OPPO may launch the Chinese Reno3 and Reno3 Pro globally as the Find X2 Lite and Neo

OPPO launched the Reno3 and Reno3 Pro in China in the last few days of 2019. This OPPO Reno3 Pro claims to be the world’s thinnest dual-mode 5G phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G inside, while this OPPO Reno3 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L 5G SoC. In March 2020, OPPO sought to bring the Reno3 and Reno3 Pro to markets across the globe. But curiously, the Reno3 (Global) and Reno3 Pro (Global) that were launched turned out to be different products than what the company had offered to the Chinese market. Now, it appears that OPPO will purportedly bring the Chinese Reno3 (Vitality Edition) and Reno3 Pro to the global markets as the Find X2 Lite and Find X2 Neo.

OPPO Find X2 Lite

OPPO Find X2 Lite aka Chinese OPPO Reno3

Pricebaba has obtained renders of the rumored OPPO Find X2 Lite, which bear a strong resemblance to the Chinese OPPO Reno3 Vitality Edition.

The Chinese OPPO Reno3 Vitality Edition was quietly launched in February 2020, and it lies in between the Chinese Reno3 and the Pro variant in terms of specifications, while its design is close to the Reno3. While the Chinese Reno3 has the MediaTek Dimenstiy 1000L, the Vitality Edition comes with the Snapdragon 765 SoC, while the Global Reno3 comes with the MediaTek Helio P90. It’s the Vitality Edition that is seeing a rebrand to the Find X2 Lite, so it appears to be a good choice prima facie.

OPPO Find X2 Neo

OPPO Find X2 Neo aka Chinese OPPO Reno3 Pro

Pricebaba obtained renders of the rumored OPPO Find X2 Neo, and it strongly resembles the design of the Chinese Reno3 Pro.

The Chinese OPPO Reno3 Pro is a completely different device than the Global OPPO Reno3 Pro. The Chinese varaint has a single hole-punch selfie camera design, curved 90Hz display, and 5G support with the Snapdragon 765G. The Global variant, on the other hand, comes with the MediaTek Helio P95, a dual hole-punch selfie camera design, and a flat 60Hz display.

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OPPO’s decision to rebrand different devices under the same name, and then release the leftover device under a different name only serves the purpose of confusing us as users. While both the Find X2 Neo and Find X2 Lite have not been released yet and hence are only “rumored” to be released for the global market, it still begs the question as to why OPPO did not release the original Chinese Reno3 and Chinese Reno3 Pro as the same-named devices globally, and release the Global Reno3 and Global Reno3 Pro under a different name. There’s scope for simplification of branding here, and we hope OPPO takes this feedback for its future releases.

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Tencent is building a cloud gaming platform in collaboration with Huawei

Cloud gaming services have become increasingly popular over the last year, with several major players like Nvidia, Google and Microsoft vying for a piece of the pie. While Nvidia was among the first big-name brands to enter the space with its GeForce NOW service, it was soon followed by Google Stadia and Microsoft’s xCloud. Now, as per a recent report from Reuters, China’s Tencent is also prepping up to enter the cloud gaming space in partnership with Huawei.

As per the report, Tencent Holdings has already launched a co-innovation lab in collaboration with Huawei to develop the upcoming cloud gaming service. The service, which is currently being called GameMatrix, will utilize Huawei’s Kunpeng server processors and the two companies will also be exploring more avenues like artificial intelligence and augmented reality in games. For the unaware, Tencent is the world’s biggest gaming company with ownership of League of Legends developer Riot Games and a major stake in Epic Games. Therefore, we can expect big things from the company’s cloud gaming service whenever it’s made available to users.

As far as its competitors are concerned, Nvidia and Google make use of Intel hardware for their cloud gaming services. As per this Reddit post, Nvidia makes use of Intel’s Xeon E5-2697 CPU, coupled with Nvidia Tesla P40 GPUs. On the other hand, this report from ExtremeTech reveals that Google Stadia is also powered by Intel CPUs, however, we don’t have any information on the exact specifications of the hardware used by the service. Regardless, it would be great to see how Huawei’s hardware stacks up against Intel’s when Tencent’s GameMatrix service is made available to users worldwide. As of now, we have no information on the release timeline for the upcoming cloud gaming service.

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Source: Reuters

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Huawei Watch GT 2e announced with Sp02 monitoring, 1.39″ AMOLED display, 2 week battery life

Following the launch of its latest flagship P40 series, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has now announced a new smartwatch — the Huawei Watch GT 2e. The new smartwatch closely follows the design of the Huawei Watch GT 2 from last year and features a circular dial with a concealed crown that gives it a more minimal, yet sporty look. The smartwatch features the same 1.39-inch AMOLED touch display with a 454x454p resolution, however, the bezels are relatively thicker which makes the GT 2e slightly larger overall.

