Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro is a rugged phone with removable battery

Samsung’s Galaxy line of smartphones is one that is very diverse. Over time, just like any other manufacturers, they’ve greatly evolved their design language to adapt to current trends. For the most part, though, this design language resembles closely what other smartphone manufacturers keep doing: either glass-aluminum sandwiches or shiny plastic phones that resemble these glass-aluminum sandwiches, with the rare occurrence of a fully aluminum-clad device here and there. For those folks that are not fond of these designs and the feature removal brought on by them, the Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro may be attractive.

The closest way I could describe the Galaxy XCover Pro would be a blend of old things and new things. On one hand, we have a hole-punch Infinity-O display (yet with considerable bezels given its rugged nature), a dual-camera setup, and an Exynos 9611 processor powering everything behind the scenes. On the other hand, it features a polycarbonate design that, aside from just being rugged, reminds us of a lot of older Samsung devices, as it features a removable back and–prepare yourselves–a removable battery. A long-forgotten, yet now niche feature seems to be surfacing again in 2020, giving hope to those users–there’s still a lot of them out there–that were holding onto their older devices because of it.

Aside from this, though, the Galaxy XCover Pro is also a rugged phone, which means that it is meant to withstand abuse and has an IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. As for the rest of the specifications, there’s up to 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of expandable storage, a 25MP main camera with an 8MP ultra-wide-angle rear camera setup and a 13MP front-facing camera, and a 4,020 mAh battery. It is expected to become available in Europe in early February for around $550.

Galaxy XCover Pro
Display	6.3-inch FHD + (1080 x 2400) TFT, Wet Touch, Glove Mode Infinity Display
Camera	25MP 8MP Wide-Angle 13MP front-facing
Dimensions and weight	165.2 x 76.5 x 9.94mm 217g
Processor	Octa-Core (2GHz) Exynos 9611
Memory and storage	4 GB RAM 64 GB internal storage
Micro SD	Support up to 512 GB
Battery	4,050 mAh 15W Super-Fast Charge
OS	Android 9.0 (Pie)
Biometric Identification Methods	Fingerprint Reader
color options	Black
sensors	Acceleration, Proximity Sensor, Compass, Gyro

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Via 1: WinFuture (German) / Via 2: Samsung (Finnish)

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Verizon plans to offer 20 5G devices in 2020

5G is one of the biggest buzzwords in technology nowadays. Every tech company wants a piece of it and is trying to offer compatible devices of various kinds. We saw some 5G smartphones last year, like the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G or LG V50 ThinQ 5G. What these phones have in common is that both of them are available on the Verizon network. This particular carrier is one of the few that use the millimeter-wave spectrum to get the full potential of 5G. Verizon launched five devices that support 5G in 2019 and this year they are aiming bigger.

At CES 2020, which is currently underway, Verizon uncovered its plan to release 20 5G devices this year. In the first half of 2020, we’ll see 5G phones from Verizon priced around $800. Though, in the second half of the year, Verizon will also launch 5G smartphones priced under $600. I think every one of us can get behind the trend of making 5G more affordable and available for everyone. Most of the 5G smartphones from 2019 were flagship-priced, but we’re now seeing a number of 5G phones become significantly cheaper.

According to Ronan Dunne, head of the Verizon Consumer Group, the company is also planning to start using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing technology to expand the coverage of the 5G network. The DSS technology will allow Verizon to allocate 4G and 5G connections to a single spectrum. That way, 5G will be available on more bands than mmWave and the company won’t have to develop a new spectrum exclusively for 5G. DSS will launch in the second half of 2020.

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Source: CNET

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You can now opt out of having your Samsung Pay data sold

In the internet age, privacy is a big topic. How much privacy we should have, how to keep our data private, how should companies be able to take and sell our data? It’s all very important to talk about and have control over. Companies are just now starting to give us more control over what data we allow for them to take and sell. Samsung is late to this trend but is finally allowing users to stop Samsung Pay from selling their data.

