OnePlus Nord gets May security patch and tons of bug fixes with new update

OnePlus has released the OxygenOS 11.1.1.3 update for the OnePlus Nord, which bumps up the Android security patch level on the mid-ranger to May 2021 and improves the Wi-Fi connection speed. OnePlus Nord Additionally, the new build comes with several bug fixes related to the camera, system, and file manager. You can check out the complete update changelog below for more details: System Fixed the issue that the card coupon is not available as a widget Fixed the issue that missed calls are marked as call answered on another device in call logs Fixed...

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Huawei teases new M-Pencil for incoming MatePad Pro 2

Huawei’s HarmonyOS announcement set for June 2 will contain a couple of product launches as well. Yesterday Huawei teased its upcoming Watch 3 and another teaser confirms that Huawei intends to announce a new MatePad Pro tablet. The teaser image shows the M-Pencil that’ll be compatible with the new MatePad Pro 2. This will be the first Huawei device to come with the company’s custom HarmonyOS out of the box. Blogger @ChanganDigitalKing reports via Weibo that the Huawei MatePad Pro 2 with M-Pencil “will be released soon”. We can also expect the new MatePad Pro 2 to come with...

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Samsung Galaxy Watch3 and Watch Active2 receives incremental update

Earlier this month, Samsung released firmware updates for the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 and the Galaxy Watch3 and another OTA update is now being received by the same smartwatch models. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 receiving a firmware update The watch updates this time around are still based on Tizen 5.5.0.2, just like the one from early this month. The incremental update brings minor visual changes to fitness icons and “improved device stability”. Specifically, the auto walking/running and ‘inactive alert’ icons are enhanced. If you have one of these Samsung...

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Google Messages prepares app to let you pin conversation threads and favorite messages

Over the years, Google's Messages app has become the default messaging app for Android-powered devices. Similar to iMessage, it layers the traditional SMS (Short Message Service) protocol beneath a newer internet-based platform, in Android's case, it's called RCS. In XDA-Developers' latest APK teardown, version 8.1.050 of the Google Message app was dissected and strings of text within the code show that the messaging app will gain two features: the ability to pin message threads to the top of a list of conversations, and the ability to “star” individual messages from a conversation thread....

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iQOO Z3 is headed to India

vivo's iQOO sub-brand announced the Z3 for the Chinese market at around the end of March, and it went on sale on April Fools Day (seriously). And now it looks like this phone is ready for a trip over to neighboring India. Gagan Arora, director of iQOO India, shared a teaser on his Twitter account today, basically asking you to flip the Netflix N logo 90 degrees left or right. What do you get? A Z, of course. If that's not obvious, we don't know what is. What's less clear cut is exactly when we should expect the Z3 to make its debut on the Indian market, but surely iQOO will keep...

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Amazon announces it has agreed to purchase MGM for $8.45 billion

Amazon is announcing that it has agreed to acquire MGM’s (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) entire backlog of content dating back almost a century. It’s noted that MGM has over 4,000 films and 17,000 hours of television shows and with it, Amazon hopes to improve its current on-demand video offerings. The deal to acquire MGM is worth $8.45 billion. Amazon has heavily invested into its own Amazon Studios to create original shows and films exclusive for Prime video and this acquisition will position the platform to compete with Disney+ and Netflix on a larger scale. Amazon believes that MGM’s...

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Samsung Display might keep making LCD panels until the end of next year

Back in March of last year, we heard that Samsung Display would be discontinuing LCD production by the end of 2020. That came and went, and nothing happened. Now, a new report from Korea says that Samsung Display is willing to keep making LCDs until the end of next year. What changed, you wonder? Well, apparently there's been a price rise for LCD panels, which began in June of last year and hasn't stopped yet. Samsung Display has extended production of LCD panels at the request of Samsung Electronics, which still wants to receive LCDs. If Samsung Display keeps making LCDs into next...

