Apple has announced it’s opening its Find My network to third-party companies. The first devices to support Apple’s tracking features are VanMoof’s latest S3 and X3 e-bikes, Belkin’s Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds, and Chipolo’s One Spot item tracker.
By expanding Find My support, any hardware company can introduce devices that support Apple’s network — as long as they adhere to the Made for iPhone (MFi) Program and privacy protections of the Find My network. Third-party products will feature a “Works with Apple Find My” badge and can be added to the new Items tab in the Find My app.
The Find My app allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to see all their devices on a map, and even control them remotely, like playing a sound, displaying a message, or erasing it completely. If your device goes offline, users can take advantage of the Find My network’s crowdsourced Bluetooth feature to see a product’s approximate location.
Images via Apple
Additionally, Apple has also announced a draft specification for chipset manufacturers set to be released this spring. The initiative will allow third-party device makers to take advantage of Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology in U1-equipped Apple devices. UWB makes tracking much more precise.
Apple is rumored to be working on a tracking product called AirTags, which is said to feature UWB technology. The Cupertino company recently announced plans to hold its WWDC at the beginning of June, where we could see the product debut. Incidentally, Apple used last year’s WWDC to announce plans to extend its Find My network to third-party companies, and it finally made good on that promise.
It’s unclear what other products will feature Find My support in the future, but the variety is already promising: a bike, headphones, and a location tracker. With WWDC just around the corner, perhaps more partners will be revealed.
T-Mobile on Wednesday announced a few different initiatives meant to bring 5G to the masses, including an offer that will give customers a Galaxy A32 5G for free. The carrier announced the news during an online webcast with T-Mobile executives on Wednesday.
The Galaxy A32 5G is the most affordable 5G phone from Samsung, and offers a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate, MediaTek Dimensity 720 chip, 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage, and a triple camera setup with a 48MP primary sensor. The device also comes equipped with a 5000mAh battery and a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
T-Mobile says you can trade in any phone to take advantage of the offer. When the carrier says “any phone,” it means it.
This offer applies to new and existing customers, and ANY old phone in working condition — flip phone, Sidekick, whatever that suitcase phone was called. T-Mobile will take it. And in exchange, you get a free 5G smartphone after 24 monthly bill credits and pay only the sales tax.
In addition to its free phone offer, T-Mobile also announced the arrival of home internet and a “Great Unlimited Trade-Up” promo. The latter initiative offers AT&T and Verizon customers the opportunity to switch to T-Mobile and get an unlimited 5G plan for the same price or less than what they’re currently paying for a limited 5G plan.
Meanwhile, if you’re an existing T-Mobile postpaid customer, including a former Sprint customer, you’ll be upgraded to an unlimited plan for free.
T-Mobile said that the phone upgrade and unlimited trade-up promos begin April 18 and last all year long.
Google has announced its I/O developer conference will return this year as a virtual event. The show had to be canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kicking off on May 18 through May 20, the event will give Google an opportunity to showcase Android 12 — plus whatever else the company has in store. The website for Google I/O 2021 is now live, where consumers and developers can register for the event. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, this year’s event will be free for everyone.
The virtual event will consist of everything you’d expect from an in-person conference, including consumer and developer-focused keynotes, workshops, AMAs, and more. Google said a full schedule for I/O 2021 will be posted later this month, so stay tuned for that. Technical Sessions and keynotes will be available on-demand after they first air, while registration is required for things like workshops and meetups.
Chances are Google will take time to share more details about Android 12, which was announced back in February. While there’s a lot we still don’t know about the software, we uncovered a lot of changes in the first developer preview, which revealed features like easier WiFi sharing, AVIF image support, and more.
Google is also rumored to be working on more affordable Pixel Buds and the Pixel 5a — both of which could debut at I/O 2021. We’ve seen both devices break cover on more than one occasion over the past several weeks, so an announcement next month seems like a safe bet. We’ll keep a closer eye on these products as the conference gets closer.
Google isn’t the first company to announce a virtual event for this year. Apple has already announced WWDC 2021 will take place at the beginning of June, while E3 is also returning this summer in a virtual format.
As we wait for Google’s event to kick, the search giant is challenging people to solve the I/O 2021 puzzle.
Last year’s Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra was my favorite slab phone of 2020, but many consumers in the west were left out because it was a China-only release. That makes this year’s Mi 11 Ultra that much more exciting — it’s going on sale throughout Europe and Asia and packs some new never-before-seen camera tech.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Specifications. Tap/click to show.
