Saturday, June 30, 2018

Smartphone World Cup: quarter finals

We've reached the quarter finals of our Smartphone World Cup after some high-profile departures in the round of 16. You have until Friday to support your favorites and you can vote once a day in each match. Nokia 7 plus vs. Samsung Galaxy S9+ These two come from different walks of life - the Galaxy S9+ is a flagship representing the best that Samsung has to offer. Its screen, camera and chipset are among the best and there's no shortage of perks - waterproofing, stereo speakers, HDR10 screen, fast wireless charging, you name it. Nokia 7 plus • Samsung Galaxy S9+ The Nokia 7...



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The five best reasons you don’t want to miss Disrupt SF this September

TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF (Sept. 5-7) is our most ambitious event ever. And if we’re sure of one thing, it’s that people in the startup scene will extract more insights and inspiration from this Disrupt than any before. Here’s why…

  1. More, better programming. For the first time ever at Disrupt, we have two stages, plus two additional off-stage “Q&A” areas where Disrupt attendees can ask questions directly to speakers. Sequoia’s Doug Leone, Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd, Sinovation’s Dr. Kai-Fu Lee,  23andMe’s Anne Wojcicki are just a few of the stellar interviews TechCrunch editors will conduct on stage. Disrupt will be live streamed, but only Disrupt pass holders will be able to catch sessions they missed via video-on-demand.
  2. Precision-guided networking. We spent years refining CrunchMatch, TechCrunch’s founder-investor matching and meeting system, and we’ve got it down to a science that has already produced thousands of meetings. Investors, use the CrunchMatch/Brella app to find the the founders and startup ideas you’re looking for, request a meeting, get the thumbs up, and boom you have a time and an assigned meeting table in the CrunchMatch meeting area.
  3. Startup Battlefield and Startup Alley. We’ve already selected the 20 startups that will compete in Startup Battlefield, and though the list is under wraps until the start of Disrupt, trust us it’s an amazing field of contestants – the fruits of a very deep, global recruitment effort. And Startup Alley will have more than 1,000 companies exhibiting across a dozen tracks – AI, mobility, blockchain, fintech – and each has Top Picks – the standouts that TechCrunch’s editors chose to exhibit free of charge. (Learn more about exhibiting in Startup Alley.)
  4. Comfortable digs. We built past Disrupts in pier warehouses, but this year we’re moving to the glistening, super comfortable Moscone West, where we have 3x the floorspace, which means spacious, sunny lounge areas where attendees can relax, charge gear and catch up with fellow attendees.
  5. The right pass for you. For the first time, Disrupt is offering passes with features and prices designed to suit different attendees, like founders, investors, all around innovators and more. Plus, passes come with access to discounted San Francisco hotel rooms. Right now, early birds prices apply, so do don’t wait. Get your pass now.


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Smartphones in 2018: the half year report

It's hard to believe that we're halfway through 2018 already! So let's press 'pause' for a second and look back at the direction phone development took this year. We go to extraordinary lengths here at GSMArena to ensure that the data within our Phone Specifications pages are accurate and up-to-date. We've selected the most popular 140 phones to avoid outliers messing with the averages and trawled through this wealth of data we've accumulated to draw out stats and trends. Design & Build Size - In 2017, 'taller' displays with their aspect ratios of 18:9 and 19.5:9 resulted in the...



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How to immediately get OxygenOS updates for the OnePlus 6/5T/5/3T/3

OxygenOS Open Beta for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T

One of the most annoying parts of over-the-air (OTA) updates is waiting for the update to be delivered on your device. This varies wildly from device to device, and many factors take part while checking if you’re eligible: your carrier, your OEM, your current Android version, and your actual geographical location/IP, just to name a few. It’s particularly annoying when your OEM doesn’t officially support your country. If you want to skip the wait and immediately get OxygenOS updates on your OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, or OnePlus 3, then you can use the free Oxygen Updater app to do so.

Skipping the line with Oxygen Updater

I live in Caracas, Venezuela, and I currently use a OnePlus 5T as my daily driver. OnePlus doesn’t officially sell their phones in Venezuela—I had to import mine from the U.S. store and have it shipped to me via a third-party, so OxygenOS updates are sometimes delayed by quite a bit here. I often download update packages with my browser, either from the official OnePlus download section or XDA threads, in order to update my device and then proceed to install it with either TWRP or the Oxygen Recovery.

It’s even worse for other devices made by other manufacturers. Just to cite an example, update rollouts for LG can often take months to roll out from one country to the other. This is pretty common practice in the Android ecosystem. It’s pretty rare to find a phone that actually receives timely security patches, without counting the Google Pixel phones. OnePlus used to be pretty slow when keeping their phones up to date, but they have picked up the pace recently, especially when it comes to security patches. But actual OTA rollouts still take a while to reach everyone. There’s a good reason for that, though, and it’s to ensure that bugs are caught early before the update reaches everyone.

If you don’t want to wait for an update, you can use a VPN to connect to OnePlus’ usual test markets: Germany or Canada. This is exactly what the Oxygen Updater app does for you. Oxygen Updater is a pretty nifty tool that, despite what the name would tell you, is not made by OnePlus or anyone closely related to the company. It’s instead an unofficial tool which focuses on OnePlus devices like the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3. The concept is pretty simple: you select your device and the app checks whether an update is available.

How to get OxygenOS updates on the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3 How to get OxygenOS updates on the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3 How to get OxygenOS updates on the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3

Oxygen Updater grabs update packages for all currently supported OnePlus devices, including the OnePlus 6, the OnePlus 5/OnePlus 5T, and the OnePlus 3/OnePlus 3T, in both OxygenOS stable and Open Beta channels. It also gives you the option to download partial OTA packages (if you’re unrooted) and full firmware ZIPs, both of which you can install through your recovery of choice. Furthermore, it skips over OnePlus’ OTA rollouts: if an update exists for your device, you’ll be able to download said update right away, even if the Update section in your phone says your device is up to date.

How to get OxygenOS updates on the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3 How to get OxygenOS updates on the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, and OnePlus 3

How to get OxygenOS updates on the OnePlus 6/5T/5/3T/3

For all intents and purposes, it’s just as feature rich as the OxygenOS update manager. Maybe even better. It’s pretty simple to use, actually:

  1. Download Oxygen Updater from the Google Play Store using the button below.
  2. Start the app. It’ll start on the setup screen, where the app will be configured for your device.
  3. Note that the app may check for root access and ask for root permissions. If applicable, then grant it, since it will simply default the update method to “full update” instead of partial update otherwise.
  4. Follow through the setup until you get to the main screen. If it says your device is up to date, then congrats!
  5. If it says an update is available, download it and the update will begin downloading in the background.
  6. After it’s finished, just tap on the notification. The app will follow through the normal update cycle: it’ll reboot, boot into recovery mode, install, then reboot again.

