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    Tuesday, November 19, 2019

    Home Unlabelled Android OnePlus 3/3T receive final update with Android security patchh for October

    Android OnePlus 3/3T receive final update with Android security patchh for October

    November 19, 2019

    Android OnePlus 3/3T receive final update with Android security patchh for October

    OnePlus 3/3T receive final update with Android security patchh for October

    Posted: 19 Nov 2019 02:05 AM PST

    [Critical] If someone has sent you an MP4 file on WhatsApp, guard against downloading it as hackers may use a critical vulnerability in the Facebook-owned app to execute snooping attack on both Android and iOS devices.

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 05:14 AM PST

    Microsoft to Stop Supporting Cortana on Android and iOS

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:55 AM PST

    OnePlus 7T vs Google Pixel 4 XL: Heads up comparison

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:23 PM PST

    Samsung Announces Galaxy Note10+ Star Wars™ Special Edition

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:00 AM PST

    Nokia 7 Plus: Long Term Review

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:37 PM PST

    A long term review of the Nokia 7 Plus. I have used it for about a year.

    This phone still remains the ideal hardware for most people, metal body, huge battery, and a notchless 18:9 display. Especially for the discounts it's getting, I'm assuming any stock Android enthusiasts will take this phone to their interest. Hence the review.

    For people who want to read my previous review, here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/a5i4jq/nokia_7_plus_review/

    Device info: TA-1046

    Software version: Android 9 Pie with November security patch.

    As usual, my review will be dissected into six parts, which are:

    ​

    • Build Quality
    • Display
    • Software
    • Camera
    • Performance
    • Battery Life

    ​

    Build Quality

    Build quality after seven months of everyday use, the hardware seems to hold up just fine, do note that I've put on a screen protector and a case for two months within these seven months of usage. For the rest of my usage the phone remains naked without any external accessories attached (pop sockets, phone wallets, skins etc.) The phone held up well with just some light nicks( not visible) and a ton of micro-scratches on the screen. So a screen protector is still highly recommended, I got tired of finding the perfect screen protector as most of them messed up the screen brightness and gets smudgy for a few weeks. The phone, for some reason, gave me confidence in terms of grip, probably because the squared sides of the phone. The so called "ceramic painted" back seems to hold up scratches fine, at least, for the black colored version.

    In conclusion, the build quality for the phone for long term seems to hold up really good even without a case,so that's a good sign of durability. Overall no complaints. However, the speaker on the Nokia 7 Plus is just average. It's loud, but the quality leaves a lot to be desired.

    Side note: As for the USB-C port issue that most people are facing, my device has none of any of the issues whatsoever However, the USB-C port seems to be a little bit loose. But crossed fingers it will hold up fine.

    ​

    Display

    Specs :

    6.0 inch IPS Panel with a tall 18:9 aspect ratio (GoodVix Panel)

    Resolution : 2160*1080 (403 PPI)

    Screen to body ratio: 77.63 %

    As this is an IPS screen, there are no burn in issues whatsoever. However, I've noticed some light bleed across corners of the display. The notch-less display is still a joy to look at. Especially the color reproduction is still pretty good. And 18:9 videos on YouTube and Netflix is becoming more popular, which is also a plus to the display. Even though the phone has a low screen to body ratio and a rather big forehead and chin, it's still looks modern and ergonomic to hold and touch. Definitely not the phone to go for if you want the best multimedia experience (with the poor speaker), but for a phone that came out in 2018, it held up just fine. I will still go for a notch-less display any day of the week.

    Side note: I did not encounter any screen unresponsiveness on my device, so I will not be giving comment on this particular issue.

    ​

    Software

    Software is a bit tricky subject to tackle. There are some notable bugs that I've encountered within my long term use. The infamous WiFi issue is among them. I will list out bugs that I discovered on my device that has been fixed and not fixed.

