Facebook starts rolling out a dark theme for some mobile users

Shortly after Facebook rolled out a dark mode for Messenger last year, we first saw evidence of a similar mode coming to the Facebook app on Android. Then, earlier this year in February, the company rolled out the dark mode setting for the Facebook Lite app, however, the main Facebook app still hadn’t received the option. We first saw Facebook’s dark mode in action earlier this month, when 9to5Google shared screenshots of the app that also showcased the app’s COVID-19 tracker. Now, according to a recent report from SocialMediaToday, the company has finally started rolling out the new dark mode for a few users.

So I have dark mode on Facebook now. #darkmode #facebook #iOS14 pic.twitter.com/AuC5uYoMJ2

— (@NotFridayCraig) June 26, 2020

The report cites screenshots shared by @NotFridayCraig on Twitter, which showcase a new dark mode setting in Facebook for iOS. When asked for a statement on the new dark mode, the company confirmed that the new setting was indeed rolling out, however, only for “a small percentage of users globally right now.” As of now, the company hasn’t revealed any information regarding a wider rollout or when the new dark mode setting will be released for the Android app, but we expect the new dark mode to reach all users in the coming week.

It’s worth noting that Facebook on Android is the last app in the company’s social media/messenger portfolio to receive a dark mode setting. As mentioned earlier, the company has already rolled out dark mode for Messenger and Facebook Lite, along with similar dark themes on Facebook for desktop, Instagram, and WhatsApp. If you haven’t received the setting on your device yet, you can download the latest update for the app from the Play Store link below and check in the app setting for the new option.

Facebook (Free⁺, Google Play) →

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Via: SocialMediaToday

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Amazfit PowerBuds Review – Fitness-oriented TWS earbuds with iffy heart rate detection

Thanks to Apple’s AirPods, truly wireless earbuds have exploded in popularity in the last few years. The non-Apple alternatives range from bad to good and cheap to expensive, with no correlation implied. Today, we’re going to talk about a mid-range set of Bluetooth TWS earbuds aimed at a different niche. The Huami Amazfit PowerBuds are priced at $100 and come with some interesting features as well as a fitness-focused gimmick. But how are they? Do they sound good? Do they fit well?

Let’s find out!

Amazfit PowerBuds – What’s in the Box, First Impressions

Along with the Amazfit PowerBuds earbuds themselves and the charging case, there’s a pack of replacement tips of various sizes, a short USB-C charging cable, and an incredibly thick user guide in the box.

Shifting focus over to the case: It’s not too flashy and is easy to open and shut. On the back, there’s a USB-C port for charging. On the front, there’s an indicator light that tells you the charging and pairing status of the earbuds. There are also some magnets that help you seat the earbuds in the case and keep the lid closed. On the topic of the lid, there are a couple of ear hooks hiding in it. These stick to the earbuds using magnets and are useful if you’re moving around a lot and want the earbuds to stay in your ears. It’s certainly nice to have them as an option.

Finally, on to the Amazfit PowerBuds themselves. They’re kind of bulky. Instead of the standard pod and tip assembly, there’s an extra bit on both that makes them stick out more than other earbuds. There is a reason for this, though. The right earbud has a heart rate sensor on it, and both earbuds have sensors to detect whether they’re in your ear or not.

Regarding the software and setup process: They were anything but smooth when I first set these up. To get the Amazfit PowerBuds properly set up, you need to download the Amazfit app and use it to pair them to your device. To use the Amazfit app, you need to make an Amazfit account which is where I ran into problems. The first few days of trying, I just couldn’t log in. I would press the sign-in button and the app would say something about importing data for five minutes, and then it would just give me some generic message about an error. Once I finally managed to log in, it took me about five tries before I could actually pair the earbuds to the app.

Now, it’s possible there was just a problem with the earbuds and they needed to be factory reset, but I don’t see a way to do that unless you’re signed into the Amazfit app itself. The instruction manual doesn’t say anything about factory resetting, and the online support page is blank.

Amazfit (Free, Google Play) →

Of course, it’s possible to pair and use the Amazfit PowerBuds just like any other Bluetooth earbuds. However, the app gives you some useful features like changing what the different tap gestures do, changing the internal equalizer in the earbuds, and, of course, reading your heart-rate. That’s right, these earbuds can read your heart rate, and this feature is one of its major selling points. We’ll talk more about that later, though. Finally, the Amazfit PowerBuds are IP55-rated. This means that, while you shouldn’t be using them underwater, a run through the rain or a super sweaty workout session won’t cause any issues.

Overall, my first impressions of the Amazfit PowerBuds weren’t terrible, but I wouldn’t say they were great, either. When a major feature of your product is almost inaccessible because of problems in your software, it really doesn’t do you any favors.

Anyway, onto the controls!

Controls

The Amazfit PowerBuds are similar to plenty of other true-wireless earbuds in terms of controls. Each earbud has a capacitive touchpad on it that can be tapped in different ways to complete different actions. Unfortunately, the controls are not nearly as extensive as competing truly wireless earbuds.

At the time of writing this, the only gestures I know exist are:

• Double tap
• Triple tap

Single tapping doesn’t seem to do anything nor does long pressing or swiping. Interestingly, the product page for the Amazfit PowerBuds claims that the earbuds have single and double tap gestures, which as far as I can see, isn’t the case. Maybe there are plans to add a single-tap gesture in a future firmware update.

By default, a double tap on either earbud will turn the “Thru-Mode” on or off. Thru-Mode uses the earbuds’ microphones to relay outside audio to you. It’s a bit of a weird feature to have for earbuds that don’t support active noise cancellation, though. A triple tap on either earbud will play or pause the active audio stream.