I found it to be a pretty reliable tool during my own testing. I bumped my OnePlus 5T from Open Beta 8 straight to Open Beta 10 in a breeze. As we said before, it’s also compatible with all devices currently supported by OnePlus, so it’s definitely something worth checking out if you’re a OnePlus user. You can download and give Oxygen Updater a shot yourself for free from Google Play.

Oxygen Updater (Free+, Google Play) →



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A phone with Light's multi-lens camera tech is in the works

Remember Light's ludicrous L16 camera with 16 lenses on the back? Well, that tech is reportedly going to be used in a phone that will launch later this year. Thanks to Foxconn's big investment in the small firm, the tech is going in a smartphone with nine cameras. According to the Washington Post, the company already has a working prototype with anything between five and nine lenses that function together to deliver DSLR-like performance in low-light conditions and capturing whopping 64MP images. In addition, Light promises sophisticated depth effects and unmatched zoom capabilities,...



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Sony Mobile is investigating its operations in Africa, Turkey and the Middle East

It's no secret that Sony's Mobile division has been going through a rough patch, for quite some time now. After the fairly recent internal CEO shuffle, it seems that active steps have finally been taken to evaluate the state of the mobile branch, in hopes of bringing it up to speed with the Japanese giant's successful imaging and gaming divisions. Word of an ongoing internal investigation into the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa markets first came about through veteran leakster Evan Blass a few days ago. Bad news for Sony Mobile fans in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa: I'm hearing...



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Apple is re-building its Maps using data gathered from iPhone users

Apple is said to be working on a new version of its navigation app, Maps. The company has started from scratch and it uses not only the data gathered from its own fleet of cars, but also from iPhone users. But of course, Apple is doing so while respecting user privacy. The new Maps will first be introduced in San Francisco and the Bay Area with the next version of IOS 12 beta. It should cover Northern California towards the end of 2018. Since it now incorporates user travel data when they open the Maps app - just like Google Maps does - it should speed up the process quite a bit....



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Weekly poll: face scanning vs. fingerprint readers

Even old sleuths like Sherlock Holmes know that a fingerprint can identify a person. Today, fingerprints are read multiple times a day - it's routine - thanks to the readers on modern smartphones. But is that the best way for a device to know that it's being handled by its rightful owner? What about 3D face scanning? "Wanted" posters have been used for even longer than fingerprints and they work because your face is unique. Well, most of the time, unless you have a twin or a sibling or a kid that looks like you. Capacitive fingerprint readers are fairly simple devices, readily available...



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T-Mobile LG G6 starts getting Oreo update

T-Mobile has started pushing out a new update to LG G6 units on its network. Arriving as software version H87220a, the update brings along Android 8.0 Oreo. As per the official change-log, several other bug fixes and software improvements are also included. So with this, all Big Four carriers - including AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon - have rolled out the update to LG G6 units. Given the T-Mobile update - which weighs in at around 1.7GB - has just started rolling out, it may take time for the update notification to pop up on your screen, so be patient. Source 1 2



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Another mysterious glass-back Moto gets spotted in the wild

As we approach Motorola's August 2 Chicago event, device leaks have naturally been pouring in. As per the rumor mill, we have the proper Moto Z3 flagship to look forward to at the venue, as well as a new Motorola One family of handsets. Hot on the heels of a major render leak, for the Moto One and One Power, today brings a couple of new blurry photos of a mysterious new Moto smartphone. Leaked photos It clearly features a glass sandwich design, so our first guess would be it's either the Moto One or the One Power. However, there are a few problems with that theory. As per...



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Hydrate, intoxicate, caffeinate, repeat: Meet the startups pouring the future

These days, it seems like everyone with extra cash has some kind of pricey drinking habit. It might be fine wine, craft beer or cocktails. Or it could come in the form of coconut water, cold-pressed juice or the latest frothy caffeinated concoction.

No matter what your preference, startups and their backers likely have you covered.

In a follow-up to our story earlier this month about food startups gobbling up venture funding, Crunchbase News is taking a look at beverage companies guzzling capital. We found that while drinkables receive a smaller portion of funding than edibles, it’s still a sector that draws hundreds of millions of dollars in annual investment.

Where are investors pouring all that money? Some unlikely places. For instance, it appears the largest funding recipient so far this year is a China-based chain called Hey Tea that’s well known for a specialty called cheese tea. (An unfortunately named, slightly salty iced drink that a Crunchbase News team sampling determined was actually pretty tasty.)

Besides cheese tea, we found startups are also raising millions to bottle deep ocean water, customize instant coffee and make your party punch more portable.

Bottom line: So long as there are profit margins to squeeze out, the quest continues for new ways to get you drunk, hydrated or caffeinated. Below, we look at what’s trending on all these fronts.

Hydrate

Venture investors and startup entrepreneurs are betting there are highly scalable businesses to be built in doling out more exotic varieties of water, coconut-based beverages and other drinks to hydrate calorie-conscious consumers.

An analysis of Crunchbase data unearthed at least a dozen companies developing new varieties of water and fitness drinks that have raised funding in recent quarters.

Funding data reveals that investors still see the potential for significant returns from coconut water. The largest round in the hydration category went to Harmless Harvest, a seller of fair trade, organic coconut water and probiotic drinks that recently raised $30 million. The funding comes as the sector is on a tear, with the U.S. spending alone on coconut water projected to reach $2 billion next year.

We also saw a couple of deals involving startups offering alternatives to bottled or tap water. The most heavily capitalized one to receive funding in the past couple of years appears to be FloWater, a Denver-based startup that provides pure water refill stations and has raised about $8 million to date. Meanwhile, bottled water is still generating attention, too, as evidenced by the $5.5 million round late last year for Kona Deep, a bottler of deep ocean water.

Intoxicate

You may need water to survive, but if you’re looking to secure venture capital, it helps to throw in a bit of alcohol.

Since last year, venture investors have poured more than $300 million into an assortment of companies providing alcoholic beverages, drinking gadgetry and services to connect consumers with booze. Crunchbase News highlighted about a dozen that raised sizable rounds, along with one hangover cure startup.

