OnePlus 3T: all the rumors in one place

Those persistent rumors of an upgraded OnePlus 3T with a better processor and camera module just won't go away. OnePlus is remaining quiet on the rumors – as most OEMs do in these situations – but the frequency and consistency with which these leaks keep coming are starting to make the OnePlus 3T look legit. Here are all the rumors in one place.

See also: Best OnePlus 3 cases1

OnePlus 3T: name

We first caught wind of the OnePlus 3T on October 8 when Chinese analyst Pan Jiutang warned Weibo readers against buying a OnePlus 3 because the OnePlus 3 Plus was on its way.

On October 10, GizmoChina, citing an unnamed source, declared that production of the OnePlus 3 had been halted in order to make way for an upgraded OnePlus 3S/OnePlus 3 Plus with an LCD display.

OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei later addressed the stock shortage, confessing there had simply been AMOLED supply chain issues that were delaying OP3 production. Pei later confirmed that OnePlus would be sticking with AMOLED displays for the foreseeable future.

Then, on October 13, a OnePlus device with the model number A3010 appeared in a Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA) listing. That listing did little more than fuel the fires claiming an upgraded OnePlus 3 was in the works. The CNCA listing contained no specs, no name, no anything other than a familiar-sounding model number (the OnePlus 3's model number is A3000).

Then, a little while later, a "OnePlus designer" posted on Chinese microblogging site Weibo from a device listed as a OnePlus 3T. The post was later deleted but the cat was officially out of the bag: the OnePlus 3T was a real thing. It was soon surmised that the OnePlus 3T would feature the Snapdragon 821 chipset and that the T might stand for Turbo.

OnePlus 3T: specs

The OnePlus 3T will reportedly look just like the OnePlus 3, but with a couple of improved internals. The Snapdragon 820 found in the OnePlus 3 is to be upgraded to a Snapdragon 821 and another Weibo leak declared the OnePlus 3T specs would also feature an upgraded Sony IMX395 sensor for the camera.

The Sony IMX395 is the same sensor found in the OPPO R9s and R9s Plus, featuring 16 MP, dual-core autofocus and f/1.7 aperture. 6 GB of RAM is again meant to be on board, as is Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box.

OnePlus 3T: price

Evan Blass eventually chipped in suggesting an $80 price hike between the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T, but provided no proof of the claim. If the rumored specs are indeed true though, a 20 percent price hike might be in order. OnePlus famously makes razor thin profits on its devices, so increased component costs couldn't be easily absorbed. This would put the 64 GB OnePlus 3T price at $480.

OnePlus 3 + ~$80 + [time] = OnePlus 3T#met3Thitarhymeacapella

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) October 26, 2016

OnePlus 3T: release date

This one is anyone's guess. The only rumor I've heard regarding a OnePlus 3T release date is "December". But yet again, no source or proof has been cited. At the very least a December launch date makes sense if the OnePlus 3 launched in mid-June, putting OnePlus in the six-monthly upgrade cycle that worked such wonders for Sony.

Are you interested in a possible OnePlus 3T? Or would you prefer to wait until the OnePlus 4?

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90% of headphone buyers prioritize sound quality over price

This post originally appeared on our sister site, SoundGuys.

Qualcomm aptX has just published a detailed report into the state of consumer audio. The company spoke to over 3,600 consumers who own and use a smartphone, and who identified themselves as being music lovers or listeners, with the data revealing some important trends. According to the results, consumers are itching for the best sound quality, want better connected audio devices, and aren't quite convinced about the quality of Bluetooth yet. If that sounds familiar to you, I'm not surprised, but there are some interesting titbits buried in all the data.

Despite the fashion statements offered by some audio brands, Qualcomm's data indicates that a whopping 90% of headphone customers prioritise sound quality over any other factor when picking out a new pair. In fact, 71% said that quality is even more important than cost, so consumers are certainly willing to pay for good headphones.

Questions of quality

Furthermore, while Qualcomm, and much of the broader industry for that matter, maintains that wireless headphone sales are on an upward trajectory, a 58% majority of customers are holding off on wireless headphone purchases because Bluetooth sound quality just isn't good enough.

When asked about quality, 81% of wired headphone owners said they were quite or very satisfied with them, compared with only 59% of wireless headset owners. Revealingly, 46% of respondents said they are concerned that wireless headphones may compromise sound quality. The other major reasons for avoiding wireless are concerns about a lack of compatibility, the expense, and how easy/difficult it will be to pair them up with other gadgets.

Of course, some elements of quality are quite subjective and there do appear to be a few contradictions in the data, at least from an audiophile's perspective. While 90% of customers believe that audio quality is important when selecting headphones, 83% of respondents stream music as part of their everyday listening experience, and we know that they're not all using lossless services like Tidal.

