Articles by Harish Jonnalagadda

OnePlus’s latest limited edition phone is its most ambitious yet.

OnePlus is known for creating some of the best limited edition phones in the industry; the Chinese manufacturer partnered with Disney for the OnePlus 5T Star Wars and OnePlus 6 Avengers Edition, and then switched gears to team up with Formula 1 outfit McLaren for the OnePlus 6T McLaren and OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren.

For 2021, the brand is leveraging another beloved franchise for a limited-edition variant of the Nord 2. OnePlus is partnering with Bandai Namco to introduce the OnePlus Nord 2 x PAC-MAN Edition, which is one of its most ambitious efforts yet.

The Nord 2 x PAC-MAN Edition is set to launch soon, and ahead of its debut, I had an email interaction with Oliver Zhang — who oversees OnePlus’s product portfolio — to talk about what the company is doing to differentiate the limited edition model. Zhang noted that OnePlus’s special edition products have to deliver in two areas: they should meet the “signature Fa…

Black Friday is just a few short weeks away, and it is always a great time to buy storage enclosures and hard drives. There have been a few shortages around hard drives in recent months, but availability is thankfully getting back to regular levels as we head into the holiday season.

While network-attached storage (NAS) enclosures haven’t had the same issues with availability, this category hasn’t seen as many new launches as in previous years. However, you’ll already find a few enticing deals for NAS enclosures, with other deals set to kick off in the coming weeks.

If you’re already using a NAS enclosure and are looking to make the switch to a new model, looking to increase the storage of your home server with additional hard drives, or are getting your first NAS, Black Friday is the ideal time to do so. In the meantime, I’m rounding up a list of NAS enclosures that you should take a look at during Black Friday.

Black Friday NAS deals:

Best NAS deals
NAS enclosures
Internal H…

OnePlus 6 and 6T users are not able to download any media on WhatsApp or access existing photos and video.

What you need to know

An OxygenOS 11 bug is affecting WhatsApp on the OnePlus 6 and 6T.
The bug blocks media from being downloaded, and a reset doesn’t solve the issue.
OnePlus hasn’t detailed when a fix will be available.

The Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 stable build launched nearly a year ago, and it made its way to the best OnePlus phones, including the OnePlus 8, OnePlus 7, and the Nord series. OnePlus also said it would roll out the update to the OnePlus 6 and 6T, making Android 11 the third platform update for these phones.

It took a long time as OnePlus had to work through a litany of issues, but the OxygenOS 11 stable build is now making its way to the OnePlus 6 and 6T. While that’s welcome news, the build has a particular bug that makes WhatsApp unusable. After switching to OxygenOS 11 on the OnePlus 6T, a family member was unable to download any media from What…

Galaxy S21

The familiar choice

$820 at Amazon

Pros

Sublime 120Hz AMOLED panel
Fast internal hardware with global 5G
Great cameras
Fast wired and wireless charging
Three guaranteed Android version updates

Cons

Plastic back
No microSD slot
No charger in the box

The Galaxy S21 delivers the best features of the S21 Ultra at a more affordable price point. You get a stunning 120Hz AMOLED screen backed by the latest high-end hardware from Qualcomm, fast wired and wireless charging, amazing cameras, and three guaranteed Android version updates. Sure, it has a few rough edges, but as an overall value, you are getting a lot here.

iPhone 13

A worthy alternative

$829 at Amazon

Pros

Fastest internal hardware on a phone
High-quality OLED panel
Standout cameras
Five years of software updates
Global 5G with mmWave as standard

Cons

Screen still at 60Hz
Notch is unsightly
No always-on mode
Still uses a Lightning connector

The iPhone 13 doesn’t change too much from its predec…

Google’s latest phones are powered by its custom silicon, and there is a lot to like here.

Google makes some of the best Android phones money can buy, and a large part of what makes its phones stand out is the cameras. Although Google hasn’t changed the hardware sensor itself in over three years, it was able to leverage its software prowess to deliver truly outstanding photos from Pixel phones, including the Pixel 5a.

While Google likes to focus on software as a differentiator for its phones, the company is now turning to custom silicon to give Pixels an added edge. With the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, Google delivers huge advancements for its camera tech, and at the foundation of that change is the Tensor SoC, a custom silicon platform that Google built in collaboration with Samsung.

