Download links for the ASUS ROG Phone II’s Android 10 beta are now online

ASUS is one of the smartphone brands that has improved the most during 2019. The launch of the ZenFone 6 was certainly one that caught us off guard: it provided flagship performance on a budget, and what’s better, they got rid of all of ZenUI’s bloat, with the newer version of ZenUI being very, very close to stock Android. It went on to become one of ASUS’s biggest smartphone hits – at least among smartphone enthusiasts – in a while. Then we saw them release the ASUS ROG Phone II, which is a total powerhouse of a device, powered by a Snapdragon 855+, up to 12GB of RAM, and a 120Hz display. It also brought the same software that made the ZenFone 6 so great. Now, after pushing the Android 10 update for the ZenFone 6 and 5Z, ASUS is gearing up to roll out the update for the ROG Phone II. Before that happens, the device is first receiving a beta update to Android 10.

ASUS ROG Phone II XDA Forum

The Android 10 update for the ASUS ROG Phone II comes with all the software features that you should expect from the latest Android release. It also comes with the December 2019 security patches and no UI changes – it is still based on ZenUI 6. Of course, being in a beta state, there are a few bugs that you should be aware of, including the inability to answer calls properly while on game mode as well as the inability to open the icon manager without crashing SystemUI. These are risks that you should acknowledge before trying to flash it to your device.

If you’re not comfortable with beta software, then you may very well wait for a stable update to roll out which, given how we already have a beta, shouldn’t be much longer. If, however, you’re dying to try Android 10 on your device, then you should hop ahead and download it to your device now. After downloading the below file, rename it to UL-ASUS_I001_1-ASUS-16.0631.1912.22-1.1.227-user.zip and then put on the root of the internal storage and then restart. If you have a rooted phone, check out this thread in our forums for methods to keep root access.

Download Android 10 Beta for the ROG Phone II

Are you excited about Android 10 on the ROG Phone II?

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Samsung’s next flagship lineup may be called the “Galaxy S20”

We’re less than a week away from 2020, yet we’re already getting to know some of the devices that will be making headlines this upcoming year. One of them is, obviously, from Samsung. We already know a fair bit about Samsung’s upcoming flagship phones, including their screen sizes, overall design, and some camera specs and hardware features as well including 108MP cameras and high refresh rate displays. Samsung’s upcoming flagship lineup is largely expected to launch as the Galaxy S11, Galaxy S11e, and Galaxy S11+, but if two Twitter sources are to believe, this may not be the case at all: we might see a small change in the naming scheme and see them launch as the Galaxy S20.

Galaxy S11+ XDA Forums | Galaxy S11 XDA Forums | Galaxy S11e XDA Forums

This possibility was suggested by two separate Twitter sources, leaksters @IceUniverse and @MMDDJ_, who both independently tweeted the purported device’s name (“Galaxy S20” in the case of Ice Universe, while @MMDDJ_ stuck to just “S20”). So if this is to be believed, Samsung’s newest lineup of devices would be called the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20e, and Galaxy S20+. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary: Huawei also did this last year with the Huawei P20 line (which was expected to launch as the P11) and has stuck to it from then onwards, with their latest device being the Mate 30. Ice Universe also followed up their tweet saying that “next year is 2020, and 20 is a new beginning” as a possible explanation for the name change.

Next year is 2020, and 20 is a new beginning.

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 24, 2019

For now, though, you should take this with a grain, or rather a metric ton, of salt, as neither of them provided any sources for their claims. So while Galaxy S20 is a definite possibility, we shouldn’t rule out the Galaxy S11 name just yet, as we’re still at least two months away from an official announcement at Unpacked 2020. It’s very possible that even Samsung itself doesn’t yet know which name to use.

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Download the latest Google Recorder app on most Android devices

Google’s latest Pixel 4 smartphones have a lot of appealing features like 90Hz refresh rate displays and Google’s latest camera software, but one of the features that we’ve personally found to be incredibly useful is the new Google Recorder app. This app is a fully offline voice recorder with real-time transcriptions and audio search. Google’s Recorder app may not be entirely original or the most feature-filled, but it does what it’s built to do really well. If you own a Pixel 3a, Pixel 3, or Pixel 2, then the app is also available for you so long as you’re running the latest December 2019 software release. If you have the first generation Pixel or any other smartphone, then you’ll have to resort to unconventional means to download and install the latest version of the Google Recorder app.

This app is really useful if you’re a student looking to record lectures or if you’re a journalist looking to record interviews. I personally find it really useful to quickly make a note about whatever I’m thinking of; it’s faster to open up the Google Recorder app and start talking than it is to type out whatever is on my mind in an app like Google Keep.

