OnePlus explains how they optimized OxygenOS 11 for better one-handed use

It won’t be long after Google rolls out the stable Android 11 release for Pixel phones that OnePlus rolls out the final version of OxygenOS 11 for its devices. Earlier this month, the company unveiled the latest version of its Android-based software and rolled out a beta for the OnePlus 8 series. Alongside a new beta release today, OnePlus took to its forums to explain how they came up with the new design language for OxygenOS 11.

In the post, OxygenOS Product Lead Gary C. explained how OnePlus analyzed data to design a system that’s more comfortable for one-handed use. The company says they conducted A/B testing and found that 65% of users prefer slightly smaller headlines while 80% of users prefer titles with subtitles rather than without. In accordance with these metrics, OnePlus designed a new “headline-body hierarchy that streamlines information delivery in OxygenOS 11.” Furthermore, the company looked at anthropometric data to determine the general regions of the screen where people can easily reach or struggle to reach, as shown below.

As a result, OxygenOS 11 moves touch controls closer to your thumbs for easier access. When you open a menu, settings will now be pushed to the lower half of the display. “We also wanted to add even more features to make one-handed use quicker and easier,” OnePlus said in a forum post. “So, for example, we added a new Quick Share button in the Camera app. Now you can long press the thumbnail of the last photo you took to quickly share the photo with just one motion.” The company also redesigned its Weather app based on these principles, with the new UI currently rolling out in beta.

 

The changes to OxygenOS 11 come in response to the current mobile landscape, which is flooded with devices that feature tall screens. While big displays are great for content consumption, they do present usability issues with people who have smaller hands.

Samsung made similar design changes in its One UI software, which made the company’s taller phones much easier to use by placing key interaction areas near the bottom of the screen. Even if OxygenOS 11 does take inspiration from Samsung, it’s still nice to see that better one-handed use is becoming more of a priority.

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Lenovo Smart Clock Essential is a $49 multipurpose clock with Google Assistant

If you’re having trouble waking up for work or the new school year, then Lenovo’s new Smart Clock Essential can help. The company on Monday introduced the new Google Assistant-powered digital alarm clock, which is a cheaper version of the Lenovo Smart Clock from 2019. The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential introduces a handful of new features, including a night light and USB port for charging devices.

The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential features what looks like an LED display that shows information such as time, day, temperature, and whether you have an alarm set. Speaking of alarms, users can now use buttons to set an alarm, in addition to voice. There’s a mic mute switch and buttons for play/pause, volume up/down, and night light, a previously mentioned.

You can also use the Smart Clock Essential to control your smart home network using Google Assistant. That includes turning off/on smart lights and streaming music through the device’s 3W 1.5-inch speaker. You can also group the Smart Clock Essential with other compatible smart speakers for a more immersive listening experience.

The original Lenovo Smart Clock was more of a tiny smart display, similar to the Nest Hub, than an actual bedside clock. The latest Smart Clock Essential appears to function more like an old school alarm clock, complete with old school alarm clock looks, but with Google Assistant smarts. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential retails for $49, which is about the price of a Google Nest Home Mini ($59). If you want the extra clock functionality, Lenovo’s new device might be the way to go. You can pick up the Smart Clock Essential in September. It’ll be available in the U.S., Europe, and several other regions, including Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and China.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 2020 leaked renders show off Gold and Gray colors

The Android tablet market stands in no competition against Apple’s iPad lineup. But still, there’s ground to be covered at price points which Apple does not serve, and options to provide at the points where Apple continues to exist. Samsung’s premier tablets for this year are of course the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, but there’s definitely room for many more tablets to be spread across the price spectrum. Samsung appears to be working on a new tablet, as leaked renders now show off the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 2020 in its Gold and Gray colors.

These leaked renders come to us courtesy of Evan ‘evleaks’ Blass and his Patreon, and they show off the upcoming tablet from Samsung in two colors:

The render shows off a surprisingly basic looking tablet with a single rear camera and a front with decently-sized bezels. The Samsung branding can be seen on the back. Evan does not mention anything else, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 (SM-T505) had earlier appeared in its 10.4″ avatar in a Google Play Console listing. From the listing, we know that the device will come with a 10.4″ display with a resolution of 1200 x 2000 pixels. The tablet will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 SoC, and at least one variant will have 3GB of RAM.

