Huawei P50 Pocket Review: Excellent screen and main camera on a foldable, but still a niche

After opting to release its 2021 foldable phone, the Huawei Mate X2, in mainland China only, Huawei is back on the global stage (that would be Europe and chunks of Asia) with a new foldable, the Huwei P50 Pocket. Just like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3, it is a clamshell-style foldable that transforms from a small makeup compactor-shaped square to a rectangular slab.

As expected by those familiar with Huawei flagships, the hardware craftsmanship is impeccable: the screen doesn’t show signs of creasing; the hinge folds completely flat; and the main camera on this phone is almost on par with the excellent Huawei P50 Pro main camera — which makes it better than the Galaxy Z Flip 3’s cameras in my opinion. But there are the usual US sanctions-caused shortcomings that have plagued Huawei’s international releases in the past couple of years: there’s no Google Mobile Services support and the phone runs on a 4G version of Snapdragon 888.

Factor in the relatively high price of €1,299 in Europe (which converts to $1,466) and about a hundred dollars cheaper in Asian regions like Singapore and Hong Kong, the Huawei P50 Pocket can be seen as a niche luxury or collector’s item. In fact, there is a “Premium Edition,” with a gold-colored design by Dutch haute couture designer Iris van Herpen that retails for €1599 ($1,750). Clearly, Huawei is aiming at a specific market. That’s wise, because to average consumers in the west, the P50 Pocket has a very tough case to make against the cheaper, 5G and Google-ready Galaxy Z Flip 3.

Huawei P50 Pocket

Huawei's newest foldable is stylish and ultra-sleek with a strong main camera to boot. But the usual caveats apply...

Pros:

Cons:

Huawei P50 Pocket: Price and Availability

The Huawei P50 Pocket was released in China last December, but its international launch is just beginning now alongside the Huawei P50 Pro in markets including the UK, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, among others. Check Huawei’s consumer website to find out if and when it will be available in your region. The Huawei P50 comes in black, white, or gold options — with the latter being the aforementioned pricier “Premium Edition.” The black and white models come with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, while the gold comes in 12GB RAM and 512GB storage.

• Huawei P50 Pocket: €1299
• Huawei P50 Pocket Premium Edition: €1599

Huawei P50 Pocket: Specifications

Specification	Huawei P50 Pocket
Build	Aluminum mid-frame, Glass back
Dimensions & Weight	Unfolded: 170 x 75.5 x 7.2 mm Folded: 87.3 x 75.5 x 15.2 mm 190g
Display	Main: 6.9-inch 120Hz AMOLED, 1188 x 2790 Secondary: 1.04-inch AMOLED, 340 x 340
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 4G
RAM & Storage	Black, white model: 8GB RAM; 256GB UFS 3.1 storage Premium Edition model: 12GB RAM; 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
Battery & Charging	4,000 mAh 40W fast charging (charger included)
Security	Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 40MP, f/1.8 “True-Chroma” main camera Secondary: 13MP, f/2.2 Ultra-wide angle camera Tertiary: 32MP, “Ultra Spectrum” camera
Front Camera(s)	10.7MP, f/2.2 front-facing camera
Port(s)	USB Type-C 3.1
Audio	Dual Stereo Speakers
Connectivity	NFC Bluetooth 5.2
Software	EMUI 12
Other Features	Nano memory card slot Hinge stays halfway folded

About this review: Huawei sent me a P50 Pocket in white to test on January 18th. Huawei did not have input in this article.

Hardware and Design

• 6.9-inch 120Hz OLED screen that doesn’t show a harsh crease like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
• Unfolded, it’s ultra-thin at 7.2mm
• The outside screen can be used as a camera viewfinder
• Snapdragon 888 is more than enough power even in 2022, and the lack of 5G won’t be a huge deal to many

When it’s unfolded, the Huawei P50 Pocket — at least my white color model — looks similar to the Huawei P50 Pocket, with the same striking double-ring camera module design and an immersive screen with a small hole-punch wrapped by minimal bezels. The 6.9-inch, 21:9 display is slightly more elongated than a typical slab smartphone, but for the most part, it feels very similar, unlike larger foldables like Huawei’s own Mate X2 or the Samsung Z Fold 3 which feels like an entirely different beast in the hand.