That being said, 33% of consumers stream music as their main source of audio, while 40% are still using downloaded files as their preferred format. Of course, most of these are likely to be lossy MP3 downloads or an equivalent, but the quality is still likely to be higher than a typical streaming service. Just 1% listen to vinyl, and 9% are still primarily listening to their CD collection.

Just 1% surveyed listen to vinyl, and 9% are still primarily listening to their CD collection.

81% of those surveyed are either streaming music or playing back audio files on their smartphone.

Smartphones dominate

When it comes to what consumers are listening on, it probably won't come as a surprise to hear that smartphones are almost universally used. 81% of those surveyed are either streaming music or playing back audio files on their smartphone these days, followed by 70% on laptops and PCs. Ease of use was found to be the reason behind this trend at 67%, while sound quality and format takes a back seat at just 18%. However, three quarters of those questioned listen to music on multiple devices.

Three quarters of those questioned listen to music on multiple devices.

This year, smartphone manufacturers have been paying increased attention to the audio quality of their handsets. LG and ZTE's Axon brand are happy to boast about the quality of their DACs, and a number of consumers have become fond of front-facing speaker setups.

Compatibility

The last major point raised by Qualcomm's report is one of cross compatibility, specifically when it comes to the growing market for wireless speakers. 75% of consumers seem keen to own a wireless speaker system, but 50% of people aren't buying one yet. It seems that customers are being very picky about ensuring compatibility with the various wireless connection standards out there, and want to be certain that devices are compatible with each other before taking the plunge.

A majority of potential customers are put off the various wireless connection standards.

With different speaker systems offering up a range of wireless options, including Bluetooth, Qualcomm Aptx, AirPlay, and Wi-Fi, and manufacturers like Sonos offering up superior Spotify Connect integration and varying levels of support for different software platforms, it's certainly a good point that it can be hard to know exactly what to look for. Qualcomm notes that customers are prepared to pay extra for hardware that works well with technology from other companies right out of the box.

Going back to smartphones for a minute, there's nothing directly asked about USB Type-C in the report, but we can probably extrapolate people's feelings about wireless speaker compatibility to other connectors too. The report's findings don't make great reading for phone manufacturers that are dropping the 3.5mm audio jack, especially when it's clear that customers are yet to be won over by Bluetooth.

Wrap up

To sum up, music streaming and mobile have become increasingly important, and the latter is now the most popular way of listening to audio, including music, audiobooks, and podcasts. The trend towards wireless technologies has certainly piqued consumer interest, but they're not entirely satisfied with the audio quality and features of some of today's products. Consumers seem to be holding out for better alternatives to Bluetooth and, more importantly, want to ensure that all of their audio products play nicely together.

There's an awful lot more data in Qualcomm's State of Play report, which you can check out in full here. What are your thoughts on mobile and wireless audio products?

Up next: Audio file formats explained and where to get them19

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Verizon offering 20% off Google Pixel and other phones with promo code

Verizon Wireless is currently running a promotion that lets buyers use a promo code on its website to get 20% off most of its smartphones. The best thing about this deal is that the code can be used on the brand new Google Pixel and Pixel XL, which are exclusive to Verizon in terms of U.S. carriers.

See also: Best Verizon Android phones56

The code itself is  "SAVE20", and is applied at checkout on the carrier's website. This will cut the price of the Google Pixel with 32GB of storage down to to $519.99 without a contract. That's large $130 discount off its normal price. The promo code can also cut down the phone's monthly payment plan down to $21.66 a month for customers who decide to go that route. The price of the Pixel XL 32GB goes down to $615.99, a bigger $154 discount, or $25.66 a month, with the promo code applied. Verizon is already offering up to $300 off the Pixel phones for current customers who turn in their older smartphones, or up to $400 off for new customers.

There's no word on when this promo code will expire, so if you want to use it you might want to act quickly. Droid Life points out the code might not work for Verizon customers who are already getting a corporate or employer discount. However, they can still use another code, "SAVE100", on the web store that will cut the price of the carrier's smartphones down by a flat $100.

Check it out at Verizon

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Nexus 6P mod brings back Night Mode for Android 7.1.1 Nougat users

A new third-party mod for the Google Nexus 6P offers a way to enable Night Mode for people who have the Android 7.1.1 Nougat Developers Preview installed on the phone.

See also: Bring back Nougat's Night Mode with this app35

Night Mode is supposed to offer smartphone owners a way to use them more easily in the dark by applying a blue-light filter toggle. Google decided to remove Night Mode from the first Android 7.0 release, due to what the company said were performance issues with the feature. However, some enterprising developers released an app called Night Mode Enabler that allowed some, but not all, phones with the OS to use the feature.

