Late last month, Realme revealed the ColorOS 7 release timeline for a few of its devices. As per the schedule, the Realme 3 Pro, XT, X, 5 Pro, and X2 Pro will get ColorOS 7 based on Android 10 in the first quarter of 2020, with the Realme 3, 3i, 5, 5s, and 2 Pro to follow in the second quarter. Lastly, the Realme C2 was scheduled to get the update in Q3, 2020. The company has since opened ColorOS 7 beta recruitment for its flagship X2 Pro, with plans to roll out the stable update by January 2020. At the time, the company didn’t reveal whether the update would be released to older devices. But now, it has officially announced that the Realme 1, 2 U1, and C1 won’t be receiving the ColorOS 7 update.
As reported by The Mobile Indian, in a recent tweet Realme has confirmed that the aforementioned devices won’t be receiving the Android 10 update. The tweet came from the company’s official support handle for the Indian region in response to a query from a user. This new information falls partially in line with a post on the Realme Community from earlier this year, in which an admin stated that the Android 10 update probably won’t be released for the Realme 1 and 2 Pro. Thankfully though, the recently released update timeline confirms that the Realme 2 Pro will receive the update sometime in June next year. However, the Realme 1, 2, U1 and C1 won’t get the same treatment. These four devices were initially released with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and have already received ColorOS updates based on Android 9 Pie.
Hi Partha,
We would like to inform you that ColorOS 7 based on Android 10 update will not be rolled out for realme 1/ realme U1/ realme C1/ realme 2.
It’s worth noting that ColorOS 7 on Realme devices will offer a closer to stock Android experience, unlike the version released on OPPO devices. As of now, the company has released no further information in this regard. However, since the company has already started ColorOS 7 beta recruitment for the Realme X2 Pro we expect to learn more about these changes in the next couple of weeks.
Late last month, Realme revealed the ColorOS 7 release timeline for a few of its devices. As per the schedule, the Realme 3 Pro, XT, X, 5 Pro, and X2 Pro will get ColorOS 7 based on Android 10 in the first quarter of 2020, with the Realme 3, 3i, 5, 5s, and 2 Pro to follow in the second quarter. Lastly, the Realme C2 was scheduled to get the update in Q3, 2020. The company has since opened ColorOS 7 beta recruitment for its flagship X2 Pro, with plans to roll out the stable update by January 2020. At the time, the company didn’t reveal whether the update would be released to older devices. But now, it has officially announced that the Realme 1, 2 U1, and C1 won’t be receiving the ColorOS 7 update.
As reported by The Mobile Indian, in a recent tweet Realme has confirmed that the aforementioned devices won’t be receiving the Android 10 update. The tweet came from the company’s official support handle for the Indian region in response to a query from a user. This new information falls partially in line with a post on the Realme Community from earlier this year, in which an admin stated that the Android 10 update probably won’t be released for the Realme 1 and 2 Pro. Thankfully though, the recently released update timeline confirms that the Realme 2 Pro will receive the update sometime in June next year. However, the Realme 1, 2, U1 and C1 won’t get the same treatment. These four devices were initially released with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and have already received ColorOS updates based on Android 9 Pie.
Hi Partha,
We would like to inform you that ColorOS 7 based on Android 10 update will not be rolled out for realme 1/ realme U1/ realme C1/ realme 2.
It’s worth noting that ColorOS 7 on Realme devices will offer a closer to stock Android experience, unlike the version released on OPPO devices. As of now, the company has released no further information in this regard. However, since the company has already started ColorOS 7 beta recruitment for the Realme X2 Pro we expect to learn more about these changes in the next couple of weeks.
Back in September this year, Xiaomi first unveiled MIUI 11 at a launch event in China. The company’s updated Android skin introduced a ton of new features and visual improvements, including a completely redesigned UI, new font, updated Always-On Display, and more. While Xiaomi has already rolled out a stable version of MIUI 11 to a number of Xiaomi and Redmi devices, it seems like the company plans to introduce even more new features to the software.
MIUI 11 nightlies from the last couple of weeks contain evidence of several new features for the MIUI camera app that are currently in development. Here’s a brief rundown of all the new features we’ve managed to unearth:
Video Tagging
Strings of code in a recent MIUI 11 nightly hint at a feature called “Video Tagging” (translated) that will allow you to set a bookmark while recording a video. Upon playing the recorded video in the gallery app (presumably, only the stock MIUI Gallery app) you’ll get the option to skip directly to the bookmark. This new feature could come in handy while recording lectures/interviews as it will let you tag specific parts of the recording for easier editing later on. The description for this feature reads “click ‘mark’ in the video, you can check the mark position during playback” (translated).