Despite the fold, the Huawei P50 Pocket’s screen has a very hard-to-see/find crease. From most angles, you won’t be able to see it, and when you run your finger through the folding part of the screen, you only feel a slight indentation. This is a major improvement over the Galaxy Z Flip 3, whose crease is noticeable when viewed at even a slightly off-angle, and has a deep groove that can be felt at all times.

The 120Hz display looks great — bright enough to use under direct sunlight, with zippy animations and colors that pop. Just like the Huawei Mate X2, the P50 Pocket also has a hinge that can fold completely flat, without leaving a gap like the Galaxy Z Flip 3. This allows the P50 Pocket to be slightly thinner than the Galaxy Z Flip 3 when folded (15.2mm to 15.9mm). There’s a side-mounted fingerprint reader on the right side, along with a volume rocker.

Just like the Huawei Mate X2, the P50 Pocket also has a hinge that can fold completely flat, without leaving a gap like the the Galaxy Z Flip 3

That aforementioned double-ring camera module is actually just one camera module, the bottom circle is actually a 1-inch secondary screen that allows the phone to be used even when folded. Unfortunately, because the screen is so small, it is not as useful as the Galaxy Z Flip 3’s larger screen. Here on the P50 Pocket, you can use the screen as a camera viewfinder so you can take selfies with the main camera system; as well as check things like calendar, notifications, and control music playback. Ultimately, because of the size and shape, you can only get limited utility out of this, similar to the issues we had on the earlier generation of clamshell foldables.

The P50 Pocket is just well constructed all around, the hinge is sturdy and can stay in place mid-fold into this laptop-shaped setup with half of the screen upright. The P50 Pocket’s software really only takes advantage of this setup in the camera app, as the viewfinder will move up to the top half of the screen, with the bottom half showing camera controls. This allows for hands-free selfies or time-lapse videos.

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Cameras

• Great primary camera that works at par with glass slab flagships
• Ultra-wide camera washes out colors

The P50 Pocket’s main camera system consists of a 40MP “True-Chroma” main camera, a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 32MP “Super Spectrum” camera. The main camera is named after Huawei’s True-Chroma Image Engine, a software/hardware solution that supposedly allows the phone to recreate accurate colors that are seen by the human eye. Meanwhile, the Super Spectrum camera is a color temperature sensor that helps the XD Fusion Pro Image Engine, which helps the phone produce shots with more depth and image information.

Does any of this XD and Chroma marketing speak really mean anything in the real world? Yes, the Huawei P50 Pro’s main camera produces shots with punchy colors and great sharpness. Let’s take a look at some samples.

The Huawei P50 Pro's main camera produces sharp shots with punchy colors

Here’s a shot with a tricky light situation: there’s a relatively bright light coming through the window on the right side, but there’s also a section of the shot covered in shadows — under the table, the part of the table underneath the computer monitor and behind a curtain. Now, can I say the P50 Pocket’s shot is 100% accurate to real life? No, it’s a bit cooler than the scene at the time. But the iPhone’s shot is, as usual, overly warm. And if we zoom in to the actual size and look at 100% crops, we can see the P50 Pocket’s 10MP shot is more detailed and less noisy than the iPhone 13’s 12MP shot.

P50 Pocket (left); iPhone 13 Pro (right)

Here, I can say the P50 Pro shot does indeed have more accurate colors — the light blue shade of the water bottle and the white sheet of paper on the left side.

Here’s another 100% crop of the same shot on another part of the room.

P50 Pocket (left); iPhone 13 Pro (right), 100% crops.

Everything, from the banana to the brown cardboard coffee cupholder to the tiny bit of ocean in the upper right corner of the shot, has more accurate colors in Huawei’s shot than Apple’s shot.

Let’s compare the P50 Pro to other phones. Here’s a night city shot pitting the Huawei P50 Pocket against the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and Google Pixel 6 Pro.

All three shots are excellent, and it’s really up to nitpicking. The Galaxy S21 Ultra and Pixel 6 Pro are better illuminated overall, with the top quarter of the shot a bit dark in the P50 Pocket image. But then the P50 Pocket’s reds are much more vivid and the lights better exposed, particularly in the lantern and the stop sign near the bottom right quadrant of the shot. Let’s zoom in 100%.

P50 Pocket (left); Galaxy S21 Ultra (middle); Pixel 6 Pro (right), 100% crops.

