This week, on our weekly firmware news roundup: Galaxy S21 users complain about battery draining issues after the last update, Sony Xperia 1 II gets External Monitor app, and more!
What's New this Week?
Motorola
- Android 10 is here for the Moto G8 Play in Brazil
Sony
- Sony Xperia 1 II gets the External monitor app with the latest update
Samsung
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite and A31 are now receiving February's security patch
- One UI 3.1 is here for the Galaxy S20 FE
- Galaxy S21 and S21+ are suffering from battery draining issues
- One UI 3.0 is now being delivered to the Galaxy A71 5G, M31s, and M30s
- The latest update for the Galaxy Buds Pro brings ANC improvements
Motorola
Moto G8 Play
Android 11 may have already been around for some time and Android 12 is not that far away now. But many phones are still just receiving Android 10. One of them is the Moto G8 Play which is now receiving Android 10 in Brazil.
The update weighs 1.4 gigabytes and in it, you can expect to find everything that's included in Android 10 along with December's security patch. We are talking about Google's gesture-based navigation mode, dark mode, and more.
The update is yet to be sighted in other regions. But there is a good chance that it'll be spread out in the upcoming days.
Sony
Sony Xperia 1 II
Another update is here for the Sony Xperia 1 II and this time, it gets the External monitor app for cameras that you can find in the much pricier Sony Xperia Pro.
Of course, since the aforementioned phone doesn't actually have an HDMI port, you'll have to use a USB Type-C adapter to get the job done.
In case you don't know about it, as its name suggests, 'External monitor ' is an app that you can use to monitor a Sony camera with supported smartphones. At the moment, it looks like only the Xperia 1 II and Xperia Pro are supported.
Though, do keep in mind that future updates may bring this functionality to other Sony smartphones as well. And at the moment of writing this article, the Sony Xperia 5 II seems to be the best next candidate.
Samsung
Galaxy Note 10 Lite and A31
Two more Samsung devices are now receiving the latest Android security patch. This time, we are talking about the Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy A31!
The updates are already being delivered in numerous regions of Europe and we can safely assume that they'll soon be globally available. Though, it's worth keeping in mind that incremental updates can take some time to reach everyone – even if they are available in your region.
Apart from the security patch, this update doesn't seem to be including any other changes for the aforementioned devices. Some minor improvements and bug fixes may have been made, but that's about it.
If you do notice any new additions, though, feel free to let us and everyone else know about them in the comments section down below!
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
The Galaxy S21 was the latest Samsung device to come with Samsung's latest firmware – which is now also being delivered to the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. One would think that full-fledged flagships such as the Note 20 or S20 would get it first, but that's not necessarily a bad surprise.
Despite One UI 3.1 being a small jump from One UI 3.0, there is quite a lot that you can expect to find in it. To be more precise, we are talking about:
- Integration with various services including Google discover feed, Google Home Device Controls, and Google Duo
- Video call effects such as blurring the background or placing a color/image
- The option of removing a photo's GPS location
- Option of continuing apps on other devices (Such as a browser activity)
- Eye comfort shield – which is basically an improved blue light filter
- Object eraser – a Gallery app feature that allows you to remove objects from photos by using AI (Artificial Intelligence)
- Director's view for capturing videos by using all the cameras of your phone simultaneously
- Vlogger view for using both the selfie camera and the main one simultaneously
- Single Take 2.0 – which is an improved version of Single Take with more options
- Focus enhancer for close-up shots
- Along with a few other minor additions and improvements
Update: Samsung just pulled the updated. We still don't have any information on why. But we can safely assume that a critical bug or bugs were discovered at the last moment. Let's hope that everything is going to get fixed soon.
Galaxy S21 and S21+
Update: Another update is now being pushed to the S21 family that hopefully fixes the battery draining issues. You can read the original story below.
According to our sources and posts on Reddit, both the Galaxy S21 and S21+ are currently suffering from battery draining issues. Most say it happened after an update, so, there is a chance that something in the latest security patch is to blame.
That's obviously not the security patch itself – but some kind of improvement in the update that went wrong.
As you can see, the patch's changelog mentions a few other additions apart from the patch itself – so, it's definitely not impossible that the latest update is to blame.
For now, most users report that the issue gets fixed as soon as they enable Airplane Mode. So, there's probably something wrong with wireless connectivity or, to be more specific, cell connectivity.
We haven't seen any reports about the S21 Ultra yet and that's why we think the issue only affects the S21 and S21+. Have you experienced any battery draining issues lately? Feel free to let us and everyone else know about it in the comments section down below!
Galaxy A71 5G, M31s, and M30s
Great news for Samsung users. 3 more devices are now receiving the latest version of Android this week Galaxy A71 5G, M31s, and M30s.
As far as region availability is concerned:
- Galaxy A71 5G: USA – Sprint
- Galaxy M31s: Russia and Ukraine
- M30s: India
Though, as per usual, it's worth keeping in mind that more regions will soon follow.
The update weighs about 2 gigabytes for each one and includes everything that you can expect to find in One UI 3.0 and Android 11 along with either the latest security patch or January's, depending on your phone.
We are talking about:
- Revamped UI
- Various improvements in performance and stability
- Various improvements and minor additions in most Samsung apps
- One-time permissions
- General improvements in privacy
- Improved Digital Wellbeing
- More lockscreen widgets
- AOD customizations
- New design for Bixby Routines
- And more
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro
Another small update is here for the Galaxy Buds Pro in the U.S and, according to the changelog, this update includes:
- ANC improvements
- Ambient sound improvements
- Along with general improvements in stability and reliability
The changelog also mentions that "The operating concept has been changed when the user wars one earbud". But we are not too sure what that means. Possibly that only one earbud gets activated instead of both? Was that not the case before? Let us know about it in the comments.
Wrapping Up
That's all for now. Feel free to come back next Friday for more firmware news.
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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