Moto Z4 Play renders leak, shows off its waterdrop notch design

We’ve written several articles about the upcoming Moto G7 series (Moto G7 Play, Power, and Plus), but Motorola is also gearing up for the Moto Z4 series. There’s not a lot of information about this series yet. According to our sources, there is a device codenamed “Odin” that may be the Moto Z4 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8150 SoC and 5G Moto Mod. We now have our first look at one of the Moto Z4 models with renders of the Moto Z4 Play.

The renders reveal a familiar design for Motorola devices. We can see the typical circular camera housing and Moto Mod connector pins on the back. Motorola has already talked about a 5G Moto Mod, so it’s possible this device will be able to utilize it. Up front, we can see a very small notch. The shape is not quite like other “waterdrop” notches we’ve seen, but it’s not as elongated as the Essential Phone‘s notch either. There are small bezels on all sides of the display, which is said to be 6.2-inches.

Some of the other rumored specs include USB-Type C for charging and 3.5mm headphone jack. The renders reveal a single camera on the back and single camera on the front. One odd thing to note is the placement of the speaker grill. It’s on the top edge as opposed to the bottom edge like most devices. We should learn more about the Moto Z4 series and the Moto Z4 Play soon.

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Source: CompareRaja

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Enable all lockscreen weather effects on the LG G7 and LG V30 [Root]

LG phones have a unique feature that displays weather effects on the lock screen of their smartphone. Most OEMs will just use a small icon next to the time or date, but LG takes things a step further and actually adds full visual effects to whatever lock screen image you have chosen. Over the years there have been mods that let you add more weather effects to their device (by modding their LGKeyguardEffect.apk), but XDA Senior Member pittvandewitt found a different way of doing things on the LG G7 ThinQ and LG V30.

LG G7 XDA Forum

By decompiling the application they discovered it is actually reading a boolean value from the build.prop file. If this value is set in such a way then it will unlock all of the lock screen weather effects for the device. So instead of modding the APK file, you can simply add “ro.build.brand_dsny=true” to build.prop and reboot your G7 or V30. With that done, the developer reminds you that you will still need to go into the settings application and enable the feature in the Lock screen & security section.

The developer has even gone as far as to attach a Magisk Module to the OP for those who don’t want to mess with editing the build.prop file.

LG V30 XDA Forum

Check out this mod in our LG G7 forum

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Samsung reportedly working on a Galaxy A50 with 4000mAh battery, 24MP camera, in-display fingerprint scanner

The mid-range Samsung Galaxy A series has been undergoing many changes in recent months. With the Samsung Galaxy A8s featuring a display hole and no headphone jack, Samsung appears to be using them nearly as smartphones to test the waters. According to a report from the Dutch Galaxy Club website, the company is working on a Samsung Galaxy A50 with a 4,000 mAh battery, 24MP primary shooter, and an in-display fingerprint scanner. That not only makes this the second Samsung smartphone to pack a 4,000 mAh battery (after the Samsung Galaxy Note 9), but it may be the second smartphone from the company to get an in-display fingerprint sensor, as it appears that the S10 may be getting it as well.

A 4,000 mAh battery sounds big, but the Samsung Galaxy M20 may be aiming even higher, possibly packing a 5,000 mAh battery. The company is definitely experimenting at the moment, and it’s possible that the success (or failure) of these devices could influence future flagships. According to Galaxy Club, the Samsung Galaxy A50 will also feature the Exynos 9610 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB of storage, Android Pie, and one of the company’s new Infinity displays. The company announced their new Infinity displays back in November of 2018 at their annual developer conference. The Exynos 9610 chipset is probably most equivalent to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 system-on-chip.

The report states that the Samsung Galaxy A50 should launch sometime after the release of the Galaxy S10, being revealed sometime in the first half of 2019. However, nothing is confirmed yet. It is expected that the Samsung Galaxy A50 will be launched in European markets first, alongside the Samsung Galaxy A30, which we know even less about. The Samsung Galaxy A9 was also the first smartphone to feature a quad rear camera, so the company really is trying out everything on their mid-range A series of smartphones.

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Source (in Dutch): GalaxyClub

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Huawei Y7 Pro 2019 launches with a 6.26″ HD+ display, Snapdragon 450, and 4000mAh battery

Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer Huawei has just launched the Huawei Y7 Pro 2019, expanding its low-end Y series smartphone range. While it features the budget Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 system-on-chip and “only” 3GB of RAM, it does pack a massive 4,000 mAh battery and a 6.26-inch 1520×720 display (19:9 aspect ratio). Just like the Huawei P Smart 2019, the Huawei Y7 Pro 2019 features a waterdrop notch – which the company is calling “dewdrop.” The notch houses the 16MP front camera with the earpiece sitting above it.

Specs	Huawei Y7 Pro 2019
Display	6.26-inch LCD HD+ at 1520 x 720 pixels
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
RAM	3GB
Storage	32GB + microSD card slot
Rear Cameras	13MP (f/1.8) + 2MP for bokeh
Front Camera	16MP
Battery	4,000mAh
Software	Android 8.1 Oreo with EMUI 8.2
Misc	Dual SIM, MicroSD slot, micro USB port
Dimensions and Weight	158.92×76.91×8.1mm, 168g

The Huawei Y7 Pro 2019 has been announced on Vietnamese social media channels thus far, retailing at a price of VND 3,990,000, roughly $170. The device comes in two colors – Aurora Green and Black and features a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is no fingerprint sensor present, but the device supports face unlock on top of the usual options like the pattern, pin, or password. It also charges via microUSB, which is strange for a device in 2018/19. The company has said that the camera has AI abilities, which probably refers to their automatic scene detection and low-light AI-assisted image stabilization. Don’t expect this device to be a particularly great shooter, given its low price.

