Corning announces Gorilla Glass Victus with 2m drop protection and twice the scratch resistance

Smartphone design has gone through several major trends. Plastic was a common choice for back covers for a while (and still is widely used). Metal became popular in “premium” smartphones for a short time, but due to a variety of reasons, glass is now the top choice. The vast majority of high-end (and even many mid-range) phones feature glass on the front and back. It’s important that this glass is durable, which is where Corning’s Gorilla Glass comes in.

Gorilla Glass is a very popular choice for smartphone displays and back covers. Corning has released a number of different versions of Gorilla Glass, each with its own unique benefits and weaknesses. The latest version is Gorilla Glass 6 and it’s been in use since late 2018. Corning has announced a new version, called Gorilla Glass Victus, that it claims double the scratch resistance of GG6 and has 2-meter drop protection.

Before we get to Victus, let’s talk about Gorilla Glass 7. If you’ve been following the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 leaks, you’ve heard that the Ultra model will feature Gorilla Glass 7. It appears that Victus is the successor to Gorilla Glass 6, though the “Gorilla Glass 7” name could still be used. Corning felt the advances of Victus warranted a brand new name.

So let’s talk about those advances. If you’re a glass nerd you know that Corning’s scratch protection has stagnated for several years, but that’s finally changing with Gorilla Glass Victus. It scratches between 7-10 Newtons. That unit may not mean much to you, but what’s important is previous generations and competitors scratch between 2-4 Newtons.

In terms of drop protection, Gorilla Glass 6 can survive multiple drops from 1.6-meters. Victus can withstand multiple drops from 2-meters. That’s not a huge improvement, but it is something. Considering most Gorilla Glass releases focus on either drop protection or scratch resistance, it’s great to see Victus improves on both.

As mentioned, Gorilla Glass 7 has been mentioned alongside the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Corning says manufacturers will deliver devices with Victus in the second half of 2020. Samsung will be the first manufacturer to ship a device with Victus, which is highly likely to be the Note 20 Ultra. Other manufacturers will be announced soon. We should see Victus in plenty of smartphones and wearables later this year and next year.

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Source: Corning | Via: Android Authority

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MediaTek announces the Dimensity 720, another mid-range SoC with integrated 5G

MediaTek launched the Dimensity 1000, its first SoC in the 5G Dimensity SoC series, back in November 2019. The Dimensity 1000 in its original form interestingly hasn’t made its way to any shipping device yet, but the Dimensity 1000L—a lower binned version of the chip—did make its way to the Chinese OPPO Reno3. The Dimensity 1000’s announcement was followed by the announcements of the mid-range Dimensity 800 and the Dimensity 820 at CES 2020 and in May 2020 respectively, while the Dimensity 1000 received a refresh in the form of the 144Hz-supporting Dimensity 1000 Plus, which made its way into the iQOO Z1. Now, MediaTek has extended the Dimensity series by launching the first SoC in the Dimensity 700 in the form of the Dimensity 720. This is another mid-range SoC with an integrated 5G modem, but as expected, it cuts down on its core specifications compared to the Dimensity 800 series.

CPU, GPU, and Memory

The Dimensity 720 is manufactured on a 7nm process. It has two ARM Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2GHz. The 2+6 CPU core configuration here is a step downward from the Dimensity 800, which had a 4+4 core configuration. The Dimensity 720 skips out on two big cores and opts to go with six little cores instead. The SoC doesn’t feature ARM’s Cortex-A77 core, which is disappointing to see considering that Qualcomm’s newly announced Snapdragon 690 does feature the newer, faster Cortex-A77.

In terms of the GPU, MediaTek is going with ARM’s Mali-G57MC3. The Mali-G57 is a narrower variant of the flagship Mali-G77. The three GPU cores here means that GPU performance will be serviceable, but it won’t challenge flagship SoCs anytime soon. The Dimensity 1000L, for example, has the Mali-G77MC9 GPU, 3x the amount of GPU cores. The chip supports 2133MHz LPDDR4X memory (with up to 12GB of RAM) and UFS 2.2-class storage, skipping out on UFS 3.0 and above.

Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, MediaTek says the Dimensity 720 is integrated with the “most power-efficient 5G modem in its class”. The maximum downlink speeds are rated at 2.34Gbps. It’s built with MediaTek 5G Ultrasave technology that uses both network and content awareness intelligence to manage the modem’s operating mode in real-time to extend battery life. It supports 2CC CA, Voice over New Radio (VoNR), 5G and 4G dual SIM, dual standby (DSDS). It also supports both NSA (non-standalone) and SA (standalone) sub-6GHz 5G networks.

Display

The Dimensity 720 supports Full HD+ (2520×1080) 90Hz high frame-rate displays (HFR), which is fast becoming a popular feature even in the lower mid-range segment. Unfortunately, 120Hz displays aren’t supported. In terms of video streaming capabilities, the SoC supports MiraVision HDR10+ video playback.

Cameras and AI

The chip supports up to 64MP cameras at 22fps, or 20MP+16MP dual cameras at 30fps. It has a range of AI camera enhancements that are powered by the integrated AI Processing Unit (APU), which is MediaTek’s term for NPU. It also features Integrated Voice Wakeup (VoW) to minimize power consumption of always-on voice assistants as well as dual mic noise suppression so that voice assistants can hear users more clearly in noisy environments.

The Dimensity 720 will probably show up in lower mid-range phones and act as a competitor to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690. It has a disadvantage in CPU core architecture, while the GPU may be closely matched. Qualcomm has another advantage of being able to get more design wins, as with half of 2020 completed, we have seen few phones adopt MediaTek’s Dimensity SoCs, even those that are promising on paper. The Redmi 10X with the Dimensity 820 SoC has a great value proposition, for instance, but it’s available only in China. Let’s see how MediaTek’s SoCs are adopted in the latter half of the year. To learn more about the SoC, readers can visit MediaTek’s website.

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Source: MediaTek

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The Samsung Galaxy S20 will support storing German national ID cards later this year

The Samsung Galaxy S20 series, which was unveiled earlier this year in February, is the first smartphone series from the company to feature an embedded Secure Element (eSE). The devices use the eSE to store critical information like crypto-currency data, fingerprints, face scans, login credentials, etc. and it also includes extra countermeasures to protect against hackers, malware, and viruses. Adding on to the eSE’s capabilities, Samsung has now announced that the Galaxy S20 series will soon offer an innovative electronic ID (eID) solution to help German users store their National ID cards on their phone for easier access.

Samsung worked with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Bundesdruckerei (bdr), and Deutsche Telekom Security GmbH to develop a holistic security architecture for the new eID solution. The eID solution is part of the German government’s OPTIMOS 2.0 project which seeks to develop an open ecosystem that provides technologies and infrastructure for secure online authentication using mobile devices.

Once the eID solution rolls out, Galaxy S20 users will be able to easily digitize their government ID via a multi-party registration process that is designed to protect against identity theft. The registration process will require an eID app which will be available for download on the Google Play Store later this year. The app, which will be distributed by Bundesdruckerei, will let users tap their NFC-enabled National ID card on the back of their device to verify their identity. Once verified, the mobile eID will be stored securely on their smartphone and can be used to open bank accounts, use eGovernment services, and more.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is the first line of mobile devices to offer such capabilities. However, since Samsung has revealed that it will be selling its first and second-gen Secure Element chips to other OEMs, we expect to see more devices get support for the eID solution in the near future.

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Source: Samsung Mobile Press (1,2)

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Amazon Alexa will soon be able to open Android apps with voice commands

In a bid to improve the Alexa experience on mobile, Amazon recently enabled a new hands-free experience on the Alexa app for iOS and Android. But even with the new feature, Amazon Alexa isn’t nearly as well integrated with mobile operating systems as the Google Assistant or Siri. For instance, the hands-free experience released recently isn’t entirely hands-free, as it requires you to unlock your phone and open the Alexa app before you can issue a voice command. Another shortcoming you might face while using Alexa on mobile is that it can’t open apps using voice commands. But that might change soon.

