OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T get OxygenOS update with May 2019 security patch

While OnePlus may have announced its latest OnePlus 7 series of handsets, it has not forgotten its older OnePlus 6 and 6T smartphones. The two devices are now receiving new OxygenOS updates that bring, along with bug fixes and a stability boost, new features as well. The OxygenOS 9.0.14 update for the OnePlus 6T and OxygenOS 9.0.6 update for the OnePlus 6 bring their Android Security patch level to May 2019. In addition to the updated security patch, the new updates bring some Bluetooth and launcher improvements to the two handsets, and the front camera on the OnePlus 6T receives some optimisations in terms of photo quality. 

In the Bluetooth section, OnePlus is updating the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T to support Quick Pairing with the Bullets Wireless 2 earphones. Users should also observe some improvement in Bluetooth stability and compatibility. The hidden space option in the OnePlus launcher gets an improved password confirmation UI. The new patches rolling out also fix the issue with the SMS ringtone and an irksome bug that was clearing set speed dial numbers. An issue with loading credentials required for Wi-Fi that need logging in has also been fixed. The new OxygenOS updates for the handsets are incremental and will be rolled out in phases. Users can head over to their device’s settings to check whether their unit has received the update or not. 

OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T are also slated to receive the Zen Mode and Screen Recorder features that were introduced natively on the OnePlus 7 Pro soon. Zen Mode is OnePlus’ take on Google Wellbeing and it is definitely stricter than the latter. Once enabled, one can’t disable the option for 20 minutes, even if they restart the handset. During this time, the user won’t receive any calls, notifications or messages. However, users will be able to place emergency calls and click pictures, if required. Native screen recording option works as advertised and records everything that’s present on the screen. These two features are currently under testing on the OnePlus 6 with OxygenOS Open Beta 19 and on the OnePlus 6T with Open Beta 11.

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Researcher finds MacOS Mojave flaw, links it to abuse of trusted apps

With macOS Mojave, Apple introduced enhanced security features and privacy controls that restricted application access to system resources, files, and utilities. The files stay protected even if an attacker has malware on a machine. But now, a security researcher has found a flaw in an edition of macOS that can let an attacker run malicious files on the system. According to the researcher, this is done because Mojave doesn’t handle the verification of a certain number of apps correctly.

Researcher Patrick Wardle of Digita Security says that all this is related to synthetic clicks generated by apps. Now macOS Mojave essentially eliminates the synthetic clicks (or clicks that aren’t actually generated by the computer’s mouse or trackpad) made by all apps. This is done because they can be used to take actions without the users’ consent. But macOS Mojave has a small whitelist of apps that are still permitted to generate synthetic clicks.

The problem is not these apps but the way the synthetic clicks from these apps are handled in the OS. Apple checks the code-signing information of these whitelisted apps before allowing them to run. Wardle, however, found that these checks weren’t being performed correctly, which could lead to an attacker taking advantage of this flaw. According to the researcher, an attacker would only need a compromised Apple PC with macOS Mojave or have local access to a machine to take advantage of this loophole.

“In Mojave apple locks programs from being able to send synthetic clicks. It turns out it’s not fully true because there’s an undocumented whitelist of apps and any of those can send synthetic clicks. It appears to be popular apps that Apple wanted to allow for compatibility reasons. There’s code signing info in the whitelist. The way they perform the validation is incomplete, so a local attacker without any special privileges could use one of the apps in the whitelist and add some code to it and generate synthetic clicks and run it. The system would see this and check what program it was and allow it because it’s on the whitelist and not check if it’s been messed with,” Duo.com quoted Wardle as saying.

The researcher said that he had already reported the vulnerability to Apple and a patch is currently in the works. However, there is no information on when it will be released. “The frustration is that they seem to be unable to completely fix this. While they’re touting all these security and privacy features, they still haven’t implemented this completely. This wasn’t an incredibly complex or subtle bug to find. I keep having to report these to them,” he said.

