Snapdragon 865-powered iQOO 3 price slashed by up to ₹4,000 in India

Vivo’s sub-brand made its debut in the Indian market in February with the launch of the iQOO 3. We recently concluded our review of the device, crowning it one of the fastest phones out there. The iQOO 3 is a gaming-oriented smartphone and offers a very powerful hardware package for its price, ranging from top of the line Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC to the ultrafast LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 flash storage. One of the complaints we had with the phone was its lack of a high refresh panel which in our opinion was a big mistake on a flagship phone launching in 2020.

To address this, the company recently launched a brand new flagship in the form of the iQOO Neo 3 which packs a 144Hz panel with essentially the same hardware as the iQOO 3. While there’s no word on when this new phone will arrive in the Indian market, the company has just announced a big price cut on the existing 4G and 5G models of the iQOO 3 in the country.

iQOO 3 XDA Forums

As per the new pricing, the 4G models see a reduction of ₹4,000 from their original prices while the 5G variant receives a ₹2,000 price slash. iQOO 3’s new price will be applicable in the India market on Flipkart and iqoo.com and would be available as soon as e-commerce commences delivery of smartphones.

Model	Old Pricing	New Pricing
8GB + 128GB (4G)	₹38,990	₹34,990
8GB + 256GB (4G)	₹41,990	₹37,990
12GB + 256GB (5G)	₹46,990	₹44,990

This price reduction effectively makes it the cheapest Snapdragon 865-powered smartphone on the Indian market right now, making the lack of high refresh rate panel much more palatable. With this price cut, the iQOO 3 is now ₹5,000 cheaper than the base model of the Realme X50 Pro and ₹7,000 cheaper than the newly released OnePlus 8.

Buy on Flipkart

Alongside the announcement of price discounts, iQOO also reinforced their commitment to providing timely software support to the device. The company promised that the iQOO 3 will be among the first smartphones to receive the Android 11 update when it becomes official, adding that that the device will continue to receive security and OTA updates for 3 years since the date of availability.

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Google Duo is working on invite links for group video and audio calls

When it comes to communication services, Google has had a pretty rocky track record. The company is known for killing several messaging services in favor of newer apps which, in turn, are also killed eventually. However, its video calling app — Google Duo — has proved to be an exception so far. Duo has continued to receive Google’s attention since its launch back in 2016 and the company keeps adding new features to the app quite frequently. Group video calling is one such feature that was added to the app last year in July.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

At the time of launch, the group video calling feature on Google Duo only supported a maximum of 4 users per group. However, the company increased the group limit to a total of 8 participants shortly after its rollout. Earlier this year in March, Google further increased the group limit and Google Duo users can now have a maximum of 12 people per group video call. While the larger group size is definitely a welcome addition, the app still requires you to manually invite contacts to join your group call which could prove to be a bit cumbersome. In a bid to make the process easier, Google is now working on invite links for group video and audio calls.

A teardown of Google Duo 85 has unearthed strings of code that point towards an upcoming feature that will allow users to share invite links for their group video call, much like other video calling apps. Users with access to a group call link will be able to tap on it to instantly open Google Duo and join the group call.

<string name="precall_edu_invite_link_text">Share this group link for friends to join</string>
<string name="precall_edu_start_call_text_with_link">" Share this group link for friends to join. When you tap "<b>Start,</b>" group members will get a notification to join the call. "</string>
<string name="share_link">Share</string>
<string name="share_link_dialog_body">Share this link to add friends to this group. %s</string>
<string name="share_link_dialog_header">Share link to group</string>
<string name="share_link_in_call_text">Add contacts, or share a link for friends to join</string>

However, before joining the call, Duo will warn users to look at the member list for the group call. The code further reveals that the app will also warn users if they don’t have any known contacts in the group or if there’s a blocked contact in the group call.

<string name="precall_join_group_blocked_contact_warning_text">This group includes a contact you have blocked on Duo</string>
<string name="precall_join_group_no_contact_warning_text">"Use caution, you don't have any known contacts in this group"</string>
<string name="precall_join_group_welcome_text">Welcome to the group! Take a look at the members before you join.</string>

While the feature isn’t currently available in the latest stable release of the app, prolific reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong has managed to surface the web UI that will be shown when a web user tries to join a group video or audio call through an invite link.

Google Duo is working on group invite links pic.twitter.com/NCQl3JV1PX

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 22, 2020

As of now, we have no information regarding the feature’s release timeline. We’ll update this post as soon as group invite links go live in Google Duo.

