Twitter tests improved image cropping and 4K image viewing on mobile

Twitter announced it’s testing a couple of new features related to how users share and view images on the platform. These new tests are available for the official Twitter client on Android and iOS.

First up is how images are cropped. Twitter said when you share a single image, how the images appears in the Tweet compose is how it will look on the timeline. Twitter shared an example of the new “what you see is what you get” approach. Now, pictures from your camera roll will look a lot better in your timeline.

Images with a standard aspect ratio will look uncropped in your timeline.

The change to how Twitter crops images may be the result of controversy from last year, which saw users discover that photo previews were found to show white people’s faces more frequently than Black faces. Twitter user @basecule shared an egregious example of the supposed bias shown by the company’s neural network, which it uses to generate photo previews.

Twitter design chief Dantley Davis said that during testing images that are extra wide or extra tall will be cropped in the center for its photo preview.

“With this test, we hope to learn if this new approach is better and what changes we need to make to provide a ‘what you see is what you get’ experience for twitters with images,” Davis said.

 

Image: Twitter

Meanwhile, Twitter said it’s testing new ways for users to upload and view 4K images on mobile. Users in the test can update their high-quality image preferences in “Data usage” settings to get started. The social network previously introduced the ability to preserve the quality of high-resolution images uploaded on Twitter for the web.

The new features are currently available for testing on Android and iOS, with no word on when they’ll be available for stable release.

Twitter (Free, Google Play) →

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Mobile World Congress 2021 is happening, but who’s attending?

Mobile World Congress is set to go forward with an in-person event this summer. But some of the largest companies won’t be in attendance, echoing what happened last year as the COVID-19 pandemic was surging across the globe. So, which companies are actually going this year?

Several companies have released statements announcing decisions not to attend Mobile World Congress this year, including Sony, Nokia, Ericsson, and Oracle. This despite organizers delaying MWC 2021 from March to June 2021 over COVID-19 concerns.

“After careful consideration, Nokia has decided not to have a physical presence at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2021,” Nokia said in a statement. “The health of our employees, customers and partners is of paramount importance to us. Given the international nature of the event and with the global vaccine roll out still in its early phases, we have made the considered decision to instead participate only in the virtual event.”

Other companies have released similar statements, citing COVID-19 as the reason for pulling out of the event. Sony said (via CNET) it’s interested in shifting toward digital and online opportunities as a way to communicate product news and announcements.

Ericsson, which was among the first to confirm it won’t be attending MWC 2021, said it’s focused on the health and well-being of its employees and communities around the world.

“The decision, whilst regrettable, reflects our precautionary approach to managing the pandemic from a people and travel perspective whilst vaccination programs are rolled out globally,” Ericsson said in a statement.

The GSMA, the organization that puts on the annual event, said it respects the decision of those who decide not to attend, and will create a virtual platform as an alternative. It’s unclear, however, if every company that won’t attend the in-person show will participate virtually.

“We appreciate that it will not be possible for everyone to attend MWC Barcelona 2021,” GSMA said. “This is why we have developed an industry-leading virtual event platform that will ensure everyone can enjoy the unique MWC experience.”

The lack of attendance from major companies is a blow for Mobile World Congress, which was forced to cancel its event last year due to the pandemic. A year later and COVID-19 is still a major issue across the globe, and despite the existence of vaccines, there’s still the possibility of spreading the virus.

It makes you wonder if the show will go on in Barcelona this summer. The organizers have said it has a multi-layered plan in place to ensure a safe environment, including requiring attendees to show a negative COVID-19 test before even getting to Barcelona. Attendees will also have to produce a negative rapid test on site, and get retested every 72 hours.

If you plan on attending Mobile World Congress this year, you should brush up on the GSMA’s requirements.

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These are the best Galaxy S21 Plus Wallet Cases: Samsung, Olixar, Araree, & More!

For many people, the Galaxy S21 Plus will be the perfect high-end Android smartphone. It’s larger than the standard Galaxy S21 and cheaper than the Galaxy S21 Ultra, making it very appealing. The Galaxy S21 Plus offers everything you’d expect in a high-end Android smartphone, including a large 6.7-inch display, a buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate, a powerful Snapdragon 888 processor, a huge 64-megapixel primary camera, a stunning design, and so much more.

