The gaming smartphone segment has grown steadily over the last couple of years, with several OEMs like Asus, Razer, and Nubia offering some compelling devices geared towards mobile gamers. Chinese OEM Lenovo is also expected to join the ranks this year with its new Legion branded gaming smartphone. The device was leaked extensively earlier this year in May and we already know quite a bit about its specifications and design. Lenovo recently confirmed some of the details, like the 144Hz high refresh display and liquid cooling system, via official teasers on Weibo. Now, the company has released more teasers of the device which confirm that it will feature a side-mounted pop-up camera.
As you can see in the attached images, the upcoming Lenovo Legion gaming smartphone will feature a dual-camera setup on the back with a dual-LED flash right in the center of the back panel.
Over on the front, the device features a nearly bezel-less display with rounded edges, dual front-firing speakers, and a pop-up selfie camera mounted on the side.
A listing of the device has also popped up on Chinese etailer JD.com, which includes a short marketing video of the device that we’ve seen in previous leaks. The video confirms that the device will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus SoC and feature support for 90W fast wired charging. You can view the video by following the JD.com source linked below.
The listing also reveals that the Lenovo Legion gaming smartphone will be officially unveiled on July 22nd in China. Previous leaks suggest that the device will include a second USB Type-C port on the side to let users easily charge their phone while holding the device horizontally. The device is expected to run Lenovo’s ZUI 12 based on Android 10 with significant customizations on top. The company will, most likely, market the operating system as “Legion OS” for all upcoming devices in the Lenovo Legion series.
The X-series of smartphones has generally been Vivo’s camera-focused lineup. While still photography has generally been the primary focus for the X-series, Vivo has decided this time to focus on video stabilization as the key selling point of the X50 Pro. Not only that, but the Vivo X50 series represents the first time that Vivo is launching X-series devices outside of China. We’re excited to finally get a chance to try out a Vivo X-series device ahead of its global release, especially considering the fierce competition from brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, and fellow BBK Electronics subbrands OPPO, Realme, and OnePlus. I’ve had the Vivo X50 Pro for about a week now, so I’m ready to share my review of its camera quality.
NFC
WiFi 6
Bluetooth 5.1
SA & NSA Dual-mode 5G
In-Display Fingerprint Scanner
AK4377A Hi-Fi Sound chip
Android Version
Funtouch OS 10.5 on top of Android 10
Disclaimer: Vivo loaned me the X50 Pro for review purposes. I have been using this phone for about a week.
To quickly go over the camera specifications, the primary camera is a 48MP Sony IMX598 custom sensor with an aperture of f/1.6. This camera is stabilized by a “gimbal” OIS setup. Vivo says this setup is 3 times better at removing hand shakes compared to a conventional OIS setup. The secondary sensor is a 13MP portrait lens with 2x optical zoom and an aperture of f/2.46. The third senor is an 8MP 5X periscope zoom lens with an aperture of f/3.4. This zoom lens provides for 5x optical, 10x hybrid, and 60x digital zoom. The fourth and final sensor is the 8MP ultrawide angle sensor with an aperture of f/2.2. It has a field-of-view of 120 degrees and supports macro photography with a plane of focus of up to 2.5cm to the lens. All around, the camera hardware Vivo is using in the Vivo X50 Pro is top-notch and on par with other flagship smartphones in 2020.
The main camera is where all the fun begins for the Vivo X50 Pro’s camera setup. The main camera sensor is the Sony IMX 598. Housing the sensor is a huge gimbal camera, which is supposed to mean much, much better stabilization. What should this mean in practice? Well, image quality should benefit because the camera’s HDR algorithm has more data and needs to do less composition of different pixels. It also means videos should be more stable during movement and better nightime photos because of less camera shake.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro versus Vivo X50 Pro, No super stabilization
Samsung S20 Ultra versus Vivo X50 Pro, super stabilization
In reality, images are pretty good in detail but the HDR algorithm is lacking. In most images, we lose detail in the shadows while brightly lit objects turn out decently. In sunlight, detail is preserved well. At night, we see a lot of detail preserved and very little blurriness from hand shakes thanks to the gimbal setup.
Vivo also has a Starry sky mode. Think of this as something like Google’s Astrophotography mode in Night Sight in the Google Camera app. Vivo claims this algorithm can remove star trails from the movement of the earth and segments the photos for better night photography. All around, I found that it works as expected but noticeably underperforms Google’s Astrophotography mode on the Pixel 4. This, once again, has to do with the color science behind Vivo’s camera.
