Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition Review: The Hottest New Thin and Light Notebook – Literally

Xiaomi, traditionally known for its smartphone, first entered the laptop segment in China all the way back in 2016. Ever since then, I’ve seen countless posts from Xiaomi fans in India either asking the company to launch its laptop lineup in the country or asking their peers if it’s safe to import the laptops from China. Earlier this year in June, Xiaomi finally gave in to all the fan requests and launched the Mi Notebook 14 and Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition in India.

The Mi Notebook 14 lineup consists of two models — the entry-level Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 and the slightly more premium Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition. I recently had a chance to experience the top-of-the-line Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition and, having used two exceptional Xiaomi notebooks in the past, I instantly jumped on the opportunity. I’ve been using the Intel Core i7-10510U variant of the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition as my daily driver for the last month, and here are my thoughts on the hot new thin-and-light notebook.

Note: Xiaomi India sent us a Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition for the purpose of this review. However, the company did not have any input on the content of this review. This review is written after over a month of use.

Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition: Specifications

Xiaomi offers the Mi Notebook Horizon Edition in two SKUs. There’s the Intel Core i5-10210U powered base variant and the Intel Core i7-10510U powered top-end variant. As mentioned earlier, I’ve been using the Intel Core i7 variant, and here are its complete specifications:

Specification	Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition
Dimensions & Weight	321.3mm x 206.8mm 1.35kg
Display	14-inch FHD (1920×1080) Matte-finish 16:9 250nits
Processor	Intel Core i7-10510U @1.8GHz
GPU	NVIDIA MX350 (2GB GDDR5)
RAM & Storage	8GB DDR4 @2666MHz 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD
Battery & Charging	46Wh 65W fast charging
I/O	2x USB 3.1 Type-A 1x USB 2.0 Type-A 1x USB Type-C 1x HDMI 1.4b 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac 2×2 Bluetooth 5.0
OS	Windows 10 Home Edition
Other Features	Microsoft Office 365, 30-day trial Mi Smart Share Mi Blaze Unlock

Design and Build Quality

Now that we’ve got the specifications out of the way, let’s take a look at one of the most striking features of the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition — its design. The notebook features a minimal MacBook Pro-like design with a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis and no visible branding on the outside. It features a healthy selection of I/O ports on either side, a large air intake grille at the bottom, and an exhaust grille on the left edge. The laptop measures just 17.15mm thick and weighs just 1.35kg, making it extremely portable.

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition features a large center-mounted hinge that, combined with the excellent weight distribution, lets you easily open the notebook with just a single finger. Once you have the notebook open, you’re greeted with an impressive 14-inch display with just 3mm bezels on three sides and a 91% screen-to-body ratio, a compact keyboard with no number pad, and a substantially sized trackpad right underneath it. The minimal branding theme continues on the inside, with the notebook just featuring the Mi logo smack dab in the middle of the bottom bezel and Intel Core i7 branding on the right edge of the palm rest.

For a thin-and-light notebook, the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition offers a decent port selection. The notebook features two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, a USB Type-C port, an HDMI 1.4b port, and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack. Sadly though, the notebook doesn’t include an SD card reader. The USB Type-C port on the notebook can be used for data transfer and charging, however, Xiaomi doesn’t include a Type-C charger in the box. Instead, the notebook utilizes a barrel-style charger with a 65W adapter. This is particularly disappointing because Xiaomi does make a 65W USB PD fast charger for laptops and could’ve included one in the box.

The lack of a built-in webcam is another major disappointment, especially when so many of us have shifted to work-from-home, but Xiaomi does at least include an external webcam in the box that can get the job done in an emergency. However, if you’re someone who cares about not looking like a pixelated mess, then the included webcam will be disappointing.

Regardless, the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition doesn’t fail to impress on the design front. When compared to other thin-and-light notebooks in this price range, Xiaomi’s notebook offers a cleaner and more minimal design, better build quality, a healthy I/O selection, and a great display with slim bezels. Xiaomi hasn’t gone over the top with its branding, and that’s another thing I appreciate about this notebook.

Display

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition, unlike the regular Mi Notebook 14, features a 14-inch FHD matte display with 3mm bezels on the top and sides and a 91% screen-to-body ratio. Thanks to the slim bezels, Xiaomi has managed to fit the 14-inch display in a chassis that’s the same size as a 13.3-inch notebook. This not only makes the notebook a lot more portable but also gives it a premium appeal. The display has a matte finish to avoid any unnecessary screen glare and improve outdoor visibility, and it has a peak brightness of 250 nits which makes it fairly usable in direct sunlight.

On the downside, the matte finish means that the display doesn’t look as vibrant as its glossy counterparts, and those of you who are planning to use the notebook for any kind of photo or video work won’t find it as appealing as some of the other options out there. Furthermore, the display doesn’t offer the best color accuracy, and there’s a noticeable color shift while you’re looking at it from an angle, making it a poor choice for any kind of content creation. However, the display is more than satisfactory for content consumption and you shouldn’t face any issues with it in day-to-day use.

Keyboard & Trackpad

I’ve been using the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition as my work laptop for the last few weeks, and in that time, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with the keyboard and trackpad. The notebook features a compact chiclet-style keyboard with 1.3mm key travel and no number pad. Coming from a full-sized mechanical keyboard, typing on the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition felt surprisingly inoffensive. The key travel was decent, the feedback was satisfactory, and the key spacing was good enough for me to get used to typing on the Mi Notebook in just a couple of hours. Similarly, the trackpad was also quite usable, even though it doesn’t include support for Windows Precision drivers. Tracking was responsive, multi-touch gestures worked just fine, and the click action offered good feedback.