Overall, the P50 Pocket’s main camera is strong and on par with the Huawei P50 Pro, which I tested a few months ago. Notice I said the main camera, because the ultra-wide camera doesn’t bring the same high standards. It’s definitely inferior to the P50 Pro’s ultra-wide sensor. The big problem is colors are inconsistent between main and ultra-wide photos. The below two images were captured back to back within a second apart.

Here’s another set, and if we zoom in 100%, the ultra-wide shot is nowhere near as sharp as the main camera. This is a shame because Huawei arguably pioneered the idea (back in 2019’s Mate 30 Pro) that the ultra-wide camera should not be significantly inferior to the main camera.

P50 Pocket main camera (left); ultra-wide (right), 100% crops.

I took the P50 Pocket on a camping trip over the weekend, which was a good time to test the phone’s low light capabilities. Because Huawei has moved away from its RYYB sensor (where the extra yellow pixel helped it pull in a lot of light), and the 40MP sensor here doesn’t have those huge sensors used in the Huawei P40 Pro, the P50 Pocket really needs night mode to get a great shot in really dark scenes.

As you can see, without night mode, the photo captured blows out the lights, but with night mode, the P50 Pocket was able to churn out a Pixel-like well-balanced shot. Here’s another night mode on/off sample.

And unlike Apple, Google, and Samsung phones, the P50 Pocket does not turn on night mode automatically, you have to switch to the mode yourself. There are pros and cons to phones automating everything, but here, I’d prefer the phone just automatically use night mode if the shot quality is going to differ that much.

Selfies are fine. The actual front-facing camera is a bit soft on details, so if you shoot with the main camera, you get a much sharper shot. And at night, it will be a brighter shot too.

The P50 Pocket’s video capabilities are below par for a phone that costs well into four-digit Euros. Everything from stabilization to dynamic range is below par for Huawei. The P50 Pro, by comparison, has a much, much better video camera.

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Software

• The Huawei P50 Pocket runs EMUI instead of HarmonyOS and it’s a familiar Huawei UI
• No Google Mobile Services is not ideal, but perhaps not an absolute dealbreaker
• Petal Search can make finding and installing apps easier
• Celia is Huawei’s digital voice assistant and it is the first time I’ve seen it available outside of China

The Huawei P50 Pocket runs on EMUI 12 instead of HarmonyOS. Huawei declined to say why they haven’t rolled out HarmonyOS to its smartphones globally yet, but as someone who has used HarmonyOS on a phone, I can say the general experience won’t be too different. For the most part, EMUI here still behaves like Android, except Huawei has split the notification panel and control center into two separate panes. And there’s no app tray, so all apps sit on the homescreen. But I like the slide-over menu that allows the launch of apps in floating windows quickly.

Speaking of apps — by now most people reading will know that Huawei phones cannot run Google Mobile Services, which include Google’s core apps such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, etc. Whether or not this makes the phone unusable depends on who you are and what you need. For some, this is a complete non-starter.

For me, I can say that this is definitely not ideal, but it is not unusable. The reality is there are a lot of workarounds to access those Google apps. Gmail, for example, can still work via a third-party mail app like Microsoft Outlook. Google Calendar, too, can sync with Outlook without issues. Google Maps works on the phone outright, with the only exception being you can’t log in so you can’t save locations or write reviews of businesses. But otherwise, if you want to navigate from point A to point B on Google Maps, you can. YouTube can be accessed directly via the web browser — in fact, Huawei’s native web browser has YouTube bookmarked.

Most major apps westerners know, like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter work absolutely fine with zero issues. And while these apps are not available on Huawei’s AppGallery, Huawei has a workaround known as Petal Search. Essentially, Petal Search directs your app search to trusted sources like APK Mirror, APK Pure, or if it’s available, the official source of download like Facebook dot com.

For me, not having Google Mobile Services is definitely not ideal, but it also does not make the phone unusable

The P50 Pocket also has its own voice assistant to make up for not having Google’s. Named Celia, this was introduced a couple of years ago, but as far as I know, I don’t recall Celia being available internationally until recently. This is my first experience using Celia, and the experience is okay. It can be triggered by saying “Hey Celia” or long-pressing the power button. It can help me set an alarm 0r launch a first-party Huawei app without problems. When I ask it to set an alarm she even knows to confirm the time and wait for my response. But Celia misunderstands words more often than Siri or Google Assistant, and sometimes when I ask it a straightforward question (like converting currency), it will bring me to a web search instead of just giving me the answer.