Telephoto
The Vivo X50 Pro has two telephoto lenses: a 2X portrait lens and a 5X periscope zoom lens. The 2X telephoto takes excellent photos; I’d say it actually performs better than the main camera. The color science is much better with outstanding HDR. For the 5x optical camera, it’s also quite capable of producing great photos. In fact, I’d put it on par with the Galaxy S20 Ultra. However, I don’t think it’s quite as good as the OPPO Find X2 Pro or Huawei P40 Pro+. The zoom maxes out at 60x digital, though its utility is debatable.
Overall, I find the two telephoto cameras on the Vivo X50 Pro to be the most impressive of the 5 total cameras on the phone. The 2x optical and 5x optical cameras were a nice contrast in quality considering how below par the other 3 cameras are.
Ultra Wide
The ultrawide camera on the Vivo X50 Pro failed to impress. In most pictures I took, there’s little detail preservation. In some pictures, there’s extreme distortion, making images very unappealing. In some, albeit very few, images, the photos came out beautifully with vivid colors and great detail. I wouldn’t consider this a very reliable or consistent ultrawide camera since it’s sometimes capable of capturing great photos. Unfortunately, “sometimes” is not good enough when there are many competitors that do it much better.
Selfie
Selfie photos from the Vivo X50 Pro can be described with one word: overblown. My other big issue is with the camera’s beauty mode. In the selfies above, I disabled it with each option set to 0. But as is very obvious, there is some skin smoothing in the images nonetheless. To some extent, I can fix the photos in post, but I shouldn’t have to edit selfies to make them look realistic on a phone marketed for its camera quality, even if Vivo’s emphasis is on the main rear camera.
Final Thoughts on the Vivo X50 Pro’s Camera
Vivo has a device with fantastic hardware on their hands. The Sony IMX 598 sensor with a gimbal should make for a stellar combination. The issue isn’t with the hardware, though. The Vivo X50 Pro’s camera processing just isn’t competitive with other camera phones I’ve used in 2020. The HDR is lacking, the camera smoothens skin too much, the depth estimation on portrait shots is subpar, and the colors are hit and miss.
At the time of writing this review, Vivo hasn’t announced the European pricing on the Vivo X50 Pro, though they did announce the Indian pricing. The Vivo X50 Pro costs 49,900 Indian Rupees, which is approximately equivalent to $664. The price in Europe will likely be a tad bit higher than that given multiple external factors, though. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this phone for its camera at the current price. Should Vivo issue a major software update that improves the camera quality, I might change my mind. The rest of the phone’s hardware may otherwise feel solid (though I’m not a fan of FunTouch OS), but the Vivo X50 Pro’s main selling point—its Gimbal camera—can’t stabilize the poor camera processing.
Twitter is having an interesting week, to say the least. A day after numerous high-profile accounts were hijacked to promote cryptocurrency scams, leading to Twitter temporarily halting new tweets from many verified accounts, the social media company is announcing some big changes to its API. Twitter API v2, as they are calling it, is a new foundation that has been rebuilt for the first time since 2012. Some important changes will affect 3rd-party apps that we know and love.
As you may know, Twitter’s API has caused a lot of friction for 3rd-party app developers. Numerous popular Twitter clients have been pulled from the Play Store in the past due to reaching the controversial 100,000 token limit. Back in 2018, Twitter made changes that removed key features from 3rd-party developers. Those changes went into effect later that year despite a campaign from the developers of popular apps. Some of those key features will finally be made available to developers again with API v2.
Here’s Twitter’s brief explanation of what’s new in API v2:
A cleaner API that’s easier to use, with new developer features like the ability to specify which fields get returned, or retrieve more Tweets from a conversation within the same response
Some of the most requested features that were missing from the API, including conversation threading, poll results in Tweets, pinned Tweets on profiles, spam filtering, and a more powerful stream filtering and search query language
The last bullet point is what fans of 3rd-party Twitter apps should be most excited about. It’s pretty crazy to think that a 3rd-party client wasn’t allowed to show polls, thread conversations, or show pinned tweets. These are basic features of the social media platform that anyone would expect to see in a Twitter client, and it only harmed the Twitter experience for users who weren’t using the official app. We’re glad to see Twitter has opened these features up.
Previously, the Twitter API was separated into three tiers: Standard (free), Premium (self-serve paid), and Enterprise. API v2 will replace all three tiers with product tracks designed to fit different groups of developers. Twitter says the new tracks will hopefully have something for everyone. Here’s how the company describes the three product tracks:
Standard: Available first, this will be the default product track for most developers, including those just getting started, building something for fun, for a good cause, and to learn or teach. We plan to add Elevated access to this track in the future.
