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jeudi 12 décembre 2019

Google Pay (Tez) for India prepares to add 2020 stamp rewards, One-Time Mandates, and Stories for merchants

Google Pay is Google’s unified payment platform, but the company also has an app with the same name but different functionality for users in India. This India-only Google Pay is a rebrand of the erstwhile Google Tez, and the app has gone on to add more functionalities after the rebranding. We last spotted Google Pay (Tez) preparing to add gold gifting options for its users in India. Now, the app is preparing to bring stamp rewards for 2020, One-Time Mandates, and stories for merchants.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Google Pay (Tez) 49.0.003_RC05 contains new strings that indicate that Google is working on some new features.

Google Pay — 2020 Stamp Rewards

Google managed to strike gold with its Diwali stamp rewards campaign during the recent festive season in India. Google Pay presented users with the task of collecting 5 Diwali-themed stamps, promising an assured payout of ₹251 ($3.5) and a chance towards winning the grand prize of ₹1,00,000 ($1,400).

Some of these stamps could be earned by scanning Diwali items around you, while some others like the Rangoli and Flower could be earned by making bill payments and other merchant transactions within the app. You could also gift stamps to other users, and request one from them. Google also added a leaderboard towards the end, essentially making the whole experience a game of collecting stamps. The end result of this campaign was that it really clicked with the urban Indian audience and went viral for positive reasons as users playfully jostled to collect all the stamps, earn their assured prize and also participate towards the grand prize. Google did not release any metrics for this campaign, but from observation around on social media and my own surroundings, this campaign did push Google Pay as a preferred payment method, if only for the campaign period.

Now, Google is aiming to replicate some of that same success with the New Year, as strings indicate a similar campaign in the works for 2020. These are the new strings added to v49 of Google Pay (Tez):

<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_description_1_with_youtube_link_2020">"Catch an ad to collect a reward! Just stay on this page when you're listening to a Google Pay ad on TV or Google India's %1$s playlist."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_description_2_2020">"Open the Youtube playlist on a different device to listen to it now. The microphone only listens on this On-Air page, and audio never leaves your device."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_daily_limit_action">Got it</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_daily_limit_title">"You've reached the daily limit"</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_action">Try again</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_description">Try again in a short while.</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_title">Something went wrong</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_action">Keep playing</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_description">"Congrats, you've collected a 2020 stamp!"</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_title">1 %1$s</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_action">Try again</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_description">"We couldn't find the number 2020 with the audio scanner. Bring your phone closer or try with a different ad."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_title">Our scanner timed out</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_toast_retry_2020">"Can't hear any ads. Move your phone closer to the speaker or try a different ad."</string>

While the Diwali stamps campaign involved scanning Diwali items like diyas with the phone’s camera, the 2020 campaign is likely to involve the camera and the microphone as two means to earn stamps. The strings above suggest that users will have to leverage their phone’s microphone to listen to a Google Pay ad on TV or Google India’s YouTube playlist. The audio scanner will attempt to pick up the number “2020” within the ad audio and reward users with a 2020-themed stamp.

Some older strings also had their descriptions changed:

  • <string name=”diwali_scandiwali_hint_on_what_to_scan”>Scan a Diwali item to collect a stamp</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”diwali_scandiwali_hint_on_what_to_scan”>Scan the number “2020” anywhere near you to collect a stamp!</string>
  • <string name=”social_diwali_scan_success_description”>”Congrats, you’ve collected a Diwali stamp! Keep playing to complete your set.”</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”social_diwali_scan_success_description”>”Congrats, you’ve collected a 2020 stamp!”</string>
  • <string name=”social_diwali_scan_timeout_description”>We could not detect any Diwali items. Bring your scanner closer or try a different item.</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”social_diwali_scan_timeout_description”>”We couldn’t find the number 2020 with the AR scanner. Bring your phone closer or try with a different image.”</string>

These indicate that simply scanning the number 2020 will also earn you a stamp, though we reckon some stamps will not be available through this medium, just like how Rangoli and Flower could not be earned through scanning in the previous campaign.

There’s still half a month to go for 2020, so we will have to wait to hear more about the rewards and other finer details for the campaign.

