PSA: Xiaomi Mi A3’s latest update accidentally breaks dual-SIM functionality

Unlike the majority of smartphones on Xiaomi’s portfolio, the Xiaomi Mi A3 runs a close-to-stock version of Android, thanks to its Android One branding. The Google-flavored Android UX also ensures that the device is eligible to get 3 years of monthly security updates. Matter of fact, Xiaomi has pushed a new security update for the global variant of the Mi A3 earlier today that does bring in the July 2020 Android security patches. But there’s a major problem: The latest update (V11.0.3.0.QFQMXTC) reportedly breaks the dual-SIM functionality of the phone, introduces a carrier-specific logo in the boot animation out of the blue, and commits a bunch of unexpected changes.

Xiaomi Mi A3 XDA Forums

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Why does this happen?

As it turns out, today’s update carries an entirely different identifier (QFQMXTC) than the global firmware (QFQMIXM). The “XTC” tag is actually meant for Mexican telecom operator Telcel – the name which is visible in the altered boot animation.

@MiIndiaSupport help! This is really serious. Can’t make or receive calls. @manukumarjain @s_anuj @geekyranjit @beebomco please see the above tweet! They gave some other regions update to #mia3 pic.twitter.com/YZkuPSJz7L

— Dakshit Shah (@DakshitShah) July 13, 2020

Although the Mi A3 is an Android One phone, Xiaomi maintains a couple of regional firmware channels for this device. Apart from the global and European software builds that you can find on respective unlocked units of the Mi A3, there exist some variants of the phone sold through carriers that run carrier-customized firmware packages. Those builds often come with pre-installed network configurations, brandings, and apps corresponding to the particular carrier, just like the one rolled out a while ago.

Only this time, Xiaomi somehow mixed up the targets. Telcel’s firmware basically disables the second SIM slot of the global (as well as Indian) Mi A3 models, virtually making it a single-SIM phone. It also comes with a handful of carrier “bloatware” apps.

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What can be done about it?

If you’ve already installed the update, there is no easy way to revert back. Given that the bootloader of your Mi A3 is unlocked, then only you can manually flash the June 2020 global firmware (software version V11.0.16.0.QFQMIXM) on your phone using Mi Flash and regain the dual-SIM functionality.

There is now a post on the Mi Community, suggesting users not to install the rogue update. The OTA in question is about 1.40GB in size, which is much larger than typical security updates. Users are thus advised to take a look at the update size and skip it for the time being. This is a crucial bug that needs to be fixed by Xiaomi as soon as possible.

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Source: XDA Forums (1, 2), Mi Community

Thanks to Mi Community member BOTROBOTMOD and Twitter user Kaushik Raman for the screenshots!

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OPPO to showcase its 125W fast charging technology on July 15

Last year, several smartphone OEMs demonstrated new fast-charging technologies that should launch on new devices this year. While OPPO’s 65W SuperVOOC fast charging tech has already made its way to production models, Xiaomi’s 100W and Vivo’s 120W solutions are yet to make an appearance on a commercial device. But that might change soon, as Vivo’s sub-brand iQOO recently teased its 120W FlashCharge solution, which could be showcased on a production unit next month. Similarly, OPPO has now announced that it will be showcasing its 125W fast charging technology later this month.

If you don’t like waiting to charge, the wait is almost over. #FlashForward pic.twitter.com/Uq54uJEphQ

— OPPO (@oppo) July 13, 2020

OPPO shared the first teaser for the upcoming technology over on Twitter, revealing that the new fast charging technology will be demoed on July 15th. While the teaser shares no further details about the technology, we can make an educated guess about its performance based on the demos we’ve seen so far.

Since Vivo’s new 120W FlashCharge tech can push 6A at 20V, it’s capable of charging a 4,000mAh battery from 0-100% in just 15 minutes. But with OPPO’s solution pushing 125W of power, it might be able to achieve the same feat in less than 15 minutes. In contrast, Xiaomi’s 100W technology can charge a 4,000mAh battery to full in 17 minutes.

As of now, it isn’t clear if OPPO’s upcoming 125W fast charging solution is ready for commercial use, but we expect the company to share more details on that at the forthcoming announcement. If the 125W tech is ready for primetime, we will likely see similar solutions from sister companies OnePlus and Realme in the near future.

