Articles by Babu Mohan

The two companies worked together to produce two “McLaren Edition” phones.

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McLaren has confirmed that its collaboration with OnePlus has come to an end.
The two companies began working together to release “McLaren Edition” phones in 2018.
OnePlus Concept One, which was showcased at CES 2020, was the last product that OnePlus designed in partnership with McLaren.

An eagle-eyed Reddit user noted last week that OnePlus was no longer listed on McLaren’s partners page, suggesting the two companies would no longer work together to release “McLaren Edition” phones. McLaren has now officially confirmed that its partnership with the BBK-owned smartphone maker has indeed come to its “scheduled conclusion.”

In a statement sent to Android Authority today, a McLaren spokesperson said:

Our partnership with OnePlus, which came to its scheduled conclusion recently, has been a highly successful collaboration between two iconic and innovative brands. Since the start of…

OnePlus will re-enable the Photochrome filter after it tweaks the feature to fix the “x-ray camera” problem.

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OnePlus is rolling out a new OxygenOS update to disable the color filter camera on the OnePlus 8 Pro.
The company had previously claimed that the camera would be disabled only on HydrogenOS.
OnePlus is expected to re-enable the color filter camera within the next few weeks.

OnePlus disabled the color filter camera on the OnePlus 8 Pro on HydrogenOS for users in China earlier this month, after it was discovered that the camera could “see through” thin layers of plastic and clothing. The company recently clarified that it had no plans of disabling the camera on OxygenOS and that it would instead roll out an update for the global versions of the OnePlus 8 Pro to “offer the Photochrome filter while limiting other functionality that may be of concern.”

Surprisingly, however, the company has now started pushing a new OxygenOS 10.5.9 update (via 9to5Goog…

Trump had threatened to “close down” social media platforms on Wednesday.

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President Donald Trump is likely to sign an executive order against social media companies on Thursday.
The order could allow federal regulators to apply constraints to social media companies such as Twitter, Google and Facebook for “political bias.”
For a long time, Trump has alleged that major social media companies are biased against conservatives.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that could significantly limit the immunity given to social media and other online platforms by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. As per a report from Washington Post, the order will enable federal regulators to hold social media companies responsible for the comments, videos, and other content posted on their platforms by users.

Once the order is signed by the President and the scope of the law protecting social media companies is reconsidered, the F…

OnePlus will only be holding a limited sale for the OnePlus 8 5G in India tomorrow.

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OnePlus has delayed the availability of its latest OnePlus 8 series phones in India.
Both phones were slated to go on sale in India from May 29.
The new sales schedule for the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro in India is expected to be revealed soon.

OnePlus had announced earlier this month that it would commence sales of its new OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro phones in India from May 29. Unfortunately, the company has now revealed that it is postponing the date for open sales in India due to some unforeseen circumstances.

OnePlus had to halt production of its latest flagship phones in India last week after nine employees at the OPPO facility in Greater Noida tested were diagnosed with COVID-19. Fortunately, however, production is now back up and running at the OPPO facility, which is where OnePlus assembles its phones for the Indian market.

While OnePlus hasn’t confirmed a new date for open sal…

The first mobile chipsets using the new Cortex-A78 CPU design are expected to be announced later this year.

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ARM has introduced its latest mobile solutions aimed at next-generation flagship smartphones.
The new Cortex-A78 CPU brings a 20% performance increase over Cortex-A77 based devices.
ARM’s new Mali-G78 promises ‘game-changing’ graphics, with a claimed 25% improvement in performance.

ARM today unveiled its next-generation mobile computing solution, including two new high-performance CPU core designs and a Valhall-based GPU (via AnandTech).

ARM’s new Cortex-A78 is designed for high-end devices and promises to deliver a 20% improvement in sustained performance over the Cortex-A77 within the same mobile thermal power envelope. Along with higher performance, the new Cortex-A78 CPU core design is claimed to deliver impressive efficiency improvements as well. ARM claims the Cortex-A78 can provide up to 50% energy savings over devices from 2019 at the same …

It could debut sometime in the third quarter of the year.