However, there are some major downsides to the input devices on the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition which might be deal-breakers for some of you. Since the keyboard is quite compact and I have fairly large hands, I wasn’t able to achieve my usual typing speed on the notebook. With my wrists resting on the palm rest, I faced issues reaching the bottom two rows on the keyboard and, even though I tried for a week, I had to switch back to my keyboard for the remainder of my testing. The keys also felt a bit cheap and the stabilization on the large keys, especially the spacebar, was a bit concerning. On top of that, the lack of backlighting was a deal-breaker for me. Palm rejection on the trackpad was also poor and resulted in the cursor moving almost every time I hit a key near the spacebar.

Do note that since most of the aforementioned issues have a direct correlation with the size of my hands, most users shouldn’t face these problems in day-to-day use.

Audio

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition packs in two 2W bottom-firing speaker units that sound unimpressive. Tinny would be the best word to describe the audio profile as there’s absolutely no bass whatsoever. On top of that, the speaker placement results in a muffled sound if you don’t place the laptop on a flat surface.

The speakers also don’t get loud enough at max volume, and you’ll have to use a Bluetooth speaker or headphones if you plan to use the notebook as your primary content consumption device. Xiaomi has included DTS audio processing on the notebook for better audio performance but, in my experience, finetuning the audio from the DTS app barely made a difference. Audio performance from the 3.5mm headphone jack was satisfactory, though.

Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition: Performance

Now, coming to the meat of the matter, the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition’s performance. As mentioned earlier, my review unit is powered by an Intel Core i7-10510U processor, coupled with an NVIDIA MX350 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of M.2 NVMe storage. The notebook performed admirably for my daily use case, which mostly comprises of browsing the web, watching videos, a lot of typing, and a bit of photo editing. Thanks to the NVMe drive, the notebook booted up almost instantly, and everything from opening apps to transferring files felt snappy. If you have a similar use case, then the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition is a great notebook.

However, if you’re planning to do anything more intensive, then you should probably consider other options. This is due to the fact that the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition suffers from some major thermal issues (more on that later) and, as a result, it throttles under load. To give you an idea of how the notebook performs under load, I ran a couple of synthetic benchmarks and tried playing a few eSports titles on the notebook, and here’s what I observed.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition doesn’t fare well in synthetic benchmarks when compared with other similarly spec’d notebooks. In Geekbench 5, the notebook manages a paltry 946 in the single-core score and 2,994 in the multi-core score. In comparison, the ASUS VivoBook S14, which packs the same processor, manages to eek out a single-core score of 1,296 and a multi-core score of 3,808. In PCMark 10, Xiaomi’s notebook managed a combined score of 4,302, which is comparable to other Intel Core i7-10510U powered notebooks.

In Cinebench R20, the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition managed 875 points, which is significantly lower than the average of 1,468 delivered by the same processor. In 3DMark, the notebook delivered a combined score of 13,350 in the Night Raid benchmark and 11,148 in the Sky Diver benchmark. Since the NVIDIA MX350 is relatively new to the Indian market, I wasn’t able to compare the score with other notebooks featuring the same GPU.

Gaming

Despite Xiaomi’s claims regarding the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition’s gaming performance, I wouldn’t recommend the device to even the most casual of gamers. Based on Xiaomi’s claims during the launch event, I planned on trying a ton of eSports and AAA titles on the notebook. However, after trying out only two eSports titles on the notebook, namely League of Legends and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, I can safely conclude that this notebook is not meant for gaming.

While the notebook managed to deliver promising framerates (around the 100fps mark at 720p) when I first fired up each game, the fps dropped significantly just 15 minutes into the game. The fps drop was a direct result of the laptop thermal throttling, as the notebook got incredibly hot within 15 minutes of getting into a match. The keyboard deck reached an uncomfortable 60 degrees around the center and top left corner, while the CPU temperature crossed 90 degrees. As a result, I had to conclude my gaming test as I didn’t want to damage something internally by continuing the tests for a prolonged duration.

Thermal performance

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition has a simple thermal solution that is decent for day-to-day productivity tasks. With my daily use case, the notebook stayed cool and the fan stayed silent for the most part. However, as mentioned earlier, the thermal solution isn’t as effective for anything more intensive. While using Photoshop, the fan ramped up immediately and the base felt warm to the touch within a few minutes. I noticed no thermal throttling while working on a single image in Photoshop, but as soon as I opened multiple files each with a couple of layers, the notebook started stuttering.

Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition: Battery Life

Powering the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition is a 46Wh battery which includes fast charging support that can charge up the laptop from 0-50% in just 30 minutes. While Xiaomi claims up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge, in my testing I found the laptop consistently lasted around 7 hours on the battery saver power setting and the screen set at 50% brightness. Even though the notebook’s battery life doesn’t match up to Xiaomi’s claims, 7 hours on a single charge is pretty great for a Windows notebook in this price range. The battery life drops to about 5 hours on the best performance power setting and the brightness set to 100%. All the measurements were taken while using the notebook primarily for web browsing, writing articles, and some light photo editing. Of course, the battery won’t last as long in case you do anything more performance-intensive.

Should you buy the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition?