Document and ID Card Scanning
Xiaomi is also prepping up to add a document and ID card scanner to the MIUI camera app that will allow you to scan various documents. The new “document mode” will let you save images in black and white or “strengthen” them, in a bid to make the text more legible. A separate “ID Copy Mode” has also been discovered which is designed specifically to scan ID cards. The mode includes support for double-sided shooting and it can create a 1:1 copy of an A4 ID card.
HEIC Support
The MIUI camera app will also get support for HEIF/HEIC file formats for images. The high-efficiency file format has been designed to drastically reduce the size of images, when compared to PNG or JPG formats, without losing much detail and it will let you store more images in the same amount of space. You will get the option to choose the format preference within the camera settings and the option will be titled “HEIC Format”. The description for the new setting reads “Capture photos in high-efficiency HEIF format.”
As of now, we have no information on when these features will go live in the MIUI 11 Camera app. However, since the code has already started appearing in the nightlies, it shouldn’t be long before we see the features in action in a beta release.
Back in September this year, Xiaomi first unveiled MIUI 11 at a launch event in China. The company’s updated Android skin introduced a ton of new features and visual improvements, including a completely redesigned UI, new font, updated Always-On Display, and more. While Xiaomi has already rolled out a stable version of MIUI 11 to a number of Xiaomi and Redmi devices, it seems like the company plans to introduce even more new features to the software.
MIUI 11 nightlies from the last couple of weeks contain evidence of several new features for the MIUI camera app that are currently in development. Here’s a brief rundown of all the new features we’ve managed to unearth:
Video Tagging
Strings of code in a recent MIUI 11 nightly hint at a feature called “Video Tagging” (translated) that will allow you to set a bookmark while recording a video. Upon playing the recorded video in the gallery app (presumably, only the stock MIUI Gallery app) you’ll get the option to skip directly to the bookmark. This new feature could come in handy while recording lectures/interviews as it will let you tag specific parts of the recording for easier editing later on. The description for this feature reads “click ‘mark’ in the video, you can check the mark position during playback” (translated).
Document and ID Card Scanning
Xiaomi is also prepping up to add a document and ID card scanner to the MIUI camera app that will allow you to scan various documents. The new “document mode” will let you save images in black and white or “strengthen” them, in a bid to make the text more legible. A separate “ID Copy Mode” has also been discovered which is designed specifically to scan ID cards. The mode includes support for double-sided shooting and it can create a 1:1 copy of an A4 ID card.
HEIC Support
The MIUI camera app will also get support for HEIF/HEIC file formats for images. The high-efficiency file format has been designed to drastically reduce the size of images, when compared to PNG or JPG formats, without losing much detail and it will let you store more images in the same amount of space. You will get the option to choose the format preference within the camera settings and the option will be titled “HEIC Format”. The description for the new setting reads “Capture photos in high-efficiency HEIF format.”
As of now, we have no information on when these features will go live in the MIUI 11 Camera app. However, since the code has already started appearing in the nightlies, it shouldn’t be long before we see the features in action in a beta release.
No matter what marketplace or service an app is distributed through, its app icon is the first thing a prospective user would notice. First impressions are of paramount importance when trying to reel in new users, which means that icons are key components of any application. And, regardless of the intent of the app, creating a beautiful application icon should be an important part of every app’s development phase. Although many developers of technical applications leave the graphics to dedicated designers, understanding the fundamentals of design and applying them is something anyone can do, given a knack for experimentation and analysis. App icons are no exception!
This guide goes through the creation of an adaptive icon for a sample Android app using open-source software. Although the end result may not be in the format you might require, a lot of the design tips discussed here will hold true across multiple platforms.
The anatomy of an Android app icon
A GIF from Google breaking down an adaptive icon into its constituent parts.
After the release of “adaptive icons” with Android Oreo, an app icon can consist of three fundamental layers: an opaque background layer, a foreground layer with transparency support, and a mask that defines the shape of the icon. All these layers are 108 x 108 dp in size, although only the inner 72 x 72 dp can be visible to the user; the other region, cut away by the mask on top, is used for special effects within the UI to make the icon appear dynamic. For the uninitiated, dp or display-independent pixel stands as a measuring unit for all of Android’s interface, and is defined to be equal to the size of one pixel on a 160 dots-per-inch display.)
Nick Butcher from Google talks about a 66 dp circle in the center of the icon that no mask can clip away, called the “safe zone”. This is where the primary elements of our icon design will sit later on, when we get to the actual designing. Anything beyond this 33 dp radius may not be visible in the icon while it has a shape mask on.
