Earlier this month, we saw Motorola rolling out the Android 10 update to the Moto One Macro. Now the company is giving the same treatment to its 2019 entry-level smartphone: the Moto G8 Play.
According to user reports over at MotoG8PlayBrasil Telegram channel, the Moto G8 Play has finally started receiving its stable Android 10 update in Brazil. The update carries software version QMD30.47-19 and, besides bumping the underlying Android version, also packs the December 2020 security patches. At the time being, the Android 10 update seems to be rolling out in Brazil only but should be coming to more regions in the coming weeks.
After installing the new software, users can look forward to all the usual Android 10 features, including a system-wide dark mode, Smart Reply for messaging apps, new Digital Wellbeing tools with Focus Mode and Parental controls, Live Caption, a new gesture navigation system, and a whole lot more.
If you’re a Moto G8 Play owner residing in Brazil, you should receive the Android 10 OTA in the coming days. Alternatively, you can also head to Settings > System > System update to check if the Android 10 update is available for you.
The Moto G8 Play is an entry-level smartphone that was launched alongside the Moto G8 Plus. It offers a 6.2-inch HD+ display, MediaTek P70 SoC, 2GB RAM, a 13MP primary camera, and a 4,000 mAh battery.
To get an idea of the poor state of Moto software updates you need only look at the launch of the Moto G8 Play. The phone was launched all the way back in October 2019 — one month after the stable release of Android 10 — and came running Android 9 Pie out of the box, meaning it took a whopping 15 months for the device to receive its first major update. Even for an entry-level Android phone, this is too long, and we really hope Motorola will show more urgency with regards to rolling out software updates in the future.
It was right around the launch of the OnePlus 8T last year when we heard rumors that Carl Pei was about to leave the company. Soon after, the co-founder announced that he was indeed moving on to start his own hardware venture and only recently revealed that it would be called ‘Nothing.’ During the announcement, there was no information shared regarding what kind of hardware the new “London based consumer technology company” would make. However, the company’s official website listed big-names such as iPod inventor Tony Fadell, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, as primary investors.
There have been vague rumors that the company will be focusing on audio tech, however, a new report has confirmed that wireless headphones will be one of many products in development.
Pei recently confirmed to Bloomberg that his new company is working on a pair of wireless headphones alongside a variety of other smart and connected consumer electronics. After introducing the headphones this summer, ‘Nothing’ plans to launch more products later in the year. He also said that the venture capital arm of Alphabet Inc. led the latest funding round and entirely financed it. According to a tweet posted by the company, Nothing has managed to raise $15 million, all thanks to GV, previously known as Google Ventures.
We are happy to announce that we have raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by @GVteam propelling us forward on our journey. pic.twitter.com/s7ek851GzF
Tom Hulme, General Partner at GV, said in a statement, “Pei’s vision for smart devices is compelling. We have high confidence that with Carl’s global mindset, the Nothing team will have a meaningful impact on the market for consumer technology.”
‘Nothing’ has yet to confirm a launch date for its first product launch but considering the ‘summer’ timeline, it could happen around June. It would be interesting to see if the company can deliver and live up to its mission to “remove the barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future.” Currently, the wireless headphones market is in high demand, especially if you consider the growing numbers worldwide. Apart from big names like Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, Nothing will have solid competition from popular personal audio brands including Sony, Sennheiser, JBL, and Bose.
Apple released iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 betas last week featuring several new features. The beta releases introduced support for a new “Unlock with Apple Watch” feature, dual-SIM 5G for the iPhone 12 lineup, support for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S controllers, and more. While we highlighted most of the new features in our previous coverage, the latest iOS beta update includes one additional change.
According to a recent report from MacRumors, Apple has also added the ability to change the default music streaming service while using Siri in the latest iOS beta release. The feature was first spotted by Reddit user u/matejanmm1, who shared the following screenshot.
As you can see, Siri on iOS 14.5 asks you “Which app would you like to use?” when you ask it to play a song. This interaction only happens the first time you request a song, after which Siri defaults to the third-party music-streaming service of your choice and you no longer have to specify the name of the music-streaming service when you issue subsequent commands. The feature seems to work with most third-party music-streaming services, including Spotify, Deezer, YouTube Music, and more.
Users who have tried the feature report that it only works with specific phrases at the moment, and it even reverts back to Apple Music at times. This suggests that the feature is still a work in progress and Apple still has some work to do to deliver consistent results each time. Regardless, it’s great to see Apple giving users the option to set a third-party music-streaming service as the default app for Siri on iOS instead of limiting them to Apple Music. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Apple is allowing users to change a default app on iOS. The company rolled out similar functionality for the email and browser apps with iOS 14 last year, allowing users to select third-party alternatives as default apps.