Some of the larger funding rounds are for companies that don’t make alcohol; instead, these startups offer easier ways to select and buy it. These include Vivino, a popular wine rating app, as well as Drizly and Saucey, two ordering and delivery services.

There are emerging brands in the mix, too, including BeatBox Beverages, a purveyor of party punch in portable packages; Milestone Brands, a producer of organic tequilas and other spirits; and Plum, which has a gadget for dispensing good wine by the glass.

Caffeinate

If too much drinking makes you sleepy, let caffeine come to the rescue. Venture investors, known to be heavy consumers of caffeine, also seem to like investing in the stuff.

Using Crunchbase data, we highlighted more than a dozen companies in the coffee and tea space that have secured good-sized rounds in roughly the past year. They range from fast-growing chains, like China’s Hey Tea, to packaged drinks, like non-dairy blended drink maker Willow Cup, to instant beverage innovators, like Sudden Coffee. We even found a blockchain company in the mix, Crypto N Kafe, which aims to connect coffee farmers and consumers directly.

It’s not a bad area for exits, either. The most recent significant exit was Blue Bottle Coffee, a venture-backed brand known for really, really strong brews that sold a majority stake to Nestlé last September at a valuation of over $700 million.

Nourish

One additional beverage category in which we saw a high level of activity was in meal-replacement and nutrition drinks. Overall, we found at least a half-dozen companies developing nutritional drinks that have raised funding in recent quarters.

In this sector, probably the best-known startup name is Soylent, which has raised over $70 million for a line of drinks marketed to consumers who don’t have the time or inclination to sit down for a traditional meal. We also found a potential rival, meal-replacement beverage maker Ample, which secured angel funding last month.

The biggest round in the past couple of months for the space, however, went to REBBL, a startup that raised $20 million in May for its line of bottled drinks featuring health-promoting herbs, protein and coconut.

Mix it all up: Caffeinated, full and buzzed

Beverage investments, like everything else, aren’t always a home run for VCs. The demise of juicer startup Juicero last year offers a cautionary tale that large rounds don’t always translate into compelling business models.

That said, beverage purveyors don’t have to worry much about demand drying up. People will always be thirsty. And while we typically quench our thirst with simple tap or filtered water, where’s the fun (or the massive exit potential) in that?

Methodology

Our analysis focused primarily on companies that have secured funding in the past year; however, we also included some rounds outside those parameters that were exceptionally large or noteworthy in other ways.



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Microsoft working on a foldable Surface phone, LG to supply the displays

The so-called "Andromeda" project has been popping up in the news since last year but information is rather scarce. Now, a leaked email along with some new APIs found in Windows 10's latest preview gives us a bit more to speculate about. The Andromeda Surface Phone isn't going to be just a "phone." It's going to be a "pocketable device" following the steps of Microsoft's successful Surface line of laptops with flexible hinges. It aims to be in a class of its own due to its unique form factor and yes, we are talking about a foldable handset. The API allows applications to adjust...



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Google Pay prepares integrating Google Pay Send features into the main app

Google Pay Send

In the world of mobile payment systems, Google had a bit of an identity crisis until earlier this year. Their services once included Android Pay, Google Wallet, and Pay with Google. The Android Pay app was a digital wallet that used NFC to make payments. Google Wallet was a peer-to-peer payment service for people to send and receive money. Pay with Google used the Google Payment API to allow users to make payments via Google Assistant or web browsers with any card on file with their Google account. To reduce confusion, Google introduced the “Google Pay” brand at the beginning of 2018 to unify these services. However, Google Wallet remained a separate app (though it was rebranded as “Google Pay Send”). Now, it seems that the Google Pay Send features are nearly ready to be integrated into the main app.google pay

Google Pay services. Source: Google.

We were told this integration would be happening back during the initial rollout of the Pay service. Specifically, the integration would be rolling out “within the next few months,” though we haven’t heard any further news in the four months that have passed. Regardless, it appears that the former Google Wallet features are already fully functional in the standard Pay app, and furthermore, the peer-to-peer payments even work in the United Kingdom (the Pay Send app doesn’t work in the U.K.)

The integration was discovered by XDA Recognized Developer Quinny899 (Kieron Quinn of Mighty Quinn Apps) and confirmed by us. With the Google Pay Send app uninstalled, we were able to activate the peer-to-peer payment functionality within the standard app and successfully send a payment. As you can see in the screenshots below, a new “send money” tab appears in the bottom toolbar. Tapping on this brings us to a page where we can send or request money from either an existing contact or new contact. Even a group request can be made on this page.

Google Pay Send, Android Pay, Google Wallet, Pay with Google Google Pay Send, Android Pay, Google Wallet, Pay with Google Google Pay Send, Android Pay, Google Wallet, Pay with Google Google Pay Send, Android Pay, Google Wallet, Pay with Google

Once this feature rolls out in the U.S. and U.K., you’ll no longer need to install the separate Google Pay Send app to take advantage of the peer-to-peer payment functionality. For now, you’ll have to keep both apps installed if you want to send or receive money to or from other people.

Google Pay Send (Free, Google Play) →

We’ll keep an eye out on any new Pay features that we spot. The service continues to become more useful over time with new features like support for mobile boarding passes and event tickets (…almost like a wallet, no?) and sending money via Google Assistant.



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How EAS helps make the Google Pixel the fastest Android phone

Linux Kernel Energy Aware Scheduling

Far back in the past when Linux was just an idea in the mind of Linus Torvalds, CPUs were single-core entities which required an immense amount of energy for little power. The first ever commercially available processor, the Intel 4004, ran at a clock-rate of 740kHz on a single core. Back then, there was no need for a load scheduler. Load scheduling was reserved for the dual-core “behemoths” such as the IBM Power 4. These ran at a beastly 1.1GHz to 1.9GHz and required programs and the system to utilize these cores correctly. How did we get from these machines to software algorithms that make use of multiple cores? You may have heard of Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS) on our forums before. It’s part of the reason why the Google Pixel smartphones perform so well. What’s so great about EAS and how did we even get to this point? Before we can explain that, we need to talk about Linux load schedulers.


The Evolution of the Linux Load Schedulers

Round-Robin Scheduling

Round Robin Processing. Source: Wikipedia

Round robin processing is a simple concept to explain and understand, and an even simpler one to grasp its disadvantages. Round-robin uses time slicing to allocate time to each process. Let’s assume we have four processes running on our computer.

