This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: unlocked US variants of the Galaxy S10 are now receiving the latest version of Android, the Xiaomi Redmi K20 is now getting MIUI 11; only this time; with Android 10 on top of it, and more!
Xiaomi
- Redmi K20 is now receiving MIUI 11 with the latest version of Android on top of it
- The latest update for the Pixel 4 brings various improvements to the table
Samsung
- Galaxy Note 10 5G is now receiving Android 10 as well
- Android 10 for the Galaxy Note 10 is now available in a ton of regions
- The unlocked Galaxy S10 variants are now receiving Android 10 in the US as well
- New Android 10 beta is here for the Galaxy Note 9
Xiaomi
Redmi K20
The Redmi K20 had already started receiving MIUI 11 a month ago. However, it was still based on Android Pie. Now it's receiving another MIUI 11 update with the main difference that this one is actually using the latest version of Android!
It weighs 2.3 gigabytes and apart from Android 10, it also brings December's security patch along with Android's latest features - including system-wide Dark Mode.
The update is currently only available in China. However, we expect that it'll soon become available for the global units as well.
It's hard to say exactly when that'll happen. But we typically need to wait for at least a few weeks. Sometimes, less than 2 - just don't get your hopes up yet.
Pixel 4
Another update is here for the Google Pixel 4 and apart from minor GPS performance improvements, it also brings Face Unlock and T-Mobile eSIM enhancements as well.
To be more specific, Face Unlock now has the ability to look at recent photos/captures of your face for increased accuracy and reliability. And while this can certainly bring up concerns about privacy, Google says that these pictures are only captured when you use Face Unlock and are stored locally on the Titan M security chip. If that's true, then there's nothing to worry about.
If you're on T-mobile, you can now use the eSIM functionality as well. We suppose that this will eventually become the future. But, for now, it's usually nothing but a second thought.
Last, but not least, GPS performance has been improved thanks to the added support for dual-frequency GNSS!
That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything else comes up. So, stay tuned!
Samsung
Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G
Android 10 had already started rolling out for the other variants of the Note 10, but not for the Note 10 Plus 5G. Well, it seems like it's ready now.
This is for the global variant. So, we suppose that it'll soon be available for everyone all around the world. But, for now, you can only find it in Switzerland (Could be available in other regions as well by the time that this article is published).
Surprisingly enough, the US variants started receiving the very same update faster this time. It's usually the other way around. Though, do keep in mind that this will depend on your carrier as well. As far as we know, Verizon was the first to start pushing the update.
It's expected that other EU regions such as the UK and Germany will be next in line. If you've started receiving the update, feel free to let us know about the details in the comments section down below!
Apart from Android 10 and One UI 2.0, this update also brings the December security patch. And of course, it goes without saying that you're getting everything that One UI 2.0 and Android 10 bring to the table. Things such as Focus Mode, Google's new Gesture-based navigation system, improved privacy controls, and more.
Galaxy Note 10
The Android 10 update started rolling out for the Galaxy Note 10 about a week ago or so. Since then, it has been slowly becoming available for more and more regions.
At this point in time, it's already available for more than 40 countries. Coming straight from our friends at Sam Mobile, here is the list (Which will probably grow larger over time) as of now:
- Germany
- Thailand
- Colombia
- Panama
- India
- Greece
- Bulgaria
- Switzerland
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Austria
- Italy
- France
- Hungary
- Chile
- Slovenia
- United Arab Emirates
- Israel
- Baltic
- Nordic
- Romania
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Croatia
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Ukraine
- Kazakhstan
- Portugal
- United Kingdom (O2)
- Russia
- United States (AT&T & Verizon)
- United Kingdom
- Peru
- Macedonia (T-Mobile)
- Greece (Cosmote)
- Croatia (T-Mobile)
- Czech Republic (T-Mobile)
- Hungary (T-Mobile)
- Germany (T-Mobile)
- Turkey
- Serbia
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- Belgium/Luxembourg
- Philippines
- Ghana
- Afghanistan
- Vietnam
- Malaysia
- Libya
- Senegal
- Pakistan
- Bolivia
- Austria (T-Mobile)
- Spain (Vodafone)
- Czech Republic (Vodafone)
- Germany (Vodafone)
- Netherlands (Vodafone)
- Tunisia
- Bangladesh
- Nepal
- Sri Lanka
If you're currently living in any of these above-mentioned countries, you should be able to download and install the latest update over the air. However, do keep in mind that it's most likely an incremental one - which means that some of you may have to wait a bit more until your turn comes.
Galaxy S10 (US Unlocked Variants)
As far as the US is concerned, it's not unusual for the unlocked variants of various phones to stay behind in terms of updates. And the situation was no different for the unlocked variants of the Galaxy S10. After all, the S10 series started receiving the Android 10 update from various carriers, including T-Mobile and Verizon, but that very same update was nowhere to be seen for the unlocked variants.
Thankfully, this is now changing as the unlocked S10 series is receiving the latest version of Android in the US as well!
It should be available for the S10, S10+, and S10e. Since it weighs just a bit more than 2 gigabytes, we'd highly recommend making sure that Wi-Fi is enabled before you download it.
Apart from Android 10, you also get the December security patch. And as of features, it goes without saying that everything that's present on Android 10 and One UI 2.0 is included.
Galaxy Note 9
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is scheduled to get Android 10 somewhere in January. And at this pace, chances are that it'll get it at the beginning of it. After all, the latest beta update brings nothing but a small bug fix and that's about it.
To be more specific, as you can see in the screenshot above, this update fixes the "SPen translation is not available(OCR error) and that's more or less all there is to it.
Despite that, the update still weighs 167 megabytes - probably because it also brings the December's patch along with it.
Considering the fact that this update brought nothing but a single fix and the comments from users who feel like this is as stable as it gets, we can safely assume that the Note 9 will indeed get the latest version of Android by the end of January!
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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