This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: Verizon's Moto G7 Play and Power get the latest version of Android, OnePlus Nord gets improvements for its Macro and selfie camera, and more!
What's New This Week?
Realme
- Realme 6 and 6i are now receiving August's security patch along with a couple of more features
Motorola
- Verizon's Moto G7 Play and Power are now receiving the latest version of Android
OnePlus
- Latest update for the OnePlus Nord delivers improvements to the macro camera
Samsung
- Galaxy Z Flip LTE is now receiving One UI 2.5
- One UI 2.5 update for the S20 series is now rolling out to more regions
- Galaxy A51 gets August's security patch
- Latest update for the Galaxy Buds+ brings improved stability to the table
- Galaxy S20+ was once again spotted running Android 11
Realme
Realme 6 and 6i
Another update is here for both the Realme 6 and 6i. This time, it brings August's security patch along with a few more, minor improvements and additions.
To be more specific:
- Smooth scrolling which basically increases the scroll steps each time you perform a scroll and gives you a smoother effect (Can only be found under the realme Lab at the moment)
- Super nighttime standby
- OTG toggle on the notification panel
- Long press to uninstall apps is now possible in the default launcher
Along with a few more, minor additions and general improvements/bug fixes.
Motorola
Moto G7 Play and Power
Both the Moto G7 Play and Moto G7 Power models from Verizon are now receiving the latest version of Android! With it, you can expect to get a newer security patch with an updated UI along with everything that Android 10 has to offer.
Some of the most noteworthy features are:
- Google's gesture-based navigation mode
- System-wide dark mode
- Improved Digital Wellbeing
- Much better privacy controls
- Improved automatic brightness
- And more
OnePlus
OnePlus Nord
Another update is here for the OnePlus Nord and, this time, it delivers improvements for the macro camera.
To be more specific, the changelog mentions improvements in color accuracy and clarity. Furthermore, the selfie camera is also getting some minor performance and quality improvements too.
Last, but not least, the overall power consumption should be lower due to power optimization. OnePlus also mentions that the charging experience is improved but without going into any details.
There are also a few other, minor additions. Just not much that is worth mentioning. That's why chances are the update is going to be small as far as size is concerned. Still, consider enabling your Wi-Fi before downloading – just to play it safe.
Samsung
Galaxy Z Flip LTE
Last week, the Galaxy S20 series started receiving the latest stable version of One UI – One UI 2.5. This week, it's the Galaxy Z Flip's turn. To be more specific, the LTE variant of it.
Unfortunately, since the Z Flip does not support Samsung DeX at all, you are going to be missing out on One UI 2.5's biggest feature, Wireless DeX.
But, other than that, all of the other features should be there. Things like the enhanced Pro video mode and a few other minor additions.
In case you don't know about it, the enhanced Pro video mode can be used to record videos in 21:9, select a specific on-device microphone for recording audio, or even using an external one.
All that aside, there's also August's patch – which is something to be expected from Samsung at this point.
Don't forget that the update weighs more than a gigabyte. So, enabling your Wi-Fi before downloading is highly recommended.
Galaxy S20 Series
It was just last week that the Galaxy S20 series started receiving One UI 2.5. But just as most of us expected, it was only available for a few, selected European regions. It's only now that the rollout is being extended to more and more areas around the world.
Just keep in mind that this is still an incremental rollout. So, some of you are gonna have to wait a little bit longer even if you live in a region that's currently receiving the update.
It's worth noting that T-Mobile's S20 models are also receiving the very same update. A bit of a surprise considering how the US is usually the last to receive similar updates – but a welcome one for sure.
The update itself brings:
- Enhanced Pro video mode: 21:9, 8K recording, 120FPS mode, microphone selection, and external microphone usage (Bluetooth or wired)
- Wireless DeX: Allows you to connect the phone to an external display wirelessly
- Google's gesture-based navigation mode (Only for 3rd party launchers)
- Along with a few other, minor additions
Galaxy A51
Once more, Samsung is dead set on delivering the latest security patch to as many devices as fast as possible. This week, the mid-ranger beast, Galaxy A51 is the one that's taking its turn.
Its currently mostly available in Latin America in regions like Peru, Columbia, Chile, and a few others. But, we assume that it's soon going to be globally available.
As per usual, we assume that this is a staged rollout. So, some of you are gonna have to wait a bit longer than others before receiving the same update.
We're sorry to say that nothing else seems to be included in this update. It's nothing more than a security patch.
Samsung Galaxy Buds+
Another update is here for the Galaxy Buds+ which seems to bring nothing more than stability improvements. To be more specific, the changelog mentions "improved stability and reliability".
That's also why it only weighs 1.38 megabytes.
Since it's such a small update, there is a chance that Samsung won't bother releasing it in small waves as it usually does with smartphones. So, pretty much every user should get it when it becomes available in his region.
Galaxy S20+ – Android 11
It was about 3 weeks ago, towards the beginning of August, when the Galaxy S20+ was last seen running Android 11 on a benchmark. Now we see it again, only this time, on an HTML5 test!
This only encourages our theory that Android 11's release is not too far now. and that the Galaxy S20+ is going to be one of the very first Samsung devices to get it.
A One UI 3.0 pre–beta version that's based on Android 11 is already available for a small number of volunteers in the U.S and South Korea. Our sources say that a more open beta should be available somewhere in October. But, all we can do for now is sit back and wait.
Wrapping Up
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 comments section down below!
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