    Known Bugs that are fixed during my usage:

    • WiFi issue
    • Android 9 Pie navigation animations
    • The adaptive battery settings
    • Unnecessary Evenwell crap

    Known Bugs that haven't been fixed:

    • Lopsided home button on three key navigation
    • At a Glance widget and Google Discover Page sometimes failed to display the weather
    • Inconsistent vibration motor (only noticed when the device is charging on low battery)
    • Bluetooth skipping during music playback (Didn't occur when first used)
    • Still a bit laggy when sliding on navigation panel
    • When turning off device doesn't show turning off animation
    • Unstable auto brightness issue
    • Fast charging sometimes doesn't work with the in box charger
    • Microphones is useless when playing online games (The recorded voice is too quiet and tinny)
    • Still not able to use a third party launcher with the gesture navigation system
    • Amazon Prime Video can't play HD content (Even with Widevine L1 codec support)

    Conclusion:

    Overall, even with the bugs, it's still a pretty good experience. The reason for that is that most of the basic features just works. What I mean by basic features is the general experience with the phone (Or Android) works. People might pick on Stock Android and say it lacks of features and quirks. The truth is, most people just want it to work without any issues or tinkering it for hours. The lock screen and notification management works just like what android had designed. No delayed notifications, no force closing background apps (Nokia used to do that but now they fixed it by removing or disabling useless Evenwell apps), no unnecessary bloatware that you can't remove...etc. The point is, Nokia left most of the Android Experience alone, both in terms of aesthetics and functions, and that's for the better.

    ​

    Camera

    Specs:

    Back:

    - 12 MP, f/1.8, 25mm (wide), 1/2.55", 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF

    - 13 MP, f/2.6, 1/3.4", 1.0µm, 2x optical zoom, AF

    Front:

    - 16 MP, f/2.0, 1/3.1", 1.0µm

    The two cameras on the back on the Nokia 7 Plus has held up well. Even with the Google Pixel 3a being the mid range camera king. The previous issue that I've faced with the Google Camera mod had been fixed by using the backrider apk, which is the optimized Gcam Mod for the Nokia 7 Plus. I've taken some shots which turned out pretty good. The dynamic range, detail, and the color even not the best, has been fine for day to day use. The night sight feature brought by the Gcam mod has breathe new life to the camera performance. Low light shots are much more usable now and some challenging shots can be refined by the night sight mode as well. The only downside by using the google camera app is not being able to use the second telephoto lens for 2x optical zoom. To be honest, I didn't really miss the feature much.

    The Gcam mod has been far superior compared to the built in Nokia Camera app, which is more cluttered in terms of its user interface. The Nokia Camera app still comes in handy when I need granular controls on focus and exposure time. Plus, OZO audio is only initiated when using the default camera app. Overall the camera is fine, and if you are someone shopping for the best phone camera, you are looking in the wrong place.

    Sample shots from the Nokia 7 Plus that I took on Instagram:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B4FdgBhnMLt/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B4uQbjuHVY3/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz5atD8nl2l/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/ByXc6pfHEhA/

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BsW5C7LFSNI/

    Performance

    Specs:

    • Snapdragon 660
    • 4GB DDR3 RAM
    • eMMC 5.1 Storage
    • Adreno 512

    The performance has held up just fine. Even with it's less than adequate internals compared to modern mid range flagships of today. For my day to day usage it's more than fast enough to catch up. I've an Oneplus 7 Pro, Huawei P20, and an iPhone 8 Plus on my disposal and yet I still don't see a huge performance drop when using the Nokia 7 Plus, which is a good thing. But buying a one year old phone definitely has its drawbacks. Modern titles like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile can only be played in low to medium graphics. But that's expected for 2018 mid range smartphones. The thermals of this phone is surprisingly well, even after a full hour of Call of Duty Mobile game-play the phone doesn't feel very warm to touch compared to other smartphones that I tested. Overall the performance is more than enough to handle basic tasks, but don't expect it to do more than that.