Along with the changes to the main dial, the Huawei Watch GT 2e also features an integrated TPU wrist band which has perforations to improve breathability. The watch body is crafted with stainless steel and is rated at 5 ATM of water resistance. Much like the Huawei Watch GT 2, the Watch GT 2e is powered by Huawei’s in-house Kirin A1 chipset that claims to offer up to 2 weeks of battery life on a single charge.

In case you use GPS tracking for exercises however, the watch can last a total of 30 hours. Interestingly, you can also use the watch to listen to music over Bluetooth and it has 4GB of onboard storage that will allow you to store about 500 songs, but the feature will further limit the battery life to just 24 hours.

Geared towards sports enthusiasts, the Huawei Watch GT 2e can track over 100 different sports and exercises, including everything from skateboarding to rock climbing. On top of that, the watch also features a SpO2 sensor that will help you calculate your VO2Max. Thanks to this the watch is also capable of monitoring aerobic and anaerobic workouts. The Huawei Watch GT 2e will be available in four color variants, namely Graphite Black, Lava Red, Mint Green, and Icy White, at a price of €200 (~$220). Along with the new sports-centric smartwatch, the company also launched a new color variant for the Huawei Watch GT 2 42mm — Champagne Gold — which has been priced at €230 (~$254). As of now, Huawei has released no information about the availability of the new smartwatches.

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Wireless Android Auto is now supported in most of Europe, India, Australia, and more

Android Auto is basically a way to mirror/extend certain apps from a smartphone in a driver-friendly format to a compatible head unit/display within a car. For this mirroring and extension to happen, the Android smartphone needs to be connected with the head unit, obviously. Initially, Android Auto solely worked through a USB connection. But in April 2018, Google rolled out Wireless Android Auto for Google Pixel and Nexus phones, allowing them to connect to compatible head units through Wi-Fi Direct. However, in addition to having a compatible head unit and an Android smartphone, you also need to be living in a country that supports Android Auto. This list of countries was expanded with the inclusion of 15 nations from Latin America, and now Wireless Android Auto support is being extended to more countries in Europe, as well as to India, Australia and more.

The older list of supported countries, as of October 23, 2019 was as follows:

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• Guatemala
• Mexico
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Puerto Rico
• United States
• Uruguay
• Venezuela

The new regions where wireless Android Auto will now be supported, in addition to the above countries, is as below:

• Australia
• Austria
• Germany
• France
• India
• Ireland
• Italy
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• Singapore
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• United Kingdom

Note that Japan and Russia are listed as supporting wired Android Auto, but not wireless Android Auto.

While it is definitely more convenient to use Android Auto wirelessly, the convenience factor is not big enough to make it worth upgrading your current setup. Android Auto by itself, is pretty decently useful, with new features like showing speed limits when using Google Maps navigation, simplified controls, a dark theme, media notification toggles, weather info on the car screen status bar, and more.

Android Auto - Google Maps, Media & Messaging (Free, Google Play) →

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We request users to follow all COVID-19 advisories applicable in their regions. Please stay indoors if regulations require you to be indoors.

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[Update: May move forward] U.S. Government considers blocking TSMC from making chips for Huawei

Update 1 (03/27/2020 @ 02:00 AM ET): New report states the Trump administration is moving forward to introduce restrictions to block TSMC from supplying chips to Huawei. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on February 18, 2020, is preserved below.

For close to a year, Huawei has been trying to stay competitive despite dire US sanctions hitting them very hard for certain regions. The company was placed on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List, meaning that US companies are barred from exporting products to Huawei. This sole fact by itself is already pretty devastating, as Huawei is blocked from conducting any business with Google, the company behind Android development and Google Play services (software is also considered an export), as well as with companies like Qualcomm. But for the most part, the company has managed to stay afloat, mainly in part thanks to the fact that they can source most of their components from places outside the US and they have access to Android since it’s open-source software.

Now, though, the company may be facing serious trouble as the Trump administration keeps trying to intervene in the company’s affairs with non-US companies, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The newest measures against Huawei, which have reportedly been drafted but are still far from being approved, might come in the form of a modification to the Foreign Direct Product Rule, which oversees foreign-made goods based on American technology. Under this proposal, foreign companies using American chipmaking equipment would need to seek a license from the US government before supplying equipment to Huawei.

Such a restriction could have catastrophic consequences for Huawei as a whole. One of the companies that would be affected by this is TSMC, which uses American chipmaking equipment while being based in Taiwan. Huawei has managed to keep putting out smartphones since the entirety of their lineup uses HiSilicon Kirin processors, designed in-house by Huawei, instead of Qualcomm processors. The problem is, however, that Kirin chips, such as the Kirin 990 powering the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro, are manufactured by TSMC. If the US government goes forward with this, then this would effectively cut Huawei’s chip supply completely, thus hampering the company’s ability to manufacture and ship new devices almost completely.