Apple recently launched macOS Catalina, a refresh to macOS Mojave. Visit this link to read about the latest macOS.

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Motorola could launch Motorola One Vision in India at its June 20 launch event

Motorola recently announced its new Android One smartphone, the Motorola One Vision, in Brazil and it seems to be gearing up to launch “another premium device” in India. The smartphone maker has sent media invitations for an event that is being hosted on June 20. It could launch the Moto One Vision at the event, which, going by its specifications and Brazil pricing, is a mid-range handset. Highlights of the phone include a punch-hole camera display design that we’ve already seen on phones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 series. While the handset gets a 6.3-inch Full HD+ LCD display, it has an aspect ratio of 21:9 like the Xperia 10 and the Xperia 10 Plus. 

Motorola One Vision Specifications

The Motorola One Vision is powered by a 2.2 GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 9609 processor, which is paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB of expandable internal storage. The handset features a 6.3-inch Full HD+ LCD display with a 21:9 display aspect ratio and 1080×2520p resolution. This wide aspect ratio is called CinemaVision display by the company. The handset sports a 3.5mm audio jack and runs on Android Pie. As the device is a part of Google’s Android One programme, it is expected to receive timely security and OS updates. 

In terms of optics, Motorola One Vision features a 48MP rear camera with a Night Vision mode and an f/1.7 aperture lens. The phone’s camera also supports Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and Quad Pixel technology that bins four pixels into one large 1.6µm pixel. This is said to help capture sharper and brighter photos. The primary camera is supplemented by a 5MP depth sensor that is paired with an f/2.2 aperture lens. On the front, it sports a 25MP selfie shooter with 1.8µm Quad Pixel technology and is equipped with an f/2.0 aperture lens. The handset is backed by a 3500mAh battery with 15W TurboPower fast charging and Motorola claims that the phone can deliver up to 7 hours of usage with 15 minutes of charging.

Motorola One Vision expected pricing

The Motorola One Vision was launched in Sapphire Blue and Bronze colours. The smartphone was announced for 1,999 Brazilian Real (Rs 35,600 approx), and in Saudi Arabia and Thailand it is priced at €299 (Rs 23,300 approx). The handset is expected to be priced similarly in India, possibly even lower than the price tag it carries in Thailand. 

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Nubia Red Magic 3 confirmed to launch in India later this month

Putting speculation to rest about its India launch, Nubia has confirmed that the Nubia Red Magic 3 gaming smartphone will indeed launch in India later this month. In April, the phone was launched in China in four variants at a starting price of CNY 2,899 (approx Rs 30,000). At that time, there were rumours which claimed that the phone would launch in India in mid-June. While the company hasn’t given a launch date, it has confirmed that the phone will be unveiled in June in the country.

Moreover, the company has also shored a communique in which it has claimed that the phone has scored the highest points on AnTuTu benchmark listing. According to the company, the gaming smartphone, with the model number NX629J, has scored 3,80,921 on May 2019 AnTuTu Benchmark Rating. These scores are lower than what has reported before. Earlier this year, Ni Fei, General Manager of Nubia smartphones, posted the screenshots of the Antutu benchmark test on his Weibo account. The screenshots showed the phone with same model number (NX629J) has scored 437,524 points.

Digit reached out to Nubia for clarifications and we were told that the previous score was based on the testing of just one device. It added that the latest score is the average of all the scores clocked by various testers. As a matter of fact, no phone - not even an iPhone - hasn’t breached the 400,000-mark. However, the iPad Pro 2018 (11-inch) has an (April 2019) AnTuTu score of 550546 points.

Nubia Red Magic 3 specifications:

The Nubia Red Magic 3 sports a design is similar to its predecessor with a hexagon shaped rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and a geeked out rear-panel. Just like other gaming phones in the market, this handset also features a liquid cooling tech to keep temperatures in check. The Red Magic 3 is also equipped with an active fan cooling system. The fan’s speed is also adjustable and is touted to reach a max speed of 14000 rpm.

