OPPO’s first tablet could have a big screen and run a new version of ColorOS

OPPO is gearing up to launch a tablet to compete against rivals Xiaomi, Samsung, and Huawei, who have been around in the tablet space for a while now. While the iPad is still considered the king when it comes to tablets, there still is a market for Android tablets, especially for those who aren’t looking to spend a fortune. Huawei launched its MatePad Pro a couple of months back, and Xiaomi recently unveiled the Mi Pad 5 series with competitive specs and aggressive pricing. Now, we’re hearing that OPPO is also planning to launch its own tablet.

Noted leaker Digital Chat Station recently shared this information on Weibo. The news comes just a few weeks after OPPO’s sub-brand, Realme, teased its tablet — the Realme Pad — that will also launch sometime soon. OPPO’s tablet is rumored to be a premium offering, which is evident from its design. The frame or the bezels that go around the display appear to be quite thin, and the design from the front resembles that of the iPad Pro. Digital Chat Station says that the renders of the OPPO tab look similar to the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6, although the size of the tablet is still unknown.

Image: Digital Chat Station

It’s evident from the render that the screen-to-body ratio is going to be pretty high. The tablet is expected to run a new version of ColorOS specifically designed for tablets. It is said to have a persistent dock bar across the UI similar to what we’ve seen on Apple’s iPadOS. The UI will also support desktop widgets that have quick operations. It seems like OPPO is focusing on a connected devices ecosystem, and the tablet will act as a hub to control smartphones, accessories, and IoT products like smartwatches, headsets, etc.

While we don’t have an estimate on when OPPO will launch the tablet or what specifications it will come with, it sure seems interesting. It will provide good competition to all the other tablet makers in the industry. Tablets aren’t as popular as they used to be at a point in time since smartphones with larger screens have taken over. What’s your stance on tablets? Do you still use one, or are you planning to buy one? Let us know in the comments below!

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Xiaomi plans to slow down charging on some devices in China with third-party replacement batteries

It looks like Xiaomi is planning to go the Apple route and start showing a warning on its smartphones if the user installed a third-party battery. Not only that, the company may even slow down the charging speed.

Xiaomi recently rolled out version 5.6.0 of the Mi Security app, an app that, among other things, offers battery care and charging settings. Within it, we discovered that the company plans to show a warning and lower the charging speed if the OS detects that an “unauthorized” battery has been installed in the device. The warning tells the user that the phone’s battery should “only be replaced by an authorized service provider” and that using an “unauthorized” battery can cause damage to the device or user.

After digging into the APK’s code, we determined that this “unauthorized battery” warning will only be shown to Chinese users who do a third-party battery replacement on the Mi 9, Mi 10, or Mi 10 Pro. This warning will NOT be shown in any other region or on any other devices, at least for now. We don’t know if the warning is active or not for users with those devices in China, as a server-side flag determines the check.

The following warning will be shown to users when the system detects an unauthorized battery is installed.

This device was equipped with a built-in battery that should only be replaced by an authorized service provider. Replacing the battery elsewhere may damage this device. Using unauthorized batteries may result in battery swelling, overheating, and leakage, It may also cause fire or other hazards. Do note use unauthorized batteries.

The attached screenshots show what the unauthorized battery dialog and activity will look like.

This news will immediately bring up comparisons to Apple, which famously introduced a feature to notify users if their iPhone’s battery was not installed by a certified technician. Apple was criticized for this move, with many saying the company only wanted to steer users towards more expensive battery replacements.

On iPhones, the warning is triggered by a micro-controller that can only be configured by an authorized technician. Xiaomi might be using a similar mechanism to detect third-party batteries, but we don’t have any evidence regarding the same.

The warnings that Xiaomi will throw up also seem designed to scare off users from doing third-party repairs. There may be a legitimate reason for the company to do this if using third-party batteries results in damage due to them not being able to handle fast charging.

For now, this change seems to be limited to China. We haven’t found evidence if Xiaomi plans to extend this to other markets such as India and Europe down the road. In any case, we have reached out to Xiaomi to learn more about their reasoning behind this change and will update this article if we receive a response from the company.

