OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro receive OxygenOS 11.2.4.4 builds with April security patches and camera improvements

The OnePlus 9 series was launched last month, and the company has been rolling out a fair few updates for the devices since its release. The first update brought along connectivity and camera improvements, the second got in March 2021 security patches and bug fixes, while the third one apparently dealt with the overheating issue. OnePlus is now rolling out another update in the form of OxygenOS 11.2.4.4, bringing along several camera improvements.

The OxygenOS 11.2.4.4 update has been spotted for the Indian units of the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro at the moment, but it should be arriving to the OnePlus 9 as well as to device variants to other regions. The complete changelog for the update is as below:

• System
  • Improved charging stability
  • Improved the sensitivity of the keyboard in the edge area
  • Improved the temperature control strategy
  • Fixed the issue that the battery icon in the status bar is abnormally displayed
  • Fixed the small probability issue that Google Fi SIM card can not accept incoming calls
  • Fixed known issues and improved system stability
  • Updated Android security patch to 2021.04
  • Updated GMS package to 2021.03
• Camera
  • Improved the image purity and the ambiance performance
  • Improved the white balance consistency of the rear camera
  • Improved image over-sharpening of the rear camera

As always, the OTA update is rolling out in an incremental fashion. It will reach a small percentage of OnePlus 9 users initially, which will help OnePlus ensure that it doesn’t have any major issues. Once that’s confirmed, the update should roll out to all devices. However, if you don’t wish to wait, you can download the build from the links below and sideload it manually.

OnePlus 9 XDA Forums || OnePlus 9 Pro XDA Forums

OnePlus 9

The vanilla OnePlus 9 is for those who want flagship performance but don't want to pay top dollar. It offers a 6.5-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, a triple-camera setup tuned by Hasselblad, and the Snapdragon 888 SoC.

Buy from OnePlus

OnePlus 9 Pro

With a large, 6.7-inch Quad HD OLED display and a Smart 120Hz refresh rate, the OnePlus 9 Pro may have the best display on the market. The cameras, tuned in collaboration with Hasselblad, produce excellent still photos and capture superb 4K video.

Buy from OnePlus

Download OxygenOS for the OnePlus 9 series

• OnePlus 9:
  • India:
    • Incremental 11.2.3.3 -> 11.2.4.4
    • OxygenOS 11.2.4.4 Full Zip
• OnePlus 9 Pro:
  • India:
    • Incremental 11.2.3.3 -> 11.2.4.4
    • OxygenOS 11.2.4.4 Full Zip

---

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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OPPO A54 launches in India with a 5,000mAh battery and triple cameras

OPPO is launching a new budget-friendly smartphone in India today. Dubbed the OPPO A54, the new model takes the reigns from the last year’s OPPO A53 to lead the battle of budget phones. As far as raw specifications are concerned, the OPPO A54 stands no chance against the likes of the Redmi Note 10 and Realme 8. But OPPO’s strong grip on the offline market and a massive marketing budget should mean the new device will not simply disappear into oblivion despite packing lesser powerful hardware.

OPPO A54: Specifications

Specification	OPPO A54
Dimensions and Weight	163.6 x 75.7 x 8.4mm 192g
Display	6.51-inch LCD 1640 x 720 (HD+) 60Hz refresh rate 480nits Hole-punch display 20:9 aspect ratio
SoC	MediaTek Helio P35: 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.35GHz 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz PowerVR GE8320 GPU
RAM and Storage	4GB/6GB RAM 64GB/128GB flash storage (eMMC 5.1) MicroSD card support
Battery & Charging	5,000 mAh battery 18W fast charger (inside the box)
Rear Camera	Primary: 13MP f/2.2 Secondary: 2MP macro f/2.4 Tertiary: 2MP bokeh f/2.4
Front Camera	16MP f/2.0
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	ColorOS 7.2 based on Android 10

Although the OPPO A54 is a successor to the A53 on paper, there’s hardly anything new here. It does assume an upgraded design with a new squarish camera module and a side-mounting fingerprint scanner, but the hardware is more or less the same. On the front, you get a 6.51-inch LCD HD+ (1600 x 720) display. But unlike its predecessor, which had a 90Hz panel, the panel here has the standard 60Hz refresh rate. Powering the phone is the MediaTek Helio P35 octa-core chip (A53 used a Snapdragon 460 chip), paired with 4GB/6GB RAM and 64GB/128GB storage.