  • Process A
  • Process B
  • Process C
  • Process D

Now, let’s do the job of the round-robin scheduler. We will allocate 100 milliseconds (time-slicing) to each process before moving on to the next. This means Process A can take 100 milliseconds to do its processing, then it moves to Process B and so on. If an application’s job takes 250 milliseconds to do, it will need to go through this process 3 times just to finish its work! Now scale this across different cores, so that Process A and Process B are allocated to core 1, and Process C and Process D are allocated to core 2. This was replaced by O(n) scheduling (which was like round-robin, but using epochs and allowing dynamic allocation of time), then O(1) scheduling (minimized overhead, unlimited process support), then finally the Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS). CFS was merged into the Linux kernel version 2.6.23 in October 2007. It has been overhauled since and is still the default scheduler in Linux systems.

Completely Fair Scheduler

The Completely Fair Scheduler has existed in Android since its inception and is used on non-big.LITTLE devices. It uses an intelligent algorithm to determine processing order, time allocated etc. It is an example of a working implementation of the well-studied scheduling algorithm called “weighted fair queueing.” This basically focuses on providing priority to system processes and other high priority processes running on the machine. If it were to run on a big.LITTLE device, all cores would be perceived as equal. This is bad, as low power cores may be forced to run intensive applications, or even worse, the opposite may occur. The decoding for listening to music may be done on the big core, for example, increasing power consumption needlessly. This is why we need a new scheduler for big.LITTLE, one which can actually recognise and utilise the difference in cores in a power efficient manner. That’s where Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) comes in, the standard load scheduler most Android phones are running now.

Heterogeneous Multi-Processing

This is the standard load scheduler for any big.LITTLE device released in recent years, other than the Google Pixel. HMP makes use of the big.LITTLE architecture, delegating low priority, less intensive work to the little cores which consume less power. HMP is “safe” wherein it knows what should go to the big cores and what should go to the little cores, without making mistakes. It just works and requires a lot less effort to set up on the development side than something like EAS, which we’ll get into in a moment. HMP is just an extension of CFS to make it power aware.

HMP doesn’t take guesses, nor does it predict future processes. This is good but is why the device cannot be as fluid as those running EAS and is also why it consumes slightly more battery. This, finally, brings us to Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS), which I firmly believe is the future in ROM and kernel development as more OEMs adopt it.

Energy Aware Scheduling

Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS) is the next big thing that users on our forums are talking about. If you use a OnePlus 3 (or a Google Pixel, obviously) you’ve definitely heard about it in the forums. It launched into the mainstream with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, so if you have one of these devices you already have an EAS-enabled smartphone. EAS in the form of kernels such as RenderZenith and ROMs such as VertexOS and PureFusion were taking the OnePlus 3 forums by storm in its prime. Of course, the Google Pixel also comes with EAS. With the promises of improved battery life and better performance, what’s the catch?

Energy Aware Scheduling is not as simple as it is not universal to every device like CFS or HMP. EAS requires an understanding of the processor it is running on, based off of an energy model. These energy models are made by teams of engineers constantly testing and working to give an optimal performance. As the Snapdragon 820 and 821 are basically the same, custom kernels on the OnePlus 3 uses the Google Pixel energy model. Devices with the Snapdragon 845 can utilise EAS, and the OnePlus 6 does to some degree. It’s not as tuned as a Google Pixel device would be, but it gets the job done. Here’s an example of how, despite the OnePlus 6 having a better processor with EAS, the Pixel 2 XL still beats it in smoothness. Both of these images were taken from our speed-oriented review of the OnePlus 6.

If you have trouble understanding the graphs, you can take a look at the image below for guidance. Anything exceeding the green line indicates dropped frames and, in the worst cases, noticeable stuttering.

The OnePlus 6 implementation of EAS is interesting, as it doesn’t appear to be a fully-fledged implementation like you’d find on a Google Pixel with the same SoC. The scheduler tunables don’t make much sense either, so that probably explains why it’s not as performance efficient as you’d expect. It’s extremely conservative in power consumption, with the system prioritising the low power cores for the majority of the work.

Tunables are simply a set of parameters that are passed to the CPU governor, which changes how the governor reacts to certain situations in terms of frequency. The scheduler then decides where it places tasks on different processors. The OnePlus 6’s tunables are set to prioritise work on low-powered cores. It also doesn’t help that the Google Pixel 2 has a huge amount of input boost, keeping all 8 cores online all the time. Google also uses an interrupt balancer which helps to remove frame drops and improve performance.

So how does EAS work? Why is it so efficient only in certain conditions?

Energy Aware Scheduling introduces the need to use an energy model, and as mentioned above requires a lot of testing and work to make it perfect. EAS attempts to unify three different core parts of the kernel which all act independently, and the energy model helps to unify them.

  • Linux scheduler (CFS, mentioned above)
  • Linux cpuidle
  • Linux cpufreq

Unifying all 3 parts under the scheduler and calculating them together gives a potential for energy saving, as calculating them together allows them to be as efficient as possible. CPUIdle tries to decide when the CPU should go into an idle mode, while CPUFreq tries to decide when to ramp up or down the CPU. Both of these modules have the primary goal of saving energy. Not only that, it then categorizes processes into four cgroups, being top-app, system-background, foreground, and background. Tasks due to be processed are placed into one of these categories, and then the category is given CPU power and the work is delegated over different CPU cores. top-app is the highest priority of completion, followed by foreground, background, and then system-background. Background technically has the same priority as system-background, but system-background usually also has access to more little cores. In effect, Energy Aware Scheduling is taking core parts of the Linux kernel and unifying it all into one process.

When waking the device, EAS will choose the core in the shallowest idle state, minimising the energy needed to wake the device. This helps to reduce the required power in using the device, as it will not wake up the large cluster if it doesn’t need to. Load tracking is also an extremely crucial part of EAS, and there are two options. “Per-Entity Load Tracking” (PELT) is usually used for load tracking, the information is then used to decide frequencies and how to delegate tasks across the CPU. “Window-Assisted Load Tracking” (WALT) can also be used and is what’s used on the Google Pixel. Many EAS ROMs on our forums, such as VertexOS, opt to use WALT. Many ROMs will release two versions of the kernel with WALT or PELT, so it’s up to the user to decide. WALT is more bursty, with high peaks in CPU frequency while PELT tries to remain more consistent. The load tracker doesn’t actually affect the CPU frequency, it just tells the system what the CPU usage is at. A higher CPU usage requires a higher frequency and so a consistent trait of PELT is that it causes the CPU frequency to ramp up or down slowly. PELT does tend to stray towards higher CPU load reporting, so it may provide higher performance at a higher battery cost. Nobody can really say at this point in time which load tracking system is better, however, as both load tracking methods are getting continually patched and refined.

