Samsung will reveal Exynos chip with AMD graphics in January

Samsung started working closely with AMD back in 2019, with the goal of improving the graphics capabilities of Samsung’s Exynos System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs. Samsung confirmed at the time that the improved GPU capabilites would arrive roughly within two years, and a new tweet from the company confirms it might be ready for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S22.

Samsung published a tweet on Thursday teasing “the next Exynos with the new GPU born from RDNA 2,” with a reveal date of January 11, 2022.

#PlaytimeIsOver. The gaming marketplace is about to get serious. Stay tuned for the next #Exynos with the new GPU born from RDNA 2. January 11, 2022. pic.twitter.com/0H2MeVUbeS

— Samsung Exynos (@SamsungExynos) December 30, 2021

RDNA is the codename for AMD’s current Radeon graphics architecture, which first arrived on the Radeon RX 5000 series of desktop graphics cards. RDNA 2 is used in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, as well as AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards. Integrating the technology into a mobile chip could provide significant improvements over the usual Adreno graphics found in most ARM chips (which is also based on AMD technology).

Previous leaks and rumors point to the Galaxy S22 using an Exynos 2200 chipset, at least outside of North America (where Samsung’s phones usually have Snapdragon chips). The company also announced back in October that a future Exynos chip would support ray tracing graphics. There are also rumors that Samsung might sell Galaxy S22 phones with Snapdragon chips in regions that previously only had Exynos models available, such as India.

It remains to be seen if the new Exynos will compete with Apple’s mobile chipsets, which have maintained a significant lead over anything available from Samsung, Qualcomm, and MediaTek for years. Android is still the preferred gaming platform for many, thanks to the abundance of hardware options and more open software platform, but more often than not, Apple has still claimed victory in gaming performance.

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Nokia G50 is the latest HMD Global phone to get Android 12

The Nokia G50 is a direct successor to the Nokia G20 that launched earlier this year alongside the Nokia G10, packing the budget-oriented Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 chipset. It has a 6.82-inch LCD panel, 4GB of RAM, and launched with Android 11 in September. HMD Global promised that the phone would receive two major upgrades with three years of security patches. Since then, we’ve seen both the Nokia X20 and the Nokia X10 receive their first major updates to Android 12. Now, it’s the Nokia G50’s turn, as it’s getting Android 12 as well.

HMD Global has not officially announced the update yet, and so there’s no changelog. However, it comes with the November 2021 security patches and carries version number V2.160. Android 12 brings a lot of changes to the table, including a whole new user interface. Non-Pixel devices won’t get Material You just yet, but the rest of the changes are there including larger quick toggles and more rounded UI elements.

As usual, we expect that Nokia is pushing out these OTAs in a phased manner. Typically, a smaller subset of users will receive the update, and then the number of users receiving it will grow until everyone has it. Because there is no official announcement yet, we don’t know where and when the update is supposed to be rolling out, but we can imagine that the company will split it up into multiple waves as it has done with the Nokia X10. Device owners should check their phone for updates to see if they have it available for download.

The Nokia G50 is available in the U.S. and Europe for $300/ €270. It can be purchased from Nokia.com.

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Google pauses December 2021 update for Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

Google released the December 2021 security patch for Android back on December 6th, but the update for Pixel phones was a bit more substantial, adding a handful of new features for most Pixel phones. The update was delayed for the Pixel 6, but now it appears the rollout has been completely halted.

Google didn’t officially start rolling out the December 2021 update to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro until December 13, but many owners of the phones were still left waiting for the upgrade (and some resorted to manually flashing it). Google has now confirmed it paused the rollout, following reports of calls dropping and disconnecting after installing the upgrade.

A Google representative wrote on the Pixel Help forums, “The Pixel team paused the December software update to Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro devices after some users reported calls were dropping or disconnecting. We have now identified a fix that will roll out in a software update by late January. This update will also include all the fixes and improvements that were originally planned in December.”

That means most Pixel 6 owners, minus the people who already received the buggy update, will be stuck on the November 2021 security patch level until sometime in late January. That’s not great news, but preventing people from placing calls on their phones probably isn’t a preferable alternative. Google’s only advice for anyone experiencing problems is to perform a factory reset while reverting to the November 2021 system image.

Many Pixel 6 owners took to social media to complain about the original rollout. “Still no network connectivity on the pixel 6 following the December update and no word from google,” one person wrote, while another said, “no signal, no WiFi, no Bluetooth & battery dead in half a day all this for 19 days.” XDA Developers‘ own Jeff Springer was experiencing signal issues and decreased battery life, and other reports mentioned the official Pixel Stand charger no longer working.

The OTA files and factory images for the December 2021 update are still available from Google’s website, if you want to take your chances a (potentially) buggy update.

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Here’s how to fix Google Pixel 6’s annoying screen freezing issue

The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are some of the best flagships available on the market right now. From powerful cameras and in-house Tensor chipset to thoughtful software experience, Google’s latest flagships phones have everything you would want from a modern-day flagship. While the Pixel 6 series has received positive reviews from critics, it seems end-users aren’t having a stellar experience with Google’s newest phones so far. The new phones have been subject to numerous bugs and issues as of late, with users complaining about the slower fingerprint scanner, ghost dialing, connectivity issues, and more. Lately, many Pixel 6 owners have noticed an annoying issue where the device completely freezes up for a few seconds.

