Sony has still not launched the PlayStation 5 in India

Today is the last day of the calendar year and clearly, Sony’s plans of a late 2020 launch of the PlayStation 5 in India have gone down the drain. While Microsoft started selling its new Xbox Series X and Series S in India last month, we are yet to hear from Sony regarding the official launch date of the PlayStation 5 in the country.

Sony has had a rough time trying to get its new console to India. Earlier in the year, the company had to deal with a patent dispute where the trademark for the PS5 name in the country was filed by an individual three months before Sony filed for the trademark. As of now we only know the India pricing of the PlayStation 5, which was announced back in October, along with a listing on the official PlayStation website. But ever since then there hasn’t been any other communication from Sony India regarding the launch or pre-orders, other than boilerplate responses. Some marketing materials had mentioned an obscure “late 2020” availability, but even those have been cleansed away.

It is quite bizarre that Sony is keeping this quiet when it comes to sharing information regarding the launch date or reason(s) for the delays. Not only is the company disappointing its fanbase in India, but it is also giving Microsoft an upper hand in the console wars. Microsoft claims that it has witnessed a record demand and sales for the new consoles globally, including India, as it was one of the 40 countries where the Xbox Series X and Series S were available on launch day. While the stock situation for all the new consoles are not all that great over the world, interested consumers at least have a chance of landing a PlayStation 5 officially in the regions it has launched, which is something that is missing for the Indian market.

The PlayStation 5 is priced at ₹49,990 in India, while the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition costs ₹39,990. This is fairly competitive with Microsoft’s new consoles. At the same time, Sony is offering you more bang for your buck if you go for the digital edition as it comes with the same internal hardware as the regular version, unlike the new Xbox consoles where the Series S gets less powerful hardware.

Xbox Series S Review: A compact console for the budget conscious

At this stage, we can presume that the launch of the PlayStation 5 in India will happen in early 2021. However, before that happens, a report by The Mako Reactor has revealed that customers in India might not entirely be pleased while buying the new console. The PlayStation 5 will not arrive with any special game bundles at launch, unlike the PS4 launch. Thankfully, you will egt a standard one-year warranty where customers will be entitled to a replacement unit, instead of repair. But then, boxed accessories and controllers will not have any warranty or after-sales support, which is a very odd ommission. Perhaps to make it up to customers, the report suggests that customers buying the PlayStation 5 on Day 1 would be given a token of appreciation (most likely a certificate) to indicate that they were one of the first to purchase the console in India. The big question still remains: When exactly can you buy a PlayStation 5 in India anyway?

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4G is getting Android 11 with One UI 3.0

Just yesterday, Samsung began rolling out the One UI 3.0 update on top of Android 11 to the Galaxy Note 10 lineup. Today, the Korean OEM is starting to deliver the same update to the Galaxy Z Flip 4G, introducing several improvements along with a new security patch.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4G XDA Forums

As reported by GSMArena, the One UI 3.0 update for the Galaxy Z Flip 4G (model number SM-F700F) has the firmware version F700FXXU3CTLA and comes in at nearly 2GB. The update is currently rolling out in a number of countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa, which suggests that Samsung has already started the broad-scale rollout. The OTA also brings Android security patches up to December 2020, along with new features for the Samsung keyboard and the Messages app.

One UI 3.0 Changelog for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4G

One UI 3 is designed to help you focus on what matters. Our visual redesign has improved the places you visit the most, like the Home screen and quick panel, to reduce distractions, highlight important information, and make your experience more consistent. Performance improvements will help apps run quicker while using less battery power. And One UI 3 puts control in your hands with new privacy controls, one-time permissions, and enhanced Digital Wellbeing.

Scroll down for a full list of changes.

Visual design

• We’ve refreshed the look and feel of One UI 3 in lots of ways, big and small, from new, more consistent icons to smarter organization of the quick panel and notifications. Motion is smoother and more natural than ever, with improved animations and haptic feedback for common interactions. And the interface responds to different screen sizes to provide the best experience on any device, whether it’s a phone, foldable, or tablet.