Either way, it’s obvious that, regardless of the load tracking method used, there is an increase in efficiency. Rather than just processing tasks on any processor, the task is analyzed and the amount of energy required to run it is estimated. This clever task placement means that tasks get completed in a much more efficient manner while also making the system quicker as a whole. EAS is all about getting the smoothest UI possible with minimal power usage. This is where other external components such as schedtune come into play.

Schedtune is defined in each cgroup by two tunables which ensure finer control over the tasks to be completed. It doesn’t just control the spread out of tasks over multiple CPUs, but also if the perceived load should be inflated in order to ensure time-sensitive tasks are completed quicker. This way, foreground applications and services that the user is availing of won’t slow down and cause unnecessary performance issues.

While Energy Aware Scheduling is the next big thing, it can also be argued it’s already here and has been for a while. With more and more devices hitting the mainstream with Energy Aware Scheduling, a new age of mobile processing efficiency is here.

The Pros and Cons of Round-Robin, CFS, HMP and EAS

While my graphics skills are sub-par, I have thrown together an image which should summarize what the pros and cons of each of these schedulers are.


I would like to extend a special thank you to XDA Recognised Contributor Mostafa Wael whose explanations of various aspects of EAS greatly helped in making this article possible. I would also like to thank XDA Recognised Developer joshuous, XDA Recognised Developer RenderBroken and XDA Senior Member Freak07 for his write up on EAS. For those of you who found interest in EAS-related parts, Linaro has a lot of documentation on EAS which you can read.



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Video lock screen from Samsung Galaxy S9 now available on Galaxy S8 and Note8

The latest update for Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ and Galaxy Note8 included a cool new feature that remain largely unnoticed. The functionality in question allows you to set a video as your lock screen wallpaper. Here's the feature in action on a Galaxy Note8: The functionality - which debuted on the Galaxy S9 series - arrived on the S8 series and Note8 with the update that also brought along the June security patch to these devices. To access video lock screen wallpapers, head to the Backgrounds tab of Samsung themes. In case you want to use one of your own videos as lock screen...



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Verizon just released an eight-core Samsung Galaxy J3 V

Carrier-specific version of headsets are a pretty common occurrence these days. Besides a new confusing branding, these devices typically come with minor tweaks, compared to the generic model. The new Samsung Galaxy J3 V 3rd Gen - a new Verizon exclusive, however, offers quite a significant improvement over the regular Galaxy J3 (2018). The Exynos 7570 Quad, Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 chipset of the original, has been swapped for an octa-core Exynos 7884A. Frankly, this is the first time we are hearing of this particular silicon, but, with an eight core A73 (Dual/1.35GHz) + A53...



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Announcing TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield Latin America in São Paulo on Nov. 8

TechCrunch is excited to announce that the Startup Battlefield Latin America is coming to São Paulo on November 8 this year. This is the first event TechCrunch has ever held in Latin America, and we are all in to make it a memorable one to support the fast-emerging startup ecosystem in the region.

The Startup Battlefield is TechCrunch’s premier startup competition, which over the past 12 years has placed 750 companies on stage to pitch top VCs and TechCrunch editors. Those founders have gone on to raise more than $8 billion and produce more than 100 exits. Startup Battlefield Latin America aims to add 15 great founders from Latin America to those elite ranks.

Here’s how the competition works. Founders may apply now to participate in Startup Battlefield. Any early stage (pre-A round) company with a working product headquartered in an eligible Latin American country (see list below) may apply. Applications close August 6. TechCrunch editors will review the applications and, based on which applicants have the strongest potential for a big exit of major societal impact, pick 15 to compete on November 8. TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield team will work intensively with each founding team to hone their six-minute pitch to perfection.

Then it’s game day. The 15 companies will take the stage at São Paulo’s Tomie Ohtake Institute in front of a live audience of 500 people to pitch top-tier VC judges. The judges and TechCrunch editors will pick five for a finals round. Those lucky finalists will face a fresh team of judges, and one will emerge as the winner of the first-ever Startup Battlefield Latin America. The winner takes home $25,000 and a trip for two to the next Disrupt, where they can exhibit free of charge in the Startup Alley and may also qualify to participate in the Startup Battlefield at Disrupt. Sweet deal. All Startup Battlefield sessions will be captured on video and posted on TechCrunch.com.

It’s an experience no founder would want to miss, considering the opportunity to join the ranks of Battlefield greats from years past, including Dropbox, Yammer, Mint, Getaround, CloudFlare, Vurb and many more.

Get that application started now.

Here’s the need-to-know about qualifying to apply:

  • Have an early-stage company in “launch” stage
  • Headquartered in one of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela (Central America) Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama (Caribbean – including dependencies and constituent entities), Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
  • Have a fully working product/beta reasonably close to, or in, production
  • Have received limited press or publicity to date
  • Have no known intellectual property conflicts
  • Apply by Aug. 6, 2018, at 5 p.m. PST

Tickets to attend Startup Battlefield Latin America will go on sale soon. Interested in sponsoring the event, contact us here



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The hottest investors at The Europas, & your specially discounted ticket

In partnership with TechCrunch, The Europas Conference & Awards, features smaller breakout sessions on key subjects for startups, followed by a glittering awards show for the hottest startups in Europe, based on voting by expert judges and the industry itself. Plus loads of networking opportunities with investors, and the super-fun Pitch Rolette pitch competition.

Just some of the investors coming to The Europas this Tuesday, July 3, in London include:

Alliott Cole, Octopus Ventures

Andrei Brasoveanu, Accel Partners

Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Seedcamp

Damir Bandolo, Columbus Capital

Eileen Burbidge, Passion Capital

Eze Vidra, Reimagine Ventures

George McDonuagh, KR1 (Blockchain/Crypto)

Jamie Burke, Outlier Ventures (Blockchain/Crypto)

Jason Ball, Qualcomm Ventures

Jeremy Yap, Angel Investor

Joe White, Entrepreneur First

Maria Wagner, Beringea

Michael Jackson, Mangrove Capital Partners

Nancy Fechnay, Angel Investor (Blockchain/Crypto)

Paul Dowling, Dreamstake Ventures

Richard Muirhead, Fabric Ventures (Blockchain/Crypto)

Scott Sage, Crane Venture Partners

Sitar Teli, Connect Ventures

Stephanie Hospital, OneRagtime

Suzanne Ashman, LocalGlobe

Thomas Graham, TLDR Capital

Tugce Ergul, Angel Labs

Vishal Gulati, Draper Esprit

Wendy Tan White, BGF

Instead of thousands and thousands of people, think of a great summer event with a selected 800 of the most interesting and useful people in the industry, including key investors and leading entrepreneurs.