Qualcomm today announced a wide range of 5G products to help OEMs deliver significantly faster data speeds and enable new use cases on their next-generation devices. The list of products includes the world’s first 10 Gigabit Snapdragon X65 5G modem, the Snapdragon X62 5G modem, a new mmWave module, a suite of new RF front-end solutions, and more.
Snapdragon X65 and X62 5G Modems
The new Snapdragon X65 5G modem is the showstopper here. A direct successor to the last year’s Snapdragon X60, the fourth-gen modem offers significantly faster peak download speeds. Qualcomm is advertising up to 10 Gbps in the downlink, making it the first modem-RF system to reach such speeds. For reference, the existing Snapdragon X60 offers up to 7.5 Gbps download speeds. The modem can achieve 10 Gigabit speeds on both stand-alone and non-standalone 5G networks. The Snapdragon X65 is also the first modem to support 3GPP’s 5G NR release 16, the second set of specifications aimed at boosting the expansion and deployment of 5G NR worldwide.
“We are reaching a significant milestone with the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System, unleashing connectivity up to 10 Gigabits per second and support for the latest 5G specifications that will play a critical role in enabling new 5G use cases not only for redefined premium smartphone experiences but also opening a new realm of possibilities for 5G expansion across mobile broadband, compute, XR, industrial IoT, 5G private networks and fixed wireless access”
The modem is built on a 4nm process and supports simultaneous carrier aggregation between all sub-6GHz and mmWave bands. The Snapdragon X65 also features an upgradable architecture, making it possible to deliver new features proposed in 3GPP’s Release 16 to be quickly rolled out via software updates.
Qualcomm says the Snapdragon X65 modem will power a variety of use cases and form factors, including smartphones, PCs, mobile hotspots, industrial IoT, fixed wireless access, and private networks.
Alongside the Snapdragon X65, Qualcomm is also announcing a watered-down version in the form of the Snapdragon X62. The Snapdragon X62 is built on a 4nm process and offers carrier aggregation across sub-6GHz and mmWave bands with peak download speeds of 4.4 Gbps.
The Snapdragon X65 and X62 are currently sampling to OEMs, with commercial devices featuring the new modems expected to hit the market by 2021.
With the launch of the Snapdragon X65 and X62 modems, Qualcomm is also adding several new RF front-end solutions to its portfolio, including a new mmWave antenna module, QE7100 Wideband Envelop Tracker, AI-Enhanced Signal Boost, and more.
The Qualcomm QTM545 is the second-gen mmWave antenna module. It adds support for the new n259 (42GHz) band, improves the mmWave coverage, and supports higher transmit power while maintaining the same footprint as its predecessor.
Qualcomm says its 7th-gen Wideband Envelop Tracker (QE7100) is 30% more power-efficient than competitors and supports full 100Hz bandwidth for new 5G bands and LTE.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm AI-Enhanced Signal Boost offers an adaptive antenna tuning solution with the help of artificial intelligence. The solution uses an AI-trained model to track the user’s handgrip around the phone and optimizes the antennas in real-time for better coverage and longer battery life.
Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 2
Finally, the company also announced 2nd-gen Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform, enabling mobile operators to offer fixed broadband services to homes and businesses using their 5G infrastructure. The new platform is powered by the Snapdragon X65 modem and features the latest Qualcomm 547b mmWave module to deliver download speeds of up to 10 Gbps. The platform supports extended-range high power sub-6GHz 5G and comes with 8 receive antennas for improved network coverage.
For Fixed Wireless Access devices that solely rely on 4G networks, Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon X12+ LTE modem, with up to 600 Mbps download speeds.
The 2nd gen Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform is expected to arrive in commercial devices in the first half of 2022.
With an increasing number of people working or attending classes from home, video conferencing apps like Zoom and Google Meet have seen a strong surge in popularity over the last year. Due to the sheer number of alternatives available to end-users, developers are constantly innovating and adding new features to their respective apps to offer more value. For instance, Google Meet recently added a new ‘Green Room’ feature to help users check their audio and video settings before joining a call. Similarly, Zoom also added a new call end chime to the app to alert users when someone disconnected abruptly.
While most of these new features aim to provide more utility, some are just added to make boring video calls more entertaining. Zoom’s new Studio Effects feature is a case in point. The feature gives you the ability to add several eyebrows, facial hair, and lip color filters to your video feed. According to a recent report from The Verge, it can be found within the “Background & Filters” option in Zoom’s Video Settings.
(Image: The Verge)
As you can see in the attached screenshot, it includes three tabs, labeled Eyebrows, Moustache & Beard, and Lip Color, that let you add quirky filters to your video feed. Zoom offers quite a few options to choose from, including 7 eyebrows types, 7 facial hair options, and 10 lip color variants, along with a custom color option that lets you pick a lip color that matches your outfit. You can also use the feature to change the color of your eyebrows and facial hair and even control the filter’s opacity.