Improved performance

• We optimized One UI 3 with enhanced dynamic memory allocation, so apps run faster and perform better. We’ve also restricted background activities to provide better performance and power usage.

Better customization

• New image categories have been added to Dynamic Lock screen, and you can select up to 5 categories at once.
• On the Lock screen, you can add a widget to check your usage time.
• Get an interactive preview when setting a wallpaper.
• Adjusting the Always On Display and Lock screen is easier.
• Add a call background to see a picture or video when you make or receive a call.
• In Samsung Internet, you can reorder and lock tabs.
• Bixby Routines has even more controls to help you automate your life.
• New icons and Lock screen widgets make it easier to find and control your routines.
• Use Digital Wellbeing with separate personal and work profiles.

Enhanced features

• Home screen and Lock screen
  • Add widgets by touching and holding an app on the Home screen.
  • Turn off the screen by double tapping on an empty space on the Home or Lock screen. (Set it up in Settings > Advanced features > Motions and gestures.)
  • On the Lock screen, tap the clock area to see widgets like calendar, weather, and music.
• Calls and chats
  • See conversations separately in the notification panel. Works with Messages and your favorite chat apps.
  • Easily remove duplicate contacts stored in the same account in Contacts. The storage period for deleted contacts has been extended from 15 days to 30 days.
  • Added the ability to edit multiple linked contacts from a single screen.
  • Added Trash in Messages so that recently deleted messages are stored for 30 days.
• Pictures and videos
  • Take pictures quicker with improved auto focus and auto exposure.
  • View, edit, and share pictures and videos more easily from Gallery.
  • Find pictures and videos quicker with new search features and categories in Gallery.
  • Revert edited pictures to their original versions at any time, even after they’re saved, so you never lose a shot.
• Settings
  • Settings has a new simpler look and feel. Your Samsung account is shown at the top, and Home screen settings are now easier to access.
  • Find the settings you need more easily with new Search features. You’ll get better results for synonyms and common misspellings, and you can tap on tags to see groups of related settings.
  • Quick settings buttons have been reduced to provide only the most commonly used features. You can also add buttons to create your own customized quick panel.
• Samsung Keyboard
  • Increased the number of input languages to 370.
  • Made it easier to paste copied images and verification codes from text messages.
  • Added emoji and sticker suggestions when you enter a text-based emoticon.
  • Improved the keyboard layout to provide a larger space bar when entering web and email addresses.
  • Reorganized Keyboard settings so it’s easier to access frequently used settings.
• Productivity
  • Maintain a healthy balance between work and life by minimizing repetitive and complicated tasks and handling them efficiently.
  • New routines will be recommended based on your daily life and usage patterns.
  • Bixby Routines provide a setting to return everything to the way it was before the routine ran.
  • In Internet, you can hide the status and navigation bars for a more immersive experience and quickly translate webpages.
  • You’ll be prompted to block websites that send too many pop-ups or notifications.
  • You can browse and select cloud drive files from the file selection screen in My Files.
  • You can now delete cache files in My Files to easily free up storage space.
  • Events with the same start time are displayed together in the month and agenda view in Calendar.
• Easy media and device control
  • Media and device control is easier with the improved media panel in notifications. You can see recently used media apps and quickly change the playback device. You can also check Android Auto settings in the Advanced features menu in Settings.

Identify and improve your digital habits

• Improved Digital Wellbeing features make it easy to check how you’re using your phone or tablet and help you form good digital habits. Check your usage while driving or see weekly changes in your screen time by function at a glance through upgraded weekly reports.

Accessibility for everyone

• One UI 3 recommends useful accessibility features for you based on your usage. The improved Accessibility shortcut makes accessibility features easier to start and use. You can use the Speak keyboard input aloud feature to get voice feedback of your typing even when TalkBack is turned off.

Stronger privacy protection

• You can now let an app access to your microphone, camera, or location just one time. Any permissions that an app hasn’t used in a while will be automatically revoked. You can no longer give apps permission to always see your location in the regular permission popup. To let apps access your location when they’re not in use, you need to go to the location permission page for the app in Settings.

