Samsung Galaxy A82 photos get leaked on eve of rumored launch

Samsung is reportedly gearing up to release the Galaxy A82 (also known as the Galaxy Quantum 2), and ahead of the device’s launch, a series of images have leaked. Meanwhile, alleged specs for the device have also been revealed, giving us a pretty good idea of what to expect ahead of its release.

The Galaxy A82 is expected to be at the high end of Samsung’s A series smartphones in 2021. According to a recent report (via Android Police), the device will feature a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-O display with Full HD+ resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, 800 nits of peak brightness, and curved edges. The device will also reportedly include an in-display fingerprint sensor, plus IP67 water and dust resistance, and Dolby Atmos audio.

Images via Weibo

The Galaxy A82 will also reportedly feature a Snapdragon 855+ processor, 6GB RAM, 128GB of storage, and support for microSD. The good news is the device is expected to launch with Android 11 out of the box, so Galaxy A82 owners won’t have to wait for Samsung to bring the latest software features to the device.

Elsewhere, the Galaxy A82 is said to feature a triple-camera setup, including a 64MP wide-angle sensor with OIS, a 12MP ultra-sensor, and a 5MP depth sensor. As for the design, the images suggest the device will be made out of metal and feature a nice matte finish, and be very similar in overall size to the Galaxy S21 Plus. The device will also feature a 4500mAh battery and support up to 25W charging.

Apparently, the Galaxy A82 will go up for pre-order as soon as this week and then officially launch on April 23. For now, reports suggest the device will be available in South Korea, with no word on if it’ll go on sale in other regions. If you’re feeling a little jealous, Samsung recently launched five Galaxy A series smartphones in the U.S., so there’s certainly no shortage of options.

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Mobvoi working on TicWatch E3 with Wear OS, TicWatch GTH coming to more countries

Mobvoi is one of the few remaining companies producing smartwatches with Google’s Wear OS. The company just released another iteration of its TicWatch Pro (with embarrassingly old hardware), and now it looks like two more watches could get a global release in the near future.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Mobvoi just released a new update for its wearable companion app (also named Mobvoi), which contains a few hints at the company’s future product plans. New strings in the app mention the TicWatch GTH, which was released in China earlier this year, but isn’t sold anywhere else yet. The references in the app, along with recent tweets from Mobvoi, seem to confirm that the GTH will be released outside of China soon.

<string name="device_type_ticgth">TicWatch GTH</string>
<string name="watch_lite_gth_title">TicWatch GTH</string>
<string name="text_smart_breathe">The device automatically detects the respiration rate at regular intervals within 24 hours</string>
<string name="watch_lite_breathe_reminder">Automatic detection of respiration rate</string>
<string name="watch_lite_heart_rate_msg_reminder_des">The device automatically detects heart rate at regular intervals within 24 hours</string>
<string name="watch_lite_heart_rate_reminder">Automatic heart rate detection</string>
<string name="watch_lite_oxygen_des">血氧检查开关</string>
<string name="watch_lite_oxygen_msg_reminder_des">The device automatically detects blood oxygen at regular intervals within 24 hours</string>
<string name="watch_lite_oxygen_reminder">Automatic blood oxygen detection</string>
<string name="watch_lite_temperature_des">The device automatically detects skin ​temperature at regular intervals within 24 hours</string>
<string name="watch_lite_temperature_reminder">Automatic body temperature detection</string>
<string name="this_week_sleep">Weekly Sleep Records</string>

The existing version of the TicWatch GTH closely resembles the Apple Watch and OPPO Watch in design, with a square 1.55-inch 360 x 320 display and a 260mAh battery. The above strings seem to confirm the global version will have the same temperature and blood oxygen monitoring as the Chinese watch, though if Samsung’s Galaxy Watch lineup is anything to go by, the software might not be enabled everywhere at first.

The app also contains the above resource images for the TicWatch GTH, showing the same square design as the Chinese model. The watch also doesn’t run Wear OS — it has a more limited operating system, similar to the OnePlus Watch, that lasts around seven days on a single charge.

