This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: Hydrogen OS 11 is soon going to be introduced in August 10, OnePlus showcases new AOD design with a time-lapse feature, and more!
What’s New This Week?
Xiaomi
- New MIUI version soon to arrive in India without the banned apps
Oppo
- Oppo Reno 4 Pro is now receiving camera improvements
OnePlus
- OnePlus showcases new AOD designs in a teaser
- Latest update for the OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 6, and OnePlus 6T introduces OnePlus Buds support
- Hydrogen OS 11 to be introduced on August 10
Samsung
- Samsung may start delivering updates for 3 years/generations
- Note 20 series is already receiving its first update
- One UI 3.0 beta is here for developers with Android 11 onboard
- S10 Lite, A50, and S20 series, are now receiving August’s security patch
- Galaxy S20+ spotted running Android 11
Xiaomi
MIUI (India)
India recently banned quite a lot of apps and services with TikTok and WeChat being two of the most popular ones.
That is why Xiaomi is now releasing a new MIUI version without any of the Indian restrictions and by the looks of it, it’s going to be delivered through an update to existing users.
Regarding privacy concerns, Xiaomi promises that none of your data is going to leave the country. And chances are that all you can do is take their word for it.
But, then again, with that said, nobody ever had actual proof that Xiaomi, Huawei, or any other Chinese brand is abusing personal information. While they do collect quite a lot of data, it’s not much more than Google, Facebook, or any other major company that’s already collecting our personal data. But you can draw your own conclusions from that.
Oppo
Oppo Reno 4 Pro
Another update is here for the Reno 4 Pro and this time, it brings mostly a few camera improvements to the table.
Other than that, as per usual, you can also expect to find minor performance improvements and bug fixes.
OnePlus
AOD Timeline
OnePlus recently introduced a new AOD design that sort of combines Digital Wellbeing with a clock and an AOD feature in one package.
The way that it works seems pretty simple. As the day goes on, the timeline moves further down below and showcases for how often and how long you’ve been using your device during the day. At the top, you can also see the number of unlocks.
So, while it’s not anything super fancy, it offers a bit of utility and we’d definitely like to see more like this.
OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro
Both the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro are now receiving a minor update that introduces a couple of new features. The changelog mentions:
System
- Newly adapted OnePlus Buds, easier to take advantage of wireless connection
- Provided a variety of clock styles for you. You can customize on your own. (Go to Settings>Customization>Clock style)
- Fixed the issue that double tap could not wake up the screen in some settings
- Updated Android security patch to 2020.07
Reading mode
- Added the Chromatic effect option to adapt color range and saturation intelligently for a better reading experience (Settings - Display - Reading mode - Turn on reading mode - Chromatic effect)
Bluetooth
- It has adapted to Bluetooth hearing aid app connection under the Android 10 Audio Streaming for Hearing Aid (ASHA) Agreement
Network
- Fixed the wrong display of names of inserted SIM cards from different carriers
So, we’d say that one of the most important additions is support for the OnePlus Buds. Other than that, there are also tons of minor bug fixes and improvements along with a newer security patch.
As per usual, this is an incremental rollout. So, some of you may have to keep on waiting a while longer.
In other news, the OnePlus 6 and 6T are receiving a very similar update with just a few minor differences in the “bugs and fixes” section.
Both updates come in at less than 300 megabytes. But, still, maybe make sure that Wi-Fi connectivity is enabled before downloading.
Hydrogen OS 11
According to our sources, OnePlus’ next OS is going to be revealed in just 3 days from now. And in case you’re not familiar with it, Hydrogen OS is just the Oxygen OS alternative in China. So, basically more or less the same OS in Chinese.
We currently don’t have any information on when the global version of the OS is going to arrive. But, it shouldn’t be too long now.
Samsung
One UI
Just like most manufacturers that rely on Android, Samsung only promises up to 2 major updates for their flagship devices. However, it looks like now this is about to change.
In the Galaxy Unpacked Event 2020, Samsung mentioned that its devices are now going to be receiving OS updates for 3 generations – starting from the Galaxy S10.
However, keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily translate to major Android updates. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to see Android 11 on the S10 – even though it is no doubt a possibility.
It means that at the very least, we’re going to be seeing security updates for up to 3 generations or years. And it could also mean that we’re going to be receiving Samsung’s One UI updates.
While we don’t have any more specifics on the subject, we can almost safely assume that this only concerns flagship devices and maybe mid-range ones at best too.
Galaxy Note 20
We haven’t had the chance to talk the official release yet, even though we already talked about the leaks, but the Galaxy Note 20 was officially revealed less than 24 hours ago. And shortly afterward came its first official pre-release update too.
Despite the update weighing half a gigabyte, its changelog doesn’t mention anything about what it brings to the table. At least nothing more apart from the standard bug fixes and general improvements that we see in pretty much every changelog.
So, at the very least, we assume that it introduces performance improvements and/or a feature that was meant to be there upon release. And you’ll still get it on release a few weeks from now with the only difference that you’ll have to download and install it upon opening the phone for the first time.
As we mentioned above, Samsung is now going to be delivering updates for 3 generations – or at least 3 generations for its flagships – and the Note 20 series is no doubt part of that plan. So, that’s something to keep in mind if you’re on the lookout for a new flagship.
One UI 3.0
As you were all probably already expecting, the first One UI 3.0 beta developer preview is here and it comes with Android 11 on top of it.
To be more precise, it’s actually in pre-beta form for the Galaxy S20 series and, at the moment, the only way to get access to it is with an approved application from Samsung.
So, it’s pretty much only available for partnered developers at the moment – which is to be expected.
S10 Lite, A50, and S20 series
It was just a week ago or so when the Galaxy S10 series started receiving August’s security patch. So, it’s no surprise that more devices are now joining in. To be more specific, we’re talking about the S10 Lite, A50, and Galaxy S20 series as well.
As far as locations and features are concerned, this is all we currently know:
- S10 Lite: Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Tobago, Trinidad, and Panama
- A50: Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, France, and Romania
- S20 Series: US (Unlocked) and numerous European countries
Of course, we expect that the update is slowly going to become available in more regions too. Just keep in mind that it’s an incremental one – which means that some of you will have to keep on waiting a while longer.
We didn’t notice anything in the changelog as far as features are concerned and the small download size only further enhances our suspicions that there’s nothing new to see.
And as far as the security patch is concerned, Samsung’s version fixes 39 vulnerabilities that are exclusive to their devices while also bringing any patches that Google introduced for the Android OS.
Galaxy S20+
As time goes on, flagship owners get more and more anxious about Android 11. Summer is slowly leaning towards its end, so, it’s about time for at least one Samsung device to get the latest version of Android.
Well, if the pre-beta release of One UI 3.0 wasn’t enough to hint about that, you’ll have to settle for the Galaxy S20+ that was benchmarked while running Android 11 onboard.
Obviously, chances are that this is a somewhat early beta version. But, still, the stable one shouldn’t be too far now. We’ll let you know if anything new comes up, so, stay tuned!
That’s all for now. We’ll let you know if anything else comes up, so, stay tuned.
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