Additionally, the Studio Effects feature includes a toggle at the top to help you apply your preferred settings to all future meetings. But we’d recommend steering clear from it, for obvious reasons. It’s worth noting that while the Studio Effects feature was first announced back in September last year, many Zoom users have just discovered it in the app. The feature seems to be live for most Zoom users, but we’re not sure if it’s available globally.
At its Mi 11 China launch event back in December 2020, Xiaomi teased the MIUI 12.5 update roadmap for a few of its devices. Soon after that, the company started pushing closed beta builds of MIUI 12.5 to select Mi and Redmi smartphones in its home country. Every year, the Chinese OEM splits efforts between the domestic and global update policies, and this year is no different. If you’re looking forward to running the latest iteration of MIUI on your phone, then you’re in luck as Xiaomi has now officially outlined the MIUI 12.5 update roadmap for its global device portfolio.
The good news is that the first wave of the update will be rolling out across several device ranges, from the latest flagship Mi 11 to the previous year’s Mi 10 and Mi 10T lineup. However, if you don’t have a premium category smartphone, then you’ve to wait a little before the platform update hits your device. A bunch of Mi Note and Redmi Note branded devices are next in line, and they are expected to get MIUI 12.5 as part of the second wave.
The rollout is set to begin as soon as Q2 2021, with the following devices receiving updates to MIUI 12.5:
There’s no word on Q2 2021 updates for any other Mi/Redmi device, but Xiaomi’s tweet mentions that the company will be adding more devices to the list. However, looking at the pace at which legacy and entry level devices are still receiving the MIUI 12 update across various regions, we wouldn’t expect the stable version of MIUI 12.5 to hit those devices anytime in the next couple of months.
Sony recently launched the Xperia PRO 5G, a $2,500 smartphone for creators that packs a couple of unique features. The device features a micro HDMI input that will let you connect it to your camera and use it as an on-camera monitor. Additionally, thanks to the device’s 5G capabilities, you’ll be able to stream video right from your camera without needing any separate streaming accessories. But since its price tag puts the Xperia PRO 5G outside the reach of many buyers, Sony is now rolling out similar capabilities to the Xperia 1 II and Xperia 5 II with their Android 11 update.
Sony started rolling out stable Android 11 to the Xperia 1 II late last year. While the update changelog didn’t include any mention of the aforementioned features, a recent post from u/shenfan0613 on Reddit reveals that the company has, in fact, added external monitor capabilities to the Xperia 1 II with the Android 11 update. The post includes an image highlighting the new feature, which reveals that it will let users connect their Xperia 1 II to a supported Sony Alpha camera and use it as an on-camera monitor. To use the new External Monitor feature, you will have to connect your Xperia 1 II to a supported camera using a USB Type-C to HDMI cable.
It’s worth mentioning that a video about the Xperia 1 II’s Android 11 update shared by the official Sony Xperia Taiwan YouTube channel also highlights this feature. You can watch the timestamped video below.
Although the post doesn’t state whether a similar feature will roll out to the Xperia 5 II with its Android 11 update or not, we have reason to believe that the feature will be available on the compact flagship. Sony recently shared a press release highlighting a firmware update for the Sony ZV-1 camera. The firmware update brings a couple of new features to the vlog camera, including the ability to connect it to a PC via USB and use it as a high-res webcam.
Additionally, the firmware update brings a new feature that will let you connect the camera to a supported Xperia smartphone and use the smartphone as a secondary display to monitor your live stream and read the chat. The fine print at the bottom of the press release clearly states that this feature will be available on the Xperia 1 II and Xperia 5 II running Android 11. Therefore, we suspect that the External Monitor feature will also be extended to the Xperia 5 II with its Android 11 update. Sony has already started rolling out stable Android 11 to the Xperia 5 II in select regions. We’ll update this post as soon as we confirm External Monitor availability on the device.
The Xperia PRO 5G’s camera monitor feature is one of its main selling points over the Xperia 1 II (the other being 5G mmWave support), so it’s interesting to see Sony bringing the feature to the Xperia 1 II with its Android 11 update. But it’s worth noting that the Xperia 1 II hasn’t received the Android 11 update in the US yet, and the Xperia PRO is currently only sold in the US. So, we’re not sure if Sony will release the display input feature on US models as that may adversely impact Xperia PRO 5G sales in the country. On the upside, Sony’s decision to bring the feature to the Xperia 1 II and Xperia 5 II will make the devices more compelling options for creators who were put off by the Xperia PRO 5G’s price.
In case you have received the Android 11 update on your Xperia 5 II, make sure to leave a comment if you’re able to spot the new External Monitor feature on the device.