On the back, you get the same triple camera setup, headlined by a 13MP f/2.2 primary shooter and flanked by two 2MP depth and macro shooters. The front 13MP selfie camera is also unchanged.

Elsewhere, the OPPO A54 comes with a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support, a side-mounted fingerprint reader, Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band Wi-Fi, USB Type C port, and ColorOS 7.2 based on Android.

Pricing & Availability

The OPPO A54 comes in three colors: Crystal Black, Starry Blue, and Moonlight Gold. It will go on sale from April 20 at a starting price of ₹13,490 (~$180) for the base model. Meanwhile, the 4GB/128GB and 6GB/128GB models are priced at ₹14,990 (~$200) and ₹15,990 (~$215), respectively. The phone will be available from Flipkart and offline retail partners.

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Facebook forces third-party clients Swipe and Simple Social off the Play Store

The Google Play Store is home to several third-party Facebook clients that let users access the social media platform on their phones. The clients offer a faster, lighter, and better-designed interface than the social media company’s own apps for Android, and as a result, they’ve amassed a large user base over the years. But Facebook is now cracking down on a few of these clients, namely Swipe and Simple Social, and forcing their developers to take the apps off the Play Store.

Facebook’s lawyers have reportedly sent out cease and desist notices to Swipe and Simple Social’s developers (via Android Police), asking them to take their apps off the Play Store. Swipe for Facebook’s developer shared the following message on the app’s subreddit after receiving the notice from the company:

It is with a very heavy heart that the day has finally come to say goodbye to Swipe for Facebook.

Today, I have received a cease and desist letter from some attorneys representing Facebook Inc. My social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram have also been permanently disabled (unfortunately locking me out of tons of memories over the years and contact with many distant relatives). I believe this has happened to numerous other devs as well meaning the day of Facebook wrapper apps have finally come to an end.

Because of all this, I have pulled both Swipe for Facebook and Swipe Pro for Facebook from the Google Play Store. The app will still function for those of you who have it, although I do not know for how much longer.

Simple Social’s developer also received a similar notice from Facebook and shared the following message via a pop-up notification for those still using the app:

Important Message

Due to changes created by Facebook, Simple Social is no longer supported. You can continue to use Simple Social, however YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN ACCORD. Your Facebook account may possibly be disabled temporarily or permanently, which is not under the control of Creative Trends. Sorry for any inconveniences this may cause. Thank you for all your support over the last 5 years. Have a great day.

Although the developers haven’t shared the contents of the notice, Simple Social’s developer Jorell Rutledge told Android Police that Facebook took issue with the app’s CSS modifications to hide sponsored posts on the platform, and accessing public Facebook data. The company’s main issue could be centered around theming and modifying the social network experience outside of the company’s vision, which is practically the USP of all third-party experiences.

The apps are functional if you have them installed, though there’s no guarantee on how long they will stay functional. With the developers withdrawing support and also having their personal accounts suspended in some cases, there’s no guarantee on how long these apps will work and if it shall stay safe for your account to be accessed from a third-party app.

If you’re done with Facebook, their insistence on using first-party experiences, and their massive data breaches, here’s how you can delete your Facebook account.

The post Facebook forces third-party clients Swipe and Simple Social off the Play Store appeared first on xda-developers.

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Google Chrome 90 now lets you share highlighted text on web pages

Google Chrome 90 recently started rolling out in the stable channel, bringing several important improvements, including HTTPS as default, AV1 encoder support for a better video calling experience on slow internet connections, and more. Although not mentioned in the official blog post or changelog, Google is also rolling out a neat feature with Chrome 90 that will let you link people directly to a specific part on a webpage.