Specification
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
Build
Colors: Ceramic White and Ceramic Black
Protection: Corning Gorilla Victus (front), Ceramic (back), IP68 rating for water and dust resistance
Dimensions & Weight
164.3mm x 74.6mm x 8.38mm, 234g
Display
Main
6.81″ AMOLED Quad-curved DotDisplay
WQHD+ resolution (3200 x 1440), 20:9 aspect ratio, 515 ppi
About this hands-on: We received a Mi 11 Ultra from Xiaomi on April 6. Xiaomi did not have any input in this article.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra design and hardware
The first thing anyone will notice about the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is the absolutely massive camera module, which isn’t so much a bump but an entire island onto itself. It protrudes out of the device’s ceramic back more so than even the S20 Ultra‘s notoriously large hump. Surprisingly, despite the top-heavy build, the Mi 11 Ultra can still stand vertically on its own due to the flat bottom (the top is flat too).
Much like the Mi 11, the Mi 11 Ultra’s screen is a 3200 x 1440 resolution, 120Hz OLED panel that’s curved on four sides — left, right, top and bottom. To my eyes, the screen looks every bit as vibrant and bright as the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s screen. However, the panel can only switch between 120Hz or 60Hz, which is not as versatile as other recent Android flagships.
Inside the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip paired with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage and either 8GB, 12GB, or 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. The 5,000 mAh battery can be charged wired or wirelessly at 67W speeds. From my brief testing, the 67W charging brick (included with the packaging) can add 22% juice in ten minutes.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra cameras and second screen
Back to that gigantic camera island — it’s so big because it packs some top-end, fresh-off-the-assembly-line camera components, and even a weird secondary screen.
This 1.1-inch, 126 x 294 secondary display has two uses (at least as far as I can tell after just a day with the phone): It can serve as a camera viewfinder so the user can take selfies with the main camera system, and the screen can display the time, notifications, and music controls.
I don’t really see much point in controlling my Spotify playlist via the back of the phone, but I can see selfie lovers absolutely loving the ability to take selfies with the main and ultra-wide cameras because they’re very good sensors. Unfortunately, this only works with still photos: the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s second screen cannot show the viewfinder for videos, so vloggers hoping to be able to see themselves while shooting are out of luck.
Let’s talk about those cameras. There’s the 50MP main camera, which uses Samsung’s brand new ISOCELL GN2 sensor. It features a jaw-dropping 1/1.12″ sensor, easily the largest in the mobile industry right now. The sensor being so large results in natural, creamy bokeh in close up photos.
And it can pull in a lot of light in extremely dark scenes. In fact, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra produced the sharpest and least noisy night mode shot when compared to the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro.
The main camera also captures excellent dynamic range in photos and videos. The below set of photos was purposefully taken directly facing the harsh sunlight, but the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s camera still produced balanced shots with just enough contrast.
The ultra wide-angle camera also got a big jump over the Mi 11. It’s now a 48MP ultra-wide lens that can capture 128° FoV, and it’s closer in quality to the main camera than previous Xiaomi phones. This trick — making the ultra-wide angle camera closer in pixel count to the main camera — is one we’ve seen from Huawei, OPPO, OnePlus, and Vivo phones, so it’s good to see Xiaomi also jump on board.
Finally, there’s the Periscope zoom lens, a 48MP sensor that can produce 5x optical zoom and max out at 120x digital zoom. On paper, this zoom lens falls short of what Samsung’s and Huawei’s 10x optical can do, but the actual results are close.
Even though the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can get up to 120x zoom, the resulting shots are blurry as is the case with other phones’ max digital zoom. Instead, keep zooming between 5x to 20x if you want to enjoy very usable, sharp images.
MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra runs on MIUI version 12 over Android. The software experience is fast and responsive with whimsical animations. MIUI does, however, still have this one nagging flaw that is particularly problematic here: There is no way to activate one-hand mode if you’re using swipe gesture navigation (it’s only available if the phone is using on-screen navigation buttons).
For other Xiaomi phones, I can make do without a one-hand mode, but the Mi 11 Ultra is a huge phone. I can already picture myself struggling to type with one hand as I’m out around town with a bag of groceries in my other hand.