Luckily, you can customize the gestures on a per-earbud basis. You can choose from any of the following actions:

• Play/Pause
• Next Track
• Previous Track
• Thru-Mode
• Voice Assistant
• Nothing

(To answer and end calls, the gesture is a hardcoded double-tap.)

Personally, I have my gestures set to play/pause on a double tap and previous/next on a triple tap, since I mainly use my earbuds for listening to music or watching videos.

Even though the existing gestures are pretty customizable, the gesture detection is frustratingly not very good. Triple taps have sometimes registered as double taps, double taps failed to be recognized at all, etc. It’s not a fun experience, and I’ve even seen competing (and cheaper) options offer more gestures, so it’s really hard to justify this. For example, the Tronsmart Spunky Beat has single, double, and triple tap gestures, along with multiple long-press actions that execute depending on the length of the press. Hopefully, Huami will issue an update allowing us to use more gestures (and to fix the current ones). Until then, this is a bit of a sore point.

The tap gestures aren’t the only controls here, though. Each earbud has a detection window to check if it’s in your ear or not. When you remove one or both of the earbuds, the pause action is sent to your device. They also will tell your device to resume playback when reinserted. This feature actually works pretty well. With the Amazfit PowerBuds paired with my Galaxy Note9, music pauses and plays almost immediately. On my Realme X3 SuperZoom, the resume feature doesn’t work, but that’s seemingly a ColorOS issue.

Finally, there’s a button on the case itself. Positioned front and center when you open the lid, this button is used for initiating pair mode. Holding it down for three seconds causes the status light to rapidly fade in and out and lets you connect to the earbuds from a new device.

To be frank, there’s some room for improvement here. The iffy gesture detection combined with the limited number of said gestures makes for a not-so-pleasant phone-free experience.

Ergonomics & Usage

In the Controls section, I talked a little bit about the button on the case that’s used for starting the pairing process: I don’t like this decision. In my opinion, you shouldn’t have to go find the case and put the earbuds in it just to connect to a new device. I know this is somewhat standard, but switching Bluetooth earbuds among devices is annoying enough. I don’t see why I need to put the earbuds back in the case and then press a button on it before I can switch the connection. I’m of the opinion that using the earbuds should only involve, well, using the earbuds.

Now for the interesting part of the Amazfit PowerBuds: the heart-rate sensor. Yes, these earbuds can tell you how fast your heart is beating (theoretically). The right earbud has an extra sensor on it for this. Open the Amazfit app, start a workout, and your heart rate will be reported to you along with things like how far you’ve run/walked and how long you’ve been going.

This is a really neat feature, but it’s just not reliable. In my testing, the reading jumps all over the place: from 95 to 105 bpm just by taking a step; 110 bpm after running up some stairs, and then 130 bpm three minutes later; back to 100 bpm after sitting still for a few minutes. Comparing to my Galaxy Note9’s heart-rate readings (remember that feature? I didn’t), the PowerBuds were reporting either way too high or way too low. This might be a useful feature for very general interpretations, but it’s not accurate enough for anything detailed.

In terms of comfort, the Amazfit PowerBuds are actually pretty good. I mentioned that they’re pretty bulky a few sections ago, but it honestly isn’t a problem. I’ve had them in my ears for over four hours straight without issues. My ears don’t start hurting with them in, and they don’t just fall out on their own. I don’t think this is enough to outweigh the other usage problems I’ve encountered, but it’s not all bad.

Lastly, an annoying little quirk: when connected to a Windows computer, the Amazfit PowerBuds break some audio streams. Things like game audio and Discord‘s sound effects just don’t come through. Granted, this could be a Windows interoperability issue, but it hasn’t happened on any other pair of Bluetooth earbuds I’ve used.

Battery & Charging

Huami claims a battery life of about 8 hours on a single charge (with the heart rate sensor on), and as far as I can tell, this is accurate. Because of the pandemic, I haven’t had as much opportunity to use any earbuds for very long periods of time. But I’ve had no issues with the battery life on the Amazfit PowerBuds. Playing games, listening to music, whatever. I haven’t run into the low battery warning.

If 8 hours isn’t enough for you, the charging case provides an extra two charges in it, meaning you can use the Amazfit PowerBuds for up to 24 hours total before you need to find an outlet.

In terms of charging, Huami claims a charge time of 15 minutes will get you playback time of 3 hours (with the heart rate sensor off). Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to test that, but I see no reason to doubt it. While that’s not as fast as some of the competing wireless earbuds out there, it’s certainly not slow, and it’s a nice feature to see here. Huami doesn’t specify a total time-till-charged, but I think it’s safe to say that an hour’s worth of charging will bring the earbuds up to 100%.

Amazfit PowerBuds Sound Quality

Continuing this positive trend, let’s talk about sound quality.

The Amazfit PowerBuds produce good quality sound. They get loud, there’s plenty of bass if you like that, and higher frequencies don’t get overpowered by the bass. By default, they’re a little too heavy on the bass for my liking, but there’s a pretty easy solution to that. If you use the Amazfit app, there’s an equalizer you can set. This isn’t just a phone-specific equalizer, either. When you save your settings, the app saves them to the earbuds themselves. Set your preferred equalization in the app, and that’s what the earbuds will use no matter what you connect to. Personally, I love this feature. So many Bluetooth earbuds come with different equalizer “modes” for different scenarios like music or gaming. But nothing beats being able to set the audio exactly how you like it.

While the Amazfit PowerBuds don’t have any sort of active noise cancellation, they do have pretty good noise isolation. These are rubber-tipped earbuds, so they make a pretty good seal inside your ears. That means you can play your music pretty loudly without annoying other people, and that what you’re listening to won’t have to compete too much with background noises. Of course, if you do want to “properly” hear the outside world, you can always turn on Thru-Mode. Thru-Mode is basically Apple’s Transparency Mode, which uses the microphones in the earbuds to pass outside sound through to you. On these earbuds, though, it’s not very good. It’s artificially loud, it sounds terrible, and it’s delayed. It’s there if you want it, but I’m not a fan.