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition is a well-designed notebook that offers decent performance for basic productivity tasks and content consumption. Thanks to its exceptional battery life and compact form factor, the notebook can also prove to be a great travel companion. But if you’re planning on doing anything even remotely performance-intensive, then the notebook isn’t for you. Along with that, there are a few other issues that you might want to consider before going ahead with the purchase.

The Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition features soldered RAM, so you can’t upgrade past the included 8GB capacity, and Xiaomi doesn’t offer a 16GB variant yet. The keyboard isn’t backlit and might feel a bit cramped for some users. Its audio performance is mediocre, it doesn’t include an SD card reader, and there’s no built-in webcam.

For a starting price of ₹54,999 for the Intel Core i5-10210U and SATA SSD variant, the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Editions isn’t the best option out there. Xiaomi’s design-first approach does make the notebook a lot more appealing on paper than it actually is and, for those of you who care more about performance than design or aesthetics, the Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition is not a great choice.

Buy the Xiaomi Mi Notebook 14 Horizon Edition: Amazon ||| Mi.com

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Google and Apple announce new privacy and functional improvements to their COVID-19 contact tracing API

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our habits have changed drastically. Social distancing is now the norm because of the sheer amount of asymptomatic people carrying the virus. Knowing who has tested positive and who came into contact with those persons is essential to containing the spread of the virus, and that’s why Google and Apple teamed up to create a COVID-19 contact tracing API called Exposure Notification. This API is meant for use in contact tracing applications from public health agencies, and it supports both iOS and Android. Today, Google and Apple announced a few improvements to the API.

One of the improvements gives public health agencies more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with an exposure event. Another improvement is support for interoperability between countries for the app to work on a more global scale. With better Bluetooth calibration on hundreds of devices (the Exposure Notification API uses Bluetooth LE in order to ping nearby devices), contact tracing will be less prone to false positives.

Google and Apple are also addressing privacy concerns that have been raised by users and developers. You can now easily turn off the notifications with a toggle and, if the feature is turned on, you will also get a periodic reminder that it’s on. On Android 11, users will no longer have to enable Location Services in order for the Exposure Notification API to work. The reason the API requires location access to be enabled is that Bluetooth scanning can be used to infer a device’s location. Google tied Bluetooth (and WiFi) scanning to location services to warn users of this fact, but this has scared some users into thinking that all contact tracing apps are actively tracking their location.

Here’s a summary of Google and Apple’s improvements to the Exposure Notification API, per Google’s blog post on the matter:

Improvements to the Exposure Notification API

• When an exposure is detected, public health authorities now have more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with that exposure based on technical information from the API.
• Bluetooth calibration values for hundreds of devices have been updated to improve the detection of nearby devices.
• The API now supports interoperability between countries, following feedback from governments that have launched Exposure Notification apps.
• To help public health authorities build apps more efficiently, we’ve added reliability improvements for apps and developer debug tools.
• We’ve improved clarity, transparency and control for users. For example, the Exposure Notifications settings on Android now include a simple on/off toggle at the top of the page. In addition, users will also see a periodic reminder if ENS is turned on.

Public health authorities have used this API, jointly developed by Google and Apple, in 16 countries, including those in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. More areas are planning apps using the API, with 20 U.S. states and territories (accounting for over 45% of the U.S. population) exploring its usage. We are tracking the apps that use the Exposure Notification API in a separate article, in case you’re interested. Using contact tracing to contain the spread of COVID-19 is essential in establishing a return to normalcy, but we’re still a long way off from that goal.

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Netflix is rolling out playback speed controls on Android

Ever wish you could speed up or slow down video playback on Netflix? On Android, now you can.

Netflix is rolling out the ability to watch videos at 0.5x, 0.75x, 1.25x, or 1.5x speeds on Android. Now you can binge-watch your favorite shows faster than ever. Playback speed controls are available on Android for both streamed and downloaded content and will be tested on iOS and browsers in the future. This feature will not be tested on built-in TV apps, though.

Playback speed controls were apparently something Netflix users have requested for years, according to Netflix’s Keela Robison, Vice President of product innovation. “Tests show that consumers value the flexibility [playback speed controls] provides whether it’s rewatching their favorite scene or slowing things down because they’re watching with subtitles or have hearing difficulties,” Robison said. The National Association of the Deaf and the National Federation of the Blind applauded Netflix for introducing this feature, with both organizations adding that playback speed controls can help those with auditory and/or visual difficulties.

While the new playback speed controls might be a boon for users, some in Hollywood are apparently unhappy with the new feature. As The Verge points out, when Netflix previously confirmed they were testing this feature last year, directors Brad Bird and Judd Apatow spoke out against it. Apatow in particular said that “distributors don’t get to change the way the content is presented.” These creators argue that playback speed controls disrupt how they intend viewers to consume their content. Many creators currently rail against motion smoothing features on home televisions for largely the same reason.

Netflix said it is aware of the concerns from Hollywood creators and has worked to quell their anger. For one, Netflix said it will correct the pitch in audio at faster and slower playback speeds, so content doesn’t sound warped. The company also purposely limited the available playback speeds and requires users to manually change the playback speed for every video they watch.

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YouTube to axe community contributions for closed captions and subtitles

Google on Friday announced YouTube’s Community Contributions feature, which allows viewers to add closed captioning and subtitles to videos, will be discontinued on September 28, 2020. The company cites two reasons behind the discontinuation of the feature: It’s not being widely used and is a regular source of spam and abuse.