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The second-generation Motorola RAZR smartphone could feature a more powerful Snapdragon 765 chipset under the hood.
It is also tipped to come equipped with a 48MP rear camera, 5G connectivity, and a 20MP front camera.
Motorola is expected to take the wraps off the second-gen RAZR in September.

Lenovo South Africa general manager Thibault Dousson revealed during a Reframed Tech podcast last week that the company’s second-gen RAZR will be released in September. While the executive did not reveal any other details, the folks at XDA Developers have published a new report detailing some of the key upgrades that the second-gen RAZR will bring to the table.

The second-gen Motorola RAZR will apparently be powered by the newer and more powerful Snapdragon 765 chipset, paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. In the camera department, the foldable phone will feature a 48MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright …

The OnePlus Buds might debut alongside the company’s rumored OnePlus Z smartphone.

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OnePlus’ first truly wireless earbuds will apparently be called the OnePlus Buds.
They are expected to feature an AirPods-inspired design.
The earbuds are tipped to launch in July.

OnePlus launched its third pair of wireless earbuds alongside the OnePlus 8 series smartphones last month, called the OnePlus Wireless Z. However, just like the previous generation wireless earbuds from OnePlus, the OnePlus Wireless Z are not truly wireless. According to a new tweet from leaker Max J, the company’s first truly wireless earbuds will be unveiled in July.

pic.twitter.com/SXfWzzAfKJ— Max J. (@MaxJmb) May 23, 2020

The leaker claims the earbuds will be called the OnePlus Buds and feature a design that looks to be “inspired” by Apple’s AirPods. While the design of the charging case appears to be slightly different, the earbuds themselves seem to be quite similar to OPPO’s AirPods …

The phone lacks mmWave 5G support.

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Sony has priced the Xperia 1 II 5G at $1,199 in the U.S.
Pre-orders for the flagship phone will start on June 1.
Consumers who pre-order the Xperia 1 II by June 28 will receive a pair of Sony WF-1000XM3 noise-canceling earbuds for free.

Sony’s first 5G-enabled flagship phone, the Xperia 1 II, will go on sale in the U.S. starting July 24. The tech giant has announced that pre-orders for the phone will start on June 1 (via The Verge) for a whopping $1,199.

Those who pre-order the Xperia 1 II by June 28 will get a free pair of the company’s WF-1000XM3 noise-canceling earbuds worth $230. It will be compatible with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, MetroPCS, and Cricket networks. Unlike the European version of the phone, however, the Xperia 1 II will be 4G only in the U.S. A version of the Xperia 1 II called the “Xperia Pro” with mmWave 5G support is currently in the works for professionals, but Sony hasn’t confirmed a release da…

No major surprises.

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The first CAD-based renders showing the Galaxy Note 20 Plus have surfaced.
Samsung’s upcoming flagship phone will apparently have a 6.9-inch Infinity-O display and a massive camera module on the back.
Just like its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 20 Plus will not include a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Last week, tech accessories store Pigtou posted alleged CAD-based renders of the Galaxy Note 20, in collaboration with tech leaker xleaks7. Pigtou has now joined hands with reliable leaker @OnLeaks to publish the first renders of the Galaxy Note 20 Plus, which are claimed to be based on leaked CAD drawings.

The renders reveal a 6.9-inch curved display with a tiny hole-punch cutout at the top for the selfie camera. On the back of the phone, we find a massive camera module that houses a total of four sensors. While three of the sensors are laid out vertically, the fourth module is positioned below the LED flash. Even though it isn’t expected to offer…

Google Fi integration will also come to the Messages app in the near future.

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An APK teardown of Google Messages v6.2 has revealed that the messaging app may soon gain end-to-end encryption for RCS chats.
Both the sender and receiver will need to have a good internet connection for end-to-end encryption to work.
There is no word yet on exactly when end-to-end encryption will arrive.

Google began testing iMessage-like reactions in RCS messages for some users earlier this month. An APK teardown of an internal “dogfood” build of Google Messages version 6.2 by the folks at 9To5Google has now revealed that the search giant is planning to soon add another popular iMessage feature to its official texting app.

As per the report, Google Messages could soon let users send end-to-end encrypted messages via RCS. A total of twelve strings referencing encryption were found during the teardown. While the teardown didn’t reveal the exact requirements for using end-to-encr…