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Smartphone Users Consumed 25% More WiFi and Mobile Data in 2017 For many folks, smartphones have replaced laptops and tablets as the go-to media consumption device. That isn’t terribly surprising — it’s easier than ever to watch content on the go — and stats show that people have warmed to the idea of using mobile data for streaming videos, music, and games. According to a report from research firm NPD, smartphone users in the US consumed 25 percent more data on their mobile devices in 2017 than in 2016. The average monthly data usage per person climbed to 31.4GB this year, according to the report, up from 25.2GB last year. Of the total amount of data smartphone users consumed this year, 83 percent was video content. And in the third quarter of 2017 (April to June), 67 percent of smartphone users said they accessed video content via an app on their phones at least once a month, up from 57 percent from the second quarter of 2017 (January to March). NDP attributes...

OnePlus 3/3T Owners on OxygenOS 5.0.1 are being warned by Play Protect to uninstall “FactoryMode” The Android Oreo update for the OnePlus 3 & 3T started to roll out last month  in the form of OxygenOS 5.0. Today, the company announced the broad availability of OxygenOS 5.0.1 which adds support for Qualcomm’s aptX HD Bluetooth audio codec, a new Adaptive screen calibration mode, December security patches, and more. Since the update started to roll out, numerous users have been greeted with a message from Google Play Protect telling them uninstall a “harmful app” called “ FactoryMode .” Numerous reports  from users  over on the OnePlus forums and on Reddit  show that this message seems to be widespread. The message states that the FactoryMode app “ contains code that attempts to bypass Android’s security protections .” This is a rather vague message, but sounds pretty concerning nonetheless. So what’s going on? P...

Xiaomi Mi A1 Android Oreo Update Now Officially Rolling Out The Mi A1 is different from other Xiaomi devices, because of the fact that it is Xiaomi’s first Android One smartphone . It was also one of the first Android One devices to feature mid-range specifications, instead of being an entry-level device. Launched in September, the Xiaomi Mi A1 has decent hardware for its price: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 system-on-chip, 4GB of RAM paired with 64GB of storage, a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, dual 12MP+12MP rear cameras, and a 3080mAh battery. The highlight of the device is its software: it’s powered by nearly stock Android 7.1 Nougat with a few additions such as the MIUI camera app. At launch, Xiaomi promised that the Oreo update would be released before the end of the year, and started looking for beta testers at the start of December. The beta update started rolling-out a week later , and it was found that it contained fast charging support (which was tested with the...

Canceled Lumia Device Shown Off in Video with Pen Input Currently, the mobile operating system market resembles a duopoly, with Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS in a league of their own. It wasn’t always this way, though. Smartphone enthusiasts will remember that at one time, Nokia’s Symbian was the most widely used mobile operating system in the world. Symbian couldn’t compete in the touchscreen era, but for a time, Microsoft’s Windows Phone looked to be a credible competitor to Android and iOS. Microsoft acquired Nokia’s Devices and Services division in 2014, and Windows Phone was starting to succeed in the budget smartphone market in some countries. However, it all went downhill from there as Windows 10 Mobile — Windows Phone’s successor — failed to take off in the market because of various reasons. In 2016, the company discontinued the Lumia smartphone lineup, and we haven’t seen a new mobile device from Microsoft si...

OnePlus 5 Gets Face Unlock via Android Oreo-based OxygenOS Open Beta 3 If you have ever had the chance to play around with OnePlus’ latest smartphone, the OnePlus 5T , you might played around with its new Face Unlock feature. For me, personally, it is as convenient, if not more so, than the rear fingerprint scanner when it comes to unlocking the phone. Since it only relies on the front facing camera, owners of previous phones, like the OnePlus 5 , have been hoping for the feature to be ported over to their devices. Luckily, said user requests were finally heard when OnePlus announced that Face Unlock would, in fact, be coming to the OnePlus 5. And they soon followed through that announcement, as they are now rolling out a third Open Beta (based on Android 8.0 Oreo) shortly after the stable OxygenOS 5.0 release . Aside from bringing in December security patches, it also brings the long awaited face unlock feature to the OnePlus 5. It works just like it would on the OnePlus 5T: t...

OxygenOS 5.0.1 Adds aptX HD, Adaptive Screen Mode, and December Security Patches for the OnePlus 3/3T Last month, OnePlus released OxygenOS 5.0 based on Android Oreo for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T , and since then have continued to release incremental open beta upgrades for these devices. Now, the company has released OxygenOS 5.0.1 which upgrades the OnePlus 3 and 3T to the December security patch and brings some other improvements like support for the aptX HD Bluetooth audio codec, an adaptive screen calibration mode, and more. You can view the full, official changelog below. Added support for aptX HD Added Wi-Fi hotspot device manager Added “adaptive mode” screen calibration Updated Android security patch to December General bug fixes and stability improvements The upgrade to OxygenOS 5.0.1 is being sent out in the form of a staged rollout, meaning users will be receiving it over the coming days. Rooted users will have to flash the full zip file which will be downloa...

Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit Roundup: Snapdragon 845, Spectra 280 ISP, Hexagon 685 DSP, and More The newest flagship in Qualcomm’s system-on-chip (SoC) lineup, the  Snapdragon 845 , was announced on Wednesday at the chipmaker’s Snapdragon Tech Summit in Hawaii. But that wasn’t the conference’s only highlight. Missed this week’s coverage? Don’t fret — we’ve summarized all of Qualcomm’s biggest announcements, including the  Hexagon 685 DSP , the  Adreno 630 , and the Spectra 280 ISP. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Specs Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Chipset 845 (10nm LPP) 835 (10nm LPE) CPU 4x 2.8GHz Kryo 385 (A75 “performance”), 4x 1.8GHz Kryo 385 (A55 “efficiency”) 4x 2.45GHz Kryo 280 (A73 big), 4x 1.9GHz Kryo 280 (A53 LITTLE) GPU Adreno 630 GPU Adreno 540 GPU Memory 4x 1866MHz 32-bit LPDDR4X 4x 1866MHz 32-bit LPDDR4X ISP/Camera Dual 14-bit Spectra 280 ISP __ 32MP Dual 14-bit Spectra ISP 14-...