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Xiaomi’s latest laptops feature Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors & Iris Xe graphics

After launching the RedmiBook series in India earlier this month, Xiaomi has now launched two more laptops in the country. The new Mi Notebook Ultra and Mi Notebook Pro are significantly more premium than the RedmiBook lineup and feature high-resolution displays, Intel’s 11th-Gen Tiger Lake processors, fast charging support, and more. Here’s everything you need to know about Xiaomi’s latest laptops.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Ultra & Mi Notebook Pro: Specifications

Specification	Mi Notebook Ultra	Mi Notebook Pro
Build	Aluminum 6 series alloy Sandblasted and anodized finish	Aluminum 6 series alloy Sandblasted and anodized finish
Dimensions & Weight	1.7kg 350.1 x 242.3 x 17.9mm 89% screen-to-body ratio	1.4kg 315.6 x 220.4 x 17.3mm 88% screen-to-body ratio
Display	15.6-inch IPS anti-glare 16:10 aspect ratio 3200 x 2000 resolution; 242 PPI 90Hz refresh rate 300nits peak brightness 100% sRGB coverage TÜV low blue light certification DC Dimming	14-inch IPS anti-glare 16:10 aspect ratio 2560 x 1600 resolution; 215 PPI 60Hz refresh rate 300nits peak brightness 100% sRGB coverage TÜV low blue light certification DC Dimming
Processor & GPU	11th-Gen Intel Tiger Lake H-series Core i7-11370H Core i5-11300H Intel Iris Xe graphics	11th-Gen Intel Tiger Lake H-series Core i7-11370H Core i7-11300H Intel Iris Xe graphics
RAM	8GB DDR4 @3200MHz (single channel) 16GB DDR4 @3200MHz (dual channel)	8GB DDR4 @3200MHz (single channel) 16GB DDR4 @3200MHz (dual channel)
Storage	512GB NVMe SSD	512GB NVMe SSD
Battery & Charging	70Whr battery 65W fast charging support via USB Type-C	56Whr battery 65W fast charging support via USB Type-C
Connectivity	1x Thunderbolt 4 with power delivery 1x USB Type-C with power delivery 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1x USB 2.0 Type-A HDMI 1.4 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1	1x Thunderbolt 4 with power delivery 1x USB Type-C with power delivery 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1x USB 2.0 Type-A HDMI 1.4 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1
Security	Fingerprint sensor	Fingerprint sensor
Webcam	720p	720p
Keyboard & Trackpad	Scissor keyboard 1.5mm key travel 3-level backlight 125 x 81.6mm trackpad with Windows Precision drivers	Scissor keyboard 1.3mm key travel 3-level backlight 125 x 81.6mm trackpad with Windows Precision drivers
Audio	2x 2W stereo speakers DTS audio processing app 3.5mm combo jack Built-in microphone	2x 2W stereo speakers DTS audio processing app 3.5mm combo jack Built-in microphone
Software	Windows 10 Home Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019	Windows 10 Home Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019
Color(s)	Lustrous Gray	Lustrous Gray

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As its name suggests, the Mi Notebook Ultra is the higher-end variant of the two laptops. It has an Aluminum alloy chassis, featuring a 15.6-inch IPS display with a 3200 x 2000 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, and 90Hz refresh rate. The laptop packs Intel’s latest 11th-Gen Tiger Lake H-series processors (Core i5-11300H or Core i7-11370H) with Iris Xe graphics, either 8GB or 16GB of DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200MHz, and 512GB of NVMe solid-state storage. The Ultra variant packs a 70Whr battery with 65W fast charging support via USB Type-C.

The Mi Notebook Pro features the same Aluminum alloy chassis, but it has a smaller form factor. That’s because it packs a smaller 14-inch IPS display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, and 60Hz refresh rate. On the inside, the laptop comes with the same Intel 11th-Gen Tiger Lake processors with Iris Xe graphics, 8GB or 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and 512GB of NVMe storage. The Pro variant packs a 56WHr battery with 65W fast charging support via USB Type-C.