Finally, the app contains a single image for a TicWatch E3, which Mobvoi hasn’t announced at all yet. There aren’t any clues about what features it could have, but it will presumably run Wear OS and be sold at a lower price point, like the TicWatch E2. The upcoming model appears to have a slimmer frame than the TicWatch E2, with two side buttons instead of just one.

TicWatch E3

The TicWatch E3 could be one of only a few Wear OS watches to be released this year. There has been increased speculation about a Pixel Watch from Google, and a sales presentation revealed that at least three Motorola-branded watches will be released over the next few months. Mobvoi already released the TicWatch Pro S this year, and Fossil announced an LTE version of its Gen 5 smartwatch at CES.

Mobvoi (formerly TicWatch) (Free, Google Play) →

Featured image: TicWatch GTH. Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

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Samsung reportedly teaming up with Olympus, testing iPhone-like sensor shift tech

Over the years, we’ve seen smartphone manufacturers team up with legacy camera companies in an effort to elevate mobile cameras. In fact, we recently saw OnePlus partner with Hasselblad. Now, a new report claims Samsung is looking to team up with Olympus as it looks to elevate the cameras in future Galaxy devices.

According to noted leaker Yogesh, Samsung and Olympus are currently in early talks about a partnership. The current status of the talks, however, are uncertain, but the resulting partnership could lead to new technology in the Galaxy Fold 3 or next year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Ok this could be huge!

With the Note lineup out this year, Samsung is going big with the Fold 3.

Heard about this very briefly, Samsung might be jumping on the latest trend of partnering with a camera brand. We might see this possibly happen on a special edition Fold.

— Yogesh (@heyitsyogesh) April 6, 2021

A separate report from IceUniverse corroborated Yogesh’s report, saying the reports are indeed accurate. Olympus was reportedly the first to spark discussions, and whatever the camera company had to say has piqued Samsung’s interest.

Meanwhile, GalaxyClub may shed light on the potential outcome of the partnership. Apparently, Samsung is considering adding sensor-shift technology to a future Galaxy device — something Olympus has introduced to a number of its mirrorless cameras. The technique allows the camera to move its image sensor independently from the rest of the device. This reduces vibrations and results in sharper images without shake.

Apple was among the first to introduce sensor-shift technology to last year’s iPhone 12 Pro Max, and the company is reportedly gearing up to introduce the same camera system to its entire iPhone 13 lineup this year. Apple devices offer what many consider to be the gold standard in mobile imaging, so it’s no surprise other companies are looking to bring sensor-shift tech to their mobile lineup.

Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series boasted some impressive camera features in their own right, including 10x optical zoom. But Samsung could certainly benefit from some new hardware, and the introduction of sensor-shift technology in a future Galaxy device would certainly help bring Samsung to another level.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 will reportedly be smaller than the Galaxy Z Fold 2

Samsung is expected to make some key changes to the Galaxy Z Fold 3, with improved specs and a more refined design. One of the alleged changes will be to the size of the device — which is either a good thing or bad thing depending on your preference.

According to The Elec, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is expected to have an overall smaller footprint compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 2. The main display will reportedly be slightly shrunk down to 7.5 inches, while the cover display will be 6.2 inches. The differences aren’t that drastic, but the report claims the dimensions of the device will be roughly the same size as the Galaxy Fold 1, but with virtually no display bezels.

While the dimensions of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 are expected to closely match the original model, The Elec reports the new foldable will be slightly wider, so it won’t feel so tall and slim when it’s closed. If there’s anything to criticize about last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 it’s that the form factor felt a little awkward when it was closed. It appears Samsung is attempting to address those complaints.

As a result of the smaller size, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will reportedly feature a smaller battery. The Elec claims the device’s battery will be 4,380mAh, which is a slight decrease from the Galaxy Z fold 2’s 4,500mAh battery. It’s unclear if that reduction will lead to any noticeable differences between both generations. With optimized software and a new processor, users are unlikely to notice any major differences.

The reduction in size and tweaked design could see Samsung achieve perfection with its next foldable — or at least close to it. We loved last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 2, but there are some improvements we’d like to see when the Galaxy Z Fold 3 launches, including S Pen support and an improved camera system.

The featured image showcases the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s main display.