If you’re planning to spend $999 on the Galaxy S21 Plus, you’ll undoubtedly want to protect it from scratches, bumps, drops, and other damage. To do this, you should keep your brand new phone in a protective case. There are lots of Galaxy S21 Plus cases on the market, and many of them are wallet-style cases. A wallet case will protect all sides of your phone while allowing you to store several credit cards and some cash. To help you pick one, we’ve rounded up the best Galaxy S21 Plus wallet cases.

Samsung LED Wallet Cover

The official wallet case

Samsung’s official Galaxy S21 Plus LED Wallet Cover sports an antimicrobial coating, touch controls for answering or declining calls when the case is closed, personalizable icons, LED notifications, and a credit card slot. You can get it in black, pink, violet, and gray.

Buy from Samsung

Olixar Leather-Style Wallet Stand Case

Slim and lightweight

This wallet case, from Olixar, sports a slim and lightweight faux leather design, credit card slots, a magnetic closure, all-round protection, a built-in stand function, as well as wireless charging support.

Buy from MobileFun

Olixar Soft Silicone Wallet Case

A soft silicone design

Olixar also offers a Galaxy S21 Plus wallet case made from soft silicone. It has a lightweight and slim design, an inner microfibre layer to keep your screen clean, a credit card slot, a stand function, a magnetic closure, and wireless charging support.

Buy from MobileFun

Araree Mustang Diary Case

All-round protection

The Araree Mustang Diary Case, made from synthetic leather, provides a lightweight and slim design, three credit card slots, two cash pockets, all-round protection, and wireless charging support.

Buy from MobileFun

Ghostek Exec 4

Military-grade protection

The Ghostek Exec 4 wallet case offers military-grade protection for the Galaxy S21 Plus, a robust hybrid design, raised edges to protect your screen, slots for storing credit cards and cash, and wireless charging support.

Buy from MobileFun

Newseego Wallet Case

Shine bright

It provides a stylish PU leather design with a glittery finish, nine credit card slots, a wrist strap, a magnetic closure, a detachable shockproof phone case, a built-in stand function, and precise cutouts.

Buy from Amazon

OCASE Wallet Case

A combination of PU leather and TPU

Comprising high-quality PU soft leather and a TPU interior case, it has three credit card slots, a cash pocket, a built-in kickstand function, a magnetic closure, precise cutouts, and a RFID blocker.

Buy from Amazon

DUEDUE Wallet Cover

A robust option

This case is made from robust TPU rubber and a solid PC cover, offering protection against scratches, drops, and shocks. What sets this case apart is its discrete credit card slot, which can store two credit cards or cash.

Buy from Amazon

Petocase Wallet Case

A stylish design

Are you a fashionista? Then you’ll love this wallet case, which offers a stunning rose gold floral pattern. You also get credit card slots, a cash pocket, a wrist strap, a built-in stand function, and precise cutouts.

Buy from Amazon

If you’ve just bought a Galaxy S21 Plus or are thinking of getting one, the last thing you’ll want to do is damage a $999 phone. Therefore, you should definitely think about purchasing a protective case.

Wallet cases, in particular, are great because they offer all-around protection for your phone. At the same time, they’ll allow you to save room in your pocket or bag because you won’t need to carry a dedicated wallet or purse around with you.

But which wallet case should you choose? Overall, our favorite option is the Samsung LED Wallet Cover as it offers a premium design, a credit card slot, and lots of other excellent features. However, if you want a cheaper option that doesn’t compromise on quality, we’d recommend either the Olixar Leather-Style Wallet Stand Case or the Olixar Soft Silicone Wallet Case. Either way, there are plenty of great Galaxy S21 Plus cases out there.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus is the middle child in the new 2021 flagship series, packing in a flagship SoC and a premium build, along with a decent display and camera setup.

Purchase at Samsung

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The ASUS ROG Phone 5 is the first phone with Sentons’ new ultrasonic game triggers

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 is finally here, and it brings some major improvements over the ROG Phone 3 from last year. It packs the latest flagship SoC from Qualcomm, a gorgeous 144Hz AMOLED display, and a massive 6,000mAh battery with 65W fast charging support. Along with these run-of-the-mill flagship specs, the ROG Phone 5 comes with a host of unique features for gamers, including a side-mounted USB Type-C port, an impressive stereo speaker setup, a 3.5mm headphones jack with a built-in DAC, AirTriggers, and more.

