Articles by Derrek Lee

T-Mobile’s already high data threshold is getting even higher.

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T-Mobile is revamping its unlimited data plans, including one with truly unlimited data.
Magenta Max includes 4K streaming, 40GB of hot-spot data, and premium scam protection.
T-Mobile’s standard Magenta plan gets a boost with double the amount of high-speed data.

T-Mobile has been a trendsetter for nearly a decade now, rising as an industry leader along the way. T-Mobile 5G is one of the best 5G networks in the industry thanks to its recent merger with Sprint, and now the company is taking things up a notch by revamping its unlimited data plans to give customers more high-speed data. T-Mobile just announced its new Magenta Max plan alongside an upgraded standard Magenta plan.

With Magenta Max, T-Mobile customers will finally have access to truly unlimited high-speed data. That’s a claim that many of the best wireless carriers in the US have been trying to push for years, although often failed …

Spotify HiFi will let you hear your music just as it was intended.

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Spotify announces a new HiFi audio upgrade available for Premium subscribers.
Spotify is working to enable HiFi audio for speakers with Spotify Connect.
The new HiFi audio upgrade will be available in select markets later this year.

Spotify has announced a new HiFi audio upgrade that will provide subscribers a way to listen to their music just as it was intended to be heard. Announced as part of Spotify’s virtual Stream On event, the company plans to “deliver music in CD-quality, lossless audio format to your device and Spotify Connect-enabled speakers.”

Spotify states that high-quality music streaming has been one of the most highly requested features for the platform, and while the app allows you manually change the quality from “very low” to “very high,” there has not been an option for lossless audio. Some of the best music streaming apps for Android already have such a feature, such as…

Nothing about Google’s ethics seems right here.

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Margaret Mitchell has just been fired from Google, just a few months after Timnit Gebru was dismissed.
The dismissal comes just a day after Google announced a new AI head and restructuring of its teams.
Google also announced that it’s reworking some of its policies.

Google has just fired its former AI Ethics lead, Margaret Mitchell, after conducting an internal investigation on actions it deemed violated its code of conduct (via Axios). She announced the dismissal in a tweet on Friday.

I’m fired.— MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) February 19, 2021

The development comes after Mitchell was locked out of her corporate account for a month while still employed at the company. She had attempted to search corporate email for examples of discrimination against former AI Ethics lead, Timnit Gebru, who was dismissed late last year following her criticism of Google’s AI technologies that are found in many applications and…

The Fire TV update will reach more devices next month.

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Amazon is launching its new UI on the Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube, and third-gen Fire TV pendant next month.
The new UI brings an updated home screen, a new Find tab, and personalized user profiles.
The update was released in December for the third-generation Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite.

When it comes to the best streaming devices, the Chromecast with Google TV has taken up much of the spotlight since its launch last year. The new Android TV UI brought a more personalized experience with its For You tab, which offered recommendations based on the user’s habits and apps. Amazon wasn’t sitting on its hands, though, and announced a UI overhaul of its own for its Fire TV platform, which it started rolling out in December to a couple of the best Fire TV sticks. Now, it looks like the update is expanding to more devices starting next month.

Protocol reports that more Fire TV devices will receive …

Rollable smartphones could be further along than we thought.

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The OPPO X 2021 is shown off in new videos looking quite finished.
Sliding your finger across the power button on the side of the device activates the powertrain motor.
There is still no expected commercial release for the OPPO X 2021.

Last year, LG teased a rollable smartphone at the end of the LG Wing announcement, which got fans pretty excited. Things got a little more interesting at CES when LG showed off a full-on teaser of what’s now known as the LG Rollable. Of course, OPPO is not one to be left out of experimental weirdness and showed off a rollable phone concept of its own late last year, with no commercial release planned. Since then, a few hands-on videos have shown the OPPO X 2021 in action, and it looks very much like a finished product.

Two videos show the rollable phone being used in action, expanding and retracting the display during use. When retracted, the smartphone OLED meas…

The OnePlus 9 Pro is getting the same display tech as Samsung’s flagships.