From the looks and preliminary specifications, one can expect the Galaxy Tab A7 2020 to be targeting some of the early segments of the market. We can expect Samsung to offer multiple storage variants and possible options for Wi-Fi-only and LTE models. It isn’t immediately clear if the tablet would officially support the new S Pen just like the Galaxy Tab S7 series. But even if it does, it is unlikely that an S Pen would be included in the box as the target pricing is expected to be humble. There is currently no information on the existence of a smaller sized variant.

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Google Maps now shows traffic lights on Android in the U.S.

Update 1 (08/31/2020 @ 12:11 PM ET): Google Maps is now showing traffic lights on Android for many people in the U.S. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on July 8, 2020, is preserved below.

Google Maps is undoubtedly one of the most popular apps in Google’s portfolio, and the company often releases updates to make the service even better. Since its 15th birthday earlier this year in February, the app has received a ton of new features like Live View AR navigation, integrated menu scanning, a new real-time location sharing UI, YouTube Music integration, and much more. Now, according to a recent report from Droid-Life, Google has started testing a new feature that will show traffic lights in Google Maps on Android.

The report cites screenshots taken by a reader who lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, which show traffic lights in several intersections around the city. The traffic lights are visible both while using the traditional map view and while navigating, however, they do appear slightly bigger and more noticeable while navigating. The feature is expected to give users a heads up when they’re about to reach a traffic light and even help them plan their route ahead of time to avoid any unnecessary delay.

As of now, the feature is limited to just showing the traffic lights on the map and Google hasn’t included any additional functionality for users. However, that might change by the time the feature is released to more users. The feature currently appears to be in its early stages of development as it’s only available for a small number of users in certain regions on version 10.44.3 of the app. It’s also worth noting that Apple Maps has had a similar feature since last year which offers additional functionality like using Siri to alert users when they’re about to reach a traffic light.

Maps - Navigate & Explore (Free, Google Play) →

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Update 1: Rolling Out Widely

Traffic light icons are now showing up for many people on Google Maps, at least in the United States (via AndroidPolice). You don’t need to turn the feature on manually nor do you need to activate traffic layers. The icons look the same when this feature was first spotted back in July, and they also automatically adapt to the map size. The icons appear when browsing the map or navigating.

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Download: OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro receive Android 11 Developer Preview 4-based OxygenOS 11 builds with September 2020 patches

OxygenOS 11, i.e. the upcoming iteration of OnePlus’ custom skin has already raised some eyebrows due to its revamped design language. The new UI was first unveiled through the third “Developer Preview” build of Android 11 for the OnePlus 8 series. Although DP3 was supposed to be the final Developer Preview build, OnePlus has now come up with yet another build based on Android 11 beta. Those running the DP3 build on their OnePlus 8/8 Pro are now receiving Developer Preview 4 as an incremental update.

OnePlus 8 XDA Forums || OnePlus 8 XDA Pro Forums

Apart from fixing numerous bugs, the latest DP build of OxygenOS 11 revamps the built-in Gaming Mode by introducing features like floating window and accidental touch prevention. Moreover, OnePlus has managed to ship September 2020 Android security patches through this update, albeit the changelog doesn’t mention anything about it.

Thanks to XDA Senior Member jeffsga88 for the screenshot!

The complete changelog of this update is as follows:

• System
  • Optimized display effects with some UI
  • Optimized the lagging issue under some settings
  • Optimized the stability with the upload of log in Community
  • Optimized delayed response issue with pull-down of the status bar
  • Fixed the crash/reboot issue under some settings
  • Fixed the all black issue with status bar in dark mode
  • Fixed the bug that system cannot be re-started after OTA upgrade
  • Fixed the disabled “save” feature of screenshot
• Game space
  • Newly added gaming tools box for convenient switches of Fnatic mode, WeChat, QQ and Screen Recorder at one place (Enable it by swiping down from upper right/left corners of the screen in gaming mode)
  • Newly added mis-touch prevention feature. Enable it, swipe down from the top of the screen, click and the notification bar will pop out
• Gallery
  • Fixed the abnormal increase of brightness when entering the Gallery
  • Fixed the incomplete screenshot issue in some cases
• Shelf
  • Fixed the issue that background of weather did not display
• Network
  • Improved the performance and stability of network transfers