While older ROG Phones have offered some of these gaming features, the latest iteration takes them to the next level. The AirTriggers, for instance, have received significant improvements thanks to Sentons’ latest SDS GamingBar 2.0 solution. The ROG Phone 5 is the first phone to feature Sentons’ new ultrasonic game triggers, which pack a larger number of small piezoelectric sensors that will offer gamers a higher level of control. As a result, AirTiggers 5 on the ROG Phone 5 offers more responsive tap, squeeze, and slide gestures for an enhanced gaming experience.

Talking about the latest ultrasonic solution, Sentons’ CEO, Jess Lee, said, “GamingBar is a game-changing product. Its continuous innovation takes mobile gaming to the next level and has proven to be the benchmark in the market. We’ve had the privilege of partnering with Asus and Tencent since AirTriggers first debuted in the ROG phone series, and it’s been a tremendous experience to keep elevating our offering and infusing it into top-of-the-line hardware to deliver a powerful gaming experience.”

GamingBar 2.0 is the latest addition to Sensonts’ suite of ultrasonic SDSWave solutions. On the ASUS ROG Phone 5 lineup, it offers better sensitivity and unlocks various customization options, like the ability to split a trigger into two unique inputs. You can use AirTrigger 5 to map up to 18 unique touchpoints on the screen, and it can even be used outside of games. GamingBar 2.0 follows the CameraBar solution from late last year, which lets you turn your phone’s frame into a zoom slider.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 9 users can now experience One UI 3.1 on Android 11 with this ROM port

Samsung rolled out One UI 3.0 based on Android 11 for the Galaxy Note 10 Lite earlier this year in January. With the Galaxy S21 series launch, Samsung released One UI 3.1 with more new features and the software eventually landed on the Galaxy Note 10 Lite. The phone is powered by the Exynos 9810 processor, a 10nm octa-core SoC from 2018 that also powered the international variant of the Galaxy Note 9. Unfortunately, the Galaxy Note 9 is excluded from getting the official Android 11 update from Samsung, although the device is theoretically capable of running it. This prompted XDA Recognized Developer AlexisXDA to port the One UI 3.1-flavored Android 11 firmware to the Galaxy Note 9.

Dubbed as Noble ROM, the Android 11 port is compatible with both the single-SIM (SM-N960F) and dual-SIM (SM-N960FD) versions of the Galaxy Note 9’s global model. The base of the ROM is taken from the Galaxy Note 10 Lite, on top of which the developer added several components from the Galaxy Note 10 Plus’ One UI 3.1 firmware. Best of all, the TWRP-flashable ZIP comes with an integrated AROMA installer, allowing end-users the freedom to customize each and every aspect of the installation.

Here’s a breakdown of what is bundled in this port:

• All OneUI 3.1 functions have been ported, nothing is from OneUI 2.5.
• Odexed, Hardly Debloated and added some tweaks for best performance and better battery.
• Added some tweaks in order to have the best smoothness and general performance!
• Make your ROM! OUR aroma allows you to select everything you want to have on your phone in order to improve the user experience!
• Disabled RMM Lock.
• Google Pay working (Hide it with Magisk).
• Secure Folder working.
• S21 Wallpapers.
• ALT Z Life stuffs ported from A51/A71.
• Useful Cards section enabled in Messages Apps.
• Improved zoom quality in gallery.
• Useful cards tab enabled in messages.
• Night mode zoom on camera.
• Night mode on hyperlapse.
• Enabled Dolby on Game.
• Power key in notification panel.
• Samsung App Lock.
• iOS 14 Emoji’s selectable in aroma.
• S10 Multiple Wallpapers (coming soon with a separated zip).
• New Good Lock 2021 selectable in aroma.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 XDA Forums

The initial version of the ROM includes Android security patches for March 2021. Since this is an early release, there are some bugs and missing features. For instance, Live Focus in camera doesn’t seem to work. If you’re still interested and want to give the Android 11/One UI 3.1 ROM a shot, head over to the linked thread below to download the ZIP package and follow along with the flashing instructions. Do make sure that your Galaxy Note 9’s bootloader is unlocked and you have TWRP installed.