Additional improvements

• In Clock, you can hear the time and preset name of the alarm read aloud when an alarm rings.

Some apps will need to be updated separately after the One UI 3 update.

You can no longer use Wi-Fi Direct to send files to other devices. You can use Nearby Share instead. You can still receive files using Wi-Fi Direct.

You can no longer connect to Chromecast using Smart View. You can use Google Home instead.

Ever since the Galaxy S20 series received stable One UI 3.0 update, the process of rolling out Android 11 to older Galaxy devices has been steadily progressing. The 5G variant of the Galazy Z Flip has already secured the update, and it’s nice to see the 4G model now gets the same treatment as well.

In case you haven’t received the update notification on your Galaxy Z Flip 4G yet, you can head over to the Software Update section in the Settings app to check if the FOTA is available for your device or not. Power users, on the other hand, can opt for Frija or Samloader, which makes it a lot more easier to download the new build directly from the update server without waiting.

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OPPO launches the Reno 5 4G with the Snapdragon 720G and 50W fast charging

Oppo has officially launched the Oppo Reno 5 4G in Vietnam, a 4G version of the standard Reno 5 that launched in China earlier this month. The device was spotted in a hands-on video just last week, indicating an imminent launch, and now, it’s finally official. The OPPO Reno 5 4G will be launching in more markets globally, but so far, it’s only available in Vietnam. Broadly speaking, the Reno 5 4G is basically a repurposed Reno 4 Global with some minor hardware and visual refresh.

Reno 5 4G: Specifications

Specification	Reno 5 4G
Dimensions and Weight	159.1 mm x 73.3 mm x 7.7 mm (Mysterious Black) x 7.8 mm (Multi-Colored Silver) 171g
Display	6.4-inch AMOLED 2400 x 1080 (FHD+) 90Hz refresh rate 410 PPI DCI-P3: 93.28% coverage
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G: 2 x Cortex-A76 @ 2.3GHz 6 x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz Adreno 618 GPU (750MHz)
RAM and Storage	8GB LPDDR4x RAM 128GB flash storage MicroSD card support
Battery & Charging	4,220 mAh battery 50W fast charger (inside the box)
Rear Camera	Primary: 64MP, f/1.7 Secondary: 8MP wide-angle, 119° field-of-view Tertiary: 2MP, f/2.4, macro Quarternary: 2MP, f/2.4, depth
Front Camera	44MP, f/2.4
Ports	USB Type-C port 3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity	4G LTE Bluetooth 5.1 Dual-SIM WiFi 802.11.b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz) USB OTG
Security	In-display fingerprint scanner
Software	ColorOS 11.1 with Android 11

As far as the design and looks are concerned, the Reno 5 4G is impeccably similar to the last year Reno 4, with the only point of differentiation being the hole-punch design and the size of the fourth rear camera on the back. A 6.4-inch FHD+ AMOLED display dominates the front of the Reno 5 4G with a 90Hz screen refresh rate and up to 180Hz touch sampling rate.

The primary camera sees an upgrade from a 48MP sensor to a 64MP f/1.7 one. The 8MP wide-angle, 2MP depth and 2MP macro sensors remain the same. So is the chipset, with the device still using the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset, paired with Adreno 618 GPU, 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB flash storage.

A 4,220mAh battery provides the juice, and a 50W fast charger ensures you can refill the tank in no time. Elsewhere, we see Bluetooth 5.1, dual SIM support, in-display fingerprint scanner, dual-band Wi-Fi, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Out-of-the-box, the phone runs ColorOS 11.1 with Android 11 on top.

Pricing & Availability

The OPPO Reno 5 4G comes in two colors, Mysterious Black and Multi-Colored Silver. It’s priced at 8,690,000 VND (~$375) and is available for purchase from OPPO’s online store, Vittel Store, FPT Shop, and a bunch of other retailers. OPPO hasn’t shared any details about when it plans to bring the device to more markets, including India and Europe.