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OnePlus WellPaper app changes wallpaper based on your phone usage

OnePlus today released WellPaper, a wallpaper app design to change based on how you use your phone. WellPaper is a live wallpaper app. It uses data from your phone's app usage and then categorizes the apps into six categories — social, lifestyle and communication, entertainment, gaming, information and business, and tools. It then assigns each category its own color. Based on your usage, the colors on your homescreen will then change through the course of the day. The app currently comes with three patterns. The first one features shifting tiles with pastel colors that each...

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Oppo Enco Free2 announced with ANC and 30 hour battery life

Alongside the newly launched Reno6 series, Oppo announced a new pair of TWS earbuds called Enco Free2. These offer an in-ear design with silicone tips complete with active noise canceling and a 30 hour rated battery life. Oppo claims the Enco Free2 can cancel out up to 42dB of outside noise thanks to their potent ANC feature. Sound comes through 10mm drivers and is tuned in tandem with Dynaudio. There’s support for AAC and SBC audio codecs. The earphones are IP54 water and dust-proof. They pair over Bluetooth 5.2 and offer a special low latency mode for gaming. Charging happens...

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 12.4" tablet unveiled with 5G, cheaper Galaxy Tab A7 Lite follows

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G is official (for real this time) and joining it is the Galaxy Tab A7 Lite, which arrives in Wi-Fi and LTE flavors. The FE model gets 5G connectivity instead. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G This one falls somewhere between the between the Tab S7+ (12.4” sAMOLED, 120 Hz) and the Tab S7 (11.0” LCD, 120 Hz). It has a 12.4” LCD with 2,560 x 1,600 px (16:10), though it runs at only 60 Hz. At least it comes with Android 11 with One UI 3.1 out of the box. Speaking of the box, inside you’ll find an included S Pen, which you can use for note taking and drawing....

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CEO: the OnePlus Nord CE 5G will be unveiled on June 10, Nord N200 5G coming soon too

The next mid-ranger from OnePlus will be called the Nord CE 5G, with CE standing for “Core Edition”. This was officially confirmed by CEO Pete Lau, who spoke to TechRadar. The new model will be unveiled on June 10 and will be released in Europe and India. It doesn’t sound like it will launch in the US or Canada, however (the original Nord never did). Details about the device are kept under wraps for now. This is the opposite of the OnePlus Nord N200 5G, which will be exclusive to the US and Canada, according to Lau. This will be the sequel to last year’s Nord N100, which was a 4G-only...

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Leak: the Sony WF-1000XM4 will have better ANC, LDAC support and longer battery life

The upcoming Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS headset will have active noise cancellation (ANC), not surprising considering that the current XM3 model has it too. The interesting part here is that this feature will be enabled by a custom chip called “Sony V1”, which will deliver an even more effective ANC, according to WinFuture. This won’t be Sony’s first custom chip, of course, but compared to the QN1e found inside the current XM3 buds, this one will add support for high-quality wireless audio transmitted using LDAC. The buds will also be Hi-Res Audio certified. Sony WF-1000XM4 The...

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Instagram brings back Like count as an opt-in feature

Instagram and Facebook have been experimenting with hiding the Like count for the past year, with the feature becoming official in the middle of the pandemic. Today the Instagram revealed it is bringing the counters back, but users will have control over what they see and what their followers can see. First and foremost, there is the option to hide counts on all posts in the News Feed. This allows you to focus on photos and videos rather than on the popularity of a given post. The toggle can be found in the new Posts section in Settings -> Privacy and applies instantly. In terms of...

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Oppo Reno6, 6 Pro and 6 Pro+ arrive with 90Hz displays, 65W charging

The Reno series from Oppo continues to grow in numbers and the latest additions are the Reno 6, Reno 6 Pro and Reno 6 Pro+. The two Pro variants feature identical specs save for the cameras and chipsets with the Pro utilizing the Dimenisty 1200 SoC while the Pro+ is outfitted with the Snapdragon 870 instead. The vanilla version opts for the recently announced Dimenisty 900 and all three phones come with triple camera setups and 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 charging. Oppo Reno6 Oppo Reno 6 brings a flat 6.4-inch AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution. The phone has flat...