    Battery

    The 3800 mAh battery in the Nokia 7 Plus even after a year of use has held up fine. Surprisingly, the removal of the Evenwell battery manager and other Evenwell crap has improved the battery life of this phone. I now get consistent five and a half hours of screen on time compared to my initial review of four and a half hours of screen on time with my regular usage. Which is a huge plus for the battery life.

    Fast charging on this phone with 18 watts of USB-C delivery is adequate but definitely loses to the fast charging on modern mid-range flagships. However, because the battery life lasts me through a whole day, I rarely used the fast charging feature these days. Good for some quick top ups in case of emergencies. One the of the advantages of using 18W fast charging standard than proprietary fast charging methods from other companies is that more third party battery packs and travel adapters support the fast charging feature.

    Overall Conclusion:

    This phone has held up well, even after almost 20 months on its release. I will still recommend this phone nonetheless. One of the most wonderful experiences that I had with a phone since the days of me having a Nexus 5X. This is the kind of phone that Nokia (HMD Global) should be continuing to make. It's combines a really well package overall in terms of software and hardware. That might be the reason that I like this phone so much. But tech moves on, and it moves on quickly. Current mid range flagships like the Redmi K20 Pro, Oneplus 7 and even the Nokia 8.1 will make more sense for the MSRP of this phone. Buy this phone, for the right price.

    ​

    Thanks in advance to anyone that read this entire review, and if there's anything I had missed out from this review please let me know in the comments as I'm not a professional reviewer.

    submitted by /u/Han_Tech_Geek
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    Pixel 4 XL Teardown

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:05 AM PST

    Google Store Black Friday Preview ($200 off Pixel 4)

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:32 AM PST

    Google Stadia review: This could be big

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:24 AM PST

    Motorola Did What Samsung Should Have (The Hinge)

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 01:26 PM PST

    Google Pixel 4 Review - One Month Later

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:19 AM PST

    Google Stadia Launch Review: A Technical, Conceptual Disaster

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 03:49 PM PST

    [NEWS] SamMobile: Galaxy Note 9 One UI 2.0 beta coming this week, S9 series will get next week!

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:21 AM PST

    My favorite phone screen/design to date was released 5 years ago...

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 03:25 AM PST

    I loved my sharp aquos crystal and it was always a head turner. Really wished they continued releasing updated models with better hardware. I think only releasing in the US on Sprint was a huge mistake. Oh well.

    submitted by /u/gt12a
    [link] [comments]

    Made in China: Samsung farms out more phones to fend off rivals

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:16 AM PST

    Roll your own Android-friendly Stadia in 12 steps

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:03 AM PST

    A lot of this comes from /r/cloudygamer, so go there and give them your clicks, but I've been cloud gaming now for months in a variety of ways, and I think I've settled on my happiest path. I rent a server from Paperspace, and simply use Steam Link Anywhere to play any game from my Steam Library from my house. Quality is very good, but not perfect, but my costs are $10/month for storage and $0.51/hr of streaming time. At my rate of about 1-2 hours/day, my annual spend rate is about $400. The benefits I see are as follows:

    1. Incredible portability - I can play on my phone, my laptop, or my Nvidia Shield on my TV.
    2. On-demand usage - If I'm not playing, I'm only paying the storage fee each month, so it sort of scales naturally.
    3. Excellent graphical fidelity - I'm generally able to play on excellent settings and stream at 1080p. I also find that the input lag doesn't bother me. I'm certain if I recorded myself playing in slo-mo, I'd notice input lag, but I've had great fun playing many hours of Rocket League, and I'm having a great time playing through Jedi: Fallen Order
    4. Excellent library - This method basically supports all PC games, and lets me play anything from Steam, Epic, etc, etc, down to indies and anything I want to play. If XCloud has 50 games, and Stadia has 22, I think this path compares rather favorably.