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Google and Sony team up to add 360 Reality Audio support in Android

Sony has been developing its 360 Reality Audio technology for a while now, based on the MPEG-H 3D audio codec. The tech is mostly limited to some of Sony’s own smartphones, and only works with compatible apps, but now it looks like broader 360 Reality Audio support could be coming to Android.

A series of code reviews in the Android Open Source Project mention 360 Reality Audio, with code submitted by developers from both Sony and Google. Some of the work is to bring MPEG-H 3D support to Android’s MPEG4Extractor system component, while other code is specifically for Sony’s 360 Reality Audio.

There’s also a comment on the code reviews from Kei Murayama, a software engineer at Sony, that seems to confirm this is a joint venture between Google and Sony. “This is one of the patches mentioned in the meeting ‘Android OS 360RA support’ between Google and Sony,” it says.

Sony 360 Reality Audio currently requires the music provider to explicitly support it, as well as compatible speakers or headphones. Sony’s website lists Amazon Music HD, Nugs.net, and Tidal as the only music streaming services that offer 360 Reality Audio tracks. While the technology does work with any headphones or speakers, the 3D effect will be most noticeable with speakers built for 360 Reality Audio, like Sony’s SRS-RA5000 speaker, the Amazon Echo Studio, and Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar.

The ongoing work between Google and Sony means that Android will get a built-in decoder for MPEG-H 3D audio, so it will be easier for any apps to add 3D audio playback. As with the apps that already have 360 Reality Audio, you won’t necessarily need special headphones or speakers—one of the comments mentions that a virtualizer “can place individual sounds in a 360 spherical sound field from these channels on any headphones.”

Here’s hoping the changes will be finalized in time to ship with Android 12, otherwise we’ll likely have to wait until next year for enhanced 3D audio in Android.

Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer luca020400 for the tip!

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Microsoft buys Nuance, AI company that made Swype keyboard app

Microsoft has confirmed it’s acquiring Nuance Communications, Inc., a cloud and AI software company known among consumers for creating the Swype keyboard app. The deal is valued at $19.7 billion, making it the second-largest behind Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn for $26 billion in 2016.

In a blog post, Microsoft said the acquisition is primarily for Nuance’s healthcare and enterprise AI experience. Microsoft has made inroads into the healthcare industry with its Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare platform, which launched in 2020. The Redmond-based company said today’s announcement “represents the latest step in Microsoft’s industry-specific cloud strategy.”

“Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “AI is technology’s most important priority, and healthcare is its most urgent application. Together, with our partner ecosystem, we will put advanced AI solutions into the hands of professionals everywhere to drive better decision-making and create more meaningful connections, as we accelerate growth of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nuance.”

Nuance’s products include the Dragon Ambient eXperience, Dragon Medical One, and PowerScribe One — all of which include speech recognition SaaS offerings build on Microsoft Azure. The company’s solutions are said to be used by more than 55 percent of physicians and in 77 percent of U.S. hospitals. Nuance’s Healthcare Cloud revenue experience 37 percent year-over-year growth in the company’s fiscal year 2020 (ending September 2020).

Microsoft and Nuance previously entered into a partnership back in 2019, which saw Microsoft use Nuance’s software to digitize health records. Microsoft said the existing partnership will expand to better empower existing healthcare providers through the power of ambient clinical intelligence and other Microsoft cloud services.

In addition to healthcare applications, Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions across Interactive Voice Response (IVR), virtual assistants, and digital and biometric solutions. Most consumers know Nuance for creating its Swype keyboard, which offered Dragon dictation. The keyboard was ultimately discontinued, but its features have been copied in many other alternatives.

“Over the past three years, Nuance has streamlined its portfolio to focus on the healthcare and enterprise AI segments, where there has been accelerated demand for advanced conversational AI and ambient solutions,” said Mark Benjamin, CEO, Nuance. “To seize this opportunity, we need the right platform to bring focus and global scale to our customers and partners to enable more personal, affordable and effective connections to people and care.”

The acquisition will see Microsoft pay $56 per share, a 23 percent premium over Nuance’s closing price on Friday, April 9. The deal has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Nuance and Microsoft and is expected to close this calendar year.