Stories for Merchants

This new version of Google Pay is also preparing to allow merchants to add stories.

<string name="merchantstories_content_description">%1$s story button</string>
<string name="merchantstories_more_stories_title">See all</string>
<string name="merchantstories_stories_title">Highlights</string>

Why do we need stories within Google Pay? We can only speculate. Google did add private messaging to Google Photos recently, so why not add stories within Google Pay too. We are also making an educated guess that “story” within this context refers to the temporary photo and video highlights that social media sites have incorporated on their platforms.

One-Time Mandates

One-Time Mandates are part of the UPI 2.0 feature rollout. With this feature, users can pre-authorize a transaction and block funds in their account with an intention to have them debited later. This blocking ensures that you have sufficient funds in your account till the transaction needs to be executed and that you continue earning interest on the amount, as well as allows the transaction to be scheduled and executed automatically.

Google Pay (Tez) v49 contains a few new strings and several older strings for One-Time Mandates:

New Strings:

<string name="india_mandates_preferences_title">One-Time Mandates</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_error_max_amount_text">Maximum amount %s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_error_min_amount_text">Minimum amount %s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_input_hint">Amount</string>

Older Strings:

<string name="india_mandates_action_paying_to">Paying to</string>
<string name="india_mandates_action_sending">Sending request…</string>
<string name="india_mandates_amount_paid_label">Amount paid</string>
<string name="india_mandates_call_bank_message">Try calling your bank.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_cannot_reach_bank">"We can't reach your contact's bank. Please try again later."</string>
<string name="india_mandates_category_title">Mandates</string>
<string name="india_mandates_content_source_failure">Could not get mandates from server</string>
<string name="india_mandates_end_date_label">End date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_execution_date_label">Execution date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_incorrect_pin_message">To continue, please raise a new mandate.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_incorrect_pin_title">Incorrect UPI PIN</string>
<string name="india_mandates_insufficient_funds_title">Insufficient funds</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandate_details_label">Mandate details</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandate_name_label">Mandate name</string>
<string name="india_mandates_notes_label">Notes/description</string>
<string name="india_mandates_original_amount_header">Original amount</string>
<string name="india_mandates_original_end_date_header">Original end date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_payment_disclaimer">Payments may take up to 3 working days to be reflected in your account</string>
<string name="india_mandates_purpose_code_label">Purpose code</string>
<string name="india_mandates_request_failed">Request failed</string>
<string name="india_mandates_start_date_label">Start date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_approve_by">Confirm by %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_approve_within">Confirm within %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_countdown">%1$shr %2$smin</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_declined_on">Mandate declined on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_executed_on">Mandate executed on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_expired_on">Mandate expired on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_label">Status</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_refunded_on">Mandate refunded on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_transaction_details_label">Transaction details</string>
<string name="india_mandates_try_again_title">Try again</string>
<string name="india_mandates_unique_number_label">Unique mandate number</string>
<string name="india_mandates_updated_amount_header">Updated amount</string>
<string name="india_mandates_updated_end_date_header">Updated end date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_upi_credentials_challenge_permission_required_error_description">%1$s needs your phone permissions to ensure that the SIM card in your phone matches with the registered mobile number.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_upi_restore_primer_description">You need to reactivate the following bank account:</string>
<string name="mandates_browsing_details_announce_content_description">Details of mandate</string>
<string name="mandates_browsing_list_announce_content_description">List of mandates</string>

Since we found a combination of both older and newer strings, we are unsure if the feature is new and does not already exist for some users. The main preference title was just added, so we are inclined to believe that the feature is not live yet.


Google Pay (Tez) - a simple and secure payment app (To be announced, Google Play) →

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

The post Google Pay (Tez) for India prepares to add 2020 stamp rewards, One-Time Mandates, and Stories for merchants appeared first on xda-developers.



from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2PHybfE
via IFTTT

Google Pay (Tez) for India prepares to add 2020 stamp rewards, One-Time Mandates, and Stories for merchants

Google Pay is Google’s unified payment platform, but the company also has an app with the same name but different functionality for users in India. This India-only Google Pay is a rebrand of the erstwhile Google Tez, and the app has gone on to add more functionalities after the rebranding. We last spotted Google Pay (Tez) preparing to add gold gifting options for its users in India. Now, the app is preparing to bring stamp rewards for 2020, One-Time Mandates, and stories for merchants.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Google Pay (Tez) 49.0.003_RC05 contains new strings that indicate that Google is working on some new features.