    Downsides

    1. Cost - I'm saving money versus keeping a comparable gaming PC running these games at these settings, but I'm probably losing money against just purchasing new Playstations as they are released. Also, the free tier of Stadia will be cheaper than this, although factor in the purchase of games. This method uses your Steam Library.
    2. Network costs - I assume that if I had anything less than bulletproof internet, my experience would rapidly degrade
    3. Framerate stuff - On occasion I'll hit a bit of lag or delay.

    ​

    How-to:

    This is just my path through, and you may choose a different path. I picked Paperspace because the ease of use is just astounding compared to Google Cloud or AWS or Azure. However, they only have 3 servers from what I can tell - California, New York and Amsterdam. I would perform the majority of these steps on your PC:

    1. Create an account with Paperspace (paperspace.com)
    2. Pick the server location closest to you
    3. Create a Windows 10 P4000 server
      1. At this point you may get stopped by a form that requires you to explain what you want to use the server for. I don't think they want people using them for Bitcoin mining, maybe? If you get that form, it usually takes a day for them to get back to you
    4. Choose a storage amount. If you only play one game at a time, you can save some cash here by choosing one of the lower priced storage tiers.
    5. Add your payment details and click "Create Your Paperspace"
    6. You'll be taken to a screen that shows you that Paperspace is provisioning and spinning up your server. Once it's ready, simply click on the box representing your server. You'll be dropped into the Windows environment.
    7. Now, install Steam and log in to your account.
    8. Having done that, enable the beta version of Steam by using the Beta Participation setting in Settings>Account
    9. Steam will restart.
    10. Install Steam Link on your phone (or Android TV device, or tablet, etc, etc). It will by default look for a PC on your home network. When that fails, it will prompt you with "Other Computer". Take the code it gives you, and return to your Paperspace tab in your browser, and navigate to the Remote Play entry in your Steam Settings.
    11. Click the "Pair Steam Link" button, and type in the code that the Steam Link app gave you.
    12. You're in business! Close your Paperspace tab (as it will consume bandwidth that you want to reserve for gaming). Your phone will launch into Steam Big Picture mode, and you can install and play games at will.

    Considerations:

    1. You can use the on-screen controls in the Steam Link app, and that might be okay for some indie games or non-twitchy games, but I purchased one of these controllers and this clip for my phone.
    2. A quirk with Paperspace is that it uses the resolution of your browser as the upper bound for the display resolution. So to get higher than 1080p, I open my browser tab in full screen, and I use Chrome to zoom out, which causes the desktop to increase in resolution. Then I close my tab.
    3. If you leave on the auto-start with Windows setting for Steam, all you have to do to get things going is open Paperspace's website on your phone and start your machine. Don't open it on your phone, as that will mess up your resolution, just hit the start button.
    4. Always remember to shutdown your machine after use. Paperspace will kill it after a day of inactivity by default (you can adjust that setting), but you'll keep spending $0.50/hr until you turn it off.
    5. If a particular game requires you to fill out fields and move a mouse cursor around, you can open your Paperspace window and interface that way.

    ​

    TL, DR: It's really quite simple to set up a personal cloud gaming service that beats Stadia in a number of ways using any number of cloud hosting providers and Steam Link Anywhere.

    submitted by /u/kad-air
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    Epic Games Store has finally gone live on Android as a new title ‘Battle Breakers’ joins Fortnite [XDAdevelopers]

    Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:51 AM PST

    Now Epic Games has announced their own application store, with one big attraction: developers will get 88% of revenue generated by their app. This means that the company will only take 12% of all profits. To contrast, the Google Play Store will earn developers 70% of all revenue generated, with 30% going to Google. What's more, if you're using Unreal Engine, then the 5% engine royalty will be taken out of Epic's 12% profit, not your 88%.

    https://www.xda-developers.com/epic-games-launching-android-game-store/

    To get Epic store visit battlebreakers.com/mobile on an Android device.

    submitted by /u/anemomylos
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