According to Google, community contributions were featured in “less than 0.001% of channels” in the past month, covering than 0.2% of watch time. Creators are, for the most part, relying on alternative captioning tools for their videos.

As The Verge points out, deaf and hard-of-hearing creators will be most affected by the feature’s removal. Several “VTubers”, or Virtual YouTubers, will also be affected, as well as content creators with significant foreign language audiences. Some content creators have already voiced their concerns, pleading with Google to create a better community contributions system rather than axing it entirely.

It’s a fine line to walk for Google. Captions and subtitles are crucial for accessibility—not just to reach deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, but to reach viewers who speak different languages. While the community contributions feature is being canceled, captions and subtitles will still be available in YouTube videos. Creators can continue to manually add captions, while YouTube has technology that automatically adds captions to every video. The automatically generated captions are generally not as accurate as user-contributed captions, but they can be improved over time as Google continues to train its speech recognition and language translation technologies.

Even though Google said YouTube’s Community Contributions feature is rarely used, the company acknowledged the difficulty this decision might cause for some creators. As a consolation, Google said it would cover the cost of a 6-month subscription to Amara.org, a service that captions, subtitles, and translates videos.

If you currently have contributions saved as drafts, they’ll be available to publish until September 28. All contributions that have already been published will remain, and creators can manage them as they see fit.

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Google and Pure Digital almost partnered for Flip Video camera

Back before Google acquired (and then sold) Motorola, and back before Google had developed its first Pixel-branded smartphone, the search giant nearly released a Flip Video camera in partnership with Pure Digital at the dawn of the YouTube era.

According to internal emails obtained by the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust sub-committee (via The Verge), Google Video product manager Peter Chane attempted to convince colleagues to partner with Pure Digital, the owner of Flip Video, for a consumer video camera.

In a 2006 email, Chane highlights the popularity of Pure Digital and argues how important personal video cameras would be for a community-driven site such as Google Video. The emails laid out Chane’s argument and his urgency to get a deal done before Yahoo and YouTube did something similar. At the time, YouTube was still a competitor to Google Video.

We already know that Google never made a deal to release a Google-branded Flip Video camera, but there were conversations about the possibility. What ultimately happened was, at the suggestion of Google Video director Jennifer Feikin, Google opted to pursue an acquisition of YouTube instead, and the rest is history.

“I think perhaps a better route to take would be quickly figure out the strategy of how to work with both types of content in the ideal ways, and then to acquire YouTube,” Feikin said in an email.

Feikin said she admired YouTube’s UI and active community. By acquiring YouTube, Google could then use its considerable resources to scale the service and bring it to a wider audience. Some colleagues were apparently skeptical about acquiring YouTube, but Google ultimately made a deal all the way back in 2006.

Today, Google is one of the most popular websites on the internet, while Pure Digital and its Flip Video cameras are no more, thanks in part to the rise of smartphones. In hindsight, it was good business sense from Google, but it still would have been interesting to see a Google-branded Flip Video camera.

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Huawei to Revolutionize Commerce with New Live E-commerce Platform

As the world changes, people are changing the way they shop. New solutions are needed to present new and effective ways for consumers to interact with online stores. This is where Huawei’s Live E-commerce service comes in. The new e-commerce solution is designed to help merchants boost their traffic while lowering costs. Live streaming brings new opportunities driven by e-commerce transformation. Online retailers will be able to easily implement this solution, which is based on Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) to enhance live commerce capabilities.

Live E-commerce to be Officially Announce on Huawei Developer Day

To announce the launch of Live E-commerce, Huawei will be using their Huawei Developer Day #HDD event which is streamed online. This event will have the primary focus of showing online retailers, businesses, and developers how they can use HMS to profit off of the constantly-evolving online retail landscape. This event will demonstrate how Huawei is making live commerce easier, faster, and more immersive than ever. The key to this is the combination of the HMS compatibility kits. These allow developers to create a single e-commerce solution. The combination of Live E-commerce and HMS gives Huawei the technological advantage over other platforms in this field. Online retailers will now be able to produce a truly intelligent live commerce experience. HMS Core kits provide e-commerce platforms with easier control, more efficient operation, and more immersive scenario-based live stream experience.

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Huawei Developer Day

The Huawei Developer Webinar | Connect LIVEs with E-commerce
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EVENT LIVE

August 6th, 2020

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The HDD event is totally free for developers to attend. It is hosted online in the form of livestreams that features speakers from partnering companies like LiveMe, Kumu and others. Developers that attend the event will have the opportunity to learn about the different ways that Huawei can help them increase their traffic. Using the powerful tools designed for online platforms, you’ll learn how to create a richer and more advanced live streaming experience. Huawei’s innovative technology enhances e-commerce capabilities, assisting vendors, and developers to realize business gains.

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“With more consumers and vendors converting to live commerce streaming to sell and buy products, e-commerce is continuing its rapid growth and represent an increasingly large section of the global retail industry. A key priority for Huawei is supporting the expanding number of developers around the world in this field, which is why our next HDD is dedicated entirely to e-commerce and online retailers. HDD is an invaluable opportunity for developers and retailers of all sizes and sectors to get a head start on competitors and learn how our new and enhanced HMS-based solution can greatly enhance their live commerce capabilities.”

Peter Gauden - Head of WEU EcoSystem Marketing at Huawei Consumer Business Group

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The HDD event will be very beneficial to anyone looking to learn about the increasingly interactive market of online retail. The livestreamed event will be one hour long and will feature interaction from the audience, in the form of live comments. This event is part of Huawei’s commitment to creating a better experience for developers, which includes an all-scenario smart ecosystem.