Google Pay — 2020 Stamp Rewards

Google managed to strike gold with its Diwali stamp rewards campaign during the recent festive season in India. Google Pay presented users with the task of collecting 5 Diwali-themed stamps, promising an assured payout of ₹251 ($3.5) and a chance towards winning the grand prize of ₹1,00,000 ($1,400).

Some of these stamps could be earned by scanning Diwali items around you, while some others like the Rangoli and Flower could be earned by making bill payments and other merchant transactions within the app. You could also gift stamps to other users, and request one from them. Google also added a leaderboard towards the end, essentially making the whole experience a game of collecting stamps. The end result of this campaign was that it really clicked with the urban Indian audience and went viral for positive reasons as users playfully jostled to collect all the stamps, earn their assured prize and also participate towards the grand prize. Google did not release any metrics for this campaign, but from observation around on social media and my own surroundings, this campaign did push Google Pay as a preferred payment method, if only for the campaign period.

Now, Google is aiming to replicate some of that same success with the New Year, as strings indicate a similar campaign in the works for 2020. These are the new strings added to v49 of Google Pay (Tez):

<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_description_1_with_youtube_link_2020">"Catch an ad to collect a reward! Just stay on this page when you're listening to a Google Pay ad on TV or Google India's %1$s playlist."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_description_2_2020">"Open the Youtube playlist on a different device to listen to it now. The microphone only listens on this On-Air page, and audio never leaves your device."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_daily_limit_action">Got it</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_daily_limit_title">"You've reached the daily limit"</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_action">Try again</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_description">Try again in a short while.</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_general_error_title">Something went wrong</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_action">Keep playing</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_description">"Congrats, you've collected a 2020 stamp!"</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_success_title">1 %1$s</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_action">Try again</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_description">"We couldn't find the number 2020 with the audio scanner. Bring your phone closer or try with a different ad."</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_dialog_reward_timeout_title">Our scanner timed out</string>
<string name="adcatcher_ui_listening_toast_retry_2020">"Can't hear any ads. Move your phone closer to the speaker or try a different ad."</string>

While the Diwali stamps campaign involved scanning Diwali items like diyas with the phone’s camera, the 2020 campaign is likely to involve the camera and the microphone as two means to earn stamps. The strings above suggest that users will have to leverage their phone’s microphone to listen to a Google Pay ad on TV or Google India’s YouTube playlist. The audio scanner will attempt to pick up the number “2020” within the ad audio and reward users with a 2020-themed stamp.

Some older strings also had their descriptions changed:

  • <string name=”diwali_scandiwali_hint_on_what_to_scan”>Scan a Diwali item to collect a stamp</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”diwali_scandiwali_hint_on_what_to_scan”>Scan the number “2020” anywhere near you to collect a stamp!</string>
  • <string name=”social_diwali_scan_success_description”>”Congrats, you’ve collected a Diwali stamp! Keep playing to complete your set.”</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”social_diwali_scan_success_description”>”Congrats, you’ve collected a 2020 stamp!”</string>
  • <string name=”social_diwali_scan_timeout_description”>We could not detect any Diwali items. Bring your scanner closer or try a different item.</string>
    changed to
    <string name=”social_diwali_scan_timeout_description”>”We couldn’t find the number 2020 with the AR scanner. Bring your phone closer or try with a different image.”</string>

These indicate that simply scanning the number 2020 will also earn you a stamp, though we reckon some stamps will not be available through this medium, just like how Rangoli and Flower could not be earned through scanning in the previous campaign.

There’s still half a month to go for 2020, so we will have to wait to hear more about the rewards and other finer details for the campaign.

Stories for Merchants

This new version of Google Pay is also preparing to allow merchants to add stories.

