Articles by Babu Mohan

The unlocked OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro phones received Live Caption support last month.

What you need to know

The T-Mobile OnePlus 8 variant is now receiving its very first OxygenOS update.
The new OxygenOS 10.5.8.IN55CB update brings Google’s live caption feature and support for additional 5G bands.
It also includes a few general improvements and bug fixes.

OnePlus rolled out the first OxygenOS update for its latest OnePlus 8 series phones last month, adding Live Caption support and several optimizations. Nearly a month later, the T-Mobile variant of the OnePlus 8 is receiving its first OxygenOS update.

Unlike the first update for the unlocked OnePlus 8 variants, the one for the T-Mobile variant doesn’t bring too many changes to the software. As per the official changelog, the update adds 5G support for bands n2 and n66 and Google’s Live Caption feature. The Live Caption feature generates captions for all media playing on your phone, including videos, podcasts, and audio messages. A…

The phone will not receive any more OS upgrades after Android 10.

What you need to know

HMD Global is now rolling out the Android 10 update for the Nokia 5.1 Plus.
Along with all the new Android 10 features, the update brings the April 2020 security patch.
The update is being dispatched in batches.

The budget-friendly Nokia 5.1 Plus, which made its global debut in August 2018, has finally started receiving the stable Android 10 update. HMD Global is dispatching the update in waves, so it will take a few weeks for the update to become available in all markets.

As per a post on the Nokia Community forums, the update is currently rolling out in the following countries:

Armenia
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Cambodia
Denmark
Finland
Georgia
Hong Kong
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Kazakhstan
Laos
Luxembourg
Macau
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Russia
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Thailand
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
Vietnam

HMD Global e…

ASUS’ new kits are the first to have been launched after the Google Meet rebrand.

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ASUS has rolled out new Google Meet hardware kits.
The kits come with a Google Meet Compute System, an external speaker, a 4K UHD camera, and a touch screen control panel.
ASUS’ new videoconferencing kits will go on sale in 28 countries starting next month for a starting price of £1650 ($2,022).

ASUS has launched a new Google Meet videoconferencing solution designed for enterprise customers (via 9to5Google). The new ASUS Google Meet hardware kits come in three combinations: Starter Kit, Small/Medium room kit, and Large room kit.

ASUS’ new kits include a compact Google Meet “compute system,” a touchscreen control panel, 4K UHD camera, and an external “speakermic.” While the Small/Medium kit includes all four accessories, the Large room kit lacks the 4K UHD camera. The Starter kit lacks a touchscreen control panel but includes a remote control that can be used to join and ex…

It will also include a periscope zoom lens.

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Vivo’s upcoming X50 flagship phone will have a humongous gimbal-style camera lens.
It is rumored to be the first phone to come equipped with Samsung’s new ISOCELL GN1 camera sensor.
The Vivo X50 series will be launched in China on June 1.

In February this year, Vivo showcased the Apex 2020 concept phone with an in-display selfie camera and 60W wireless charging support. In addition to these headline features, the Apex 2020 also included a 48MP main camera with a gimbal-like lens structure, claimed to offer a 200% improvement in stabilization performance compared to OIS systems.

Vivo is now teasing (via The Verge) the X50, which will be the first phone to come equipped with the revolutionary new stabilization technology. The company has posted two videos on its Weibo page today, showing off the gimbal-style camera lens on the back of the phone. Even though Vivo hasn’t officially confirmed it yet, the X50 is rumor…

The standard Galaxy Note 20 is expected to come with a 4,000mAh battery.

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Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 20 Plus may come with a smaller battery than the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
While the Galaxy S20 Ultra packs a 5,000mAh battery, the Galaxy Note 20 Plus is tipped to feature a 4,500mAh battery.
The Galaxy Note 20 Plus is also tipped to sport a 108MP camera, although there is no word yet on whether it will have a 100X “Space Zoom” periscope lens.

Last week, a leak suggested that the Galaxy Note 20 Plus could be Samsung’s first flagship phone to feature a variable refresh rate display and Qualcomm’s second-gen 3D Sonic Max fingerprint sensor. Some more information about the upcoming Samsung flagship has now surfaced, courtesy of the folks at Galaxy Club.