The only currently supported language for transcriptions is U.S. English, though, so you may have trouble getting the transcription engine to recognize your speech if English isn’t your primary language. While running the app on my Pixel 4, it was able to transcribe my voice even in noisy environments, though your mileage may vary on phones that aren’t officially supported. Lastly, the audio quality of saved recordings isn’t that high, but Google is working on letting you save audio in the higher-quality WAV format. If you think you’ll find this app to be useful, then here’s how to get it on most modern Android smartphones.

Download the latest Google Recorder app

Requirements

1. Android smartphone running Android 9 Pie or Android 10. The app wasn’t built for Android versions older than Android 9 Pie.
2. Android software without significant modifications to the TextView component in the Android framework. It seems that the Google Recorder app fails to work properly on certain devices because those devices are running software with modifications to TextView. There’s no way to tell if this app will work on your device without actually testing it, though, so we went ahead and tested it on a bunch of different phones to save you the trouble:
   • Fully Works
     • Google Pixel and Pixel XL running Android 10
     • Huawei and Honor phones running EMUI 9 (Android 9 Pie) or EMUI 10 (Android 10)
     • LG phones running LG UX 8.0 (Android 9 Pie)
     • Motorola phones running Android 9 Pie
     • Nokia phones running Android 9 Pie
     • Samsung Galaxy phones running One UI 1.0/1.5 (Android 9 Pie) or One UI 2.0 (Android 10)
     • Sony Xperia phones running Android 9 Pie or Android 10
     • Any phone running a custom ROM based on AOSP Android 9 Pie or Android 10
   • Partially Works (recording works but transcriptions aren’t visible after saving)
     • ASUS phones running ROG UI 2.0/ZenUI 6.0 based on Android 9 Pie or Android 10
     • OPPO and Realme phones running ColorOS 6 based on Android 9 Pie
     • OnePlus phones running OxygenOS 10 based on Android 10
   • Doesn’t Work
     • Xiaomi phones running MIUI 10 or MIUI 11

If you want to download an official, unmodified version of the Google Recorder app straight from Google, there’s only one version that works on unsupported devices: the leaked APK that I found and uploaded to APKMirror. Though it’s an older version of the app (version 1.0.271), it still has the key functionality of the app such as real-time transcriptions and audio search.

Alternatively, if you want the latest version of the app (version 1.1.284), you can download the modified version that I uploaded to AndroidFileHost. It has the same package name as the original app but was signed by a different signing key (my own), so it won’t install on top of the official releases. The only thing I changed in the app was the requirement to have the PIXEL_2017_EXPERIENCE feature flag; with the removal of this flag, the app no longer immediately closes on unsupported devices.

Download Google Recorder App: Official 1.0.271 ||| Unofficial 1.1.284

During our attempt to get this app working on more devices, we discovered that, at least on the phones where the app doesn’t immediately crash (ie. everyone but Xiaomi), transcriptions are being saved even though the app is unable to surface them after saving a recording. When transferring the Google Recorder app’s data folder from my OnePlus 6T to my Pixel 2 XL, the transcription that I thought wasn’t saved on the OnePlus 6T suddenly became visible on the Pixel 2 XL. That, plus the logs we saved when debugging the crash on MIUI, led us to believe that OEM software is to blame for the app not working properly on all devices. For further evidence, we confirmed that the app works fully on OnePlus and Xiaomi devices running AOSP-based custom ROMs.

Thus, either Google would need to make changes to their app or OEMs would need to make changes to their software in order for the app to run on every device. I don’t blame Google for locking this app to Pixel smartphones, though, since it’s a killer feature. That’s why the XDA forums are here.

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This $600 Massage Gun Is Just $102 With This Holiday Deal

You don’t have to be a fitness freak to suffer from muscle pain. Just sitting at your desk for eight hours every day is enough to cause tightness and discomfort. The ExoGun DreamPro Percussion Massage Device helps to relieve the tension and prevent pain, with six speeds and four different attachments. You can pre-order one now for only $101.99 at the XDA Developers Depot when you use code HAPPYHOLIDAYS for an extra 15% off over Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FeSIzTkDsLU

Receiving a massage from a trained professional is one of the best ways to alleviate pain and stress. However, most of us do not have unlimited access to a massage therapist. 

DreamPro is the next best thing. Billed as the world’s first six-speed massage gun, this device adapts to whatever you need. Hard day at work? Select the lower settings for a relaxing deep-tissue massage. Want to recover faster after a workout? The higher settings provide high-impact muscle therapy.

The DreamPro is easy to use on your own body, with a handle that absorbs the massage vibrations. It is also compact and quiet, with a battery life of four hours.

This massage gun retails for $599, but you can pre-order now for just $101.99 using code HAPPYHOLIDAYS. Act fast — this offer expires 12/26!