<string name="merchantstories_content_description">%1$s story button</string>
<string name="merchantstories_more_stories_title">See all</string>
<string name="merchantstories_stories_title">Highlights</string>

Why do we need stories within Google Pay? We can only speculate. Google did add private messaging to Google Photos recently, so why not add stories within Google Pay too. We are also making an educated guess that “story” within this context refers to the temporary photo and video highlights that social media sites have incorporated on their platforms.

One-Time Mandates

One-Time Mandates are part of the UPI 2.0 feature rollout. With this feature, users can pre-authorize a transaction and block funds in their account with an intention to have them debited later. This blocking ensures that you have sufficient funds in your account till the transaction needs to be executed and that you continue earning interest on the amount, as well as allows the transaction to be scheduled and executed automatically.

Google Pay (Tez) v49 contains a few new strings and several older strings for One-Time Mandates:

New Strings:

<string name="india_mandates_preferences_title">One-Time Mandates</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_error_max_amount_text">Maximum amount %s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_error_min_amount_text">Minimum amount %s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandateamount_input_hint">Amount</string>

Older Strings:

<string name="india_mandates_action_paying_to">Paying to</string>
<string name="india_mandates_action_sending">Sending request…</string>
<string name="india_mandates_amount_paid_label">Amount paid</string>
<string name="india_mandates_call_bank_message">Try calling your bank.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_cannot_reach_bank">"We can't reach your contact's bank. Please try again later."</string>
<string name="india_mandates_category_title">Mandates</string>
<string name="india_mandates_content_source_failure">Could not get mandates from server</string>
<string name="india_mandates_end_date_label">End date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_execution_date_label">Execution date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_incorrect_pin_message">To continue, please raise a new mandate.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_incorrect_pin_title">Incorrect UPI PIN</string>
<string name="india_mandates_insufficient_funds_title">Insufficient funds</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandate_details_label">Mandate details</string>
<string name="india_mandates_mandate_name_label">Mandate name</string>
<string name="india_mandates_notes_label">Notes/description</string>
<string name="india_mandates_original_amount_header">Original amount</string>
<string name="india_mandates_original_end_date_header">Original end date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_payment_disclaimer">Payments may take up to 3 working days to be reflected in your account</string>
<string name="india_mandates_purpose_code_label">Purpose code</string>
<string name="india_mandates_request_failed">Request failed</string>
<string name="india_mandates_start_date_label">Start date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_approve_by">Confirm by %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_approve_within">Confirm within %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_countdown">%1$shr %2$smin</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_declined_on">Mandate declined on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_executed_on">Mandate executed on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_expired_on">Mandate expired on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_label">Status</string>
<string name="india_mandates_status_refunded_on">Mandate refunded on %1$s</string>
<string name="india_mandates_transaction_details_label">Transaction details</string>
<string name="india_mandates_try_again_title">Try again</string>
<string name="india_mandates_unique_number_label">Unique mandate number</string>
<string name="india_mandates_updated_amount_header">Updated amount</string>
<string name="india_mandates_updated_end_date_header">Updated end date</string>
<string name="india_mandates_upi_credentials_challenge_permission_required_error_description">%1$s needs your phone permissions to ensure that the SIM card in your phone matches with the registered mobile number.</string>
<string name="india_mandates_upi_restore_primer_description">You need to reactivate the following bank account:</string>
<string name="mandates_browsing_details_announce_content_description">Details of mandate</string>
<string name="mandates_browsing_list_announce_content_description">List of mandates</string>

Since we found a combination of both older and newer strings, we are unsure if the feature is new and does not already exist for some users. The main preference title was just added, so we are inclined to believe that the feature is not live yet.


Google Pay (Tez) - a simple and secure payment app (To be announced, Google Play) →

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

The post Google Pay (Tez) for India prepares to add 2020 stamp rewards, One-Time Mandates, and Stories for merchants appeared first on xda-developers.



from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2PHybfE
via IFTTT

mercredi 11 décembre 2019

Gaming on the Full View Display of the Honor 9X

This year, Honor launched the Honor 9X as one of the few “full view” phones on the market. To achieve a large notch-free display, Honor hides the selfie camera behind a motorized pop-up mechanism. The large 6.59″ phone provides a much more immersive experience due to the completely uninterrupted display. The size of a notch or hole-punch solution might not seem very  intrusive, but while gaming, it’s a clear advantage having a full view display.