In terms of microphone quality, each earbud has its own microphone that enables the previously mentioned Thru-Mode. You can also use them for voice calls if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend anything beyond a standard phone call. In a Discord voice call, I was told the microphone sounds consistently worse than my laptop’s internal one. It’s pretty clear the microphones are really only designed for traditional phone calls, which is a little disappointing, but understandable.

Pricing & Availability

If you live in the U.S., you can currently buy the Amazfit PowerBuds on Amazon for $99.

Buy the Huami Amazfit PowerBuds from Amazon ||| Amazfit PowerBuds Product Page

In my view, this is a lot of money to ask for truly wireless earbuds with these features. Is it worth it?

Conclusion

I don’t think I can recommend buying the Amazfit Powerbuds, at least not at their full price of $99.

While the sound quality and battery life are good, it’s possible to get earbuds with these features at much lower prices. Add to that the other issues like poor gesture recognition and the iffy onboarding process, and you’ve got a bit of a frustrating combination. And that’s ignoring that the main gimmick of the Amazfit PowerBuds, the heart rate sensor, doesn’t seem to even be accurate most of the time. These earbuds also aren’t the only IP55-rated options out there, so I wouldn’t even consider that a saving grace.

Not all hope is lost, though. In the time I’ve had them, the Amazfit PowerBuds have received two firmware updates. I’m not entirely sure what they were for since there’s no changelog that I can find and they didn’t fix any of the issues I’ve had. But if Huami is serious about supporting these earbuds, it’s possible we’ll see some updates that expand on the limited gestures or improve the initial setup. That doesn’t mean you should buy them, though, at least not now. It doesn’t make sense to buy something for $100+ on the possibility that it’ll improve.

If you’re still interested in giving the Amazfit PowerBuds a try, you can visit the links provided in the Pricing & Availability section.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ Review: The Meaningful Increment

Wireless earphones and truly wireless earphones have both been around for a few years now, but it’s only recently that we have seen their popularity explode. That’s thanks in part to OEMs insisting on the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack from their top phones and then pushing out wireless audio solutions as additional purchases. Samsung has been in the wireless audio game for a fair few years, with releases like the Gear Icon X in 2016 that catered to fitness enthusiasts. But with the Galaxy Buds in 2019, Samsung shifted its focus on attracting the mainstream audience with a more discreet yet stylish design, and they actually ended up doing an excellent job. The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ succeed the Buds by claiming to assimilate the feedback received into a more well-rounded product. But how good are the Galaxy Buds+ in 2020? Here’s my review of Samsung’s flagship true wireless earbuds.

Samsung Galaxy Buds+: Specifications

Specifications	Samsung Galaxy Buds+
Dimensions and Weight	Earbud: 17.5 x 22.5 x 19.2mm 6.3g Case: 38.8 x 70 x 26.5mm 39.6g
Battery and Charging	Earbud: 85mAh Case: 270mAh Qi Wireless Charging
Speaker and Mic	Woofer plus Tweeter 2x Mics (outer) plus 1x Mic (inner)
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.0 Profile: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP Codec: Scalable (Samsung proprietary), ACC, SBC
Sensor and other hardware	Accelerometer, IR, Hall, Touch, 3x Microphones
Box Contents	Earbuds Wingtips (S, M, L) Eartips (S, M, L) Charging Case Charging Cable (USB Type-C) Quick Start Guide
Colors	White, Blue, Black, Red, Pink, Special BTS Edition Purple

Note: Samsung India sent us a Samsung Galaxy Buds+ for review. However, they did not have any inputs on the contents of this review. This review is after about three weeks of usage.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ — Design and Build

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are similar in design to the original Galaxy Buds. But as is the general theme with this product, the changes are subtle but lend themselves to an experience that is much more complete than the predecessor. The only way you can differentiate the Galaxy Buds from the Galaxy Buds+ is by looking for the third microphone hole on the latter. Otherwise, they look the same externally.

The Galaxy Buds+ has a build that does admittedly feel a bit cheap and unbecoming of the price tag. The glossy surface areas on the earbud touchpads and the case can retain fingerprints and make them look dirty. The gloss also contrasts strikingly from the rubber wingtips, and it gives the buds a design that does not feel as seamless as some of the competitors, especially against those with protruding stems like the Apple AirPods.

Samsung Galaxy Buds+: Difference between S and L wingtips. Notice the lack of stabilizing protrusion on the S size wingtip (on the right)

Curiously, Samsung shows the “S” sized wingtips in most of its marketing and promotional material, and this wingtip has no protruding stabilizers while the other two sizes have protrusions/small “stabilizers” that try to hook onto the pinna. Even on the largest wingtips, the stabilizers aren’t too large, so they are unlikely to cause irritation, annoyance, or discomfort.

Samsung’s attention to detail comes to light when you observe the wingtips closely—the plastic shell on the Galaxy Buds+ has a raised pimple on the underside and the rubber wingtip has a complementing puncture, ensuring that there is only one correct way to have the earbud wear the wingtip.

Once you get over the overuse of gloss on the Galaxy Buds+, you realize that the rest of the package is actually amazing. The Galaxy Buds+ earbuds have a small footprint, and they protrude from your ears by only a small margin. They are also fairly lightweight. The net result of this combination is that I have experienced no fatigue from wearing them for a few hours at a stretch.

Unlike the Sony WF-1000XM3 that are bulkier (pictured above), I can actually rest my head sideways on a pillow with the Galaxy Buds+ in my ears and not have them push themselves deep within my ear or cause any discomfort. I’ve even managed to take a short nap with these on, which is a testimony to how effortless wearing these earbuds can be.