 

ExoGun DreamPro Percussion Massage Device (Pre-Order) – $102.99

See Deal

Prices subject to change

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Leafster is a powerful search tool for the Google Books database

Google Books (not to be confused with Google Play Books) remains one of Google’s oldest services that is still active today. For starters, it is pretty much a gigantic directory for searching books, magazines, and texts that Google has scanned throughout the years. With more than 40 million scanned books, it is a vast resource of knowledge stored within Google’s servers. And often, if the book is available in the public domain, it will also give you the option to download it in both PDF and EPUB formats completely for free. Oddly, though, it is one of very few Google services that do not have an Android app available for download, and in turn, the service can only be accessed in a web format (and a pretty outdated web format at that, too). Enter Leafster.

Leafster is an unofficial app made by XDA Recognized Contributor StrangerWeather which uses the Google Books API in order to scour through the service’s vast collection of knowledge and, whenever possible, display snippets, partial previews, and even download the file entirely. Leafster also looks aesthetically pleasing to use since it tries to follow Google’s Material Theme guidelines whenever possible, adding a few twists of their own as well.

You can check it out on Google Play Store right now.

Leafster: search Google Books (Free, Google Play) →

You can also check out the official forum thread in our forums to know more.

Check out Leafster in our forums now!

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OPPO Reno3 and Reno3 Pro launched in China with 5G connectivity, quad rear cameras, and more

OPPO wants to be more than a smartphone brand in 2020, but smartphones still form the central point in its vision, alongside 5G. The future is 5G, most definitely, and OPPO is stocking its arsenal with new 5G-ready smartphones in the form of the OPPO Reno3 and OPPO Reno3 Pro. The OPPO Reno3 Pro was teased to be the world’s thinnest dual-mode 5G phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G inside, while the OPPO Reno3 will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L 5G SoC. Live images of both the phones had surfaced prior to launch, and now, both the phones have been launched at an event in China.

OPPO Reno 3 and OPPO Reno3 Pro: Specifications

Specification	OPPO Reno3	OPPO Reno3 Pro
Dimensions and Weight	–	159.4 x 72.4 x 7.7mm 171g
Display	6.44″ FHD+ flat AMOLED Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Waterdrop notch In-display fingerprint sensor	6.5″ FHD+ curved AMOLED 90Hz refresh rate Corning Gorilla Glass 5 180Hz touch detection 100% DCI-P3 coverage HDR 10+ support Punch hole front camera In-display fingerprint sensor
SoC	MediaTek Dimensity 1000L: 4x ARM Cortex-A77 “big” cores @ 2.6GHz 4x ARM Cortex-A55 “little” cores @ 2.0GHz Mali-G77	Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G: 1x Kryo 475 (ARM Cortex-A76-based) Prime core @ 2.4GHz 1x Kryo 475 (ARM Cortex-A76-based) Performance core @ 2.2GHz 6x (ARM Cortex-A55-based) Efficiency cores @ 1.8GHz Adreno 620
RAM & Storage	8GB + 128GB 12GB + 128GB	8GB + 128GB UFS 2.1 12GB + 256GB
Battery & Charging	4025mAh 30W VOOC Charge 4.0	4025mAh 30W VOOC Charge 4.0
Rear Camera	Primary: 64MP, f/1.8 Secondary: 8MP, ultra-wide-angle Tertiary: Monochrome Quarternary: Portrait	Primary: 48MP Sony IMX586, f/1.7, PDAF, OIS, EIS Secondary: 13MP, telephoto, f/2.4, 2x Tertiary: 8MP, ultra-wide-angle, f/2.2, 116° FoV Quarternary: 2MP, monochrome, f/2.4 Video: 4K @30fps 1080p @60fps 1080p @120fps, 720p @240fps
Front Camera	32MP	32MP, f/2.4
Other Features	Multi-function NFC Bluetooth 5.1	Multi-function NFC Bluetooth 5.1
Android Version	ColorOS 7 based on Android 10	ColorOS 7 based on Android 10
Network Bands	<information not provided>	2G: GSM 850/900/1800 / 1900MHz 2G: CDMA BC0 (800MHz) 3G: CDMA2000 BC0 (800MHz) 3G: WCDMA bands 1/2/4/5/6/8/19 3G: TD-SCDMA 1900 (f) / 2000 (a) MHz 4G: TD-LTE bands 34/38/39/40/41 4G: LTE FDD bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20 4G +: TD-LTE: B38C / B39C / B40C / B41C / B39A + B41A / B40D / B41D 4G +: LTE FDD: B1C / B2C / B3C / B7C / B1A + B3A / B3A + B41A / B8A + B41A 5G NR: n1 / n41 / n78

Both the OPPO Reno3 and OPPO Reno3 Pro share several design characteristics, but the biggest difference between the two is the presence of a flat display on the regular Reno3 and a curved display on the Pro. Display diagonal measurements change because of this, but since we could not locate dimension details on the regular variant, we are unable to comment if the devices are any different in size. The second difference is in the front camera — the Pro gets a hole-punch camera, while the regular variant gets a waterdrop notch. On the back, there is no apparent design change, but the camera specifications do change.