Getting your hands dirty
Since icons are better off being vector images due to UI scaling, we’re going to need a vector graphics editor to make our icon. Inkscape is open-source and a great alternative to more expensive software, so it’ll be our choice for the purposes of this tutorial. I’ve also designed a project file available here that has the safe zone and Google’s own design keyline marked out, and a nifty layer mask that lets us preview the shape of the icon.
With the project file opened in Inkscape and the Fill and Stroke (Shift+Ctrl+F), Export PNG Image (Shift+Ctrl+E), and Layers (Shift+Ctrl+L) panels open, we’re ready to get started. The Layers panel is where the meat of the project resides, with the Foreground and Background layers meant to house their titular components, and Guidelines and Mask meant to be toggled on and off (by clicking on the little eye icon beside them) for reference.
Upon loading the file and setting up the panels, Inkscape should look something like this.
An icon is an expression of an app’s identity. As such, it must incorporate both the character of the app’s personality and platform-specific design guidelines, like the ones Android’s Material design language has to offer. For the purposes of demonstration, let us assume we’re working on a weather app that uses Material elements. We could use the classic sun-and-clouds motif to inform a user of the purpose of the app, and put a little spin on this basic design using drop shadows and geometry to make it blend well in its Android environment.
Background
The background layer of the icon.
Let’s begin with setting up the background, which will consist of a blue sky and a yellow sun in the center. Turning Mask invisible, I select and make visible the Background layer, fill the entire canvas with the Create rectangles and squares tool (F4), and set the fill color of the rectangle in Fill and Stroke to 64B5F6FF (a light blue) in accordance with the Material color palette. I then select the Create circles, ellipsis, and arcs (F5) tool, and holding Shift and Ctrl, draw a circle from the center of the keyline to the second-largest circle, and set its color to FFEE58FF, which gives us a warm little sun. It’s always good to stick to basic geometry in any sort of designing, and Android’s design language in particular encourages simplicity. To comply with Material guidelines, I also give the sun a subtle drop shadow through Filters → Shadows and Glows → Drop Shadow.
Foreground
The foreground layer of the icon.
Coming to Foreground, I draw a group of clouds around the sun by drawing circles from the circumferences of other circles, and give them all a fill color of EEEEEEFF. I then group the circles appropriately by right-clicking on multiple objects and selecting Group, and run the drop shadow generator on the two final shapes I obtain in the end. Turning Guidelines invisible and toggling Foreground and Background alternatively, the constituent layers of our weather app’s icon can be seen. If the app’s icon is ever dragged across a home screen, the clouds will cascade against a stationary sun!
Result
Mask can now be turned visible and tweaked with Edit paths by nodes (F2) to try and simulate different shape masks. Also, the two layers can be exported separately using the Export PNG Image panel for usage in Android Studio, and together for a Google Play icon.
While building a product icon, it’s always good practice to try and take an application’s purpose, distill it to its most abstract visual form, and represent that using simple geometry. The simpler any component in design is, the better and more reliably it usually works, and this holds true in graphic design too. For most purposes, an object shape in the foreground and a solid color or a pattern in the background (or vice versa) works just fine, but like in our example case, another layer of objects can be used if felt necessary; too much stacking or usage of drop shadows will only complicate the icon’s design.
Both layers stacked, with the Mask layer being tweaked to preview the adaptive icon
You can read more about icon design in Material interfaces on the official Material website, and grab free system icons for use in icon design from the same website.
Update 1 (12/02/19 @ 00:45 AM EST): Realme X2 Pro is now available for open sale via Flipkart and their own online store at Realme.com.
The original launch article from November 20, 2019, remains unchanged.
Realme has grown at an astonishing rate over the last year and this controverts the globally declining demand for smartphones. Starting its journey with entry-level smartphones, Realme has rapidly evolved to grab a major chunk of the mid-range segment and is now vying for a share in the segment of flagships – or rather, flagship killers. Last month, Realme launched the Realme X2 Pro, their first true flagship smartphone, in China and Europe and today they’re launching the smartphone in India for an insane price of ₹29,999 ($417).
The Realme X2 Pro has kept the Indian consumers intrigued since the first announcement from Realme about their entry in the flagship segment. It is undeniably the most well-equipped flagship killer device available outside of China and has a lot of alluring features including many firsts for the sub-₹30,000 category. The list includes Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC, up to 12GB of RAM, a Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 64MP quad-camera, 50W fast charging but it does not end there.