All of this is part of the support and resources that Huawei dedicates to developers that use HMS and host their apps on the AppGallery. Huawei’s fully open Chip-Device-Cloud capabilities enable the best app experience while promoting innovation. If you are a developer and want to learn how to succeed in this market, make sure you tune-in to the Huawei Developers Day event on August 6th, 2020.

This post is sponsored and written in part by HUAWEI. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

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Honor 9A, Honor 9S launched in India with AppGallery, alongside Honor MagicBook 15

Honor is launching two smartphones in the Indian market, focusing on the entry-level segments in one of the most competitive markets in the world. The Honor 9A was released earlier this year in China, and the device made its way to the European markets later. Similarly, the Honor 9S and MagicBook 15 have also made their way to global markets, and are now finally making their way to India.

Honor 9A and Honor 9S

Specification	Honor 9A	Honor 9S
Dimensions & Weight	–	146.5 x 70.94 x 8.35 mm 144g
Display	6.3″ HD+ display	5.45″ HD+ display
SoC	MediaTek Helio P22 MT6762R	MediaTek Helio P22 MT6762R
RAM & Storage	3GB + 64GB Expandable via microSD	2GB + 32GB Expandable via microSD
Battery & Charging	5000mAh battery Reverse wired charging	3020mAh battery
Rear Camera	13MP 5MP 2MP	8MP, f/2.0
Front Camera	8MP	5MP, f/2.2
Other Features	Rear fingerprint sensor MicroUSB port 3.5mm headphone jack	MicroUSB port 3.5mm headphone jack
Android Version	Android 10 with Magic UI 3.1	Android 10 with Magic UI 3.1

The Honor 9A and Honor 9A are decidedly entry-level devices, so people used to flagships may not find them impressive by themselves. However, Honor’s use of the aging MediaTek Helio P22 on both the phones does not incite confidence as the phones will face very stiff competition from phones from Xiaomi, Realme, and Samsung. Further, both of these devices do not come with GMS and Google Play Store, and instead, adopt Huawei’s AppGallery and HMS Core.

Honor 9A

The Honor 9A will be available in Midnight Black and Phantom Blue color variants, starting from August 6, 2020, on Amazon.in. The phone will cost ₹9,999, but users can get it for ₹8,999 in the first sale.

Honor 9S

On the other hand, the Honor 9S comes in Blue and Black color options for ₹6,499, but users can get it for ₹5,999 in the first sale.

Honor MagicBook 15

The Honor MagicBook 15 is Honor’s first foray into the laptop market in India. As the name implies, it features a 15.6″ FHD IPS display with an 87% screen-to-body ratio and TÜV Rheinland certification. The laptop is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor coupled with Radeon Vega 8 graphics. You also get 8GB of DDR4 dual-channel RAM and a 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD.

The laptop is charged through an included 65W charger that charges the laptop 0-50% in half-hour through the USB Type-C port. Other notable features on the notebook include a two-in-one fingerprint power button, a pop-up webcam hidden underneath the camera button, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and more. And of course, you also get Windows 10 Home edition preloaded.

The Honor MagicBook 15 is priced at ₹42,990 in India and will go on sale on August 6, 2020, in the Mystic Silver color option on Flipkart.com. There is a first-sale discount available, letting users pick it up for ₹39,990.

Buy the Honor MagicBook 15 from Flipkart

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Xiaomi Black Shark 3S with 120Hz refresh rate display, Snapdragon 865 launched in China

Over the last couple of days, several smartphone OEMs have launched their latest and greatest gaming smartphones. ASUS unveiled its ROG Phone 3 and ROG Phone 3 Strix Edition, Lenovo launched the much-awaited Lenovo Legion Phone Duel, and Nubia launched the Red Magic 5S. Adding on to the list of new gaming smartphones, Xiaomi has now unveiled the Black Shark 3S in China. Xiaomi’s latest gaming smartphone is just a minor upgrade over the Black Shark 3 from earlier this year, with a better screen and a few other changes.

Xiaomi Black Shark 3S: Specifications

Specification	Xiaomi Black Shark 3S
Display	6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED 120Hz refresh rate 270Hz touch sampling 17ms latency
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
RAM & Storage	12GB LPDDR5 + 128GB UFS 3.1 12GB + 256GB 12GB + 512GB
Battery & Charging	4,720mAh 65W fast charging via USB Type-C 18W fast charging via secondary magnetic port
Rear Camera	64MP primary camera 13MP wide-angle camera 5MP depth sensor
Front Camera	20MP
Other Features	3.5mm headphone jack Secondary magnetic charging port USB Type-C
Android Version	Joy UI 12 based on Android 10

For the most part, the Black Shark 3S is the same device as its predecessor. It’s powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip, packs in 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It offers the same camera setup, with a 64MP primary camera, a 13MP wide-angle camera, and a 5MP depth sensor on the back, along with a 20MP selfie camera over on the front.

The device packs in the same 4,720mAh battery with support for 65W fast wired charging via USB Type-C, it still features a 3.5mm headphone jack, and it also includes a secondary magnetic charging port, which is capable of charging the device at 18W.

In terms of improvements, the Black Shark 3S packs in a 6.67-inch FHD+ 120Hz high refresh rate display, instead of the 90Hz display found on the previous model, and it runs the company’s latest Android skin — Joy UI 12.