AcademicResearch: Academic researchers use the Twitter API to understand what’s happening in the public conversation. In the future, qualified academic researchers will have a way to get Elevated or Custom access to relevant endpoints. We’re also providing tools and guides to make it easier to conduct academic research with the Twitter API.
Business: Developers build businesses on the Twitter API, including our Twitter Official Partners and enterprise data customers. We love that their products help other people and businesses better understand and engage with the conversation on Twitter. In the future, this track will include Elevated or Custom access to relevant endpoints.
Twitter realized the older pricing and rate limits were limiting developers, especially those who were just building stuff for fun. With these changes, we could see a resurgence of fun little Twitter tools and bots with the Standard track. Speaking of which, the Standard track is launching today, while the Business and Academic/Research tracks will arrive “soon.” Each track also contains Basic, Elevated, or Custom access levels. Pricing for the tracks has not been announced at this time.
Early access to the initial set of new endpoints will be available to all developers with the free, Basic access level. Developers interested in trying these features can sign up for a developer account and apply here to get started. The public roadmap is available on this Trello board for developers to track the progression of API v2.
Don’t own a powerful PC or a newer console? No problem: Thanks to cloud game streaming services, you don’t have to dish out hundreds of dollars to enjoy the best that the gaming industry has to offer. For example, NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW cloud gaming service lets you play Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding with DLSS 2.0 enabled while Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service offers arguably the lowest latency and highest quality for its selection of games. Microsoft’s competing Project xCloud, which offers up a range of popular Xbox titles, has been in preview for a few months but will soon launch for everyone later this year.
Gaming hardware keeps getting more and more expensive: consoles like the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X are not expected to cost any less than $500 at launch, while a decent gaming PC that can play AAA games will set you back even more. That’s why game streaming has become attractive; you can play many games without needing expensive hardware aside from a controller and a decent Internet connection. The three major game streaming services have wildly different models: NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW lets customers play from select titles in their existing Steam/Epic Games library, Stadia requires users to purchase titles from its online store, and Project xCloud lets users play over a hundred Xbox Game Pass titles. NVIDIA has a free tier with limited playtime and fewer quality options, Stadia has a Pro tier that gives users free games from time-to-time, and Project xCloud requires a monthly subscription fee but offers many games upfront.
In September, Project xCloud will be exiting preview, so invites won’t be required anymore. Microsoft is combining Xbox Live, Xbox Game Pass, and xCloud game streaming into a single $15 per month subscription called Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. According to The Verge, Microsoft won’t always limit xCloud to the $15/month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription tier, though Microsoft did not share concrete details on future subscription plans. At launch, you’ll be able to play from over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles on supported devices, including Android phones or tablets. However, Microsoft hasn’t shared a list of games that will be available at launch, nor have they shared which specific phone and tablet models will be supported.
Support for DualShock 4 controllers and PC streaming are still planned to happen, though no specific announcements have been made today. Microsoft hasn’t announced which countries they’ll launch the service in, though the current preview includes multiple European nations. Lastly, Microsoft told The Verge that Project xCloud won’t be the final name of the service, though the company hasn’t settled on what they’re going to call it at launch.
Here’s what Microsoft announced on their official Xbox blog earlier today:
Finally, today we’re announcing that this September, in supported countries, we’re bringing Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud together at no additional cost for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. With cloud gaming in Game Pass Ultimate, you will be able to play over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles on your phone or tablet. And because Xbox Live connects across devices, you can play along with the nearly 100 million Xbox Live players around the world. So when Halo Infinite launches, you and your friends can play together and immerse yourselves in the Halo universe as Master Chief—anywhere you go and across devices.
Cloud gaming in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate means your games are no longer locked to the living room. You can connect more than ever with friends and family through gaming. And just like you do with your movie and music streaming services, when cloud gaming launches into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can continue your game wherever you left off on any of your devices.
T-Mobile and Sprint officially began the merger process earlier this year, and we’ve seen a lot of progress to combine their networks and various services since then. T-Mobile has expanded its 5G network with Sprint’s mid-band spectrum, Sprint users can roam on T-Mobile LTE, Dish Network has taken over Sprint’s prepaid business, and T-Mobile Tuesdays are now available for Sprint customers. Today, T-Mobile announced a number of new features for its customers.
Here are the cliff notes on the announcements:
Free Scam ID and Blocking. Suspicious calls are flagged, and customers can turn on scam blocking to never see those calls again.
Free, Enhanced Caller ID. If we know who’s calling, you’ll know who is calling. And with new improvements, you’ll know when the number is verified as coming from a real person or business.
