This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: the Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro are now receiving a ton of new camera features, the Galaxy Fold is now finally getting the latest version of Android, and more!
What's New This Week?
- Google is now working on a double-tap gesture for Android 11
Xiaomi
- Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro are now receiving a few new camera features
Samsung
- Galaxy S10 series and Note 10 are now receiving some of the Galaxy S20's features
- Galaxy Fold is now receiving the latest version of Android
- S20 series is now receiving new DeX features
Android 11
As we've previously mentioned, Android 11 is already in the works while it's also available as a developer preview.
One of the new features that we haven't seen before is the double tap gesture at the back of the phone.
The concept is really simple. All you have to do is double press on the back of the phone to activate a gesture and the phone/OS realizes when you do so by using its sensors. Thanks to the simple approach, we assume that the very same feature should become available for older Pixels that have the appropriate hardware (Pixel 2 and later).
Of course, chances are that any phone that's running Android 11 and offers the appropriate hardware will be able to use it as well.
As for the feature itself, you can use it to assign a number of different gestures. Things like:
- Dismissing the timer
- Launching apps
- Media control
- Status bar collapse
- Silencing incoming calls
- Snoozing alarms
- And more
Keep in mind that this is still happening on the developer preview. So, there's basically no guarantee that the feature will make it on the final release. Not that Google has any reason to dismiss it. But, we'll just have to wait and see.
Xiaomi
Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro
The Mi Note 10, the recently released Mi 10 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra are currently the only smartphones that come with the rather impressive 108MP sensor. From this week onwards, the Mi Note 10 gets even more impressive as we're looking at an update that's purely dedicated to camera capabilities/features.
To be more specific, here's what you can expect to find in this update:
- Better overall stabilization
- Smooth zoom
- Hitchcock shooting
- 8K video recording
- Real-time adjustments for video recording effects
- Adjustable white balance, shutter time, EV, and manual focus (If you wish to use it)
- Mi Clip (Basically an automatic AI video editor that also brings support for manually editing things like subtitles and titles)
- Better thumbnail compression
And that's about it for now. The update is currently only being delivered to beta participants. But, we expect that it'll soon go stable somewhere during the early days of April!
Samsung
S10 Series and Note 10
As we all know, the Galaxy S20 series originally launched with a few features that were unique to it. As we all expected, most of these features are now being delivered to the last generation of Samsung's flagships!
To be more specific, we're talking about 4K 60FPS video recording with the selfie camera, Clean View along with Quick Crop, Single Take, Easy Share, Quick Share, Night Hyperlapse, improved Night Mode, and more.
One of the features that we were mostly looking forward to is definitely Quick Share. In case you're not familiar with it, Quick Share allows you to send various types of files between devices very easily and quickly with the press of a button. The catch is that it can only be used with supported Samsung devices.
At the moment, as far as we know, only the Galaxy S10 series, Note 10, and S20 can use Quick Share. But there is a good chance that other, older models are going to get it as well.
Features aside, you also get April's security patch along with One UI 2.1! The update weighs about 1.5 gigs and is currently being delivered in Germany and Switzerland. But, we expect that it'll soon become available for more regions as well.
Just keep in mind that this is most likely an incremental update - which means that some of you may have to wait a bit more before your turn comes. And that applies even for those of you who are already in the "supported" regions.
Other than that, as with every bulky update, don't forget to keep your Wi-Fi enabled. Otherwise, you're running the risk of consuming data from a limited data plan for no good reason.
Galaxy Fold
Despite how expensive it is, Samsung hasn't exactly treated the Galaxy Fold as their first priority. At least not as far as updates are concerned.
The other Galaxy flagships have been running Android 10 for quite some time now. However, it's only now that the Galaxy Fold is finally receiving the latest version of Android with One UI 2.1 on top of it.
However, unlike the Galaxy S10 and Note 10, despite coming with One UI 2.1, this update doesn't include the Galaxy S20's features. In case you didn't read the aforementioned section, we're talking about features such as Quick Share, Single Take, Night Hyperlapse, Pro Mode, and most of the other features that are currently exclusive to the S10, Note 10, and S20.
According to our sources, though, you can expect to get all of that somewhere during the next month! We currently don't have an exact date - but Samsung says that we should expect to see the update rolling out by the end of April!
As for the update at hand, apart from Android 10, it also brings One UI 2.1 with some of both its features and Android 10's. This includes improved Privacy Controls, improved Digital Wellbeing, Focus Mode, and more, minor under the hood updates.
Galaxy S20 Series
Samsung's latest flagships are now receiving one more update which brings a few brand-new features/options for Samsung DeX!
To be more specific, we now have mouse support for window snapping and better multi-touchpad support while connected to an external display.
In case you're not familiar with it, Window Snapping is basically the same thing with Windows 10 where you can draw a window to the edge of a corner and it automatically adjusts itself there on that corner.
Other than that, there is now multi-touch support for up to 4 fingers - which is great for using various gestures. And as per usual, we expect that the update also brings a few minor bug fixes and improvements.
There is a good chance that this is an incremental update. So, some of you may have to wait for a bit longer than others before your turn comes.
That's all for now. Feel like we forgot to mention something important? Got anything wrong? Then let us and everyone else know about it in the comment section down below!
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