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Google Play Store now lets Europeans see content from other EEA countries

Google restricts the availability of apps and other Google Play content by location. To bypass these geo-restrictions on Google Play Store content, users have tried different methods like VPN services, locations spoofers, market enablers, or even modified versions of the Google Play Store. But these efforts have usually yielded only limited success since these restrictions are controlled on the server-side. For the first time, however, Google is officially allowing users to browse apps, books, or movies from outside their countries. The change comes in Europe, where users can now view Google Play content from the entire EEA region.

As per the support page added by Google, users in the EU/EEA countries can browse the Google Play content from other countries in the EEA region. However, it clearly states that they will be not be allowed to download apps, games, or content that is not available in their country.

To browse another country’s content, users must open the Play Store on their phone browsers, log out of their Google Profiles, and scroll down to the bottom of the page where they can find the location selector.

The location selector is interactive only if you are in any of the countries part of the EU/EEA (including the U.K. until the Transition Period ends). If you’re from any other region, you can still browse the store for other countries by editing the “gl” query parameter in the URL. For instance, change the URL from play.google.com/store?gl=US to play.google.com/store?gl=IT if you are in the U.S. and want to browse Google Play Store content from Italy. You can even change the location to any country by using its two-letter, aka Alpha-2 code in the URL.

Without an official announcement, it is difficult to ascertain what compels Google to take this decision. It could be a way for Google to appease users in the European Union. The tech giant has long been under a strict scanner of the E.U. and even fined heavily for several antitrust violations, including the $5 billion fine for compelling smartphone OEMs to preinstall Google Search Chrome browser on Android devices. Google is currently under scrutiny by the E.U. for its acquisition of Fitbit. Still, it may be able to avoid an investigation by pledging not to use Fitbit’s health data for ads, a recent report suggests.

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the tip and the screenshots!

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iQOO’s 120W FlashCharge fast charging solution can fully charge a 4000mAh battery within 15 mins

In the past few years, the focus for smartphones has slowly shifted towards sufficiently large batteries and faster-than-ever charging. And it makes sense — as we push for power-hungry technologies like 5G and high refresh rate high-resolution displays, we need to ensure that our phones last in our hands for a few hours at least. Companies are now exploring faster charging technologies. Last year, we saw Xiaomi demo its 100W Super Charge Turbo technology that charged from 0-100% in 17 mins. While the tech hasn’t made its way to Xiaomi devices just yet, we are now seeing other manufacturers also work on super-fast charging technology. In an online event for the Chinese market, Vivo’s sub-brand iQOO has now shown off its 120W fast charging solution.

Through a Weibo announcement, iQOO demoed its latest 120W FlashCharge fast charging solution. iQOO’s solution works by pushing forth 20V x 6A for a total of 120W of power. The technology makes use of dual-cell battery designs, as most super-fast charging technologies do, as well as a proprietary charging brick. This lets iQOO’s FlashCharge 120W power a dead phone to 50% within a staggering 5 minutes and then flattening the charging curve to achieve 100% charge on a 4000mAh battery in just 15 minutes.

In comparison, Xiaomi’s 100W charging tech reached 39% in 5 minutes and 100% in 17 minutes in the demo from last year. While this objectively makes Xiaomi’s demoed tech “inferior”, the differences become minor at this stage and a consumer is unlikely to notice the difference between the two in his everyday life. The conversation would then need to shift to safety and battery longevity, and these are the reasons why we haven’t yet seen these superfast charging technologies in the hands of consumers just yet.

iQOO may have addressed the safety and longevity aspects in their demo, but due to language translation constraints, we are unable to properly ascertain the same. iQOO’s announcement post also hints at a launch in August, which implies that they just might have cracked the code on this one.

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Source: Weibo

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Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro start getting the EMUI 10.1 (Magic UI 3.1) update in Europe

Alongside the launch of its flagship P40 series earlier this year, Huawei rolled out a slightly upgraded version of its custom Android 10-based skin called EMUI 10.1. Shortly after the launch, the company shared an update roadmap detailing the EMUI 10.1 beta release timeline for older Huawei and Honor devices. Since then, the company has rolled out beta updates for a bunch of devices in its portfolio, with some premium devices even receiving stable updates. Last month, the company shared a list of all Huawei and Honor smartphones that were scheduled to receive the EMUI 10.1/Magic UI 3.1 update this year. Keeping in sync with its release schedule, Huawei has now started rolling out EMUI 10.1 (Magic UI 3.1 in this case) to the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro in Europe.