The fit on the earbuds is also great. Regardless of the wingtip chosen (S without the stabilizers, or M/L with the stabilizers), the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ sit deep within the ear and do not fall out even while walking around or doing light head movements. The included rubber tips do a great job of holding the earbuds in place within your ear canal and do a decent job with noise isolation as well. I have not had any instances of the earphones popping out of my ears or becoming unsettled, but there is a good chance that the shape of your ears will give you a different experience. Still, their overall small footprint and design coupled with the low weight and deep ear fit make the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ an excellent choice for earphones that you pop in your ears and forget about for a few hours.

As far as the case is concerned, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ come in a pill-shaped case that snaps shut with the help of magnets to keep the lid closed. The Galaxy Buds+ rest within the case without any issues, as they should. If I had to nitpick, I would say that the magnetic snapping action of the earbuds when putting them back into the case is a little underwhelming and not as satisfying as the tight snap that happens with the Sony WF-1000XM3. Moving on, the size of the case feels perfect for pockets, which was a welcome change of pace for someone like me who came from the bulky WF-1000XM3 and its even bulkier case.

But as mentioned before, the full glossy finish of the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ case undermines the cost and makes it look borderline garish. In contrast, the case of the Sony WF-1000XM3 adopts a matte finish for a large portion of its surface area and just feels more premium in comparison (though the absolutely scratch-prone polished metal lid on the Sony’s is a big problem of its own).

The case has an LED indicator on the inside to indicate the charging status of the earbuds and another LED indicator on the outside to indicate the charging status of the case. Inside the case, there’s a rubber strip to indicate where the Left and Right earbuds are to be placed—it is easy to mistake the small bumps for some sort of buttons you can press, but they aren’t actually buttons as they cannot be pressed and provide no functionality other than for visuals.

The USB Type-C port exists below the hinge on the outside. You can use the port for charging the case or you can choose to wirelessly charge the case using a Qi-certified wireless charger. Wireless charging is a differentiating upgrade from the original Galaxy Buds, so if you have invested in wireless chargers, you will appreciate the added convenience that the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ brings into your life. But if you aren’t, Samsung also includes a standard USB Type-A to Type-C cable in the box, so you’re covered either way.

Another point to note: the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have an IPX2 rating, which means it just resists light splashes of water. To put it into perspective, the Galaxy Buds+ can handle light sweat, but that’s about it. Because of this, it is not advised to wear them for any serious workouts or during rain.

To wrap it up, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have a very good, small, and lightweight design with an adequate, snug fit. The case is also compact and pocketable. Other than the glossy finish and the poor IP rating, I don’t have any major complaints about the design or build of this accessory. I hope Samsung takes notice of this feedback because the Galaxy Buds+ would have been close to perfect without the gloss!

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ — Features

Easy Pair

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ come with a robust set of features. Starting off, the first pairing process is super simple: You just have to open the lid and the Galaxy Buds+ are already in pairing mode. Enter into pairing mode on your smartphone or other devices, click on the Galaxy Buds+ entry, and you are connected and good to go! You don’t need an app or account to sign in just to use the Galaxy Buds+ and its basic functionality, nor do you need to remember any complicated pairing gestures or actions. That’s a big plus (pun unintended) as it removes the friction from the onboarding process and makes these a good average-consumer-friendly product.

The pairing process only gets slightly complicated when you are pairing a second device while staying connected to the first one. In this instance, you need to disconnect from the previous device (preferably by turning Bluetooth off) and then either manually enter into pairing mode (tap once, and then tap and hold on the t0uch area) or place the buds back into the case and reopen the lid. This was admittedly a bit more cumbersome, but the pairing process still remains painless if the Galaxy Buds+ do not have an active connection. It’s great that they automatically enter pairing mode when they can’t connect to a previous connection. Note that the Galaxy Buds+ initiate a connection when the lid is opened, and the earbuds do not need to be pulled out to switch them on. Also, you can use a singular earbud too.

If you have a Samsung smartphone with the Samsung SmartThings app installed, the pairing process should be even easier. I do not have a Samsung device to test this out, though. Also, note that the Galaxy Buds+ also do not support Google’s Fast Pair.

Multi-device Switching

When the Galaxy Buds+ launched, there was some mild controversy regarding multi-device switching. This was a feature that was only available when switching between two Samsung devices that have the Samsung SmartThings app installed. SmartThings would then enable the user to tap within the media panel on each device to move the Galaxy Buds+ connection between two devices. However, a subsequent update brought multi-device support for non-Samsung devices.

Consequently, there is a lot less friction now to switch between two devices. This has immediately lifted the Galaxy Buds+ up in terms of convenience and utility against the Sony WF-1000XM3, as I can very easily switch between several phones and my laptop with little effort. But there is still room for improvement—for instance, I do hope the next iteration adopts Bluetooth multipoint and shifts audio focus intelligently.

Controls

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have a large touchpad (the glossy part) facing outwards. This can be tapped in various combinations to control different functions. A single tap on either bud plays and pauses tracks. A double-tap will play the next track and a triple tap will play the previous track. If a call is incoming, you can double-tap to accept and single tap and hold to decline. The Samsung Wearable app lets you reconfigure the single touch and hold command on the left and right earbud individually to any of the following four options: Voice command, Ambient sound, Spotify, or Volume Control (Right earbud for Volume Up, Left earbud for Volume Down). Note that the Galaxy Buds+ does not have auto-pause on removal/auto-play on insertion, even though they can detect when they are removed. On the flip side, you can’t really not touch the touchpad while removing or inserting the earbud.

You can also choose to lock the touch and hold command. With the command locked, you can still control volume by enabling an experimental feature called “Double Tap Earbud Edge.” I found that this feature works best when you are hitting the underside of your ear and not touching the earbuds directly, but the overall gesture feels unnatural and forced, so it makes sense to have this under the experimental tab.