Having Celia is better than having no voice assistant at all, and maybe with time, it will improve. But chances of it ever surpassing Google Assistant, at least in the English-speaking parts of the world, is slim to none.

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General Performance and Battery Life

The Huawei P50 Pocket shipping with a 4G version of the Snapdragon 888 in 2022 when the 5G ready Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is around the corner will hurt its appeal, but in a vacuum, is the Snapdragon 888 4G lacking in power? Absolutely not. Throughout my week of use, the Huawei P50 Pocket operated smoothly, and 5G connectivity is still in its infancy and barely offers faster speeds. I have spent the past three months using 5G data plans in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, two major cities with some of the best mobile infrastructure, and I’d be lying if I said 5G really made any practical difference in my life. Yes, this does affect the “futreproof” value of the phone, but if this really does look appetizing to you, there’s a chance that you are willing to look past this.

The 4,000 mAh battery also gives the phone excellent battery life. Huawei has always been able to do wonders if its battery optimization and that 4,000mAh cell can really go far here. On the day I went camping, I was out hiking through mountains and using the phone heavily, and after a 16-hour day, I went to sleep with the P50 Pocket still at 18% battery.

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Conclusion

Of course, most of what I said in this review will be moot points without two main considerations: the price, and the GMS situation. The reality is, Huawei’s €1,299 ($1,466) pricing, plus not having access to Google Mobile Services really limit the P50 Pocket’s mainstream appeal.

It’s worth wondering why Huawei didn’t price this phone lower, especially with the Galaxy Z Flip 3 available right now with 5G connectivity, unrestricted software, and a lower price tag. If I have to take a guess, it’s that Huawei’s consumer group isn’t willing to let go of its premium brand status just because of sanctions that are beyond the group’s control. In mainland China, Malaysia, and parts of Hong Kong, Huawei is seen as a luxury brand whose gadgets are a notch above other Chinese manufacturers. “Huawei is considered the Rolex of mobile phones by Chinese people,” a popular phone importer in Hong Kong told me few months ago, when I expressed surprise that all his China model P50 Pros were sold out on day one. Some people will buy Huawei products even if it’s more expensive, even if it doesn’t have Google. The $2,700 Huawei Mate X2, for example, was out of stock for most of 2021.

Can Huawei achieve this same status with European consumers? That it can be seen as a luxury brand whose products deserve to be higher price? Huawei very well was on its way there before the sanctions, when the company’s phones were setting sales record and garnering rave reviews all throughout Europe. Now with obstacles, it’s going to be an uphill battle. But Huawei is nothing if not persistent.

Huawei P50 Pocket

Huawei's newest foldable is stylish and ultra-sleek with a strong main camera to boot. But the usual caveats apply...

Pros:

Cons:

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PowerToys 0.55 brings another new tool to help you locate the mouse cursor easily

In October last year, Microsoft released a major update for its PowerToys suite. The update included a new Find My Mouse tool, which helped users easily locate the mouse cursor on their screens by shining a spotlight on it. Microsoft then released a Mouse Highlighter tool with PowerToys 0.51, which highlighted the cursor with a yellow circle on mouse button clicks, making it easy for users to show clicks during a presentation. Microsoft is now rolling out another mouse utility with PowerToys 0.55.0 that aims to help users locate the cursor on their screens by taking a slightly different approach.

The new Mouse Pointer Crosshairs utility in PowerToys 0.55.0 draws a crosshair on your screen centered on the mouse pointer (via Bleeping Computer). You can enable it using the default Ctrl+Alt+P keyboard shortcut (or set up a custom shortcut) and customize its appearance by heading to the Appearance & behavior section under the new ‘Mouse Pointer Crosshairs’ setting. As you can see in the attached screenshot, you can change the crosshair color, opacity, center radius, thickness, border color, and border size.

Unlike the Find My Mouse utility, in which the spotlight disappears after a few seconds, the new mouse pointer crosshair is persistent. This means that it’ll stay on your screen until you disable it using the keyboard shortcuts. As a result, it should be a bit more useful for users who have some form of visual impairment. The PowerToys team says that the new crosshair utility was co-developed with the accessibility team at Microsoft.