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ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G review

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IDC forecasts boom in smartphone shipments

The latest IDC prediction on the smartphone is painting an optimistic picture. Based on the gathered data, IDC is forecasting 1.38 billion smartphone shipments for 2021 which would be a 7.7% increase compared to last year and the highest total since 2015. The upward trend is also expected to continue into 2022 but with a more modest 3.8% annual growth. IDC believes the wide-scale deployment of 5G networks paired with the lowered cost of 5G phones will lead to a triple-digit percentage increase in 5G phone shipments by the end of this year. China is expected to be the driving force...

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The Nintendo Switch Pro may be unveiled in a few weeks with 7" OLED display, DLSS support

Time flies – the Nintendo Switch is already 4 years old and it is time for it to retire to the gaming hall of fame. Its replacement, the tentatively named Nintendo Switch Pro, will be unveiled in a few weeks, some time before E3 (which will be held in mid-June), according to sources speaking to Bloomberg. The timing of the announcement will allow Nintendo’s partners (and the company itself) to showcase their upcoming games at the expo. But that reveal may be followed by a long wait. The first shipments may start around July, though with the chip shortage that is strangling the industry,...

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nubia introduces Red Magic 6R with Snapdragon 888 and four cameras

nubia launched its latest gaming smartphone, called Red Magic 6R. It not a huge upgrade over the Red Magic 6 and Red Magic 6 Pro, but comes with a much slimmer body and more universally appealing design, dropping some of the gaming aesthetics. The nubia Red Magic 6R is powered by a Snapdragon 888 chipset, coupled with either 8GB or 12GB RAM. The display is a 6.67” AMOLED with a 144Hz refresh rate and a single punch hole in the center. There are shoulder triggers that are touch sensors (and not physical keys like in the Redmi K40 Gaming) that offer 400Hz touch sampling...

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OnePlus 8T discounted to $569

The OnePlus 8T unveiled last October was sold at $749 in the US with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage onboard. That variant is now discounted by $180, bringing down the price to $569. This offer, valid until May 31, is applicable on the 8T purchased from OnePlus' official website, and if you buy it from the OnePlus Store app, you get an additional discount of $20, translating to a final price of $549. The OnePlus 8T is built around a 6.55" FullHD+ 120Hz Fluid AMOLED display having a punch hole in the upper-left corner for the 16MP selfie camera and a fingerprint reader underneath for...

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Beats Studio Buds spotted in the ears of LeBron James

We know Apple is working on a new pair of Beats Studio Buds. We even saw their design leak in official renders uncovered in iOS 14.6 but now we have actual images of the earbuds sitting in the ears of LeBron James. LeBron James wearing Beats Studio Buds The basketball superstar posted a few pictures on his Instagram which show the white pair of Studio Buds in his ears prior to a game in the NBA Playoffs. If you zoom in close enough you can see the overall shape matches the previously leaked renders. Studio Buds feature a generic round in-ear design with a squared-off...

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Huawei introduces Matebook D 14 & D 15 with Ryzen 5000 CPUs

Huawei has upgraded its Matebook D 14 and Matebook D 15 laptops once again - they received the latest AMD Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 platforms. Aside from the new chips, everything else remains the same on the inside and outside, including screen size, battery capacity and form factor. Huawei Matebook D 14 AMD 2021 • Huawei Matebook D 15 AMD 2021 The D 14 and D 15 models use either the mid-range Ryzen 5 5500U or the more capable Ryzen 7 5700U SoC, in either case with built-in Radeon Vega GPU. The Ryzen 5 has six CPU cores with a max clock rate of 4.0GHz, while the Ryzen 7 has eight cores...

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Huawei Watch 3 with HarmonyOS is coming on June 2

Huawei is holding an event on June 2 to unveil its new lineup of HarmonyOS-running devices, which will also include a new smartwatch - the Huawei Watch 3. Huawei hasn't detailed the Watch 3's specs yet, but it has released several teaser images on its Weibo profile. The Huawei Watch 3 will support eSIM functionality, allowing you to make calls from the smartwatch without requiring a smartphone. The company's also promising better battery life. The Watch 3's unveiling is less than a week away, but you can expect Huawei to drop some teasers confirming more features of its new...

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