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Xiaomi Mi A3 receives official Android 11 update, but you should wait

Xiaomi has begun rolling out a stable Android 11 update to the Mi A3. The update weighs in at 1.4GB in size and brings along a jump to Android 11, among other improvements. XDA Member maciej.mackiewicz received the Android 11 update notification on his Mi A3 earlier today, and it should be rolling out to more devices in the coming days. However, early reports suggest that all may not entirely be well with the update, so we suggest you wait for a few more days.

The update packs in all the standard Andriod 11 goodies, including support for Chat Bubbles, smart device controls, new media controls, one-time permissions, wireless Android Auto support, conversation notifications, and a whole lot more.  To learn about everything that’s new in Android 11, check out this article.

The changelog for Mi A3’s Android 11 update:

• Improved Notification shade
• Conversation bubbles
• Better permissions management
• Improved DND

The Android 11 update has started seeding to Mi A3 users; however, as it’s usually the case with staged OTA rollouts, it might take some time before it’s available for all devices. If you haven’t received the update notification yet, you can head to Settings > System > System update and click on “Check for update” to see if it’s available for you to download (though we advise not doing so at this stage).

According to early reports from several users, the Android 11 update is hard bricking devices.

@XiaomiIndia Today received A11 update to my Mi A3 and after installing it and restarting the device, phone is completely dead. Neither it is charging nor switching on. What the hell is this? My phone is completely dead on new year eve.@XiaomiSupport @manukumarjain

— Mohammad Mahefooz (@Mahefooz) December 31, 2020

Users who have accepted the update now find themselves in the unfortunate situation where their phone is not responding at all. Since the update is fresh, there’s not a whole lot of information on what exactly has happened, nor any solution available for users who are stuck in this situation.

This isn’t the first time that the Mi A3’s update has had issues. Earlier this year, one update broke dual-SIM functionality on the phone. Xiaomi went on to roll a bug fix later on. In this case, since the apparent damage appears to be a dead phone prima facie, we advise users to wait for a few days.

Xiaomi Mi A3 XDA Forums

The Mi A3 was launched with Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box and was eventually updated to Android 10 earlier this year in February. The Android 11 update will most likely be the last update to the device. However, it should continue to receive security updates for one more year. As an Android One device, the Mi A3 offers a near-stock Android experience, standing in stark contrast to Xiaomi’s other product lineups running a highly customized MIUI skin.

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Realme opens up Android 11 betas for Realme X2 Pro, Realme 7, Realme Narzo 20 Pro, and Realme 6 Pro

The Android 11 rollout is in full swing, with the likes of Samsung, Oppo, and Xiaomi rolling out the latest version of Android to their mid-range and budget smartphones. Now just as we say goodbye to 2020, Realme is joining the Android 11 party with Realme UI 2.0 betas for four smartphones. The company has announced the Android 11 beta program for the Realme 6 Pro, Realme 7, Realme X2 Pro, and Realme Narzo 20 Pro.

This is in line with Realme’s update roadmap, according to which all four devices were slated to receive a Realme UI 2.0 beta with Android 11 in December 2020. If you own a Realme 7, Realme X2 Pro, or Narzo 20 Pro, you can participate in the beta program by filling in a Google form. At the time of writing this article, the beta program was no longer accepting new applicants. But you can still go ahead and visit the link below for your respective device to see if more seats have opened up in the meantime.

Realme 7 Android 11 Beta || Realme X2 Pro Android 11 Beta || Realme Narzo Android 11 Beta

The Realme 6 Pro users, on the other hand, can apply for the early access program right from their phone; go to Settings > Software update > tap on the gear icon in the top right corner > select Trial Version > fill in your details and tap Apply Now. After successful submission, you will receive the beta software via an OTA.

Do note that this beta software is not meant for average users as it will likely contain bugs and instabilities. If, at any point, you wish to leave the beta program, you can return to the stable channel by flashing the rollback package for your device.

Realme 6 Pro Android 11 Beta

The early access program is currently limited to the Indian variants only. Realme hasn’t revealed any timeframe regarding the stable release of Android 11 for these devices yet. But now that the update is already under beta testing, the final public release shouldn’t be too far.