The Voice command control can trigger Google Assistant on my phone. The Spotify integration is also neat as you can launch and begin playing the last played playlist with a simple gesture.

Connectivity

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ support Bluetooth 5.0 for connecting to devices. For codecs, both the Buds+ and the Buds support SBC, AAC, and the scalable Samsung codec (proprietary). You can only take advantage of the Samsung scalable codec on Samsung’s devices, and hence, an ecosystem lock-in becomes crucial to experience the best sound out of these earbuds.

In terms of wireless range, I can get an uninterrupted connection across the hallway, which is about 8-10 meters. Connection drops and audio crackling become more frequent if you have any walls in between. Performance is on par with other truly wireless solutions, so there’s nothing to really complain about here.

Latency is unfortunately noticeable on the Galaxy Buds+, especially while gaming. I am unable to put a number to the delay, but it is definitely noticeable. Still, the situation is not too bad for casual play, and you can make do with the Buds+ if you do not have a wired solution nearby.

Curiously, there is no gaming mode to be found within the Galaxy Wearable app on my OnePlus 7 Pro, however, an option for the same does show up on Samsung devices.

Galaxy Wearable App

The Galaxy Wearable app is a recommended download for unlocking certain customizations on the Samsung Galaxy Buds+, but you don’t necessarily need it for basic functions and controls.

Galaxy Wearable (Samsung Gear) (Free, Google Play) →

The app is primarily used when you need to read a precise measurement of the battery level on the individual buds and the case. You also need it to download and install firmware updates for the Galaxy Buds+. Some of these updates bring useful functions such as seamless connections, so I do recommend keeping the app installed and checking it regularly. You can also reset the earbuds from within the app.

There is also an equalizer within the app. However, you cannot fine-tune the settings or create a custom profile, which is a major oversight on a popular product like this. There are third-party apps that can do this, though.

Further, you can also have the Galaxy Buds+ read your notifications aloud to you. This can be done either in a summary format (just the name of the app) or in detail (with the notification content). You can set the feature up on a per-app basis, too.

The Galaxy Wearable app also has a Find My Earbuds feature which plays a loud beep on the earphones. Frankly, if you have actually lost your earbud, the feature is practically useless as you can barely hear the sound unless the earbud is within 10cm of your ears.

Ambient Sound

Within the Galaxy Wearable app, you can also toggle between various levels of Ambient Sound—a setting that amplifies the distracting sound around you. I fail to see why a user would want to use this setting since it downgrades the music listening experience without placing any particular emphasis on external voices.

You can, however, choose to have ambient sound turned on only for voice calls, and this is a setting I would recommend keeping in place. The noise isolation on the Galaxy Buds+ is quite good, and as a result, you may not realize how loud you are if you are on a voice call. Turning this setting on lets you realize how loud you sound to people around you, so the self-awareness helps you to modulate your voice accordingly.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ — Sound Quality and Voice Quality

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ have a 2-way speaker system along with a dedicated tweeter and woofer in each earphone for better treble and bass performance, respectively. Like several other Samsung audio accessories, they are also tuned by AKG. Curiously, Samsung does not actually detail the size of the driver used within the earbuds. Regardless, the Buds+ sound great. I consider myself an amateur in audio assessment and to my “average consumer” audio perception, the Galaxy Buds+ do an excellent job.

Using this thread from the Head-Fi forums as a reference, I would say that the Galaxy Buds+ have a higher reproduction on the higher ends. Samsung claims an improvement in bass response, but this improvement seems to be lost on me as I feel that the bass is still noticeably weak. For instance, the audio from the Halo theme does not sound as majestic as it should, and there is a lack of a “thump” and the sub-bass appears to be rolled off. The Bass Boost setting within the Galaxy Wearable app does improve the bass response but at the cost of higher-pitched notes. The relatively poor bass response may be a limitation of TWS solutions as a whole and not simply an issue with the Buds+. If you like your audio bass-heavy, such as Nucleya’s Laung Gawacha from Bass Rani, steer clear and opt for headphones instead.

Nitpicking on the bass aside, the Galaxy Buds+ have performed admirably on all other aspects. Vocals are a delight to hear, with clear reproduction and no noticeable muddling. Mids and highs are also handled very well. Music listening is an enjoyable experience on the Buds+ as far as audio quality is concerned.

What is a little disappointing is the lack of any form of noise cancellation on the earbuds. This is especially noticeable to me as I come from daily driving the Sony WF-1000XM3, which is generally recognized as the best active noise cancellation earbuds released in 2019. The Sony WF-1000XM3 does an absolutely amazing job of drowning out external noise and immersing you in the music. The Samsung Galaxy Buds+, on the other hand, rely solely on noise isolation with the rubber ear tips as there is no active noise cancellation at play. Active Noise Cancellation is the only reason why I still carry both sets of earphones around with me. Had the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ featured any sort of noise cancellation, I would have been comfortable leaving my Sony XM3s behind. The next Galaxy Buds X/ Galaxy Buds Live/ Galaxy Buds beans are rumored to come with active noise cancellation support, so I am definitely interested in seeing what Samsung brings to the table with their next-gen product.

The voice quality, though, is not disappointing. On the contrary, my experience with calls has been great. The inclusion of the third microphone is immediately noticeable to parties on the other end of a call. Voice calls, WhatsApp video calls, and Zoom meetings have gone without a hitch on the voice audio quality. To continue the comparison, the Sony WF-1000XM3 performs rather poorly on voice calls and people on the other end have described the sound as “distant” and “hollow”. With the Galaxy Buds+, people could not tell if I was speaking through a wireless earbud, and that’s a big thumbs up.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ — Battery Life

The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ promises a battery life of 11 hours, and the company’s claims hold up for the most part. The maximum I have worn the Galaxy Buds+ during a single stretch was 9 hours, and it went through without needing to be popped into the case. The battery backup provided by the case is a little disappointing, as you can expect about a full charge just once again. Combined overall, the Galaxy Buds+ does have decent battery backup, and you should be covered for most use cases.