As far as special features are concerned, the phone features a software dashboard called “Red Magic Game Space 2.0”, which has shortcuts to tweak the fan speed and quick-launch games. Similar to the ROG gaming phone, the Nubia Red Magic has two touch-enabled shoulder trigger buttons, which can be customised and mapped as per user's requirements.

The gaming smartphone sports a 6.65-inch FHD+ HDR AMOLED display, which sports a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The display has a 90Hz refresh rate that is most recently seen in the OnePlus 7 Pro. The display supports HDR playback as well. Under the hood, the phone has the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform, assisted by up to 12GB RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. It packs a 5000mAh battery that supports 27W fast charging. The handset runs Redmagic OS 2.0 based on Android 9 Pie.

The photography responsibilities are on a single 48MP rear-camera that utilises Sony IMX586 sensor, which is paired with an  f/1.7 aperture lens. The Nubia Red Magic 3 sports stereo front-facing speakers with DTS:X sound support and features 3D sound technologies.

As mentioned, the phone was launched in four variants: the 6GB+64GB version, 6GB+128GB variant, 8GB+128GB version and the 12GB+256GB model. The device was announced in Red, Camouflage, Black, and Blue with Red gradient colour models. There is no info on the phone’s pricing in India. Earlier this year, Digit exclusively learned that the phone’s 6GB RAM models are China-exclusive and will not make it to India or other global markets.

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Samsung launches 8K QLED TVs in India priced all the way up to Rs 60 lakh

Samsung India has announced their 8K QLED line-up of televisions in India. The company has launched four 8K QLED TVs starting at 65-inches and going all the way up to 98-inches. The televisions are not just big on screen and resolution, but also pack a number of new technologies and innovation to enhance the experience of owning one of these. The four sizes that will be available are 65-inches, 75-inches, 82-inches and 98-inches.

The 33 million pixels packed into Samsung’s 8K QLED TVs are four times the number found on 4KUHD televisions and 16 times the number found on full-HD televisions. Samsung says they have been mindful of content source, and hence developed a proprietary upscaling AI algorithm that allows content from Blu-Rays, streaming servies and even set-top-boxes to appear crystal clear, regardless of their original resolution. This is achieved by the new Quantum Processor 8K which is supposed to intelligently upscale content for the 8K display.

In addition to the upscaling technology, Samsung has also carefully approached the televisions from the perspective of luxury devices. In order to give the television and the AV system a clean, minimal look, Samsung has worked on how devices will connect to the television. This Samsung achieves through the One Invisible Connection and One Connect Box. The One Connect box is where all your devices, such as your console, your home theater system, the set-top-box etc are plugged in. The One Invisible Cable is a single, transluscent ribbon going from the One Connect Box to the TV, blending seamlessly into the wall. This, Samsung says, allows you to minimize the clutter of cables that generally manifests when you have multiple input and output devices.

Samsung's 8K QLED TVs also seek to take user experience up a notch, with Samsung bringing Bixby to the television space. The TVs will also support Google Assistant thanks to the far-field microphones on the TV. In addition to this, what Samsung is calling an industry-first is support for Itunes Movies and TV Shows along with AirPlay 2 support. With AirPlay 2 support, they will be able to effortlessly play videos, photos, music, podcasts and more from Apple devices directly to Samsung Smart TVs, including QLED 4K and QLED 8K TVs, as well as other Samsung 4K UHD and HD models.

In terms of pricing and availability, Samsung’s new range of QLED 8K TVs will be priced at Rs 10,99,900 and Rs 16,99,900 for the 75-inch (189 cm), and 82-inch (207 cm) variants, respectively. The 98-inch (247 cm) variant of the QLED 8K TV, priced at Rs 59,99,900, and will only be made to order. The price of the 65-inch (163 cm), which will be available in July, will be announced shortly.