Along with the new Mouse Pointer Crosshairs tool, PowerToys 0.55.0 brings preview support for more than 150 developer files for the preview pane and STL format thumbnail generation with two new File Explorer add-ons. The update also includes a number of bug fixes, improvements, and changes. Check out the full changelog in the section below for more details.

Microsoft PowerToys 0.55.0 changelog

• General
  • .NET runtime is now on 5, our next release will be upgraded to .NET 6. Moving to .NET 5 and then 6 helped reduce our moving parts in a single release so we went this route. Why this is important is this is one of the major work items needed for ARM64 support. In addition, this should help provide a speed boosts once we are on .NET 6.
  • @jsoref’s spelling plugin help
• Always on Top
  • Fixed one of two borders showing incorrectly bugs.
  • Border defaults to OS accent color now. Thanks @davidegiacometti
  • Reduced CPU / GPU activity. Not done improving, we know we can do better.
• Fancy Zones
  • Bug fixed to not lose zones after update
  • Fixed editor margin issue for Chinese language. Thanks @niels9001
• File explorer add-ons
  • GCode thumbnails now have transparency. Thanks @pedrolamas
  • New Utility – Developer files for File Explorer preview pane. This should add about 150 file extensions total. We are using the Monaco Editor to power this experience. Thanks @aaron-junker!
  • New Utility – STL thumbnails added! Preview pane support is already in Windows. Thanks @pedrolamas!
• Image Resizer
  • Fixed bug with too much meta data. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper
  • Fixed bug resizing bug for constant height while maintaining aspect ratio. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper
• Mouse utilities
  • New Utility – Crosshair over pointer via Ctrl+Alt+P. This feature was co-developed with the accessibility team at Microsoft. Thanks @niels9001 for helping with the icon!
• PowerRename
  • Files are sorted now how File Explorer sorts.
•  PowerToys Run
  • Improved speed and fixed bugs with Window walker plugin. Thanks @htcfreek
  • Window Walker will now show path of elevated apps. Thanks @davidegiacometti
  • Added UEFI command to system commands. Thanks @htcfreek
  • Fixed crashing bug in EnvironmentHelper class. Thanks @htcfreek
  • Fix URI plugin bug with ^:. Thanks @franky920920
  • VS Code plugin not showing workspaces with latest Code version was corrected. Thanks @ricardosantos9521
  • Fixed bug that caused plugins to not load. Thanks @davidegiacometti
  • Fixed crash in Uri plugin and Web search plugin. Thanks @cyberrex5!
•  Settings
  • Fixed a regression with settings being reset when moving from admin to non-admin
•  Video Conference Mute
  • Fixed crashing bug with Zoom and other clients. We found someone we could remotely debug with and identify the actual crashing part.
  • Change of behavior: When leaving a meeting, VCM will now leave your microphone in the state it was. This mimics behavior of applications if VCM was not present.
  • Change of behavior: When you exit PowerToys, your current microphone state will remain.

You can download PowerToys 0.55.0 on the Microsoft Store or from the PowerToys GitHub page.

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Instagram Stories and DMs now support Meta’s 3D avatars

In a bid to compete with Snap’s Bitmoji feature, Facebook (now Meta) launched Avatars all the way back in 2019. At first, the feature was only available in Australia, but Facebook released it in other markets over the course of a year. As its name suggests, the feature lets you create a virtual avatar of yourself that you can use in Messenger or on the Facebook feed. Almost three years after debuting the feature, Meta is now bringing it to Instagram Stories and DMs.

In a recent blog post (via CNET), Meta said that Instagram users in the US, Canada, and Mexico will now be able to share their 3D Avatars with others through Stories or via DMs. In addition, the company highlighted all the new changes for 3D Avatars included in the latest update. These include:

New customization options

Meta’s updated 3D Avatars come with various new customization options, including Cochlear implants, over-the-ear hearing aids in several colors and wheelchairs. These options are available across all platforms, including VR, and will also show up in stickers on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram DMs. Meta has also adjusted certain facial shapes and tweaked skin shaders with the latest update, which improves the look of Avatars.

Improved availability

Meta’s 3D Avatars are now available across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger for users in the US, Mexico, and Canada, along with the regions where Meta has already started rolling out Avatars. Users will now be able to use their 3D Avatars as profile pictures on Facebook and even share them in comments, stickers, and stories across all platforms.