Thanks to the new software, Xiaomi has managed to include several new features on the Black Shark 3S, including screen pressure 4.0 for 3D touch controls, voice control 2.0 to help users adjust settings using voice commands while in-game, and something called somatosensory control that offers 6 built-in somatosensory actions. We aren’t exactly sure what somatosensory control offers, but it seems to refer to touch-sensitive shoulder buttons on the device.

Additionally, Joy UI 12 brings features like Game barrage to control notifications while playing games, Game macro to help users set up macro commands in games, Hunting mode to enhance vegetation and ground contrast in games, and Black Shark Moment 3.0 for game recording and editing.

Joy UI 12 also enables screencasting support on the Black Shark 3S, which will let users cast their device’s screen on a larger display with a delay of just 40ms.

Along with the Black Shark 3S, Xiaomi has also announced a couple of new gaming accessories. These include the Black Shark Gamepad 3, Black Shark Gaming Finger Gloves, and an attachment that adds physical shoulder keys to the device.

Pricing and Availability

The Black Shark 3S will be available in three RAM/storage variants that have been priced as follows:

• 12GB+128GB: CNY 3999 (~$573)
• 12GB+256GB: CNY 4299 (~$616)
• 12GB+512GB: CNY 4799 (~$688)

The device will go on sale in China starting from August 4th via JD.com and other major Chinese etailers. Buyers will be able to choose from two different color options — Skyfall black and Crystal blue.

The new Black Shark Gamepad 3 has been priced a CNY 238 (~$34), while the Black Shark Gaming Finger Gloves and shoulder keys will be available for CNY 29 (~$4) and CNY 79 (~$11), respectively. As of now, we have no information from Xiaomi regarding a global launch.

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Download: OnePlus 6 and 6T receive OxygenOS 10.3.5 with RAM optimizations, OnePlus Buds support, and more

OnePlus recently rolled out new OxygenOS updates to the OnePlus Nord and the OnePlus 8 family that brought in necessary support for their first pair of truly wireless earbuds — the OnePlus Buds. In a similar fashion, the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T have now picked up a new stable build of OxygenOS that not only enables official support for the OnePlus Buds on the device duo, but also brings over the July 2020 security patches.

OnePlus 6 XDA Forums || OnePlus 6T XDA Forums

According to a recent post on the OnePlus Community forums, the OEM has started the incremental rollout of OxygenOS 10.3.5 for the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T. Besides the bump in the Android security patch level (SPL), the update also addresses an issue related to frequent crashing of Google Chrome on these phones. Moreover, the new build of OxygenOS includes a fix for the black screen bug while opening the OnePlus Logkit app. For those not familiar with OnePlus Logkit, it is a handy built-in diagnostic app to collect device logs which can be executed by dialing *#800# in stock dialer.

You can find the complete changelog for this update below:

OxygenOS 10.3.5 Changelog for the OnePlus 6 & 6T

• System
  • Optimized RAM management
  • Newly adapted OnePlus Buds, easier to take advantage of wireless connection
  • Fixed the crash issue when browsing on Chrome
  • Fixed the black screen issue when opening logkit
  • Improved system stability and fixed general bugs
  • Updated Android Security Patch to 2020.07
  • Updated GMS package to 2020.05

Thanks to OnePlus Community user MMuralidhar for the screenshot!

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Download OxygenOS 10.3.5 for the OnePlus 6 & 6T

The company is following a staggered rollout model, which means they are rolling out the update to a handful of users first. If no critical issue pops up during the initial phase, the rollout will gradually be expanding to more devices over the coming days. However, you can grab the appropriate update package for your model from the index below and freely sideload it right away.

OxygenOS 10.3.5 for the OnePlus 6

• Incremental OTA from 10.3.4
• Full OTA

OxygenOS 10.3.5 for the OnePlus 6T

• Incremental OTA from 10.3.4
• Full OTA

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Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the download links!

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Android’s Nearby Share now works on Windows via Google Chrome

Google’s alternative to Apple’s AirDrop sharing feature, called Nearby Share, started rolling out to some users in a Google Play Services beta late last month. Shortly thereafter, Google started rolling out Nearby Share support to Chrome OS, allowing Chromebook users to start sharing files with nearby devices by enabling a couple of experimental flags. Now, according to a recent report from Techdows, Nearby Share is rolling out to Google Chrome on Windows on the Chrome Dev and Canary channels.

In order to use the new Nearby Sharing feature, you’ll first need to head over to chrome://flags and enable the “Nearby Sharing” flag. Once you’ve enabled the flag, you’ll need to restart the browser and then head to chrome://nearby. The following page will bring up a list of supported devices that you can share files with.

However, there are a couple of requirements that you need to fulfill for the feature to work as intended. First, you will need a Windows PC with Bluetooth support and a supported Pixel smartphone or Chromebook. Secondly, both devices need to be unlocked and close to each other with Bluetooth enabled. And finally, if you’re using a Chromebook to test out the feature, the Chromebook should have Nearby Sharing feature enabled in the Quick Settings.

While I do have a PC that supports Bluetooth, I wasn’t able to see the feature in action because I don’t have access to a supported Google Pixel smartphone or Chromebook. In case you do have devices that meet all the requirements mentioned above, do try out Nearby Share and share your experience in the comments section below. It’s also worth noting that while Google Chrome on the stable channel (v84.0.4147.105) does show the Nearby Sharing flag on my system, it doesn’t open up the chrome://nearby page yet.