Google has been working on the ability to share web pages with highlighted text since last year. It even released a Chrome extension called “Link to Text Fragment” for Chrome and Chromium browsers before finally deciding to bake the feature into the browser itself. As with most experimental Chrome features, the Copy Link to Text first arrived in the Chrome Canary release late last year. And, now Google is finally bringing it to the masses with Chrome 90, as revealed by Google Chrome Director of Engineer Adrienne Porter Felt.

starting with Chrome 90, you can link people to a highlighted part of a page I am going to use this all the timehttps://t.co/PRHpqKKgMv. pic.twitter.com/Q7r2AVfMKQ

— Adrienne Porter Felt (@__apf__) April 16, 2021

Oftentimes, you just want to share a specific part on a webpage to make your point. In such cases, being able to direct people to the highlighted part can save a lot of time and effort not having to scan through the entire page. The next time you want to share a quote or a specific block of text from a webpage, simply highlight the text using your mouse and right-click on it.

You should see the “Copy Link to highlight” option appear in a pop-up box. Clicking on it will copy the link to your clipboard. When someone opens that link in Chrome or any Chromium browser, they will directly be taken to the highlighted section of the page. Just try opening this link in your browser, and you’ll know.

The link to text feature will be gradually rolling out to users running Chrome 90 over the coming days. If it’s not live for you yet, you can also turn it on manually by enabling the flag under Chrome://flags copy-link-to-text.

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OnePlus is rolling out another OxygenOS 11 stable update for the OnePlus 7 and 7T series

OnePlus rolled out the first OxygenOS 11 stable update for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series late last month. The update bumped the devices to Android 11, included Android security patches for February 2021, and even had a couple of additional features. However, users who updated to this build reportedly faced severe battery drain issues and camera quality problems on their devices. OnePlus is now rolling out another stable OxygenOS 11 update for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series to address these bugs.

According to recent posts on the OnePlus Community forums, the latest OxygenOS 11 stable release for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series (v11.0.0.2) is a hotfix build that replaces the previous release. It addresses some of the bugs found in the original Android 11 update and bumps the Android security patches to March 2021.

Here’s the complete changelog for the latest OxygenOS 11 release for OnePlus’ flagships from 2019:

• System
  • Update to OxygenOS 11 version
  • Fresh new UI visual design brings you a more comfortable experience with various optimizations of details
  • Optimize the stability of some third-party applications and improve the experience
  • Updated Android Security Patch to 2021.03
  • Updated GMS package to 2021.01
  • Since this is the upgrade of Android 11 version with many new features, the upgrade time may be longer. Please wait for the completion of the upgrade
• Camera
  • Updated the camera UI and optimized some of the function paths to offer more convenient operation
  • Newly added HEVC codec to reduce video storage size seamlessly, capture and shoot more without compromising on quality
  • Newly added access to a third-party app to share the picture by pressing and holding it in preview
  • Newly added the quick access to recording mode by pressing and holding the shutter button and by sliding the button, you can easily zoom in or zoom out
  • Newly added the playback display in Time-lapse mode to show the actual filming time
• Ambient Display
  • Newly added Insight clock style, a joint creation with Parsons School of Design. It will change according to the phone usage data (To set: Settings > Customization > Clock on ambient display)
  • Newly added Canvas feature that can automatically draw a wireframe picture based on a lock screen photo on your phone（Path: Settings – Customization – Wallpaper – Canvas – Choose photo preview and it can be generated automatically
• Dark Mode
  • Added the shortcut key for Dark Mode, pull down the quick setting to enable
  • Supporting automatically turn on feature & customize time range (path: Settings – Display – Dark Mode – Turn on automatically – Automatically enable from sunset to sunrise/Custom time range)
• Game Space
  • Newly added gaming tools box for convenient switches of Fnatic mode. You can now choose three ways of notifications: text-only, heads up and block, just for your immersive gaming experience
  • Newly added quick reply feature in a small window for Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram (Enable it by swiping down from upper right/left corners of the screen in gaming mode)
  • Newly added mis-touch prevention feature. Enable it, swipe down from the top of the screen, click and the notification bar will pop out
• Shelf
  • Newly shelf interface design, the interface is clearer
  • Added weather widget, animation effect smarter
• Gallery
  • Supporting Story function, automatically form weekly videos with photos and video in storage
  • Optimize the loading speed of the gallery, and the image preview is faster