Apart from the QLED 8K range, Samsung’s new 2019 QLED TV line-up is priced at Rs 3,99,900 for 65-inch (163 cm) Q90 model, Rs 2,09,900 (55 inch/138 cm) to Rs 6,49,900 (75 inch/189 cm) for Q80 models, Rs 1,69,900 (55 inch/138 cm) to Rs 2,79,900 (65 inch/163 cm) for Q70 models and Rs 94,900 (43 inch/108 cm) to Rs 7,49,900 (82 inch/207 cm) for Q60 models. These will be available from June 2019.

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Instagram reportedly rolling out revamped camera design in India

Back in May this year, Facebook announced some new changes for Instagram at its F8 developer conference. One of these changes included a new look for the built-in camera app that categorised features into different tabs such as Live, Camera and Create. IANS reports that the new features are now rolling out for Instagram users in India and they render a new look to the app with a semi-circular wheel at the bottom. This wheel features three aforementioned options where the Live tab consists of Augmented Reality (AR) filters. The Camera option contains Super zoom, Boomerang and Hands-Free Forward options, which are supplemented by AR filters when one swipes to the left on the bottom. 

There is also a Create tab that nests options like Tap to Type, Ask me a question, polls and countdown. As the name suggests, the Create option is aimed at making it easier to create posts, polls and interactive Stories. The new design was spotted earlier in March by the Reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong who tweeted, “Instagram is working on new 'Stories' user-interface, inspired from mechanical circular mode switcher in DSLRs." We checked for the new camera revamp in Instagram, on our devices, but couldn't spot it on either Android or iOS devices in our labs. The company might be enabling the new features from the server side and if this is the case, it could take some time for the new features to show up. 

The new report comes soon after the company rolled out landscape videos in IGTV. in addition to viewing vertical videos, users of the popular image-based social media app will be able to watch videos in regular landscape orientation. The change is apparently to help creators deliver content where they can fit more info and visuals in one frame. Additionally, those who create landscape videos to post it on YouTube had to cut videos weirdly (think vertical crop) to get them on Instagram. You can read more about this here. 

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Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro to launch in India on July 15

The Redmi flagship is coming to India. The Redmi K20 and the Redmi K20 Pro that launched in China as the now independent brand’s flagship devices will make their way to India, name and everything unchanged. The smartphone was anticipated to be rebranded as the Poco F2, but that’s not the case. Global VP and India director of Xiaomi, Manu Kumar Jain took to social media to announce the launch date of the Redmi K20 Pro.

The Redmi K20 series will come to India on July 15, which is six weeks from now. Jain called it “a big, big knockout” in a 30 second video on Twitter replete with the to executive in boxing gear ready to take on the budget flagships that have sprung up in the Indian market. Xiaomi is calling the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro, the “ultimate flagship killer”.

With flagship features like the Snapdragon 855, up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage along with a bezel-less 6.39-inch HDR AMOLED display and a 48MP dual camera stack, there is reason to believe the devices can be popular options in the high-end segment. Whether the Redmi K20 series is indeed a ‘flagship killer’ can only be determined after thorough testing. The regular Redmi K20 shares most of the features of the flagship, but with the Snapdragon 730 in charge of things instead of the Snapdragon 855.

When launched, Xiaomi will have the OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, Oppo Reno and the Black Shark 2 in the high-end segment. However, this is not the first time Xiaomi will attempt to make its flagship device successful in India. Back when the brand entered the Indian market, it used launch the Mi flagships every year till the Mi5, but they weren’t as popular as the entry-level and mid-range devices from Xiaomi. Xiaomi also brought the Mi Mix 2 in India, but received lukewarm reception.

With OnePlus now leading the premium segment, OEMs now have hope that the Indian market has evolved enough for customers to consider paying more for a better experience. It’s recent success with the Poco should also fuel the hope that the Redmi K20 Pro will sell out in seconds, just like the Redmi Note phones.

Mi fans! Here's a KNOCKOUT announcement!

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