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DotOS 5.1 will add a new wallpaper-based theming system and QS UI inspired by Android 12

Android theming has come a long way from the early days of the CyanogenMod Theme Engine to Substratum and now the native RRO and OMS APIs. With Android 12, Google might push Android’s theming engine to the next level thanks to the new wallpaper-based theming system code-named “monet.” When “monet” is enabled, the user’s wallpaper determines the background color and accent color throughout Settings and SystemUI, making it a true dynamic theming solution. Developers and modders, however, can’t examine the codebase of Google’s enhanced theming system just yet. This is because Android 12 is still under the “Developer Preview” stage and the software giant will only start to upload the Android 12 source code onto the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) website after the stable release.

The folks over at the DotOS project are now taking a shot at porting this feature by creating their own version of the wallpaper-based theming system inspired by Android 12. For those not familiar with DotOS, it stands for “DroidOnTime” and is a custom ROM founded by XDA Recognized Contributor mohancm on top of the AOSP base, adding in several features that make using the ROM a more pleasant experience than plain AOSP. The new theme engine is but one of these features that are scheduled for the upcoming DotOS 5.1 release.

Dubbed as “MonetWannabe,” the theming system in DotOS 5.1 allows users to choose the type of palette they want to be generated from the wallpaper and control the accuracy of the color generation process. Iacob Ionut, AKA XDA Senior Member IacobIonut-DW, who serves as the core UI/UX developer of the DotOS ROM, has coded the whole framework from scratch after carefully reversing Google’s implementation in Android 12 and tweaking the underlying algorithms for better flexibility.

MonetWannabe in action

The theming engine is quite modular in nature. When enabled, it’s even possible to recolor the Quick Settings media controls (as shown below). One can simply turn off the framework and stick with manual accent coloring as well.

Apart from the wallpaper-based theming system, the DotOS team has also come up with a revamped Quick Settings panel UI — a portion of which is already visible in the previous screenshots. To be more precise, the UI redesign is inspired by the Android 12 early mock ups, but you can find a number of other design elements mixed in with it. First of all, the corners of the notifications and the media player are slightly rounded. The Edit and Settings buttons are similarly modified to be more accessible and match the other elements in the panel. Next comes the QS Customizer, which loses the old background and toolbar and gets a fresh coat of paint.

Revamped Quick Settings panel UI: Light mode vs. Dark mode

In addition, the developer has decided to redecorate the PackageInstaller module, which is a fundamental part of the Android operating system. If you think PackageInstaller is nothing but a dated-looking floating box displaying the app installation progress, then you should be surprised after taking a look at the overhauled version.

Many more UI renovations are slated for the DotOS 5.1 update. For instance, the Dark Mode settings page will be remade with consistency in mind. You can catch an early glimpse of the redesign below:

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Download DotOS 5

You can download the current DotOS 5 builds for the following devices from the project’s official download portal:

• ASUS
  • ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1 (X00TD)
  • ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M2 (X01BD)
• Google
  • Google Pixel 2 (walleye)
  • Google Pixel 2 XL (taimen)
• Lenovo
  • Lenovo Z5s (jd2019)
• OnePlus
  • OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T (oneplus3)
  • OnePlus 5 (cheeseburger)
  • OnePlus 5T (dumpling)
• Realme
  • Realme XT (RMX1921)
  • Realme 6/6i/6s (RMX2001)
• Xiaomi
  • POCO F1 (beryllium)
  • Redmi 4A (rolex)
  • Redmi 5 Plus/Redmi Note 5 (vince)
  • Redmi K20/Mi 9T (davinci)
  • Redmi Note 4 (mido)
  • Redmi Note 5/Redmi Note 5 Pro (whyred)
  • Redmi Note 7 Pro (violet)
  • Redmi Note 8 (ginkgo)
  • Redmi Note 8 Pro (begonia)
  • Redmi S2/Y2 (ysl)
  • Xiaomi Mi 8 (dipper)
  • Xiaomi Mi A2 (jasmine_sprout)

Once DotOS 5.1 is released, we’ll let you know. You can find both the vanilla and the Gapps builds for each one of them. The latter variant already has Google apps included, so you don’t need to flash a separate ZIP file to get the Google Play Store.

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If you’re interested in helping the DotOS team with development, then check out their GitHub repository. If you want to stay up-to-date on news and new releases from the team, you should consider following them on Twitter.

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