Both of Xiaomi’s new laptops offer the same port selection, including a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB Type-C port with power delivery, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, an HDMI 1.4 port, and a 3.5mm combo jack. For wireless connectivity, the laptops offer Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. The two notebooks also include a built-in 720p webcam, two 2W stereo speakers, support for the DTS audio processing app, a fingerprint sensor, and a built-in microphone.

The Mi Notebook Ultra and Mi Notebook Pro feature an 83-key keyboard with 3 stage backlighting and a substantially-sized trackpad with Windows Precision drivers. The keyboard on both laptops makes use of a scissor mechanism, with the Ultra offering 1.5mm key travel and the Pro offering 1.3mm key travel.

On the software front, the laptops run Windows 10 Home with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 preinstalled. The notebooks are eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 11.

Pricing & Availability

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Ultra and Mi Notebook Pro come in a single Lustrous Gray colorway. The laptops will go on sale in India through Xiaomi’s website, Amazon, and Mi Home Stores starting August 31st. The laptops are priced as follows:

• Mi Notebook Ultra
  • Core i7 + 16GB RAM: ₹ 76,999
  • Core i5 + 8GB RAM: ₹59,999
  • Core i5 + 16GB RAM: ₹63,999
• Mi Notebook Pro
  • Core i7 + 16GB RAM: ₹72,999
  • Core i5 + 8GB RAM: ₹56,999
  • Core i5 + 16GB RAM: ₹59.999

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Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6, Mi Home Security Camera, and Mi Router 4A launched in India

Xiaomi has launched a slew of products in the Indian market over the years. Apart from smartphones, they’ve launched TVs, power banks, fitness trackers, headphones, and more recently, even laptops. They’re expanding their portfolio rapidly in India and the Smarter Living 2022 event held today is another step in that direction. At today’s event, Xiaomi launched the Mi TV 5X series, the Mi Notebook Ultra and Mi Notebook Pro, along with a couple of other IoT products like the Mi Band 6, Mi Home Security Camera 2K Pro, and the Mi Router 4A.

Mi Smart Band 6

The Mi Smart Band 6 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated products launched today. Previous generations of the Mi Band have been extremely popular in the country and have contributed towards making Xiaomi the No. 1 fitness band brand for 15 consecutive quarters with more than 46% market share. The Mi Band 6 comes with some welcome upgrades over its predecessor, the Mi Smart Band 5, like a bigger and better 1.56-inch full-screen AMOLED display, SpO2 monitoring, and 6 auto-detection workout modes.

The display now goes all over the front of the band, which means the touch-capacitive button on the bottom bezel is now gone. The panel has a maximum brightness of 450 nits. You can choose from 80+ watch faces with support for custom watch faces as well. The PPG sensor onboard allows for continuous heart-rate monitoring and all-day sleep monitoring. SpO2 monitoring is also a welcome addition due to the current COVID scenario.

The usual features from the Mi Band 5 are also present here, like PAI, menstrual cycle tracking, up to 30 fitness modes, stress monitoring, etc. The Mi Smart Band 6 is compatible with both the Mi Fit app as well as the new Xiaomi Wear app. You can also sync the data from the fitness tracker with other services like Google Fit, Apple Health, Strava, etc. The band is 5ATM water-resistant and has a battery life of up to 2 weeks on a single charge.

Mi Router 4A Gigabit Edition

The new Mi Router 4A Gigabit Edition has a minimalist design with omnidirectional high gain antennas. It’s a fiber-optic full gigabit dual-band router with an integrated signal amplifier. Since it’s a dual-band router, you can have a single SSID for both frequencies. The router will then choose the best network for you, and your device can connect to that particular band.

You can connect up to 128 devices to this router. It can be controlled via Xiaomi’s app, from where you can manage your network, connected devices, permissions, etc. It’s an easy 2-step process to set up the router. The Mi Router 4A has 128MB of RAM and is powered by a dual-core 880MHz processor.