In the latest Samsung Pay update in the United States, I noticed a pop-up on the main screen of Samsung Pay asking me to review my privacy settings. This was interesting because I’ve never actually seen any privacy settings in Samsung Pay, even though I’ve used it since the Galaxy S8 almost 3 years ago. This pop-up leads to a new Privacy Controls setting in Samsung Pay. These settings allow you to control your data and flip the “Do Not Sell” switch to stop Samsung from selling this data to “Samsung Pay partners.”

I am a long-time Samsung Pay user and I was honestly shocked to see Samsung was selling my Samsung Pay data. Companies like Google are pretty open about the amount of data they track and sell and how they sell it. Samsung isn’t as open about the amount of data they track or sell. The reason Samsung added this “Do Not Sell” is because of the CCPA, or the “California Consumer Privacy Act.” According to Samsung’s privacy page about the CCPA, the act gives California residents three basic rights. These rights are access to your personal information, deletion of your personal information, and the ability to stop Samsung, or other companies, from selling your personal information.

Samsung and other companies are not required to approve these requests or even show the options to residents outside the state of California. I’m not a resident of California and still have the settings, so it seems like Samsung might be allowing anyone in the United States access to stop their data from being sold. This leaves the downside of losing some personalized features, but if you’re concerned about privacy, this is a great option.

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Galaxy Fold 2 might use Snapdragon 855 instead of the Snapdragon 865

Samsung has scheduled its first Unpacked event of 2020 for February 11 in San Francisco. As per rumours, leaks, and even official teasers, the company is expected to launch a new foldable with a clamshell design along with the Galaxy S11 (or Galaxy S20) series of smartphones. Now, according to an Indian tipster, Ishan Agarwal, the upcoming Samsung foldable smartphone, commonly referred to as the Galaxy Fold 2, will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855, instead of the rumoured latest Snapdragon 865.

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The rumours and leaks about Samsung making a clamshell foldable smartphone have been around the interwebs for a few months now. We even got to see the images of a prototype, which confirmed the Moto Razr-like design but without a proper outer cover display. Although we are somewhat sure of the design, the same cannot be said for its specifications. But now, this new tip to MySmartPrice sheds some light on the same.

According to the new leak, the forthcoming Galaxy Fold 2 (or whatever it will be called) will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC similar to the original Galaxy Fold, even though the Snapdragon 865 is out. This is because foldable phones take more time to develop and this new Galaxy Fold might have been in the works for at least six months. Additionally, the tipster confirms a 10MP front-facing camera, which could be the same as the one found on the Galaxy Note 10. Unfortunately, this is the only solid piece of information available regarding the specifications of this upcoming phone, apart from the design.

Based on previous leaks, the clamshell Galaxy Fold will have a smaller cover display, which will only display time and date. On the other hand, the inner foldable display might use Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) for better durability. A report even claimed it to feature a 108MP primary camera, which will be also present on the Galaxy S11 / S20 series.

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Twitter plans to allow users to limit who can reply to tweets

CES 2020 is well underway and Twitter’s director of product management, Suzanne Xie, has unveiled some new changes that are coming to the platform later this year. These changes all primarily focus on conversations that you can have on the platform and aim to prevent bullying and harassment. The biggest change relates to “conversation participants.” Rather than hiding your Tweets from people who you don’t want to see it, you can simply prevent people from replying instead. You can limit your tweet to one of four groups: “Global, Group, Panel, and Statement.”

“Global” is exactly what it says on the tin, anyone can reply and interact, just like a regular public tweet. After that is where things get interesting. “Group” is made up of the people you tag and the people you follow, “Panel” is only the people you specifically tweet at, and “Statement” entirely prevents all replies. Xie says that Twitter is “in the process of doing research on the feature” and that “the mockups are going to be part of an experiment we’re going to run” in the first quarter. The feature will then hopefully be globally launched later in the year, taking on board feedback from the public testing.

“Getting ratio’d, getting dunked on, the dynamics that happen that we think aren’t as healthy are definitely part of … our thinking about this,” Xie said. A major concern then would be the attempt at spreading misinformation, which Xie mentioned the possibility of quote tweeting as a solution. Even still, Xie said that possibility is “something we’re going to be watching really closely as we experiment.”