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Via: Techdows

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OPPO unveils Reno4 Pro global variant with a curved 90Hz Super AMOLED display, 65W charging, and Snapdragon 720G

OPPO introduced the Reno series last year with a higher mid-range and an affordable flagship — the Reno and the Reno 10X Zoom editions. The first-gen Reno devices were succeeded shortly with the Reno2 series, which was then succeeded by the Reno3 series powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity chipsets in December 2019. While the outbreak of COVID-19 slowed down OPPO a bit, the company still went ahead and launched the Reno 4 and the Reno 4 Pro in China back in June 2020. They are now launching the Reno 4 Pro globally but with Snapdragon 720G instead of the Snapdragon 765G, and an extra camera on the back.

The OPPO Reno 4 Pro global variant varies from both — the Chinese Reno 4 and the Reno 4 Pro variants — in terms of dimensions. It is actually lighter than both of the Chinese variants and weighs only 161 grams. This is because of the plastic composite material used in place of the AG glass on the Chinese variants. Despite the difference in materials, the global Reno4 Pro comes with a similar “anti-glare matte finish.” Globally, the Reno 4 Pro will be available in two different colors — Starry Night & Silky Black.

The Reno 4 Pro retains the same 6.5-inch curved Super AMOLED display as on the Chinese version of the device. The display is claimed to cover 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut as well as have a peak brightness of 1,100nits. OPPO boasts of a high contrast ratio of 5000000:1 along with a screen-to-body ratio of about 92%. The display also houses a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera. In addition, the display sports a 90Hz refresh rate beside all the other virtues.

When it comes to the cameras, the Reno 4 Pro global features a quad-camera setup. This includes a 48MP primary camera with a Sony IMX586 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide, a 2MP macro sensor, and a 2MP mono sensor for phase detection. Unlike the Chinese variant, there’s no Laser Autofocus on this variant. On the front, the Reno 4 Pro features a 32MP camera with a Sony IMX616 sensor — the same as the OnePlus Nord and the Realme X3 SuperZoom. Besides supporting OIS on the primary rear camera, the phone also supports EIS for videos recorded using the front camera.

The next major highlight of the phone is the 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 charging technology that can recharge the entire 4,000mAh battery in about 30 minutes. OPPO provides a 65W charger within the box. The same charging technology is also supported on the OPPO Find X2 Pro and the Realme X50 Pro and the claims of getting the battery fully charged in about 30 minutes have turned out to fairly accurate.

In terms of internals, the OPPO Reno 4 Pro global variant comes with 8GB of RAM along with a Snapdragon 720G chipset. This primarily means that the global variants lack 5G support. The phone also uses a graphite-based cooling system to keep the phone from overheating. There is a 128GB UFS 2.1 storage which can be expanded further using the dedicated microSD card slot.

In terms of software, the smartphone features OPPO’s custom Android skin ColorOS 7.2 based on Android 10.

OPPO Watch

OPPO has also announced the OPPO Watch powered by the Snapdragon Wear 3100 SoC. The OPPO Watch resembles the Apple Watch aesthetically and comes in 41mm and 46mm dial sizes. The 46mm variant features a 1.91-inch display but the company does not reveal the size of the display on the smaller variant.

The OPPO Watch 46mm and 41mm have 24 hours and 36 hours of battery life. Additionally, the Watch also supports VOOC Flash charging that allows the Watch to get fully charged in 75 minutes.

Price & Availability in India

The OPPO Reno 4 Pro will be available in India starting August 5th. The 8GB/128GB is priced at ₹34,990 (~$470).

The OPPO Watch is priced at ₹14,990 (~$200) for the 41mm variant and the ₹19,990 (~$270) for the 46mm. The Watch will be available starting August 10th.

OPPO Reno 4 Pro Global Specifications

Specifications	OPPO Reno 4 Pro
Dimensions & Weight	160.2 x 73.2 x 7.7 mm 161g
Display	6.5-inch hole-punch FHD+ Super AMOLED 1080 x 2400 90Hz, 20:9 aspect ratio
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G Adreno 618
RAM & Storage	8GB + 128GB 8GB + 256GB
Storage Type	UFS 2.1
Battery	4,000mAh 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging
Fingerprint Sensor	In-display optical fingerprint
Rear Cameras	48MP Sony IMX 586 primary sensor, f/1.7, OIS 8MP 119° wide-angle sensor, f/2.2 2MP macro camera, f/2.4 2MP mono camera, f/2.4
Front Cameras	32MP Sony IMX616, f/2.4
Android Version	ColorOS 7.2 based on Android 10

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Redmi K30 Ultra spotted at TENAA with 6.67″ display, 4400mAh battery

Earlier this month, we revealed the existence of another smartphone in Xiaomi’s Redmi K30 lineup. This device was spotted with the codename cezanne and the branding of Redmi K30 Ultra, indicating that it would be somewhat of an extension of what we have already seen in the existing lineup. Now, a new Xiaomi device has been spotted on TENAA, and it looks suspiciously close to the already available Redmi K30 Pro.

This new Xiaomi device comes with the model number M2006J10C and device dimensions of 163.3 × 75.4 × 9.1 mm and weight of 213g, which largely matches what we have seen on the Redmi K30 Pro. The TENAA certificate also mentions that the device has a 6.67″ FHD+ AMOLED display and a 4400mAh battery. This new phone will be available in 6GB/8GB/12GB RAM options and 128GB/256GB/512GB storage options, at least. There’s also dual-SIM support, as well as support for 5G (though likely to be limited to one SIM). There is no headphone jack on the device according to the listing, which seems to be the one difference from the Redmi K30 Pro. The maximum CPU clock speed is 2.6GHz, while the main rear sensor is 64MP and the front camera is 20MP.