Unfortunately, when Google released the Android 7.1.1 Developers Preview, it also disabled the Night Mode Enabler app and similar third-party apps. Now, another developer says he has managed to release a mod that will enable Night Mode again on the Nexus 6P with the Android 7.1.1 Developers Preview. His files can be found on the XNA Developers forum.

Keep in mind that this is a third-party mod and that it has not been widely tested, so there are sure to be some bugs in this release. Also, you should always download and install files like these at your own risk. However, if you really, really want Night Mode on your Nexus 6P with the latest Android 7.1.1 Developer Preview, this might be worth checking out. Are you disappointed that Google has removed Night Mode from Android 7.0?

Get it from XDN Developers

 

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ZTE Axon 7 receives another OTA update, but no Nougat yet

ZTE is back with another update for its Axon 7 flagship this week, which comes just one and a half months after the previous batch of software tweaks. The OTA update is already rolling out and should land on handsets the next 24 hours or so, if you haven't spotted it already.

The latest software version comes with the build number B29 and features a selection of fixes for a number of persistent Axon 7 issues. Sadly, there's no Android Nougat upgrade yet. That particular update has been teased yet again in this latest changelog, with ZTE confirming that a Nougat build is in the works. But no release window has been given yet.

As for this update, here's the full change log from ZTE's US website:

• Notification bell is now optional (hooray!)
• New application management policy to enhance battery life
• Optimized video camera focus on moving objects
• Resolved .FLAC file playback issue
• Visual Voicemail optimized for dual SIM
• Updated fix for Mute Call issue
• Other general enhancements

See also: Problems with the ZTE Axon 7 and how to fix them59

ZTE suggests that users head on over to "Settings -> Updates" to force a manual check for the OTA update if they don't spot the notification in the next day or two.

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‘OK Google, Lumos Maxima!’: turn your phone into a wand with Google

With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set to be released this month, at least in the US, we will get another chance to return to J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World. And with a little help from Google, you can now experience this magical world by turning your phone into a wand or visiting the Magical Congress of the USA on Google Maps.

You can simply say, "OK Google" on your Android phone to summon Google Search and cast your spell. For instance, "Lumos" or "Lumos Maxima" will turn your flashlight on, and you can turn it off with "Nox." Or you can say "Silencio" in order to – yes, you guessed right – silence your phone (I've tried "Wingardium Leviosa" with no success. Do let me know if you guys find another spell that works!).

But that's not all. In addition to turning your phone into a magical wand, the search giant will also take you back in time: to New York in 1926 to be precise. That's when the film takes place, and I have to say, Google has done a tremendous job with this one. You can visit major locations from the film as well as explore the city in Street View:

Fans can visit MACUSA (Magical Congress of the USA); Steen National Bank, where Newt first meets Jacob Kowalski; the underground speakeasy The Blind Pig; and the magical apartment of Tina and Queenie Goldstein, two of the film's key characters.

Once Google's Daydream View VR headset becomes available some time this month, you will also be able to explore Newt's case, filled with magic spells and puzzles that will allow you to retrieve all the escaped creatures. If texting is more of your thing, don't worry because Fantastic Beasts inspired stickers are coming to Google Allo.

What do you think about Google's new promotion? Excited for Fantastic Beasts? Let us know by leaving a comment down below!

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Xiaomi’s Mi Note 2 sells out in just 50 seconds

Xiaomi's latest smartphone, the Mi Note 2, reportedly sold out 50 seconds after it launched earlier today in China. The new phablet, which features a curved display similar to the Galaxy Note 7, was available through a flash sale on Xiaomi's official website for those who had pre-registered to buy the device. This would make the Mi Note 2 one of the fastest Xiaomi phones to sell out ever.

While such a fast sell out is no mean feat, it's true that Xiaomi's phones regularly sell out quickly, as it forms part of Xiaomi's hunger-marketing sales strategy. Essentially, Xiaomi always aims to supply less than what the market wants and the (simplified) result is decreased inventory and shipping costs, and increased demand.

See also: Xiaomi testing phones on US wireless networks, could launch in 201729

We caught our first glimpse of the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 at its Beijing launch event on October 25. The handset features a 5.7-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 821 processor and 4 or 6 GB or RAM. We had the chance to go hands-on with the Mi Note 2 later and our initial impressions were positive.

This was Xiaomi's first flash sale for the Mi Note 2, with the second expected to occur on November 8. Meanwhile, Xiaomi's Mi MIX – which also grabbed headlines at Xiaomi's recent launch event thanks to its eye-catching near bezel-less design – will go on sale on November 4. It's possible that it will sell out equally fast.

Is the Mi Note 2 on your radar? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

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