Xie also mentioned that the company is working on other features such as threading, to allow all of a Twitter conversation to be displayed on one screen. Lines drawn on the screen would make it easier to then see who is replying to who. Twitter is always messing with things and beta testing new features, which you can enable some of through Tweeks, an Xposed module.

Twitter (Free, Google Play) →

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Via: The Verge

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OxygenOS 9.0.10 rolls out for the OnePlus 5/5T with December 2019 security patches

Despite the woes of OnePlus many years ago, they’ve done a fantastic job in turning their reputation around and becoming one of the better smartphone manufacturers for software updates. Admittedly, OnePlus hasn’t quite managed to meet monthly security updates, but between giving the OnePlus 3/3T an extra Android version and security patches every couple of months, the company is doing better than most. OxygenOS 9.0.10 is now out for the OnePlus 5/5T, and it comes with December 2019 security patches. The most recent stable OxygenOS version for the OnePlus 5/5T contained the October 2019 security patches.

OnePlus 5 XDA Forums || OnePlus 5T XDA Forums

There are no other major changes, apart from general bug fixes and improvements which are always included as a part of OnePlus’ update changelogs anyway. The update hasn’t been announced on the OnePlus forums yet, but it’s already beginning to roll out to users. It’s expected to be a staged rollout, where not everyone will get it at once in case there are any problems. If you don’t want to wait, you can download the relevant zip package for your device below and manually install it. All you’ll need to do is copy the zip file to the root of your phone’s storage and then go to settings, system, system updates, and choose “local upgrade.”

OxygenOS 9.0.9 to 9.0.10 for the OnePlus 5 || OxygenOS 9.0.10 Full OTA for the OnePlus 5

OxygenOS 9.0.9 to 9.0.10 for the OnePlus 5T || OxygenOS 9.0.10 Full OTA for the OnePlus 5T

For those wondering where Android 10 is, OnePlus has the OnePlus 5/5T slated to receive the update sometime in Q2 of 2020. You can check out the company’s roadmap here for when updates are expected to arrive for the OnePlus 6/6T and the OnePlus 5/5T.

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the links!

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Google’s Project Zero security team will now wait 90 days to disclose any vulnerabilities they find

Project Zero is a security division employed by Google, which was founded in 2014. The team’s primary mission is to discover zero-day vulnerabilities – that is, vulnerabilities that are unknown (or unaddressed by) the party which should be interested in its mitigation. “Heartbleed” is one such zero-day exploit, which was privately reported by two separate security teams to OpenSSL. One of these security teams operated under Google and eventually led to the creation of Project Zero. The bug was discovered in April of 2014, a build of OpenSSL with the bug fixed was released a few days later along with full disclosure of the bug. This full disclosure meant that systems not updated immediately were at risk, though that generally serves as a motivation for developer teams to update their software.

Since then, Google’s Project Zero has worked in a similar manner. When a zero-day bug is discovered, the team privately reports it to whichever company owns the software. From the date of disclosure, the company has 90 days to fix the bug. If they fix it before the 90-day window is complete, Google will release details of the vulnerability. If the 90 days pass without it being fixed, the team will release the vulnerability anyway, which is intended to make users aware of the problems the software they are using may have, while also potentially motivating the company to work faster. There is one flaw that vendors perceive with this system, and just like with Heartbleed, it’s that users (or developers) may not be able to upgrade their systems fast enough before becoming a victim of exploitation. For this reason, the Project Zero team has announced that for the year, they are trialing waiting out the 90-days no matter how fast (or slow) the vulnerability is fixed.

Google’s policy of disclosing bugs in 7 days if they find evidence the bug is being exploited in the wild is unaffected. In the same blog post, the Project Zero team has also announced a number of other small changes. Google is also proud to announce that 97.7% of all issues that they discover are fixed within the 90-day window. You can read the full blog post below.

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Source: Google Project Zero

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