Battery life and charging
I have only tested the phone for a day, but I can already tell the Mi 11 Ultra’s 5,000 mAh cell won’t be enough to power the phone all day for me if I set the display to both WQHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Today, in just four hours of being out, I drained the phone from 65% to 14%. Now to be fair, I tested the phone heavily over the four hours, recording a dozen videos, snapping 50-60 photos, streaming 30 minutes of Spotify, and setting the screen brightness on max because it was a very sunny day.
At least the silver lining is that the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra charges very fast wired or wirelessly, and a 67W charger is included in the box.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra early impressions: the main camera is truly impressive
There was a lot of hype surrounding the Mi 11 Ultra’s camera, which Xiaomi says was developed in collaboration with Samsung. So far, after a day of heavy testing, the camera seems to live up to its hype. The natural bokeh adds a professional vibe to photos that other smartphones have to artificially create using software (although, to be fair, Google does a fine good job of that with the Pixel phones).
The Mi 11 Ultra’s zoom lens is also the best zoom system Xiaomi has used yet, and can mostly hold its own against Samsung’s and Huawei’s best.
At around €1200 ($1,425) for the 12GB RAM model, the Mi 11 Ultra is Xiaomi’s most expensive smartphone ever, but I think Xiaomi has done enough to justify this premium pricing. There’s not much missing in the Mi 11 Ultra (it even has IP68 water resistance for the first time in a Xiaomi flagship).
In China, the device starts at a cheaper ¥5599 (~$915), but that model only has 8GB of RAM and will run a less polished (for western tastes) Chinese version of MIUI.
NVIDIA launched RTX Voice last year exclusively for its GeForce RTX 20 series of GPUs to help in suppressing background noise using intelligent AI. During the launch, the company claimed that the tech made use of the Tensor cores available on these graphics cards. However, modders quickly discovered that the software works on GTX GPUs after disabling a few hardcoded checks in the configuration files. In case you missed the news, you don’t need to mod the app anymore to get it to work with your GTX card — RTX Voice was patched months ago to officially support them.
You may have seen a few reports making the rounds this week that claim that NVIDIA “quietly” updated the RTX Voice app sometime in the last few months to support GTX cards. The truth of the matter is that NVIDIA actually officially announced the news all the way back in September of last year. See, after deprecating the app in favor of NVIDIA Broadcast, the company announced that it had also updated the RTX Voice app to support all GeForce GTX graphics cards. Apparently, many, many people missed this tiny announcement and thus weren’t aware of the fact that RTX Voice officially supports GTX cards. If you were one of them, then congrats! You don’t need to upgrade your graphics card just to use NVIDIA’s awesome AI noise cancellation software.
All graphics cards from NVIDIA, including the new RTX 30 series all the way down to the GTX 600-series, can make use of the noise suppressing software. Based on user reports, the standalone RTX Voice app strangely doesn’t support the new RTX 30 series, but that doesn’t really matter since the app has been succeeded by NVIDIA Broadcast for those cards anyway.
NVIDIA claims that RTX Voice is compatible with the following apps:
OBS Studio
XSplit Broadcaster
XSplit Gamecaster
Twitch Studio
Discord
Google Chrome
WebEx
Skype
Zoom
Slack
We’ve been running RTX Voice on a GeForce GTX 1660 setup for months now, and the app has worked just fine. I was personally able to reduce quite a bit of noise coming from my TV running in the background while I was on a Discord chat.
You can try RTX Voice by downloading it from the official NVIDIA website. As previously mentioned, if you are using any of the RTX 20 or RTX 30 series of GPU, then you should try the more advanced version called NVIDIA Broadcast. Alongside RTX Voice, this app includes a webcam feature that allows you to set up a virtual background when you are streaming or video chatting, almost as if you have a green screen. This feature also makes use of the advanced AI capabilities of these graphics cards.
Samsung is expanding its budget and mid-range portfolio in the US with the launch of five Galaxy A smartphones. The list includes the Galaxy A52 5G, Galaxy A42 5G, Galaxy A32 5G, Galaxy A12, and Galaxy A02s. None of the phones are brand new per se, mind you. They have either already launched in some markets or were previously announced but never put on sale. For example, the Galaxy A42 5G was announced six months ago and is already available in Europe. Similarly, the Galaxy A12 and Galaxy A02s were announced in November and hit the European markets in January.