If you do manage to run out of battery, you can charge up through the USB Type-C port, a Qi-compatible wireless charger, or through Wireless Powershare. The addition of wireless charging is a nice touch on the earbuds, and it adds to the convenience of owning this pair of earbuds for users who have leaned into the wireless charging lifestyle. Simply place them on the charging mat and pick them back up again after some time.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds+ — Concluding Note

My time with the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ has been very enjoyable, and I loved having these earphones around with me to get through the days in lockdown. These buds had to fill in the rather big shoes of the Sony WF-1000XM3, my daily drivers, and they managed to do a very good job. The only instances where I missed my Sony XM3s were in noisier environments for that sweet and effective Active Noise Cancellation feature, but that was to be expected because Sony set the bar very high and Buds+ completely lack the feature. I also miss having earbuds that are truly water-resistant, and that is something that is not up to the mark on both the Samsung’s and the Sony’s. The gloss on the Galaxy Buds+ case is a fingerprint magnet and is best left hidden in your pocket.

What the Galaxy Buds+ does excellently is everything else. The small design of the earbud causes practically no wear fatigue, a fact that makes them comfortable to wear for long periods of time. The sound quality is very good and so is the noise isolation, and the complaints on bass can be filed under nitpicking. The battery lasts for a long while, and when you do run out, you have a few options to make charging up easy. Plus, the voice call quality on the Buds+ has made them my default choice all through a workday and beyond. Samsung has made only a few changes over the original Galaxy Buds, essentially polishing a good product, and the result speaks itself. Things are even better if you own a recent Samsung Galaxy smartphone as you get the added benefits of tighter ecosystem integration.

Are the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ the best truly wireless earbuds on the market? That is a difficult question to answer, and without having tried the many popular alternatives on the market, I don’t feel confident enough to answer. At a price of ₹11,990 (~$158) in India and $149 in the USA, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are not cheap, and you are likely to find competitive solutions like the Jabra Elite Active 75t, Sennheiser Momentum TWS, and even the Huawei FreeBuds 3 around the same price range. But the biggest competitor to the Galaxy Buds+ is the Apple Airpods lineup. In India, the Apple AirPods Pro costs a cool ₹24,900 (~$329) while the second-generation AirPods with the wireless charging case costs ₹18,900 (~$250). Against these two, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ is a better value product and does not disappoint in audio performance as well. The Galaxy Buds+ are one of the most recognizable and easy-to-recommend products in this segment for average users.

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds+: Samsung.in || Samsung.com

If you have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ is a good purchase for ₹11,990/$149, and an even sweeter deal if you can get them for lower.

The post Samsung Galaxy Buds+ Review: The Meaningful Increment appeared first on xda-developers.

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OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro Early Developments: Custom Kernels, Google Camera, and Hole-Punch Apps!

OnePlus is one of the few Android smartphone makers that still caters to the aftermarket development community. Despite its status as a “premium” smartphone brand these days, the company has promoted custom ROMs for EOL devices and maintains an active developer program. Now the company’s latest offerings — the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro — have been blessed with some early custom developments, especially after OnePlus published the unified kernel source code. In this OnePlus 8 series development update, we will be listing all the custom ROMs, kernels, and mods that are now available for the phone duo.

OnePlus 8 XDA Forums ||| OnePlus 8 Pro XDA Forums

Buy OnePlus 8/8 Pro from Amazon.in (Affiliate)

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Guides and Tools

How to root

So you have unlocked the bootloader of your brand new phone and planning to root? The following guides can help you to patch the stock boot image of your phone with Magisk and flash the modified version to gain root access. The guides also show you how to install OxygenOS OTA updates while keeping root intact. Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer mauronofrio for the guides!

How to root without a custom recovery: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

Unbrick tool

Access to the official unbrick tool would be immensely helpful, as they allow you to restore your OnePlus 8 or OnePlus 8 Pro in case you accidentally brick it while tinkering. Commonly known as ‘MsmDownloadTool’, these tools can also be used to roll back to a previous version of OxygenOS if necessary. Thanks to XDA Portal supporter Some_Random_Username for sharing the unbrick tools!

Unbrick tool: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

Enable VoLTE & VoWiFi

The OnePlus 8 lineup is officially compatible with several major telecom providers, but not all of them have whitelisted the models for advanced IMS services, such as VoLTE and VoWiFi. Fortunately, there is an easy way to enable those features right from your device. Credits go to XDA Junior Member LennARTpas for the tutorial!

Enable VoLTE & VoWiFi on the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro

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Custom Kernels and Recoveries

Unofficial TWRP

Replacing the stock recovery with a custom recovery like TWRP is kind of a norm in the aftermarket development scene. It enables users to perform a full backup (including critical partitions) and flash custom ROMs as well as other mods on their devices. Owners of these phones should be pleased to know that an unofficial build of TWRP is already available, courtesy of XDA Recognized Developer mauronofrio.

TWRP Download and Discussion Thread: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

ElementalX kernel

XDA Recognized Developer flar2 has ported his ever-popular custom kernel, ElementalX, to these devices. The kernel brings several improvements, including advanced color control, wakelock blocking, and WireGuard support among other things. Experienced users can fine-tune the kernel parameters using any standard kernel configuration app.

