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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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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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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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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