While the TENAA listing does not explicitly confirm the device codename or the device branding, the device looks to be very similar to the existing Redmi K30 Pro in design. On this basis, one can presume that this new device on TENAA is the upcoming Redmi K30 Ultra.

We expect the Redmi K30 Ultra to come with a 64MP primary rear camera, a pop-up front camera, and a MediaTek SoC. We still do not have details from our sources on the exact processor that will be used on the device, but other unverified rumors suggest that the phone will have the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 (MT6889) SoC. Other rumors also suggested that the phone will come with 33W fast charging support. For now, we also do not have any information on this device launching outside of China, which would be at par expectations from MediaTek Dimensity smartphones. Rumors had suggested that the device was to be launched in late July, but that target obviously has been missed.

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Source: TENAA

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Telegram tests floating chat head bubbles for messages

Telegram for Android appears to be testing chat head bubbles for messages. The feature, which is buried in beta version 6.3.0 of the app, allows users to keep conversations at the forefront of their device in the form of a bubble. This adds convenience if you frequently talk to a certain friend or family member.

The feature was first brought to our attention by Twitter user Nadan Parinda, who uncovered the option in a hidden debug menu found in Telegram’s settings. However, this feature appears to have been spotted even earlier by the folks at TestingCatalog.

If you’re using Telegram version 6.3.0 beta, enabling chat head bubbles is easy. Simply open Telegram’s Settings, scroll down, long-press on the app version until you see the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ emoji, then long-press on the app version again to show the debug menu. In the debug menu, tap “enable chat bubbles” to show bubbles for incoming messages.

Screenshots courtesy of Nadan Parinda

If you’re running Android 10, you also have to enable “Bubbles” in the Developer Options for it to work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear Telegram’s bubbles work on every device running Android 10. We tested the feature on an ASUS ROG Phone 3 and the bubble UI was broken. On the Pixel 4, the bubble crashed when we tried to interact with it. We did get it to mostly work on an OPPO Find X2 Pro (as shown earlier), while our tipster claimed it ran without issue on a Redmi Note 5 Pro running the Pixel Experience custom ROM.

Meanwhile, on Android 11, Telegram’s chat head bubbles don’t work at all, because the notifications aren’t recognized as a “conversation” notification. This could change, however, in future app updates. After all, chat head bubbles are a main feature of Android 11.

Telegram appears to be working out the kinks right now, hence why it’s a beta feature. But as Android 11 is released, chat bubbles will likely become a standard Telegram feature for quicker, more convenient communication.

Telegram (Free, Google Play) →

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Google Assistant-enabled Smart Displays can now play some games

Google Assistant-enabled Smart Displays are great for watching YouTube videos, checking the weather, viewing photos of family and friends, and most recently, watching Netflix. Starting today, these devices also make for a great party distraction thanks to the addition of games.

Google announced today on its official blog that devices like the Nest Hub and Nest Max can now access games “that take full advantage of the screen, and combine with voice and touch controls for instant, easy fun.” Simply say, “Hey Google, Let’s Play a Game,” and you can browse what’s available.

There are a variety of games to choose from, according to Google, including “Jeopardy!”, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, “Trivia Crack”, and something called “Guess the Drawing”, which challenges players to guess drawings as quickly as possible.

With families and friends quarantined together, these games are meant to provide a light-hearted distraction from the madness. It’s also just a nice way to add more value to Google Assistant-enabled Smart Displays, which are already great home companions.

Google said a handful of games are available beginning today, with more titles from “top game developers” coming later this year. It’s unclear what other titles are planned, but they’ll likely be party-focused.

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Source: Google

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Google Chrome for Android is adding biometric authentication for payments and touch-to-fill for passwords

Google Chrome rolled out support for Windows Hello biometric authentication for payments earlier this year, allowing users with Windows Hello capable devices to authenticate payments on the browser with their face or fingerprint. Earlier this month, we learned that Google was working to bring a similar feature to Chrome for Android which would allow users to select “Screen lock” as an additional payment confirmation method on their smartphones. Now, Google has officially announced that biometric authentication support is making its way to Chrome for Android, along with a few improvements to the Autofill experience.

Once the feature rolls out to Google Chrome for Android, users will be able to enroll their device and retrieve card details via biometric authentication. While the feature will require users to enter their CVC manually the first time they use their credit card, all subsequent transactions will just require biometric authentication to confirm the credit card details. The biometric authentication feature will be optional and users will be able to enable or disable it from within Chrome settings.

Google further reveals that the browser will make use of the W3C standard WebAuthn to securely enroll you for biometric authentication and ensures that none of your biometric information will ever leave your device. It’s worth noting that the feature isn’t available in the current build of Google Chrome for Android and it should roll out to users in the coming weeks.

Along with biometric authentication support, Google Chrome for Android is also getting a touch-to-fill feature that will present your saved accounts for the current website in a new dialog. The dialog will let you quickly fill in your information without requiring you to scroll to the respective form fields to choose an account. As with the biometric authentication support, the new touch-to-fill feature isn’t available in the current build of Chrome for Android and should roll out in the coming weeks.

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