Specifications

Honor 9X Specs
Display 6.59″ 1080 x 2340p (391 ppi)
Chipset HiSilicon Kirin 710F
RAM 4/6GB
Storage 128GB
Main Camera 48MP/8MP (Ultrawide)/2MP (Depth Sensor)
Selfie Camera 16MP Motorized Pop-up
Battery 4,000mAh
Operating System Android 9.1.0 EMUI 9.1.0

The Kirin 710F is paired with up to 6GB of RAM and provides great performance across some of the most popular 3D games. You’ll also find that system performance is really impressive despite the weaker chipset included in this phone.

AnTuTu Benchmark

AnTuTu Benchmark

With 6GB of RAM, the Honor 9X maintains super fast app launch speeds and very snappy system navigation. See the above photos for more detailed benchmark results from  the AnTuTu benchmark.

Gaming

Honor is able to get really good performance from lower-end specs. Their secret is GUP Turbo 3.0. This feature is designed to prioritize gaming performance and has the ability to increase frame rate and graphics for your games. Battery performance is also increased due to 10% greater efficiency from GPU Turbo 3.0.

Minecraft on the Honor 9X

Minecraft runs flawlessly on the Honor 9X, even with the render distance bumped all the way up to 11 chunks and maxed out graphics. Worlds are created very quickly and terrain loads without lag. The same experience can be found across any game you throw at this phone.

Since mobile games are designed to be compatible with as many phones as possible, the full view display offers more of a gaming improvement than a significant increase in processing power would. When it comes to the experience on Minecraft, you will see the same performance from the Honor 9X that you’d have for most flagship devices. This leaves opportunity for improvements in other areas like the display. Honor took advantage of this and the result is a fantastic and immersive gaming phone.

Audio Quality

In 2019, one of the first questions you have to address when judging a smartphone’s audio prowess is “does the phone have a headphone jack?” The answer here is yes. Along with the headphone jack, the Honor 9X comes with Bluetooth 4.2 for your wireless headsets, and one bottom firing speaker. The speaker is very loud and has decent audio quality. Videos sound clear with great high and mid-tones, but lacking in bass compared to other smartphones.

Honor 9X Bottom Speaker

During our gaming tests, audio played through the speakers performed very well. The ability to use your wired headphones cuts down on battery drain which makes it a big plus for the overall gaming experience. The Huawei Histen sound effects let you adjust your audio to get the most out of your gaming sessions.

Battery Life

With a 4000mAh battery capacity, the Honor 9X is designed for long sessions of use before needing a recharge. When it comes to gaming, you’ll effortlessly be able to get in 8 hours in a session before needing a recharge.

These things make the Honor 9X a really good gaming phone and worth checking out for the price of £249.99.

Honor 9X Forums
We thank Honor for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

The post Gaming on the Full View Display of the Honor 9X appeared first on xda-developers.



from xda-developers https://ift.tt/38tyS4V
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Gaming on the Full View Display of the Honor 9X

This year, Honor launched the Honor 9X as one of the few “full view” phones on the market. To achieve a large notch-free display, Honor hides the selfie camera behind a motorized pop-up mechanism. The large 6.59″ phone provides a much more immersive experience due to the completely uninterrupted display. The size of a notch or hole-punch solution might not seem very  intrusive, but while gaming, it’s a clear advantage having a full view display.

Specifications

Honor 9X Specs
Display 6.59″ 1080 x 2340p (391 ppi)
Chipset HiSilicon Kirin 710F
RAM 4/6GB
Storage 128GB
Main Camera 48MP/8MP (Ultrawide)/2MP (Depth Sensor)
Selfie Camera 16MP Motorized Pop-up
Battery 4,000mAh
Operating System Android 9.1.0 EMUI 9.1.0

The Kirin 710F is paired with up to 6GB of RAM and provides great performance across some of the most popular 3D games. You’ll also find that system performance is really impressive despite the weaker chipset included in this phone.

AnTuTu Benchmark

AnTuTu Benchmark

With 6GB of RAM, the Honor 9X maintains super fast app launch speeds and very snappy system navigation. See the above photos for more detailed benchmark results from  the AnTuTu benchmark.