ElementalX kernel: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

blu_Spark kernel

A familiar name in the OnePlus community, XDA Senior Member eng.stk received a developer unit of the OnePlus 8 Pro from the company and promptly brought his famous blu_Spark kernel to the phone. Besides featuring a plethora of enhanced performance and battery patches, the kernel supports CDROM emulation on mass storage, making it compatible with DriveDroid. Note that compatibility with the regular OnePlus 8 hasn’t been personally tested by the developer.

blu_Spark kernel for the OnePlus 8 series

CleanSlate kernel

Fancy using gestures? CleanSlate kernel by XDA Recognized Developer tbalden offers sweep to sleep and double/long tap on corner area gestures. The cherry on top, the companion kernel config app from the same developer can be used without root access. Try out the kernel on your OnePlus 8/8 Pro by following the instructions in the forum threads linked below.

CleanSlate kernel: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

Radioactive kernel

If you are looking for a lightweight but feature-rich custom kernel, opt for Radioactive kernel. Developed by XDA Recognized Contributor acuicultor, the unified kernel brings in a WireGuard module, KCAL control, kernel-level live display support using K-Lapse, and any many more to both the OnePlus 8 and its “Pro” variant.

Radioactive kernel for the OnePlus 8 series

EviraKernel, FrankenKernel, and Omega kernel

XDA Senior Member resurrect prefers to create a balance between performance and battery life through Evira kernel (stylized as “EviraKernel”). The custom kernel was originally released for the OnePlus 8 Pro, but the developer added compatibility for the regular OnePlus 8 a few weeks ago.

EviraKernel: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

FrankenKernel by XDA Recognized Developer dabug123 and Omega Kernel by XDA Senior Member kristofpetho offer a similar performance boost over the stock OxygenOS kernel. The latter is officially compatible with the OnePlus 8 Pro only.

FrankenKernel for the OnePlus 8 series

Omega kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro

Kirisakura kernel

The CAF Upstream-powered Kirisakura kernel brings a number of security enhancements to the OnePlus 8 Pro, such as Kernel Control Flow Integrity (Kernel-CFI). The maintainer, XDA Recognized Developer Freak07, has also incorporated several useful functionalities from CleanSlate kernel.

Kirisakura kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro

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Custom ROMs

LineageOS 17.1

LineageOS is undoubtedly the most popular custom ROM out there, and it is now available for the OnePlus 8 Pro, thanks to the contributions of XDA Recognized Developer LuK1337. You can flash the unofficial build of LineageOS 17.1 on your OnePlus 8 Pro by following the instructions in the forum thread linked below.

Unofficial LineageOS 17.1 for the OnePlus 8 Pro

Paranoid Android

Much like LineageOS, Paranoid Android also has a huge user base. The popular custom ROM is now available as beta for the OnePlus 8/8 Pro. The ROM, which is based on PA Quartz 3 revision, comes with GApps preinstalled. Since it’s still in the early stages of development, there are some minor issues. Head over to the device-specific threads linked below and follow the instructions to get the ROM up and running on your device. Credits go to developers ZVNexus, xboxfanj, TheStrix, and sirhc for these builds.

Paranoid Android Beta: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

CarbonROM

The team behind the popular CarbonROM custom ROM recently released its Android 10-based builds back in late April. The AOSP-based custom ROM is already available for nearly 20 Android devices, and now they’ve released early builds for the OnePlus 8 Pro. This build is made by XDA Recognized Developer Myself5 and you can grab it from the thread linked below.

Unofficial CarbonROM for the OnePlus 8 Pro

xXx NoLimits and ExOS

In case you don’t want to lose the stability of stock OxygenOS, you can choose between xXx NoLimits and ExOS. Unlike traditional custom ROMs, these are highly configurable Magisk modules in the truest sense of the term. One should flash them on top of the stock ROM to enjoy features like built-in ad blocking (via AdAway), ViPER4Android, and a whole lot of other useful goodies. xXx NoLimits is made by XDA Senior Member xXx while ExOS is made by XDA Senior Member jamal2367.

xXx NoLimits for the OnePlus 8 Series

ExOS for the OnePlus 8 series

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Mods

Google Camera Port

Fans of the Google Camera app will be glad to know that a port is now available for the OnePlus 8 family of devices. The port is made by XDA Senior Member Urnyx05, and it reportedly works quite well. The telephoto and the ultra-wide-angle sensors are correctly recognized by this port, however, the macro camera on the OnePlus 8 is not supported as of now. Moreover, the resolution of the captured images is capped at 12MP due to the 4-in-1 pixel binning from the 48MP sensor.

Google Camera mod for the OnePlus 8 series

Unlock Dolby Atmos equalizer settings

XDA Senior Member Rayekk discovered a handy method to replace the barebones Dolby Atmos Settings on the OnePlus 8/8 Pro (as well as older OnePlus phones running Android 10) with a more feature-filled equalizer extracted from the Razer Phone. The good news is, you can apply this mod without root access.

Unlock Dolby Atmos equalizer settings on the OnePlus 8 series

Arc Lighting and Energy Ring

These two nifty apps can utilize the area around the front camera hole-punch cutout on your OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro to display the battery status. Arc Lighting can also use the space as a notification indicator or displaying audio visualizations. Energy Ring is made by XDA Recognized Developer jagan2 while Arc Lighting is made by XDA Senior Member zzcool.

Arc Lighting for the OnePlus 8 series 

Energy Ring: OnePlus 8 ||| OnePlus 8 Pro

aodNotify and OPAodMod

Always on Display (AOD) is yet to be officially available on OxygenOS, but XDA’s talented developer community has got you covered. For example, you can pick up aodNotify, which also doubles as a notification light for your OnePlus 8. OPAodMod, on the other hand, is an Xposed Module that brings in a Google Pixel-like AOD feature. aodNotify is made by XDA Senior Member Jawomo while the OPAodMod is maintained by XDA Recognized Developer Quinny899.

aodNotify for the OnePlus 8

OPAodMod for the OnePlus 8 series

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Keep an eye out on the XDA forums for more mods. While we were preparing this article, more and more threads kept popping up! The OnePlus 8 series is bound to be popular among the enthusiast community, and with more developers getting ready to publish their work, you’ll have plenty of interesting mods to tinker with.