As with all OxygenOS updates, OnePlus will roll out the latest OxygenOS 11 build for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T series in a staged fashion. This means that the update will be delivered to a limited number of users initially, with a broader rollout to follow in the next few days. In case you don’t wish to wait for the OTA notification to pop up on your device, you can download the update package from the links below and install the update manually.

OnePlus 7 XDA Forums || OnePlus 7 Pro XDA Forums

OnePlus 7T XDA Forums || OnePlus 7T Pro XDA Forums

---

Download: OxygenOS 11.0.0.2 for the OnePlus 7/7 Pro/7T/7T Pro

OnePlus 7

• Global/India
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0
• Europe
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0

OnePlus 7 Pro

• Global/India
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0
• Europe
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0

OnePlus 7T

• Global
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0
• India
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0
• Europe
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0

OnePlus 7T Pro

• Global
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0
• India
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0
• Europe
  • Full OTA
  • Incremental OTA from 11.0

At the moment, we don’t have access to the download links for all regions. We’ll add the remaining links as soon as they’re available.

---

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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Does Sony need to follow trends for its smartphones to stay relevant?

The phone industry has changed dramatically since the early 2010s. Brands that were non-existent back then now take up all of our attention, while those that were prevalent are barely mentioned these days. Once a leading mobile phone brand, LG had to shut down its smartphone business after years of inflating losses. Likewise, Sony is much less relevant in the smartphone market than it was back in the day when it drew a lot of attention with its standout candy bar phones like the Walkman series. Despite this, Sony is still making smartphones that refute the latest trends. What do you think about this approach?

Earlier this week, Sony announced a bunch of new smartphones. These new devices include the Xperia 1 III and Xperia 5 III — two nearly identical feature-packed flagships varying only in display size and camera specifications, and the Xperia 10 III, a 5G-enabled mid-ranger device. These are among the few premium phones in 2021 that carry thick bezels on both sides of the slim and long display with a 21:9 aspect ratio. All these phones also feature headphone jacks and microSD card slots, both of which are a rarity these days, especially among flagship devices. The Xperia 5 III and the 10 III are also relatively compact phones, with screens measuring 6.1″ and 6.0″.

Sony Xperia 1 III Forums ||| Sony Xperia 5 III Forums ||| Sony Xperia 10 III Forums

Besides these aspects, Sony is not competing in the megapixel war and sticking with 12MP cameras, instead. The company is instead prioritizing features like Zeiss lenses and a dedicated camera shutter button for its flagships. While the Japanese giant has yet to announce prices for these devices, we don’t expect them to go easy on consumers considering the previous flagship‘s €1,199 price tag.

Like many other phone brands with a legacy, Sony’s mobile phone unit has struggled to make a profit in the past. Although the company forecast a profit for the mobile phone division for the first time in four years, those plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Q4 2020, Sony sold 1 million smartphones — 24% less than the same quarter of 2019. On the plus side, the company earned the same revenue despite this decline in sales, and that indicates an increase in the average selling price of the phones.

Sony’s endurance in the industry — unlike LG’s — can be credited to its bold decision to carry on with niche features catering to a small segment of the market instead of making a diverse, high-volume product line. Phones like the Xperia PRO portray Sony’s desire to cater to professional creators and do it well instead of appeasing a larger audience and failing at it.

Do you think this strategy serves Sony well and will save it from meeting the same fate as LG? Let us know in the comments below!