Download Noble ROM for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9

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Download: OnePlus 9 wallpapers and live wallpapers leak ahead of launch

OnePlus is all set to launch the OnePlus 9 series on March 23rd. Over the last few months, we’ve seen plenty of leaks and rumors about the upcoming devices, which have given us a fair idea of what to expect. In true OnePlus fashion, the company has also started dripping information about its upcoming flagships, with recent teasers confirming some of the OnePlus 9 Pro’s camera specs and design. Furthermore, the company’s CEO, Pete Lau, has confirmed that the OnePlus 9 lineup will ship with a charger in the box. While we’re expecting to learn more details about the OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, and the OnePlus 9R over the next few days, a new set of wallpapers designed for the devices has now surfaced online.

The team at Oxygen Updater, who brought us the OnePlus 8T wallpapers ahead of its launch, has done it again and released the new static and live wallpapers that will debut with the OnePlus 9 series. The new wallpapers are from OnePlus’ Wallpaper Resources APK and although we don’t have access to the APK itself, we have download links for all the new static and live wallpapers. Here’s what they look like:

Static wallpapers

The attached wallpapers are compressed versions of the original, with lower file size and resolution. If you want to download the OnePlus 9 wallpapers for your device, we’d recommend getting them in their original resolution from the link below.

In case you’ve not been keeping up with our coverage of the upcoming OnePlus 9 series, leaks suggest that it will include three devices — the OnePlus 9, OnePlus 9 Pro, and OnePlus 9R. The vanilla OnePlus 9 will feature a 6.55-inch FHD+ flat AMOLED display with a left-aligned hole-punch cutout for the selfie-camera and a 120Hz refresh rate. It will be powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 SoC, coupled with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The phone will pack a 4,500mAh battery with 65W wired fast charging support, 30W fast wireless charging support, and even reverse wireless charging. On the camera front, it will offer a triple camera setup on the back, consisting of a 48MP primary sensor, a 48MP ultra-wide sensor, and an unknown tertiary sensor.

Much like the OnePlus 9, the OnePlus 9 Pro will feature the Snapdragon 888 chip and a 4,500mAh battery with the same fast charging capabilities. However, it will pack up to 12GB of RAM, a Sony IMX789 primary camera, a larger 6.7-inch QHD+ curved LTPO AMOLED display, and a freeform ultra-wide lens. Details about the OnePlus 9R have been scarce so far, but we know that it will come with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 870 chip. If OnePlus manages to offer a balanced selection of hardware on the device, it may help the company secure a spot in the flagship killer space once again.

Download OnePlus 9 Wallpapers

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Google is working with manufacturers to extend support window for Chromebooks

On Tuesday, March 9th, Google celebrated 10 years of Chrome OS by announcing a variety of new features, including a new Phone Hub that connects an Android phone to a Chromebook, a screen capture tool, an enhanced clipboard for saving up to five items, and more. During the press briefing, Google also addressed a question regarding the support window for Chromebooks.

As pointed out by PCWorld, Chromebooks have a shorter support cycle compared to Windows PC. While Microsoft ends support for Windows after a certain amount of time, it doesn’t necessarily end support for the device running the operating system. Essentially, if someone has a slightly old machine, they can install a newer version of Windows and go about their business, unless you have a very ancient PC.

It is not the same when it comes to Chromebooks. Once your Chromebook has passed its support expiration date, you will no longer receive security patches or browser updates, thereby leaving the entire system useless. With the growing ecosystem of Chrome OS, especially with 50 new Chromebooks coming in 2021, the sudden death is going to affect a larger number of users over time.

According to Alexander Kuscher, director of product management of ChromeOS, “Google began taking steps in 2019, when it began extending the support window to eight years. For most purchases of a Chromebook, they’re looking at a long life of support. I think we’re absolutely working with manufacturers, the PC OEMs, to not ship Chromebooks that don’t have a long support life. And so we’re working on commercial agreements with our OEMs, that are essentially incentives for that not to happen. So we expect that that will be increasingly unlikely or almost impossible to happen in the future.”

Google is also said to be working on under-the-hood changes from a technical and architectural perspective to make sure that all Chromebooks have the latest updates at a browser level, if not the OS level. However, the biggest challenge that Google faces is what the customers purchase. The company doesn’t have full control over customers who buy old or used Chromebooks from a reseller who may be offering discounts to offload inventory. Google is also said to be working with Chromebook manufacturers to avoid this situation.

If you are planning to invest in a new Chromebook, make sure you scan through our guide of the best Chromebooks, before making a purchase.

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