Mi Home Security Camera

This is a successor to the Mi Security Camera that was launched a while back and comes with a 2K sensor instead of 1080p on the previous model. You get a 360-degree panoramic view of the area in which the camera is mounted. The camera can also capture full color in low-light situations, which is rare since most cameras switch to black and white with illumination achieved via IR emitters. The Mi Home Security Camera has improved AI human detection based on which it can notify you of any intruders. You also get a mic and speaker on the camera for 2-way communication.

Availability and Pricing

The Mi Router 4A and the Mi Home Security Camera will be available via Mi.com, Flipkart, and Mi Home stores starting September 15th, while the Mi Band 6 will be available starting 30th August via Xiaomi’s website, Amazon, and Mi Home stores. The prices of all three products are as follows:

Product	Price
Mi Band 6	₹3,499
Mi Router 4A	₹2,199
Mi Home Security Camera	₹4,499

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Xiaomi’s new Mi TV 5X offers premium design and features at an affordable price

Xiaomi held its annual Smarter Living event today, where it unveiled a host of products and accessories. While the main highlights of today’s show were the Mi Notebook Ultra and Pro, Xiaomi also launched the Mi Band 6, Mi Home Security Camera Pro, Mi Router 4A, a pair of shoes, and finally, the Mi TV 5X, which will be available in three different sizes — 43, 50, and 55-inches.

Mi TV 5X: Specifications

Specification	Mi TV 5X
Sizes/Variants	43-inch 50-inch 55-inch
Display	4K HDR Resolution: 3840 x 2160 DolbyVision/HDR10+/HDR 10 / HLG 10-bit color Vivid Picture Engine 2 94% DCI-P3 88% NTSC
Design	43”: 95.4% screen-to-body ratio 50”: 95.9% screen-to-body ratio 55”: 96.6% screen-to-body ratio
Audio	40W Stereo speakers on 50″ and 55″ 30W on 43″ Dolby Atmos DTS-HD Far-field mics Hands-free Google Assistant
Software	Android TV 10 Google Assistant Chromecast built-in IMDb integration Universal Search Kids Mode with Parental Lock Language Universe Smart Recommendations User Centre Free LIVE channels Mi Home
Connectivity & Ports	HDMI 2.1 x 3 USB x 2 Ethernet Optical x 1 3.5mm x 1 AV Input H.265 eARC BT 5.0 with BLE Wi-Fi 5
Performance	64-bit Quad-core A55 CPU Mali G52 MP2 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB Storage 6.5ms input lag at 4K@60Hz Auto Low Latency Mode

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All the three TVs under the Mi TV 5X series come with 4K panels with a resolution of 3840 x 2160. The TVs are Dolby Vision, and HDR10+ certified. The 10-bit panel comes with Reality Flow, Vivid Picture Engine 2, and covers 94% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. These are premium TVs that have a bezel-less design and high screen-to-body ratios. The 43-inch variant has a screen-to-body ratio of 95.4%, while the 50-inch is at 95.9%, and the largest of three, the 55-inch variant with 96.6%.

In terms of audio, the Mi TV 5X features stereo speakers with support for Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD. The larger 50-inch and 55-inch variants have 40W speakers, while the smaller 43-inch variant has 30W speakers. The TVs also have far-field mics that support hands-free Google Assistant.

As for connectivity, the Mi TV 5X has support for HDMI 2.1 with eARC along with Bluetooth 5.0 and Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2×2 MIMO). There are three HDMI ports, two USB-A ports, an ethernet port, optical and AV input, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The TVs are powered by a 64-bit Quad-core SPU with A55 cores and the Mali G52 MP2 GPU. There’s 2GB of RAM on board along with 16GB of storage. Xiaomi claims an input lag of 6.5ms on 4K at 60Hz. Like all Mi TVs, the Mi TV 5X also runs PatchWall, Xiaomi’s custom interface on top of Android TV 10. You also get Chromecast built-in.