The Huawei Y7 Pro 2019 is already on sale in Vietnam and comes with a free Bluetooth speaker if purchased before January 6th. It is unknown when it will launch outside of Vietnam, as there has been no word on any of the company’s other social media channels. When it launches in Europe, it should roughly cost around €140. It’s certainly an interesting smartphone, as it also marks a temporary departure from Huawei’s in-house HiSilicon Kirin chipsets, though it’s probably done to keep costs low.

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Source: Huawei Vietnam

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OxygenOS 9.0.3 for the OnePlus 6 brings December security patches and camera improvements

One of last year’s highlights in the Android ecosystem was the OnePlus 6 and its revision, the OnePlus 6T. For better or worse, both devices embodied many current trends, including notches, glass bodies, and in-display fingerprint scanners. Thanks to improved marketing and selling strategies, the devices themselves were also pretty successful, outselling the previous OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T by a long shot. The OnePlus 6 got an update to OxygenOS 9 shortly after the release of stable Android Pie to the Android Open Source Project, a move which was universally praised by consumers and enthusiasts alike. The update has since made its way to other devices such as the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T. Now, the OnePlus 6 is receiving yet another update to the stable channel, to OxygenOS 9.0.3 this time.

OnePlus 6 XDA Forum

The update includes stability improvements for WiFi and Bluetooth and brings December security patches as well. It also includes miscellaneous improvements for the camera, which include improved Nightscape performance as well as improved slow-motion recording and optimizations in image processing. Additionally, you also get a new audio tuner for Bluetooth headphones/speakers, which pops up as a push notification after first connecting your Bluetooth device and allows you to change many different settings and preferences.

The full changelog includes:

System

• Improved Wi-Fi stability for better connectivity
• Improved Bluetooth stability for better connectivity
• Updated Android security patch to 2018.12
• General bug fixes and improvements

Camera

• Improved Nightscape performance
• Improved slow-motion performance
• Optimized image processing

Earphone

• Audio tuner for Bluetooth earphones

Communication

• Support VoLTE for Bouygues FR

The update was first released last Saturday and it’s now rolling out to OnePlus 6 owners globally. If you haven’t received the update yet, consider checking out Oxygen Updater to download it if you want to get it now, and keep an eye out for the over-the-air update if you don’t mind waiting a bit. You can also download the full ZIP from the button below.

Download OxygenOS 9.0.3 for OnePlus 6

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Source: OnePlus Forums

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Vivo X21, X21 UD, NEX S, and NEX A get an Android Pie beta in China

As one year ends and another year begins, manufacturers are pushing out Android Pie updates to a plethora of devices. Vivo, the Chinese phone maker, is launching a closed beta of Android Pie for four phones: the Vivo X21, Vivo X21 UD, Vivo NEX S, and Vivo NEX A. This beta will allow a small number of users in China to try out FunTouch OS 4.5 (based on Android Pie).

Vivo NEX XDA Forum

Vivo already started recruiting testers on December 24th. A new wave of recruitment will open on January 2nd and run through the 6th. Previously, Vivo said they would start rolling out Android Pie in Q4. Seeing as how they are just starting a closed beta, they missed their deadline. Final builds likely won’t be ready for a few weeks. Here are some of the (translated) features available in this update:

• Jovi Smart Voice Assistant: the new assistant can help you perform local commands kind of like Bixby.
• Jovi Wisdom Scene: Contextual actions and reminders
• Jovi Wisdom Map: Identify objects with the phone’s camera. Use it to translate text, identify objects, or research topics.
• Smart Desktop: a feed of cards for weather, shortcuts, Jovi smart scenes, taxis, and more.
• iHousekeeper: a memory cleaning app with improved cleaning
• iTheme: A points system earns points on your vivo account to earn themes.

The full changelog can be found at the source link below. You will also find the registration APK at the link, which is what you need to install on your Vivo X21, Vivo X21 UD, Vivo NEX S, or Vivo NEX A to participate in the beta.

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Source: Vivo Via: GSMArena

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Internal Android Pie beta for the Nokia 5 leaks online

It seems like almost every day we’re writing about a Nokia phone getting Android Pie. The latest device to get the goods is the Nokia 5, but this is not an official release. An early internal Android Pie beta build for the Nokia 5 has leaked in our forums. The original poster even shared a hands-on video with the build.

Nokia 5 XDA Forum

Launched in early 2017, the Nokia 5 has a 5.2-inch display, Snapdragon 430 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 13MP camera, and a 3,000 mAh battery. The Nokia 5 received Android Oreo not that long ago, which makes Android Pie the second major Android release that HMD Global has sent to the device.

XDA Senior Member hikari_calyx posted the installation guide and hands-on video in our forums. The build was tested on the TA-1024, but they said it should also work on the TA-1053. The Android Pie beta can be rooted if you have an unlocked bootloader. The guide lists multiple methods for installing this build on your device, so be sure to read it and find the best method for yourself. You will also find the appropriate downloads at the forum link below.

How to install Android Pie on the Nokia 5

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