Furthermore, Meta notes that if “your previously created an avatar on Facebook in the past, get ready to see a new side of yourself — literally. Your avatar will automatically enter the third dimension as part of this update, and we’re doing our best to make sure your new-and-improved self matches the choices you made previously. That said, there are a lot more options now than there were before! You’ll have the chance to jump into the editor and make some changes.”

In addition, Meta will now let you create different Avatars for different platforms. You’ll have the option to create three distinct Avatars — one for Facebook and Messenger, one for Instagram, and one for VR. If you keep a single Avatar and choose to sync it across platforms, any changes you make will automatically be reflected on all platforms.

NFL Partnership

Lastly, Meta has partnered with the NFL to bring NFL-themed customization options for Avatars. These options will be available until February 28 and will let you change your Avatar’s outfit to support the Cincinnati Bengals or Los Angeles Rams. In case you’re not a fan of these teams, you’ll also get the option to pick a neutral Super Bowl LV1 shirt for your Avatar.

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BOE showcases a gaming monitor with an insane 500Hz refresh rate

The Chinese display maker BOE has showcased a new display panel which sets a new benchmark in the world of gaming monitors. BOE’s new monitor offers a refresh rate of up to 500Hz, surpassing the current best monitors that can reach up to 360Hz.

The 27-inch monitor uses a high-mobility oxide TFT technology and offers full HD 1080p resolution (via Videocardz). The lower resolution is understandable considering the insanely high 500Hz refresh rate of the display. Even current 360Hz monitors are limited to 1080p resolution. The panel uses an 8-lane DisplayPort connection and offers a 1ms response time and 8-bit color gamut support.

BOE is one of the leading manufacturers of LCD, LED and OLED panels. The company is a market leader in the oxide semiconductor display market. It also makes foldable displays, which have been featured on smartphones like the Motorola Razr and Huawei Mate X.

BOE has shared a teaser video showcasing the prototype monitor in action:

“With years of technology accumulation, BOE has made important breakthroughs in the field of oxide semiconductor display technology, overcoming industry problems such as copper (Cu) easy to diffuse, easy to oxidize, and easy to drill and engrave, and is the first in the industry to achieve mass production of copper interconnect stack structures. And the integration of high refresh rate, high resolution, low power consumption oxide display technology,” reports Chinese publication Sina.com (machine-translated by Google).

Note that this monitor is a prototype unit, meant for demonstration only. We don’t know when, if ever, BOE plans to commercially launch a monitor with a 500Hz refresh rate. BOE also didn’t detail whether there are any tangible benefits of having a display that offers a whopping 500Hz refresh rate. In any case, you’ll definitely need one of the best graphics cards out there to drive this thing.

Would you like to see a 500Hz monitor come to the market? Let us know in the comments below

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YouTube Music tests “Recommended radios” and a new “Add to playlist” UI

YouTube Music may not be as popular as Spotify or Apple Music, but it’s still one of the best music streaming services on the market. And it’s always great to see Google keep adding new features to the service to make it even better. Case in point: the app is testing two new features to enhance your music streaming experience.

The first feature YouTube Music is testing (via 9to5Google) is called “Recommended radios.” While YouTube Music has long allowed users to start a radio from a single song, this new feature goes further, offering automatically created radio stations revolving around music genres and artists. “Recommended radios” are featured on the home tab and they keep changing every time you refresh the feed. The music featured in these playlists is “customized for you and always updating.” You also get the option to save tracks to your library.

The second feature that’s being tested (via 9to5Google) is the new “Add to playlist” UI for the YouTube Music Android app. The current Add to playlist screen on the Android and iOS apps looks quite dated. In contrast, the new UI looks much more modern and visually appealing, as you can see in the screenshots attached below.

Instead of just showing names of playlists, the new UI now shows artwork as well as the number of tracks that each playlist contains. There’s a “Recent” section at the top while the pill-shaped “New playlist” button in the bottom right corner lets you quickly create a new playlist. This new UI has been available on the Progressive Web App version of YouTube Music for months now, so it’s good to see it’s finally making its way to the mobile app.

“Recommended radios” and the new “Add to playlist” UI have only rolled out to a few users and aren’t widely available yet.

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Featured image and screenshots courtesy: 9to5Google

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Samsung users in Europe might soon receive One UI updates much faster

Samsung is reportedly making some changes to how it delivers software updates to its devices in different parts of Europe. These changes will likely improve the company’s software rollout even further and, quite possibly, make sideloading One UI updates a whole lot easier.