Free Second Number. Introducing T-Mobile PROXY, a second number to keep your personal number personal.
Free Number Change. If your personal number becomes a spam magnet, get a clean slate with a new number.
Free Scam Shield App. The central spot to activate these new protections and, for an extra charge, unlock more advanced call controls. Sprint customers now get free protections — previously an added charge — in the upgraded Call Screener app.
Free Be ID Aware Service. Get ID monitoring and alerts for 12 months from the experts at McAfee, available for a limited time.
Scam ID is one of the most important announcements. This feature will label fishy calls as “scam likely” when they come in and users can choose to entirely block calls that T-Mobile deems likely as spam. Additionally, the carrier’s caller ID feature based on STIR/SHAKEN technology is available to all customers for free. These new caller ID and spam blocking features will be manageable from the new “Scam Shield” app for customers. More controls can be unlocked for extra fees.
Next up is “T-Mobile PROXY,” a free second number for your account. Proxy is a reboot of the carrier’s “DIGITS” feature. This second number can be used to give out whenever you’re not comfortable sharing your real number. Calls and messages to the proxy number can go to your main line or be sent to voicemail automatically. If your main number does end up getting abused, you can get a new number for free.
Most of these new features are available to all T-Mobile (including Metro by T-Mobile) and Sprint customers. However, Sprint users won’t have access to the Scam Shield app at launch. Sprint’s own Call Screener service is now free to make up for that. T-Mobile users can enable spam call blocking right now by dialing #662#.
Team Win Recovery Project, or TWRP for short, has become synonymous with custom recovery for Android devices. The open-source solution offers a plethora of features that are otherwise not provided by a stock recovery environment, such as the ability to flash ZIP packages that contain aftermarket OSes or different mods, make and restore partition-level data backups, modify protected files, and much more. However, it is virtually impossible to construct a generic TWRP image due to the nature of Android’s recovery implementation. A device-specific TWRP build, on the other hand, has to achieve a certain degree of stability before gaining “official” status and being offered on the team’s website. Since our previous coverage, the team has officially added support for the ASUS ZenFone 5Z, the BQ Aquaris VS and VS Plus, and reinstated support for the Xiaomi Redmi 6 and the Redmi 6A.
ASUS ZenFone 5Z
An unofficial build of the custom recovery for the ASUS ZenFone 5Z first popped up back in 2018, thanks to the contributions of XDA Recognized Developer jackeagle and XDA Senior Member Rohan purohit. That very TWRP port is now mature enough to receive official status under the maintainership of jackeagle. The official build is fully compatible with the Android 10 firmware, and it can flash stock ASUS update ZIPs as well.
BQ phones are known for their developer-friendliness, which has been justified once again by the arrival of official TWRP builds for the BQ Aquaris VS and BQ Aquaris VS Plus. Prominent developer Alejandro Lopez, also known as XDA Member Kra1o5, is the maintainer for the two devices.
Official TWRP builds for the Redmi 6/6A were originally maintained by SamarV-121, but the developer dropped support a few weeks ago for unknown reasons. XDA Junior Member MEGAFON929 has now picked up where SamarV-121 left off, thus official support for these phones has now been renewed.
XDA Recognized Developer deadman96385 has decided to step down from the duty of maintaining TWRP for the Honor 5X. The existing builds for this device, including the latest TWRP 3.4.0, are still available for download to help the owners of this phone.
Earlier this month, Firefox made some changes to its convoluted system of beta, nightly, and preview builds. There are now only three builds that will receive development: Stable, Beta, and Nightly. Firefox routinely brings new add-ons to the Nightly builds for Android and recently it added support for three more.
The three new add-ons in Firefox Nightly (which some say have been present for a couple of weeks) are Decentraleyes, YouTube High Definition, and Privacy Possum. Read the full descriptions for each add-on to learn more.
Decentraleyes
Protects you against tracking through “free”, centralized, content delivery. It prevents a lot of requests from reaching networks like Google Hosted Libraries, and serves local files to keep sites from breaking. Complements regular content blockers.
YouTube High Definition
YouTube High Definition is a powerful tool that automatically plays all YouTube videos in HD, changes video player size, offers auto stop and mute, and much more.
Privacy Possum
Privacy Possum monkey wrenches common commercial tracking methods by reducing and falsifying the data gathered by tracking companies.
There’s some conflicting reports on whether these three adds-ons are in Firefox Beta or Firefox Nightly. It’s possible that they haven’t been made available to everyone yet. Regardless, if you’ve used these add-ons on the desktop version of Firefox, you can now use them on Android as well. Download either version below and there are plenty of other add-ons to choose from as well.