Honor 20 Review — A Fairly Decent Budget Flagship Behind A Flashy Exterior

According to recent posts on our forums and on the Honor subreddit, Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro users in Europe have now started receiving the EMUI 10.1/Magic UI 3.1 update on their devices. The update (build no. 10.1.0.230) brings all the new features introduced with the Huawei P40 series earlier this year, including a preloaded app called “MeeTime” for video calls, Huawei’s digital assistant Celia, multi-screen collaboration, new fingerprint animations, and a cross-device photo gallery.

Honor 20 XDA Forums || Honor 20 Pro XDA Forums

It’s worth noting that while some users have revealed that the update is currently available through the Support app, several other users have not received the update notification on their devices. This leads us to believe that Huawei is pushing the EMUI 10.1 update in a staged fashion and it should reach all users in the coming weeks. In case you haven’t received the OTA update notification yet, you can manually check for the update by navigating to the Update section in the Support app on your Honor 20 and 20 Pro.

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Source: XDA Forums, Reddit

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Fix the Razer Phone 2’s camera viewfinder and EIS with this Magisk Module

The Razer Phone 2 (review) offers some solid specifications, even by today’s standards. The phone sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset clocked at 2.8GHz, a decent 4,000mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0+ as well as wireless Qi charging support, and a surreal 120Hz IGZO LCD 1440p display. However, the OEM is having a hard time keeping the Razer Phone 2 up-to-date and fix long-standing bugs, probably because their smartphone business is in a bit of turmoil right now.

Razer Phone 2 XDA Forums

Talking about bugs, the Android Pie update for the phone reportedly introduced noticeable color smudging and blurriness in the viewfinder of the stock camera. Apparently the issue also affects third-party apps like Instagram while recording videos and taking pictures. To rub salt on the wound, the Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) feature of the camera is only exposed to a limited number of apps, which is further capped at 30fps.

As expected, the XDA community comes to the rescue. XDA Junior Member Usyless has compiled a Magisk Module that systemlessly replaces a camera library on the stock OS with an older build from the Razer Phone 2’s Android Oreo firmware in order to fix the aforementioned viewfinder glitches. Below you can see two instances of video recording using Snapchat – the first one with the unmodified OS and the latter one after applying the Magisk module.

The modder also offers a supplementary Magisk Module that unlocks EIS on 1080p 60fps video recording. Unlike the first mod, the secondary module isn’t compatible with the stock camera app. You must install an appropriate Google Camera port with 60fps support to utilize the true potential of EIS. Note that the EIS mod breaks 4K 60fps recording with the rear camera and 1080p 60fps recording with the front camera.

Razer Phone 2 Viewfinder and EIS Fix Magisk Modules — XDA Download and Discussion Thread

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Download: OnePlus adds three new hidden Fnatic Mode wallpapers

OnePlus has recently rolled out a new set of OxygenOS Open Beta updates for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T family of phones. Tagged as Open Beta 15/6, these builds finally enable the “Moments” section in OxygenOS Game Space that we discovered a while ago, while they also bring in July 2020 Android security patches. Upon looking further, it seems that the company has shipped a new version of the Wallpaper Resources app as well, although the OTA changelog doesn’t mention anything about it. What is even more interesting is that there are 3 new wallpapers inside the APK that are related to Fnatic Mode.

XDA Forums: OnePlus 7 || OnePlus 7 Pro || OnePlus 7T || OnePlus 7T Pro

XDA Senior Member and frequent OnePlus tipster Some_Random_Username has found those wallpapers after examining the assets of the updated Wallpaper Resources app. All three wallpapers carry the symbol of Fnatic Mode, which is the branding lent to the built-in gaming mode of the company’s custom Android skin. The images shown below have been resized and compressed for lighter file size.

If you want to set them as the wallpaper on your phone, we recommend downloading the ZIP package from the link below. The ZIP file contains the 3 untouched images in full 1080×2400 resolution.

Download New Fnatic Mode Wallpapers (ZIP)

OnePlus is a frequent collaborator with Fnatic, a professional eSports organization headquartered in London. A well-known easter egg in OxygenOS actually unlocks 3 similar special Fnatic-branded wallpapers on OnePlus phones. It could be possible that the new Open Beta update simply increases the number of secret wallpapers inside the easter egg, or this is a teaser of something big. Nonetheless, here’s how you can unlock the Fnatic Mode easter egg on pretty much any recent OnePlus device:

• Navigate to Settings > Utilities > Gaming Mode > Fnatic Mode.
• Tap on the Fnatic logo five times.
• A text box would appear underneath the logo.
• Enter alwaysfnatic in the text field and hit Enter.

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