The Realme X2 Pro embraces a glass sandwich design with layers of Gorilla Glass 5 protection on both sides. The frame surrounding the edges of the phone is made of metal. The back panel has a reflective design with color options between Lunar White and Neptune Blue. Underneath the Gorilla Glass 5 on the front is a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution. A key highlight of the display is that it supports a maximum refresh rate of up to 90Hz, resulting in a smooth scrolling experience – even though the support for a higher refresh rate may be limited to certain apps. The display also features an optical in-display fingerprint scanner from Goodix.
A Snapdragon 855 Plus, currently the most powerful SoC for smartphones, powers the Realme X2 Pro. This is paired with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. While a 6GB RAM variant was also announced during the launch events in China and Europe, it will not be a part of Realme’s catalog in India. The Realme X2 Pro also gets an upgrade in terms of the storage technology and it comes with a UFS 3.0 storage. The 8GB RAM model gets 128GB while the 12GB variant gets 256GB as the onboard storage. Notably, there’s no option to expand the storage.
The camera on the Realme X2 Pro gets another major upgrade over the previous models. The X2 Pro borrows the Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 64MP primary sensor from the Realme XT but the aperture of the attached lens is slightly smaller. Besides the 64MP camera, the X2 Pro features a 13MP telephoto camera with 2X optical, 5X hybrid, and up to 20X digital zoom. Then, there’s an 8MP wide-angle camera – which also facilitates super macro shots – alongside a 2MP portrait camera for improved bokeh. In terms of video, the rear camera supports 4K recording at 6ofps using the primary camera along with EIS. Additionally, there’s Full HD video recording on the wide-angle camera and other features like 960fps slow-motion video, bokeh video, and more. On the front, the Realme X2 Pro gets a 16MP selfie camera, which is most likely to be the same as the Realme XT.
Another major advantage of the Realme X2 Pro is the 50W SuperVOOC fast charging technology it borrows from the parent company OPPO. As per the company’s claims, the smartphone should take around 35 minutes to charge the 4,000mAh battery completely. That’s certainly impressive, especially taking the price into consideration. The 50W charger is bundled in the box and users will not have to buy it separately.
The Realme X2 Pro gets a stereo speaker setup with the earpiece doubling as the left loudspeaker and there’s Dolby Audio for sound enhancements. Additionally, there’s a new haptic engine on the smartphone for improved feedback and enhanced gaming experience. Further, there’s a vapor cooling chamber to help keep the temperatures low while gaming.
Standard: Lunar White and Neptune Blue
Master Edition: Red Brick and Concrete
Realme X2 Pro Master Edition
Realme has once again partnered with the Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa, who helped design the Realme X’s onion and garlic variants. This time, Fukasawa borrowed inspiration from construction materials and helped Realme create the concrete and red brick editions of the smartphone. These variants come with a frosted glass back design similar to the OnePlus 7T and give the impression of a sandstone-live surface.
The Realme X2 Pro Master Edition comes only in the 12GB/256GB variant, which comes at a higher price compared to the similarly specced variant of the standard edition. The concrete and red brick variants will be available in a limited quantity.
Price and Availability
The Realme X2 Pro will be available in India exclusively via Flipkart starting November 26, 2019, which will be its first invite-only early access sale. The 8GB/128GB variant will come for ₹29,999 ($417) while the 12GB/256GB variant is priced at ₹33,999 ($473). Realme is also including the Realme Wireless Buds costing ₹1,799 ($25) for free for the first sale. Invites for the first sale will be distributed through Realme’s social media channels.
The first 10,000 realme.com buyers can return the phone with no questions asked, if they do not like it.
The Master Edition of the Realme X2 Pro will be priced at ₹34,999 ($487) and will have its first sale in late December 2019.
Realme has also collaborated with DJI to introduce the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 handheld gimbal as a recommended accessory for the Realme X2 Pro. The DJI Osmo Mobile 3 will have to be purchased separately, though Realme did not reveal pricing and availability information.
Realme also teased the Realme Earpods at the event, though this will be launched later on.
Update: Realme X2 Pro goes on open sale
The Realme X2 Pro is now available for sale and you can buy it without any invite. The flagship killer has been listed on their online store as well on Flipkart. You can get an additional 10% discount by using HDFC credit or debit card and this is also applicable on EMIs.
No matter what marketplace or service an app is distributed through, its app icon is the first thing a prospective user would notice. First impressions are of paramount importance when trying to reel in new users, which means that icons are key components of any application. And, regardless of the intent of the app, creating a beautiful application icon should be an important part of every app’s development phase. Although many developers of technical applications leave the graphics to dedicated designers, understanding the fundamentals of design and applying them is something anyone can do, given a knack for experimentation and analysis. App icons are no exception!