According to a recent report from The Verge, Amazon is currently working on a new feature for the Alexa app which will allow users to open both Android and iOS apps using voice commands. A preview of the feature, called Alexa for Apps, has already started rolling out and the company is working with select app developers to further improve its capabilities.

The app integration will allow Amazon Alexa to perform complex tasks like opening Twitter and searching for a hashtag with just a voice command. The results will then show up on your device, instead of being read out loud. According to Amazon, it will also let users do things like record a hands-free video by asking Alexa to launch TikTok and start a hands-free video recording.

Amazon hopes that such app integrations could help Alexa get on par with the Google Assistant and Siri on mobile devices, however, there’s a major hurdle in the way. App integrations like these will require Amazon to work with app developers to enable support for the new feature on their app or reorient existing Alexa skills to work with the new app launching format. This is exactly why Amazon is currently rolling out the new feature in preview form, before releasing it more widely as a beta.

Along with the new app integration, Amazon has also announced a beta for a more capable conversational AI model for Alexa, which will allow users to talk more naturally to the assistant, and updates to the technology used to build Alexa experiences, which are expected to enable improved audio apps and offer better browser-based Alexa games. Furthermore, Amazon is launching a skill resumption feature that will let users pause and resume a task, and also check with Alexa on the task’s progress. And lastly, the company has showcased a beta feature called quick links, which will let developers launch Alexa skills from mobile apps, websites, and ads.

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Source: Amazon

Via: The Verge

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Facebook Messenger is getting an App Lock and new message controls for better privacy

User privacy isn’t one of Facebook’s strong suits, and the company has found itself embroiled in numerous privacy debacles in the recent past. However, Facebook has been taking small steps in the right direction, ever since the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision for a privacy-focused messaging and social networking platform last year. The latest in the list of privacy-focused changes comes in the form of a new App Lock feature and additional privacy settings for Facebook Messenger.

As per a recent blog post from the company, the Facebook Messenger app is getting a new App Lock feature, which will allow users to secure their chats using their phone’s biometric authentication. The company released a similar feature for the popular WhatsApp messenger back in October last year, and now it’s finally rolling out to Facebook Messenger on iOS and should reach Android users in the next few months.

The new App Lock feature can be found within the new Privacy settings section on the app, which offers easy access to all privacy settings like Story Audience, Muted Stories, Blocked People, Secret Conversations, and more.

Along with these new features, Facebook is also working to bring additional controls that will let users decide who can reach them on Messenger directly, who goes to the requests folder, and who can’t message them at all. The controls will also include a feature that blurs images in the message requests folder, which will give users the choice to view an image from an unknown person. As of now, Facebook hasn’t revealed when the new privacy controls will be available on the messaging platform.

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Source: Facebook Newsroom

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OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro’s latest update brings over support for OnePlus Buds, and more

Update 1 (07/23/2020 @ 02:12 AM ET): We’ve added download links for the latest OxygenOS update for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro for the global variants. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on July 19, 2020, is preserved below.

OnePlus is gearing up for the launch of the OnePlus Nord and the OnePlus Buds in just a few days now. But the company hasn’t forgotten its current generation flagships. OnePlus is rolling out a new set of OxygenOS updates to the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro that brings over the latest July 2020 security patches, as well as support for OnePlus Buds.

OnePlus 8 XDA Forums || OnePlus 8 Pro XDA Forums

The update has currently been spotted for OnePlus 8 Pro in the Indian region, but it should also make its way to other regions and to the other device as well. And we presume that the update will arrive sooner rather than later as it contains a fix for ARCore failure on the devices, which would be much needed considering that the OnePlus Nord is launching through an AR event.