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Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

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Some OnePlus 8 Pro owners report green screen and black crush issues, but a fix is coming

The OnePlus 8 Pro has the greatest display on a OnePlus phone ever. The 6.78-inch QHD+ Fluid AMOLED display is not only one of the sharpest displays on an Android smartphone but also among the most color-accurate ones. OnePlus doesn’t hold back in any way from maxing out on the display’s characteristics to make it feel as premium as possible – it has even added a dedicated Pixelworks Iris chip on the phone to improve the display’s output, and the complete package earns the phone the highest DisplayMate rating ever. In reality, however, the OnePlus 8 Pro’s display is reportedly facing issues like a black crush and green tint, and the company will be fixing this with an upcoming update.

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

Several reports about the inconsistent and non-uniform color output on the OnePlus 8 Pro’s display have flooded XDA Forums, the OnePlus Community, and Reddit. Users are complaining predominantly about two issues – black crush and green-tint. Black crush refers to a condition when a panel (usually OLED) replaces blacks on the screen with pixelation whereas green tint, somewhat self-explanatory, means there is a green filter over the gray or dark shades, especially at low brightness.

Black crush and green tint are signs of a mediocre display and simply unacceptable especially after OnePlus has boasted about the highest display benchmark rating and slapped a $900 price tag on the phone.

Oneplus 8 Pro (left) vs Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (right); Image by OnePlus Community user WhateverSuitsU

As per the majority of reports, green tint is only visible after turning the DC Dimming feature on and OnePlus has even promised to fix this in a future update. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra also suffers from the green tint issue and a fix for the same is also coming. Since OnePlus also uses a Samsung panel, we can expect a fix for the OnePlus 8 Pro will be sufficient to abate the issue.

However, there isn’t a formal response on the black crush; whether that’s because of poor collaboration or solely a property of the specific Samsung-made display panel is something we’ll know later.

Image by OnePlus Community user Tungmeister

Addressing the green tint issue, OnePlus shared the following statement:

“OnePlus values user feedback and is committed to delivering the best smartphone experience. Our team is currently investigating these reports to identify the best solutions for our users, and we will issue updates as soon as they are ready. Regarding the green tint, we are working to resolve this in our next OTA.”

Dylan from our team noted display issues such as “regressions in black rendering, grayscale consistency and uniformity” in his OnePlus 8 Pro review. Some of these issues have also been present – although not as aggressively – on older phones such as the OnePlus 7T. While a flagship killer title would allow users to forgive OnePlus for an uncalibrated display, we do not appreciate the same about a phone trying to nick away the “killer” attribute in its title and become a true flagship.

Incidentally, there are no such issues on the OnePlus 8 (review) and seem unique to the Pro. We’ll add more details to this article when we learn more. In the meantime, Dylan is also working a comprehensive display review of the OnePlus 8 Pro, so you can expect to hear more about these issues and about the extent to which they might be fixable.

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Via 1: Android Police, Via 2: Android Central

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Gboard tests clipboard suggestions to make it easier to copy and paste

Earlier this year in January, we discovered evidence of a new feature in a teardown of Gboard version 9.0.2 that would allow users to easily copy images from Google Chrome to their clipboard and paste them in supported messaging apps. While the Chrome flag to enable the feature was already enabled at the time, Google hadn’t rolled it out to the Gboard app. Even though Google is yet to enable the feature in the Gboard app, the company is now testing another new clipboard feature that will make it easier for users to copy and paste text using the keyboard.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, recently received the new feature on his OPPO Find X2 Pro, and as you can see in the screenshots below, it brings up a new clipboard suggestion row in Gboard whenever you copy something to the clipboard. When using the feature for the first time, Gboard displays a couple of tips to help you get started and the copied text appears in the shortcuts bar right above the keyboard, where you’d usually find shortcut buttons for features like stickers, GIF search, settings, and the full clipboard manager. Tapping on the suggestion automatically pastes the text in whatever app you’re currently using.

Our friends over at 9to5Google have also spotted the clipboard suggestions feature on one of their devices and they further highlight that the feature also works with password fields. However, unlike regular text, Gboard replaces copied passwords with dots in the suggestions bar in order to prevent other users from seeing your password. As of now, the feature is only available for a handful of users in the latest Gboard beta release (v9.3.8.306379758-beta) and it was enabled by a server-side update. We currently have no information on the release timeline on the stable channel, but we’ll update this post as soon as the feature starts rolling out to a broader audience.

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Arc Lighting and Energy Ring turn the OnePlus 8’s hole-punch into a notification and battery indicator

OnePlus finally ditched the notched display as well as the ‘Pro’ variant-exclusive pop-up selfie camera in favor of the hole punch design in the OnePlus 8 series. Despite housing a single front camera, the hole is placed at the top-left corner, giving the design an asymmetrical vibe. Given the company has yet to implement an Always on Display mode in OxygenOS, the developer community has been quick to fill the gap and has decided to utilize the area around the camera hole to simulate a notification light or even a battery indicator.

