dating back to February 2011.

According to the latest numbers, 1.3% of all Androids still run Gingerbread. The next version of Play Services (v10.2, coming in early 2017) will require Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich as minimum (this also means that Honeycomb is getting the ax, but few devices ever ran that tablet-focused Android version).

This should have a minimal impact on the what apps are available for such old devices, they will just be cut off from new features added to the Play Services. Devs can continue to make Gingerbread apps… not that there’s much reason to do so.

 

Anyway, Google says that deprecating these old APIs will help it “provide a more robust collection of tools for Android developers with greater speed.” And that’s good for 99% of Android users. By the way, Ice Cream Sandwich (launched the same year as Gingerbread) also has a 1.3% share, we wonder how long it will be before it gets cut too.

OnePlus 3T is official with Snapdragon 821 and 3,400 mAh battery, starts at $439

After a week-long teaser campaign and many prior leaks and rumors about it, the OnePlus 3T has finally been made official by the Chinese company today. It looks exactly like the OnePlus 3 (having the same dimensions even), but there's a new color option called "Gunmetal".

On the inside a few things have changed, however. First off, as rumored ad nauseam the 3T is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821, replacing the SD820 in the older OnePlus handset. The OnePlus 3T has two storage capacity versions, 64 and 128GB respectively, both of the UFS 2.0 kind.

The new phone's rear camera has remained unchanged from the OnePlus 3, with only a sapphire crystal cover added for improved scratch protection. On the other hand, the selfie snapper has received a huge boost in resolution - whereas the OnePlus 3 has an 8 MP Sony sensor, the 3T comes with a 16 MP Samsung-made snapper. The aperture remains the same f/2.0, while pixel size has shrunk from 1.4 nm to 1.0 nm. The exact sensor used is the Samsung 3P8SP, and the selfie cam has phase detection autofocus and support for capturing 1080p video at 30fps.

Finally, the last improved spec might prove to be the most important one for many people - we're talking about the battery capacity. The OnePlus 3T has a 3,400 mAh cell, 400 mAh more than the OnePlus 3. That should obviously ensure better overall battery life. The 20W OnePlus Dash Charge is still supported, and this should translate into very fast charging times. The 3T still runs Android Marshmallow, despite some rumors claiming it would launch with Nougat on board.

The OnePlus 3 was initially available in silver, then a "Soft Gold" version was launched. The OnePlus 3T will be out in "Gunmetal" and "Soft Gold" on November 22 in North America and November 28 in other territories, purchasable as usual directly from the OnePlus online store. It will start at $439 (with 64GB of storage), which is $40 more than the OnePlus 3. The 128GB variant will go for $479. In the EU the prices will be €439 and €479, respectively.

ASUS launches ZenFone 3 Max in India

ASUS has launched the new ZenFone 3 Max in India. The phone is being launched in two variants with a 5.2-inch display and 5.5-inch display.

The 5.5-inch model has a 1080p display with Snapdragon 430, 3GB RAM, 32GB expandable storage, 16 megapixel, f2.0 rear camera with laser and phase detection autofocus, 8 megapixel f2.2 front camera, dual SIM support, fingerprint sensor, and 4100mAh battery that can also charge other devices using the bundled OTG cable.

The 5.2-inch model has a 1080p display with MediaTek MT6737T, 3GB RAM, 32GB expandable storage, 13 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front camera, dual SIM support, fingerprint sensor, and a 4100mAh battery that can also be used to charge other devices.

The 5.2.inch ZenFone 3 Max is priced at INR 12,999 ($195) and the 5.5-inch ZenFone 3 Max is priced at INR 17,999 ($270).

New OnePlus X update brings November security patch

OnePlus has started pushing out a new update to its OnePlus X smartphone. The update - which arrives as OxygenOS 3.1.4 - brings along several changes, including the Android security fixes for the month of November.

In addition, the update - which is being rolled out incrementally - also includes fix for launcher-related crashes and features auto-brightness optimization. System stability has also been improved, and some general bug fixes are included as well.

OnePlus 3T will be announced on November 15

 

After many weeks of rumors, OnePlus has finally (sort of) confirmed that it's working on a new smartphone, which will be an enhanced version of the already available OnePlus 3. The OnePlus 3T will be announced on November 15, which is exactly one week from now.

The Chinese company has also confirmed the use of the Snapdragon 821 chipset in the device, less than 24 hours after Qualcomm did the same. OnePlus hasn't openly said that it's going to launch the 3T on November 15.

We Assume that can't be anything other than a not-so-subtle hint. The OnePlus 3T will be outed at 1 PM EST, according to the company. No other official details have been posted until now, but we expect the following week to be filled with teasers from OnePlus.

According to past rumors, the OnePlus 3T will start at $479, $80 more than its predecessor. Aside from the new SoC, it will also pack a bigger battery (3,300 mAh), a 128GB storage version, and it will run Android 7.0 Nougat from the get-go.

Moto M gets an official listing online in China

Few days after the phone leaked, the Moto M has gotten an official listing on Lenovo's website ahead of the November 8 launch. The phone is priced at RMB 1999, which is about $295.

The Moto M has a water-resistant design with a metal body and a new design language. The phone has rounded corners and narrower edges, and the fingerprint sensor has been moved to the back below the camera sensor.

The phone has a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 2.2GHz octa-core MediaTek processor, 4GB RAM, and 32GB storage. On the back is a 16 megapixel camera with PDAF and on the front is an 8 megapixel sensor. Inside is a 3050mAh battery with fast charging support.

Samsung to start beta-testing Nougat for the Galaxy S7 on November 9

A few days ago it was reported that Samsung is going to begin beta-testing Android 7.0 Nougat for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge in the UK but since then the Beta Program app was pulled from the app store.