Here’s the agenda.

And here’s 14 reasons to attend The Europas:

• Ultra-high quality Investors, speakers & featured guests

• New startup founders brought into the eco-system

• New deal-flow for investors

• Our “Diversity Matters” Free pass bringing in more women and POC

• Expert speeches, discussions, and Q&A

• Intimate “breakout” sessions with key players on vertical topics

• The opportunity to meet almost everyone in those small groups, super-charging your networking

• Convivial, relaxed atmosphere conducive to networking

• Key press including WSJ, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, attending

• A stunning awards dinner and party which honors both the hottest startups and the leading lights in the European startup scene

• Content independently curated by journalists

• The only truly independent, industry-backed awards in Europe

• Percentage of profits will be donated to charity

• All on one day to maximize your time in London

europas8

Plus, as a special offer for TechCrunch readers, we have discounted tickets of up to 60% off:

Daytime conference plus evening awards tickets (£250, 60% discount) (valid all day, July 3rd) – this ticket includes the daytime conference and the awards dinner with ceremony and after party. It includes refreshments and lunch during the conference, and the awards drinks reception and dinner.

Daytime only, Unconference tickets (£75, 60% discount) – this ticket includes the afternoon Unconference only.

Evening Awards-only tickets (£195, 60% discount) – this ticket is for the awards dinner with ceremony and after party. It includes the awards drinks reception and dinner.

If you wish to sponsor the events or to purchase a table for 10 or 12 guest or a half table for 5 guests, please contact petra@theeuropas.com

The conference and awards are supported by TechCrunch, the official media partner. Attendees, nominees, and winners will get deep discounts to TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin, later this year.



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Android P rollout for Nokia phones may start in August

So far, HMD has confirmed multiple times that all its Nokia branded smartphones will get the Android P update. In fact, the company recently launched a Beta program in China for the owners of Nokia 6.1, Nokia 7, Nokia 7 plus and Nokia 8 Sirocco. However, there has been no information on the availability of the update. Well, that changes now, as users are being told the roll out will begin anytime after July. As you can see, the information comes courtesy of Nokia Mobile Care. In an email sent out to a user, the support staff gave August as the time frame when Android P will start...



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New teaser suggests red OnePlus 6 is coming

Oneplus has released a new teaser video through its official Twitter handle. It's a small, 15 seconds video that doesn't directly reveal the product being teased. But it's easy to guess, given the extensive focus on red color in the video along with C61422 (which is hex color code for red) and the hashtag #Oneplus 6 in the tweet. Now initiating: C61422. Do you wish to continue? https://t.co/QTDxIcWP5N #OnePlus6 pic.twitter.com/mTyjqk5FZZ— OnePlus (@oneplus) June 29, 2018 So in all likelihood, a red OnePlus 6 is coming, and it's coming very soon - you'll see 'July 2' towards the...



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Benchmark’s Mitch Lasky will reportedly step down from Snap’s board of directors

Benchmark partner Mitch Lasky, who has served on Snap’s board of directors since December 2012, is not expected to stand for re-election to Snap’s board of directors and will thus be stepping down, according to a report by The Information.

Early investors stepping down from the board of directors — or at least not seeking re-election — isn’t that uncommon as once-private companies grow into larger public ones. Benchmark partner Peter Fenton did not seek re-election for Twitter’s board of directors in April last year. As Snap continues to navigate its future, especially as it has declined precipitously since going public and now sits at a valuation of around $16.5 billion. Partners with an expertise in the early-stage and later-stage startup life cycle may end up seeing themselves more useful taking a back seat and focusing on other investments. The voting process for board member re-election happens during the company’s annual meeting, so we’ll get more information when an additional proxy filing comes out ahead of the meeting later this year.

Benchmark is, or at least was at the time of going public last year, one of Snap’s biggest shareholders. According to the company’s 424B filing prior to going public in March last year, Benchmark held ownership of 23.1% of Snap’s Class B common stock and 8.2% of Snap’s Class A common stock. Lasky has been with Benchmark since April 2007, and also serves on the boards of a number of gaming companies like Riot Games and thatgamecompany, the creators of PlayStation titles flower and Journey. At the time, Snap said in its filing that Lasky was “qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his extensive experience with social media and technology companies, as well as his experience as a venture capitalist investing in technology companies.”

The timing could be totally coincidental, but an earlier Recode report suggested Lasky had been talking about stepping down in future funds for Benchmark. The firm only recently wrapped up a very public battle with Uber, which ended up with Benchmark selling a significant stake in the company and a new CEO coming in to replace co-founder Travis Kalanick. Benchmark hired its first female general partner, Sarah Tavel, earlier this year.

We’ve reached out to both Snap and a representative from Benchmark for comment and will update the story when we hear back.



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WhatsApp copies Telegram to add one-way ‘broadcast’ mode to group chats

“Good artists borrow great artists steal” is a phrase that Facebook seems acutely aware of.

It’s common to speak of Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-app-now-social-network, borrowing from Snapchat, but now Facebook’s WhatsApp chat app is increasingly drawing its innovation from others such as Telegram.

This week, WhatsApp outed a new feature for its groups that is essentially a replica of Telegram’s channels — that is, a one-way broadcast communication stream.

Telegram channels are popular for setting up a broadcast news feed that allows people to sign up to get alerts from channel admins, who might be news agencies, companies, schools, public interest groups or more. Now WhatsApp is adding the feature to gives its message app new use cases.

Actually, as is often the case for WhatsApp, users have unofficially adopted channel-like behavior for some time. Last year, for example, there were reports of a rural journalist using the messaging app to report and broadcast local news. Doing that is suddenly a whole lot easier through this new ‘broadcast-only’ feature.

“One way people use groups is to receive important announcements and information, including parents and teachers at schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations. We’ve introduced this new setting so admins can have better tools for these use cases,” WhatsApp wrote in a short blog post.

