OnePlus 3 to Receive a Nougat Community Build Update This Month

With all of the crazy OnePlus 3T rumors that have been flying around lately, it's nice to see some new information for the regular OnePlus 3 that many feel is the best smartphone of 2016. The OnePlus 3 has received a number of software updates that have improved performance, squashed bugs, and lately have been introducing a new design to a number of stock apps and the UI itself. This new design started as the company decided to merge the Oxygen OS and Hydrogen OS platforms together.

Last month, OnePlus came out and explained how they will be handling their Oxygen OS Community Beta program. Essentially, there will be three tiers: Closed Beta, Open Beta (aka Community Builds), and finally the Official OTA releases. They are aiming to push out ~4 closed beta updates per month, ~2 open beta updates per month, and then one official OTA update every 1 to 2 months.

It was at the start of October that we also learned OnePlus had started to work on Android 7.0 Nougat for the OnePlus 3. Since then, OnePlus has received a ton of questions asking exactly when their first Nougat update would be available to the public. Yesterday, we learned that this first update is scheduled to be released as a Community Build sometime this month. This was reported as confirmed by Engadget from Brian Yoon, the head of OnePlus' software team.

The company hopes to squash all of the bugs and polish the entire Nougat update so that it will be available as an official OTA update by the end of the year. These are just estimated schedules though, so if the team ends up hitting a roadblock or two, it could push the delay back a bit. In the report from Engadget, we also learn that "older devices like the OnePlus 2" will also be receiving the Nougat update. However, they are unable to give us an estimated time frame for when that update might be released.

Source: Engadget

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XDA Forums Added for the Upcoming OnePlus 3T!

The OnePlus 3T with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC is expected to arrive on November 15th, but why wait to gossip about it? Head on over to the forums to interact with fellow community members and voice your views!

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RhinoShield CrashGaurd Pixel XL Drop Test – 11 Feet Onto Cement

In this video, Miles takes the CrashGuard bumper out for a drop text after showing us the impressive engineering that goes into every bumper. RhinoShield claims their cases can protect your phone from a fall from up to 11 feet.  Let's put that to the test with a new Pixel XL. Here are the results below from each drop position. For the full-length video, scroll down the page.

Drop from pocket height

From a pocket height drop, no damage is done to the case or the phone. No smudges or scratches to be seen.

Drop from chest height

This drop for chest height landed hard. The bumper absorbed the shock and took a little bit of scratch damage on the corner. The phone was still left in perfect condition.

Drop from overhead

Similar to the last test, only minor scratches can be found on the bumper. The integrity of the phone is left unchanged.

11 foot drop

Miles finishes up his drop test with a giant 11 foot  drop. Still nothing more than minor scratches on the case. The phone is left without any flaws.

Full video

CrashGuard is superior to the bumpers of the past because it has been engineered to absorb impact. This is done by utilizing a proprietary polymer material that is far more shock-absorbent than plastic, and it also has a protective honeycomb structure within the bumper to disperse impact properly. In fact, within the honeycombs are compartments of pressurized air that act as airbags and deflect impact energy. If that sounds really elaborate, it is, and the net result is that you can drop your phone from a variety of heights (up to 11 feet) and if you have a CrashGuard bumper on the phone, you're going to have a completely unmarked phone.

Not only are CrashGuard bumpers durable, but they're lightweight (with most of their bumpers coming in under 14 grams). They're also pretty grippy thanks to the matte finish, and they come in a variety of colors. Another thing we really like about the CrashGuard line is the pricing: the Pixel XL is priced at $24.99, and you can grab one from CrashGuard for the Pixel/Pixel XL.

If you have one of the many other phones that are supported by RhinoShield, you can check out their Amazon page to see all of their available options.

Thanks to RhinoShield for sponsoring this post.

from xda-developers http://www.xda-developers.com/rhinoshield-crashgaurd-pixel-xl-drop-test-11-feet-onto-cement/
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OpenSignal’s State of LTE Report Highlights the Best Countries for 4G Accessibility

OpenSignal has released their State of LTE report for 2016, which gives us a good look at the accessibility of 4G LTE all over the world. The report is a culmination of efforts and analysis of 17 billion measurements collected from half million OpenSignal users.

Starting off with the availability of 4G (time users remain connected to a 4G connection), South Korea leads the pack with 95.7% connectivity to an LTE network, making 4G as geographically ubiquitous as 3G in the country. Seeing that both Samsung and LG are based off of South Korea and are frequently chosen to test drive the latest mobile technology, the high proliferation of 4G services does not surprise us.