Now it seems the beta-test is on again and has an official date set for November 9 (again in the UK). According to a leaked screenshot Nougat will be beta tested from the 9th of November until mid December.

Users with regular (read non Batman Injustice Edition and Olympic Edition) Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge can sign up for the beta by downloading Samsung's Galaxy Beta Program app from Galaxy Apps and submit an application.

Samsung then needs to approve you for the beta, you're not guaranteed a spot.

Android 7.0 Nougat brings a lot of improvements such as built-in Emoji, the Vulkan API for superior gaming performance, smarter Doze for improved stand-by times and much more.

Nougat update for LG G5 is now rolling out

Inline with the expectations, LG has announced that it has started rolling out the Android 7.0 Nougat update to its G5 smartphone.

The update is currently hitting units in the company's home country of South Korea, while other regions including the Americas and Asia will get it "in the weeks to come."

The company notes that more information related to the update will be locally available in the weeks ahead.

"At LG, we know our customers want the best, most up-to-date mobile experience," the company said in a press release. "Getting software updates to our users faster than the competition is our way of demonstrating that LG is committed to supporting our products and customers to ensure they have a positive ownership experience."

Snapdragon 821-powered OnePlus phone on the way, Qualcomm confirms

Qualcomm has confirmed that a new OnePlus smartphone powered by the chip giant's latest Snapdragon 821 SoC is coming soon. The confirmation came from the company's official Twitter handle.

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Qualcomm 

✔@Qualcomm

Something new from @OnePlus is on the way…and it’s powered by our #Snapdragon 821 processor. Stay tuned.

10:52 PM - 7 Nov 2016

 
•  320320 Retweets
 
•  533533 likes

OnePlus is already rumored to launch an SD821-powered phone - dubbed OnePlus 3T - this month, so it'd be reasonable to assume that Qualcomm is talking about that phone.

The OnePlus 3T is also said to feature a Sony IMX398 sensor (but still 16MP in resolution), and is expected to carry a price tag of $479, which is $80 more than what the OnePlus 3costs.

Apple releases iOS 10.2 beta with Unicode 9.0 emoji set

Apple released a new beta of iOS 10.1 to developers yesterday. It features a bunch of additions and improvements, but probably the biggest one for most users is going to be the new emoji.

For starters, iOS finally added support for the Unicode 9.0 emoji set. This includes some new emoji, such as shrug, facepalm, rolling on the floor laughing, selfie, bacon, and a whole bunch of other food and animal emoji. Apple also redesigned its set of animal and food emoji, giving them a much needed fresh coat of paint, and they look much more natural now and suited for high resolution Retina displays. Emojipedia has much more on this topic in their blog post.

Moving on, iOS 10.2 beta also adds three new wallpapers on the iPhone 7 that are being used for the promotional material for these phones but weren't actually included on the devices themselves. A new celebrations effect has also been added to iMessage. The Videos app now gets a widget. There is now an option to rate music on a scale of five stars in the Music app. This is different from the Like/Dislike option that also affects your 'For You' recommendations. Lastly, you can now choose to save the Camera app settings (flash, HDR, etc.) so they next time you open the app they don't get reset to Auto.

The update is available to users with a developer account. We expect the stable release to come out by the end of this month.

ARM introduces Mali-G51: a GPU for the VR era

With VR heating up, companies have been looking for ways to provide an affordable entry, but VR requires a very different GPU than gaming on a screen. Meet ARM’s new GPU - the Mali-G51 - built specifically for VR.

A smaller brother of the G71, this is the second GPU to use the new Bifrost architecture built with Vulkan in mind. This one is more than just a G71 with fewer cores, in fact it’s the first to use a dual shader architecture.

Basically, traditional shaders process one pixel per clock cycle. Mali-G51’s shaders can do two pixels per clock while using fewer resources (both in terms of energy and space on the chip) than two traditional shaders. Note that a Mali-G51 MP6 denotes three dual shader cores, not six cores.

To put this in simpler terms, a Mali-G51 will be 60% more energy efficient than a Mali-T830 while doing the same amount of work. It will have a 60% higher “performance density,” i.e. it needs fewer transistors, making chipsets smaller and cheaper.

ARM touts this as the smallest Vulkan GPU and will make VR accessible in 2018. Yep, VR is a fledgling and affordable devices are still some way out.

Interestingly, ARM talks about Virtual Spaces - not fully interactive VR environments, but instead spaces with static surroundings filled with interactive elements. This is aimed at business applications that are simpler than a full blown game with players rushing through huge levels.

ARM also unveiled a new video processor, the Mali-V61. It does both video capture and streaming and will be found in anything from drones to Smart TVs. It supports HEVC h.265 with HDR/10-bit and scales from one core (enough for 1080p @ 60fps) all the way up to eight cores (4K @ 120fps, it will be a while before we need that).

Google takes more steps towards keeping Play Store trusted

With an aim to better fight fraud and spam installs, Google has started pushing out a new update to its Play Store app that brings along improved detection and filtering systems.

"From time to time, we observe instances of developers attempting to manipulate the placement of their apps through illegitimate means like fraudulent installs, fake reviews, and incentive ratings," the company says in a blog post.

"These attempts not only violate the Google Play Developer Policy, but also harm our community of developers by hindering their chances of being discovered or recommended through our systems."

With the new changes that are being rolled out, the Mountain View, California-based company says they'll be able to better detect and filter any install conducted with the intention to manipulate an app's placement on Google Play. Further, developers caught doing this repeatedly could also have their apps taken down from the store.