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Kirisakura custom kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro enables Control Flow Integrity (CFI) for better security

OnePlus phones are quite popular among tinkerers, primarily because of the company’s developer-friendly attitude and of course, its painless bootloader unlocking policy. The company itself isn’t afraid to experiment and modders fully embrace the same school of thought. For example, OnePlus phones were the first few non-Pixel devices to support Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS) courtesy of XDA’s rich aftermarket development community. This is a big reason why third-party kernels are always welcome here at XDA, as they can be customized to introduce new performance features as well as security measures.

XDA Recognized Developer Freak07, better known as the maintainer of Kirisakura kernel, has now introduced a nifty security feature to the OnePlus 8 Pro through his custom kernel. The mechanism is called Control Flow Integrity (CFI), which is designed to be a runtime hardening feature, but could also be classified as a bug-finding tool – making it quite distinctive.

OnePlus 8 Pro XDA Forums

What is Control Flow Integrity and how is it related to hardening?

Improving security by fixing exploitable code is a very important aspect of kernel development. This, amongst others, is done regularly by the monthly Android security updates.

However, as we all know, these updates aren’t rolled out as regularly by all OEMs as we would like them to be. Additionally, the Android kernel consists of thousands and thousands of lines of code that are out of tree. Due to the complexity and size of the Android kernel, as well as the sheer diversity of the Android ecosystem, it’s difficult to fix every single exploit. Instead of fixing every single line of exploitable code, it’s beneficial to make the system more resilient against attacks by rendering the existing security bugs non-exploitable. This technique is called hardening.

That’s where Control Flow Integrity (CFI) comes into play. CFI is a security mechanism that disallows changes to the original control flow graph of a compiled binary. Due to existing memory protections that make code injection more difficult, a common attack vector is to overwrite a function pointer stored in memory.

Here is a technical explanation by Freak07 that explains a bit more about Control Flow Integrity:

Technical details about Control Flow Integrity

“The availability of a huge number of function pointers in the kernel assists the popularity of this attack pattern. Even if attackers cannot inject executable code of their own, arbitrary parts of existing kernel code can be executed to complete their exploit.

LLVM‘s CFI attempts to mitigate these attacks by restricting valid call targets and forcing a kernel panic when detecting a CFI violation. A check is added before each indirect branch to confirm that the target address points to a valid function with a correct signature. This prevents an indirect branch from jumping to an arbitrary code location and even limits the functions that can be called. An attacker will still be able to change a function pointer, if a bug allows access. But LLVM’s CFI limits 55% of indirect calls to at most 5 possible targets and 80% to at most 20 targets. In order to determine all valid call targets for each indirect branch, the compiler needs to see all of the kernel code at once.

The usage of LTO (Link Time Optimization) makes this possible. LLVM’s CFI requires the usage of LTO, where the compiler produces LLVM-specific bitcode for all C compilation units, and an LTO-aware linker uses the LLVM backend to combine the bitcode and compile it into native code.

Supplementary to permitting the usage of CFI, LTO achieves better runtime performance through whole-program analysis and cross-module optimization.

ThinLTO has nearly caught up to LTOs performance improvement. In ThinLTO mode, as with regular LTO, Clang emits LLVM bitcode after the compile phase. The ThinLTO bitcode is augmented with a compact summary of the module. During the link step, only the summaries are read and merged into a combined summary index, which includes an index of function locations for later cross-module function importing. Afterwards fast and efficient whole-program analysis is performed on the combined summary index. ThinLTO allows a multi-threaded linking process, which results in reduced compilation time.

Due to CFI interrupting program execution when hitting certain bug classes, it also classifies as a bug finding tool, as previously mentioned, when used in permissive mode. Permissive CFI will show CFI violations in the kernel log, without forcing a kernel panic. The core 4.9 (Pixel 3 generation devices) and 4.14 (Pixel 4 generation devices) kernels had several function type mismatches resulting in CFI violations, which were addressed by Google in patchsets available on the kernel/common repos.

However, due to the nature of the Android ecosystem, these mismatches are likely to be found in SoC manufacturer (in this case, Qualcomm) or OEM (OnePlus) specific code as well. Several CFI violations in Qualcomm-code distinct to the 4.19 kernel were fixed on the Kirisakura kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro (example: 1, 2, 3).

Running the kernel in permissive CFI revealed CFI violations in code related to OnePlus drivers as well (relevant commits can be found here and here). Kirisakura kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro runs with CFI enforced, protecting its users against this kind of code reuse attacks.”

The only Android smartphone models (that we know of) that officially support CFI are the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 family. The developer tells us that his kernel is among the few custom kernels to have fully working Kernel-CFI. There is another kernel on the OnePlus 7 Pro forum that supports Kernel-CFI as well as Freak07‘s own Kirisakura kernel for the ASUS ROG Phone II, but his kernel release for the OnePlus 8 Pro is the first custom kernel for a device with Linux kernel version 4.19 to have CFI enforced.

Kirisakura kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro — XDA Download and Discussion Thread

Google strongly recommends the usage of Kernel-CFI if the device is running Android 9 Pie or higher. With OEMs sometimes being months behind the most recent security update and our phones becoming more and more connected to our lives, holding valuable private data, security features that focus on hardening the system are indeed a welcome addition to our personal smartphones. There are other kernel security features that are as important if not more important than Kernel-CFI, though, so don’t take CFI as a magic bullet that protects from all flaws.

The post Kirisakura custom kernel for the OnePlus 8 Pro enables Control Flow Integrity (CFI) for better security appeared first on xda-developers.

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