Still, the fact that WhatsApp requires users to provide a phone number to join groups — anyone’s number can be looked up by any group member — is one issue when it comes to creating or joining public groups. Telegram has introduced usernames, which mitigate that issue, but still, the app doesn’t have anything like WhatsApp’s scale which is a crucial consideration when deciding which app to plump for.

WhatsApp has over 1.5 billion active users, more than 200 million of which are in India, whereas Telegram recently passed 200 million active users worldwide.



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California man arrested for sending death threats to FCC’s Ajit Pai over net neutrality

While many people in this country are angry with current chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai, arguably with good reason, it’s unfortunate that at least one has descended to the level of sending credible death threats and, unsurprisingly, has subsequently been arrested.

Shortly after the FCC voted in December to nullify the agency’s 2015 net neutrality rules, Norwalk resident named Markara Man contacted Pai several times threatening him and his family.

According to a Justice Department press release, Man first told Pai that he was responsible for the death of a kid who had killed herself because of the loss of net neutrality. Next he sent a list of locations around Arlington, where the chairman lives, and threatening to kill members of his family. The third apparently was just an image of a framed photo of Pai’s family.

This clearly rises above the low-level — yet also deeply inappropriate — casual slurs against the chairman one sees in practically every discussion of FCC issues, including this website. As such it was investigated by the FBI, which traced the emails to Man’s location and confronted him.

He admitted to sending the emails in order to “scare” Pai, which I can only imagine it did. He’s been charged with the incredibly wordy crime of “threatening to murder a member of the immediate family of a U.S. official with the intent to intimidate or interfere with such official while engaged in the performance of official duties, or with the intent to retaliate against such official on account of the performance of official duties.” If convicted he could face up to 10 years, but that’s all up in the air still.

Listen: as you may be able to tell from TechCrunch’s own coverage of FCC issues and net neutrality (mostly by myself), I’m no fan of Chairman Pai’s, though I try my best to stick to the facts — which, helpfully, are also largely anti-Pai. But threatening the family of the man is, I hardly need say, taking it much too far. Not only is it reprehensible on its face, but it feeds a narrative of spite and ignorance that works counter to the very goals the threat-maker evidently espouses.

Net neutrality is a serious issue and the current administration’s elimination of the 2015 rules is a perfectly good reason to protest and, indeed, take Pai personally to task, since he is the foremost architect of our present situation. By all means call your elected officials, make net neutrality an issue in the 2018 midterms, and make your voice heard. But for everyone’s sake keep it civil.



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Here’s what it was like to stumble into Netflix and Lyft’s activation for GLOW at ‘Muscle Beach’

Today at “Muscle Beach” in Venice, Calif., Netflix and Lyft joined forces for a promotional campaign in support of the streaming media site’s (really excellent) dramatization of the origin story for the women’s wrestling league — GLOW (or the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).

Your intrepid reporter was taking a walk on the beach and stumbled upon the marketing stunt (which was kind of genius).

For those of y’all who don’t know, Muscle Beach is sort of a mecca for weight lifters and body builders — including, back in the ’80s, a young Ah-nold Schwarzenegger. A history that made it an ideal spot to celebrate Netflix’s (pretty terrific) ode to all things new wave-d, hair metal-ed, neon accented, high-waisted, cocaine addled and muscle-bound.

Members of the cast posed for pictures, and wrestlers engaged in training sessions and ’80s-themed exercise classes throughout the day.

The activation will be up for the next week and included a Reebok pop-up with limited-edition ’80s styles; a photo booth and costumes for pictures; free copies of Paper Magazine and trading cards emblazoned with the pictures of each of the most popular characters from the show.

The day wasn’t without incident. Some Muscle Beach-goers got into a war of words with security over the event’s unannounced takeover of the basketball courts adjacent to the “beach.”

The second season of “GLOW” dropped today on Netflix.

[gallery ids="1666102,1666103,1666105,1666106,1666107"]

 



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What we know about Maryland’s controversial facial recognition database

When police had difficulty identifying the man whom they believed opened fire on a newsroom in Maryland, killing five people, they turned to one of the most controversial yet potent tools in the state’s law enforcement arsenal.

As The New York Times reports, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare’s department failed to ID its suspect through fingerprinting. The department then sent a picture of the suspect to the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, which combed through one of the nation’s largest databases of mug shots and driver’s license photos in search of a match.

That database is the source of some debate. Maryland has some of the most aggressive facial recognition policies in the nation, according to a national report from Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology, and that practice is powered by one central system: a pool of face data known as the Maryland Image Repository System (MIRS).

For facial recognition searches, Maryland police have access to three million state mug shots, seven million state driver’s license photos and an additional 24.9 million mug shots from a national FBI database. The state’s practice of face recognition searches began in 2011, expanding in 2013 to incorporate the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration’s existing driver’s license database. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) describes MIRS “as a digitized mug shot book used by law enforcement agencies throughout Maryland in the furtherance of their law enforcement investigation duties.”

According to the Georgetown report, “It’s unclear if the [Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services] ‘scrubs’ its mug shot database to eliminate people who were never charged, had charges dropped or dismissed, or who were found innocent.”

In a letter to Maryland’s House Appropriations and Senate Budget and Taxation Committees in late 2017, DPSCS Secretary Stephen T. Moyer notes that the software “has drawn criticism over privacy concerns.” In that report, the state notes that images uploaded to MIRS are not stored in the database and that “the user’s search results are saved under their session and are not available to any other user.” DPSCS provides these details about the software:

MIRS is an off-the-shelf software program developed by Dataworks Plus. Images are uploaded into the system from MVA, DPSCS inmate case records, and mugshot photos sent into the DPSCS Criminal Justice System-Central Repository (CJIS-CR) from law enforcement agencies throughout the State at the time of an offender’s arrest and booking. Members of law enforcement are able to upload an image to MIRS and that image is compared to the images within the system to determine the highest probability that the uploaded image may relate to an MVA and/or DPSCS image within MIRS.

In the 2017 fiscal year, DPSCS paid DataWorks Plus $185,124.24 to maintain the database. The report declined to answer questions about how many users are authorized to access the MIRS system (estimates in The Baltimore Sun put it at between 6,000 and 7,000 individuals) and how many user logins had occurred since 2015, stating that it did not track or collect this information. On a question of what steps the department takes to mitigate privacy risks, DPSCS stated only that “the steps taken to protect citizen’s privacy are inherent in the photos that are uploaded into the system and the way that the system is accessed.”