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Download: Android 11 Developer Preview 4 with OxygenOS 11 Design and Features for the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro

You can download the builds from the links below:

Download OxygenOS 11 (Android 11 Developer Preview 4): OnePlus 8 || OnePlus 8 Pro

After downloading the appropriate package for your phone, go to Settings > System > System Updates, and then click on the top-right icon and select “Local Upgrade” option. From there, select the update package that you have downloaded and proceed.

It is worth mentioning that you probably need a new set of downgrade packages to revert back to the stable release channel. The existing ZIPs (listed below) might not be sufficient due to their older compilation timestamps.

Downgrade package download links:

• OnePlus 8:
  • NA Version
  • IN Version
  • EU Version
• OnePlus 8 Pro:
  • NA Version
  • IN Version
  • EU Version

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for providing the download links!

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Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 732G and confirms it’s coming to a POCO phone

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 and 730G were announced back in April 2019. Since then, the two SoCs have been featured in a number of key mid-range devices, including the Mi Note 10 Lite, POCO X2, Realme X2, Motorola One Fusion+, and the Google Pixel 4a. Most of these devices target the comfortable mid-range segment, or in some cases, the more premium mid-range offerings. Qualcomm is now refreshing the Snapdragon 730G SoC with a newer Snapdragon 732G SoC, promising even better performance.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G brings two key improvements over the Snapdragon 730G: a Prime core with higher clock speed (2.3GHz versus 2.2GHz) and a 15% improvement in the Adreno 618 GPU. Everything else remains the same as the Snapdragon 730G, which itself was a smaller gaming-centric improvement over the Snapdragon 730. Consequently, the Snapdragon 732G features 1x Kryo 470 “Prime” core clocked at up to 2.3GHz, 1x Kryo 470 “Performance” core clocked at up to 2.2GHz, and 6x Kryo 470 “Efficiency” cores clocked at up to 1.8GHz. The microarchitecture of the Prime and Performance cores are based on ARM’s Cortex-A76 design while the microarchitecture of the 6 Efficiency cores is based on ARM’s Cortex-A55 design. The SoC is fabricated on Samsung’s 8nm LPP process.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G also continues to feature several Snapdragon Elite Gaming features, just like the Snapdragon 730G. These features include Qualcomm Game Jank Reducer, Vulkan 1.1 Graphics Driver, True HDR, and anti-cheat extensions. There’s also the Spectra 350 Image Signal Processor with support for 4K HDR video capture, the 4th generation Qualcomm AI Engine with up to 3.6 TOPS, the Hexagon 688 DSP, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ support, the Snapdragon X15 LTE Modem with support for 3-CA and 4×4 MIMO on two carriers, support for the Qualcomm FastConnect 6200 subsystem, and support for Qualcomm’s Aqstic audio codec, among other features.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G Specifications & Features

Qualcomm AI Engine

• Adreno 618 GPU
  
• Kryo 470 CPU
  
• Hexagon 688 Processor
  
• Hexagon Vector eXtensions
  
• Hexagon Tensor Accelerator
  
• Hexagon Voice Assistant Accelerator
  
• Qualcomm® Sensing Hub
  
• Qualcomm® Neural Processing SDK

Modem

• Snapdragon X15 LTE Modem
  
• Support for 800 Mbps LTE
  
• Downlink: LTE Cat 15 up to 800 Mbps, 3 x 20 MHz carrier aggregation, up to 256-QAM, up to 4 x 4 MIMO on two aggregated carriers
  
• Uplink: LTE Cat 13 up to 150 Mbps, Qualcomm® Snapdragon Upload+ (2 x 20 MHz carrier aggregation, up to 64-QAM)
  
• Dual SIM Dual VoLTE (DSDV)
  
• Qualcomm® All Mode with support for all major cellular modes plus LAA. Support for:
  
  • VoLTE with SRVCC to 3G and 2G, HD and Ultra HD Voice (EVS), CSFB to 3G and 2G
    
  • Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) with LTE call continuity

Wi-Fi & Bluetooth

• FastConnect 6200 Subsystem
  
  • Wi-Fi Standards: 802.11ax-ready, 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n
    