TSMC is just a manufacturer, though, and it is Huawei themselves, through its subsidiary HiSilicon, who owns the chip’s designs. So can they just go to another chipset maker, such as Samsung Foundries? The answer is — it’s complicated. The new measure is not specific to any company in particular, and if Samsung Foundries is using US chipmaking equipment, then they would also be affected by this change. It is almost certain, however, that Huawei would have a hard time going forward if this change is approved, as the same report takes cognizance of a claim that there are no production lines in China that use only equipment made in China, making it difficult to produce any chipsets without U.S. equipment.

Huawei is right in the middle of the United States-China trade war, with the US government having major concerns regarding Huawei because of charges such as spying. As of now, though, these new sanctions have not entered into effect yet as they are just a draft right now, but we’ll keep you in the loop on any new developments regarding this story.

Source: Reuters

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Update: USA may move forward with the chip block for Huawei

After the news (reported above) initially broke out, there was a brief lull in this regards as the US President pushed back against approving the modification to the Foreign Direct Product Rule. Under the proposal, foreign companies using American chipmaking equipment would need to seek a license from the US government before supplying equipment to Huawei.

Now, the US administration is renewing the push for these modifications to be approved, in the backdrop of tit-for-tat actions by the governments against the others’ subjects.

The proposed rule change is aimed at curbing the sales of chips to Huawei by TSMC, which is a major producer of chips for Huawei’s HiSilicon. Most chip manufacturers rely on equipment produced by U.S. companies such as KLA Corp, Lam Research and Applied Materials. However, the exact impact of the rule change will remain unknown until the technical thresholds within the rule are clarified, as different foundries make different chips at different technical capabilities.

Source: Reuters

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Google Play Store now shows download count and size in app search results

Thanks to the Play Store, downloading an application on Android devices doesn’t take more than a few taps. You open the market, search for the desired app, and tap install. Though, with more than 2.8 million applications hosted already, it’s not always easy to find exactly which one you want, especially if you’re downloading it for the first time. There are a couple of components that should be taken into consideration when comparing different apps of the same category. The most relevant ones are undoubtedly user reviews, download count, and in some cases, the size of the application. Google is now displaying these components straight in the search results.

Previously, search results in the Play Store only displayed the name of the developer, rating, and price. Now they are adding app size and download count. The latter is displayed is thousands, millions and billions in some rare cases. Though, some apps boast ‘Editors’ Choice’ title, which replaces the download count in the search results. You can check the screenshot below, courtesy of AndroidPolice. All of these stats are only available for apps that are not present on your device. Those that you already have installed only display ‘Installed’ or ‘Update’ texts, traditionally.

As you can see, the update is nothing ground-shaking, but it manages to improve the overall user experience by saving you a few taps. Unexpectedly, these updates are gradually rolling out on the server-side. There’s nothing you can do to manually trigger it. From the looks of it, Google is rolling out each of these numbers one by one. For example, Play Store search results on my device only display the app rating. Users in Germany have rating plus app size, while those in Lebanon have all three, including the download count. Then again, a geolocation-based server-side rollout is one of Google’s favorite tricks.

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Via: AndroidPolice

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[Update: Resumed] Google temporarily pauses Chrome and Chrome OS updates to prioritize security

Update (3/26/20 @ 1:20 PM ET): Google is resuming Chrome and Chrome OS releases with an adjusted schedule.

It’s no surprise anymore that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a huge impact on nearly everything. In the technology space alone, we’ve seen major events get canceled, product launches pushed back, and the effects of changing working conditions. The next thing being affected by adjusted work schedules is Chrome and Chrome OS updates.

Due to adjusted work schedules, we’re pausing upcoming Chrome & Chrome OS releases. Our goal is to ensure they continue to be stable, secure, & reliable for anyone who depends on them. We’ll prioritize updates related to security, which will be included in Chrome 80. Stay tuned.

— Chrome Developers (@ChromiumDev) March 18, 2020

Chrome Developers shared the news on Twitter. Due to adjusted work schedules, they are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases. Google wants to make sure the releases remain stable, secure, and reliable. They plan on prioritizing updates related to security, which will be coming to Chrome 80.

While this may be disappointing to those who look forward to new features, it’s really for the best. There are a lot of people who work on Chrome who are adjusting to new working conditions. Pausing the releases will give everyone more time to react to issues and make fixes. A lot of people are relying on browsers to work from home right now, making the stability of Chrome and Chrome OS even more important. No timeline was given for the resuming of releases.

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Update: Resumed

After pausing Chrome and Chrome OS updates last week, Google is now ready to resume releases with an adjusted schedule. Here is the updated schedule:

• M83 will be released three weeks earlier than previously planned and will include all M82 work as we canceled the M82 release (all channels).
• Our Canary, Dev and Beta channels have or will resume this week, with M83 moving to Dev, and M81 continuing in Beta.
• Our Stable channel will resume release next week with security and critical fixes in M80, followed by the release of M81 the week of April 7, and M83 ~mid-May.
• We will share a future update on the timing of the M84 branch and releases.

You can stay up to date with the schedule on the release blog and check the schedule page for specific dates for milestone releases.

Source: Google

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