Google Pixel 6 Pro Review: Fantastic everyday phone with an undeniable Exynos inspiration

The freezing touch-input issue seems to trigger on Pixel 6/Pro units that have an Accessibility Service running with canPerformGesture permission enabled. When this permission is enabled, the whole system freezes for 1-2 seconds every time the battery drops by 1%. If you own a Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro and are affected by this bug, there’s a temporary workaround to resolve the issue. It requires disabling all Accessibility features. To do so, go to Settings > Accessbitliy on your Pixel 6 and turn off every accessibility service you find in there, including Voice Access, Accessibility Menu, Switch Access, and others.

Google Pixel 6

The Pixel 6 comes with Google's new Tensor SoC, a fresh design, and powerful flagship cameras.

Order from Amazon

Order from AT&T

Google says it’s currently investigating the issue and has assigned the bug to the relevant product and engineering team. The company hasn’t provided any timeline as to when we can expect the software fix to be ready. We’ll keep an eye out and let you know as soon as we learn more details about the screen freezing bug.

Have you noticed the screen freezing issue on your Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro? Let us know in the comments below.

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Thanks XDA Senior Member micku7zu for the tip!

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Telegram 8.4 adds message reactions, spoiler formatting, message translations, and more

Telegram is one of the best messaging services around, and it adds new features and options at an incredible rate. The service added new media improvements and iOS updates last month, and more recently restricted message forwarding and made it easier to delete older chats. Now another update is rolling out with even more features. Telegram latest update, version 8.4, adds message reactions, spoiler tags, message translations, and more.

Message reactions are ubiquitous across platforms, with WhatsApp even being spotted working on introducing them in the future. Other platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Discord, and even Slack supported them, but their omission from Telegram seemed odd. Now they’re here, and you can even set a quick reaction that can be triggered just by double-tapping a message.

Another big update outlined in the company’s blog post is the introduction of spoiler formatting, which we knew was being tested recently. It’s great for discussing movies and other content that you don’t want people to automatically see. Just watched Spider-Man: No Way Home and want to talk about it in a group chat without spoiling it for the one friend who hasn’t seen it? Just use spoiler tags, and your message will only be viewable by tapping it.

Finally, you can also translate messages into any language directly from within Telegram. You can enable the Translate button in Telegram’s language settings, and then just hold down on any message to translate it. You can also exclude the translate button from messages written in a language you’re fluent in. It works on all Android devices that support Telegram but requires iOS 15+ on iPhones.

Other smaller updates include themed QR codes for your username, new menus for MacOS, and more interactive emoji. The interactive emoji are fun, as you can tap a large emoji sent on its own to play a fun animation.

Telegram 8.4 is rolling out on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Telegram (Free, Google Play) →

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OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro get new OxygenOS 12 stable updates with bug fixes and improvements

Less than two weeks after resuming the OxygenOS 12 rollout for the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus has started seeding yet another Android 12-based stable channel update for the device duo. The latest OxygenOS build for the OnePlus 9 family adds to the previous update with a few more optimizations and bug fixes.

Screenshot credit: OnePlus Community member Jite92

The version number of the new build is C.40, and it addresses the anomaly where the device is unable to access the 5G network after upgrading to Android 12. The release also takes care of the system upgrade failure events that some users faced while installing the previous stable build of Android 12. According to the official announcement post, only the global and the Indian variants of the OnePlus 9/9 Pro are eligible for this update. We still don’t know when the European edition will get the fixed build of OxygenOS 12.

As with all OxygenOS updates, OnePlus is rolling out the latest OxygenOS 12 build for the OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro in a staged fashion. This means that the new build will initially be delivered to a limited number of users, with a broader rollout to follow in the next few days. Once the company confirms that there aren’t any major issues with the update, it will be pushed to more users.

OnePlus 9 XDA Forums || OnePlus 9 Pro XDA Forums

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Download OxygenOS 12 C.40 update for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro

In case you don’t wish to wait in the queue for the update, you can download the appropriate incremental OTA package from the index below and install the new build manually.

OnePlus 9

• • Global
    • Incremental update from C.39
    • Incremental update from C.36
  • India
    • Incremental update from C.39
    • Incremental update from C.36

OnePlus 9 Pro

• • Global
    • Incremental update from C.39
    • Incremental update from C.36
  • India
    • Incremental update from C.39
    • Incremental update from C.36

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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This Lenovo gaming laptop with an RTX 3050 is only $749 right now

Lenovo sells some of the best gaming laptops around, even if you’re not looking to spend a ton of money. The IdeaPad 3 is one of the company’s budget options, and now one model with a Ryzen 5 processor and RTX 3050 graphics card is on sale for $749.00 at Walmart. That’s a savings of $100 from the original price.

The model on sale has an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor, with 6 cores, 12 threads, and a maximum boost clock of 4.2GHz. You also get a 15.6-inch 120Hz IPS screen for super-smooth gameplay, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB PCIe SSD. Lenovo doesn’t specify if the graphics card is a regular RTX 3050 or an RTX 3050 Max-Q (the latter of which is lower power), but either way, it should handle most games at the native 1080p resolution without much of a problem. You might have to lower the graphical options to reach the maximum 144Hz refresh rate, though.

Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Gaming Laptop

This budget gaming laptop is a great option for $749.

Buy at Walmart

It’s a bit annoying that this laptop only has 4GB of RAM, but it’s at least upgradable to 32GB, so you can add more memory down the road. You also get plenty of connectivity options, including an HDMI 2.0 connector, as well as a backlit (but not RGB) with 1.5 mm key-travel.

If this isn’t quite the laptop for you, check out our roundup of the best gaming laptops. We’ve tested options from Lenovo, Razer, HP, Gigabyte, Razer, Alienware, and other manufacturers to find the best laptops at their respective price points. No matter if you’re looking for a budget model, like this IdeaPad 3, or a more powerful laptop that can compete with a desktop gaming PC, we’ve got you covered.

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