Pricing and Availability

The Mi TV 5X series will be available on Mi.com, Flipkart, and Croma starting 7th September. The TVs are priced as follows:

Variant	Price
Mi TV 5X 43″	₹31,999
Mi TV 5X 50″	₹41,999
Mi TV 5X 55″	₹47,999

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Further evidence shows Google’s Pixel 6 will have ultra-wideband (UWB) support

Ultra-wideband or UWB is a short-range wireless communication protocol that offers precise tracking and positioning of IoT devices and high-speed data transmission over a high-frequency radio spectrum. Apple’s iPhone 11 was the first modern smartphone to introduce the UWB tech. Since then, the technology has made its way to several high-end smartphones, including the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 3 / Fold 2, Galaxy S21+ / S21 Ultra, and Xiaomi Mi Mix 4. Soon, the Pixel 6 series could join this list, as evidence is mounting that Google’s next-gen Pixel phones will support UWB.

News of the Pixel 6 supporting ultra-wideband was first reported on by XDA’s Mishaal Rahman back in late April. At Google I/O 2021, Google announced digital car key support in Android 12 and said the feature would be coming to select Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices later this year. Many took that as further confirmation that the Pixel 6 will support UWB — though it should be noted that Android 12’s car key feature also works over NFC. Now, however, more evidence has emerged that the Pixel 6 will support UWB. A recent code change submitted to the AOSP Gerrit essentially confirms this news:

Since we are now creating an AOSP HAL for uwb. Rename Pixel specific internal UWB HAL from Android S to hal_uwb_vendor to avoid conflicts with the AOSP HAL sepolicy rules that are going to be added in Android T.

Basically, Google doesn’t have a generic UWB HAL (hardware abstraction layer) ready to submit to AOSP yet, so they’re delaying that until Android 13 T. Because of this delay, Google is renaming the Pixel-specific HALs in Android 12 so they don’t conflict with the generic UWB HAL they’re making for Android 13. For starters, a HAL is a piece of software that lets a device’s hardware components interact with the OS. The fact that there’s a Pixel-specific UWB HAL means that there’s a Pixel phone with UWB hardware, which is very likely the upcoming Pixel 6 series. However, we don’t know whether UWB support will be available on both the Pixel 6 or only on the Pro model.

Google added a generic API for UWB in Android back in April 2021; however, it’s not accessible to third-party apps.

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Realme is putting the fingerprint scanner in a pretty odd place for its next phone

Realme has been trying all kinds of interesting strategies recently. With the company’s recent announcement of MagDart, we’ve already seen some cool, albeit unoriginal, tech from the company. On the flip side, though, the upcoming Realme Narzo 50a shows Realme is not afraid to experiment. Based on the leaked renders we’ve seen, the Narzo 50a looks like a pretty normal smartphone right up until you get to the fingerprint scanner, which is located inside of the camera bump on the back. The potential problem with putting the fingerprint scanner here is that there may not be any tactile feel to it, and it could be easy to touch the camera sensor on the back and potentially smudge the lens.

As per the renders that come courtesy of 91Mobiles and OnLeaks, the Realme Narzo 50a has a waterdrop notch on the front with a fairly large chin. It also has a headphone jack on the bottom beside the USB-C port. There’s a vertically separated dual-tone design on the back, and the camera module houses not only the fingerprint sensor but a triple camera array too. The power button and the volume rocker are on the right-hand side. It’s a unique design, though I can imagine that it will also likely result in a smudged camera module quite often.

Realme’s Narzo series of smartphones is a more budget-oriented line, with Realme opting to skip the Narzo 40 series and jumping straight to Narzo 50. The Realme Narzo 30 Pro and Narzo 30A launched earlier this year in India, alongside some gaming accessories, too. While no detailed specifications have been leaked, the Narzo 50a is unlikely to be the most powerful of devices. The 30a packed a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset and a 1640 x 720 6.5-inch IPS LCD panel, which isn’t exactly high-end specifications. Still, it launched at a reasonable price at ₹8,999 (~$121) for the base model and ₹9,999 (~$135) for the top model, so we expect similar pricing for its successor.

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