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LG Wing update brings much-needed improvements to the Second Screen experience

The release of the LG Wing has been nothing short of a spectacle for LG. LG’s smartphone business needed some changes, and we’re seeing that in the complete revamp of their lineup throughout 2020 with phones like the LG Velvet. But it’s not enough to just make decent phones — they need to innovate if they want to stay relevant. The LG Wing shows that the company is not afraid to still innovate even if those innovations end up being treated like gimmicks. The device is part of LG’s Explorer project, an initiative the South Korean tech giant is undertaking to design devices that offer distinctive experiences. The Wing has two screens: A main 6.8″ screen with a pretty standard rectangular aspect ratio and a second 3.9″ screen with a nearly square aspect ratio. And if you have one on Verizon in the U.S., we have good news: an OTA update is coming to your device!

The device’s slide-out display provides for a very weird, yet interesting form factor, as this secondary display can be useful for a number of things like multitasking and providing additional functionality to an app. The Snapdragon 765G behind the scenes should provide plenty of power, even when taking into account the price point compared to other devices in this range (LG is not providing amazing value here, for what it’s worth, but it’s not bad considering the innovative form factor). Since this is not a form factor we usually see on Android phones (as a matter of fact, it’s the only Android phone designed in such a way), we weren’t surprised to see a few quirks that need some post-release tweaking to address. So the newest software update that’s rolling out now adds a few new features to address these quirks.

One of these little quirks with the LG Wing’s software has been the inability to swap apps between screens. LG’s previous dual-screen phones, such as the LG Velvet, offered a swap button to do just that, but the LG Wing didn’t. At least, that is, until now. The latest software update adds a Fetch/Send button and a 3 finger gesture to move an app from one screen to another. Another new useful enhancement is the ability to see app/widget/folder names on the home screen of the Second Screen — this will make it easier to pick what apps you want to launch on the Second Screen. Lastly, the Wing will now show media controls on the second screen when you don’t have an app already opened, so you can control playback without interrupting your viewing experience.

LG Wing Forums

This update, with version number F100VM10d, is now rolling out in waves to LG Wing users on Verizon, and we expect it to hit devices very soon. As of publication, we haven’t received the update on our own LG Wing unit. This update also comes with a couple of other tweaks, including the ability to scan QR codes in the camera app, a new 5G icon, a new wallpaper, a quick preview bubble guide in the camera app, and more, so play around with the new features and let us know what you think!

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Some ROG Phone 3 and ZenFone 7 owners are having issues with HD playback in Netflix

Some owners of the ASUS ROG Phone 3 and ZenFone 7/7 Pro have discovered that their devices have lost Widevine L1 status. As a result, they’re unable to play Netflix content in HD.

Users have taken to ASUS’ forums to voice their complaints. Seems the issue has persisted over several weeks now with no signs of going away.

Widevine is a DRM technology used by many streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to ensure that these services are being used by devices with unmodified and secure firmware.

Without Widevine L1 status, users are unable to stream videos from Netflix above 540p quality. Unfortunately, due to a bug in the SoC firmware of the ROG Phone 3 and ZenFone 7 (both are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865), the Widevine DRM level is being downgraded from L1 to L3 for a handful of users. The only way to fix this, according to ASUS, is for the affected users to ship their devices to ASUS so they can re-provision them.

ASUS released a statement regarding the issue:

“Asus is aware of this issue which affect a small number of users and is caused by a bug from our SOC vendor Qualcomm,” ASUS said. “If this has happened we urge you to contact Asus customer service in your region.”

Some users in the forums have stated that after getting their phone fixed, the issue has reared its head again.

“I have this issue happened to me after that service center resolved my issue but the issue happened to me AGAIN today,” user yashpandya295 said in the ASUS forums. “So I have to visit service center again.”

For what it’s worth, we checked our ROG Phone 3 and ZenFone 7 review units and our Widevine level hasn’t been downgraded. To check your own Widevine DRM level, download the DRM Info app.

DRM Info (Free, Google Play) →

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