Galaxy A52 5G and Galaxy A42 5G: Specifications
Specification
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Samsung Galaxy A42 5G
Build
Plastic back
Plastic frame
Plastic back
Plastic frame
Dimensions & Weight
75.1 x 159.9 x 8.4mm
189g
75.9 x 164.4 x 8.6mm
193g
Display
6.5-inch FHD+ SuperAMOLED (1080 x 2400)
407PPI
90Hz refresh rate
Infinity-O display (centered hole-punch cutout)
800nits peak brightness
Eye Care Display low blue light certification
6.6-inch FHD+ SuperAMOLED
60Hz refresh rate
Infinity-U display
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G
2x cores @2.2GHz + 6x cores @1.8GHz
Adreno 619
Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G
2x cores @2.2GHz + 6x cores @1.8GHz
Adreno 619
RAM & Storage
6GB RAM
128GB storage
4GB RAM
128GB storage
Battery & Charging
4,500mAh
25W fast wired charging
15W charger included
5,000mAh
16W fast wired charging
15W charger included
Security
In-display fingerprint scanner
In-display fingerprint scanner
Rear Camera(s)
Primary: 64MP Sony IMX686 f/1.8, OIS, AF, tetra-binning
Secondary: 12MP f/2.2, ultra-wide, FF
Tertiary: 5MP f/2.4, macro, FF
Quaternary: 5MP f/2.4, depth sensor, FF
Primary: 48MP, f/1.8
Secondary: 8MP, f/2.2, ultra-wide
Tertiary: 5MP f/2.4, macro
Quaternary: 5MP f/2.4, depth sensor
Front Camera(s)
32MP f/2.2, FF
20MP f/2.2, FF
Port(s)
USB Type-C
3.5mm headphone jack
USB Type-C
3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity
5G (Sub-6Hz)
Bluetooth 5.0
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band WiFi
NFC
MST (Not available in India)
GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
5G (mmWave + Sub-6Hz)
Bluetooth 5.0
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band WiFi
NFC
MST
GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
Software
One UI 3.1 based on Android 11
One UI 3.1 based on Android 11
Other Features
IP 67 water and dust resistance
IP 67 water and dust resistance
Galaxy A52 5G
Launched last month alongside the Galaxy A72, the Galaxy A52 5G is one of the most important devices in Samsung’s 2021 portfolio. Although the device comes in both 4G and 5G flavors, Samsung is only bringing the 5G model stateside. In terms of specifications, the Galaxy A52 5G packs a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 750G chipset and comes in 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB configuration. The camera setup is also impressive, with the phone featuring a 64MP primary Sony IMX686 sensor, flanked by a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, and two 5MP depth and macro sensors. The phone packs a 4,500mAh battery, has an IP67 rating, and comes running One UI 3.1 based on Android 11 out of the box.
The Galaxy A52 5G will be available in the US from April 9 at a starting price of $500.
Galaxy A42 5G
The Galaxy A42 5G might feel a bit out of date at this point, considering it still uses a 60Hz display. However, it does offer some capable hardware, including a 6.6-inch SuperAMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage, a 5,000mAh battery, and a quad-camera system featuring a 48MP primary sensor. The phone comes running Android 11 with One UI 3.1 out of the box.
You can pick up the Galaxy A42 5G in Prism Dot Black, Prism Dot Gray, and Prism Dot White. The phone comes in a single 4GB/128G variant and is priced at $400. The device will go on sale in the US from April 8.
Galaxy A32 5G
Specification
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
Dimensions and Weight
76.1 x 164.1 x 9.1mm
205g
Display
6.5-inch LCD HD+
90Hz refresh rate
Waterdrop notch
SoC
MediaTek Dimensity
2x ARM Cortex-A76 (up to 2.0GHz)
6x ARM Cortex-A55 (up to 2.0GHz)
11nm
Mali-G57 MC3
RAM and Storage
4GB
64GB
MicroSD card support
Battery & Charging
5,000 mAh battery
15W charger
Rear Camera
Primary: 48MP f/1.8
Secondary: 8MP f/2.2, ultra-wide
Tertiary: 5MP f/2.4 macro sensor
Quarternary: 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
Front Camera
13MP f/2.2
Ports
USB Type-C port
3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity
5G (Sub-6Hz)
Bluetooth 5.0
Type-C port
WiFi 802.11.b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
Security
Side-mounted fingerprint reader
Software
Android 11 with One UI 3.1
The Galaxy A32 5G was unveiled at the start of this year as the cheapest 5G phone from Samsung. Samsung subsequently brought the phone to the UK, and we also saw a 4G variant making its way to India. In the US, though, Samsung is only bringing the 5G model. The phone packs a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD panel with a 90Hz screen refresh rate, MediaTek Dimensity 720 chipset, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, a triple camera setup with a 48MP primary shooter, a 5,000mAh battery, and a side-mounted fingerprints reader.