In 2016, Maryland’s face recognition database came under new scrutiny after the ACLU accused the state of using MIRS without a warrant to identify protesters in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray.

Last year, Maryland House Bill 1065 proposed a task force to examine surveillance techniques used by law enforcement in the state. That bill made it out of the House but did not progress past the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Another bill, known as the Face Recognition Act (HB 1148), would mandate auditing in the state to “ensure that face recognition is used only for legitimate law enforcement purposes” and would prohibit the use of Maryland’s face recognition system without a court order. That bill did not make it out of the House Judiciary Committee, though the ACLU intends to revisit it in 2018.



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How to fix the missing OEM Unlock button on the Samsung Galaxy S9/S8/Note 8

Snapdragon Samsung Galaxy S9

On any smartphone running Android 5.0 Lollipop and higher, you may find an option called ‘OEM unlocking’ in developer options. By toggling this option, you’ll get the ability to unlock the bootloader on your device. Unlocking the bootloader lets you install a custom recovery such as TWRP, root your device to access system files, flash custom ROMs, modify the kernel, and much more. If you own the international/Exynos version of the Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, or Samsung Galaxy S9 and you’re missing the OEM unlock toggle, then there’s a fix available.

Samsung allows unlocking the bootloader on the international versions of their phones. But on the Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S9, and Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the ‘OEM unlocking’ option only becomes available after 7 days of activating the device and adding a Samsung or Google account to the device. If you would rather not wait 7 days or if even after 7 days the button is still missing, XDA Senior Member altai1963 has posted instructions about how to fix the missing ‘OEM unlock’ button on the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+, Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, too. The latter is not yet tested, but we’re positive it’ll work on it too.

Without any further ado, let’s get started:

Fix Missing OEM Unlock Toggle on Samsung Galaxy S9/S8/Note 8

  1. First of all, open the Settings app on your Galaxy device;
  2. Go to General management > Date and time;
  3. Untick ‘Automatic date and time’;
  4. New options should appear. Tap ‘Set date’ and select any date from the last month, so that we can trick the system into thinking we’ve had the device for more than 7 days. In this case, we’re selecting May 10th;
  5. Back out. In Settings, go to About phone > Software information;
  6. Tap on Build number 7 times to activate Developer options;
  7. Back out. In Settings, go to the newly added Developer options;
  8. Untick ‘Auto update system’;
  9. Back out. Go to Software update;
  10. Untick ‘Download updates automatically’;
  11. Tap on ‘Download updates manually’. It may throw an error, but don’t worry, that’s absolutely okay;
  12. Reboot your device;
  13. That’s it! ‘OEM unlock’ option should be available in the Developer options now.

After following the instructions, you’ll be able to unlock the bootloader on your brand new Galaxy device. As I already mentioned, this method has been tested on the Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8+, Samsung Galaxy S9, and Samsung Galaxy S9+, but the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 should theoretically work, too.



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Samsung DeX may get dual monitor support for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4

Samsung DeX was released alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. DeX enabled users to use the phone as a desktop computer if they had a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Now, a report by SamMobile states that DeX will soon be getting dual monitor support, possibly when the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is released. The Galaxy Tab S4 will be the successor of the Galaxy Tab S3, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820-powered tablet that was launched in February 2017.

The report states that the Galaxy Tab S4 will indeed support DeX. This would make it the first Galaxy Tab to support it. Samsung will also add the option to use the tablet display as the second monitor when it’s connected to DeX, and the same option will work with phones as well. A tablet display will be more suitable for dual monitor mode because of its larger size.

However, the report adds that it’s not clear yet how exactly dual monitor mode will work with a tablet. The original form factor of Samsung DeX – the DeX Station – and even the new DeX Pad will not be able to prop up a tablet (kickstand) for proper viewing, so SamMobile speculates that Samsung may expect users to buy the Book Cover that will probably launch alongside the Galaxy Tab S4. Any other case of such type would also be sufficient.

With the Android 8.0 Oreo update, DeX gained the ability to use the phone’s display as a trackpad, so it’s natural for Samsung to add the option to use the connected phone or tablet as a separate display. The Galaxy Tab S4 is expected to be unveiled at IFA 2018 in Berlin. SamMobile states that it may be that Samsung will send a software update for the Galaxy S and Note flagships to add dual monitor support. It’s worth noting that the Galaxy Note 9 has been already been confirmed to launch on August 9th, and it will naturally support DeX as well.


Source: SamMobile



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WhatsApp now lets group admins restrict messages in groups

whatsapp

WhatsApp is the most popular IP-based messaging app worldwide. Since 2017, the app has added live location sharing, the ability to export user data to follow GDPR requirements, and an option to switch from voice calls to video calls. New group features have also been added in the form of the “Restrict Group Permissions” feature, which allows users to restrict permissions to admins only to change the group subject, subject, and info, as well as the dismiss an admin feature for demoting an administrator. With the most recent update, administrators of a group could no longer remove the group’s creator.

Now, WhatsApp has started rolling out the “Send Messages” feature for WhatsApp beta users in Android as well as for iOS and Windows Mobile users, according to a WABetaInfo report. This feature is being remotely activated for WhatsApp beta version 2.18.201 users, although the site mentions that the roll-out is slow for Android, while it is comparatively faster for iOS and Windows Mobile. It will soon be enabled for the latest WhatsApp stable version for Android (2.18.191).

WhatsApp Send Messages Groups WhatsApp Send Messages Groups WhatsApp Send Messages Groups

The “Send Messages” feature in groups lets group administrators disable chat features in a group. All other participants will not be able to send text messages, images, videos, and voice messages in the group if the “Only Admins” option is selected for the Send Messages feature. Group administrators are able to configure this setting by opening Group Info. Once the permission has been changed, all group participants will be notified in the group with a particular message.

When the “Only Admins” option is selected by an administrator and only administrators can send messages, WhatsApp will hide the chat text input bar, alerting the user that messages cannot be sent. However, users can quickly contact administrators if they want an important message to be sent.

Once the feature is enabled, users will also be able to configure it using WhatsApp Web. The “Send Messages” feature is a useful addition that can remove group clutter. For the first time, the administrators will have the choice to allow only the administrators themselves to send messages to ensure lack of interruption by other users. Users can also use the feature to close the group at night to block messages from users, and then re-open it it in the morning.

Users can download the latest version of WhatsApp beta to use this feature. The feature will be remotely activated for users of the latest version of WhatsApp stable for Android soon.


Source: WABetaInfo



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