This guide goes through the creation of an adaptive icon for a sample Android app using open-source software. Although the end result may not be in the format you might require, a lot of the design tips discussed here will hold true across multiple platforms.
The anatomy of an Android app icon
A GIF from Google breaking down an adaptive icon into its constituent parts.
After the release of “adaptive icons” with Android Oreo, an app icon can consist of three fundamental layers: an opaque background layer, a foreground layer with transparency support, and a mask that defines the shape of the icon. All these layers are 108 x 108 dp in size, although only the inner 72 x 72 dp can be visible to the user; the other region, cut away by the mask on top, is used for special effects within the UI to make the icon appear dynamic. For the uninitiated, dp or display-independent pixel stands as a measuring unit for all of Android’s interface, and is defined to be equal to the size of one pixel on a 160 dots-per-inch display.)
Nick Butcher from Google talks about a 66 dp circle in the center of the icon that no mask can clip away, called the “safe zone”. This is where the primary elements of our icon design will sit later on, when we get to the actual designing. Anything beyond this 33 dp radius may not be visible in the icon while it has a shape mask on.
Getting your hands dirty
Since icons are better off being vector images due to UI scaling, we’re going to need a vector graphics editor to make our icon. Inkscape is open-source and a great alternative to more expensive software, so it’ll be our choice for the purposes of this tutorial. I’ve also designed a project file available here that has the safe zone and Google’s own design keyline marked out, and a nifty layer mask that lets us preview the shape of the icon.
With the project file opened in Inkscape and the Fill and Stroke (Shift+Ctrl+F), Export PNG Image (Shift+Ctrl+E), and Layers (Shift+Ctrl+L) panels open, we’re ready to get started. The Layers panel is where the meat of the project resides, with the Foreground and Background layers meant to house their titular components, and Guidelines and Mask meant to be toggled on and off (by clicking on the little eye icon beside them) for reference.
Upon loading the file and setting up the panels, Inkscape should look something like this.
An icon is an expression of an app’s identity. As such, it must incorporate both the character of the app’s personality and platform-specific design guidelines, like the ones Android’s Material design language has to offer. For the purposes of demonstration, let us assume we’re working on a weather app that uses Material elements. We could use the classic sun-and-clouds motif to inform a user of the purpose of the app, and put a little spin on this basic design using drop shadows and geometry to make it blend well in its Android environment.
Background
The background layer of the icon.
Let’s begin with setting up the background, which will consist of a blue sky and a yellow sun in the center. Turning Mask invisible, I select and make visible the Background layer, fill the entire canvas with the Create rectangles and squares tool (F4), and set the fill color of the rectangle in Fill and Stroke to 64B5F6FF (a light blue) in accordance with the Material color palette. I then select the Create circles, ellipsis, and arcs (F5) tool, and holding Shift and Ctrl, draw a circle from the center of the keyline to the second-largest circle, and set its color to FFEE58FF, which gives us a warm little sun. It’s always good to stick to basic geometry in any sort of designing, and Android’s design language in particular encourages simplicity. To comply with Material guidelines, I also give the sun a subtle drop shadow through Filters → Shadows and Glows → Drop Shadow.
Foreground
The foreground layer of the icon.
Coming to Foreground, I draw a group of clouds around the sun by drawing circles from the circumferences of other circles, and give them all a fill color of EEEEEEFF. I then group the circles appropriately by right-clicking on multiple objects and selecting Group, and run the drop shadow generator on the two final shapes I obtain in the end. Turning Guidelines invisible and toggling Foreground and Background alternatively, the constituent layers of our weather app’s icon can be seen. If the app’s icon is ever dragged across a home screen, the clouds will cascade against a stationary sun!
Result
Mask can now be turned visible and tweaked with Edit paths by nodes (F2) to try and simulate different shape masks. Also, the two layers can be exported separately using the Export PNG Image panel for usage in Android Studio, and together for a Google Play icon.
While building a product icon, it’s always good practice to try and take an application’s purpose, distill it to its most abstract visual form, and represent that using simple geometry. The simpler any component in design is, the better and more reliably it usually works, and this holds true in graphic design too. For most purposes, an object shape in the foreground and a solid color or a pattern in the background (or vice versa) works just fine, but like in our example case, another layer of objects can be used if felt necessary; too much stacking or usage of drop shadows will only complicate the icon’s design.
Both layers stacked, with the Mask layer being tweaked to preview the adaptive icon
You can read more about icon design in Material interfaces on the official Material website, and grab free system icons for use in icon design from the same website.