The exact version of OxygenOS will change according to device and region, but the underlying changelog should majorly be the same across both the devices and regions, with the exception of the Red Cable Club (which remains India-exclusive so far) and wireless charging. Here is the full changelog:

Changelog

• System
  • Newly adapted OnePlus Buds, easier to take advantage of wireless connection
  • Provided a variety of clock styles for you. You can customize on your own. (Go to Settings > Customization > Clock style)
  • Optimized the touch experience in game mode to enhance the user experience
  • Fixed the issue that the wireless charger base re-started automatically
  • Fixed the ARCore failure
  • Updated Android Security Patch to 2020.07
  • Updated GMS package to 2020.05
  • Improved system stability
• Network
  • Improved the performance and stability of Wi-Fi transfers
  • Improved connection stability of mobile network to improve user experience
• Shelf
  • Newly added Red Cable Club membership card

Download OxygenOS for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro

The update should be gradually rolling out to all users. But in case you want to sideload the update, you can download it from the following links:

OnePlus 8

• Europe – 10.5.9
  • Incremental OTA from 10.5.8
  • Full update

• India – 10.5.10
  • Incremental OTA from 10.5.9
  • Full update
• Global – 10.5.11
  • Incremental OTA from 10.5.10
  • Full update

OnePlus 8 Pro

• Europe – 10.5.11
  • Incremental OTA from 10.5.10
  • Full update
• India – 10.5.12
  • Incremental OTA from 10.5.11
  • Full update
• Global – 10.5.12
  • Incremental OTA from 10.5.11
  • Full update

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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Download: ASUS ROG Phone 3 wallpapers and live wallpaper ports

In 2018, ASUS ventured into the then-nascent gaming smartphone market by extending its uber-popular Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand to mobile devices. While the first-gen ASUS ROG Phone received a lukewarm response due to its high price, the ROG Phone II was received very well for its extremely competitive pricing; and its time for ASUS to replicate this success once again. The ASUS ROG Phone 3 has just been officially announced and it comes with incredible specifications such as the Snapdragon 865 Plus, a 144Hz AMOLED display, up to 16GB of RAM, RGB lighting, and a lot of improved gaming features and accessories over the previous generation. Even if you cannot experience the beastly hardware of the latest gaming smartphone in the ROG lineup, you can grab the 4 live wallpapers and 29 wallpapers that come with the device.

ASUS ROG Phone 3 XDA Forums

There are 4 live wallpapers of which 2 are rendered at 60fps while the other two at 30fps. All of these live wallpapers are available as videos with a resolution of 2352 x 2353 pixels. Thanks to XDA Recognized Contributor linuxct, who is well known for their work on porting live wallpapers and other APK mods, we have modified versions of the 4 live wallpaper APKs that you can install on any Android device running Android 9 Pie or later.

Gamers, this one’s for you! I’ve ported the ROG Phone 3 Live Wallpapers and made them work on any Android 9.0+ device

Download links will be up soon, on @xdadevelopers

Thread for more info below pic.twitter.com/XCD0FmJ9VG

— linuxct (@linuxct) July 22, 2020

In addition, there are 29 total still wallpapers, 12 of which have a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels while 9 are available in a 1:1 aspect ratio available at a resolution of 2340 x 2340 pixels. The remaining 8 wallpapers are stills taken from the aforementioned 4 live wallpapers. These snapshots from the live wallpapers have 2 versions each as they change color when the ROG Phone 3 enters the X-Mode, a special mode for boosted gaming performance.

The images added above are only intended to be used for a preview in this article, and you can get these wallpapers in high resolution using the link below.

Download the ASUS ROG Phone 3 wallpapers

XDA Review: ASUS ROG Phone 3 Review: The King of Gaming Smartphones is back

How to Install the ASUS ROG Phone 3’s Live Wallpaper Ports

In order to get the live wallpapers working as developer linuxct explains, you’ll need to install a companion app he made called X-Mode Toggler. This app adds a Quick Setting tile, that when toggled, tricks the live wallpapers into thinking that X-Mode is active. This triggers a change in the appearance of the live wallpapers. This is necessary on non-ROG devices since, well, X-Mode only exists on ROG devices.

To get started, first, download the ZIP file from the link below:

Download official ASUS ROG Phone 3 live wallpaper ported APKs by linuxct

Then, extract the zip and install the live wallpaper APKs. Next, open up a command prompt or terminal window and enter the following ADB shell command:

adb shell pm grant space.linuxct.rogcontroller android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

(If you haven’t set up ADB on your PC yet, we have a tutorial on how to do that here.) Finally, use the Quick Setting tile from X-Mode Toggler to “enable” X-Mode.

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