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Latest OnePlus 9 Pro leak reveals it will feature a 120Hz LTPO display similar to Samsung’s latest flagships.
Full specs of the standard OnePlus 9 have also leaked, suggesting a 64MP main camera and 8K video recording.
Both devices are expected to launch in March, along with the entry-level OnePlus 9E.

There’s roughly a month or so until the OnePlus 9 unveiling, and while none of the details about the smartphone trio are official, there have been enough leaks to piece together much of the picture. The standard model has purportedly been spotted in live photos with a triple camera setup, while images of the Pro model indicate a more impressive Hasselblad quad-camera setup. The latest leak gives us even more details about the OnePlus 9 Pro, particularly the display tech.

pic.twitter.com/YIsClmGeQu— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) February 18, 2021

According to OnePlus tipster Max Jambor, th…

Apple TV on Google TV is a great move for both platforms.

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Google TV is finally bringing the Apple TV app to the platform.
Chromecast with Google TV will receive the app first, followed by Sony and TCL TVs when they release.
Google states that more Android TV sets will receive the Apple TV app at a later date.

Google continues to focus on improving its TV platform; implementing bug fixes and updating its Android TV layout to bring more uniformity across the platform. Many of the best streaming services are available on Google TV, but a big one has been noticeably absent, at least until now. After announcing its eventual arrival late last year, Google has finally brought the Apple TV app to its Android TV platform, starting with Chromecast with Google TV devices.

.@AppleTV pic.twitter.com/5t3Cd2H9ey— Made By Google (@madebygoogle) February 17, 2021

Google TV will allow users to view all their favorite shows and movies that are available on Apple TV chan…

The Android 12 Developer Preview is finally underway, with the beta to come in a few months.

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The first Developer Preview for Android 12 is released by Google today.
Notifications are receiving improvements, new image encoders are getting support, Google Play system updates are being expanded, and much more.
The Android 12 Developer Preview system image is available on select Google Pixel smartphones.

Google is releasing the first Android 12 Developer Preview today, giving users an initial taste of what the upcoming OS update will bring. While many features have been speculated for Android 12, don’t expect to see all of them here since the first preview normally gets a lot of the background API stuff out of the way. Still, some interesting things are coming out of this initial version, and you can be sure we’re going to dive into them.

Notifications are getting some work done, which is no surprise. Android 11 brought more organization to the notification …

Google is rolling out app sharing on the Play Store.

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Google Play is rolling out the ability to share apps using Nearby Share.
Sharing is limited to free and publicly available Play Store apps.
Google first announced Play Store app sharing with Nearby Share late last year.

Google launched Nearby Share in mid-2020 as a way to make sharing data and content easier on Android. It replaced the now-defunct Android Beam feature that required two phones to physically touch and pair via NFC and Bluetooth. We have a handy guide on how to use Nearby Share on your Android phone, but basically, it’s an easy way for users to view nearby contacts and share files using WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, and a number of other protocols. It’s a pretty handy feature that’s getting even better with the latest Play Store update.

First announced late last year, Google is finally allowing Android users to share apps from the Play Store using Nearby Share. It seems the feature is still rol…

The OnePlus Watch looks a bit more conventional than the last sketches we got.

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The OnePlus Watch was spotted in new patent sketches.
The watch features a traditional round watch design, unlike the watch from OPPO which OnePlus has a close relationship.
The watch could launch alongside the OnePlus 9 smartphones in March.

OnePlus has been stepping up its hardware game, as noted by last year’s OnePlus 8 smartphones as well as the current leaks of the upcoming OnePlus 9 trio. Last year the company teased that it was releasing a watch in early 2021, which has been technically true after the launch of the OnePlus Band. Fans are still expecting a more traditional smartwatch which appears to also be in the works according to a new patent.

A German site spotted some patent sketches (via GSMArena) of a smartwatch device submitted by OnePlus to the German office for patents and registered brand names. The images show several different angles of what could be two diff…