OPPO Reno3

OPPO Reno3

The OPPO Reno3 is pitched as the lower sibling to the Pro. Unfortunately, OPPO’s product page for the Reno3 could not be located, and OPPO’s official Weibo is also silent on several details.

What we do know about the OPPO Reno3 is the fact that it comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L SoC, which is a 7nm high-end SoC from MediaTek with integrated 5G. You can read more about the Dimensity 1000 in our dedicated coverage, though we were unable to find the difference between 1000 and 1000L yet. There is 30W VOOC Charging 4.0 on board, which can charge the phone 0-50% in just 20 mins.

The Reno3 also comes with a quad rear camera setup, with the primary shooter being a 64MP sensor. OPPO has not detailed which sensor it has employed, but our guess would be that it is the Samsung ISOCELL GW1 instead of the Sony IMX686. The second camera is an 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter, while the third is a monochrome camera, and the fourth camera is a dedicated camera for aiding in portrait photos.

Pricing and Availability

The Oppo Reno3 will be available for CNY 3,399 (~$485) for the 8GB+128GB variant, and CNY 3,699 (~$530) for the 12GB/128GB variant.

The phone will be available in Black, White, Starry Night Blue, and Sunrise colors, and will be available in China from December 31, 2019.

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OPPO Reno3 Pro

OPPO Reno3 Pro

As the name implies, the Reno3 Pro is the big brother, and it clearly gets the preferential treatment, as is evident from the curved edge display as well as the 90Hz refresh rate and HDR 10+ support. OPPO also claims that the device is the thinnest dual-mode 5G phone available in the market, and despite its thin profile, it still manages to pack in a 4,025 mAh battery.

The OPPO Reno3 Pro comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, which is Qualcomm’s first SoC with integrated 5G, allowing for lower power consumption as against an SoC with a distinct modem. The Snapdragon X52 modem on the Snapdragon 765 is, however, inferior at 5G connectivity as against the Snapdragon X55 modem on the Snapdragon 865. Nonetheless, you can expect some decent performance on the phone in terms of fluidity as well as connectivity.

The camera setup on the Pro is not very exciting, but it is still unique. You get the tried and tested 48MP Sony IMX586 as your main camera, a 13MP telephoto camera for 2x zoom, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2MP monochrome shooter.

The Reno3 Pro also comes with support for 30W VOOC Charging 4.0.

Pricing and Availability

The Oppo Reno3 Pro will be available for CNY 3,999 (~$570) for the 8GB+128GB variant, and CNY 4,499 (~$640) for the 12GB/256GB variant.

The base storage variant will be available in China on pre-order from December 31, 2019, while the higher storage variant will be available from January 10, 2020 onwards.

Pantone 2020 Special Edition

There is a OPPO Reno3 Pro Pantone 2020 special edition as well, which uses Classic Blue, the color of 2020. The entire packaging and box contents of the Pantone 2020 special edition will be blue and white.

The price for this special edition with 8GB + 128GB will be CNY 4,199 (~$600).

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What are your thoughts on the OPPO Reno3 and OPPO Reno3 Pro? Let us know in the comments below!

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MyWall is a lightweight wallpaper manager with the ability to extract colors and apply filters

Wallpapers are key to smartphone personalization. Personally, I’m the kind of person that can’t stand looking at the same wallpaper for over 2 weeks, so I’m always constantly changing it. I’m not even hugely into switching up layouts, launchers and icon packs, but just having a fresh wallpaper suffices. I always have a collection of wallpapers on hand for this purpose so I can switch between them constantly, but most wallpaper manager apps are pretty barebones — the best equipped one being Google’s Wallpapers app and its built-in collection of wallpapers. Not like that’s a bad thing as the purpose of a wallpaper manager is to change the wallpaper and little else, but there are more feature-filled alternatives, with one of them being MyWall.

MyWall, made by XDA Senior Member folglore95, is a friendly and lightweight wallpaper manager app that adds a couple of interesting twists to the way you change your wallpaper. First of all, the app allows you to pick wallpaper colors out of the wallpaper you’re selecting. This way, you can match other elements, like the launcher colors, better to the wallpaper’s palette. Additionally, the app also packs a number of filters and effects so you can edit wallpapers on the go while you’re setting them up.

You can download it right now on Google Play. You can also check out the official discussion thread in our forums to learn more about it and to give feedback to the developer.

Check out MyWall in our forums now!

My Wall - Wallpaper Manager (Free, Google Play) →

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