Gaming

Honor is able to get really good performance from lower-end specs. Their secret is GUP Turbo 3.0. This feature is designed to prioritize gaming performance and has the ability to increase frame rate and graphics for your games. Battery performance is also increased due to 10% greater efficiency from GPU Turbo 3.0.

Minecraft on the Honor 9X

Minecraft runs flawlessly on the Honor 9X, even with the render distance bumped all the way up to 11 chunks and maxed out graphics. Worlds are created very quickly and terrain loads without lag. The same experience can be found across any game you throw at this phone.

Since mobile games are designed to be compatible with as many phones as possible, the full view display offers more of a gaming improvement than a significant increase in processing power would. When it comes to the experience on Minecraft, you will see the same performance from the Honor 9X that you’d have for most flagship devices. This leaves opportunity for improvements in other areas like the display. Honor took advantage of this and the result is a fantastic and immersive gaming phone.

Audio Quality

In 2019, one of the first questions you have to address when judging a smartphone’s audio prowess is “does the phone have a headphone jack?” The answer here is yes. Along with the headphone jack, the Honor 9X comes with Bluetooth 4.2 for your wireless headsets, and one bottom firing speaker. The speaker is very loud and has decent audio quality. Videos sound clear with great high and mid-tones, but lacking in bass compared to other smartphones.

Honor 9X Bottom Speaker

During our gaming tests, audio played through the speakers performed very well. The ability to use your wired headphones cuts down on battery drain which makes it a big plus for the overall gaming experience. The Huawei Histen sound effects let you adjust your audio to get the most out of your gaming sessions.

Battery Life

With a 4000mAh battery capacity, the Honor 9X is designed for long sessions of use before needing a recharge. When it comes to gaming, you’ll effortlessly be able to get in 8 hours in a session before needing a recharge.

These things make the Honor 9X a really good gaming phone and worth checking out for the price of £249.99.

Honor 9X Forums
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Tasker 5.9 brings Logcat events, Media Button detection, customizable Assistant, and much more

When it comes to automation apps, there’s no other app on the Android marketplace that can beat the functionality offered by Tasker. Even though the app doesn’t have a beginner-friendly UI, Tasker is the go-to choice for many power users due to the sheer number of plugins it offers. On top of that, the app keeps getting new features ever so often and with the help of the community, you can just about automate any type of task you want. Tasker is also a great choice if you find yourself limited by Android APIs, as it offers a bunch of handy features that can circumvent such restrictions. For instance, a beta update for the app from early last month introduced a new feature called Logcat detection, which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Now, with the latest update, the feature is making its way to the stable release.

Tasker v5.9 is now rolling out to users and it brings the new Logcat Entry event that will let you automate tasks based on any Logcat on your device. With the Logcat Entry event, you’ll be able to do things like trigger different actions for each fingerprint when you unlock your device, trigger an event when you snooze your alarm, react to the Back button being held for 1 second in any app, and much more. Here’s a video demonstrating the aforementioned fingerprint unlock actions:

Along with the Logcat Entry event, the latest Tasker update also brings AutoApps Integration. Thanks to this, the app now supports AutoShortcut and AutoAlarm natively, allowing you to call other app’s launcher shortcuts or get the time of the next alarm. These features will help you do stuff like gradually increasing the brightness of your screen 5 minutes prior to the alarm going off. Here’s a demonstration of this new feature in action:

The new Logcat Entry and AutoApps Integration aren’t the only new features in Tasker v5.9. The update also includes more cool features like a media button trigger, faster and more precise location, customizable assistant, and more. You can read the full changelog by following this link.

Tasker ($3.49, Google Play) →

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Tasker 5.9 brings Logcat events, Media Button detection, customizable Assistant, and much more

When it comes to automation apps, there’s no other app on the Android marketplace that can beat the functionality offered by Tasker. Even though the app doesn’t have a beginner-friendly UI, Tasker is the go-to choice for many power users due to the sheer number of plugins it offers. On top of that, the app keeps getting new features ever so often and with the help of the community, you can just about automate any type of task you want. Tasker is also a great choice if you find yourself limited by Android APIs, as it offers a bunch of handy features that can circumvent such restrictions. For instance, a beta update for the app from early last month introduced a new feature called Logcat detection, which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Now, with the latest update, the feature is making its way to the stable release.