  • Wi-Fi Spectral Bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz
    
  • Channel Utilization: 20/40/80 MHz
    
  • MIMO Configuration: 2×2 (2-stream) with MU-MIMO
    
  • 8-stream sounding (for 8×8 MU-MIMO)
    
  • Dual-band simultaneous (DBS)
    
  • Wi-Fi Security: WPA3-Enterprise, WPA3-Enhanced Open, WPA3 Easy Connect, WPA3-Personal
    
  • Target Wake Time (TWT)
    
• Integrated Bluetooth
  
  • Bluetooth version: 5.1
    
  • Bluetooth audio: Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Qualcomm® aptX Adaptive audio

Camera

• Qualcomm Spectra 350 Image Signal Processor
  
• Hardware accelerator for computer vision (CV-ISP)
  
• HEIF photo capture
  
• Dual 14-bit ISPs
  
• Dual camera: up to 22 MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30 fps
  
• Single camera: up to 36 MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30 fps
  
• Single camera: up to 48 MP, MFNR
  
• Single camera: up to 192 MP
  
• Video capture:
  
  • Standard: up to 4K HDR at 30 fps, 10-bit Rec. 2020 color gamut for HDR10 video
    
  • Slow motion: up to 1080p at 120 fps or 720p at 240 fps
    
• Rec. 2020 color gamut video capture
  
• Up to 10-bit color depth video capture
  
• Multi-Frame Noise Reduction (MFNR)
  
• Video Capture Formats: HDR10, HLG
  
• 4K HDR Video Capture with Portrait Mode
  
• Dual phase detection (2PD) sensors
  
• Real-time object classification, segmentation and replacement

Audio

• Low-power audio subsystem with AI
  
• Qualcomm Voice Assistant Accelerator for advanced voice use cases
  
• Always-on echo cancellation and noise suppression
  
• Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec (up to WCD9341) and speaker amplifier (up to WSA8815)
  
• Native DSD support, PCM up to 384 kHz/32-bit
  
• Supports two wake words simultaneously
  
• aptX Adaptive audio technology
  
• Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo Plus technology

Display

• Maximum On-Device Display Support: QHD+ (3360 x 1440)
  
• Maximum External Display Support: UHD (3840 x 2160)
  
• Support for HDR displays
  
• Qualcomm® Low Power Picture Enhancement
  
• Qualcomm® True Palette Display Feature

CPU

• Kryo 470, Octa-core CPU
  
• Up to 2.3 GHz
  
• 64-bit Architecture
  
• 8nm Process Technology

Visual Subsystem

• Adreno 618 GPU
  
• Support for true HDR10 gaming
  
• Vulkan® 1.1 API support
  
• 4K HDR10 PQ and HLG Video Playback (10 bit color depth, Rec. 2020 color gamut)
  
• H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC) VP8 and VP9 playback
  
• Physically Based Rendering
  
• API Support: OpenGL® ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1, DirectX 12

RF Front-End

• Qualcomm® Adaptive Antenna Tuning
  
• Qualcomm® Envelope Tracking
  
• Qualcomm® Signal Boost adaptive antenna tuning
  
• High-power transmit (HPUE)

Security

• Biometric Authentication: Fingerprint, Iris, Voice, Face
  
• On-Device: Qualcomm® Mobile Security, Key Provisioning Security, Qualcomm® Processor Security, Qualcomm® Content Protection, Qualcomm® Trusted Execution Environment, Camera Security, Crypto Engine, Malware Protection, Secure Boot, Secure Token

General Specifications

• Select Snapdragon Elite Gaming features
  
• Memory Speed: up to 1866 MHz, 8 GB RAM
  
• Memory type: 2 x 16-bit LPDDR4/4x
  
• GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, and SBAS
  
• Low Power Geofencing and Tracking, Sensor-assisted Navigation
  
• Near Field Communications (NFC) support
  
• DisplayPort over USB Type-C support
  
• Quick Charge 4+ technology
  
• Part number: SM7150-AC

Perhaps the most exciting news coming along with this announcement is the fact that the SoC will first be featured in an upcoming POCO smartphone.