Over the last couple of years, Samsung has improved its software update situation quite dramatically. The company has gone from being among the worst OEMs (in terms of keeping devices up to date with the latest software and security updates) to one of the best. These days, it’s one of the first OEMs to ship the latest security patches and new Android OS upgrades, even though it maintains a much larger product portfolio when compared to other OEMs.

In addition, Samsung also leads the pack when it comes to longevity (barring the Pixel 6 series), offering up to three OS upgrades and four years of security updates for many of its devices. Despite that, Samsung’s update process still has one big issue: regional fragmentation. But, according to a recent report from Galaxy Club (via Android Police), Samsung aims to address this soon.

In case you’re not familiar with Samsung’s existing update process, here’s a quick refresher. Currently, One UI updates for all Samsung devices are regionally restricted. This means that the updates for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or Galaxy Z Flip 3 in Korea aren’t the same as the updates for the same devices in the US, EU, or India. To make sure updates reach devices in the correct region, Samsung phones ship with a region-specific “CSC” code.

CSC code for the Indian variant of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 (INU)

Samsung does this to prevent the occasional buggy release from affecting a large number of devices across regions and, sometimes, due to regional software variations like onboarding experiences and preloaded apps. However, due to this practice, users in certain regions have to wait weeks (sometimes even months) to receive the same update. On top of that, Samsung also faces issues on the development front, as it has to test and release multiple versions of the same One UI update.

In an attempt to solve these issues and further streamline its software update process, Samsung is reportedly reducing the number of different CSC codes for some models in the European region. Galaxy Club notes that the 4G variant of the Galaxy A52 launched with fewer CSC variants, compared to other phones from the company. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 also followed this trend, and all European models of these three devices share the same CSC code. Thanks to this change, Galaxy A52, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Galaxy Z Flip 3 users across Europe should receive software updates at the same time, irrespective of which European country they purchased the device from.

The publication further reveals that Samsung hasn’t completely implemented this change and carrier-branded phones in the Netherlands still have different CSCs. But this doesn’t seem to be the case in the UK. According to Android Police, carrier-branded Samsung phones in the UK share the same software builds as the unlocked models. This leads us to believe that the changes vary based on the carrier and country.

Galaxy Club further adds that Samsung’s 2022 product lineup, including the Galaxy A13, A33, A53, and the flagship Galaxy S22 series, are also being developed without regional CSC codes. We expect Samsung to extend this change to other upcoming models as well. Unfortunately, older models won’t get the same treatment.

At the moment, Samsung has not shared any official information about this change. But we hope the company will make an announcement during the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event, where it will unveil the highly-anticipated Galaxy S22 lineup.

For more details on the matter, check out Galaxy Club’s post by following the link above.

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February 2022 patches already rolling out to Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy A50s

While many Android flagships haven’t even received the January 2022 security update, Samsung is already marching ahead. Rolling out security patches even before the new month begins is something that Samsung has been doing for a while now. And in keeping up with that trend, the company is now rolling out February 2022 patches to some of its devices.

According to user reports on our forums, Samsung has started rolling out a new software update to Galaxy Note 20 owners which bumps the security patch level to February 2022. The update weighs 865.43 in size and carries software version N98xxXXU3EVA9. It’s currently rolling out in multiple European countries, with other regions to follow suit in the coming weeks. The update doesn’t pack a whole lot besides the latest security patches, with the changelog mentioning standard stuff like device stability improvements, bug fixes, and performance improvements.

Screenshot credit: XDA Senior Member Nizam_A

Samsung’s mid-range Galaxy A50s is also picking up February 2022 patches (via SamMobile) with a new update. The update is currently only live in Vietnam and it comes with a software version A507FNXXU6DVA2.

How Monthly Android Security Patch Updates Work

If you own a Galaxy Note 20 or Galaxy A50s and reside in the above markets, look out for an OTA notification in the coming days. You can also check for the update manually by heading to Settings > Software update and clicking on the Download & Install button.

The latest security update comes as we inch closer to Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series launch event. At the event, which is scheduled for February 9, we’re expecting the South Korean company to unveil at least three smartphones: the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus, and Galaxy S22 Ultra. We already know pretty much everything there’s to know about all three models thanks to multiple leaks and rumors in the past few weeks. If you’re interested, you can pre-order a Galaxy S22 right now.

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