Available in Black, White, Blue, and Violate colors, the Galaxy A32 5G is priced at $280, with official sales kicking off starting April 9.
Galaxy A12
Specification
Galaxy A12
Dimensions and Weight
75.8 x 164 x 8.9mm
205g
Display
6.5-inch LCD
1640 x 720 (HD+)
Infinity-V Display (Waterdrop notch)
SoC
MediaTek Helio P35:
4 x Cortex-A53 @ 2.35GHz
4 x Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz
12nm
PowerVR GE8320
RAM and Storage
3GB RAM
32GB storage
MicroSD card support
Battery & Charging
5,000 mAh battery
15W fast charger (inside the box)
Rear Camera
Primary: 16MP
Secondary: 5MP, f/2.2
Tertiary: 2MP macro, f/2.4
Quarternary: 2MP depth, f/2.4
Front Camera
8MP, f/2.2
Ports
USB Type-C port
3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity
4G LTE
Bluetooth 5.0
Type-C port
WiFi 802.11.b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
Security
Side-mounted fingerprint reader
Software
Android 10
The Galaxy A12 is a budget-friendly offering and offers a modest hardware package at an affordable price tag. You get a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD, MediaTek P35 octa-core chipset, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, a quad camera setup featuring a 16MP primary camera, a 5,000mAh battery, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a USB Type C port. On the software front, the phone runs Android 10.
The Galaxy A12 will go on sale in the US at $180 from April 9.
Galaxy A02s
Specification
Galaxy A02s
Dimensions and Weight
75.9 x 166.5 x 92.mm
198g
Display
6.8-inch IPS LCD
1640 x 720 (HD+)
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450:
8 x Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz
14nm
Adreno 506
RAM and Storage
2GB RAM
32GB storage
MicroSD card support
Battery & Charging
5,000 mAh battery
15W fast charger (inside the box)
Rear Camera
Primary: 13MP, f/2.2
Secondary: 2MP, f/2.4
Tertiary: 2MP, f/2.4
Front Camera
5MP, f/2.2
Ports
USB Type-C port
3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity
4G LTE
Bluetooth 4.2
Type-C port
WiFi 802.11.b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
Software
Android 10
Finally, Samsung is also bringing the entry-level Galaxy A02s, which was originally announced in November. In terms of specifications, the Galaxy A02s offers a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD with a waterdrop notch, Snapdragon 450 SoC, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, a triple camera setup with a 13MP primary shooter, a 5,000mAh battery, a USB C port, and Android 10.
Last month, HMD Global rolled out the stable Android 11 update to the Nokia 3.2. This month the company is bringing the latest Android 11 software to two more phones: the Nokia 8.1 and Nokia 8.1.
In a forum post over at Nokia Community, the company has announced the stable Android 11 update rollout for the Nokia 8.1. It was already possible to enjoy Android 11 on Nokia 8.1 through a leaked internal beta build. But of course, many of you were waiting for the company to release a stable build, and at long last, HMD Global is finally bringing the latest version of Android to the masses.
In the first wave, the update will be rolling out in 9 markets, including India, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Macau, Nepal, and the Philippines. The staged rollout will begin today, with the update first being made available to 10% of the user base, followed by a wider rollout next week. Details about the wave 2 countries will be shared soon by the company.
HMD Global has also started rolling out the stable Android 11 update to the Nokia 2.3. Similar to the Nokia 8.1, the new software update will be delivered in two waves. The first wave will see the update going live in 16 countries, with the OTAs being pushed to 10% of the user base starting today. The full rollout will complete by April 12.
Launched in January last year, the Nokia 2.3 is an entry-level smartphone from HMD Global, offering a modest hardware package and a clean software experience at an affordable price. As part of the Android One program, the device was promised to receive two major upgrades. The device already received its first platform update in the form of Android 10 last year. The Android 11 will most likely be the last Android this phone receives. However, the phone should continue to receive monthly security updates till 2023.