Tasker v5.9 is now rolling out to users and it brings the new Logcat Entry event that will let you automate tasks based on any Logcat on your device. With the Logcat Entry event, you’ll be able to do things like trigger different actions for each fingerprint when you unlock your device, trigger an event when you snooze your alarm, react to the Back button being held for 1 second in any app, and much more. Here’s a video demonstrating the aforementioned fingerprint unlock actions:

Along with the Logcat Entry event, the latest Tasker update also brings AutoApps Integration. Thanks to this, the app now supports AutoShortcut and AutoAlarm natively, allowing you to call other app’s launcher shortcuts or get the time of the next alarm. These features will help you do stuff like gradually increasing the brightness of your screen 5 minutes prior to the alarm going off. Here’s a demonstration of this new feature in action:

The new Logcat Entry and AutoApps Integration aren’t the only new features in Tasker v5.9. The update also includes more cool features like a media button trigger, faster and more precise location, customizable assistant, and more. You can read the full changelog by following this link.

Tasker ($3.49, Google Play) →

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OPPO is launching the Find X2 in 2020 with the Snapdragon 865, Sony’s new Image Sensor, and a better display

OPPO is a smartphone brand that isn’t well-known in the West, but they’re one of the key players in India and China, operating under the BBK Electronics umbrella like fellow brands OnePlus, Vivo, and Realme. The brand recently expanded to Europe, and in an effort to compete with the more premium offerings from rival smartphone brands, launched the Reno series this year. The Reno series has already seen two different releases and is about to see its third release. On the other hand, OPPO’s other premium smartphone series, the Find series, hasn’t seen a new release since the middle of 2018. During a discussion with OPPO after the company’s Innovation Day, however, we learned that the Find series will be brought back next year. The OPPO Find X2 is launching in Q1 of 2020, and it’ll be OPPO’s premium flagship smartphone with the company’s latest breakthrough technologies.

OPPO’s 2018 Find X was an Android smartphone that was ahead of its time. In a year full of notches, the Find X was the first smartphone to have no notch. It was also the first phone without a proximity sensor, and the first Android smartphone to support 3D facial recognition. The Reno series carried over the no-notch design, but many of the other features first-seen on the Find X weren’t brought to the Reno smartphones. That’s because the Find series has OPPO’s best technologies, and while there may be some overlap with the Reno series, OPPO says they’re targeting two different audiences.

So what can we expect from the upcoming Find X2? First, OPPO says they collaborated with Sony on their latest image sensor technology to create a larger sensor size for better light sensitivity. Specifically, they’re using Sony’s new 2×2 On-Chip Lens Solution, which brings a new “All Pixel omni-directional PDAF” technology. This technology improves the overall focus performance by the micro lens structure and basement layout of the image sensor, makes it so that the focus performance does not depend on the object shape or pattern, and enables high-speed auto-focus using phase differences in every situation.

Source: Sony

Next, the OPPO Find X2 will be powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 mobile platform. Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 865 at last week’s Snapdragon Tech Summit, and we’ve covered what’s new in the SoC in extensive detail already, so I recommend reading our announcement article on the new platform. The Snapdragon 865 can only be paired with the Snapdragon X55 modem, which supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave frequencies for 5G, but OPPO’s Head of Global Sales, Alen Wu, and 5G scientist, Henry Tang, confirmed during a media round-table discussion that the upcoming device won’t have mmWave antennas – meaning it’ll only support sub-6GHz frequencies for 5G connectivity.

Finally, OPPO confirmed they’re placing major emphasis on the display quality of the Find X2. The company states there are big gaps in the mobile display industry in terms of display resolution, refresh rate, colors, and dynamic range, so we can expect the Find X2 to excel in each of these areas.

We’ll learn more about the OPPO Find X2 when it launches in Q1 2020. We don’t have any word yet on pricing or availability, but we can expect it to be expensive given it’ll have 5G support, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, OPPO’s cutting-edge smartphone technology, and is in OPPO’s premium Find series.


Featured image credits: Amelia Holowaty Krales for The Verge

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