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

The first candidate is Arc Lighting, which is a known name within the Samsung community. Originally developed by XDA Member epicality, the app “… adds a highly customizable ring of light around the camera cutout”, which can be further brought to play for audio visualizations, displaying battery status, charging state, notifications, and many more events.

Arc Lighting for the OnePlus 8/8 Pro — XDA Thread

Next up is Energy Ring by XDA Recognized Developer jagan2. The developer has relentlessly added support for new devices with hole-punch camera cutouts in this app, which is solely meant for indicating the current battery level. Using in-app purchases, users can further unlock the ability to add gradients or multi-colored rings around the hole-punch cutout of the OnePlus 8 and its ‘Pro’ counterpart. Energy Ring also offers a set of cool animation effects to choose from, which will be activated every time you plug in the device for charging.

The model-specific discussion threads are listed below:

Energy Ring for the OnePlus 8 — XDA Thread ||| Energy Ring for the 8 Pro — XDA Thread

Arc Lighting Notification Light Oneplus 8/S20/AOD (Free⁺, Google Play) →

Energy Ring - General Edition! (Free⁺, Google Play) →

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OnePlus has ended OxygenOS Open Betas for the OnePlus 6 and 6T

Earlier this month, OnePlus rolled out OxygenOS Open Beta 6 for the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T. The update packed in the Android security patches for March 2020 and a few bug fixes that addressed issues with the LockBox feature in the file manager, launcher crashes, and more. Since the company didn’t release any new features in the last beta update, we were hoping that OnePlus was waiting for the release of the OnePlus 8 series before announcing new features for older devices. However, it seems like the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T won’t be getting any of the new features that were introduced with the OnePlus 8 series, as the company has now officially ended the open beta program for the two devices.

OnePlus 6 XDA Forums || OnePlus 6T XDA Forums

According to a recent post on the OnePlus Community forums, the OxygenOS Open Beta 6 will be the last open beta build for the OnePlus 6 and 6T. The company won’t be releasing any more beta builds for the two devices in order to ensure that the “Open Beta program runs smoothly, and to prepare the addition of new devices to the program”. To ensure that users have a smooth transition back to the stable channel, OnePlus has released a special rollback build which will install OxygenOS 10.3.2 on devices running OxygenOS Open Beta 6. Upon installing the rollback build, users won’t get any future Open Beta builds for the two devices and will just receive stable updates as per the maintenance schedule.

Since the rollback build will transition users from the beta channel to the stable channel, it’s worth noting that install the build will completely wipe all data on your phone. Therefore, we’d recommend you to take a backup of all your data before installing the rollback build. You can use the OnePlus Switch app to back up and restore all your contacts, call history, messages, multimedia files, system data, and app. However, it’s worth noting that this method won’t backup app data, so make sure to sync apps and games that support the feature. Once you have backed up your data, you can download and install the rollback builds for the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T from the links below.

OnePlus 6 OxygenOS 10.3.2 Rollback Build || OnePlus 6T OxygenOS 10.3.2 Rollback Build

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Source: OnePlus Community Forums

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Peafowl Theme Maker helps you make custom themes for Huawei and Honor devices running EMUI

Theming is an integral element of Android customization. Many OEMs that ship a custom flavor of Android on their phones bundle a theming engine to let users decorate their phones as they like. Similar to MIUI and ColorOS, Huawei also offers theming functionality on its custom skin EMUI through the Themes app. The app offers a wide selection of preset themes to choose from. But what if you wanted to build your own custom theme?

If that’s what you are looking for then look no further than Peafowl Theme Maker: an app from XDA Senior Member hamzio7 that lets you create fully custom themes for any Honor and Huawei phones running EMUI 5 and above. 

With Peafowl Theme Maker, you can pick from a wide range of icon packs, wallpapers, fonts, mods, and accent colors to create truly personalized themes for your Huawei and Honor phone. You can theme the notification panel, the Settings app, the dialer app, and a bunch of system apps.   

Here’s a highlight of some of the most notable features of Peafowl Theme Maker:

• Adaptive Icon packs: Shape your icons as you like
• Lots of icon packs to choose from
• Multiple Presets: Updated Regularly
• Color picker For Apps accent Color
• Wallpapers Gallery: Updated Regularly
• Light and Dark themes
• Unlimited Customizations

Peafowl Theme Maker XDA thread

Themes created using Peafowl Theme Maker are compatible with Huawei and Honor devices running EMUI 5, EMUI 8, EMUI 9, and EMUI 10. The app is available on Google Play Store free of cost with an in-app purchase option that unlocks additional features and removes ads. 

Peafowl Theme Maker for EMUI 5.X/8.X/9.X/10.X (Free⁺, Google Play) →

 

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