The custom chipset could end up eventually powering all of Google’s phones and even make its way to Chromebooks. For now, the Pixel 6 series gives us a good look at what the search giant is aiming to achieve …

Here’s what we know so far about Google’s foldable Pixel phone. Or phones, according to rumors.

A mock-up of how the Google Pixel Fold could look.

Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola all pioneered the category of foldable phones, pushing out expensive prototypes bordering on unfinished tech demos to eager consumers. But with the arrival of the superb Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3, Samsung changed the conversation around foldable phones, proving they can offer a premium experience that slab-shaped phones can’t.

Now, we’re hoping Google gives Samsung a run for its money with its own foldable phones. Throughout 2021, we’ve seen a series of leaks about a hypothetical Pixel Fold that would launch alongside the highly-anticipated Pixel 6. Unfortunately, the Pixel Launch Event came and went without a Pixel Fold announcement. So we now have to assume this phone won’t arrive until 2022.

Despite the delay, the Android developers are allegedly working on a new operating system update focused on fold…

Whenever you’re setting up WhatsApp on a new phone, you’ll have to verify the phone number with a one-time password. WhatsApp also lets you add an extra layer of security in the form of a PIN. This way, you will have to enter the one-time password sent to your registered phone number on top of a six-digit PIN before you can install WhatsApp on your phone. This ensures you have dual protective layers, which is why it’s called two-factor authentication. Here’s how you can enable two-factor authentication in WhatsApp for Android.

How to enable two-factor authentication in WhatsApp for Android

It may be pointedly obvious, but please make sure you have WhatsApp Messenger installed on your phone before starting.

Open WhatsApp on your Android phone.
Tap the three dots on the top right corner.
Tap Settings.

Tap Account.
Select Two-step verification.
Hit Enable to set up a PIN.

Enter your six-digit PIN.
Add an email address that will be used to reset your PIN should you forget it….

A few phones are still waiting on their Android 11 update.

The stable version of Android 11 was released in September 2020 on Pixel phones. It wasn’t as revolutionary an update as Android 12, but it still gave us new tools like Conversations View, chat bubbles, upgraded permissions, a power menu dashboard, and other useful improvements. Unfortunately, other manufacturers took much longer to release their versions of Android 11.

In the year since Android 11 arrived, Google, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, OPPO, Realme, and Huawei have all finished updating the vast majority of their phones and have moved on to the new Android 12 OS. But LG, Motorola, and Nokia still have a few Android 10 stragglers waiting for their Android 11 updates.

Below, you’ll find a broad overview of when to expect the Android 11 update on your phone, split up between OEMs. Note that update availability can vary from region to region.

Jump to:

Google Pixel
Huawei
LG
Motorola
Nokia
OnePlus
OPPO
Realme
Samsung
…

OPPO’s Android 12 interface has a clean design and is packed with useful features.

OPPO’s ColorOS used to be underwhelming; it lacked cohesion, there were too many unnecessary features, a lot of bloatware, and software updates were always delayed. But that changed with the introduction of ColorOS 7 back at the end of 2019; OPPO streamlined the design and introduced a modern interface as it started targeting a global audience.

Then came ColorOS 11 in 2020, with the Chinese manufacturer integrating a lot of Google features — including the dialer and Android messages — as default out of the box, and offering a sleek new UI with plenty of customizability as well as a host of extras. It also offered all the privacy features from Android 11 as standard, and it was definite step in the right direction for the brand.

With ColorOS 11, OPPO started maintaining naming parity with Android versions, so this year’s ColorOS build is the predictably-named ColorOS 12. It further refines the ma…

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 has everything I’m looking for in a foldable.

There isn’t a better time to buy a flagship phone; the Galaxy S21 Ultra, Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, and OnePlus 9 Pro set a new standard for the best Android phones, and Apple is joining the fray with the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which delivers the best battery life of any phone I’ve used in 2021.

Samsung has two flagships in contention every year, and while the Galaxy Note series took up that mantle over the last nine years, it is making way for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 this year. Samsung is confident enough in its 2021 foldables that it has eschewed the Galaxy Note line altogether, instead betting on foldables as the next big thing.

While Samsung didn’t change the overall design of the Z Fold 3 all that much from last year’s Z Fold 2, there are key upgrades around the screens, build quality, and durability. Those refinements combined with the updated hardware and cameras make the foldable a fantastic overall phone. I u…