While South Korea has the highest prevalence of 4G, the crown for best speeds goes to Singapore (albeit South Korea did compete closely for it). Average download speeds over 4G connections came out to be 45.9 Mbps, the highest average speed in the world. It is very likely that countries in the near future will be able to breach the 50 Mbps average due to continued investment and advancement in the mobile network sector.

Global 4G speeds averaged 17.4 Mbps despite several countries going over 20 Mbps. As this is an average, it is heavily affected by the population numbers of the country. So countries with high speeds but small population are unable to properly offset countries with low speeds and large population, thus bringing down the global average. Further, speeds also do not always equate with consistency and availability, meaning that you can have high 4G speeds but poor proliferation of the network overall.

The surprising number is the speed average for USA, which comes in at 14 Mbps, well below the global speed average. Although speeds in urban areas with high coverage might be well above this number, there are large swatches of land which may not have access to such high speed connections. Similarly, India's speed average is a measly 6.4 Mbps, which surprises me personally as an optimistic figure.

To take a better look at the interactive charts and more data, do check out OpenSignal's Full Report.

What are your thoughts on the LTE Report? Do you think it represents the situation fairly? Are the figures practically relatable to what you experience? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: OpenSignal

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Honor 8 UK Owners Can Apply to Test EMUI 5

If you own the FRD-L09 variant of the Honor 8 from the UK, then you can apply to test the company's latest update. You simply need to install an application, enroll in the beta test, & install the OTA update later this month if you are selected.

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Report Says the Galaxy S8 will have 5.7″ and 6.2″ Displays

A new report out of South Korea claims that Samsung will be changing things up a bit for their upcoming flagship series. With the loss of the Galaxy Note 7, it seems Samsung might feel they are losing out on customers who prefer a larger display on their smartphone.

To compensate, the upcoming Galaxy S8 will come in two different sizes, a local news report says. One of these versions is said to have a 5.7″ display while the other will go even bigger and sport a 6.2″ display.

When we compare this to the Galaxy S7 series from earlier this year, we see that the Galaxy S7 has a 5.1″ display while the Galaxy S7 Edge variant has a bigger 5.5″ display. The Galaxy Note 7 from earlier this year shipped with a 5.7″ display, so it's interesting to see this report about Samsung making their smallest version of the S8 have a display that is as big as that of the Note 7. Many may be worried about a phone with a 6.2″ display, but this report says it shouldn't be that bad.

It was just last week when it was revealed that Samsung was making heavy investments into edge-to-edge bezel-less displays. This was sparked after Xiaomi revealed the Mi Mix smartphone, and some Samsung Display engineers confirmed they were investing capital and manpower into the technology as well. So now, this recent local news report says Samsung will be using some sort of bezel-less design to reduce the overall size of the 6.2″ Galaxy S8 variant.

The report also claims that Samsung will be ditching the flat screen design entirely for the upcoming Galaxy S8 release. We've watched this happen with the Galaxy Note series, but many were hoping they would stick with it for the Galaxy S series. If true, this shift is likely due to sales numbers that Samsung is seeing with their edge and non-edge variants from the last couple of years.

Source: The Investor

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Triple Giveaway: Win an UMi Plus, Diamond, or new Plus E (with 6GB RAM)!

We're back with another contest, open to all countries, thanks to UMi. We've got three phones to give away this time: the UMi Diamond, the UMi Plus, and the just-announced UMi Plus E. Here's a little summary of each, and when you're ready to enter the contest, hit the widget below!

Diamond

The UMi Diamond is the company's latest phone budget-friendly at only $99. The Diamond offers shock and scratch resistance, plus an octa-core CPU, 3GB of RAM, and a near-stock Android 6.0 experience with a planned update to Nougat in a little over a month.

Plus

The UMi Plus is an all-metal phone that has a massive 4,000mAh battery, a 5.5″ FHD display, Helio P10 octa-core CPU, 32GB of storage with microSD expansion up to 256GB, fingerprint reader, 4GB of RAM, and again, near-stock Android with Nougat on the way next month.

Plus E

The "E" in means extreme, because the UMi Plus E is one of the least expensive 6GB RAM phones you can get at only $199. It's based off of the Plus, but adds double the storage (at 64GB with expansion up to another 256MB with microSD), a faster Helio P20 octa-core CPU, and of course, 6GB of RAM.

Win an UMi Plus or Diamond!

  Buy UMi Plus   Buy UMi Diamond

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