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How to use your Android phone as a webcam for your PC or laptop

With the global pandemic forcing many of us to work and study from home, video conferencing apps have become the need of the hour. If you have ever tried attending a meeting from your laptop, you probably would have realized what a joke the in-built webcam on your laptop is. In most cases, buying a dedicated webcam will significantly boost your video quality. But the good news is you don’t need to shell out money on a webcam; you already have a good one in the form of your Android smartphone.

Our phones are already packed with some impressive camera hardware, and it makes sense to repurpose them for video calls on computers too. Unless you are a streamer or someone who has to attend multiple video conferences every day, investing in a dedicated high-quality webcam does not make a lot of sense for infrequent meetings. Our smartphones can make a pretty decent wireless webcam that’s guaranteed to be miles better than the VGA laptop webcam.

Using DroidCam to repurpose an Android phone as a webcam for your PC

You could use your existing phone or repurpose an old one that’s collecting dust in your drawer. Both works. When it comes to turning your phone into a full-fledged webcam, there are several tools out there that claim to do a better job than their competitors. If you have time and patience, by all means, check them out and settle for the one that works best for you. But to save you time and effort, I have tried out several options briefly and found that DroidCam was the best among all the options. It has a very straightforward onboarding experience and offers all the essentials in its free version. In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how you can use DroidCam to create your own portable webcam that you can use for your next video meeting.

• Download the DroidCam on your Android phone from the below link:

DroidCam - Webcam for PC (Free, Google Play) →

• Next, you’ll need to download the desktop client of DroidCam on your laptop/desktop.
• Open DroidCam on your phone and grant video and audio permissions. Make sure your phone and PC are connected to the same WiFi network.

• Install the DroidCam app on your PC. Agree to the license agreement, choose the installation location, and click install.
• Now run the PC client. You’ll see a small pop-up box with three options to connect your Android phone. The Wi-Fi connection is selected by default, and that’s what we’re proceeding with here.

• You’ll need to enter the IP address and port in the fields below. Go back to the mobile app and look for the WiFI IP and port values. Enter these values in the Device IP and DroidCam Port fields, respectively, in the PC client.

• Make sure both video and audio boxes are checked, and then hit the start button. If everything was set up correctly, you will see a preview of the video feed in the DroidCam desktop client.
• By default, the app will use your rear camera, but you can also use the front camera if you want. You can change the camera by clicking on the camera icon located beside the three-dot menu in the mobile app.
• The next step is to configure your video conferencing app to use the DroidCam feed. Launch the video conferencing app of your choice and start a meeting. By default, the app will be using the in-built webcam. To change that, open the settings and change the video to “DroidCam source 2” or “DroidCam source 3” (if Source 2 does not give you output).

• For audio, you can either use your phone’s microphone or rely on your computer’s microphone. To change the microphone input to your smartphone, go to audio settings in your conferencing app, and under the microphone option, choose “DroidCam Virtual Audio”.
• The only thing now left is to figure out the place for your smartphone. You can use a simple phone cradle or those fancy ones that let you adjust angle and height to your liking. For me, my aluminum phone holder did the job. You can also mount your phone onto a mini tripod if you have one.

Nulaxy A4 Phone Stand

A basic phone holder

This basic stand is adjustable and fully collapsible and can hold your phone, tablet, iPad Mini and Kindle.

Buy at Amazon

LISEN stand

Angle and height adjustable

This phone stand has an anti-slip base and aluminum alloy rod. It's highly flexible and lets you adjust the angle and height to your liking.

Buy at Amazon

Amazon Basics 50 mini tripod

Perfect for mounting your phone

The Amazon Basics phone tripod is super easy to deploy and helps make hands-free video calls.

Buy at Amazon

The free version of DroidCam only allows SD quality video streams. The higher video quality (1080p) and extra features such as Smooth FPS, video mirroring, the ability to adjust, autofocus, brightness and contrast, and more can be unlocked by purchasing DroidCam X, the paid version of the app. Depending on your needs, it may very well turn out to be worth the investment.

DroidCam - Webcam for PC (Free, Google Play) →

And this is how you can use your Android phone as a webcam for your PC and laptop. We hope you get better results with an Android phone than what your laptop camera can provide!

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