“Snapdragon 732G will deliver a powerful gaming experience, sophisticated on-device AI, and superior performance. We’re excited to work with POCO on the new POCO smartphone powered by the enhanced Snapdragon 732G globally.”

Kedar Kondap, Vice President of Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc

“We are extremely excited about the upcoming POCO smartphone and our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies that allowed us to create the first device on the market with the latest Snapdragon 732G Mobile Platform. We believe the device will set a new benchmark in the mid-range category, completely redefining the relationship between a phone’s price and its capabilities.”

Sam Jiang, Head of Products, POCO Global

Neither Qualcomm nor POCO explicitly confirm the device’s marketing name. But considering the fact that POCO has already started teasing and talking about the POCO X3 NFC, one needn’t even guess which phone would be the first with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G.

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The Motorola One 5G is coming to the U.S. on AT&T and Verizon for under-$500

Motorola burst back into the flagship scene earlier this year with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865-powered, 5G-enabled Motorola Edge+. Alongside the Edge+, Motorola also unveiled the slightly cheaper Edge with the upper mid-range (but still 5G-enabled) Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G. And about a month ago, Motorola had announced an even more affordable 5G-enabled smartphone in the form of the Moto G 5G Plus. Now, Motorola is bringing over this smartphone to the USA in the form of the Motorola One 5G.

Motorola One 5G: Specifications

Specification	Motorola Moto G 5G Plus / Motorola One 5G
Dimensions & Weight	168 x 74 x 9 mm 207g
Display	6.7″ FHD+ LTPS LCD 21:9 aspect ratio, 2520 x 1080 90Hz refresh rate HDR10 Dual hole-punch display
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G: 1x Kryo 475 (ARM Cortex-A76-based) Prime core @ 2.4GHz 1x Kryo 475 (ARM Cortex-A76-based) Performance core @ 2.2GHz 6x (ARM Cortex-A55-based) Efficiency cores @ 1.8GHz 7nm EUV process Adreno 620
RAM & Storage	4GB + 64GB 4GB + 128GB 6GB + 128GB
Battery & Charging	5000 mAh battery 20W TurboPower charging
Fingerprint sensor	Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
Rear Camera	Primary: 48MP, f/1.7 Secondary: 8MP, wide-angle, f/2.2 Tertiary: 5MP, macro, f/2.2 Quarternary: 2MP, depth, f/2.2
Front Camera	Primary: 16MP, wide-angle, f/2.0 Secondary: 8MP, f/2.2
Other Features	3.5mm headphone jack Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 5.1 NFC 5G: 1/3/7/8/28/38/41/77/78
Android Version	Android 10

The Motorola One 5G is a rebranded Moto G 5G Plus, but we’re okay with the rebranding because that was a terrible name in the first place. One of the highlights of this device is its 21:9 aspect ratio display. Motorola mentions that 87% of its users preferred a 21:9 aspect ratio, so that is what it adopted on this smartphone. You do get a 90Hz refresh rate, though the panel is LCD — but since this phone is not aiming to be a flagship, this specification isn’t judged as harshly. The smartphone itself has a humble design made largely out of polycarbonate, so most of the 207g weight is coming from the beefy 5,000 mAh battery.

Moto G 5G Plus / Motorola One 5G XDA Forums

On the inside, you get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, which should help keep things running smoothly despite not being an 8-series flagship SoC.

The Motorola One 5G comes with Android 10 out of the box. The OS is largely left unadulterated, but you get a few Motorola touches like the “chop to launch flashlight” feature and the Moto Power Touch feature that lets you reassign the double-power-button press. The power button also integrates the fingerprint sensor.

Motorola is only committing to one year of Android OS updates and two years of security updates at this moment.

Pricing and Availability

The Motorola One 5G will be a sub-$500 device in the USA and will be available through AT&T (sub-6GHz) and Verizon (with mmWave) in 4GB + 128GB configuration. Motorola has not shared the exact date of availability and pricing yet, and we also presume that the mmWave variant will cost some more. There will not be any unlocked versions of this phone in the USA. It remains to be seen how this phone stacks up against cheaper devices like the recent Google Pixel 4a.

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