As per the new report, the Galaxy Note 20 Plus will have an identical 4,500mAh capacity battery as the Galaxy S20 Plus. If the information turns out to be accurate, the Galaxy Note 20 Plus will have a smaller batt…

TSMC and other chipmakers will no longer be able to supply chips to Huawei without first obtaining a license from the U.S.

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U.S. will soon begin blocking shipments to Huawei from global chipmakers.
The announcement comes just a day after President Donald Trump extended the ban on Huawei and ZTE for another year.
Huawei could soon lose access to all semiconductors made using U.S. software and technology.

Just a day after the trade ban on Huawei was extended for another year by President Donald Trump, the U.S. Commerce Department has now announced that it is going to soon block shipments to Huawei from TSMC and other global chipmakers.

The U.S. is amending an export role that will enable it to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.” Since all major chipmakers use American technology, the rule change will have a massive impact on Huawei’s smartphone business. Taiwan’s …

Qualcomm’s second-gen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is a massive improvement over the first-gen sensor used in the Galaxy S20 series.

What you need to know

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series phones could be the first to come equipped with Qualcomm’s latest 3D Sonic Max fingerprint sensor.
The second-generation ultrasonic fingerprint sensor from Qualcomm offers simultaneous two-finger sensing and improved accuracy.
Along with a faster fingerprint scanner, the Note 20 and Note 20 Plus are expected to offer larger displays and bigger batteries as well.

In December last year, Qualcomm introduced its second-generation ultrasonic sensor called 3D Sonic Max. The new sensor is 17 times bigger in size compared to the original 3D Sonic and supports two-finger authentication as well. According to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 20 series will be the first to come equipped with the new sensor. Young revealed the information during an exclusive…

Google has been facing severe criticism from its employees for quite some time now.

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Google has apparently scaled back its diversity and inclusion programs so as to not be seen as being anti-conservative.
Sojourn, a racial justice program for Google employees, was cut entirely last year.
Google has denied the claims, saying diversity and inclusion remain a “company-wide commitment.”

Eight current and former Google employees have alleged that the tech giant has significantly scaled down its diversity and inclusion initiatives to avoid being seen as anti-conservative. Speaking to NBC News, the employees said that in addition to scaling back or cutting such programs entirely, Google has also been reducing the size of the team responsible for those programs since 2018.

A well-liked racial justice program called Sojourn was among the diversity training programs that were cut entirely in 2019. “One of the major motivations for cutting Sojourn is that the company…

Some users are now able to react to messages with emojis in RCS conversations.

What you need to know

Google has begun testing the much-anticipated ‘reactions’ feature in its Messages app.
For now, only a small number of users are seeing the feature in their RCS chats.
Google is expected to begin rolling out the feature to users sometime in the coming weeks.

Earlier this year, an APK teardown had revealed that Google was working on adding emoji reactions similar to iMessage to its Messages app. It now appears that Google has started testing the feature for RCS chats in the Messages app.

As spotted by Android Police, a few users on Reddit have confirmed that message reactions have started appearing in Google Messages. To select an emoji reaction, users have to long press on a message. As of now, however, it appears there are only seven emoji reactions to choose from.

When a user who has the feature enabled sends a message reaction to another user who does not, a fallback te…

Its relatively affordable price tag could help make foldable phones a lot more popular.

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Samsung could be working on an “affordable” foldable phone called the Galaxy Fold Lite.
The phone is tipped to be powered by a Snapdragon 865 processor and feature a smaller outer display than the Galaxy Fold.
Just like the Galaxy Z Flip, it is expected to lack 5G support.

Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, despite being an impressive engineering feat, has failed to achieve commercial success. The biggest reason behind that is the phone’s steep $1,980 price tag. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, which isn’t quite as impressive as the Fold in terms of specs, has managed to grab a lot more attention from consumers, thanks to its significantly more affordable price tag. If a new rumor is to be believed, Samsung could launch an even more affordable foldable smartphone later this year.

I have some info on the Galaxy Fold Lite. -Galaxy Fold Lite 4G-256GB storage-Mirror Black, Mirror Purple-Displa…